Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, sitting alongside the one and only
Speaker 1: West Hodkoits were coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field and West. Another day closer to Packers
Speaker 1: Vikings noon Sunday kickoff at lambeau Field, and another day
Speaker 1: of healing for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He spoke with
Speaker 1: reporters on Wednesday after practice, a practice he did not
Speaker 1: participate in. He was rehabbing instead, but he said he's
Speaker 1: feeling a little bit better every day and all indications
Speaker 1: are that his focus is on doing whatever it takes
Speaker 1: to play in this game. Yeah. I think he made
Speaker 1: that pretty clear after the game against Affairs that that
Speaker 1: is what exactly he's wanting to do. Mike Zimmer, as
Speaker 1: Mike Simmer always does in the conference call with Green
Speaker 1: Bay Media every year, it seems like there's a noteworthy
Speaker 1: bit that comes out of it. This year was his reply,
Speaker 1: and that, well, he walks on waters, so we're expecting
Speaker 1: him to play Rogers coincidentally does not in fact walk
Speaker 1: on water. But you know, he is a guy that
Speaker 1: I think when you look at what he's played through
Speaker 1: over the years and how he's overcome those situations. He's
Speaker 1: gonna do everything he can to be on the field
Speaker 1: on Sunday afternoon. He knows the importance of that game,
Speaker 1: not only the division implications, but really you're looking at two,
Speaker 1: I think, on paper, two of the better teams in
Speaker 1: the NFC in general. So I'm sure there's no shortage
Speaker 1: and motivation for him to be out there, and we'll
Speaker 1: have to see all the week goes. Mike McCarthy said,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a day by day process. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be just him being in that rehap group trying to
Speaker 1: get whatever he needs to be ready for it. But
Speaker 1: the history is there. I mean, Aaron Rodgers, the way
Speaker 1: he's wired, he doesn't want to be on the sideline. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question about that. His for him, the way he
Speaker 1: described it to reporters, his threshold in terms of whether
Speaker 1: or not he feels he can be an effective player
Speaker 1: has to do with his mobility. And now he drew
Speaker 1: a distinction obviously because he's not talking about being so
Speaker 1: mobile as to scramble out of the pocket and extend
Speaker 1: plays and all those things that we've seen him do.
Speaker 1: In the past. But it's about having enough mobility to
Speaker 1: be able to shuffle his feet and move in the
Speaker 1: pocket to create the passing lanes that you need based
Speaker 1: on where the rush lanes are and how the pass
Speaker 1: rush is coming after you. He was able to do
Speaker 1: that Sunday night against the Bears. And when you look
Speaker 1: back at the touchdown pass to Geronimo Allison the last
Speaker 1: touchdown to Randall Cobb, both of those were plays where
Speaker 1: he shuffled to his left to create some space for
Speaker 1: himself in order to get off the past that he
Speaker 1: needed to. He feels as long as he can do that,
Speaker 1: he's going to be able to play because he doesn't
Speaker 1: seem concerned about the knee, or at least the doctors
Speaker 1: have told him and everything. He's not concerned about it
Speaker 1: from the standpoint of re injuring it any further. It's
Speaker 1: just a matter of managing that pain and being able
Speaker 1: to move around just enough. Yeah, and that Allison throw
Speaker 1: is probably the big one for me in terms of
Speaker 1: passing the eye test, because hey, you want to do
Speaker 1: quick passes, you want to get the ball move, and
Speaker 1: you want to get into a rhythm. He was able
Speaker 1: to do that. He made a heck of a pass
Speaker 1: to Cob on the seventy yarder, But really it's those
Speaker 1: downfield threats that are gonna be what opens up the
Speaker 1: Packers offense. He did that got single you know, really
Speaker 1: single separation one on one coverage with Kyle Fuller and
Speaker 1: Allison and I think you go back and look at
Speaker 1: that play and I've I've seen it about four or
Speaker 1: five times now. It looks like an effortless throw for him.
Speaker 1: It looked like he was too discomforted and trying to
Speaker 1: get that out there just seem like traditional Aaron Rodgers football.
Speaker 1: That's the biggest thing for him because certainly there is
Speaker 1: going to be discomfort if he does play, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be some of that pain that goes with the territory.
Speaker 1: He's done it before, but it's really been able to threat,
Speaker 1: you know, threaten the downfield. Uh, And you know that
Speaker 1: it's gonna be one of those things that if Rogers
Speaker 1: does go in this game, it's gonna be on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, it's gonna be on the receivers every but
Speaker 1: he has to step their game up to make sure
Speaker 1: that he's in a favorable spot for you know, seventy
Speaker 1: eight plays whatever it takes. Yeah, Well, another injury update
Speaker 1: that nobody was necessarily aware of until Wednesday's practice. Wide
Speaker 1: receiver Davante Adams did not practice on Wednesday. Turns out
Speaker 1: he banged his shoulder a little bit on that fifty
Speaker 1: one yard catch and run in the fourth quarter. Said
Speaker 1: when he got tackled, it was kind of an awkward collision,
Speaker 1: and like with Rogers, he had the adrenaline to play
Speaker 1: through it. He actually caught another past two plays later
Speaker 1: for a short game, and then the next play after
Speaker 1: that he got his touchdown there at the pylon. So
Speaker 1: he played out the rest of the game. But he
Speaker 1: woke up on Monday a little stiff and sore with
Speaker 1: the shoulder. He sounded rather optimistic about being able to play,
Speaker 1: but being cautious right now in practice as far as
Speaker 1: making sure he gets to heal up as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, adrenaline, man, it's just so there's nothing better
Speaker 1: than it. I mean, it's what the kids gets it
Speaker 1: through those kind of instances. But him, you know the
Speaker 1: way he's wired, much like Rogers, He's gonna want to
Speaker 1: be out there. And I took my cap to him
Speaker 1: for I mean, the fifty one yard catch was great.
Speaker 1: That was a fine play and one of the biggest
Speaker 1: ones of that entire contest. But he had to work
Speaker 1: for that. Twelve year touched on him. You gotta remember
Speaker 1: that was kind of a sort of almost a receiver
Speaker 1: screen in some ways, and kind of had to make
Speaker 1: that play happen, had to make a guy miss and
Speaker 1: had to dive into the end zone. So, knowing what
Speaker 1: we know now about that, it's kind of a gut
Speaker 1: check for him to be able to pull that through. Again.
Speaker 1: Though this isn't Davante Adams and year one or year two.
Speaker 1: He's a veteran. He's been around this thing. If he
Speaker 1: doesn't get all the reps, it's not the end of
Speaker 1: the world. It opens up more opportunities for Alison, Marcus Velde,
Speaker 1: Scantling and those other young receivers on this roster. The
Speaker 1: biggest thing for Adams though, is going to be being
Speaker 1: available and potentially, you know, getting to even if he
Speaker 1: has to play through certain things, being able to have
Speaker 1: that full of assortment of reps that he's used to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had said when the play happened, he didn't even
Speaker 1: think much of it in terms of his shoulder, like
Speaker 1: it really didn't feel like anything had happened or that
Speaker 1: the tackle was anything out of the ordinary. It really
Speaker 1: wasn't until the next day, or maybe late that night
Speaker 1: before he went to bed, or whatever the case was,
Speaker 1: that he started to feel like, oh, my shoulders a
Speaker 1: little sore, you know, so one of those things that
Speaker 1: obviously get him the rest and recovery needs nippet in
Speaker 1: the bud. Now, let him get through another game, hopefully
Speaker 1: nothing gets worse, and then you know, Davante is good
Speaker 1: to go for a while. He's kind of cut from
Speaker 1: that same Randall Cobcloth too. It's like, I mean, those
Speaker 1: guys are you're pretty much gonna have to take a
Speaker 1: limb off for them not to play through something. So
Speaker 1: and they don't exactly enjoy talking about their injuries. They
Speaker 1: realize it's part of the deal that you know, whether
Speaker 1: you're practicing not practicing, or something's going on, you're on
Speaker 1: the injury report, reporters are going to come up to
Speaker 1: you and say, hey, what's going on. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: they get it, but they would just as soon you know,
Speaker 1: nobody even know, because they don't want it to come
Speaker 1: off as like an excuse for their play and everything.
Speaker 1: We've heard that from these guys all the time. The
Speaker 1: only analogy I've been able to throw up people because
Speaker 1: people often ask this in the Fantasy football eras what's
Speaker 1: affected all this? Probably absolutely, But it is funny because
Speaker 1: I said, just imagine going to work and having a cold,
Speaker 1: there's some kind of illness and being sick about it,
Speaker 1: and having every single one of your coworkers come up
Speaker 1: and ask you about it, every single person you come
Speaker 1: across to ask you about it. Yeah. Yeah, over time,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna want to talk about it that much.
Speaker 1: So be that as it may. Like I said before,
Speaker 1: I mean Adams the way he's wired, the way he
Speaker 1: approaches this game, assuming he's cleared to go, I mean
Speaker 1: he's he's met. From a mental perspective, he's gonna be
Speaker 1: worried he needs to be going into Sunday. Yeah, definitely.
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Speaker 1: in better Okay. Sticking with the topic of the Packers
Speaker 1: offense right now, we actually both a little bit from
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy and then also from Aaron Rodgers in terms
Speaker 1: of how Rogers injury aside, how that game unfolded for
Speaker 1: the Packers offensively against the Bears. With regards to tight
Speaker 1: end Jimmy Graham. You look at the statistics, Jimmy Graham
Speaker 1: to catches for eight yards, not exactly what people were expecting,
Speaker 1: but Randall cob nine for a buck forty two, Davante
Speaker 1: Adams five for eight eight. I think it was Geronimoy
Speaker 1: Allison five for fifty nine, all three sixty nine. All
Speaker 1: three of those guys have a touchdown reception. So it's like, well,
Speaker 1: what happened with Jimmy Graham. Well, the Bears made him
Speaker 1: the focal point of their defense and in terms of
Speaker 1: their coverage, Aaron Rodgers talked about how their whole game
Speaker 1: plan was out in the middle of the field, they
Speaker 1: had an outside linebacker who was disrupting Graham at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, not letting him get a clean release
Speaker 1: into his route. And then when the Packers were close
Speaker 1: to the end zone, down in the red zone area,
Speaker 1: they were simply double teaming. They had either a cloud
Speaker 1: cover to his side or they simply bracketed him with
Speaker 1: with one coverage guy up front and then another guy
Speaker 1: in the back. So um, not the type of start
Speaker 1: to his packer's career that Jimmy Graham was looking for.
Speaker 1: But the guy was affecting the game because he was
Speaker 1: affecting how Chicago was playing its defense. And Marv up
Speaker 1: in the control room, if we could, I'm guessing we
Speaker 1: can't bring up my clip from I think May talking
Speaker 1: about how the addition of Jimmy Graham is going to
Speaker 1: be the best friend for Randall Cole exactly. I'm not
Speaker 1: sitting here trying to act like I'm some kind of
Speaker 1: you know, psychic with this stuff nostradamus exactly. But it
Speaker 1: was obvious that this is gonna be one of the
Speaker 1: beneficiaries of this approach. It's not a coincidence. I mean, now,
Speaker 1: Randall cop did a lot of great things on his own,
Speaker 1: but it's not a coincidence that Jimmy Graham gets entered
Speaker 1: this offense and Randall Cobb has a career day. This
Speaker 1: the way that defense are gonna have to approach this, Mike,
Speaker 1: We've talked about it since the day that Graham was signed.
Speaker 1: They have to make a decision. If Auntie Adams mentioned
Speaker 1: this in the post game too, when he was talking
Speaker 1: his locker. There were times where he got double team.
Speaker 1: There were times where Cobb got double team and we
Speaker 1: saw a lot of double teaming or as you said,
Speaker 1: some of the cloud coverage that they did to Graham.
Speaker 1: That's what opened up the opportunity on that one series
Speaker 1: to Geronto Willison to win his one on one. That
Speaker 1: is ultimately what's going to be able to assuming they
Speaker 1: can keep all these pieces healthy, make this offense what
Speaker 1: they think it can be. This week, a lot of
Speaker 1: emphasis on Jimmy Graham. Next week that might change. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's when Jimmy Graham breaks out, but whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be, there's so many different components in the middle
Speaker 1: of the field. Mike McCarthy's wanted to attack that area.
Speaker 1: They did it in that game against the Bears, and
Speaker 1: they did it through Randall Cobb. In a tip of
Speaker 1: the hat to Jimmy Graham for being able to divert
Speaker 1: some of that coverage. Yeah, and I'm really interested to
Speaker 1: see comes Sunday afternoon what the Vikings decided to do,
Speaker 1: because you look at Minnesota's first game against the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners. A little known tight end, a guy,
Speaker 1: I'll admit I ever heard of him? Is it George Kittle?
Speaker 1: Is his name? Five catches for ninety yards? He was.
Speaker 1: He was Jimmy Garoppolo's go to guy, was the tight end. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't know enough about the XS and os, and
Speaker 1: I don't watch all of Minnesota's game film, but they
Speaker 1: were probably presumably more focused on Garoppolo's outside targets, the
Speaker 1: guys on the edges, the wide receivers, and so that
Speaker 1: tight end. Kittle had some matchups that he was able
Speaker 1: to take advantage of, and Garoppolo took advantage of ninety
Speaker 1: yards from a tight end. That's a pretty big game. Now,
Speaker 1: what will Minnesota do with regards to Jimmy Graham? And
Speaker 1: you know what the Packers having, assuming Adams is able
Speaker 1: to play in Adams Cobb and Allison how all this unfolds.
Speaker 1: As you said, defense is going to have to make
Speaker 1: a choice. It's an eleven on eleven game. It's a
Speaker 1: numbers game. Anybody, any defense can take away anybody else
Speaker 1: on offense if they want to. It's how this league works.
Speaker 1: So what is Minnesota going to decide? That's what we
Speaker 1: have to wait and see. And you mentioned the red
Speaker 1: zone some of the double coverage that got there. That
Speaker 1: the exciting thing I think if you're Mike McCarthy and
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers in this offense, is that Davante Adams and
Speaker 1: Randall cop are really proficient in that area of the
Speaker 1: field as well. I don't know if that's just the
Speaker 1: product of the scrambled drill or just the roads that
Speaker 1: they're running, or the Christmas of it, but they have
Speaker 1: been effective without that kind of threat. Now that you
Speaker 1: put Graham and that equation, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: things that didn't go right for the Packers in two
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen. Nobody's denying that they were pretty good as
Speaker 1: far as red zone offense, though, and now that you
Speaker 1: have Graham added into that mix, I think it's only
Speaker 1: gonna take them one step farther and and to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, Mike too, and I'm glad you brought
Speaker 1: that up. Kittle him and Garoppolo last year they started
Speaker 1: to develop a little bit of rapport. You could tell
Speaker 1: that that's a guy that Garoppolo has a lot of
Speaker 1: confidence in. Aaron Rodgers has really developed a good chemistry
Speaker 1: with Jimmy Graham. And we'll see exactly how this situation
Speaker 1: unfolds on Sunday. But I think, honestly, it's only a
Speaker 1: matter of time before you really start to see that
Speaker 1: production maybe swerve its way a little bit towards Graham,
Speaker 1: just based on the fact that there were so many
Speaker 1: opportunities for them throughout training camp, throughout the preseason that
Speaker 1: they really did capitalize on. Yeah, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of different ways this could play out schematically. Now what
Speaker 1: I know about the Minnesota Vikings, they will certainly have
Speaker 1: no problem leaving Xavier Rhodes one on one, their top
Speaker 1: cornerback will play one on one. They won't worry about
Speaker 1: safety help for him. But then if you're talking about
Speaker 1: wanting safety help on you know, Cobb or Allison, but
Speaker 1: then also wanting it for Graham potentially, well, does that
Speaker 1: take Sendejo and Harrison Smith out of the blitz packages
Speaker 1: and out of the pressure packages, which then leaves the
Speaker 1: Packers offensive line and the protection unit just dealing with
Speaker 1: the front four, maybe not so much the extra rushers
Speaker 1: those This is all part of the chess match. It's
Speaker 1: it's and and the way things start in the first
Speaker 1: quarter is not necessarily how the game is going to
Speaker 1: be played in the fourth quarter. These three hours out
Speaker 1: there on Sunday afternoon, a lot of adjustments back and
Speaker 1: forth and everything. And with this this addition of Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham being new to the Packers offense with the vikings
Speaker 1: and you know, wanting to do what they do on
Speaker 1: defense and do so well because they've had this unit
Speaker 1: together for so long, it just makes for a really
Speaker 1: intriguing matchup all the way around. And we'll get into
Speaker 1: some of like the what it's going to take to
Speaker 1: win this game stuff on Friday, But for me, I
Speaker 1: think the biggest decision, one of the biggest decisions that
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer has to make, is how they're going to
Speaker 1: use Mike Hughes. And it's by all accounts, it sounds
Speaker 1: like Trey Wayne's is gonna be Okay, I think he
Speaker 1: was a full participant on Wednesday. But Hughes appears to
Speaker 1: be that that slock cornerback. So is he going up
Speaker 1: against Graham's he going up against Randall Cobb. That's gonna
Speaker 1: be a big piece that they're gonna have to figure out. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: switching gears to the defensive side of the ball here quickly,
Speaker 1: wes um the uh we saw at least in our
Speaker 1: first introduction to Mike Petton's defense, and it may have
Speaker 1: been partly driven by the fact that orn Burke said
Speaker 1: inside linebacker was injured and the other inside linebackers aside
Speaker 1: from Martinez haven't been with the team very long. But
Speaker 1: we saw Mike Petton put a lot of dbs on
Speaker 1: the field against the Bears, a lot of six dbs
Speaker 1: and even in some cases seven dB packages depending on
Speaker 1: high you want to classify Jermaine white Head and how
Speaker 1: he was used. But the depth of the Packers secondary
Speaker 1: was needed in Game one, and Mike Petton used every
Speaker 1: just about every inch of it. Yeah, he did. And
Speaker 1: I thought it was really interesting listen to Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about it, because he was asked
Speaker 1: about those seven dB packages and how that stress as
Speaker 1: a quarterback. And and he made such a great point
Speaker 1: is that Petton really was indiscriminate when he used it.
Speaker 1: I mean he would use it in a variety of
Speaker 1: different ways in different situations and down in distances. I
Speaker 1: think the most common version of that is going to
Speaker 1: be in the you know, the dime and some of
Speaker 1: the sub package stuff. But we saw packages Mike that
Speaker 1: I think Blake Martinez referred to as like a base
Speaker 1: sub where they had three down linemen, two inside or
Speaker 1: one inside linebacker, two outside linebackers, and then just five
Speaker 1: defensive backs. They pivoted so many different ways with their packages.
Speaker 1: When when you look at how they were able to
Speaker 1: utilize Jermine Whitehead as kind of that Nitro Nickel kind
Speaker 1: of linebacker next to Martinez. Josh Jackson, who I mean,
Speaker 1: where's all the people now talking about how he couldn't
Speaker 1: play the slot, how he was a boundary cornerback, a
Speaker 1: zone boundary cornerback. He's basically dispelled each one of those
Speaker 1: things every single time he's taken the field for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: And we all know what Jr. Alexander can do. So
Speaker 1: I had a really big question. I said it last
Speaker 1: week on the show, Mike how this was all gonna
Speaker 1: look with all these cornerbacks, how Mike pett was going
Speaker 1: to use him because to me, I didn't want Josh
Speaker 1: Jackson if I'm if I'm pettent, I didn't want him
Speaker 1: sitting on the bench most of that game. I wanted
Speaker 1: him involved in Kudos to him he found out a
Speaker 1: way to get Tremont Williams and Kevin King playing the
Speaker 1: entire game, but then also get upwards of forty five
Speaker 1: snaps for both Alexander and Jackson. We talked about it
Speaker 1: being a strength, that the strength as it stands today,
Speaker 1: and he put it to use against the Bears. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: we talked about how some of the different ways the
Speaker 1: chess match could unfold with the Packers on offense, the
Speaker 1: Packers on defense. The way this, uh, this chess match
Speaker 1: could go if I'm the Vikings and Kirk Cousins and
Speaker 1: I'm seeing the six and seven dbs out there in
Speaker 1: a lot of different situations, the way you get the
Speaker 1: Packers out of that as you're on the ball with
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook, because because six seven dbs on the field,
Speaker 1: your light in the pants, so to speak, in terms
Speaker 1: of being able to stop the run. Now, if you can,
Speaker 1: if you're the Packers and you can stop the run
Speaker 1: and contain Dalvin Cook with those kinds of packages, that
Speaker 1: gives you an advantage. But if you can't, then you
Speaker 1: need to get a little bit more beef up front,
Speaker 1: so to speak, in that front seven in order to
Speaker 1: contain the run. And then the advantage shifts to Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins with Stefon Diggs, Adam Thiel and Kyle Rudolph and
Speaker 1: all the weapons in the passing game. So there there's
Speaker 1: a lot of different ways, just as we talked about
Speaker 1: on the other side of the ball, a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways that this could play out, and over the
Speaker 1: course of four quarters and and three hours, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of shifting and changing going on. I
Speaker 1: think the exciting thing if you're a Packers fan right
Speaker 1: now with this defense is I think there's a really
Speaker 1: good chance that we don't even see those kind of
Speaker 1: packages again in this game. I think you could see
Speaker 1: pett and potentially and this is just speculation on my part,
Speaker 1: but I think you could see him take more of
Speaker 1: that New England approach where your tailor and game plans
Speaker 1: to specific opponents absolutely in really marching things up a
Speaker 1: little bit. It is going to be interesting to see, though,
Speaker 1: exactly what that plan is going to be for Cook
Speaker 1: and and certainly the defensive front. They know he's going
Speaker 1: to be a big challenge for them and seeing how
Speaker 1: they respond to it. Lastly, Blake Martinez, I think that
Speaker 1: had to be one of the finest games he's played
Speaker 1: in the Packers uniform because for fifty nine of those
Speaker 1: seventy snaps he was on the field. He was the
Speaker 1: loan inside backer. He was working with guys he wasn't
Speaker 1: used to working with, and he was the primary communicator.
Speaker 1: That was a big assignment and that's a big moment
Speaker 1: that he's going to grow from as this season where's on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like he was a ship's captain with a
Speaker 1: whole new crew. Absolutely, and he was the guy tying
Speaker 1: that defensive front to kentroll o'brice Hahak, Clinton Dicks in
Speaker 1: the secretary. That was such a big role for him.
Speaker 1: It wasn't really talked about much, but that was a
Speaker 1: huge assignment and he stood up to it. Yeah. Alright, Well,
Speaker 1: with that, we're going to call it a wrap on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all
Speaker 1: of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com
Speaker 1: on Twitter, He's at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: you See you next time.