Packers' coordinators boast sunnier disposition after outlasting Atlanta
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- After winning their first game in more than one month, the Packers' three coordinators discussed how Green Bay was able to knock off the Atlanta Falcons.
Here are three question-and-answer highlights from each coordinator:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR DOM CAPERS
1. Overall, why do you think you were better stopping the run against Atlanta compared to your struggles in that area in the previous month?
CAPERS: "I thought everybody did their job. I thought our front guys were physical. We had some guys step up and whip blocks, separate off of blocks. It thought our linebackers and our secondary fit the runs very well. I felt like we would see, based off our performance the week before, they were certainly going to come in and test us running the ball because they'd run it very well against Buffalo the week before. We worked extremely hard on it and I thought it paid dividends. I liked, other than two runs, I liked the way our run defense played."
2. What was the thinking behind putting Jarrett Bush in the lineup, bumping up Micah Hyde and benching Davon House?
CAPERS: "Well, we wanted to put Micah in nickel, try to get Tramon (Williams) back outside. We had been playing Tramon inside. I think he's a more natural outside player. We thought Micah could give us some things from a blitz standpoint inside. You noticed he had two or three nice plays blitzing off the edge. Of course Jarrett, he's been around here, he understands both positions. He can play both inside positions. We were very fortunate (Sunday) because at the end of the game we lost two linebackers, so we only had one linebacker and Jarrett had to become our linebacker in there and finish out the game. He did a nice job of it."
3. Were you happy with your defense's improved tackling in this game?
CAPERS: "It was our best tackling performance of the season. I think there was two, we had one on the first play of the 2-minute right at the end when they checked the ball down, and we missed there. And we missed the one which resulted in the touchdown. I think we had 15 the week before."
SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR SHAWN SLOCUM
1. A. How far could Mason Crosby have attempted a field goal from in Sunday's winter weather conditions?
SLOCUM: "Well, he kicked it as far as he could, just like their guy apparently tried to do. The ball's about like hitting a rock on a day like that."
1. B. Falcons kicker Matt Bryant didn't look nearly as comfortable as Crosby. Is that the advantage to playing at home as an outdoor, cold-weather team?
SLOCUM: "We kicked in the stadium Wednesday and Friday. It's got to be an advantage for us. This is our home. We spend time working with it and I thought both of our guys kicked the ball well (Sunday)."
2. What gave you the confidence in Crosby after his poor 2012 season to stick with him?
SLOCUM: "Kicking the ball in the NFL is no easy chore. I think Mason's had some high points; he's had some low points. He's at an excellent point right now. He's a very talented kicker. It's a tough process and it's easy, as I said last year, the easy thing to do is to change personnel. That's not always the right thing to do. He's having a good year, that's a credit to him and his work ethic."
3. So, by that line of thinking then, what made the team give up on Jeremy Ross?
SLOCUM: "Well, Mason played one position for us. The other young man (Ross) played more positions. He had some problems before he left us. They were critical. In four consecutive games he had two major problems and we made a decision to move. He did a nice job against us, he did a nice job (Sunday) in the snow."
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR TOM CLEMENTS
1. What made the difference in Matt Flynn's performance against Atlanta compared to in Detroit?
CLEMENTS: "Well, I think the biggest thing is the entire offense performed better. I've said a number of times throughout the years that when things go wrong, the quarterback gets an inordinate amount of the blame. When they go well, he gets a lot of the credit. When we played Detroit, we didn't do much of anything. Everyone contributed to that. (Sunday), we performed better and everybody contributed to that."
2. The offense has allowed 12 sacks in the two games with Flynn as the starting quarterback. What's your level of concern with that?
CLEMENTS: "We'd like to avoid them, obviously. Like most everything, there's enough blame to go around. I can think of three sacks where a guy missed an assignment (and) they got a sack off of it. You'd like to be able to avoid those entirely. Others were just a variety of factors caused them. We look at it, try to correct it and make sure it doesn't happen."
3. Flynn attempted 13 of his 32 passes to tight ends. Was Flynn looking for the tight ends specifically?
CLEMENTS: "I think that's just the way the game unfolded because of things they were doing. At times they were giving us short throws in the flat. We hit a couple of those to the tight ends. Other times they jumped underneath routes on Jordy (Nelson) or someone else and left the tight end open. It's just the way it worked out. For the touchdown, we got a matchup with a smaller safety on a tight end and that's a matchup we like. So the way the game went kind of dictated that that happened."
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