(Is this as frustrating a season as you have gone through, close loss after close loss that this keeps happening?)
I could speak for myself on your question. I'm frustrated. I'm very frustrated on the way, particularly today's game unfolded. It's a little bit of a picture of how our season has gone. We had a number of opportunities and we didn't cash in on them. We had some breakdowns and unfortunately that's why we're sitting here again with a loss.
(Your defense hasn't been able to get a key stop when the game is on the line, and it happened again today. Is there anything you can pin that on?)
Today we stopped them on first down and in the second-down play they came out on a breakdown. That's football. You have to stay gap-sound, technique-specific and so forth, and we didn't do that for four quarters today.
(You gave up 549 yards on the heels of a couple other poor defensive games. What has happened to your defense?)
Well, a lot of production coming from the opponent. There's no question about that. The big plays are something that has kind of lingered of late. If you go back to New Orleans all the way through today's game, we're making big plays, getting turnovers, but we definitely can't offset it. It's an explosive gains National Football League and we're not doing our job in holding that part down.
(It seemed like you blitzed more today. Did you change a lot of that up?)
I thought Bob was aggressive today with his plan. I thought he was aggressive with the pressure. We were trying to adjust it, our medical situation with Brady playing defensive end and so forth but it was not enough.
(The holding call on Moll looked questionable. Did you see it and do you have a comment on that?)
I don't want to comment about the officials. I think if you watched the game, you know how I felt about it. It's disappointing when you're in that position. You call those particular types of plays; we refer to as an inside zone to eliminate your run blocking unit's hands from getting outside. I didn't see the replay, but that was a big play in the game.
(What about the third-down conversions? You didn't make your first third-down conversion until the fourth quarter. What's going on there?)
We had some opportunities early. We went into the game to be aggressive in third down. We missed the one, the first one I recall, we had the two sacks in seven-man protection. We have been very good in third down, especially as of late. We did not handle that today. They went a little more five-man pressure. They played a lot more three-shell against us, which we feel plays to our advantage, but we were not able to convert. We were not very sharp on third down today.
(Seemed like Desmond Bishop had an up and down day.)
I didn't study Desmond Bishop every play. I would have to see the film to give you a more accurate answer to your question.
(It looked like teams have taken advantage of your overaggressive play by the defense. The defensive backs are attacking the wides, the running backs are cutting out there, putting fakes on the linebackers. It seems likes they are taking advantage of the overaggressive play. In practice they must go through fundamentally sound throughout the course of the week. How would you change practice starting this week?)
I'm not sure what you're asking, but I would say that it all fits together. The pass rush ties into coverage. If you want to be aggressive in a man-to-man scheme, whether it's a match scheme and two-shell, which we refer to as our switch coverage, the pass rush factors into that. It's the ability to push the pocket and rush the passer to take away their number one receiver in their route progression. I think it's not always just the pass defense of the secondary, you have got to factor in the pass rush. When those two don't work hand in hand, you have issues. They were aggressive going down the field on us. They had some double moves that they were able to convert on us. You have to weigh it both ways. The pass coverage fits with the pass rush.
(How do you sell the last three weeks of this team? Do you say there is still stuff to play for? How is the reaction in the locker room right now?)
We're the Green Bay Packers, so we're going to line up and we're going to prepare. We're going to get in here tomorrow and correct our mistakes, and everybody is going to know exactly what went wrong, what went right, and we will apply that as we move forward. But we are going down to Jacksonville to win a football game. We need to win a game around here. As far as your question, we are the Green Bay Packers. I fully expect everybody to prepare to perform at a high level.
{sportsad300}(I'm assuming that makes what has happened around here even more frustrating because of the tradition around here.)
We know what the score is. We have one goal when you have the opportunity to work here, and we're not hitting the targets right now.
(Can you go over your injuries?)
Nick Collins had a thigh and he returned. Then he had a shin injury late and did not return. I don't have the extent of that. Danny Lansanah had an arm injury. He did not return. Mark Tauscher had a significant knee injury. He did not return. Korey Hall had a knee sprain and did not return.
(Do you think Mark is out for the season?)
I would say that's probably a pretty good guess. I have not talked to them. I am just relaying the information that has been given to me.
(With so many close losses does it become a mental thing when it comes to the end, you start to think what could go wrong? Do you sense that at all?)
I can only go off of what we just experienced in the fourth quarter. I think everybody, every man on the sideline, based on the way our sideline was into the game, everybody felt very confident that we were going to win that game. We made a number of mistakes and didn't have a whole lot of help throughout the game. And we battled all the way down to the end. So, I would say no, I don't have that sense right now.
