HEAD COACH MIKE McCARTHY
- On the game
- “There was definitely adversity in the game today. If you look at us in the past, through the season, we could have handled it better, so I was proud of the way our team fought through that and how one phase picked up for the next phase. We didn’t start the game very well on special teams and frankly we didn’t play very well on special teams today."
- On the offense
- I thought the productivity of our offense with the ability to move the football and generate some points was a big factor. Once again, our football team is about defense. Our defense was huge today with the ability to keep taking to football away from an offense was the number one factor in our success today.”
- On why he thought the defense was so successful
- “We played some more people. We had some different combinations. We were able to stop the run number one. I don’t know exactly what the total was. I thought we were playing at a very high level. Stopping the run, generating turnovers has been a staple of our defense, and we need to continue to do that. I think we definitely have room for improvement but we had a good day today.”
- On Charles Woodson
- “We matched him on Calvin (Johnson) a bunch. I’m sure you noticed that he has the ability to still try to keep you running the football as much as possible. He has an incredible day today. Once again, I don’t know who is playing football than Charles Woodson in the National Football League, but he has a huge day today.”
- On Aaron Rodgers 68-yard pass to Donald Driver
- “It wasn’t the design of the play but I think it was a heck of a throw. I think it starts up front. Obviously the protection was very good, he extended the play and Donald got behind him. When he threw it, I looked up to see where Don was, I was impressed that he got the ball there, and I think the safety was surprised too.”
QB AARON RODGERS
- Opening Statement
- “I think it’s good for us – three games in twelve days – two home games we needed to win and this one to get to 7-4. It’ll give us a little time off to rest and recover and it’s an important win for us. We knew the kind of effort that Detroit was going to bring and we started off pretty much giving them seven points. We battled back, stuck with the game plan and guys made plays so we were able to come out on top.”
- On whether Detroit surprised them with their predictability on defense
- “I wouldn’t say predictable, I’d say that’d be a slight at Coach Schwartz and their defensive players. I think they stayed aggressive on defense. They brought a lot of pressure, kind of amped up the pressure in the second half. They run a different scheme which was giving us matchup problems, a scheme we don’t see a lot of times. We were able to make some plays and ad-lib at times. I thought the line did a great job giving me time. There were a couple of times where I held the ball for four or five seconds – maybe more. When you have that kind of time with the kind of players that we have in our receiving corps we feel like we’re going to make plays.”
- On the first deep play to Donald Driver
- “I was a little worried at the snap that they might be bringing seven guys so I made a quick check and they ended up dropping off and only bringing four. The line did a great job so I went through my whole progression. The right side, I went through (Donald) Driver, and Jermichael (Finley), and came back to Greg (Jennings) and I felt like my time clock was (expiring) so I had to get the ball out. I surveyed what was going on and my line did a great job. That was about as far as I could throw it on that one and (Driver) made a great play and getting it at its highest point.”
- On the play of the defense
- “We feel like when we get ahead we can play downhill and we have guys who can catch the ball. Woodson seems to make a big play every game and he made two for us. He’s always around the ball and he’s a big-time player for us. He’s been a great player and a great locker room guy since he’s been here.”
WR DONALD DRIVER
- On winning the Galloping Gobbler Award
- “First, I have to thank God and my family. You’ve got to be thankful for them because that’s what comes first.
- On what kind of a difference he saw in the offense when QB Aaron Rodgers has time to throw
- “Well, we said we can make plays and that’s the thing. Our offensive line allowed us to make down-the-field (throws) and we did exactly what we needed to do, and that was everyone step up and make a play.”
- On why the offense struggled in the red zone
- “Just didn’t make the plays and that’s one thing that you have to correct, and we corrected it and you saw us putting points on the board after that.”
- On his thoughts of playing in the Thanksgiving Day game
- “It’ still feels special. You play this game a long time and you realize that Thanksgiving is a great opportune stage to play on. This was the first time I was able to win the Turkey after everybody messed with me saying that I’ve never won it before.”
- On the rest of the season
- “We can’t talk about the playoffs yet. We still have a lot more games to play. It was just an opportunity to go out there and make plays. We had three games in 12 days and we went out there and executed and won all three of them.
