Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is my trusted colleague West
Speaker 1: Hodkowits were coming to you here from our studios at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field and West as usual on our midweek show,
Speaker 1: it's time to look ahead to the Packers next opponent,
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills, coming into lambeau Field for a Sunday
Speaker 1: noon Central Time kickoff, and a team that everybody was
Speaker 1: writing off after the first two games of the season.
Speaker 1: They go into Minneapolis and beat the Minnesota Vikings, a
Speaker 1: game in which I believe Buffalo is a seventeen point underdog,
Speaker 1: and they didn't just beat them, they whipped them to six.
Speaker 1: So the Buffalo Bills will put everyone on notice now
Speaker 1: that they're not the They're not the team that you
Speaker 1: put an asterisk on the on the schedule and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know you chuck that one up as a win.
Speaker 1: Far from it. Here this rookie quarterback Josh Allen. You
Speaker 1: know how it goes with rookie quarterbacks. You can get
Speaker 1: some tremendous games, you can get some shaky games, and
Speaker 1: everything in between. This is an athletic kid, first round
Speaker 1: draft pick out of the University of Wyoming. He's also
Speaker 1: leading the Bills in rushing. If I'm not mistake correct,
Speaker 1: I mean it's uh yeah, twenty two attempts for ninety
Speaker 1: seven yards so far, which I think what everybody talked
Speaker 1: about him in his arm at Wyoming. I don't know
Speaker 1: how much they talked about his scrambling ability, but or
Speaker 1: is hurdling ability jumped over Anthony Barr like like he
Speaker 1: was in the Olympics. They're on last Sunday. That's the game, man,
Speaker 1: especially for the rookie quarterbacks in this league. When you're
Speaker 1: thrown into the fire. Sometimes it's treading water. It's just
Speaker 1: trying to find ways to move the chains and make plays.
Speaker 1: Micah Hyde, as he always does so eloquently, had such
Speaker 1: a great comment this week about it in that people
Speaker 1: are so jumped, they are so quick to jump to
Speaker 1: if a team play is really well, you're going to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. If you play really poorly, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have the first overall pick. And if there's so much
Speaker 1: truth in that. He said that at times too. I
Speaker 1: remember in some you know, former fashion when he was
Speaker 1: in Green Bay and that this league, man, the way
Speaker 1: it is the way things happen. Very rarely, and it
Speaker 1: does happen, but very rarely can you just sit there
Speaker 1: and point to a game be like, this is how
Speaker 1: it's gonna play out, this is what the score is
Speaker 1: gonna be, and and you know there's gonna be no
Speaker 1: deviation from that. The Bills showed last week exactly the
Speaker 1: nature of the NFL. You can get wallops by Baltimore,
Speaker 1: you can get destroyed by the Chargers in terms of
Speaker 1: what you know, Philip Rivers is able to do offensively,
Speaker 1: some of the mistakes that that the Bills made, and
Speaker 1: then you can go into a team that was in
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship game last year and going to their
Speaker 1: house one of the most uh, you know, scariest places
Speaker 1: to play, loudest place to play in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: you can just completely knock them out. That's the nature
Speaker 1: of the Beast. And the one thing I ked about
Speaker 1: what Josh Allen did and what the Bills did. They
Speaker 1: got some takeaways early, they got some points early, and
Speaker 1: then they kind of sat on it and they did
Speaker 1: a really good job of controlling the time of possession.
Speaker 1: And now it's a much different story now going into
Speaker 1: this game. Against the Packers than it was seven days ago. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: the season started with the Bills starting Nathan Peterman at quarterback.
Speaker 1: That didn't last too long. He had a game last year.
Speaker 1: Was he throw through five interceptions in one half of football?
Speaker 1: I think so? And I know their plan was to
Speaker 1: have a j McCarron kind of be a placeholder for
Speaker 1: Josh Allen until he came along. So pretty much everything
Speaker 1: they were planning to do has gotten scrapped. It's now
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's team. And let's face it was he's trying
Speaker 1: to make this work here with his number one running back,
Speaker 1: Lashawn McCoy is injured and not playing, so they've turned
Speaker 1: it over to Chris Ivory as as the main running back.
Speaker 1: And he doesn't have any spectacular, big name wide receivers
Speaker 1: that he's throwing too. He's made some big plays with
Speaker 1: his tight ends and uh and Ivory in the screen
Speaker 1: game and whatnot. They they are kind of trying to
Speaker 1: piece it together and and really what did it for
Speaker 1: him in the game against Minnesota was the defense generating pressure,
Speaker 1: generating turnovers. They got themselves a lead and then they
Speaker 1: didn't make any mistakes after that to let the Vikings
Speaker 1: back in the ballgame. So when I look at this,
Speaker 1: it just seems, especially when you look at the fact
Speaker 1: that the Packers offensive line is a little banged up,
Speaker 1: he might have some different starters in there. You know,
Speaker 1: it starts with keeping that Bill's past ros, Jerry Hughes
Speaker 1: and those guys, keeping them away from Aaron Rodgers and
Speaker 1: protecting that football. Yeah, Kyle Williams still doing it at
Speaker 1: a high level all these years later. I think he's
Speaker 1: what thirty five years old now, but still obviously a
Speaker 1: force in the middle of that defense. Jerry Hughes, who
Speaker 1: really reinvented himself when he went to Buffalo in the
Speaker 1: early two thousand tens, and I think a lot of people, uh,
Speaker 1: we're really writing him off and in terms of what
Speaker 1: his career was going to be. And then he has
Speaker 1: I think it was something like back to back ten
Speaker 1: sax seasons. He's been really consistent for them ever since.
Speaker 1: The strange thing about the bit Lls is that they
Speaker 1: only do have one interception right now, but they got
Speaker 1: a lot of force fumbles. Uh you know, they were
Speaker 1: able to convert those, recover those, and that obviously changes
Speaker 1: the field positions. So um, yeah, there isn't There isn't
Speaker 1: a huge like player that you have to eliminate from
Speaker 1: the ball game. I mean, certainly, you know, Calvin Benjamin
Speaker 1: has has playmaking ability you look at you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's Charles Clay. He's been in this league a
Speaker 1: long time, certainly been a factor as a tight end.
Speaker 1: There's just enough weapons there. I mean, that's ultimately the
Speaker 1: reason I think they were able to get to the
Speaker 1: playoffs last year's They had enough weapons, they played well
Speaker 1: enough as a team that it was able to be
Speaker 1: able to carve up one of those playoffs spots. And
Speaker 1: now I think they showed against the Vikings that if
Speaker 1: you take them lightly, and I'm not saying the Vikings did,
Speaker 1: but in generally, if you take them lightly, they're gonna
Speaker 1: find a way to make you pay. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: think the uh they have a solid secondary on that
Speaker 1: back end to compliment what seems to be a pretty
Speaker 1: good pass rush. And I'm sorry. The number one cornerback
Speaker 1: for Buffalo, his name is escaping me right now. Tarin
Speaker 1: Johnson um No the Renzo Alexander no Oh White Yes
Speaker 1: White from L s U. Yes, the L s U
Speaker 1: cornerback that was young guy. Um, so you've got him,
Speaker 1: You've got Micah Hi to familiar face will be coming
Speaker 1: back to lambeau Field UM this week. So um. It's
Speaker 1: it's not a dynamic secondary, as you said, they only
Speaker 1: have one interception, but it seems to be the kind
Speaker 1: of group and with Trude Avious White being the guy
Speaker 1: that they usually lock up on the opponent's number one target,
Speaker 1: it's a good compliment to what they have up front
Speaker 1: with a pass rush. And then they added Tremaine Edmonds, Uh,
Speaker 1: the linebacker from Virginia Tech. That's so crazy he was
Speaker 1: He was added early in the draft to that defensive
Speaker 1: front as well. So it's interesting the way it's coming
Speaker 1: together in Buffalo, and certainly there went over the Vikings
Speaker 1: is a big step forward that not a lot of
Speaker 1: people expected, but but one that that you know, this
Speaker 1: team was looking forward to make that leap. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: I don't want to, you know, represent this as like
Speaker 1: the Land of Misfit Toys or anything like that, but
Speaker 1: you do. Look. I mean Jordan Poyer came coming over
Speaker 1: from Cleveland too. I think him and Hyde both had
Speaker 1: five interceptions last year, at least north of that being
Speaker 1: able to make plays on the back end. I mean
Speaker 1: that was really one of the catalysts for them being
Speaker 1: able to make that run last year is they just
Speaker 1: were able to execute. And Sean McDermott is such a
Speaker 1: bright defensive mind. He learned from one of the very
Speaker 1: best in the game, and I think you've seen him.
Speaker 1: I think this was the right time for him to
Speaker 1: be a head coach. He'd been a defensive coach, a
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator for a number of years. Finally steps up
Speaker 1: into that role and you're seeing him really I think
Speaker 1: make those pieces fit as far as the Buffalo Bills
Speaker 1: are concerned. But to the original point with Tradavious White
Speaker 1: and what he's been able to do at a short time,
Speaker 1: I mean still only twenty three years old. Four interceptions
Speaker 1: last year, sixty nine tackles, sixteen starts, really difficult situation
Speaker 1: for a young guy to be thrown out there leave
Speaker 1: He was a second round pick off the top of
Speaker 1: my head, and he stepped up to the challenge. And
Speaker 1: I think now with the Packers going into this game,
Speaker 1: I would imagine he's probably gonna be seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of Davante Adams. I think that's gonna be a big
Speaker 1: matchup to watch in that one. But they they're they're
Speaker 1: very multiple. There's a lot of things that they can
Speaker 1: do defensively, but certainly their biggest thing is trying to
Speaker 1: pressure the quarterback and have those guys on the back
Speaker 1: end make plays on the ball. It's gonna be a
Speaker 1: big challenge. It's gonna be a big challenge for Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers in that entire offense of the Packers to be
Speaker 1: able to consistently generate those opportunities against the group that
Speaker 1: really stri prides itself based on last year and what
Speaker 1: we've seen through the first three games in being able
Speaker 1: to really limit the downfield options. Yeah, well last year
Speaker 1: they end up getting into the playoffs for the first
Speaker 1: time and what was years something like that, and it
Speaker 1: happened on the final Yeah, happened on the final weekend
Speaker 1: of the the regular season. So a franchise that's looking
Speaker 1: to recapture a little of that momentum that they built
Speaker 1: in and they were left for dead man. I mean
Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't think, know, they went through
Speaker 1: some ups and downs last year too. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: they just were, you know, this this uh unstoppable force
Speaker 1: most of the year. They sort of they peaked at
Speaker 1: the right time of the season. They made enough big
Speaker 1: plays and lo and behold they made that run ended
Speaker 1: the streak. And I think this year they came in
Speaker 1: with a lot of expectations despite the fact that they
Speaker 1: ended up trading to Rod Taylor and to kind of
Speaker 1: have to rally through what they did the first two
Speaker 1: weeks to be where they are at today. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta give credit to Sean mcdernomtt for having his
Speaker 1: guys ready. I'm assuming they will be on Sunday. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's kind of funny how the season started because last
Speaker 1: year Andy Dalton for the Bengals gets that miracle touchdown
Speaker 1: against the Baltimore Ravens to beat Baltimore, which then propels
Speaker 1: Buffalo into the playoffs, and Baltimore misses the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: then the Ravens go on to play Buffalo and take
Speaker 1: out some of their frustrations in September. Here, you know,
Speaker 1: nine months, nine months later. But the way that's the
Speaker 1: way this league can work sometimes it's really incredible just
Speaker 1: how these things go. And and that's just it's the
Speaker 1: nature of the Beast. The The one other thing I
Speaker 1: want to mention too about this matchup bit In addition,
Speaker 1: obviously Micha Hyde see and the Packers again. Jordan Mills
Speaker 1: the starting right tackle for the Bills. He is the
Speaker 1: cousin of Tremont Williams, so they will see each other
Speaker 1: again as well. I think those two seem like they've
Speaker 1: played each other so many times. Say yeah, because it
Speaker 1: wasn't Mills with the Bears. I remember writing about that
Speaker 1: when when Tremont Williams and and Mills part of the
Speaker 1: Packers Bears rival were there. And Ryan Groy I think
Speaker 1: he's a former Badger as well. Former Badger yes, and
Speaker 1: um and undrafted, I believe. But now I was starting
Speaker 1: at center for for Buffalo. So um little sponsor business
Speaker 1: here west at home or here in the stands. We
Speaker 1: all know that Green Bay fans give it their all
Speaker 1: and that takes a lot of energy. So grab a
Speaker 1: warm bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup. It's meaty goodness fuels
Speaker 1: the greatness of Packers fans everywhere. Try the delicious classic
Speaker 1: chicken noodle soup. Just visit your local supermarket and ask
Speaker 1: for Campbell's Chunky Soup, Official sup partner of the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. Okay, a couple other things to touch on
Speaker 1: here on our Wednesday show. Oh uh, some roster moves
Speaker 1: in the works here for the Green Bay Packers, Devon
Speaker 1: House headed to injured reserve, apparently with a shoulder injury
Speaker 1: that that um is going to require him to be
Speaker 1: sidelined for quite a while, and as a response, the
Speaker 1: Packers signing a veteran cornerback to take his place in
Speaker 1: Bashad Breland, a free agent who has been available for
Speaker 1: quite a while. Kind of a health mix up, I
Speaker 1: guess would be the best way to say it with
Speaker 1: regards to him in the main part of free agency
Speaker 1: in the off season, been waiting for an opportunity, waiting
Speaker 1: for a job, and here he is in Green Bay
Speaker 1: four year or this is his fifth year, but four
Speaker 1: years with Washington. Yeah, it's funny too, Mike. I guess
Speaker 1: I sort of predicted this last week, confusing him with
Speaker 1: Brichard Perriman, that's right. Yeah, so I ended up bringing
Speaker 1: him up last week. Whatever the case may be. What
Speaker 1: an interesting journey it's been for Breland. Obviously, it looked
Speaker 1: like earlier this offseason was going to be signing was
Speaker 1: one of the most I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: consider one of the top cornerbacks on the mark it
Speaker 1: there was an injury issue there with him, takes all
Speaker 1: these visits, finally comes to Green Bay in week three,
Speaker 1: twenty six years old. If you know anything about his
Speaker 1: story started, I think it was fifty seven of the
Speaker 1: sixty one games he played for Washington and if I
Speaker 1: got this part of it right too, we did a
Speaker 1: five Things to Know story. It was I think the
Speaker 1: third most starts for a rookie in Washington other than
Speaker 1: Darryl Green and championship, so that's a really elite company.
Speaker 1: Had sixty pass deflections in his four years in Washington. Uh,
Speaker 1: he gives you flexibility. He can plays. He's predominantly been boundary,
Speaker 1: but he has some experience in the slot if you
Speaker 1: want to use him there. I'll say this, Mike, and
Speaker 1: every general manager has their own philosophy. But you have
Speaker 1: someone like Breland out there who's in the prime of
Speaker 1: his career. It's not like he's you know, passed anything here.
Speaker 1: It's not like they're signing him at thirty one or
Speaker 1: thirty two. Right. This is a guy who was just
Speaker 1: looking for the second contract coming off of his rookie contract.
Speaker 1: He was a fourth round pick Washington so I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a guy that's in his prime, so to
Speaker 1: be able to bring him in if you have an
Speaker 1: injury to House, obviously, Kevin King is working through his
Speaker 1: issue right now with a groin injury. I think he's
Speaker 1: a guy that can step right in there with Joe Jr.
Speaker 1: In in really contribute to this defense. Was looking for
Speaker 1: an opportunity. The Green Bay Packers gave it to you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he and and he may immediately see the field on Sunday.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens. But with as you said, with
Speaker 1: Kevin King dealing with a groin injury, Devon House going on,
Speaker 1: I are you have Tremont Williams, the two rookies Alexander
Speaker 1: and Jackson, and then Briland is right there as your
Speaker 1: number four. And we all know how often the Packers
Speaker 1: have four cornerbacks on the field. Now you have some flexibility.
Speaker 1: Obviously Jermaine Whitehead as a safety has played some slot
Speaker 1: cornerback and some there are some different options there. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, this this isn't necessarily going to
Speaker 1: be a long red shirt period for Brelan so to speak.
Speaker 1: He may get on the field pretty quickly. Your boundary
Speaker 1: reserve was Devon House. Yeah. I mean yeah, you do
Speaker 1: have Josh Jones, you have white Head, you have Kentroll
Speaker 1: Bryce who can all play the slot. But as far
Speaker 1: as boundary is concerned, he has proven entity out there
Speaker 1: that could potentially step in if you need him to
Speaker 1: be if you feel like Josh Jackson and jire Alexander
Speaker 1: are best suited for the slot of those nickel and
Speaker 1: dimes sub packages. A lot of things for obviously Mike
Speaker 1: Pett to play around with. But the thing I really
Speaker 1: like about Brilon is he's just a really good football player. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, he was a fourth round pick. I think
Speaker 1: you look at the the NFL draft scout and that process,
Speaker 1: it wasn't like he did anything that just jumped off
Speaker 1: the page and you know, well he wasn't running four
Speaker 1: three forties or anything like that. But he's really consistent.
Speaker 1: He plays good technique, and I think when you saw
Speaker 1: his maturation in Washington, the kind of reliability and durability
Speaker 1: he provided to them, he was a big piece of
Speaker 1: that defense. So now for the Packers to get him
Speaker 1: in here, you obviously have three weeks before the bye week.
Speaker 1: There's still time to work with them. To me personally,
Speaker 1: and they've signed guys in the season before, but this
Speaker 1: is I think a guy that I think can really
Speaker 1: help and really contribute it. I thought it was an
Speaker 1: A plus sign named by Brian Goods. Yeah, well, the
Speaker 1: Packers are certainly in a in an injury situation where
Speaker 1: where you're looking, you're looking for that help. And you know,
Speaker 1: as as we talked about in the off season with
Speaker 1: the building of the fifty three, a little bit different philosophy.
Speaker 1: Here we're seeing from Gouda Kunts. It's somebody going down.
Speaker 1: It's not just Okay, who's the next guy on the
Speaker 1: practice squad, who's the next guy within the building. It's
Speaker 1: also looking outside the building. And it's early enough in
Speaker 1: the season, as you said, to do that, because there's
Speaker 1: time to get him acclimated and really get him up
Speaker 1: to speed for the heart of the season. Absolutely, and
Speaker 1: I think I don't want to keep using two thousand
Speaker 1: ten is like this utopian litmus test for how you
Speaker 1: have to approach a season. But I always go back
Speaker 1: to that Mike and that they signed you know, they
Speaker 1: or whatever was they claimed Howard Green or they they
Speaker 1: claimed Ark Walden. They signed Howard Green, they brought veterans
Speaker 1: in there that ended up having to play for them
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. I think Breeland, as long as everybody's
Speaker 1: on the same page with what's going to be expected
Speaker 1: of him and what their vision is for these young cornerbacks,
Speaker 1: I think it's just that it's the type of guy
Speaker 1: that can come in here. He'll have you know, they
Speaker 1: are deep enough at that position that he doesn't just
Speaker 1: have to go in there and start Week one, but
Speaker 1: he also is going to have time here that if
Speaker 1: the Packers do need to rely on them to get
Speaker 1: caught up on the defense. I was trying to figure
Speaker 1: out if there are really any ties I didn't really
Speaker 1: find any between Breland and this coaching staff with with
Speaker 1: the other players, but but certainly with his experience in
Speaker 1: this league and and what he's been through to get
Speaker 1: to this point as much as he's played, you would
Speaker 1: have to think that that he's not gonna need too
Speaker 1: long to catch up on things. Yeah. Eight interceptions in
Speaker 1: his career. Eight interceptions, including his last one last year
Speaker 1: went for nineties six yards on a touchdown. I believe
Speaker 1: that was off Philip Rivers in a really big game
Speaker 1: that against the Chargers, So uh yeah, there's there's definite
Speaker 1: playmaking ability there and and certainly gives you an experience
Speaker 1: factor that I think they need. I thought Devon House
Speaker 1: had a really important role in this defense and in
Speaker 1: working with Kevin King the past year and a half
Speaker 1: in being able to help bring along some of these
Speaker 1: young guys. It's great to have talent. You love their athleticism,
Speaker 1: you love their you know what you're getting out of
Speaker 1: an athlete when they're at that twenty four years old stage.
Speaker 1: But I really do believe you need to have your
Speaker 1: Traumont Williams and your Brilon's in there too, that that
Speaker 1: have been through this league, have seen the ups and downs,
Speaker 1: know how guys are going to attack you, and be
Speaker 1: able to pass on some of that knowledge. I think
Speaker 1: it's a really good add into that room. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: we'll see how the week evolves with his first practices
Speaker 1: with the Packers, but for now, we're going to call
Speaker 1: it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
Speaker 1: on Packers dot com on Twitter. He's at west Hot,
Speaker 1: I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in. Everybody see you next time.