GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators and defensive assistant coaches met with the media over the past couple of days. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
On all three specialists getting contract extensions this year:
Obviously it's exciting for organizationally to think that we have a battery – two of them are relatively young, and the punter is certainly an ascending player. You know what we got from Brandon (McManus) a year ago, I'd say the expectations are to get it again, and then the calming factor of the way Matt (Orzech) plays. We're excited about having those guys where they're not really worried about the future, to some degree. They're worried about getting better each particular day, to see if they get better at their craft. So we're excited about the direction they're going.
On P Daniel Whelan's biggest improvement this year:
The place he's really gotten better in the last two years has been the red zone. He's done a really good job in the red zone, and being able to direct the football for him has been an improvement as well. He's got such a big leg, controlling it and keeping his steps short and those sort of things. Where he needs to improve is a little bit backed up what we can do coming out of the end zone … how he handles those. But again, he's going to constantly work to improve his game, and hopefully he's going to keep ascending.
On Bo Melton's impact on the units:
He requires a lot of attention during the course of the game. One of the greatest comments I saw this year so far is, I think J-Reed made the comment that Bo's effort is unmatched. When you look at us in we-fense and what we're trying to do, he's the example, and he's the standard of what we're trying to accomplish here. The way in which he practices, the way in which he goes about his preparation, the smile on his face, the love in his heart for what he gets to do. He's earned the respect of other teams around the league, and so I'm expecting him to garner some attention in the game.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley
On incorporating Micah Parsons:
I've studied probably years of his tape in the last week, so I have a pretty good idea of what he can do. And I have a lot drawings packed away for when he is ramped up and ready to go. But for now it's just kind of getting a glimpse of what is going to be and trying to figure out early what he can do best, what he can do right now, and what gives our team the best chance to have success.
On losing Kenny Clark as part of the Parsons trade:
That's kind of bittersweet, right? Kenny's been a vet. He's been one of the best players in the NFL at his position for a long time, and I still think that he is. I don't think he had as down a year as everybody's making it out to be last year. That's my opinion. That's said and done. But what Kenny did and the buy in and the type of pro he was and the way he helped me get this whole group to kind of buy into what we're doing and go forward, I'm forever grateful to Kenny. You can't ask for a better situation to walk into than I did with a veteran like Kenny Clark. I absolutely love the guy. He is what you dream up every pro to be, from the meeting room to how he practices to how he takes coaching. I mean, the guy's just, the guy's incredible. That is not going to be replaced. That's Kenny, that's who he is, that's rare.
On the other interior D-linemen stepping forward:
(Colby Wooden) did put on more weight, and I'm sure you guys have seen him, he looks bigger right? KB (Karl Brooks) and Colby, they both look like they got bigger. I look at Colby as a guy who played the nose at a really high level in training camp, his fundamentals, his hands, getting off of blocks. And then KB, he got bigger, and he's been the guy that gives us that interior pass rush, but now he's playing the run better. What I saw from him throughout training camp is I think he got used to playing at that weight, and he just kept getting better and better and better, where we really felt confident. If you look before the whole trade happened, we kept six guys on the inside, so I think that tells everybody how we feel about the guys inside that we didn't want to lose anybody, and that's a credit to (Warren) Brinson and to (Nazir) Stackhouse. For us to keep them on the roster, that says a lot about what we think they can become, and now we have to speed everybody up. We're going to rely on D Wyatt, who's been a vet and played really good football. I think he's going to take a step, and I'm counting on him to do that.
On the importance of disguising what the defense is doing:
Obviously we talk about takeaways and then we always talk about trying to be the best disguise team in the NFL and we take a lot of pride in that at all on three levels – the D-line included, the linebackers and where they line up and then the secondary. It's always important – one, my career has been as a DB coach. I've always taken a lot of pride in that and I kind of see the game through those guys, especially the safeties. It's always been a thing for me to try to move them around.
On S Javon Bullard:
I thought Bullard had a really good rookie year, like I've said. His injuries, he kind of went up and down, in and out of games. He's been healthy. He looks faster, more explosive. I think he's one of the tougher, more physical guys that we have. He has a ton of versatility. He's played nickel and safety throughout camp so he gives us the ability to move him around. He's become a guy you really don't want to take off the field. I love the guy. He's all ball. He is football. He is tough. He studies it. He is just locked in and I'd expect him to take a big jump Year 2.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich
On Rasheed Walker starting at LT over Jordan Morgan:
Just how he played or how he's played in camp. Again, competing. It's not like Jordan didn't do it. From what I saw from him he did an excellent job, too, but, at the end of the day, you're always looking to put your five best guys out there. For us, I still think we have good competition in the room. It's not like we're set right now and this is how it's going to be the rest of the year. I think this is going to be an ongoing thing, and I expect our guys to keep playing hard to earn that spot.
On facing Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson:
He's kind of in the same vein like we just talked about with Micah (Parsons). You've got to have a plan for him, wherever he's at. He's a really active player and he does a really good job of just playing hard to the whistle and getting after people with relentless effort. That's one thing that's very impressive about his game, so you've got to make sure you have hats on him, you have eyes on him, you have guys accounting for him – multiple guys – so that you can minimize his effect on a game.
On rookie WR Matthew Golden:
He's done a great job. He's got great speed, great hands. Everything about him, he's just been a true professional as soon as he's walked in the door. So I'm just excited where he's at and as the season progresses to see how it unfolds and how we can use him. You don't really know until you get out there in the game and watch him play just because of his limited reps in actual live football for us. So yeah, it's going to be fun and I'm excited because what he's put on film in practice has been excellent. He's impressed everybody in the building with just how he's gone about his game and his skills.
Defensive line coach/run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington
On first impressions of Micah Parsons:
Smart guy. Loves ball. Very high football IQ. A guy obviously with God-given talent, unbelievable talent. That's my first impression with him. He fits right in with the room, he's building a relationship with the guys already and then obviously he's a hard worker, trying to learn the playbook as much as possible and he's willing to do whatever you ask.
On Colby Wooden:
I'm proud of him and the performance he put together since OTAs. Even the scrimmages against the Colts and the Seahawks, I thought he stacked some really, really good days in the run game and pass game. I think he became a combo player for us. For him, he's been consistent, he's been dependable and then obviously he's tough and he's smart, so those are the things we've been looking for, and he's really answered the bell for us. Hopefully we get that this season, that's what we're looking for him – for him to answer the bell and hold down the spot for us.
On facing Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery:
You've got two dynamic backs. You've got a two-headed monster with those guys. It's going to take everybody as far as all 11 of us running to the football, defeating blocks, getting off blocks, not staying blocked, straining, finishing, tackling. Those two, they run well together, they get downhill real fast. They attack the C gap. They do a really good job spinning out of tackles, stiff-arming defenders. It's going to take more than one guy to just go in and tackle those guys.
Linebackers coach Sean Duggan
On Quay Walker getting back from his injury in camp:
Quay's been really impressive. When he's come back, you can see he's playing faster. He's really confident on the field right now, which is awesome. I was really impressed with the way he handled being a little delayed getting back on the field. If you watched practice, he was back there. Every rep he took mentally, he put himself in that position, so when he came back, he was able to pick up where he should be. Really excited for him this year.
On Ty'Ron Hopper:
The biggest thing with Hop is his confidence. You can see he's not thinking so much out there, right? He's anticipating, and when you anticipate you're able to play faster and make plays. He's putting himself in good spots, and just the confidence out there, I think that's so big. When you're playing fast, you're playing confident, you're making more plays, then it just continues to build and build, and then you look up and you had a good practice.
On expectations for Edgerrin Cooper:
Mine is he's going to continue to work hard and put himself in positions where Sunday he can just go let it rip, and play fearless and play fast, and go do what he naturally can do. My expectations of him are to continue to just work. Study film, put in all the work during the week so Sunday you can go have fun.
He's really confident out there. He knows the call, he knows exactly where to line up, what his job is, what people are doing around him, so now he can play without even thinking about what he's doing. It's instinctual now, and I think he has great instincts. He's a guy that's going to play a lot of good football for us this year.
Defensive pass game coordinator Derrick Ansley
On Parsons' impact on the secondary:
We got a hell of a lot better. This guy, in my opinion as a secondary guy, he's a game accelerator. He speeds everything up – run or pass. We're happy to have him. He's been great. You see his personality with the guys, already affecting those guys. It's been good.
On Bo Melton:
He did a good job of training with his brother and working on the DB mechanics. He's grown a ton from where he's started to now. He plays the game the right way. Very physical, very fast. The thing you see on special teams, the thing you see on the offense, him blocking and straining, is the same thing you see (on defense). He's done a really nice job of diving into it and trying to master that position. Hats off to Keisean (Nixon) and Carrington (Valentine) being two guys that had really taken him under their wing and really helped him go through.
I got history with CV, back when he was in high school and I was at Tennessee, so we go way back. He's a great dude. Great guy to be around. A lot of energy. A lot of juice, and he actually came alive today at practice and he was on one of those three-or-four in a row where he was barking and making plays. He brings that kind of energy to the room which is good. But any time you get your hands on the ball that's contagious. It's a confidence boost. He's still a young player, still growing. Now he's fully healthy and he's ready to go play.
Defensive backs coach Ryan Downard
On the importance of disguising coverages:
Why it's so valuable, we want to make the quarterback read the defense post-snap. If he can read it pre-snap, it's a lot easier for him. There's a lot of good quarterbacks in this league, I remember when Kirk (Cousins) was in the division, if you give him a particular look and you play that look and that's what you do the entire game, he's going to dissect you. Like, if the picture shows up like it does in the textbook when he's learning, it's going to be a harder day for you on the back end. As opposed to, if you can line up in a look, play that look, (then) line up in a look, play something different and keep mixing that, I think that gives you an advantage and gives your defense an advantage because it buys you a click of time.
On how to get good at it:
Try to bang in those guys' heads that we want to be the best disguise team in the NFL. And so that takes teaching, that takes a commitment to learning, that takes time on task. You've got to invest into it. So we can build it into calls, we can tag it, we can teach it into certain different calls or looks that we want to give, and then you've got to teach them the why. I've been places where it's not emphasized as much and you kind of just leave it up to the guys out on the field and I don't think that's the right way. If you emphasize something, that's what you're going to get.
On S Xavier McKinney's mindset:
Me pulling him off the field to spread reps around and hit rep counts and he's coming off the field, not happy with me. So it's been a process there. That's what you want from a player, you want to be out there all the time and then he's carried that into Year 2, because that's just how he is. It wasn't just a thing that because he just got in and he's new, he wants to take every single rep. We give him as much as he can handle and keep in mind keeping him fresh. He's worked on different parts of his game and he's trying to get better and better.
