Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted, or should I say
Speaker 1: welcome back. We have been gone for a while. I
Speaker 1: am Mike Spofford. He is Wes Hodko. It's from Packers
Speaker 1: dot Com. We are here in our lambeau Field Studios
Speaker 1: and West some time off here from Packers Unscripted, but
Speaker 1: we are back because it is draft week and it's
Speaker 1: an exciting week for everybody in the NFL. But I
Speaker 1: think pretty exciting here in Green Bay with the Packers
Speaker 1: as of now holding the fourteenth overall pick. Yeah, Mike,
Speaker 1: it's been obviously, uh about two months here. We've stepped
Speaker 1: away from the TV show. It's the only thing we've
Speaker 1: really stepped away from. It seems like everything else has
Speaker 1: been you know, so many developments during that time. But
Speaker 1: the draft. It's interesting because you get two months basically
Speaker 1: starting from the end of the scouting combine two months
Speaker 1: of hype and preparation. But you can always see that
Speaker 1: weekend as it turns back to the concentration of just
Speaker 1: being focused on Okay, it's actually here. The the energy
Speaker 1: just amps up a little bit more and now for
Speaker 1: the Packers, the highest that they've been picking in the
Speaker 1: last nine years. I just sense that just based on
Speaker 1: the Insider Inbox, our interactions with readers on social media,
Speaker 1: there is probably more excitement about this week than I
Speaker 1: can really remember in recent memory. Yeah, I would agree
Speaker 1: with you, And we've got a lot of time this
Speaker 1: week to preview the draft and get ready for Thursday night.
Speaker 1: But before we get to that, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff we need to catch up on here because in
Speaker 1: the time that that we signed off, which was shortly
Speaker 1: after the combine until now, a lot of changes on
Speaker 1: the Packers roster. And I want to start on the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball here, because to give the
Speaker 1: quick rundown, Jordy Nelson, Richard Rodgers, and Jeff Janis are
Speaker 1: no longer Green Bay Packers tight end Jimmy Graham is,
Speaker 1: as well as a new entry into the backup quarterback competition,
Speaker 1: and that's Deshaun Kaiser from the Cleveland Brown. I don't
Speaker 1: know where you want to start with all those moves west,
Speaker 1: but I will say this, that's a lot of changes
Speaker 1: for an Aaron Rodgers offense in the off season before
Speaker 1: the draft even gets here. Yeah, and you know you
Speaker 1: would be foolish not to start with Jordy Nelson because
Speaker 1: this is a guy that he has a future Packers
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. I think you can make a case
Speaker 1: he's on that mount rushmore of of Packers receivers in
Speaker 1: this long illustrious history of this organization. Uh, he's right
Speaker 1: up there with with the Don Hudson's and Sterling Sharps
Speaker 1: and Donald Drivers. I mean, this is a guy that
Speaker 1: I think when you look at the passing game over
Speaker 1: the last ten years, he's been the face of it.
Speaker 1: And for Aaron Rodgers and him, that was the longest concurrent,
Speaker 1: uh partnership between a quarterback and the receivers. But I
Speaker 1: believe two or three seasons in the entire NFL, guys
Speaker 1: just don't get on runs like that very often. And
Speaker 1: losing him in this offense, that is a big presence
Speaker 1: in the locker room. It's a big presence on the field.
Speaker 1: The one thing I've talked about a lot though in
Speaker 1: the Insider in box in the month or so that
Speaker 1: this is has passed since the move was made, this
Speaker 1: is a big opportunity. It's an opportunity for Davante Adams
Speaker 1: in Randall cop Jimmy Graham coming into this offense and
Speaker 1: most importantly those young receivers that have kind of been
Speaker 1: waiting in kind of trying to fight through that gridlock
Speaker 1: at the top of the depth chart. This is gonna
Speaker 1: be one of the most intriguing off seasons and in
Speaker 1: training camps that I can remember on the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball, because without Jordy Nelson there there's a
Speaker 1: lot of guys that have to stepped their game up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to ask you about Jimmy Graham because
Speaker 1: as Green Bay media members, we met him for the
Speaker 1: first time last week when the Packers opened their off
Speaker 1: season program, began their offseason workouts, and he spoke with
Speaker 1: reporters and he was asked a lot of things, obviously
Speaker 1: about his statistics and how the numbers fell off in
Speaker 1: Seattle versus what he was doing with Drew Brees in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. And I don't know about us, but I
Speaker 1: got a sense of a guy who I don't like
Speaker 1: to say chip on the shoulder because it's it's it's
Speaker 1: an overused phrase, but I got a sense of a
Speaker 1: guy who it's kind of coming to Green Bay out
Speaker 1: to prove a little something that that maybe in Seattle
Speaker 1: it wasn't quite the right the right fit in terms
Speaker 1: of the offensive style and and what he can really
Speaker 1: bring to the table, and that maybe he feels he
Speaker 1: wasn't utilized to his his fullest extent. And there were
Speaker 1: some injuries there along the way, which which certainly played
Speaker 1: a factor in in Graham's production in Seattle. But this
Speaker 1: is a guy who sounds awfully, awfully excited to be
Speaker 1: in a Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers offense. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: here's the thing, Mike Packers have had some changes. They're
Speaker 1: at tight end of the last three or four seasons.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham I think fits with what this locker room
Speaker 1: is about. He fits what they're about on the field.
Speaker 1: You know, they've tried different things, but I think at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, this Mike McCarthy offense functions
Speaker 1: the best when it has a hybrid type tight end
Speaker 1: uh available in it. I think you saw that two
Speaker 1: years ago with Jared Cook. To me, it seems like
Speaker 1: Graham probably is a little bit more in terms of personality,
Speaker 1: a lot like Cook in that person you know, fine personality,
Speaker 1: but likes to likes to just do things quietly. Um,
Speaker 1: and you know they obviously Martella is Benny can make
Speaker 1: everything out of that. But the thing I liked about
Speaker 1: Cook two years ago is that he was a guy
Speaker 1: that just kind of went about his business in over
Speaker 1: the course of the year. You could see him mesh
Speaker 1: with that offense with Aaron Rodgers. We're only going off
Speaker 1: the back of one one interview here with Jimmy Graham,
Speaker 1: but I think he fits with that. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: to your second point, there is a big chip on
Speaker 1: the shoulder there because he was asked the question are
Speaker 1: you still the same Jimmy Graham from five years ago?
Speaker 1: And I think you could kind of see that that's
Speaker 1: something that is sort of weighing on him a little bit.
Speaker 1: He believes he is, He believes he still runs that
Speaker 1: same forty time. He wants a chance to prove it,
Speaker 1: and he feels like this this offense is the best
Speaker 1: caveat best best avenue conduit towards making that happen. And
Speaker 1: I want to get to uh to Also, Deshaun Kaiser
Speaker 1: acquired in a trade from the Cleveland Browns for cornerbacked
Speaker 1: Marius Randall. Now you've got Deshaun Kaiser, Brett Honley, Joe
Speaker 1: Callahan as the the backup quarterbacks on your roster behind
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. Mike McCarthy said it um at the scouting combine.
Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken, he wants more competition for the
Speaker 1: backup spot behind Aaron Rodgers. O see, things did not
Speaker 1: go as planned when Brett Humley had to start as
Speaker 1: many games as he did in The Packers really liked
Speaker 1: to Shaun Kaiser when he was coming out of Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: There was a chance that the Packers were going to
Speaker 1: draft him last year. That didn't work out. But now
Speaker 1: he's in Green Bay. This is a really intriguing change
Speaker 1: to the quarterback room. Yeah, and I've said this before too.
Speaker 1: With Kaiser, you hope that he can just wash his
Speaker 1: memory bank clean of everything that happened last year. I
Speaker 1: have not had time to do this. I obviously don't
Speaker 1: have a stats or alias kind of bureau that can
Speaker 1: help me on these things. But trying to remember the
Speaker 1: last time a quarterback that was twenty one years old
Speaker 1: started fifteen games in the league for a team that,
Speaker 1: mind you, I think it's not even arguably was the
Speaker 1: worst team in the NFL last year. Not ideal circumstances
Speaker 1: for a young guy to walk in on and on
Speaker 1: top of that, as we've talked about, he played the
Speaker 1: majority of that rookie season without his number one wide
Speaker 1: receiver in Josh Gordon, and without his Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: left tackle and Joe Thomas for different reasons, but he
Speaker 1: was without those guys, and that was a team that,
Speaker 1: even with those guys, was going to struggle to content
Speaker 1: And he looked different when Gordon was on the field
Speaker 1: that final month of the season. So he's a great prospect.
Speaker 1: Mike six ft four, two pounds. He has everything you
Speaker 1: look for in a quarterback to develop into me. In
Speaker 1: my opinion, this is the best summer battle they're going
Speaker 1: to have in ten years, trying to figure out exactly
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's gonna be Huny, whether it can
Speaker 1: be Kaiser. Joe Callahan still involved in that conversation. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of depth at that position. That's exactly what
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy wanted go into this offseason. Yeah, well, I
Speaker 1: mentioned the trader to Marius Randall. That was one of
Speaker 1: the changes on the defensive side. We'll get to more
Speaker 1: of those on that side of the ball back with
Speaker 1: more on Packers unscripted right after this. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Packers unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, were Hodkoitz in
Speaker 1: that one in West On the defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: here for the Packers, talking roster changes, Damarius Randall traded
Speaker 1: to the Browns. Morgan Burnett signs a free agent contract
Speaker 1: with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tremont Williams back in the fold.
Speaker 1: He resigns after three years away with different teams, and
Speaker 1: then also Devon House resigned for another year. He had
Speaker 1: been with the Packers on a one year contract a
Speaker 1: year ago. But probably the biggest change is the addition
Speaker 1: of Mohammed Wilkerson on the defensive line. You're talking about
Speaker 1: adding a guy, he's got a couple of double digit
Speaker 1: sack seasons to his credit from his time with the
Speaker 1: New York Jets, a former first round draft pick, and
Speaker 1: uh joining a group that already has the likes of
Speaker 1: Mike Daniels, Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, perhaps an upcoming Montrevius Adams.
Speaker 1: To me, this move signaled, if anything, it's signaled that
Speaker 1: the foundation of a Mike Petton defense is going to
Speaker 1: be the guys up front. That's why they made this move. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: Mike and in the last segment, we talked about Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham having a chip on his shoulder. Mohammed Wilkerson has
Speaker 1: a chip on his shoulder, probably the size of new
Speaker 1: jersey from the Green Bay Right now, Packers are getting
Speaker 1: a motivated player. There's a very motive motivated mo when
Speaker 1: you look at the fact that this is a guy
Speaker 1: that was twice an All Pro in this league, twice
Speaker 1: had over ten and a half sacks at the defensive
Speaker 1: tackle position. I mean, it's not like he was this
Speaker 1: Michael Strahan defensive end where he's just constantly coming off
Speaker 1: the edge. He provides you a really stable presence inside
Speaker 1: um And to me, I thought that this signing really indicated,
Speaker 1: as you just pointed out, where Mike Petton wants this
Speaker 1: defense to go. Because he has Kenny Clark coming off
Speaker 1: a career year, he has Mike Daniels coming off of
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl. The Packers very easily and if there
Speaker 1: was any position on either side of the ball where
Speaker 1: they could have just stood pat and been fine, it
Speaker 1: looks like it was probably the defensive line. Especially with
Speaker 1: Montrevius Adams coming back after being the third round pick
Speaker 1: last year, they weren't having that Mohammed Wilkerson is here,
Speaker 1: and if you look at his track record, Mike, he plays.
Speaker 1: Whatever you want to make out of all the off
Speaker 1: the field issues that came up in New York, this
Speaker 1: guy played over of his defensive snaps in four or
Speaker 1: five of his six seven seasons that he was in
Speaker 1: New York. He is a guy that is going to
Speaker 1: be a constant presence. And if you go back and
Speaker 1: look at that prototype for the Packers signing free agents,
Speaker 1: he meets it in the fact that he's incredibly durable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and when you talk when you think about what what
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy has said in the past, and he's reiterated
Speaker 1: it since the signing of Wilkerson, it's about wanting to
Speaker 1: have a rotation of those defensive linemen. You don't want
Speaker 1: those big guys having to play eight hundred snaps a year.
Speaker 1: You want to have them more in the six seven
Speaker 1: hundred snap range. Be able to rotate them. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: we know how important it is to have fairly fresh
Speaker 1: legs in the fourth quarter, try to close out games.
Speaker 1: All of that. That's what I see the Packers building
Speaker 1: here upfront. With the addition of Wilkerson to two guys
Speaker 1: in in Mike Daniels and Kenny Clark, who I thought
Speaker 1: were becoming, you know, maybe one of the top defensive
Speaker 1: interior defensive lineman tandems in the league. Then you're throwing
Speaker 1: a guy like Wilkerson into that mix where where you
Speaker 1: don't have to have your top two guys on the
Speaker 1: field every single snap. I think that's gonna pay some
Speaker 1: big dividends. What's the shortest distance of the quarterback Michael
Speaker 1: right in the middle. You look at what Los Angeles
Speaker 1: did this offseason bringing ensue, matching him now with Aaron Donald.
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald, this is something and you need to have
Speaker 1: pass rushers, you need to have adge rushers, you need
Speaker 1: to have elephants, no doubt, won't debate that, but this
Speaker 1: is the type of move that I think is signaling
Speaker 1: where the league is headed and why you need to
Speaker 1: have deep rotations inside. All right, well, what are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on where the Packers are with their secondary right now?
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, Mary's Randall gone, Morgan Burnett gone, Tremont Williams,
Speaker 1: and Devon House to veteran cornerbacks who will be in
Speaker 1: that room with a lot of young guys around them.
Speaker 1: Kevin King, Quentin Rollins, Lenzy Pipkins, all these guys. Where
Speaker 1: do you think it stands right now? Obviously, I think
Speaker 1: the Packers are still going to use the draft to
Speaker 1: work on the future of that position. But you've got
Speaker 1: two veteran guys now that provide that they can stay healthy,
Speaker 1: they can they can help bridge the gap here between
Speaker 1: now and where the Packers secondary will be down the road.
Speaker 1: This is the thing that stands out to me, Mike,
Speaker 1: when I look at this. They lost Morgan Burnett. They
Speaker 1: got to find a way to replace him to Murus Randall.
Speaker 1: For all the things that happened earlier in the season,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone would question his playmaking ability. He
Speaker 1: played well down the stretch in the slot they need
Speaker 1: to replace him. Those are two big spots, those start
Speaker 1: nickel position. It's becoming really important in this league. Who's
Speaker 1: going to fill that. That's what I want to find
Speaker 1: out this offseason. But fourteen defensive backs right now on
Speaker 1: the roster have NFL experience. They have guys that have
Speaker 1: been there, that have done that. Truman Williams, I look
Speaker 1: at him as a almost like a tranquility kind of factor,
Speaker 1: a Catharsis for this defense. A guy that just has
Speaker 1: has that kind of mentality, that leadership value that people
Speaker 1: gravitate towards. I think he's going to be really positive
Speaker 1: for them. And he also said he's here to play.
Speaker 1: The Packers wouldn't have signed him if he couldn't play.
Speaker 1: Thirty five years old, he still has that spring nous
Speaker 1: in his legs. He still can make days, and I'm
Speaker 1: interested to see what he can do now that he's
Speaker 1: paired up again with the Packers and also Mike Petton,
Speaker 1: who he played for in the with the Cleveland Browns. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my favorite thing about what Williams said when
Speaker 1: he met with the media last week at the start
Speaker 1: of the offseason program. You know, talk about all the
Speaker 1: all the reasons that it made sense for the Packers
Speaker 1: to bring him back. He's been in a pettent defense.
Speaker 1: He's he knows everything about what it means to be
Speaker 1: a Green Bay Packer. He was here for nine years
Speaker 1: before he left. He Uh, he's a veteran guy who's
Speaker 1: who knows the ropes. He's been in postseason games, he's
Speaker 1: been in big time games, all of that. But the
Speaker 1: biggest reason he's here is because he can still play
Speaker 1: absolutely and he gives him a lot of versatility to
Speaker 1: all right with that, we'll go to a break back
Speaker 1: with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to pack Years Unscripted Mike Spofford alongside West, Hotkowitz and West.
Speaker 1: If there's another big piece of news we need to
Speaker 1: catch up on here before we get to more of
Speaker 1: our draft preview shows later in the week, it's that
Speaker 1: the two thousand eighteen schedule was announced late last week.
Speaker 1: Always an exciting day, wondering, you know, we we always
Speaker 1: know the who, you don't know the when with all
Speaker 1: of these matchups. What was your first impression when you
Speaker 1: saw the schedule? You know, it's funny because it is
Speaker 1: it's almost like an engagement. You know, you're getting married now.
Speaker 1: You just gotta figure out which day it's gonna be. Uh,
Speaker 1: I mean, you have to, myke, you gotta look at
Speaker 1: that schedule. The two things that stand out it is
Speaker 1: really cool they get to open the season against the Bears.
Speaker 1: You wrote a tremendous column going into all of that.
Speaker 1: To me, though, that middle stretch of the season, that
Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen days will be traveling over ten thousand miles
Speaker 1: a road trip out to l A. Then they got
Speaker 1: to go across the country to New England, come back over,
Speaker 1: go to Seattle in a short week, and then they
Speaker 1: finished with another prime time matchup against the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: in a month long stretch that's going to test them.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy constantly preaches the importance of November and playing
Speaker 1: your best football in November. They have a great chance
Speaker 1: to get off to a fast start with three or
Speaker 1: four at home. That middle, that middle of the season
Speaker 1: stretch is going to be something that really is defining
Speaker 1: though when you look at how this how this season
Speaker 1: is going to play out. Yeah, and when you look
Speaker 1: at that, it puts an even greater premium. As you
Speaker 1: just mentioned on taking advantage of the way the early
Speaker 1: season schedule sets up. Personally, as a as a football fan,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not in favor of the way this starts
Speaker 1: for the Packers with Bears and Vikings. And what I
Speaker 1: mean by that is having two division games. You only
Speaker 1: have six of them all season long, and they have
Speaker 1: two of them right off the bat in the first
Speaker 1: two weeks. I'm not crazy about that. But if you
Speaker 1: look at it from the Packers perspective, you get both
Speaker 1: of those at home, you do right out of the gate.
Speaker 1: You have to take advantage of that. That is your
Speaker 1: opportunity to win those first two home games against Chicago
Speaker 1: and Minnesota to year division rivals and to say, okay,
Speaker 1: here we are, come and get us. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: in this thing from start to finish. That's what the
Speaker 1: Packers have to say in September. It's such a great
Speaker 1: point you make, because I'm so far looking at this
Speaker 1: at all the really terrible like starts they've had in
Speaker 1: terms of having to go to Jacksonville and then opening
Speaker 1: these stadiums in Atlanta and Minnesota. So I if they
Speaker 1: get too at home, I just look at that naturally
Speaker 1: as a positive. But you bring out a good point
Speaker 1: in that starting against the NFC North, that is going
Speaker 1: to be difficult and it is going to be a
Speaker 1: tough stretch in terms of you have new coaches in
Speaker 1: both of those spots. Conversely, the Packers have two new
Speaker 1: coordinators as well. But that ultimately is what you know
Speaker 1: kind of is goes into how this season plays out,
Speaker 1: is how you're perform in your division. It's almost like
Speaker 1: starting if you were a college football team starting with
Speaker 1: two Big ten games right off the bad too. You're
Speaker 1: not You're not always who you are until the end
Speaker 1: of the season, so they'll just have to shift into
Speaker 1: a faster gear early and kind of hope for the best. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I kind of like the way December sets up, And
Speaker 1: I want to get back to talking about that November
Speaker 1: stretch you mentioned, but I like the way December set
Speaker 1: up here for a few different reasons. One is that
Speaker 1: you have three home games in December and they're all
Speaker 1: against Dome teams Arizona, Atlanta, and Detroit. Now, Detroit is
Speaker 1: used to the cold weather because they have to play
Speaker 1: plenty of late season games in Chicago and Green Bay
Speaker 1: over the years. But to get teams like Arizona and
Speaker 1: Atlanta coming to your place in December again another thing
Speaker 1: you have to take advantage of. And the other thing
Speaker 1: I like about December is that second Bears game is
Speaker 1: in December. I had looked this up for the for
Speaker 1: the column I wrote last week when the schedule was announced.
Speaker 1: There was a stretch of sixteen consecutive years through two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen where either in Green Bay or Chicago, the
Speaker 1: Packers and Bears played a December game. Then that stretch
Speaker 1: ended with the great you know, Roger stacab fourth and
Speaker 1: eight from the forty eight. Then you get away from
Speaker 1: it for a couple of years. Then two thousand sixteen,
Speaker 1: it's another December game. The Packers are trying to do
Speaker 1: that run the table thing, and Jordy Nelson sixty yards
Speaker 1: down the middle sets up the game winning kick and
Speaker 1: all of that. So I just I like the fact
Speaker 1: that Packers Bears is going to be in December again,
Speaker 1: no matter where the teams are in the standings or
Speaker 1: however that shakes out. I just like the fact that
Speaker 1: those two teams are going to be out in the
Speaker 1: cold planing. And I don't even know if there was
Speaker 1: any deliberate action towards, you know, in terms of the
Speaker 1: NFL setting that up. Obviously, Mark Murphy, the Packers president CEO,
Speaker 1: they had requested to host the Bears for their hundredth season,
Speaker 1: to open it that way, but to have the back
Speaker 1: end of that have that matchup with the Bears, I
Speaker 1: think is very fitting. Well, those road trips you talked
Speaker 1: about before are definitely worth discussing. We'll get to uh
Speaker 1: those a little bit more after the breakback with more
Speaker 1: on Packers unscripted. Right after this welcome back to Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Mike Spofford here, West, Hodkowitz all the way over there West.
Speaker 1: A couple of final thoughts on the schedule. You did
Speaker 1: the math talk about those road trips. What did you
Speaker 1: come up with that in that November stretch ten thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred five d sixty four round trip miles. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, and every schedule is going to
Speaker 1: have it's it's set of challenges. And the way this
Speaker 1: one sets up for the Packers, there are some trade
Speaker 1: offs in there because right before you start, you know,
Speaker 1: this stretch of road trips with the trip to l A,
Speaker 1: the Packers have their bye week, so you've got sort
Speaker 1: of that rest and recuperation a little bit, hopefully get
Speaker 1: guys healthy, all that kind of stuff before you start
Speaker 1: on these long road trips. Then you have that short
Speaker 1: week going to Seattle for a Thursday night game. But
Speaker 1: then that gives you a little bit of the extra
Speaker 1: break that many bye week the players talk about before
Speaker 1: you have that big road game in Minnesota, big NFC
Speaker 1: North game there in late November. So a lot of
Speaker 1: trade offs here and there but that's gonna be one
Speaker 1: heck of a stretch of Yeah, as you said, that's
Speaker 1: a great way to put it. There are trade offs
Speaker 1: because you do get the Monday night game in. You
Speaker 1: don't have a short week because you can go into
Speaker 1: the bye week after that, so that helps. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you do at least get to play at home against
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins before you travel Seattle as opposed to
Speaker 1: having to travel somewhere and then have the short weekend
Speaker 1: going out there. So there are silver linings to it.
Speaker 1: But whatever way you slice at Mike eighteen days in
Speaker 1: the quality of those opponents, I mean the l A Rams,
Speaker 1: they're different ball club now and you always know what
Speaker 1: you're getting in the Patriots with Bill Belichick, uh in Seattle,
Speaker 1: they've had some absolute wars with them over the years.
Speaker 1: It's a rough and ready time for the Packers. But
Speaker 1: also the positive side of that is with as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: how the December slate lines up, if you can come
Speaker 1: up victorious out of that, if you can have a
Speaker 1: positive over record in those series, that's really going to
Speaker 1: propel you towards that final stretch. Yeah, I mean the Packers,
Speaker 1: but it's it sets up to where if you're shifting
Speaker 1: gears and really starting to play your best football in
Speaker 1: November and then you gu upe for a stretch run
Speaker 1: in December, that's just the way you draw it up.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean having all these primetime road games.
Speaker 1: I mean you're on the road in primetime and Fox
Speaker 1: Spurrow in Seattle and then in Minnesota in a in
Speaker 1: a stretch of a month. Basically, it doesn't get much
Speaker 1: more difficult than that. But if the Packers are in
Speaker 1: contention heading into December, with the way that sets up
Speaker 1: I talked about last segment, I like green based chances
Speaker 1: to be right in this thing. Yeah, absolutely, And the
Speaker 1: big thing is here, Mike, Michael Knowlton Spofford will be
Speaker 1: home for Thanksgiving, he'll be home for Christmas, and he'll
Speaker 1: be home for New Year's the Packers not having to
Speaker 1: play in a Thanksgiving game for the first time and
Speaker 1: in three years since two thousand six. Um, so they
Speaker 1: get that side of it. So that's part of the
Speaker 1: schedule works out. There's just always a give and take.
Speaker 1: And you read any story across the country, Mike, every
Speaker 1: beat writer's writing about, well, this part is really terrible,
Speaker 1: and this part is really great. You just hope that
Speaker 1: there isn't a lot of terrible the Packers overall. I
Speaker 1: think it ends up being a pretty decent schedule and
Speaker 1: that'll be the first and last time my middle name
Speaker 1: is much on the show. But with that, we're going
Speaker 1: to sign off on Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com on Twitter. He's at west hot I'm at Mike
Speaker 1: Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. H m hmm.