SANTA CLARA – Donte Whitner spoke in the media tent Thursday afternoon. He broke down what makes Aaron Rodgers so good and why he doesn’t throw many interceptions. Whitner also predicted Randy Moss would face one-on-one coverage this Sunday. Here’s a transcript.
Q: Of all the aspects of the pass game that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are good at, what jumps out to you?
WHITNER: He’s a very confident quarterback. He expects his guys to be in a certain area. He’s actually throwing the football before guys are breaking free to get open. Another aspect is the scrambling game. That’s why they get a lot of the big plays. Also, scheming. Getting guys like Jordy Nelson outside one-on-one with corners.
Q: Is it unique that he throws before receivers are open and he doesn’t throw a lot of interceptions?
WHITNER: A lot of times when (defenders) get their hands on the ball, it’s coming so fast that a lot of DBs aren’t catching it. It’s tipping off their hands or their chest. (Rodgers) loves seam routes, so we’re going to have to be ready for that.
Q: Did you have to turn up the velocity on the JUGS machine this week?
WHITNER: I don’t think you have to do that when you have a guy like Kaepernick throwing the ball that hard. I’ve never caught a football as hard as Kaepernick throws. I don’t know if they measure how hard quarterbacks throw in the NFL, but I guarantee Kaepernick’s in the top 5.
Q: Is there still an element of the unknown concerning Randy Moss?
WHITNER: There is an element of unknown. One thing I can tell you is he can still run and he can still catch the football, so all we have to do is get it to him. There are so many other weapons out there that I think this will be the first year Randy Moss sees one-on-one coverage. Hopefully that’s a good thing for us and defenses will eventually have to put an extra man on top of him, and then the running game can do what they do.
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Hopefully everything weill click and come together. GB has some injury issues on the Dline so I hope we can run with some Play action pass but with good weater maybe they will open it up!
I find it hard to believe that the Packers are going to go Single Coverage on Moss for any period of time. Talk about a Death Wish
If they don’t, there won’t be eight men in the box.
“Hopefully that’s a good thing for us and defenses will eventually have to put an extra man on top of him, and then the running game can do what they do.”
That. And I hope it really opens up the passing game a lot more. The WCO uses a lot of short passes. And that works a lot better if the defense isn’t hanging out near the LOS. Send RM deep. VD as well if possible. Have MC/KH/player x run loose underneath. If they geseparationon, they have a lot of room to run before another defender enters theizip codede.
All of this is predicated on our OL holding (not penalty) on. Giving AS time to set his feet, go thru his reads (he actually knows them this year. Last year due to lockout new offense, he didn’t) And we will have a fully functioning offense to match with our elite D. By playoff time, our coaches will know how to use all of our weapons a lot better than they know now, and teams who thought they could beat our offense early in the season will find out they can’t beat us now!