Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford and he is my trust in
Speaker 1: colleague West hod Kowitz. Were coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studios at lambeau Field. West were another day closer
Speaker 1: to Packers and Cardinals noon Central time kickoff week here
Speaker 1: in the NFL season, game number twelve for the Packers,
Speaker 1: who are four six and one, looking to uh obviously
Speaker 1: stay alive here in But I want to start today's
Speaker 1: show with a little bit of talk about Davante Adams.
Speaker 1: Not that we haven't talked about him a lot already
Speaker 1: this season, but an interesting comment. I'm gonna go back
Speaker 1: to a few weeks ago when Aaron Rodgers was asked
Speaker 1: about Davante Adams and you know, why is it that
Speaker 1: you know, he's not talked about amongst the league's elite receivers.
Speaker 1: He's sort of always talked. He's sort of mentioned as
Speaker 1: an afterthought or maybe on that next tier, so to speak,
Speaker 1: when it comes to the national conversations, is what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. And Rogers said, well, he's still just he
Speaker 1: It's going to come for him and he just needs
Speaker 1: to have that one wow season. Well, He's got seventy
Speaker 1: seven catches for one thousand, twenty two yards and ten touchdowns.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty good season. If today we're already January two,
Speaker 1: but there are five games left in this season and
Speaker 1: he's got those numbers. This looks to me like this
Speaker 1: is the Wow season for Davante Adams. And regardless of
Speaker 1: how the Packers finished record wise, if if the recognition,
Speaker 1: the DO recognition doesn't come his way, now, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure how Itever was. Here's what's really exciting about Davante Adams.
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the real untapped gems out
Speaker 1: there for the national media and um, those type of
Speaker 1: outlets to really discover because you know, you and I
Speaker 1: have been around for five years. He has a very
Speaker 1: confident but yet pleasant demeanor in terms of how he
Speaker 1: deals with the media. UM, I never want to go
Speaker 1: out and say that guy's quote unquote enjoy the whole
Speaker 1: media process because it is a big commitment and you
Speaker 1: know they're they're working twelve hour days, fourteen hour days
Speaker 1: and then they gotta they gotta intersplice this. But I
Speaker 1: don't think Davantae Adams hates it. It seems like ever
Speaker 1: since the beginning, even when the questions are really hard
Speaker 1: for him, he always embraced that. And I think behind
Speaker 1: whatever the season turns into, whether it's dred yards, hundred catches,
Speaker 1: all the touchdowns in the world, I think is that
Speaker 1: door starts to get open and people start to really
Speaker 1: not I don't want to put the Jordy Nelson air
Speaker 1: in the past, but start to understand that this is
Speaker 1: the receiver of the future for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: I think people are gonna be pleasantly surprised at the
Speaker 1: type of individual that they're going to be dealing with.
Speaker 1: Because Davante Adams doesn't want to be a super are
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to be a celebrity. But the way
Speaker 1: he carries himself and and how he handles those responsibilities,
Speaker 1: I think are going to endear him to the national
Speaker 1: picture whenever that day finally arrives. Yeah, I think for
Speaker 1: the most part, as much as you say, he does
Speaker 1: enjoy some of the banter with the media, but for
Speaker 1: the most part he does just let us play on
Speaker 1: the field and talking. And I think that's something that
Speaker 1: certainly the local media here in Green Bay, as we
Speaker 1: talked to him on a daily on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1: We certainly respect that about him. I wrote a story
Speaker 1: for our website this week, kind of a numbers based,
Speaker 1: statistics based story to look at things projecting with where
Speaker 1: Adams is after eleven games this year, and if you
Speaker 1: just do the math, which doesn't always work out, but
Speaker 1: if you do the math projecting where he is seventy
Speaker 1: seven catches, that's an easy one. That's seven per game
Speaker 1: through eleven games. So that actually would equate if he
Speaker 1: keeps up that pace to a hundred and twelve receptions,
Speaker 1: which is exactly the single season record for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers held by Sterling Sharp, which he set back
Speaker 1: in now. If you go with the yards, his ten
Speaker 1: twenty two right now would project to fight six or
Speaker 1: just under fift hundred. Jordy Nelson has that franchise record
Speaker 1: for a single season at fifteen nineteen from two thousand
Speaker 1: and fourteen, so you can see it wouldn't take much
Speaker 1: of an increase in his pace and to potentially eclipse
Speaker 1: his old buddy Jordy there for that single season record.
Speaker 1: And then as far as touchdowns, he's got ten right
Speaker 1: now that projects to fourteen or fifteen by the end
Speaker 1: of the regular season. There have only been three players
Speaker 1: in Packer's history with fifteen or more touchdown catches in
Speaker 1: one season, and that's Sterling Sharp with eighteen in that's
Speaker 1: the franchise record. Don Hudson had seventeen and then Jordy
Speaker 1: Nelson had fifteen back in, so he's on pace. However
Speaker 1: this falls, this is going to go down as one
Speaker 1: of the most historic seasons for a Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: wide receiver. And when you're talking about this being the
Speaker 1: one hundred season of Green Bay Packers football, that's saying something.
Speaker 1: It is and Mike gonna see whether or not he
Speaker 1: ends up obviously breaking that receiving record, uh in terms
Speaker 1: of receptions, but I think what's extra powerful. You think
Speaker 1: of Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Donald Driver,
Speaker 1: all the phenomenal receivers the Packers have had over the
Speaker 1: last twenty five years, but the fact that Davante Adams
Speaker 1: needs only twenty three more catches over these next seven
Speaker 1: games two eclipse a hundred catches on the season. That's
Speaker 1: something that hasn't been done since with Robert Brooks Um
Speaker 1: Regardless of whether or not he pushes for Sterling I
Speaker 1: think it just puts into context the type of receiver
Speaker 1: he's become in this league, in in what he offers
Speaker 1: to Aaron Rodgers in this offense. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think if you ask Aaron Rodgers, if you and even
Speaker 1: if you asked Davante and to some extent, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of plays out there that he still wishes he
Speaker 1: had on top of the seventy seven catches, the twenty
Speaker 1: two yards. But the thing I appreciate the most about
Speaker 1: the season in which he's having is the fact that
Speaker 1: there's no more of this all your three yards away
Speaker 1: from a thousand yards season. It's been fun to kind
Speaker 1: joke with him about that, and he's taken it in
Speaker 1: strip but at the same time, it is something that's
Speaker 1: kind of been, you know, held against him over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. That heading into this season, and
Speaker 1: until he surpassed it in Minnesota the other night, he
Speaker 1: hadn't had a one thousand yard season as a wide
Speaker 1: receiver yet. But that's finally over and done and he
Speaker 1: had you know, he was on pace for it again
Speaker 1: last year before the concussion and causing him force him
Speaker 1: to force be out of the last two games. The
Speaker 1: fact that he has it now. You can't take that
Speaker 1: away from him. You have that forever. And as much
Speaker 1: as the game has changed and there's more passing and
Speaker 1: maybe it isn't the same threshold that it was twenty
Speaker 1: five years ago, it's still really special. And for a
Speaker 1: guy like Davante Adams, a student of the game, a
Speaker 1: guy that follows and tracks all the other top receivers,
Speaker 1: watches all the film on all on all the guys
Speaker 1: that he's you know, shares the position with, you have
Speaker 1: to imagine that this is something that's meaningful now. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day, he wants to win. He
Speaker 1: wants to chase a Super Bowl championship, something that he
Speaker 1: has not had yet at this point of his career.
Speaker 1: The one thing that is of not you know, maybe
Speaker 1: the only thing that's missing right now when you look
Speaker 1: at some of the division titles and NFC title games
Speaker 1: he's been to, and I think that's what drives him.
Speaker 1: But these are the type of things that Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: always like to say. When you're on your back porch
Speaker 1: someday and you're sitting there and you're reflecting on what
Speaker 1: you've accomplished, Davante Adam is going to be able to
Speaker 1: look back at the two thousand eighteen season with fondness
Speaker 1: and in understanding that, Okay, at five years old, with
Speaker 1: a lot of careers still ahead of him, you know,
Speaker 1: this is when I really stepped up to be in
Speaker 1: one of the elite. Yeah. And I got an interesting
Speaker 1: question and insider inbox this week that a fan asked,
Speaker 1: who do I think, when this is all said and done,
Speaker 1: is going to be known as the receiver for Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: Would it be Jordy Nelson or will it be Davante Adams.
Speaker 1: And it's an interesting question because when you look back
Speaker 1: at Brett Farve's career, for instance, for all the success
Speaker 1: that he had, all the connections he had with Sterling
Speaker 1: Sharp and with Robert Brooks, at the end of the
Speaker 1: day fifty seven regular season touchdowns with Antonio Freeman, I
Speaker 1: think when everybody thinks of Brett Farve and if you're
Speaker 1: going to pick one receiver, you kind of go with
Speaker 1: Freeman in that equation with Adams. It was really interesting
Speaker 1: that the question came in this week because then I
Speaker 1: looked at all the numbers and Aaron Rodgers and Jordy
Speaker 1: Nelson surpassed the far Freeman connection for total touchdowns a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, and if you include regular season
Speaker 1: and postseason, Rogers and Nelson had seventy touchdowns together. Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and Davante Adams including postseason games, have exactly half
Speaker 1: right now, thirty five, it's thirty five and seventy. So
Speaker 1: it was just it was really kind of serendipitous in
Speaker 1: a way that that question came in this week and
Speaker 1: I looked at the numbers and you kind of go, oh,
Speaker 1: thirty five and seventy when you include the playoff games,
Speaker 1: and obviously you know, whatever happens this year, hopefully Rogers
Speaker 1: and and uh and Adams have some more playoff games
Speaker 1: to add to the regular season numbers that I'm sure
Speaker 1: they'll put up. I'm not sure how to answer the
Speaker 1: question in terms of making a prediction. I don't like
Speaker 1: to do that, but the numbers are interesting when you
Speaker 1: look at it. It was interesting also in the fact
Speaker 1: that Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson played together for ten seasons.
Speaker 1: UH that was unmatched by I want to say it
Speaker 1: was two or three years. No other tandem in the
Speaker 1: league had been able to stick together for that long.
Speaker 1: Just incredible longevity on both of their uh you know,
Speaker 1: both of their parts. The thing about Aaron Rodgers, though,
Speaker 1: I think is different from Brett Farve. I think you
Speaker 1: can't really point out one receiver with Rogers because there's
Speaker 1: just been so many. Greg Jennings had a phenomenal run
Speaker 1: with him. Jordy Nelson had just a kinship. I mean
Speaker 1: just something, it just it. It is just crazy the
Speaker 1: type of um you know, wavelength those two operated on.
Speaker 1: Randall Cobb, Donald Driver got a chance to play with
Speaker 1: both of them. I think the ultimate thing for Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers when it's all said and down, and also a
Speaker 1: feather in the cap of Ted Thompson, is how the
Speaker 1: Packers were able to keep keeping the shelf stocked at
Speaker 1: that position. Aaron Brett Farve had to. He did have
Speaker 1: Antonio Freeman, he had Robert Brooks, he ad Sterling Sharp,
Speaker 1: but it was really difficult that it just seemed like
Speaker 1: other than maybe Donald Driver at the end of it,
Speaker 1: he never really had like one guy that was just
Speaker 1: there for six seven years and that was his receiver.
Speaker 1: R He a lot of times had to make it work.
Speaker 1: There were years where Corey Bradford was in there, Bill schrader.
Speaker 1: I think what's really special about this group that they've
Speaker 1: had is a lot of those guys played on second contracts.
Speaker 1: A lot of them were able to, you know, really
Speaker 1: do some damage through the air, you know, passing game
Speaker 1: for years. And I think that's when it's all said
Speaker 1: and done, going to be one of the big trademarks
Speaker 1: of Aaron Rodgers in this offense. Yeah, I would agree
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Speaker 1: heading into this game against the Arizona Cardinals. Bill, you
Speaker 1: take one glance at the Packers injury report this week
Speaker 1: and it's like, yeah, it's click. WHOA, Um, I guess
Speaker 1: we'll start on the offensive line, UM, David bak Try
Speaker 1: Lane Taylor, the two guys on the left side both
Speaker 1: not practicing. Neither one has been ruled out necessarily. UM
Speaker 1: bak Try spoke to reporters definitely indicated he's going to
Speaker 1: give it his best effort to try to get ready
Speaker 1: to play. Um Justin McCrae a guy who is who's
Speaker 1: ready to step in at left guard certainly if if
Speaker 1: Lane Taylor is unable to go. And interesting kind of
Speaker 1: as much as everything seemed to change for Justin McCrae
Speaker 1: and that he started the season as a frontline guy
Speaker 1: and as one of those guys in the starting I've
Speaker 1: now he's back to being, you know, the guy that
Speaker 1: just has to be ready to run in there and
Speaker 1: take over as soon as something happened. Yeah. I wrote
Speaker 1: about this on our website too, and it was funny
Speaker 1: because is there any you know he missed time with
Speaker 1: the shoulder injury, basically missed a better part of two months.
Speaker 1: He started the first three games of the season at
Speaker 1: right guard, held down that position throughout the off season.
Speaker 1: They did sign Byron Bell, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: there wasn't like a direct competitor. It seemed like for
Speaker 1: that spot, well, he has the shoulder injury, he misses time.
Speaker 1: The Packers decided to keep that cohesiveness with Brian Balagh
Speaker 1: and Bell. And then when mccraig comes back, he's been
Speaker 1: working his way back into lineup and playing special teams.
Speaker 1: But is there nothing more nothing more poetic about justin
Speaker 1: mccraige's story that his first opportunity to get back in
Speaker 1: with the starting offenses Byron Bell's shoe coming off his
Speaker 1: cleat coming off in that game against Minnesota. And honestly,
Speaker 1: it was such a low key moment because it was
Speaker 1: the Packers lost. Things didn't go well in the second half.
Speaker 1: But how amazing was that when Byron bell his shoot
Speaker 1: comes off, he has to make a split second decision
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do here? So from the other
Speaker 1: side of the line of the hash marks, he decides
Speaker 1: to just catapult his shoe across the field. He fighted,
Speaker 1: he fired it quite the distance. It was quite the
Speaker 1: punt passing kick throw that he had there the lot,
Speaker 1: the side judge has the duck. Well, then finally they decide, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, you're not staying in without a shoe on.
Speaker 1: So he comes off. Justin mccraig comes in and hey,
Speaker 1: while Justin mccraige is back in the lineup because unfortunately
Speaker 1: then Lane Taylor ends up having the quad injury. So
Speaker 1: Bell comes back into his spot in uh, mccraig goes
Speaker 1: to left guard. He said it was kind of a
Speaker 1: tough position to be in because he practiced only on
Speaker 1: the right side all week. Yeah, he's been taking most
Speaker 1: of his practice reps since he came back from the shoulder.
Speaker 1: Most of his practice reps have been right guard and
Speaker 1: right tackle um so far this year and then but
Speaker 1: now he's got to shift left guard and that's that's
Speaker 1: the job. Yeah, So he said, you know, he still
Speaker 1: wants to be a starter, He still wants to be
Speaker 1: a player in this league. But you know, this is
Speaker 1: the hand he's dealt and the positive thing for him,
Speaker 1: as he says, the shoulders good to go. He's felt
Speaker 1: good with that now for a while. So it's just
Speaker 1: about baking, sure, He takes care of those opportunities. We'll
Speaker 1: see what this week unfolds, if bok tr goes, if
Speaker 1: Taylor goes. But the one thing the Patricks have been
Speaker 1: really steadfast about going back to last season and the
Speaker 1: eight starts that McRae made, is that they feel good
Speaker 1: about him if he has to go in at any
Speaker 1: of those five spots. He's shown that he can handle
Speaker 1: that responsibility, especially being cold off the bench. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: where do things stand? Just give us the update as
Speaker 1: far as where things are in the secondary with Kevin
Speaker 1: Kings and those players who are all listed on the reporters. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: so King is still working his way back, still in practice,
Speaker 1: but you know how those things go with the soft
Speaker 1: tissue injuries. Trying to see when he could potentially be
Speaker 1: back out there. Brian did not practice again on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Will see obviously what happens on Thursday. We you know,
Speaker 1: at this point in time, with how these things shuffle out,
Speaker 1: you know it, you never know. So uh, but they
Speaker 1: did sign another safety. Now you have any pleasant coming
Speaker 1: in who was formerly with the Houston Texans, a special
Speaker 1: teams guy for a number of years. Also had a
Speaker 1: cup of coffee with the Arizona Cardinals before being released
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago. So there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: mixing and matching there. I've said I mentioned this an
Speaker 1: Insider Inbox. One of the somewhat pleasant surprises for me
Speaker 1: has been Ibraheim campbell Um, just because this is a
Speaker 1: guy that got signed three and a half weeks ago
Speaker 1: and then suddenly he's playing an important role on special
Speaker 1: teams and he's playing almost every snap on defense. I
Speaker 1: thought he showed some good technique in that game against
Speaker 1: Minnesota given the kind of situation he was thrust into. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, the biggest one Mike at the
Speaker 1: end of the day is Kevin King. If you Packers
Speaker 1: can get him back in there, it really there's such
Speaker 1: a big domino effect with the secondary and having him
Speaker 1: locking down one side of the field. Yeah, absolutely, I
Speaker 1: agree with you. One more quick thought before we go
Speaker 1: Thursday night football. The New Orleans Saints have won ten straight.
Speaker 1: Alice Cowboys have won three in a row. What chance
Speaker 1: do you give the Cowboys to maybe cool off the
Speaker 1: hottest team in football? What do you think It's all
Speaker 1: in that defense. It's all about seeing if the Cowboys
Speaker 1: defense is for real and if they can take on
Speaker 1: the biggest challenge I think that they faced this season.
Speaker 1: Now they get them on their home turf. I think
Speaker 1: that's big. But you know, Drew Brees is so locked
Speaker 1: in right now, Mike and and being able to you know,
Speaker 1: it's incredible the amount of efficiency he you know, Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers last week against the Cardinals. These guys that are
Speaker 1: just able to do it every single down. Um, you
Speaker 1: didn't play Madden, I did. Uh. They would put up
Speaker 1: this little graphic on the screen if you had five
Speaker 1: completed passes a row, ten completed passes a role. Let's
Speaker 1: just say I never got past ten. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it looked like when you got to fifteen or
Speaker 1: twenty or twenty five. So for some of these guys
Speaker 1: to be doing what they're doing, I just think this
Speaker 1: is gonna be such a big, big, you know, challenge
Speaker 1: and an opportunity at the same time for the Cowboys
Speaker 1: to show that, you know what we are legitimate and offensively,
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott, since you've added Amari Cooper into this offense,
Speaker 1: has been really hot. So he has an opportunity against
Speaker 1: the Saints defense that also has given up some yards
Speaker 1: this year. So it's gonna be really good contest. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the I will say this, regardless of what happens tonight,
Speaker 1: New Orleans couldn't have asked for this to set up
Speaker 1: any better in the sense that they're looking at these
Speaker 1: back to back Thursday games Thanksgiving and then the following Thursday,
Speaker 1: and now they kind of get that mini by heading
Speaker 1: into the stretch run where they'll they'll be looking to
Speaker 1: lock down a first round by in the playoffs, maybe
Speaker 1: home field throughout, and just getting that little bit of
Speaker 1: a break this late in the season for a team
Speaker 1: that is expecting, obviously to make a deep run. The
Speaker 1: Saints couldn't have asked for this to uh to set
Speaker 1: up any better for him. You know, it really does
Speaker 1: stand out to me now, mind you. I get it
Speaker 1: they had to still play on short rest, you know,
Speaker 1: a week ago, but um, you know, but they had
Speaker 1: a home game and they took care of business exactly,
Speaker 1: and then you gotta you got a full week to
Speaker 1: go into the Thursday night game, and then you get
Speaker 1: a week and a half going into the Tampa Bay game.
Speaker 1: It has set up really well for them right now.
Speaker 1: Sean Paynton has them operating in a well oiled Machine
Speaker 1: and my fantasy football team will have Elvin Kamara on
Speaker 1: the field tonight, so we'll see how that goes. All
Speaker 1: right with that, we will call it a wrap on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all
Speaker 1: of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com
Speaker 1: on Twitter, He's at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. H