Packers - 26
Dolphins - 20
Q. How do you like this team's playoff chances right now?
AARON RODGERS: Definitely better than three weeks ago or four because of the bye.
What do you think? Pretty good. Getting better. A lot of things happened our way.
Q. What can a win like this do for you guys?
AARON RODGERS: Yeah, I mean, I don't think we've struggled with confidence. But definitely haven't had a lot of believers outside the locker room I think. So maybe this will give us a couple on the bandwagon.
We've been in a good rhythm, practice, energy, cohesion, and playing a little bit better complementary football. It wasn't perfect, but that's a good football team and they had a lot to play for. It's a good win for us.
Q. How big was what the defense did in the second half?
AARON RODGERS: It was huge. I think we had some really key drives on offense, but we definitely left some points out there. Had some chances. Had Christian there on fourth down, just missed him. First drive of the game, obviously down inside the 10, you need to get seven there to start off the game the right way.
Overall when we had to have drives in the second half, we made it happen. Big drives. Starting third quarter, there was about seven minutes, touchdown to pull us back even. Our defense clamped down, played excellent football. We had a drive there with, what, about six left on the clock I think it was in the fourth. We took it down there and got points. Obviously would have liked to get a touchdown, but that was a good drive for us.
Q. Talk a little bit more about the drive in the third quarter. What was the conversation in the locker room?
AARON RODGERS: It wasn't super pretty, but we had a couple conversions. P.T. had a nice catch and run for us. We just did what we had to do there getting seven points. It was a good drive for us. We wanted to get back in the game, tie it up. Did that. The defense just clamped down, played excellent.
Q. How many times have you made that throw to Marcedes screwing around in practice?
AARON RODGERS: Yeah, never. I'm not even a big fan of that concept, to be honest with you (smiling).
But Rome had a two-way go to one side. He chose inside, where outside probably would have been a little bit better. As I came back, P.T. made a great block on the backer, gave me a little bit of time. I saw Big Dog heading down the sidelines, thought I'd lay one up for him. Made a great play.
Q. Do you know how many miles an hour you clocked on that?
AARON RODGERS: 20.
Q. 17?
AARON RODGERS: 17? Awesome.
Q. The side angle on that throw, with the defender there, hands up, what made you launch it at that angle?
AARON RODGERS: You drop it down a little bit, it's easier to get the trajectory that you want sometimes, especially when your shoulders are square. I was just creating the angle to put it kind of in a spot.
I mean, I can't say that was a super confident throw. I was just hoping Big Dog would see it, that it was somewhere in the vicinity where I might get a catch or a PI, though we didn't really get any PI calls today.
Q. (Question about No. 33.)
AARON RODGERS: Got to ask him. I'm not sure. I know he was dealing with some stuff last week. I heard he was dealing with some stuff this week too. Probably a decent amount.
Hopefully Christian is not too serious. Not sure of his status. We had a lot of guys banged up, a lot of guys stepped up. Roy stepped up. Sav played a bunch. Innis was out there. 24 was out there. Who else? P.T. I said P.T. P.T. played really well. A lot of guys stepped up.
Q. Coming into this game, the Giants lost, Washington lost, Seattle lost, Detroit lost, you come out with a win, how do you like the position in the next two games?
AARON RODGERS: I'd like to be, what are we, 7-8, I'd like to be 10-5, 11-4 (smiling).
But considering where we were a few weeks ago, a lot has happened in our favor. All the games that needed to go a certain way went a certain way. Now there's obviously much left.
Again, we played meaningful games in December. We won all three of those. Now we're playing meaningful games in January. We got to win those.
Q. The small conversation you had with Tua at the end of the game, what did you tell him?
AARON RODGERS: Some of the stuff I actually said this week. I just really appreciate the way that he handles his business, his professionalism, just the way he goes about, speaks about his teammates. I think he's got a really good humility about him. He's a good, humble kid. Very talented.
I enjoyed watching him play in college. I like the way he goes about his business. I think he handles things the right way, with a lot of class, a lot of respect.
I told him to take care of himself, too. He's had some pretty vicious hits this year. He's a good kid. Got a long career in the league to look forward to.
There's days like this, but he still threw for a hell of a lot of yards and they got a lot of great weapons and they're still in the hunt, as well.
Q. Lot of noise in the locker room. Is this the biggest celebration you guys have had after a game this year?
AARON RODGERS: Oh, I don't know. I think they're all pretty big. The defense tends to celebrate a little bit louder I think. They get a turnover, they run down to the end zone every time. Offense, we just celebrate in the end zone. They usually travel more distance to celebrate.
When they came up with all those turnovers, there was a lot of celebrating for the defense. We were proud of 'em, too, so...
I think we're all just enjoying the Christmas spirit.
Q. They had that encroachment, that was on purpose, right?
AARON RODGERS: Yes, I think so. I looked over at the coach, gave him a thumbs up. He was kind of gloating a little bit (laughter).
No, it's second and one. That's a smart play to do. You get a first down, you're basically wasting a timeout, 40 seconds.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports