#899 Packers Unscripted: Heading to Denver

0:06Speaker 1:Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joint as always by my partner and Everything Packers, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from the Potawatami Sportsbook Studio inside the walls of Lambeufield, and we're here west to preview preseason game number two. A few hours after we shut the cameras off here will be headed to the airport for the trip to Denver, second preseason game of the summer.

0:35Speaker 1:I'm just gonna throw it out there as an open ended question to you to begin the discussion. What do you want to see in Denver on Friday night?

0:43Speaker 2:I want to see Jordan Love and the offense go down the field, maybe a nice seven to eight play drive, finish it with a touchdown, get back on the sidelines. Yeah, take the shoulder pads off and call it a night. But that sounds like a good plan to me, And honestly, there was a lot to like about the performs in Pittsburgh. They did move the ball. That was a big conversion with the pass to Jaden Reid. Obviously it kind of slowed down there as it crept near the red zone.

1:08Speaker 2:But overall, I think Matt Lafleur made it clear they want to get the first team offense and defense. They want to get them some reps, they want to get them some snaps. There's some data on science behind it in terms of the output they're looking for maybe how it helps not only with fast, fast start to the regular season, but also potentially maybe on the injury prevention front. But be that as it may, I mean, ultimately, you look at what has happened this past week, Mike. We just got done covering that practice on Wednesday, and the Packers were fortunate in that they are down to two guys that aren't on an injured reserve or a reserve list right now. That miss practice. That's just Javon Bullard, who's working through this foot issue and Darren Canard who rolled his ankle last week in Pittsburgh. That's the healthiest they've been all camped. Yep. So yes, you want to continue to stack days. You want to get some more clar already these position competitions. But if Green Bay can stay on the front end here of this injury thing, I think that also puts them in a good spot.

2:08Speaker 2:Because every single day Mike Peru's x Twitter, you know, go on NFL dot com, ESPN dot com. You're seeing season ending injuries. You're seeing guys are gonna be out for extended period of time. We saw what happened with Jamal Adams in Minnesota. Guys have taken some pretty big hits across the league. So if the Packers can get to the start line here with most of their dudes, I think that is gonna be the big the biggest key to getting off to a fast start, especially during that stretch without Micah Parsons.

2:35Speaker 1:Yeah, and as somebody who likes to follow the Ted Thompson mantra of bubble wrapping guys to protect them for the regular season. On the defensive side, I would just as soon see the defense get another three and out and get the starters off the field. I mean, I don't know what Matt Lafleur's plan is, if he has a certain number of snaps in mind, or if it's just one series each side like it was last week. We will see a few guys who are starters. We don't know if they're going to play in Denver or not.

3:01Speaker 1:Josh Jacobs just got back into practice this week, but he's not doing eleven on eleven yet, so I would think that's highly unlikely. Aaron Banks, Javon Hargrave, those guys are just getting into eleven on eleven this week. So will they be out there and for any preseason action hard to say, So we'll just have to follow that and see how it goes. For me. I look at this game, and I guess it's the framework that I use for preseason game number two is there are things that I'd like to see happen again that happened in Pittsburgh, and then there are things I'd like to see that we didn't see at all in Pittsburgh in the first one.

3:41Speaker 1:So as far as the repeat type of things, I look at Tray Smack and what he did in Pittsburgh. Kyle McCord locking down the number three quarterback job. As Kyron Drones got released after the Steelers game, can Kyle McCord stack performances and build on what he did? Some of the guys on defense who are not starters, but maybe they're going to have a role rotationally for Jonathan Gannon guys like Brenton Cox and katano Oladappa who got sacks in Pittsburgh. Can they build on those performances? Can they do it again and keep stacking things together? Those are the things, as far as the repeat performances that I'd like to see. And of course the real curiosity with tray Smack is at altitude, at you know, mile high.

4:29Speaker 1:Just how long is his range and will he get an opportunity for maybe one of those true monster kicks. We'll just have to see.

4:36Speaker 2:Yeah, he was asked about it in the locker room on Wednesday. He also mentioned He's like, well, I think I can probably go between sixty five and seventy, but I'm not gonna go out there and try.

4:43Speaker 3:I'm not gonna wear my leg out doing.

4:45Speaker 2:That, right, But I'll tell you this, the two fifty eight yarders in Pittsburgh, I'm guessing those things would have kept flying if you were in Denver with those with those you know hits. I mean the guy, as I've said time and time again, I mean when when people look at why the Packers made this move, it's just it's the natural leg talent. It's the fact that this guy, rather effortlessly, least to the novice eye like me, he goes out there and he kicks a fluid, procedural football.

5:17Speaker 2:It doesn't look like he's hop skipping and jumping into that thing to get it to go sixty yards. So and one question I'd asked him too, and I think this is something worth repeating and worth talking about, is you know, he's now also had three and a half months of working with Daniel Whelan as his holder, and the last few weeks obviously cal Adamitis is the long snapper. At some point here, it appears in the next week Matt Orzick will be back, So we'll see how the Packers handle all of that. But the fact is is that you could see a young man gaining comfort, and for the packer's sake, what they have to hope is with three weeks whatever it is now until that opener in Minnesota, he's going to eventually hit a crescendo here.

5:55Speaker 2:Feel like he's in a good place entering the regular season. But the talent and everything you want from a six round pick is there. And to the other half of the equation too, being able to go to Denver another road environment, not just because I mean, obviously it's not gonna be sixty thousand screaming fans. But it's going through the process of getting ready for the game. It's going through the warm ups, Understanding now stadiums that you haven't kicked in before like that, that's going to be critical to this whole process. So I'm very excited to see where it goes, and hopefully for Smack's case, putting the best foot forward last week in Pittsburgh, you can take that next step in Denver.

6:30Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good point you make about a rookie kicker having to learn all of these stadiums. There's a there's a pregame process, not just to getting out there and getting the leg warmed up, but understanding, Okay, where's the wind coming from, how does it move in this stadium, What's it going to do when I kick to this end zone versus that end zone. All of that is new to a rookie kicker in terms of the stadiums that he's going to be performing in.

6:54Speaker 2:So some of the kickers I talked to in the past two remember Georgia Tevekio, you got to think of it like a golfer that if you're really good golfer, you're gonna go out there and I know I've seen you play. You can go out there and swing away and have success on a golf course, but it's when you actually go rep after round after round that you start to get at least maybe not mastering it like Lambellfield, but at least you have a little bit better background on it.

7:17Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, when it comes to the things in Pittsburgh that we didn't see that I think, at least from my perspective, that I would like to see for me, it starts with number two quarterback Tyrod Taylor. It felt like he just never really settled in in Pittsburgh. You know, there were some protection issues, the offense just wasn't in rhythm. He was doing the best he could out there, and we'll see maybe he gets, you know, a longer stretch of playing time in this one, since there are only three quarterbacks to get in the game, not four. But we know what Tyrod Taylor can do. We've seen it on the practice field when he really cuts it loose, you know, plays with that fearless edge of all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna let it rip and I'm gonna let my guys make plays. That's the Tyrod Taylor I want to see out on the field in Denver because he just didn't get to that point in Pittsburgh, and I think it set off some alarm bells amongst the fan base, and everybody's wondering, oh, well, then will Kyle McCord be the number two? Because look how great he looked? Well, trust us, I mean Tyrod Taylor has looked really good

8:24Speaker 1:in practice for the most part. I mean the defense is gonna make their share of plays too. It just didn't quite translate into that first preseason game when this is his first time running Mattlefleur's offense and there's all kinds of moving parts. So I think there's there's a little bit of a brighter spotlight on the Packers number two quarterback here to really get settled in. And again, he's gonna have another game. The starters won't have the Arizona game, but the rest of the guys will have the third preseason game against Arizona next week as well.

8:54Speaker 1:But it'd be nice to see Taylor kind of take a step forward here.

8:57Speaker 2:I wanted to see one more series out of him in Pitts. I thought did he go too?

9:02Speaker 3:Was it two?

9:03Speaker 1:I think I think it was I can't right have to look it up to be certain either way.

9:06Speaker 2:I mean Kyle McCord finished the first half. I mean that that's how quick that was. I was thinking maybe we would see Taylor for a little bit more of an extended time there, even with the competition brewing for that QB three spot, because you assumed you know your drones well in this case now would be McCord, Like he's Kyle McCord's going to play a lot in that preseason finale. We already know that. Well, we'll see what happens to night. Now, maybe the Packers wanted, knowing that they wanted to get down to three quarterbacks, they maybe wanted to get McCord out there and then see what drones could do depending on what McCord did. That makes total sense. Obviously, thirty seven years young, Tyrod Taylor is a known commodity at this point, you kind of know what you're going to see from him. We've obviously seen it and stretches here during training camp. So but yeah, I would like to see him get that work because one, obviously there's something to be said for just having your number two guy ready and this in if everything goes accord play. This will be the only time that Tyrod Taylor plays meaningful snaps this season, right, unless it's a

10:05Speaker 2:Week eighteen type deal.

10:06Speaker 3:Yeah, but that's the hope.

10:08Speaker 2:But you also want to be able to get the reps for the guys around him.

10:12Speaker 3:I said.

10:13Speaker 2:One of the intriguing things, and it was one of the great things about having Malik Willis is when you have a competent starting caliber or guy that's definitely done at that level, you know, option at quarterback with the twos, that gives you a better read of the running backs, That gives you a better read of the tight ends and the receivers, and in some cases probably can give you a better read of the offensive line too, depending on you know, the type of pocket they're giving him and how he's utilizing it. Right. So I want to see that in what Green Bay can do. I'd love to see an extended drive for that two offense, and certainly when you look at the second half, just finding a way for the young guys on this roster to finish, to finish strong.

10:51Speaker 1:That was the next thing I was going to bring up, is when you talk about the second half of the game in Pittsburgh, there were a lot of things going wrong on both sides of the ball. You know, when Kyron Drones went in to quarterback on offense, it was kind of a jail break with regard to the protection. He didn't really have a chance back there. Defensively, Drew Aller, the Pittsburgh rookie quarterback from Penn State, was putting on a show. The Packers defense in the second half of that game just didn't put up enough resistance at all.

11:22Speaker 1:It was a real struggle out there. I don't want to put anybody on blast here individually, but there were a lot of guys who are up against it here. They're fighting for roster spots. This is you know, they're battling for their NFL livelihood here, and a lot of those guys did not put a lot of good stuff on film in Pittsburgh, and they need to bounce back. They need to They need to try to start stating a better case to the personnel department that whether it's for the fifty three or for the practice squad, that they're worth keeping around and seeing, as you said, a better finish to the game with whoever is out there.

11:57Speaker 1:And I'm not saying they need to dominate the game, but you at least have to be able to hold your own against the same guys on the other squad who were in the same position as you. We didn't see that last week in Pittsburgh, and I think we hope to see it in Denver.

12:12Speaker 2:And if I was the Packers again, we saw Ryan Longwell come in and talk with Tray Smack a little bit two weeks ago. I would call up Justin McCrae and I would have him and come to, you know, do a speech to the guys, because, like as I wrote Insider Inbox, the year that McCray made the roster in seventeen and ended up pushing for a starting spot straight away, he played over two hundred snaps in the preseason.

12:36Speaker 1:That's amazing. There were four games.

12:38Speaker 3:There were four games. That's fifty snaps a game.

12:40Speaker 1:That's incredible.

12:41Speaker 2:There were a couple of them, want to say, there was two of them where I think he played start to finish, just at different positions. That's how Justin McCrae made the Packers fifty three man roster. It wasn't based on a projection or hey he was a draft pick, or hey, you know, we saw enoughter in the first two series. We'll see what happens. Actually, no, justin McCrae single time he was out there, had to earn a spot on that roster and ultimately, you know, turn into a really good pro in a versatile guy not only in Green Bay but in some other stops. So, yeah, all this stuff fits together. And if you want to know what it's like, I mean the Packers they're going to cut the roster here mic in ten days or whatever it is. Yeah, they're gonna go from ninety one players on this roster to fifty three, forty eight of which will be active on game day and then a smathering of others who will finish out the practice squad.

13:28Speaker 2:If you want to be among those fifty three, it's all to play for in these In these two preseason games next week in the joint practice with Arizona, you have a chance to really show yourself and show what you can do. So I've always said this, it's about making yourself undeniable this time of years. It's one thing to be a draft pick, it's one thing to get a benefit of the doubt, but a lot of times it's when the Chris Banjos show up and push the entire group that you end up seeing a position battle not just in theory be competitive, but in actuality seeing it play out.

13:59Speaker 3:On the field.

13:59Speaker 1:Yeah, question about it. A couple other topics I want to get to, but we do need to pay some bills, so we will quickly hear a word from our sponsors. Serious XMNFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need. Twenty four to seven, three sixty five.

14:18Speaker 3:Did you know.

14:18Speaker 1:Lambeau Field is just one of our state's many wonders. Start making unforgettable memories on your next vacation. Discover Granddad Bluff and more at travel Wisconsin dot com Slash Wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted previewing preseason Game number two in Denver, West. I want to build a little bit on what we I believe we finished our last show talking about this competition that is going on at defensive tackle. The Packers know Davante Wyatt, Javon Hargrave, the veteran Carl Brooks.

14:53Speaker 1:Those guys have been you know, when they've been in the eleven on eleven they pretty much been with the ones. But there's this color of guys now, Jonathan Ford, Anthony Campbell and the zir Stackhouse, Warren Brinson, Chris mcclell and the rookie third round pick. There isn't room for all of them on the fifty three. I mean that the is, and you could make a case that at different times in training camp, each one of them has shown that they might belong on an NFL fifty three, whether it's in Green Bay or elsewhere. The way this is shaping up, and we will see what happens in Denver, because there can always be something happens that, you know, somebody makes a couple of plays and somebody else, you know, has an off night where you get some separation here amongst these guys. To me, this feels like it's shaping up where the most difficult roster decisions are going to be at that position, because big guys don't grow on trees, and so anybody who has shown something on preseason film looks like they could be a player at the three hundred and ten three hundred twenty three hundred and thirty

16:01Speaker 1:pound range. Those big guys in the middle of the defensive line, those guys can be better than what other teams have, and they're gonna make waiver claims when those guys are available. So to me, it's gonna be a very very interesting process the decision making at defensive tackle, and we'll see if we get some separation in that regard my East preseason game.

16:21Speaker 2:My years perked up when we were talking to Jonathan Ford on Wednesday win in the locker room when he said, this is probably the most competitive room I've been in, and I stopped for a second. I'm like, Jonathan's been in some pretty darn good d line rooms here in Green Bay. It was one of the reasons he had such trouble the first three years getting onto the field was how competitive these defensive lines have been. I also have this little bit of a joke that I've been saying to myself of if you ever want to keep a position group healthy, just switch Jonathan Ford to that spot if you want to make.

16:48Speaker 1:Sure, because he's been he's never been able to, you know, to break through because nobody in front of him ever gets hurt.

16:54Speaker 2:He mentioned that too about Kenny Clark. He's like, yeah, when I was here with Key, I mean, you're gonna take Kenny Clark off the field put me in. I mean, like it just is impossible. So but what I love about him in particular, this dude is six foot five, three hundred and thirty eight pounds and he is not a big just kind of he wears his weight. Well yeah, just when I want to make sure I say this the right's He's a massive human being and for the Packers that was one of the things that drew him them to him when they drafted him in the seventh round back in twenty twenty two. He had to bounce around that. The weird thing is, though Jonathan Ford, I think has only truly been cut like one time, and obviously he was with the Bears for a little bit.

17:38Speaker 2:They let him go, the Packers claimed his contract. They brought him back when they were really beat up defensive line, and he finally got a chance to play for Green Bay after you know, being here for two and a half years the first time around. So ask Matt LeFleur about that. He mentioned he loves the maturity of him. He feels like he's he's matured both as a player and a person. I think you see a difference out there. I was quoted on Twitter as saying, I think there's a little bit more game. You're seeing him with some of the running backs and he's using his power. Now it's been a couple of times that some rbs have ended up on the ground just based on Hey, Jonathan's finishing the play. So I'm excited to see what he can do with it. The guy is getting first team reps.

18:14Speaker 2:This is gonna be a critical stretch for him the last two weeks and his ear Stackhouse has done it at a high level. He earned the spot last year as an undrafted rookie to keep that streak going for Green Bay. And then you look probably a little bit more in terms of the investment side of things. I think Chris McClellan and Warren Brinson are both in a position to help this team this year. I agree McClellan has come in and looks the part. I mean, he is a different type of body type at that position.

18:40Speaker 2:He's not as big as a Jonathan Ford, but my goodness, the guy just knows leverage, he knows pad level and.

18:46Speaker 3:It's not a mistake.

18:46Speaker 2:It's not a coincidence that he had as many sacks and TFLs and everything at Missouri as he did.

18:52Speaker 1:He's sort of a slightly taller Mike Daniels. That's exactly what I think he's not as he's not as squatty, and I mean that, and I'll due respect to Mike, who's a great friend of ours. He's not as squatty as Mike Daniels, but he's just he's just a little bit taller. But yet there's some similarities.

19:08Speaker 2:And I don't want Mike to punch me in the face for saying this, and he may, but Mike Daniels made himself into a Pro Bowl defensive lineman, and I think if he had a little bit more of the size, he could have been an all pro. Right, he did everything, He got everything out.

19:20Speaker 3:Of his body type. I totally agree to play that.

19:23Speaker 2:Position at the high level that he did for ten years. McClellan, though, is thicker. He's naturally heavier, and to your point, for a guy that I think is listed at sixty two or sixty three, he just is. He has a way of getting underneath the pads of offensive linemen. So I'm excited to see what he has that mix. I think there's gonna be a very interesting contrast there to Wyatt to Brooks and you know also to Javon Hargrave, who is a guy that has sort of taken him under his wing as well. Hargrave comes back in the teamwork this week, comes back into one on ones. He looks like he still has plenty to offer at thirty three and then once again, Wyatt was extended this offseason. They view him as the cornerstone to this whole thing. Packers have a lot of options up front, and I feel like now that they're making this transition, however, many plays they play of bass or however many times they use a three interior defensive line front. There's just so many different looks that they can present a defense right now with whomever survives on that fifty three come week one.

20:18Speaker 1:All right, Well, I want to get one last thought and it can be a quick hitter if you want.

20:22Speaker 3:Is there anything about me that's a quick hitter?

20:24Speaker 1:Usually that's okay, Or we can expound something that you want to see in Pittsburgh. And I'm gonna start because Denver. I'm sorry, Yeah, what about Denver. That's right, that's where the plane is going to. We're going west. Not easy.

20:38Speaker 3:You just want to.

20:39Speaker 1:Yeah, head back there again. For me, it's I would like to see and this is almost it's not for my benefit, it's it's sort of for the fan base's benefit because of all the questions that we get in insider inbox about this. I want to see one explosive play from Marshawn Lloyd.

20:59Speaker 3:Yeah, just so so.

21:00Speaker 1:That the fans can see what we see on the practice field and what we know he's got and the fact that he got back into action against Pittsburgh his first game in basically a year, only his second game in two years because of getting injured in the Indianapolis preseason game last year. There's so much there for him. I don't and as I said before, I don't think Josh Jacobs is going to play in this game. I think Lloyd is going to be in there with the starters, and whether it's on a running play, whether it's on a swing pass, I would like to see one explosive play from Marshall Lloyd so all the fans watching it at home can go, oh, that's what these guys keep talking about. So that's my last thought for today.

21:45Speaker 2:I'm with you on that because I think with his shiftiness underneath, if he breaks in the open field and his explosiveness from there. He's a guy that can take it to the house on any given play for me. Do you remember when we talked to Jonathan Gannon earlier this week, he talked about too many explosive plays a lot. But that was the second thing that was quickly off his tongue right after that, takeaways. We need more takeaways. He wants to see takeaways. We've seen plenty of guys get interceptions in practice. We saw it on Wednesday with Kamal Hadden coming back off that fractured fibula. He's able to go out there and make a play playing the nickel for the first time in his career. Now, I don't know if Kamal is going to go or not.

22:19Speaker 2:I don't know who's all going to be out there, but finding some of those opportunities for a young defensive player, preferably even a defensive back, seeing somebody kind of grab the brass ring there because there's so many different options at cornerback, there's so many guys competing for spots at safety. The fact that a guy like Mark Perry has worked his way into that conversation after much like Anthony Campbell being this late arrival in twenty twenty five and now suddenly he's still here in August pushing for a spot.

22:46Speaker 2:I want to see not only obviously the reduction of the explosive plays for the Broncos, but finding a way to take that ball away because when you think about the things that really plagued the Packers defense last year, I think we kind of not just us, but I think everybody in general puts a lot of it on. While they lost Michael Parsons in Week thirteen, but there was a lot of football games before then. The Packers were struggling to take the football away before then. You have to be able to get those opportunities and seize them, because there were opportunities. It's not like Green Bay was just not near the football last year, but they didn't have enough people grabbing it.

23:20Speaker 1:Yep, when you emphasize something, you need to get those results. You need to get what you emphasize, and that didn't translate for Green Bay in twenty twenty five, and defensively it needs to translate in twenty twenty six.

23:32Speaker 2:I'm telling you this man like Zavier McKinney made pretty much the most of his shots.

23:37Speaker 3:Last year, there was a couple.

23:38Speaker 2:I'm sure he wanted back, but the teams adjusted how they attack the Packers' defense with Xavier McKinney on the back end, with Evan Williams on the back end. Williams still end up, I think having three interceptions of leading them in that category when other guys have those chances. If they're going to push on other parts of the defense, you have to be able to seize that.

23:58Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to cash in for sure. With that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage continuing of training camp as well as the preseason game in Denver on Friday.

24:11Speaker 3:Night for Wes I am Lake.

24:12Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in everybody.

24:14Speaker 3:We will