GREEN BAY – The Packers' three coordinators met with the media on Wednesday afternoon.
Here's a summary of their key comments.
Special teams coordinator Ron Zook
On Davis' long return getting called back:
"He did exactly what we think he can do, and obviously we have to do a better job and stay away from the penalty phase. Every game I watched Sunday there were penalties. Holy smokes. Even the TV guys said they didn't think it was a penalty and I didn't either, but that's part of it. The officials are keeping it close and tight, and that's what's happening."
On Davis showing burst right away:
"He had the two weeks of practice. The whole time he was here working on his own. He looks like he did when he got hurt. He's got a jet and he can go, and we're excited to have him back. Not only the return phase, but he went down on a kickoff and had a tackle inside the 20."
On Scott's game in Seattle:
"I don't think there's any question the Seattle game was his best game. He has to keep doing it and keep getting better. He's already punted in more games than he has in his life in terms of one year. He's doing exactly what I would want him to do as a rookie."
Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin
On Minnesota's third-down defense:
"Obviously it starts with they try to disrupt the timing and rhythm of the passing game in a number of ways. They have a lot of different looks. Sometimes they'll put eight guys right up on the line of scrimmage and get you into a guessing game. They've been in the system a while, they know the system, the strengths and weaknesses of it, and they do a good job executing."
On Rodgers and the offense getting better:
"It's more a collective thing than just isolating on one player doing one thing. As a team, we've kind of established 30 points as a goal. We're at 24.7 points a game. We have to find a way these next six weeks to get above that. We've done it twice and been in a number of close games. I have a lot of faith and confidence we can get there, but time is ticking. It's late November, we have a tough opponent, but we have to score more points, period."
On any letdown personally not seeing the offense perform better:
"I've been disappointed but not discouraged. Disappointed is where you fail to meet expectations. Discouraged is where you lack hope, lack faith and lack confidence. I'm not discouraged. Do I wish we were scoring more points per game? Definitely, yes. Can I do a better job to help that? Absolutely."
Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine
On Fackrell:
"He's become more explosive. He's bought into what we're doing. He's very detailed and works at his craft. He does a lot on his own, with his footwork and stuff, and it's paid off for him. Watching tape of tackles and how they've been beat, he's been a real student of it.
"I don't know if there's necessarily one moment, but the confidence has helped him. Early in the year he was beat up and not getting results and had some plays he wished he had back, especially in the run game. Buffalo was a breakthrough moment for him, and you could see him carrying himself differently after that. With any position, having confidence is going to help you."
On the difficulty of mixing and matching in the back end due to injuries:
"I don't like using the word difficult. That's the challenge of coaching in the NFL. Injuries are part of the game, and also dealing with young players in there and inexperience. We're not afraid to churn the lineup if a guy is not performing and swap some guys out. You'd like to go through a season and have a consistent lineup, but that's rarely the case. As the injuries pile up, if you check the mail there's not going to be any sympathy cards from around the league."
On Thielen:
"There's great chemistry with him and Cousins. All the guy does is get open and catch every ball thrown near him. It causes some problems just how precise he is running his routes. He's not a one-dimensional receiver. He's not just an underneath guy. He can beat you deep or with the deep overs, and he's got explosiveness underneath. He's a complete receiver. It takes a great corner to shut him down. He had a big day against us the first time, and obviously we'll have our hands full this time as well."
