#346 Packers Unscripted: On the mend

Bay Packers. Um no guarantees. Obviously, players are still limited in practice based on how they're listed on the injury report, but Mike McCarthy has indicated that receivers Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison, as well as rookie cornerback ja Year Alexander

all kind of on track to play on Sunday. This would be pretty significant because when you look at what's been happening injury wise, that those two positions, the Packers haven't had their top three veteran receivers Adams, Cobb and Allison on the field together since Week three at Washington, and at the cornerback position, the Packers haven't had their top four of Williams, King, Alexander, and Jackson on the

field together since Week two against Minnesota. So in that respect, as they say, the bye week maybe came at a good time and the Packers hopefully getting getting healthy and getting their top players out there for this big game against the Ramps, and to throw one more out there at the veteran edition that they made they lost Von House for the years, they go and get Brilan and they were hoping that he might be the guy that could step in when some of those other guys are hurt.

He ends up dealing with the hamstring issue that's kept him out a couple of weeks. Now, whatever way you want to slice it, though, Mike, this is big for the Packers offense and defense. This game the way it's structured right now, so much of it's played on the boundaries, So much of it is played ten to fifteen yards down field now, and you have to be able to defend it and you have to be able to attack it.

I think the one positive for the Packers when you look strictly at the offense in the passing game is the fact that Okay, Equanimius st Brown, Marquis Valdez Scantling. Both of those guys have been thrown into the fire now and the Packers have seen how they can step through it. On the other side, they've made significant progress, There's no doubt about it. They certainly have now. When you get back to the timing what Aaron Rodgers looking for at the offense, there's a reason that Randall Cobbin

and Geronimo Allison were the two three. However you want to slice it at the beginning of the season, those guys have been with him. They know what to expect getting them back and then may be able to being able to sprinkle in those young guys is going to be what's ultimately going to help keep those defenses on their heels. As far as the secondary, though Mike we set it from the first game against the Chicago Bears the strength of this defense, one of the strengths was

going to be their options in the secondary. The depth. The depth they've been I don't want to say minimized in that regard, but it has been challenged in terms of the combinations that Joe wit Jr. And Mike pettn have had to work with. Well, if you get Jr. Alexander available. Now that you have Kevin King back in the lineup, that's optimal and I think the Packers. Whether or not it happens all this weekend, we'll have to wait and see in a couple of days, but it's

inching closer to that. Yeah, And we've seen the type of plays that these guys like Alexander and King who have been dealing with the injuries and are getting back, the type of plays they can make. We all know the interception Alexander had that was wiped out by the by the bogus penalty on Clay Matthews against Minnesota, but then he also had an interception in the end zone on that errant throw by Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.

Kevin King, this is a couple of weeks he comes back, and the play he makes on the ball in the fourth quarter, you know, the zero blitz with Mark mark Quis Goodwin trying to streak by him down the middle of the field and King finds the ball, makes the picks, sets up the game winning drive. The Packers get all for these cornerbacks back out there against an offense, obviously, with the array of weapons that the Rams have it, it can only be a good thing and and help

their chances. And when you look at wide receiver Geronimo Allison, before he went down with the concussion and the hamstring injury, he was averaging seventy plus yards per game through the first four games of this season. Randall Cobb had the hundred and forty yard game and the game winning touchdown in Week one against Chicago, had a rough game in Week three against Washington. Hasn't had an opportunity to atone for that yet. And he's a veteran player, takes a

lot of pride in what he does. You know, he's going to go get back out there for his first opportunity and want to make up for what happened the last time he took the field. So a lot of positive signs here. And I know a lot of Packers fans very you know, trepidacious so to speak about this game with the Rams being undefeated and being on the road and all that. But the Packers are putting themselves, at least healthwise, in the best position they can to try to take this one. Yeah, and the Rams, I

do like what they do defensively. You and I talked about that on yesterday show. But there are yards to be gained, there's production to be had. So I mean, when if you can get Randall cob back in there, and you get him working one two again with Jimmy Graham and being able to maybe use Graham more in the middle of the field than they've been able to

the last couple of weeks. I like that combination there, Geronimo, Alison, Mike We kind of forget about it with the concussion and with the hamstring injury, but before that, he arguably was one of the top more consistent performers on this entire roster. Those first four games of the season. You can pretty much jot him down for sixty seventy yards and four or five catches a game, which is ultimately what you're looking for out of your number three receiver.

Guy that's gonna be able to keep defenses honest and was having a pretty decent game at the time of his concussion. So to get him back it is going to be good. I go back to that secondary though

you mentioned. If the Packers can get healthy there, then you look at the other side of the ball game here for the Rams, they very well might be going into this game without Cooper Cup So if they don't have him available, Sean McVeigh mentioned he's probably doubtful for this matchup right at the time when we're taping this. That takes away one of those big three options for

them downfield. And I'm not saying you're still gonna be able to zone in on and everybody there's there's gonna be other challenges, but a full slate of weapons against an offense that's missing one of their top red zone

targets could be beneficial for Mike Petton's crew. Yeah. Well, when you talk about a guy who has been healthy, healthy as a horse, as they say in this Mike Petton defense, Kenny Clark, he's been right in the middle of it all season long, West And I tell you what you don't hear Mike McCarthy say these kinds of things very often when he's asked about players, But he was asked this week about Kenny Clark and he didn't hesitate at all. He said, Kenny Clark is a Pro

Bowl player. He's playing at a Pro Bowl level. You and I have talked about it. It's certainly they're on film. Mike McCarthy is seeing how opposing offenses are building their game plans around trying not to let Kenny Clark be as disruptive as he's been both against the run and the past. This is a key player. We talked a lot about Aaron Donald obviously and what he does on on that rams D defensive front. Take nothing away from that, but Kenny Clark might be the most important player for

this Packers defense right now the way it's playing. Yeah, I think so, Mike, And They've had a lot of great defensive linemen in here through the years. They have several of them on this roster right now, and you look at Mike Daniels, you go back to what Ryan Pickett did for a number of years against the run. B J. Rodgi his first few seasons, maybe as as impactful as any defensive tackle in the three or four

defense at that time. But what I like about Clark is I think he's probably the most balanced, the guy that could potentially hurt an offense in a multitude of ways, where there isn't one specialization with him. I think one of the reasons why I know we're talking with Clark about that this week, it's been tough to get him off the field is because he's basically just as effective as a run stuffer as he is as an interior

pass rusher. Going into the season, I think the Packers plans there was that Moe Wilkerson was gonna be handling a lot of those third down reps, being able to use him inside outside how they want to, you know, be able to flex him around well without Wilkerson, Clark, Mike Daniels, those are your pretty much your two top guys in third down defenses and Nickel in dime if they go to defensive linemen. So it stands to reason why they want him out there, and the stats do

represent that. I mean, he's played the third most amount of defensive snaps among defensive tackles this year, at least guys that play that role in their defense. And then also another stat I dug up when I was working on a story on him this week. If he stays on this pace that he's on right now, he's routinely getting six, seven, sometimes nine tackles a week. He would become the first Packers defensive linemen to go over seventy official tackles in a season since Aaron Campman in two

thousand and six. Uh. Last year, with his fifty five tackles were the most official by a defensive lineman in the three four defenses. The Packers made that move in two thousand nine. He finds ways to get to the ball, carries, he's strong, he's good at the point of attack, and he are seeing an evolution of a playmaker at only twenty three years old. Yeah, it's a tough balance here the Packers are are trying to find because, as you said,

it's tough to take him off the field. But at the same time, now that the bye week is in the rear view mirror, the Packers have ten consecutive games here without a break. You're gonna have the Thursday night game against Seattle and sort of that mini by when you get a few days off over the weekend, but basically ten straight weeks with a game to play and

UH and no significant time off there. So his his snap count is high, and yes he's young, and if there's anybody who can handle it for an entire sixteen

game season, it's probably Kenny Clark. But at the same time, the Packers do need to find a way to get him some rest and get a little bit more of a rotation and be able to rely on some of those other younger guys like Dean Lowry montrevious Adams players like that Tyler Lancaster who's now on the active roster, coming up from the practice squad, Because I just don't know if you can play Kenny Clark of the defensive snaps for an entire season. I just I think that's uh,

I think your potential asking for trouble there. Yeah. The one thing that's been really interesting, Mike, I have to imagine, and you're obviously watch these games just as much as I do. I don't know if it's like this in the league in general, but the Green Bay Packers have probably played their most base defense that I've seen during my time here since probably two thousand twelve, maybe two.

I think that's part of the equation here. You can talk about the rotation and trying to get other guys involved, but the thing is is that in a lot of first down, early down situations these first three or four games, the last three or four games, it's been Lowerie Daniels Clark, you get to the nickel and dime packages, you're going down to two. It just seems to me, and again I don't have stats to back this up. We don't have an intern running you know, Spofford stats and info

for us. But it does seem like they've had to go with more of the base look than we've probably seen the last few years when that number was dipping closer to fifteen percent of the time. I would argue it's probably closer and maybe even above thirty of the time this season, just based on how things have kind of worked out for them. So be interesting to see, Yes, in addition to trying to get a real tation going

at that position. Also as the season wears on, if we're gonna start seeing more of the run Nickel looks and and things of that nature. Yeah, Well Clark Clark may be the most important guy the Packers have in terms of trying to contain Todd Gurley and not let Gurley get going, which sets up all that play action and everything else that the Rams want to run. Yeah, and this is gonna be one of those games that

you look at him in particular. He kind of need one of those Ryan Picket games where he's gonna be taken on double teams. He needs to be disruptive, He needs to glide with the line of scrimmage and follow him outside the tackle box. It's gonna be a big challenge for him. He's going home, first time back in l A since he got drafted in two thousand and sixteen.

He's gonna have over thirty, you know, somewhere thirty thirty five people there, So there's gonna be plenty people cheering them on, and the Packers are gonna need a big performance out of the young guy. Yeah, all right, Well, a quick bit of 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 suit partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, another thing, we didn't have a chance to get to it in our earlier shows this week coming off of the bye, but this is the time of year during the regular season when the Packers coaching staff and players they take a day and engage in what's called the across the

hall meetings. This is a really interesting concept West because to try to put it in a nutshell, what it is is the Packers offensive coaches devise, essentially what would be their game plan to go against the Packers defense, and the Packers defensive coaches devise their game plan for how they would attack the Packers offense. And then they share all the information in the sense of saying, hey,

this is where we see the weaknesses. This is how individually talking to a defensive lineman or a cornerback saying this is how we would attack you, and a defensive coach then also saying to an offensive lineman or to a wide receiver, this is what we would try to do against you, because this is what we see on films. So it's a it's a collaborative thing, you know, with

within the building. And it's called across the hall because the offensive and defensive meeting rooms are literally across the hall from one another, um as far as the big group meeting rooms down in the bottles of lambeau Field. So an interesting process, and you've talked to some of the guys about you know what they get out of this, uh, in terms of their own individual development and progress in

the season. Yeah. And some of the things I focused on were with the younger players on the roster and specific some of the rookies. And one of them that I was asking about this was Orren Burkes, and he came from Vanderbilt. He said he did have some of those experiences. They did have some things where he would work with the running backs coach who was was very vocal, very communicative with them in terms of telling them what to look for and and how they would attack them.

But it it gets ramped up a notch at this level, and I think it's a good review process for guys like Burke's who, as we saw before the bye week, he's getting thrown in there more and more started playing and starting right from the beginning, and some Bay snaps, uh and and you're seeing, you know, kind of the

maturation of him as a football player. And then even these young receivers trying to go back and look at their film now that they got some Aaron Rodgers competitive first team stuff on on tape, you know, hundred fifty snaps at this point where I think a guy like Mark wisveld is scantling and seeing exactly what they can

take away from that. And one of the other comments I believe was Davante Adams was discussing this week how beneficial it is to take that step back and sort of you you kind of can fall in your own silo in terms of just focusing on what you're doing and what your responsibilities are, but outside perception is important, uh, you know, being able to uncover some of those blind spots. And I think it probably is also probably pretty beneficial

for the coaching staff as well. For the offensive coaches and defensive coaches. You know, they're they're in their own deal during the season. It's difficult to get them going and discussing other things because you're so focused on the week to week game plan that they're able to go back and get a macro view of their players. So a very interesting concept that Packers have been doing it for a number of years now, but a good way to kind of use that bye week to to keep

your you know, keep your head in the game plan. Yeah, and this is something that the Packers do actually three times a year. But Mike McCarthy emphasized this week that the bye week. This is the most important, the most valuable one they do because the other ones one is during the off season program, one is during training camp.

But when you do it now during the bye week in the regular season, you have in this particular case, six weeks of game tape of actual regular season games, the same type of stuff that opposing teams are looking at. Their looking at that film and formulating their game plans and their thoughts on how to go about attacking certain things within the scheme and with individual players. So it is something that they do multiple times a year, but

this is the most important and most valuable one. And and the fact that you are in it now, I mean, yeah, and then there is something to be said for the off season and trying to you know, kind of figure out tendencies, But that's all revisionary, you know. It's it's going back and looking at what you've done. It doesn't necessarily always mean how things are going to play out

once the next season begins. This is an opportunity. You're in the heat of battle, it's the eye of the storm of the season, a chance to really understand what's happened in what you could potentially change to make an adjustment going into the second half of the season. Yeah, and I'm not sure exactly how many years now that Mike McCarthy has been doing this, but the track record for the Packers, I believe in the last ten years it's seven two and one in the game coming out

of the bye week. So Mike McCarthy and his staff they've always used this time. They put it to good use and uh and it's translated to some good results on the field. This may be the toughest game the Packers have ever had coming out of the by facing the only undefeated team in the NFL and on the road, and you know, a two time zone trip and all of that stuff that's involved. But Packers, the plane is leaving Friday, trying to get out there, get acclimated to

not only the time zone but the weather. It's about forty degrees warmer I think in Los Angeles than it is um. You know, Sunday afternoon, it could be it could be a hot one at the Calseum. Yeah, spot's gonna be walking around Rodeo Drive. I'll have the boom box behind them with pretty women going on there. You can enjoy everything with the sunlight and the palm trees.

Uh No, but it is, and and some of the guys even talked about that, I mean, just trying to Kenny Clark mentioned, I mean when he was asked if he's still a California guys like, well, I still like the warmth, you know, getting a chance to feel that again, because if you think about it, Michael, I mean you haven't. They really haven't had a lot of warm weather games so far. Washington was sort of miserable. They were out there with the rain and everything, and they were in

a dome in Detroit. So yeah, it's gonna be a big challenge. But I think the thing that I'm most looking forward to seeing you do go back and again. I don't take away anything from the Rams. You're right, they are the best team in football right now. This the record shows it. But the Packers Mike McCarthy Aaron Rodgers have done some of their best work coming out of bye weeks. I think back to two thousand fourteen, everything was crashing down after that game against the Saints. Yeah,

the New Orleans primetime game at the super Dome. They made a huge adjustment. Clay Matthews started working inside the defense, turned it around was one of the top five top six defenses in the league. The second half of that season, the offense got going. They made a run towards an NFC Championship game on the precipice of a Super Bowl.

This is a different challenge. Every year is different, but it does show you that when you get a chance to make some adjustments and look at what's happened, it allows you to reset a little bit and try to figure out your focus for the rest of the way. All right, and with that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be should have follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot

com on Twitter. You can still find him at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.