Editor’s Note: Following Aaron Rodgers’ recent comments on the development of the Packers’ young wide receivers, Wade Phillips gives his thoughts on the “constructive criticism.”

Constructive Criticism

You have to motivate in a positive manner. It has to come from someone that the players respect. The person that’s telling them things has to know what they’re doing, and how it’s supposed to be done. It’s somewhat a leadership position that Aaron Rodgers is in. Certainly, Rodgers has earned his stripes to be able to constructively criticize, and they listen to him.

That’s what you have to be able to do, and that’s why they have to take it, which they did. I know that there were a couple of veteran receivers, and the coaching staff in the room to back him up. These are guys that know they have to do better. You’re trying to get the point over that this is what’s expected of you.

Players themselves don’t realize their weaknesses or the things they aren’t doing well enough. That’s what coaching is. It’s being able to get over to them and say ‘this is a weakness of yours and you need to do better with it.’ Well, it helps when you have a quarterback with a lot of experience. Maybe they wouldn’t listen as much to the coach as they would to Rodgers. You’d like to keep it in-house, but other than that, I think it gets over the point. I think they will work harder and try to do well.

Final Thoughts

I think the wide receiver group is gonna be pretty good because every great quarterback loses receivers, and they’re still good. The team is still good and they still find receivers.

I remember one year Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were both out for the first four or five weeks of the season. With Terry Bradshaw at quarterback, the Steelers’ backups were still the two leading receivers in the league. So, the quarterback has a little bit more to do with it than the receivers. He can get them the football, whoever they are.