Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my
Speaker 1: partner in crime, Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field. We're a little late
Speaker 1: getting into the studio this week, West, but it's been
Speaker 1: kind of a busy week with regard to the Packers
Speaker 1: making their roster decisions, trimming things down to the initial
Speaker 1: fifty three man or I guess at the moment two
Speaker 1: man roster for season. I want to start with what
Speaker 1: I think are the two biggest pieces of news to
Speaker 1: come out of the roster decisions from this week. One
Speaker 1: is that the Packers decided to put David bak Tr
Speaker 1: on regular season pu p that means physically unable to perform.
Speaker 1: He was on the pup list for all of training camp.
Speaker 1: Starting the regular season, there means that he is out
Speaker 1: for a minimum of the for six weeks of the
Speaker 1: regular season, so Elton Jenkins will be this team's left
Speaker 1: tackle for at least the first six games of one
Speaker 1: And the other big piece of news is the Packers
Speaker 1: are going to have a new punter in with the
Speaker 1: release of J K. Scott and a trade in the work.
Speaker 1: So I will let you start on those two nuggets
Speaker 1: and let me know your thoughts. One I thought was
Speaker 1: kind of a little bit of the inevitable. One kind
Speaker 1: of caught me by surprise, and and really the decision
Speaker 1: at Puncher was the only thing that I think kind
Speaker 1: of surprised me throughout this process. And generally speaking, I
Speaker 1: thought green Bay really did win the roster reduction. I
Speaker 1: think they put together a really strong sixteen man practice squad,
Speaker 1: and I like the way they built the fifty three.
Speaker 1: It made a lot of sense, uh for for box
Speaker 1: Tri though, this was something that I actually have to
Speaker 1: admit I was not fully educated on. I originally was
Speaker 1: operating under the assumption the packers would be able to
Speaker 1: bring him back onto the the active roster and then
Speaker 1: place him on injury reserve. That is not the case.
Speaker 1: If a guy is going to be placed in I
Speaker 1: ARE he has to pass a physical first and then
Speaker 1: either have whether it would be an aggravation or different
Speaker 1: injury than be eligible for i R. So box tr
Speaker 1: actually wasn't going to be able to go that route.
Speaker 1: In the past that never mattered, But with the way
Speaker 1: the NFL has shifted to having a three week injured reserve. Now,
Speaker 1: that's why it was sort of a topic. So what
Speaker 1: the facts are is that he's on the physically unable
Speaker 1: to perform list regular season that takes him out for
Speaker 1: the first six games of the year. Here, he would
Speaker 1: be eligible to come back for Washington. For a lot
Speaker 1: of organizations, For a lot of football teams, this would
Speaker 1: be doomsday type news to lose a five time All
Speaker 1: Pro left tackle. The Green Bay Packers not saying they
Speaker 1: don't want to have David bok tr out there, but
Speaker 1: they have probably as good of a safety net as
Speaker 1: you're going to find in the NFL with Elton Jenkins
Speaker 1: being able to play that position. There were so many
Speaker 1: articles I read this summer, Mike about teams that were
Speaker 1: dealing with injuries at left tackle, the indian Indianapolis Colts
Speaker 1: among them, and there were a lot of questions as
Speaker 1: far as who was going to be able to man
Speaker 1: that position. Since the day that this team reported back
Speaker 1: in July, that has not been a question here. Elton
Speaker 1: Jenkins has been the guy in the Packers feel pretty
Speaker 1: good about him going into the regular season. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: as much as the Packers do feel good about the
Speaker 1: way things are set up on the offensive line. With
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins moving to left tackle. Looks like you're going
Speaker 1: to have a rookie starting at guard in Royce Newman.
Speaker 1: We all know obviously since the day he arrived, Josh
Speaker 1: Myers will be the rookie second round draft picks starting
Speaker 1: at center. As good as the Packers feel about their
Speaker 1: offensive line and how it sets up to navigate this
Speaker 1: absence of box TR, we do have to make one
Speaker 1: thing clear, and the the status of the offensive line
Speaker 1: didn't really have to do with the decision on bok TR.
Speaker 1: This decision on bok TR is about protecting a major
Speaker 1: investment in one of the best players in the game.
Speaker 1: The Packers recently extended him, signed him to a big,
Speaker 1: long term contract. The last thing they are going to
Speaker 1: do is jeopardize that by rushing him back and bringing
Speaker 1: him back too early. This wasn't going to be a
Speaker 1: case of, you know, oh well, if they don't have
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins to play left tackle, and there's all these questions,
Speaker 1: we're gonna rush David Barton. No, that's not what the
Speaker 1: approach of this organization was going to be. They do
Speaker 1: feel good about where they are on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: But the box tr decision was about David bok tr
Speaker 1: situation first and foremost. Yeah, and it was good. I mean,
Speaker 1: Brian good Con said, I mean he didn't feel comfortable
Speaker 1: him personally putting back Tr in that position. I'm sure David,
Speaker 1: if he had his brothers, would be out there against
Speaker 1: New Orleans. But the story I'll tell everybody now that
Speaker 1: we have a real in house example is in his gains,
Speaker 1: I mean in his gains tears as a c L
Speaker 1: during his junior year against TCU. He comes back playing
Speaker 1: four TCU, comes back in six months and ends up
Speaker 1: tearing the same knee again. That's what you're looking to
Speaker 1: avoid the Packers, like they mentioned, there's a nine to
Speaker 1: eleven month window there for a lot of offensive lineman
Speaker 1: returning from this injury. There's really, especially early in the
Speaker 1: season here, where they have some fluidity, There's some you know,
Speaker 1: versatility that they can take advantage of with that offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's better to be able to make sure that Bat
Speaker 1: is in a good spot so that this team that
Speaker 1: has real Super Bowl hopes for two thousand and twenty
Speaker 1: one can have their best player available down you know,
Speaker 1: whatever point it comes, but definitely down the stretch yea.
Speaker 1: And just to provide some perspective on the timeline here,
Speaker 1: the fastest we've ever seen anybody come back from an
Speaker 1: a c L in Green Bay was Brian Bolag a
Speaker 1: few years ago. And botr E being on pup for
Speaker 1: at least the first six weeks of one season. Essentially,
Speaker 1: when he's eligible to come off p pup within a
Speaker 1: week or so is almost almost matches up to Brian
Speaker 1: Bulag's timeline. So now every injury is different. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying the Packers are following the Brian Bolagh a timeline
Speaker 1: because every individual individual and every injury is different. But
Speaker 1: just to provide that perspective. That was eye opening too
Speaker 1: when Bolaga did that. You guy, remember he actually toured
Speaker 1: at the beginning of November and he was ready for
Speaker 1: week one. This is a little bit different. This was
Speaker 1: New Year's Day or New Years even New Years Practice
Speaker 1: of week seventeen, almost two full months later. So Box
Speaker 1: are very much still on the same timeline, just trying
Speaker 1: to make sure you can get him healthy. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: with regard to a new punter, a trade is in
Speaker 1: the works for Corey b yor Quaz hopefully I'm pronouncing
Speaker 1: that correctly, punted three seasons for the Buffalo Bills, was
Speaker 1: in training camp this summer with the Los Angeles Rams,
Speaker 1: but the Rams decided despite Bi york was having a
Speaker 1: really impressive preseason, they decided to stick with their tried
Speaker 1: and true veteran, the All Pro Johnny Hecker. So the Packers,
Speaker 1: seeing that by Us was going to become available. But
Speaker 1: the Packers, being a conference runner up from a year ago,
Speaker 1: very very low in the waiver claim order, Brian Gudokuntz
Speaker 1: was not going to take the chance that this punter
Speaker 1: could be claimed in front of him. So a little
Speaker 1: swap of draft picks for the future down the road
Speaker 1: guarantees that the Packers get him. B York was doesn't
Speaker 1: actually go on waivers, and he's on his way to
Speaker 1: Green Bay to join the Packers. And this is a
Speaker 1: punter that Brian Goodacom is the personnel staff feel is
Speaker 1: is one of these young players with the arrow pointing
Speaker 1: up and you just have to look at his statistics
Speaker 1: from twenty nineteen in Buffalo to to see, um, you
Speaker 1: know that that arrow pointing up for this young man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know the Bills. They ended up going in
Speaker 1: a different direction. They signed Matt Hack, who was a
Speaker 1: little bit more of an established punter this offseason, so
Speaker 1: that allowed york has to kind of hit free agency
Speaker 1: in a month into it felt like maybe Los Angeles, rams,
Speaker 1: a place where he's actually from southern California, might be
Speaker 1: a good fit for him. As you mentioned here, there
Speaker 1: was a five time four time All Pro and Johnny
Speaker 1: Hecker there, but Hecker's had some you know, injuries, There's
Speaker 1: been some issues there the last few seasons. So it
Speaker 1: was a legitimate competition right down to the final bell.
Speaker 1: There was a contract thing kind of going on with
Speaker 1: with Hecker as well, which is also partly why b
Speaker 1: York was maybe wasn't brought back to Buffalo because of
Speaker 1: becoming a restricted free agent and and with the depressed
Speaker 1: cap and all of that. So lots of circumstances lead
Speaker 1: to the thing. And now suddenly Corey borku was is
Speaker 1: a Green Bay Packer. But and as I told people
Speaker 1: an insider inbox, because they were asking about special teams,
Speaker 1: what are the Packers doing to improve their special teams?
Speaker 1: I said that they are turning over all the stones.
Speaker 1: Now they are taking a look. They're casting a wide net.
Speaker 1: JJ Molson came back on the practice squad as a kicker.
Speaker 1: I don't remember the last time the Packers kept a
Speaker 1: kicker on the initial roster going into the season on
Speaker 1: the practice squad. Obviously, Molson was there at the end
Speaker 1: of the last season as the COVID replacement. You know,
Speaker 1: there's questions they're about, you know, how they're going to
Speaker 1: handle these coverage units. At the end of the day.
Speaker 1: J K. Scott probably the most talented punter during my
Speaker 1: time on the beat that the Packers have had, but
Speaker 1: consistency was an issue. They feel like the Orcus is
Speaker 1: a guy that can help kind of calm those waters
Speaker 1: a little bit. And with some cold weather experience having
Speaker 1: punted in Buffalo for a couple of seasons. Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: even though he's a left footed punter, a right footed holder,
Speaker 1: right footed, right footed, right, that would be a trick West,
Speaker 1: that would be something that would actually get some ratings.
Speaker 1: All right handed gentleman despite being a left footed punders.
Speaker 1: So what we'll see how it all shakes out. Yeah, well, um, quickly,
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Speaker 1: other things to touch on here with regard to the
Speaker 1: Packers roster as it sits right now. We we've talked
Speaker 1: before about about how as rare as it can be,
Speaker 1: you can never necessarily count out these guys that show
Speaker 1: up part way through training camp. Everybody kind of wonders, like,
Speaker 1: why are you bringing someone in like after the first
Speaker 1: preseason game. How does he get a chance to show
Speaker 1: what he can do well? Three guys Dennis Kelly, I
Speaker 1: key at Um the cornerback, Kelly being the backup offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: I keat him at cornerback, and Chauncey Rivers the edge rusher.
Speaker 1: All three of those guys show up after training camp starts,
Speaker 1: and all three of them end up surviving final cuts
Speaker 1: and are on this Packers roster. And uh and Rivers
Speaker 1: a really interesting story and just in terms of a
Speaker 1: lot of the connections here. He went to junior college
Speaker 1: route played at East Mississippi Community College, the school made
Speaker 1: famous by the Last Chance You show on Netflix, which
Speaker 1: was also a school that Zadarius Smith attended earlier in
Speaker 1: his career. Rivers also went to the same high school,
Speaker 1: not at the same time, but the same high school
Speaker 1: as Preston Smith, and both of those guys also coming
Speaker 1: out of Mississippi State, and the Packers with other younger
Speaker 1: Mississippi State players like kyl and Hill, like Elton Jenkins,
Speaker 1: guys that Chauncey Rivers played with, it must not have
Speaker 1: been a whole lot of a big transition for that
Speaker 1: guy to walk into the Packers locker room. A lot
Speaker 1: of familiar faces. Yeah, I think he even said he
Speaker 1: walked in the cafeteria and like Preston was like laughing
Speaker 1: whenever they locked eyes the first time. So yeah, for
Speaker 1: a guy that's showing up on August fifth or whatever
Speaker 1: it was, I mean, obviously, uh, he's been around this
Speaker 1: some of these guys on this football team. You know.
Speaker 1: The thing that's great about Chauncey Rivers story is this
Speaker 1: is a guy that when you talk about the deck
Speaker 1: kind of being stacked against you. Last year, he's trying
Speaker 1: to make Baltimore's roster as an undrafted free agent during
Speaker 1: COVID H he sticks on the practice squad all year,
Speaker 1: got elevated for one game, but ultimately came back trying
Speaker 1: to crack the roster this year, and then a weekend
Speaker 1: a training camp gets cut. Now, as I wrote in
Speaker 1: the story that we have on Packers dot com, that
Speaker 1: is a death knell usually for players that are undrafted
Speaker 1: free agents or first two players getting cut the first
Speaker 1: week at camp. Because you know, everybody likes to talk about, oh,
Speaker 1: who's gonna these guys are gonna get claimed, or or
Speaker 1: this guy is not gonna be able to make our
Speaker 1: fifty three, but the other thirty teams are gonna want him.
Speaker 1: The reality is is that these teams have been developing
Speaker 1: their own rosters for three four months. When a guy
Speaker 1: comes free at the beginning of August, it's a really
Speaker 1: long odds for him to make the fifty three man roster.
Speaker 1: Some have done it, you know, Jamal Jamal Crawford, James
Speaker 1: Crawford a number of years ago did it with Green Bay.
Speaker 1: But for Rivers to come in and make the statement
Speaker 1: that he made. He's not the tallest pass rusher you've
Speaker 1: ever seen, six ft two two and fifty nine pounds,
Speaker 1: but he just was explosive and as he said, I
Speaker 1: mean he had a fire and inside himself. After the
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravers, Ravens cut him. And for Green Bay, it
Speaker 1: was perfect timing. They just lost Randy Ramsey to that
Speaker 1: ankle injury. They needed bodies at outside linebacker with said
Speaker 1: Darius Smith being injured, with Rashawn Gary and Preston Smith
Speaker 1: sitting out of the preseason games, and here's Chauncey Rivers
Speaker 1: getting a big opportunity and he capitalized it, especially against Buffalo.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, we've talked a lot, and
Speaker 1: we were talking last week about there's always going to
Speaker 1: be somebody who states their case and and earns a
Speaker 1: roster spot in that last preseason game, somebody that you
Speaker 1: don't think is necessary, or somebody who is definitely on
Speaker 1: the bubble has not solidified a spot on the roster.
Speaker 1: And I would say, really, two guys, in my mind
Speaker 1: did that. Rivers did that. The Packers had been with
Speaker 1: with the Smith's and Gary not playing in the preseason games,
Speaker 1: the Packers had not had much edge rush pressure in
Speaker 1: the preseason games, and then in the first half against Buffalo,
Speaker 1: Buffalo starters are on the field and Chauncey Rivers gets
Speaker 1: a ten yard sack of All Pro quarterback Josh Allen.
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of things that that make people
Speaker 1: take notice of you. The other guy, I would say,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, earned his roster spot in that final
Speaker 1: preseason game in Buffalo was the sixth round draft pick
Speaker 1: out of Boston College, Isaiah McDuffie. This was a young
Speaker 1: man who was dealing with I believe it was a
Speaker 1: hamstring injury early in camp. Miss some time. I'll miss
Speaker 1: the first preseason game if I'm not mistaken. Second preseason game,
Speaker 1: you know, did find a little bit up and down.
Speaker 1: Then the third preseason game he showed up to play
Speaker 1: um defense, special teams. It was all there, and as
Speaker 1: a result, the Packers end up keeping five inside linebackers,
Speaker 1: McDuffie being that fifth guy to go along with with
Speaker 1: the other veterans in front of him. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: able to play the whole game. Packers only had three
Speaker 1: inside linebackers active for that, so they excuse me, rotated
Speaker 1: way Ray Wilburn and Scoota Harrison the other spot. And
Speaker 1: here's Isaiah McDuffie every single play serving as a communicator,
Speaker 1: being out there leading this defense. Nine tackles whatever, it
Speaker 1: was a half sack. I mean, the guy wasn'tpactful. And
Speaker 1: as Brian Goodutz was asked, because he's like, okay, you
Speaker 1: kept five inside linebackers. We also have to look at
Speaker 1: it as they only have four safeties right now, one
Speaker 1: of which Vernon Scott is dealing with the hamstring issue.
Speaker 1: The two positions when you talk about core four on
Speaker 1: special teams that they usually get a lot of play
Speaker 1: are inside backer in safety Isaia McDuffie is gonna play,
Speaker 1: Tye Summers is gonna play, or in Burke's I thought
Speaker 1: had a really nice camp, He's gonna play. Packers are
Speaker 1: talking about rebuilding these special teams units. They have a
Speaker 1: core there that I think they really can kind of
Speaker 1: circle around. In addition to the fact that mcduffee's a
Speaker 1: really solid long term prospect for that inside linebacker position, yeah,
Speaker 1: no question about it. A couple of other thoughts, uh,
Speaker 1: the undrafted rookie streak that that we talked about a lot.
Speaker 1: Jack heflin the defensive Lineman out of Iowa, from northern
Speaker 1: Illinois to Iowa now to green Bay ends up making
Speaker 1: the roster. And then, with regard to that wide receiver
Speaker 1: competition that we spent so much time talking about, the
Speaker 1: last wide receiver standing so to speak, uh earning the
Speaker 1: number six spot Malik Taylor, with three of the other
Speaker 1: wide receivers that he beat out being brought back onto
Speaker 1: the practice squad, that being e q st Brown, Juwan
Speaker 1: Winfrey and Chris Blair. Yeah, and Devin funchis who I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people had almost sharpied in for
Speaker 1: a roster spot at the beginning of camp. He ends
Speaker 1: up not being there. This is why I love the preseason, Mike,
Speaker 1: and this is why, while I agree you don't need
Speaker 1: four preseason games, you may not even need three. Malik
Speaker 1: Taylor is the reason why you need preseason games because
Speaker 1: I think that this is just a training camp competition.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a lot harder for him to make
Speaker 1: the roster. But with Green Bay sitting there four veterans
Speaker 1: during this entire preseason, Malik Taylor played a lot of football,
Speaker 1: maybe more than anybody on the Packers offense this offseason.
Speaker 1: When you factor in the fact he was also at
Speaker 1: the offseason program O t a S Mini Camp. This
Speaker 1: is a guy I think a lot of people sort
Speaker 1: of quote unquote left for dead and in this this
Speaker 1: you know, this really tight, hotly contested receiver competition, and
Speaker 1: he comes out right out of the gate fourteen catches,
Speaker 1: eighty five yards, leads the NFL in the preseason and receptions.
Speaker 1: This is a really impressive young athlete. And as Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur said on Wednesday, that talent has always been there,
Speaker 1: but you're starting to see him bring some of those
Speaker 1: other things to the table. And then obviously the cherry
Speaker 1: on top is the fact that he also can contribute
Speaker 1: on special teams. Yeah, and how can you not like Jack?
Speaker 1: Heflin stories ods a young man profits town, Prophetstown, Illinois. Uh,
Speaker 1: small town. He's uh, you know he he even said
Speaker 1: he knows he's got a lot of people following him,
Speaker 1: a lot of people counting on him. He's you know,
Speaker 1: he but you know, jokingly, it's like, you know, he
Speaker 1: he wants to he wants to make a name himself,
Speaker 1: making name for his town. I mean, all all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, and uh, and here he is that
Speaker 1: you know, the Packers have the four veterans on the
Speaker 1: defensive line in front of him, with Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, Kingsley,
Speaker 1: Kiki Tyler Lancaster. They spend a fifth round pick on t. J.
Speaker 1: Slaton out of Florida, who was also impressive during camp
Speaker 1: and the preseason games. So there's there's five defensive linemen
Speaker 1: in here. Jack Heflin ends up carving out a six
Speaker 1: spot at that at that position for for him to
Speaker 1: stick and and just uh, you know, if you haven't seen,
Speaker 1: he's now done two press conferences in the media auditory
Speaker 1: and both of those videos are posted on packers dot
Speaker 1: com from within the last week to ten days. So
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen um the interviews that have been
Speaker 1: done with Jack heffln, you gotta go check him out.
Speaker 1: This is h He's he's a fun young man to
Speaker 1: talk to. He's a fun young man to talk to.
Speaker 1: He's amazing to listen to. But actually the most underrated
Speaker 1: thing about him, I love nonverbal communication, Like I just
Speaker 1: I live forward. It's something that's one of my big
Speaker 1: things I sort of majored in. If you ever don't
Speaker 1: just listen to what he says, watch his press conferences,
Speaker 1: because to me, it looks like the mayor of a
Speaker 1: small town, like going up on the podium just kind
Speaker 1: of holding court. I mean, he looks so comfortable. He
Speaker 1: has kind of a posture there that he's just but
Speaker 1: but at the same time, it's kind of a heart
Speaker 1: on your sleeve. It is thing. It's just it's it's
Speaker 1: it's it's endearing, incredible, it's incredible to hear him listen,
Speaker 1: it's incredible to hear him talk about his story. Because yes,
Speaker 1: there's been undrafted players year after year that I've come
Speaker 1: through here and have had success. And some of them
Speaker 1: are like Allen Lazard who just for whatever reason got
Speaker 1: overlooked by NFL scouts even though he was incredibly productive
Speaker 1: at Iowa State, or Chris Barnes. Just people just miss
Speaker 1: on these guys. Jack Heflin, you almost get the feeling
Speaker 1: that nobody was really looking for it, you know, coming
Speaker 1: out of profits town, and the fact that he didn't
Speaker 1: have any d one scholarship offers, and the fact that
Speaker 1: he didn't build a chip on his shoulder because of it,
Speaker 1: it just made him work harder and out of all
Speaker 1: the things he said, in addition to the fact mentioning
Speaker 1: that when Jerry Montgomery called him and woke him up
Speaker 1: to tell him he had made the roster, saying that
Speaker 1: that was the best day of his life. You couldn't. Also,
Speaker 1: you talked about tugging at the heartstrings a little bit,
Speaker 1: the story that he told of calling his mom Judy
Speaker 1: to tell her, hey, I had made the roster. And
Speaker 1: if you remember the first presser he did with the media,
Speaker 1: you know, he was saying, I used to tell her
Speaker 1: I'm going to play at Iowa and She's like, okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he went and played at freaking Iowa and now he's
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. Well, and then and then
Speaker 1: his his season at Iowa is shortened by COVID And
Speaker 1: then didn't the Hawk guys end up losing their bowl game?
Speaker 1: Wasn't wasn't their bowl game? I mean you talk about
Speaker 1: trying to get noticed and get film out there for
Speaker 1: scouts and everything, all kinds of things working against this
Speaker 1: young man. And now here he is on the Packers
Speaker 1: roster for week one of the season. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: gotta feel good about it. And again, Mike, it's not
Speaker 1: a position where there's a lot of special teams, you know,
Speaker 1: incorporated with defensive line. God, he had to earn it.
Speaker 1: He he had to earn it at his at his position.
Speaker 1: He didn't really have a whole lot of other chances.
Speaker 1: And for Green Bay, I think this is great though,
Speaker 1: because not only do you get another developmental defensive lineman
Speaker 1: in the system, Tyler Lancaster is working through the elbow injury.
Speaker 1: T J. Slayton is an incredible talent, but obviously still
Speaker 1: kind of wrong. Jerry Montgomery has talked about that, you
Speaker 1: really get the feeling with heflin. This is a guy
Speaker 1: that they're kind of we're looking for last year dude
Speaker 1: that can go in there and play a dozen snaps
Speaker 1: rotationally if you need him to to be able to
Speaker 1: give some of those other guys a breather. Yeah, one
Speaker 1: other thing we need to touch on before we sign
Speaker 1: off for today, west the Packers Week one game against
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints has been moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Obviously,
Speaker 1: thoughts and prayers and hopes and everything else going out
Speaker 1: to all the folks down there in New Orleans and
Speaker 1: the Louisiana area dealing with the the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Speaker 1: But one of the one of the results of that
Speaker 1: from a football perspective is Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jaguars Stadium
Speaker 1: will be hosting the Packers in the Saints kind of
Speaker 1: a trade off here of your trading the noise of
Speaker 1: the Superdome for the heat of Jacksonville. The biggest difference though,
Speaker 1: in terms of calling it a trade is that the
Speaker 1: noise is a one sided thing that's only for the
Speaker 1: visiting team. The heat is a two sided thing, though
Speaker 1: the Saints will be able to pick the sideline that's
Speaker 1: more in the shade, you know, for the for the
Speaker 1: bulk of of the first half there with a late
Speaker 1: afternoon kickoff. But that being said, it is the heat
Speaker 1: down there in Florida will be something both teams have
Speaker 1: to deal with on September twelve. Yeah, I don't think
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be crying about not having to travel down
Speaker 1: to that game. I think I'll be okay covering that
Speaker 1: one from lambeau Field from Afar, remember that sixteen openers.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget it. We're down there. We're down there
Speaker 1: doing our pregame like social media live hits and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and we're you know, we're dressed up light,
Speaker 1: dressed up all nice like we are when when we
Speaker 1: go on the road with the team and oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: like it wasn't even New Eastern Time yet and we
Speaker 1: were sweating bullets out there. I just remember walking out
Speaker 1: there and locking eyes with j Roon Elliott and I'm like,
Speaker 1: dar and it's too hot. It's too hot, and he
Speaker 1: just laughed it off. But it's just it was, you know,
Speaker 1: it was funny. T J. Slayton actually mentioned this earlier
Speaker 1: during the training camp because he's from Florida. Obviously South Florida.
Speaker 1: Somebody had asked them like, is this is it this
Speaker 1: hot because they were complaining about hot It wasn't training camps.
Speaker 1: This is hot in Florida, and Slate was like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a lot hotter than this. This isn't. This doesn't
Speaker 1: compare to Florida. So I will say this the one
Speaker 1: thing the point I made an Inboxes that both teams
Speaker 1: are gonna have to contest with it. The Saints are
Speaker 1: gonna have a little easier They'll be able to where
Speaker 1: their road whites. As you mentioned, they'll be able to
Speaker 1: pick where their benches. But the bigger issue there is
Speaker 1: that if you're playing this in New Orleans, the Superdomes,
Speaker 1: the loudest venue that in whatever century link is called
Speaker 1: now are the two loudest venues in the National Football
Speaker 1: League for my money. So that was gonna be working
Speaker 1: against the Packers. New Orleans was gonna have it on
Speaker 1: their side. On offense, this is something both teams are
Speaker 1: gonna have to adjust to, and they have to adjust
Speaker 1: to a quick So hydration is going to be a key,
Speaker 1: cardio is going to be a key, and ultimately just
Speaker 1: mental toughness being able to fight through those emotions. Because
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this, this is the type of game
Speaker 1: I thought would have been really fun to play on
Speaker 1: a fast track. Uh, this will not be a fast track. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and especially when it comes to the fourth quarter in
Speaker 1: a season opener, when you're when you're not quite sure
Speaker 1: how in shape all of these all these guys are.
Speaker 1: It's it's going to be an interesting one for sure.
Speaker 1: But we got a whole another week to to talk
Speaker 1: about leading up to that. For now, we'll call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thank you for
Speaker 1: tuning in everybody, We'll see you next time.