#326 Packers Unscripted: Redskins rundown

time kickoff. So let's break down that NFC East Washington team a little bit, and it starts with their brand new quarterback Alex Smith. The Redskins obviously moved on from Kirk Cousins. He became a free agent signed with the Minnesota Vikings, and Alex Smith coming over from the Kansas

City Chiefs to now run Washington's office. Well, it's just funny, Mike, and it just shows you the levels to this thing in terms of the NFL, where you have a team like Washington, which for so many years could not really come to an agreement. I didn't really know what they want to do at quarterback, if Kirk Cousins was their

guy or not. Well, Cousins ends up becoming an unrestricted free agent and then becomes at that time like getting the highest paid you know free and franchise tagged him twice. Ye right, Yeah, so it was it was kind of weird the way that that situation played out, be that, as it may, you have him go over to the Minnesota Vikings and then you have the we have Watchington trade for Alex Smith and then give him the extension

that they never gave to to Kirk Cousins. So certainly they feel like Smith is a guy that that can lead them to where they want to go. And and you know, he's been doing this thing for a long time. You kind of know the game with him. He's going to protect the football. There's not always gonna be those

explosive plays, but he's going to be consistent. And Packers have had a lot of wars with Alex Smith over the years, jading back to his time with San Francisco and even with Kansas City, and this is another chapter and that that rivalry. Yeah, when there's uh, the descriptions that come to mind for me with regards to Alex Smith, I always think of efficiency and minimal mistakes. He said,

he doesn't really turn the ball over. You look at his statistics, he's always around completions or at least high sixties, as you said, not a whole lot of explosive plays, though he started to make a few more of those with those weapons in Kansas City last year, some of the speed that they had on the perimeter. But with Alex Smith, now will this be the this will be the third different opponent that as far as Aaron Rodgers versus Alex Smith, and they're they're always going to be tied.

Because of that two thousand five draft, Smith goes number one overall and then Aaron Rodgers waits forever in the green room. Well, now Rogers has faced him, you know, San Francisco, Kansas City. Now it will be Washington. So just another little side story to that. But when it comes to his weapons here in this Jay Gruden offense in Washington. For me, anyway, it starts with that tight end Jordan Reid. I think he is going to be the toughest matchup for really any defense that faces Washington

this year. He's big, he's athletic, he can take it down the seam, he can break tackles, get yards after the catch, all those kinds of things. I think he's the guy that that they want to run this passing offense through once kind of everybody gets settled into what they're doing. Yeah, I think Jordan Read certainly is a premier tight end in this league. I think Chris Thompson has shown two out of the backfield being a multidimensional player that you kind of need in this day and

age with the game. But but Reid is the guy I think that sort of jumps off the page to you. Now, he hasn't gotten off to this super crazy start, but I mean he has been a guy that appears to have developed in early chemistry with Alex Smith. The transition Smith's gonna have to make, and he did it to some extent when he was in San Francisco. Is He's not. It doesn't appear at least, and there's no disrespect Washington

doesn't appear. He's going to have the weapons that he had in Kansas City the past few years in terms of the speed element in the explosiveness out of the backfield, going back to Jamal Charles and then transitioning last year to to obviously the the season that they had there

in the running games. So it's gonna be different. There are some older weapons in this I mean Jamison Crowder is a guy that's been there for a number of years now, Josh Dockson, and then them having all of these you know, you saw this week Michael Floyd gets signed, uh, and then Brichard Breland ends up getting signed as well.

It's gonna be interesting to see where all these pieces fit for them now because you're adding veterans, and you're adding them late in the process, imagine you're not going to see much of them uh going for and I said Shard, Uh, a lot of Bischard's going on. But but whatever the case may be, sure there's a lot of different people that that Alex Smith is gonna have to get comfortable with. Yeah, they're trying to figure out exactly what they're receiving. Cores is is going to be.

They spent some big money on Paul Richardson, a free agent from Seattle, and then you mentioned docks and a former first round draft pick who really hasn't lived up to the expectations. They're still experiencing drop passes in lack of consistency and all that. He's he's a you know, a long limb guy. He's got the speed, all the all the physical you know, the measurable stuff is there, but it just hasn't come together for him yet. So

they're still waiting on on docks. And you mentioned Chris Thompson. Always seems like the Redskins have one of these sort of I don't I don't like to overuse hybrid player, but one of these uh offensive, yeah, offensive gadget type of players. And and that's no disrespect to Thompson. It's just he's one of these guys that can kind of line up anywhere in an offensive formation and you have to figure out how you're gonna match up with him. Yeah,

I mean, and Thompson, that's his that's his trade. It's not even disrespectful that that that's what he brings to the table. That's what he offers. I mean, he's five ft eight pounds. He's never carried the ball more than seventy times in a season, but yet you look the last few years. Five ten receiving yards this year almost has doubled the other receivers on this team in terms of the amount of opportunities he's had as a pass catcher.

So he's the guy you're gonna have to account for and then on the other side of it, there Bell cow back here. The first two weeks has been Adrian Peterson. The history with the Green Bay Packers is well defined. Peterson's different player at this stage of his career, but he's still hungry man and and although things were kind of up and down last year with Arizona, he still had that one game where he can carry the ball, what thirty seven times or something like that and was

able to still be effective. So at this stage of his career, I don't know if he's still the same type of player he was when the Packers were having to go toe to toe with him two times a year, but he's still a guy that you can't overlook. Yeah, Peterson already kind of being up and down, much like

this entire Washington team through the first two weeks. Looked very impressive in week one in Week one against Arizona, and what we saw of Arizona in Week two, it makes you wonder just where they're headed in then Washington, they have their home opener against the Indianapolis Colts reports where they were like twenty thousand empty seats, the fans not coming out to support the team, they only scored

nine points offensively. They lose to the Andrew Luck led Indianapolis Colts to nine and I believe was the final score. Peterson has a really nice game rushing the ball against the Cardinals, but then it was something around ten carries for twenty yards against the Colts. So really hard to figure out. You know, they're they're still trying to to find their way here with their new quarterback and what

they're doing offensively. The one thing that this is a good situation for him, at least it appears to be, because you know, I don't know what their plans are for how they're going to attack this backfield going forward. But you saw last year how effective he was in Spurts in Arizona in contrast to how New Orleans was using him. I mean, he's not He's just not a part time player. He's a guy that you have to

build up. You have to give him those touches. Uh. And it looks like by all accounts right now, Washington's gonna give them that opportunity. All right. Well, before we get to Washington's defense, a little sponsor business here west at home or here in the stands. We all know that Green Bay fans give it their all and that takes a lot of energy. So grab a warm bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup. It's meaty goodness fuels the greatness

of Packers fans everywhere. Try the delicious classic chicken noodle soup. Just visit your local supermarket and ask for Campbell's Chunky Soup, Official soup partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, defensive side, the name that jumps out to me when I look at Washington's defense is Josh Norman as that number one cornerback. Now, we saw a pretty good matchup last week, Xavier Rhodes against Davante Adams. They were matched up, I would say the vast majority of the game. I didn't necessarily track

or chart every single snap. I thought Adams did a heck of a job. I know a pass or two he'd like to have back in terms of, you know, some passes that I'm sure he felt he should have or could have caught um. But Adams won his share against Xavier Rhodes, and so this matchup, I would imagine Josh Norman is going to be the guy on Davante Adams. I think Adams is off to a decent start because he's going to see these number one corners from the

opponent pretty much all season long, don't he thing? Yeah, And I mean the thing about Josh Norman is he's just in this no disrespect to the rest of the secondary there for watching, but he's head and shoulders their stud and he's a guy that you know, without knowing exactly how they do it. You go back to his time in Carolina, He's a shutdown corner. He's a guy that can travel with guys, can try to shut down the top guy and you know, reduce that that threat.

The nice thing about Adams though, is he's a legitimate number one at this point. You can put him up against any corner of the league and he's gonna get his separation. He's gonna get his opportunities, as you just illustrated. I think we saw that to some extent against Minnesota, despite the fact he was playing through that shoulder injury. But but yeah, from there, I mean, you have Quentin

Dunbar's the other one. He was a former college free agent DJ Swerringer who actually took a visit I think with the Packers. I want to say in two thousand, fourteen or fifteen. He's kind of resurrected his career as a safety, uh in Washington the past few seasons. Has made some plays this year. I think he hasn't want to say, ten interceptions over the last three years. So

they do have playmakers back there. But but certainly everything starts and stops with the coverage aspect of Josh Hi And they paid him a lot of money to be their number one and he's he's lived up to that so far. Yeah, as far as Washington's defensive front, not a lot of household names, I guess you would say, if there's one guy that stands out from a name perspective, it's pass rusher Ryan Carragan. But a group that is

pretty solid. This is this isn't a defensive front seven that's uh, that's a bunch of pushovers by any means. They they do a solid job against the run, They get after quarterbacks pretty well. Again, it's it's not a whole bunch of Pro bowlers. And you know, the Packers are certainly faced their share of tough defront defensive fronts so far with the Bears and the Vikings. But but

this Washington group is Uh, you know, they're not too bad. Yeah, and Karagan was answering some questions with Washington's media this week about, you know, just kind of being off to a slow start. He has one assisted tackle i think in two games and in no sacks. So but yeah, he's been so consistent over the course of his career. I mean, he's pretty much always good for seven or eight sacks this season. They've featured him in this defense

now for the last six seven years. He's been their number one guy, regardless of who the defensive coordinator is or what the scheme is. So um, you have to imagine that that's a guy they're still gonna have to you know, taking an account and in nullify and then uh, Parnel McPhee or pount whatever his name is from wah Chicago has also landed there as well, also off to kind of a slow start, but a guy that at times in his career has been in a really effective

pass rusher. For me, one of my favorite guys in their defense is Mason Foster. Um, you know, and he's another guy too much like Swearinger h and also coming from Tampa Bay, was really able to sort of resurrect himself and was a guy that I think a couple of years ago at a hundred and twenties some tackles in this defense. He's a downhill type guy. I mean, he's the first and second down type, you know, tackler.

But I think what he's done in Washington's defense the last three seasons, um, you have to you have to respect it because he's he's a dude that is a hard nosed football player. And then you also Pyerraim inside with Zach Brown, those are those are two guys you have to take into account against the run. Yeah, well, what do you make overall of this Washington team? West? I know it's only two weeks in, but it seems it seems the narrative in the Jay Gruden regime there

in Washington has always been a lack of consistency. And and it was the same thing with Kirk Cousins at quarterback. They could light the world on fire and look like they're gonna contend for the NFC's championship with Cowboys and the Eagles and the Giants and all that, and then the very next week, you know, they kind of fall flat on their face. And then everybody says well it's not going to be this year, and these first two games of the ten season, it's like the narrative hasn't changed. Yeah,

and it's probably gonna be. I don't want to say it's a make or break season for Gruden. I actually give the Washington credit for the patients they've had. They've tend to be quite reactionary with how they've done things, just a dad, But I mean, honestly think about it. I mean, outside of what Joe Gibbs coming back, there really hasn't been much patience there with coaches. They've given Gruden that benefit of the doubt, but at some point too,

you do want to see the consistency rise. You want to see you know, things kind of you know pan out. But the one thing they have going for them now is one way or another, they know who their quarterback is. There isn't this year to year question mark of whether or not it's going to be Kirk Cousins. You know you're gonna have Alex Smith. He's still at a relatively young age for the position, considering how he plays it in and really how long these guys are playing into

their careers. So from that aspect, I think you have something to build around. But it is gonna be a question of defensively they can really get the group together that they need to be able to compliment Smith because every every spot Smith has been as consistent as he is, he's needed a defensive compliment him for the short time he was with San Francisco when they started to become real contenders. He had that with Vic Fangio's group from Kansas City. You started to get that with Justin Houston

and company. So it's gonna be on Washington defensively as well to be able to rise on the occasion and give him the support he needs to to really be the type of team that could consistently compete for a playoff spot. Yeah. Well, the Packers in the Aaron Rodgers era kind of a mixed bag, I guess. As far as going to FedEx Field, I remember being at the

game in two thousand and end. Mason Crosby had a chance to win the game in regulation with a long field goal fifty three yards maybe it was, and ends up hitting the upright, you know, clank out the top of the upright. I mean the kick would have been good from sixty five yards. He hit it so well, but just nick the top of the upright and was

no good there. Then you go. You fast forward to two thousand and fifteen, the Packers end up going there as a road team in the wild card playoffs, fall behind the leven to nothing, and the FedEx Field crowd is really into it. They're thinking, okay, here, you know, here come the Redskins. And then the Packers outscoring thirty five to seven. The rest of the way, Aaron Rodgers puts on a show and the Packers defense clamps down.

That was when J. C. Treader was playing left tackle, if I remember right, because box tr wasn't back from an ankle injury. Then the following year, sixteen, the Packers go to Washington for Sunday Night football, back and forth game through three quarters and then suddenly in the fourth quarter, Cousins and the big plays just kind of smoked. Green Bay pulled a way at the end, and uh, that ended up being, if I'm not mistaken, the last loss, and that was the Packers until the NFC Championship game

against Atlanta. So a lot of history here in terms of in terms of how the Packers have played there, but a lot of ups and downs run the table officially started that Wednesday after that Washington game, but but I eat in a lot of ways, I think it actually began in the second half because that's where you saw Jared Cook finally emerge. I still remember writing that story about you know, okay, this could be really big for the offensive. They keep Cook cohing like this. It

was finally healthy. There just wasn't. They lost that game, but there was just a different swagger and uh, and certainly go back to the playoffs too, and in that win that they had, Uh, these past whatever was a couple of seasons ago, those are the type of to go back to original point with the mixed bag. Yes, there has been that, but it's also been at times I feel like they've also gotten something out of it

to propel them forward. And you know, coming off the tie this week, I think they're looking for the same kind of uptick. Uh, you know, going into the latter half of September. All right, well, we are halfway through the We can We've got more to talk about with this matchup on our upcoming shows, but for now we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscript. To be sure to follow all of our

coverage of the team on packers dot com. On Twitter, He's at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.