Speaker 1: M Hi, everyone, 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
Speaker 1: Field and West. Wednesday afternoon in the Packers locker room
Speaker 1: was sort of Pro Bowl selection reflection day. I guess
Speaker 1: you might say, both for the players who made it
Speaker 1: and for the players who didn't. Um some interesting comments
Speaker 1: from Aaron Rodgers. Obviously, he brought up his disappointment that
Speaker 1: some players like David back, Try, Corey Lindsley, Kenny Clark,
Speaker 1: Blake Martinez didn't get more recognition throughout this process. We
Speaker 1: talked a lot about that on yesterday's show. But one comment,
Speaker 1: if there was one comment from Rods that really stood
Speaker 1: out to me. When he spoke to reporters at his
Speaker 1: locker about the Pro Bowl selections, in talking about Davante
Speaker 1: Adams and how much he deserved it, he then threw
Speaker 1: this one at us. The beauty of his game is
Speaker 1: that there's still room for improvement, and he called that
Speaker 1: a potentially scary thing for defenses and a great thing
Speaker 1: for the Packers offense in the future. If he's right West,
Speaker 1: if he's correct about that that Adams still has room
Speaker 1: to get better in his game. Boy, this could really
Speaker 1: be Uh, we could really be on the verge of
Speaker 1: of watching something special. Yeah. I think we are already
Speaker 1: and seeing the maturation of Adams as a receiver, as
Speaker 1: a playmaker and as a leader in that locker room
Speaker 1: has been on full display this season. The thing that
Speaker 1: I liked the most right now about Davante when you
Speaker 1: look at his skill set a hundred catches, as we said, yards,
Speaker 1: twelve touchdowns, chasing down numerous franchise records right now with
Speaker 1: two games left in the regular season, is the fact
Speaker 1: that he's never been word on confidence. Even going back
Speaker 1: to two thousand, fifteen, sixteen seventeen, he has always felt
Speaker 1: very confident in what he can do. But now he's
Speaker 1: starting to see the fruits of those labors on the field,
Speaker 1: both in the terms of what the production has been
Speaker 1: and also the outside recognition and accolades. If you stack
Speaker 1: that on top of the confidence he already has and
Speaker 1: the tools he already has, I think that makes him
Speaker 1: a very dangerous receiver in this league for years to come.
Speaker 1: Rogers makes a great point Davante Adams here in a
Speaker 1: week will turn twenty six years old. I believe it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he is a young guy. He is a guy at
Speaker 1: the peak of his powers right now in as time
Speaker 1: wears on, I think, whether you know, you've seen something
Speaker 1: this year, but I think these next two three seasons,
Speaker 1: I think the NFL is gonna start understanding and appreciating
Speaker 1: what they have in Davante Adams the receiver. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: interesting getting a little bit of a glimpse into his
Speaker 1: psyche and his perspective because this year, this season that
Speaker 1: he's putting up and he's not done yet with two
Speaker 1: games to go, this is clearly going to set a
Speaker 1: new standards toistically and it's not always about the numbers,
Speaker 1: but with what he's going to finish season with this
Speaker 1: this is a new standard. But yet every time that
Speaker 1: we talked to him as reporters, you get into a conversation,
Speaker 1: he's always very engaging with the media. You get the
Speaker 1: sense that the fact that he's setting this new standard
Speaker 1: that he's almost going to force himself to live up
Speaker 1: to it doesn't bother him. It doesn't He's not shying
Speaker 1: away from it at all. He's almost saying to himself,
Speaker 1: bring it on, here we go. Yeah, And it was
Speaker 1: funny because you know, he kind of took JayR Alexander
Speaker 1: under his wing a little bit earlier this season. And
Speaker 1: while they play different positions and aren't entirely different athletes,
Speaker 1: you can see that common trait between the two of
Speaker 1: them and that they're very comfortable in their own shoes.
Speaker 1: They're very comfortable with the expectations that come along with
Speaker 1: the game of football, and you know they excel in
Speaker 1: those pressures. So I think when you look at Adams
Speaker 1: right now, you know he knew right from the get go,
Speaker 1: Jordy Nelson's gone. You know, he's gonna have to be
Speaker 1: the face of this this offense. Uh And as soon
Speaker 1: as he lost Randall Cobb and and Gerontoy Allison, that
Speaker 1: didn't change his focus at all. He just challenged himself
Speaker 1: to step up even more. When he's working with young
Speaker 1: receivers most of the season Mike fourteen games now, Davante
Speaker 1: Adams has been getting the majority of the attention from defenses,
Speaker 1: especially more recently here in the last month and a half,
Speaker 1: and he's still found ways to be productive. He's still
Speaker 1: found ways to make plays in a credit to Joe
Speaker 1: Philbin in the offensive coaches. I know it's been a
Speaker 1: tough year, but their ability to also scheme him up
Speaker 1: a little bit too and make sure that you can
Speaker 1: find ways to get the ball in his hands even
Speaker 1: when he is getting double coverage, even when he is
Speaker 1: getting cloud coverage. It's impressive, and it's impressive to see
Speaker 1: that Adams has really executed on that. I'm if if
Speaker 1: he ends up breaking the receptions record, that's the eye.
Speaker 1: That's the stat I have my eye on because it
Speaker 1: shows utter complete consistency and that's so difficult to achieve
Speaker 1: in this game. Yeah, it's funny. I don't play fantasy football.
Speaker 1: I haven't played fantasy football for only some years. I
Speaker 1: happened to catch something on Twitter the other day that
Speaker 1: said something about of all the skill position players in
Speaker 1: the NFL, there's only one guy who has scored at
Speaker 1: least fifteen Fantasy points every single week, and it's Davante
Speaker 1: Apps and it partly I don't know exactly what that means,
Speaker 1: but it speaks to your point about consistency, because the
Speaker 1: guy has produced every single week, win or lose. He
Speaker 1: needs thirteen catches to surpass Sterling Sharp's three franchise record
Speaker 1: of one hundred and twelve receptions, which actually was an
Speaker 1: NFL record NFL single season. Yeah Sharp, if you don't
Speaker 1: remember this, three Sterling Sharp set the NFL single season
Speaker 1: reception record in back to back years. In two, he
Speaker 1: broke Art Monks record with a hundred eight. Art Monk
Speaker 1: had either one oh five or one oh six, and
Speaker 1: then in three, Sharp broke his own NFL record with
Speaker 1: a hundred and twelve. Now, since then, other guys have
Speaker 1: and in the one twenties and even one thirty, I
Speaker 1: think I don't even know what the record is now.
Speaker 1: But when Sharp set that franchise record of one twelve,
Speaker 1: that was actually the second consecutive year that he had
Speaker 1: set the NFL record for single season receptions. So Marvin
Speaker 1: Harrison on the Colts, Yeah, so you go, and that
Speaker 1: was that would have been nineteen years after I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: nine years after Sharp in Yeah. It's it's incredible to
Speaker 1: see where the league has gone here, because if Davante
Speaker 1: ends up breaking the record, then he'll be tied with
Speaker 1: Pierre Garson and Rod Smith for in NFL history. Now,
Speaker 1: the d thirteen receptions, it just shows you. But Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it's still a great thing for him. And to get
Speaker 1: back to your fantasy football question, if you if you're
Speaker 1: in a PPR league points per reception, you have a
Speaker 1: hundred receptions and twelve touchdowns, you don't doesn't get much
Speaker 1: better than that. Aunte Adams has been a real dream
Speaker 1: in that way. And then also nine touchdowns in twelve
Speaker 1: games this year. We talked all year long about his
Speaker 1: streak of having touchdowns on the road. Um, it's incredible,
Speaker 1: and especially with some of the issues the Packers have
Speaker 1: had scoring the football this year, that Davante Adams has
Speaker 1: been that good. Yeah. Well, the other franchise record he's
Speaker 1: closing in on is his former teammate Jordy Nelson in
Speaker 1: had one thousand, five hundred nineteen receiving yards. Davante Adams
Speaker 1: right now at thirteen fifteen, which means he needs two
Speaker 1: oh five to get to fifteen twenty and break his
Speaker 1: former teammates record. Do you think he gets that one? Well?
Speaker 1: I do. If if if he gets an opportunity here
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers the next two games, I think there's
Speaker 1: a good possibility he does it. I think all he
Speaker 1: needs one or two big plays. You know and and
Speaker 1: that two hundred yards in two games can definitely happen.
Speaker 1: And you know, if Rogers didn't really say this part
Speaker 1: of it out front, because he said, when we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about this in a minute, all the reasons that
Speaker 1: he wants to play against the Jets, he wants to
Speaker 1: finish the season, you know, to be a leader, to
Speaker 1: be their first teammates. But you have to imagine there's
Speaker 1: also a part of Aaron Rodgers that appreciates what Davante
Speaker 1: Adams did for him this year and trying to help
Speaker 1: him break that record with you. And this is a
Speaker 1: Davante Adams had a real special season. And if you
Speaker 1: know where he came from, what he's persevered through. He
Speaker 1: had an Instagram post I believe it was last night
Speaker 1: or the night before. I know you're big on Instagram, uh,
Speaker 1: where he basically said, and I'm gonna end up messing
Speaker 1: this up probably, but from you know, counted out to
Speaker 1: count it on. And you know, when you think about that,
Speaker 1: it is really good. When you think of two thousand
Speaker 1: fifteen Packers, how difficult that season was, losing Jordy Nelson.
Speaker 1: You know, the way to the world appears to be
Speaker 1: on this kid's shoulders, and it's really not. He comes
Speaker 1: back the next year and he does what he does,
Speaker 1: and he makes sure that he improves the way that
Speaker 1: he feels like he can improve. And now I mean
Speaker 1: he is I mean, he's the offensive m VP for
Speaker 1: this team this year. It's just everything that he's gotten
Speaker 1: right now through fifteen games. Fourteen games. I don't think
Speaker 1: you could find anybody who says he doesn't deserve it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. Um. Quickly though, Packers fans, stop
Speaker 1: in at your local Quick Trip and pick up your
Speaker 1: Packers cup today. Get nine cent refills on your Cafe
Speaker 1: Cruba coffee all season long, Wes you had mentioned. We
Speaker 1: also heard from Aaron Rodgers on Wednesday, his reasons mostly
Speaker 1: revolving around leadership and those types of topics as far
Speaker 1: as why he wants to play out the season these
Speaker 1: last two games even though the Packers don't have a
Speaker 1: shot at the playoffs. We heard from David Baktiari, who
Speaker 1: answered the same questions about the Pro Bowl snub again,
Speaker 1: but but he also said um. He also said he
Speaker 1: would like to finish out the season as well because
Speaker 1: he's like, hey, I'm a professional football player. My contracts
Speaker 1: says they're sixteen regular season games. The contract doesn't say
Speaker 1: you play until you're eliminated from playoff can tension. There's
Speaker 1: something certainly admirable about that. And then Brian Bulag at
Speaker 1: the other book end, the other tackle on the Packers
Speaker 1: offensive line, he's addressed this as well, and not only
Speaker 1: did he echo some of the things that Rogers and
Speaker 1: Baker he said, but it goes a little bit deeper
Speaker 1: and a little bit more personal with bolog as far
Speaker 1: as his motivations as to why he wants to finish
Speaker 1: out these last two games. Why don't you give us
Speaker 1: the recap on that Wednesday's locker room was really interesting
Speaker 1: to me in this way because I looked at Rogers,
Speaker 1: Box tr and Bolog almost as like the football trinity
Speaker 1: in terms of you want to ask players why they're
Speaker 1: playing out the season. I thought, between those three guys,
Speaker 1: you've got a really clear picture in portrait of what
Speaker 1: this game means to these guys and and why there
Speaker 1: is that motivation even when you're out of playoff contention
Speaker 1: to finish this thing out. With Rogers its leadership, how
Speaker 1: can he ask people to rally for him if he's
Speaker 1: not willing to rally for them down the stretch during
Speaker 1: the most adverse situations. Now, again, last year was a
Speaker 1: different story. He had the collar when it was still healing.
Speaker 1: There was a big danger there if he aggravates that,
Speaker 1: what that could have did to his off season. So
Speaker 1: it made sense for them to shut him down this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he tweaked his growing muscle. Yes, he's been dealing with
Speaker 1: the knee, but those, you know, the knee specifically, are
Speaker 1: things that he's been able to play through. He wants
Speaker 1: to be out there, David bat as long as that
Speaker 1: quarterback is on the field, he's gonna be there, wanting
Speaker 1: to block his blindside for him. He's had to deal
Speaker 1: with his own knee injuries, lower body issues throughout the
Speaker 1: course of the the season. Has started all four teen games.
Speaker 1: As he said, the contract that he signed, it didn't
Speaker 1: say play until you're eliminated from the playoffs. It said
Speaker 1: play for sixteen games if your body allows you to
Speaker 1: do so. David baktis hell bent on doing that. Lastly,
Speaker 1: Brian Blaga, this was the one that I thought was
Speaker 1: the most eye opening because he really blog in general.
Speaker 1: I've said this before, he's been amazing this year in
Speaker 1: terms of really letting the media, in letting people into
Speaker 1: his thought process and what this year has been like
Speaker 1: for him, trying to come back after tearing his a
Speaker 1: c L last November, getting back on the field a
Speaker 1: couple of days, I of ten months, which was incredibly impressive,
Speaker 1: and that's why it is so motivating for him to
Speaker 1: want to get back out there. He tore his MCL
Speaker 1: two weeks ago, as he said, you know, against that
Speaker 1: game against Arizona. The doctors told him two weeks you
Speaker 1: got to set this thing out. The two weeks past,
Speaker 1: he was back on the practice field Wednesday. He feels
Speaker 1: good to go, and he said, it's about his wife
Speaker 1: that that sat there for three weeks post stop doing
Speaker 1: everything in their household because he couldn't move. It's for
Speaker 1: the PT staff, the Packers training staff that helped him
Speaker 1: get to this point, that put in all the hours
Speaker 1: to get him back on the field for Week one,
Speaker 1: and this being his second second rehab of his professional
Speaker 1: football career as well. And as I wrote in the story,
Speaker 1: some people were wondering a lot of skeptics were wondering
Speaker 1: whether or not he'd be ready for Week one. He
Speaker 1: did him one better. He was ready for that preseason finale,
Speaker 1: was able to get some work against Kansas City before
Speaker 1: going into the regular season. He's battled through a lot
Speaker 1: this season. I think to Brian Bulaga, and I don't
Speaker 1: want to put words in his mouth, but I have
Speaker 1: to imagine this has to be one of them gratifying
Speaker 1: years he's had. He started twelve games, He's overcome a
Speaker 1: lot of doubters, and the fact of the matter is
Speaker 1: the Packers need him right now. Jason Spriggs is in
Speaker 1: the concussion protocol. Yeah, that was a new injury that
Speaker 1: that cropped up that that we weren't aware of until
Speaker 1: Spriggs was not on the practice field Wednesday. So if
Speaker 1: you're not going to have the guy that had been
Speaker 1: subbing in for Volaga, then you have to start wondering
Speaker 1: what's going to happen there. Well, Bolag is back in there.
Speaker 1: He wants to play. I just think those guys know
Speaker 1: what the franchise quarterback means to this team. It's their
Speaker 1: job to protect them and they want to be out
Speaker 1: there regardless of what the wind Lost column says. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I u um I couldn't have been more impressed, frankly
Speaker 1: with the comments from guys like bok tr and bolog
Speaker 1: and what they said with regards to Um. You know,
Speaker 1: at the heart of it West, they were basically expressing
Speaker 1: what it means to them to be a professional football player.
Speaker 1: And and I couldn't have more respect for how they're
Speaker 1: going about it. The other thing I will say with
Speaker 1: regards to this game, in particular against the Jets, the
Speaker 1: last road trips, the last road trip of the Packers
Speaker 1: are o and seven on the road. I think there's
Speaker 1: something and maybe I'm way off base here, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I think there's something about when you talk about
Speaker 1: the transition of young players from the college game to
Speaker 1: the NFL, and we've seen the Packers get some significant
Speaker 1: contributions from rookies Jr. Alexander, Josh Jackson, Marquis Velde, Scanling,
Speaker 1: Equanimius st. Brown. You know, this rookie draft class that looks,
Speaker 1: you know, showing a lot of promise here for the Packers.
Speaker 1: There's something to be said for going on the road
Speaker 1: and winning a game in your rookie year so that
Speaker 1: you're not coming back your second year in the NFL
Speaker 1: and then you start getting on airplanes and getting going
Speaker 1: boy this didn't go so well last year. You know,
Speaker 1: I I think there's something to going to New Jersey
Speaker 1: and winning this game for those young guys in the
Speaker 1: locker room to to experience, as Aaron Rodgers said, experienced
Speaker 1: the postgame locker room, the bus ride, the flight home,
Speaker 1: and be able to process everything that it took to
Speaker 1: go on the road in the NFL and get a victory. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe that doesn't rank up there as high as some
Speaker 1: other reasons to play this game to win, but I
Speaker 1: think for the near future of this of this Packers
Speaker 1: team and how it's currently constructed, I think it could
Speaker 1: mean something. I think it means a lot. I think
Speaker 1: you look at JR, Alexander and even Mike. You could
Speaker 1: look at the rookie class from last year that hasn't
Speaker 1: tasted a win on the road since that game in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: the overtime game against the Browns, So there is almost
Speaker 1: I want to call it a cleansing, but I mean,
Speaker 1: you want to pick up a road victory. You want
Speaker 1: to know what it's like to get on that plane
Speaker 1: after a game with the taste of a victory in
Speaker 1: your mouth. So um, yeah, it's it's a big challenge.
Speaker 1: And I think you look at the way the season
Speaker 1: has gone for for Todd Bowles and the Jets, and
Speaker 1: you know the writing is on the wall in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways right now for them. So it really
Speaker 1: is going to come down to what team wants this more,
Speaker 1: who wants to dig deeper? And I think there is
Speaker 1: I wrote it an inbox this week. I think there
Speaker 1: are a lot of young, hungry guys in this lineup,
Speaker 1: some that have played, some who haven't, that want to
Speaker 1: get out there. They want to show what they can offer,
Speaker 1: and they want to win football games. I mean, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's about winning football games.
Speaker 1: David Batari said it too. This year has been tough
Speaker 1: because you know, you can talk about accolades and snubs
Speaker 1: and things like that, but he's like, my my goals,
Speaker 1: I want to win a Super Bowl. When he got
Speaker 1: drafted in two thousand thirteen, he felt like he was
Speaker 1: close to being able to win a Super Bowl right
Speaker 1: off the bat. And this is a guy that came
Speaker 1: from a one win program at Colorado the year before.
Speaker 1: He wanted to win. That is the thing that pushes
Speaker 1: everybody the most. Yes you and I get paychecks, Yes
Speaker 1: we're able to support our families. But if we write
Speaker 1: crappy stories or we have a terrible episode of unscripted,
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel that good. So I mean, from their perspective,
Speaker 1: yeah you can. You can lose these next two games.
Speaker 1: Doesn't change anything. No, your fate is still sealed. But again,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned last week after the win over the Falcons,
Speaker 1: you win these games, you finally get on a winning
Speaker 1: streak to end the season. Then you go into the
Speaker 1: off season with a little bit more hop in your step. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. And uh, last chance for the
Speaker 1: Packers on the road is at the Big tin Can
Speaker 1: and East Rutherford. As I like to say, it's a
Speaker 1: it's maybe the most nondescript of the newer stadiums in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Are driving through New Jersey and then here's
Speaker 1: this big gray metal structure that kind of climbs out
Speaker 1: of the trees and here and bring your binoculars because
Speaker 1: that Russ box we're way up there. Oh I got them.
Speaker 1: And it's fun too, because the thing that's great is
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, you look at the diagrams right now
Speaker 1: for l A. Uh, you know, we were just in Minneapolis,
Speaker 1: and how that stadium looks and even even Chicago to
Speaker 1: some regard, all those soldier fields been there forever and
Speaker 1: it's form. Yeah, they sort of dropped something strange in
Speaker 1: the midst of a war memorial. But you still got
Speaker 1: this carry on, you still got the skylight, the atmosphere.
Speaker 1: It's so funny. I've only been to New York once
Speaker 1: and it was for that two thousand thirteen game that
Speaker 1: Scott Tolzine started, and I remember pulling up to the
Speaker 1: stadium and being like, I'm in like New York, New
Speaker 1: Jersey and this is this is the stadium right like
Speaker 1: like somewhere along the line some architects signed off on
Speaker 1: this thing, was like, yeah, we got it. So with
Speaker 1: all due respect to them, it just it is interesting
Speaker 1: when you think a Yankee Stadium and all these different venues,
Speaker 1: Madison Square, Garden. So it'll be funny. I'm excited to
Speaker 1: get out there, all right. Yeah, Well we will see
Speaker 1: what happens, and for now we will call it a
Speaker 1: wrap on this edition of Packer's Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team on packers
Speaker 1: dot Com on Twitter. He's at West Hot, I'm at
Speaker 1: Mike Spofford at Packers for the team accout. Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in everybody, We'll see you next time.