#337 Packers Unscripted: Ongoing adjustments

lambeau Field West. Another day closer to Packers Lions Sunday afternoon, Ford Field in Detroit, and as the Packers get into the bulk of their on field practice preparation for this game, worth going over the injury report here as we sit in week five, because while Randall Cobb and Geronimo Alison with a hamstring and concussion, respectively, are not back on the practice field for the Packers at the cornerback position, Kevin King and Jaire Alexander, both dealing with coroyin and

reas were on the practice field and that's a potentially good sign for this past defense heading into a game against Matthew Stafford. Absolutely, and those three receivers that the Lions have, certainly the Packers are well acquainted with. Marvin Jones Jr. Has had a fair amount of success over

them the last few seasons. Golden Tate is a type of player possession receiver you always have to take into account regardless of where he's lining up much like a Randall Cobb type, you know, impact player for their offense. And then also Kenny Gallabay, who's who was their third round pick last year, has made an impact. So yeah, that's of the passing yards so far for the Lions this season, those three receivers. So Packers want to be at full strength at cornerback. We'll have to see all

the rest of the week plays out here. But the fact that Kevin King was back in a full capacity on Wednesday, it was kind of funny because that the actual injuryport gets released later in the day, but he was standing at his locker after practice talking about it and was basically asked, Hey, if you have to play at less than ercent are you able to do that with a groin injury? And he thought about it for a second, he goes, yes, I can, but I'm a

hundred so it's all good. So uh, And then as it turned out, he ended up being a full participant. So I think for Kevin King, I'm not saying there's any time in which it's good for a player not to be playing, but I think these last two weeks are really beneficial for him because certainly he's been able to rest up with the groin injury. He also was

dealing with the shoulder before that. The Packers are gonna need Kevin King to be at his full strength to be an impact player for this defense, for the Packers to get to where they want to be at the end of the season. And now him coming back a perfect opponent, three really good weapons for the Lions. They want to have that secondary at his best. Yeah, we saw when Kevin King left the game in Week two

against the Vikings. There was a bit of a domino effect for the Packers defense there against Minnesota and then in the first half against Washington. Still some adjustments and and things didn't really settle down in terms of the past defense. From the second half of the Washington game now through obviously the Buffalo game against a rookie quarterback, mind you, but the Packers seem to settle in with

their secondary and with the roles. Now you potentially have that positive domino effect of King coming back into the lineup based on extra options of how to match up and and how to use different combinations of players and

things like that. It's sort of a domino effect the other way, he is one of the type of players and I'm just projecting this to be what he's going to be in this league, I think, to me, looking at his intangibles and looking at what he's put on film in his first ten and a half eleven games of his career, Kevin King just seems like the kind of guy that you plug in at boundary cornerback and you just don't think about it. He solves that puzzle

for you. He's a a guy that's going to be able to travel with top receivers if you need him to do that. If you want to have him play one side, he can do that as well. But he has the versatility, the flexibility, and the overall talent to be able to match up with the Stefon Diggs of the world, as we saw last year with you know, Julio Jones and A. J. Green does Bryant. He doesn't

step away from those challenges. But the nice effect of that as well is that R Alexander stepped up and I thought played really well in his absence here the last two weeks and him being able to get back on the practice field after leaving with the groin injury. There's just a lot of different pieces for this secondary and certainly they did lose Devon House. But then you go inside Bashad Brelan, you have Tremon Williams playing how he's playing right now as a boundary corner in this

league at age thirty five. Josh Jackson stepped up, and I just think you look at the versatility of guys like Jermaine Whitehead and Josh Jones. As the season wears on, you're gonna need to tap into that depth. The Packers did it the last couple of weeks. But if you have Kevin King healthy, available and ready to go, it doesn't get any better than that. This is a really good test for him now, you know, hopefully being able to get back on the field Sunday and seeing what

he can do against those threats in Ford Field. Yeah, I think it makes the Packers entire defense that much more versatile in terms of what Mike Petton can choose to do in different situations when you have a corner with the just the physical attributes and the skill set of the king out there on a regular basis, Right, and how soon we forget I mean that game against the Bears, the Packers ran seven defensive backs a lot.

They played six defensive backs in a base defense, so it's nice to have that ace upper sleeve again after last week where they basically had to finish the game and Nickel just because of kind of the attrition at that position. All right, well, I've got to catch up on a little sponsor business here west because I neglected my duty on yesterday's show. So 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 sup partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, getting back to the injuries at the wide receiver position, Randall Cobb, Geronim Wilson not in practice. Davante Adams pops up on the injury report with a calf injury limited participant in practice. We'll

have to see how the wheak goes on. If this is, you know, anything to be concerned about as far as Sunday's availability. I don't want to speculate necessarily one way or the other with that, but regardless, it certainly looks like the Packers have a couple of options here in terms of how to compensate for some things in the

passing game. Either you go in with a lot more you know, two tight end maybe even three tight end packages and work those tight ends even more into the passing game, or you turn over a lot of snaps to the rookie wide receivers. Valdez Scantling obviously played a lot against Buffalo. We talked about the positives and negatives of his kind of first real big game on an NFL stage. And then you've also got Jamon Moore and eq St Brown who were certainly itching for their opportunity

as well. You have any sense at all of how the Packers, may you know, go into this from a

planning perspective, I really don't like. But the thing I like about it, and we talked about this, I don't know if you recall I think even in training camp about with the two tight end looks and even in to some extent the three tight end looks at they're able to be use they can be so multiple, especially if you're using a guy like Time Montgomery who's a pseudo receiver, pseudo running back that could play a multitude of different roles for you. It's able to keep a

defense on its heels a little bit. Meet Personally, I still wonder if the regardless of who's available, regardless of Allison passed at the concussion protocol like Nick Perry did last week where we didn't actually miss a game, or Cobs able to get back on the field at some point in Davante Adams, this is just a blimp on

the radar and he's fine. Maybe you do have you know, most or if not all, those guys available, But either way, I think the game plan for this has to be running back heavy base, specifically alone on just the production that the lines have been giving up in the run game this year. They go into this game thirty second in the league. Last week, Ezekiel Elliott ends up having a hundred and fifty rushing yards against them in that victory. I think this has to be an Aaron Jones type game.

It has to be a Jamal Williams and in Time Montgomery type games. So I think, if nothing else, what these injuries are doing in this specific encounter, Is it maybe will allow the Packers open up the playbook a little bit more. Maybe we see more Marcedes Lewis, Maybe we see more of those two tight end looks that we saw throughout the preseason. It was probably their base package throughout the preseason. They have depth at tight end and running back to turn to depending on what they

want to do with those receivers. Yeah, and as we talked about earlier in the week too, I'm curious to see just because we haven't seen Marcedes Lewis involved that much in the passing game yet for the Packers, if if that's something that maybe gets unveiled here out of necessity based on your your options at wide receiver. I totally agree with you on the running game situation that you just have to look at the statistics. The Lions are struggling to stop the run. As we've talked about,

they've changed a lot of things on defense. The front four that was so much the foundation of their defense in previous years with the and Dominican Susan Nick Fairley's and Kyle Vanenbosch's that's not how this defense is built anymore. Darius Slay is their playmaker at cornerback. They have Glover Quinn at safety. Um, you know guys like that. The defense is just built differently and they're struggling right now to stop the run. So you have to take advantage

of that. That being said, you know, if these rookie wide receivers get an opportunity, they have to cash in, right. I mean this is even if if they if if it's Jamon Moore or MVS they get one ball thrown their way in Detroit, make the play because with Aaron Rodgers, that's going to go a long way. I mean, that's how Geronimo Alison did, right. I mean you brought it up in your story on Rogers. He talked about at the Atlanta game. Now that's two years ago. Yeah, back

Cobb ended up being a scratch. I think Time Montgomery ended up being a scratch in that game. Jordy Nelson I think was I'm trying to remember if he was even available for that one. But anyway, they were down and they were depleted at receiver, so it ended up being Geronimo Allison, Jeff Janison, Trevor Day, Trevor Davis, and Alison who just came off the practice squad, ended up having the best game out of everybody, and and and

you wrote about it. We talked about it. That's what was sort of his coming out party, and told Rogers, this is a guy I can count on, this is a guy that could be a playmaker in this offense. That's a big hit for Alison to be in the concussion protocol, just because he's been so darn consistent. I know there was a couple of drop passes there, but still already had eighty receiving yards in that game against

the Bills. Well, and you just wonder if the one that he took the hit, if he makes the catch rather than drops it, does he end up not getting that type of hit and and doesn't have a concussion One of those things that you just yeah, if the drop pass doesn't happen, maybe we're not talking about a concussion protocol. But to your original point with MVS. With

Jamon Moore with a Gunemius st. Brown, if those guys do get into this game, if it's one step, if it's fifties four snaps like it was for Valdis Scantling last week, you have to make sure that you use those two the best of your ability to show Aaron Rodgers that you know what I can play in this offense and I can be your receiver. All right? Well, double duty on the sponsor business. Today, West, it's time to enter the Cousins Subs Best Seats in the House promotion.

You and a guest could win a chance to kick back on the fifty yard line in style. Two pairs of lucky Packers fans will be chosen prior to each home game for this v I P experience. Enter daily now through December sixteen by completing the entry form and submitting. For complete rules and eligibility, go to Packers dot com

slash Best Seats Cousin Subs. We believe in better. Okay, you mentioned the Detroit Lions being last in the league at defending the run over the last handful of years, they've been last or close to last in the league at running the ball on offense. That is not the case anymore. Looking up the statistics, they're actually up to twenty in the league in rushing yardage and even more impressively, seventh in the league in yards per carry. As far

as running the ball. Hey, but those are those are not rankings that the Detroit Lions are used to with running the football. They've been last in the league in rushing yards two of the last four years, and they've been in the high twenties the other two years. They've been anywhere from six to last in the league over the last four years in yards per carry. They are emphasizing the run game. They're trying to develop that complementary

running game for a quarterback like Matthew Stafford. And this is a this is a type of preparation week that's a little different for the Packers going up against the Lions because really they're in my opinion, They're rushing statistics become even more impressive when you look at the fact that they've been behind in the fourth quarter in the majority in basically three of their four games where they haven't had a chance to continue running the ball because

they because they've been behind. They racked up the big rushing yards in the win over New England. But this team is showing a determination to run the football and the Packers have to be ready for it. Yeah, and this is in ever since. I mean, you can always draw the comparisons between them at the running back position and what Cleveland has gone through at the quarterback position. They lost Barry Sanders. I think that was James Stewart that came after him had a thousand yards season. But

ever since then, it's been a carousel. They've used second round draft picks, they've used first round draft picks on the position. Well, and and they and they thought they had a future feature back in job at best, and concussions and ended his career because he was looking like a very promising prospect for them. Absolutely So now they

got Carrie on Johnson. And it's funny, Mike, because so often, you know, we talked about as recently as these last couple of days, people ask about the Packers in the running game and who are you going to feature, Well, look at what Detroit's also doing. They have Carrie on Johnson, who's you know, the spark plug is the big hitter, home run hitter. Yeah, he's he's speedy guy, he's fast. You have obviously, um, you know Blunt who has been a big power back all these years, the Hammer, the Hammer,

his last name fits his running style exactly. And then you got theoretic, who's more of the complimentary receiving type of it almost mirrors what Green Bay is doing, which almost mirrors what the NFL is doing in two thousand eighteen. It's just the way things go. But I mean, getting back to the original point, Johnson has been a revelation for this offense. He finally ended that streak of of

that skid. I guess you could say of them not having a hundred yard rusher, which at the end of the day, it's not a big deal with has went through it a number of years ago too, before Eddie Lacy got here. But it is a question you have to keep answering. It's a question the head coach and the offense has to keep addressing. It's something that takes on a life of its own in certain and to a certain extent, they ended that. So you're out of that that equation now for the next season or two.

But the thing what Johnson is is you can tell this is a guy that isn't a that isn't a fluke. He's gonna get his yards, he's gonna get his production. And as he gets more established in his offense, is they get more confidence in him. He's going to be a guy that not only the Packers, but the NFC North in general is gonna have to deal with. Yeah, well, certainly something the Packers will be prepared for on Sunday

before we go today West. Though it is Thursday, I wanted to touch on the Thursday night football matchup this week because one of the things that's happened here in the NFL this season with Fox Major Network taking over the Thursday night television package, is these matchups on Thursday nights are they aren't just like throw aways of some sort of you know, let's give so and so, you know, a primetime game that doesn't normally get one. We saw the Rams against the Vikings last week, got the Colts

against the Patriots this week. Now this is no longer Peyton Manning against Tom Brady, but it's Andrew Luck against Tom Brady and two guys who have faced each other in the postseason, including in an a f C championship game. And you have all the drama of what happened with the coaching search in the off season with Josh McDaniels and and GM Chris Ballard for the Indianapolis Colts. So are really interesting. Another interesting Thursday up matchup and one

that could have some significant implications in the FC. It's a must win game for both teams. I mean, you look at the Patriots, they're trying to get back on the positive side of five. In the Colts with Andrew Luck coming back, this is supposed to be okay, well we're back to being a contender again. Well they're sitting one in three. The other storyline that I don't think is getting talked enough about this week is the fact

that this is Andrew Luck's return against New England. That was that looked Mike, when you go back to those a f C Championship games, when you go back to where things were headed in two thousand, twelve and thirteen and fourteen, it looked like Tom Brady versus Manning was just gonna shift to Tom Brady versus Love and then he deals with the shoulder injury. They obviously go through their issues. Jacoby Brissette comes in, who has ties to New England, and things kind of get jumbled a little bit.

But as Chris Ballard said, the rivalries back on after everything that happened with Josh McDaniels. Obviously, Frank Wright coming in has a lot of familiarity. Now you know with that that New England Patriots team. It's gonna be a really fun game to watch, And to be honest with you, I I from a player perspective. I've always felt for the players. I think it's a tough turnaround for guys to make it almost you know, kind of a natural just just for them to be able to be expected

to play again on three days rest. But I'd be lying to you if I told you I wasn't watching these games. For me personally, especially with us covering games on Sundays, it's really difficult to sit down and watch NFL football, uh if you're specifically honed in on one team. So I'm always tuned in and I'll be tuned in again. I think it's a really fun matchup between two teams

that have a really interesting backstory. Yeah. Well, the rest of the Thursday nights late this year, there are a lot of interesting matchups, so we'll keep talking about them as we go along, including the Packers. I know the Seattle Seahawks are going through some tough times right now. We'll have to see where things are at a month from now, but there's a lot of history in that

stadium with the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks. You're not even just counting the NFC, the NFC Championship game, Century link with the Packers. There's there's a story there. So again me personally, if you're gonna have Thursday night football games, make them compelling, make them watchable, and you know, let the chips fall where they may. All Right with that, We'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the

team on Packers dot com. On Twitter, you can still follow him at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers is still the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.