Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am like Spofford, he is my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague Weston Hotkowitz. We're coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studios at lambeau Field West. Preseason game number two
Speaker 1: is in the books for the Packers. Let's let's get
Speaker 1: right into it. What were your impressions? What did you
Speaker 1: like best? As far as what you saw from the
Speaker 1: Packers against the New Orleans Saints on Friday night at
Speaker 1: lambe Field, Jordan's love attacking downfield was the number one
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to see And it actually goes back
Speaker 1: to what has been this recurring storyline learning more about
Speaker 1: Jordan's love the quarterback mistakes are gonna happen. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna have every throw where you wanted to be, but
Speaker 1: taking chances. And I thought you heard Matt Lafleur discuss
Speaker 1: that a lot this week. And you know, being able
Speaker 1: to see this young man stand tall in the pocket,
Speaker 1: create off schedule plays, deliver the ball with accuracy, power
Speaker 1: down field his receivers and and his receivers at times
Speaker 1: didn't catch him that that was one part of this
Speaker 1: thing there. Yeah, the Floor pointed that out after the
Speaker 1: game too, He said, boy, you know, if if if
Speaker 1: some of those passes are caught, and they were certainly
Speaker 1: multiple catchable ones that were not, we're talking about a
Speaker 1: completely different statistical line for Jordan's love in this game.
Speaker 1: And since day one, Mike I've said that he's had
Speaker 1: the right temperament for the position. He's a guy that's
Speaker 1: naturally confident and he's unshakable in the pocket. You don't
Speaker 1: see him forsaking his footwork because he's nervous about the
Speaker 1: pressure that might be coming. He's going to go out
Speaker 1: there and deliver the football. But it's just about making
Speaker 1: sure that everything is syanked up. And Aaron Rodgers is disgust.
Speaker 1: He feels like Tom Clements coming in has had a
Speaker 1: big you know, a lot to do with that and
Speaker 1: also just a young man maturing that that stack gets
Speaker 1: thrown out there a couple of times. Now when you
Speaker 1: look at these young quarterbacks coming into the league this year,
Speaker 1: Jordan loves in the same peer group as all of them.
Speaker 1: You know, he came into this league as a young
Speaker 1: quarterback and now he's had two years under his belt.
Speaker 1: There still things to iron out. He's not a finished
Speaker 1: product by any means, But if you're looking for a
Speaker 1: guy that's taking gradual steps from two thousand twenty to
Speaker 1: one to twenty two, as the Floor said, it's like
Speaker 1: he is light years ahead of where he was three
Speaker 1: and six days ago. Yeah. Absolutely, I think there's no
Speaker 1: doubt about that. And what I really liked in terms
Speaker 1: of the the overall picture of things and what I
Speaker 1: think really helped Jordan Love in this game is I
Speaker 1: thought the Packers got something going on the ground. I
Speaker 1: thought there, I thought the running game, No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It wasn't perfect. There were still some plays that you know,
Speaker 1: runs get stuffed at the line of scrimmage, but I
Speaker 1: saw more holes being opened. It felt like it felt
Speaker 1: like when some of those five yard nine yard runs
Speaker 1: were being churned out by you know, Patrick Taylor, Tyler Goodson,
Speaker 1: that Jordan's Love was able to really stay settled down,
Speaker 1: stay into a rhythm, stay in command of everything. And
Speaker 1: I don't know what you think, Well, I mean, you
Speaker 1: look back to two thousand nineteen, Matt Lafleur first got here,
Speaker 1: and the Packers really couldn't do much with regard to
Speaker 1: the outside zone running and and sort of shifted everything
Speaker 1: to become an inside zone running team with Aaron Jones,
Speaker 1: right what I what I've seen, you know, the joint
Speaker 1: practices with the Saints than the preseason game and even
Speaker 1: a little bit in practice this week. I think this
Speaker 1: outside zone is maybe looking better than it ever has
Speaker 1: on the floor now that we're into this this fourth year,
Speaker 1: and who knows, maybe it'll show up in the games.
Speaker 1: Maybe it won't, you know, maybe with with Dylan and Jones,
Speaker 1: it's still going to be more inside zone and outside zone.
Speaker 1: But I've seen some encouraging signs with that, and I
Speaker 1: think that started to show up against an opponent in
Speaker 1: the Saints on Friday night. It was so interesting too,
Speaker 1: because I think for so long it was almost like
Speaker 1: the Packers were trying to find themselves with it that
Speaker 1: you wanted to go back to maybe the safety blanket
Speaker 1: of running, you know, you know, between the tackles and
Speaker 1: everything and staying there, and that still can be really
Speaker 1: valuable actually with the back like a j. Dillon. But
Speaker 1: the more the idea what the outside zone is, you're
Speaker 1: able to stretch teams more, get them thinking more, play
Speaker 1: sideline to sideline and look for opportunities look for holes
Speaker 1: in that that defensive front to execute on. I've always
Speaker 1: felt like Aaron Jones, whatever way you want to run him,
Speaker 1: I can have the greatest philosophy, I can have the
Speaker 1: worst philosophy in terms of running football. I think Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones is gonna get you yards. We've seen that throughout
Speaker 1: the course of his career. He's a big play waiting
Speaker 1: to happen. A j Dillon is really the one I
Speaker 1: think where the Packers are finding out more not only
Speaker 1: about Dylon, but about how he can fit into this offense.
Speaker 1: Whether it is the inside zone, outside zone, whether it
Speaker 1: is you know, getting him out in space and throwing
Speaker 1: the ball to him. Uh, those are all things that
Speaker 1: I've I've really believed are the principles are there, and
Speaker 1: now they're bringing in offensive linemen that are really learning
Speaker 1: in this scheme rather than trying to make a transition
Speaker 1: within it. So, but for Tyler Goodson, looking at him specifically,
Speaker 1: I thought this game um this past week against New Orleans,
Speaker 1: that was one of his best showings because you were
Speaker 1: able to see more about how the running back, especially
Speaker 1: when they're decisive, they have a good one cut ability,
Speaker 1: they can execute and make plays happen at the second level.
Speaker 1: His fifteen yard run that got him down to the
Speaker 1: four yard line. That's set up the Romeo Dabs touchdown.
Speaker 1: That's about as pretty as a place you're going to
Speaker 1: see in preseason football. It's not easy Mike to run
Speaker 1: the ball in the preseason. That that was a that
Speaker 1: was a classic backside cut back lane that the outside
Speaker 1: zone play is designed to create. It was there, he
Speaker 1: hit it, and uh and as you said, fifteen yards
Speaker 1: and and and it's a matter of it's a matter
Speaker 1: of the timing division. You see it at the right time,
Speaker 1: and instead of just a four or five yard gain
Speaker 1: on a garden variety outside zone, you see the cutback
Speaker 1: lane and suddenly it's an explosive run. Absolutely, So those
Speaker 1: are all things that are going to be very interesting
Speaker 1: to watch develop. And and certainly we don't know when
Speaker 1: David Bactier is gonna be back. You don't know when
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins is going to get back. But for as
Speaker 1: much as people talked about this offensive line and the
Speaker 1: uncertainties there, and certainly they need to figure out who
Speaker 1: those guards are going to be in this whole equation.
Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is the Packers have
Speaker 1: the type of offensive alignment to run that type of
Speaker 1: offense if that's where they want to go. And I
Speaker 1: really do believe is you and I have said so
Speaker 1: many times during this training camp. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of good options that receive a lot of potential, but
Speaker 1: the proven commodity right now is this running game. And
Speaker 1: when you're talking about what's best eleven getting them on
Speaker 1: the field, it starts with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and one other thought on the offense before before we
Speaker 1: shift gears to the defense from Friday night. It's a
Speaker 1: really interesting battle slash decision that's going on here as
Speaker 1: far as the number three running back. When you look
Speaker 1: at what Tyler Goodson has done, you look at Patrick Taylor,
Speaker 1: his body type, his experience in this in this offense,
Speaker 1: having played in some regular season games, really good past
Speaker 1: protector Dexter Williams coming back obviously plenty familiar with the
Speaker 1: offense and all that. I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: very difficult numbers wise, for of the Packers to keep
Speaker 1: four running backs on the fifty three man roster. So
Speaker 1: um they will have some others, at least one or
Speaker 1: two others. I think on the practice squad. But the
Speaker 1: decision as far as which one gets the number three
Speaker 1: job and it's on the fifty three, I think it's
Speaker 1: it's a really tough call. If you're looking at, say
Speaker 1: specifically Goodson and Taylor. They've both they've both been productive,
Speaker 1: they've both shown what they can do. I think partly
Speaker 1: what makes it a difficult decision is they're two completely
Speaker 1: different style of backs. Right. It's in some ways you're
Speaker 1: not able to compare just apples to apples because Goodson
Speaker 1: is sort of the speedier, shiftier guy and Taylor is
Speaker 1: more of the the upright power back. Right. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's it's going to be an interesting decision. And and
Speaker 1: certainly Thursday night in Kansas City is is going to
Speaker 1: factor into this as well. So this is your ten
Speaker 1: year eleven with me now covering the Packers, and you're
Speaker 1: twelve going back to training camps. In terms of not
Speaker 1: only just the running back position, I don't ever remember
Speaker 1: the stakes being this high going into a preseason finale.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the backfield. You look at tight end, you
Speaker 1: look at offensive line, defensive line, safety, cornerback, so many
Speaker 1: of these positions. Mike I wrote about our Insider Inbox column.
Speaker 1: The decisions are not going to be easy here for
Speaker 1: Brian good Kunst and his scouts. I mean, because it's
Speaker 1: not just about the fact that, Okay, who's the best
Speaker 1: prospect or who's the best player. These guys offer different
Speaker 1: skill sets, different strengths, different weaknesses, different things that you're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to potentially do with them on special teams.
Speaker 1: And that's really when you get back to this running
Speaker 1: back equation. You have to factor that in as well.
Speaker 1: Patrick Taylor, It's been a pretty good staple with a
Speaker 1: lot of Green Bay special teams. Tyler Goodson has been
Speaker 1: the number three kickoff returner in camp. Where do you
Speaker 1: want these guys to fit and how will they be
Speaker 1: part of this program? You have a practice squad now
Speaker 1: that's sixteen players, where guys can be brought up up
Speaker 1: to three times now as elevations. These are all things
Speaker 1: that have to be swirling around in your mind a
Speaker 1: little bit. In all so, getting back to just the
Speaker 1: pure basics of the running back position. I've said it
Speaker 1: since the beginning, Patrick Taylor is your quintessential Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers running back. That's the way they've typically had backs
Speaker 1: here in Green Bay. Maybe not with Matt Lafleur, but
Speaker 1: in terms of the Ted Thompson, Brian Goodkins. He is
Speaker 1: a big back. He's a guy that can stand up
Speaker 1: to pass pressure. He's going to be able to offer
Speaker 1: you a lot of different avenues to to move a football.
Speaker 1: Tyler Goodson has been incredibly explosive. Oh and then you
Speaker 1: have Dexter Williams returning to the equation in Dexter going
Speaker 1: back to the short shuttle and the things he did
Speaker 1: at the combine. He checks all the boxes for what
Speaker 1: the Packers like in their running backs. There's been a
Speaker 1: lot of years, Mike, where the Packers have had some
Speaker 1: backs and you're watching them out there and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well they got to get through the third and fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Here this is gonna be the guy and we know
Speaker 1: what will probably happen on Saturday. All three of those guys,
Speaker 1: I could see any of them being the number three back.
Speaker 1: That's really how tight that competition is. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: so too. On the defensive side, I'll say this West
Speaker 1: what stood out to me in this game. We know
Speaker 1: that Deveandre Campbell and Kay Walker are you know, one
Speaker 1: and two in terms of the inside linebackers, and we
Speaker 1: talked about, you know, two guys six ft four. You know,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers used the term range e in terms of
Speaker 1: having guys like that um in the middle of a
Speaker 1: defense and what that can mean. But I tell you what,
Speaker 1: Chris Barnes, Isaiah McDuffie, Ray Wilborn, these other these other
Speaker 1: guys that inside linebacker are really showing up in these
Speaker 1: preseason games and really really playing some good football. I've
Speaker 1: been impressed with that position specifically in terms of its depth,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe more so than any other position on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball right now, because it's also
Speaker 1: a position where the Packers haven't historically had great depth,
Speaker 1: right And I think in a lot of different variations
Speaker 1: and metaverses and and you know drafts that you could do,
Speaker 1: Packers very easily could have winned this season as Chris
Speaker 1: Barnes as this number two inside linebacker, and I don't
Speaker 1: think a lot of people would have batted an eye
Speaker 1: tackling machine, right. But then you have kay Walker fall
Speaker 1: to them and they feel like that's a good value
Speaker 1: at that pick, and he gets brought in. You have
Speaker 1: two six ft four speedy linebackers down in the middle
Speaker 1: of this defense. But Chris Barnes, you look at how
Speaker 1: he's played in these preseason games, Mike, I mean that's
Speaker 1: a guy on a mission. I mean some of the
Speaker 1: sideline tackles he made against the Saints, they get your attention.
Speaker 1: He knows how to call the defense if it's asked
Speaker 1: that of him as well. And Isaiah McDuffie has taken
Speaker 1: about as big of a year one a year to
Speaker 1: jump right now as anybody on the roster. This is
Speaker 1: a guy that had a hard time even getting active
Speaker 1: in games last season and now suddenly he's on all
Speaker 1: this basic special core units, special team's core units. In
Speaker 1: addition to the fact he's they're leading tackler in the preseason.
Speaker 1: Ray Wilburn is a guy that's been around for two
Speaker 1: years now. The Packers have put a lot of time
Speaker 1: and effort into him. And we haven't even mentioned Ty
Speaker 1: Summers in that equation too. This this competition, not only
Speaker 1: you know, we'll look so much about defense, but realistically
Speaker 1: what these guys could potentially do for Rich Pisacchi on
Speaker 1: special teams. Again, it's going to be a sixty minute
Speaker 1: competition on Thursday night to show what you can offer
Speaker 1: because there's been so many of these young men who
Speaker 1: have really stepped up. You haven't seen a lot of
Speaker 1: mistackles from the inside backer position in these preseason games.
Speaker 1: Guys know and understand the sense of urgency that goes
Speaker 1: along with this, because it's not just about the spot
Speaker 1: and the job, it's about how you can potentially help
Speaker 1: this team throughout the course of a season. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the other spot I want to talk about with regard
Speaker 1: to the defensive side of the ball is the safety position.
Speaker 1: Um Darnell Savage has been out since Family Night when
Speaker 1: he tweaked his hamstring. Vernon Scott had been filling in
Speaker 1: with the number one defense paired with Adrian Amos. We've
Speaker 1: seen that in practice. Vernon Scott injured his shoulder Friday
Speaker 1: night against the New Orleans Saints. So and there had
Speaker 1: been some other safe these out with injuries as well.
Speaker 1: Now this week we've seen in his Gains and Tore Carpenter,
Speaker 1: the seventh round draft pick rookie this year. Those guys
Speaker 1: are now back in practice. Presumably they'll be able to
Speaker 1: play in the In this preseason finale show a little
Speaker 1: bit of what they can do. But a guy brought
Speaker 1: in I think less than two weeks ago, if if
Speaker 1: my math is right, because of these injuries at safety,
Speaker 1: Mica Abernathy talk about a guy who shows up suddenly,
Speaker 1: sort of out of nowhere in a sense. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no way he has a decent chunk of the
Speaker 1: playbook down in the very short time that he's been here,
Speaker 1: but an interception against Saints quarterback Ian Book in the game.
Speaker 1: I think he also had a tackle for loss um
Speaker 1: in there as well. You talk about a young man
Speaker 1: getting an opportunity, jumping on the scene and sort of
Speaker 1: like raising his hand and saying, hi, here I am.
Speaker 1: I mean, Mica Abernathy is a is a guy who's
Speaker 1: gonna make the personnel department think a little bit if
Speaker 1: he can follow it up Thursday night in Kansas City
Speaker 1: with another performance like he had at Lambeau. This is
Speaker 1: there's so many different things to like about the Abernathey situation.
Speaker 1: One having the USFL that avenue to give players some exposure.
Speaker 1: That maybe because Abernathey had been in the league. I
Speaker 1: think he came into league in two thousand nineteen, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of went through the process, ended up falling out.
Speaker 1: I think he was in Minnesota for a time and
Speaker 1: ends up finding his way to the USFL, and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, had a decent solid season there, you know,
Speaker 1: multiple games, you know, started the season, seventy some tackles,
Speaker 1: a few interceptions, but the season ends and you're kind
Speaker 1: of just sitting there waiting like, hey, did anybody notice me?
Speaker 1: Did anybody see what I did here? And he gets
Speaker 1: that call and in so many ways might get reminded
Speaker 1: me of what Chris Banjo did in two thousand thirteen,
Speaker 1: where this young guy comes in understanding I don't have
Speaker 1: any room for error. I need to maximize every single
Speaker 1: time I'm on the field, and a few different things
Speaker 1: unfortunately end up going his way on the injury front,
Speaker 1: that he's put in a position to make some plays,
Speaker 1: and walking with him after the game and him mentioning that, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was something that Jerry Gray this past week had
Speaker 1: talked to him about because there was a play very
Speaker 1: similar to that in practice where he wasn't in the
Speaker 1: right position and didn't make the play that could have
Speaker 1: potentially been there for a turnover. In this specific thing,
Speaker 1: the guy crashes like lightning down the sideline and as
Speaker 1: he said, he's like, I didn't know if I got
Speaker 1: in or not, but I was sure going to act
Speaker 1: like it, you know, just to make sure and he did.
Speaker 1: But like, those are the type of plays you have
Speaker 1: to make as a young safety trying to make this roster,
Speaker 1: especially this late in the process. Sean Davis was on
Speaker 1: the practice squad last year, originally a draft pick out it,
Speaker 1: I believe Indianapolis and as Gains comes back, tore Carpenters
Speaker 1: the seventh round pick. Again, a number of guys here
Speaker 1: that are trying to get those numbers two and are
Speaker 1: three and four spots in the safety depth chart, and
Speaker 1: it's a wide open competition going into the final turn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Davis is the guy who now is stepped up to
Speaker 1: fill in for Vernon Scott with Vernon Scott being injured.
Speaker 1: And we saw Davis have a fum more recovery. We've
Speaker 1: seen him make some plays in PRAC this so that
Speaker 1: that's another guy who's who's right in the mix here
Speaker 1: as well. Um, I'll take care of some sponsor business
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Speaker 1: Cousin Subs fifty years of better. All right. Well, the
Speaker 1: big piece of news that we need to talk about
Speaker 1: that occurred since our last show was the return of
Speaker 1: David Botry from the pup list. He is back in
Speaker 1: practice doing only individual drills at this point, same with
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins and Bobby Tounyan who came back off of
Speaker 1: pup the week prior. We haven't seen any of those
Speaker 1: guys in eleven on eleven yet, but bot is back.
Speaker 1: He's working his way back. Chris and Watson has jumped
Speaker 1: into eleven on eleven. Now we'll see what that means
Speaker 1: with regard to whether he gets some preseason action Thursday
Speaker 1: night in Kansas City. Um, but once again a couple
Speaker 1: of big names. The health equation is starting to turn
Speaker 1: a little bit more in the right direction. For it
Speaker 1: is and for David box tr I mean, what a
Speaker 1: you know, sigh of relief. I think for a lot
Speaker 1: of folks, and I have to imagine, you know, King
Speaker 1: among them being boxed and being able to actually put
Speaker 1: the pads on again get out there, and you hope
Speaker 1: he can do it in a you know, a pain
Speaker 1: free type matter. Excuse me, you hope he can do
Speaker 1: it in a pain free type matter, because you know,
Speaker 1: he's put so much work into this recovery and to
Speaker 1: have to go through three procedures, uh to, to to
Speaker 1: get back out there. And you can just hear him
Speaker 1: when he was talking to the media this week how
Speaker 1: much this means to him and how much he wants
Speaker 1: to prove he's still the same five time All Pro
Speaker 1: tackle that he can be that guy once again. And
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, Mike, one of my big
Speaker 1: takeaways from practice was just how active he was at
Speaker 1: the young tackles. You know, he's sitting there working with
Speaker 1: yosh Niman, who has been the you know, kind of
Speaker 1: the replacement here the last year, and then also Caleb Jones,
Speaker 1: who has been a really promising, monstrous undrafted rookie out
Speaker 1: of Indiana, you know, and he's going through the reps
Speaker 1: with with Luke Buckiss, but he's also talking those guys
Speaker 1: through them too, and over on the other side with
Speaker 1: the rights the right side of the offensive line. You
Speaker 1: had Elton Jenkins doing that as well. You need your leaders,
Speaker 1: and I think there's a tangible difference when those leaders
Speaker 1: are out on the field. You saw it when it
Speaker 1: was Josh Sitton and t J. Lang. You saw it
Speaker 1: when it was Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton. You need
Speaker 1: somebody to be able to hold up that flag and
Speaker 1: tell everybody this is the way. And as good as
Speaker 1: box tr he is, it's one of the best in
Speaker 1: the NFL, one of the best tackles the Packers have
Speaker 1: ever produced. It's also the leadership aspect that I think
Speaker 1: so often gets forgotten, and a confidence and a swagger
Speaker 1: when he's on the field. Now, we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: see what this all means if weak ones of possibility,
Speaker 1: as Matt Lafleur said, he's not getting into the expectations
Speaker 1: with no expectations called no limitations. They want to be
Speaker 1: able to get this guy healthy and get him healthy
Speaker 1: for the long run. But my goodness, does it look
Speaker 1: good to see number sixty sev back on the field. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And what you talked about with regard to those two
Speaker 1: guys as leaders in the way they work with those
Speaker 1: other those young alignment on the practice field. You know,
Speaker 1: that's that's just to carry over from what's going on
Speaker 1: in the meeting room behind the scenes when they're studying
Speaker 1: film and whatnot. But there is another element to it
Speaker 1: when it is that type of interaction, that type of advice, instruction,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, that is that is
Speaker 1: out on the field and not just in the meeting room.
Speaker 1: And the fact that Jenkins and bok Tr are both
Speaker 1: are both out there now, as you said, we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens with regard to week one. It's certainly on
Speaker 1: the table for both of those guys and for Robert
Speaker 1: Tunyan as well. Nobody's making any promises at this point.
Speaker 1: It really is a day to day thing with these
Speaker 1: guys coming off of the a c l S and
Speaker 1: certainly with bok Tr having the multiple follow up procedures
Speaker 1: and everything that he's had to go through to get
Speaker 1: back to this point again. I mean, this is probably
Speaker 1: the the third time in a sense over the course
Speaker 1: of the last couple of years that he's returned to
Speaker 1: practice and and and gotten back out there. So it's
Speaker 1: it's it's been it's been this you know, stop and
Speaker 1: start thing. With box tr but he's hoping, as he
Speaker 1: told the media, hopefully it's no more back and forth
Speaker 1: that now it's just at whatever pace it's going to be,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be forward, moving forward, and just
Speaker 1: a quickly touch on Christian Watson. I mean, my goodness,
Speaker 1: could the kid not have been more impressive out of
Speaker 1: the gates. I mean, now again, it's gonna be a process.
Speaker 1: Just like Romeo Dobbs, He's gonna have to get everything down.
Speaker 1: But to finish practice on Monday, I'm so messed up
Speaker 1: on my days on Monday, it's with the training camps
Speaker 1: winding down or we'll get it figured out. The two
Speaker 1: minute drill and the Packers are needing to get the
Speaker 1: ball down to put, you know, to set up a
Speaker 1: game winning field goal opportunity, and he comes free off
Speaker 1: the side. In his leaping ability, man, the vertical has
Speaker 1: shown up every single time we've seen him on the field.
Speaker 1: I mean, his catch radius is incredible, and uh, I know,
Speaker 1: I think it was Rico Gafford or one of the
Speaker 1: dbs wasn't happy. He was looking for a flag on
Speaker 1: a push off it didn't come, and the offense just
Speaker 1: the way it was rejuvenated there when when Watson made that,
Speaker 1: because they had taken some lumps in that practice, but
Speaker 1: to finish it that strong and to Watson to show
Speaker 1: up where he has Aaron Rodgers mentioned it as locker two.
Speaker 1: This kid has been making some plays and that was
Speaker 1: a nice sideline ball from Jordan's Love two minute drill
Speaker 1: as well. That gave Watson the chance to go up
Speaker 1: and and and make that play and it was It
Speaker 1: was a heck of a play. And Yeah, on a
Speaker 1: day that the defense kind of had its way for
Speaker 1: the most part against the offense. The offense in both
Speaker 1: the two minute drills Rogers with the ones, Love with
Speaker 1: the twos, they made the plays and and got it
Speaker 1: done in those crunch time moments and it's amazing. It's
Speaker 1: six ft five four three eight speed or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: That can be a real problem when you get into
Speaker 1: a secondary. Yeah, well, I'll just throw one other question
Speaker 1: your way before we go here. The this will be
Speaker 1: our only show of the week with our travel schedule
Speaker 1: the game on Thursday. Um, we're gonna have to take
Speaker 1: a little bit of a break here and then roster
Speaker 1: cuts coming up and and all of that. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna take a mini hiatus and uh and be back
Speaker 1: by Yeah, a mini by with unscripted for and we'll
Speaker 1: certainly be back when when the fifty three man roster
Speaker 1: and practice squad have been established. But I just want
Speaker 1: to ask you. We talked about a couple of things
Speaker 1: already with regard to Thursday night in Kansas City. Anything
Speaker 1: else that you are keeping your eye on here in
Speaker 1: the preseason finale Thursday Night. Two things special teams in
Speaker 1: Jack Coco. Uh, special teams as I talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: I mean now, Matt Lafleur said they have a pretty
Speaker 1: good idea of who their core guys are gonna be,
Speaker 1: but without down love it, and with some of these
Speaker 1: injuries that they've had, it's created opportunities for other guys
Speaker 1: to get noticed and and seeing who could potentially be
Speaker 1: that James Crawford type that maybe the average fan doesn't
Speaker 1: think is going to make the team or doesn't even
Speaker 1: know who they are, that sneaks their way onto this roster.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be very interesting to watch. And I can't
Speaker 1: think of anybody with higher stakes in this game than
Speaker 1: Jack Coco, because I really do believe probably with one
Speaker 1: strong performance here, it may be enough to get him
Speaker 1: the long snapper job. And if he can actually do that,
Speaker 1: a guy that again was the backup long snapper on
Speaker 1: punts at Georgia Tech and was the short snapper for
Speaker 1: three seasons before just concentrating on tight end is last year.
Speaker 1: If the Packers in the scouting department, in the special
Speaker 1: team staff identified this young man and can actually make
Speaker 1: him a viable week one long snapper. One, that's an
Speaker 1: incredible testament to Coco in the work he put in
Speaker 1: this offseason. But two. I mean, I can't think of
Speaker 1: more unparalleled developments for a guy as a rookie that
Speaker 1: could potentially be put in that spot. And he's been
Speaker 1: consistent and that was one thing they've been looking for.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that the snaps are the fastest you've
Speaker 1: ever seen, but they've been mostly where they've needed to
Speaker 1: be and that's been a big issue for the Packers
Speaker 1: the last few seasons. Yeah, Um, Dalen Levitt was another
Speaker 1: injured safety that I forgot to and neglected to mention
Speaker 1: him when I was going through the safety position before.
Speaker 1: Um so um, I apologize for that, but I'm totally
Speaker 1: with you with regard to special teams. I've said from
Speaker 1: the beginning, I've said it all through training camp. I've looked,
Speaker 1: I've been looking at these three preseason games as guys
Speaker 1: trying to state their case to Rich Pisaccia that I
Speaker 1: can get the job done. You can trust me, I
Speaker 1: can be one of your guys. Right this this is
Speaker 1: the last opportunity for a lot of these guys who
Speaker 1: who are on the bubble, on the fence to whether
Speaker 1: it's returning the ball, whether it's throwing a block on
Speaker 1: a return, whether it's going down and making a coverage tackle,
Speaker 1: whatever the case might be. This is this is your
Speaker 1: last chance to state your case to Rich Pisacci that
Speaker 1: I can be one of your guys. And and that's
Speaker 1: something that that not that I want to see. The
Speaker 1: Packers have to pump the ball eight times on you know,
Speaker 1: Thursday night in Kansas City because you want to the
Speaker 1: offense be able to score, you know, put together drives
Speaker 1: and score points. But when the special teams are on
Speaker 1: the field, this is going to be something to watch.
Speaker 1: Here be is this really is the final audition for
Speaker 1: for what's going to be those last few roster spot
Speaker 1: and we had so many new Glusha's out there in
Speaker 1: Packers fandom last weekend kind of freaking out about special
Speaker 1: teams and it's like, folks, I get last year was
Speaker 1: not good, but you gotta see what rich Pisac is
Speaker 1: doing out there. Somebody who was you know, these people
Speaker 1: commenting about they broke a big return or whatever. The
Speaker 1: Packers had. Out of their eleven guys on the coverage,
Speaker 1: I think maybe two guys that were the ones that
Speaker 1: we've seen With the ones, I mean, he's literally trying everybody.
Speaker 1: It has been a wide open audition, which is exactly
Speaker 1: the way I thought he was going to approach training
Speaker 1: camp in the preseason. He's trying to find his guys
Speaker 1: and the guys he can count on, and then when
Speaker 1: he gets that collection of guys and it's like, all
Speaker 1: right now, let's go. And I promise you Packer fans
Speaker 1: you don't even know what you saw. That's the only
Speaker 1: time you're gonna see three outside linebackers on a kickoff
Speaker 1: coverage unit. It just doesn't happen that way typically. But
Speaker 1: he helped from whether it's Kingsley Nigbari or or Kobe Jones.
Speaker 1: He wants to see everybody. YEA, because that's the only
Speaker 1: way you know whether or not they can do it.
Speaker 1: If they end up making their way absolutely well. With that,
Speaker 1: we will call it a wrap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: with the rest of training camp. Will have everything for
Speaker 1: you from Thursday night's preseason finale in Kansas City and
Speaker 1: then as the roster decisions are made early next week,
Speaker 1: the fifty three, the practice squad all that, We'll have
Speaker 1: it all for you on Packers dot com for West
Speaker 1: I Am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next time.