Notes: Davis Considered Pulling Fletcher


Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch - USA Today

Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch – USA Today

Billy Davis suggested at his press conference Tuesday that he contemplated pulling Bradley Fletcher from the Packers game.

“I was watching him close, waiting one more. What do I do? Do I make a move?” said Davis. “And then you watched him come out and play in the second half. He made those same plays that beat him in the first, he was on it, he played the ball, his press was better. He got better and fought through it, and he is a mentally tough human being. I was very impressed with the way he finished.

“A lot of corners have a lot of outs. They don’t keep fighting and battling. I have a lot of respect for Fletch and how he responded.”

Is he still your guy going forward?

“Yes he is,” said Davis. “Absolutely.”

Fletcher was targeted 12 times by Aaron Rodgers and yielded seven catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns, according to Pro Football Focus. Rodgers had a 141.3 quarterback rating when throwing in his direction. According to PFF, Fletcher has been targeted a league-high 85 times through 11 games.

— Davis took some responsibility for the failings on defense Sunday.

“I don’t think [the Packers] came out with any intention to run the ball to start with, and I was anticipating some running game coming,” said Davis. “A series-and-a-half in I realized it was going to be all passes, you noticed we went to nickel and second down, we made all the adjustments. I should have split the safeties earlier. There’s a lot of things I wish I would have done better.

“It wasn’t going our way that day but there were some things that individually technique-wise we could have done better. I could have called a better game, had a better plan, but we didn’t. It was a loss and we have to move on.”

One play in particular troubled the defensive coordinator – Eddie Lacy’s 32-yard catch and rumble in which several Eagles failed to make the tackle.

“The Lacy touchdown was probably our worst defense of the season. We hit the frustration mode. We hit the, ‘Oh, this isn’t going well’ mode. We talked a lot about it today, that was one of the themes in what we have to do to move forward and not have those plays no matter what happens…That was a pressure point and we talked about it, addressed it, and this group is a great group of guys. That’s not us and that won’t be who we are.”

Kendricks, Tobin

Matt Tobin was not at practice during the portion open to reporters. Andrew Gardner ran with the ones at right guard. Mychal Kendricks was also absent.