packers.com
This is a really nice addition to the Packers' web site this year.quote:
When you lose a player on defense, does the new player have to fit into the defense or will the defense have to change for that person?
That process starts during the acquisition of players. The NFL is about player acquisition, player instruction and player finance. Those three components have to be in place to be a successful NFL organization. To merge player acquisition and player instruction, there have to be systems and structures of systems that you’re able to tailor to any player you bring into your program. It’s limiting to go into a pool of players and only acquire players that possess a specific physical skill set. The Packers have a view that’s pretty simple – we’re looking for good football players. If an individual is a very good player and has a certain set of skills, then our system of offense, defense and special teams has to accommodate that player. We don’t turn good football players away.
Q. What was the mood of the locker room at halftime in Atlanta?
Confident. This team is mature and there’s no panic. The only message the coordinators spoke about was the direction we were going in the second half. My message to the team was simply that we had taken Atlanta’s best shot to start the game, including the surge of the crowd. I talked about adversity football. The game was going to come down to making big plays, key plays, and that’s our strength. We feel that’s been our strength all year, and this game was coming into our wheelhouse. The momentum was coming back to us, and it was time for us to just play our game. There was no panic and an abundance of confidence. With the score 14-6, we felt the toughest part of the challenge was behind us, and it was time for us to take over the game. Our defense led the way in the second half by shutting down the Falcons.
Q. How did Derek Sherrod play?
Derek played a solid game, as far as his grading, but you always have to take into account how he entered the game. He’s probably taken more repetitions at left tackle than right tackle, but the way the game plan was set and based on Marshall Newhouse’s experience, we felt it was best to put Marshall on the left and Derek on the right. I thought they both did a nice job.
Q. In terms of improvement, what’s the next step?
It’s the fundamentals. When we come together after the game as a team, when the offense, defense and special teams have all seen the film and it’s been graded, I talk about the assignments and the challenges of the next week’s preparation. I talk to them extensively about tackling, and we’ll practice that both Wednesday and Thursday. It’s staying after the fundamentals, the things that don’t really show up on a normal statistics chart, because that’s what it comes down to. We’re always going to have a good game plan for our players. Our players are doing a great job of staying with the game plan. We’re getting better as a team and you can see it. There’s a way that practice is supposed to look, the way they carry themselves, the crispness in and out of the drills. We are seeing that established, and we are seeing it carry over to the field. There are segments of all five games this year where we’ve felt like it’s looked the way it’s supposed to look, we’re just not sustaining it for 60 minutes. That’s our next step. We want to have a great week of preparation, and we want to go out and perform at a very high level for 60 minutes.continue
