#366 Packers Unscripted: Once and future matchup

of the Vikings game. As far as what happened in Minneapolis, we saw two offensive lineman David Batry Lane Taylor both leave with injuries. Safety Kenroll Bryce, who has been in and out of the lineup all season long dealing with one thing or another, but he left the game with a couple of concerns. Trevor Davis his hamstring, which had been the problem in reason he was on I R at the beginning of the season, that flared up on

him again. And I'm trying to think if I'm forgetting somebody else from Davis, M Taylor and Box tr think that that might be it from the from the actual game, No real definitive upgradads, that's right, st Brown. He left the game, but then came back in as well, a forearm type of injury for him. Um. But with regards to David box Tr, Mike McCarthy said, he's dealing with

a couple of things. Didn't get all that specific there, but Packers dealing with some shuffling on the offensive line up front, and quite frankly, the way things went on Sunday night, it seemed the Minnesota Vikings took advantage of kind of the shuffling, the uncertainty, and maybe some cold guys coming in off the bench. Yeah, it's a tough spot to be in, and I have I just have a ton of respect for box Tr and Brian Bulog the fact that they've been able to start every game

this year. Polaga especially coming off of the ACE the l injury, and then he's dealt with his knicks and bruises throughout the course of this season. Bactr has been on the injury report already the last few weeks, goes out of the game with what was listed as a knee injury, comes back for one series and then leaves again. Um. Yeah, so that's where you had. Jason Spriggs came in at left tackle. Justin McCrae who's been down the last couple

of weeks, probably over a month now. Well, he was over at right guard for a second when Byron Bell's shoe came off, and then on that one of those plays, Lane Taylor gets hurt with the quad injury and he has to move over the left guard. For my money, and I know you dissect the film a little bit better than I do. I actually thought McCrae looked, okay, look look fine coming back in. But I think one of the issues was the Vikings end up throwing a

multitude of stunts at them down the stretch. You're you don't really have that camaraderie that you probably usually have between two of those offensive linemen, the inside guys, so they were able to get home a couple of times, whatever the case may be. I mean, I thought it was no accident that as soon as both the left guard and the left tackle for the Packers, the starters were out of the game that suddenly we see the stunt from the Vikings on that side and they get

a third down sack. I mean, you know it's it's it's smart on the Vikings part, you know, and this is a a defensive front, a pass rush that gets a lot done against the best players in the league. And then they pulled something out of their back pocket when the backups came in the game, and they took advantage of it and really just prevented that Minnesota pass rushes what prevented the Packers from regaining any kind of

momentum in the second half. Yeah, and it's just that they had a perfect marriage there between their pressure packages, what they were trying to do in that regard, and then what their coverage units were able to do, not being able to, uh, you know, give up holes. You know, I think a lot of times, you know, Aaron Rodgers, we get these things about well, you know, he holds onto the ball too long. I don't know if that

wasn't necessarily the case. In the second half. It was trying to find the open receiver, and with Xavier Rhodes up until his injury, shadowing Davante Adams and then throwing him extra attention. It's on the us the guys to be able to find some openings in The Packers just weren't able to consistently enough to do it. Um. But yeah, the injury wise, you look at the box tr and Bolaga. I think both of those guys working through what they've worked through the course of the season. We'll have to

see where things are with Lane Taylor. Certainly, you have Jason Spriggs and Justin McCrae have played. You know, mccra's played every position on the offensive line, so there's there's depth there. Bolaga felt strongly about that depth. If they need to go that road or however this shakes out. Defensively, though, I think it's going to be an interesting thing seeing where they stand. Kentroll Bryce tried to play through the ankle injury. He actually ends up coming back into the

game and then took a big hit. Took a big hit. I don't know if it was ever made clear whether or not he was diagnosed with a concussion. Yeah, he was being evaluated, but we didn't hear any anything definitive one way or the other. We'll find out on the practice field Wednesday if he's out there able to practice, or how he's listed on the injury report. But that the domino effect with that secondary, just with that one guy going out twice. You know, you saw Ebra Campbell

had to come in and play deep safety. Traumont Williams was rotating everywhere depending on what package they were in. That Yeah, and we were talking going into the game. You know, both Bashad Brelan Kevin King were guys who were listening as questionable. They were holding out some hope that they might be able to play, but then they couldn't. Will see what the status is with those two going forward.

Obviously it would be big for the secondary to get them back, but there are already a lot of moving parts in the secondary and then those kinds of those kinds of things happen, and you know, let's face it, West, we're seeing some of the impact of that. And I don't mean to pick on Tremont Williams here because he's one of the most respected guys that I've ever covered.

I hold him in very high esteem. But this is a guy who's been bouncing back and forth between corner and safety and then he ends up going back to return punts again for Trevor Davis. When Trevor Davis goes out and what do we see, Well, on one play on kind of a pick play, uh in coverage, he gets his feet tangled up and falls down and it's a third yard touchdown. An easy throw and catch to Stefon Diggs and then after not doing the punt, returns

for a couple of games or whatever it is. He goes back there and he makes a mistake in the fourth quarter, you know, misjudges, a ball doesn't get out of the way, ends up being a turnover for the Packers. So um, And like I said, I don't mean to pick on Tremont Williams, but these are the things that can happen when you're you're constantly shuffling within a particular game with regards to injuries, just because practice, reps and

everything else are are limited in certain spots. And unfortunately, I mean, it's the name of the game. Nobody's gonna send the Packers any sympathy cards. It's how the NFL game is. Every team has to work through it at one time or another. But some games it just affects you more than others. Yeah, and I I you know, you look at Tremont Williams. I have, as you mentioned, a lot of respect for him and he and he's

earned his money this year. I mean when you look at what they needed from him coming in as a leader, but also on the field, they the reason Trumon Williams came back. Honestly, let's think about it. Is versatility and durability, the ability thing, right, we talk about that. Trumon Williams gives you that, but there is something about, Okay, well, you're gonna play safety on this play. I mean, this is a key communicator position. Now you're gonna go down

to the slot. You're gonna go back to safety, back to the slot, depending on what the coverage call is. Now, Truman Williams eleven twelve years in the league, He's smart enough to be able to do that. But let's make no mistake, Mike, there's a reason why you and I constantly everybody has constantly been praising what the Packers were able to do defensively when Kevin King was up, when JayR Alexander was up, and when you had Tremon there in a little bit more security at safety. Is because

it allowed guys to get comfortable at their spots. Um this game, nobody really was able to do that. Even Alexander to some regard with traveling with theelan had to play multiple multiple positions. So, um, yeah, the big thing, I'm not saying it's as easy as okay, Kevin King comes back and this defense is rare and to go.

But I mean, it's such a big loss not having him, because that's just that is if you have always talking about you know, multiple starters, right, isn't just eleven guys, But if you put King in the lineup, that's a boundary corner position that you don't have to think about the rest of the day. He just plays there. That's his role and he's going to fulfill that job. When you don't have him, the different guys you have to cycle through there to make up for it. It's it's

a big stress point. Well, and when you look at the way things have fallen with with Truman Williams playing safety and doing a pretty good job back there, if you're missing King and Breland, I mean, let's be honest, that's two of your top three cornerbacks. When you have Williams at safety, that's that that's tough to handle, especially with a receiving corps that has Adam Theeland, Stefon Diggs

and Kyle Rudolph at tight end. You can't double cover everybody, Yeah, exactly, And and you know the maddening part two is that for my money, maybe you feel differently. I mean, I thought Brelan was actually starting to finally look comfortable and absolutely, yeah, absolutely he was. He was, he was. It looked like he was settling into this defense after being a late arrival and then dealing with the hamstring. Now is the thing this game against the Cardinals, and we'll preview it

and Wednesday's show. It's not going to be the same threats vertically. Uh, you know, Larry Fitzgerald still is a guy you have to keep into mind, but I mean he's not Larry Fitzgerald from two thousand eight, two thousand nine, so there aren't the perimeter weapons. But man, I'll tell you what, I don't know what the plan of attack is. I don't know how close those guys are back from injury. But you got Airs or Atlanta coming around the corner

with Calvin Ridley and some of their weapons. It's like, I'm not saying you have to take another week or anything like that, but this is a week where I think the Packers, you know, they can they can get healthy, they can see where things land. But there's still some big games coming up as far as vertical threats and people they're gonna have to stop yeah, no question about it. Well, a little bit of sponsored business here. West Packers fans be sure to stop in at your local Quick Trip

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For complete rules and eligibility, go to Packers dot com slash Best Seats Cousin Subs. We believe in better. I want to finish one more point. I usually don't like to jump over you. That's I don't know if this has ever happened before, and I'm very curious if this would work out this season. And we'll talk again about the Cardinals on Wednesday. But the Cardinals are dead last. I didn't realize it until this very moment when I broughtup their stats. They're dead last in points, total yards,

passing yards, and rushing yards all four categories. I wonder if the team's ever accomplished that. Yeah, that's that's a lot. Yeah. So anyway, I wasn't trying to dog on the Cardinals, but I'm just saying it's not the same kind of threat that you dealt with with the Vikings and Rudolph

and the multitude options. Yeah. Well, I want to get back to something you brought up, which was Alexander traveling with theland, which is another way of saying matched up against a guy basically, you know, he's your assignment for the entire game. There are different ways to is it. But interesting in the fact that I think this is the type of cover cover guy versus receiver matchup that we might be seeing in the NFC North for quite

some time. This This this might have been, uh, this might have been the first this season is kind of the first of what could be many of these two guys going head to head a lot. It reminds me a lot of Xavier Rhads and Davante Adams on the other side of the ball. I think that that's a matchup for the foreseeable future. Those guys are gonna be

seeing a lot of each other. Um, We've seen it in in the past, Peanut Tilman, some of the matchups he's had against receivers, and and certainly the relationship he had with Aaron Rodgers. This has the makings of that. The exciting thing about Gyr Alexander, Um, you can talk about the confidence, you can talk about the natural ability and

all the things that go along with that. But for Joe Jr. Jason Simmons, and Mike Petton to all sit down and make the decision, and I understand there's been some injuries there, but make the decision that a twenty one year old man is ready for that spot. He was ready to go up against the Pro Bowl receiver down in and down out. Now, they did some different things, particularly in the second half. It wasn't just always him,

just one on one man to man. Yeah, the second half the Packers went to a lot of zone coverages with what they were dealing with in in the back end, and and that's when theland really did the bulk of his damage I thought was in the second half. But you know, and and afterwards Alexander said he in his opinion, there were three three passes he caught on him. He didn't have any touchdowns against him against Thelan. The thing that is the most interesting to me is, Okay, the

result is what it is. You lost the game, the Vikings rallied in the second half. This is that you move on. But the knowledge in an ability to get that kind of matchup, to play the amount of snaps that he played in that game, that is going to be so big for Alexander down the stretch and in really going forward in his career. He said, you know, Theelan showed him some vet moves. He showed him what the high level Swiss Army knife type receivers can do

in this league. Is the guy can run the road tree,

he can line up anywhere on the line of scrimmage. Well, the movie, the movie made on that short crossing route at the end of the first half when there was all kinds of space, I mean, that's that's one on one and it's a crossing round and you you could see Theeland was almost putting on the brakes before he caught the ball, like he knew exactly what he was gonna do, and with that much space around him and no defensive help, I mean Alexander really didn't have much

of a chance unless he just completely guessed. You know, jayre would have had to completely guess exactly what theland was going to do and be right. Or because if if thee if he actually guesses he's gonna cut back and he's wrong, feeling's going down the sideline where there's even less help coming in to to try to cut him off. So, um, that was that was That was a great that That was a great play by theelan and and just one of those one on one things

in the open field. Speed and timing and everything that has to be processed in a millisecond is remarkable with that position. And when you take on someone like that that is a shifty and able to switch on a dimons, theling is it's a matchup. But like I said, I think Alexander, those are the kind of reps that are really going to help him going forward if he can stay healthy. Man, that kid has a real shot to be something special in this league. Um, and you've seen

it from day one. It's not easy, Mike, You've seen it. You've covered this league for a long time. For a rookie to come in, I don't care if you're a first round draft pick. I don't care if you're picked in the first twenty picks. To be able to have that confidence, in that ability to have a short memory on things and play down after down at that level, at that young of age, that's um, that's gonna take

you a long way. It was interesting early in the ballgame, and you had mentioned the play yesterday and Larry McCarn breaks it down on one of his Rock reports on the website as well. It was almost as though, really early in the game Alex Alexander sent a message to Theeling like this is what you're going to be in for today with that that bubble screen to Digs and he kind of blew up theeling, you know, shoved him into Digs and then chase down STUFFI digs for the

tackle for loss. But uh and and you could you could see and the open field play at the end of the second quarter we were just talking about there was there was a pride factor there with Adam Theland.

Not to say that he needed to be woken up or anything in a big game like this, but you could see the rest of the game there was a pride factor with Adam Theland after what happened in the first quarter early in that game, and then in the fourth quarter when um, I believe it was fourth quarter, second half anyway, when Theland does get the touchdown, he took a pretty big shot from Kyler Facral right at the goal line there as he as he plowed into the end zone and he popped right back up and

was ready to celebrate. I mean to me, anyway, that was a guy who was remembering what happened to him in the first quarter and didn't like that that was on film for everybody to see, so to speak, and credit at Adam Feland. This guy, this guy, he's come from obviously the humble beginnings we've we've talked about that in the past. This is this is an elite receiver in the NFL. This guy is big time. Yeah, totally, and the way what he's made himself into coming out

of Minnesota State Mankato has been really impressive. It was funny though. I did ask Alexander about that play in the locker room afterwards, and he actually said it had less to do with feeling than it did digs Uh. He said. Stefan Diggs was talking quite a bit early on in that game and he was through. Theeeling was the object he had to get through to get to him. But I think a lot of that fire was actually stirred by Diggs and the fact that Alexander was able

to push him back and then finish that play. Uh, that was a big he felt like that was a big feather in his cap um. But yeah, those two guys together what they've developed, and and a lot of credit to to Rick Spielman to be able to find you know, Digs in the later rounds. What was Diggs I want to say, a fifth round pick or something. He was fifth round out of Maryland. Yeah, And and to be able to get him and then be able to have confidence in you're in state schools and give

a guy a shot. I mean that's the reason why the Packers bringing Jake Kum out right. I Mean, you get these guys in the state system that sometimes you get a little bit more familiarity with that other teams aren't paying attention to and to give him a shot. Uh. And and they've certainly it's worked out for him. And that's gonna be two PIP players and Packers are gonna

be seen for a long time. Yeah, when you don't have to invest a first or second round draft pick in the wide receiver position, and you have a pair like that that are still young and and you know, on the rise as as they are, that's uh, you know, as our friend Pete Doherty likes to say, that's like

found money in the NFL. When when you either an undrafted guy or a guy who's drafted on the third day becomes a frontline Pro Bowl level player like that, that's uh that that's a tremendous asset to building an

NFL roster. That's why I've I've continually constantly maintained that two thousand thirteen draft for Ted Thompson doesn't get nearly enough credit because if you go back and look at that, Mike, there were two players that were taken on the third day of the draft, non fullbacks, that turned into Pro

Bowl players. Packers got both of them in Micah Hyde into in David bo in addition to J. C. Treader, who ended up becoming a starting center for the Cleveland Browns, finding box tr in the fourth round of that draft. Consider how many first round misses there were on the offensive line in that draft, how just how many first round misses that left tackle There are almost every year in the draft, and the Packers got a franchise one

in the fourth round. That's been a big factor in the Packers building their offensive line the way they have over the years. If you read draft that that draft, I mean, that's a hypothetical, but David botr Is probably a top five pick, might be top three, uh, you know, behind maybe Levan Bell and somebody else. But I mean, it's that's how you do it. And in credits to the Vikings, that's that's what they've done and they're right

in the thick of this thing. Yeah. Well, hopefully we'll find out as the week goes along what the status is with Box some of these other injured players for the Packers getting ready for Arizona. But with that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script. 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.