GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators met with the media Wednesday. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
On facing Bears returner Devin Duvernay again:
Looking back at that game, it was a physical game. They made some plays. We made some plays. He had a big return to start the game last week against Cleveland. So every time you turn the tape on, within the course of the game, he makes a big play, whether it's on a punt return or a kick return. So we'll have our hands full again going down there.
On the penalties:
I thought we turned the corner a little bit. I think this past weekend was certainly disappointing. I've talked to you guys about the three different types of penalties. Focus and concentration, those are pre-snap penalties, offsides. We got called for a bad alignment on Karl Brooks on the field goal rush. It's debatable when you look at it, but, … The fundamental penalty came from, (Isaiah Mc)Duff(ie). He got the hold on the punt, kind of got himself in bad position on the set, and did what he needed to do so we can get the punt off, you know? And JJ's (Kingsley Enagbare's) is just, it's a selfish penalty. It goes in the selfish category. It's no place for it. He has some remorse for that particular penalty. The punter is a protected player, and whether he knew it was the punter or not is just irrelevant. It's just, it's no place for that. We put our offense on the 3-yard line after that penalty.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley
On Micah Parsons' injury:
The amount of one-on-one time we spent talking football, just getting to know him, just the amount of respect that I have for him and how he came in and worked, and how hard he worked, and how hard he played, and how hard he does play in the run game, in the pass game, the way he strains, I just have so much respect for the guy, and I'm sad for the guy. But at the same time, just knowing who he is, just wait until you guys see how hard he works to come back, how fast he probably comes back. If I were a betting man, I would bet that he comes back even better and probably breaks the sack record next year. That's the confidence I have in him.
As far as the team goes, I told them you can't let circumstances dictate behavior. A week ago we're in here after we beat the Bears, and we're all walking in here all upbeat and ready to roll. I said, 'Shame on you if you walk in here any different today.' That's not who we are. That's our job as leaders and coaches, to make sure that we don't do that. We've got really good players. We've played good defense, and we're going to continue to play good defense. Our guys understand that, and I think it's important for everyone to understand that these guys have a lot of pride, and they're going to get even closer because of this. And they're going to play well. Our best players are going to step up. And the guys who haven't played a lot, that's been our job all year, is to develop those guys, so in situations like this, they're going to step up. And we're going to play hard and we're going to coach hard and we're going to do everything we can to win. That's my take on all this. This is press on, full speed ahead, and we're ready to go.
On the emotions:
I'm upset for the player. I care about these guys and to see -- Devonte Wyatt's out, he's been out for the year, that's upsetting to me. We have other guys, (Lukas) Van Ness hasn't played a whole lot this year, those are upsetting. Micah's out, it's the same thing. But my responsibility is to this defense and to the Green Bay Packers and now we've got really good players in the room that we need to lead and we need to coach and we need to press on. So certainly it's upsetting and did I have a few moments where, yeah, seeing Micah and looking him in the eye and seeing him sitting there, that's hard. It'd be hard for anybody who cares about somebody. I mean, I love the guy. But then you wake up and you get back to work and you have to move on. I mean, that's part of the job. When you are the leader, people are going to look to you and how you respond to things. And that's how I'm looking at our players right now, our coaches right now and it is go forward to the Bears as hard and as fast as we can, and I've got all the confidence in the world in the guys in the room right now.
On adjusting the scheme without Parsons:
I don't have a playbook where I say this is the playbook, this is what we're running because we have the people in this room. Here's what I believe my job is to do: Figure out who's in the room and how to put those players in the best position to succeed and each week figure out the best way to win the game. That's what I believe is my job to do as the defensive coordinator. So if we had a certain player with a skillset, I need to figure out how to use it to take advantage of what we need to do to win. Different players, whatever we need to do to win. If that's new scheme, it's new scheme. If it's putting guys in new positions, it's putting them in new positions. If it's putting certain guys in position to make more plays, that's my job and it doesn't matter how long I have I need to figure it out, and that's what we're looking to do.
On having a plan to rush Bears QB Caleb Williams:
He's hard to tackle. You can't just run full speed and try to launch at him, and you can't go high on him because he's strong. It's like tackling somebody in the open field. You've got to come to balance and not just take a shot, (because) he'll duck and he'll miss and he'll spin one way. He loves to go out to our left, his right, and he makes a ton of plays doing that, so you need to know where you are on the field. Obviously, their boot game has been very successful with him getting the edge on people. I just think it's how you approach him when you're about to tackle him and how many people we can get to the ball and how hard we run to the ball, because that's what it's going to take.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich
On the offensive line backups:
The fortunate thing is we're in a position where we can plug those guys in and we have multiple people that can play in different roles and we've won games with all of them in there, so it's not like one guy's worse than the other. They're all good options for what we can ask them to do. The biggest thing is we're in a good position now where we've got a few guys who can go in and spell us at different spots and still keep our offense productive.
On the potential return of Bears LB Tremaine Edmunds:
He's an incredible linebacker, very athletic. The one thing he does really well in my opinion is he just covers ground in the pass game, and he can really just be in a lot of places at the same time and really pursue the ball. Really athletic, really big, really physical. He's what a prototypical linebacker looks like.
On Chicago's takeaways:
When they get the opps, they make the plays. They do not drop the ball. They do a great job pursuing the ball, punching the ball. You can tell they're well-coached in that regard. They don't drop opportunities on interceptions. They make those plays. They're very opportunistic. That's one thing we gotta make sure we're on top of.
On RB Josh Jacobs fighting through his knee injury:
His leadership and his work ethic and just his willingness to battle for his teammates is one of the more impressive things I've seen. He exemplifies everything it means to be a Green Bay Packer. Just how much he loves the game and he loves his teammates, and what his body's gone through this year, his ability to get himself out there every week and play at a high level has been incredible. I hope our younger guys are really taking note of that because it's a special thing what he's doing. I can't say enough good things about what he's done for us, for sure.
