#372 Packers Unscripted: Opportunity knocking

And um, we heard from Joe Philbin for a second time since the decision was made on Wednesday, and I think if there was one really key thing I took out of his address to the media is something that he actually reiterated from his initial chat with the media on Monday, and that is that just because you're changing coaches and maybe you're changing up a few thoughts in the game plan, it doesn't mean there are some magic plays that somebody's going to take a magic pill and

all of a sudden things are going to turn around and everything's gonna look different. It still comes down to playing the game the right way, playing it hard, executing, doing things in the crucial situations, and you're one on one matchup, whatever that is, that's what's going to turn this thing around. And that's the message that Joe Philbin

has for his football team. Yeah, Mike, and I was handling insider inbox for what would be Thursday, and one thing I wrote in there was, I I look at it no matter if you are the Patriots or the Browns. Every season starts off as a baseline. You're at an average point. The winds you start to move up, the losses you start to move down. When you're looking at just momentum. And as you get more of those wins, it pulls you higher, and as you get more of

those losses, it pulls you lower. So as as you made, you know your point there, And as Joe Wit or Joe Philbin said, excuse me, you're not gonna be able to just do something that's just gonna turn everything on its head. But the one thing I think potentially Joe Philbin coming into that head seat now does for this team is allows them to reset a little bit, allows them to potentially change not necessarily the culture, but maybe just some of the momentum, just some of the feel

around this team. I don't want to call it a superstition or anything like that, but just doing something a little bit differently to maybe just give you that type of spark. But to your original point, what Joe Philbin was saying, when you're at this point of the season, you're in week fourteen, there's four more weeks left here, You're not going to be able to just do things

completely different. You're not gonna be able to just go and change everything about the playbook or the overall scheme because you've spent the last six seven months perfecting it one way. So while they're gonna be some things they're gonna look to streamline, there's gonna be some things they're gonna be able to potentially change up, but maybe some personnel combinations, the overall scheme is going to remain the same.

It's just about being effective in a fiship within that same Yeah, another thing that I was interesting that Philbin talked about. He actually talked about it, maybe more so on Monday than he did on Wednesday, but it was in terms of on both sides of the ball, even special teams for that matter, but finding focusing in on those three or four things that I like to call him the hanger hat, on things, the things that everybody's confident in that you can run on either side of

the ball in certain situations. And you know, when you apply that to the Packers struggles on third down, which has lasted all season long, it really comes down to the fact that they never found those hang your hat on type of things that, Okay, when it's third and four, this is the concept we're gonna run. Now, nothing's gonna be a hundred percent. But the Packers never found that thing on third down in certain very manageable third down situations that they felt they could rely on for a

high probability of success. And and it's easier said than done, obviously, but Rogers I asked him about it at his locker as well, not specifically about third down, but just about Philbin's comment there, and he said, yeah, it's it's a process to find those. We're gonna be working on that this week. And he suggested that it's it's going to take a couple of weeks to, you know, to try

to find those. It was almost as though the Packers third down situation was a monster that fed on itself because they just never they never found anything they could sink their teeth into. Yeah, it's a microcosm of everything, to be sure, and and you I don't ever, I don't recall you never played Madden, right like going back

to the nineties, never busted out the PlayStation. Okay, but I will say this, and this is completely simplifying everything and dumbing it down and not making myself an NFL head coach, But if you ever played your buddy in Madden, you know that if it was third and four, there's that one play, maybe two plays in the playbook that you could run and you know you're gonna get five

yards out of it. And historically the Packers have had some of those that you know, you know, if you need to be able to move the chains the stop wrote with James Jones, like those kind of places where you could run in a hundred times, you know ninety times you're gonna be able to be able to actually

convert on it. That's what's lacked this year. Just I don't think they've had to your original point to hang your hat on type plays, the plays that you just know that if you're closing your eyes and throwing the ball out there, that you're gonna be able to complete the pass or you're gonna be able to move the pile to get the first down. That's what's haunted this team.

And it's interesting listening to dan Quinn. Dan Quinn, by the way, when it comes to conference calls with the posing head coaches, and I remember this from the past few years because the Packers have played Atlanta a lot, dan Quinn is as good as it gets on conference calls, and and just his honesty, his openness and just looking at the big picture of things. Yeah, you kind of feel like when you're talking to dan Quinn that you're you're like sitting at a ball the beverage or something.

When when he's on those conference calls, I totally get what he has a coold Miller light, I have a nice sparkling water and we're just talking ball. And but it was interesting hearing him talk about how maddening was the word that he used. You know, when you look at the sea the season that Matt Ryan has had a hundred and ten passer rating, Julio Jones receiving yards, Austin Hooper is breaking out. You have playmakers on both sides of the ball, but they haven't executed enough. Their

run offense is thirty second in the league. The defense didn't respond well enough to losing Dion Jones and Keyan O'Neill. This is the situation they find themselves in. So I think this is a big crossroads for both of these teams. Certainly, you look at Uh, you know, Quinn has already gotten the the go ahead. He's gonna be the coach of the future there uh in Atlanta. They've given him that

vote of confidence. But at the same time, both of these teams desperately need to put a win together, not only for their you know, own success, but just to change that momentum because with the Falcons coming in on a four game losing streak, the Packers making a change, only one team can win theoretically, and it's gonna be big for that team going into this final stretch of

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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 Sup Official Sup partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, one of the things that we will definitely be keeping an eye on this year as the rest of this season plays out, and certainly the Packers personnel department g M.

Brian Gouda Kunts will be watching. As we mentioned on previous shows this week is Okay, who are some of these guys who are going to be part of the future. There are gonna be a lot of personnel decisions made in the offseason here coming up, whether you're talking about free agency, whether you're talking about players to target in the draft, all that kind of stuff. And there's a lot of young players here for the Packers who have an opportunity in front of them over these final four games.

And it's not quite the same as the opportunities we talk about in August in preseason games, because yes, those are those are situations you're trying to make an impression, You're trying to make the roster, the fight for roster spots at the end of the summer, all that kind of stuff. But those preseason performance has always come with the caveat of, well, yeah, that's against second string guys and third string guys and these other guys who got cut from those teams, and so what can they really

do well this last month of the regular season. This is against full fledged NFL frontline players, and whether you're talking about fullback Danny Vitally, whether you're talking about a young defensive lineman and Tyler Lancaster, a seventh round pick from Southeast Missouri, Kendall Donnerson, who spent the first three quarters of the season on the practice squad. He's now on the active roster for the final four games of

this season. Maybe he gets a chance either as an edge rusher and or to do some things on special teams over these last four games. The personnel department is going to have their eye on these guys because you're not going to get a better evaluation of them then you will in these next four weeks. Well, and the thing I really appreciate. I wrote about this an Insider in Box talking to Tyler Lancaster on on Wednesday about you know, this is incredibly important for him. It's almost

like a second preseason. Not necessarily, you know, the winds certainly matter here, but it's a chance to ramp everything up against teams and NFL starters and and you know, next week a Bears team that's looking to you know, position itself for the playoffs. Here in the stakes don't get any higher for young players like that. The reality is, Mike, there's fifty three players on this active roster right now.

There's seventies six guys that have some type of contract though with the Packers when you factor in the practice squad and injured reserve. So the reason why a lot of these guys have gotten their opportunities has been because of injury. It's been because of how the season has played out. And you're gonna have to go back into training camp next year in jockey for that same position

once again. The thing that's tough for the Packers at this point in time you lose Kevin King, he goes on i R for the year with the hamstring injury that he was dealing with Trey Carson goes on I R. So now you're claiming, guys, you have Natrelle Jamerson coming in here, who was a safety for Wisconsin playing cornerback now with the Packers. A guy like that is coming in one to show what he can do and offer

the rest of the season. And getting back to the first player you named, Danny Vitally, this is a great opportunity for him. This is a young man that Caiman is, a sixth round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The super back coming out of Northwestern, did everything for the Wildcats and now he's trying to make his way as an NFL fullback. It looked like his place was going to be in Cleveland. Played twenty four games, started nine of them, lead them in special teams tackles last year.

While calf injury results in him going on I R. He gets cut in mid October, and here's the Green Bay Packers. The first year since maybe ever, they haven't had a fullback on the roster. They signed to the practice squad. Now he's up played in his first game last week. Tell a guy like Danny Vitally that this is not an important time for him. This is critical because there's only nine of those positions right now in the NFL, and he has one of them. He wants

to show the Packers that they had made the right move. Yeah, I'll be I'll be really curious to see just how this unfolds with the young players. And as I said, the Packers are not going to go into full preseason mode here in terms of in terms of resting the frontline players and resting starters. They're going to work in some of these younger guys to give them opportunities. But this isn't about sitting Aaron Rodgers for three quarters of the games, or or sitting Davante Adams so that he

doesn't get hurt. That's not what this is about. So it's a it's it's a balancing act. But you know, my, my, my personal opinion, four or five snaps for a guy like Danny Vitally in a December regular season nf L game is worth twenty five preseason snaps in terms of the evaluation you get because of the competition he's going. Yes, he's going against other guys who made NFL rosters. This isn't the preseason where you don't even know if those guys are ever going to make it in the NFL.

Right and look at Lancaster. Tyler Lancaster's very suddenly the Packers starting nose tackle. He started the year on the practice squad. Yeah, when they're in their base. Look now he's he's he's officially a start. He's one of the guys.

Kendall Donnerson who you talked to this week. I mean, this is a guy that was a seventh round pick for the Packers, had all the intangibles in the world you look for, but was raw and now and making kind of a position transition, being a defensive end from you know, a smaller Division one school, but at two fifty pounds, that's an outside linebacker in the NFL. Exactly. Yeah, you know, Reggie Gilbert made the same transition. Right now, Nick Perry's on I R. Clay Matthews is dealing with

an ankle injury. Kendall Donnerson's probably going to be in that rotation Sunday against the Falcons. What can he do with those what can he do with those snaps? And then getting back to original point about fatality, was talking to him about this as well. Listen, it's the NFC North, the guys from the Chicago Land area. He he knows

what December football is like. He's been a part of it his entire life, whether it was high school or at Northwestern, So he gets what this is gonna be like here and what the importance is of having a more traditional type fullback in that role in having them available in the NFC North. So he's definitely looking forward to that. And then you look across the board, as you said, it's not about guys that are gonna be sitting, but Jake Kumro is gonna get opportunities now because of

the attrition at that position. You know, you're going to get guys like Robert Tanyan that probably are gonna get more looks. You've already seen how you know, Justin mccraize suddenly finds himself back in the starting lineup again after

injuries to Lane Taylor and Byron Bell. So, yeah, the way that this season works and the way the NFL and December works for teams that maybe aren't necessarily in the front of the playoff competition, there's still a lot on the line there for the young guys in the roster trying to prove to Brian good at Constant in the front office that come January, come February, come March,

I deserve to be in this team's plans. Yeah. If there's one thing I've learned in my thirteen seasons in this chair, so to speak from you know, working for Packers dot Com and and seeing things from the inside and just being around it every day, the the competitive nature of not only these guys as individuals and as athletes, but the competitive nature of the business in general, in terms of what it takes to make a roster or even just get that opportunity to be on the practice squad,

and then not that you're hoping for anybody to get hurt, but you're on the practice squad hoping that by the end of the season you're going to get a shot on the fifty three and then from the fifty three get on the game day forty six to get a chance to get into games. This is this, This stuff is not not to be taken lightly. Now, obviously the Packers are you know, the playoffs and all the dominoes that have to fall for that is a complete pipe dream.

This is about. This is about these guys proving that they have a future in this league and they want their here right now. So you know what, they want to be here. They want to stay here, and they don't they don't want to be the guy that's you know, being discussed upstairs as to well should we move on and should we look in the draft and stuff like that.

This is serious business. Well and how many times, Mike, especially during your time covering this team, have you seen a young player, undrafted, practice squad, draft pick, it doesn't matter, in that December stretch really start to turn some heads. Kenny Clark did it last year. Dean Lowry has done it the past two decembers. Now has really come on

strong late. You've seen over the years different receivers running back, even think of like Dewan Harris in two thousand twelve, go from the practice squad and he's starting playoff games for the Packers and then went into the following year, is their quote unquote starting running back. Those type of things happen, and they happen on the back of what you're able to accomplish in that final slate of games. I don't want to speak for Joe Philbin. He's his

own man. He knows what he's looking for from this roster, but just reading between the lines of his words, the number one thing he wants to see in this stretch here as effort. It wants to see guys laying it on the line. Wants to see who it matters to the most, because that is really where you finally start to learn the character of a team and what it means to them, you know, depending on what happens he's next few weeks and what exactly you're playing for at

that point, it is it's a matter of pride. It's a matter of going out there and doing your job and showing that you know you have what it takes to play at this level in meaningful situations and have a future in this league. Yeah. Well, we'll get to the keys to victory and how this how the Packers exactly match up with this Atlanta Falcons team on our final show of the week tomorrow, but for now we're going to call it a rap on this edition of

Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com, on Twitter, at west hod at, Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in everybody see you next time. Don't