(What did you think of the 2-minute drill at the end of practice?)
I thought the second group did a nice job. It was a field goal to win (scenario). I thought the second offense did a good job. I thought the first defense did a nice job in the 1's vs. 1's with the interception. They needed a touchdown to win that drill.
(What did you think of practice as a whole?)
I thought it started very good. I thought the team run was very physical, spirited. I thought the offense got after the defense in that particular drill. I thought the defense got after the offense in the blitz drill. Seven-on-seven were pretty good. In the team drills I think the defense got after the offense.
(Is the defense ahead of the offense right now?)
In just some segments. We had a competitive period today. Offensively I think our youth shows up on days like this today. We went back and reviewed a bunch of our primary concepts, anywhere between one and nine. I don't think we handled it pretty well. I saw a number of guys thinking instead of playing today. That just shows a lack of confidence, or inexperience in what we're doing. I think the defense is definitely in a very good rhythm and playing with a lot of confidence right now.
(How would you assess the safeties from Saturday night?)
We had four explosive gains in the game Saturday night and two of them were deep on the safety play. I think our young safeties need to play. We have some talented guys back there and we need to keep creating competitive situations for them to take advantage of, opportunities to show us what they can do.
(Is that what's behind getting Bigby in there a little bit with the 1's?)
We're trying to give Atari and opportunity to step up and it's something we'll continue to do as we move forward.
(Are you going to mix those guys up?)
We'll talk about that this week. Because it is so competitive, every practice is important. We talk about it as a staff, the depth chart, reps-wise, every single day. We'll take a look at today's practice and decided what the reps will be tomorrow. Then we're going to move on to Seattle stuff tomorrow night.
(What have you seen from Bigby over Underwood and Rouse to try him?)
I think Atari Bigby is a very talented safety. I think his range is as good as anyone we have in that younger group. He needs to clean up some things. He's young. He needs to play and needs opportunities. He's a very talented young man.
(How is Brandon Jackson doing in the blocking drills?)
I'll keep saying it, he needs to play. He needs as many reps as possible. His technique wasn't very good and it affected the way he practiced today. He didn't have a very good day.
(Have you seen any improvement in that regard?)
He showed it Saturday night. He did a lot of positive things Saturday night with the opportunities that he had. The one negative was his dropped ball. He was very good in his pass protection. I was pleased with both Brandon and Korey Hall in there, particularly with the early group.
(Did he have many opportunities in pass blocking during the game?)
Yes, he did a good job.
(What are your thoughts on the tight end group right now?)
I thought Donald Lee played very well in the game, particularly his run blocking. He had a couple big-time one-on-one blocks in the game. It was highlighted in the offensive meeting. Bubba did some really good things. He did have the one drop on the basic cross. It looked like he never found the ball. I thought Bubba had a very good practice today. He had an exceptional catch down the field on the all-go. Those two guys are giving us solid, consistent play throughout training camp. One of the young guys needs to jump up and take advantage of the opportunity. That hasn't happened yet.
(About halfway through camp, how is the team holding up physically?)
Pretty good. We have a bunch of nicks and bruises, normal things at this time of year. The positive is that we don't have very many fatigue injuries. That shows the schedule format is working. We have a number of knees and quads. But I think they're doing okay.
{sportsad300}(What did you see from the first-team offense on the film?)
With the opportunities for runs, we didn't have very many of them because of the play selection, with what we did at the line and what they were giving us defensively. We went with a bunch of sub-packages on first and second down to look at some of the receiver combinations with Brett. I wanted to see some things there. We accomplished that. Our offensive start was poor. We had six mental errors in the first 13 plays and we had seven other negatives in the 13 plays. We need to start better as an offense. I thought Aaron Rodgers had a very good game. I was happy for him. I thought our second offensive line was very physical. They have been challenged of late and they responded. I liked what I've seen from that second line.
(Going four wideouts vs. the blitz, does that give you the run-pass option?)
We didn't focus on as much what they were doing as what we were trying to do. As far as the pressures they were using in the game, they weren't very exotic. They were pretty basic pressures. Our mental errors weren't blown assignments. They were errors of recognition. We have to do a better job preparing them. We have to take responsibility for that as coaches. They didn't recognize as well as you'd like in the first group. The second recognized very well and played very well. Those are the things that you have to get cleaned up in preseason.
(Is Wynn any closer to returning?)
I hope so. He needs to get back out here. I'll find out more about him today. I know he made some progress staying back here this weekend. He's a young man that needs to get healthy. It's a pretty good quad strain. He has a good opportunity in front of him but you have to be on field to take advantage of it.
(Are your three backs wearing down from the work?)
I don't think so. I think they're benefiting. The way they played showed that. Brandon Jackson did a lot of positive things in the game. I'm very pleased with Korey Hall. Ryan needs to keep playing. Powdrell needs to play. Corey White is a big, physical kid. He's got a lot of football in front of him. Ted and I talked again this morning, like we do every morning, about players that are out there. We're going to stay the course. We are young but these guys will benefit from the extra reps.
(Any update on Morency or Pope?)
Still a couple weeks away. Mo still feels soreness in his knee. With P.J.'s scope, he doesn't have full range of motion yet. They're probably still a couple weeks away.
(Are you surprised at how well Jenkins has played?)
I'm not surprised. His power, quickness and the leverage that he plays with is only going to get better. We talked about him in the past about making a move earlier. He had the bone bruise injury early in the season that kept him out of five, six games. We would have seen all this last year if not for the injury. I'm very pleased with him. He had an excellent offseason program. He's what you look for when you give a guy a contract. He responded with his work ethic. Now he's doing it with the production on the field. I can't say enough about Cullen Jenkins.
(Did he not get the memo on pants today? He was wearing shorts.)
I'll take it up with Red. If you could hammer him in the paper, I would appreciate it.
(Is Rayner at a disadvantage with Rodgers holding because he doesn't have as much experience there, or is that by design?)
It's by design. We're rotating those guys. We're making it fair across the board. We'll continue to do so in the games. I want to make sure their opportunities are split down the middle. Frankly, it's fun to watch. Those are two guys that can really kick the football and they're really going at it. That ball explodes off their foot. It's not a matter of who loses; it's who takes it. Those are two talented kickers. To answer your question, Aaron needs the work. He's holding for both of them so it's all balanced out in the reps.
(You mean even out over the course of the whole camp?)
We're going to alternate through and do the same thing in the games.
(Did you enjoy your trip home?)
Yes, it's nice to go home. The two hours for dinner, it was great to see everybody but I was pleased with the positives that came out of the football game. They're a good football team, a veteran football team. We found out about some of our younger guys that we needed see. I'm very pleased with that. It's always good to have some pizza. It was a good trip.
(Have you seen any improvement from Nick Collins?)
Nick's having a very good camp. I feel comfortable only playing him in a few snaps in the preseason. I'm not concerned about him. He's an up-and-coming Pro Bowl-caliber player in the NFL. Nick Collins is having a very good camp.
