Vikings 23, Packers 7
Q. I know it's not an excuse, but when you don't have your starting offensive tackles out there, do you kind of say, it'll be okay when you're back to full strength?
AARON RODGERS: Well, that's an excuse, so we don't like to say that. These guys are NFL players. There's expectation whoever is in there that they're going to play well. We had a lot of chances today. I'm not taking anything away from their defense, but we hurt ourselves many times, myself included. I had a lot of opportunities to score more than seven.
Q. Last year was at Jacksonville, and people got all worked up that Aaron is not saying this is a total disaster and obviously you came out and you guys were fine. Do you feel any differently coming out of this one than you did last year or is it fairly similar?
AARON RODGERS: Oh, no, I feel like we had a much better performance. We scored four more points than we did that day. There's a lot to build on when you compare the two.
Look, it's tough to win in this league and definitely tough to win when you get in your own way too many times.
Felt like we did some good things. We've maybe got to get some more touches for Jonesy and Dillon. Made a lot of mistakes in the perimeter, missed some throws. So there's a lot to clean up all the way around.
Q. How different do you think the game could have been if you could have gotten a touchdown on the first play?
AARON RODGERS: Yeah, I don't really like playing those what-if games, but the games do usually come down to a few plays here and there. If C-Dub catches that one, 75-yard touchdown; if I pull the one on the goal line, I walk in for a touchdown. There's 14 points. Let's see, 23-7, yeah, so we would have been right in it.
Q. You mentioned opportunities, but those are two you can definitely say, but what other opportunities were there really for you to make big plays? Is there a specific something?
AARON RODGERS: Well, there's some execution issues for sure that didn't allow us -- the pick was a real dumb decision by me, but the play was a good play, and we totally blocked it wrong. We're supposed to block a certain way. Z came basically untouched and the back had to block him, I had to roll to the left -- I guess that was a fumble.
But just stuff like that where we have a down-the-field shot if we just block the way we're supposed to block it, there's going to be an opportunity to take a shot down the field. We don't, I've got to move, I should throw it away, I don't, I fumble, take the ball back, get three points. That's one example. There were probably three or four others.
Q. What did you think of the performance of Za'Darius tonight?
AARON RODGERS: I don't really have any comment on Za'Darius.
Q. On that goal-line one, is that an option for you to take it in, or would you just have to --
AARON RODGERS: That was the play call. Just would have had to just wing it there, trust it.
Q. You said you had good communication with the young guys, with the young receivers. Is that easier said than done now that games are starting to count?
AARON RODGERS: I mean, we knew there was going to be growing pains. This is real football. It counts. It's different. There's nerves. I thought Christian ran a great route to start the game. We talked about it during the week, do you really want to start off with a bomb shot, I said, what the hell, yeah, why not, this kid can really fly, let's give him a chance. I was teasing Patrick after the game that we got him, he said, yeah, I wasn't quite warmed up yet. But we've got to make those plays.
But those are going to happen. It's the mental mistakes that we've really got to clean up, and there was too many across the board.
Q. Obviously you came to the sideline a little frustrated. Was it the mistakes? Is that the main thing at that point that was really bothering you?
AARON RODGERS: Yeah, I mean, look, obviously it would be great to have a 75-yard touchdown to start the game, but drops are going to happen. It's part of the game. It's the mental stuff that we just can't have because we're hurting ourselves, whether we're going the wrong way on a block or missing a protection, something, missing a hot, not running the right route, the right depth. There was just too many mental mistakes.
Q. Why is that, that the rookies -- if they're new ish, maybe they get a little bit of a break there, but the O-line has played some. Is it just week 1 jitters that you got out of the way? What is the disconnect?
AARON RODGERS: I'm not sure. I wish I had the answer there. It's different when it's real, I guess. I know for me, it feels different, and the urgency goes up. But hey, glad to be sitting here with very few mental mistakes in the first game because then that eliminates you guys the opportunity to write about playing in the preseason or any of that stuff. But the truth is we're professionals, so there's an expectation of performance, and it starts with preparation. There was just too many preparation issues. It was surprising.
Q. On the 4th down from the 1, when the Vikings called time-out, what was the discussion about what you guys were going to run, and how confident were you in that play going into it?
AARON RODGERS: Yeah, I liked the play call. There was one of two plays that we liked, and we were kind of going back and forth. We thought they might play some sort of pressure there, and they didn't. They just closed on the backside pretty hard.
But again, I probably should have just pulled it. I would have walked in.
Q. What did you see from Christian after that play (indiscernible)?
AARON RODGERS: I mean, he had a couple catches, I believe, right? Look, we've got to have patience with those guys. They're young. They haven't been in the fire. That patience will be thinner as the season goes on, but the expectation will be high, so we'll keep them accountable, but it's going to happen. There's going to be drops. Hate to see it on the first play, but that's a part of it. There's going to be drops throughout the season.
Q. I'm not trying to put it on him, I'm trying to understand some of the issues you had where Dobbs broke inside and I think --
AARON RODGERS: I threw that one away. I was about to throw it, I saw 22 just flying on my eyes. They were playing inside leverage on Cobby. It was kind of a strange alignment there. I felt like it wasn't there, so I was throwing it. I was throwing it behind him.
Q. There was a long scramble drill. Did you want him to come back, and is that just experience on his part?
AARON RODGERS: I don't know if it was him on that one. I felt like there were two guys in the middle of the field and they both did the opposite of what I was hoping they were going to do. They both kind of stopped instead of one stopping and one keep going. You know, that's heat-of-the-battle stuff. Again, that situation maybe I just throw it up to the middle there and hope somebody catches it.
But yeah, we'll learn from this. It sucks. But it's the NFL. We've got to come back next week, put it all together, clean it up, hope to get a couple guys back, and see where Dave is at, see where Elton is at, see where Allen is at, hopefully get those guys back, see how we come out, John and everybody else that got hurt. I know there's a few guys. Mostly on defense, I think. But yeah, we've got to get some guys back on offense and get this thing going in the right direction.
Q. What's the balance between getting 33 more involved but then also you have two rookies, a tight end who hasn't played since week eight last year, Sammy who's never caught a pass from you in a real game, getting them involved, too, to kind of get their feet wet in this offense?
AARON RODGERS: Yeah, I did one of those early in the game to Sammy, just when I maybe could have handed it off. Although when I look back at the picture, it was probably the right decision, but I just wanted to get the ball in Sammy's hands, get him a catch. We've got to be able to throw the ball outside the numbers, and a lot of the plan this game seemed to be inside-the-numbers stuff, so Sammy didn't have a lot of opportunities. But we've got to find a way to get him the ball because he's been playing great. He's been practicing great. We'll get him involved. I'm not worried about that.
But yeah, like I said, there's too many mental mistakes, missed some throws, can't turn the ball over, and then we had chances to be right in the game with that last drive being a game-winning field goal, not a 4th down, down 16.
Q. Did you get what you wanted out of Dillon and Jones together, because it seems like you got them matched up on some linebackers.
AARON RODGERS: I feel like we had some good, positive plays in that. There's more, definitely a lot more. I'm sure we'll keep adding to the list, but that was a good start for us with those two guys. You see them, with the ball in their hand, they're dangerous. Different types of players, but we've got to keep getting them touches and early touches, too, probably.
Q. Are there any positives you can build off from today?
AARON RODGERS: Build off? Some young guys played their first game. Bobby came back from his injury. Those are positives. A lot to clean up.
Q. Is it hard to play quarterback when you're kind of unsettled back there?
AARON RODGERS: No. Shit, I've been unsettled for a long time, a lot of different games. I felt like overall the protection was pretty good. We had a couple that were probably on the line and a couple that I probably could have dished. But look, we'll clean it up. It sucks. It's a tough feeling. But they're a good team for sure. They're not going to be a three- or four-win team. That's going to be a team that we're going to be contending with in this division, and we've got to turn around, head home, Sunday Night Football against a 1-0 team who's probably riding pretty high, and we've got to have a better performance.
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