Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by the one and only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you hear from our studios at lambeau Field, Wes. It's
Speaker 1: almost here. Packers Bears Week one at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Kickoff will be three twenty five pm on Sunday afternoon
Speaker 1: Central Time. And normally when we get to this part
Speaker 1: of the week and it's week one heading into the
Speaker 1: season opener, you like to talk about how healthy the
Speaker 1: team is and how you know everybody got through training
Speaker 1: camp in great shape. And well that's not the case
Speaker 1: for the Green Bay Packers at one position in particular.
Speaker 1: And of course I'm talking about wide receiver because at
Speaker 1: the time that we are taping this, which is Thursday morning,
Speaker 1: at Wednesday's practice, both Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs were
Speaker 1: out with hamstring injuries. Dontavian Wicks, the rookie fifth round
Speaker 1: pick who had missed the back half of training camp
Speaker 1: with a hamstring injury. He's still on the injury report
Speaker 1: with that injury, but he was back practicing on a
Speaker 1: limited basis. But regardless, what the Packers' receiving corps is
Speaker 1: going to look like on Sunday afternoon in Chicago is
Speaker 1: a bit of a question mark.
Speaker 2: It is, Michael, and obviously that was a surprise for
Speaker 2: a lot of folks. When we go out to practice,
Speaker 2: you know that Romeo Dobbs have been missing some time
Speaker 2: with the hamstring, and then you you group Watson into
Speaker 2: that conversation as well. The thing, I selfishly for them,
Speaker 2: even let's say they'd be able to play on Sunday,
Speaker 2: I just hate that both of those guys, who had
Speaker 2: such good off seasons had put their best foots forward.
Speaker 2: I think Romeo has been such a consistent presence. You
Speaker 2: certainly seen the dynamic deep threat that Christian Watson provides.
Speaker 2: You just wanted to be able to see them get
Speaker 2: out on the field full go one hundred. Let's see
Speaker 2: how this all plays out. And unfortunately, even if they're
Speaker 2: able to play, they're probably gonna be somewhat compromised. But
Speaker 2: it's a difficult, tricky thing for the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: right now because you have to navigate what your plan
Speaker 2: is going to be and how you're gonna go about
Speaker 2: handling it. The one thing. Again, this is a very
Speaker 2: small silver lining, but this was Wednesday's practice. So it
Speaker 2: tells you that the Green Bay Packers went into Wednesday knowing, okay,
Speaker 2: Christian Watson's and they're probably not going to go today
Speaker 2: for whenever it happened, probably not going to be out there.
Speaker 2: So the coaching staff at least has been able to
Speaker 2: adapt to that, make their adjustments and put together a
Speaker 2: plan that can win here for Jordan Love and this
Speaker 2: young offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as much as the Packers want to start
Speaker 1: fast this season, obviously, you want to do everything you
Speaker 1: can to win the game on Sunday in Chicago, this
Speaker 1: issue with Watson that they have to be really careful
Speaker 1: because we saw what happened last year. He was dealing
Speaker 1: with a hamstring injury early in the year. Then he
Speaker 1: got back into action, but then the hamstring cropped up
Speaker 1: again midway through the game in London, and then he
Speaker 1: was out again for a while, and then in the
Speaker 1: second half of his rookie season. We obviously saw what
Speaker 1: Christian Watson brings to this offense, but because of the
Speaker 1: the on again, off again, you know, dealing with with
Speaker 1: the hamstring issue last year, we didn't really see what
Speaker 1: everybody was hoping from Christian Watson until the calendar got
Speaker 1: much later in the season. So the Packers now have
Speaker 1: that history, they understand what happened last year. That will
Speaker 1: all be taken into account in terms of moving forward here.
Speaker 1: But what this does on Sunday in Chicago is creates
Speaker 1: an even brighter spotlight than was already going to be
Speaker 1: on two rookies that we knew were going to be
Speaker 1: significant parts of this Packers offense. With Jordan Love at
Speaker 1: quarterback and I'm talking about the two second round picks
Speaker 1: Jaden Reid at wide receiver more so slot receiver most likely,
Speaker 1: but then also Luke Musgrave at tight end. If each
Speaker 1: of those guys was expecting maybe four or five targets
Speaker 1: from Jordan Love in this game, maybe double that head
Speaker 1: heading into Sunday, We'll just have to see.
Speaker 2: And the creativity that the Packers coaching staff is gonna
Speaker 2: have to come up with. It isn't when you say target,
Speaker 2: it's it's not just pass targets, right, it's right end
Speaker 2: to rounds, it's push passes, it's other things that they
Speaker 2: can do at this offense. You know how much pony
Speaker 2: are we going to see with Aaron Jones and aj
Speaker 2: Dillon out of the backfield too. What I like about
Speaker 2: it though, is both Reed and Musgrave were thrown into
Speaker 2: the deep end right off the bat. These aren't guys
Speaker 2: that just sort of crept up and kind of got
Speaker 2: their way into the starting lineup like a Malik Heath
Speaker 2: did during the last week of training camp. No, for
Speaker 2: the most part, they've been running with the one since
Speaker 2: day one of the offseason program. They understood what was
Speaker 2: going to be asked of them. The thing I'm really
Speaker 2: excited to watch this season, looking specifically at Luke Musgrave,
Speaker 2: is the tight end in this offense in the Jordan
Speaker 2: Love era. Very very small sample size with Jordan Love
Speaker 2: so far, but he has a knack for finding his
Speaker 2: tight ends. He had a little bit of a rapport
Speaker 2: going on with Josiah Deguara before in the past. We've seen,
Speaker 2: you know, Musgrave gets five receptions during the preseason during
Speaker 2: his limited amount of work. The tight end is going
Speaker 2: to be a focal point of the passing game here,
Speaker 2: and I think having two guys with Reed and Musgrave
Speaker 2: that can attack the middle of the field, especially when
Speaker 2: you get Dobbs and Watson out there. It can be
Speaker 2: a real catalyst for this unit because you saw the
Speaker 2: stretch plays, you saw the nineteen yard touchdown in the preseason,
Speaker 2: you know, coming on the crosser like Jaden Reid did.
Speaker 2: They're going to challenge the eyes and the integrity of
Speaker 2: opposing secondaries. And watching those two guys work off of
Speaker 2: each other, I think is gonna be really exciting here
Speaker 2: this first season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned the five reception Musgrave had in the preseason.
Speaker 1: He was also targeted on some other passes as well.
Speaker 1: You know, we saw Jordan Love certainly looking to him
Speaker 1: when he was in there in the preseason games. If
Speaker 1: Watson and or Dobbs cannot go in this game, you're
Speaker 1: looking at a bigger opportunity for Samai Toure, who suddenly
Speaker 1: you know, he could be the most experienced wide receiver
Speaker 1: the Packers have on the field on Sunday. Heath the
Speaker 1: undrafted rookie from Mississippi. You know, throw him in there
Speaker 1: as well, and we'll see what happens with with don
Speaker 1: Tavian Wix. He is at least practicing on a limited basis,
Speaker 1: and he was running with the ones in training camp
Speaker 1: at times before the hamstring injury cropped up with him.
Speaker 1: But I was what was interesting to me in going
Speaker 1: through kind of all the notes and the interviews and
Speaker 1: everything that was going on in the locker room after
Speaker 1: practice on Wednesday, and then I wrote a story on
Speaker 1: our website, you know, kind of outlining what's going on
Speaker 1: at the receiver position is you know, big crowd gathers
Speaker 1: around Samorri Tour, a bunch of cameras, and the questions
Speaker 1: are firing, and you know, we've talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: the poise, the you know, calm, cool, collected, Jordan love
Speaker 1: Samai Toure did not look bothered in one bit by
Speaker 1: all this attention that was coming his way and what
Speaker 1: might be a big opportunity for him on Sunday. To me,
Speaker 1: he looks like a young man who has a lot
Speaker 1: more experience then he actually got as a rookie last year.
Speaker 1: He looks like he's ready for whatever comes his way up.
Speaker 2: I think people forget that this guy was right along
Speaker 2: with Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs in the journey of
Speaker 2: development last year. Now, he didn't get as many in
Speaker 2: game opportunities as his two you know, draft classmates, but
Speaker 2: he's seen some stuff over his time, and he was
Speaker 2: a season college athlete. I mean you look at his
Speaker 2: time at Montana, he was the go to guy, and
Speaker 2: then he ends up at Nebraska. A lot of people wondering, Okay,
Speaker 2: can this FCS kid do anything here? He ends up
Speaker 2: being their leading receiver. I wrote in the off season,
Speaker 2: I know you and I have talked about it too.
Speaker 2: He has succeeded at every level of football he's played,
Speaker 2: regardless of what people have thought about it. But what
Speaker 2: you were over in the Milie Heath huddle too. What
Speaker 2: stands out to me the most, and it goes back
Speaker 2: to something Samori said when I asked him about the
Speaker 2: collective you know group and how they've kind of grown
Speaker 2: together here is whatever the outside perception is of their inexperience,
Speaker 2: there isn't that expectation and theo they look at. Maybe
Speaker 2: it's because they all were pretty much star college focal
Speaker 2: points for their respective teams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've been the guy. They've been the guy, just
Speaker 1: not at this level.
Speaker 2: You think Malik Heath is getting nervous about having to
Speaker 2: play on Sunday, I mean, listen to Malik Heath talk.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a guy that has done it
Speaker 2: at every level. Four star recruit you know, was that
Speaker 2: Mississippi old miss Mississippi State. He's ready for it. He's
Speaker 2: had you remember talking to him during the final week
Speaker 2: of camp saying he's talked to Elton Jenkins and Preston
Speaker 2: Smith about, you know, coming to this league and what
Speaker 2: it takes to succeed. All these guys are ready for it.
Speaker 2: The biggest challenge is going to be what they're seeing
Speaker 2: lined up across from them. When you see you know,
Speaker 2: Johnson and these other defensive backs and Eddie Jackson hovering
Speaker 2: over the back end. Yeah, that's going to be the
Speaker 2: challenge winning those opportunities. But in terms of that atmosphere
Speaker 2: at Chicago inside Soldier Field, I don't think these guys
Speaker 2: are wavering at all. Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I think back to SAMAI two Ray's rookie season,
Speaker 1: I think of two plays I think of that. I
Speaker 1: think of that touchdown catch in Buffalo which actually occurred
Speaker 1: right in the end zone that was in front of us.
Speaker 1: Well one we get to see, yeah, where the press
Speaker 1: box was in Buffalo, that that was right below us there.
Speaker 1: And then the fourth down catch in Detroit that that
Speaker 1: kept the Packers, you know alive for what they were
Speaker 1: hoping was going to be a game winning scoring drive
Speaker 1: there at the end, he's you know, he's had he
Speaker 1: you know, didn't have many, but he had some big
Speaker 1: moments as as a rookie, and I think he's a
Speaker 1: young man who will step up to the challenge. I
Speaker 1: want to get to our keys to victory, as we
Speaker 1: like to do at the end of the week, but
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna break down the fourth wall really quickly here.
Speaker 2: I'm going to welcome people into our world. On Fridays,
Speaker 2: occasionally we get free lunches. It's a real big boom,
Speaker 2: you know. For me. Yeah, I used to when I
Speaker 2: worked in the newspaper, used to get pizza on election night.
Speaker 2: But it's neat on Fridays, we get free lunches every
Speaker 2: once in a while. Mike, you've worked here now for
Speaker 2: fifteen years. Has there been a greater advindition?
Speaker 1: Actually? But who's who's counting?
Speaker 2: Who's counting? Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think in pension terms, it's like, well, as long
Speaker 2: as you hit the pension.
Speaker 1: You're get to fifteen years. We're good, right, But.
Speaker 2: In all your time working here, has there been a
Speaker 2: better addition to the Friday lunch schedule than cousin subs?
Speaker 1: Hey, I'll take it any I'll take it any time
Speaker 1: they can come. They don't just have to come on Fridays.
Speaker 1: They can come any day an they want ask me.
Speaker 2: But and again this is not on the script. I
Speaker 2: just want to say this. I want to give them
Speaker 2: credit because there's so many sub places that cater and
Speaker 2: they're just like, oh, let's put all these subs together,
Speaker 2: just shove them out the door. Best catered sub on
Speaker 2: the planet and the best part they put the condiments
Speaker 2: on the side.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I know on the side. That's that's
Speaker 1: that's huge, that's huge for you. Wes. You don't you
Speaker 1: like to take care of that yourself?
Speaker 2: Like, do you like to eat a sandwich that's been
Speaker 2: sitting in Mayo for two and a half days.
Speaker 1: No, no, I would agree.
Speaker 2: Can you tell him ready for a week one? Let's
Speaker 2: talk to keys victory?
Speaker 1: All right, Keys to victory? Young man? Where does I'll
Speaker 1: let you decide where you want to start. If you
Speaker 1: want to start on the offensive side of the defensive
Speaker 1: side for the Packers, what is forefront in your mind
Speaker 1: as a key to victory for the Packers on Sunday afternoon?
Speaker 2: Defense? Defense, defense, defense, It really is. I mean, you
Speaker 2: go back to the first game of Matt Lafleur's time
Speaker 2: here and he always talks about how this season kind
Speaker 2: of reminds him of that. Well, how did that season start?
Speaker 2: It didn't start with Aaron Rodgers throwing for four hundred
Speaker 2: yards and five touchdown, right. It was a knockdown, drag
Speaker 2: out war at Soldier Field between those two teams. And
Speaker 2: that's why I think it's ultimately going to take Packers
Speaker 2: certainly want to score more than ten points, but I
Speaker 2: think it's going to come down to this scheme. This
Speaker 2: defense in neutralizing justin Field's the best that they may
Speaker 2: Packers have actually had quite a bit of success against
Speaker 2: fields Joe Berry's had some really smart game plans for
Speaker 2: how they've defended him. But you know that Lukeetzi and
Speaker 2: the coaches over on Chicago side, they're looking at Justin
Speaker 2: Fields now, year three. What can we do with this
Speaker 2: kid that we couldn't do three and sixty five days ago.
Speaker 2: What areas of his game has he grown in that
Speaker 2: we can make him a viable threat against this defense? Certainly,
Speaker 2: rushing to contain, I think is such an integral part
Speaker 2: of this. You can't get greedy, you can't get out
Speaker 2: of your gaps, because the thing is the kid's not
Speaker 2: just fast, he's explosive too. He's not easy to take down. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's going to be the ultimate challenge for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Yeah. To me, this as a week one game, and
Speaker 1: with everything that's been discussed with regards to the Packers defense,
Speaker 1: this sets up as a as a really interesting challenge
Speaker 1: because we've heard so much. We've talked so much about
Speaker 1: the Packers defense having a more aggressive mentality, Right, that's
Speaker 1: what we've heard from the players, That's what we've heard
Speaker 1: from Joe Barry. But yet in this one, this one
Speaker 1: is going against a quarterback like Justin Fields. This is
Speaker 1: you know, if I can still call somebody like this
Speaker 1: a non traditional quarterback in the NFL. When you rush
Speaker 1: for one thousand yards in the n exactly eleven hundred
Speaker 1: yard rusher for a quarterback, that's still that's still non traditional.
Speaker 1: That's unusual. This this is a This isn't about aggression.
Speaker 1: This is about discipline. This this game, this game is
Speaker 1: going to be about the discipline of the rush lanes
Speaker 1: being able to contain him in the pocket. I mean,
Speaker 1: just just look at the game last year, and it
Speaker 1: was in December. It was when Justin Fields was starting,
Speaker 1: even though the Bears weren't getting wins. You look at
Speaker 1: Justin fields statistics. Statistically the second half of last year,
Speaker 1: he was way better than he was in the first half.
Speaker 1: Things were starting to come around for him and Luke
Speaker 1: Getzi's offense and all this what happened early in the game,
Speaker 1: he gets loose for a fifty plus yard touchdown run.
Speaker 1: Later in the game, when the Packers made him throw
Speaker 1: the football, he threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: You know, and I'm not saying Justin Fields isn't better,
Speaker 1: things aren't going to change, but that was just last December.
Speaker 1: You go into this game. That's the formula for beating
Speaker 1: these guys. You at least have to make Justin Fields
Speaker 1: prove that he can beat you with his arm before
Speaker 1: you let him beat you with his legs. And in
Speaker 1: order to do that, it's all about discipline. The guys
Speaker 1: up front, whether it's Preston Smith, Kenny Clark, or Sean Gary,
Speaker 1: Lucas Fanas, whoever it is. They can't be worried about,
Speaker 1: you know, how many sacks they're going to be talking
Speaker 1: about with reporters like after the game. What they have
Speaker 1: to be concerned about is how many rushing yards are
Speaker 1: they going to be talking about that Justin Fields ends
Speaker 1: up within this game, because I think that's the entire
Speaker 1: key for Chicago to get a win.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And if you think of the preseason, Mike, obviously
Speaker 2: you ever take all of it with a grain of salt,
Speaker 2: But think about the steady pass rush that the Packers
Speaker 2: ended up having throughout the preseason, right, they had some
Speaker 2: pretty good pressure on the opposing quarterback. I think they
Speaker 2: might have had two sacks. I think Kingsley aene Bari's
Speaker 2: two sacks in that one game where all they had
Speaker 2: for the button. Yeah, Yeah, Brenton Cox made this roster
Speaker 2: based on how we pressure the quarterback, how he collapse
Speaker 2: the pocket. That's the big one here. You know there's
Speaker 2: gonna be opportunities to get sacks, There's gonna be opportunities
Speaker 2: to make your money. Absolutely, but this is one of
Speaker 2: those where it takes a group, absolutely team oriented thought
Speaker 2: process in order to succeed against a dangerous quarterback like this, Because, honestly,
Speaker 2: Mike line up the rest of it. I don't know
Speaker 2: how they'll defend Chicago. But Dj Moore really super talented receiver,
Speaker 2: legitimate number one lined up against joy R Alexander. I
Speaker 2: feel okay about that, right. Chase Claypool lined up against
Speaker 2: Rasul Dougley's you feel fine about it. Darnell Mooney, big
Speaker 2: matchup inside against Keyshawn Nixon, Devondre Campbell going up against
Speaker 2: Cole Comet. There's a lot to like in terms of
Speaker 2: how Green Bay matches up defensively. I agree, But where
Speaker 2: is the question mark? It's at that quarterback position. It's
Speaker 2: the one that is normally not accounted for. Are you
Speaker 2: spying him? Are you watching your edges? What is the plan?
Speaker 2: The packers have a plan. Very curious to see how
Speaker 2: they can go about executing him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the other key defensively in this game for
Speaker 1: the Packers, and it's always the biggest wild card and
Speaker 1: weak one for any defense, Right, it's tackling. And it's
Speaker 1: not just about tackling justin fields when you know when
Speaker 1: he decides to take off and run and all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But this Bears offense, they like to
Speaker 1: throw the ball horizontally. They like to do bubble screens,
Speaker 1: they like to throw traditional screens. They like to you know,
Speaker 1: throw the checkdowns to the running backs, those guys who
Speaker 1: get the ball in some open space. The Packers have
Speaker 1: to be able to make the tackle, don't let the miss,
Speaker 1: don't let misstackles, then rupture into the big plays because
Speaker 1: that's what that's what the Bears are counting on. That's
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears' biggest highlight from the preseason was a
Speaker 1: bubble screen that DJ Moore took eighty yards or whatever
Speaker 1: to the house. Right, you have to be able to
Speaker 1: make tackles on these guys because they are counting on
Speaker 1: their short, simple plays at some point rupturing into a
Speaker 1: big one that's going to shift the momentum and get
Speaker 1: and get things on their side, and tackling is a
Speaker 1: huge wildcard in Week one. Now, the Packers obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: played their starters at least a few series here, and
Speaker 1: they're in the preseason, so they're going into this Week
Speaker 1: one a little bit differently than they have in previous ones,
Speaker 1: but still sixty seventy seventy five plays whatever. It's going
Speaker 1: to be, first game of the season, all the tackles
Speaker 1: that have to be made. You never quite know what
Speaker 1: you have defensively until you're forced to make those plays.
Speaker 2: When you said all those words there, when you talked
Speaker 2: about the screens, that word I thought of a different word. Space. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's all about space. And Luke Getzi is a disciple
Speaker 2: of both Mike McCarthy and Matt Lafleur. He had to
Speaker 2: taste the both worlds, and I think what you've seen
Speaker 2: with him is understanding who his quarterback is. That's obviously
Speaker 2: the starting point, but where you build out the offense
Speaker 2: from the rest of it, there are a lot of parallels.
Speaker 2: It's a much different offense than what Green Bay runs,
Speaker 2: but the overall simplification, if you bring it all down
Speaker 2: to it, it comes down to making guys get the
Speaker 2: ball in their hands and allow them to make plays.
Speaker 2: I think that's why DJ Moore so excited about this opportunity.
Speaker 2: It's going to put him in a position to make plays.
Speaker 2: Chase Claypool did not get off to a strong start
Speaker 2: last year, seeing how he rebounds from that. Darnell Mooney
Speaker 2: took a step back last year from his breakout year
Speaker 2: of the year before, seeing how he responds to that
Speaker 2: as well. And Juice Herbert now being the featured guy
Speaker 2: in the backfield with no more David Montgomery, even though
Speaker 2: they were without him several times because of injuries, still
Speaker 2: he's the guy back there. Now, what does he do
Speaker 2: with that opportunity. I just feel like for as much
Speaker 2: expectation as there is on this Bears team, because honestly,
Speaker 2: you've got to get off the basement floor. If with
Speaker 2: that fan base, there still are a lot of question
Speaker 2: marks and how it all ultimately comes together. But those
Speaker 2: type of playmakers, that type of athleticism, you get them
Speaker 2: up in the space, it's easy for us to say,
Speaker 2: go tackle them, Yeah, but it's not always that simple.
Speaker 2: That's why hats to the ball matter, and that's why
Speaker 2: integrity matters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you said it hats to the ball because
Speaker 1: it can't just be on one guy to have to
Speaker 1: make those tackles all the time. It has to be
Speaker 1: multiple guys getting to the ball so that if a
Speaker 1: tackle is slipped, there's somebody right there to help clean
Speaker 1: it up. That's what good defenses do, and that's what
Speaker 1: That's what we saw the Packers working on the way
Speaker 1: they ran drills, the way they did things in warm
Speaker 1: ups and everything else throughout the pre throughout training camp,
Speaker 1: in the preseason. That's how they did things. So now
Speaker 1: it has to it has to translate into this game.
Speaker 1: In Week one, on the offensive side for Green Bay,
Speaker 1: we talked about the injuries, the uncertainty at wide receiver.
Speaker 1: It certainly shifts the the focus perhaps even you know,
Speaker 1: more so than it would have been already, on how
Speaker 1: the Packers are going to be able to run the football.
Speaker 1: With Aaron Jones with AJ Dillon, you know you've set
Speaker 1: up before yourself. Those two running backs can you know,
Speaker 1: can be a new quarterback's best friend, right, And the
Speaker 1: Packers like what they have up front with their offensive line.
Speaker 1: They you know, we know that Matt Lafleur likes to
Speaker 1: do a lot of misdirection in the running game and
Speaker 1: then run play action off of that misdirection stuff. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean all all those kinds of things. But the
Speaker 1: only way that that stuff works is if you can
Speaker 1: line up and run the ball consistently and efficiently, because
Speaker 1: then everything else works off of that. And given the Packers'
Speaker 1: situation at wide receiver going into this game, perhaps it's
Speaker 1: even more paramount that this ground game establish what it
Speaker 1: needs to be.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for this offensive line in this game.
Speaker 2: You know, being able to see David Bakhtiari Nelton Jenkins
Speaker 2: back together. We saw it at the end of last season.
Speaker 2: But having that unification there, in my opinion, pound for pound,
Speaker 2: the best left side in the game right now. I'm
Speaker 2: over the moon about what the possibilities can be. You
Speaker 2: have to go out and earn it. You have to win.
Speaker 2: You have to be able to run the ball when
Speaker 2: they know that you're going to be running the ball.
Speaker 2: But being dominant in the trenches I think is going
Speaker 2: to be important in this game. Give Aaron Jones and
Speaker 2: ag Dillon those opportunities. I thought aj Dillon ran the
Speaker 2: ball really well in the preseason. He even talked about
Speaker 2: it yesterday in the locker room when we were in there.
Speaker 2: You know, he probably got more preseason reps this year
Speaker 2: than he's gotten maybe ever, thinking that twenty twenty there
Speaker 2: was no preseason right rookie season when he might have
Speaker 2: been more in line for something like that. So he
Speaker 2: feels like that was actually good to kind of get
Speaker 2: that wear and tear on him a little bit and
Speaker 2: feeling good right now, but being able to at least
Speaker 2: get some of those bumps in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he ran the ball hard, but let's be honest, Mike.
Speaker 2: We can talk misdirection, we can talk concepts, we can
Speaker 2: talk scheme, whatever you want to do. There's two things
Speaker 2: that this boils down to for the Packers offense, protecting
Speaker 2: the football and penalties. Matt Lafleur's teams excel in both areas.
Speaker 2: When they win football games, they win the turnover margin,
Speaker 2: they play clean football, staying out of unfavorable situations. That's
Speaker 2: going to be allow you to keep running the ball right,
Speaker 2: making sure that you don't give up the ball, and
Speaker 2: in favorable situations for your defense. Those are all gonna
Speaker 2: be the keys to this thing. And I feel like
Speaker 2: if Jordan Love in this scheme they can go in there.
Speaker 2: This is going to sound really bad, but punting is
Speaker 2: not always the worst thing. And I just feel like
Speaker 2: if Green Bay can control the field, position, control the
Speaker 2: pace of this game, they are the more talented team.
Speaker 2: It's just making sure you eliminate as many mistakes as possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you mentioned the twenty nineteen opener, Matt Lafleur's
Speaker 1: first game as head coach. That was at Soldier Field
Speaker 1: and was that defensive slugfest. Ten to three was the
Speaker 1: final score. The Packers did just find protecting the football
Speaker 1: in that game, but that entire game they were behind
Speaker 1: the sticks offensively. It was whether it was you know,
Speaker 1: penalties or negative yardage plays or whatever. And that's what
Speaker 1: you have to stay away from because they only scored
Speaker 1: ten points in that game because of a lot of
Speaker 1: self inflicted stuff that just they put themselves in positions
Speaker 1: that were really really hard to convert, but the defense
Speaker 1: held up its end to be able to get that win.
Speaker 1: So you know, Matt Lafleur knows all about that experience
Speaker 1: in in a week one game at Soldier Field, and
Speaker 1: that's what they'll be looking to avoid. For me, the
Speaker 1: I'm I'm curious to see just you know, you mentioned
Speaker 1: it earlier, what's known as the Pony package, which is
Speaker 1: when both aj Dillon and Aaron Jones are on the
Speaker 1: field together with the situation now at wide receiver, what
Speaker 1: might we see in the in the creative realm from
Speaker 1: Matt lafleur from offensive coordinator Adam Stenovich with regard to
Speaker 1: the running backs and how they're used in this game.
Speaker 1: You know, I guess color me curious as to as
Speaker 1: to maybe what, you know, what might be you know,
Speaker 1: pulled out of that grab bag as they get ready
Speaker 1: to play on Sunday, just in case they need something
Speaker 1: for a little change up or something for a little
Speaker 1: spark or whatever. Offensively, if there is something like that
Speaker 1: that they're going to go to, I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: involve one of the running backs.
Speaker 2: Do you see what Atlanta's doing down right, what they're
Speaker 2: doing this year? No, so they're calling Corterell Patterson a
Speaker 2: joker now in b Jhon Robinson's the starting running back. Okay, so,
Speaker 2: but they're given it's almost kind of a takeoff Pony
Speaker 2: a little bit, but using it more as like the
Speaker 2: base personnel on a depth chart, so to speak. I
Speaker 2: feel like, that's one of the things that Green Bay
Speaker 2: really can to do. You know I want to see
Speaker 2: more of this year is let's get as creative as
Speaker 2: possible with Aaron Jones. Let's get him catching passes, Let's
Speaker 2: get him out of the backfield, let's get him on
Speaker 2: bubble screens, Let's do all that stuff. And have you
Speaker 2: know AJ Dillon as your prototypical starting running back. Sure,
Speaker 2: I'm really excited to see what those two guys can
Speaker 2: do off each other. There's gonna be some pre pre
Speaker 2: snap action motion, you know, with Red or with Jones,
Speaker 2: and being able just to challenge the eyes of a
Speaker 2: defense I think is going to be really important because ultimately,
Speaker 2: that's what it comes down to. Yes, you want to
Speaker 2: get your best eleven players on the field, but it's
Speaker 2: how can we use two hundred and eight pound five
Speaker 2: foot nine Aaron Jones in six foot whatever, two hundred
Speaker 2: and forty seven pound AJ Dillon. How can we use
Speaker 2: this to kind of confuse a defense and give them
Speaker 2: multiple looks and not sure what they're going to see
Speaker 2: on any given play. That's what I think ultimately can
Speaker 2: be the biggest thing because whether or not Dobbs and
Speaker 2: Watson played in this game. It still comes back to
Speaker 2: your veteran leadership and the big thing I've been hitting
Speaker 2: on Mike day after day. You're probably getting sick of
Speaker 2: me saying it is the Packers have veteran experience where
Speaker 2: they need it most in the backfield and on the
Speaker 2: offensive line, and I'm really excited to see what they
Speaker 2: can do with it. Like this could really be a
Speaker 2: Krem Da La Crem type season for Aaron Jones, just
Speaker 2: if he stays healthy. Just open the box of tricks. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I did a little bit of research in the offseason,
Speaker 1: and if I'm remembering my own statistics right, I believe
Speaker 1: it's only been five or six times in the Packers'
Speaker 1: last thirty some games that Boktiari and Jenkins have lined
Speaker 1: up side by side, like just a half dozen times
Speaker 1: out basically out of the last two seasons. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: thirty three, thirty four games, whatever it's been. And the
Speaker 1: fact that week one, that's what we're going to see
Speaker 1: and you hope that you're going to see that on
Speaker 1: a weekly basis, that's gonna be big for.
Speaker 2: This off Tip of the cap to Aaron Rodgers and
Speaker 2: Christian Watson all the guys at the end of last season.
Speaker 2: But I don't think it's a coincidence that that's how
Speaker 2: Green Bay got on the run late in the season,
Speaker 2: that Boktiari and Jenkins were mostly solidified in those two spots.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, with that, we will call it a
Speaker 1: rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team and all
Speaker 1: of our coverage of Sunday's Week one season opener from Chicago.
Speaker 1: We will have it all for you on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning
Speaker 1: in everybody. We will see you next time.
Speaker 2: M