Tom Rossley Quotations

We'd like to get him hit eight or 10 times early on, try to get that first- or second-game jitters out of him that he's had in years past. Once he gets over that, he's fine. You know, he can go on long streaks without a turnover. Let's get into midseason form at the start of the season.

We're going to let those guards play a lot during the game.

Throughout his career, he has always been a guy who trusts his arm and can get the ball through a very tight window sometimes. His instincts have been right more often than wrong.

There are some parallels. They were a great defense coming in and we had our work cut out for us, as we do this week.

We really like Aaron Rodgers. He had about four bad plays in a game and that made people think he was way off. He's on target to contribute and help us.

Mike is just trying to bring focus to it, attention to it. We have to play within the rules.

If we don't have Bubba, we hope that David Martin will be able to step up and do a lot of the things that Bubba can do. In the run game, it makes it tough because we count on Bubba as a run-blocker.

If they come back -- when they come back -- it will be an added boost. (It will be) another shot of adrenaline to get those playmakers back. And I consider Robert Ferguson and David Martin guys who can make plays.

I don't know anything yet. That hasn't been discussed.

I don't have a hint. If I had a hint, I'd get it to you, but I really don't.

I love Bubba. He's probably the one guy who gets the least amount of respect for what he does. He does a great job for us.

I feel real good. I just got back. I had a lot of tests this morning. The radioactive dye they shot through me and took all the pictures and everything came out positive, everything's very good.

If anything, we're going to dig in and do more because we're very close and we've got to get over the edge.

Fortunately, they let me out in time to get back to the game.

We've got to take advantage of the best guys we've got, and whoever we've got left.

He's just the most consistent guy we got. He always comes and gives you his best and he always makes plays. Every game he makes plays. He's our playmaker now.

He wants us to win. I'm sure he doesn't want to throw the picks. But in a competitive situation, his juices (are) flowing, and he thinks he can make some throws. Sometimes he hasn't. Sometimes he has.

I think that will help us. The confidence he brings by making the right calls and the experience that he's got, that will help us.

Picking the best receiver, that's for the media and fans to decide. But I wouldn't trade any of mine for anybody else's.

Our offense hasn't changed a whole lot from when we played them last time. We've got two new guards, but basically there's a lot of guys returning - and we had 190 yards rushing against them and we controlled the game with our running game. I think they have to be concerned about that. I know they don't want to have that happen to them again.

I think (Green) in his mind wants to have a big game and is ready to have a big game. So all we have to do is feed him, give it to him.

Whoever we've got, we'll line 'em up. We'll go to whoever is healthy and ready to play.

We had hoped to go in that direction more so than we were able to. It hit us late in the week, which was kind of a tough hurdle. But our chances were there.

We have a nice drive and then get no points out of it. That hurt.

Well, right now, we just can't make mistakes like that. Statistics show that you lose the turnover battle, you have a very small chance of winning. It's proven itself the last two ball games.

We'll go back and look and study the tape, but the good thing is they both played well. We're happy with both of them.

We're not evaluating Brett. We're just trying to get a little tempo going with the first group.

We had 190 yards rushing against them and controlled the game with our running game. They have to be concerned about that. I know they don't want that to happen to them again.

We have to be ready for both 3-4 or 4-3. Either way, they've got good talent, (and) their defensive tackles (Pat and Kevin Williams) are outstanding. We spent time (in training camp) on the 3-4 and it shouldn't be a big adjustment for us. Regardless of where they line up inside, we've got to block them.

We've got to get our run game going, so we'll miss him there. But we've got David Martin, who I think will be at full speed, Donald Lee is learning more and more, and we've got Ben Steele.

We want to find out if he can do it.

We kind of know Craig. Craig's played well. But we need to play the other guy (Rodgers) and see what he can do.

We've probably been at our best offensively when we've got in the flow and (we're) changing personnel and teams try to sub with us. It allows you to flow more with different personnel. I think the more weapons we've got, the more we like it.

We're very happy with the way Aaron has played. He's learned our offense and he's continued to get better throughout training camp.

We score right there and you play the game different. It's tied up.

Brett was sharp. Early on, you could tell he was going to have one of his days. He was converting third downs, keeping us on the field.

Did we execute? I don't think we executed the way we want to execute. But for the first go-round, the conditions and all, they fought and battled.

(Cover 2) is not a good run defense. In this league, you've got to be able to run the ball when people are defending the pass.

There's no question we're going to look at Craig a lot this week. He's ready and he's anxious to play.

There's no question that's the No. 1 thing we've got to get fixed between now and the Vikings game. We have to get our run game going.

The tough thing on (Franklin) is we get some new guys in like he's got this week, that means he's got to find time to individually spoon-feed all those players and teach them our system. Who knows how quickly we're going to need them? We could lose a couple more this week.

The whole day it was kind of an unusual scheme for us. They dropped eight and rushed three. You see that some in 2-minute or third-and-20 but to do it as often as they did on first down, you don't see that very often.

You don't want to put anybody out there who's not able to do their best. It's not fair to him. It's not fair to the guys around him. So, that's our concern getting him healthy.

It really limits us in our passing game. We like to use two tight ends in our passing game and we couldn't.

It juices up our guys. It gives you momentum. It gives you life. It makes your team feel like it's controlling the line of scrimmage.

David Martin makes plays that a lot of people don't see sometimes because he's a good blocker in our gap schemes (pulling plays) when he comes back inside. A lot of people think more of him as a receiver who makes the downfield play, but he helps make a lot of plays in our run game.

Do I think he's capable of it? I'd say without question. I think he knows that. I think all of our receivers know that. All of our coaches know that. I think the people that maybe question it are those who aren't in practice every day, don't see the way he practices, the fun he has.

You talk about who they didn't have. We would have loved to have had our front-line people against their front-line people. I think we probably played with less than they did.

It'll be Brett, then Aaron, then probably O'Sullivan. Nall, I don't know about. We'll see how it goes.

It's hard to comment on him. I'll have to go back and look at the tape. It looked like he was getting a drive going and then two people would move. We dropped a couple balls on him, too.

It seemed like he's in pretty good shape. It looked like he had zip in his legs. We'll see. He's had a week off - he should have some fresh legs.

After the game, cell phones are allowed and you can call your wife and tell her about the game. But before the game, hotel, any meetings, it's (not allowed).

I'm fine. Other than my cholesterol is high and the problems I had before, but all the pictures were positive and there isn't any blockage.

I mean, it's the smart way to play. You force (offenses) to take a 4- or 5-yard throw when they need 8 or 9 (yards for a first down) and then the back has to run and go get it.

I'm hoping he'll play another four or five years.

I know he was struggling even in warm-ups and didn't know how much he was going to be able to play. He's a fighter and a warrior, and he wants to play. But, obviously, after the first two series, he wasn't going to be able to play.

He's still not there completely, but he did everything.

You'd get punched in the face. Everybody in the room gets to punch you in the face. ... It just doesn't happen. It is not something that happens in this building.

You've got to be patient with it, persistent with it and you can't fall behind. And we've fallen behind and it makes it tougher to do those things. And especially when you're not getting much out of the running game, it's hard to keep making those calls.