Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Welcome to Packers unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, sitting next to the one and
Speaker 1: only Western Hodkohits. We're coming to you here from our
Speaker 1: studios at lambau Field West were another day closer to Packers. Chargers.
Speaker 1: It will be Sunday afternoon from Los Angeles. And if
Speaker 1: there is a big piece of news from the week
Speaker 1: of preparation for Green Bay so far, it is that
Speaker 1: two time Pro Bowl wide receiver Davante Adams is back
Speaker 1: at practice now on a limited basis. No guarantees for Sunday,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of optimism that this could be
Speaker 1: the week the Packers get Davante Adams back on offense
Speaker 1: after sing four games with the toe injury. Well, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure the Packers are knocking on wood right now
Speaker 1: with all this. But the biggest sign here of progress
Speaker 1: is the fact there's been no setbacks last week. He
Speaker 1: started stretching a little bit more on Wednesday. He's running
Speaker 1: routes out there now. They didn't have the helmets on,
Speaker 1: but he was qualified as a limited participant, which would
Speaker 1: be his first official return to practice in the last
Speaker 1: months since he sustained that turf toe injury against Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: So all of those things checking the right boxes for
Speaker 1: Green Bay. It was really interesting listening to Vante Adams
Speaker 1: at his locker um after the practice ended on on
Speaker 1: Wednesday evening. You know, when he's he said many of
Speaker 1: the similar things that he said in the past few weeks.
Speaker 1: He wants to be healthy, but he started saying, you know,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be up to the doctors now. He was
Speaker 1: mentioning the doctors. In the past, it was always about
Speaker 1: how he was feeling. So by all accounts, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's feeling pretty good right now with where he's at
Speaker 1: with this thing. Now, you do want to be smart.
Speaker 1: You don't want to have any type of aggravation. That's
Speaker 1: what the rest of this week of preparation is going
Speaker 1: to be for and determining whether or not he can
Speaker 1: play in l A. But to at least be in
Speaker 1: this place that the Packers are at right now seven
Speaker 1: and one four or no without him what a you know,
Speaker 1: a big thing it would be for this offense to
Speaker 1: get him back here, um these next two games before
Speaker 1: the bye week. Yeah, and it was interesting. I asked
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers at his locker, knowing that Adams had returned
Speaker 1: to practice, So what's the mindset he wants to see
Speaker 1: from these other young receivers that Jake Kumros and Alan
Speaker 1: Lizard's whose opportunities have increased and they've come through and
Speaker 1: called upon in Adam's absence. But obviously, if Adams is
Speaker 1: back in the lineup, the snaps for those other guys
Speaker 1: are going to go down. They aren't going to get
Speaker 1: as many chances. And Aaron Rodgers said flat out, hey,
Speaker 1: they still have to be ready. I mean, for one,
Speaker 1: you're still only one play away. But the interesting part
Speaker 1: I also thought that he said was number two, these
Speaker 1: guys have earned chances and it doesn't mean you just
Speaker 1: send him to the bench completely. These guys have earned
Speaker 1: an opportunity to be in the rotation on a regular basis.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the most intriguing part about where
Speaker 1: the Packers offense goes from here when you get Adams
Speaker 1: Adams back, if it is this Sunday or if it's
Speaker 1: next week, whatever the case might be. But that we
Speaker 1: kind of went into the start of the regular season thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: you've got Adams, You've got MVS, you've got Allison. It
Speaker 1: seems like the you know, the list of options has
Speaker 1: expanded because of what some of these guys have done
Speaker 1: over the last month. And that's a positive thing because
Speaker 1: I know there's been teams I've covered in the past
Speaker 1: where it's like, okay, well it's the top three guys
Speaker 1: and then that's who you live with, and this is
Speaker 1: an option. I think one thing you never want to see,
Speaker 1: you know, MVS or Allison get hurt. But the one
Speaker 1: thing I think the packers learned about this receiving corps
Speaker 1: when those guys are working through their stuff is that
Speaker 1: they can rotate, be multiple and still be effective on offense.
Speaker 1: It's been a very balanced approach in the last two
Speaker 1: and a half weeks with how Matt Lafleur and Elvis
Speaker 1: Woitted have sort of passed around these snaps. Very balanced
Speaker 1: across the board for all these guys, and I think
Speaker 1: you've seen it. I think last week you saw Alan
Speaker 1: Lazard five catches for forty two yards. That's not going
Speaker 1: to jump off the page at you, but a lot
Speaker 1: of those catches were designed. You know reads four Alan
Speaker 1: lazare those are plays made for him. Jake Cumro made
Speaker 1: some significant catches early on, and certainly John Willison has
Speaker 1: been such a big veteran presence here for the Packers
Speaker 1: for that last three years, that that his you know,
Speaker 1: you know, being able to move the chains and and
Speaker 1: the options he gives you there are something you have
Speaker 1: to take into account as well. The thing about Davante
Speaker 1: Adams is when he's back, okay, he's gonna eat up
Speaker 1: the snaps. You want to have him on the field
Speaker 1: as much as humanly possible when he's healthy. But the
Speaker 1: different types of combinations that Matt with floor is gonna
Speaker 1: be able to run with now and and scheme up
Speaker 1: it only you know, you know, increases the flexibility unpredictability
Speaker 1: of this offense when you can turn to that many
Speaker 1: different skill position players to to step up. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: curious just where the chess match goes from here in
Speaker 1: terms of defensive coordinators and how they want to combat
Speaker 1: the Packers offense. Because what Aaron Jones did in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I made the comment and Insider in box earlier this week,
Speaker 1: the chess matches started for real. Because what Jones did
Speaker 1: with a hundred and fifty plus yards receiving over two
Speaker 1: hundred total yards Okay, you've got to make a decision.
Speaker 1: Do you go with a linebacker, do you go with
Speaker 1: a dB? How light do you want to be if
Speaker 1: the Packers decided to run the ball. Now you throw
Speaker 1: Davante Adams back into that mix. Who at the start
Speaker 1: of the season, most defensive coordinators would say, Okay, we
Speaker 1: put a corner there. A lot of time, we're going
Speaker 1: to shade a safety over the top. We're going to
Speaker 1: make sure that number seventeen doesn't beat us. Well, there's
Speaker 1: another pretty significant chess piece here now with number thirty
Speaker 1: three for Matt Lafleur and this offense. I'm really really
Speaker 1: curious and really interested to see where it goes. That
Speaker 1: used you use the word unpredictability a minute ago. I
Speaker 1: think that's where we're headed. Yeah, I think the number
Speaker 1: one beneficiary of what Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams have
Speaker 1: both put on film the last couple of weeks is
Speaker 1: going to be Davante Adams. I mean teams. I mean,
Speaker 1: we had that one play against Chicago where you know,
Speaker 1: everyone was making fun of it, but he was counting
Speaker 1: all the defenders that the Bears had on that one
Speaker 1: in completion. Yeah, that was kind of reality though, with
Speaker 1: much they were shading coverage in his direction. That can
Speaker 1: kind of change here, because now if you're forcing those
Speaker 1: safeties to take into account where Aaron Jones is in
Speaker 1: the flat or Jamal Williams between the tackles and and
Speaker 1: things of that nature, that's going to reduce some of
Speaker 1: those restrictions on Davante Adams and how much attention coordinators
Speaker 1: can really truly give the receiver. The thing I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed the most though about that game plan against Kansas
Speaker 1: City that I did not see happening as we went
Speaker 1: into that game last week, was, you know, I looked
Speaker 1: at the you know, the run defense for Casey, I
Speaker 1: saw some of the big plays they'd allowed in that capacity,
Speaker 1: and I am assuming, you know, Steve Spagnola, they were
Speaker 1: looking at, Okay, how do we make sure that we
Speaker 1: stopped these guys and not allow them to run on us?
Speaker 1: So what was the counter to that? Before he even
Speaker 1: got to that blow. It was getting Aaron Jones out
Speaker 1: in space. It was using those guys on wheel roads,
Speaker 1: it was motioning them in, lining them up in the
Speaker 1: slot in different areas of the receiving um. You know,
Speaker 1: Tree incredible adjustment I thought the Packers made, and I
Speaker 1: think that allowed them to be able to get in
Speaker 1: front of this thing. If the more Aaron Jones catches passes,
Speaker 1: the more touches that those two guys get, that that's
Speaker 1: going to really spring this this offense moving forward. And
Speaker 1: I even wrote an insider inbox today you can start
Speaker 1: to send us a trend here week to week when
Speaker 1: we're talking about, Okay, what do the Packers need to
Speaker 1: do to be successful? They gotta get Aaron Jones and
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams going, and that has been a big key,
Speaker 1: and especially during this time that they haven't had Davante Adams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if you get the play call in and get
Speaker 1: out of the huddle and get up to the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, then Aaron Rodgers can survey things. And if
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones is out wide, he can say all right, hey,
Speaker 1: get over here, let's get back in the backfield. Maybe
Speaker 1: Rogers see something else that he can take advantage of,
Speaker 1: depending on how the defense lines up. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot that a lot that can continue to evolve. I
Speaker 1: think we've seen My point is that we've seen an
Speaker 1: evolution of the Packers offense. But it's not done evolving
Speaker 1: when you're gonna throw Davante Adams back into the mix
Speaker 1: in the midst of a four game winning streak and
Speaker 1: a team that's seven and one at the halfway point. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And just I think this game on Sunday is going
Speaker 1: to be critical for all this too, because you know,
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur said, there's still planning for it to be
Speaker 1: a road environment, but there's a very good possibility and
Speaker 1: probability that it's going to be a Packers heavy crowd
Speaker 1: that they might not have to move to the silent
Speaker 1: count like they did last week against Casey. Seeing these
Speaker 1: pieces fall into place now for Green Bay, if you
Speaker 1: can get Davante healthy and keep him healthy, man, going
Speaker 1: into a bye week and having the second half of
Speaker 1: your season coming up, your really position well here to
Speaker 1: make a run. Yeah. Well, another topic we need, definitely
Speaker 1: need to talk about today. I want to send out
Speaker 1: a huge congratulations to you, sir, because the piece that
Speaker 1: you posted on our website yesterday on Tyler Lancaster, his
Speaker 1: family story, the loss of his father and everything that
Speaker 1: the family dealt with and where Tyler is now as
Speaker 1: a second year defensive lineman A guy who wasn't recruited,
Speaker 1: he wasn't drafted. You look at where he is, He's
Speaker 1: coming off of making the biggest play of his young career.
Speaker 1: Kudos to us. Absolutely fantastic piece. And I would encourage
Speaker 1: all hackers fans. If you haven't read this story on
Speaker 1: Tyler Lancaster, please set aside some time to do so. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is long. Set aside the time, but I say
Speaker 1: it's long, but it's worth it. Um set aside the
Speaker 1: time to read it, absorb it. You really will enjoy
Speaker 1: getting to know this young man. And I think you
Speaker 1: enjoyed getting to know him as well. I did. And
Speaker 1: and certainly you were the first one to write about
Speaker 1: him when he came to Green Bay. And there has
Speaker 1: been a lot written on Tyler's story, a lot of
Speaker 1: really good pieces Chicago Tribune. I'm not the first one
Speaker 1: to tell the story of Tyler and Brad Lancaster, but
Speaker 1: what I hope to do with it, And as I
Speaker 1: wrote this an insider inbox, I wanted because we're almost
Speaker 1: two years removed from this now, And Entyler even said,
Speaker 1: after I talked to him a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: you know, once you're allowed to process things a little
Speaker 1: bit more. You start to see the big picture and
Speaker 1: you start to you know, really be able to pull
Speaker 1: out the memories and take some of the emotion out
Speaker 1: of it. And and that's what's special for him now.
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, having a chance to
Speaker 1: talk with him and his mom, his fiance, Megan, was
Speaker 1: fantastic for the story as former high school football coach,
Speaker 1: a couple of the guys in the locker room that
Speaker 1: he played with a Northwestern seeing the maturation of this
Speaker 1: guy and how he's overcome what he's overcome, and think
Speaker 1: about it, Mike, as you were saying all the things
Speaker 1: that you know in terms of scholarship and NFL, and
Speaker 1: just how nobody really ever seemed to want to give
Speaker 1: him his due, even though he had a good pro day,
Speaker 1: even though it seemed like he could really be an
Speaker 1: NFL player. You know, teams, you know, schools, they didn't
Speaker 1: really catch onto his fire right away. And with everything
Speaker 1: he dealt with his dad his senior year and and
Speaker 1: you know, trying to tell Brad's story a little bit,
Speaker 1: who this guy was and why Tyler he meant so
Speaker 1: much to Tyler. He's you know, Megan said it better
Speaker 1: than I could have ever written, which is that you
Speaker 1: just you want for him so badly to succeed because
Speaker 1: of everything he's invested in the fact that he has
Speaker 1: not had a single door open for him. There's a
Speaker 1: little joke amongst the family where he Tyler always says,
Speaker 1: I'm so lucky to be where he's at, and Megan says, no, no,
Speaker 1: you're not. And you know, even a direct quote from her,
Speaker 1: she said, everything that you've done a d it's been
Speaker 1: because of what you have actually he earned. Nobody opened
Speaker 1: up any doors for you. And it's just an incredible story.
Speaker 1: I know there are some curmudgeons in Insider Inbox that
Speaker 1: we're commenting that you know, was doing too much of
Speaker 1: a victory lap patting myself on the back, but I
Speaker 1: really wish people and you were the first one to
Speaker 1: point this out to me. The submissions we got after
Speaker 1: the story came in, I estimated, honestly, Mike, I estimated
Speaker 1: the submissions were somewhat oriented around Tyler's story because everybody
Speaker 1: could relate to it. Yeah, everybody's had been touched by cancer,
Speaker 1: everybody's lost to fit, you know, someone by cancer, and
Speaker 1: hearing those stories, I really wish that I could have
Speaker 1: just posted an inbox where was just people recounting, you know,
Speaker 1: their their brothers and sisters and mothers and sons and
Speaker 1: people who have lost. That is human emotion and that's
Speaker 1: why I found his story so captivating. And hopefully I
Speaker 1: did it justice. Yeah, no, you certainly did, and it
Speaker 1: was It's an enjoyable read. I think this is the
Speaker 1: thing that I when I sat and talked to Lancaster
Speaker 1: when he first got here. It was his first day
Speaker 1: actually in the Green Bay Packers locker room. He's an
Speaker 1: undrafted rookie. He was one of those guys. Obviously, I'm
Speaker 1: a little biased because of the Northwestern thing, I'll admit that.
Speaker 1: But what was interesting to me is that, you know,
Speaker 1: even if Tyler Lancaster had not had not made it
Speaker 1: with the Packers and not made it in the NFL,
Speaker 1: he already has one heck of a story because when
Speaker 1: you you look at how few opportunities he had to
Speaker 1: even get into college football, and he gets a scholarship
Speaker 1: to Northwestern, he gets an offer, he goes there, and
Speaker 1: you know how these college programs they have their different
Speaker 1: traditions and whatnot, and one of them at Northwestern as
Speaker 1: it is at a lot of schools. Are those single
Speaker 1: digit jersey numbers. Well, Tyler Lancaster, a three d pound
Speaker 1: defensive lineman, ends up wearing jersey number one at Northwestern.
Speaker 1: That's a big Dealwestern. Yeah, for the Northwestern Wildcats, that's
Speaker 1: a big deal. And and Pat Fitzgerald, he has been
Speaker 1: the head coach there for a long time. Those are
Speaker 1: things that are not taken lightly in that program. And
Speaker 1: the fact that a guy who he wasn't recruited by
Speaker 1: the Ohio States and the Michigan's and the Alabama's and
Speaker 1: the U c l as of the world, that he
Speaker 1: goes to Northwestern and then ends up with that type
Speaker 1: of honor. As I say, I think his story is fantastic,
Speaker 1: whether he had made anything of himself in the NFL
Speaker 1: or not. And then the fact that he did. He
Speaker 1: here he is in the NFL in his second year
Speaker 1: playing a good share of snaps for the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers on the defensive line, as an undrafted guy who
Speaker 1: couldn't get anybody's attention during the draft. To get that
Speaker 1: type of opportunity. Um his um, his his story, His
Speaker 1: story is a great one. And and uh and the
Speaker 1: strength the support, everything that his family has given him,
Speaker 1: with everything that the family has gone through along the way. UM,
Speaker 1: really really special. Yeah, and one of my favorite anecdotes
Speaker 1: that actually didn't make it into the story was Okay,
Speaker 1: So he finally gets a scholarship offer from Northwestern and
Speaker 1: he's excited. This came after a camp with Northwestern they
Speaker 1: let him go without when they ended up calling him
Speaker 1: back and saying, yeah, we're gonna give you one of
Speaker 1: our last ones for the thirteen class. And one of
Speaker 1: his first questions was, oh, that's cool, Like how much
Speaker 1: does that pay for? And they're like all of it.
Speaker 1: He's like, oh shoot, like he thought he was getting
Speaker 1: like a partial scholarship something. They're like, no, yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: pay for a couple of classes and we want you
Speaker 1: to play some football though that that wasn't the deal.
Speaker 1: It was a little bit bigger. And if you read
Speaker 1: the story, you know his story. Um, nothing ever came easy,
Speaker 1: even when he got the scholarship. He dealt with the
Speaker 1: sleep app knee, he had the injuries, everything he's had
Speaker 1: to work for, and his father, Brad passed away at
Speaker 1: the age of fifty five in January of two thou eighteen.
Speaker 1: Weeks after his final college game. I have to imagine
Speaker 1: he's smiling down. A hard working guy there. They were
Speaker 1: not a wealthy family growing up, but as as you know,
Speaker 1: Tyler said, you know, they enjoyed everything. He appreciated everything
Speaker 1: that his father did from even if he couldn't be
Speaker 1: at all the football games. And obviously now with his
Speaker 1: mom being able to come up and see all these
Speaker 1: games in Green Bay, and Brad obviously, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: getting a chance to you know, really relish this opportunity
Speaker 1: that his son has been able to achieve. Well, I
Speaker 1: remember from the first time I talked to him, the
Speaker 1: one quote that stood out to me is that he said,
Speaker 1: he said, there is no bigger fan of Tyler Lancaster
Speaker 1: than Brad Lancaster. And if if nothing else, that's got
Speaker 1: to stick with you. As I said, take the time
Speaker 1: to read the story. It's a great piece, but I
Speaker 1: know we gotta go. We're a little short on time today,
Speaker 1: so we're going to call it a rap on this
Speaker 1: edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of the team on Packers dot Com. Like us,
Speaker 1: subscribe to us on iTunes and other podcast services. On Twitter,
Speaker 1: he's at West hod at Mike Spofford at Packers for
Speaker 1: the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time.