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 Weston hod Kuwitz. Were coming to
Speaker 1: you from socially distant locations at lambeau Field and West
Speaker 1: At the beginning of this week, we heard from both
Speaker 1: head coach Matt Lafleur and general manager Brian Guda Counts.
Speaker 1: They held their season ending news conferences, so we will
Speaker 1: will hit on some of the big topics from there,
Speaker 1: and the biggest one, quite frankly, is the lack of
Speaker 1: equivocation if I said that correctly, with how both the
Speaker 1: head coach and general manager feel about Aaron Rodgers as
Speaker 1: the starting quarterback of this team. They made a commitment
Speaker 1: to him verbally publicly on Monday, not just for one
Speaker 1: but for multiple years to come, and uh, they really
Speaker 1: mince no words in that direction. Equivocation is a perfect
Speaker 1: word to use their Mike one, It's an excellent word.
Speaker 1: But too, You're exactly right. I mean, the Packers really
Speaker 1: made no bones about it. Aaron Rodgers is their quarterback
Speaker 1: for two thousand, twenty one and into the future. That
Speaker 1: is their expectation that is their plan. That is the
Speaker 1: way they are operating into this offseason. And it is
Speaker 1: interesting and you find yourself kind of almost laughing a
Speaker 1: little bit that we're talking about a guy that in
Speaker 1: a few days time will become a three time NFL
Speaker 1: m v P, A guy that had one of the
Speaker 1: most statistically successful seasons in NFL history, with his one
Speaker 1: point five pass rating being second only to himself in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven, forty eight touchdown passes, a franchise record,
Speaker 1: a seventy point seven completion percentage a franchise and personal
Speaker 1: best for him, Mike, there's no bones about it. When
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers has a season like this. The Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: when asked the question what's next, what is the future hold,
Speaker 1: Obviously the future is gonna be Aaron Rodgers. And you
Speaker 1: want to know one of the reasons why, I think
Speaker 1: you can say that so confidently, look at the Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers this week. Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren't even a
Speaker 1: playoff team last year. They add a forty two forty
Speaker 1: three year old Tom Brady this season. Now they're in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. The quarterback position has advanced, it's evolved
Speaker 1: and I think you've seen with the way that Rogers
Speaker 1: has taken care of himself and the fact that he
Speaker 1: has been able to adapt his play style to being
Speaker 1: thirty seven years old, understanding what he can do and
Speaker 1: what he can't do from when he was twenty seven,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is still at the peak of his powers,
Speaker 1: and for the foreseeable future, he will be the quarterback
Speaker 1: here in Green Bay. Yeah, so, everyone of course is asking, well, then,
Speaker 1: what was all the big hullabaloo and everything, And let's
Speaker 1: let's just we'll go back a little bit to the
Speaker 1: postgame news conference after the loss to Tampa Bay. I mean, one,
Speaker 1: it was extremely emotional time. Everything is very raw. At
Speaker 1: that point. Aaron Rodgers head confessed, I believe on the
Speaker 1: radio show, the Pat mcafe's show, that he does that
Speaker 1: he had really just gotten done shedding some tears with
Speaker 1: teammates over over a really really disappointing, incredibly disappointing loss.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of what he said after the
Speaker 1: game when he said there are a lot of uncertain futures,
Speaker 1: myself included, I really think he just he wasn't going
Speaker 1: to put himself above any of his teammates. That he
Speaker 1: knows there's uncertainty about Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams and
Speaker 1: these guys who are in the final years of their contracts,
Speaker 1: Corey Lindsley, you know, players like that, and he wasn't
Speaker 1: just gonna say, well, yeah, there's all sorts of uncertainty
Speaker 1: about them, but I know exactly what's going on with
Speaker 1: me right after, you know, this loss to the Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers. I really think that's all that he was saying.
Speaker 1: And of course, you know those words because he is
Speaker 1: he is always very calculated. He doesn't just say things
Speaker 1: on a whim. But I do think in this particular case,
Speaker 1: the context of coming, you know, just coming off of
Speaker 1: that loss and everything that was wrapped up in it,
Speaker 1: and and the fact that the fact that Rogers Rogers
Speaker 1: was just not going to make any declarative statements in
Speaker 1: uh in a business as he likes to say, that
Speaker 1: has no absolutes. I think that's why this ended up
Speaker 1: taking off the way in which it did. And then
Speaker 1: we didn't hear from Matt Luthleur Brian Goudakunst right away
Speaker 1: because they're they're dealing with some changes in the coaching
Speaker 1: staff and whatnot, which we're going to talk about here
Speaker 1: later in the show. So it was sort of the
Speaker 1: this week of speculation and everything all swirling around. You know,
Speaker 1: what's Rogers thinking or what's going to happen with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: This franchise, this organization has no no hesitation, there's no
Speaker 1: question in their minds that this team and this franchise
Speaker 1: is moving forward for multiple years here with Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: at quarterback, and they're expecting to continue to contend and
Speaker 1: get back in the same position that they were with
Speaker 1: the hope that they're going to finish the deal one
Speaker 1: of these times and get back to the Super Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you're this close, when you've gone back to back
Speaker 1: NFC Championship games and you have the reigning m v
Speaker 1: P soon to be reigning MVP as your quarterback, that
Speaker 1: is obvious. Say the path that you want to snowbild
Speaker 1: Snowmobile down almost got it out the way I wanted
Speaker 1: it to. Uh, there were there were three things that
Speaker 1: came to a head last week, Mike that I think
Speaker 1: created this perfect storm. One, it was the NFC Championship Game.
Speaker 1: Certainly a lot of eyeballs on it. However, many millions
Speaker 1: of people watched it, forty seven million, whatever the number was.
Speaker 1: But afterwards there's no super Bowl right away, there's a
Speaker 1: bye week. I think it was a slow week. I
Speaker 1: don't mean to like throw media under the bus. Understand,
Speaker 1: everybody's got a job to do. You and I have
Speaker 1: a job to do. But the fact of the matter was,
Speaker 1: I think it gave more people time to sort of
Speaker 1: just let it marinade and probably sat a little too long.
Speaker 1: And that's the narrative. You've got too. You and I
Speaker 1: have said this. I know I've written this an insider inbox.
Speaker 1: When people talking absolutes, I am the number one advocate
Speaker 1: against absolutes because the problem is, in our society, everybody
Speaker 1: wants to guarantee if I get hired somewhere, I want
Speaker 1: to have a guarantee that I'm going to be there
Speaker 1: for the next twenty years. That would be a great
Speaker 1: It doesn't work like that though. Always people want a
Speaker 1: declarative statement that, Okay, if we signed player X, that
Speaker 1: means we're winning the Super Bowl next year. There's no guarantees.
Speaker 1: And the problem is is we as a society, I think,
Speaker 1: as human beings, always want to gravitate we want to
Speaker 1: grip absolutes, and Aaron Rodgers is not going to offer
Speaker 1: you those. He doesn't paint himself into a box with
Speaker 1: his words because he knows how quickly things can change.
Speaker 1: He's seen it here in Green Bay in recent years,
Speaker 1: and over the last thirteen years as a starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: The situation changes in the National Football League. The last
Speaker 1: time I checked, Curly Lambo still isn't playing the game today.
Speaker 1: It evolves. There's new players, there's new coaches and and
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers has been a part of one of the
Speaker 1: greatest runs in NFL history here, but he understands there's
Speaker 1: gonna be an end game for him too. What he
Speaker 1: does know is what's staring him directly in the face,
Speaker 1: and it's the same process he goes through every year,
Speaker 1: talking with management, being able to step away from the
Speaker 1: game a little bit, clearing his head. You gotta also
Speaker 1: remember my third point to all this was, these guys
Speaker 1: just got done playing football in a practical, practically a
Speaker 1: vacuum for six months. We tested for the first time
Speaker 1: in COVID on July. Mike, today's February second. It's been
Speaker 1: a long time. There's a lot of emotions that go
Speaker 1: into the season and then there was a lot of
Speaker 1: disappointment to after that game. So I think Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: really laid it all there. I'm glad he did the
Speaker 1: appearance with McAfee. I know he kind of seemed like
Speaker 1: he was kind of having fun with him there, that
Speaker 1: he wasn't kind of playing it off like he wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna do it. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: he expected to be back for next season, so no
Speaker 1: reason why he wouldn't be back, And Brian Goodakinsten Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur put their words behind that. Yeah, I think it's
Speaker 1: interesting when you when you the discussion that you bring
Speaker 1: up here with regard to the absolutes and guarantees and whatnot.
Speaker 1: What we're facing here is that everybody wanted to say
Speaker 1: last April, when the Packers drafted Jordan's Love in the
Speaker 1: first round and traded up to selected him, everybody wanted
Speaker 1: to say, well, that's a guarantee that Jordan's Love is
Speaker 1: the next quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. I'm not saying,
Speaker 1: and I think you and I talked about this at
Speaker 1: the time, there isn't necessarily a guarantee of that either.
Speaker 1: Jordan's Love may never become the starting quarterback of the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers, and that may not be his fault whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Go back to what Aaron Rodgers said when he first
Speaker 1: after the draft to face the media and was processing
Speaker 1: what he called the reality that he doesn't necessarily control
Speaker 1: whether or not he finishes his career in Green Bay
Speaker 1: and he was just being realistic about that. But what
Speaker 1: did he also say? That I can try to make
Speaker 1: it really really hard for them to get rid of me,
Speaker 1: you know, And he reiterated on the McAfee show that
Speaker 1: his leverage is how he plays. The control that Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers has over the situation is if he continues to
Speaker 1: play at an m v P level, why would the
Speaker 1: Packers move on? They are not going to necessarily move on.
Speaker 1: He is going to do which he did this year
Speaker 1: and I think he's going to do moving forward. He's
Speaker 1: going to make this decision about the future, about a
Speaker 1: potential future for Jordan's Love in Green Bay as difficult
Speaker 1: as possible on the decision makers with the Packers, because
Speaker 1: if he keeps playing like this, you would be foolish
Speaker 1: to move on from him. And if Jordan's Love never
Speaker 1: becomes the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. From
Speaker 1: the front office's point of view, I think that's okay
Speaker 1: because that's gonna mean that Aaron Rodgers did everything that
Speaker 1: they were hoping that he would do. And then Jordan
Speaker 1: loves Future is the one that also has no guarantees
Speaker 1: and absolute and I am I making sense there you are, Mike,
Speaker 1: because the thing is is, Jordan's Love wasn't on a
Speaker 1: one year contract. He's not going to become an unrestricted
Speaker 1: free agent this Obviously, this guy is tied to the Packers.
Speaker 1: He is contractually has an agreement with the Packers through
Speaker 1: two thousand and twenty four that could be extended into
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty five with the fifth year option. That's
Speaker 1: how this game works, or only three He's here for
Speaker 1: a while, is my point. And Brian good Con said
Speaker 1: something very interested. It was the first time I think
Speaker 1: he's talked about this, was that if you look at
Speaker 1: the lineage of what they did with Ron Wolf and
Speaker 1: then it went into the Aaron Rodgers area, with the
Speaker 1: exception of maybe a few years there with Doug Peterson,
Speaker 1: although that's when they were sort of testing the waters
Speaker 1: with Achille Smith. Then with Tim Couch, but for the
Speaker 1: most part throughout Rogers, throughout Forest tenure, they had an
Speaker 1: NFL starting caliber quarterback on the roster in addition to five.
Speaker 1: They did it with Mark Brunell. They did it with
Speaker 1: Matthew Hasselbeck. They did it uh with with being able
Speaker 1: to to you know, develop Aaron Brooks the way they did,
Speaker 1: and then he ended up back with Mike McCarthy in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. And they were so stocked at the position
Speaker 1: they let a guy named Kurt Warner walk and go
Speaker 1: into m v PS for somebody else. Just no, it's true.
Speaker 1: And then when two thousand five came around, when I'm younger,
Speaker 1: when I'm a little west hod it it is like
Speaker 1: a long time between two thousand and two thousand five,
Speaker 1: but it was only the span of five years. They
Speaker 1: go and draft Aaron Rodgers and then he ends up
Speaker 1: being the next guy. The success sort of far with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers the way that the way that Goodkins laid
Speaker 1: this out, They're gonna keep looking for young quarterbacks because
Speaker 1: they don't want to be caught with their pants down here.
Speaker 1: And I wrote about this inn inbox. Mike, I don't
Speaker 1: even know if you've got a chance to read this yet.
Speaker 1: But people need to stop looking at the Jordan's Love
Speaker 1: pick like the Packers just set a first round draft
Speaker 1: pick on fire. He's an investment. He might end up
Speaker 1: being an All Pro quarterback here, he might not. Either way,
Speaker 1: he's not going to diminish his value. There is still
Speaker 1: going to be a return that they could get, whether
Speaker 1: it's on the field or if it's for future draft capital.
Speaker 1: And as Brian Gooding has talked about, if it if
Speaker 1: the time comes and they want to go find somebody
Speaker 1: else and maybe take another guy, he put that precondition
Speaker 1: out there already because you need to have somebody else ready.
Speaker 1: And this will be the last point I make on this.
Speaker 1: Some people talk about the Indianapolis thing being the right
Speaker 1: way to do it. Peyton Manning was the guy two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven, the neck injury happens, they go to and
Speaker 1: fourteen and then they get Andrew Luck. A lot of
Speaker 1: people lost their jobs, Mike in that one year gap
Speaker 1: between Manning to Luck. Yeah, the Colts were able to
Speaker 1: find another franchise quarterback who unfortunately his career was shortened
Speaker 1: by injuries. But the GM was out, the head coach
Speaker 1: was out. That was an implosion of an organization. I
Speaker 1: think if we're really being honest with ourselves, we would
Speaker 1: agree that the Colts still haven't found their footing over
Speaker 1: the last nine years. Yeah. Absolutely, And I think as
Speaker 1: we move forward here, if Rogers continues to play at
Speaker 1: this level with the mastery of Matt Lafleur's offense that
Speaker 1: he showed in the second season and in winning what
Speaker 1: I believe he's going to obviously win the m v P.
Speaker 1: When it's announced at the end of this week that
Speaker 1: we're gonna start to probably hear more comparisons to the
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo situation with New England Patriots. And I like
Speaker 1: what you said about about the investment there, not only
Speaker 1: because yeah, there'll be a lot of uns certainty about
Speaker 1: Jordan's love's future. As I brought up before, there aren't
Speaker 1: gonna be any guarantees with his future one way or another.
Speaker 1: But there was a year in there where the New
Speaker 1: England Patriots won a Super Bowl but Jimmy Garoppolo had
Speaker 1: to start four games because Tom Brady was suspended, and
Speaker 1: he chalked up some wins for the New England Patriots
Speaker 1: that set them on the path to what became a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl championship. Now, I don't expect Aaron Rodgers to
Speaker 1: get suspended anytime soon, but there is a chance obviously
Speaker 1: that he could get injured and miss some games. And
Speaker 1: maybe that's you know, Brian goodakun stand this Packers franchise.
Speaker 1: They want to be ready for whatever whatever possibilities, whatever
Speaker 1: eventualities come about, and they don't want a season to
Speaker 1: be completely derailed because Aaron Rodgers might have to miss
Speaker 1: two or three or five games. And that's that's where
Speaker 1: the that's where the investment right now appears to be
Speaker 1: in Jordan's love and they want to continue to develop
Speaker 1: him and they want the quarterback position to be to
Speaker 1: be stocked like it was in the Brett Farber Now,
Speaker 1: Brett Farve never missed a start, right, I mean he
Speaker 1: started every game. Um, we've seen Aaron Rodgers missed some
Speaker 1: time with injuries, and the Packers don't want to get
Speaker 1: don't want to get caught where a limited term injury
Speaker 1: completely throws a season off the rails because they don't
Speaker 1: have a quarterback who can go out and win football games.
Speaker 1: That's kind of where they're sitting right now. If you
Speaker 1: are a Packers fan who watched two thousand thirteen play
Speaker 1: out and think it's not a good plan to have
Speaker 1: a quarterback and waiting that that's the one, that's the
Speaker 1: one litmus test that you need to go back and
Speaker 1: think of. It didn't work out with b. J. Coleman
Speaker 1: and Graham Harrold, so they signed Seneca Wallace at the
Speaker 1: start of the season after Seneca had not played in
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve. He ends up getting hurt. They do
Speaker 1: bring in Scott Tolzine, but he was signed at the
Speaker 1: last minute off of coming out of his time in
Speaker 1: San Diego, I believe, or maybe with the Fort Afferent
Speaker 1: Point San Francisco. They had to basically prey a that
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills cut Matt Flynn and he came on
Speaker 1: the market for him with a background of their offense
Speaker 1: to be able to keep the ship afloat enough so
Speaker 1: Rogers could come back for one of the most storied
Speaker 1: moments in his time as a starting quarterback, Instill. The
Speaker 1: Packers win eight seven and one and ended up also
Speaker 1: getting dispatched from the playoffs. You gotta have a plan,
Speaker 1: and and this was the plan. You can agree with
Speaker 1: the first round pick. You cannot agree with them using
Speaker 1: a first round pick, but the Packers needed to find
Speaker 1: answers at that position. And I think, if we're really
Speaker 1: being honest with ourselves, Mike, for the first time and
Speaker 1: maybe the last fifteen sixteen years, the Packers have the
Speaker 1: best succession policy in place. If somebody think would happen
Speaker 1: with Tim Boyle on this roster still who also could
Speaker 1: be a future asset and then having Jordan's love. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: uh quickly here West Serious x M NFL radio channel
Speaker 1: eighty eight is the only radio outlet dedicated to the
Speaker 1: National Football League seven days a week, three sixty five
Speaker 1: days a year. All Right, what we said we would
Speaker 1: move on to the issues with the code staff, so
Speaker 1: we will do that. The Matt Lafleur has decided that
Speaker 1: there will be both a new defensive coordinator and a
Speaker 1: new special teams coordinator for for the Packers. Mike Petton
Speaker 1: is not being brought back to coordinate the defense, and
Speaker 1: Seawan Meninga also not brought back, and the decision on
Speaker 1: special teams has already been made. Maurice Drayton, who was
Speaker 1: the assistant coach and actually interviewed for the coordinator position
Speaker 1: two years ago, and Matt Lafleur was first hired, uh
Speaker 1: la Fleur putting all of his confidence into Mo Drayton
Speaker 1: to get the Packers Special Teams back on track. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if we're talking about Rodgers and you know, kind of
Speaker 1: an emphatic answer that la Fleur and and good Aunts
Speaker 1: gave towards his future. I don't think la Fleur could
Speaker 1: have really built up Murray Straiton any better than he
Speaker 1: did at his news conference on Monday. I mean, he
Speaker 1: really put him over as an excellent communicator, a guy
Speaker 1: with really high energy. Something I've heard around the building too.
Speaker 1: I've only interviewed Murray Straton once with was actually when
Speaker 1: he got hired from Indianapolis and eighteen. But he's a
Speaker 1: guy no around the building has commanded a lot of respect.
Speaker 1: People really enjoy them. And certainly there is an enthusiasm
Speaker 1: and energy that that Matt Lafleur is expecting him to
Speaker 1: bring to the Special Teams unit. And I don't want
Speaker 1: to put words in Matt Lafleur's mouth. I don't want to,
Speaker 1: you know, say that you know, mistakes remain anything, but
Speaker 1: it did kind of sound like when he talked about
Speaker 1: interviewing Drayton a few years ago, he wished he would
Speaker 1: have known what he knows now about the guy. You
Speaker 1: can just tell that that there's just something there that
Speaker 1: not necessarily that he didn't take that seriously last time
Speaker 1: he interviewed him, but there's just more information that told
Speaker 1: him not only is this guy the right fit for
Speaker 1: our special teams unit, but if we don't jump on it,
Speaker 1: he's probably gonna be organizing coordinating a special teams unit
Speaker 1: in the NFL somewhere else. He has a great resume.
Speaker 1: I think you look at his past history, it's fascinating.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's coached everywhere around the world, let alone
Speaker 1: just the National Football League. But his big end was
Speaker 1: his time in Indianapolis. He interned there, he had it up,
Speaker 1: catching on as their assistant, had two really strong years.
Speaker 1: You can look at all the statistics that they had,
Speaker 1: and then he came over as the assistant to Ron
Speaker 1: Zook in two thousand and eighteen. So I know fans
Speaker 1: sometimes they have to fight this thing well they're just
Speaker 1: promoting from within. But I really do believe like this
Speaker 1: is a positive new step for for Green Bay trying
Speaker 1: to get things set up right. And and also, let's
Speaker 1: be honest, Mike. With Drayton being able to be here
Speaker 1: the last couple of seasons, I think he has a
Speaker 1: really hands on thought. We haven't had a chance to
Speaker 1: talk to him yet, but I have to imagine he
Speaker 1: really has some for him to be able to impress
Speaker 1: the floor to get the job. You'd have to imagine
Speaker 1: that he has a note pad of of things they
Speaker 1: need to do to get Special Teams back on track. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and I under I understand the skepticism and
Speaker 1: the questions from fans saying, hey, you know, the Special
Speaker 1: Teams had a lot of issues this past year. You
Speaker 1: decided to move on, But yet you're just promoting somebody
Speaker 1: who was an assistant coach and was and was part
Speaker 1: of those struggles. The way I look the way I
Speaker 1: look at it is this Matt, Matt Lafleur is well
Speaker 1: aware of that. He's well aware that of of the
Speaker 1: outside perception and the fact that this could this could
Speaker 1: look like a risky decision that you're just promoting somebody
Speaker 1: from within who was a part of the struggles. I
Speaker 1: think because he's making that decision, you have to look
Speaker 1: at it as that is an indication of how much
Speaker 1: confidence he has in Drayton that he can fix some
Speaker 1: things and that he can get things going back in
Speaker 1: the right direction, because the the easier thing to do,
Speaker 1: from a public perception standpoint would be to just get
Speaker 1: rid of everybody who is associated with the struggles and
Speaker 1: completely start over. And the fact that Matt Lafleur is
Speaker 1: not doing that and he understands the public perception and
Speaker 1: the potential risk that goes along with that, I think
Speaker 1: that just speaks to to how how much you know
Speaker 1: the elevated level of confidence that he has in Drayton
Speaker 1: and that he wants to He wants to let this
Speaker 1: this experienced coach who hasn't been in a big position
Speaker 1: of authority before, to to spread his wings and to
Speaker 1: put his stamp on something. And that's the opportunity that
Speaker 1: he's giving him. Now. It's a results based business, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, Maury Straiton is going to have to get
Speaker 1: a lot of things that went wrong last season squared
Speaker 1: around on the on the Packers special teams. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be judged by those results. But but I do think
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur's confidence in him speaks, uh speaks volumes because
Speaker 1: of the perception of what this decision is and sometimes
Speaker 1: I think too we being on the outside, we sometimes
Speaker 1: get a little too um bent out of shape about
Speaker 1: what the past year indicated as far as statistics and
Speaker 1: all these other things. When a new coaches is hired.
Speaker 1: I'll give you a great example of that. You look
Speaker 1: at Alex van Pelt, who is there as I believe
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks coach in Cincinnati. They had a rough year
Speaker 1: a year ago, but yet he ends up getting promoted
Speaker 1: to an offensive coordinator position this past year with Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and then now here he is and the Browns are
Speaker 1: able to be back in the playoffs and everything like that.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that stuff just happens. You know, you have to
Speaker 1: be in the rights that suation, with the right players
Speaker 1: in the right scheme. I I just you know, again,
Speaker 1: I've covered enough special teams over the years to realize
Speaker 1: when it's going well and when it's not going well,
Speaker 1: and there is talent there. I think you look at J. K.
Speaker 1: Scott and you see the leg talent that he has.
Speaker 1: Mason Crosby had another career season. I mean, there are
Speaker 1: things to build off of. But for me, I just
Speaker 1: think it gets back down to the basics. I've been
Speaker 1: hitting this home all week long, getting your coverage units
Speaker 1: short up, figuring out what your approach and philosophy is
Speaker 1: going to be with the gunners. What are your jammers
Speaker 1: doing to give your returner on punts a little bit
Speaker 1: more time? Because yeah, punt returns weren't what they needed
Speaker 1: to be, But did the punt returner have all the
Speaker 1: opportunities to get the ball cleanly and step one two
Speaker 1: yards up field? Those are all the things that dictate
Speaker 1: whether or not you can eventually get those explosive plays
Speaker 1: and everything else you're looking for. Yeah. Absolutely, well as
Speaker 1: far as defensive coordinator is concerned, Matt Lafleur is from
Speaker 1: what he said, certainly undergoing a very extensive search. It
Speaker 1: sounds like he's going to be interviewing a lot of
Speaker 1: different candidates. I don't think it's appropriate necessarily for us
Speaker 1: to talk about those candidates if the Packers you don't
Speaker 1: want to talk about your application. Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: I slipped that in there internal while I was trying
Speaker 1: to take the weekend off. But uh um, But I
Speaker 1: think what I want to focus on here initially is
Speaker 1: is what Matt Lafleur said about this move at defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator and what he's looking for, because he absolutely did
Speaker 1: not talk about XS and os and scheme and this
Speaker 1: and that with regard to um his vision for the
Speaker 1: defense moving forward. He talked about He talked about a mentality.
Speaker 1: He talked about a mindset. And he's not gonna get
Speaker 1: hung up on whether these different coordinator candidates if they
Speaker 1: want to focus on a three four or four three
Speaker 1: or or you know too you know um cover two,
Speaker 1: you know too deep safety. Look, I mean, he's not
Speaker 1: he's not going to get into that. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: about a it's about a mentality. There's a there's a
Speaker 1: way that Matt Lafleur wants his defense to look out
Speaker 1: on the field in a way that he wants them
Speaker 1: to play, regardless of how they're doing the XS and
Speaker 1: ohs part of it, and he just he he wants
Speaker 1: to see that mentality not necessarily something that has to
Speaker 1: develop over the course of sixteen games. He wants to
Speaker 1: see it as as the mentality from day one of
Speaker 1: the season and then you go from there. That's the
Speaker 1: impression I got from his comments. It's the way you
Speaker 1: coach it, the way you practice it, and ultimately what
Speaker 1: the team looks like when you step on the field.
Speaker 1: I mentioned this a few times, Mike. I think Mike
Speaker 1: Petton's tenure in Green Bay I view it as a success.
Speaker 1: I think that he he had an important role here.
Speaker 1: Uh when you go back to the the off season,
Speaker 1: the winter of two thousand eighteen, that was the only
Speaker 1: thing that was really certain about the defense about the
Speaker 1: team was what the defense was and in what that
Speaker 1: vision was going to be. I do also believe that
Speaker 1: at this point this might be the right time for
Speaker 1: for Matt Lafleur to go this way. He's a guy
Speaker 1: now that has won twenty six regular season games in
Speaker 1: two seasons. He knows what it's like to be in
Speaker 1: the head coaching seat. He understands all the decisions that
Speaker 1: have to get made beyond what the call is on
Speaker 1: first and ten from and for that reason, it probably
Speaker 1: was time for him to get his defensive coordinator, get
Speaker 1: a guy that that he either is familiar with or
Speaker 1: someone that impresses him. Give him the opportunity now to
Speaker 1: really complete the staff on his own way. And that's
Speaker 1: why this is going to be interesting, because you know,
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy, when they made the move from Don Caper's
Speaker 1: the Petton You kind of had an idea. Okay, this
Speaker 1: is what they're looking for, this is what the talent is.
Speaker 1: How are they going to be able to promote it?
Speaker 1: What is the next step going to be? I think
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, Petton did improve where the
Speaker 1: Packers want to improve. They reduced the amount of explosive place.
Speaker 1: They were better in a lot of different areas, particularly
Speaker 1: the red zone. But now, how do you take a
Speaker 1: defense that finished top ten ninth overall, has been up
Speaker 1: there and scoring. How can you take the things that
Speaker 1: Green Bay has been doing well in accentuate that become
Speaker 1: the dominant unit that they feel they can be because
Speaker 1: Mike the allent's there. When you look at sa Darius
Speaker 1: Smith back to back Pro Bowl seasons, I think Rashaan
Speaker 1: Gary is going to be a really special player in
Speaker 1: this league. They have to figure out some stuff with
Speaker 1: the inside linebackers. But Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage, they're
Speaker 1: right where the Packers need them to be. And I
Speaker 1: don't even need to talk about JR. Alexander The guys probably,
Speaker 1: if not already there in the conversation for the best
Speaker 1: cornerback in the National Football League, and Kenny Clark's in
Speaker 1: the fold long term to recently signed a multi year contract,
Speaker 1: so he's gonna be around for a while as as
Speaker 1: one of those lynch pins in the middle, another pro
Speaker 1: bowler that they have. So the talent is there. It's
Speaker 1: just trying to figure out, Okay, what is our what
Speaker 1: is our mindset going to be when we're on the field,
Speaker 1: And I think that's where whoever this individual is, however
Speaker 1: they carry themselves, and I'm sure everything that people will
Speaker 1: say about them, that they've worked with in their associates,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be interesting to hear all of it and
Speaker 1: and get a new feel for what this defense is
Speaker 1: gonna look like. Yeah. Absolutely, well, at some point in
Speaker 1: the coming days here. We don't know if it will
Speaker 1: be in a couple of days, we don't know if
Speaker 1: it will be a week or more, But some time
Speaker 1: in the coming days there will be an announcement on
Speaker 1: a new defensive coordinator for the Packers, and it will
Speaker 1: be an interesting story to follow through the off season
Speaker 1: and into next season to see just what things look
Speaker 1: like and how things potentially change with that. We're going
Speaker 1: to call it a rap on this edition of Packers
Speaker 1: on script and be sure to continue following all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of the team on packers dot com. For West,
Speaker 1: I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.