PACKERS COACH MATT LAFLEUR
On sticking with the ground game:
"That's why it all ties together. It is important that you stay with the run game whether it is going to your liking or not. It does open up stuff for you down the field and that played a big role tonight with the keepers and play passes that we ran."
On Za'Darius Smith's play:
: "He is consistently one of our best defensive players. He is one of the best defensive players in the league. He is a guy that you have to account for on every play. He can certainly cause problems for you. We went for it on fourth down and didn't get it. He came up with the play of the game that swung it in our favor."
On the defense bouncing back after the Kamara touchdown:
"I think there was a lot of good on both sides of the ball and I think there are some things that we need to clean up if we want to be the team that we feel like we are capable of being. Alvin Kamara is a great player. He does this consistently. He makes big plays and makes people miss. That was going to be one of the keys to the game being able to neutralize him. He had too many good plays on us. There was a lot of good, but we just have to be more consistent as a defense. There are times where we are firing at a high level. There are times when teams get big plays and consistently march down the field. Although we are happy with the win, there is a lot to improve upon."
On Allen Lazard's play:
"Allen's been a such a consistent performer for us in the pass and run game. He is a guy that continues to make plays. I am so happy for him. The initial 53 he wasn't on it. He has earned everything that he has gotten. He has the respect of all of his teammates. He has all of the coaches respect. He has become a really high level player for our offense."
On what is good flow:
"I think it's trying to get it to him in a timely manner. He gives us so much flexibility on offense in handling some of these long calls. That is such a credit to him and the rest of our players because your assignment changes in a matter of just a few instances. Now, you have to refocus. And try to put it all together based upon what the defense is presenting you. Our players' ability and football intelligence really opens up our offense to create these explosive plays down the field."
On setting a performance standard for the offense:
"Certainly you'd like to put up those numbers every week. It's the NFL and not always that easy. I think a big reason why we are generating points is that we take a good job of taking care of the football. Our quarterback is as good as anybody ever. He makes great decision and throws with great timing and accuracy. Our offensive line has done a great job for us in the run and pass game. A big emphasis going into this season was our third down conversions. We've been so much better on third down. That's a credit to our guys. We put it in our quarterback's hands and he give us great looks. That's a credit to all of our guys."
On putting this win into perspective:
"I think that we did spend a lot of time this offseason. There were a lot of Zoom meetings. It's a credit to everybody and their ability to take all of the information in and execute the play calls. I can't say enough about our offensive staff coming up with great game plans. There is a lot of communication going on throughout the game and that's a credit to everybody. We are taking everybody's input. There is a lot of great communication going on. It is just a bunch of guys working together trying to do the best job possible."
On Aaron Rodgers' progression:
"I think it is a culmination of banked reps. He can take in a lot of information, which is a benefit to us because we can put more on his plate. He never flinches. He handles it. He's the catalyst for our offense. He gets us going in the right direction."
On the rotation of the backs:
"I think that is something we can go and take a look it. I need to make sure the right guys are in at the right time. I have a lot of trust in all of those guys. We put our guys in the best position for success, but sometimes it doesn't work out. That's a credit to the New Orleans Saints. We knew coming into this game that it was not going to be easy to run the football. They have one of the best defenses in the league. Dennis Allen does a great job. He has a sound scheme. You're going to play a lot of 8-man front. They are gap sound. It's hard to run the ball."
QUARTERBACK AARON RODGERS
On thriving under pressure:
"Any time you are playing a Drew Brees team, then you know that you have to score. The two times that we've played down here I have felt like they put up 50 both times I know one time they put up 51. We knew the type of game (to expect). Right now on offense we feel really good about it. Matt (LaFleur) had a really nice flow with the calls. He did a nice job on third down for the most part. We were opportunistic with some big plays when we needed it. We got some guys involved. We had a number of guys catch passes and a number of guys we needed to play well played well."
On the defensive coverages:
"They were definitely worried about (Marquez Valdes-Scantling's) speed over the top. He was definitely getting some help on his side, which freed up some of the other guys. This was a night where we worked it down the field. We had a lot of keepers as well. Tonight the keeper game was working. It was a very efficient play for us."
On drawing Demario Davis offsides:
"I was definitely watching the play clock there. There were a couple of times earlier where they were really cued into the play clock. At that time, I felt OK about the call, but I wanted to talk to Matt (LaFleur) about it. I was thinking about calling timeout, but they jumped. We protected up pretty good. I threw one up to Allen (Lazard) and he did a nice job of fighting for it. Obviously we had the PI there that set us up nice on the one-yard line."
On the advantage of the lack of fans at a place like the Mercedes-Benz Superdome:
"I miss the fans. I really do. I miss the environment. It doesn't matter if it is a road game. The cheers and the jeers and the boos. Everything that goes with the road games. I obviously miss our crowd at Lambeau. They're so much fun. There's nothing like coming down Lombardi and taking a right into the parking lot. The throngs of people that are excited about the games. Hopefully, we can get the fans back at some point. There were a couple hundred out there tonight."
On the momentum swings in the fourth quarter:
"It was huge. It was a tie game and we had a big play by Z. We made a couple of plays in that drive especially on a third down where we were discombobulated. We got it on over to Jace (Sternberger) to make that field goal a little bit shorter. We all love Mason (Crosby). He has been a rock for us for so many years. He made some big kicks tonight. The one to take the lead was from 49. It was good to see Jace make a big catch to get us going. We had some really good calls down at the goal line. They were all knifing down in there. It was a beautiful call to fake the inside handoff to the boot to ice it. That was a big call by Matt (LaFleur) and the execution was spot on."
On putting pressure on other teams to put points up on the scoreboard:
"We have had some good teams over the years. I remember the 2014 offense where we were scoring 20+ points in every first half. I wasn't playing a bunch of fourth quarters that year because we were lighting up the scoreboard. In 2011, we had a really good offense and put up some amazing numbers. This offense is so different. We were missing Davante (Adams). I think a lot of teams look at us and see that we don't have many stars to be worried about. Aaron Jones is a talented guy and you have to try to take him away. You never know whose day it's going to be. Week one was Davante. Week two was a number of other guys. Aaron Jones had a big one. Today it was kind of all over the place. It wasn't an explosion of offense, but the efficiency was really, really good. We went four for five in the red zone. Big Dog's play on the sideline was huge. The first touchdown to Allen was a great play call. There was so much stress on the defense with guys flying and sliding and coming back on the other side. I feel so much more comfortable in the offense this year. I think Matt has settled into the rhythm of the play calling and has made my job a lot easier. I've gotten sacked twice in three games. Tonight was probably my fault by not adjusting to protection. The offensive line has blocked extremely well."
On getting the tight ends involved:
"It's just the flow of the game. Bobby had a number of plays where we got him sliding across the formation. Jace had the same opportunities for a couple of his plays. I wasn't trying to intentionally throw him the ball. To be honest, there was not a lot of confidence there after some of those drops. You love to see it. It was great for everybody to get him that first catch. We are a family. We are a tight knit group. We don't want to see one of our guys struggle with confidence. It was fun to see. I'm highlighting it because that's what we do. We support each other. We love each other and we are hard on each other when we need to be hard on them. We'll pick you up and pat you on the ass when you do a good job. Jace had a couple of important plays for us and we are really happy for him."
On Aaron Jones presence opening it up:
"There is a number of things that he brings to the offense that allows us to do some of the other stuff that we are doing. He's never a decoy. He had 69 yards tonight running the ball and a couple of catches, but he played a big factor in the game because he draws so much attention. I think the flow of the calls has been the importance of our success. I can't stress that enough. I really like the way that we started the game. I like the timing on certain calls. You need to dig deep at certain times and trust the players. I really appreciate the flow that we had tonight and the trust in us to make the plays. Tonight we did."
