GREEN BAY – The Packers' offensive assistant coaches met with the media on Sunday. Here's a sampling of their key comments:
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
On Jordan Love's performance in Buffalo:
Especially coming off of that little bit of an injury, I thought he did a really good job. I think that he had a couple of those errors that you just want to take out of his game, when people were running right at him. That's the first time you get to see how he's going to react, and I think that's good for him to put in his memory bank. So that he can just take care of the football, and then those drives are going to be even better. I thought he strung together a couple really good drives — and versus a really good defense, and at their house.
On the No. 1 offense right now:
You just never know until the real game. I think from a standpoint of how the guys know what we want to accomplish, and what we're trying to do, I think the guys are at a very, very high level. This is the third year of this system. It's a lot more fun when you're not thinking about the plays and now you're drawing some things up and trying to be even more creative. The guys are into it a little bit more to be a little creative, so I think that just makes it more exciting.
On Josh Myers:
He's a young player. He's going to have a lot of growing pains. The good thing about Josh is it's not too big for him, so I think that he's going to really embrace the challenge, and he owns it. He's a passionate guy. Him being comfortable with Aaron is something that I think has gotten better. Aaron gets on him every now and then, like he gets on everyone, and I think that first one's kind of a shock to the face for anybody, but he's kind of grown. He takes that information and the things he gains from Aaron and makes him more comfortable and more confident.
QB coach/pass game coordinator Luke Getsy
On Aaron Rodgers being ready:
To get after it, he's excited, yeah. He's starting to feel what's on the horizon now, so he's having those conversations with the receivers that he wants to have about specific routes or specific splits or what he wants something to look like or what he's going to audible to in certain situations. So yeah, I think he's ready to rock and roll.
On Jordan Love's dangerous throws in Buffalo:
I think the hardest thing for young guys to do is to let a play go, right? He feels like he can make a play every single time he has the opportunity, and so when you talk about teachable moments, that's where (you're) slowing the game down. The interception was on first-and-10, we've got three more downs to go get it. The other one, it's later in the downs and we get to kick a field goal. I sat him down right after that one, the second opportunity, and I just said: 'Hey dude, look. It's 13-0, you've had 200 yards of offense in the first half, you're kicking butt. Look at how important the ball is in this league.'
Offensive line coach/run game coordinator Adam Stenavich
On Royce Newman:
One of the main things that we were really excited about with Royce was his size and his athletic ability with that size. It was just a matter of how fast he could pick up the playbook and how he could adjust to the NFL game. Every week, there was growing pains but he just kept getting better and better and better. I felt he was ready for that opportunity at that certain point. He never gets too high or too low. He just gets out there and does his work and plays hard. I'm excited for his future with us.
On Lucas Patrick:
One thing about Lucas is he's always got that chip-on-his-shoulder mentality, which guys have (that've) come up from undrafted to being a backup to earning a starting job. He's handled it the right way. I love his mentality and I love the way he plays. He adds a nastiness to our room. I think other people see that and it feeds into other people, so it's good.
Running backs coach Ben Sirmans
On Kylin Hill:
I think the biggest thing is his overall instincts as a runner. He's able to anticipate, set blocks up, and understands how to go slow and accelerate right at the right time. Plus he's really tough and has a great demeanor as a runner, which you look for.
On AJ Dillon's pass catching:
He actually has great hands. I know he's had some drops in practice, but there's been other practices where he's made some spectacular catches. If he's dropping the ball, it's because he's taking his eyes off the ball, because he's ready to catch it, get upfield, go make something happen. So it's more of just make sure you stay locked in and focused in on the ball before you're ready to go make a play. But his hands in general are pretty good.
Tight ends coach Justin Outten
On returning the whole position group from a year ago:
It's been awesome because you can have those outside-the-box questions for those guys. It's been really, really exciting just so they can see the big picture. You start to expand their eyes, and you're not just looking at your position, you're looking across the board. It's not all about the rules, the techniques anymore. It's where can you take your game next as far as mentally, and you can be multiple, be more positions on the field instead of being boxed into one.
On Robert Tonyan's hands:
His receiver background has definitely helped him out tremendously in that world. He's just one of those guys that has a magnet on his hands and he tracks it extremely well. Really strong hands in traffic. He's able to fight defenders off, and that gives him an advantage, being a bigger guy now. He's put on some weight since his receiver days. He's got that ability to track it out of the air and it's pretty special to watch.
Wide receivers coach Jason Vrable
On the final preseason performance for Malik Taylor and Reggie Begelton:
They did a great job. I told 'em both after the game, I both gave 'em hugs and I said, 'I'm so proud of you guys.' Just their mentality has been awesome, their preparation and their work ethic. They both went out against the Bills' basically starting defense and you would've never known that they weren't in our rotation to be the top three the way that they performed on those first two drives. They played fast, physical and it was exciting to see those guys.
On Amari Rodgers:
The biggest growth for him, or maybe you would say challenge, is just playing in the slot vs. press man. You watch college tape, a lot of times they're off, you get free access, you can just run your routes, and just win and catch and run. So the biggest thing is learning from '17' and '18' and '13' and all the guys that are ahead of him, just the releases. Mentally, he's had very few mental errors the entire training camp. He kind of knows it all and mentally he's way ahead of most rookies that have come into this system.
