Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague West Hodkutz. We're coming to you
Speaker 1: here from our studios at lambeau Field West. It's just
Speaker 1: a few days away now, the season opener, Week one,
Speaker 1: Packers Saints from Jacksonville, Florida. It will be a three
Speaker 1: pm Central Time kickoff, our last show here before the
Speaker 1: season gets underweigh, so we might as well start off,
Speaker 1: dive right into it. Keys to victory offensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. What stands out to you protect Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's the biggest key, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a key here, Mike for the first month of
Speaker 1: the season, no question about that. Very quite likely. Although
Speaker 1: it seems like we've kind of broken the secret a
Speaker 1: little bit, even though mattal For said he didn't want
Speaker 1: to see the starters were on the offensive line, right,
Speaker 1: it's kind of the worst kept secret now and it
Speaker 1: is Josh Meyers and it's probably gonna be Roy s
Speaker 1: newman at right guard. But this is an important game
Speaker 1: for both of those guys because you have to imagine
Speaker 1: Dennis Allen in the Saints. Those edge rushers, they're gonna
Speaker 1: throw a lot at them. They're gonna run some stunts.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be games you maybe see Demorrio Davis blitzing.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of stuff that they want
Speaker 1: to do to throw them off, especially early on, because
Speaker 1: you want to see what these guys are going to
Speaker 1: be able to give you, and for the agreement Packers perspective,
Speaker 1: you have to be ready for that. And it's not
Speaker 1: just on those two guys. It's gonna be on Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur with the play calling. It's gonna be with Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and his checks. It's gonna be on Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: potentially being able to step up and block a free rusher.
Speaker 1: It needs it to be a team effort. In quite honestly,
Speaker 1: those first ten fifteen scripted plays, seeing what the Packers
Speaker 1: dial up to make life easy for those rookies and
Speaker 1: allow them to get comfortable in this offense, well, let's
Speaker 1: be honest here too. With David Baktier out for a
Speaker 1: minimum of the first six weeks of the season and
Speaker 1: the Packers going with this, I guess you'd call it
Speaker 1: kind of a revamped offensive line with Elton j Pins
Speaker 1: at left tackle. You mentioned the two rookie starters on
Speaker 1: the interior. If you don't want the first six, seven,
Speaker 1: eight opponents, however many, it's going to be to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, to attack you in that way. You're going
Speaker 1: to have to handle the blitz is. You're going to
Speaker 1: have to handle all the stunts in the games. Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers will have to make defenses pay for trying to
Speaker 1: do that kind of stuff. And this, this opener is
Speaker 1: what will set the tone for that in a sense.
Speaker 1: Now that's not to say, obviously with any team, any offense,
Speaker 1: any phase of anybody's game, the first game of the
Speaker 1: season does not define who you are for the next
Speaker 1: sixteen after that, right, I mean there will be evolution,
Speaker 1: there will be uh progress and improvement, especially with young players.
Speaker 1: But the Packers can, the Packers can kind of put
Speaker 1: the kai bosh, so to speak, from the beginning here
Speaker 1: on teams that just just are gonna think, oh, they've
Speaker 1: got two rookie starters on the interior, let's do everything
Speaker 1: we can to mess them up. Well, Aaron Rodgers is
Speaker 1: going to have some counters for that. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: some ants, and I think we'll see we'll get a
Speaker 1: good idea of what those answers are when those situations
Speaker 1: present themselves. If there's ever a quarterback in the league
Speaker 1: that's gonna know where's hot reads are in those type
Speaker 1: of things, it's gonna be Aaron Rodgers, right. And to
Speaker 1: be honest, I wrote this in our Insider inbox, the
Speaker 1: fact that this game is not in the Superdome is
Speaker 1: gonna be huge for everybody on the offensive line. No
Speaker 1: matter how loud it gets at T A, I A
Speaker 1: A bank field, it's not going to compare to the
Speaker 1: noise pollution that you're dealing with in that venue. And
Speaker 1: let's just make a point too because and I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're into it too much in today's discussion,
Speaker 1: but Aaron Rodgers was very complimentary on Wednesday about Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: how he's grown as a leader, how he's grown as
Speaker 1: a play color, the way they've evolved this offense. So
Speaker 1: it's not just the same thing every single time. All
Speaker 1: due respect to Mike McCarthy, fantastic offensive, mine a lot
Speaker 1: of success in Green Bay. This offense is different than
Speaker 1: when McCarthy was here. They are going to be able
Speaker 1: to die else some things up to get the ball
Speaker 1: out faster. They're not going to be relying on plays
Speaker 1: developing down field. That's where I think the key is
Speaker 1: going to be these opening weeks for the offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's going to be in what Matt Lafleur does, what
Speaker 1: Nathaniel hack It dials up into your point, the checks
Speaker 1: that Aaron Rodgers making, the reads that he's making to
Speaker 1: make sure that this offense is able to get into
Speaker 1: a rhythm and get off to the fast start mic
Speaker 1: that they were able to do in two thous Yes.
Speaker 1: Certainly last last season the Packers came out of the
Speaker 1: gates like gangbusters on offense. The other thing, too, is okay,
Speaker 1: you can't necessarily count on things carrying over obviously from
Speaker 1: one season to the next, but you go into a
Speaker 1: season opener like this coming off of the year the
Speaker 1: Packers had, there are certain things you're gonna want to
Speaker 1: hang your hat on. Right. The Packers were the best
Speaker 1: team in the NFC, second in the NFL last year
Speaker 1: in third down efficiency. They were the best team in
Speaker 1: the league with a historically great red zone efficiency converting
Speaker 1: to downs. Those are the kinds of things that you
Speaker 1: want to see continue. And when when I asked Rogers
Speaker 1: about that in his UH press conference after practice on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: he said, he said, Hey, I want these guys, meaning
Speaker 1: the coaches, to keep coming up with this new and
Speaker 1: creative stuff. On third down in the red zone, he
Speaker 1: talked about how third down is kind of Luke gets
Speaker 1: these um specific area in terms of the game plan. Uh,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks coach and now passing game coordinator, and then
Speaker 1: the red zone or gold zone is is is coach Hacketts.
Speaker 1: So um, you know, Aaron's like, hey, keep keep dialing
Speaker 1: it up, keep getting creative that you know, you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily reinvent the wheel every time, but you do the
Speaker 1: tweaks and the adjustments you make things look a little
Speaker 1: bit different. And and uh, I sent a quarterback you know,
Speaker 1: I wrote about it on the website how much he
Speaker 1: and Davante Adams really like the vibe of this Packers team.
Speaker 1: But Aaron Rodgers just in in his demeanor and his
Speaker 1: words and and and the way the way he speaks
Speaker 1: about this team right now, and and personally he just
Speaker 1: he strikes me as a guy who was ready to go,
Speaker 1: and he's he's telling the coaches, Hey, call whatever you
Speaker 1: want in that helmet. Let's go. Let's go get this thing.
Speaker 1: And they have the horses to do it, right, I
Speaker 1: mean Matt Lafleur and and Rogers at different intervals of
Speaker 1: the day on Wednesday, we're basically to a point of
Speaker 1: listing off all these weapons that they can go to.
Speaker 1: Whether it is Davante Adams, a four time Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: or now whether it is Alan Lazard and Robert Ton
Speaker 1: who have had a lot of success down there, Mark
Speaker 1: quiz Velde, Scantling, and then as I think it was,
Speaker 1: was it Rogers la Fleur one of them said even
Speaker 1: and I didn't even get to the running backs yet.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just a bevy of options there, and
Speaker 1: I think that's where the brilliance lies with where Green
Speaker 1: Bay succeeded last year in the Gold Zone was that
Speaker 1: there was a lot of creativity. But it wasn't just
Speaker 1: one guy either. There was a multitude of players that
Speaker 1: stepped up in that area. And Green Bay is gonna
Speaker 1: need that again because this game, like the Saints are
Speaker 1: an interesting defense. Dennis Allen's a brilliant, you know, defensive mind.
Speaker 1: I was commending him on our last show but they
Speaker 1: have pockets of playmakers in this defense. Whether it's Davenport,
Speaker 1: whether it's Cam Jordan's obviously Marshawn Lattimore. You can go.
Speaker 1: The list goes on and on. I mean, Malcolm Jenks
Speaker 1: has been doing this forever. But there are holes there.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at their defensive tackle situation. I mean,
Speaker 1: Chris Ringo, love the guy, amazing dude, but he wasn't
Speaker 1: in the National Football League last year and now he's
Speaker 1: slated to be there. They're starting, you know, defensive tackle.
Speaker 1: We heard about the issues at cornerback beyond Lattimore. They're
Speaker 1: going to throw a lot at them, but the Packers
Speaker 1: need to be able to weather that storm early because
Speaker 1: I feel like from a depth perspective, that can really
Speaker 1: propel them there in the second half. Yeah, the Saints
Speaker 1: did make a trade, essentially for a starting corner They
Speaker 1: picked up Bradley Roby from the Houston Texans. He won't
Speaker 1: be playing on Sunday against the Packers, but but they
Speaker 1: are still putting in some work on that defense and
Speaker 1: with regard to the red zone. When you have a
Speaker 1: guy like Davante Adams, who ties a franchise record with
Speaker 1: eighteen touchdown options, and yet that same year you have
Speaker 1: another guy who still reaches double digits and touchdown catches
Speaker 1: in Robert Tony in with eleven last year. That says
Speaker 1: something to your point about about just the options that
Speaker 1: uh that coach Hacket and Aaron Rodgers and everybody has
Speaker 1: down there in that area. UM. Some shoutouts to the sponsors.
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Speaker 1: we believe in better all right defensive side of the
Speaker 1: ball keys to victory. I have a feeling what you're
Speaker 1: gonna say here, go ahead, you gotta stop Elvin Kamara.
Speaker 1: You think maybe and maybe and maybe. This guy came
Speaker 1: out in our pre production and meeting where he asked
Speaker 1: me about the offense and what the Hacks have to offensively,
Speaker 1: and I still mentioned Alvin Kamara because you go back
Speaker 1: to last year, Mike thirteen catches on fourteen targets, two touchdowns,
Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty nine yards receiving, not even talking
Speaker 1: about what he did as a runner. Kamaras dynamic and
Speaker 1: and when they don't have Michael Thomas, he's become the
Speaker 1: lead guy. Doesn't matter if he's carrying the ball, doesn't
Speaker 1: matter catching the ball. And now they release Latavius Murray
Speaker 1: as well, who was was thought to essentially be the
Speaker 1: number two or one a running back in terms of
Speaker 1: the ground attack. I think there's just even that much
Speaker 1: more focus on Kamara now in time, Montgomery's back at
Speaker 1: receiver for them. So I mean, like this is the guy,
Speaker 1: Like this isn't the you know, Pierre Thomas years where
Speaker 1: you got all these different you know, you know, Reggie Bush,
Speaker 1: you have these different running backs. The mindsets kind of shifted.
Speaker 1: Now it's it's there's one horse that that they roll
Speaker 1: with in this race, and frightfully. So, I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I've seen a guy that twenty seventeen
Speaker 1: draft class is going to go down as an all
Speaker 1: timer as far as running back positions concerned. Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: and Jimal Williams contributing to that, but Kamara as a
Speaker 1: dual threat. It's like you built him in a lab
Speaker 1: and that that's the guy that is absolutely perfect for
Speaker 1: Sean Payton's offense and what they want to execute. Now,
Speaker 1: Drew Brees relied on him a lot. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: interesting to see what Jamis Winston does with them. But
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the guy. And if they're going to
Speaker 1: have success against green Bay and be able to move
Speaker 1: the ball against this defense and chip away against what
Speaker 1: they want to do and get some of the pressure
Speaker 1: off of Winston, it has to start with Kamara, and
Speaker 1: from Green Bay's perspective, you have to find a counter
Speaker 1: to that. Yeah, isn't not not to get too far
Speaker 1: off track here from Sunday's game, but isn't that amazing
Speaker 1: the running back class that you have. Kamara, who is
Speaker 1: a star in this league, was a third round draft pick,
Speaker 1: and then Aaron Jones, another star and a Pro bowler,
Speaker 1: was a fifth round pick from that From that class,
Speaker 1: those guys are two of the premier backs in the
Speaker 1: NFL right now. It's it's a it's rather remarkable. But
Speaker 1: you said it with regard to the with regard to
Speaker 1: the onus that is on Jamis Winston here too to
Speaker 1: take Sean Payton's offense and as best you can in
Speaker 1: taking over for a Hall of Fame quarterback, and Drew
Speaker 1: Brees to hope that it doesn't skip a beat, so
Speaker 1: to speak, and that and that they can still be
Speaker 1: the high powered offense that they've been for so many years.
Speaker 1: And Matt Lafleur said it. You know, Jamis Winston has
Speaker 1: a big time arm. He is going to try to
Speaker 1: push the ball down the field. The Packers certainly have
Speaker 1: to be ready for that. That's also one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that Jamis Winston has thrown a lot of interception
Speaker 1: in his career because he will try to push the
Speaker 1: ball downfield. He will try to to make some big
Speaker 1: things happen. And I know I'm kind of getting beat
Speaker 1: up in Insider Inbox a little bit with regard to
Speaker 1: my comment about Winston and and and his scrambling that
Speaker 1: the Packers have to be ready for him to take
Speaker 1: off and run. Look, I'm not trying to make the
Speaker 1: point that Jamis Winston is a running quarterback, that he's
Speaker 1: like Lamar Jackson or something like that. But look at
Speaker 1: winston stats throughout the course of his career. He has
Speaker 1: a good handful five six seven games where he's had
Speaker 1: forty fifty fifty five rushing yards in a game. My
Speaker 1: point is that even if he only has gets twenty
Speaker 1: five rushing yards so to speak, that right there could
Speaker 1: be two or three first downs in a game that
Speaker 1: Winston gets with his legs that in a way that
Speaker 1: Drew Brees would not get the first down that way.
Speaker 1: That's the point I'm trying to make that it's just
Speaker 1: a little bit of an added element that the Packers
Speaker 1: have to be ready for along with that strong arm
Speaker 1: um that that will will change things in terms of
Speaker 1: how you defend the New Orleans Saints without question. And Marvin,
Speaker 1: if you're back there, put the Mike Spofford. Let's be
Speaker 1: real moment of the week lower third on the screen.
Speaker 1: Don't overthink this. Yeah, you're going from seeing Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: which is, hey, can you get to him in less
Speaker 1: than two seconds or he's going to get the ball
Speaker 1: out from the pocket. Yeah, you talk about quick release
Speaker 1: and timing and everything else. I mean, Drew Brees was
Speaker 1: a master, maybe the best you know ever in terms
Speaker 1: of that aspect of the quarterback position. To now you're
Speaker 1: shifting to Winston, who has a million dollar arm, can
Speaker 1: can create if he needs to win the play breaks down.
Speaker 1: I think historically if you look at him, that tends
Speaker 1: to be where his escape, his his release. Every everything
Speaker 1: has helped him from the turnover perspective when he is
Speaker 1: able to look downfield and just make something that happened
Speaker 1: with his legs. Oh and then, by the way, you
Speaker 1: still have the curveball of Taysom Hill in there as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1: My big point all week is I don't know what
Speaker 1: this is gonna look like. I don't know exactly where
Speaker 1: this is all going to shuffle out. Maybe the Packers
Speaker 1: get two picks early on Winston, they get the ball
Speaker 1: rolling well in their direction. But the New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: that the Packers have basically been preparing for for the
Speaker 1: last ten years, that's gone. You have a much different
Speaker 1: backfield that they're gonna have to prepare for that you
Speaker 1: haven't quite seen. Fortunately for Green Bay, they've had success
Speaker 1: against Taysom Hill, but Jamis Winston, they've only played him
Speaker 1: once two thousands seventeen. I believe it was this is
Speaker 1: this is a new type of challenge, and he came
Speaker 1: in here and won that year too. I believe, yeah, absolutely. Well,
Speaker 1: it's interesting that with Winston's track record with the interceptions
Speaker 1: and whatnot that that have plagued him during his career,
Speaker 1: that this becomes the first game for the Packers with
Speaker 1: new defensive coordinator Joe Berry, because one of the reasons
Speaker 1: that Matt Lafleur changed defensive coordinators is he wants to
Speaker 1: take the football away more. He wants a defense that
Speaker 1: is going to generate more turnovers. The Packers lad the
Speaker 1: league last year in fewest giveaways on offense with only eleven,
Speaker 1: Yet they finished the regular season only plus seven in
Speaker 1: turnover margin, which is a very modest plus number on
Speaker 1: that side when you have the fewest giveaways in the league.
Speaker 1: Eighteen takeaways was in like the bottom third of the
Speaker 1: league in terms of takeaways defensively, the Packers want to
Speaker 1: ratchet that up this year. That's one of the tasks
Speaker 1: that that that uh, that is a high priority for
Speaker 1: Joe Berry with this defense. If they those opportunities present themselves,
Speaker 1: they have to take advantage. But also I think we're
Speaker 1: going to see a Packers defense that's going to try
Speaker 1: to force the issue a little more, try to force
Speaker 1: some of those mistakes particularly from a quarterback with a
Speaker 1: track record like Winston. Well, you just think of all
Speaker 1: the bells and whistles this defense has to write, whether
Speaker 1: it's the outside pass rush. Three guys who are all
Speaker 1: bona fide starter quality players in this league. I think
Speaker 1: with Shawn Garry's right there now too. You have a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl nose tackle in Kenny Clark that can push
Speaker 1: the pocket when he's healthy. Has finished as strong as
Speaker 1: any nose tackle the National Football League the last few years.
Speaker 1: But trying to pull that across an entire season, right
Speaker 1: Jaire Alexander in All Pro at twenty three years old.
Speaker 1: The sect defensive secondary. There is talent everywhere, Mike, and
Speaker 1: at certain points, when you have that much talent, there's
Speaker 1: going to be the expectations, the ex depectations to be
Speaker 1: a defense that dictates games, that takes the ball away.
Speaker 1: This is a great first test because it's a high risk,
Speaker 1: high reward matchup when Suston can throw the ball as
Speaker 1: well as anybody in this league, and he can easily
Speaker 1: put up four hundred yards against your defense if you're
Speaker 1: not paying attention, but he also can give you some
Speaker 1: opportunities when those opportunities present themselves because it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's gonna be every play, but there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a few moments where whether it's the safety
Speaker 1: is the corners, they're gonna have a chance to make
Speaker 1: a play on the ball. It's about making sure that
Speaker 1: they can execute in those moments. And I think when
Speaker 1: you go back bring it back to Joe Barry, the
Speaker 1: structure of the defense allows guys to be able to
Speaker 1: do that without forcing them to take chances. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: Phase number three, of course is special teams, and this
Speaker 1: is a starting over process and a lot of respects
Speaker 1: for the Packers. You have a new coordinator on special
Speaker 1: teams in Maury Straiton, a new punter in Corey Bojorkez.
Speaker 1: Obviously you're old stand by a kicker Mason Crosby, still
Speaker 1: going strong, new returners like we talked about previously with
Speaker 1: Amari Rodgers, Kyle and Hill to rookie draft picks in
Speaker 1: that phase, tell me just your initial thoughts, what are
Speaker 1: you looking for from the Packers special teams in this
Speaker 1: in this debut of of that phase of the game.
Speaker 1: It's it's hilarious, right because you have all these different
Speaker 1: things you can talk about. And the thing I'm most
Speaker 1: interested in seeing is the coverage units and just seeing
Speaker 1: how they handle things, because, yeah, there were some breakdowns.
Speaker 1: And I know that's an easy bone for people to
Speaker 1: kind of pick because it's preseason and you're just watching
Speaker 1: and you're trying to find things to you know, look
Speaker 1: at and diagnose. But a lot of the Goose guys, Mike,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, they aren't here anymore, or they're on
Speaker 1: the practice squad. At this point. You do have war
Speaker 1: in Burke's you have Ty Summers, you have Henry Black,
Speaker 1: Malik Taylor's back. They have a core there that has
Speaker 1: been around for some time now. That core needs to
Speaker 1: help galvanize that entire unit. You can't have the breakdowns anymore.
Speaker 1: Your punts need to be where they need to be placed,
Speaker 1: and if it isn't, you need to have people that
Speaker 1: are stepping up to make those plays. That's the big
Speaker 1: key for this one, because Mike, this is a this
Speaker 1: is a Saints team that's not going to give you
Speaker 1: much room for air. With Deante Harris back there, he's
Speaker 1: gonna hurt you if you give him an opportunity opportunity
Speaker 1: to Yeah, what you just said with regard to the
Speaker 1: directional um element of things, that's what That's one area
Speaker 1: where with the new punter, I'm curious to see how
Speaker 1: that goes because the Packers aren't just going to let
Speaker 1: Bojorquez stand back there and swing away. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: the guy could drill it seventy yards probably every time,
Speaker 1: but you do that, that gives a guy like Harris
Speaker 1: that heads start because because the coverage, the coverage can't
Speaker 1: get down there to uh to close off those gaps.
Speaker 1: So um, the directional punning and all of that. How
Speaker 1: that goes with with a new guy in the mix here,
Speaker 1: I think is is something to watch. And then obviously
Speaker 1: on kickoffs, you hope you know when it's when it's
Speaker 1: eight plus degrees, it's I guess it's supposed to be
Speaker 1: mid eighties on Sunday in Jacksonville. You hope you know,
Speaker 1: Mason Crosby, can you know, can just give the kickoff
Speaker 1: coverage unit, you know some time off, I mean, just
Speaker 1: just boot the ball, take the touchbacks and and uh
Speaker 1: and focus on some of those other areas. And at
Speaker 1: thirty seven, you know, he's still seems to be really
Speaker 1: strong in that phase of the game. It's not like
Speaker 1: the the ademinitary thing where you need to start having
Speaker 1: a punter that can handle that. I mean, Crosby's solid
Speaker 1: and he they were really careful with how they use
Speaker 1: his leg. Obviously they like JJ Molson. They kept him
Speaker 1: around the practice squad. They were careful with how much
Speaker 1: he was kicking off during the preseason, So I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be fresh if he look historically, Mason has
Speaker 1: been a really strong kickoff guy at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the season, so I don't expect any hiccups there. And
Speaker 1: just to make this point to Mike with when you
Speaker 1: look at the or quas, this is an interesting spot
Speaker 1: because the guy's coming off like a picture perfect preseason.
Speaker 1: I understand Denver and mile High and everything like that.
Speaker 1: In the air, you know, the air whatnot, But two
Speaker 1: punts at the one yard line that he was able
Speaker 1: to get out of owns ending the preseason with almost
Speaker 1: a fifty two net average. In my opinion, you should
Speaker 1: end up seeing the best Corey be Hordques that you're
Speaker 1: going to see. This is the guy that competed all
Speaker 1: summer with Johnny Hecker for that job with the Rams. Again,
Speaker 1: special teams aren't gonna be anybody that you're not gonna be,
Speaker 1: you know, getting the microwave popcorn ready to watch special
Speaker 1: teams usually, but I really feel like this is a
Speaker 1: new day for them and seeing how these pieces fit
Speaker 1: and if they can turn that page. Just one solid performance,
Speaker 1: one good day on coverage units could go a long
Speaker 1: way for building and kind of making a different taste
Speaker 1: in this team's mouth going into the season. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: we'll close on this. The statistic you want to see,
Speaker 1: aside from the numbers on the scoreboard, that will tell
Speaker 1: you the Packers are winning this game, Davante Adams having
Speaker 1: you know, probably a hundred yards in a touchdown because
Speaker 1: that means he got to Marshawn Lattimore or the Packers
Speaker 1: found opportunities to get him open and get the opera
Speaker 1: the offense moving. Uh. You know, Davante is at the
Speaker 1: peak of his powers right now. I wrote about it
Speaker 1: this week. A lot of people have talked about it.
Speaker 1: Twenty eight years old, he's in a contract year. Obviously,
Speaker 1: that was one of the other subtle headlines of this offseason.
Speaker 1: If he's able, this is a great test from against Lattimore.
Speaker 1: But that cornerback room kinda is Lattimore right now. So
Speaker 1: seeing how the Packers stress him and if they can
Speaker 1: still find ways to scheme Adams open and Adams can
Speaker 1: work himself open, that's a great indicator of green Bay
Speaker 1: is gonna have success in this game. I say it's
Speaker 1: plus two in turnovers. And I know turnovers are always
Speaker 1: a big one, you can always point to it. But
Speaker 1: the fact that the Packers, as I said, lad the
Speaker 1: league and fusest giveaways last year. Now you're facing a
Speaker 1: quarterback Lake Winston and last year's game down in New
Speaker 1: Orleans hinged on Zadarius Smith forcing that fumble from Taysom Hill.
Speaker 1: That's what changed that game in the fourth quarter and
Speaker 1: the Packers were able to come out on top. I say,
Speaker 1: plus two on Sunday and turnovers and the Packers get
Speaker 1: the victory. It's fun. It's fun that we're back at
Speaker 1: this moment. I say this to you every year, Mike.
Speaker 1: It's incredible how quickly the off season goes and how
Speaker 1: much we're back just focused on football again. And for
Speaker 1: green Bay, Uh, this is the beginning of a gauntlet
Speaker 1: and it's going to be a twelve leak gauntlet to
Speaker 1: get to that by but my goodness, I mean, you
Speaker 1: listen to the guys talk. You listen to Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: you know, speaking about the focus of that locker room,
Speaker 1: the feel of this team right now, Davante Adams saying
Speaker 1: it's the hungriest team that he's been around so far.
Speaker 1: They know what's at stake this season, and it starts
Speaker 1: Sunday against the Saints. Absolutely with that, we'll 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 and
Speaker 1: of Sunday's big season opener against New Orleans. Will have
Speaker 1: it all for you on Packers dot com. For West,
Speaker 1: I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody. We will
Speaker 1: see you next time.