Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, joined by the one and only
Speaker 1: Wes Hodkuitz. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field and West. The subject on everybody's mind
Speaker 1: now a couple of days removed from the great comeback
Speaker 1: over the Bears is what is the status of Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: And in this segment we'll call the Aaron Rodgers Update,
Speaker 1: it's actually the Aaron Rodgers non update because Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: on Monday didn't have all the injury information. They're still
Speaker 1: trying to figure out exactly what the situation is with
Speaker 1: Rogers and that knee. So it's going to be a
Speaker 1: wait and see type of thing all week long the
Speaker 1: way it sounds, Yeah, and we'll we'll get a better
Speaker 1: feel for how Rogers is feeling. I'm guessing on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: that's typically been the data in the regular season, which
Speaker 1: he addresses the media. Uh, and we'll see what his
Speaker 1: participation is going to be. Like Mike McCarthy mentioned, you know,
Speaker 1: Deshaun Kaiser, probably regardless of what however, Sunday and Folds
Speaker 1: will probably take a lot of work this week, take
Speaker 1: a lot of reps. Maybe some of that trickles down
Speaker 1: to Tim Boyle as well. We'll see. But that being said,
Speaker 1: it seems to me, Mike everybody obviously wants to rush
Speaker 1: to conclusions. They want to know everything now the minute
Speaker 1: that they want to know it. The one thing I
Speaker 1: would caution people to do because I saw some people
Speaker 1: taking what McCarthy had said on Monday, and you know,
Speaker 1: saying this is a red flag. If you know anything
Speaker 1: about Mike McCarthy the way he handles this thing. He's
Speaker 1: not giving injury report on Monday. So regardless of how
Speaker 1: this week plays out or whether or not Rogers plays
Speaker 1: on Sunday, it's not going to be based upon the
Speaker 1: information that Mike McCarthy has on Monday, the day after
Speaker 1: the game. It's gonna be after seeing where this whole
Speaker 1: week takes them. Certainly, Rodgers made his voice known after
Speaker 1: the game he fully intends to play against Minnesota, but
Speaker 1: there certainly is a bigger picture in play as well.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest positive you can draw from this
Speaker 1: is the fact that he did finish that game and
Speaker 1: he was able to run back out on the field.
Speaker 1: That at least I would hope you would think would
Speaker 1: alleviate some of the long term concerns. But certainly it's
Speaker 1: about making sure that Aaron Rodgers is healthy for a
Speaker 1: full fifteen weeks the rest of the season. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to put the card before the horse here,
Speaker 1: but this is kind of looking to me like one
Speaker 1: of those weeks where the quarterback may not practice at all,
Speaker 1: or if he practices, it could be very little, and
Speaker 1: then the Packers will just decide as things get close
Speaker 1: to game time whether or not he goes. There was
Speaker 1: an incident, a similar incidence, I meant to say, back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, his first year as a starter,
Speaker 1: he had a shoulder injury. Packers had the Atlanta Falcons
Speaker 1: coming here to lambeau Field. Rogers really didn't practice during
Speaker 1: the week, and they took him down to the Hudson
Speaker 1: Center on Sunday morning before they needed to make the
Speaker 1: final decision as to whether he would be active or
Speaker 1: inactive for the game. They had him throw some asses
Speaker 1: and they're like, all right, you know, good to go. Now.
Speaker 1: The Packers ended up not winning that game. It was
Speaker 1: a close game. Whatever. It was ten years ago, but
Speaker 1: but even back then, Aaron Rodgers went out and gave
Speaker 1: his team a chance to win when he didn't even
Speaker 1: practice right, And if correct me, if I'm wrong, Mike,
Speaker 1: was he doubtful for that game? I'm trying to remember.
Speaker 1: I feel like his designation might have even been doubtful
Speaker 1: because I think that's one of only like two instances
Speaker 1: over the last you know, ten twelve years where that's
Speaker 1: actually happened where he guys played after that designation. Be
Speaker 1: that as it may. Uh, Yeah, Rogers is gonna do
Speaker 1: whatever he can to be out there. Certainly, we know this.
Speaker 1: It's well documented. He's the most competitive player in that
Speaker 1: locker room, if not the planet. So he's gonna want
Speaker 1: to be there. He's gonna want to rally the troops
Speaker 1: like he did in the second half. But again, there
Speaker 1: is a big, bigger picture in play, and when they
Speaker 1: go through Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and even into that final
Speaker 1: practice on Saturday, and the things the Packers do to
Speaker 1: get ready for game time, those are all factors are
Speaker 1: going to have to take an account before they get
Speaker 1: to you know, Sunday afternoon. Yeah, well, before we get
Speaker 1: to some other topics. I want to take care of
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Speaker 1: We Believe in Better? Okay. A couple of things left
Speaker 1: over somewhat from the discussion of Sunday Night's big victory
Speaker 1: by the Packers. There's been a lot of talk, obviously
Speaker 1: of Clay Matthews roughing the passer call on the initial
Speaker 1: fourth down when the Bears were trailing there by a
Speaker 1: point late in the game. He's taken responsibility for it.
Speaker 1: He knows he shouldn't have done it. Um, Mike McCarthy said, hey,
Speaker 1: we have to be smarter there. Everybody knows it was
Speaker 1: it was a bad play. The larger concern from my standpoint,
Speaker 1: is that the Packers had three roughing the passer penalties
Speaker 1: in this game. Now, I thought the one on mat Views.
Speaker 1: Even though Clay said after the game he thought, well,
Speaker 1: maybe in past years that's a warning they're flagging it.
Speaker 1: This year, I thought his quite frankly, was pretty obvious.
Speaker 1: The ones that were called on Wilkerson and Perry earlier
Speaker 1: in the game, especially the one on Wilkerson, to me,
Speaker 1: I thought was really really questionable. I I I'm telling
Speaker 1: you Wes that, you know, we talked a lot about
Speaker 1: the helmet rule and all this other kind of stuff
Speaker 1: and the flags that were flying in the preseason. If
Speaker 1: those types of plays like Wilkerson had, if those are
Speaker 1: going to be called roughing the passer all season long
Speaker 1: in the NFL, Boy, these pass rushers, they they better
Speaker 1: be on their toes. You really have to watch out
Speaker 1: because those fifteen yard penalties are costly. They are, and
Speaker 1: it is it's it's a tough situation to be in because,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about, we even mentioned, you know, on
Speaker 1: yesterday's show, the percentages of you know how a drive
Speaker 1: and the likelihood of scoring increases exponentially if you end
Speaker 1: up having a giving up a personal foul on a play.
Speaker 1: It's like an expulsive play. It's it's fifteen yards, it's
Speaker 1: an ad matic first down. It's it's it's a big
Speaker 1: time shift. So this is where I've obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: taken some caution going into the season because you just
Speaker 1: aren't quite sure exactly how sensitive we're going to get
Speaker 1: about quarterbacks and being able to protect them. Certainly, as
Speaker 1: I've talked about ad nauseum at the end of last season,
Speaker 1: you know, I always felt the Anthony Barr hit, those
Speaker 1: are things you want to take out just because there's
Speaker 1: no reason for a quarterback to get hit like that,
Speaker 1: there's no reason to drive them to the turf. But
Speaker 1: unfortunately that as I've said from all along, it's either
Speaker 1: black or white. It seems like a lot with these
Speaker 1: these rules, there's never room for interpretation, there's never gray area.
Speaker 1: So I don't understand why it's so difficult trying to
Speaker 1: take something that's just as blatant as like the Davante
Speaker 1: Adams hit last year from Danny Trevathan and trying to
Speaker 1: eliminate that without grouping a bunch of other penalties into that. Now,
Speaker 1: that's a really good point, that is, and I think,
Speaker 1: what's I think what's going on here, at least what
Speaker 1: what I what I think should be going on. But
Speaker 1: what seems to be going on in terms of carrying
Speaker 1: a little too far is I think the standard in
Speaker 1: some ways that the officials are using with all these
Speaker 1: calls is was the contact avoidable? Because yeah, could Mohammed
Speaker 1: Wilkerson have avoided hitting the quarterback there? Yeah he could
Speaker 1: have been it hit it very hard, you know. And
Speaker 1: I thought same thing with Perry to a certain extent.
Speaker 1: But again, if that's if that's the standard standard you're using,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of people are asking, well, why
Speaker 1: wasn't the putting the body weight on the quarterback flag
Speaker 1: when Rogers got hurt? I think that. I think the collision,
Speaker 1: everything that happened on that play was was you know,
Speaker 1: so awkward to an extent that the officials didn't think
Speaker 1: it was avoidable. So I can understand that being the standard,
Speaker 1: But I totally get what you're saying as well, that
Speaker 1: it's it's grouping in a lot of other calls that
Speaker 1: just because it was avoidable, Well, does it really need
Speaker 1: to be a fifteen yard penalty? Yeah? And here's here's
Speaker 1: the other issue I have with it. My can and
Speaker 1: and I understand what the leak's trying to do. You
Speaker 1: don't want anyone to get hurt in terms of quarterback
Speaker 1: play if it's unnecessary. But my big is the reason
Speaker 1: I always bring up the bar thing, and it's certainly
Speaker 1: because I don't have as much examples to look at
Speaker 1: the entire NFL. There was some of them, I know,
Speaker 1: uh in these last week and across the NFL. Wasn't
Speaker 1: just in this Green Bay game. But I still think
Speaker 1: there's a difference between driving your body on a sack
Speaker 1: and doing it to a quarterback once the ball has
Speaker 1: left his hand. And and I get that technically it's
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks in a precarious situation, but one seems over
Speaker 1: exaggerated to me than another one that could just be
Speaker 1: a football play and a guy playing to the whistle.
Speaker 1: Because as we know, Mike from you know right now
Speaker 1: the last ten years, the window for a defensive player
Speaker 1: to hit a quarterback it's getting smaller and smaller. You
Speaker 1: can't go too low, you can't go too high pad
Speaker 1: through it exactly. I mean, you basically just have the
Speaker 1: abdomen area to go after. So you know just as
Speaker 1: well as I do, if you're going after the meat
Speaker 1: of a human being because of that being basically their
Speaker 1: core and their center of gravity. You're putting in a
Speaker 1: little more forced than you would if you're trying to
Speaker 1: get him at the legs or going higher on them.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's a really tough pickle. The lead's
Speaker 1: gonna be be in this year because it looks like
Speaker 1: we're not going to get any answers until afterwards. I
Speaker 1: guess if you're Mike Petton, you know, Jerry Montgomery and
Speaker 1: these defensive coaches, you just got to teach the right
Speaker 1: technique and keep your fingers crossed the refs, you know,
Speaker 1: don't throw the flag. I feel for defenders a little
Speaker 1: bit in these situations because how silly is a defender
Speaker 1: gonna look if he's bearing down on the quarterback and
Speaker 1: that quarterback pump fakes like Aaron Rodgers has done many times,
Speaker 1: like a lot of quarterbacks do that quarterback pump fakes,
Speaker 1: And so the guy pulls up thinking, well, if he's
Speaker 1: getting rid of the ball, I'm gonna get flagged. But
Speaker 1: then it's a pump fake and he tucks the ball
Speaker 1: and runs and takes off and then you missed the
Speaker 1: second didn't even get any contact on him at all.
Speaker 1: That that's the position that defensive players are in because
Speaker 1: they don't know if the quarterback is going to throw
Speaker 1: the ball or not. And um when to me anyway,
Speaker 1: at least when contact after the throw, I thought the
Speaker 1: Matthews one should have been flagged. But if the contact
Speaker 1: after the throw is not egregious, I think you just
Speaker 1: I think you just have to say, Okay, he wasn't
Speaker 1: trying to hurt him. He wasn't trying to do anything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was some contact, but let's just play out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's tough because it is it's it's sort of that
Speaker 1: where you draw the line there, and certainly he didn't
Speaker 1: drive through his back or anything when he saw the
Speaker 1: ball go out. But at the same time, if you're
Speaker 1: in that position, the ball is gone. You just got
Speaker 1: to try to let up. The analogy I keep using
Speaker 1: when I talk to some of my friends and also
Speaker 1: some other reporters about this is not necessarily the Matthews one,
Speaker 1: but some of these other, you know, issues that guys
Speaker 1: are running into. To me, it's almost like you're driving
Speaker 1: on the highway and you don't know where the stop
Speaker 1: sign is gonna get put up, and trying to get
Speaker 1: that automobile to stop because dude, this game is played
Speaker 1: at a thousand miles per hour. These guys, some guys
Speaker 1: on a given week, they're playing for their jobs, they're
Speaker 1: playing for their careers, they're playing for a role in
Speaker 1: the defense. They're gonna play hard. So it's just trying
Speaker 1: to fix as equal dollars in those contracts. That the
Speaker 1: bottom line. So, I mean that's the challenge. And you know,
Speaker 1: the NFL is gonna have a huge sample size after
Speaker 1: this year to go off of and we'll see what
Speaker 1: they determine. Yeah, well, anytime you have a big comeback
Speaker 1: victory like the Packers had, there are unsung heroes along
Speaker 1: the way. And we got a little bit of a
Speaker 1: hint at who one of those unsung heroes might have
Speaker 1: been for the Packers on Sunday Night, especially on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, and that's the young safety
Speaker 1: Kentroll Bryce Mike McCarthy. Without necessarily being prompted, per Se
Speaker 1: said that Bryce was one of the defensive players who
Speaker 1: graded out the highest when the coaches graded the film. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know they they they basically score every play on
Speaker 1: different things technique, assignment, you know, execution, result, all those
Speaker 1: kinds of things and Kentroll Bryce graded out awfully high.
Speaker 1: A very good sign for the Packers here because you
Speaker 1: didn't really know necessarily going into the season, him coming
Speaker 1: off of the injury from the year before, Josh Jones,
Speaker 1: being a young guy, still trying to find his way,
Speaker 1: what the Packers were going to do at that's lot um.
Speaker 1: Bryce turned in a pretty good ball game. Here's what
Speaker 1: I love about Kentroll Brice too. He has if if
Speaker 1: he ever had a chance to deal with him or
Speaker 1: talk with him, he has a really cool personality in
Speaker 1: terms of like you can tell why he probably fit
Speaker 1: in it like Louisiana Tech or somebody schools that aren't
Speaker 1: like big FPS schools, because he just is sort of
Speaker 1: this I'd like to do my job and then I'd
Speaker 1: like to leave. And it's not that he doesn't want
Speaker 1: to do interviews. But what was interesting is he was
Speaker 1: aware of what McCarthy said at the podium and saying
Speaker 1: he was a top graded defensive player, and there was
Speaker 1: this horde of media that we're talking to two Sean
Speaker 1: Kaiser in the locker room and Bryce goes to his
Speaker 1: locker changes and tries to sneak through the back door
Speaker 1: and myself and Jason will the end up stopping him.
Speaker 1: As much as he appreciated the praise, the way that
Speaker 1: he's wired, he would have been just fine going about
Speaker 1: his day and I'll see on Wednesday and we'll start
Speaker 1: for week two. But that's not the world we live in,
Speaker 1: and he understands that. And I think, you know, there
Speaker 1: is a lot of emotion evolved in this though for him,
Speaker 1: he did injure his ankle last year, he did see
Speaker 1: his season end, and then he suffered another injury in
Speaker 1: training camp that he got carted off for and luckily
Speaker 1: for him, was able to avoid a significant um you know,
Speaker 1: kind of a you know, I don't want to call
Speaker 1: it a relapse or an aggravation, but whatever the case,
Speaker 1: may be a scare. And not only was he able
Speaker 1: to go out there and start play every single defensive snap,
Speaker 1: all seventy of them. If you watch the game, kentroll,
Speaker 1: Bryce played pretty well. I mentioned that an unscripted on Monday,
Speaker 1: even before McCarthy talked about this. He just was really consistent, Mike,
Speaker 1: and he's such a big hitter, and that's the reason
Speaker 1: why I think a lot of people he's gotten on
Speaker 1: their radars. But Kentroll Bryce knows, as we just talked
Speaker 1: about in this last segment, that can't be your game anymore.
Speaker 1: You have to evolve. You can be aggressive, you can
Speaker 1: be assertive, but you have to play within your discipline
Speaker 1: and your technique. I thought he did a terrific job
Speaker 1: of that in this game. And if he keeps putting
Speaker 1: performances together like that where he's in that center field position,
Speaker 1: allowing Clinton Dicks to roam a little more. Clinton Dick
Speaker 1: said it, this group could be special and Kentroll Bryce
Speaker 1: is a big part of that. Yeah. Well, the thing
Speaker 1: that stood out to me when he came on the
Speaker 1: scene as an undrafted rookie, aside from obviously the big
Speaker 1: hits when he was getting in the games, but his
Speaker 1: speed was very, very impressive. Now, it's only been one game,
Speaker 1: it's only been one game so far this season, but
Speaker 1: if that ankle injury and the subsequent surgery and everything
Speaker 1: he had to go through last year to get back
Speaker 1: this year, if that hasn't compromised his speed at all,
Speaker 1: We'll see, because he's going to be tested by some
Speaker 1: other guys in this league aside from just the Bears.
Speaker 1: But if that speed of his hasn't been compromised at
Speaker 1: all because of what he went through injury wise. That's
Speaker 1: a heck of a good sign for him and and
Speaker 1: this Packers defense. I remember talking to Xavier Woods, who
Speaker 1: was his basically his running mate at Louisiana Tech, at
Speaker 1: the NFL Combine in two thousand seventeen, and I had
Speaker 1: him by myself and we were and I was taught,
Speaker 1: asking him about Bryce, and you know, he almost talked
Speaker 1: with this sort of the smile the entire time, because
Speaker 1: you know, Bryce really he'd been sort of a situational guy,
Speaker 1: played on special teams, one of five guys to make
Speaker 1: the rosters, an undrafted rookie, but people really didn't know
Speaker 1: much about him in Woods sort of had this mentality.
Speaker 1: And I don't remember all the quotes he gave me
Speaker 1: on the top, but he just said, you know, they
Speaker 1: don't people really don't understand how good this guy can
Speaker 1: be in terms of just you know, he's more than
Speaker 1: just a hitter. There's more to his game. And it
Speaker 1: was one of the reasons why those two were so
Speaker 1: successful together. And now Woods is having success. I believe
Speaker 1: in Dallas in the NFL, Bryce has all the intangibles
Speaker 1: you look. For sure, he wasn't a top of the
Speaker 1: radar prospect, but he was right from the get go
Speaker 1: pretty much seen as one of the gems of that
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent class. And and certainly him being able
Speaker 1: to step into those huge shoes of Morgan Burnett at
Speaker 1: safety next to ha Clinton Dicks, and the fact that
Speaker 1: kind of like Geronimo Allison a little bit going into
Speaker 1: Jordan Alison's number three spot there. He didn't really leave
Speaker 1: much doubt throughout the offseason program. He showed that he's
Speaker 1: a guy that he's not just a dime coverage, you know,
Speaker 1: safety like he was last year. He's a guy that
Speaker 1: could play all three downs. Yeah, and it was great
Speaker 1: to see him come back so quickly from that training
Speaker 1: camp injury, which at the time you're looking at it going,
Speaker 1: oh boy, it's gonna be another injury, you know, significant
Speaker 1: injury for kentro Bryce turned out not to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, Mike, I obviously, David tr you got carted
Speaker 1: off too during family Night, turned out to be fine
Speaker 1: with the ankle. In my seven years, I don't remember
Speaker 1: too many instances where player has been carted off the
Speaker 1: field and he ends up being able to come back
Speaker 1: in about a week. Sometimes it isn't surgical, sometimes it
Speaker 1: isn't season ending. But very rarely is it something where
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, he's back out at the practice field.
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark last year. Maybe it was one example, the
Speaker 1: hily miss. Yeah, that might have been the all timer.
Speaker 1: Does that look like that? Looked? Josh Boyd bad like
Speaker 1: significant injury end of the year into the off season,
Speaker 1: and Clark ended up being fine. Fortunately, Packers keep counting
Speaker 1: their lucky stars there. All right, let's hope um quickly
Speaker 1: before we go, um, just an update on worth things stand.
Speaker 1: In the NFC North Monday Night football, the Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: take one on the Chin and Matt Patricia's head coaching debut.
Speaker 1: They start the game with a pick six. Sam Donald's
Speaker 1: first NFL path goes the wrong direction. But after that,
Speaker 1: the young rookie from the New York Jets dominated that
Speaker 1: football game in a lot of ways, and the Jets
Speaker 1: in big so. The Lions and Bears both oh and one,
Speaker 1: the Packers and Vikings both one and oh and Week
Speaker 1: two Packers Vikings at lambeau Field. It's the the early
Speaker 1: shot at the driver's seat. I guess you say it was,
Speaker 1: I mean, and that was really something to see Stafford
Speaker 1: struggle the way he did against the Jets defense. It
Speaker 1: was four interceptions, forty seven point nine passer rating in
Speaker 1: that contest. But this, let's be honest, Mike, regardless of
Speaker 1: Khalil Mack, I think everybody is sort of you know, earmarked,
Speaker 1: the Packers and Vikings as far as the krumdalea creme
Speaker 1: in this division at least going into the season. And
Speaker 1: and again I said an inbox last week, I never
Speaker 1: view any Week one game is like a season defining game.
Speaker 1: I still don't because so much can happen. But the
Speaker 1: Packers do have a lot of momentum going into this. Again,
Speaker 1: we have to see how Aaron Rodgers does, but how
Speaker 1: he is with his prognosis. But that's a huge leap
Speaker 1: being able to come back. Emotionally, we know it's a
Speaker 1: game of swings. Things can turn at any single moment.
Speaker 1: That that is going to be a huge contest at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field. Even though the Airs Sunday Night Football a
Speaker 1: hundred season was a big game, this is one that
Speaker 1: does have implications down the line because it's very rare
Speaker 1: that you get to division games at home to start
Speaker 1: the season. I'm sure the Packers will be ready for it.
Speaker 1: It's only gonna be one team in the NFC North too.
Speaker 1: And oh after two weeks and it's the winner at
Speaker 1: Lambeufield on Sunday afternoon. So 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 all
Speaker 1: week long on Packers dot com on Twitter, He's at
Speaker 1: west hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the
Speaker 1: team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.