NFC Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

Lions DC Cory Undlin called the defense lining up with 10-men on the field twice in Week 8 and once in Week 9 “poor, poor coaching.”

“Yeah it’s embarrassing, is what it is,” Undlin said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive. “It’s poor, poor coaching is what it is.” 

Undlin explained that the defense has experienced communication issues when relaying personnel from their coaches in the booth down to him on the sidelines. 

“You guys know how the situation works,” Undlin said. “I get the personnel from in the box, and then based on the personnel, we don’t really do anything until we know what the offense has out there. If we get confused or if our guys upstairs can’t see it or if I don’t — a lot of times I can just look over there and see who’s coming in and who’s coming out. Sometimes depending on where the ball’s at, I got to rely on the guys upstairs, and they tell me and then I call the personnel on defense and they go out there. Each position coach is responsible for getting his guys on the field, and that’s how it goes down. When you have 10 guys out there, then obviously there was a miscommunication at some point on somewhere down the line. That’s it. It’s poor coaching.”

Undlin took the blame for the defensive lapses they’ve experienced.

“We put a lot of pressure on these guys all the time, and then we can’t as coaches get 11 guys out there, that’s on us,” Undlin said. “The remedy is we got to do a better job. I’ve heard some comments about Duron trying to stand up and say, ‘Hey, man, I got to do better job counting.’ Duron’s got enough stuff on his plate, OK? He doesn’t need to be counting how many guys are on the field.”

Packers

• Per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers says he loves working with OC Nathaniel Hackett, who’s getting some buzz as a potential head coaching candidate for the Falcons: “Hope he doesn’t go anywhere. Unless I do.”
• The Green Bay Packers are working out K J.J. Molson, according to Aaron Wilson.
• Packers placed RB Dexter Williams on the practice squad injured list. (NFLTR)
• Packers signed RB Mike Weber to their practice squad. 

Vikings

• The Athletic’s Arif Hasan writes that although it would be hard for Vikings LB Anthony Barr to play well enough to justify his $15 million cap hit in 2021, it also would be hard for Minnesota to replace him and might not be worth the $7 million and change cutting Barr would free up. 
• Hasan mentions the Vikings could draft a quarterback if they miss the playoffs and fall in love with a quarterback like BYU’s Zach Wilson who’s available where they pick in the first round.