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 Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you
Speaker 1: hear from our studios at lambeau Field and West. Week
Speaker 1: one is here. The Packers will open the season at
Speaker 1: Minnesota against the NFC North rival Vikings on Sunday this week.
Speaker 1: It's a three pm Central Time kickoff. Before we get
Speaker 1: to talking about this opponent in a big division game
Speaker 1: here in week one, a little bit of an injury
Speaker 1: update as far as where things stand with the Packers,
Speaker 1: and I guess when I say update, maybe it's more
Speaker 1: to say there's still some injury uncertainty with exactly where
Speaker 1: things are gonna go this week with Green Bay. Hearing
Speaker 1: from Matt Lafleur at the beginning of the week, it
Speaker 1: sounds like David Bakti is working his way into the
Speaker 1: eleven on a levin the team reps in practice. Not
Speaker 1: so sure about where things are with Elton Jenkins. We
Speaker 1: did find out last week it sounds like Robert Tunny
Speaker 1: in at tight end is has been pretty close, if
Speaker 1: not completely full go in in the eleven on eleven.
Speaker 1: Also still kind of in a wait and see mode
Speaker 1: as to what may or may not happen with Christian Watson,
Speaker 1: him having missed all of the preseason games, hasn't played
Speaker 1: in an NFL game yet, what will be his role
Speaker 1: comes Sunday. And also at wide receiver, Al Lazard currently
Speaker 1: not practicing. The last couple of practices that we've that
Speaker 1: we've been able to watch, he's been off to the side.
Speaker 1: It's an unspecified injury. Nothing about it has been discussed.
Speaker 1: But on balance, I think you have to say the
Speaker 1: Packers look pretty darn healthy for this Week one matchup,
Speaker 1: But there is a little bit of uncertainty here and
Speaker 1: there in a couple of spots, which is what is
Speaker 1: going to happen when you have a fifty three man roster,
Speaker 1: And certainly when the Packers went into the camp having
Speaker 1: a few of these guys and n f I and
Speaker 1: p U p uh, this was kind of how it
Speaker 1: was all going to sort of lay out. But the
Speaker 1: one big positive that I think Green Bay has going
Speaker 1: for itself compared to last year is you know, much
Speaker 1: fewer season ending injuries, you know, last year, or a
Speaker 1: couple of a c ls in camp. There are some
Speaker 1: ankle injuries in camp that wipes some guys out. They
Speaker 1: pretty much got to the starting line here unencumbered. That's
Speaker 1: a positive first step. Now, certainly I know a lot
Speaker 1: of people out there and I've been seeing it an
Speaker 1: inbox and we've gotten the tweets people worried about the
Speaker 1: al lazard thing. We don't know and and I don't
Speaker 1: think that means it's not a big deal. I don't
Speaker 1: think that means it is a big deal. I think
Speaker 1: it just the packers are not obligated to give an
Speaker 1: injury report until Wednesday practice report with the designations to
Speaker 1: follow on Friday. The kudos of the media corps, many
Speaker 1: of our brethren and in journalism, uh, they tried six
Speaker 1: different ways from Sunday to to get some information out
Speaker 1: on Matt the floor on on Monday morning, and the
Speaker 1: floor wasn't having it in a very positive and respectful way.
Speaker 1: Just they're not going to go there right now. So
Speaker 1: I think the build up in the process, I've you know,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about some of these other things soon enough,
Speaker 1: but just listen and even mentioned that Wednesday practice and
Speaker 1: how you know, some guys were breathing kind of heavy again,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to get back into the football shape,
Speaker 1: trying to get prepared for a six quarter or a
Speaker 1: four quarter excuse me, hopefully four quarter game in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: That's where this is all about. It's about ramping up,
Speaker 1: It's about being prepared and having as many of those
Speaker 1: playmakers available as possible. Yeah, well, if you prepare for
Speaker 1: a six quarter game, you're definitely going to be ready
Speaker 1: for a four quarter game. But let's talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about the vikings here Week one opponent. We discussed
Speaker 1: this a little bit in the off season as well.
Speaker 1: What's what's interesting about this with Minnesota to me is
Speaker 1: that you have a new regime at the top, a
Speaker 1: new general manager, a new head coach, regime change in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: but yet the cast of characters on the field is
Speaker 1: going to look awfully familiar. When you're talking about Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thalan on the offensive side,
Speaker 1: and guys like Eric Kendricks and Harrison Smith and Patrick
Speaker 1: Peterson at cornerback who's been in Minnesota for for a
Speaker 1: little bit now, similar cast of characters to what we've seen.
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter another one on defense, but mixing in now
Speaker 1: a couple of former Green Bay Packers on that defensive
Speaker 1: side's Darius Smith Channon Sullivan. Just overall, what are your
Speaker 1: impressions of sort of where things are headed with with
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings right now? You know, same deck of cards,
Speaker 1: a different dealer. Is sort of the way I've looked
Speaker 1: at this all week. I mean, when you look at
Speaker 1: you know, Kevin O'Connell, it's gonna be interesting. Probably hearing
Speaker 1: gave floor talk about him this week because these are
Speaker 1: two guys that didn't work together at all. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: they basically followed the same exact script to be coming
Speaker 1: head coaches, spending time in Washington. Both of them worked
Speaker 1: it for you know, Sean McVeigh at the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 1: So the process as for these guys, even though Conna
Speaker 1: played a couple of years in the league, both quarterback backgrounds,
Speaker 1: it sort of makes sense. I mean, this is that
Speaker 1: Shanahan Tree we've talked about. The interesting thing for him
Speaker 1: is the fact that offensively, you know, you can say
Speaker 1: whatever you want about Kirk Cousins, but justin Jefferson just
Speaker 1: turned twenty three years old. Delvin Cook when he's healthy
Speaker 1: is still among the best running backs in the National
Speaker 1: Football League, and I think they feel better about their
Speaker 1: offensive line. So there aren't a lot of situations you're
Speaker 1: gonna walk into as a first year head coach where
Speaker 1: you have a receiver that I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people would say is in the conversation for being among
Speaker 1: the best at his position right now despite how young
Speaker 1: he is. Remember all those positive things that Davante Adams
Speaker 1: talked about last year with him Delvin Cook again, that
Speaker 1: a guy that can control the pace of a game
Speaker 1: if a defense lets him do that. The big question
Speaker 1: mark for me is defensively, what this is gonna look like,
Speaker 1: because even when things weren't going great for Minnesota, you
Speaker 1: always could hang your hat on a Mike Zimmer defense.
Speaker 1: The double A app looks strong linebacker play, strong cornerback play.
Speaker 1: In its prime, that sort of deteriorated. So now you
Speaker 1: have ed Donnitel in there. You bring in you know,
Speaker 1: Mike Smith is the outside linebacker coach, you have Mike
Speaker 1: Petton as the the oversight in the senior administrator role.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be really interesting because I think the biggest
Speaker 1: storyline that's gonna kind of permeate through this week is
Speaker 1: the Packers matching up against Darius Smith. And if you're
Speaker 1: looking at the Minnesota Vikings and a conference that's wide
Speaker 1: open in a division where it's probably not gonna take
Speaker 1: a lot to run away from Chicago and Detroit, Minnesota
Speaker 1: still very much in the thick of this thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's interesting when you talk about the these two
Speaker 1: head coaches sort of coming from the Sean McVeigh tree,
Speaker 1: so to speak. And there's been some talk in the
Speaker 1: locker room already about, well, you know, how similar will
Speaker 1: this Vikings offense under Kevin O'Connell be to what the
Speaker 1: Packers have been practicing against in training camp up all
Speaker 1: summer long. And Devandre Campbell, um me, Bill Hubert from
Speaker 1: s I, a few other reporters. We were at Campbell's
Speaker 1: locker after practice on Monday, and he gave a really
Speaker 1: interesting answer to that whole similarities with the offense thing.
Speaker 1: He said, yeah, we're probably going to see some things
Speaker 1: that we recognize. There will be some things that are similar,
Speaker 1: but the Vikings have just as the Packers had with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams and Aaron Jones and all this.
Speaker 1: When Matt Lafleur took over. The Minnesota Vikings have a
Speaker 1: completely different cast of of the perimeter weapons, the skill
Speaker 1: position players, whatever you want to call it. When you
Speaker 1: talk about Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson and Adam thieland
Speaker 1: and I know they're trying to get Er Smith back
Speaker 1: at at tight end. So yeah, there there are concepts,
Speaker 1: there are similarities, but but offenses are still going to
Speaker 1: be tailored to the personnel that's running them, right that
Speaker 1: That's what the best coaches do. They find what their
Speaker 1: personnel does best, and then they get that too, uh,
Speaker 1: they get that to fit um from a conceptual standpoint,
Speaker 1: So as much as the Packers are going to have
Speaker 1: some idea of the motions and and all the pre
Speaker 1: snap stuff, you don't really know how this offense is
Speaker 1: gonna look with Kirk Cousins taking the snaps and Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook taking the handoffs and Justin Jefferson and Adam Fieland
Speaker 1: catching the passes until you really, you know, see what
Speaker 1: the first quarter, quarter and a half look like out there.
Speaker 1: And that's just one of the one of the challenges
Speaker 1: here in Week one for green Bay going up against
Speaker 1: a team with a brand new head coach and a
Speaker 1: new regime. And that's why it's such a great litmus
Speaker 1: test for this defense, this Packers defense that we've talked
Speaker 1: so much about. We've spilled so much ink over it
Speaker 1: during the offseason, the expectations, what they think this unit
Speaker 1: could be the starting eleven of that Nickel package that
Speaker 1: we've talked about so much. Um, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: weapons you have to neutralize in this game, but there's
Speaker 1: also a lot of opportunities to I mean, I do
Speaker 1: look at it as you know, Minnesota has had a
Speaker 1: hard time getting this offensive line right when when we've
Speaker 1: set it time and time again all of these shows
Speaker 1: for the last five six years, when you pressure Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: the direct impact of the outcome of that game when
Speaker 1: he is seeing you know, a lot of guys in
Speaker 1: his face and you know, facing some sacks and pressure
Speaker 1: and turnover generating place. That's been the key to Green
Speaker 1: Bay winning these games during the Kirk Cousins era against Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and they have to get back to their bread and butter.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I think the curious thing for
Speaker 1: me is also going to be seeing this Packers offense.
Speaker 1: You know, you talk about how different you know this,
Speaker 1: this could potentially look with Kevin O'Connell now running the
Speaker 1: show in Minnesota, this Packers offense now without Davonte Adams,
Speaker 1: maybe more on the running backs, maybe depending on how
Speaker 1: everything works out, David Box tr Elton Jenkins back or both.
Speaker 1: There's so many question marks, which is somewhat expected for
Speaker 1: a Week one opener, But in terms of the personnel
Speaker 1: aspect of it, what the offenses, defenses, and even to
Speaker 1: some extense special teams, the form they're going to take
Speaker 1: probably one of the more intriguing ones I think I've
Speaker 1: covered here in recent memory. Yeah, and what you said
Speaker 1: as well with regard to Minnesota's defense, they're they're the
Speaker 1: familiar faces. They're the new additions, like as a Darius Smith,
Speaker 1: who having essentially not played all of if he's healthy,
Speaker 1: you know that he's also fresh, right, he's going to
Speaker 1: be as ready to go um as anyone. And uh
Speaker 1: and and a guy like Channon Sullivan who had a
Speaker 1: really important role here in Green Bay secondary for multiple seasons.
Speaker 1: That's a big boost for a team like Minnesota to
Speaker 1: get a proven guy like that, whether they're using him
Speaker 1: as a number three, number four corner. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: exactly what, you know, how their depth chart lays out,
Speaker 1: but that's a big boost because that's a that's the
Speaker 1: type of depth piece that in the last couple of
Speaker 1: years of the Mike Zimmer era, they didn't really have
Speaker 1: that at cornerback. You sort of knew your best chance
Speaker 1: against Minnesota was, Okay, spread them out and test the
Speaker 1: depth in the secondary and then really go after him.
Speaker 1: And we've seen Aaron Rodgers have some big games in
Speaker 1: recent years against that defense. Now we'll see Daniel Hunters,
Speaker 1: Darius Smith being the guys coming off the edges. You know,
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith back there, you know, whether he's playing center
Speaker 1: field or on the line of scrimmage. But it's going
Speaker 1: to be interesting to see just what this Minnesota defense
Speaker 1: looks like with with a few new pieces, but but
Speaker 1: yet being mixed in with with the old guard, so
Speaker 1: to speak. And if I may, Mike just jump in.
Speaker 1: I mean, that was the one piece that fell out
Speaker 1: of place for Minnesota that never got fixed during the
Speaker 1: Zimmer era when you lose Xavior Rows and Trey Wayne's
Speaker 1: and they not saying these were l pro type corners,
Speaker 1: but they had a process and it just got it
Speaker 1: unraveled so fast, and it all happened at the same time,
Speaker 1: and they ran into a scenario where nobody stepped up
Speaker 1: in that interim. Now Patrick Peterson comes in. They do
Speaker 1: seem like they found a little bit more of an
Speaker 1: identity there, But to me that that's where this thing
Speaker 1: starts for them, because if the next fusion is cool
Speaker 1: for Daniel Hunter, that's a big injury. But let's say
Speaker 1: everything's chill there and he can come back and be
Speaker 1: the player. He's still only twenty seven years old or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. The back surgery for Zitarius Smith, they
Speaker 1: have a feel pretty good idea, but what they're gonna
Speaker 1: get out of that pass rush, it's about what's behind it.
Speaker 1: And even as good as Harrison Smith has been throughout
Speaker 1: the course of his career the last few seasons, it
Speaker 1: just hasn't been enough. Well, I'll take care of a
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Speaker 1: years of better. All right, I'm gonna put you on
Speaker 1: the spot here with a little hip mystery trivia question. Here,
Speaker 1: Wes Bud Grant. No, how many times? How many times
Speaker 1: prior to this year have the Packers and Vikings opened
Speaker 1: the season against one another? How many? Would you say? Okay,
Speaker 1: so a couple of years ago, was it when it
Speaker 1: was at Minnesota? That was the first time the Packers
Speaker 1: had ever opened in Minnesota. I'm trying to remember how
Speaker 1: that worked. I'm gonna say it's six very close this,
Speaker 1: this will actually be the eighth. There was a weird
Speaker 1: stat like that where it was either Green they hadn't
Speaker 1: opened there or the Vikings hadn't open here. Ever, no,
Speaker 1: that yeah, the Packers hadn't opened in Minnesota? Like was
Speaker 1: that was? Yes, it was the first. It was the
Speaker 1: first game of the of the COVID season with the
Speaker 1: with the remember schedule or at least day. I was
Speaker 1: walking around the office all puffy chest because I felt
Speaker 1: so good about that. Said, hey, did you know since
Speaker 1: the Packers have never opened the season at Minnesota, and
Speaker 1: then the all the interns looked at me like you
Speaker 1: are old and you are a loser. Well, it's interesting
Speaker 1: because if you look at you look at the history. Now,
Speaker 1: this this game will sort of go down in history,
Speaker 1: not necessarily from the Packers side, but from the Viking side.
Speaker 1: It's Kevin O'Connell's first game as the head coach of
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings. Right you look at these openers, as
Speaker 1: we just talked about, was the first game of the
Speaker 1: COVID season with no fans in the stands. Two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: Week one, Aaron Rodgers first game as a starting quarterback
Speaker 1: two thousand and three, the first game in the redeveloped,
Speaker 1: renovated lambeau Field was against the Minnesota Vikings. Here in
Speaker 1: Green Bay, Mike Holmgren's first game as the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers head coach was against the Minnesota Vikings. And the
Speaker 1: other one of significance was nineteen sixty two, which was
Speaker 1: the first game when the Packers were defending their first
Speaker 1: title under Vince Lombardi. They won the championship in sixty one.
Speaker 1: In their first title defense began against the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: with a big victory. But the interesting thing you look
Speaker 1: at since that first game of Mike Holmgren's head coaching
Speaker 1: career nine two. There was also an opener in ninety four,
Speaker 1: and then I said, oh, three oh eight in two
Speaker 1: thousand and twenty. All of those last five Packers Vikings
Speaker 1: openers have been decided by nine points or less. Like
Speaker 1: there haven't been haven't been any blowouts in there. Now
Speaker 1: in the Packers had a pretty good handle on that game,
Speaker 1: but yet that game was so back and forth in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: you know, put up a couple of touchdowns in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter and started to make you think, oh, what's
Speaker 1: going to happen here? That ended up being a nine
Speaker 1: point victory for Green Bay and that's actually the largest
Speaker 1: margin of victory in a Packers Vikings opener um in
Speaker 1: in the last thirty years. But um, definitely. Uh. It's
Speaker 1: always a different feeling, isn't it when you open the
Speaker 1: season against a division rival. You've got seventeen games to
Speaker 1: play here and only six of them are against your division,
Speaker 1: but then one of them and in the Packers case,
Speaker 1: the first two weeks Minnesota and Chicago, you're getting these
Speaker 1: division games right off the bat. There's no there's no
Speaker 1: time to waste to you gotta get into it right away. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. It's I've kind of gone back and
Speaker 1: forth on this because how can you ever say a
Speaker 1: game is a must win in a seventeen game season
Speaker 1: now where the things go so long, and even last
Speaker 1: year the Packers get you know, blown out of the
Speaker 1: water by New Orleans, but then the Saints fall apart
Speaker 1: and don't make the playoffs and Jameis Winston tears is
Speaker 1: a c L. The Packers end up getting the number
Speaker 1: one seed in the NFC anyway, But this year, what's
Speaker 1: gonna be very interesting is to go back to back
Speaker 1: in the division, to go out of the gates, not
Speaker 1: only having to host Chicago at home, which I can't
Speaker 1: even imagine there's any scenario that plays out on Sunday
Speaker 1: where the Packers are not heavily favored against the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: knock on wood, everyone's health notwithstanding. But this game, you know,
Speaker 1: playing at the US Bank Stadium, playing on the Vikings
Speaker 1: home turf has always been a challenge. Green Bay got
Speaker 1: a little bit better at it. Last year was kind
Speaker 1: of a step back, but I look at this as
Speaker 1: a huge opportunity though too because if you come out
Speaker 1: of the gate and you knocked down Minnesota, which looks
Speaker 1: to be your biggest competition in this division, the one
Speaker 1: team that isn't in complete overhaul mode, you knock them
Speaker 1: down a peg, and then you take care of busines
Speaker 1: against Chicago. It doesn't get any better that as far
Speaker 1: as starting off a season. So so, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, if it doesn't work out that way, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be like screaming, you know, panic either.
Speaker 1: But it's I just look at it. It's such a
Speaker 1: great opportunity to sort of set the tone for your season,
Speaker 1: um while also taking whatever air there might be out
Speaker 1: of that balloon for Minnesota, because I think there are
Speaker 1: a lot of folks that side of the Mississippi River
Speaker 1: that feel like, you know, with the moves they made,
Speaker 1: that that's enough to get us back in the hunt. Here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting because the from uh not that anybody
Speaker 1: has ever not fired up in week one, but I
Speaker 1: think when you've had the Mike zimmer era had certainly
Speaker 1: had its moments of success, but there's you you know,
Speaker 1: there's going to be a new just a new energy
Speaker 1: and a new attitude and everything that a new regime
Speaker 1: is going to bring and then when you get when
Speaker 1: you have that and you get to open at home.
Speaker 1: Right when Matt Lafleur took over, first game was against
Speaker 1: the Division ravel against the Chicago Bears, and it was
Speaker 1: in prime time, but it was down in Chicago. You
Speaker 1: didn't really get a sense of of of you know,
Speaker 1: the home crowd and maybe the different energy that would
Speaker 1: be a part of things with the new regime because
Speaker 1: the opener was on the road. The Vikings are getting
Speaker 1: the Vikings are getting this opener at home. From a
Speaker 1: from an atmosphere standpoint, um, this is going to be
Speaker 1: this is going to be a significant challenge. You know,
Speaker 1: they're going to be moments in this game, whether it's
Speaker 1: you know, Hunter Smith coming off the edge, or whether
Speaker 1: it's you know Dalvin Cook maybe busting or run or
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson who had a big game um in Minnesota
Speaker 1: last year against the Packers, you know, making a big
Speaker 1: play down the field. The Packers are going to have
Speaker 1: to you know, they're going to have to weather a
Speaker 1: storm at some point in this game because if Minnesota
Speaker 1: get something going, that crowd is going to get behind him.
Speaker 1: It's week one, it's their new head coach, the new regime.
Speaker 1: All of that, Packers are going to have to weather
Speaker 1: that storm and that becomes that becomes as big a
Speaker 1: test in itself as as much as the opponent. When
Speaker 1: we know how important the opponent is when it's someone
Speaker 1: in your own division. You know what's exciting about this
Speaker 1: season though for the Packers. Whatever problems Minnesota presents, green
Speaker 1: Day actually has an answer for it. You talk about
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson, without a doubt, as I just said four
Speaker 1: minutes ago, one of best young receivers in league, one
Speaker 1: of the best receivers in the league. Get rid of
Speaker 1: the qualifiers, Well, they got JR. Alexander. They have a
Speaker 1: pretty dependable back end. If you want to go over
Speaker 1: the other side of the field, I think Eric Stokes
Speaker 1: likes his chances. You look at Delvin Cook. Packers have
Speaker 1: two of the biggest, fastest linebackers in the league. Now
Speaker 1: behind that defensive line, they have two outside linebackers who
Speaker 1: are a hundred percent committed to spilling gaps and stopping
Speaker 1: the run and setting edges. The Packers defensively match up
Speaker 1: with this really well. And with all due respect to
Speaker 1: some really good unit screen they had in the past,
Speaker 1: there were some years where Adrian Peterson he was gonna
Speaker 1: step on the Metrodome turf and you're gonna hope that
Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna gain too many yards on it. You know,
Speaker 1: there were some years there where you're just kind of
Speaker 1: holding your breath, like, Okay, can these guys do what
Speaker 1: they need to do to win this football game. Packers
Speaker 1: have to stay healthy, they have to play within themselves,
Speaker 1: and they have to execute. But my goodness, when you
Speaker 1: look at how that defense is constructed in these expectations
Speaker 1: that have been built for it, that's also the exciting
Speaker 1: thing that maybe Minnesota does bring their best shot on
Speaker 1: Sunday and it may not matter. Yeah, I think the
Speaker 1: one I think the one thing that always puts me
Speaker 1: on edge, maybe more so with Week one. And we
Speaker 1: know this Packers defense is talented, it's loaded there, they
Speaker 1: believe in themselves. There are a lot of high expectations,
Speaker 1: but you wonder at the very beginning of the season,
Speaker 1: how are they going to tackle right, because that can
Speaker 1: take a little bit of time to get going. In
Speaker 1: Minnesota didn't play a bunch of their starters in the
Speaker 1: preseason either, They're going to be in the same boat
Speaker 1: as the packers as far as this goes. But when
Speaker 1: you're talking about and I say it specifically with the tackling,
Speaker 1: because when you're talking about a guy like Dalvin Cook,
Speaker 1: he's really hard to tackle in any week of the season,
Speaker 1: even as as seasoned and as ready as your defense
Speaker 1: might be to take on a running back like that.
Speaker 1: This is where this is where your your fundamentals get
Speaker 1: tested because you don't necessarily know what they're gonna run.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of unscouted looks. You have
Speaker 1: to you have to stick to your fundamentals. Read your
Speaker 1: keys and play ball, was the was the line that
Speaker 1: Dvandr Campbell had at his locker. It's read your keys
Speaker 1: and play ball. But it's also the fundamentals being tested
Speaker 1: with the tackling, because Dalvin Cook breaking a tackle, or
Speaker 1: Adam Thiel and breaking a tackle, Suddenly you can be
Speaker 1: in uh, you can be in a world to hurt.
Speaker 1: Now obviously it cuts both ways, um, but but it's
Speaker 1: it's the kind of thing again when you know, a
Speaker 1: broken tackle gets the crowd all riled up and and
Speaker 1: and all that, and packers are gonna you know, take
Speaker 1: a deep breath, settled down weather the storm. I think
Speaker 1: they're just gonna be They're gonna be moments in this
Speaker 1: game that are that are really really going to test Um,
Speaker 1: that are really going to test green Bay on both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. I'm excited to see exactly how
Speaker 1: they respond, and especially those first thirty minutes, right I
Speaker 1: mean just seeing you know, who comes out fast, who
Speaker 1: you know we will getting the keys to victory later
Speaker 1: this week. But you know, you look at green Bay
Speaker 1: right now. You know you mentioned all the things that
Speaker 1: Cook does well, certain how dangerous Jefferson can be when
Speaker 1: he has an open field in front of him if
Speaker 1: there if a guy you know, he breaks, that makes
Speaker 1: that first guy miss. Conversely, you know, you wonder what
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones out in space could do. You wonder what
Speaker 1: a j. Dylon can do if he breaks a couple
Speaker 1: of tackles in the middle of the field. Those first
Speaker 1: through haymakers that get thrown in this game, I think
Speaker 1: are going to be so important because you know, the
Speaker 1: no ons are known here. I don't think you're gonna
Speaker 1: see anything that's gonna surprise you too much. With Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: I don't think there's gonna be a whole lot with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. You know what what those guys offer at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position. But it's seeing how the offensive makeups
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, um how that takes form.
Speaker 1: After a preseason in which you talked about Green Bay,
Speaker 1: yet there wasn't a game where Minnesota didn't have fewer
Speaker 1: than thirty starter thirty players not playing. They took a
Speaker 1: very deliberate path too, So I don't think you can
Speaker 1: do the Hey, you know, do they she played starters
Speaker 1: or whatever? In the preseason, Minnesota said everybody. They barely
Speaker 1: played Alexander Madison. So that aspect of it is just
Speaker 1: going to be so interesting because, as you said, Mike,
Speaker 1: when you when you have all these unscouted looks and
Speaker 1: a new coaching staff, I mean, it does create a
Speaker 1: lot of questions for how does Kevin O'Connell and ed
Speaker 1: Donna Tell and these coaches in Minnesota, how do they
Speaker 1: play with this clay that had already been there? What
Speaker 1: form are they going to actually bring out of it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna We're gonna see. And then the rematch
Speaker 1: against the Vikings is not for four months or whatever
Speaker 1: it is, right, Yeah, And then uh, and then it'll
Speaker 1: be three before the Packers and Vikings see one another again.
Speaker 1: But with that, we'll call it a wrap on this
Speaker 1: edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of the team all week long here in
Speaker 1: Week one leading up to the show down with the
Speaker 1: Vikings on Sunday, we'll have it all for you on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com for West, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: See you next time.