(How did Tauscher look and how soon do you think he will be ready?)
Mark Tauscher, his plan today was to take him through the jog-through and the individual work and keep him out of the team periods. It's a decision clearly driven by the medical staff. It's going to probably take him some time to get ready. We're just getting started today based on signing the contract and so forth, so it will probably be a week on this plan here. I watched him go through the individual. I thought he is off to a good start. He's in good shape, but it's like anything. There is a difference in being in rehab shape and getting in football shape, so that's what we're working on with Mark.
(Is it an open competition at right tackle?)
Allen Barbre is the starting right tackle and it's his responsibility to keep that job. That's where we're at today. Mark Tauscher is someone that we're going to bring along as fast as we can, but right now I am just looking at Mark to get back in football shape.
(Is there a chance he will play this week?)
I would probably say he'd have a hard chance of playing this week based on what the medical staff thinks.
(How has Barbre performed since the Chicago game?)
I think he has been a little up and down. I think Allen is doing a good job in the run game. I feel he has learned from his experiences each week, but there are some technical things that he needs to improve on in the pass-protection area, and that's our emphasis with him. I like his tenacity, I like the way he finishes, but he's got some things he needs to clean up.
(You are 2½ games behind the Vikings; what is the mindset of this team?)
We're 2-2. There is obviously three-quarters of the season to go. That's our mindset. We've had an opportunity to spend time as a staff going through the self-scout things that we want to focus on as we move into this week. We did that this morning with the players. Applied some of those things to our workout today, and really we've moved on and we're ready to go to beat Detroit. That's our focus. It's one game at a time. There is a lot of football left. We're not really looking at the standings. We know where we are, but there is a sense of urgency to make sure we clean our own house and get things ready for Detroit.
(What was the energy like in practice today?)
I thought it was good energy. It was a quick practice. It was a padded, hour and 30-35-minute practice. I really liked the individual work. I felt the opportunity to go back and correct some of the things from the Monday night game in the jog-through was important. We spent time in the meeting structure this morning going through the corrections. On top of that we were able to put in just our base offense and base defense against the Lions. I was very pleased with the amount of work that we got done today.
(Will Clifton need the week to determine whether he can play?)
Definitely. Chad's plan today was to go through the individual and frankly we'll see how he responds. Tomorrow will be a huge indicator. I'd like to see him work probably at least two days later in the week just to make sure he is ready. So we'll see how he feels tomorrow.
(What is Brandon Jackson's status?)
He's back, a full participant, and frankly we'll see how he responds. I think it was last week or 10 days ago he came out and practiced and didn't have a favorable response the following day. Brandon is definitely another player that falls in that category.
(You talk about availability all of the time; has it been frustrating with him because he has had some injuries?)
Injuries are part of the game. He's had his run of them. Hopefully it will come to an end. But he's a talented young man. He still has a lot of growth in front of him, and those are really the things I look at.
(How would you assess the running game as a whole through four games?)
Well, the average is OK. 4.2. We're not as concerned about that as the attempts. Our two biggest issues on offense are the negative plays, and the dropped balls. There's some other statistical things that we looked at, but the things we took a close look at is the negative plays, and particularly the sacks fall in that category, and the dropped balls because we're taking sets of downs off the field that we should easily convert. Those are things we can control. Those are probably our two biggest focuses coming out of this bye week.
{sportsad300}(Does Bigby have a chance to be ready for Sunday?)
I think so. Really, Atari, Chad Clifton, Brandon Jackson, it will all be very similar for them. Jeremy Thompson, you could probably put him in that same category. We wanted to work them today based on the plan set by the medical staff and really just see how they respond tomorrow to give us more information on how we can go forward through the week. We're hopeful that Atari can go Wednesday, and then hopefully Thursday, and if he can go through the week, he'll definitely have a chance to play.
(Is Nelson the leading contender for both punt and kick returns?)
Yes he is. Jordy will be the first man up.
(Where was Brady Poppinga today?)
Brady was sick. Had an illness. We had a couple guys that came up today. Trevor Ford, a couple of our guys are under the weather.
(You're not worried about the swine flu, are you?)
Our medical staff is not. Obviously they're prepared for all those types of things, but I'm not concerned about it.
(Are teams bringing an inordinate amount of pressure against Rodgers?)
I wouldn't say an unusual amount, no. Frankly I think we've handled the pressure very well. Actually, our production versus pressure is one of the things we felt was a positive. I think we've handled it pretty good, but I don't think the numbers are extremely high.
(Coming back from the bye, what was your message to the team?)
Number one, self-scout, clean up our own house. That was the first message. And the second one was to move on and get ready for Detroit. We break the season down pretty much into quarters. We have two on the road, two at home, and our two home games are division games. So actually I talked about that on Wednesday. Really today was about the self-scout, cleaning up things, identifying and making sure everybody's on the same page, the direction we're going, and get ready for Detroit.
(How has Kampman adjusted to his new position?)
I think Aaron has definitely made the adjustment to the position. He's done everything that's asked of him. He's as true a professional player that I've been around as far as the extra work and so forth. Now, I think he's demonstrated that he can do all the things from that position. The dropping, the blitzing, and I think it's really helped him expose himself to more recognition in the passing game and things like that as opposed to just primarily working on the run game and protections. But we definitely want to get more opportunities for him to rush the passer. The only thing that we need to do a better job of is giving him more opportunities to rush the quarterback. I think all the other aspects of the position, I think he's done an excellent job.
