Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, sitting alongside my trusted colleague West
Speaker 1: Hodkowits were coming to you here from our studios at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field and West. We are one day closer to
Speaker 1: the Packers getting back in action from their bye week.
Speaker 1: It's Packers Rams at the l A Coliseum Sunday afternoon
Speaker 1: Central kickoff, and at this stage of the week here
Speaker 1: some good news on the injury front for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. Um no guarantees. Obviously, players are still limited
Speaker 1: in practice based on how they're listed on the injury report,
Speaker 1: but Mike McCarthy has indicated that receivers Randall Cobb and
Speaker 1: Geronimo Allison, as well as rookie cornerback ja Year Alexander
Speaker 1: all kind of on track to play on Sunday. This
Speaker 1: would be pretty significant because when you look at what's
Speaker 1: been happening injury wise, that those two positions, the Packers
Speaker 1: haven't had their top three veteran receivers Adams, Cobb and
Speaker 1: Allison on the field together since Week three at Washington,
Speaker 1: and at the cornerback position, the Packers haven't had their
Speaker 1: top four of Williams, King, Alexander, and Jackson on the
Speaker 1: field together since Week two against Minnesota. So in that respect,
Speaker 1: as they say, the bye week maybe came at a
Speaker 1: good time and the Packers hopefully getting getting healthy and
Speaker 1: getting their top players out there for this big game
Speaker 1: against the Ramps, and to throw one more out there
Speaker 1: at the veteran edition that they made they lost Von
Speaker 1: House for the years, they go and get Brilan and
Speaker 1: they were hoping that he might be the guy that
Speaker 1: could step in when some of those other guys are hurt.
Speaker 1: He ends up dealing with the hamstring issue that's kept
Speaker 1: him out a couple of weeks. Now, whatever way you
Speaker 1: want to slice it, though, Mike, this is big for
Speaker 1: the Packers offense and defense. This game the way it's
Speaker 1: structured right now, so much of it's played on the boundaries,
Speaker 1: So much of it is played ten to fifteen yards
Speaker 1: down field now, and you have to be able to
Speaker 1: defend it and you have to be able to attack it.
Speaker 1: I think the one positive for the Packers when you
Speaker 1: look strictly at the offense in the passing game is
Speaker 1: the fact that Okay, Equanimius st Brown, Marquis Valdez Scantling.
Speaker 1: Both of those guys have been thrown into the fire
Speaker 1: now and the Packers have seen how they can step
Speaker 1: through it. On the other side, they've made significant progress,
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it. They certainly have now. When
Speaker 1: you get back to the timing what Aaron Rodgers looking
Speaker 1: for at the offense, there's a reason that Randall Cobbin
Speaker 1: and Geronimo Allison were the two three. However you want
Speaker 1: to slice it at the beginning of the season, those
Speaker 1: guys have been with him. They know what to expect
Speaker 1: getting them back and then may be able to being
Speaker 1: able to sprinkle in those young guys is going to
Speaker 1: be what's ultimately going to help keep those defenses on
Speaker 1: their heels. As far as the secondary, though Mike we
Speaker 1: set it from the first game against the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: the strength of this defense, one of the strengths was
Speaker 1: going to be their options in the secondary. The depth.
Speaker 1: The depth they've been I don't want to say minimized
Speaker 1: in that regard, but it has been challenged in terms
Speaker 1: of the combinations that Joe wit Jr. And Mike pettn
Speaker 1: have had to work with. Well, if you get Jr.
Speaker 1: Alexander available. Now that you have Kevin King back in
Speaker 1: the lineup, that's optimal and I think the Packers. Whether
Speaker 1: or not it happens all this weekend, we'll have to
Speaker 1: wait and see in a couple of days, but it's
Speaker 1: inching closer to that. Yeah, And we've seen the type
Speaker 1: of plays that these guys like Alexander and King who
Speaker 1: have been dealing with the injuries and are getting back,
Speaker 1: the type of plays they can make. We all know
Speaker 1: the interception Alexander had that was wiped out by the
Speaker 1: by the bogus penalty on Clay Matthews against Minnesota, but
Speaker 1: then he also had an interception in the end zone
Speaker 1: on that errant throw by Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: Kevin King, this is a couple of weeks he comes back,
Speaker 1: and the play he makes on the ball in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, you know, the zero blitz with Mark mark
Speaker 1: Quis Goodwin trying to streak by him down the middle
Speaker 1: of the field and King finds the ball, makes the picks,
Speaker 1: sets up the game winning drive. The Packers get all
Speaker 1: for these cornerbacks back out there against an offense, obviously,
Speaker 1: with the array of weapons that the Rams have it,
Speaker 1: it can only be a good thing and and help
Speaker 1: their chances. And when you look at wide receiver Geronimo Allison,
Speaker 1: before he went down with the concussion and the hamstring injury,
Speaker 1: he was averaging seventy plus yards per game through the
Speaker 1: first four games of this season. Randall Cobb had the
Speaker 1: hundred and forty yard game and the game winning touchdown
Speaker 1: in Week one against Chicago, had a rough game in
Speaker 1: Week three against Washington. Hasn't had an opportunity to atone
Speaker 1: for that yet. And he's a veteran player, takes a
Speaker 1: lot of pride in what he does. You know, he's
Speaker 1: going to go get back out there for his first
Speaker 1: opportunity and want to make up for what happened the
Speaker 1: last time he took the field. So a lot of
Speaker 1: positive signs here. And I know a lot of Packers
Speaker 1: fans very you know, trepidacious so to speak about this
Speaker 1: game with the Rams being undefeated and being on the
Speaker 1: road and all that. But the Packers are putting themselves,
Speaker 1: at least healthwise, in the best position they can to
Speaker 1: try to take this one. Yeah, and the Rams, I
Speaker 1: do like what they do defensively. You and I talked
Speaker 1: about that on yesterday show. But there are yards to
Speaker 1: be gained, there's production to be had. So I mean,
Speaker 1: when if you can get Randall cob back in there,
Speaker 1: and you get him working one two again with Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham and being able to maybe use Graham more in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field than they've been able to
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. I like that combination there, Geronimo, Alison,
Speaker 1: Mike We kind of forget about it with the concussion
Speaker 1: and with the hamstring injury, but before that, he arguably
Speaker 1: was one of the top more consistent performers on this
Speaker 1: entire roster. Those first four games of the season. You
Speaker 1: can pretty much jot him down for sixty seventy yards
Speaker 1: and four or five catches a game, which is ultimately
Speaker 1: what you're looking for out of your number three receiver.
Speaker 1: Guy that's gonna be able to keep defenses honest and
Speaker 1: was having a pretty decent game at the time of
Speaker 1: his concussion. So to get him back it is going
Speaker 1: to be good. I go back to that secondary though
Speaker 1: you mentioned. If the Packers can get healthy there, then
Speaker 1: you look at the other side of the ball game
Speaker 1: here for the Rams, they very well might be going
Speaker 1: into this game without Cooper Cup So if they don't
Speaker 1: have him available, Sean McVeigh mentioned he's probably doubtful for
Speaker 1: this matchup right at the time when we're taping this.
Speaker 1: That takes away one of those big three options for
Speaker 1: them downfield. And I'm not saying you're still gonna be
Speaker 1: able to zone in on and everybody there's there's gonna
Speaker 1: be other challenges, but a full slate of weapons against
Speaker 1: an offense that's missing one of their top red zone
Speaker 1: targets could be beneficial for Mike Petton's crew. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: when you talk about a guy who has been healthy,
Speaker 1: healthy as a horse, as they say in this Mike
Speaker 1: Petton defense, Kenny Clark, he's been right in the middle
Speaker 1: of it all season long, West And I tell you
Speaker 1: what you don't hear Mike McCarthy say these kinds of
Speaker 1: things very often when he's asked about players, But he
Speaker 1: was asked this week about Kenny Clark and he didn't
Speaker 1: hesitate at all. He said, Kenny Clark is a Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl player. He's playing at a Pro Bowl level. You
Speaker 1: and I have talked about it. It's certainly they're on film.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy is seeing how opposing offenses are building their
Speaker 1: game plans around trying not to let Kenny Clark be
Speaker 1: as disruptive as he's been both against the run and
Speaker 1: the past. This is a key player. We talked a
Speaker 1: lot about Aaron Donald obviously and what he does on
Speaker 1: on that rams D defensive front. Take nothing away from that,
Speaker 1: but Kenny Clark might be the most important player for
Speaker 1: this Packers defense right now the way it's playing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, Mike, And They've had a lot of
Speaker 1: great defensive linemen in here through the years. They have
Speaker 1: several of them on this roster right now, and you
Speaker 1: look at Mike Daniels, you go back to what Ryan
Speaker 1: Pickett did for a number of years against the run.
Speaker 1: B J. Rodgi his first few seasons, maybe as as
Speaker 1: impactful as any defensive tackle in the three or four
Speaker 1: defense at that time. But what I like about Clark
Speaker 1: is I think he's probably the most balanced, the guy
Speaker 1: that could potentially hurt an offense in a multitude of ways,
Speaker 1: where there isn't one specialization with him. I think one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why I know we're talking with Clark
Speaker 1: about that this week, it's been tough to get him
Speaker 1: off the field is because he's basically just as effective
Speaker 1: as a run stuffer as he is as an interior
Speaker 1: pass rusher. Going into the season, I think the Packers
Speaker 1: plans there was that Moe Wilkerson was gonna be handling
Speaker 1: a lot of those third down reps, being able to
Speaker 1: use him inside outside how they want to, you know,
Speaker 1: be able to flex him around well without Wilkerson, Clark,
Speaker 1: Mike Daniels, those are your pretty much your two top
Speaker 1: guys in third down defenses and Nickel in dime if
Speaker 1: they go to defensive linemen. So it stands to reason
Speaker 1: why they want him out there, and the stats do
Speaker 1: represent that. I mean, he's played the third most amount
Speaker 1: of defensive snaps among defensive tackles this year, at least
Speaker 1: guys that play that role in their defense. And then
Speaker 1: also another stat I dug up when I was working
Speaker 1: on a story on him this week. If he stays
Speaker 1: on this pace that he's on right now, he's routinely
Speaker 1: getting six, seven, sometimes nine tackles a week. He would
Speaker 1: become the first Packers defensive linemen to go over seventy
Speaker 1: official tackles in a season since Aaron Campman in two
Speaker 1: thousand and six. Uh. Last year, with his fifty five
Speaker 1: tackles were the most official by a defensive lineman in
Speaker 1: the three four defenses. The Packers made that move in
Speaker 1: two thousand nine. He finds ways to get to the ball, carries,
Speaker 1: he's strong, he's good at the point of attack, and
Speaker 1: he are seeing an evolution of a playmaker at only
Speaker 1: twenty three years old. Yeah, it's a tough balance here
Speaker 1: the Packers are are trying to find because, as you said,
Speaker 1: it's tough to take him off the field. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, now that the bye week is in
Speaker 1: the rear view mirror, the Packers have ten consecutive games
Speaker 1: here without a break. You're gonna have the Thursday night
Speaker 1: game against Seattle and sort of that mini by when
Speaker 1: you get a few days off over the weekend, but
Speaker 1: basically ten straight weeks with a game to play and
Speaker 1: UH and no significant time off there. So his his
Speaker 1: snap count is high, and yes he's young, and if
Speaker 1: there's anybody who can handle it for an entire sixteen
Speaker 1: game season, it's probably Kenny Clark. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: the Packers do need to find a way to get
Speaker 1: him some rest and get a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a rotation and be able to rely on some of
Speaker 1: those other younger guys like Dean Lowry montrevious Adams players
Speaker 1: like that Tyler Lancaster who's now on the active roster,
Speaker 1: coming up from the practice squad, Because I just don't
Speaker 1: know if you can play Kenny Clark of the defensive
Speaker 1: snaps for an entire season. I just I think that's uh,
Speaker 1: I think your potential asking for trouble there. Yeah. The
Speaker 1: one thing that's been really interesting, Mike, I have to imagine,
Speaker 1: and you're obviously watch these games just as much as
Speaker 1: I do. I don't know if it's like this in
Speaker 1: the league in general, but the Green Bay Packers have
Speaker 1: probably played their most base defense that I've seen during
Speaker 1: my time here since probably two thousand twelve, maybe two.
Speaker 1: I think that's part of the equation here. You can
Speaker 1: talk about the rotation and trying to get other guys involved,
Speaker 1: but the thing is is that in a lot of
Speaker 1: first down, early down situations these first three or four games,
Speaker 1: the last three or four games, it's been Lowerie Daniels Clark,
Speaker 1: you get to the nickel and dime packages, you're going
Speaker 1: down to two. It just seems to me, and again
Speaker 1: I don't have stats to back this up. We don't
Speaker 1: have an intern running you know, Spofford stats and info
Speaker 1: for us. But it does seem like they've had to
Speaker 1: go with more of the base look than we've probably
Speaker 1: seen the last few years when that number was dipping
Speaker 1: closer to fifteen percent of the time. I would argue
Speaker 1: it's probably closer and maybe even above thirty of the
Speaker 1: time this season, just based on how things have kind
Speaker 1: of worked out for them. So be interesting to see, Yes,
Speaker 1: in addition to trying to get a real tation going
Speaker 1: at that position. Also as the season wears on, if
Speaker 1: we're gonna start seeing more of the run Nickel looks
Speaker 1: and and things of that nature. Yeah, Well Clark Clark
Speaker 1: may be the most important guy the Packers have in
Speaker 1: terms of trying to contain Todd Gurley and not let
Speaker 1: Gurley get going, which sets up all that play action
Speaker 1: and everything else that the Rams want to run. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this is gonna be one of those games that
Speaker 1: you look at him in particular. He kind of need
Speaker 1: one of those Ryan Picket games where he's gonna be
Speaker 1: taken on double teams. He needs to be disruptive, He
Speaker 1: needs to glide with the line of scrimmage and follow
Speaker 1: him outside the tackle box. It's gonna be a big
Speaker 1: challenge for him. He's going home, first time back in
Speaker 1: l A since he got drafted in two thousand and sixteen.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have over thirty, you know, somewhere thirty thirty
Speaker 1: five people there, So there's gonna be plenty people cheering
Speaker 1: them on, and the Packers are gonna need a big
Speaker 1: performance out of the young guy. Yeah, all right, Well,
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Speaker 1: Official suit partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, another thing,
Speaker 1: we didn't have a chance to get to it in
Speaker 1: our earlier shows this week coming off of the bye,
Speaker 1: but this is the time of year during the regular
Speaker 1: season when the Packers coaching staff and players they take
Speaker 1: a day and engage in what's called the across the
Speaker 1: hall meetings. This is a really interesting concept West because
Speaker 1: to try to put it in a nutshell, what it
Speaker 1: is is the Packers offensive coaches devise, essentially what would
Speaker 1: be their game plan to go against the Packers defense,
Speaker 1: and the Packers defensive coaches devise their game plan for
Speaker 1: how they would attack the Packers offense. And then they
Speaker 1: share all the information in the sense of saying, hey,
Speaker 1: this is where we see the weaknesses. This is how
Speaker 1: individually talking to a defensive lineman or a cornerback saying
Speaker 1: this is how we would attack you, and a defensive
Speaker 1: coach then also saying to an offensive lineman or to
Speaker 1: a wide receiver, this is what we would try to
Speaker 1: do against you, because this is what we see on films.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's a collaborative thing, you know, with
Speaker 1: within the building. And it's called across the hall because
Speaker 1: the offensive and defensive meeting rooms are literally across the
Speaker 1: hall from one another, um as far as the big
Speaker 1: group meeting rooms down in the bottles of lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: So an interesting process, and you've talked to some of
Speaker 1: the guys about you know what they get out of this, uh,
Speaker 1: in terms of their own individual development and progress in
Speaker 1: the season. Yeah. And some of the things I focused
Speaker 1: on were with the younger players on the roster and
Speaker 1: specific some of the rookies. And one of them that
Speaker 1: I was asking about this was Orren Burkes, and he
Speaker 1: came from Vanderbilt. He said he did have some of
Speaker 1: those experiences. They did have some things where he would
Speaker 1: work with the running backs coach who was was very vocal,
Speaker 1: very communicative with them in terms of telling them what
Speaker 1: to look for and and how they would attack them.
Speaker 1: But it it gets ramped up a notch at this level,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a good review process for guys
Speaker 1: like Burke's who, as we saw before the bye week,
Speaker 1: he's getting thrown in there more and more started playing
Speaker 1: and starting right from the beginning, and some Bay snaps,
Speaker 1: uh and and you're seeing, you know, kind of the
Speaker 1: maturation of him as a football player. And then even
Speaker 1: these young receivers trying to go back and look at
Speaker 1: their film now that they got some Aaron Rodgers competitive
Speaker 1: first team stuff on on tape, you know, hundred fifty
Speaker 1: snaps at this point where I think a guy like
Speaker 1: Mark wisveld is scantling and seeing exactly what they can
Speaker 1: take away from that. And one of the other comments
Speaker 1: I believe was Davante Adams was discussing this week how
Speaker 1: beneficial it is to take that step back and sort
Speaker 1: of you you kind of can fall in your own
Speaker 1: silo in terms of just focusing on what you're doing
Speaker 1: and what your responsibilities are, but outside perception is important, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, being able to uncover some of those blind spots.
Speaker 1: And I think it probably is also probably pretty beneficial
Speaker 1: for the coaching staff as well. For the offensive coaches
Speaker 1: and defensive coaches. You know, they're they're in their own
Speaker 1: deal during the season. It's difficult to get them going
Speaker 1: and discussing other things because you're so focused on the
Speaker 1: week to week game plan that they're able to go
Speaker 1: back and get a macro view of their players. So
Speaker 1: a very interesting concept that Packers have been doing it
Speaker 1: for a number of years now, but a good way
Speaker 1: to kind of use that bye week to to keep
Speaker 1: your you know, keep your head in the game plan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this is something that the Packers do actually three
Speaker 1: times a year. But Mike McCarthy emphasized this week that
Speaker 1: the bye week. This is the most important, the most
Speaker 1: valuable one they do because the other ones one is
Speaker 1: during the off season program, one is during training camp.
Speaker 1: But when you do it now during the bye week
Speaker 1: in the regular season, you have in this particular case,
Speaker 1: six weeks of game tape of actual regular season games,
Speaker 1: the same type of stuff that opposing teams are looking at.
Speaker 1: Their looking at that film and formulating their game plans
Speaker 1: and their thoughts on how to go about attacking certain
Speaker 1: things within the scheme and with individual players. So it
Speaker 1: is something that they do multiple times a year, but
Speaker 1: this is the most important and most valuable one. And
Speaker 1: and the fact that you are in it now, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then there is something to be said for the
Speaker 1: off season and trying to you know, kind of figure
Speaker 1: out tendencies, But that's all revisionary, you know. It's it's
Speaker 1: going back and looking at what you've done. It doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily always mean how things are going to play out
Speaker 1: once the next season begins. This is an opportunity. You're
Speaker 1: in the heat of battle, it's the eye of the
Speaker 1: storm of the season, a chance to really understand what's
Speaker 1: happened in what you could potentially change to make an
Speaker 1: adjustment going into the second half of the season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure exactly how many years now that
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy has been doing this, but the track record
Speaker 1: for the Packers, I believe in the last ten years
Speaker 1: it's seven two and one in the game coming out
Speaker 1: of the bye week. So Mike McCarthy and his staff
Speaker 1: they've always used this time. They put it to good
Speaker 1: use and uh and it's translated to some good results
Speaker 1: on the field. This may be the toughest game the
Speaker 1: Packers have ever had coming out of the by facing
Speaker 1: the only undefeated team in the NFL and on the road,
Speaker 1: and you know, a two time zone trip and all
Speaker 1: of that stuff that's involved. But Packers, the plane is
Speaker 1: leaving Friday, trying to get out there, get acclimated to
Speaker 1: not only the time zone but the weather. It's about
Speaker 1: forty degrees warmer I think in Los Angeles than it
Speaker 1: is um. You know, Sunday afternoon, it could be it
Speaker 1: could be a hot one at the Calseum. Yeah, spot's
Speaker 1: gonna be walking around Rodeo Drive. I'll have the boom
Speaker 1: box behind them with pretty women going on there. You
Speaker 1: can enjoy everything with the sunlight and the palm trees.
Speaker 1: Uh No, but it is, and and some of the
Speaker 1: guys even talked about that, I mean, just trying to
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark mentioned, I mean when he was asked if
Speaker 1: he's still a California guys like, well, I still like
Speaker 1: the warmth, you know, getting a chance to feel that again,
Speaker 1: because if you think about it, Michael, I mean you haven't.
Speaker 1: They really haven't had a lot of warm weather games
Speaker 1: so far. Washington was sort of miserable. They were out
Speaker 1: there with the rain and everything, and they were in
Speaker 1: a dome in Detroit. So yeah, it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: big challenge. But I think the thing that I'm most
Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing you do go back and again.
Speaker 1: I don't take away anything from the Rams. You're right,
Speaker 1: they are the best team in football right now. This
Speaker 1: the record shows it. But the Packers Mike McCarthy Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers have done some of their best work coming out
Speaker 1: of bye weeks. I think back to two thousand fourteen,
Speaker 1: everything was crashing down after that game against the Saints. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the New Orleans primetime game at the super Dome. They
Speaker 1: made a huge adjustment. Clay Matthews started working inside the defense,
Speaker 1: turned it around was one of the top five top
Speaker 1: six defenses in the league. The second half of that season,
Speaker 1: the offense got going. They made a run towards an
Speaker 1: NFC Championship game on the precipice of a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: This is a different challenge. Every year is different, but
Speaker 1: it does show you that when you get a chance
Speaker 1: to make some adjustments and look at what's happened, it
Speaker 1: allows you to reset a little bit and try to
Speaker 1: figure out your focus for the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: All right, and with that, we'll call it a wrap
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be should have follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com on Twitter. You can still find him at west
Speaker 1: Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.