3 Coordinators, 3 Questions: Cobb in backfield gives Packers new weapon
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The film had been reviewed and the grades had been assessed, and it should be of little surprise that there were far more positives than negatives for the Green Bay Packers' coordinators to talk about. No team can beat the New England Patriots without doing many things at a high level.
Here are three question-and-answer highlights with each Packers coordinator:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR DOM CAPERS
1. Out of all the players you sent in coverage on Rob Gronkowski, did Ha Ha Clinton-Dix do the best job? If not, who did?
CAPERS: "I'll say this, that I thought there were times that we had Clay (Matthews) on him, and I thought Clay did a nice job. Now, we were giving Clay some help inside, but I thought he was physical as far as collision-ing him at the line of scrimmage, and the snaps that we did have Clay on him, I don't think he was a great factor. But you saw them, what they're doing is they're going to see what your matchups are; they had him out wide, they hit him a couple of times, but I think we won our share of the battles. He caught a slant route on us, and you saw his ability after the catch because he's so big. We had three missed tackles on the one play down there close to the goal line."
2. Tom Brady was caught by TV cameras using some colorful language. Do you think your defense was able to frustrate him as the game wore on?
CAPERS: "I don't know about that. Tom is a tremendous competitor. I had the good fortune of being around him for a while. There's a reason why he's one of the best to ever play the game. The guy is extremely accurate. You saw, it was a third-down play in the last drive, I believe, where Micah Hyde had great coverage, and he just put the ball right where you had to put it. It was an earned catch. That's one that you just put down that they made a great play and you move on. I thought Micah had good coverage. That's one of his greatest assets is his accuracy, and he's a tremendous competitor."
3. Did you feel it was necessary before the game, once the defensive plan was in place, to let A.J. Hawk know he wouldn't be nearly as involved as usual?
CAPERS: "Well, A.J. is a smart guy. He's been kind of like a coach on the field. So he understands what we're doing with the different personnel groups. He has the ability to see the big picture. So he makes all the calls and checks and adjustments when he's out there and has a great feel for that. So I think he knows why we're doing different things. It's not like it's a rookie that you've really got to explain each step why, 'This is why we're doing this.' He's very well aware what our opponent does, their tendencies and why we're trying to match up certain personnel groups."
SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR SHAWN SLOCUM
1. When Micah Hyde tried scooping up that punt return that was first touched by the Patriots, did he do exactly what he should have done?
SLOCUM: "There's a lot that goes on with that scenario. . . . At that time, the returner has the opportunity to return the ball with little risk. The only risk is if we were to incur a penalty after we took possession of the ball. Otherwise, we could go back and take it where they first touched it. On that play, they touched it at the 17-yard line and Micah went to try to pick it up and subsequently batted the ball out of bounds at the 17-yard line, so the ball was marked at the 17. So that's the way I understand it."
2. Hyde was credited with a muffed catch and a fumble. Was that scored incorrectly in the game book?
SLOCUM: "It's a smart play by him because of the little risk on first touch. You've seen it here over the last few years some plays made that were significant plays where because there's not much risk, you go try to advance the ball."
3. Mason Crosby had the one that went out of bounds, but how'd you feel his kickoffs were overall in this game?
SLOCUM: "OK. I thought Mason was really trying to do a lot with the kicks. The wind was kind of squirrelly. If you hit it high, it's not going to go in the end zone. I think he could trust the coverage and let us run underneath the football a little better."
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR TOM CLEMENTS
1. What did you like about the matchups when using Cobb out of the backfield?
CLEMENTS: "Well, it gives the defense a different look, and he not only can release in a pass pattern out of the backfield but we use him as a runner sometimes. The defense, they have to respect the run because he's gotten some big runs from out of the backfield. As a pass receiver coming out of the backfield, they just have to account for him and it's a little bit different alignment for them at times. He's a dangerous weapon and we try to use him as best we can."
2. What went wrong in the red zone all four times?
CLEMENTS: "Well, throughout the course of the year, we've been pretty good in the red zone. First off, you have to give them credit. We had one situation where the last red zone trip could've been a touchdown. We'll look at what we did well and what we did poorly and correct it."
3. Davante Adams was playing so well until that drop near the goal line. What can he learn from that situation?
CLEMENTS: "It was a pass that should have been caught. He realizes that. I'm not sure why it wasn't. You'd have to ask him. He had a good day except for that play that you referred to. I'm sure it gives him a lot of confidence knowing that he can be a good contributor."
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