Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers spoke with the media for over 20 minutes on Wednesday at Lambeau Field.
His team will go on the road to play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the NFC Championship Game.
Here are the highlights from the press conference:
– On the feeling of the week: “Feels like a normal Wednesday.” Said key is to keep everything normal. Wednesday was a walk-through practice.
– On 49ers edge rusher Dee Ford: “Very disruptive player.”
– On 49ers linebacker Kwon Alexander: “When he played, he was a difference-maker. Fast, athletic. Talented player.”
– Crowd in San Francisco can affect communication, but Rodgers confident in going on the road. “We’ve played in tough environments on the road.” Expecting a loud environment. “We have to start faster than we did earlier in the season and take care of the football.”
– On 49ers pass-rush: “They have a lot of first-rounders who play like it. They’re difference-makers. They can push the pocket inside. Versatile players. They can really get after you rushing just four.”
– On 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman: “He’s a talented player. He never lost it. You have to be smart about what routes you’re throwing at him. He’s one of the headiest players to ever play that position.”
– On the Packers offensive line: “They’ve had a really good season. They’ve started all the games together. I feel good about all the backups if they need to step in.”
– On growing up as a 49ers fan: “I usually dreamed about playing for the 49ers as a kid, but obviously that thing passed a long time ago. I do remember some great games over the years between the 49ers and Packers.”
– On Tyler Ervin: “He’s made a huge difference for us.”
– On six-game win streak: “I feel like we’ve been trending in the right direction. It’s the work week. It’s the preparation. It’s the install. It’s just fine tuning some stuff that we needed to midseason. It’s really helped us play a little more intelligently, a little more reactive. If you look at the number of mental mistakes over the last six weeks, they’ve been significantly down, and I attribute that to Matt and his staff with slight changes they’ve made with the installs and practice stuff we’ve been doing.
– More on improvements over last six weeks: “Big key to these six weeks was the confidence we gained the first two games after that (San Francisco) loss and then winning those three division games. I just think we learned a lot about ourselves in the process of how we go about our week. I feel like our process from Monday to Saturday improved during that time, and as a direct correlation, the mental mistakes decreased, and that allowed us to play a little quicker, a little faster and we just had less busts. I feel like we just had too many of those over the first 10-11 games. I don’t know if it was simplifying things in the install or the weekly practice, but I feel like there was a concerted effort to get on the same page, and even those it wasn’t the prettiest of six wins, our mental focus has been a lot better those six weeks.”
– On adjustments: “That’s what Matt did a great job of Sunday. I think we made really good in-game adjustments, especially early on as we saw some things that were different than on film.”
– On Packers players getting snubbed: “I do know there has been some incredible performances from our guys and maybe they haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve. But I hope we all remember why we’re doing this though, and it’s to win championships, and when you win championships, everybody wins. As someone who has won some of those individual awards, I’d definitely trade those for a couple more rings.”
– On staying calm during a big game: “I think a team takes on the attitude from its head coach and leaders. When you have a head coach and a leadership group that’s pretty even-keeled and you have great personalities within that, like a David Bakhtiari, Za’Darius Smith, Davante Adams, who are able to keep things loose and guys not tightening up. This is the same type of game. It’s 60 minutes. It’s 11-on-11. It’s all the cliches. The problem is when you make it bigger than it needs to be. When you try to do too much. When you try and cover for somebody else in your own mind. That’s when the mistakes happen.”
– On playing loose: “I think if you look at this game, they’re favored by 7.5 (points), so they’re expected to hold court and win. People know how we played last time. If you look at pressure, the pressure is in a certain place, and we should be nice and loose.”
– On 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Salah: “You appreciate his passion and his love for his guys. His defense is a smart defense. They swarm to the football. They try and punch the ball out. They have high picks up front to get after you. They understand how that affects the rest of the defense and how that affects timing. They really do a great job playing together. The coach is a really talented coach, I’m sure he’ll be a head guy at some point.”
– On Davante Adams: “He’s made a number of plays this season that show how connected we are. That really shows his recall.”
– On 49ers keying on Adams: “You have to understand what they’re going to try and do to us, and taking away 17 is going to be right near the top of the list because he’s so talented. We have to find ways of getting him the football still. The best offenses, you still find ways to get the football to your go-to guy. We have to find a way to get him the ball and we have to have contributions from other guys on the perimeter as well because you know (Adams) will be a focal point of their defense.”