Speaker 1: M Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford and he is Wes Hodkowitz. We're
Speaker 1: coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field
Speaker 1: and West were one day closer to the two thousand
Speaker 1: seventeen season finale for both the Green Bay Packers and
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions. It will be Sunday, a noon central
Speaker 1: kickoff at Ford Field in Detroit, and um kind of
Speaker 1: the story of the season, you might say, for the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers in the sense that they are going
Speaker 1: into this game with an awfully lengthy injury list. Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy even wondering as of Wednesday before excuse me, before
Speaker 1: the first practice of the week, whether he'd even have
Speaker 1: forty six healthy players for the aim day roster. A
Speaker 1: couple of things he mentioned Davante Adams not cleared from
Speaker 1: the concussion protocol, Jordy Nelson probably not going to be
Speaker 1: able to play with that shoulder injury, and also Aaron Jones,
Speaker 1: the rookie running back dealing with another knee injury, also
Speaker 1: very unlikely to make it this week. So on the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball, um Brett Hunley's got uh.
Speaker 1: You know he's gonna be working with a lot of
Speaker 1: young guys. He will be Mike and then the other
Speaker 1: one too. And it really the one I think is
Speaker 1: the canary in the coal mine for the Packers is
Speaker 1: Richard Rodgers, also with the shoulder injury right practicing on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Michael Spofford, you can go back over the last four years,
Speaker 1: remind me of another time where Richard Rogers didn't practice
Speaker 1: at all. Um, he's basically been out there, let alone
Speaker 1: missing a game, which he hasn't done. He's barely, if
Speaker 1: at all, ever missed a practice. Yeah. Absolutely, Mr Durable
Speaker 1: and Mr Available in his time with the Packers. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I think that kind of shows the attrition of
Speaker 1: this team and where things are right now. It means opportunity. Though,
Speaker 1: getting back to your original point, whether it's Michael Clark,
Speaker 1: Jeronimo Allison was with not practice due to an illness,
Speaker 1: but you would imagine he potentially would be back in
Speaker 1: the cards for later this week. Um. So there's so
Speaker 1: many different guys that could get some opportunities in this
Speaker 1: game against the Lions, and you have to take advantage
Speaker 1: of it. Aaron Jones being out with likely being out
Speaker 1: with the knee injury. That could mean another opportunity for
Speaker 1: Davonte May's. Hey, what better way Mike to get your
Speaker 1: that bad taste out of your mouth about how the
Speaker 1: fumbles went, how the game time went earlier this year.
Speaker 1: If he's able to get on the field and produced, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you talk about a guy who's got to be chopping
Speaker 1: at the bit to get another opportunity. I'm sure he's been.
Speaker 1: He's been waiting. He hasn't said anything. He's a quiet guy.
Speaker 1: He knows, uh that other opportunity with a couple of
Speaker 1: fumbles did not go well. He's been dying to get
Speaker 1: another chance. You just know that. And um so you're
Speaker 1: gonna have Jamal Williams as the number one running back,
Speaker 1: but Davante May's will be right behind. I would like
Speaker 1: for his sake, for his rookie season to to end
Speaker 1: on something more positive than obviously where it would end
Speaker 1: if he doesn't get another chance, because um this, I
Speaker 1: think the sky has some talent. Mike McCarthy has said
Speaker 1: it's not it's not an issue of talent. It's just
Speaker 1: a matter of getting up to speed and really getting
Speaker 1: a feel for the NFL game and and earning that
Speaker 1: confidence in the coaching staff that that he can take
Speaker 1: the ball and run with it literally and figuratively and
Speaker 1: with all due respect to Maze and where he came
Speaker 1: from um and obviously you documented it earlier this summer
Speaker 1: that you know, when you're looking at you know, junior
Speaker 1: college football and things like that, and even to some
Speaker 1: extent going to Utah State, that's such a quantum leap
Speaker 1: coming to the NFL. Guys like Jamal Williams. You know,
Speaker 1: they kind of got a bigger taste for that with
Speaker 1: with b Yu and some of the successes they had
Speaker 1: their in bowl games. But even when you look at
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones and some of the struggles that they had
Speaker 1: at U tep and then DeVante may Is coming from
Speaker 1: the route he did. Uh. I don't think you can
Speaker 1: really you know, overstate that in terms of what that's
Speaker 1: like to make that jump. But yeah, again, if he
Speaker 1: can get this opportunity, uh, you know, get a chance
Speaker 1: to get out there. Also, a guy like Jamal Williams,
Speaker 1: if he's able to finish on a high note after
Speaker 1: having so many positive, you know things that he's done
Speaker 1: over the last couple of months, could be big for
Speaker 1: this running game. But really, again it comes back to opportunity.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of young guys on this roster that
Speaker 1: are going to get those on Sunday. Yeah. And I
Speaker 1: think it's worth clarifying here because I think in some
Speaker 1: ways fans are getting a little bit of a mixed
Speaker 1: message as to what's going on, because Mike McCarthy has
Speaker 1: continually had to answer and say, hey, this isn't the preseason.
Speaker 1: We're going out there to win the game. But yet
Speaker 1: the fans are looking at it saying, well, this guy
Speaker 1: and this guy and this guy aren't playing, and you're
Speaker 1: talking about playing these younger guys. I think what needs
Speaker 1: to be clarified is in the preseason, Mike McCarthy is
Speaker 1: a play caller on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: He will call specific plays to give opportunities to specific players,
Speaker 1: to evaluate them, to see what they can do. You
Speaker 1: might even sacrifice a three and out in a certain
Speaker 1: situation on offense in order to get somebody a chance
Speaker 1: to touch the ball to do something. The He's gonna
Speaker 1: take whatever game day roster he's got into this game.
Speaker 1: He's not going to call plays so that Geronimo Allison
Speaker 1: can get a catch or so that Michael Clark can
Speaker 1: try this play out with Brett Hunley. He's gonna be
Speaker 1: calling plays to move the chains, to score points and
Speaker 1: to win games. And I think I think that distinction
Speaker 1: needs to be made here in terms of how Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy's going about this. Yeah, that's an excellent point, because
Speaker 1: that really is the big difference when people talk about
Speaker 1: that in the fact that they aren't don't they don't
Speaker 1: have a preseason mindset. That means that Randall Cobb, who's
Speaker 1: healthy right now, is gonna play. He's gonna get opportunities.
Speaker 1: It could mean that a guy like Trevor Davis gets opportunities,
Speaker 1: but it's not going to be hands selected more like
Speaker 1: it is during the preseason. I think a great illustration
Speaker 1: this is what happened at outside linebacker last week. They
Speaker 1: don't have Nick Perry, Clay matthew sits with a hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: So then you have Reggie Gilbert. You know, when they
Speaker 1: draw up someplace for Reggie Gilbert, give him a chance
Speaker 1: to go out there, see what he can do. He
Speaker 1: executes on that, he takes advantage of that, and he
Speaker 1: ends up playing forty six snaps during the game. If
Speaker 1: he wasn't successful, if if it didn't kind of come
Speaker 1: together for him in the early series, you might have
Speaker 1: seen more Chris Odom, He might have seen some of
Speaker 1: these other options. But when he had that opportunity, he
Speaker 1: capitalized on it and that's what opened the door to
Speaker 1: more of them. So I think when you look at
Speaker 1: that position and what potentially could happen in other positions
Speaker 1: and this game, that's what the Packers are looking for.
Speaker 1: Young guys jumping in the lineup and being able to
Speaker 1: really build on that and build some momentum now going
Speaker 1: into two thousand eighteen for themselves and on the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball, the Packers maybe getting a little healthier.
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews and Damarius Randall both back at practice on
Speaker 1: a limited basis, so a chance for them to play
Speaker 1: if they are medically cleared and everything. It sounds like
Speaker 1: they could go. Yeah, Randall something he was dealing with
Speaker 1: last week, it all kind of came to ahead and
Speaker 1: during Saturday's practice, Matthews I think the same thing. Just
Speaker 1: being cautious with him and making sure that he doesn't
Speaker 1: overextend himself because again, you have a significant, you know,
Speaker 1: soft muscle injury this time of year, Well, that's where
Speaker 1: it starts impacting your offseason. So I have to be
Speaker 1: smart on that record, but it seems like his return
Speaker 1: to practice this week would indicate that everything's looking okay
Speaker 1: for him at that perspective. All right, what's that We'll
Speaker 1: throw to a break back with more on Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: right after this, h welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike
Speaker 1: Spofford right here, West Hodkuitz over there, And what's one
Speaker 1: of these uh young players who is most likely going
Speaker 1: to get some more opportunities in the spotlight on Sunday
Speaker 1: in Detroit that is definitely worth talking about is the
Speaker 1: undrafted rookie receiver Michael Clark. I'm not sure in my
Speaker 1: twelve seasons covering this team for Packers dot Com if
Speaker 1: I've ever come across the story quite like this one. Um.
Speaker 1: He plays basketball at universe at St. Francis University in
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania for a year. He has aspirations to play basketball
Speaker 1: through college and maybe go overseas um, you know, play
Speaker 1: basketball in Europe professionally. When he gets done, decides to
Speaker 1: completely change course and says, I want to go play
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Trans first from St. Francis, goes to Marshall,
Speaker 1: has to sit out a year due to transfer rules,
Speaker 1: so all he can do his first year at Marshall
Speaker 1: is play on the scout team, essentially in practice. Then
Speaker 1: he gets one season at Marshall as uh Um as
Speaker 1: a regular, regular player, regular receiver in the rotation, has
Speaker 1: thirty some catches, six hundred yards, a handful of touchdowns,
Speaker 1: and then just decides, with two years of eligibility left
Speaker 1: in college, I'm gonna head to the NFL, doesn't get drafted,
Speaker 1: doesn't even sign an agent. Packers signed him in early May,
Speaker 1: right after the draft as maybe one of the most
Speaker 1: raw undrafted prospects they've ever signed. And here we are
Speaker 1: at the end of and uh he he's making catches
Speaker 1: against the Minnesota Vikings and he's probably gonna get some
Speaker 1: passes thrown his way against the Detroit Lions. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a pretty incredible the main journey he's made. He's been
Speaker 1: kind of a renaissance man too a little bit with
Speaker 1: what he's done in terms of not signing an agent.
Speaker 1: I mean, here's the thing. I think, if you have
Speaker 1: confidence in yourself and you have an idea of where
Speaker 1: you want to go, you probably don't need an agent
Speaker 1: always as a late round pick or as an undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent. The reason I say that is because the
Speaker 1: contracts are pretty much locked in at that point. But
Speaker 1: you have to have confidence that you are going to
Speaker 1: be able to lead yourself to the right team, the
Speaker 1: right opportunity, and make sure that you are able to
Speaker 1: execute on it, because if you don't, then you start
Speaker 1: to fade into the ether a little bit. Michael Clark
Speaker 1: came to Green Bay this summer extremely raw prospect at
Speaker 1: a position, mind you, where the Packers were incredibly deep.
Speaker 1: They drafted two receivers in Malachai Dupre and D'Angelo Yancey.
Speaker 1: He was probably entering camp as the twelve receiver on
Speaker 1: the roster. Max McCaffrey was here too, and week after
Speaker 1: week he kept making plays in practice, and he started
Speaker 1: making plays during the preseason, caught a touchdown in the preseason,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly gets on the Packer's radar. It is
Speaker 1: an incredible journey he's been on. I remember talking him
Speaker 1: last week. I know you wrote a story as well
Speaker 1: for Packers dot Com. He doesn't consider himself a basketball
Speaker 1: player turned into a football player. He looks at himself
Speaker 1: as a guy who has always been a football player,
Speaker 1: but he chose basketball because he thought that would be
Speaker 1: the best avenue for him, and after having those first
Speaker 1: couple of years of college, decided, you know what, I
Speaker 1: want to give football try again. And then here we are.
Speaker 1: What a year it's been for him going from where
Speaker 1: he was to now being on the fifty three man
Speaker 1: roster and actually getting targeted ten times or whatever it
Speaker 1: was in that game against the Vikings. Yeah, he spent
Speaker 1: the first three quarters, essentially the first three quarters of
Speaker 1: the seen season on the practice squad, so he was
Speaker 1: essentially a scout team receiver and was catching a lot
Speaker 1: of passes from Brett Hunley before Aaron Rodgers got injured.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy said, there wasn't a Thursday practice that went by.
Speaker 1: Thursday practice being the one in full pads with the
Speaker 1: most contact, all of that kind of stuff. There wasn't
Speaker 1: a Thursday practice that went by where he didn't make
Speaker 1: some sort of an eye popping catch, attention grabbing type
Speaker 1: of catch in practice. And so then at the beginning
Speaker 1: of December he signed to the active roster from the
Speaker 1: practice squad, and I'll admit I sort of misread the
Speaker 1: situation because I thought the Packers signing too the active
Speaker 1: roster because maybe somebody else was coming after him. It
Speaker 1: sounds like the Packers did it as a reward for
Speaker 1: his hard work and because they wanted to see if
Speaker 1: they could work him in late in the season and
Speaker 1: and give him give him some opportunities to help this team.
Speaker 1: And that was before the Packers were out of the
Speaker 1: playoff picture. They were looking at possibly getting him on
Speaker 1: the field um down the stretch here regardless. And it
Speaker 1: just speaks to how far he's come, because he even
Speaker 1: said in a little group interview with some reporters the
Speaker 1: other day, when he first got here and opened up
Speaker 1: the Packers offensive playbook, he had no idea what was
Speaker 1: going on. It was just words to him. Everything was
Speaker 1: everything was just flying past him. He couldn't process anything.
Speaker 1: He wasn't keeping up in meetings. He said he was
Speaker 1: even spacing out in meetings because he just couldn't follow
Speaker 1: what was going on. To his credit, he stuck with it.
Speaker 1: He's he's come such a long way and he still
Speaker 1: talks about he's still learning the game of football, and
Speaker 1: he's just he's a huge person. He really is. I
Speaker 1: mean on a basketball court, you know, all those guys
Speaker 1: are tall. But on a football field, I mean you
Speaker 1: stand in the Packers locker room and there might be
Speaker 1: one other guy. I think Julius Peppers was the other guy.
Speaker 1: Went during my six seven years now covering this thing
Speaker 1: where it's like you're like, holy crap, that is a
Speaker 1: massive human being. Michael Clark, while he doesn't have the
Speaker 1: girth that you know Peppers had, is just such an
Speaker 1: impressive specimen in terms of the size, and it just
Speaker 1: gives you such a great catch radius to work with.
Speaker 1: It gives you such a great prospect to work with.
Speaker 1: He's a big dude, as Brett Hunley said, exactly. And
Speaker 1: I don't want to compare this to Demetrius Harris, who
Speaker 1: was the former u W Milwaukee basketball player who John
Speaker 1: Dorsey brought into the Kansas City Chiefs and literally from
Speaker 1: the ground up built a tight end. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to paint that picture of Clark, because he
Speaker 1: did have tools to work with. But as you said,
Speaker 1: the fact of trying to learn an NFL playbook after
Speaker 1: having really only one year, I guess you say too.
Speaker 1: But scout team, Scout team in college, but having one
Speaker 1: year of taking a less in a game plan and
Speaker 1: implemented it on game day. It's just it, really it is.
Speaker 1: It's it's like going from sixth grade algebra to triggonometry.
Speaker 1: It's just it's such a giant leap. And for him
Speaker 1: to be able to compartmentalize all of that and now
Speaker 1: be able to really toss it into games, I think
Speaker 1: it says a lot about him, and the Packers have
Speaker 1: to be incredibly pleased with what they have to work
Speaker 1: with now going into a full offseason with him continue
Speaker 1: to develop that skill set. Yeah, he had three catches
Speaker 1: against the Minnesota Vikings, one of them a very impressive
Speaker 1: diving catch along the sideline that that helped get the
Speaker 1: Packers into potential scoring position. But two back shoulder throws
Speaker 1: he would love to have back. One that was early
Speaker 1: in the game on a third down, the other one
Speaker 1: near the front pylon of the end zone in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, and he just flat out and said, hey,
Speaker 1: no excuses. When Brett throws me the ball like that,
Speaker 1: he says, it's my job to come down with it.
Speaker 1: I've got to make those plays. That's the next step
Speaker 1: for him now of many steps. He needs to take.
Speaker 1: But the next step for him is on a back
Speaker 1: shoulder type of play, one on one coverage, beat your
Speaker 1: man and make that catch. Jordy Nelson, all those guys,
Speaker 1: they make that look so simple, but there's so much
Speaker 1: involved in the past. Needs to be in the right area,
Speaker 1: and even if it is in the right area, the
Speaker 1: receiver has to catch it. That is the next step,
Speaker 1: as you said, for him, developing those instincts now in
Speaker 1: addition to just having all of that potential in his frame. Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely an interesting guy to watch on Sunday. But with that,
Speaker 1: we'll throw it to a break back with more on
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Mike Spofford in this chair, West Hodkowits in that one,
Speaker 1: and West continuing the discussion of younger players here that
Speaker 1: that the fans can keep an eye on when it
Speaker 1: comes to Sunday's regular season finale in Detroit. A couple
Speaker 1: of guys on defense starting to get a few more
Speaker 1: snaps considering the injuries the situation the Packers are in.
Speaker 1: And that's third round pick Montrevious Atoms on the defensive
Speaker 1: line and fourth round pick Vince Bagel at outside linebacker.
Speaker 1: I know there were a lot of hopes for both
Speaker 1: of these players when they were drafted. The Packers are
Speaker 1: very excited to draft both of these players last spring.
Speaker 1: Um their impact has obviously been limited this year, and
Speaker 1: a lot of that just speaks to how difficult it
Speaker 1: is to walk onto an NFL field and try to
Speaker 1: make plays when you've dealt with an injury situation that
Speaker 1: forces you to miss essentially your entire rookie training camp,
Speaker 1: when which is really your acclamation to the NFL training camp,
Speaker 1: those preseason games. These guys essentially missed all of that,
Speaker 1: and uh, but they're trying to get at least that
Speaker 1: first taste of experience right now. Here's the thing, Michael,
Speaker 1: what is it? I think it's the last six weeks
Speaker 1: of the season you have three padded practices. I think
Speaker 1: that's what the cb A dictates. Yeah, so during the
Speaker 1: season you must have around what is it twelve? As
Speaker 1: far as how many year allotted for the entire I
Speaker 1: believe for the whole season it's fourteen. So you can
Speaker 1: have eleven, you can you can have eleven through the
Speaker 1: first eleven weeks and but then only three through the
Speaker 1: last six weeks, so let's flash back to August. That
Speaker 1: is the really the only big opportunity in this environment
Speaker 1: for rookie players to get those reps, to get padded reps,
Speaker 1: because once even when you get into the season, the
Speaker 1: focus isn't on in no disrespect him, on Trevias Adams.
Speaker 1: The focus isn't on getting Montrevius Adams ready for Sunday.
Speaker 1: The focus is on Kenny Clark and Mike Daniels and
Speaker 1: Quentin Dial, Dean Lowry, and it's and it's also on
Speaker 1: that opponent you're going to. So it is so difficult
Speaker 1: not only to get those opportunities during the regular season,
Speaker 1: but to get the meaningful snaps in the season. So
Speaker 1: I think you look at where Vince Bagel's at in Adams,
Speaker 1: I think they did the best they could with the
Speaker 1: situation that they were presented with. Beagle missed the entire
Speaker 1: off season program, you missed all of training camp. Adams
Speaker 1: was there for the off season program, but then gets
Speaker 1: hurt really in the second practice before the pads even
Speaker 1: went on, And I think you see what happens and
Speaker 1: how difficult it is to overcome that that hill. Now
Speaker 1: you've taken On the other side of that, you look
Speaker 1: at someone like Reggie Gilbert, who has now been immersed
Speaker 1: in the system for two years. He's had all of
Speaker 1: those reps during training camp, never really had a big
Speaker 1: injury it all during that time, and he gets out
Speaker 1: there in that first opportunity and really it's just pedaled
Speaker 1: to the medal. Yeah, it's just I think that is
Speaker 1: that illustrates. It's not to say that Gilbert is a
Speaker 1: better player than Beagle, or Beagles a better player than Gilbert,
Speaker 1: but it just shows you how far those reps can
Speaker 1: go and form. As Mike McCarthy said during his news
Speaker 1: conference on Wednesday, as much as was made out of Beagle,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of hype there in the Packers,
Speaker 1: you know, really like his prospects. But if there was
Speaker 1: an expectation there among the fan base or among the
Speaker 1: media for him just to step out there after he
Speaker 1: came off a pup and then just start dominating everybody,
Speaker 1: that's unrealistic because that's just not the world you live in.
Speaker 1: The NFL is so complicated, it's such a there's so
Speaker 1: many layers to it that that can't really be what
Speaker 1: you're expecting out of a young player, right, Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I know we'll have plenty of time over the next
Speaker 1: couple of months to talk about and looking ahead and stuff.
Speaker 1: But an interesting, interesting thought occurred to me when you
Speaker 1: look at Montrevius Adam's third round pick, Vince biegl fourth
Speaker 1: round pick, even Kevin King first round pick, playing really
Speaker 1: only about half the sea and he missed most of
Speaker 1: the off season program because of the college schedule thing,
Speaker 1: which I think the NFL is finally deciding to maybe
Speaker 1: adjust or or fix that rule, or at least there
Speaker 1: would be um. But when you when you start to
Speaker 1: look ahead here to three of the Packers top four
Speaker 1: draft picks from seventeen, it's almost like they're going to
Speaker 1: have a second draft class with these guys kind of
Speaker 1: getting more up to speed and hopefully being healthy and
Speaker 1: and ready to go. It's something to look forward to,
Speaker 1: it is, and it's because there's said unknown factor with
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys. And certainly, you know, Beagle
Speaker 1: was around for a number of years in Wisconsin, you know,
Speaker 1: a true senior. Uh, you look at someone like Adams,
Speaker 1: I think he's still you know, there's still a lot
Speaker 1: of tools to developed there with him. So I think
Speaker 1: this is gonna be important offseason for both of those
Speaker 1: guys making that next step forward. And I think you've
Speaker 1: seen it. You see it every year when you look
Speaker 1: at Kenny Clark, when you look at Blake Martinez. Just
Speaker 1: exactly the difference that makes getting that first full year
Speaker 1: under your belt, and in addition to that offseason program,
Speaker 1: getting that opportunity, Mike, also consider once the season is done,
Speaker 1: these guys can actually down shift for two or three months.
Speaker 1: They'll still be working out, but they don't have to
Speaker 1: have that rigor in that grind that they did getting
Speaker 1: ready for the combine. I think that does make a
Speaker 1: big difference. I think it does too. But with that,
Speaker 1: let's go to break Back with More and Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: right after this, Dad, Welcome back to Packers Unscripted, Mike
Speaker 1: Spofford alongside West, Hodkowitz and West Quickly before we go,
Speaker 1: I think it's worth mentioning that I don't like to
Speaker 1: get too hung up on statistics, but there is an
Speaker 1: interesting statistical thing to keep an eye on here for
Speaker 1: the Packers heading into week seventeen, and that is that
Speaker 1: second year linebacker Blake Martinez. He actually has a chance
Speaker 1: to lead the entire NFL and tackles if he has
Speaker 1: another one of these double digit tackle type games too,
Speaker 1: to wrap up the sea in right now, He's uh,
Speaker 1: He's right at the top of the list, isn't he? Mike?
Speaker 1: The Green Bay Packers have played fifteen games this year.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're accounting Blake Martinez has eight
Speaker 1: games with double digit combined tackles this year. It is
Speaker 1: incredible the jump he's made. I'm dude, he has an
Speaker 1: opportunity here, uh to lead the NFL in that category
Speaker 1: when you consider the Luke Keikley's, the Zach Brown's, the
Speaker 1: the guys that have made such an impact over the
Speaker 1: years at that position. For him to be in that
Speaker 1: conversation he was. He was asked last week about you know,
Speaker 1: he wasn't you know he wasn't named as an alternate
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl. He kind of got a snub there. Well,
Speaker 1: this is the kind of season that can get you
Speaker 1: that notoriety. And I think to see what he's done
Speaker 1: and how he's developed over the past year says a
Speaker 1: lot about him. His work ethic and exactly you know,
Speaker 1: the coaching of Scott McCurley and exactly the development of
Speaker 1: a prospect there. I also want to say this too,
Speaker 1: there were a number of years where the Packers were
Speaker 1: and this is no disrespect to some of these guys
Speaker 1: that they were converting from outside linebacker to inside linebacker,
Speaker 1: but this shows you exactly what happens when you have
Speaker 1: a college middle linebacker, you bring him into your scheme
Speaker 1: and develop them. I think this is the kind of
Speaker 1: production you can expect. There's just something different about Blake Martinez. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would, I would agree. And it's kind of funny
Speaker 1: because in a sense, when we've talked to him this
Speaker 1: year about hey, what's the big difference last year to
Speaker 1: this year, and he's been talking about how he doesn't
Speaker 1: have to think as much. It's almost as though the
Speaker 1: Stanford education and the way he was able to process
Speaker 1: the playbook last year, it almost slowed him down because
Speaker 1: there was so much to process. But yet mentally he
Speaker 1: is he is able to handle it all. But then
Speaker 1: when he got out on the field, mentally he was
Speaker 1: slowed down a little bit because he was he was
Speaker 1: understanding everything. Now he's just that half a step quicker
Speaker 1: because now it's more reaction rather than processing on the fly,
Speaker 1: and we're seeing the results, and that's why I think
Speaker 1: that middle of that defense, Kenny Clark, Blake Martinez the future.
Speaker 1: They're really solid for the Packers now at this point, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would agree, But with that we will call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com on Twitter, He's at west Hod, I'm
Speaker 1: at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks
Speaker 1: for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time. H
Speaker 1: m hm