#391 Packers Unscripted: He's back

Nothing in that regard has been officially announced by the Packers, so we're gonna have to save those conversations for another show. But we do know that it is official. Mike Petton will be back as defensive coordinator for Mat la Fleur. It will be Petton's second season as defensive coordinator. And I think you and I and certainly anybody following this sensed that if the Packers went with an offensive minded head coach, so to speak, that the possibility of pett

And staying to run this defense was pretty strong. And that is how this has worked out. Yeah, I don't want to call it a no brainer, but I just think you know, the package. This is gonna be a big offseason of change. You're gonna see it in multiple

phases and multiple different positions. If there was one silver lining to what was kind of a difficult season for them, I felt it was pett And I felt it was the way that that defense performed in the face of injuries, in the way he was able to make playmakers emerge in that defense at times in which if you looked at on paper you would say there weren't enough of

them due to injuries and some other things. So, uh, the thing that stood out to me the most in the decision to do this is that if you go back and look at it, um one of the things that stood out to me as soon as Matt la Floor was named the head coach of the Packers, you look at Tennessee in the fact that Marcus Mariota now is onto I believe is this his fourth or fifth

offensive coordinator now in his time in the NFL. You want to be able to if things, if you like what you're seeing, if the product is what it is, you want to be able to have consistency there. And in the Fleur's case a little bit different because he was going up and do a bigger job. But in the Packers case, I just think that there was something to be said for having a name, having a face, and having a vision, so you're not completely overhauling the

whole grand scheme of things. Mike Petton's return allows you to do that. I'll be honest with you, Mike, seeing what they were able to do, I don't care about total defense. I don't care about the sacks, even though there was a bunch of them last year. The number one thing that sold me on Mike pett and his scheme last season was the fact that you didn't see them having to take time otes for twelve min on the field. You didn't see them gag getting gash for

big plays because of community cation breakdowns. The ability of Petton to teach his scheme and as he said from the beginning, keep it likable and learnable, I think is one of the biggest credits he can have. Yes, there weren't enough takeaways, that's something they want to change in But the fact that they didn't have those huge breakdowns at a lot of times you see not just to hear, but I mean anywhere in the NFL when you have

a ton of injuries I think speaks to Petton. I think it speaks to his program, and it makes it deserving for him to get a second shot here. Yeah, I I certainly want to see Mike Petton try to continue and perhaps finish what he started here, which I think is a climb, is a rise of the Packers defense, hopefully up into the top half, if not the top third of the league. Obviously, there's there was a long way to go when the day he walked in the door. But I am with you, I was going to say

exactly the same thing. If there's one thing to me that I noticed with this defense that I think bodes really well moving forward is the lack of the communication breakdowns, just as you put it, Because when I look back at the season, I remember late in the year the game against the New York Jets, there was a mix up in coverage and Robbie Anderson's wide open down the

field for a forty yard touched out. But I remember that play because it was one of the only times that happened all season long, and in past years, we just we saw that happen too often. And the fact that with the number of young players that the Packers have on defense, and it was a new system being brought in, and we actually saw a decrease in those communication issues and whatnot. I think that really speaks to

what Petton was able to accomplish. Now, obviously you hope for better health, you hope for better continuity just in terms of who's out there playing every week. And Dom Caper's dealt with some of those same challenges over a number of years. But with the improvements that we saw and the number of young players that you don't you really don't want to have to throw a whole another

defensive system at them again right away. I think this, this makes the most sense for the Packers and pett And earned the opportunity to try to see this through and see if he can continue that climb up the rankings. During the final locker room the Packers had about two weeks ago, now, I was talking with Alexander about this and about then the young nucleus and and what he

sees in this team. And one of the things that he said is, you know, they get pelted constantly with the questions about turnovers and takeaways and there just wasn't enough of them this past year. But he said, you know is these guys get more comfortable in the back end, the pass rushers, you'll get a little bit more pressure. The possibilities are there for this defense to take the ball away when you when you can disrupt the quarterback a little bit, they have the ball hawks there in

place to be able to do it. I think the issue for the Packers this season, in addition to inconsistency I'm not going to paint at all, is just well, there are just too many injuries. I mean, you still need to work through it, but you do look at what that final i R look like at the end of the year, and and again it's always a big

if because you're not going to keep everybody healthy. But when you lose you're starting three defensive linemen, you lose Kevin King, you deal with some of the injuries they've had to deal with, the multiple positions, that's what puts you in these positions where you're trying to stem the tide, so to speak. So I really do believe. I mean, if you you know, you saw Kyler Fackler breakout, you saw Kenny Clarke have a phenomenal season before he has

ended prematurely. There is playmakers there are playmakers in this defense. If you can keep enough of them healthy. Along with the system of defense that Penton is teaching, I think there's a really good reason to believe that this cannot I'm not going to put it out there's top ten defense anymore, but this can be one of the biggest disrupting units in the NFL. Well. And there'll be an

opportunity whether you're talking free agency or the draft. As we talked about three picks in the top forty five of the draft. We'll see what happens in free agency. There's an opportunity to add another playmaker too to this to this defense. And I'll go back to something that I talked about on this show many times, you and I.

You and I discussed it a lot. I think we saw the the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, as to what this Packers defense can be with Mike Petton as the coordinator and his system and his scheme. When Jayra Alexander and Kevin King where your two corners, your your two top cover corners on the field at

the same time. Now, that just didn't happen enough because King only played whatever it was, six or seven games, and even a couple of games he played was when Alexander was missing, so they were really only on the field together, I think, for four games out of sixteen, which is is way too few, obviously, but in those moments, I mean the first the first half, first three quarters Week two against the Minnesota Vikings and and all the the weapons, you know, Dalvin Cook and Adam Thieland and

Stefon Diggs and Kirk Cousins in their new quarterback and everything that they brought to lambeau Field that day. They didn't start rolling until the fourth quarter when King was out in The Packers were kind of scrambling a little bit defensively to make up for it. The first half in Los Angeles against that Rams offense, when King and Alexander were on the field together to help cover those wide receivers, that was some of the best defense we

saw from the Packers all season long. I think I think that's the starting point, so to speak, in terms of the personnel. If those two guys are out there, and then you get those other guys healthy, you know, you're Daniels and you're Kenny Clark, and and you know, Facral continues to do what he's doing. I think there's a lot of possibilities here with some more continued upgrades

and personnel, whether it be through free agency or the draft. Yeah, and and the other thing that stands out to me too, you know, we don't want ever, you know, look at trying to project what a lineup is going to be, because as we see, you know, that can change very quickly. And it's I think, but the one, the one, the heart was in the right place this season though, when you look at how they had stocked their cornerbacks, how they had stocked their safeties, even as some regards how

they had stocked the defensive line. I bring it up constantly that, you know, Dean Lowry and Kyler Facral weren't playing very much that the first month of the season. They had to basically be every down players. Down the stretch, they have some decisions to with how they want to handle their outside pass rush, the biggest one of those being Clay Matthews being an unrestricted free agent. You got to settle that, you got to figure out what the future is there. And I've brought it up a numerous

amount of times now. I think one guy that doesn't get enough credit for how things did play out was bishod b when you look at the injury that he had. I even threw ma Alter during one of our final shows. Is come back of the Year candidate Because of the injury he had and to come back the way he did and play on a short schedule, I think it said a lot about him. And honestly, I learned a lot about his versatility. I didn't know he could play,

you know, slot cornerback. I think in a perfect world, do you want him on the boundary, But he's versatile enough that he basically can play all six spots in the secondary if you need him to. Again, another unrestricted free agent, dominoes have to fall there. But you know, seeing a guy like that back to in the equation, I think really could go a long way for a secondary that has a lot of potential when you can get everybody on the field, at least most of them

at the same time. Yeah. And I don't mean to discount Breland when I focus so much on Alexander and King, but they're the ones in a contract, yeah, exactly. And and Breland is a is an unrestricted free agent, and

we'll see what happens there. But I'm gonna make a baseball analogy for you here, West, because you know, you look at you look at a baseball team heading into a new season, you're looking at that starting rotation, right if you've got if you've got a couple of really solid starting pitchers, there's a big difference between those guys being say you're two and three starting pitchers, versus if they're you're three and four. You know, in terms in

terms of the order. I kind of look at Breland in the same way, in the sense that when you had Alexander and King and Bashad, Breland was like your number three corner Wow, Like what a group you have. But you take one of those three out of the equation, and the and the rotation changes and everybody gets pushed up into a into another role, then all of a sudden, it doesn't look quite as good as it did before.

So I think it's you know, I think King and Alexander are the starting points at cornerback, and then you build the depth, whether that's you know, Josh Jackson hopefully takes a leap forward in his second year, Maybe Bashad Brelan comes back. We'll see what the draft and free agency have in store. Tremont Williams is under contract for another year, and we know he can play anywhere as well, So a lot of possibilities here and and a lot

of time to get it figured. Yeah, and Tony Brown ended up playing quite a bit to the undrafted rookie out of Alabama. So probably no position I think on the roster that has as much returning players probably has more intrigue right now than cornerback because it really is going to be up to Brian good Kunz and obviously Matt Lafleur and and Mike Petton to figure out what they need in what they want to bring in this offseason,

because there's a lot of guys there. But again, as we've learned, when you're playing, especially the way that that Petton plays with as many six defensive backpackages with that hybrid linebacker role, you have to have guys there, and and that's gonna be a big thing making sure that they can keep the covered stocked. Yeah. Well, not to get too far off track, but we saw the Los Angeles Chargers just a week ago win a playoff game playing basically seven defensive backs as a package for pretty

much the entire game against Baltimore. And lam our Jackson as the mobile quarterback. So you just you'd never know where this game is going to go and what you're going to be called on to do from a schematic standpoint, and and the Packers have to build their depth to be able to respond. And keep in mind too, Mike, I mean the Packers open this season with a seven defensive backpackage against the Bears. I mean that's almost their base defense. It caught us all, caught me by surprise

that they ended up going that way. So, yeah, if you have the bodies there, Mike Patton said, he's not afraid to go a little light if it means that it's going to you know, work to the best of

the Packers game plan. Yeah. All right, Well, before we get to some other topics here west, the green Bay Packers get ready for game day with the powerful noise canceling technology of Bo's Quiet Comfort thirty five headphones to Lauren more at www dot bos dot com, Slash Packers Bows, the official headphones of the Green Bay Packers, and at Homer 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 Baby. We should almost be due for a new pair of Bows headphones. I would think we had these for almost three seasons. Yeah, I was really excited when we started doing the show, you know now almost three years ago, that we got

the noise canceling ones. But they weren't in the right color. So Marvin went down to the store bought us some other ones, but they aren't the noise canceling ones. I like the noise canceling ones. Yeah. Those, Yeah, that they got to make that happen. They put you in the zone we get, we get a lot more of the the West hot analogies to youth sports and everything. When you got the noise camper. Absolutely absolutely, we gotta work on that. That's the big goal. That's the insider inbox

slash Packers unscripted goal for noise canceling headphones. We'll be on that with with our our relationship with bows um NFL Playoffs West, it is down to the final four. I know it's not always talking about in those terms, but conference championship games coming up this weekend and this past weekend the divisional round, not a lot of down to the wire drama. Really. Only the last game of the four, the Eagles against the Saints, was the one

that came right down to the end. But these four teams, Rams and Saints, Patriots and Chiefs all very impressive in

their own right last weekend. And I think in a lot of ways, and it doesn't always work out this way, in fact, it often doesn't, but I think in a lot of ways, if you had if you had pulled the vast majority of NFL fans, like right after Halloween, about the midway point of season, and said, Okay, who do you think are the four teams that are gonna be the last four standing on championship weekend playing for those conference titles, I think these four would have gotten

the most votes. And you know, they've held up, They've done it over the long haul. They put together impressive performances in the divisional round, and here they are. You know what I like about this? I'm glad you used the final four analogy because this year in particular does remind me a lot of an n c A tournament where you've had every once in a while you get the one in two needs that just make the run.

And that's why I love the playoffs, because everyone goes over the top about well, if the six and five win, does that mean there's no advantage to the bodies? No, I mean, I think all four of these teams proved last week what the advantage is with having that that week off and then having the home field advantage. But much like the n c A tournament, each all these four teams brings something different to the table. Now, the common thread between most of them is offense, and a

lot of it. I think it's gonna be really exciting to watch the you know, the Rams play on that fast track, and I believe, I believe this is the first time that the top four scoring offenses in the league have all advanced to this stage as the last four teams standing. So it's interesting from that standard. And

then you look at the Rams and Chiefs. I mean, they gave up a ton of yards this year too, defensively, so seeing how a team like the Saints that's that's very that's more balanced, probably the most balanced out of all these teams in the playoffs right now. They also had to play the most knockdown, drag out game of last week, having to kind of hold their breath there until the final moments against the Eagles. So seeing if they can prevail against that that enigma that is the

Rams offense is going to be interesting. And then honestly, let's look at the Kansas City in New England. I mean, they're gonna say I wrote about this an inbox. They're gonna talk about Patrick Mahomes. They're going to talk about, you know, the old war horse, and and Tom Brady. Yeah, the potential passing of the torch and all that. We're gonna hear about that certainly all week long. Realistically, I think you remember you always do your like five team

out performances to watch and those kind of matchups. I think there's only one in this game. I think it's whether or not Kansas City can stop New England's offense. I think that's as I think it goes as far

as that. The way New England's offense took the field on Sunday against the Chargers, a Chargers defense that had put up some you know, some really really good outings, especially with what they did against Baltimore and Lamar Jackson for the first three plus quarters in that opening round game.

For New England to take the field against the Chargers and just right down the field four straight times, four touchdowns, they had twenty eight points on the board before you can blink, it was it was just like, Wow, that sucked too. I mean, excuse my language, but I was like, I really wanted that to be. I know, I wanted I wanted that to be. I wanted that to be

a good game as well. And we had talked about kind of pulling a little bit for Philip Rivers to see if he could get to a super Bowl for the first time and just give me some drama, you know, none that the Patriots just hum boy. They just went out and steamrolled them. But much like what happened with that game between New Orleans and Philadelphia the first time around, you saw the adjustments the Eagles made in that second matchup and what they were able to do to keep

that thing close. I go back to that what was a Week six matchup between New England Kansas City. If you play that particular game twenty five times. I guarantee you at least twenty of them. New England's putting up forty points. It's just the way that Kansas City was playing that day, and it was the way that the Patriots were able to move the ball. That's the key right now. The Chiefs got gash for yards this season,

but they were but they were situationally solid. Can you do that now against one of the best to ever do it? That's my storyline. And if you can, Wow. I mean, we talked so much about breeze and rivers, but what about if Andy Reid can get back to a Super Bowl? I mean that that would be uh, that would be pretty special to a lot of things to follow for Yeah. Yeah, And I'll say this, they're talking about an arctic blast hitting Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas

City this weekend. That game is going to be played at night. It's the second of the two championship games. And I don't want to take anything away from Tom Brady, and nothing that that guy does with the spotlight, as

bright as it is, will ever surprise me. But in a game like this, when you're talking about potential arctic cold, I think the advantage shifts to the younger quarterback, you know, and and that's you know this, this really cold weather thing that could be moving through the Midwest this weekend

could really play to Kansas City's advantage. Let's be honest to Michael, especially watching that game last weekend, Kansas City, more than any other team in the playoffs right now, is built to win in the cold, is built to win in you know, December and January. Football. What they've been doing with Damien Williams, you know, since the whole Kareem Hunt or deal. They found a real diamond in

the rough here in Williams. And honestly, to be you know, be perfectly honest, he fits this offense better than Hunt ever did. I'm not saying he's as explosive as an athlete, but I mean in terms of his duality, there's a lot there that he brings to the table. They have underneath concepts they can beat you in multipl tutive ways with hill this. You're right, You're absolutely right. If if the you know, Kansas City is is looking to the gods first, you know, football gods for some help here.

This does seem like the kind of thing that could definitely aid them in this matchup. This this round two with the Patriots. Yeah, well, looking at the NFC, this is a round two as well. We saw these two teams in New Orleans in the regular season, the Rams and the Saints. The Saints had gotten ahead by twenty plus points, the Rams made this huge rally in the second half, came all the way back, and that game

ended up coming right down to the wire. But I'm just I'm gonna have to stick with what I've been saying all along, which is I just it's so hard for me to see a team going into the Superdome and beating the Saints in the play offs in that building, and the fact that the Eagles couldn't do it when they were spotted a fourteen nothing lead, they couldn't. They didn't score the rest of the game, and they had the ball, and they had they had the ball and

had the chance. And when Folds got him across midfield there, I thought, Okay, well, maybe the Folds magic is just going to continue. Here it is. And then irony of all ironies for for as in my opinion, as hesitant as Foals seemed after the first interception by Lattimore, which was really the moment that turned the game. In the first half, he seemed hesitant, not as confident in his throws. One of the most confident throws he made the entire second half was right there for al Sean Jeffrey, and

unfortunately Jeffrey, who apparently was playing with broken ribs. Tip your hat to the guy. But the ball goes through his hands and it goes right to Lattimore, you know, the perfect deflection, so to speak. Um, and he's able to make the grab for his second interception, and uh, and the Saints are moving on. The thing that's interesting about this matchup, though, you can take you know, the biggest thing there is going to be the home field advantage.

It's going to be that crowd. They're going to be energized there to be excited. Hey, Drew Brees is forty years old. This is awesome. This is a team though with the rams that is also built for these conditions. They're probably better built for the Superdome than they are playing in the Colisseum right now. So to see exactly how Jared golf In that's setting with that offense, with those weapons can respond there, I think it's going to

be a shootout. I think it's gonna be fun to watch. Well, with what the Rams did on the ground, to a really good run defense in the Dallas Cowboys, or run defense that shut down the number one rushing offense in the league in the Seattle Seahawks. You want to cry it? Sorry, quiet if I want to cry too, if you want to quiet the Super Dome crowd. Running the ball, being being successful, running the ball between the tackles, ramming it

down their throats, so to speak. That's how the Rams can win this game, is if that combination of Todd Gurley and c. J. Anderson can do what they did against the Cowboys just by a thousand carries. I mean,

and and C. J. Anderson will be interested. I was watching the game last weekend, and I'm not I hope this doesn't come off wrong way, but when I was watching him, I mean, did that not remind you of Jerome Bettis, like back in the day, like even the thirty five, thirty six, I mean, like well, and they were they were wearing the blue and gold, you know that,

the kind of the the old style uniform. And the other thing too is that I'll be honest with you, I wasn't following the c. J. Anderson saga very closely this year. I know Denver made a decision to move on. I cannot explain to you how that guy in the prime of his career gets cut twice in one season. But here he is. He ends up in the lap with the Rams, and he looked explosive. I mean, they

gave him some really good lanes to work with. But man, especially with Todd Gurley working through a couple of things, that was the perfect compliment in that matchup against the Cowboys. Yeah, I mean, it's it sounds crazy to say with the types of numbers and the points and everything that the Rams have put up in this game, but if if, if the Saints can't do something against that running game, I mean, the Rams could completely control it at the

line of scrimmage. That's what New Orleans has to has to guard against. They have to make sure that those running backs don't get going like that, and and you know, put the game and put the game in Goff's hands and let their pass rush get after Yeah, and I'm just trying to look here. Yeah, they ended up finishing second to the Bears and and run defense this past year. The Saints did so seeing how they manage that that, you're right, that's going to be the probably objective number

one going into the Superdome. Yeah. Well, it'll be an interesting, another interesting weekend of football. But for now, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. When there's more news to talk about, we'll be back with another episode. But in the meantime, you can follow him on Twitter at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team ACCOW. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.