Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my partner in crime,
Speaker 1: West Hodkowits were coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field West. We are one day closer to
Speaker 1: Week two and the home opener at lambeau Field Packers
Speaker 1: Vikings Sunday noon Central Time kickoff. We spent yesterday's show
Speaker 1: examining the Minnesota Vikings, talking a lot about their team
Speaker 1: in all three phases and everything that went on in
Speaker 1: Week one. As we shift our focus back to the
Speaker 1: Packers here, if there's one statistic from the Week one
Speaker 1: victory against the Chicago Bears offensively for the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers that really sticks out to me. And I don't
Speaker 1: like to reave a at things from last year because
Speaker 1: last year is last year and this is a new era.
Speaker 1: But that two for twelve on third down by the
Speaker 1: Packers against Chicago, that one really sticks out like a
Speaker 1: sore thumb and something that the Packers have to do
Speaker 1: something about it. And Matt Lafleur talked about it. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't sit, you can't live in third
Speaker 1: and ten plus, which six of those twelve third down
Speaker 1: attempts were third and ten plus. And you don't want
Speaker 1: to be in that against even the bad defenses in
Speaker 1: the league, let alone some of the good ones. But
Speaker 1: this is something that the Packers you've got, You've got
Speaker 1: to convert more on third down because because this is
Speaker 1: just no way to live on offense. No, and it's
Speaker 1: that's the big thing, and Aaron Rodgers talked about it
Speaker 1: too during his time with the media. I mean, you
Speaker 1: have to put yourself in favorable situations there because third
Speaker 1: down and ten, it doesn't matter how good your offense is,
Speaker 1: you're not going to reliably be able to convert those.
Speaker 1: You know, every single timer, as much as you want to,
Speaker 1: those are maybe maybe one out of four propositions you're
Speaker 1: going to convert third and ten plus. So what you're
Speaker 1: looking for is those third and one to third and
Speaker 1: five kind of situations that you can dictate what you
Speaker 1: can do there that you don't necessarily have to be
Speaker 1: able to allow the defense to sell out to defend
Speaker 1: the past. You have to give them more things to
Speaker 1: think about. This is where I mentioned where the run game,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's still the work is not done for them.
Speaker 1: This Minnesota defense will stress them in that way as well,
Speaker 1: the same as Chicago did over the course of the season.
Speaker 1: I think with the concepts and you know, on fundamentals
Speaker 1: and the things that the Packers are preaching here, I
Speaker 1: think ultimately they'll be able to win this thing out
Speaker 1: and be able to get the production they want. But
Speaker 1: in these instances when you're taking on a high caliber
Speaker 1: defense like Minnesota, you have to be able to get
Speaker 1: your yardage early in first and second down and make
Speaker 1: sure that Mike Zimmer can't just completely pin his ears
Speaker 1: back with what he wants to call on third down situations.
Speaker 1: That's the key to success. I think the huddle, you know,
Speaker 1: breaking that early enough, getting the you know, not getting
Speaker 1: the play clock down, doing all those type of things
Speaker 1: are going to be what ultimately lead the Packers to
Speaker 1: be in the type of offense they wanted to be.
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones, Jamal Williams, there's a lot of optimism about them.
Speaker 1: We've talked about it for five six months now of
Speaker 1: what they can be in this Packers offense. And you're
Speaker 1: gonna be playing defenses like this. I mean, as Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers told John Coon and his four downs, I mean
Speaker 1: there's a chance that he thinks that there's a possibility
Speaker 1: you can have four top ten defenses in the NFC
Speaker 1: North and you've got to see those teams three, you know,
Speaker 1: two times throughout the course of the years. So if
Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to get the running game going,
Speaker 1: you want to continue that. You want to get it
Speaker 1: done against Minnesota. Yeah, when you talk about the down
Speaker 1: and distance situation, and looking at Chicago, I mentioned there
Speaker 1: were six that were third and ten plus, including four
Speaker 1: in a row in the second half that were actually
Speaker 1: more than not just ten plus, but actually more than
Speaker 1: ten because of either a penalty or a lost yardage play,
Speaker 1: um a sack or a lost yardage play with the run.
Speaker 1: I mean four times in a row of between like
Speaker 1: twelve and seventeen yards on third down. I mean, it
Speaker 1: just started to get out of hand there for a while.
Speaker 1: You look at the Packers six third down attempts when
Speaker 1: they needed less than ten yards, they were two for six.
Speaker 1: And you'd still like to be a little bit better
Speaker 1: than that when you're in that, you know, needing three
Speaker 1: to seven yard range. But I think the other the
Speaker 1: other thing that bug me a little bit, and I'll
Speaker 1: explain the caveat here. But even the two that the
Speaker 1: Packers converted against the Bears, they were kind of busted plays,
Speaker 1: extended plays, like the Packers just never really hit anything
Speaker 1: in rhythm on third down. It was it was sort
Speaker 1: of it was sort of like a survival of the
Speaker 1: fittest type of down. And and I understand defenses, that's
Speaker 1: when they're going to throw the most exotic things that
Speaker 1: you They're trying to get you off your game. They're
Speaker 1: trying to get you to react to something at the
Speaker 1: last second that maybe you're not prepared for. And that's
Speaker 1: what third down is all about in the NFL. That's
Speaker 1: what makes it the money down, that's what makes it
Speaker 1: so tough. And that's why this statistic is so important.
Speaker 1: And obviously early in the season you're going to see
Speaker 1: even more of those unscouted looks and things that you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily know that that other defenses is going to
Speaker 1: be able to throw at you. But um, but if
Speaker 1: the Packers can find anything to any kind of a rhythm,
Speaker 1: anything to hang their hat on third down to say, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, this is this is what we can go
Speaker 1: to or this is this is where we want to
Speaker 1: be when we're in that third and manageable third and
Speaker 1: medium type of situation, I think that third down percentage
Speaker 1: is going to start to go up. But um, but
Speaker 1: you know you don't want to stay down here in
Speaker 1: these percentages for very long. Yeah, and this is kind
Speaker 1: of the situation where I wish John would come barging
Speaker 1: in again to the show, Yeah, we need we need
Speaker 1: the we need the blocking fullback. And when I say blocking,
Speaker 1: the past protecting fullback, who did that so well for
Speaker 1: all of his years in Green Bay. But the way
Speaker 1: I've always looked at this, and this is why I
Speaker 1: wish I could talk to him about it, is I've
Speaker 1: always looked at the third down situation like this. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: you mentioned you know, you had the two that were
Speaker 1: kind of unbroken place. I will never apologize for converted
Speaker 1: third down. They're so difficult to do in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You want to be able to do it because on
Speaker 1: the other side of it, you're gonna have the instances
Speaker 1: where the play does come off clean, a guy drops it,
Speaker 1: a defensive back makes a play, certain thing goes haywire,
Speaker 1: and then the defense technically wins, even though they might
Speaker 1: have been out of position. To me, it's always been
Speaker 1: those ones in the middle when the defense is giving
Speaker 1: you everything that they have and you still find a
Speaker 1: way to convert, regardless of the circumstance, regardless of the package,
Speaker 1: regardless of the game situation. That's where I think the
Speaker 1: Packers want to get to this year under Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: because that's where you find the consistency side of it,
Speaker 1: because you're always going to have the things that go
Speaker 1: right and the things that go wrong. It's the things
Speaker 1: in between that are the rudimentary, everyday plays that ultimately
Speaker 1: dictate what type of team you're gonna be on those downs.
Speaker 1: The one thing I really like about the Packers chances
Speaker 1: though in this capacity, is that I personally feel like
Speaker 1: you have three running backs that can all be pass
Speaker 1: protectors and be accountable there. Jamal Williams is certainly ahead
Speaker 1: of the hack. That's been his calling cards since he
Speaker 1: came to Green Bay. Danny Vitally, I think you saw
Speaker 1: some of that during the preseason during training camp when
Speaker 1: the running backs were oute that he was capable of
Speaker 1: being back there and standing alongside Aaron Rodgers in the
Speaker 1: shotgun formations, and Aaron Jones has really improved there in
Speaker 1: the last few seasons. It's just about finding, Okay, who's
Speaker 1: gonna be your go to guys once you get to
Speaker 1: those instances, because the offensive line knows what it's about.
Speaker 1: They know what it's like blocking for Aaron Rodgers in
Speaker 1: those situations. Regardless of what the scheme is, it's where
Speaker 1: can you scheme guys open and who's gonna win in
Speaker 1: those situations? And I'll tell you right now, Mike, if
Speaker 1: a defense is going to come out again like Chicago
Speaker 1: did and put three guys on Davante Adams and those
Speaker 1: those circumstances, you have to be able to win your
Speaker 1: one on one matchups elsewhere. Adams joked about that at
Speaker 1: his lockers saying, hey, there's a lot of respect showing,
Speaker 1: but I still want the ball. And you know, everybody,
Speaker 1: it's on everybody's shoulders to be able to make a
Speaker 1: defense pay if they're going to sell out that much
Speaker 1: to cover one player. Yeah, and you mentioned the interview
Speaker 1: at adams locker yesterday after practice, and it was it
Speaker 1: was really interesting because he if you go, you can
Speaker 1: go on the website and look at the the entire
Speaker 1: locker room interview with Adams he really he's such an
Speaker 1: interesting player and such an interesting personality to me because
Speaker 1: he struck exactly the right balance between knowing and understanding
Speaker 1: how important he is to the offense and what he
Speaker 1: brings to it. Without that, you know, throw me the
Speaker 1: damn ball. To steal a line from Keyshawn Johnson and
Speaker 1: his book, he never he never goes into that, into
Speaker 1: that other realm. But he understands and he wants the
Speaker 1: responsibility of Hey, I I do want the offense to
Speaker 1: go through me. I understand there are circumstances where a team,
Speaker 1: you know, teams are gonna scheme to take him away.
Speaker 1: And yes, Valdi Scantling had one on one coverage for
Speaker 1: a forty seven yard bomb. The three tight ends combined
Speaker 1: for a handful of catches and seventy plus yards and
Speaker 1: a touchdown. Those are some of the results. Packers didn't
Speaker 1: get enough of those results against the Bears. But um,
Speaker 1: but Adams, as you said, yes he does want the ball.
Speaker 1: He's not going to sit there and cry about it
Speaker 1: and beg for it, but he knows how important he
Speaker 1: is to to this offense moving forward. I've made this
Speaker 1: argument and you've read it a lot in Cider in
Speaker 1: boxing raditing that about Adams over this last year in particular,
Speaker 1: I've kind of laid it out there that I view
Speaker 1: him as the perfect receiver for that reason, because you
Speaker 1: want a guy that's confident enough in his abilities that
Speaker 1: regardless of where the game is at or if the
Speaker 1: game's on the line, he's going to step up in
Speaker 1: that that bright light is never gonna be too bright
Speaker 1: for him. We saw it in Philadelphia in two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixteen. I think it's continued all the way since then.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, he doesn't have those diva
Speaker 1: like qualities, and that's such a negative connotation, but he
Speaker 1: doesn't have those prima donna, whatever you want to call it,
Speaker 1: where it's like, I need the ball eight times a game.
Speaker 1: I don't here if I'm open or not, you're throwing
Speaker 1: me the ball. I want my touches. He doesn't view
Speaker 1: the game like that. He almost views it as if
Speaker 1: I win and I'm there, pass me the ball. If
Speaker 1: I'm win and I'm there and you don't pass me
Speaker 1: the ball onto the next play, that's an amazing mentality
Speaker 1: to have at that position, and he's managed to keep
Speaker 1: it from when he was a second round draft pick
Speaker 1: out of Fresno State in two thousand fourteen to when
Speaker 1: he's a two time Pro Bowl receiver today. I think
Speaker 1: that makes him special. And I think when you hear
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers talk about how he had a hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy targets last year, he wouldn't mind throwing four hundred
Speaker 1: balls this year. That's the exact reason why. Because there's
Speaker 1: not a pressure on a quarterback shoulders to get him
Speaker 1: the ball, but Aaron Rodgers nose at the same time,
Speaker 1: he's going to find a way to get open. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And he had another interesting comment in that interview two
Speaker 1: in which he was talking about, you know, if I
Speaker 1: mess up a route or drop a pass or something
Speaker 1: like that, you know, I can't sit and sulk about it.
Speaker 1: He says, to act like that on the field, even
Speaker 1: though it was him that's screwed up. But he looks
Speaker 1: at that as a as a selfish thing to get
Speaker 1: down on himself, because, as you said, it's the next
Speaker 1: play and his team, his teammates are counting on him
Speaker 1: to put it aside and move on to the next play.
Speaker 1: And uh, And as you said, I think that's a
Speaker 1: really special mentality for a star, a superstar player in
Speaker 1: the league to have, and I'm really excited to see
Speaker 1: what Davanta Adams is ultimately going to do. I mean,
Speaker 1: four catches for thirty six yards whatever he had against
Speaker 1: the Bears. Hats off to the Bears. They did what
Speaker 1: they needed to do. It still wasn't good enough to
Speaker 1: beat the Packers in this particular game, but um, but
Speaker 1: I'm excited about what Davanta Adams is going to do
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers this season. And as we talked about too,
Speaker 1: I mean this game against the Minnesota Vikings coming up.
Speaker 1: Xavier RhoD is one of the top corners in the league.
Speaker 1: DeVante has had some fine games against him, though, and
Speaker 1: he's had a lot of fine games against the upper
Speaker 1: echelon at that position. The other thing, too, I think
Speaker 1: there's two positions on this team where there's been a
Speaker 1: culture that's permeated throughout the years. Doesn't matter if it's
Speaker 1: the same players, doesn't matter if it's a guy who
Speaker 1: never even played with anybody else. David Bactieri never played
Speaker 1: with Chad Clifton, right, But I always look at receiver
Speaker 1: and offensive line of two staple positions in Green Bay
Speaker 1: where there was a culture established when a lot of
Speaker 1: those guys came into the system and they maintained it,
Speaker 1: they passed it forward, they maybe even took it to
Speaker 1: a different level receivers one of them, And although Davante
Speaker 1: Adams is the only one of his kind right now
Speaker 1: in that room, in terms of the experience and the
Speaker 1: plays and the catches and the touchdowns in the moments,
Speaker 1: that's still lessons that are being passed on to that
Speaker 1: next generation receiver. And I think that's something the Packers
Speaker 1: hope that will continue on in the years to come. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I totally agree with you there. Switching gears for a
Speaker 1: second to the defensive side of the ball. You have
Speaker 1: a story on the website looking at Mike Patton's deployment
Speaker 1: of the defensive backs, and we had talked when the
Speaker 1: roster was cut down selected with the fifty three, Packers
Speaker 1: kept eleven defensive backs. That's a pretty deep group. They
Speaker 1: wouldn't They wouldn't have kept eleven if not for two things. One,
Speaker 1: they feel like they need that kind of depth with
Speaker 1: the way the game has played these days. But two,
Speaker 1: all those guys did what was required in training camp
Speaker 1: in the preseason to earn those roster spots. It wasn't
Speaker 1: just oh, we need eleven, so we got to find
Speaker 1: a leven to keep. They feel pretty good about this
Speaker 1: group and uh and those defensive backs were deployed in
Speaker 1: a lot of different ways in Chicago. They were Mike
Speaker 1: and There's two things. There's probably one regret I didn't
Speaker 1: actually put in this story. You know, there's been years
Speaker 1: where the Packers kept more defensive backs. You know, they've
Speaker 1: kept twelve before. I think even last year. The year before,
Speaker 1: they had twelve on this roster. But what strikes me
Speaker 1: about this particular group is they have a lot of
Speaker 1: guys that can actually play defense right now, like they
Speaker 1: can go out there and play a lot of times.
Speaker 1: It was guys that you know, developmental prospects, special teamers,
Speaker 1: guys that are going to be healthy scratches every week
Speaker 1: with you know, canar Holman had a neck injury that
Speaker 1: he's been working through. He's been practicing but been in
Speaker 1: a no contact jersey. Other than that, they're completely healthy
Speaker 1: at that position right now, and yet they still kept
Speaker 1: that many players despite the fact that you have Warren
Speaker 1: Burke's dealing with his chest injury right now, and they're
Speaker 1: going lighted inside linebackers. So what does that all mean, Basil, Well,
Speaker 1: what it means is you go into that game against
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears having to make a decision. Are you
Speaker 1: gonna go with Tie Summers, that's who they listed as
Speaker 1: a starter at the position going into the day, or
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a little bit more creative now, you know,
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur kind of downplayed the three five five or yeah,
Speaker 1: the three five package that they three five three or
Speaker 1: whatever it was, three three five. Wow, this is going great.
Speaker 1: I hope Marvin will be able to edit that out.
Speaker 1: He won't be able to. But that base front that
Speaker 1: they used of a five man front with one inside
Speaker 1: linebacker and then five defensive backs. Raven Green became that
Speaker 1: quote unquote inside linebacker. And it's not new for the
Speaker 1: Packers to use a hybrid safety, They've been doing it
Speaker 1: for the last four years. But to use it on
Speaker 1: rundowns I thought was very innovative in the they were
Speaker 1: able to pivot off that package. They You know, there
Speaker 1: were times where Raven Green came off and Tony Brown
Speaker 1: came in. Kevin King said he was on a rep count.
Speaker 1: Probably was only supposed to play about half of the
Speaker 1: Mona snaps he actually did, and then the forty two
Speaker 1: that he saw, including every play the last two series.
Speaker 1: But yet they're able to give different looks. There is
Speaker 1: an advantage to that, Mike in the fact that they
Speaker 1: only gave up forty six rushing yards the most, the
Speaker 1: fewest Simoni yards that they've allowed in almost three years.
Speaker 1: I think speaks to not only that front for how
Speaker 1: they were able to maintain the lines there and not
Speaker 1: allow guys to break free, but also what those secondary
Speaker 1: players did to tackle and to remain accountable and still
Speaker 1: make plays on the ball with whatever it was eleven,
Speaker 1: you know, pass the defense to whatever they finished with. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's the ultimate schematic question for this game
Speaker 1: for Mike Petton and the Packers defense, And we're not
Speaker 1: really going to know the answer until we see what
Speaker 1: unfolds on Sunday at lambeau Field against the Vikings. But
Speaker 1: can you contain Dalvin Cook and the Vikings running game
Speaker 1: with Raven Green as your primary, so to speak, second
Speaker 1: inside linebacker next to Blake Martinez, or do you need
Speaker 1: to go to more of a traditional run stopper. I'll say,
Speaker 1: in the form of rookie Tie Summers or the newcomer
Speaker 1: b J Goodson, more of that, you know, stout run stopping,
Speaker 1: you know, traditional inside linebacker. And maybe and maybe it's
Speaker 1: a matter of just how the game evolves and and
Speaker 1: and what happens is to uh as to how that
Speaker 1: ultimately plays out. The other thing, I'll say you brought
Speaker 1: it up. I was absolutely stunned when I saw the
Speaker 1: stats at the end of the game that Kevin King
Speaker 1: had played forty two snaps. When I was like you,
Speaker 1: I thought maybe he would be playing you know, eighteen
Speaker 1: to twenty or something like that after missing an entire
Speaker 1: month with the hamstring injury. But that's the other thing
Speaker 1: to me from a schematic perspective, that could be really
Speaker 1: interesting in this game because last year Week two at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field, Minnesota came in here and when JayR Alexander
Speaker 1: and Kevin and King were on the field together for
Speaker 1: the first two and a half quarters of that game,
Speaker 1: Minnesota's offense wasn't doing a whole heck of a lot.
Speaker 1: Kevin King ends up leaving the game with an injury,
Speaker 1: and then starting late third quarter, through the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: and into overtime, Kirk Cousins was going off. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know Stefon Diggs and Adam thieland and these guys,
Speaker 1: and and you know they're passing game just exploded. Now
Speaker 1: It's not only because Kevin King left the field. And yes,
Speaker 1: I understand the Clay Matthews called took away an interception
Speaker 1: and that led to even more passing yards for Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins when the game essentially should have been over. But
Speaker 1: if Kevin King can have that kind of a snap
Speaker 1: count already when he's missed a month, and then if
Speaker 1: you figure out what's gonna work best schematically against Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook as far as what you want to what package
Speaker 1: you want to line up within the front to try
Speaker 1: to slow down the run, this is gonna be a
Speaker 1: really really interesting XS and o's type game. Absolutely, and
Speaker 1: to surmise everything that you just said, uh, in terms
Speaker 1: of this matchup, in terms of what they were able
Speaker 1: to do. I asked Tremont Williams about this. This defense
Speaker 1: is just different when Kevin King is on the field.
Speaker 1: It just is because, as Williams said, there's only so
Speaker 1: many six ft three corners in this league. There aren't
Speaker 1: many at all. And then you add in the running,
Speaker 1: his movement skills, the agility. Kevin King is a special guy. Um,
Speaker 1: so for them to have him available. You wrote about
Speaker 1: this offseason. We've talked about it at nauseum. This defense
Speaker 1: is different when he's healthy and he's out there. The
Speaker 1: other nice thing about it too, and I was another
Speaker 1: question I asked of King, is that you know, this
Speaker 1: is a big building block for him last week to
Speaker 1: be able to actually go out there. He felt great afterwards,
Speaker 1: even though he did play a little bit past what
Speaker 1: they wanted him to and in the critical moments he
Speaker 1: was on the field with that defense getting the stops
Speaker 1: that they needed. If this secondary can continue to gel
Speaker 1: and you know, get some consistency back there, which they
Speaker 1: just were not able to last year when they were,
Speaker 1: you know, running more than a dozen different defensive backs
Speaker 1: on the field throughout the course of the year. You
Speaker 1: mix that in with the pass rush that we saw
Speaker 1: against Mitchell Robinsky, that's what's offensively gonna make teams make
Speaker 1: decisions of how they're going to attack the Packers in
Speaker 1: either way, it's gonna work to Mike Petton's benefit. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm looking for moving forward now. In addition to
Speaker 1: the fact that you've got a guy like Josh Jackson,
Speaker 1: who was a second round pick last year. He didn't
Speaker 1: really play in this game, but if you had to
Speaker 1: put him in there multiple spots, the Packers feel pretty
Speaker 1: good about it right now. Cauldar Holman had moments during
Speaker 1: the preseason. You've got two other guys and Will Redmond
Speaker 1: and Shannon Sullivan who have started games in the NFL before,
Speaker 1: So it all factors together into the big picture. But ultimately,
Speaker 1: when you get Jr. Alexander and Kevin King on the field,
Speaker 1: that's when the defense really does have its work cut
Speaker 1: out for them. Yeah, well, before before we go quickly,
Speaker 1: any thoughts on Thursday Night Football tonight, Buccaneers and Panthers
Speaker 1: and two teams that they each lost a hard fought
Speaker 1: game of this is a division game in the NFC South. Uh,
Speaker 1: two teams fighting to avoid the dreaded Owen two. And
Speaker 1: it's not to paint the picture that Tampa Bay has
Speaker 1: the same expectations is like let's say the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: going into this year. But I think there was a
Speaker 1: lot of optimism that this offense was going to look
Speaker 1: different with Bruce arians in the Number one criticism I've
Speaker 1: kind of read in the last few days is with
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston the turnovers, it looked very much the same.
Speaker 1: So seeing if they can find a way to to
Speaker 1: claw back here and get a win, it's going to
Speaker 1: be important for setting the tempo for their season. And
Speaker 1: on the other side of it, Mike, how many times
Speaker 1: we've had this conversation about Carolina playing a team tooth
Speaker 1: and nail right down to the wire and just not
Speaker 1: being able to come out with the victory. They have
Speaker 1: plenty of motivation too, so in terms of Week two
Speaker 1: matchups for Thursday night football, and certainly they've improved over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. Um, some big implications for
Speaker 1: that division and what in a division that I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people would say it's gonna be pretty
Speaker 1: tightly contested again this season. Yeah, a lot of people
Speaker 1: were thinking that with Cam Newton coming back and being
Speaker 1: closer to full health than he was last year, that
Speaker 1: the Panthers would be a challenger to the Saint and
Speaker 1: the Falcons in that NFC South. And this is this
Speaker 1: is their opportunity to say, hey, we're going to be
Speaker 1: right there. Because if the Panthers fall to oh and two,
Speaker 1: then everybody. You know, everybody's going to say, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: you know, hold the hype train on those guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is interesting. They'll always seeing the evolution of offenses though, right,
Speaker 1: I mean Cam Newton still you know, he took a
Speaker 1: team to the super Bowl. Still an obvious top you
Speaker 1: know NFL quarterback. But more and more you're seeing how
Speaker 1: this could easily become Christian McCaffrey's team and how dynamic
Speaker 1: he can be, no doubt, as you just illustrated with
Speaker 1: that division. Uh, they need to get him going. I
Speaker 1: mean they need to feed him and get him the ball,
Speaker 1: whether it's through the past or through the run. Um,
Speaker 1: that's a guy that could give the NFC sells a
Speaker 1: lot of problems this season. All right, Well, with that,
Speaker 1: we will call it a wrap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team on Packers dot Com. Like us, subscribe
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Speaker 1: He's at West Hot I met Mike Spofford at Packers
Speaker 1: for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See
Speaker 1: you next time.