Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, joined by my trusted colleague West
Speaker 1: Hodkuwits were coming to you here from our studios at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field and West. Preseason game number two is on
Speaker 1: the horizon. The Packers headed to Baltimore to face the Ravens.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the second preseason game, Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: Packers head coach, already said that the starters, the number
Speaker 1: one units, are going to play about a quarter or so. Now. Offensively,
Speaker 1: that will still be without Aaron Jones. He will be sidelines,
Speaker 1: still being very precautionary with the tightness and his hamstring.
Speaker 1: But Matt Lafleur and his offense with Aaron Rodgers at
Speaker 1: the controls, the aginst An opponent will be the debut here.
Speaker 1: And what are you looking for? I'm looking for excitement,
Speaker 1: I'm looking for enthusiasm. I'm looking for efficiency. I thought
Speaker 1: your story outlining some of the three things that that
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers was looking for in this game. He talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, the efficiency side of it, you know, getting
Speaker 1: out of this thing hopefully healthy, and then also just
Speaker 1: the natural competitiveness of being able to be back out
Speaker 1: there with these guys. Um that that's gonna be the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. If you can get through healthy and be
Speaker 1: efficient what you want to accomplish realistically, I think that's
Speaker 1: all you can hope for this year, are really in
Speaker 1: any preseason and be quite honest with you. The other
Speaker 1: thing of it, too, is that this is the first
Speaker 1: big matchup I felt like for the backup quarterbacks, and
Speaker 1: it was something that some of the guys have talked
Speaker 1: about in the locker room. Baltimore throws a lot of
Speaker 1: different blitz packages at you, a lot of different variation
Speaker 1: with that, so well, last week might have been sort
Speaker 1: of the beginner's course, kind of get yourself reacclimated things.
Speaker 1: The Ravens, even in preseason settings, do historically turn it
Speaker 1: up a little bit. Was what was interesting to me
Speaker 1: and talking to some players in the locker room after
Speaker 1: Tuesday's practices. There not expecting the Ravens to play this
Speaker 1: as you would normally expect a preseason game across the league.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking schematically in terms of you know, vanilla
Speaker 1: and keeping things pretty simple and just working on the basics.
Speaker 1: They're really expecting the Ravens to throw some unconventional looks
Speaker 1: at them, to work on some of their uh you know,
Speaker 1: more exotic packages and and see what those look like
Speaker 1: in a game setting. And it sounds like the Packers
Speaker 1: are actually kind of looking forward to it, looking forward
Speaker 1: to the challenge. As you said, I think it becomes
Speaker 1: a really interesting challenge for the Packers backup quarterbacks if
Speaker 1: they indeed face uh those kinds of looks. Because I
Speaker 1: thought both the Shaun Kaiser and Tim Boyle got the
Speaker 1: preseason off to a good start. Nothing spectacular for either one.
Speaker 1: Nobody's lighting it up, so to speak, but they both
Speaker 1: gave themselves something to build on. But now they're going
Speaker 1: to have to build on it against a better defensive unit,
Speaker 1: no doubt. Also, it's communication competitiveness. Sorry, I got my
Speaker 1: seas mixed up there as far as what Rogers was
Speaker 1: looking for. But as it relates to the backup quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in this particular matchup last week, I remember talking with
Speaker 1: Tim Boyle a little bit after the game, and you know,
Speaker 1: he said, you pretty much knew they were gonna throw four,
Speaker 1: maybe five rushers at you at the same time, and
Speaker 1: they felt confident about their five against our five, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't gonna be that big of a discrepancy with
Speaker 1: the Ravens. You're not sure. Maybe it could end up
Speaker 1: being six. Maybe they could send an extra free blitzer.
Speaker 1: And that's where it's gonna be. On the offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be on the quarterbacks to pick up those things.
Speaker 1: And it's also gonna be on a guy like Tommy
Speaker 1: Bohannan who just comes in now and now he potentially
Speaker 1: could be in the backfield, the fullback that played last
Speaker 1: season with Jacksonville. So the big thing for the Packers
Speaker 1: here is if you can get through this healthy, if
Speaker 1: you can feel good about where you're at right now
Speaker 1: with this offense, whether it's the first, second, or third team,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be what really propels you forward. Because honestly,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens in Canada. We know this starters
Speaker 1: won't play against Kansas City. This second preseason game for
Speaker 1: probably the last three or four years, has been sort
Speaker 1: of that big barometer for the offense in the starting unit,
Speaker 1: seeing what they can put out on the field. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you mentioned the new fullback Tony Tommy excuse me, Bohannon,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about him for just a minute,
Speaker 1: because this is an interesting signing here for the Packers.
Speaker 1: You had both Danny Vitelli and Malcolm Johnson, the two
Speaker 1: fullbacks on the roster our sideline with injuries at the moment,
Speaker 1: and the Packers found it wasn't just you know, some
Speaker 1: undrafted rookie who you know, was trying to find his way.
Speaker 1: They found a veteran guy who's been with a few
Speaker 1: different teams but also been in and out of the league,
Speaker 1: so to speak. Tell us Bohannon's. Yeah, so it's interesting.
Speaker 1: Bohanon's actually in the six NFL season already. I mean
Speaker 1: to quote my old friend Pete Doherty. He's vested at
Speaker 1: this point in the league, but he's had like two
Speaker 1: different halves to his career. Where he started, he was
Speaker 1: a seventh round pick from the Jets in two thousand
Speaker 1: and thirteen, go way back then, played a few seasons
Speaker 1: for them, didn't make the final cut in two thousand sixteen,
Speaker 1: was out of the league entirely that year. Was pouring
Speaker 1: concrete for his family's business. He was training some kids
Speaker 1: off to the side, and then they had that veteran combine,
Speaker 1: the second one in Arizona and two thought March of
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen, Jacksonville saw him, they signed him, He
Speaker 1: made the roster, and he played in thirty two straight
Speaker 1: games for them, playing for current Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
Speaker 1: So a couple different layers to this one. Brian Goodkin said,
Speaker 1: it's not like there was this bevy of fullbacks available,
Speaker 1: especially ones that are veterans that they could come in
Speaker 1: and play right away. They had some young guys they liked,
Speaker 1: but not anyone quite like Bohannon. In Bohanon's perspective, he's
Speaker 1: kind of just been sitting on the shelf. You're waiting
Speaker 1: for that opportunity. But as he pointed out, with some
Speaker 1: of the things he had to do as a fullback previously,
Speaker 1: you know his patience has already been tested. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball for the Packers
Speaker 1: here heading to Baltimore, the ones will get. As Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur said about a quarter or so, an interesting challenge
Speaker 1: he in quarterback Lamar Jackson, not your conventional NFL drop
Speaker 1: back quarterback. That being said, though, I just wonder how
Speaker 1: much the Ravens are really gonna expose Jackson to taking
Speaker 1: any hits and whatnot. They may be telling him, they
Speaker 1: may be calling plays in this preseason game that he's
Speaker 1: supposed to sit in the pocket and get rid of
Speaker 1: the ball because that's probably the part of his game
Speaker 1: that they want to work on the most. Right, So
Speaker 1: we may not really see the Lamar Jackson of September, October,
Speaker 1: November here in August, but nonetheless it will be the
Speaker 1: first look at the full first unit for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. Defensively, for my money, Lamar Jackson the most
Speaker 1: exciting young quarterback in this league right now. I love
Speaker 1: watching the Baltimore Ravens play. It's unconventional. The receivers have
Speaker 1: to be somewhat unselfish because you're not going to get
Speaker 1: traditional seventy receptions over a year if you start. They're
Speaker 1: trying to change the narrative there in terms of what
Speaker 1: it takes to get to the playoffs and what kind
Speaker 1: of quarterback you need because this guy is different and
Speaker 1: the offense they run is different. Well, and it's kind
Speaker 1: of like presidencies, right, not to get political, but when
Speaker 1: you when you have one president, typically the next one
Speaker 1: is just completely different. Right. They had Joe Flacco, who
Speaker 1: was this pocket, big arm quarterback, and then they switch
Speaker 1: over to Jackson, which is not to question his arm strength,
Speaker 1: but his you know, there's questions where he's gonna play
Speaker 1: quarterback in the NFL. Right there are fundans outer that
Speaker 1: we're wondering about it. The Ravens never had any doubt,
Speaker 1: but it is a very run heavy offense. It gave
Speaker 1: they get their running backs involved, they get Jackson involved.
Speaker 1: It is going to be meshing that together in the
Speaker 1: regular season. That's gonna say how far the Ravens truly
Speaker 1: go in this setting, though I really don't know what
Speaker 1: to expect. I know, I'm not sure what they're gonna run.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna be running that much. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing they're gonna do some passing. But it's also not
Speaker 1: like he's gonna He's not a three step quarterback and
Speaker 1: you know, throw thirty yards downfield. So if I'm Mike
Speaker 1: Petton and I'm talking with Sadarius Smith, who has, you know,
Speaker 1: going back to Baltimore, Preston Smith, this defense, you know,
Speaker 1: my basic thing is tackle. You know, whether it is
Speaker 1: Jackson or whether it is the unning backs, this offensive
Speaker 1: unit is to make sure you're sure up the tackling,
Speaker 1: because that was the one thing that was missing from
Speaker 1: that game against the Texas. Yeah, Matt la Fleur had
Speaker 1: pointed out during the week when he went back through
Speaker 1: the film, he counted twenty four miss tackles on the
Speaker 1: part of the defense. Now, granted, a lot of the
Speaker 1: number one guys didn't play and a lot of the
Speaker 1: young guys, as we had talked about, they played an
Speaker 1: inordinate number of snaps when you think about it for
Speaker 1: a first preseason game in terms of getting into football
Speaker 1: shape and all of that kind of stuff. But yes,
Speaker 1: that is the biggest thing defensively the Packers want to
Speaker 1: clean up here is the tackling. He cut down on
Speaker 1: the miss tackles. Don't make this the narrative of Mike
Speaker 1: Patton's second year defense that suddenly tackling is an issue.
Speaker 1: So we'll be watching to see if that gets shored up.
Speaker 1: The other thing, certainly that that Matt Lafleur would like
Speaker 1: to see cleaned up as the penalties twelve penalties for
Speaker 1: a little over a hundred yards against the Houston Texans.
Speaker 1: And we saw some of those points of emphasis from
Speaker 1: the officials. We saw the holding calls, We saw a
Speaker 1: blindside block call. Those are the kinds of things that
Speaker 1: they're gonna They're definitely gonna call it in the preseason
Speaker 1: and try to get these guys accustomed to how it's
Speaker 1: going to be called in the regular season with these
Speaker 1: points of emphasis. One of the points emphasis, though, that
Speaker 1: surprised me from the first game that didn't get called
Speaker 1: much was the past interference. I actually thought we were
Speaker 1: going to see a lot of flags. I and I
Speaker 1: actually even though I think if you look by the
Speaker 1: tried and true definition of the rule, it wasn't past
Speaker 1: interference on Al Lazard and that one in zone throw
Speaker 1: that Tim Boyle through. But I liked the rationale behind
Speaker 1: why La Fleur wanted to challenge it. Yeah, I just
Speaker 1: thought we were going to get more of those. I
Speaker 1: thought the reps would be a little bit more um,
Speaker 1: you know, liberal with what they wanted to throw out there.
Speaker 1: Maybe get some of those things, uh down Because a
Speaker 1: lot of times you're right, Mike, the blindside black I
Speaker 1: think is here to stay in terms of the emphasis
Speaker 1: on it, I think that isn't gonna dwindle at all.
Speaker 1: But other times there are certain defensive holding and offensive
Speaker 1: past afference where it's like, Okay, we're gonna hammer this
Speaker 1: in the preseason, but once you get to week one,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll all make our hands go to different
Speaker 1: directions and everyone knows the real rules in which we're
Speaker 1: playing with. So that did surprise me, and I am
Speaker 1: very gonna gonna be very curious, especially Aaron Rodgers is
Speaker 1: testing the Ravens deep early in this game, is if
Speaker 1: we are going to see a little bit more laundry
Speaker 1: out on the field, because I just think with the
Speaker 1: offensive past interference rules now being what they are, in
Speaker 1: adding the challenge element to this, that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: big sublot, you know, subtitle to this whole season. But
Speaker 1: in terms of the other stuff, You're absolutely right, there's
Speaker 1: no excuse for it. Matt Floor wants to clean it up,
Speaker 1: and we'll see how they respond to it. And I
Speaker 1: do think that there's a good chance maybe in at
Speaker 1: least once in each of the four preseason games we
Speaker 1: see the Packers challenge of past interference or a non passage.
Speaker 1: I would, yeah, exactly to work through some of the
Speaker 1: mechanics of that and then see, Okay, what did they
Speaker 1: see and and what is their decision based on? Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, is it clear and obvious, which is how
Speaker 1: the rule is written, and is is that how they're
Speaker 1: going to call it. You want to try to get
Speaker 1: a feel for all that before the games are real.
Speaker 1: And you know, there are some fine gentlemen out there
Speaker 1: that help out the packers with they're officiating during the
Speaker 1: prese during training camp, but the NFL officials this is
Speaker 1: a learning process. And we even heard it from the
Speaker 1: gentleman that came in last week talking about how, yeah,
Speaker 1: it is some of the stuff that happens on the field,
Speaker 1: but it's also the conversations that they have in the
Speaker 1: locker room with the team and making sure that you
Speaker 1: understand all that. You can preach points of emphasis until
Speaker 1: you're read in the face. But we saw with the
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews sacks last year and the quarterback hits and
Speaker 1: the unnecessary roughness, how quickly all that can go out
Speaker 1: the door if it's not officiated in the manner that
Speaker 1: everybody believes it's going to be. Yeah, for sure, and
Speaker 1: the NFL absolutely does not want another controversy like the
Speaker 1: don't need to be roughing the passer stuff that was
Speaker 1: going on last September. Um quickly with some sponsored business
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Speaker 1: Cousin Subs we believe in better. Okay. Another note on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball here that will certainly
Speaker 1: be watching or in Burke's exited the first preseason game
Speaker 1: against Houston very early with a chest injury. Now General
Speaker 1: manager Brian Goodacunts gave a bit of an update the
Speaker 1: other day. The news is not doesn't sound like it's
Speaker 1: as bad on or in Burke's as maybe everybody feared
Speaker 1: that Gudacunst is hoping as they continue to gather more
Speaker 1: information that this is not necessarily a long term injury
Speaker 1: for Burks and that he could be back. He didn't
Speaker 1: give a timeline on that, however, So in the meantime,
Speaker 1: whether we're talking a few weeks or several weeks, or
Speaker 1: whatever the case might be, the Packers will be looking
Speaker 1: for that second inside linebacker to pair with Blake Martinez.
Speaker 1: And as we talked about on the last show, Curtis
Speaker 1: Bolton Tye Summers are probably the two leading candidates right now.
Speaker 1: James Crawford, Brady Sheldon also in that mix at inside linebacker.
Speaker 1: But that's going to be a position to watch here,
Speaker 1: especially with the ones taking the field for the first
Speaker 1: time defensively and uh. And then for a guy like
Speaker 1: Ty Summers who had the ted tackles and a few
Speaker 1: miss tackles against Houston, can he build on what he
Speaker 1: did uh in his rookie first preseason game. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: this is gonna be the biggest change for the Packers
Speaker 1: this year. As we mentioned, I think on our previous
Speaker 1: show on Monday, when there was a big injury there
Speaker 1: with the shoulder too, Burke's last year, they went out
Speaker 1: and got Antonio Morrison pretty much right away. They have
Speaker 1: not done that at this juncture. So one, you hope
Speaker 1: that that bodes well for Burke's in his long term
Speaker 1: future here. Certainly he looked like, you know, it really
Speaker 1: made some nice strides prior to this chest injury. But
Speaker 1: on the other side of it, I think it also
Speaker 1: speaks to what they feel like the confidence level is
Speaker 1: like with those inside linebackers and also with some of
Speaker 1: those safeties that could potentially be filling that box roll
Speaker 1: next to Blake Martinez as well. One of the things
Speaker 1: I outlined an insider in box was it is very
Speaker 1: important to step up in this time, whether it's Curtis Bolton,
Speaker 1: whether it's James Crawford, or whether it's Ties Summers. But
Speaker 1: I still really like the reps that Summers is getting
Speaker 1: with the twos right now as the lead communicator, because
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Packers have been blessed and fortunate that
Speaker 1: Blake Martinez has been healthy as an OX here the
Speaker 1: last two Season's been able to stay on the field.
Speaker 1: He is a key cog for this defense, and as
Speaker 1: long as Burke's is out, that is one less guy
Speaker 1: that they have behind Martinez. As it relates to those
Speaker 1: dime packages, were Martinez is the only guy in the
Speaker 1: field in the interim. The main thing that Bolton, Summers,
Speaker 1: Crawford and also throw Brady Shelton in there. They're trying
Speaker 1: to buy for that first down, second down roll against
Speaker 1: the run, putting your head down, being able to stand
Speaker 1: up to contact, and being able to tackle guys in
Speaker 1: the open field. I thought, again early on, Summers did
Speaker 1: that really well against Houston. Whatever happened in the second
Speaker 1: half happened, But I think you saw when he has
Speaker 1: a full gas tank, what this young man is capable of,
Speaker 1: especially being the seventh round pick. Bolton is the guy
Speaker 1: that just has kind of come out of nowhere for
Speaker 1: me because I didn't know much about him coming at Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: I learned a lot from him from your story and
Speaker 1: what he's dealt with to get to this point. Just
Speaker 1: a one year starter, a fifth year senior starter at
Speaker 1: Oklahoma and had been a essentially a backup, a special
Speaker 1: teams guy, and then a dealt with an injury prior
Speaker 1: to that, and now here he is in the NFL
Speaker 1: with a chance to become a starter for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packer. And this is the main reason why I
Speaker 1: wanted to point to that, because sometimes it isn't about
Speaker 1: the guy who played five years at these big power
Speaker 1: five conference schools. Sometimes it's the Curtis Boltons of the
Speaker 1: world that's people start to just let fly under the
Speaker 1: radar because either there was an injury or he wasn't starting,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly, boom, here he is. This is just
Speaker 1: gonna be such an important stretch here for that young
Speaker 1: man as he's trying to not only make this team
Speaker 1: but also show that okay, if it works out this
Speaker 1: way in week one, you need somebody next to Blake Martinez,
Speaker 1: I'm your guy. Yeah, alright, Well, as we as we
Speaker 1: wrap up today's show here previewing this Baltimore preseason game West,
Speaker 1: anybody else that comes to mind that we haven't mentioned
Speaker 1: yet that is a particular player you might have your
Speaker 1: eye on from the press box in Baltimore. The number
Speaker 1: one guy that And I couldn't write it again this
Speaker 1: week because I already wrote it last week, But I
Speaker 1: actually feel like the number one guy we've seen in
Speaker 1: this year's training camp. And I'm putting this above Jake Kumero.
Speaker 1: By the way, a lot of people might have thought
Speaker 1: it was gonna say, Jay Kumarro is Robert Tayan. If
Speaker 1: you watch these practices, Robert Tayan is going to be
Speaker 1: a part of this offense in two thousand nineteen. Last year,
Speaker 1: he was behind those three veterans. He didn't get a
Speaker 1: whole lot of playing time. They started to mix them
Speaker 1: in a little bit, but realistically his biggest contribution was
Speaker 1: the special teams. Every single practice, he is making a play,
Speaker 1: he is being where he needs to be, and Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers has developed a confidence in this young man We
Speaker 1: also saw Jimmy Graham come and get a thirty two
Speaker 1: yard touchdown near the end of practice actually the second
Speaker 1: to last team period, I believe in practice at a
Speaker 1: two minute drill, looking really good over the top of
Speaker 1: the defense. We've talked so much about the receiver position,
Speaker 1: and rightfully so. There's a lot of jobs at stakes
Speaker 1: and they're starting jobs at stake, but tight end is
Speaker 1: going to be the position, and I feel like with
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur's scheme is going to get the biggest shine
Speaker 1: put on it in Robert Tanian with what he's been
Speaker 1: able to learn from Marcedes Lewis and what he's learned
Speaker 1: from Jimmy Graham, mixed in with the fact that this
Speaker 1: is a hungry guy that wants to prove he belongs
Speaker 1: in this league. He's going to be the number one
Speaker 1: guy have my eye on because I think there's a
Speaker 1: legitimate chance he actually does get some reps with Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers on Thursday night. Yeah, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: listen to Aaron Rodgers interview with Sirius XM Radio that
Speaker 1: he did. I believe it was yesterday on Tuesday. We're
Speaker 1: taping this on Wednesday. Um, about a fifteen minute interview,
Speaker 1: and there was a segment in there where he was
Speaker 1: talking about Robert Tanya and he certainly said plenty of
Speaker 1: positive things that his locker talking to the vocal media
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. What he said on that Sirius
Speaker 1: XM radio show about Robert Tannian absolutely convinces me that
Speaker 1: this guy is going to be a part of the
Speaker 1: offense in nine. There's just no doubt about it. The
Speaker 1: confidence that Aaron Rodgers has in this young man at
Speaker 1: that position, it definitely is is starting to show. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing though about Tany that I like the most.
Speaker 1: We hear so much time, so much about just trusting
Speaker 1: a guy confidence. It gets the point where where it
Speaker 1: seems like we're overstating it. Robert Twian has confidence in
Speaker 1: himself and that might seem like a small thing, but
Speaker 1: you gotta understand, this is a guy who played at
Speaker 1: Indiana State. I think they had one guy in the
Speaker 1: last fifteen years that has played in the league out
Speaker 1: of Indiana State. And he wasn't playing tight end there.
Speaker 1: And he wasn't playing tight end. He was a quarterback.
Speaker 1: He was a receiver. If you know anything about Robert
Speaker 1: Tannian story. Most of his football career has been told, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this isn't the position for you. You're not quite good enough.
Speaker 1: Tight End is this guy's position, Michael, And much like
Speaker 1: Jake Kumero, I will bring it all back together against
Speaker 1: get it into a nice degree circle. Much like Kumarro,
Speaker 1: both of these guys a year ago they were playing
Speaker 1: their butts off trying to make a roster. This year
Speaker 1: they're trying to be in this rotation, and I think
Speaker 1: there's a real good chance that both of them are
Speaker 1: going to do it. Yeah, well quickly, I'm gonna rattle
Speaker 1: off a couple other guys that I'm gonna have my
Speaker 1: eye on number one. I think the Packers still have
Speaker 1: a lot they're trying to sort out at backup offensive tackles. Sure,
Speaker 1: we're going to be the backups to David back tr
Speaker 1: and Brian Blaga. You've got Alex Light, You've got Yosh
Speaker 1: Naiman and um Chart. You're hard to bear. I was
Speaker 1: forgetting the third one in that mix. Watch those guys,
Speaker 1: watch those offensive tackles after the starters leave the game
Speaker 1: on Thursday night. Because the Packers have some pecking order
Speaker 1: with their offensive line to figure out. The other thing
Speaker 1: I will say is I always try to look for
Speaker 1: a guy who made a splash in a preseason game,
Speaker 1: and then can he build on it? Can he show
Speaker 1: that he can continue to do it and not just
Speaker 1: make it a one time thing. And that guy for
Speaker 1: me is Cadar Holman, the sixth round draft pickout of Toledo,
Speaker 1: had a great interception against the Houston Texans. That's something
Speaker 1: to build on. He needs. He needs to build on
Speaker 1: it and continue to keep that arrow pointing up here
Speaker 1: as the preseason goes along. First, I want to just
Speaker 1: talk quickly about the offensive line. You're absolutely right, Alex
Speaker 1: light Niman. These guys have to show themselves. They need
Speaker 1: to prove that they're worthy of a roster spot. I
Speaker 1: will also point out when Brian Blaga was sitting last week,
Speaker 1: Billy Turner looks like a real fine for this offensive
Speaker 1: line because by all intents and purposes, you'll be starting
Speaker 1: at right guard here for the Packers at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the season. But I think he's also the type
Speaker 1: of guy with his experience and the way he takes
Speaker 1: approach to the game. He also can fill in at
Speaker 1: a tackle spot if absolutely necessary to be called upon
Speaker 1: the cornerback position. You hit it out of the park
Speaker 1: with Holman, and for one major reason, the Packers need
Speaker 1: to have five players at that position. And I mean
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they need to keep five. I'm saying
Speaker 1: they need to have five guys at at any given
Speaker 1: time you can put them in an NFL regular season
Speaker 1: football game and feel like you can win. Packers are
Speaker 1: back in the business of winning football. Okay, all the
Speaker 1: credit in the world of Ladarius Gunter, I salute him.
Speaker 1: He did a phenomenal job against terrible circumstances in two
Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen. This situation at quarterback has completely changed, though.
Speaker 1: We're talking about guys now that running the four threes
Speaker 1: right with Holman, with Tony Brown, as you wrote about,
Speaker 1: these are the guys now that are that next guard.
Speaker 1: If you don't have Kevin King, if you don't have
Speaker 1: Gyr Alexander at any given time, if you're going to
Speaker 1: survive an entire season and play potentially nineteen games to
Speaker 1: win a Lombardi Trophy, you have to have options. I've
Speaker 1: been really impressed so far by how Holman has stepped
Speaker 1: right in and not look like a six round rookie. Yep,
Speaker 1: I agree with you there. With that, we're going to
Speaker 1: call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on
Speaker 1: Script and be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team and of Thursday night's preseason game from Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Will both be there on Packers dot com. Subscribe to us,
Speaker 1: like us on iTunes and other podcast services if you will.
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: See you next time.