GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators and offensive assistant coaches met with the media over the past couple of days. Here's a sampling of their key comments.

Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia

On getting LB Edgerrin Cooper back on special teams:

It was good to have him back because he was second in tackles going into it and now he's first in tackles; Zayne Anderson moved to No. 2. Everyone likes everything about Edgerrin. I call him Frosty; that's kind of his nickname. You can ask him if he wants to tell you why. He's a ball magnet. That's the best thing about him that I can say. Athletically, he does things that you really can't teach. We're just trying to put him in position in the kicking game to see where he can help us make a play. A few weeks ago, he played out there at the flier for us on the left side before he got his (injury). We're glad to have him back.

On preparing for Darren Rizzi's units with the Saints:

They've always been a rush-first team on punt. So, they have a lot of different looks to prepare for. They hit us for a touchdown in last year's game. He's been at it a long time. His players play with a lot of energy and a great zeal. They're complicated in their punt rushes and he's been a good protection team over time. I'm a little familiar with what he's going through. You've got to wear an extra hat. I think the whole team is playing really well and, certainly, the special teams is in general. They're a fast, physical unit. They've been in every game. It's been a difficult team to prepare for.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley

On LB Eric Wilson when he's taken over in the middle in previous games:

He performed really well. He did it in Indy, he did it at Houston, he did it at Jacksonville, and at that position there's a lot that goes into it. One, he's got to get the call from me, he's got to give that to everybody, he's got to make checks up front, he's got to make checks behind him, he's got to calm everything down, he's got to get certain guys lined up. Eric's a really smart player. We cross-train all those guys so Eric's played Sam, Mike and the Will, and when you've got to get that green dot halfway through a game, that's not easy. Some of our calls can be kind of lengthy. So for him to make a tackle, get up, shake off whatever has happened, gather everybody up, tell everybody the call, hear something else I might tell him what I think is coming to tell this guy or that guy, and then line up and make a close call … I mean, there's a lot that goes into that. He's a veteran guy who brings a calmness and I think he's had success doing that.

On LB Edgerrin Cooper:

He just makes a lot of splash plays. You see how fast he is, he's a great tackler, he's a great blitzer, he should've had two interceptions in the game. He'll tell you that, so I'm not knocking him at all. His ability to close … he can eat up the grass really fast. And sometimes he might not be in the right position, but he has that ability to make up for it. So the more he learns, he's going to get better and better and better, and he's really matured and developed. We just need him to stay healthy so he can practice and then play more and more. I mean, we would have played him more last week but he was coming off a soft-tissue injury so we didn't want to re-injure him. But he obviously played really well. He's been the NFC player of the week twice now.

On CB Carrington Valentine:

The way he practiced last week, I knew he was going to play well. That's not just me like blowing smoke. Like, if you watched him practice last week, the way he pressed, the way he covered, he had multiple interceptions, he had multiple PBUs, and then when you see him do it in the game … I said to him right after the game – obviously I congratulated him – but that's how he practiced. And when you do that, that's usually what happens on game day. He's another guy that he's been in and out of practice, he's had injuries, he wasn't here for a lot of the training camp, and now he's kind of getting in the groove and he's playing really well and I would expect that from him moving forward.

On where the defense is overall:

I think we're in a good spot. I do. I think where we're at right now is our guys understand what we're doing and they're playing really fast and they're playing really hard and they're starting to make a lot of plays. And you can see it. Whether I sit up in the booth, or whether I put on the tape, they're playing fast and they're physical and they're playing hard. So what that tells me is, they know what they're doing. So therefore I think we're in a good spot. And I give the coaches credit and I give the players credit for getting to that point. Because you could feel it. Like, if you turn on Week 1 to now, it's a totally different speed and confidence.

I think we need to be more consistent. We have been in certain games. Last week was a great example of that, but we need to be consistent as we finish the season and we need to continue to take the steps to do that. There can't be lapses. And there can't be mistakes if we're going to try to do what we think we can do. But the guys are starting to feel like they can, and that is THE most important thing to me. There's a confidence in that room right now and that is so, so important —where when they're playing, they're not thinking as much, and they're just doing it and they're communicating and they're starting to have fun doing it. And you can see that in practice, too.

Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich

On TE Luke Musgrave's comeback:

We got him out there in team (11-on-11 in practice) and he looked good. He was running around. Kind of the big thing is just to see how he can do blocking and changing direction and things like that. But his linear speed looked good. He made some plays down the field running. Yeah, we'll see. It's just a day-to-day thing and we'll see if we can get him out there on Monday.

On spreading the ball around on offense:

The good thing is like the guys, they're for the most part like, they get it. They're just team guys where you don't really have to explain it because they're not like that. Their egos are out of it and they just want to win and they understand. They're not dumb. It's a good problem to have in that sense, too. We just have a lot of selfless guys.

On WR Christian Watson's big impact lately:

It's been awesome. His explosive plays have just really propelled this offense, and it's been kinda weird because some of these games, you're like wow, we had this many yards and we only had 45 plays. And then you look at it, and Christian had like three plays over 40 yards or whatever it is. So it's great. Anytime you can get those explosive plays, explosive plays lead to points. Next to protecting the football, it's getting explosives in the NFL is what leads to points.

Once you get those plays, yeah, everyone kinda gets fed. So it's been really nice having Christian make those plays down the field. I think it scares the defenses, too. I'm sure he's one of the big concerns, just his vertical stretch down the field making those big plays, which opens up the underneath stuff for everyone else.

Passing game coordinator Jason Vrable

On how many passes the receivers should catch each day:

The guideline is every single day that we're around, we gotta catch 100 footballs. In practice, you only literally catch through RVAs, through individual and through group of practice, you probably only catch 30 balls, so the other 70 at every different angle have to come from a coach, a quarterback afterwards, a JUGS machine before, a JUGS machine after. I mean, that's the bare minimum. We've got guys who've been here before in the past who said you should catch 200 balls. It's whatever you gotta do to be comfortable when you're out there catching the football. It allows you to have YAC, keeps us on the field, wins a lot of games. You gotta think, alright, our offense has done well this year. Imagine if we took away all the drops. I'm not saying no one has them, the game's imperfect. But if you caught 80% of those, added on another 400 yards, probably another four touchdowns, you'd be talking about a top unit in the NFL there.

More on Watson:

Just his press releases. He's found a way to get an edge a little bit quicker than maybe he did at the beginning of the year. I'm not saying the last two years it wasn't there, I just feel like when you truly break it down, he's found a way to get behind the guy or on the high hip faster and cleaner than maybe he did against some of the other opponents. You can see it and you can feel it. I think the confidence is truly there too. You can just feel him out on the field. It's more consistency. If he were to run 10 routes, nine out of 10 are at a high level, and that's really good in an NFL game.

Quarterbacks coach Tom Clements

On QB Jordan Love's recent strong play:

The first thing, he's protecting the ball, making good decisions and making good throws. We had talked about it … that we needed to get on a run of our offense playing well, Jordan doing well and protecting the ball, and he's bought into that. We still work on all the fundamentals. There were some things we talked about, and we've worked on him in practice, and he's been diligent about working on those things, even in our walk-throughs. He's really focused. He's playing well. We're playing well, not making big mistakes, and winning some games.

On playing better later in the season:

It's a process. You start the season and you're trying to figure out what your identity is, and because each year it's a little different, and then you're trying to hit on all cylinders. I think it's a function of you keep doing the little things right, you keep doing the fundamental things right, and that gets you in position to make plays during the game. And as you get more in tune with those aspects of the game, as the season goes on, you get better and better and better.

On the value of last year's playoff experience:

We were a young team last year and we're still young, so it was good that everyone got that near the end of the year last year. Most of our games were playoff-type games, because we needed to win them to get into the playoffs. And then we got in, won a game, had a chance to win against San Francisco. It didn't work out, but it can only help everyone who was a young player at that time to experience what it's like in the playoffs and then to experience what it's like to lose in the playoffs, because you remember that I think everyone remembers that, and we're just at this point trying to win the next game, hopefully get into the playoffs and see what happens.

Wide receivers coach Ryan Mahaffey

More on Watson:

It starts with his release. You see him right now at the line of scrimmage, I think he's being very decisive. He's attacking across the line of scrimmage, so he's able to create some separation. And then right now, Christian's doing a nice job of being able to play through contact where he's able to hold some space down the sideline. It's always going to start with your stance, your start and your release, being able to save some space on the sideline to make sure the quarterback feels comfortable putting that ball out there.

On WR Dontayvion Wicks' improved play lately:

With 'Tay you see a very competitive spirit in him. Whether it's blocking, whether it's running a route, whether it's the separation he's able to generate at the line of scrimmage, what I see is that you've got a guy who's very motivated to go out there and help his team in any way possible. Football's important to him. He's putting the time in. You can just feel his passion for the game, and I think you can feel his competitive spirit that, hey, I want to make sure I'm doing this thing right for my teammates to give them a chance to go out there and have success, whether that's in the run game or the pass game. He's unique in that ability to be a difference-maker in both aspects of the game.

Offensive line coach Luke Butkus

On Saints DT Bryan Bresee:

He's a really good football player, talented. But what stands out with him is his effort. The guy doesn't stop and he has a motor. If he was really good and he took a couple plays off here and there, we could weather that storm. But when you're that good and you play hard, you better be able to match his intensity, his physicality. We gotta own the line of scrimmage. That's what we're talking about this week. It starts with those interior guys.

On C Josh Myers:

It's consistency, because he'll string some great plays together, and then he'll play with some high hips or get caught leaning at times, and he knows that. I think once he realized that and he's starting to coach himself, it's pretty cool. Him and Elgton Jenkins back there, makes your job a lot easier sitting in front of the room when they're talking to the younger guys, or they're grabbing Rasheed Walker or Sean Rhyan or Zach Tom and telling them what they see.

Tight ends coach John Dunn

On TE Luke Musgrave's return:

It's just day to day trying to get back … trying to incorporate a little different movements as he gets back and build on things and build on days, just kind of seeing where he's at.

On TE Tucker Kraft's workload:

I've said this before, you talk about a guy that loves playing football. He's got a big workload and he does a lot for us and I try to get him out when he needs (a break). But he loves playing the game. It's obviously benefited him, because you play that much you're naturally going to get better, learn things.

How hard he works, how hard he studies, what it means to him, it's really no surprise that it manifests itself onto the field on gamedays. He wants to be great in every area.

Running backs coach Ben Sirmans

On RB Josh Jacobs' regimen:

Just in talking with him, I know he does a good job whether it's what he's eating, getting the proper rest, whether it's massages, whatever he has to do to take care of his body to get himself refreshed, and then we try to take care of him on the practice field. Even then, we'll call a play and he's running 70 yards downfield for a touchdown. It's like man come back, come back. That's just how he plays. The good part about having that mentality is that's what you see on Sunday and Monday.

On his physicality:

He does a good job of absorbing hits. When he takes a shot, sometimes you may see guys bounce off of him. It's not allowing people to unfold on him with all that force. Then, you'll see him spin off stuff when he gets hit. Some guys don't even try – they don't want to totally unleash on him just because they understand if you go at this guy full speed and he's coming at you, you're gonna feel that.

When you're a physical player or you're making a play, a lot of times that just vibrates and permeates throughout the rest of the team. I think guys can feed off what he's giving when he's in there through his effort. That physicality he shows, sometimes it'll amp guys up that are around you to also be physical. Plus, we show the tape – not just him. We're showing our receivers going in, blocking safeties, sometimes blocking linebackers. It's just that whole vibe helps to create this attitude … they get after people. So, you feel that, especially when you're watching tape on Monday. That's part of the culture that's being built.