*Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer *
Good morning. We're starting our preparation for Green Bay. I think we're excited to get going in the new stadium. Hopefully the fans are nice and loud and help against some of that no-huddle offense. The louder they are, the more it'll help us.
Q: Who is your quarterback?
A: You'll have to wait untill Sunday.
Q: Do you know?
A: No comment.
Q: Mike McCarthy said on his conference call today, he thinks it's going to be Sam Bradford. Does he have a source?
A: I hope not in this building. I don't know. You'll have to ask Mike McCarthy that. I don't know. I can't speak for him.
Q: Regardless of who starts this Sunday, now that you've had some time with Sam Bradford, how do you think he fits into your offense, and what's the upside with him?
A: The upside is that he's a veteran, seen a lot of stuff. He throws the ball great, got a good arm, gets the ball out quick.
Q: Is it the same kind of evaluation you're making between the two this week as last week in practice?
A: Nods yes.
Q: Does your defense have the type of ability to raise its level of play depending on who you play?
A: I don't know. We just try to go out and do the best we can each week. I like this defensive team, but every week is different. The thing about them, like last week, they didn't panic when it started out rough. They're able to communicate well. I think they understand things that we're trying to get done, for the most part, and it still comes down to playing good and paying hard and being physical.
Q: Did you guys learn anything during the preseason about the stadium that you didn't anticipate?
A: Well, it won't be a factor this week, but the sun, a little bit, from the roof. The Thursday night game it was kind of loud, I guess. Or was it – no, I mean Sunday game, whatever it was. It was kind of loud, so I don't know. We'll see.
Q: Is it a big difference adjusting from day to night with the sun?
A: It's a little bit different, yeah. Like learning where to walk in the stadium. There was a lot of different things we had to figure out.* *
Q: How important has Everson Griffen become to what you want to do? Is he better or more versatile than you thought when you first came in?
A: He's a lot better and more versatile than when I first got here – than I thought – yes. He works so hard, and he's such a good kid and a team guy, too. I know every Sunday that he's going to give you a full day's work. He's going to go as hard as he can. He's going to cause some havoc for the offensive line over there. So, you can always count on that with him.
Q: How much do you take from that January 3 win in Green Bay?
A: I really don't think anything. Each game is different. I guess maybe the only thing we take away was that we were able to kind of play with the big boys a little bit.
Q: Do you notice a difference between Mike McCarthy calling plays and Tom Clements?
A: I'm just kind of focusing on them, what I've seen, it's not so much different play-callers or anything like that. I'm just trying to figure out what they're doing. I haven't gone that deep into it.
Q: What kind of threat does Jordy Nelson present, now that he's back?
A: He's a good player. He catches the ball well. They obviously have a great rapport with their route combinations. He's a good double-move guy. He's big and physical in catching the stop-fades and things that they run. He's got good run after the catch, too. They're moving him around a little bit.
Q: Have you been able to see how Xavier Rhodes is moving around out there?
A: I don't know, we'll see. He's feeling better every day, so we'll just see.
Q: How did you feel about Eric Kendricks being NFC Defensive Player of the Week, and did he not miss a beat after not being out there all preseason?
A: He was fine. We're not into individual awards, really. He got a lot of help on that play. Everson actually made a great play too. I don't know, there was some good and bad in his game the other day. So, I don't know if missing the beat is the correct word.
Q: A couple years into this rivalry, what concerns you most about facing Aaron Rodgers?
A: Basically him.
Q: But what about him specifically?
A: Every. He can scramble. He's got great vision. He's smart. He's a competitor. He's got an unbelievable arm. He can throw it from any position, anywhere, any place. He's sees everything and then he has the ability when he starts scrambling to throw that sucker deep and be accurate. He's unbelievably accurate.
Q: How were you able to keep Rodgers in the pocket in last year's season finale?
A: We just gave them different looks. We rushed smart, I think. Other than that, he got out a couple times. He'll probably get out a couple times this week, I'm guessing. He's pretty good at it.
Q: Do you think opposing defenses will continue to attack the offensive front until Shaun Hill shows he can go deep?
A: I don't think it'll change throughout the course of the year until we start loosening them up. They know going in that their number one priority is to stop Adrian in the running game. I just don't think that will change. * *
Q: What do you think Stefon was able to have such success in Week One – just moving him around and creating opportunities for him?
A: Not necessarily, he runs good routes. There were some times where they were in zones and he got open in the zones. They were loading up some, so it's a combination of things.
Q: Are you preparing for stadium noise causing any communications issues?
A: Yes, we're preparing for it. Yes.
Q: What are some of the keys to preparing for those possible issues?
A: Well, with them being in no huddle, you have to get it communicated quick. You have to get it communicated across the board to everybody so you're all on the same page. It's something that we'll work on this week. We've basically already started.
