GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators met with the media Thursday prior to the visit from the Minnesota Vikings. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
On Anders Carlson's range in Denver, and rebounding from the missed FG:
He made a 65 (in warmups), snap hold and kick, and then we missed the shorter one. I think his range, realistic, in Denver was 58 … I thought he hit the ball really well actually (on the miss). He just kind of cupped it a little bit, brought it back over to the left. Big thing after one of those hits is to not come back and try to guide the ball. Come back and hit it, and I thought he did that. … his mental makeup is one of the things we liked about him the most. I don't think that's wavered in any way. They're going to miss. It's part of it. I thought he came back from it well.
On the units' standard of play:
We have to constantly challenge each other to do better. They challenge us as coaches to put them in the right position and we have to challenge them to keep performing at a high level. It was uncharacteristic a little bit to have 10 penalties in the first three games. I think we've corrected that to some degree. Although when you're playing aggressive and you're trying to put yourself in position to make plays, those things are going to happen. I don't know if we've had the same full punt team from end to end, from flyer to flyer yet, and we won't again this week. There's going to be changes again.
Defensive coordinator Joe Barry
On the defense giving up points after the offense has taken the lead:
Those are opportunities to go out and slam the door and get the job done and we didn't. Our mindset is we don't want to rely on, 'Hey let's go down and score a touchdown offensively to win the game.' No, let's let us seal the deal. And obviously it was frustrating. You hold them to a 53-yard field goal, but the object is to completely get off the grass and not give up any points.
On dealing with injuries to key players:
It's frustrating, for all of us. It's mainly frustrating for the player. Players want to be out there. They want to be active, they want to be involved, they want to be able to go showcase their skills. And when they can't, it's devastating for them. It's obviously incredibly frustrating for us but it doesn't matter. The train's not stopping. We've got to keep moving. … Until they're back, we're going to break the huddle with 11 guys and those guys have to go play good football.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich
On the challenge with Minnesota's blitzes:
It limits a lot of things that you can do just with the amount of pressures that they bring and the amount of different pressures they bring. You have to be ready. You can get a negative play really fast if you're in the wrong place. So you really have to kind of pull back on what you're doing and just expect pressure and have answers for that. That's going to be the big challenge for us, is just making sure we're all on the same page because there's a lot of different things that they bring.
On the right scheme mix to cut down on mistakes but not make it too easy for defenses:
That's the balance you're always trying to find, is not getting too complicated so guys mess up when they're out there and then definitely keeping it as fresh as you can just to keep defenses on their toes and then having plays off plays that you've shown. That's 100% the challenge.
On the screen game:
Screens are very hit and miss. When they hit, they hit. And when they don't, a lot of times, you're like, 'That looked pretty crappy.' It's a lot about timing, for sure, and then screens are one of those things where you may coach it up but a lot of different things can happen on the play as far as O-linemen getting out or they blitz, how do you react, things like that. Just as guys get a little more experience, I think that'll definitely be a bigger part of our offense, for sure.
On possibly moving Zach Tom to center:
Josh Myers is playing the best he's played in his career. I think he's playing really well. So, I don't think right now that is the best move for us because he is one of our best five players. Zach's obviously playing really well, as well, at tackle.
