Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am like Spofford City next to the one and
Speaker 1: only West Hodkoits were coming to you here from our
Speaker 1: studios at lambeau Field and West. As the Packers moved
Speaker 1: toward preparation for the Minnesota Vikings in week two, a
Speaker 1: couple of things to still look back on week one
Speaker 1: here and the victory over the Chicago Bears in particular,
Speaker 1: I want to discuss another aspect of this defensive performance
Speaker 1: that was obviously very, very impressive, one of the best
Speaker 1: defensive performances start to finish, first quarter to fourth quarter
Speaker 1: that we've seen in Green Bay in a long time.
Speaker 1: And I went through my ritual of the film review
Speaker 1: and my weekly regular season weekly piece what you might
Speaker 1: have missed for fans who are familiar with it that
Speaker 1: is now up on packers dot com, and what I
Speaker 1: examined in this which I didn't realize when I was
Speaker 1: watching the game from the press box, but with the
Speaker 1: Bears only converting three out of fifteen third downs, it's like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: how did the Packers do this defensively? Three out of fifteen?
Speaker 1: You know, that's a pretty low percentage to hold the
Speaker 1: opponent to. You look at the film on third down
Speaker 1: mits true, Bisky never saw the same look in terms
Speaker 1: of pressure package, you know, on a third down passing situation.
Speaker 1: He never saw the same look. Twice Mike Patton, he'd
Speaker 1: put six guys up in the front, he'd rush four.
Speaker 1: He'd put six guys up there, he'd rush five. It
Speaker 1: was different guys rushing and dropping. One time he puts
Speaker 1: seven guys up there and rushed only three and two
Speaker 1: of them got pressure because the Bears offensive line was
Speaker 1: so discombobulated. Buy it now. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: can play defense this way for sixteen games, Eventually your
Speaker 1: your bag of tricks kind of runs out, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: But but it was really something to go through the
Speaker 1: film fifteen third downs for the Bears, And I don't
Speaker 1: know if Mike Patton gave Mr. Drobiski the same look twice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's funny, and it's one of those things that when
Speaker 1: you said that, and obviously when you had the story,
Speaker 1: it's sort of in the back of my mind, was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean they're throwing a lot of you know, packages
Speaker 1: at this guy. You don't really realize just the full
Speaker 1: multitude of what those packages truly look like. I mean,
Speaker 1: the one I keep going back to it was they
Speaker 1: ended up I think either called time out, there's a
Speaker 1: false start, but it was where they had overloaded on
Speaker 1: the right side where it was precedent Zadarius Smith both
Speaker 1: coming off one edge, and the other you had Dean
Speaker 1: Lowery and Kenny Clark on the other side. I mean,
Speaker 1: just just looks you're not used to seeing in pressure
Speaker 1: packages that just aren't familiar when you look at the
Speaker 1: full gamut of the NFL. And let's be honest, Mike,
Speaker 1: I mean, the one thing you go back to that
Speaker 1: first news conference that Brian Goodin has had after he
Speaker 1: talked about all these off season acquisitions that they made,
Speaker 1: they wanted to put more tools in Mike Petton's toolbox.
Speaker 1: That was the point of this offseason. That wasn't just
Speaker 1: strictly about the caliber player, and certainly they got some
Speaker 1: high quality free agents from this class, but they wanted
Speaker 1: guys like Preston and Zadarius Smith who can play in
Speaker 1: different roles and have that interchangeability. This game was the
Speaker 1: perfect reflection of that and how you're seeing that into reality.
Speaker 1: The other thing that stood out to me too. Now
Speaker 1: that this was a part of your story, but both
Speaker 1: of those guys basically played every down too. So when
Speaker 1: you when you ask about whether or not the Packers
Speaker 1: can stay in those packages. Can Preston Smiths play all
Speaker 1: but one defensive snap the entire game? I think Sadarius
Speaker 1: Smith might have had four or five off. So they
Speaker 1: built this defense around those guys up front, and as
Speaker 1: we saw with some of the looks that they gave
Speaker 1: Trabinsky on third downs, they really are gonna they want
Speaker 1: to follow through a this in those pressure packages. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you want to see what some of those third
Speaker 1: downs look like. The video clips are part of my
Speaker 1: what you might have missed, pieced their innersplae throughout text
Speaker 1: explanation of kind of what was going on. But what
Speaker 1: really stood out to me is I was going through them.
Speaker 1: You know, we've talked about how the that Mike zimmer
Speaker 1: double a gap mug look that that he's sort of trademarked,
Speaker 1: and a lot of teams obviously used it as well.
Speaker 1: The Packers do. Where you have two linebackers who are
Speaker 1: lined up at the line of scrimmage on either side
Speaker 1: of the center. On a third down. You don't know
Speaker 1: if both guys are gonna come, if both guys are
Speaker 1: gonna drop, if one's gonna come and one's gonna drop.
Speaker 1: But what was interesting to me and going through this
Speaker 1: and the way Patton was using those looks is sometimes
Speaker 1: it was Raven Green next to Blake Martinez in the
Speaker 1: other A gap. Sometimes it was Preston Smith in the
Speaker 1: other A gaps. Sometimes it was a Darius in the
Speaker 1: other A gap and Kyler fatt I mean, he just
Speaker 1: kept shifting guys around, and there was no way to
Speaker 1: get there was no way to get a beat on
Speaker 1: exactly how things were playing out. There was another snap
Speaker 1: where there's a six man front. Three guys drop into coverage,
Speaker 1: but it's a four man rush because the fourth guy
Speaker 1: is coming from the second level. It's one of the safety's.
Speaker 1: I mean the mixing and matching and the changeups that
Speaker 1: were being thrown on third down, and I mean, hey,
Speaker 1: Mr Dubinsky is still a young quarterback. That's exactly what
Speaker 1: you want to do. The more varied looks you can
Speaker 1: give him the greater chance there is that maybe it's
Speaker 1: something he hasn't seen yet, but also making him constantly
Speaker 1: adjust because the quarterback has a lot of responsibility in
Speaker 1: calling the protection. The quarterback in the center, they have
Speaker 1: to call protection and make those adjustments. And if they
Speaker 1: don't make the right adjustment in a certain in a
Speaker 1: certain instance, then there's somebody who's not being blocked, and
Speaker 1: then that's how you end up getting pressure. And and
Speaker 1: Trubisky did not have a lot of time to throw
Speaker 1: in that game. And like I said, you can't just
Speaker 1: play the XS and ose scheme game all the time.
Speaker 1: You've got to be able to beat your man, beat
Speaker 1: the man across from you, especially when you get into
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter and whatnot. But boy, this was this
Speaker 1: was some mixed bag that Mike Patton threw at the
Speaker 1: Bears offense. The first thing, as far as the safety
Speaker 1: blitzes are concerned, there's so little you can draw from
Speaker 1: from preseason, but you could actually see in the in
Speaker 1: those games how much Petton wants that to be a
Speaker 1: part of the defensive scheme. Whether it's Adrian Amos, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it is uh you know, maybe even Darniell Savage
Speaker 1: dropping down a little bit. We saw some of the
Speaker 1: reserve safeties do it in the preseason and even in
Speaker 1: some of the practices, and I think you're seeing why
Speaker 1: particular guys fit well into his defense when he wants
Speaker 1: to deploy those type of players. There was a play
Speaker 1: that even you brought up about how they lined up
Speaker 1: seven on the defensive front and then they ended up
Speaker 1: only rushing three and I think one of them was
Speaker 1: Amos and the other one was Kenny Clark. I mean,
Speaker 1: then they dropped the rest. Those are the type of
Speaker 1: games you can play when you start to put the
Speaker 1: quarterback on tilt a little bit, and they were successful
Speaker 1: on that. They were even able to drive that one
Speaker 1: home with I think maybe Zadarius Smith was Darius Smith
Speaker 1: was the third one, and fans always complain like, oh,
Speaker 1: a three man never works. Exactly, there was a three
Speaker 1: man rush and two guys actually helped flush Troubisky out
Speaker 1: of the pocket. The Bears offensive line just didn't have
Speaker 1: an answer for that. Seven guys up front, four of
Speaker 1: them drop into coverage and they just didn't They didn't
Speaker 1: respond to it properly. The other thing I want to
Speaker 1: just touch on really quickly when you mentioned the double
Speaker 1: a gap looks and what they've done with Blake Martinez.
Speaker 1: Blake Martinez now has six sacks with Mike Petton in
Speaker 1: this defense over the last seventeen regular season games. It
Speaker 1: is really remarkable how well he's fitting here. And I
Speaker 1: understand there's certain scheme adjustments and there's things that the
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator is doing to free Martinez up for those opportunities,
Speaker 1: but how effective Martinez has been being able to get
Speaker 1: through and be able to capitalize when he does get
Speaker 1: the whole when he does get the rush. He's really
Speaker 1: fits this defense well. And I think that's why. You know,
Speaker 1: I know, people talk about the depth that inside linebacker,
Speaker 1: and you know, they want to know who's gonna be
Speaker 1: that next guy up. Certainly the Packers want to establish
Speaker 1: that player, but on an every down basis when everybody's healthy,
Speaker 1: Blake Martinez is an every down player for this defense.
Speaker 1: And I think plays like that show you why because
Speaker 1: of not just what he offers as a traditional inside linebacker,
Speaker 1: but being able to be smart and savvy to find
Speaker 1: those opportunities to get after the quarterback when he gets deployed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the one sack that he did have in the game,
Speaker 1: it was actually the second third down. It was on
Speaker 1: the Bears opening series, and on the first third down
Speaker 1: he had come up in that mug look in the
Speaker 1: A gap and he dropped into coverage. Then on three
Speaker 1: plays later, at the very next third down, he's in
Speaker 1: the exact same spot. A different guy was next to
Speaker 1: him in the other A gap. And then this time
Speaker 1: Martinez came, you know, shot the gap between the center
Speaker 1: of the guard. Nobody blocked him. He got a he
Speaker 1: gotta clean um. He got a clean charge of Trabisky,
Speaker 1: and Troubisky was on the ground before he could even
Speaker 1: look for a receiver. And you gotta remember, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a two or thirty seven pound football player
Speaker 1: that is running through the beefiest, biggest part of an
Speaker 1: offensive line. And I don't mean this to be disrespectful
Speaker 1: to Joe Thomas, but there were a lot of times
Speaker 1: where don Key Apres would try to do something similar
Speaker 1: with Joe Thomas. Thomas very rarely was just able to
Speaker 1: get home in those places because you're talking about a
Speaker 1: two eight pound man and he's getting hung up on
Speaker 1: a guard that maybe is weighing nine pounds more than him.
Speaker 1: I just think it's a credit to Blake Martinez that
Speaker 1: he can keep the offensive lines, you know, truthful in
Speaker 1: what he's able to accomplish there and be effective in
Speaker 1: that way. Yeah, well, another aspect of the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there you go, another aspect of the game that is
Speaker 1: definitely worth revisiting. And you've got a story on our
Speaker 1: website related to this, um your occasional series that we
Speaker 1: call Player on the Rise. And quite frankly, a pretty
Speaker 1: easy choice with this one because second year punter J K. Scott,
Speaker 1: when you look at the numbers, when you look at
Speaker 1: the situations, everything that went into his performance in a
Speaker 1: defensive struggle out there at Soldier Field, J K. Scott
Speaker 1: definitely a guy who deserved a game ball and uh
Speaker 1: and he was. He was featured in your piece. And statistically, boy,
Speaker 1: you can't start of the season any better than than
Speaker 1: what he just especially given the circumstances. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: gonna go back and you're gonna look at statistics. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be games where he had a higher gross, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be games where he had a higher net. But
Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is he punted a career
Speaker 1: high nine times in this ballgame. The Packers defense continually
Speaker 1: got stops when they needed them. But you know that's
Speaker 1: one half of the equation. When you're trying to dictate
Speaker 1: field position and tempo. When the offense sputters, it's never
Speaker 1: a good thing for momentum, but it can be compounded
Speaker 1: if the punter isn't able to at least, you know,
Speaker 1: maintain the field position. I thought j. K. Scott in
Speaker 1: this game in particular, did a phenomenal job of being
Speaker 1: able to dictate the terms in which the game was played.
Speaker 1: And he was going up against a pretty decent punter himself,
Speaker 1: you know, Pat O'Connell on the other side. He was
Speaker 1: holding his ground. Trevor Davis didn't get a lot of
Speaker 1: chances for returns, but in the critical moments when j. K.
Speaker 1: Scott needed to make a punt, the last one that
Speaker 1: everyone keeps talking about is that final one. You know,
Speaker 1: there's one minute and fifty whatever seconds left. He needs
Speaker 1: to be able to pin the Bears back. He uncorks
Speaker 1: a sixty three yarder which ends up being brought back
Speaker 1: even a couple more yards after holding call on the Bears.
Speaker 1: That's what makes them start their fourteen and that's what
Speaker 1: set up the four and out for the Packers defense.
Speaker 1: I was asking Kenny Clark about it in the locker
Speaker 1: room on Monday, he said, you know the way he's
Speaker 1: booming punts right now, that's flipping the field for this team.
Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, Mike, this is
Speaker 1: what special teams needs to do. That is where you
Speaker 1: don't want to give up chunk plays and you want
Speaker 1: to be able to maintain your leverage in that capacity.
Speaker 1: J K. Scott being able to control his punts for
Speaker 1: the most part. I know there was one in the
Speaker 1: middle field he want wanted back, but other than that,
Speaker 1: you know, he did a really good job in this
Speaker 1: game of being able to make sure the Packers still
Speaker 1: maintain that momentum regardless of the situation. Yeah, he had
Speaker 1: the one early in the game when he was punning
Speaker 1: basically out of the back of the end zone when
Speaker 1: the Packers offense had gone nowhere. He put it down
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field. Cohen got a good return.
Speaker 1: The Bears were starting at the Green Bay thirty six
Speaker 1: yard line, but to the credit of the Packers defense,
Speaker 1: they were able to hold him to a field goal
Speaker 1: and then that ended up being the only points the
Speaker 1: Bears scored. I thought Scott caught one other break where
Speaker 1: he had hit one not the greatest punt and it
Speaker 1: was kind of down the middle of the field, but
Speaker 1: Coden didn't field it and it took a nice bounce
Speaker 1: and I think that was his other his other sixty
Speaker 1: plus yard or there. But what I will say to
Speaker 1: when you look at the nine punts and the statistic
Speaker 1: that five of them were inside the opponent's twenty yard line,
Speaker 1: We've seen it so many times West where a lot
Speaker 1: of times punters they they go for that big hero punt,
Speaker 1: you know where they're they're trying to drop it on
Speaker 1: you know, like the four yard line or the three
Speaker 1: yard line and trying to get you know, just the
Speaker 1: right lucky bounce to really pin a team, you know,
Speaker 1: inside the five. Hey, I'll take the one that goes
Speaker 1: straight up in the air and they have to fair
Speaker 1: catch it on the tent. I'll take that every time
Speaker 1: over going for those hero punts that then you know,
Speaker 1: seven times out of nine are going to go into
Speaker 1: the end zone and they get the ball at the twenty,
Speaker 1: that's not what you want. Make him fair catch it
Speaker 1: on the ten yard line. That's a great spot for
Speaker 1: your defense to be in. And he did that a
Speaker 1: handful of times in this game. Yeah, and it was
Speaker 1: interesting too, because he talked about that thirties the punt
Speaker 1: that ended up going to the thirty six, and he
Speaker 1: mentioned that's where they ended up getting their three points.
Speaker 1: But that's the you talked this week a lot about
Speaker 1: the narrow margins. That's one of those type of plays
Speaker 1: that when you just give them enough yardage, they're going
Speaker 1: to be able to find a way to score points
Speaker 1: even if the defense holds serve. The thing I like
Speaker 1: about that idea that you just laid out there is
Speaker 1: that you know, dom Capers would talk about this a lot.
Speaker 1: If you take care of your business and don't give
Speaker 1: up explosive plays. The more you force an offense, the
Speaker 1: longer you force the offense to sustain a drive, the
Speaker 1: less likely it's going to be that they're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to do that. So by putting them at the
Speaker 1: ten instead of the twenty, it might sound like a
Speaker 1: small thing, but in reality, that's an extra first down,
Speaker 1: and you know, if you're able to not give up
Speaker 1: the big chunk plays and not get penalized, that is
Speaker 1: what is going to ultimately allow you to maybe get
Speaker 1: that stop at the fifty instead of your forty, where
Speaker 1: now they're thinking about going forward on fourth down, or
Speaker 1: they have to make a decision on their kicker exactly.
Speaker 1: That extra yardage can go a long way in games
Speaker 1: like this. And I again, J K. Scott, it's a
Speaker 1: long season. He talked about before, he felt like he
Speaker 1: kind of wore down down the stretch last year. He
Speaker 1: needs to be able to maintain that momentum. But listen
Speaker 1: to what Sean Manega has said about him in his
Speaker 1: approach this year. I think you're seeing a young guy
Speaker 1: that's maturing. Because the leg talent is always there. We've
Speaker 1: seen it. It's just about being able to be relaxed,
Speaker 1: mature in falling through and what you need to accomplish. Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: well I want to get your thoughts here West on
Speaker 1: that opening Monday night football game at the super domin
Speaker 1: New Orleans, New Orleans Saints hosting the Houston Texans, two
Speaker 1: teams that a lot of a lot of football analysts,
Speaker 1: a lot of fans out there expecting to be in
Speaker 1: the mix in January here in the postseason. A really
Speaker 1: interesting a f C versus NFC matchup to kick off
Speaker 1: Monday night football and uh boy, what a football game?
Speaker 1: On what a football game? What the last two minutes
Speaker 1: of that football game. Hi, it's funny for the Packers,
Speaker 1: this probably didn't go the way you wanted it to.
Speaker 1: With anytime an a f C team can be a
Speaker 1: contending NFC team that always have that in your back
Speaker 1: pocket at the end of the season. That's a that's
Speaker 1: a benefit. But I'll say this, man, the thing that
Speaker 1: stands out to me is Drew Brees his poise, his
Speaker 1: moxie at forty years old. You know, I mean that
Speaker 1: it was Deshaun Watson made two incredible throws to be
Speaker 1: able to come back get the answer. They missed the
Speaker 1: extra point, the kicker was rough. They have to kick
Speaker 1: the extra point again. Now it's tied, all right now
Speaker 1: they whatever it worked out to be. Um. Yeah, then
Speaker 1: Houston got the lead on the extra point. It would
Speaker 1: have it would have been tied on the miss if
Speaker 1: not for the penalty. So and then Drew Brees saddles up,
Speaker 1: goes back out there on the clock and managing the game.
Speaker 1: It was funny. A guy like me, I'm just immediately
Speaker 1: thinking called the time out. He got two first downs,
Speaker 1: left himself with six seconds or whatever it was. And
Speaker 1: then a mind boggling decision from Houston to go into
Speaker 1: prevent even though the Saints had the time out left,
Speaker 1: they going to prevent yards. They they had three guys
Speaker 1: that were thirty five yards off the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: playing way back. They only rushed, you know, I believe
Speaker 1: they only rushed two guys or something like that, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I I thought Breese was going to
Speaker 1: call the time out after the second completion about fifteen
Speaker 1: sixteen seconds, and when they were at midfield, I thought, Okay,
Speaker 1: he's gonna have to call it there, and he rushed
Speaker 1: him up to the line and spiked it, and I
Speaker 1: was like, wow, well, yeah, now you can still use
Speaker 1: the middle of the field. But um um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: Houston defensively, not exactly sure of the call or what
Speaker 1: they were what they were afraid of there, they conceded
Speaker 1: the ten yards in the middle of the field. With
Speaker 1: the Saints having the time out left. Now a fifty
Speaker 1: eight yard field goal, I mean, that's you figure, that's
Speaker 1: probably a less than fifty fifty proposition. So maybe that
Speaker 1: was their thinking that rather than let you know, Breeze
Speaker 1: potentially beat them deep with something down the sideline, um,
Speaker 1: they would give up the ten yards and and hope
Speaker 1: the guy would miss the long kick. But but indoors
Speaker 1: in a dome, you know he drilled it. And in
Speaker 1: the Saints are and Will Lots is a really talented kicker,
Speaker 1: and he's kicking inside his own building. I mean, if
Speaker 1: that's an energy, maybe that's the approach you have because
Speaker 1: he's not going to be as familiar with it. But
Speaker 1: Will Lutz knows that stadium as well as any kicker
Speaker 1: in the league. So to be in that position to
Speaker 1: hit a game winner a career long that didn't surprise me.
Speaker 1: The one thing I was interested in. Some people are
Speaker 1: asking me this on Twitter. Maybe you can answer it
Speaker 1: for me. Breeze completes the catch that sets up the
Speaker 1: kick in ends up being the time out with two
Speaker 1: seconds left. If the Texans defender would not have touched
Speaker 1: the receiver after he falls to the ground, would the
Speaker 1: clock still run or is the receiver given No, the
Speaker 1: clock would still run, right if the if the if
Speaker 1: the if the offensive player gives himself up, if he concedes,
Speaker 1: the offense can call a time out. So even so,
Speaker 1: even if he hadn't been touched with with the receiver
Speaker 1: going down on his own and conceding, which is clearly
Speaker 1: what he was told to do. Whether it's Sean Payton
Speaker 1: on the sideline next to a ref or breeze next
Speaker 1: to the ref on the field, they can they can
Speaker 1: call the time out if if their player has conceded
Speaker 1: and given up on the play. So Houston touching the
Speaker 1: receiver that had no bearing. Wonder though, if you're Houston, though,
Speaker 1: if you just if that's the plan, if you're gonna
Speaker 1: let him have the catch, Like, I'm surprised the guy
Speaker 1: went up and still touched him. But what it is,
Speaker 1: what it is, um And obviously the Saints came out
Speaker 1: with a big victory. The Houston Texas and Deshaun Watson. Man,
Speaker 1: I gotta I have a lot of respect for them though.
Speaker 1: That's going to be an exciting football team with what
Speaker 1: they did losing Lamar Miller right off the bat. Most
Speaker 1: hide comes in and kind of picks up the torch
Speaker 1: for them. Deshaun Watson's a winner, dude. As long as
Speaker 1: his knee holds up here and he doesn't have any
Speaker 1: more setbacks with that, I think that guy is gonna
Speaker 1: have a really special career. Yeah, well it was. It
Speaker 1: was quite the weak one. In the NFL as when
Speaker 1: the yeah, the Raiders with all of the controversy and
Speaker 1: the turmoil and everything swirling around, then they go out
Speaker 1: and I have to admit I went to bed. I
Speaker 1: didn't see. Uh you didn't stay up for that game,
Speaker 1: But I didn't stay up from Raiders Broncos I had to.
Speaker 1: I just I had to watch and see exactly what
Speaker 1: this was gonna look like. And I gotta give John Gruden.
Speaker 1: I gotta give that defense a lot of credit to
Speaker 1: for as bad as they were last year defensively holding
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco and check throughout the first first half. You know,
Speaker 1: second half he had some success. But I'll say this, man,
Speaker 1: Derek Carr is a player, and for him to have
Speaker 1: that type of game against Vic Fangio's defense the the
Speaker 1: big reason why Vic Fangio is a head coach right now.
Speaker 1: That scheme car twenty two of twenty six to nine
Speaker 1: and a touchdown. They looked really good in that game.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be uh, They're gonna be the big storyline
Speaker 1: all year long. Seen exactly how that team responds. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be uh, it's gonna be intriguing, to say the least. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: doubt about it. Well, with that, we will call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team on
Speaker 1: packers dot com, subscribed to us, like us on iTunes
Speaker 1: and other podcast services. On Twitter, He's at west Hot,
Speaker 1: I'm at Mike Spoffer at Packers for the team account.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1: Yeah h m hm