Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you from different
Speaker 1: locations here at lambeau Field as the Packers are in
Speaker 1: the midst of OTAs and wes. Two weeks of OTAs
Speaker 1: are in the books, one week left to go, followed
Speaker 1: by the mandatory mini caamp to wrap up the off
Speaker 1: season program. One topic I wanted to get to that
Speaker 1: we actually didn't get to on our last show. That
Speaker 1: was a I guess you'd call it maybe one of
Speaker 1: the more lighthearted or humorous moments of the off season
Speaker 1: program so far as in relation to the media, was
Speaker 1: with the announcement of that whole fair catch rule thing
Speaker 1: with regard to kickoffs. And then just so happened, Keyshawn
Speaker 1: Nixon made himself available at his locker after practice that day,
Speaker 1: and let's just say he was having a little fun
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, what's a fair catch? I've never
Speaker 1: heard of. I've never heard of that. So I don't think,
Speaker 1: at least it doesn't seem as though this fair catch
Speaker 1: rule on kickoffs is going to change number twenty five's
Speaker 1: approach back there for Green Bay.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to change rich Spasacia's approach
Speaker 2: either from some of the tea leaves I've been reading
Speaker 2: and hearing, and I'm sure that trickle down effect has
Speaker 2: gotten a key Sean too. Hey, listen, I understand the
Speaker 2: mixed opinions on this. Obviously, Mark Murphy touched on it too,
Speaker 2: and Murphy's take five on Saturday. It's a sensitive issue
Speaker 2: because I think, first and foremost, as exciting as the
Speaker 2: play is, as much as it was a real big
Speaker 2: difference maker for the Packers last year. You know, I
Speaker 2: still think of Jonathan Franklin, I think of I believe
Speaker 2: Sean Richardson was injured on that a kickoff. It is
Speaker 2: a dangerous play. It's an inherently danger is played. As
Speaker 2: Mark Murphy outlined, it's not just the speed, it's the
Speaker 2: spacing of the players and the collisions that take place.
Speaker 2: For that reason, I hate to be the kind of
Speaker 2: guy that's, you know, saying, hey, take the physicality out
Speaker 2: of football, because it is a physical sport. I understand
Speaker 2: and appreciate where the league is coming from. To be
Speaker 2: perfectly honest with you, Mike, I don't know how much
Speaker 2: XFL you watched this year. I really ended up enjoying
Speaker 2: their kickoffs a great deal because it's still kept in
Speaker 2: the component of the kickoff, in the kicker kicking the
Speaker 2: ball off from the thirty thirty five wherever it was.
Speaker 2: It just moved the coverage players closer to the play
Speaker 2: it is. It makes the kickoff slower, but it does
Speaker 2: make you still have to be gap sound and disciplined,
Speaker 2: or you could potentially end up creasing and breaking for
Speaker 2: a touchdown. I wonder if that is the ultimate direction
Speaker 2: this thing swinks, because, as I've said to you so
Speaker 2: many times, I don't like fourth and fifteen at all.
Speaker 2: I don't I don't trust the officials with it. The
Speaker 2: last thing I want to see is a defensive holding
Speaker 2: call resulting in a team getting a fresh stet of
Speaker 2: downs and maintaining possession of football. I don't care about. Well,
Speaker 2: if you get a fifteen yard completion or twenty yeard
Speaker 2: completion a touchdown, it'd be exciting. That's not what I'm
Speaker 2: worried about. I'm worried about holding. I'm worried about defensive holding.
Speaker 2: I'm worried about some obscure, subjective pass interference call contact. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So given all these various scenarios, I look at the
Speaker 2: fair catches the middle ground in all of it. Andy
Speaker 2: Reid doesn't like to play no problem. You can coach
Speaker 2: your kickoff returner to never signal for fair catch. The
Speaker 2: ball could be anywhere and you tell them to return it.
Speaker 2: But some teams, like the Packers before Keishawn Nixon, where
Speaker 2: they were struggling to find a guy back there. It
Speaker 2: does make some sense, both strategically and from the player's
Speaker 2: safety perspective. As Mark Murphy talked about it, it's worth
Speaker 2: exploring considering an It's an avenue that college football has
Speaker 2: been using for some time now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you asked about the XFL part of things.
Speaker 1: I didn't watch any of the XFL, but I've read
Speaker 1: and I've seen the highlights in terms of how they've
Speaker 1: adjusted the kickoff, and I agree with you. I think
Speaker 1: eventually that is the direction the NFL is going to
Speaker 1: go because it keeps the the basics of a kickoff
Speaker 1: return in the game, but you are reducing the speed,
Speaker 1: the nastiness, so to speak, of the potential collisions. And
Speaker 1: you know they'll study the data in the XFL, certainly
Speaker 1: with regard to injury rates and things like that. I
Speaker 1: do think it's going to go that way eventually. What
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about is the other issue that you raise.
Speaker 1: Then if that's what you're doing, and all those coverage
Speaker 1: guys are already downfield for a kickoff, then what do
Speaker 1: you do for an onside kick? And maybe it needs
Speaker 1: to be something where the kicking team has to declare
Speaker 1: that they're going to try an onside kick and then
Speaker 1: they actually are forced to kick the ball on the ground.
Speaker 1: They you know, you can't declare you're going to do
Speaker 1: an onside kick and then pull a switcher through and
Speaker 1: kick a you know, a pop up, or kick a
Speaker 1: deep or something that recreates the dangerous elements of the play.
Speaker 1: So so those kinds of things that you know, I
Speaker 1: think will be in the works here in the NFL
Speaker 1: over the next several years as they as they try
Speaker 1: to get the injury rate on kickoffs reduced.
Speaker 2: And even if they would end up and I agree
Speaker 2: with you one hundred percent on what you're saying with
Speaker 2: the on site, but even if let's say they would
Speaker 2: have a pop up, you still have a returner back
Speaker 2: there and you still have the coverage players and the
Speaker 2: return team closer together. That's the biggest thing in this
Speaker 2: that I've learned over the last ten years, because dude,
Speaker 2: trust me. When they pushed up the kickoff from the
Speaker 2: thirty to thirty five, however, many years ago, that was
Speaker 2: I hated the idea. I hated the idea of there
Speaker 2: being more, you know, kickoffs that are just going to
Speaker 2: be brought for a touchback, you know, and starting at
Speaker 2: the twenty five. I didn't like that because it is
Speaker 2: an exciting play. I grew up with Desmond Howard and
Speaker 2: Alan Rossam and you know, these guys that made a
Speaker 2: lot of excitement out of that. But that being said,
Speaker 2: as you grow older and you understand the physical safety
Speaker 2: aspect of this, and that a majority of these plays
Speaker 2: that I have significant injuries are coming off of special teams,
Speaker 2: I feel like you do need to finance because unfortunately, Mike,
Speaker 2: you worry about every single player on the field. But
Speaker 2: let's be honest when you're talking about special teamers, these
Speaker 2: are your rookies, these are your first year players. These
Speaker 2: are some young guys a lot of times that still
Speaker 2: have their entire careers ahead of them, and I want
Speaker 2: to see them be able to have those opportunities to
Speaker 2: be on the respective side of the ball that they
Speaker 2: desire and you know, not just that introductory phase.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's a story to watch throughout this season
Speaker 1: as we see. You know, if the Packers are gonna
Speaker 1: have Keishawn Nixon back there, he may not call any
Speaker 1: fair catches all season. Line.
Speaker 2: I doubt it.
Speaker 1: There may be, there may be other teams. There may
Speaker 1: be other teams that will call a fair catch every
Speaker 1: single time and just say, hey, we're gonna take it
Speaker 1: out of the twenty five. We're not going to risk
Speaker 1: a hit, an injury, a turnover, you know, possible fumble,
Speaker 1: anything like that.
Speaker 2: So but this is this is why they do it, right, Mike,
Speaker 2: because at the end of this year, they'll take all
Speaker 2: that data. They'll see if it's gone up, if it's
Speaker 2: gone down, what the returns have been, what have the
Speaker 2: percentage has been, how many touchdowns have there been. They'll
Speaker 2: take all of that into consideration and make their best
Speaker 2: move forward. I like the one year your sort of
Speaker 2: provisionary rules at the Packers now the Packers, but the
Speaker 2: NFL has done I think that's been a good change,
Speaker 2: not just with special teams, but all across the board
Speaker 2: to see do a test trial to see if something works.
Speaker 2: Put that balloon out there and see what comes back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, the other thing from a news standpoint,
Speaker 1: I want to get to here before we dive a
Speaker 1: little bit more into OTA's and our observations. The Packers
Speaker 1: are during training camp this year, are going to be
Speaker 1: having joint practices with two different teams. They've Matt Lafleur
Speaker 1: has announced that for the first week of the preseason,
Speaker 1: when the Packers travel to Cincinnati, they will go a
Speaker 1: couple of days early and have a joint have one
Speaker 1: joint practice with the Bengals a couple of days before
Speaker 1: the game, than do the usual walk through the day
Speaker 1: before the game. The following week, when the New England
Speaker 1: Patriots are coming to lambeau Field for a preseason game,
Speaker 1: there is a joint practice agreement of some kind, although
Speaker 1: the details in the schedule with regard to that have
Speaker 1: not been released. But we've seen we've seen this trend developing,
Speaker 1: and not just with the Packers, but with teams all
Speaker 1: across the league. West that you know, the more starters
Speaker 1: are not playing in the preseason because of injury risk,
Speaker 1: and the preseason games are about, you know, your roster
Speaker 1: evaluation for guys who are going to make the team
Speaker 1: or not make the team, and the starters are going
Speaker 1: to rest and not take that risk that joint practices,
Speaker 1: joint practices in August, practicing against another team, you know,
Speaker 1: against another defense, against another offense, in that controlled environment
Speaker 1: where the quarterbacks not getting hit, where you know where
Speaker 1: you know guys are going to you know, still take
Speaker 1: care of each other because it is it is just
Speaker 1: a practice. That's that's where things are going. And the
Speaker 1: Packers are now going to have joint practices in two
Speaker 1: different weeks in the preseason in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: And this is the older I get again, kind of
Speaker 2: like in the special teams side of things. I think
Speaker 2: this is the right way to go. I think there
Speaker 2: is We've seen a handful of these just says. Yes,
Speaker 2: the first one they did against the Houston Texans wasn't great,
Speaker 2: But over the years, especially like the Jets ones where
Speaker 2: you had Robert Salah, Matt Lafleur be that friendship, some
Speaker 2: of the cohesiveness between the staffs. I thought they gave
Speaker 2: themselves really good work. I thought the practices last year
Speaker 2: with New or with New Orleans were really good. The
Speaker 2: idea of Green Bay, you know, the Packers leaving Green
Speaker 2: Bay to go down to Cincy for an extra day.
Speaker 2: When I first thought about it, I'm like, oh, wow,
Speaker 2: that's different. But you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: we typically end up not seeing that last practice before
Speaker 2: a preseason game anyway, So I don't know how much
Speaker 2: really changes. It maybe takes one away that we normally
Speaker 2: the public and the media would see. But to go
Speaker 2: up against a team like the Bengals with Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: and you know Jamar Chase, you know, seeing you know
Speaker 2: jyr Alexander working against him, You're not going to see
Speaker 2: that in the preseason. So so to have those opportunities
Speaker 2: I think is really big. Certainly to see an old
Speaker 2: school mindset coach like Bill Belichick buying into this and
Speaker 2: wanted to make the trip over here, I think it
Speaker 2: says a lot in terms of where this league is headed,
Speaker 2: and in the fact that these joint practices are probably
Speaker 2: going to become more commonplace. I would be really interested
Speaker 2: to see if this is the first time in franchise
Speaker 2: history the Packers have had two joint practices against another team,
Speaker 2: two separate teams in the same preseason exhibition season. I
Speaker 2: don't know if that ever happened, maybe in the six
Speaker 2: preseason game seasons. But one thing I'll mention this has
Speaker 2: nothing to do with your question, but I was because
Speaker 2: the question is going to keep coming up about Jordan
Speaker 2: Love and is he going to play in the preseason?
Speaker 2: Are the starters going to play? You know what I
Speaker 2: didn't realize, Mike, because I'm a couple years younger than you.
Speaker 2: Somebody asked, just a couple, just a couple somebody asked
Speaker 2: an inside or inbox about how Steve Young did in
Speaker 2: his first couple of years replacing Joe Montana. I knew
Speaker 2: the story with Montana, the elbow injury that kept him
Speaker 2: out in ninety one. I did not realize that he
Speaker 2: suffered that elbow injury in the preseason. I didn't know
Speaker 2: that that was something. It took thirty five years for
Speaker 2: me to realize. And there's been countless you know, when
Speaker 2: Green Bay we always talk about Jordan Nelson in fifteen,
Speaker 2: but you know, in a seventeen game season, the more
Speaker 2: I just wonder if the juice is not worth the
Speaker 2: squeeze in that regard to putting your guys out there,
Speaker 2: because the tangent there is if you're putting Jordan Love
Speaker 2: out there, well, is David Bakhtiari practicing or is he playing?
Speaker 2: Is Elton Jenkins playing?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Those are really hard questions in scripted, somewhat vanilla game situations. Well,
Speaker 2: in these joint practices, you can actually throw the book
Speaker 2: at the opponent a little bit more kind of a
Speaker 2: handshake agreement, you know, so show some of your stuff.
Speaker 2: It's probably not a great answer in terms of what
Speaker 2: the NFL wants and keeping. You know, people go into
Speaker 2: preseason games. But the more time that passes, the more
Speaker 2: I'm sold. Now on these training camp joint sessions.
Speaker 1: Well, you just look at the number of reps too,
Speaker 1: because you know that in the day when the starters
Speaker 1: did play in the preseason, there would maybe be one
Speaker 1: game in the preseason where the starters would play a
Speaker 1: whole half and otherwise these other preseason games they were
Speaker 1: playing one series or two series. Well, those games, I mean,
Speaker 1: what's one series, two series? Maybe eight snaps, ten snaps,
Speaker 1: maybe a dozen. You play a joint practice against another team,
Speaker 1: whereas you say the Bengals with Joe Burrow and Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase are going to go up against the Packers defense.
Speaker 1: You know, Jay r Alexander and Preston Smith on the
Speaker 1: other side, you can go eleven on eleven in a practice,
Speaker 1: they might go twenty five thirty snaps against each other,
Speaker 1: you know, in a in a controlled environment, in you know,
Speaker 1: a relatively short amount of time, and it helps with
Speaker 1: the you know, just you know, the looks as well
Speaker 1: as the conditioning and everything that you're supposed to get
Speaker 1: out of training camp. So it's not a surprise that
Speaker 1: that things are trending this way in the NFL. And
Speaker 1: who knows, we may get to the day. We may
Speaker 1: get to the day west where with these three preseason
Speaker 1: games where every preseason week, whether you're at home or
Speaker 1: on the road, you're going the team is going to
Speaker 1: go early in practice once or twice, you know, in
Speaker 1: a joint practice against the other team. That will just
Speaker 1: be be part of how training camps in preseason schedules
Speaker 1: are built. It may it may get to that point.
Speaker 1: Because the Packers now already are at two out of
Speaker 1: three with with just the three preseason games on the slate.
Speaker 2: A couple of other things to touch on really quickly before
Speaker 2: you look at some more at OTA's first and foremost
Speaker 2: Family Knight has now been announced August fifth. Can bring
Speaker 2: your family, your friends, your fireworks, all of that good stuff.
Speaker 1: We leave. Mccaren would say, leave the fireworks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, leave your fireworks. We'll have the fireworks.
Speaker 1: Stadium has its own. Yeah, oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: But Family Knight always need to see that tradition. But
Speaker 2: did you notice something last week that I thought was
Speaker 2: very interesting that Matt Lafleur said, as we start to
Speaker 2: transition into OTAs from all this the call it periods
Speaker 2: in practice in you know, they also made the switch,
Speaker 2: so we're not doing installs all four practices. It's not
Speaker 2: a new install. They're doing basically two per week, and
Speaker 2: within those installs and within those two minutrils, they're doing
Speaker 2: call up periods, you know, kind of mixing it up
Speaker 2: a little bit. Obviously, it's everything that they're doing is installed.
Speaker 2: They're not just calling it off the dirt. But does
Speaker 2: that remind you at all about the end of training
Speaker 2: camp last year when Aaron Rodgers was talking about, you know,
Speaker 2: how much he enjoyed those final practices because he didn't
Speaker 2: have the last preseason game, they did a little bit
Speaker 2: more unscripted stuff. Yeah, it's interesting to me that that's
Speaker 2: that's something that's getting more incorporated into this thing. And
Speaker 2: I just wonder again, is teams look to maximize their
Speaker 2: amount of time that they get with these guys every day. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just it's it's very I feel like you and
Speaker 2: I are watching an evolution of how teams are preparing,
Speaker 2: not just Green Bay but in general, and what the
Speaker 2: NFL is doing to sort of tailor itself now to
Speaker 2: this this post. You know, two player safety heavy cbas
Speaker 2: to to make sure that you get the most out
Speaker 2: of your preparation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just to explain a little further for those
Speaker 1: who might not be familiar with what a call it
Speaker 1: period is in practice, traditionally, when teams are installing their playbook,
Speaker 1: you have a series of installations, you know, where each
Speaker 1: practice you're installing certain segments of the playbook. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: one installer, two installs in a given practice, But the
Speaker 1: plays that are going to be run essentially are scripted
Speaker 1: ahead of time and the players actually have a chance,
Speaker 1: at least the ones that are putting in their time
Speaker 1: off the field. Certainly the young players who don't know
Speaker 1: the playbook very well. They have a chance the night
Speaker 1: before the morning of whatever to go over all of
Speaker 1: those plays that they would potentially be running in practice
Speaker 1: the next day, and to really get the mental part down,
Speaker 1: the assignments down, all that kind of stuff. What Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur has done this year for the first time in
Speaker 1: OTAs is part of the installation of the playbook. It's
Speaker 1: not just scripting all the plays. Okay, here's the fifteen
Speaker 1: plays of this installation we're going to run in practice tomorrow.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, here's the installation, here are the various concepts,
Speaker 1: and here are the various plays. But then when they
Speaker 1: walk out on the practice field, he's calling a play
Speaker 1: into Jordan Love's helmet or into Sean Clifford's helmet and saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what we're going to run. And then the player,
Speaker 1: the players have to draw on their knowledge that Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what I remember this play. Now I got
Speaker 1: to go out and run it. They didn't have the
Speaker 1: extra that extra preparation time in advance knowing that that
Speaker 1: play was going to be run in the practice. So
Speaker 1: there's certainly a balance point there. When you're dealing with
Speaker 1: a lot of young players. The Packers have a lot
Speaker 1: of young wide receivers, young tight ends all of that,
Speaker 1: and a lot of young linemen with the twos and
Speaker 1: threes certainly trying to work their way into things. So
Speaker 1: there's a balancing act there in terms of getting the
Speaker 1: young guys to learn the playbook, but also testing them
Speaker 1: and finding out, you know, what is it that how
Speaker 1: do these guys think on their feet and react Because
Speaker 1: because when it comes to you know, September week one,
Speaker 1: week two, and the Packers are going to be counting
Speaker 1: on these young guys to do some things, the coaching
Speaker 1: staff can't be standing there on the sidelines wondering, well
Speaker 1: is this guy gonna be able to handle it or not.
Speaker 1: They've got to find out, and they're trying to They're
Speaker 1: trying to find out even a little bit earlier than
Speaker 1: in the past. Instead of waiting for training camp, they're
Speaker 1: doing it. They're doing it more here during OTAs. One
Speaker 1: last thing, also on Family Night. Tickets for Family Night
Speaker 1: will go on sale Thursday, June twenty ninth, ten dollars
Speaker 1: a piece, So for those who who take part in
Speaker 1: that wonderful annual summer tradition at Lambofield, no better deal,
Speaker 1: no better deal to see the Green Bay Packers in
Speaker 1: the see Lambo Field. Ten dollars gets you in the
Speaker 1: door and gets you a pretty up close seat to
Speaker 1: what normally is a pretty entertaining practice as long as
Speaker 1: the weather cooperates, which doesn't always happen on that particular evening.
Speaker 1: So I will get to some sponsor business here Wes
Speaker 1: before I forget, though, I have a couple other topics
Speaker 1: I want to get to. But serious XM NFL Radio
Speaker 1: delivers hard hitting analysis, an up to the minute NFL
Speaker 1: news that true fo ball fanatics need. Twenty four to seven,
Speaker 1: three sixty five And at Cousin Subs, we have something
Speaker 1: for everyone, like our Wisconsin cheese curds, mac and cheese,
Speaker 1: golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite
Speaker 1: sub or sub and a bowl Cousin Subs fifty years
Speaker 1: of better. All right, you brought up their names just
Speaker 1: a little bit ago, David Baktiari and Elton Jenkins talking
Speaker 1: about Okay, what are going to be the decisions as
Speaker 1: to whether or not they play in the preseason? How
Speaker 1: does that impact? Jordan Love We spoke with both bak
Speaker 1: Tiari and Jenkins in the locker room after last week's
Speaker 1: open locker room session following the practice that was open
Speaker 1: to the media, and Elton Jenkins came right out and
Speaker 1: said it. He said, you know, he's talked to Dave.
Speaker 1: Their goal is at left guard, left tackle. Their goal
Speaker 1: is to be the best left side in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And certainly when you're talking about a guy who's had
Speaker 1: five All Pro selections at left tackle, you know, multiple
Speaker 1: first team, multiple second team All Pro selections in Baka,
Speaker 1: and then a guy like Jenkins at left guards who
Speaker 1: has been named to a Pro Bowl and then also
Speaker 1: played obviously various other positions along the line. But you
Speaker 1: get the sense, Wes that the goal here, as much
Speaker 1: as Elton Jenkins has helped out this offensive line through
Speaker 1: a lot of injury situations with moving around and everything else,
Speaker 1: the goal here in twenty twenty three is to have
Speaker 1: David Baktieri and Elton Jenkins lining up side by side
Speaker 1: on the left side absolutely as often as possible for
Speaker 1: Jordan Love here, because that is what is going to
Speaker 1: help this Packers offense really make this transition to a
Speaker 1: new quarterback.
Speaker 2: It feels like to me, Mike, like your favorite band
Speaker 2: getting back together, right like the reunion tour, the Blink
Speaker 2: twenty two reunion tour here, because while there wasn't a
Speaker 2: separation by any means, obviously Bakhtiari and Jenkins kind of
Speaker 2: went their own directions and a lot of that had
Speaker 2: to do with injuries. But I felt like the Packers
Speaker 2: finally started to find some answers with their offensive line
Speaker 2: during the final month of that season after well. Sandwiched
Speaker 2: in between was the appendec to me, because obviously you
Speaker 2: have to just throw in an emergency app and dect
Speaker 2: to me in there.
Speaker 1: Right right when things were starting to settle down and
Speaker 1: they were going to start lining up next to each other,
Speaker 1: then David Boktieri has an appened neck. To me, interesting though,
Speaker 1: I'll throw the statistic at you and then I'll let
Speaker 1: you continue. I actually look back because of Boktieri hurting
Speaker 1: his knee at the end of twenty twenty and then
Speaker 1: obviously November twenty one, Elton Jenkins has his knee injury,
Speaker 1: Boktieri has complications with his return and then ends up
Speaker 1: having the appendct me and everything last year, if I
Speaker 1: did the research correctly, including playoffs. The Packers last thirty
Speaker 1: eight football games, Baktiari and Jenkins have lined up side
Speaker 1: by side on the left side only six times in
Speaker 1: thirty eight games. And when you think about how important
Speaker 1: those two players are to this Packers offense being at
Speaker 1: its best no matter who the quarterback is, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: just the continuity that that can provide. If those two guys,
Speaker 1: two of the best in the business at those spots
Speaker 1: left tackle and left guard, if they can be side
Speaker 1: by side on a weekly basis, how much of a
Speaker 1: difference that makes, And how for the last thirty eight
Speaker 1: games only six times in thirty eight games. It's kind
Speaker 1: of hard to fathom that note that those numbers are
Speaker 1: what they.
Speaker 2: Are well, and just how freaking good they were next
Speaker 2: to each other in nineteen and twenty nineteen was a
Speaker 2: situation where it wasn't even looking like that was going
Speaker 2: to be the original arrangement because Lane Taylor had made
Speaker 2: his way back from his injuries. It was going to
Speaker 2: step in there, but that's the direction it had to go,
Speaker 2: and Jenkins proved to be just a revelation at that spot.
Speaker 2: I give so much credit to Elton because no matter
Speaker 2: where you put him. He always stood up, He stood
Speaker 2: in and really stepped up. But we got to remember
Speaker 2: that this guy is a two time Pro Bowler at
Speaker 2: left guard, and I think, in my opinion, when he's healthy,
Speaker 2: he's the best less left guard in the National Football League.
Speaker 2: Could he play something else down the line, sure, but
Speaker 2: right now you have a five time All Pro left
Speaker 2: tackle that is healthy again, a guy that still has
Speaker 2: potential Hall of Fame, you know, possibilities in David Boktiari.
Speaker 2: Being able to work those guys together. I think that
Speaker 2: was one of the reasons why Jenkins grew as quickly
Speaker 2: as he did in this offense, being able to be
Speaker 2: between Baktyari and another All Pro and Corey Linsley, and
Speaker 2: now those two are going to become sort of the
Speaker 2: stalwarts on this thing. Is things we try to figure
Speaker 2: out what gets worked out to their east. Everything I
Speaker 2: think is pointing up for them right now. The other
Speaker 2: aspect of it I like too, and this is where
Speaker 2: the Packers are going to have to figure out what
Speaker 2: the plan is for David Baktiari with how much he practices,
Speaker 2: you know, how much he plays because I look at
Speaker 2: him in a lot of ways as like a level
Speaker 2: one hundred Pokemon, where if you ever played the video game,
Speaker 2: a guy gets to a certain level and you know,
Speaker 2: I know they always say you can improve and whatnot,
Speaker 2: but realistically, we know what David Boktiari is going to
Speaker 2: give you if you get him to Sunday. How do
Speaker 2: we get him full health, full stamina to those markers.
Speaker 2: That's what I want to see because I felt like
Speaker 2: in the second half of the year, once we got
Speaker 2: past that Washington game and a little bit of a
Speaker 2: hiccup in a really weird day in Detroit, that that's
Speaker 2: what they were able to do. And that Thursday night turnaround, Mike,
Speaker 2: because I wrote in the story that I put together
Speaker 2: on Monday, when you think back to the fact that
Speaker 2: the Packers they needed to start winning some games there
Speaker 2: and David stepped up and played on four days rest
Speaker 2: in that game against the Titans, that was what showed me, Okay,
Speaker 2: they figured something out here, and if you get that
Speaker 2: piece worked out, then things start to settle in with Okay,
Speaker 2: where's the Ashneimen working, Where is Zach tom working? Is
Speaker 2: John Runyan going to stick in there at right guard?
Speaker 2: That everything when you look at the possibilities off on
Speaker 2: the offensive line starts with having David Baktiari and Nelton
Speaker 2: Jenkins available and healthy on the left side.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and what's going on on the right side
Speaker 1: will certainly be a story to watch all throughout training camp,
Speaker 1: especially after the pads go on in terms of you know,
Speaker 1: where is Zach tom competing You mentioned John Runyan, is
Speaker 1: he going to you know, stay in trench there at
Speaker 1: right guard or is anything anything going to happen there?
Speaker 1: And then with Josh entering his third season at center.
Speaker 1: Although you know, as Luke Bukis pointed out, I mean,
Speaker 1: Josh Myers only played a handful of games as a rookie,
Speaker 1: so last year wasn't really year two for him. It
Speaker 1: was more like year one point five. So this is
Speaker 1: sort of like year two point five for Josh Myers,
Speaker 1: and there are a lot of expectations there for him
Speaker 1: as well as the rest of that offensive line sorts
Speaker 1: itself out. So one other topic I want to get
Speaker 1: to before we go today, and it has to do
Speaker 1: with the rookie receiver Romeo Dobbs. He was another player
Speaker 1: that spoke and to his credit, he's often available at
Speaker 1: his locker and is very accommodating to the media with
Speaker 1: all the questions that want to be asked about the
Speaker 1: rookie wide receivers. But we saw something in practice. The
Speaker 1: one practice we got to see last week, there's a
Speaker 1: two minute drill at the end of practice. Jordan Love,
Speaker 1: I believe, completed either six or seven passes on that
Speaker 1: drive to get the offense down into field goal range.
Speaker 1: Four of those completions went to number eighty seven went
Speaker 1: to Romeo dobs and I don't want to make too
Speaker 1: much of it. It was one practice, it was one
Speaker 1: two minute drill. But we know that those two guys
Speaker 1: have worked a little bit together in the off season,
Speaker 1: you know, away from Green Bay, and then with what
Speaker 1: we saw with with four catches and one two minute drill,
Speaker 1: there's definitely a chemistry developing between Romeo Dobbs and Jordan Love.
Speaker 1: And it's going to be really, really interesting to see
Speaker 1: just where this goes between those two guys, because they
Speaker 1: you can hear when either one of them talks. You
Speaker 1: can hear the excitement in their voice as far as
Speaker 1: as far as where this might be headed and their
Speaker 1: opportunity to work together in Green Bay.
Speaker 2: I just love watching Romeo Dobbs play the game of football.
Speaker 2: You know. The fact is, Mike, Now, Christian Watson's going
Speaker 2: to probably over the long haul here, if he stays healthy,
Speaker 2: He's going to get a lot of a national recognition
Speaker 2: and accolades. His size, his speed, I mean, he's a
Speaker 2: walking sports center top ten, right, I mean, I think
Speaker 2: the ten longest plays last year for the Packers, I
Speaker 2: think he had five or six of them, and he
Speaker 2: played in like half the games. So we understand what
Speaker 2: there's a reason why Christian Watson was drafted where he
Speaker 2: was and why a lot of people thought he could
Speaker 2: have potentially been a first round pick. But Romeo Dobbs
Speaker 2: is the type of player that you win with because
Speaker 2: I think he could be just as productive in the
Speaker 2: National Football League. I think he is an absolute magnet
Speaker 2: to the football. But you know what you said there,
Speaker 2: and it just brings me back. And I wrote about
Speaker 2: an inbox last week too, about you know, it was
Speaker 2: just one practice, just one two minute trill. But by golly,
Speaker 2: when he's healthy, this is all this kid does. It's
Speaker 2: all he does, Mike. The only time we've seen Romeo
Speaker 2: Dobbs kind of had a hiccup was when he was
Speaker 2: coming off with that ankle injury. A couple drops here
Speaker 2: and there, but by and large, man this guy last year,
Speaker 2: every single practice we kept putting that same qualifier on him.
Speaker 2: One practice, one OTA, one offseason program, one training camp practice,
Speaker 2: one preseason game, and he just kept stacking. And what
Speaker 2: does that tell you, might Well, it tells you that
Speaker 2: the quarterback that was throwing to him and learning a
Speaker 2: lot of those offseason practice is the quarterback that was
Speaker 2: throwing to him in those preseason games was Jordan Love.
Speaker 2: And as Jordan Love gets his comfort level in this offense,
Speaker 2: I think there really is something to be said for
Speaker 2: the fact that he's already developed the report that he
Speaker 2: has with Dobbs, with Samori Toure. You know, Christian Watson
Speaker 2: missed a lot of camp last year with the knee thing.
Speaker 2: But the fact is is that these young guys that
Speaker 2: came in last year, they got to rep a lot
Speaker 2: with Jordan Love. And I think when you're seeing some
Speaker 2: of these team periods now with these now second year receivers,
Speaker 2: you can tell that there's a chemistry and a bond
Speaker 2: that has sort of been forged in those settings that
Speaker 2: now we're going to have a chance to see sort
Speaker 2: of translate on game days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I thought I pressed Dobbs a little bit
Speaker 1: with regard to, you know, that comeback from the injury
Speaker 1: and you know, sort of what he learned and his
Speaker 1: perspective on it was really interesting because he admitted like
Speaker 1: it was really tough and he knows that when he
Speaker 1: came back after missing a month and that was that
Speaker 1: was a nasty ankle injury from uh. I mean, in essence,
Speaker 1: he missed five games because it happened on the first play,
Speaker 1: first offensive play in Detroit. He messes up the ankle,
Speaker 1: he misses that game and the next four before he
Speaker 1: comes back. But we also saw he wasn't he wasn't
Speaker 1: the same player when he came back from that, and
Speaker 1: I think that's something that that's something that stuck with
Speaker 1: him a little bit. And uh and he appreciates, you know,
Speaker 1: looking back at it now, it wasn't fun. It was
Speaker 1: difficult to go through, but he appreciates the fact that
Speaker 1: he had to work through something that significant as a
Speaker 1: rookie when you know he was off to a really
Speaker 1: good start. You know, his arrow is pointing up, things
Speaker 1: are going great. He has a major setback as a
Speaker 1: rookie with the injury, and then he comes back and
Speaker 1: he's not able to quite get back to the player
Speaker 1: that he was. That's something that could that that can
Speaker 1: provide a lot of fuel and and really a solid
Speaker 1: foundation for a guy like Romeo Dobbs going into year two,
Speaker 1: because there is nobody there. There isn't There isn't a
Speaker 1: young player. I shouldn't say nobody, but it's been a
Speaker 1: long time since I've talked to a young player in
Speaker 1: the locker room with with a lot of expectations put
Speaker 1: on him and a lot of early success and everything
Speaker 1: that we've been talking about. Who is so self aware?
Speaker 1: He you know, he doesn't. There's there's nothing there. There's
Speaker 1: nothing phony about this young man. It's everything. Everything he says,
Speaker 1: Everything he says is absolutely genuine. He's he's very very
Speaker 1: introspective and uh and he wants to be as honest
Speaker 1: and forthright in answering the questions as possible. And it's
Speaker 1: just it's how it's how he carries himself. What he
Speaker 1: went through as a rookie, both the positives and the negatives,
Speaker 1: I think provide a foundation for a young man who's
Speaker 1: going to have a really, really good career in the NFL.
Speaker 2: That's an excellent point something I hadn't really thought about
Speaker 2: because when you think about his last two years in Nevada,
Speaker 2: I mean, he was just a world burner, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: the guys has a thousand yard season, seasons, touchdowns after touchdown.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was the wolf Packs offense a lot
Speaker 2: of times, and in certainly the passing game aspect of it.
Speaker 2: So here he is, he hits the ground running, He's
Speaker 2: the NFL offensive player the way three weeks into his career,
Speaker 2: rookie Offensive Player of the Week, and next thing you know,
Speaker 2: you know, it looks like he's just skyrocketing. Hey maybe
Speaker 2: this guy will be, you know, better than Christian Wantson.
Speaker 2: Those debates started, and then he has the ankle injury
Speaker 2: in Detroit. Fortunately for the Packers, they only have to
Speaker 2: play in Detroit once a year, so hopefully you hope
Speaker 2: that you can get through that, you know, trap and
Speaker 2: you know, continue on. But I think in a lot
Speaker 2: of ways it can be positive because it is now
Speaker 2: kind of telling Romeo Dobbs, this is what adversity looks like,
Speaker 2: and it's what it looks like at this level. Because
Speaker 2: I think one thing that I've started to learn more
Speaker 2: and appreciate is that difference between like injured and hurt, right, yeah,
Speaker 2: because it's not just about hey, Okay, you were out
Speaker 2: for four weeks and now you're back and now you're
Speaker 2: a hundred percent again. I doubt Romeo Dobbs is one
Speaker 2: hundred percent the rest of the season with the foot
Speaker 2: way no way so or with the ankle. So it's
Speaker 2: like that I learned so much from that in twenty
Speaker 2: fifteen with DeVante and how that can affect you and
Speaker 2: you and I were talking with some readers last week
Speaker 2: about the footwork of you know, Jordan Love translates at
Speaker 2: every position. It starts from the bottom and works its
Speaker 2: way up, and how you're able to play the game.
Speaker 2: So I'm just really excited for it because I feel like,
Speaker 2: as much as we've talked about and beaten the whole
Speaker 2: hey do they need a veteran receiver, the thing I
Speaker 2: keep coming back to is, as long as they're healthy,
Speaker 2: I want Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs on the field
Speaker 2: as much as possible. And beyond them, you have five
Speaker 2: other draft picks that could potentially be In that conversation
Speaker 2: as well, so the options are limitless, and as Romeo
Speaker 2: Dobbs keeps proving, no matter what the challenge is, even
Speaker 2: for a second year player, he continues to meet that standard.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, it's gonna be. It's gonna be fun to
Speaker 1: watch with with that entire receiver group, but certainly with
Speaker 1: all the attention that's going to be paid to Christian Watson.
Speaker 1: The foundation that Romeo Dobbs got is a rookie in
Speaker 1: this offense and now the raport he's developing with Jordan Love,
Speaker 1: it'll be it'll be fun to watch.
Speaker 2: You ever talked to a player like Romeo Dobbs. Can
Speaker 2: you think of one that you've talked to?
Speaker 1: I mean, been in that locker room for a lot
Speaker 1: of years and he he is a one on one Yeah,
Speaker 1: he is. He just the way the way he addresses questions.
Speaker 1: I even I even mentioned an insider inbox. He has
Speaker 1: a way of he has a way of being of
Speaker 1: being honest and revealing but also very protective of certain
Speaker 1: details at the same time. You know, he can give
Speaker 1: you a really good answer to a question and you
Speaker 1: really appreciate the answer, and then you walk away kind
Speaker 1: of going like, oh, I wish I knew more, like
Speaker 1: I want to know more and he doesn't. But he
Speaker 1: doesn't quite give you, doesn't quite give you, and you
Speaker 1: have to respect that. You know, the players are players
Speaker 1: are not obligated to share every detail, you know, in answering,
Speaker 1: you know, every question about trials and tribulations that they've
Speaker 1: gone through. But he gives. He gives very very good answers.
Speaker 1: But he does leave you. He does leave you wanting
Speaker 1: more because you always feel like there's a little bit
Speaker 1: more to the story that he's keeping to himself, and
Speaker 1: you respect that and then you pay attention and see
Speaker 1: where it goes.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the antonym is for, like a cliche,
Speaker 2: but that's him, Like he's just he's so genuine when
Speaker 2: in how he answers things. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: it's not like he's just sitting at his locker with
Speaker 2: the lights on him, with his big smile and you know, like, hey, everyone,
Speaker 2: come talk to me. He sits in his locker, people
Speaker 2: come talk to me. He always says yes. He stands up,
Speaker 2: you know, he's very thoughtful, has his arms crossed usually
Speaker 2: like this, and usually a smile will peak up. But
Speaker 2: it's not like he's like this extremely extroverted I've never
Speaker 2: covered anyone like Romeo Dobs for real, Like he's like,
Speaker 2: there's so many of these guys that it's like they
Speaker 2: kind of fit into a certain area. And not saying
Speaker 2: if you're extroverted that's a bad thing, that's a great
Speaker 2: thing we appreciated as writers. But like he just defies
Speaker 2: a lot of different laws and uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he certainly defies some conventions. But it's yeah, but
Speaker 1: he's very he's very refreshing. He's very refreshing and and
Speaker 1: and very introspective and interesting to listen to.
Speaker 2: At the same time, I felt really bad because like
Speaker 2: at the one point last year, I remember talking to
Speaker 2: somebody locker Room'm like, man, Romeo is talking like every days.
Speaker 1: It's like, is he when's he going to get worn out? Right?
Speaker 1: You know, it's like we try, we try to pick
Speaker 1: our spots and uh, but yeah, it seems like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it seems like sometimes sometimes maybe he does
Speaker 1: need to say no just uh, just so he can
Speaker 1: give himself a break.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's just he's just really super chill guy.
Speaker 2: I've enjoyed covering him so far.
Speaker 1: Yeah, me too, absolutely well with that we will call
Speaker 1: it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
Speaker 1: one more week of OTA's mandatory mini camp next week.
Speaker 1: We'll have it all for you on packers dot com
Speaker 1: for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 2: Everybody.
Speaker 1: We will see you next time.