GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -After watching his players make solid tackles and come close to breaking a long return in recent weeks, special teams coordinator Mike Stock was disappointed with the effort he saw in the Green Bay Packers' loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
``The downer in the whole thing is we worked to a point where I thought we were going to be ready to bust out,'' Stock said. ``And then we didn't. And in fact, we took a step back. That's the disappointment. Do we have the athletes to do it? Yes. Do we have the attitude to do it? We had it. And we need to get it back.''
The Packers gave up a 61-yard kickoff return to start the game against the Bills and weren't able to break any big returns of their own - plays that could have made a difference in what was a close game well into the fourth quarter.
``I'm disappointed because we gave up a 61-yarder, and it was us and not them,'' Stock said. ``They executed the play, no question about it, but we had as much to do with it as anybody. And then the other thing is punt returns and kick returns. We didn't block a soul.''
Packers kicker Dave Rayner blamed himself for the Bills' long kickoff return, saying he didn't kick the ball deep enough. But he also was critical of fellow special teams players.
``There was a hole probably 15 feet wide to run through, which we haven't had happen all year,'' Rayner said. ``It was just a breakdown in coverage. I don't know exactly what happened. We can't be having that kind of stuff.''
Packers coach Mike McCarthy has been complimentary of the special teams units for most of this season. They have covered punts and kicks fairly well, and punt returner Charles Woodson has come tantalizingly close to breaking a big punt return of his own.
But McCarthy said Monday that he hasn't been pleased with them lately.
``Special teams? We need to pick it up there, too,'' McCarthy said. ``The last two weeks just have not been cutting it.''
Stock agreed.
``I thought we were making progress, yeah. I thought we were getting better,'' he said. ``It appeared that way. We'd been very close to breaking it out on a couple returns. We lacked the intensity and the effort to do what we had to do to win the game, especially early on. But that seemed to be the thread on the punt returns. We never got ourselves in a position to right things to give '19' a chance.''
No. 19 is new wide receiver Shaun Bodiford, who filled in for Woodson returning punts and kickoffs on Sunday. Bodiford averaged only 1.8 yards on five punt returns and 15.5 yards on four kickoff returns.
``They were coming,'' Bodiford said Sunday night. ``I had a lot of opportunities to make something happen, and it just didn't happen for me.''
Stock was more direct in his criticism, saying the Packers didn't give Bodiford a chance to show what he can do.
``We didn't block anybody,'' Stock said. ``We didn't block anybody.''
Stock said the problems he saw on Sunday went beyond mistakes in the blocking techniques players were using. He simply didn't see the same effort evident for most of the season.
``It's alarming because we get to a point where we've won two in a row, and we've got a chance to win the third one to get even, and we don't take advantage of the opportunity,'' Stock said. ``That's alarming.''
He said he would probably change the Packers' special teams lineup this week.
``We've got to improve the personnel,'' Stock said. ``I don't know, I think we have good enough athletes, and I think for the most part we've competed very well. I don't think we competed well enough, obviously, on Sunday, but I think we can do that better this week.''
Stock said he wasn't sure if Woodson, who only played cornerback against Buffalo to limit stress on his injured knee, would be back returning punts in Minnesota.
And the way the Packers have been blocking, he also wasn't sure if it would matter.
``(He) probably wouldn't want to go back there now anyway,'' Stock said.
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