Cobb: No moral victories in the NFL
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin’s Brett Christopherson caught up with Green Bay Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb, who shared his thoughts on Sunday’s 33-32 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. This Q&A is presented by Tundraland:
You missed Sunday’s game because of a hamstring injury. How are you feeling? And what are the checkpoints you have to pass this week that will give you the green light to suit up against Indianapolis?
Cobb: Well, I’m feeling better. I’m progressing every day. I’m just trying to get to a point to where I’m confident in it and where the doctors and the trainers are confident, as well. I’m doing everything I can to make sure that I’m out there on Sunday.
Your game against the Falcons wasn’t decided until the very end, and your team played well on the offensive side despite missing a number of key guys with injury while also facing an NFC playoff contender on its home field. Some would call that a moral victory. Is there such a thing in the NFL?
Cobb: No, there’s not. There are wins and losses. There are wins and defeats. But you can learn from things, you experience things differently. We had some young guys step up and make plays and show our depth as a receiver group with Trevor (Davis) making some plays, Geronimo (Allison) and Jeff (Janis) all contributing and having their first touchdowns, as well as seeing “Rip” (fullback Aaron Ripkowski) make some big runs and Aaron (Rodgers) scrambling around and making plays with his feet, which we’ve seen over the years. But it’s definitely great to be able to have some growth and some experience for those younger guys.
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You mentioned Allison, Davis and Janis. What did those guys show you against Atlanta?
Cobb: I think they showed they can play under the big lights. I think they were presented the opportunity with a bunch of chances to show what they have, and they made the most out of it. I love seeing those guys make plays, learning and going out there and competing. They did a great job of that, and I tried to help out in any way I could on the sideline — told them what I saw and tried to help them with different things throughout the game.
Allison, Davis and Janis combined on nine catches for 75 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Davante Adams also saw action out of the backfield. What did you do to help those guys prepare and — in Adams’ case — learn a new role that you're familiar with?
Cobb: Whenever you’re out, you try to find a way to stay in the game, and that was my way of doing that and speaking about different experiences. Or what may happen during the course of the game and the moments where things happen afterward and being able to correct them right there on the field, along with (receivers coach Luke) Getsy. It’s not fun wearing that (coaching) hat. You’d rather be out there playing, but you’ve got to contribute where you can.
How do you see things going forward when it comes to the development of your younger receivers? How will the experience they’re getting now benefit the offense as the season moves along?
Cobb: I think that’s one of the silver linings with some of the things that we have going on is being able to create that depth throughout the season with different guys in different spots. I didn’t get a chance to answer about Davante being in the backfield, but that’s just something that we try to do as a (receiver) group is know everybody’s position so we can be interchangeable in different situations. And I think that just shows how smart of a group that we have where we can kind of just plug any of our guys in, and we’ll go out there and be able to do that. But moving forward, we’ll let the coaches game plan and get everybody in different positions and give them an opportunity to do what they do best. We’ll see what happens.
Brett Christopherson: 920-993-7117, or bchristopherson@gannett.com; on Twitter @PCBrettC