Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am like Spafford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague West and had Kowitz. We're coming
Speaker 1: to you once again from disparate locations at lambeau Field
Speaker 1: because Wes, apparently Cincinnati sirens and raindrops were not enough
Speaker 1: to convince the powers that be that we really need
Speaker 1: to be back in the studio together to shoot this
Speaker 1: show the old fashioned way. So we're still going with
Speaker 1: this way for a little while longer.
Speaker 2: I did, of course, but I actually thought this was
Speaker 2: I thought this was your doing. I thought you didn't
Speaker 2: like the joke I made about you running from the law,
Speaker 2: and we're like, okay, I tried it being next to
Speaker 2: them again, I want no part of this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, Well, we've all jokes aside. We have a
Speaker 1: lot of ground to cover on this show, West, because
Speaker 1: a lot has happened since we did speak last From
Speaker 1: the Queen City as they call it, and the Packers
Speaker 1: played their preseason opener on Friday night in Cincinnati, and
Speaker 1: the starter's got a little bit of action. We saw
Speaker 1: quarterback Jordan Love miss a third down pass on the
Speaker 1: opening series then directed a touchdown drive, finishing it with
Speaker 1: a scoring pass to Romeo Dobbs on the second series.
Speaker 1: If you have any thoughts on that, I will take them.
Speaker 1: But also there's a lot to talk about in terms
Speaker 1: of the rookies that shined in this preseason game, whether
Speaker 1: you're talking Sean Clifford, Emmanuel Wilson, Carrington Valentine. I'll turn
Speaker 1: it over to you, wide open for it. You can
Speaker 1: start wherever you want.
Speaker 3: I like how you said that too, Like if you
Speaker 3: have any thoughts, I'll take them, Like it's the village
Speaker 3: of Swamaco like town, like the meeting here, if you
Speaker 3: have any issues with your sewer and waterbell.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: Hey, the thing I liked about it, and a lot
Speaker 2: of people in inbox have said it this week, Mike.
Speaker 4: It was probably it felt more like.
Speaker 2: A regular season game than a preseason game, and it's
Speaker 2: been a long time since it's felt like that the
Speaker 2: exhibition season now. I think a big part of that
Speaker 2: is the fact you actually did see some of the
Speaker 2: starters in the first two series, specifically on offense, Jordan
Speaker 2: Love getting to go down the field leads that touchdown
Speaker 2: producing drive. I thought Romeo Dobbs looked really sharp. You
Speaker 2: saw the beauty of Dobbs and Christian Watson together, the
Speaker 2: amount of attention that Watson draws on his man beater,
Speaker 2: and then you have Romeo Dobbs coming free, and Love
Speaker 2: just puts a nice, beautiful touch pass on Dobbs for
Speaker 2: the touchdown.
Speaker 4: So that was such a good start.
Speaker 2: I felt like a good continuation of some of those
Speaker 2: two minute drives that we've seen with the Packers offense,
Speaker 2: and all in all, I think it was really positive.
Speaker 2: But what really surprised me the most about this game,
Speaker 2: in particular, is the fact that you saw so many
Speaker 2: young guys on both sides of the ball, and even
Speaker 2: on special teams with Samory two Ray's big return guys
Speaker 2: just stepping up and making the most of their moment.
Speaker 2: You obviously had to edit inbox when I wrote this,
Speaker 2: but the Packers scored thirty six points in the preseason.
Speaker 2: That was more than any other team in the first week.
Speaker 2: But I also drew that twenty thirteen preseason where the
Speaker 2: Packers scored thirty seven points total in four games. It's
Speaker 2: not always again it's preseason, it's it's everybody you know,
Speaker 2: Vanilla defenses and all that but it's not like everybody
Speaker 2: just puts up a ton of points and a ton
Speaker 2: of productions. It can be really hard for offenses to
Speaker 2: move the ball when their first team starters are not
Speaker 2: in there. But Sean Clifford battled. You saw Emmanuel Wilson
Speaker 2: in an inspirational, emotional night for him, having one hundred
Speaker 2: and eleven yards two touchdowns on just six carries. A
Speaker 2: number of guys stepped up in this game, and to
Speaker 2: me that was the most encouraging thing of all is
Speaker 2: that these the young players that the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: have invested into, I thought they got off to a
Speaker 2: really strong start.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought so too.
Speaker 1: I mean, and we're seeing potentially some you know, as
Speaker 1: we see in any training camp, we see some shifting
Speaker 1: going on.
Speaker 5: You mentioned Emmanuel Wilson.
Speaker 1: It was the fourteenth anniversary of his father's death at
Speaker 1: a young age, emotional night for him and his family.
Speaker 1: And you know, he rips off the one touchdown run
Speaker 1: in the red zone, looked really good, hit the hole
Speaker 1: sharp well. Then later on he takes one eighty yards
Speaker 1: to the house, gets a couple of nice blocks, and
Speaker 1: off he goes, showing off a little bit of speed
Speaker 1: that we hadn't necessarily seen on the practice field at
Speaker 1: this point. And you know, while be honest, Wes, I
Speaker 1: wrote a story a couple of weeks ago about the
Speaker 1: battle for the number three running back position. I really
Speaker 1: didn't think Emmanuel Wilson was necessarily up there with those
Speaker 1: other guys. And I'm talking about Patrick Taylor and Tyler
Speaker 1: Goodson and then the draft pick Lou Nichols. But Nichols
Speaker 1: has been injured, Tyler Goodson injured his shoulder in the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati game, and then Emmanuel Wilson goes off and has
Speaker 1: this tremendous performance. Now he still has a lot to
Speaker 1: learn in terms of the pass protection and those things.
Speaker 1: That's always the toughest thing for a rookie running back
Speaker 1: to learn and to get up to speed. But he
Speaker 1: threw himself right into the middle of that competition for
Speaker 1: the running back when it kind of felt like he
Speaker 1: was maybe on the outside looking in before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mike, and that is where you always see these
Speaker 2: young guys that you have to make a big impression,
Speaker 2: You have to have that breakthrough moment before you could
Speaker 2: start building on everything else. Because goodness knows, I mean,
Speaker 2: Emmanuel Wilson could be completely refined as a pass protector.
Speaker 2: He could make some nice plays with catching the ball,
Speaker 2: but if you don't run and you don't have those
Speaker 2: big moments, it's gonna be hard to get noticed.
Speaker 4: This young man got himself noticed and such.
Speaker 2: An interesting story he has obviously, as you mentioned, losing
Speaker 2: his father fourteen years ago. But he goes to a
Speaker 2: Division two school, Division two school at Fort Valley State,
Speaker 2: and this is one of these situations where he goes
Speaker 2: out for the draft, doesn't get picked. Was incredibly productive
Speaker 2: in college, but it's hard to get noticed. Sometimes he
Speaker 2: has a cup of coffee with Denver, then he ends
Speaker 2: up in Green Bay. Is sort of that, Okay, we
Speaker 2: need an extra back in this equation, right, Well, a
Speaker 2: couple injuries happen, and you see how quickly that injury
Speaker 2: can lead to opportunity. I don't have all the statistics
Speaker 2: in front of me. It's very hard to find preseason
Speaker 2: stats pre two thousand, at least over the last twenty
Speaker 2: three years. That is the longest rushing touchdown, longest run
Speaker 2: at all the Packers have had in a preseason game
Speaker 2: in twenty three years. The next closest was Whisper Goodman
Speaker 2: and it was not even sixty it was fifty six yards.
Speaker 2: It just shows you how incredible it was both the
Speaker 2: block that Rashid Walker threw on that play in the
Speaker 2: ability of Emmanuel Wilson to really go and capture that
Speaker 2: moment afterwards and take it to the house. As he said,
Speaker 2: he was even saying the coaches, they're not going to
Speaker 2: let me live that down. If I let the defensive
Speaker 2: back catch me there. I had to get to the
Speaker 2: end zone. He did it on that play. He's going
Speaker 2: to have to build on it. But the kid has
Speaker 2: the right mentality. The first thing that he said right
Speaker 2: after the game was I got to come back on
Speaker 2: Sunday and I gotta do these type of things again.
Speaker 2: And every moment that he's had so far, I think
Speaker 2: the young man has taking advantage of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, the other big rookie standout on offensives was,
Speaker 1: of course, the fifth round draft pick at quarterback, Sean Clifford.
Speaker 1: And I tell you, Wes, I couldn't have been I
Speaker 1: couldn't have been more excited, interested, intrigued by just watching
Speaker 1: how this young man played because I've been doing this
Speaker 1: a long time. I know you've been doing this a
Speaker 1: long time.
Speaker 4: Too.
Speaker 1: We have seen countless times rookie quarterbacks getting into their
Speaker 1: first preseason action and the immediately morph into checkdown. Charlie, right,
Speaker 1: every single every pass play is okay, nothing's there, and
Speaker 1: you know it's either take off and run or find
Speaker 1: the outlet. You know, find the checkdown, and you know,
Speaker 1: just try not to have a negative play. That's not
Speaker 1: how Sean Clifford went about this. Now, he did throw
Speaker 1: two interceptions. One of them was a pick six that
Speaker 1: was very avoidable. The other one was he kind of
Speaker 1: actually threw a fifty to fifty ball over the middle
Speaker 1: that he was hoping Tucker Craft would be able to
Speaker 1: fight for and maybe pull in for a reception. The
Speaker 1: defender was able to get it away. Those are mistakes
Speaker 1: that he'll certainly learn from. But he did not hold
Speaker 1: back whatsoever. I absolutely loved watching this young man. Absolutely
Speaker 1: let it rip out there. He played with no fear.
Speaker 1: He practically played with no conscience, almost.
Speaker 5: With the But that's what you love to see.
Speaker 1: I mean, how is how is the young quarterback going
Speaker 1: to learn if he doesn't just let the offense work
Speaker 1: for him, try to find the windows that are there,
Speaker 1: try to fit the ball in the windows and see
Speaker 1: what happens. And you know, whether you're talking about the
Speaker 1: slant pass to uh Dontavian Wicks that was late late
Speaker 1: in the first half that got him down there with
Speaker 1: a chance to score in the two minute drove before halftime,
Speaker 1: or when he scrambled out to the left and you know,
Speaker 1: didn't just dump the ball off but threw a twenty
Speaker 1: five yard pass downfield right on a dime to Samari
Speaker 1: Toure over by the boundary to create a big gain
Speaker 1: out of an extended play. You have to like what
Speaker 1: you saw from Sean Clifford in this game, and he
Speaker 1: gave himself off of just one preseason game. He gave
Speaker 1: himself so much to build on as he now gets
Speaker 1: more action in these next two preseason games, getting ready
Speaker 1: to be Jordan Loves backup for the regular season.
Speaker 2: Sean has not been perfect and he was even saying afterwards,
Speaker 2: He's like, I've made a mistake before. I've made several
Speaker 2: mistakes before. I'm not afraid to make another mistake. But
Speaker 2: I love that mentality, man, because you know, I understand
Speaker 2: there were some people that were questioning, okay, when the
Speaker 2: Packers trade, you know, draft him in the fifth round.
Speaker 4: You know, is this guy fifth round pick? Is he
Speaker 4: a priority free agent?
Speaker 2: All these questions, But it's taken us, what Mike, less
Speaker 2: than four months to understand why Penn State loved this
Speaker 2: kid so much. Why James Franklin and the coaches there
Speaker 2: like this kid because he competes, and he's not afraid
Speaker 2: of the moment, and he's willing to do whatever it
Speaker 2: takes to win a football game. When you were talking
Speaker 2: about the resiliency piece, right, the guy led four scoring drives,
Speaker 2: he led them down, was passing the ball really well,
Speaker 2: starts very fast, then he does get was going to
Speaker 2: be a sack. He ends up throwing the pick six,
Speaker 2: and he comes back and has another interception. He could
Speaker 2: have let all those moments bury him. Instead, he leads
Speaker 2: a two minute drive after I believe that was Carrington's interception.
Speaker 4: Correct. I don't have the game, but yeah, Valentine.
Speaker 1: Valentine got the interception off the deflected pass, and then
Speaker 1: and right that gave Clifford one more shot before halftime
Speaker 1: to erase what had happened earlier, and he went out
Speaker 1: and took advantage of it.
Speaker 2: In the one thing I think has been the biggest
Speaker 2: strength of Sean Clifford in the practices I've watched, going
Speaker 2: back to the offseason program, the guy has been exceptional
Speaker 2: in the two minute now. He doesn't win every single
Speaker 2: time he's going up against the defense, but he moves
Speaker 2: a football man, and I felt like that was another
Speaker 2: exemplary example of that, being able to actually lead them
Speaker 2: down the stretch. And then he plays at a third quarter,
Speaker 2: which kind of surprised me a little bit. But twenty
Speaker 2: six passes, twenty completions, I believe it was two hundred
Speaker 2: and eight yards, two hundred and four yards. And then
Speaker 2: having that, Mike, you and I, as you said, it's
Speaker 2: not just agreement with Packers. All these preseason games we've
Speaker 2: covered over the years. Doesn't even matter if you're a rookie.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's QB two three, four, could be a couple
Speaker 2: of years in the league. Guys don't want to make
Speaker 2: mistakes in the preseason. They want to be they want
Speaker 2: to be perfect, right, and that leads to just playing
Speaker 2: very generic bland football. Sean Clifford was not doing that,
Speaker 2: And why does that matter, Mike, because he was giving
Speaker 2: his receivers a chance to make plays. He was given
Speaker 2: Dontavian Wicks to show, hey, if the quarterback threads the
Speaker 2: needle to me and I got the safety bearing down
Speaker 2: on me, and I have a guy that's gonna be
Speaker 2: on me on the slant, I'm still going to catch
Speaker 2: that ball and I'm going to turn up field and
Speaker 2: take it for forty two yards or forty seven yards
Speaker 2: whatever it was. Jaden Reid. How much did the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers learn about Jayden Reid in this game? From
Speaker 2: being able to take some snaps with both Jordan Love
Speaker 2: and Sean Clifford. These young receivers, and there's been a
Speaker 2: multitude of them. Mike Malik Heath had his head a reception.
Speaker 2: I think on his first play that he played in
Speaker 2: that game. You need a quarterback to give his receivers
Speaker 2: that opportunity. Shan Clifford did that. I felt like when
Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers left Cincinnati, when you talk about
Speaker 2: teaching tape, when you talk about the film room, this
Speaker 2: young man gave the Green Bay Packers coaches a lot
Speaker 2: to work off of as they prepare now for these
Speaker 2: joint practices with the New England Patriots.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, a couple other guys who carried over what
Speaker 1: we've seen as some very productive play on the press
Speaker 1: practice field, and they took it into the preseason game.
Speaker 1: We already mentioned Carrington Valentine, We've already talked about him
Speaker 1: a lot rookie, seventh round pick out of Kentucky, showing
Speaker 1: that he belongs. He's already been you know. He he
Speaker 1: basically is playing as a starting cornerback when Jay R
Speaker 1: Alexander is not in the lineup and he gets an
Speaker 1: interception in the Bengals game, he breaks up a couple
Speaker 1: other passes. He had a very acrobatic type of tackle
Speaker 1: on an outside running play. Just showed that that he's everywhere.
Speaker 1: He's got a nose for the ball, and much like Clifford,
Speaker 1: he's just a competitor down in and down out. And
Speaker 1: another guy too, and you already brought him up. Malie Heath,
Speaker 1: he undrafted player out of Old Miss, wide receiver. Got
Speaker 1: He's got nice, nice size to him and everything, and
Speaker 1: he's out here trying to prove like, hey, I should
Speaker 1: have been drafted just like you know. How However, many
Speaker 1: dozens of receivers were taken in that April draft. He
Speaker 1: makes I believe it was either two had either.
Speaker 4: Two or three.
Speaker 1: I think it was three receptions thirty six yards maybe
Speaker 1: in the game. One of those was really nice where
Speaker 1: he essentially ran a comeback route and he came strong
Speaker 1: back to the ball to h to provide the target
Speaker 1: and get separation from the defender. And then of course
Speaker 1: we also saw him in the blocking part of things.
Speaker 1: Just take take a Cincinnati cornerback and as as one
Speaker 1: inbox reader said, pulled to Michael Orr and you know,
Speaker 1: Shove took him to the bus like you know, outside
Speaker 1: of the field. He took him into the kicking net
Speaker 1: over there on on the Packers' sideline. But and hey,
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur has brought it up that that, yeah, there
Speaker 1: needs to be another receiver who takes on that sort
Speaker 1: of goon roll and does all that dirty work that
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard used to do in the receiving corps. And
Speaker 1: Malik Heath is like, hey, if that, if that can
Speaker 1: be me, I'm all for it, sign me up.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And it's actually funny too, because he when I was
Speaker 2: talking with him in locker room, he mentioned, I mean
Speaker 2: that was kind of his game at Old Miss too.
Speaker 2: I mean, he did that type of stuff in college.
Speaker 2: It's not like he was just a moment where he's like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I feel like I got to step up and I
Speaker 2: got to block this guy and show really good for
Speaker 2: the coaches. No that he feels like that's a natural,
Speaker 2: organic part of his game and he wants to show that.
Speaker 2: And obviously Sean Clifford, other than the I think maybe
Speaker 2: the linebacker that was coming near him at the end
Speaker 2: of the play, nobody was near him.
Speaker 4: I mean, it wasn't that leak. He just blocked his guy.
Speaker 2: He cleared out the only potential guy that could have
Speaker 2: converged on him within maybe two or three yards of
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage. And again, as you said, as
Speaker 2: he said, he was able to take him over to
Speaker 2: the cooler, you know, on that play.
Speaker 5: And Andy drew an unnecessary roughness penalty because the guy
Speaker 5: got so mad about Kim blocked, you know, so far
Speaker 5: out of bounds that he you know, he struck back
Speaker 5: at heath and then the referee through the flag and
Speaker 5: the Packers got some extra yardage out of it to boot.
Speaker 2: And somebody said an inbox like, oh, they gotta be
Speaker 2: careful with that that you know, that could be an offset.
Speaker 4: No, man, that's an extension.
Speaker 2: This isn't about a guy going out of bounds and
Speaker 2: then coming back inbounds on a punk coverage to tackle
Speaker 2: the guy. If you wipe your guy out to the sideline,
Speaker 2: that's an extension of the play. You don't stop blocking
Speaker 2: him because you blocked him out of bounds. It's just
Speaker 2: it's that's where you put the guy. So it just
Speaker 2: so happens that the play lasted long enough that he
Speaker 2: kept bringing him and bringing them and bringing them. But
Speaker 2: here's the thing, Malie Heath doesn't have Allen Lazard size,
Speaker 2: But when I look at the overall things that made
Speaker 2: Lazard successful as an undrafted free Asian, as a guy
Speaker 2: that actually was going to succeed in the NFL, he
Speaker 2: has a lot of those qualifiers to him. And that's
Speaker 2: what I like about this entire room. Samori to Ray
Speaker 2: I thought had a really good, strong game. Again, he
Speaker 2: muffed a punt or a muff to kickoff early on,
Speaker 2: but then came back and had that big kickoff return
Speaker 2: for the offense to get them at midfield. But the
Speaker 2: thing about it is, I feel like all these guys,
Speaker 2: when you talk about Carrington Valentine too, they are making
Speaker 2: other people they've they're rising the game of those around them.
Speaker 2: I thought Shamar John Charles has had some really strong practices.
Speaker 2: Corey Ballantine was contributing, you know, before his stinger injury.
Speaker 2: That's the key in the preseason is when you have
Speaker 2: young guys or maybe an undrafted for agent that kind
Speaker 2: of balls out a little bit, that makes everybody else
Speaker 2: in the room kind of take notice a little bit
Speaker 2: that hey, I got to raise my level to these
Speaker 2: guys as well. When it comes down to it, Mike
Speaker 2: I said this about the Packers' defensive line too. I mean,
Speaker 2: injuries can happen. We're still two weeks away from when
Speaker 2: the Packers have to start even thinking about their fifty
Speaker 2: three man roster.
Speaker 4: But the agreement Packers have a lot.
Speaker 2: Of tough decisions looming because I think the amount of
Speaker 2: people that have stepped up throughout the course of the
Speaker 2: offseason program and many of whom have now carried it
Speaker 2: into training camp.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and tough decisions is what they want. If the
Speaker 1: roster cut down to fifty three is easy, then you
Speaker 1: probably don't have as deep and talented team as you
Speaker 1: would like to have. One last note on the game,
Speaker 1: the Packers don't make it a practice, not a regular
Speaker 1: practice of giving out game balls during preseason games, but
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur took the time to recognize especially Kenneth odam Meguu,
Speaker 1: the Nigerian player of Nigerian descent. He's the Packers International
Speaker 1: Pathway Program player who literally on Friday night in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: when he stepped on the field, was playing a football
Speaker 1: game for the first time. All he had done was
Speaker 1: practice and learn and sit in a classroom and do drills.
Speaker 1: And you know, he had not played actually in an
Speaker 1: actual game, a competitive game of football until that preseason
Speaker 1: opener on Friday night. The Packers honored otomegu with a
Speaker 1: game ball, and it sounded like it was a It
Speaker 1: was a pretty raucous celebration in the locker room for
Speaker 1: the young man.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And if you heard what Batt Lafleur said at
Speaker 2: his press conference on Monday, just saying, I mean, he's
Speaker 2: top tier when it comes to a person and an
Speaker 2: individual and somebody that is appreciative of the opportunity.
Speaker 4: You know, we talked a lot.
Speaker 2: I even wrote this past week about the team bonding
Speaker 2: that came out of Cincinnati. But I think there's a
Speaker 2: certain team bonding element too that comes out of having
Speaker 2: a Kenneth otamegu on your fifty three or not your
Speaker 2: fifty three, but your ninety man offseason roster, because I
Speaker 2: think it is a good It goes back to I
Speaker 2: think something that Jason Rebovich even said about how having
Speaker 2: someone like him actually makes some better coach because it
Speaker 2: reminds him about the things you can't take for granted
Speaker 2: when you're working with athletes and when you're working with
Speaker 2: people at these positions, because he brings you back to
Speaker 2: the basics, right And Kenneth I think has had the
Speaker 2: right mentality since day one, just an incredible joy for
Speaker 2: life and understanding the journey that he's on. And I
Speaker 2: don't know everything that was like for him, you know,
Speaker 2: back in Nigeria. I remember talking with Andy Malumba when
Speaker 2: he was here. Andy moved to Canada, you know, and
Speaker 2: I think he was five or six. He was pretty
Speaker 2: young at that point. But you know, people's lived experiences
Speaker 2: are what make this game great. And when you have
Speaker 2: somebody like Kenneth who has been in a different country,
Speaker 2: you know, even the basketball background, just being introduced to
Speaker 2: different sports and then watching these things on YouTube and
Speaker 2: almost kind of getting his first introduction to American football
Speaker 2: through videos. I mean, it reminds you of just how
Speaker 2: incredible it is that he's even in a position like
Speaker 2: this now. To be in a preseason game, he had
Speaker 2: to cross Mike. We talked about it in May. But
Speaker 2: you know, he had to get through the training camps
Speaker 2: out there. I mean when you talk about OCU Manua's
Speaker 2: you know camp in London, and all these different levels
Speaker 2: that Kenneth had to get to just to get to Florida,
Speaker 2: just to be in a position that one NFL team
Speaker 2: would he'd get a sign to go play with him.
Speaker 2: It wasn't that you just get to Florida and then
Speaker 2: you're guaranteed to be with an NFL club. That was
Speaker 2: just getting your foot in the door to potentially getting
Speaker 2: this opportunity.
Speaker 4: We talked to him back in May.
Speaker 2: He had a smile on his face the entire time
Speaker 2: you talked to him in the locker room this week,
Speaker 2: again just incredibly appreciate the opportunity in front of him,
Speaker 2: and I have to imagine for him personally what a
Speaker 2: gratifying moment that was. And lastly, I will leave you
Speaker 2: with this the interview that Larry McCarey did. Larry Mccaerron
Speaker 2: did with him that ran in the pregame preseason show
Speaker 2: him saying that, you know, my goal is, I don't
Speaker 2: want to be the ipp player. I don't want to
Speaker 2: be a guy that's just I'm here because I'm an exemption.
Speaker 2: He's like, by the end of this season, I want
Speaker 2: people to look at me like I'm helping this football
Speaker 2: team win.
Speaker 4: And I think when you look at you.
Speaker 2: Know, a player, the first time Packers have ever been
Speaker 2: a part of this during my time on the beat,
Speaker 2: just that the perfect guy I felt like for this
Speaker 2: locker room and for this football team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I loved what he said when I had a
Speaker 1: chance to talk to him in the locker room on Sunday,
Speaker 1: I believe it was after practice and along those same lines,
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, what his goals are, and he says,
Speaker 1: my goal is after this season for then people to
Speaker 1: look at me on the football field and ask what
Speaker 1: college did you go to? You know, to basically sort
Speaker 1: of show that he belongs. That nobody's going to be
Speaker 1: able to tell that he got here in any different
Speaker 1: way than anybody else in America who goes and plays
Speaker 1: college football and then tries to make his way into
Speaker 1: the NFL. I absolutely love that line. I want people
Speaker 1: to ask me what college I went to? You know that?
Speaker 1: And and he says everything as you noted Wes with
Speaker 1: with a smile on his face.
Speaker 2: So watch the kid walk past the kid like we
Speaker 2: have in the locker room. I mean, if you see
Speaker 2: him out there for any of these preseason games at
Speaker 2: lambeau Field, he looks like an NFL outside linebacker.
Speaker 4: He does.
Speaker 2: He just needs to catch up on the rest of
Speaker 2: it now, which is what he's trying to do with
Speaker 2: Jason Rebervich in the rest of that room. Lastly, very
Speaker 2: quick thing. You're not on Instagram. That's a pity too.
Speaker 2: I think you'd be really good on that type of
Speaker 2: social media. But we posted Packers. They posted that video
Speaker 2: of Kenneth in his interview with Larry and all the
Speaker 2: players that like that video, Pressed Smith, Kenny Clark, Rashaan Gary,
Speaker 2: all those teammates. I mean, they're in this journey with them,
Speaker 2: and I think that's the coolest thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's it's really cool the way these guys,
Speaker 1: the way these guys have rallied around a newcomer, not
Speaker 1: just to their team, but a newcomer to the sport
Speaker 1: in their locker room has been has been pretty cool
Speaker 1: to see. I want to get to some other things
Speaker 1: that have happened since we got back from Cincinnati West,
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Speaker 4: Better I got. I just gotta follow from Cousins on
Speaker 4: Twitter too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, and if if you want to, if you want
Speaker 1: to hear something rather humorous, go check out the clip
Speaker 1: of Kevin Harlan on the Packers preseason television broadcast reading
Speaker 1: the reading the Cousin subs ad Read. And I've been
Speaker 1: around Kevin long enough that that man has an appetite.
Speaker 1: So when he says when he's in the middle and
Speaker 1: he's in the middle of the ad read and says
Speaker 1: to John Coon boy, I'm hungry like it absolutely did
Speaker 1: not supprise, So.
Speaker 2: We need to have you and Kevin have like an
Speaker 2: ad read off when it comes to these.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe that's what we Maybe that's what we have
Speaker 1: to do. Well. Since we returned from Cincinnati, West a
Speaker 1: few things that have gone on here that I want
Speaker 1: to touch on. One you are you brought up. One
Speaker 1: of the big blocks on Emmanuel Wilson's eighty yard touchdown
Speaker 1: run in Cincinnati was thrown by Rashid Walker, and in
Speaker 1: the practices since returning, Rashid Walker has begun to I
Speaker 1: guess I would say share the left tackle spot with
Speaker 1: the number one offense when David Baktiari is not taking snaps.
Speaker 1: Rashid Walker has moved up to where he's sharing that
Speaker 1: number one left tackle spot with yosh Nimen and the
Speaker 1: Packers are taking a much longer, harder, closer look at
Speaker 1: last year's seventh round pick from Penn State.
Speaker 2: Before I say a single word, if you're watching this video,
Speaker 2: if you're listening to it on you know one of
Speaker 2: your mini podcast options, stop what we're doing right now,
Speaker 2: timestamp this. Go and watch Larry Mccaerron's rock report on
Speaker 2: Walker because the game that he had Mike basically every
Speaker 2: single major play that Green Bay had in the second half,
Speaker 2: at least or after the second quarter, it all basically
Speaker 2: tied back to blocks that Rashid Walker was making, either
Speaker 2: on the left side the line or the right side
Speaker 2: of the line. The thing I love about this kid
Speaker 2: is the fact that, dude, if you remember this, go
Speaker 2: back and look at some of those like two thousand
Speaker 2: and twenty one, like right after the draft, like people
Speaker 2: projecting what the twenty two draft is going to look like,
Speaker 2: there were people that were saying Rashid Walker was going
Speaker 2: to be a first round pick. Now, that was very premature.
Speaker 2: It was before any games were played the falling college season.
Speaker 2: But that's the kind of high regard that he was
Speaker 2: held into. As you talked about with him, some injuries happened.
Speaker 2: He wasn't really even be able to be a full
Speaker 2: go until the last season started and he virtually had
Speaker 2: to red shirt that whole entire year. And when the
Speaker 2: Packers have fourteen fifteen twenty seven different offensive li i'eman
Speaker 2: returning this year, he kind of gets lost in the
Speaker 2: laundry a little bit that, Hey, you have this guy
Speaker 2: that was a multi year starter at Penn State for
Speaker 2: Sean Clifford, mind you. Yeah, and he's on your roster
Speaker 2: and he's competing for a spot again this year, and
Speaker 2: it kind of gets forgotten about. You have Caleb Jones,
Speaker 2: massive human being, another big ten guy, you had Yosh
Speaker 2: Niman coming back, you have I mean, Kadeem Telford is
Speaker 2: six foot seven too. I mean, these monsters at this position.
Speaker 2: And then here comes quietly Rashid Walker back into the conversation.
Speaker 2: Doing it on both sides of the offensive line. Again
Speaker 2: wasn't perfect. There were teachable moments, but I thought he
Speaker 2: got back to showing what he can do, and that
Speaker 2: is athletic feet in a really strong punch and being
Speaker 2: able to knock off edge rushers and get them off balance.
Speaker 2: That actually plays in pretty well into being a pass
Speaker 2: protector in this league. And I felt like for him,
Speaker 2: what an incredible performance to build on, and especially after
Speaker 2: not playing really all of last season. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, he as you said, he kind of took a
Speaker 1: took a red shirt year because all through the pre
Speaker 1: draft process he was rehabbing from a surgery from the
Speaker 1: end of his college season. He didn't, you know, didn't
Speaker 1: really get to get up to speed during the spring
Speaker 1: to get ready for his rookie training camp. So then
Speaker 1: his rookie training camp last year was always kind of behind.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, and he's he's been coached pretty
Speaker 1: hard by Luke, but gis the Packers offensive line coach
Speaker 1: and uh and he was even asked about that in
Speaker 1: the locker room, you know all the times that that,
Speaker 1: you know, but Gus has kind of uh you know,
Speaker 1: yelled at him and let him have it. He says, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm used to getting coached hard. That's okay, It's all love.
Speaker 1: These guys just want me to get These guys want
Speaker 1: me to get better. They see what they see what
Speaker 1: potential I have and they're trying to get it out
Speaker 1: of me. And and I think we're starting to uh,
Speaker 1: we're starting to see that with Rashid Walker.
Speaker 5: Practice. On Monday.
Speaker 1: Was I guess the the the Great Visit of the
Speaker 1: Dignitaries because NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had stopped in in
Speaker 1: Green Bay. There was a kind of a media event
Speaker 1: discussing the Packers or should say city of Green Bay,
Speaker 1: being selected to host the twenty twenty five NFL draft.
Speaker 1: Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers was here, and you got a
Speaker 1: chance to check that out. Wesson and Roger Goodell even
Speaker 1: came and watched practice a little bit and reunited with
Speaker 1: a guy that he shook hands with five years ago
Speaker 1: on the stage of the first round of the NFL Draft,
Speaker 1: in jay R Alexander. Those two were chatting it up
Speaker 1: before practice started on Monday inside the Hudson Center.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool moment, and Evan Siegel got a great photo.
Speaker 2: We saw the backside of the whole conversation. Evan got
Speaker 2: a great photo of them together from the front angle.
Speaker 4: And one of those things.
Speaker 2: I'm sure it happens on a daily basis around the NFL,
Speaker 2: but I haven't really seen a lot of that where
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, you see that original you know,
Speaker 2: DAP and everything that they.
Speaker 4: Do on Draft night and everyone's really excited.
Speaker 2: But here we are five years later when JayR Alexander's
Speaker 2: become a legitimate superstar in this league and being able
Speaker 2: to come back. Also, by the way, I don't know
Speaker 2: who the Packers NFLPA rep is this year. It was
Speaker 2: Mason Crosby, but JayR has been an associate rep, so
Speaker 2: he also has some you know, things to do with
Speaker 2: the PA side of things. So just an incredible kind
Speaker 2: of thing to see a guy that went from just
Speaker 2: a super excited young kid out of Louisville and then
Speaker 2: now here he has a two time All Pro that's
Speaker 2: a team leader and former team captain for the Packers
Speaker 2: and he's being able to see Roger Godell again. Unfortunately
Speaker 2: I didn't get to have my like reuniting with Roger
Speaker 2: Godell at all, seeing if he remembered in twenty twelve
Speaker 2: when he came to practice the last time in training
Speaker 2: camp and I badgered him about replacement referees and if
Speaker 2: that was a concern at all.
Speaker 4: One month later, I guess it was.
Speaker 1: Maybe you need to bring him, Maybe you need to
Speaker 1: bring him a cousin sub the next time he comes
Speaker 1: to Green Bay brings some lunch for him.
Speaker 2: But a cool deal though before that, because even before
Speaker 2: practice I went down for his that ceremony. Wisconsin Governor
Speaker 2: Tony Evers also there, Toy Troy Streckenbach, the Brown County Representative,
Speaker 2: and Mark Murphy. All We're supposed to be part of
Speaker 2: an outdoor event, you know, tied around the Packers and
Speaker 2: the bike riding thing. Because of the rain, practice got
Speaker 2: moved indoors. We weren't able to do that, but still
Speaker 2: hearing Gadell talk about the excitement about the Packers getting
Speaker 2: the NFL Draft, green Bay getting the NFL Draft in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, in all the work that Mark Murphy
Speaker 2: put into that, from the very day that the NFL
Speaker 2: announced that they were going to start moving the draft round,
Speaker 2: Mark was one of the first people to contact and
Speaker 2: reach out to Sir Roger and say, hey, Green Bay
Speaker 2: wants this, We're ready for it. We're never going to
Speaker 2: get a Super Bowl here, we get that, but I
Speaker 2: mean this is the type of event that we can host.
Speaker 2: Eight years later, everything comes full circle and Goodell very
Speaker 2: complimentary of the job that, as he said, Murph. We
Speaker 2: call him Mark. He called him Murph. I occasionally call
Speaker 2: him sir. He doesn't like that, but I still do it.
Speaker 2: But very casual with Roger Goodell calling him Murph and
Speaker 2: just saying that nobody has been a bigger supporter of
Speaker 2: this community than Mark Murphy. And again, when you're looking
Speaker 2: three years down the road, as Mark starts to enter
Speaker 2: this final stretch of his time as the Packers President CEO,
Speaker 2: an incredible, lasting achievement in addition to the many other things.
Speaker 4: That Mark has done here over the last fifteen years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no question about it. Well, I said we
Speaker 1: had a lot of ground to cover. There's a couple
Speaker 1: other things I want to touch on here before we go.
Speaker 1: I know we're going maybe a little bit long today.
Speaker 4: That's mostly my fault. No, that's noting a lot.
Speaker 1: No, it's not your fault. But a couple other players
Speaker 1: to mention here. One rookie, seventh round pick at wide receiver,
Speaker 1: Grant Dubo's he has gotten back into practice. He missed
Speaker 1: all of the OTAs in mini camp and the first
Speaker 1: stretch of training camp due to a back injury.
Speaker 5: He is back on the.
Speaker 1: Practice field and as we talk about what's going on
Speaker 1: at the wide receiver position, we're seeing things from you know,
Speaker 1: Malie Heath and Samari Toure and Dontavian Wicks and all
Speaker 1: these young guys that are fighting for a roster spot.
Speaker 1: Grant Dubos went out at practice on Monday, Wes and
Speaker 1: he hauled in I believe it was or maybe five
Speaker 1: receptions in eleven on eleven Suddenly number eighty six is
Speaker 1: shown up. And with this week coming up with the
Speaker 1: joint practices with the Patriots, and then and then the
Speaker 1: preseason game. The fact that he's cleared now to play
Speaker 1: to take reps in eleven on eleven. He's another young
Speaker 1: guy to watch here in a competition for those last
Speaker 1: few roster spots that is far from decided.
Speaker 2: And I would think he's actually gonna play in this
Speaker 2: Patriots game because he was working his way back. Didn't
Speaker 2: play against Cincinnati. But my goodness, Mike, with him getting
Speaker 2: into reintroduced, actually introduced, he never was introduced in the
Speaker 2: first place. With him being introduced now to these team periods, granted,
Speaker 2: Boas has just completely I think, just jumped right out
Speaker 2: and started making plays right from the get go. He's
Speaker 2: he's a guy that when you look at his career
Speaker 2: at Charlotte, those two seasons that he was there, he
Speaker 2: was just a magnet to the football. And I don't
Speaker 2: know if it's just his ability to gain separation. I
Speaker 2: really don't know a lot about his game at this point,
Speaker 2: but he's constantly around the football. Again, it goes back
Speaker 2: to what I was saying earlier in the show, where
Speaker 2: we focus so much on the top three.
Speaker 4: If you want to throw his Samori in their top four.
Speaker 2: Receivers, but the Packers have had years where guys come in,
Speaker 2: they'll they'll draft guys and they just don't really make
Speaker 2: plays and it doesn't really work out for him and
Speaker 2: you got to move on. But I think for the
Speaker 2: Packers double dipping again and going and getting three receivers
Speaker 2: again for the second straight year, in addition to having
Speaker 2: Malie Heath come in, in addition to bringing back Bo
Speaker 2: Melton who's made some plays and had some nice blocks.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Packers competition has just been revving up over
Speaker 2: and over again. And when you're talking about a guy
Speaker 2: like Sean Clifford and Alex Magoo, who I'll imagine will
Speaker 2: get more snaps, if not against the Patriots, definitely against
Speaker 2: the Seahawks. Those guys are going out there to throw
Speaker 2: the football and they have some really talented receivers to
Speaker 2: work with, and Dubo's is added to that. Now I'm
Speaker 2: very interested to watch and see where he goes from here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Dubo's has such an interesting story because just
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago he almost gave up football completely.
Speaker 1: He was playing at Division two Miles College, a small
Speaker 1: school in his home state of Alabama. They they canceled
Speaker 1: their season entirely in twenty twenty due to COVID, But
Speaker 1: instead of completely walking away from the game, he decides
Speaker 1: to transfer to Charlotte and then you know, balls out
Speaker 1: there in North Carolina and ends up being a seventh
Speaker 1: round draft pick of the Packers. And now he's he's
Speaker 1: thrust himself into an opportunity for a roster spot. So
Speaker 1: the other thing to touch on too is what's going
Speaker 1: on at the tight end position with the Packers. A
Speaker 1: good start preseason wise, I thought for Luke Musgrave and
Speaker 1: Tucker Craft, the two rookie draft picks, but the bad
Speaker 1: news Tyler Davis went down with a knee injury in
Speaker 1: the game in Cincinnati. Matt Lafleur basically all but confirmed
Speaker 1: that his season is over. The injury is quite significant
Speaker 1: and and I wrote a story on Packers dot Com
Speaker 1: that is on the website now as we're talking that.
Speaker 1: You know, the value of a veteran tight end like
Speaker 1: Josiah Deguara has has gone up considerably now with with
Speaker 1: the loss of Tyler Davis. Into Gua is just getting
Speaker 1: himself back from a calf injury. He didn't play in
Speaker 1: the preseason game in Cincinnati, but he's back into the
Speaker 1: eleven on eleven now he's taking reps with the first
Speaker 1: team offense. Sometimes he's out there with Musgrave or with
Speaker 1: Craft in a two tight end set. Josiah Deguara, I
Speaker 1: think is a guy to keep an eye on for
Speaker 1: more on him. Be sure to check out the story
Speaker 1: on the website.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely do that, and the thing about it too.
Speaker 2: You know, Joe, people forget about this. You know he
Speaker 2: originally tore his ACL on a special teams play. I
Speaker 2: mean he was contributing not only is that Swiss Army
Speaker 2: knife on offense, but also gave them some flexibility on
Speaker 2: special teams right off the bat as well. And he's
Speaker 2: kind of had to catch up a little bit last
Speaker 2: year getting back into a rhythm again. Certainly the offense
Speaker 2: mostly ran through Mercedes Lewis and Robert Tunyan at that position.
Speaker 2: But that job for him is only going to.
Speaker 4: Grow on value now. I like where Green Bay sits
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 2: When you look at what I mean, Luke Musgrave looks
Speaker 2: like a guy that's going to be able to play
Speaker 2: right off the jump. They have those those twenty one
Speaker 2: packages per or twelve personnel packages where you have you
Speaker 2: know Musker and Dguara. You have Muskrave and Kraft when
Speaker 2: they want to use them both inline. I think both
Speaker 2: of those guys have actually impressed me out of the
Speaker 2: gate in terms of their blocking craft. Is just a
Speaker 2: gritty guy that I think is going to get after it.
Speaker 2: I think Musgrave has proved he's good enough, you know,
Speaker 2: early on here to build upon that. But that you know,
Speaker 2: how this game goes, Mike, you need other guys to
Speaker 2: step up too. Austin Allen six foot eight, two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty three pounds out of Nebraska. This is a
Speaker 2: huge opportunity for him to show what he can do.
Speaker 2: And I've really liked Henry Pearson too, the kid from
Speaker 2: app State who is a tight ended app State. The
Speaker 2: Packers are labeling him as a fullback six foot two,
Speaker 2: two hundred and forty nine pounds, but he was the
Speaker 2: guy that sort of stepped up when Josiah was out
Speaker 2: in that h back role. All those guys are going
Speaker 2: to have to find ways to contribute, and especially those
Speaker 2: those last two. That's going to be who's going to
Speaker 2: be carrying a bulk of the Packers snaps here in
Speaker 2: these preseason games. Moving forward. I think Dre Miller also
Speaker 2: was repping with the tight ends at practice on Monday.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the long term plan or
Speaker 2: if that was just, hey, we need another guy with
Speaker 2: those guys to get through this practice. But certainly the
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers losing a guy like Tyler Davis, who
Speaker 2: gives you so much on special teams in addition to
Speaker 2: the fact that I thought he was putting together a
Speaker 2: good camp on offense, had the touchdown right before one
Speaker 2: quarter earlier from Sean Clifford at the end of the
Speaker 2: two minute. You hate to see that. Davis as a
Speaker 2: kid that has done all the right things, set all
Speaker 2: the right things, had a tough preseason last year offensively,
Speaker 2: but bounce back to lead the Packers and special team snaps.
Speaker 2: Sucks for him that a golden opportunity is presented, and unfortunately,
Speaker 2: we know how the sport is, and we know how
Speaker 2: the preseason is. ACL injuries, you know, significant knee injuries,
Speaker 2: they do happen, and unfortunately collected Davis.
Speaker 4: What a tough kid.
Speaker 2: That dude is, though, right, I mean the fact that
Speaker 2: he was able to get up and jog off the
Speaker 2: field very labored, but still jogged off the field. I
Speaker 2: think that really speaks to the type of character he
Speaker 2: has and the way he approaches this game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and with that we will call it a rap
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers Unscript.
Speaker 4: You'd be sure to.
Speaker 1: Follow all of our coverage of the team. We have
Speaker 1: the joint practices this week with the new England pots.
Speaker 1: We will have all of it for you on Packers
Speaker 1: dot com. So for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in everybody, and we will see you next time.
Speaker 4: Hm.