GREEN BAY – The Packers' three coordinators met with the media on Monday. Here's a sampling of their key comments:
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
On AJ Dillon's runs late in the game:
The way he ran the ball yesterday, a lot of people would say there wasn't a lot of yards but I mean he was on a mission. The amount of yards that he had after contact, he was dragging people, running people over. It was awesome. It's about a mentality. You still have to run the ball even if you're not getting those explosives.
On Yosh Nijman stepping in:
He's been going against some premier pass rushers and the good thing about Yosh is it really isn't too big for him. When one guy comes in, they all kind of bond together, they work together and they help each other out. It makes it so they go out there and not skip a beat. Yosh has done such a good job. I can't give him enough credit for going out there. I think on the 10th play of the game he had a pancake.
Defensive coordinator Joe Barry
On Rashan Gary's quick return to action:
You see how much of an impact that Rashan has for us. Preston Smith's just been a rock all year for us, but it was great to have Rashan back yesterday. He battled through a lot because he fought his tail off to get back for us. I'm really proud of him because he's tough as nails, man. He wasn't 100 percent. He's hurting. But man did he battle through it. There was a lot of huge plays yesterday, but that sack-fumble was a crucial part early in the game.
On Kenny Clark:
Kenny's doing a great job of not only being disruptive in the run game, which there was times the last two weeks where really he was unblockable, but he's given us a lot in the pass rush. You know, he had a big sack late in the game yesterday. (I did know that, Joe!) But again, I've told you guys, he is as consistent as a pro that I've ever been around. The guy works every single day. And, I think when you have god-given talent and work ethic but then you prepare like a pro every single day, man, it's not shocking to see the results that you get when the ball's snapped on Sunday. He's really, really playing at a great level for us.
Special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton
On Corey Bojorquez's long, line-drive punt downed at the 1:
What we didn't want to do was have the ball hang up in the wind because the wind was so unpredictable, we didn't want the ball to be affected that way, so we were trying to cut through the wind the best we could. It was really tricky yesterday, so Corey being a lefty – and he has a really nice toolbox that he sprinkles some things in sometimes – you mix that with the conditions, it was a tough ball to catch. I'm just glad we ended up on the good side of that.
On the progress with the field-goal team:
We are encouraged. I physically see the operation getting better. It's never OK to miss a kick. We all know that, we understand that, but there are improvements that we can physically see. It's going to yield results, it's yielding results. I hated – oh man, you're supposed to celebrate every win because they're hard to come by in the National Football League, but that last kick, it just dug at me a little bit and I really couldn't celebrate the way I wanted to. But we're going to get it.
