Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, sitting alongside my trusted colleague West Hodkowitz.
Speaker 1: Were coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field. West.
Speaker 1: We are one day closer to Week one Packers Bears
Speaker 1: Sunday Night football here at lambeau Field. And uh, it
Speaker 1: didn't take long this week for the first shot at
Speaker 1: bulletin board material. I guess you could say a chem
Speaker 1: Hicks defensive lineman lad the Packers and Sacks last year
Speaker 1: did a conference call with Green Bay Media and Um
Speaker 1: basically said, I don't think the Packers can block Khalil Mack. Now,
Speaker 1: for context, apparently he was in the trainer's room doing
Speaker 1: this conference call, and Khalil Mack was kind of right
Speaker 1: next to him, or at least within earshot. So I
Speaker 1: think he was having a little bit of fun and
Speaker 1: and you know, getting his new teammates attention in terms
Speaker 1: of the confidence that he has in him. Um, I
Speaker 1: think more fun than anything else. But yet you know,
Speaker 1: something to get people talking, Yeah, it was, I think
Speaker 1: it was. Brian Bulaga had the perfect comment about this,
Speaker 1: Like his teammates Koil Mac he's excited. He should be excited.
Speaker 1: Uh and and certainly when you add a guy of
Speaker 1: his caliber, how young he is, how accomplished he is
Speaker 1: despite being that young. Um, it's gonna add a lot
Speaker 1: of juice to a room. There's no question about that.
Speaker 1: The bigger thing I think that's it's always tough with
Speaker 1: stuff like this because I think sometimes things the context
Speaker 1: gets lost if you're just looking at a quote. Uh
Speaker 1: A Keem Hicks, I don't think he got on that
Speaker 1: conference call being like, oh, I just want to disrespect everybody.
Speaker 1: I think he just wanted to really pump up his
Speaker 1: teammate and talked about how excited he is personally. You know,
Speaker 1: he's he's coming off a pretty darn good year as well.
Speaker 1: And he said, you know, when you get a guy
Speaker 1: like you know, Khalil Mack in a defense, now that's
Speaker 1: gonna open up more one on ones for me. So
Speaker 1: it isn't just about what it's going to do to
Speaker 1: improve that group, it's what it's gonna do to help
Speaker 1: him as a pass rusher as well. Uh do you
Speaker 1: look at Mac and and you know Mattnege moments before
Speaker 1: Hicks was on the conference called nag was talking to
Speaker 1: Green Bay media, and you know, this whole week has
Speaker 1: basically been dedicated with Vic Fangio and those in those
Speaker 1: defensive coaches to try and to get Mac up to
Speaker 1: speed on what is going to be asked of him
Speaker 1: in this game. And from the Packers perspective, yes, it's
Speaker 1: an unscouted look if you look at your entire off season,
Speaker 1: but Brian Blog has seen him before. The Packers have
Speaker 1: gone against Mac before. It's gonna be about taking that knowledge,
Speaker 1: processing it quickly, and trying to put a good product
Speaker 1: out on the field on Sunday night. Yeah, what do
Speaker 1: you think of this matchup? Assuming that the matchup ends
Speaker 1: up being blogged against Mac, which is what most people
Speaker 1: are anticipating based on where Mac has lined up the
Speaker 1: majority of his career for the Oakland Raiders. You look
Speaker 1: back at that game in Oakland, when the Packers went
Speaker 1: out there first quarter. I believe I looked it up.
Speaker 1: I believe it was the second series of the game.
Speaker 1: Mac makes a wicked spin move and ends up getting
Speaker 1: a sack on Aaron Rodgers. And you know that early
Speaker 1: in the game, you're you're like, oh boy, here we go.
Speaker 1: And as you mentioned yesterday Mac was on this like
Speaker 1: you know, sack barrage of the last few weeks. But
Speaker 1: then for three the last three and a half quarters
Speaker 1: of that game, Khalil Mac added one assisted tackle to
Speaker 1: his stat line for the game, and that was over
Speaker 1: three and a half quarters. Now, Brian Blaga, to his credit,
Speaker 1: he's not he wasn't standing at his locker yesterday, you know,
Speaker 1: resting on that performance and saying, oh, you know, Khalil
Speaker 1: Mack I handled him before. You know, that's not That's
Speaker 1: not Brian's approach, as it shouldn't be. He knows he's
Speaker 1: going to have his hands full. It's going to be
Speaker 1: a fired up player. Guy wants to make the right
Speaker 1: impression with his new teammates, all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But Brian Blaga is, uh, he's down to business. He's
Speaker 1: a serious about this as it gets. He's confident in
Speaker 1: what he can do, but he also respects his opponent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, Brian blagh is such a pro at this point.
Speaker 1: I mean he's nine, you know, nine seasons into this now, Uh,
Speaker 1: nothing is really new to him. And the you know
Speaker 1: kind of analogy I threw out there, sort of thinking
Speaker 1: at this whole process is this isn't you and your
Speaker 1: buddies getting together for a football game on Saturday morning
Speaker 1: and going up against another group of players, another group
Speaker 1: of guys, and then somebody just brings out this you know,
Speaker 1: college former, you know, college player, Yeah, the ringer, And
Speaker 1: it's like, oh man, what are we gonna do about this? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there is a short window here to prepare. I get that,
Speaker 1: but this is you know, the coaching staff, James Campon
Speaker 1: and Bolaga, you know, maybe even David Bactr a little bit,
Speaker 1: depending on how they want to use Mac. They're all
Speaker 1: prepared for this. You know. It's not like they're just
Speaker 1: going to be completely caught off guard. And you know,
Speaker 1: and I was thinking about Bolaga and kind of what
Speaker 1: you're talking about there with that Oakland game, and it
Speaker 1: goes back to something he said in Kansas City when
Speaker 1: he got the chance to go out there for a
Speaker 1: handful of snaps. The biggest thing he got out of
Speaker 1: those reps were going out there getting initial feel for
Speaker 1: the game, in making those in game adjustments, making the
Speaker 1: corrections that you can't make really when you're in practice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can do certain things, but it's different when it's live.
Speaker 1: I think that Oakland game was a perfect analogy of
Speaker 1: that in that you know, Mac threw a move out
Speaker 1: there early on, he learned from it, he adjusted, and
Speaker 1: then pitched to shut out the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: That's what you have to do against the player of
Speaker 1: this caliber, because he's a guy that's gonna get his rushes,
Speaker 1: he's gonna get his opportunities. He's too good not to.
Speaker 1: But it's about limiting those moments and really continuing to
Speaker 1: have consistency through the ups and downs of a game.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think it's really valuable having a
Speaker 1: guy like Brian Blog with his experience that you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily have a first or second year tackle out there
Speaker 1: against Mac. You have a guy that's been through everything
Speaker 1: right tackle can go through in this game, And for
Speaker 1: my money, that's the reason why I think going into
Speaker 1: this game, it's an excellent matchup to watch, but it's
Speaker 1: also not one that I think is really panic stricken. Yeah,
Speaker 1: playmakers are going to make plays in this league on
Speaker 1: both sides and the ball. What it comes down to
Speaker 1: is when you're in charge of trying to limit them
Speaker 1: or trying to stop that other guy, When do they
Speaker 1: make that play, if they make it early in the
Speaker 1: game as opposed to late in the game, that's a
Speaker 1: win for you because, as you said, they made something happen,
Speaker 1: You've made the adjustment, and you've you've won the war,
Speaker 1: even though you might have lost that early battle. And
Speaker 1: and that's how these games are decided totally. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things too that I think
Speaker 1: when you look at, you know, on the other side
Speaker 1: of the coin. And I was thinking about this too
Speaker 1: after we talked about our preview for the Bears. There's
Speaker 1: a certain element to that. Right now with the Bears
Speaker 1: offensive line, you know, you have Nick Perry, you have
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews, you have a new system with Mike Petton.
Speaker 1: They have to make those same type of adjustments. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've had four or five six months to prepare for
Speaker 1: this now, but it's still unscouted. There's still gonna be
Speaker 1: things that both sides are gonna be thrown at each other.
Speaker 1: And when you look historically the teams that prevail in
Speaker 1: these instances, it's the ones that conquer that. And I
Speaker 1: think that's going to be one of the determining factors
Speaker 1: in this ballgame. On Sunday Night. Yeah, I totally agree
Speaker 1: with you. Real quick though, West, some sponsor business. It's
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Speaker 1: in better. Okay, another guy I want to talk about here, West,
Speaker 1: with regards to this Week one matchup. You look at
Speaker 1: this Packers offense. If you were to pick one guy
Speaker 1: who is walking into this new season taking on a
Speaker 1: larger role and a larger responsibility than he's ever had before,
Speaker 1: and that change being greater than anybody else on the
Speaker 1: Packers offense, I think it's Geronimo Alison um He's held
Speaker 1: down that No. Or Three receiver spot from the start
Speaker 1: of the off season to now. The drafting three wide receivers.
Speaker 1: Jake Kumero's emergence everything all of that, notwithstanding, nobody budged
Speaker 1: him from that number three spot. But this is a
Speaker 1: guy who's never come into the season, come into a
Speaker 1: season before with this place on a depth chart and
Speaker 1: with these types of expectations in terms of how he
Speaker 1: can perform. And one thing that's really stood out to
Speaker 1: me is that you go around the locker room. You
Speaker 1: can ask Aaron Rodgers, you can ask other receivers, any
Speaker 1: guys in that locker room, there isn't anybody who doesn't
Speaker 1: have the confidence that Geronimo Allison is up to this,
Speaker 1: even though this is a big change in a big
Speaker 1: shift for him. Do you get the same sense I do?
Speaker 1: And I've gotten that sense really going back early into
Speaker 1: the off season program that there was a lot of
Speaker 1: confidence that even though you maybe don't have that veteran
Speaker 1: leadership and into everything that Jordy Nelson presents as a receiver,
Speaker 1: that there was an understanding that Allison in many ways
Speaker 1: is the next guy up and and he was ready
Speaker 1: to be able to take that task gone. The thing
Speaker 1: I thought was most interesting, if you haven't had a
Speaker 1: chance to check out spot story on packers dot com
Speaker 1: talking to Allison and kind of reflecting on his journey
Speaker 1: is you know, he's been through a lot in his
Speaker 1: life personally, even you know, professionally at you know, as
Speaker 1: an amateur athlete, a lot of ebbs and flows to
Speaker 1: this thing. And there's such a great quote in there
Speaker 1: about and I'll probably end up watching this because I'm
Speaker 1: not good at these things, but basically saying that, you know,
Speaker 1: the environment he came from, he let it shape him.
Speaker 1: He didn't let it become him. You know, it's just
Speaker 1: a part of who he is. And and he was
Speaker 1: able in a lot of ways to get out of
Speaker 1: that where he came from in Tampa Bay. But it
Speaker 1: also allowed him to really learn how he needs to
Speaker 1: overcome adversity and what he needs to do to be successful.
Speaker 1: You know, he goes from Tampa, he goes to Iowa Western,
Speaker 1: he ends up at Illinois. He's still kind of an
Speaker 1: unfinished product when it comes to a receiver when he
Speaker 1: gets to Green Bay. And I wrote about this an
Speaker 1: inbox I think two or three weeks ago. Every single
Speaker 1: year has just been a cont and progression of him,
Speaker 1: his understanding of the offense and what Aaron Rodgers requires
Speaker 1: of him. So I think, out of anybody, I think
Speaker 1: This is gonna be the most exciting to see where
Speaker 1: he takes his game now, because now reps really aren't
Speaker 1: a question. You know, he's gonna get snaps. You know
Speaker 1: he's gonna get opportunities, and how does he capitalize on them? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And as I wrote in the story, Mike McCarthy was
Speaker 1: asked about Geronimo Allison multiple times throughout training camp, throughout
Speaker 1: the preseason because he was having such a steady camp
Speaker 1: and as I said, no one was budging him from
Speaker 1: that number three receiver spot behind Adams and Cobb and McCarthy.
Speaker 1: Every time he talked about Geronimo Alison, he used either
Speaker 1: the word toughness or the word tenacity. And those characteristics
Speaker 1: are really a part of who he is. And I
Speaker 1: asked him about that and he said it comes from
Speaker 1: the upbringing. He grew up in a rough part of Tampa, Florida.
Speaker 1: He played only one year of high school football and
Speaker 1: then took the junior college route, went to Iowa Iowa
Speaker 1: Western for two years, then made his way to Champagne, Illinois.
Speaker 1: Comes to the Packers is an undrafted receiver when this
Speaker 1: receiving corps was pretty darn deep. If I recall so
Speaker 1: he starts out pretty darn low. Begins his rookie season
Speaker 1: on the practice squad. First game, he gets called up
Speaker 1: from the practice squad. First game in Atlanta, catches a
Speaker 1: touchdown pass. We know then what happened at the end
Speaker 1: of his rookie season. Had that tremendous touchdown on Rogers,
Speaker 1: you know, forever scrambled drill in Detroit where then he
Speaker 1: you know, whips it into the back of the end
Speaker 1: zone and Allison makes the diving catch. Had three catches
Speaker 1: all for first downs in the Dallas playoff game. Had
Speaker 1: the big seventy two yard catching running overtime to beat
Speaker 1: Cincinnati last year in Week three. So every time, you know,
Speaker 1: every time the bell has been wrung, so to speak,
Speaker 1: he's he's answered that call and the other thing. And
Speaker 1: I know you've heard this from his receiving mates, from
Speaker 1: guys like Adams and Cob and I have as well.
Speaker 1: The other way that he's earned respect is not just
Speaker 1: the way he's performed on the field, but that confidence
Speaker 1: from his teammates comes from they've seen in the meeting room,
Speaker 1: what they've seen in the weight room. Everybody that you
Speaker 1: talked to about geronim Way Allison says, this guy's a pro.
Speaker 1: And you don't hear other players say that about a
Speaker 1: guy not only just an undrafted guy who's still so young,
Speaker 1: you know, only in his third year, but a guy who,
Speaker 1: you know, let's face it, if you just look at
Speaker 1: the statistics, hasn't accomplished a whole heck of a lot.
Speaker 1: But he's got that respect and confidence of his teammates
Speaker 1: that he is ready for this role now being thrust
Speaker 1: upon him. Yeah, and he's understood exactly what that role
Speaker 1: has been, you know. And and he's had to be
Speaker 1: the guy that's been ready to step in for Jordy
Speaker 1: Nelson or Randall Cobb or Davonte Adams. He's been really
Speaker 1: that next guy here the last two seasons, and now
Speaker 1: he's stepping into a different role where he has to
Speaker 1: be prepared to be that number three depending on how
Speaker 1: many times we see those packages throughout the course of
Speaker 1: the season. Historically that's been sort of the base offense
Speaker 1: here the last three or four years. So that's a
Speaker 1: huge chance for him to really elevate game to the
Speaker 1: next level. And getting back to your original point about
Speaker 1: the meetings that we hear almost to a point where
Speaker 1: you know, you almost sometimes didn't take it. You took
Speaker 1: it for granted. But when Edgar Bennett would talk about
Speaker 1: it's starting in the classroom, when he was working with
Speaker 1: him as an offensive coordinator, when you had you know,
Speaker 1: David Ryan there now and before that, Luke GETSI you
Speaker 1: had a guy in Allison that was willing to sit
Speaker 1: next to Jordy Nelson, was willing to sit in front
Speaker 1: of him and sort of have that absorption of information.
Speaker 1: And it's so easy for a young guy just to
Speaker 1: tone that out and not really pay attention and not
Speaker 1: really care and just want to do his own game.
Speaker 1: But I think one of the benefits to him is
Speaker 1: that he did come to this light. He played only
Speaker 1: one year in high school football. So every time he
Speaker 1: has a chance to really be able to to learn something,
Speaker 1: he's capitalized on it. And I think for a lot
Speaker 1: of people now, and you look at all the storylines
Speaker 1: going in the regular season, Michael, I think seeing Allison
Speaker 1: where he's at and where he could potentially go is
Speaker 1: one of the most intriguing ones to watch because when
Speaker 1: you have Aaron Rodgers as your quarterback, is he said
Speaker 1: in your story, it's all about getting open you get open,
Speaker 1: He's going to take care of you. Yeah. And the
Speaker 1: other thing I like about Alison's journey in a sense,
Speaker 1: I guess saying I like it maybe isn't the right word.
Speaker 1: But what also I think contributes to the confidence is
Speaker 1: this hasn't this hasn't been a completely smooth ride even
Speaker 1: since he made it total in the NFL. He was
Speaker 1: suspended for the first game of last season because of
Speaker 1: a substance abuse violation. He had a big fumble at
Speaker 1: Carolina last year that you know, dash the Packers comeback
Speaker 1: hopes in that game and their playoff hopes and Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers comeback hopes for the season after the broken collar
Speaker 1: bone and all of that. He's had some things at
Speaker 1: the NFL level that he's had to recover from and
Speaker 1: bounce back from. And and to see just the confidence
Speaker 1: that his teammates have in him is uh. I think
Speaker 1: it's really important heading into this season for a young guy. Totally. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And there's you know, a lot of talented receivers on
Speaker 1: this roster. If they kept eight of them, the fact
Speaker 1: that Allison is the number three after they drafted all
Speaker 1: these guys, you had Trevor Davis coming back I think
Speaker 1: it says a lot about him and the fact that
Speaker 1: he was able to he he was in front of
Speaker 1: the race when he started, and he consistently stayed there. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: another topic to hit on here, West before we go.
Speaker 1: I know you've been talking to some of the guys
Speaker 1: in the Packers locker room. You're going to continue some
Speaker 1: more interviews, But um, we're all eagerly anticipating the great
Speaker 1: unveiling of the Mike Petton defense here for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers, because, as we know, there's only so much
Speaker 1: that they're putting on film for opponents in the preseason.
Speaker 1: Most of the you know, the real practicing that they're
Speaker 1: doing with the scheme and everything that they're going to
Speaker 1: use in a lot of games is the stuff that's
Speaker 1: in practice, that's behind closed doors and whatnot. What's your sense?
Speaker 1: I mean, the sense that I get is, uh is,
Speaker 1: these guys can't wait to take the field and and
Speaker 1: start playing these calls, and there's just there there's the
Speaker 1: the whole renewed, refreshed sense of everything, which which is
Speaker 1: what we've sent since the offseason. Programs Packers probably played
Speaker 1: about based during the preseason that should tell you everything.
Speaker 1: You need to know about what what that type of
Speaker 1: the year is like in terms of just the the
Speaker 1: vanilla nature of it. What I like the most though,
Speaker 1: particularly just to quickly point out one specific area I
Speaker 1: think is going to be exciting is the dime in
Speaker 1: the third down units. I just we've seen and even
Speaker 1: in the preseason games, some of these rush packages they've
Speaker 1: come up with, it appears like, you know, they got
Speaker 1: some He's had some double a gap looks with the
Speaker 1: inside backers. The big thing is and Petton talked about
Speaker 1: it from the beginning. On any given down, if you're
Speaker 1: in that box, he doesn't want the quarterback to know
Speaker 1: who's coming at him. And I thought there was a
Speaker 1: couple of instances, especially in those last two preseason games.
Speaker 1: And I get that he's going up against a lot
Speaker 1: of backups, but that being said, he was utilizing a
Speaker 1: lot of backups and being able to to kind of
Speaker 1: get their feet hot in the pocket and not allow
Speaker 1: the quarterback to get comfortable. I think we saw him
Speaker 1: force some some errors in that way. I'm really excited
Speaker 1: to see what he can do now that he has
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews available and Nick Perry and in some of
Speaker 1: these slot cornerback combinations we've seen. There is so many
Speaker 1: unknowns right now, even to to us who watched a
Speaker 1: majority of the training camp practices, I think it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be really interesting to see those domino effects kind
Speaker 1: of layout and and you can just tell listening to
Speaker 1: some of these guys talking about in the locker room.
Speaker 1: Kevin King after the game in Kansas City last week
Speaker 1: was already talking about how excited he is to finally
Speaker 1: get in that first regular season game because you've had
Speaker 1: five six months where they've put in now to learning
Speaker 1: this scheme and wanting to you know, be able to
Speaker 1: really implement it, and now we're days away. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: for those who want to get a little bit of
Speaker 1: a sense x as and OHS wise of how this works,
Speaker 1: Larry McCarron has a rock report that he put on
Speaker 1: our website where he breaks down in really good detail
Speaker 1: the uh it was a pressure package against Oakland in
Speaker 1: the preseason game where the Packers kind of schemed things
Speaker 1: up and they were able to get safety Kentroll Bryce
Speaker 1: blitzing free because nobody picked him up, and it led
Speaker 1: to a quarterback hit and in fleet pass because he
Speaker 1: he sped up the play wasn't even a sack. But
Speaker 1: it's that that sort of effect on the quarterback and
Speaker 1: effect on the offense that that dialing these things up
Speaker 1: can do. Now, as you said, you know that those
Speaker 1: maybe we're against some backups. You know that, I mean
Speaker 1: a number one offensive line of veteran running back who
Speaker 1: knows how to pick up blitz is. You know, these
Speaker 1: kinds of things are are not easy. But but a
Speaker 1: couple of those, you know, flat free type rushers, if
Speaker 1: you can get those, those are the opportunities where big
Speaker 1: plays can happen on the defensive side. Absolutely, And the
Speaker 1: thing that I like too, as I mentioned, is a
Speaker 1: double sided coin. The Packers now are going to have
Speaker 1: their full source assortment of weapons defensively and Mike for
Speaker 1: all the years that I've covered this team, now there
Speaker 1: are so many guys that can play so many different spots,
Speaker 1: the blend between the cornerback and the safety positions, the
Speaker 1: safety to the inside linebacker, defensive linemen to the outside backers.
Speaker 1: So many different guys can line up anywhere now and
Speaker 1: we've seen this evolution over the last five years with
Speaker 1: the NFL. But I think Petton has proven especially in
Speaker 1: this new CBA environment to be able to do that
Speaker 1: and keep it simple. Now, the Packers are hoping that
Speaker 1: it leads to them being, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: top units in the NFL again when it comes to defense.
Speaker 1: All right, well, we've got one more show to do
Speaker 1: this week, and we will kind of hit our final
Speaker 1: preview elements for Packers Bears. But for now, we'll call
Speaker 1: it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
Speaker 1: on Packers dot com on Twitter, you can find him
Speaker 1: at west Hot. I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers still
Speaker 1: the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you
Speaker 1: next time.