NFC Notes: Joshua Dobbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

Lions QB Jared Goff believes that he needs to establish more connections with WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, who has drawn more double teams this season as the team’s top receiver.

“It’s what good players get,” Goff said, via the team website. “Good players get doubles often and he’s gotten that at times this year and sometimes he’s able to beat the double and it doesn’t really matter, but yeah trying to get him the ball in different ways. Yeah, you’d love to get him going. I think he’s doing a great job. He’s been very accountable of things that he feels like he can do better and then for me as well, I’m very much just talking to him about ways that I want to try to do better for him and get him the ball in certain ways a little bit better than we have in the last couple weeks. But he’s one of the best guys I’ve ever been around and have no doubts that he’s going to be just fine, and we’ll finish this season off pretty well.”

Packers

Packers CB Jaire Alexander has now missed five games with a shoulder injury. Had the Packers had the benefit of foresight when Alexander was initially hurt, they would have almost certainly placed him on injured reserve to save the roster spot. It’s clear neither party expected Alexander to be out this long, and there’s something different about this injury preventing him from playing through it like he has in the past. 

“I’ve done that a lot of times,” said Alexander via the Athletic’s Matt Schneidman. “I’ve done that a few times this year, but I think with what I got going on now, it’s a little more tough.”

Vikings

Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell believes that QB Joshua Dobbs understands the fact that the team is opting to start QB Nick Mullens this week. 

“Josh, for the better part of four games and three quarters there, led us to three wins and there’s a lot of teams in this league that when they do lose their starter, it takes a lot to overcome that and continue pressing onward,” O’Connell said, via Pro Football Talk. “The team we’re playing this week, they’re experiencing it right now and Jake Browning’s doing a lot of good things to lead them to some wins at the right time of the year. So, I think Josh understands the process and where we’ve been at. I think he has respect for the opportunity he had and some of the really good things he did, but I think in communicating with him and making sure he knows exactly what the thought process is, the idea was to make sure there’s full transparency with these guys. I do believe Nick Mullens gives us the best chance to win the football game this Saturday, and that’s the decision we’ve made.”