NFC Notes: Jordan Addison, Sam Darnold, Matt LaFleur, Packers, Vikings

Packers

Green Bay couldn’t get the job done in their season opener and fell just short against the Eagles. Packers HC Matt LaFleur admits they have plenty of work to do and wants to clean up coaching staff decisions.

“There’s a lot to clean up,” LaFleur said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “It was definitely a sloppy game from us. I think there was some uncharacteristic things that we did as a staff, quite frankly, and that trickled down to our players, so we’ve got to look at ourselves hard in the mirror and find ways to get better, because tonight, obviously, wasn’t good enough.”

Vikings

• According to Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell, WR Jordan Addison has “significant soreness” and he will be “limited at most” throughout the week. (Andre Krammer)
• Addison injured his ankle on Sunday, but the good news is that it’s not the one that led to him missing a few weeks in training camp. O’Connell said they will evaluate him again when the team returns to Minnesota. (Kevin Seifert)
• Vikings WR Justin Jefferson expressed his confidence next to the all-time greats after signing a big extension: “I’m glad that I am (the highest paid wide receiver). . .off the stuff I’ve done, the yardage, the records I’ve broken, it’s better than anyone has ever done in the history of the game.” (Up & Adams)
• Minnesota G Blake Brandel called LB Ivan Pace Jr. a “jacked up pitbull if you get him all excited and are like, ‘All right, go out and get them.” (Krammer) 

Vikings

During a press conference on Monday, Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell spoke about QB Sam Darnold’s time with the team’s upcoming opponents in San Francisco, noting that Darnold had a valuable experience with the 49ers.

“I think Sam being around, the Niners and Kyle [Shanahan] and how he coached that group last year, I think he took a lot out of that,” O’Connell said, via Pro Football Talk. ”And then I think just the way he went about the daily, I really stressed to Sam throughout training camp as we installed plays go through a process of how you were digesting that information, what you were doing at night, if we gave him information early, how he was going about trying to be comfortable with that. What types of questions would he ask either in the quarterback meeting or when I get a chance with him one-on-one? And then that clarity that I can give him going into the games when we go through the whole call sheet the day before Saturday mornings, that red pen meeting where I think that’s the time where any and all uncertainty, gray, where he won’t have a maximum amount of confidence. That’s why we do the things that we do to make sure he does have that confidence.”

O’Connell didn’t get the sense that the game against his former team would mean anything more to the veteran Darnold.

“I mean, I didn’t get a chance to see him talk to you guys, but I think he mentioned to me something about just some people that worked at the stadium,” O’Connell added. “Some of the folks that he said hello to, Jihad Ward was kind of the same way. It really wasn’t — I don’t know whether, for whatever reason, it just doesn’t hit his brain like that. He’s too focused on kind of what we’ve talked about and playing the position and just it was his first start, so I think he was thinking about a lot of other things. But it may help just the surroundings, knowing where the play clock was, knowing which sideline he’d be on, and what locker room he’d be coming out of, all those things. But other than that, Sam was focused on the right stuff.”