Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime, Weston had Quits. We're coming
Speaker 1: to you here still from different locations at Lambefield and
Speaker 1: coming off of preseason game number two Saturday night against
Speaker 1: the New England Patriots and Wes. The game gets called
Speaker 1: with ten and a half minutes to go in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. But thankfully we are able to report it
Speaker 1: was such great news to hear on Sunday that.
Speaker 2: Yeah huge, I mean the fact rooky.
Speaker 1: Rookie cornerback, No, that's okay, rookie cornerback Isaiah Bolden was
Speaker 1: released from the hospital, traveled back to Massachusetts with the
Speaker 1: Patriots and so what was a very very scary and
Speaker 1: sobering situation on the field in the fourth quarter on
Speaker 1: Saturday night. It sounds like everything is okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And prayers to him and his family and hopefully
Speaker 2: no lasting effects from that. Just one of those bang
Speaker 2: bank type incidents that happened in the game of football
Speaker 2: where two guys are trying to converge, you know, you
Speaker 2: had Malik Heath was on the reception on that slant route,
Speaker 2: you know, going for a first down. I mean, that
Speaker 2: was a pivotal play there as the Packers are trying
Speaker 2: to continue that series.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately for Bolden he ends up taking a hit to
Speaker 2: the head and neck area. Everything seemed like, you know,
Speaker 2: from the Green Bay Packers in New England Patriots perspective, medically,
Speaker 2: I mean, total professionals being able to make sure that
Speaker 2: he's in the best position possible to be. Okay, he
Speaker 2: stays overnight for observation on Saturday night, but then flew
Speaker 2: home with the Patriots on Sunday. Like I said, hopefully
Speaker 2: you're just thinking to him and that his season, in
Speaker 2: his career and in his life more importantly, can continue on,
Speaker 2: because that certainly is never a thing you want to
Speaker 2: see on the football field.
Speaker 1: Yeah, certainly not. And I don't think there was any
Speaker 1: argument or debate as to the decision that was made
Speaker 1: to suspend the game at that point. It goes down
Speaker 1: as a twenty one to seventeen final score in favor
Speaker 1: of the Patriots, And of course the score is not
Speaker 1: the issue. I mean, in a preseason game, there's so
Speaker 1: much else going on to talk about, and with regard
Speaker 1: to the Packers the first team offense minus David Baktiari,
Speaker 1: who was still sitting out these preseason contests to this point,
Speaker 1: Jordan Love and company put up another touchdown. A bit
Speaker 1: of a slow start, there was the mishap with the
Speaker 1: shotgun snap early on another drive that reaches around midfield
Speaker 1: but then stalls out, but then backed up inside their
Speaker 1: own ten yard line. Jordan Love and company went the
Speaker 1: distance and ended up putting a touchdown on the board
Speaker 1: before their night was over, And that was pretty good
Speaker 1: to see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's exactly what you wanted to see. And to
Speaker 2: be honest with you, as difficult as that was, and
Speaker 2: the Josh Myers misconnection there with Jordan Love on the snap,
Speaker 2: it's not great. But at the same time, it kind
Speaker 2: of reminds you of you know, the times where you
Speaker 2: get a shock or something. It just sort of tells
Speaker 2: you don't do it that way again, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: there's sort of that muscle memory that that triggers. The
Speaker 2: intention was in the right place. What they were trying
Speaker 2: to achieve is trying to catch the opposition for encroachment. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: the guy didn't actually jump across the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 2: so they can move around and dance and do whatever
Speaker 2: they want, but if they don't actually cross, it's not
Speaker 2: a violation. So the Packers something they're gonna have to
Speaker 2: learn from. But all that being said, that third drive,
Speaker 2: as I wrote about in our insider our notes package afterwards,
Speaker 2: that I thought was very impressive was that, you know,
Speaker 2: that fifth series, they need to get the ball moving,
Speaker 2: and they did that. I mean being able to hit
Speaker 2: Romeo Dobbs in one of the more spectacular plays you're
Speaker 2: gonna see, regardless of preseason or regular season. Referees originally
Speaker 2: said that it was incomplete. Connor lewis up, you know,
Speaker 2: the eagle eyed Connor Lewis up in the coach's box saying, hey,
Speaker 2: not so fast they Matt Lafuer throws the challenge flag.
Speaker 2: Ends up being a huge pivotal play, but more importantly
Speaker 2: than just Dobbs, because everybody knows what Romeo can do,
Speaker 2: and I think he's been again just a con distant
Speaker 2: star for them since he got drafted. Here. Jayden Reid
Speaker 2: I thought had a huge moment because that showed his
Speaker 2: value in the slot in what he potentially can bring
Speaker 2: to this Packers' offense. I was super impressed by him
Speaker 2: and being able to snatch that ball coming across on
Speaker 2: that through route from Jordan Love. They end up scoring
Speaker 2: the touchdown nineteen yards and the Packers end up finishing
Speaker 2: that drive on a high note. From what it sounds
Speaker 2: like for Matt Lafleur, this will not be it for
Speaker 2: Jordan Love that he will probably be back out there
Speaker 2: with the first team offense against the Seahawks. But regardless,
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty passer rating, I thought a really
Speaker 2: positive sign for him with his growth and where this
Speaker 2: Packers offense wants to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was so much to like about that touchdown
Speaker 1: play to Jayden Reid. I mean, first off, you have
Speaker 1: aj Dillon transitioning in an instant from carrying out a
Speaker 1: play action fake to having to pick up the Patriots blitzer,
Speaker 1: and not only does he pick him up, but he
Speaker 1: basically just buries him into the lambeau Field turf and
Speaker 1: the pass protection held up. You know, really, for the
Speaker 1: bulk of of Jordan Love's stint out there in each
Speaker 1: of these first two preseason games, the pass protection, even
Speaker 1: without David Bacciari, has been pretty darn good. But then
Speaker 1: the velocity that Love is able to put on the throw.
Speaker 1: The fact that Reid snatches it with his hands out
Speaker 1: of the air and then still has the body control
Speaker 1: to turn and cut inside the pylon to get it
Speaker 1: into the end zone for the touchdown. Just a lot
Speaker 1: to like on that touchdown play, as you said. Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleuur confirmed on Sunday that Jordan Love will play the
Speaker 1: number one offense will play in the preseason finale against Seattle.
Speaker 1: Didn't say how long. Again, the expectation, I guess based
Speaker 1: on the first couple of games, it will probably be
Speaker 1: a couple series. It will probably depend on how things
Speaker 1: are going. I mean, if they take the field at
Speaker 1: the twenty five yard line goes seventy five yards for
Speaker 1: a touchdown on the first drive, then Matt Lafleur may
Speaker 1: go all right, hey, we're good, Like let's get out
Speaker 1: of here. So that maybe would be the ideal situation.
Speaker 1: But the other thing too, with regard to the the
Speaker 1: first teamers that played, I thought, you know, the Packers
Speaker 1: number one defense was put in a tough spot with
Speaker 1: after the fumbled snap and the Patriots take over in
Speaker 1: the red zone, then they're able to finish that drive
Speaker 1: and get a touchdown. Then after that, you know, really,
Speaker 1: other than maybe the one play where Ramondre Stevenson busted
Speaker 1: a run, you know, for twenty plus yards, there was
Speaker 1: a run that leaked out there. I thought the Packers
Speaker 1: starters and and the twos that you know were maybe
Speaker 1: subbing in some of the the twos that were subbing
Speaker 1: in early in the game. I thought the Packers defense
Speaker 1: held up pretty well to Mac Jones and that Patriots offense,
Speaker 1: And certainly the star on the defensive side was Kingsley
Speaker 1: and a bare who the second year edge rusher, fifth
Speaker 1: round draft pick out of South Carolina last year. He
Speaker 1: ends up with two sacks. One of those he strips
Speaker 1: the ball from Mac Joness, it recovers it himself and
Speaker 1: actually then that set up a scoring drive for the offense.
Speaker 1: So big night for kings Leyannigbari. Because while there's all
Speaker 1: kinds of hope, of course that Rashan Gary will be
Speaker 1: back for week one, there's no guarantee how much he's
Speaker 1: going to play necessarily right off the bat, and you can,
Speaker 1: just as you always say defensively, you can never have
Speaker 1: enough cover corners. You can never have enough edge rushers either.
Speaker 1: And if kings Leyannigbari is making those year two strides
Speaker 1: that you really like to see that could go a
Speaker 1: long way for this Packers defense in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you covered all of it. I mean,
Speaker 2: you look at the way that Nbarr's played from day
Speaker 2: one to where he's at now. This is a guy
Speaker 2: that I thought, you know, outside of that forty time
Speaker 2: there wasn't a lot to take fault with with him
Speaker 2: coming out of South Carolina. He was an impressive physical
Speaker 2: specimen and a productive, consistent pass rusher for him, you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's important. He's going to be a guy they're going
Speaker 2: to look to. But what I was more impressed with
Speaker 2: in this game was the play style aspect of things
Speaker 2: and what Matt Lafleur has talked about time and time
Speaker 2: again right now, right where it's it's going to be
Speaker 2: an idea of guys being aggressive, being at the point
Speaker 2: of attack, and I think that's translated to every level
Speaker 2: of the defense so far. And I'm personally really interested
Speaker 2: to see if they can carry that through into the
Speaker 2: regular season now because some years, Mike, you cover preseason
Speaker 2: games and it ends up being a lot of just
Speaker 2: four man rush and guys just trying to beat their man,
Speaker 2: almost like an extension of like a one on one
Speaker 2: type period. It hasn't been like that in this camp. So,
Speaker 2: whether it's in Igbari, whether it's a guy like Colby
Speaker 2: Wooden or Carl Brooks who had two more quarterback hits
Speaker 2: in this game, all the big names that we talked
Speaker 2: about all summer, they're there, with Kenny Clark and you know,
Speaker 2: hopefully at some point you know seeing Gary Outen team periods,
Speaker 2: but Preston Smith. But it's these young guys that are
Speaker 2: going to be the ones that really build out the
Speaker 2: restless defense. And on a night where the Packers did
Speaker 2: not allow a quarterback hit on either Jordan Love or
Speaker 2: Sean Clifford, they were able to get plenty of pressure
Speaker 2: on the Patriots side of things. I think that's a
Speaker 2: good sign for the future.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And I think you up a good point
Speaker 1: about the young defensive linemen. Certainly Colby Wooden and Carl Brooks.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen them, you know, go against somebody else's
Speaker 1: first unit, first string necessarily, but the opportunities that those
Speaker 1: guys have been given a fourth round pick and a
Speaker 1: sixth round pick as rookies, the Packers know they're going
Speaker 1: to be counting on them to be the next man
Speaker 1: up on those defensive line. You have to like what
Speaker 1: you see. They've they've gotten penetration in the backfield. They've
Speaker 1: been impactful both against the run and with regard to
Speaker 1: the pass rush. You can't ask too much more from
Speaker 1: a couple of young defensive linemen who are trying to
Speaker 1: find their way, but pretty soon they're going to be
Speaker 1: thrown into the fire and they're going to be asked
Speaker 1: to hold their own and produce for this Packers defense.
Speaker 2: The biggest moment of Sunday's press conference, you know, Matt
Speaker 2: Lafleur talked for almost a half an hour, but one
Speaker 2: of the big lines I thought that was very important
Speaker 2: there was when he was talking about Carl Brooks and
Speaker 2: he said, you know, he's doing a lot of good things,
Speaker 2: but we're gonna need him to do that in the
Speaker 2: regular season too. And in that moment, I thought to myself,
Speaker 2: I'm like, we're talking about a sixth round pick here,
Speaker 2: We're talking about a guy that was drafted in the
Speaker 2: two hundreds. That isn't always the way you speak about
Speaker 2: a rookie. Sixth round pick. It shows you, at least
Speaker 2: in his case, that is, there's a lot more to
Speaker 2: this guy. There's a lot of meat to that bone,
Speaker 2: and I think that's probably the thing the Packers are
Speaker 2: most excited about right now. Last year there was a
Speaker 2: lot of work to do in the defensive front. It
Speaker 2: wasn't on one specific player, but they made a lot
Speaker 2: of alterations to this group. And I feel like when
Speaker 2: you add a wooden when you add a guy like
Speaker 2: Kyle Brooks or Carl Brooks excuse me, and you have
Speaker 2: a guy like Jonathan Ford, who I think has also
Speaker 2: taken some strides as a pass ru you know, as
Speaker 2: a run stuffer, that room has built out really well
Speaker 2: for them. We've talked about a time and time again,
Speaker 2: but you know, there were learnable teachable moments in this game.
Speaker 2: You know, Carrington Valentine, I think, you know, in some
Speaker 2: ways saw some of the changes in the NFL that
Speaker 2: he's going to have to adapt to. Certainly, the Packers
Speaker 2: are still figuring out what's going to happen at safety,
Speaker 2: but as it relates to that defensive front, during a
Speaker 2: time in which they went without Rashan Gary and are
Speaker 2: moving on from you know, Dean Lowry and Jaron Reid.
Speaker 2: I feel like this training camp and specifically these preseason
Speaker 2: games have given us a lot of answers to questions
Speaker 2: that we're lingering into the summer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and quickly before we shift back to the offense,
Speaker 1: you mentioned it too with regard to safety, the Packers
Speaker 1: still figuring things out there because as much as we've
Speaker 1: talked about, you know, Jonathan Owens was with ones and
Speaker 1: to various more then back to Owens, well, it was
Speaker 1: back to Rudy Ford as the starting safety in the
Speaker 1: game on Saturday night. So we'll see upcoming here in
Speaker 1: the preseason finale Saturday afternoon at Lambeufield against the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: Just just how this, how this shakes out and where
Speaker 1: the where the Packers decide to go with really what
Speaker 1: has been the only the only starting position on the
Speaker 1: defense that's been up for grabs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and that's where I'm going to be
Speaker 2: looking to see, you know, kind of who grabs it, right,
Speaker 2: because we've seen time and time again where it's been
Speaker 2: so close here and you've had Jonathan Owens get opportunities,
Speaker 2: You've had you know, Darnell Savage working with all these
Speaker 2: different types of safety, but who's going to be the
Speaker 2: one that holds onto that job in the long term.
Speaker 2: I think the door is even open now to a
Speaker 2: guy like Anthony Johnson as a rookie, seventh round pick
Speaker 2: who has had some good practices. I think first and foremost,
Speaker 2: you're probably still looking at special teams with him and
Speaker 2: some of the things that Matt Lafleur has complimented him on.
Speaker 2: But when you're the only safety drafted in a thirteen
Speaker 2: player draft class after you don't resign, you know, Adrian Amos,
Speaker 2: that creates natural questions for Okay, what is this guy's
Speaker 2: potential ceiling? Where could this thing go? For him? And
Speaker 2: for me, it really is going to come down to
Speaker 2: who fills out that five you know, nickel and that
Speaker 2: sixth dime because that is pivotal and this is a
Speaker 2: passing first league. You know, Darnold Savage is going to
Speaker 2: be the shot caller back there now, He's going to
Speaker 2: be the guy that's going to be helping direct traffic.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, it is what
Speaker 2: it is. You have to see who's going to step up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I want to get to a couple other
Speaker 1: things about this preseason contest. But first some sponsor business.
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Speaker 1: Subs fifty years of better. Well with regard to competitions,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned in the secondary, the Packers are figuring
Speaker 1: out starting safety, what exactly is the nickel and the
Speaker 1: dime going to look like moving forward, and that secondary
Speaker 1: is still, you know, waiting on Eric Stokes getting back
Speaker 1: and being activated off the pup list. He has not
Speaker 1: practiced as of yet, but we know that that you
Speaker 1: know that day is coming where he's going to be
Speaker 1: activated in one form or another, whether it's before the
Speaker 1: end of training camp or at some point during the
Speaker 1: regular season. On the offensive side, the competition for the
Speaker 1: number three running back spot and for the depth spots
Speaker 1: at wide receiver still seems as wide open and undecided
Speaker 1: as they could be at this stage. There's a lot
Speaker 1: going on. There are a lot of guys, you know,
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Wilson, Patrick Taylor at running back and then at receiver,
Speaker 1: whether you're talking Grant Dubo's or Malie Heath or Somori Toure.
Speaker 1: A lot of action going on that the personnel department
Speaker 1: is paying attention to, and these young players are not
Speaker 1: making it easy on them, which is a good thing
Speaker 1: for the Packers in the long run.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's gonna be one of the
Speaker 2: more difficult cuts that the Packers are going to have
Speaker 2: to work through here in a week's time. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's crazy that we're already at that point that you're
Speaker 2: you know, it seems like training camp goes on forever,
Speaker 2: and then suddenly it's staring you right in the face
Speaker 2: that we're looking at a fifty three man roster. I
Speaker 2: think it's going to be really intriguing to see who
Speaker 2: all emerges at those positions where we talked about the depth,
Speaker 2: because it's easy enough to say, okay, well, this player
Speaker 2: earned it or this player deserves it, but then you
Speaker 2: also do have to consider the special teams piece to it.
Speaker 2: A guy like Patrick Taylor ranks really high in the
Speaker 2: special teams regard. Packers are hurting for tight ends in
Speaker 2: this game, Mike, and they unfortunately lost another one with
Speaker 2: Henry Pearson who's a full back but naturally a tight end.
Speaker 2: So what happens? I mean, you're seeing guys like Patrick
Speaker 2: Taylor playing as an up blocker now on the kickoff
Speaker 2: return team. Usually don't see running backs do that sort
Speaker 2: of thing, but he has the size and sort of
Speaker 2: the acumen to handle it. Packers really value that. I mean,
Speaker 2: Tyler Goodson I thought looked really impressive during the offseason program,
Speaker 2: but then he gets a shoulder injury. And then you
Speaker 2: have Emmanuel Wilson, who is a really natural runner, but
Speaker 2: is he going to be able to play the other
Speaker 2: phases which maybe necessarily he hadn't done a lot in college.
Speaker 2: Those are the big things that Packers are going to
Speaker 2: have to look for here in this next week. This
Speaker 2: final preseason game is gonna be really intriguing to watch though,
Speaker 2: because you're going to see the starters play a little bit.
Speaker 2: I'm guessing Sean Clifford will get some more reps, but
Speaker 2: Matt Lafour even said it on Sunday he wanted to
Speaker 2: get Alex macgoose some reps at those threes until unfortunately
Speaker 2: that injury happened with Bolden. So there are you know,
Speaker 2: ninety one players on this roster if you conclude Kenneth
Speaker 2: o'demegu and having that exemption. So trying to figure out
Speaker 2: that fifty three and then the sixteen man practice squad
Speaker 2: beyond that is going to be a real challenge, which,
Speaker 2: as you've said time and time again, is something that
Speaker 2: I'm sure Brian Goodacunts and his scouts really do want
Speaker 2: because you want to be stuck with some difficult decisions
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it'll be fun to see in
Speaker 1: this preseason finale if Sean Clifford can go three for
Speaker 1: three in two minute drills. He's two for two at
Speaker 1: the end of the first half, a touchdown and a
Speaker 1: field goal. Let's see if he can get some more
Speaker 1: points there. But with that we will call it a
Speaker 1: rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the final week of
Speaker 1: training camp leading up to the preseason finale on Saturday
Speaker 1: afternoon at Lambellfield against the Seattle Seahawks. We will have
Speaker 1: it all for you on Packers Dot com for wes
Speaker 1: I am Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We
Speaker 1: will see you next time.