GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators met with the media on Thursday. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
On Cowboys returner KaVontae Turpin:
He's got great speed, he's got great vision, he can make you miss and he can score. He can go the distance. He's really fast anyway, but he's extremely fast in that particular stadium. How we deal with him in the punt game and how we deal with him in the kickoff game remains to be seen, but he's a problem.
I don't know if you can emulate his speed (in practice) and the way he does it. He has this slow-and-then-go pace to him, and he's just really a good player. We'll see how it works out, but he's a challenge.
On the Dallas punt team:
They've got a punt team that can really run. They're really good outside at their flyers, and (Bryan) Anger's good at directional punting. He can almost put it anywhere he wants. He's been in the league a long time. He's got a tremendous throwing arm. He's got a bunch of fakes in his basket as well, and he plays a little bit different in that particular arena than he does outside. Again, playing against him is a challenge as well because of his ability to place the ball where he wants to help their coverage team. They're playing with really good speed.
Defensive coordinator Joe Barry
On whether matching one corner against a receiver like CeeDee Lamb makes coverages predictable:
You can run every coverage principle that you want when you go down that road of matching a guy. The challenge when you match a guy, it's not the (cover) guy – the player's just looking for a jersey number and he's going to that side – it's the rest of the secondary that has to play off that. We've done it before and we feel comfortable with it. It used to be much easier years ago when a great receiver was just the X receiver or just the Z receiver and you knew exactly where he was going to be. That's not the case in today's football with these great wideouts. CeeDee absolutely is one of those. He plays Z, he plays X, he plays slot, he motions. That is the challenge. We talked about adapting and evolving. You've had to do that with defenses because offenses, they move those great wideouts around so when you go down the road of matching somebody, you know the issues.
On executing the plan, sacking Bears QB Justin Fields five times, and how that applies to Cowboys QB Dak Prescott:
We should've had seven or eight, for the record. But, yeah, you talk about executing a game plan and just getting after it, it was great to see last week. The first game of the year against them, I think we had three or four. It's a coordinated effort in the sense of the rush and coverage working together. That's the thing when you play against a Dak – Dak's in the same mold. Dak can create with his feet and his legs. The big thing was you never want to rush cautious. You've got to rush smart.
More on Prescott:
I was in Washington when Dak came into the league and just seeing him, what he's been able to do the last eight years, I have a ton of respect for him. I think he's played a lot of good football his entire career but I don't know if he's ever played as good as he's playing right now as far as being incredibly efficient. They put a lot on his plate as far as getting them in and out of good plays, canning things, and he's playing at an elite level. And he's got a bunch of good targets around him, too, with a great O-line.
On DL Devonte Wyatt:
I think D-Wy finished with 5.5 (sacks), if I'm not mistaken. I hate when coaches say, 'Oh, he could've had three or four sacks' and you look at them like, 'Come on.' D-Wy missed a legitimate five sacks this year. He was very close to having a 10-sack year. It was great to see the way he finished. I think it's a testament to the kid. He shows up every day and grinds and works and it's paid off for him with the numbers.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich
On RB Aaron Jones:
Just the way he hits the line of scrimmage is pretty elite in this league. There's a few guys that have that ability to hit the line of scrimmage with that speed and just attack the defenders. I love watching him run, I love how he approaches it, I love how he gets off on the snap and just frickin' hits the holes. It's fun to watch, it really is. And he's such a special guy and such a good leader for our team, just leading by example. I don't have enough great things to say about Aaron Jones, just how he plays and he's just been such a tremendous asset for our offense. He makes us two-dimensional. At his age, it's very rare, obviously, to see a back pushing 30 and still play ball like that.
On how much Micah Parsons moves around:
This probably is the most for a guy this year that we've played. They kind of remind me of how they used to use Jadeveon Clowney with the Texans, where they'd play him off the ball, move him around and just try to create as many mismatches as they could. They do a great job just putting him in different spots, making you just always be aware of where he's at. He's obviously a matchup problem so you've got to make sure you always know where he is and have an answer.
On battling through the offensive struggles earlier:
Anytime you can stick together and then come out on the other end going through some tough times, it really makes you such a strong group. And that's what we have now. Every guy out there I trust – every guy out there, every coach out there, it's just fun to be around. And they bring so much to the table and they play so hard for each other. Yeah. It's a special thing. We've got a special offense for sure. And a special team.
On WR Romeo Doubs:
He's a quiet guy, behind-the-scenes guy, but he just goes out there and makes plays. And he's a pretty reliable player. He's got strong hands and I think it's kind of a security blanket for Jordan, obviously, when you know you've got a guy you can throw a fade up to, you can throw a 1-on-1 up to, and he'll come down with it more often than not.
On QB Jordan Love's demeanor:
He's a pretty even-keeled guy, but on game day, he's still pretty chill, but you can see the fire in his eyes, and the competitor, you can really just tell about him, which is pretty cool.
