Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming
Speaker 1: to you here from our studios at lambeau Field. And
Speaker 1: it's West's turn to wear the throwback gear today. We're
Speaker 1: kind of trading off alternate. I'll make sure to wear
Speaker 1: some throwback gear tomorrow, but West, we're a day closer
Speaker 1: here to Packers bills Sunday noon Central time, kickoff at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field. And one of the interesting things here that's
Speaker 1: developing with the Packers offense is the running back situation.
Speaker 1: And it's quite a bit different from last year because
Speaker 1: a lot of the names are the same. But here's
Speaker 1: the difference. They're all healthy. Last year, that wasn't the case,
Speaker 1: and the Packers were shuffling guys in and out depending
Speaker 1: on who was good to go and who wasn't. All
Speaker 1: three of these guys, Montgomery, Williams, Aaron Jones all healthy
Speaker 1: and ready to go. How do you see this? The
Speaker 1: division of labor here shaking itself out. Well, here's the
Speaker 1: beautiful thing of this. And we've said it time and
Speaker 1: time again. I'll say it one more time. They all
Speaker 1: do something different. They all have different skill set, different strengths,
Speaker 1: and you know, listening to Jamal Williams and and Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones talk about it this week, Williams and Jones are
Speaker 1: incredibly close. I mean they're great friends, share and share
Speaker 1: an agent, go back to the Senior Bowl together. But
Speaker 1: the thing that's really nice about it is they all
Speaker 1: understand that as well. And the point I want to
Speaker 1: make here, Mike, because I know so much has made
Speaker 1: you and I answer the insider inbox and we get
Speaker 1: asked constantly basically, whoever is the guy that had the
Speaker 1: most successful why aren't they featuring that player? And the
Speaker 1: thing might challenge to everybody in a story that I
Speaker 1: wrote on Packers dot Com is go back and look
Speaker 1: at some of these recent Super Bowls. Super Bowl last year, Mike,
Speaker 1: the leading carrier la Garrett Blunt fourteen carries. Go back
Speaker 1: two years ago, the leading carrier was DeVante Freeman had
Speaker 1: eleven carries. The game's changing, y'all, Like, it's not just okay,
Speaker 1: you have Adrian Peterson as prime and you're gonna run
Speaker 1: the thirty five times a game. You're gonna have Larry
Speaker 1: Johnson and his prime and run him forty three times
Speaker 1: a game. No, I mean you're gonna have a division
Speaker 1: of labor, as you said, And I thought Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: said something really interesting and that when you can get
Speaker 1: three guys who are all that Mike McCarthy uses three
Speaker 1: down running backs, it sets you up offensively so that
Speaker 1: the defense can't really get a beat on anyone. That's
Speaker 1: an important thing. Now they've got to be able to
Speaker 1: get started on not having as many reps. They have
Speaker 1: to be able to get going fast. But again, for
Speaker 1: everything that went wrong in Washington, I didn't feel the
Speaker 1: running game was one of those problems. I thought all
Speaker 1: three of those guys when they played, they produced. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with you, and I think I think the
Speaker 1: thing to keep in my nd here with regards to
Speaker 1: you know, the fans, and I know some of it's
Speaker 1: fantasy football, but but some of it, some of it's not,
Speaker 1: some of it's not. I'll give some people credit for
Speaker 1: not necessarily just falling into the fantasy football trap, but
Speaker 1: you have to look at this too. I mean, how
Speaker 1: did I just begin this segment talking about their health.
Speaker 1: All of these guys have had injury problems. So even
Speaker 1: if one guy you know steps to the forefront, so
Speaker 1: to speak. That doesn't mean you want to feed that
Speaker 1: guy times a game, because this is this is the
Speaker 1: long game here. The Packers are in this for the
Speaker 1: long haul. They'd like to have all these guys healthy
Speaker 1: for the duration. And the other thing too. What's really
Speaker 1: good about it from Mike McCarthy standpoint, because he continues
Speaker 1: to emphasize that all three of these guys are three
Speaker 1: down running backs. They don't need to be taken off
Speaker 1: the field and third down because of blitz pick up
Speaker 1: or this or that. And what that does for the
Speaker 1: head coach and for the offensive coordinator and for Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers is any time they want to go no huddle
Speaker 1: where they stick with one personnel group, try to catch
Speaker 1: the defense in a certain personnel group and get the
Speaker 1: matchups that they want and go up tempo and no huddle.
Speaker 1: They can do that no matter which running back they
Speaker 1: want to use at that time because they don't have
Speaker 1: to substitute based on the down and distance. So that's
Speaker 1: where now that Aaron Jones is back, he has his
Speaker 1: first game of the regular season under his belt. Now
Speaker 1: we're going to see exactly how these guys are going
Speaker 1: to be worked in and what the rotation is going
Speaker 1: to be. And I'll go back to the point I
Speaker 1: made after the Washington game in my postgame editorial. You
Speaker 1: have to find the right balance between a productive, effective
Speaker 1: rotation and not crossing the line to where the offense
Speaker 1: gets a little disjointed and you can't find the rhythm
Speaker 1: and flow that you want. So there may be some
Speaker 1: growing pains in a sense with this. That's not really
Speaker 1: the right phrase. I can't think of the right words
Speaker 1: right now. There. Yeah, there may be some adjustment, some
Speaker 1: transition to this, but I think the Packers offensive coaches
Speaker 1: are going to figure it out and it's going to
Speaker 1: benefit this offense for the long haul. I looked at
Speaker 1: it a lot, Mike in terms of, you know, the
Speaker 1: great Owls teams of the late nineties, right where they
Speaker 1: had different I was. I was a Bulls fan back then.
Speaker 1: I was a big band wagon writer back then. Um,
Speaker 1: but you know, they had different modes of offense. You
Speaker 1: put in Steve Kerr as the three point threat, Jed
Speaker 1: Bushler as a three point threat, different ways that you
Speaker 1: could adjust the offense. So it wasn't just always okay,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, So I just I think
Speaker 1: it's important to realize. I think the Packers offense it
Speaker 1: takes different forms when these different backs are in there.
Speaker 1: When you have Time Montgomery, it is more up tempo,
Speaker 1: it's more two minute oriented. You're able to do more
Speaker 1: with motioning the running back in the backfield. My personal
Speaker 1: belief is that all three of these running backs, and
Speaker 1: this is really a credit to Ben Sermons. I hope
Speaker 1: he's able to sit back a little bit and enjoy
Speaker 1: the fruit of his labor here. You've seen those three
Speaker 1: guys all come from different paths. I don't know how
Speaker 1: big our screen goes here as far as the camera vision,
Speaker 1: but you know all of them have different and you've
Speaker 1: seen them all sort of morph into one area. Time
Speaker 1: Montgomery having the receiver background, becoming more of a running
Speaker 1: back running between the tackles, improving on pass protection, Jamal Williams,
Speaker 1: as we've known for a while now good and pass protection,
Speaker 1: showing he can be a threat as a pass catcher,
Speaker 1: and Aaron Jones for as explosive as he is, trying
Speaker 1: to be more reliable as a pass protection and also
Speaker 1: pretty darn good as a pass catcher. Now out of
Speaker 1: the backfield too. That's why you're able to do this.
Speaker 1: If you have three guys and nobody emerges and nobody
Speaker 1: established with himself and you have that problem, that's an issue.
Speaker 1: But you do have three guys now that okay, if
Speaker 1: something falls one way or you need a certain guy
Speaker 1: and a certain look. That's how the New England Patriots
Speaker 1: have had the success they've had over the last five
Speaker 1: to six years. They can tailor game plans to the
Speaker 1: weapons that they have in the backfield. I think that's
Speaker 1: where this is going for the Packers. And at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, yeah, maybe it's not going to
Speaker 1: help out your fantasy football team, but I do think
Speaker 1: it's going to help the Packers win games. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I guess my point from before is that I don't
Speaker 1: know if the Packers are necessarily going to be able
Speaker 1: to figure all this out right away right now. This
Speaker 1: is the six team game season. Let's let's let them
Speaker 1: figure this out as as they go along, because it's
Speaker 1: going to be all about playing your best football. In
Speaker 1: November and December, when Aaron Jones played seventeen snaps in
Speaker 1: his first game back from suspension, had the hamstring the hasty,
Speaker 1: as I said an inbox, let's see what this Sunday
Speaker 1: looks like, because it's not just one game. Yeah, that's right. Well,
Speaker 1: another guy you were talking about, these guys catching passes
Speaker 1: out of the backfield, another pass catcher. A lot of
Speaker 1: eyes are on this week is the Packers veteran Randall Cobb,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to get into was the Washington
Speaker 1: game the worst of his career or rank at this
Speaker 1: and that it doesn't matter. Unaccomplished pro had a bad day.
Speaker 1: That's that's all there. That's all there is to this.
Speaker 1: But I tell you what you like about Randall Cobb,
Speaker 1: and Mike McCarthy said it. Aaron Rodgers has said it.
Speaker 1: His consistency, the way he handles himself. You don't know
Speaker 1: talking to Randall Cobb in the locker room this week
Speaker 1: necessarily that he had such a bad game, and that
Speaker 1: speaks to his professionalism because you know, Wes Marquez, Valdes, Scantling,
Speaker 1: e q st Brown, Jamond More, they're watching how Ranch Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're watching how Randall Cobb handles this week because he
Speaker 1: had a bad game. And I said it right away
Speaker 1: on our Monday show. I know these guys who drop passes.
Speaker 1: When you when your veteran players, you know these guys
Speaker 1: are going to bounce back. They take it seriously. They
Speaker 1: take a lot of pride in what they do. They
Speaker 1: know they let their teammates down. It's not about them personally,
Speaker 1: for them, it's it's about the team, and it's about
Speaker 1: what they were being relied on to do, and they
Speaker 1: didn't come through. Randall Cobb. All he said all week
Speaker 1: long is you go back to work. That's all there
Speaker 1: is to do. What else is there to do? You know?
Speaker 1: And his his professionalism, his leadership through something like this,
Speaker 1: I think can help the Packers, especially with so many
Speaker 1: young wide receivers in that room right and Marvin back
Speaker 1: in the truck right now. Maybe he can bring up
Speaker 1: the split screen of Randall Cobb's interview, not the audio,
Speaker 1: but just the interview itself. His posture, how he you know,
Speaker 1: his non verbal language was after he had a career
Speaker 1: day two weeks ago, hundred forty two yards seventy five
Speaker 1: yard game winning touchdown. He's the same same exact guy,
Speaker 1: same exact mannerism, same exact mentality. And that's because he's
Speaker 1: not a rookie anymore. He's an eighth year guy. He's
Speaker 1: been doing this at a high level for a long time.
Speaker 1: He gets it. And I think the thing that Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers can sleep well at night and Mike McCarthy can
Speaker 1: sleep well at night is whatever happens this Sunday against
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills, none of it is going to have
Speaker 1: any lasting effect from what happened last Sunday. It's a
Speaker 1: new game to Randall cop He's been through this before.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing is too is Roger said,
Speaker 1: because he was basically asked from I believe it was
Speaker 1: Rob Demowsky asked him, you know, what do you say
Speaker 1: to him or just what is that conversation like with Randall?
Speaker 1: You know, when he's not when he didn't have his
Speaker 1: best game, and Rogers made a point too quick to
Speaker 1: point out. He's like, Okay, yeah, you can point to
Speaker 1: the plays that Randall didn't make, or the the fumble
Speaker 1: or the drop pass. But he's like, I also talked
Speaker 1: to him about the plays that I didn't make with
Speaker 1: him when he did get open down field and he
Speaker 1: didn't see him, or when when there was a couple
Speaker 1: instances here and there where you know, Cobb did get
Speaker 1: the separation but he just wasn't looking in his direction.
Speaker 1: It's not just one player, it's everything that goes into that. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a fresh new ball game. But
Speaker 1: I do believe, as you said, that was an excellent
Speaker 1: point you made, Mike, the three rookies. Just look at
Speaker 1: a guy like Gjeroni Wa Allison. He's been in that
Speaker 1: room now for two and a half years, seeing the
Speaker 1: consistency of Cobb and Nelson and Davante Adams. That rubs
Speaker 1: off on a guy like him now who's off to
Speaker 1: the best start of his career. Yeah, you don't think
Speaker 1: Geronimo Wallison learned something watching Jordy Nelson put a flak
Speaker 1: jacket on and go out and play with cracked ribs
Speaker 1: in the NFC Championship game. I mean that's these veteran
Speaker 1: guys make impressions on younger players, and Geronimo Allison has
Speaker 1: benefited from. He's a quiet guy. He sits back and
Speaker 1: he watches. Now we're seeing his development. And these younger
Speaker 1: guys now they're watching Randall Cobb, They're seeing how he
Speaker 1: handles this. And and as I said, I think the
Speaker 1: Packers will be better for it. All Right, A quick
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Speaker 1: before we go West. A quick follow up on the
Speaker 1: new cornerback the Packers brought in, but Shod Bryland, the
Speaker 1: fifth year veterans spent the first four years of his
Speaker 1: career with Washington. Really strange offseason journey he went through
Speaker 1: UM was considered I don't know where exactly they were ranked,
Speaker 1: but was considered one of the top cornerbacks available in
Speaker 1: free agency. In the middle of March, when free agency began,
Speaker 1: he signs a multi year deal, pretty lucrative deal with
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers, but then fails a physical and it
Speaker 1: turns out a couple of weeks before free agency started
Speaker 1: he's on vacation at a resort in the Dominican Republic,
Speaker 1: has a kind of a freak accident with a golf cart.
Speaker 1: Some resort employee driving a golf cart like kind of
Speaker 1: ran into his foot or or hit his foot or
Speaker 1: something like that, and it essentially kind of reopened and
Speaker 1: infected an old wound from his childhood. And I guess
Speaker 1: it was enough of a problem that then when he
Speaker 1: signed the contract with the Panthers and went to have
Speaker 1: the physical, they failed him on the physical. He needed
Speaker 1: to have another procedure done on the foot, and lo
Speaker 1: and behold, he goes then all the way from the
Speaker 1: middle of March until the middle of September before he
Speaker 1: gets another opportunity to sign with somebody. Now he he
Speaker 1: went and worked out, he said, for at least thirteen
Speaker 1: more than a dozen teams around the league. The need
Speaker 1: arises with the Packers. Kevin King's dealing with a groin injury.
Speaker 1: Devon House has to go on i R because of
Speaker 1: a shoulder injury. The Packers swoop in. The Packers were interested,
Speaker 1: he said, back in the early stages of free agency.
Speaker 1: And now he's in Green Bay. He seems pretty happy
Speaker 1: to be here. Well, absolutely, and I'll tell you what
Speaker 1: already I'm gonna like from the standpoint of the man
Speaker 1: knows how to turn a phrase. He did it several
Speaker 1: times in his first meeting with the media, Just a
Speaker 1: lot of quick one liners that I thought were really pulling.
Speaker 1: The one I liked, probably like the most, was the
Speaker 1: one that you led your story off with, where he said,
Speaker 1: I just want to get back to a player that
Speaker 1: I meant to be, that I've always been. He also
Speaker 1: did say too that, uh, this is this is a
Speaker 1: big moment for him, not not just talking about the
Speaker 1: foot and trying to show that he can play. Another
Speaker 1: quote he said later on was I get the chance
Speaker 1: to change the perception of a shod berylon and really
Speaker 1: recreate a new player. It's a new start, a new beginning,
Speaker 1: a new journey for me. He had his ups and
Speaker 1: downs in Washington. On the field, he was really a
Speaker 1: very consistent presence for them. We talked about how many
Speaker 1: games he started, uh and in what he brought to
Speaker 1: that defense and the versatility and flexibility that they had
Speaker 1: with him. But yeah, this was a long eight seven
Speaker 1: eight months for him, trying to find a new home
Speaker 1: in the NFL, he lands in green bait. The benefit
Speaker 1: for him though, as we talked about yesterday, he's still
Speaker 1: only twenty six. He puts together a solid season this year,
Speaker 1: he'll have another chance to revisit that free agent market.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's in that twenty nine category where okay,
Speaker 1: well you're not really sure if someone's gonna be willing
Speaker 1: to commit. If he plays well as we saw this
Speaker 1: past offseason, teams are going to be interested. Now, why
Speaker 1: it took so long for it to be the Packers,
Speaker 1: You know, there's I'm sure there's a lot that goes
Speaker 1: into that, but he's incredibly grateful for it. And I
Speaker 1: think you're seeing a guy come in here now with
Speaker 1: a real chip on his shoulder to show that, you
Speaker 1: know what, that guy everybody thought was a top cornerback
Speaker 1: in March, I'm still that guy. Yeah. And he didn't
Speaker 1: get into a whole lot of the details, and I
Speaker 1: don't blame him for that, but he basically said, as
Speaker 1: he was visiting a lot of these other teams over
Speaker 1: the last several months, that different doctors just had different
Speaker 1: opinions on this foot injury and the recovery and how
Speaker 1: long it might be before he would really be ready
Speaker 1: to go again. We know how conservative in a sense,
Speaker 1: Dr mackenzie is Dr Pat Mackenzie here with regards to
Speaker 1: injuries and players. So you know, for me, for my money,
Speaker 1: if Dr mackenzie signs off and says, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: this guy is good to go go ahead and sign him,
Speaker 1: you know, you've got to think that's uh, you know
Speaker 1: that that's something that the Packers will take advantage of.
Speaker 1: And and fortunately Mike McCarthy made no bones about it.
Speaker 1: The Packers feel very fortunate that a player of this
Speaker 1: caliber was available at a time when a need, a
Speaker 1: significant need suddenly arose because with you know, we don't
Speaker 1: know Kevin King's status necessarily for this game, but with
Speaker 1: what happened with Devon House, you're down to the two
Speaker 1: rookies Alexander and Jackson and then the veteran Tremont Williams
Speaker 1: at cornerback. And we all know what Mike Petton has
Speaker 1: done so far with those defensive backpackages. He likes to
Speaker 1: have a lot of options and and a lot of
Speaker 1: different combinations to use. And this is why I really
Speaker 1: do tip my cap to Brian good Kunz because with
Speaker 1: all due respect, I mean you know, and this is
Speaker 1: not meant to to rip on a player like Donna
Speaker 1: Tello Brown, but there's just a difference between promoting someone
Speaker 1: like that last year and actually signing someone like question
Speaker 1: talent level with a kind of caliber athlete you're getting.
Speaker 1: It's just it's it's higher and just the experience. And
Speaker 1: these guys who have been in the n f L,
Speaker 1: they've they've they've been under the bright lights that you know,
Speaker 1: been through it, you know, been there, done that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. There's there's there's no substitute for that, especially
Speaker 1: when you maybe need somebody in a pinch. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: and he's, as I said yesterday, he's a guy too
Speaker 1: that he's gonna be able to work off a Truman Williams.
Speaker 1: There's young guys in that room. And this also gives
Speaker 1: them an opportunity to hopefully get Kevin King back on
Speaker 1: the field here soon, so then you have even more options.
Speaker 1: King met with the media a little bit on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: you know, saying he's still taking it day by day.
Speaker 1: He was in the rehab program still on Wednesday, So
Speaker 1: we'll have to see exactly what you know that timeline
Speaker 1: looks for him with a groin injury. But right now,
Speaker 1: the Packers need those cornerbacks to play well. Trumon Williams,
Speaker 1: I thought, has given them a great effort here so far.
Speaker 1: You don't see a lot of thirty five year old
Speaker 1: cornerbacks being asked to do what Truman Williams is doing.
Speaker 1: And then certainly JayR Alexander and Josh Jackson jumped through
Speaker 1: the roof when it comes to potential freelance. Kind of
Speaker 1: the gap between that. He's a guy that's still young.
Speaker 1: He still has some good football ahead of him, but
Speaker 1: does have that experience. He's played in the league for
Speaker 1: a long time. He's played a lot of snaps during
Speaker 1: his first four NFL seasons. So that's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why he believes he's not going to have a
Speaker 1: huge steep learning curve coming into this defense. He thinks
Speaker 1: he's going to be able to pick it up quickly, obviously,
Speaker 1: stay on the hip of Joe W Jr. And And
Speaker 1: hopefully contribute sooner rather than later. Yeah, and he actually
Speaker 1: played for three different defensive coordinators in his four years
Speaker 1: in Washington, So he said it as locker to him,
Speaker 1: you know, grabbing a new playbook and diving in nothing new.
Speaker 1: He's he's been there, done that as well. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to also. I mean, there's so much
Speaker 1: that goes into that, but the name of the game.
Speaker 1: A cornerback is sticking with receivers. If he's healthy, if
Speaker 1: he's if he's a hundred percent and things are looking
Speaker 1: up right, there's a certain amount of instincts that are
Speaker 1: going to pick up for him too in the interim,
Speaker 1: and I I don't know, Well, we'll see exactly what
Speaker 1: this game plan is going to be for him, how
Speaker 1: much they incorporate him right off the bat against Buffalo,
Speaker 1: if it all will see. But I think if you
Speaker 1: give him a couple of weeks here and you get
Speaker 1: into the bye week, there's a lot of time for
Speaker 1: him to be able to get adjusted and get comfortable
Speaker 1: in this defense. Yeah, I agree with that. We're going
Speaker 1: to sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
Speaker 1: on Packers dot com on Twitter. You can still follow
Speaker 1: him at west hod I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers
Speaker 1: is still a team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: See you next time. H