For Packer fans

[Randall]

By Greg A. Bedard

Monday, Sep 17 2007, 05:53 PM

Green Bay - I asked for questions of the assistant coaches. And you guys delivered, decently.

 

This is going to become a regular Monday thing, as long as we have access to the assistant coaches. So each Monday morning, I will solicit good, focused questions from you guys to ask some of coach Mike McCarthy's assistants (I'll need them by about 2 p.m. so I can get my requests in). Normally, I'll be back around 4 p.m. with the answers to a handful of the best queries.

 

Onto the first installment (sometimes the answers don't quite match up with the questions, but I'm trying. And on occasion I'll pose follow-ups):

 

Only saw Ryan Grant in on 1 play, the screen pass, he looked great. Why didn't we see more of him and will we see more of him?

- Majik

 

Running backs coach Edgar Bennett: "I think he can help us in a number of different areas. I don't think he's just limited to just third downs. He showed some things the other day that he's more than capable of being an extremely productive third-down back, but he's more that. I think he can help in a bunch of different ways."

 

It looked like there were 2 or 3 times where the Giants D-linemen came free into the backfield on running plays. What happened there?

- lawgs

 

Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin: "One time we were in a combination block. Chad (Clifton) was maybe a little too wide and Daryn Colledge didn't protect enough inside and you get a minus-5 play. One time it looked like Mark Tauscher was anticipating help -- probably mistakenly anticipating help, I believe -- and you saw (Michael) Strahan come inside. So, yeah, there were two critical errors in the run game.

Offensive line coach James Campen: "Just our fundamentals broke down on those two plays and certainly you can't have negative rush plays. They were must fundamental breakdowns."

Obviously that was a problem in Week 1. Did you see improvement there in Week 2?

Campen: "They improved from last week to this week. They're not where we want them to be, obviously, but there was some improvement in all facets of the game. But certainly we're not where we want to be as an offensive line."

How do you get that cleaned up?

Philbin: "It's just repetition. You drill things in the individual period and then you work on combination blocks even before you get to the whole offensive unit. And then in team periods we have to show them different looks that require them to do those things, which we were confident we had done enough of. Obviously we didn't because we had those errors pop up on Sunday."

 

It appears that the team runs predominantly to the center and left - without success. Why not try the right side?

-chuck

Philbin: "It all depends. There are certain reads where we might emphasize going to the left side more than others. Sometimes it's dictated by our personnel. Sometimes it's dictated by the opponent's personnel. Sometimes it has to do with the alignment of the receivers and tight ends. But after two games, there's probably some truth to that. We have run a little bit more left than right."

 

It seems like Rob Davis hasn't been sending his routinely perfect snaps lately. Do long snappers lose it with age, or is this a phase?

-#435 - Oconomowoc

Special teams coach Mike Stock (Oco, I couldn't quite bring myself to ask Stock if Davis is washed up quite yet. But we'll see how it goes): "Rob's doing fine. He was not good there (on the low snap on Mason Crosby's miss) but the other snaps and placements were fine. Why that was not good? He's not perfect. I'm not worried.

 

Why didn't we blitz more in order to go after Manning and his wounded shoulder in passing situations? Wouldnt it make sense to exploit this obvious weakness? After all, if they want to be so bold as to risk their franchise QB, why shouldn't we oblige them by teeing off on him?

-The Fatman

Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders (Who looked less than thrilled with the question. Kind of like, 'You do know that we held the Eagles and Giants to 13 points each, right? OK, just making sure, you jerk.' Thanks for that, Fatman. Good times): "Why didn't the team blitz more? Because we call what we think puts us in the best position to be successful. We got a lot pressure on him, especially when we had the sticks and score in our favor."

 

Jon Ryan changed to a two-step technique during the offseason. It appeared to be successful during the preseason, but his average during the first two games has declined. Is this a problem with the technique or is he just not hitting the ball well?

-Moonchicken

Stock: "That was a change from January 1 right after the Chicago Bears game. I gave him a disk with a guy that I think is has been very efficient with two steps, Brad Maynard of the Bears. I gave him the disk of every punt he made last year, and told him to take it home, study it and practice the footwork before you come back in March. And he did.

Right now he's having a little bit of trouble lining the ball up properly. That's because he's trying to take too long with the two steps. His steps are way out of whack. He needs to make sure he slows it down and takes shorter steps so he can get the ball in the right spot."

So it's not the two steps that's giving him problem?

"No. If he was taking three steps, he probably would have had three kicks blocked by now. He was 9.5 yards from the line of scrimmage. Now he's 11. It makes a big difference. Two steps should help him, too, kick the ball better. And right now he's in a little bit of a rut. The first three preseason games, he was outstanding. So the results were good. The fourth preseason game he probably hit three good ones and two poor ones. The last two games he has not been where he should be. He's in a little bit of a rut. But we'll get him out of it."

 

aj hawk has been noticeably absent the first two games. just wondering how he has graded out on the film?? any intention of putting him him in position to make more plays??

-Doug Fluenza

Sorry Doug, I just have to ask (it's been a long travel day): Any relation to In Fluenza? He's not nice.

Sanders: "He's done a lot of positive things. He's working hard and I think Shockey had five catches and he was on him a lot of the day. An excellent player so I thought he did a nice job. There are some things I'm sure he'd like to do better, get off the spot quicker here or there, but I think he'll continue to get better and better."

 

Is there any real reason that the fullback should have no carries, particularly on a counter or dive?

-DANFROMBOSTON

Philbin: "Well, you never say never (on the possibility of a FB getting a carry sometimes this season). It's probably a rarity throughout the league. You don't see that a whole lot but you never say never."

[Fatman]

Where is this from Randall? Some interesting stuff...

 

And no, that wasn't me. Guy did sound like a prick, however, so it very well could've been me.

[Randall]

Where is this from Randall? Some interesting stuff...

 

And no, that wasn't me. Guy did sound like a prick, however, so it very well could've been me.

 

 

From the JSOnline Packers blog.

 

 

I didn't think it was you,