GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators met with the media Tuesday. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
On S Zayne Anderson's contributions:
Zayne, obviously the biggest thing to look at is when we lost him at the end of last year, what happened. We gave up a couple plays. He was in a valuable spot for us, so having him back, he's kind of a leader by example whether it's in practice or in the meeting room. He's a vital part of what we're trying to do here and what we're trying to build here, and he's a good player. He gets free, and he makes tackles. A lot of respect to him because he gets doubled a bunch on the kickoff team.
On K Brandon McManus getting past his injury:
I'd like to hope so. I think that's what it showed on Sunday, right? The biggest place to look at is the timing of what he was doing was good, but then his kickoffs. His kickoffs, location-wise, were really good. There was one of those two touchbacks we'd like to have back, but his location on the kicks worked really well.
On building some momentum on special teams:
We talked about it earlier in the year. We've gone through some changes, we lost Nick (Niemann) for a little bit and (Isaiah) McDuffie in this particular game; he played every snap of defense, so we took him off three phases. Again, it's ever-changing for us week in and week out, but you'd like to think everywhere on your team that as the season's going on you're starting to create some chemistry with the guys that are you playing, and you'd like to think you're going to keep improving. We still think we have a lot of football left ahead of us.
On LB Arron Mosby's play:
He's athletic, he's big, he can run, can make you miss, he can run through you and when he does it right, he's hard to block. So there's another guy that we didn't have earlier in the year playing and now that he's been active and been put up, he's been playing five phases for us. I think he's getting ready to play some of his best ball as we get going here through the later part of the season.
On Lions returner Kalif Raymond:
He's got great speed. He's an aggressive player. He wants to do it. He wants to get the ball in his hand, so he's been a little bit of an issue. He's had a big 65-yard touchdown this year and once he sees a clearing, he hits it pretty fast. He doesn't really hesitate, so he makes good decisions back there, as well. I think this is my 18th game against Dave Fipp as a special teams coordinator, going against each other. He was in Philly the whole time I was in Dallas and now he's been here the whole time I've been here and so it's a lot of games going against one guy. We have a lot of tape against each other and so we kinda know what each other do. Coming up with something new is kinda hard.
On P Daniel Whelan climbing toward elite level:
He's certainly an ascending player. I think he's catching up to the elite players in the league. The one thing I think that's been interesting for us having him is he plays really well in December and later in the year, and he's played in some unbelievable wind conditions here in Lambeau and what we played a week ago, what he did at Giants Stadium. He works extremely hard at it and I think he trusts the guys on the outside and trusts the protection, so I'd like to think he's going to get in the elite status here pretty soon.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley
On DL Micah Parsons' two sacks in the third quarter:
When we had them backed up and he started going, even the one he didn't have, where he just ran the center over, it kind of sent a message, and the energy level with that group and the way they were playing after that, yeah, it almost felt like whatever was going to be called, they were going to get through. And that was him closing it out that early. So he was kind of like the setup man and the closer. So now speaking in baseball, he did both. He went seven, eight and nine and got all nine outs. It was really cool to see that D-line play.
On the LB play without Quay Walker:
We certainly miss Quay. I mean, he's been such a big part of what we've done. Coop, kind of stepping up and having a really good game, but then Duff taking the green dot over and the communication, that's not easy part of the game. There's a lot of things that I say to him, and he has to get to the defense, and there's a lot of talking in between series, and he hadn't done that too much. I thought he did a really good job. He got us lined up, he got us into the right calls, he moved the line. His communication was outstanding. And then he was the same Duff, right? He was physical in the run game. He played good in the pass game. There was one ball outbreak where he just came out and sent the guy back, like, 3 or 4 yards, and then he had the interception in a huge moment of the game. It's a guy who's developed over time and worked at it, has to go play Mike linebacker. And he does. You know, he was captain of our team for a reason.
On facing Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs:
You can't be out of your gap. You can't run up the field. If you're supposed to be a three-technique and have the B gap, you better be a three-technique and have the B gap. If you're on the backside, you can't run up the field. You gotta squeeze back and make sure there's no huge holes in our rush lanes because if he cuts the ball back in our A gap and you're not there, there's a chance he can score because he's that fast. So you have to be extremely sound and extremely disciplined. This can't be a game where a linebacker can say I'm gonna go underneath a block and take a shot because if you don't make a play, he might score. There's times when I'm OK with people doing that. You don't want to overcoach some things, but this is a game where you have to be really fundamentally sound against him and you better be where you're supposed to be and you better run to the ball because this guy, as you saw last week in overtime and in earlier periods of that game, this guy can go 80 like that (snaps his fingers). I think he's become one of the, if not the premier back in the league right now because the other thing he does a really good job with, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. They're lining him up at receiver and running choice routes with him and trying to get matchups on linebackers with him. So, I think he's really good and it'll be a challenge and it's one we'll be ready for.
On Lions QB Jared Goff:
If Goff has time in the pocket, this is a guy that can throw with timing and rhythm as good as there is, and he sees it fast. He sees every coverage fast. If you're just going to sit back and play, he's going to get rid of the ball. It's going to be on the spot, it's going to be on time, and if not he's going to get to his checkdown immediately, and now you have really fast guys who are in catch and run mode. He's not going to hold the ball. I mean it's just not what he does and he's not going to take a lot of sacks. For sure you want to get him off the spot as much as you can … whether it's with four, five, fix, and then there's things we have to do in the secondary to try to create a little bit of chaos for him to just slow him down for a click. (Against the Vikings) some of the disguises and the way guys were popping out, it was awesome to watch last week. That's a team effort and it's going to take the same thing to go against Goff this week.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich
On rookie Anthony Belton playing RG vs. Vikings:
I thought he went out there and competed. A lot of things to clean up but for the most part I liked his physicality and I like what he brought to the offense. It's not an easy transition (from tackle) and he's been working on it for a few weeks now and I think he's only going to get better the more reps he gets there. I felt he did a pretty nice job creating movement at the line of scrimmage and in the run game just being physical overall.
On whether anything RB Emanuel Wilson did was a surprise:
I wouldn't say surprise. I was just really happy. The whole week, he had it in his mind that he was going to have to be counted on and be the guy, and I thought he went out there and responded and did a really nice job. That rep on the goal line when he had to run over (LB Blake) Cashman, that was impressive. He's a good linebacker and he just stepped up in there and ran him over and scored a touchdown. I just really liked how he responded. I wouldn't say I was surprised by it but I was encouraged.
On C Sean Rhyan handling the Ford Field noise:
This is obviously going to be a big test for everybody. Ford Field is an excellent environment. Going in there to get a win, it's really tough on the road. I think it's going to be a good test for Sean. I think he can do it, he'll be fine, but it's one of those games where there's going to be ups and downs and we've got to fight through it and stay level-headed and keep playing hard.
On QB Jordan Love playing through injury:
I mean, he's a tough kid. Jordan's obviously had a good mentor with Aaron (Rodgers), just seeing like this is the expectation of the quarterback, you're going to go out there, you're going to lead your guys, and as long as you can go out there and play, you're going to go out there and do that. He did a great job. Obviously wasn't perfect, but he did a great job out there leading, playing hard, and doing what he had to do.
