WEBVTT - #421 Packers Unscripted: Plusses and minuses 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:20.560 Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.680 I am Mike Spofford, sitting alongside my trusted colleague West Hodkowitz. 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.600 Were coming to you here from our studios at lambeau 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:30.760 Field West. The first preseason game for the Packers in 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:33.400 nineteen is in the books. It turned out to be 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:38.440 a victory over the Houston Texans after Houston had spent 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.760 the bulk of the week in Green Bay. And I 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.159 don't want to read too much into it, obviously, in 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.680 a game where the vast majority of the starters for 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.200 both teams didn't play, this really was a game about 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.479 reserve players and backups fighting for spots. But if you 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.440 want to look for anything that maybe hopefully for the 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:59.200 Packers set some kind of a tone for nineteen, is 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.800 that they were looking for turnovers and for better impact 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.120 on special teams. And they got both of those in 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.920 the Texans, and they got it right away. It wasn't 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:10.520 one of those things where they needed to like go 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.679 down to crunch time and then someone made a playing 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:14.600 you know, the garbage moment in the ball game, and 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.319 the you know, the decisions already at hand. They made 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:19.720 three impact plays right off the bat, and then they 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:21.960 did another one right when they came back after halftime. 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.120 We could talk about the turnovers and takeaways on defense, 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.240 but man, it was just like you could feel this 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.880 collective sigh of relief when Econemius st Brown was able 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.759 to force that muff punt early in the first quarter there. 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:38.280 Last year, the Packers actually got off to a good 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:40.600 start last year. They got a block punt right off 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.520 the bat with Josh Jackson recovering it. Yeah, Week two 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.759 against the Vikings, but it was all downhill from there 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.000 and they weren't really ever able to re establish that momentum. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.280 To get a play like this, and to see a 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.640 young receiver like st Brown make a play when you 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.400 need them to it was important. I think it's something 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.320 that the special teams unit when they looked to cut 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.600 down and they woant umber of penalties they had last year, 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.640 but also makes some impact plays that can change the 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.840 course of a ball game. Uh st Brown did that. 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:11.280 He got on the guy, he pressured him and then 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.080 also had the presence of mind to be able to 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.480 take the ball away and get the touchdown. Afterwards, he's 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.440 talking to Tim Boyle and some guys after that Kadar 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.399 Holman who had the interception, and they mentioned just how 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.760 big those impact plays are, not just so trying to 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.400 make the football team, but really dictating the tempo. It's 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.239 one thing the Packers are able to accomplish against the 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.720 Texas right off the bat. Yeah, I was really impressed 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:36.040 with Holman's interception. That was another one of the early ones, 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.000 and we had talked about him going into the game, 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.600 guys like Kadar Holman, Tony Brown getting a lot more 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.280 snaps in practice with with you know, ones and twos 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.440 with Kevin King being out and uh, you know, Holman 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.320 made a nice play there. Now, it was an under 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.240 thrown ball, but he had talked about it was something 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.280 he saw in practice against the Texans during the week, 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.040 and then the recognition was there, so he undercut the 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.200 route and boom, he took advantage of of a poor 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.239 throw and got a big turnover in the red zone. 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.480 You have to do that too. I absolutely love when 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.800 he said that, because this is the preseason, it's training camp. 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.480 But for guys like Holman that are trying to carve 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:14.480 out a role in this defense, these are the moments 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.120 you need to have along the way for him to 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:21.880 be able to have that intelligence football i Q recall 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.720 if you will, and then make it that play happen, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.600 will it to existence into a football game? That That's 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.040 the one thing that really was missing from Holman's resume 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.800 so far. He's been sticky good in coverage. He's incredibly fast. 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.480 He just really hadn't had that big mark he takeaway. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.480 He was able to get that off of Joe Webb 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.080 and then another guy really quickly to jump off of two. 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.600 Raven Green is a player who right off the bat 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.160 was playing with the first team unit, whether it was 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.440 as deep safety when Darnell Savage was still out with 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.520 the wisdom teeth or moving into the boxes that hybrid 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.960 in the box safety linebacker role. Well, here's the young 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.000 man coming through with a force fumble that ends up 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.640 getting recovered by Will Redman. I mean, by all intents 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.520 and purposes, Mike, if these practices, if that preseason game, 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.920 there's anything to draw off of it, it's that Raven 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:09.880 Green is going to have a role in this defense. 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:11.560 That's the way it looks right now. Kind of like 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.000 what the Tally did on offense, Green has done a 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:16.680 lot of that on defense as a guy that you 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.080 thought going into camp might be on the fringe. It 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.320 looks like he's very much in playing. Yeah, well, it 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.400 wasn't all sunshine and roses in the first preseason game. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.839 Because if there were a couple of things that the 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.479 Packers definitely are looking to clean up as they head 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.040 into their second preseason game this week in Baltimore, it's 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.239 the penalties and the miss tackles. There were a dozen 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.560 penalties for over a hundred yards Matt Lafleur counted, and 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.760 when he went through the film, twenty four miss tackles 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.600 that equated to about a hundred and sixty four yards 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:50.520 of offense um or yards in general for the Houston Texans. 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.320 So the tackles thing, I get it. Obviously you want 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.839 to see guys tackle better than that. But when you 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.360 look at it West, you know, three weeks of O 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.720 t A, it is a week of mini camp, two 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.680 weeks of training camp. These guys have played football for 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.520 six weeks without tackling anybody. So okay, let's see what 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.440 happens in Baltimore before we, you know, make any grand 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.279 pronouncements about this is a major issue that the Packers 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:17.600 need to fix. So let's see what happens in Game 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.800 two the penalties. We saw a couple of things that 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.040 our points of emphasis for the officials this year. One 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.520 is offensive holding, because right away in the first quarter 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.159 both teams were getting flagged for holding left and right. 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.760 The officials really trying to get these guys to pay 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.000 attention to their technique and what's going to be called 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.000 this year. And then the other one to watch out 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.320 for two. It was on Holman's interception, the blindside block 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.480 Will Redmond. As Holman got up to return the interception 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.200 one way, Will Redmond was running the other way to 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.760 pick off a trailing player. Can't do that anymore. At 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.320 least you can't block him forcibly. You could run that 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.800 way and get in his way and try to prevent 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.160 him from getting there, but you can't lay the guy out. 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.120 That's gonna get a flag. That's going to be an 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.440 obvious fifty yard penalty. The officials are watching for that 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:04.680 kind of stuff. I don't know if you realize this, Mike, 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.000 but I'm now a officionado when it comes to understanding 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.880 the blindside block. After having our conference last week with 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.440 the officials, there you go the one thing you want 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.320 to look for now on that play is you can 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.000 stand in their way, you can shield them, is the 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.159 way they describe it. Otherwise you can extend your hands, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.120 but if you throw the shoulder, if you lower your helmet, 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.200 all that stuff is what the reps are gonna be 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.400 looking for. And it doesn't matter if you contact him 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.240 in the head or neck area or whatever. It's what 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.640 you do if you're literally if it's what they're gonna 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.880 call forcible contact and you're running towards the goal line 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.400 that you're defending, if you're running the opposite way, so 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.719 to speak, they're gonna flag it, right. And it doesn't 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:42.720 like you just said, like if Mike Spofford's running on 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.839 the football field like that and I throw my shoulder 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.479 into you, which is typically a legal hit if it's 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.680 in the course of play, like a defensive back going 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.599 to hit a receiver after catching ball, all that's legal. 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:55.640 But not on that one because the guy doesn't see 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.920 it coming. So yeah, that's one thing that they're gonna 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.279 have to clean up, no doubt about it. The packling 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.400 I thought it was somewhat maddening, to be honest with you, 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.479 because if there was any time in which I expected 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.040 them to miss a lot of tackles. It was going 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.279 to be early on in the football game. They actually 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.440 were pretty sharp there. I thought Raven Green, Tony Brown, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.440 uh Tye Summers and number of guys had really nice 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.240 solo tackles in the open field. But maybe it's just 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.600 the attrition, you know, conditioning. As the game wore on, 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.480 it became a little bit more uh you know, hit 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.000 or mess. Yeah. I think fatigue was definitely setting in 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.080 with these guys when you look at the fact, you know, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.080 all these guys sharing reps in practice for these one hour, 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.240 forty five minute two hour practices. Suddenly there's a three 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.760 hour football game and a bunch of starters are resting, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.120 they're not taking any reps, and a lot of these guys, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.200 the twos and three, so to speak, are playing an 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.840 entire football game. The miss tackles definitely piled up as 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.560 the game went along, and I think conditioning was definitely 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:49.000 a part of it. Yeah, And that's why I kind 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:50.640 of feel for Thy Summers a little bit. I mean, 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:52.160 say what you will, I know there were some places 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:53.880 you wanted back in the second half. The guy played 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.040 almost eighty snaps, found special teams in there one thing 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:58.840 I want to point out, though I thought was really cool, 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.000 it hasn't really come up to this week, is the 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.239 Packers actually started cycling their offensive lineman during that game. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.160 Historically in those preseason games, you'll see the number one 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.680 line or whatever's left of it, the number two line, 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.920 and the number three line. They actually had guys like, 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.040 for example, de Beer. Gerard de Beer started at right tackle, 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.400 then came in again later in the game. You don't 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.280 always see that kind of stuff. So I think where 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:21.920 he came out for a while and then went back 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.880 justin McCrae ended up leaving the game, came back in 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.840 as a center for Manny Wilkins. I thought that was 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.480 one way as far as the bigger guys concerned, to 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:31.320 make sure that they can make it up for the 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:33.920 whole game. Yeah, well, real quickly, Wes need to take 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.520 care of our sponsor business here. Select Cousin Subs locations 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.439 are now offering delivery. Whether you're ordering catering or your 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.440 favorite sub, They're delivering right to you when you order 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.960 online at Cousin Subs dot com. Cousin Subs we believe 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.320 in better all Right, West, there is an injury situation 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.840 here that we need to discuss with regards to the Packers, 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.679 and unfortunately, very early in the Houston game, second year 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:02.480 inside linebacker or in Works went down did not come 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:04.679 back in the game. He was seen on the sideline 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.280 with a big ice wrap over the the upper part 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.720 of his his body, his chest shoulder area. The Packers 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.320 have announced it as a chest injury. Matt Lafleur has 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.960 not given any updates yet, saying they're still gathering information 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:22.520 on the injury, something that's taking this long. Unfortunately, I 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.640 don't think it's going to be good news whatever it's 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:26.880 going to be at the end of this. But where 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.439 the Packers are right now is that the picture has 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.040 changed at inside linebacker. You mentioned Ye Summers. He led 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.160 the team with ten tackles in the Houston game, probably 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:38.600 could have should have had fourteen or fifteen to be 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.440 the first one to admit it, because he did miss 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.040 some in there. We've also seen Curtis Bolton, undrafted linebacker, 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:50.400 undrafted rookie from Oklahoma. He's been working alongside Blake Martinez 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.120 in practice. Summers has kind of been the signal caller 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.319 with the helmet communicator and everything for the number two defense, 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.000 a couple of other young guys James Crawford, Brady Show 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.640 Olden in that mix as well at inside linebacker. Um, 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.280 this Baltimore game is going to be a big one 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.840 for that group. Because I don't want to make two 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:13.920 grand of an announcement here, but in a lot of ways, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.720 maybe how this Baltimore game goes with these young inside 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.680 linebackers will determine how strongly the personnel department is going 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:25.199 to look outside to bring in another guy if or 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.000 in Burke's injury is a long term deal. So there's 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.600 a lot to pay attention here. Pay attention to here 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.880 as far as what's going on and inside backer indubitably right, 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.439 that's Mike Spotford. Word. Here's the thing. Last year when 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:39.520 Burke's had the shoulder injury, that's where you saw them 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:42.560 claim Antonio Morrison the next week after the Oakland game. 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.319 So this, I think you hit it right on the head. 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:46.960 This is gonna be a game where those young guys 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.080 have to show that they can, you know, really hold 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.120 down the fourth there so to speak. They want to 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.360 keep that job in house. These guys are not only 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.160 fighting for roster spots, they're fighting for playing time. They 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.400 don't want to force the personnel department to look outside 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.520 like they did last year totally. And and and the 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:03.720 thing is is that let's just be honest. The guys 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.120 that have come free, whether it be through a trader 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.600 on the market, there typically there for a reason. This 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:10.679 time of year, you're not going to find just another 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.200 Blake Martinez or or and Burke's sitting out there. So 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.240 from that perspective, if it is a long term issue 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.360 here with Burke's, do you have to The thing that 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.400 Mike Patton is gonna have to do, much like last year, 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:22.560 is kind of shuffle the deck a little bit. I 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.720 think they've made it pretty much a common thread in 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:27.760 that defense now that you're going to see the safety 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.280 playing in the box, specifically in those dime packages. You're 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:35.240 you know, Raven Green's, Josh Jones is those type of 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.240 ball players. The thing I like about Bolton is that 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:40.240 he kind of gives that dimension. He's sort of an 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:46.040 undersized inside linebacker six ft um, not your typical, you know, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:50.440 six six two eight kind of guy, and so, uh, 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:52.040 I don't know a lot about him, to be quite 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:53.480 honest with you, I know the Packer is very high 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.319 on them. We'll see how that young man does realistically, though, 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.120 I think this is a big time for James Crawford. 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.640 Crawford talked about this offseason and he wanted to be 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.280 more of an inside linebacker. He didn't want to be 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.640 seen as a tweener anymore. He felt like he was 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.120 settling into that position. Uh. This is a guy that 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:08.920 I think is showing everything you want to see on 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:13.959 special teams, aggressiveness, discipline, just sure tackling. It'll be a 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:15.880 big camp for him showing what he can do there. 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:17.800 And also for a guy like Summers. If Summers is 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.360 going to be leading this defense on those second team units, 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.600 especially in this game against Baltimore, that means that you're 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.040 pretty much the next guy up behind Blank Martinez. And 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:29.480 while Martinez has been incredibly durable for this defense, the 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.200 loss of Burke's is one of the guys that makes 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.200 it even more important that they have a guy that 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.760 could step up it should something happen at number fifty. Yeah, 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:41.480 Summers is a really interesting one to me because we 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:43.959 talked about when he was drafted in the seventh round 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.520 out of TCU. He was a converted quarterback from high school. 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:52.040 He started to learn defense in football as a college player. 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:54.839 By the end of his college career, he was one 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.480 of the best defensive players for Gary Patterson, who has 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.600 had a really good defense at TCU for a long time. Now, 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.000 he comes here to Green Bay as a late round, 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:08.280 third day draft pick and he's learning a three four 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.920 scheme for the first time. So there there's a there's 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.200 a learning curve here with Summers, and I think that's 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:18.839 I personally think that wearing the communication helmet and being 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.600 the guy who's calling the signals, I think that speeding 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:23.640 up the learning curve for him. I was talking to 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.559 him last week and he feels a lot more comfortable 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.120 with calling out you know, the checks and adjustments and 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.320 and working on the stunts. And of course he gets 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.160 fired up if he if the call is for him 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.200 to blitz and go after the quarterback. We've seen him 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.000 come free a couple of times on Family Night and 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.360 in the preseason game. But this is a guy who's 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.040 picking everything up really really quickly. Um. We know the 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.720 athletic ability is there. Um he's uh, he's got an 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.480 opportunity now in front of him, as does Bolton and Crawford. 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.280 You know, as you mentioned um, but I think Summers. 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.520 Summers is a guy who's made a pretty strong pression 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:02.840 early on here, and uh, you know, let's see if 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.840 he can continue to build on it. Yeah, Well, gives 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.959 him a chance. Is sort of like when we talked 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.000 about Tony Brown a little bit. Now, Summers didn't toss 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.679 off the charts like Brown did with his forty and everything, 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.920 but he tested really well. It's one of the reasons 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.680 why he got drafted was just his speed. Has a 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.800 pretty good vertical uh, and there were some questions coming 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.720 out of whether or not he could play to those statistics. 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:25.480 Be quite honest with you, Mike, I thought that was 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.200 one thing that he did well in that game against Houston. 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.240 He looked really quick. Laterally, he had some good sideline 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.640 to sideline speed. The thing is, especially as a rookie, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:36.320 if you're gonna make mistakes, you want to make him 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:38.400 in a hunter miles per hour, especially at that inside 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.520 linebacker position we talked about in the past with Blake 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.560 Martinez and even to some extent Burke's last year. You 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.800 don't want to be hesitant. You want to be to 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.800 be decisive, and I think Summers brings that to the table. 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:50.760 The biggest thing that was being able to tie it 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.400 all together. And you know, there's one thing about being 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.880 aggressive in the tackle, it's another thing to miss the tackle. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:57.440 You have to be able to do it. Now, you're 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.760 not gonna be facing Joe Webb every week, but you 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.280 are going to face running backs with that type of 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.320 speed and quickness that are going to be able to, 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.120 you know, cut on you. So I just think these 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:08.880 next three weeks are gonna be a big learning curve 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.960 for him, big learning experience for him. And we'll see 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:13.920 what you know, the packers can come up with their 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:16.240 trying to find someone is sitting next to Blake Martinez. Yeah, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.080 Bolton is an interesting case too, as an undrafted guy, 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.720 he didn't really become a full time starter in college 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.040 at Oklahoma until his fifth year there. His red shirt 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:30.360 junior year, he got injured a nasty ankle injury that 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.160 cut that season short, and he had mentioned that there 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:37.520 were some questions outside, not from internally but outside as 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.480 to whether he'd even come back for his fifth year 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:41.960 senior year. After the injury. He did come back. He 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.360 was a starter, He was honorable mention all Big twelve. 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:47.600 Ended up not getting drafted, but this is uh. You know, 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.440 he's he's your classic undrafted guy who shows up every 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.280 day with something to prove and uh, and he's getting noticed. 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.320 He's working alongside Blake Martinez right now these last couple 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.240 of practices. He's another guy to keep an eye on. Yeah, totally. 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.720 And again, these guys that come in sometimes at that 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.760 linebacker position inside outside, you find a gem or two 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.000 there that can really solidify your defense. If they have 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.160 the right mindset and they have enough athleticism, we get 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.640 the job done. Yeah. Well, another thing, it wouldn't be 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.920 a training camp or preseason show without talking about the 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.280 wide receiver competition at some point here. But I bring 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.120 it up, and I know we've talked about a lot. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.880 I bring it up right now because some things are 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.920 changing with what's going on. Trevor Davis has been injured unfortunately, 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.960 since the first joint practice with the Texans, so he's 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:35.480 been out for about a week now. And we just 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.800 saw eq St Brown uh in practice on Sunday. If 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.800 I'm getting my days right, he dropped out of practice. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.400 The announcement was there's something with his knee that's bothering him. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.480 We don't really know what to the extent of it, 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.360 but we've seen we're starting to see guys like Darius 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:57.200 Shepard and Alan Lazard and others. They're making plays and 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:01.280 they're getting noticed. And this this last three weeks, as 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:03.800 far as how this wide receiver competition is going to 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.480 sort itself out, is going to be really really interesting. 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.680 Brian Goodkouin's last year, there wasn't an easy decision there 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:11.520 because you had to make a tough call on whether 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.640 or not to keep Jake Kumerou and then the three 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.520 young receivers. He's had some tough decisions to make, which 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:18.720 is the way you wanted to be. Packers have been 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:20.760 very fortunate over the years that you know, they've been 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.280 putting this position. Geron Wallison once put them in that 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:26.040 position when he was a rookie, didn't end up making 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.200 the team, but obviously he's turned into a contributor. It's 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.960 funny because I think every year before camp, everybody does 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:33.960 their little Okay, well, you're gonna keep this player and 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:35.520 this player is going to get cut, and this is 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.959 what the fifty three is gonna be looking like. You 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.879 can't do that with the receiving corps in any season. 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:42.879 But I think specifically, this year has proven it to 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.359 be the case, really, Mike, all ten of those guys 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.920 competing behind Davante Adams have had their moments this past week. 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.560 It's sort of belonged to Alan Lazard, I feel, and 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.919 that preseason game showed some really nice downfield speed. He 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.280 said he's always been kind of dogged on a little 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.000 bit for his speed, but I think you see some 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.280 explosiveness and his ability to sort of hit the second 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.879 third gear there heck of a touchdown grab on a 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.199 really nice throw by Tim Boyle, and and with that 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:11.320 type of size at six five being able to kind 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.480 of box out um whatever that Lonnie Johnson, that defensive 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.679 back from the Texas being able to box him over 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.639 for the twenty seven yard touchdown. It also draw the 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.040 defensive pass interference that helps set up that play that 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.160 ended up getting him a four yard penalty. I think 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.280 Lazard has been really solid this week, and Mike would 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.119 be remiss if we didn't talk about Darius Shepherd. Daris 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:31.600 Shepherd is the kind of guy that if you saw 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:33.399 him at the mall, you would think he's probably a 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.200 soccer player. He definitely looks like an athlete, but does 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.200 not look like an NFL football player, which I think 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.360 probably played in the fact that he was a tryout guy. 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:43.760 He was not signed as a college free agent anywhere. 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.480 That the guy just makes plays and his shifting nous 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.840 underneath the league has shown that if you can stay 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.080 healthy at that size and you can stay on the field, 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.119 there is a place for those players. I think Darius 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.320 Shepherd is a guy that practice one after another and 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:01.600 now even this the preseason games with that hit that 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.160