#425 Packers Unscripted: Winnipeg review

basically decided to rest all their starters. It was a battle of the backups from the I was gonna say opening kickoff, but there wasn't even an opening kickoff, so I can't even say open. But anyway, bottom line, Packers and Raiders played preseason Game three, but it actually looked a lot like more like a preseason game one because

none of the starters were in the game. Yeah, it was funny too because I was talking to him Boil about this after the game and he said, it's probably the closest thing he's played to a backyard football game since he was a kid. Because there were no goal posts interns. Well there were goal post but you can kick field goals, but there were no kickoffs, I should say, Uh, you had the issue at the end zones, so you're throwing between the ten and zero goal line, ten on

each end of the field. So all of that stuff made it for kind of a wild deal. But as you said, the most important thing is Mike. For a lot of young guys on this roster, it was another opportunity. It was another opportunity to go out there and show that they belong and when final cuts get made next week, that they deserve to be on the fifty three man rosters. So while it had such unique circumstances surrounding the game, the goals and objectives for the players that were suited

up were very real. Yeah, And we had talked heading in to that game about a couple of guys who were due to injuries, were making their preseason debuts in Game three, and I thought both of them came out of that game with exactly what they were looking for. And I'm talking about Trevor Davis and Josh Jackson, one player on each side of the ball for the Packers. Trevor Davis, I tell you we talked about him when he got back into practice coming back from the stinger injury,

how he kind of picked up where he left off. Well, he took everything that he was doing in practice and he did it in the game. He if you were to pick one star of the game, aside from quarterback Tim Boyle, who I think we'll get to, but Trevor Davis was the guy who really shine on this night.

Trevor Davis was the star of this game, regardless of the other positions and whatnot, because of what he could potentially mean to this offense and to this team should he be on the fifty three a week from now. He is dynamic, he is versatile, and now he's contributing as a receiver. I honestly believe, Mike, if you just showed me the film of Trevor Davis running routes back in two thousand sixteen as opposed to where he is at today, I think there's a night and day difference.

And it's not just being able to be crisp and be able to be accountable and exactly where you need to be. The guy is catching everything. He has made up for lost time, and I thought it was very interesting. He said this after the game. You know, he sort of need to remind everybody of where he was before that stinger against Houston and in the path he had been on, and he needed to be able to put

that production into a game. If you wouldn't have known any better, you would have thought Trevor Davis would have been out there the entire training camp, had not missed two weeks, had been out there and being able to get five catches for seven eight yards and a touchdown eighteen yards off of reverse, a seventeen yard punt returned the guys of the number one gunner right now and punt coverage, Trevor Davis is in all the exact spots

he needs to be to put himself on this active roster. Yeah, he's definitely stating his case that that there is a place for him, both on offense and on special teams on this roster. I want to say one more thing too, because he's not here anymore, and and certainly things did not go the way they wanted to, but Trevor Davis had a massive advocate in ron Zoock last year, and this is a guy that really believed in his talent, not only just as a returner, but spoke very highly

of him as a football player. If this ultimately ends up playing out the way Trevor Davis wants it to, I think you need to keep ron Zuck in the back of mind because that guy stumped pretty hard for him to be on that roster. Yeah, and with with all the injuries and everything that he dealt with last year. When other teams in a lot of those types of instances just move on from a young player, Packers have stuck with Davis and it looks like it could pay

dividends for them. Josh Jackson missed the first few weeks of training camp with a foot injury, was brought back in very slowly in terms of working his way up to eleven on eleven um, and as we had mentioned last week, kind of a forgotten guy in this whole cornerback mix. As Tony Brown has come on as the rookie sixth round picked from Toledo, Kadar Holman showed some things.

Even Chandon Sullivan an undraft a guy, but Josh Jackson, he gets in and early in that game, a couple of past breakups, a couple of nice play defensive plays downfield. He's got his feetback under him. Again, he did exactly what he needed to do in this game. I'm not sure in this whole cornerback rotation how it's going to shake out when the real games start, but Josh Jackson at least had that opportunity to to say, Hey, everybody,

I'm still here. So it was interesting. I talked with him in the locker room on Sunday and he mentioned, you know, there was still some rust he had to knock off. He was thrilled with his performance, but all things considered, in the time he missed with the foot injury and the fact that those were really his first tried and true, repeated snaps he's taken with the defense one play after another. Was actually in a game. Yeah, in a sequence. I thought he played pretty dang well.

I thought so too. To have to pass deflections um from what I remember off the top of my head, not really any catches given up or allowed. I just thought it was very consistent performance for him, something to

build on, and let's be honest, Mike. I wrote it in the story that we posted on Packers dot Com on Monday, the Packers this is a guy that played sixteen games from last year started ten of them in this secondary Josh Jackson was a very big part of this scheme and had he not been injured at the beating of the camp, would have been out there with

the defensive sub packages. So question not sure exactly where things are at with Kevin King yet Josh Jackson is going to be in the mix for snaps in those nickel and dime based defenses and and seeing how that all shuffles out with Jaire Alexander and Tony Brown. We've said it time and time again, Mike, you need options at that position, and Josh Jackson gives the Packers another one of them. Yeah. Well, another guy we need to talk about in terms of really stepping forward in this

game against Winnipeg. He's the guy who got the starting nod at quarterback with Aaron Rodgers and the number one'es on offense resting and it's Tim Boyle. And we will see how things play out this week with the preseason finale against Kansas City. But this is the first time, I guess you could say, West that we've really seen what could be a a flip in the quarterback pecking order here. Tim Boyle made his case with a really really solid performance in Winnipeg to potentially be the number

two quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers. I have two thoughts on this. The first one is boil was exceptional. Started slowly, almost had a pick in the first or second series. Yeah, the first the first quarter was not going well, and then suddenly in the second quarter, three consecutive touchdown drives. I don't you know, I don't care if the goal lines the ten yard line or the regular goal line. Three consecutive drives that end in touchdowns. That's that's doing something.

That's production. And I don't want to put words in Tim Boyle's mouth, but just watching him and talking to him a little bit after the game, to me, that is probably the most confident he's looked in the Packers uniform. Once he got that first touchdown producing series, it was important for them to come back and get another one. He had some nighte s down field passes. Uh. He

was not afraid to take chances. He stood in the pocket, he stood tall, made the throws he had to make, and he cut down in some of the erratic nature that had been sort of plaguing him in the past with some of those downfield throws. I just thought it was an exceptional performance by him. The other thing I want to point out to more so than any other quarterback I can think of, maybe going back to Matt Flynn,

Matt Flynn's probably the best example of this. The path the Packers have taken with Tim Boyle, and this is a credit to Mike McCarthy who and his staff and now with what Matt Lafleur has done, I think this is one of the most even keeled, balanced development of a quarterback that I can remember in Green Bay. Last year, Tim Boil didn't play a lot during the off season.

He didn't see a lot of snaps during training camp, and played, you know, a little bit near the end of camp where you really got to see him play an extended amount of snaps. They were really careful with him, but you saw enough to warrant him being on the fifty three all year. This offseason they tested him more and as you said, they have him pushing for that number to spot. Right now, there's one game to go, there's a lot that's still on the line between him

and Deshaun Kaiser. But I just thought Tim Boyle's performance. If you're Matt Lafleur, in this coaching staff and you're looking for signs that this guy has taken that next step. I thought you definitely saw them in Winnipeg. Yeah, I think what stood out to me, and it's not just the numbers, the hundred and thirteen quarterback rating, which is very impressive and all that, but when Boyle got into the second quarter, overcame that slow start, started moving the

ball on a consistent basis. You could see he got into a rhythm and that's the confidence you were talking about. He was dropping back, planning his back foot and letting that thing go. And that type of rhythm has been quite frankly and a lot of it has to do with the players around you too. In preseason, you can end up playing with third string, fourth string guys and all that. That's all part of it, but that kind of rhythm has been so rare for a Packers backup

quarterback in the preseason. I honestly thought that it was the best quarter of football I've seen by a Packers backup corps her back in the preseason in at least a handful of years. And we saw some nice flashes from Brett Hunley. We've seen some flashes from Deshaun Kaiser, But in terms of three consecutive drives where the quarterback was really in a rhythm and seemed to be in command of everything that was going on in the field, that's what really stood out. Yeah, it was the most

impressive quarter I've seen from a backup quarterbacks since. As I mentioned before, Graham Harrold keeping his job at the end of two thousand twelve preseason when he had like a sixteen of eighteen performance against Kansas City starters that helped him stay on the roster in the time in which he really needed that. I just thought Boyle was confident.

I talked to Justin McCrae about this afterwards in the locker room, the way he handled the huddle, his composure, giving a really unorthodox set of circumstances that he was forced into with the field, with the fact that Aaron Rodgers ended up not playing in that game when there was some thought that he might, uh, he adjusted to that, He made it work, made it work for him, and now he's put himself in a position in the number

two battle will work itself out. But I just think a performance like that it keeps him in the conversation to stay on the fifty three and continue telling the Packers that, you know what, whether I'm two or three, whatever you want to shake it out to be, didn't mean to rhyme that I deserve that opportunity and your you don't want to part with me just yet. Yeah. Well, we've got some more things to talk about from the Winnipeg game West. But first, select Cousin Subs locations are

now offering delivery. Whether you're ordering catering or your favorite sub, they're delivering right to you when you order online at Cousin Subs dot com. Cousin Subs we believe in better. Okay, the bad news out of Winnipeg West is that the Packers came back to Green Bay with a bunch of injuries. Unfortunately, and we don't really have time to talk about all of them, but some of the key ones that jump

out um Equinimius st. Brown a nasty looking ankle injury on a play where he took a hit where that was actually penalized a helmet shot and uh but it wasn't the head injury that we all thought at first, ended up being that his ankle got messed up there. Curtis Bolton the undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma who seemed to be in line to be that second inside linebacker in the base package alongside Blake Martinez. He goes down with a knee injury. Alan was already young wide receiver

trying to make a bid for a roster spot. He's now in the concussion protocol. And we saw a first round draft pick, Rashawn Gary also leave the field, although what looked kind of scary at first, he ended up sitting up his his head kind of bent back awkwardly when he was got getting in a tackle. But then he was able to sit up. They didn't need to stabilize his neck or do any of those kinds of things, and he was able to to walk off the field.

We don't have a whole lot of information on these injuries just yet, but some of these, you know, and this is just the reality of training camp in a preseason, some of these injuries are going to impact the final roster decisions a week from now. Yeah, in some regard, and that's the unfortunate thing. And you're really you're happy to see that Gary appears to be fine. He was walked around in the locker room seeming He was in

good spirits on Sunday. Um, so you knock on Wood that everything's going to be fine with him in the bright future that he has the NFL. The thing that's tough for Bolton and Lazard and even e q C. Brown to some extent is he all these guys were fighting for roster spots, they were fighting for roles, and now you have an injury latent camp that kind of

complicates that. Bolton is the one that your heart really hurts for, though, because he was an undrafted rookie that was getting snaps with the ones at the time of the injury. It almost reminds me in a way of two thousand fourteen or fifteen whenever that was that Joe Thomas had kind of looked really impressive early in camp and he ends up having the knee injury against Tennessee. So for Bolton's sake, you hope it's nothing major. He

was talking to the media on Sunday. He said, the hope is that it's not a significant injury, but there still really isn't a timeline. Yeah, there seems to be still some uncertainty as to exactly what's going on and what his prognosis is moving forward, so you have to wait and see there in the interim time, Summers has thrown back back into the limelight. A guy like Raven Green is a hybrid linebacker safety type, is going to be in there. Brady Shelton, the practice squad over holdover

from last year, gonna have a chance to shine. And and even James Crawford, who was a pretty and trench special teamer trying to show that he could be a you know, uh an asset on defense. So this last game, because I'd imagine, especially with Blake Martinez kind of working through some stuff even though he was practicing Sunday, I think this is gonna be the Thie Summer Show again on Thursday against Kansas City and proving that the seventh round pick out of almost by u t CC deserves

a spot. Yeah. Well, and to Summer's credit, because we had talked through the first two games about how he had racked up a bunch of tackles, but he'd also missed his share of tackles, and he was the first one to say both of those games he should have had more tackles than the stat sheet said. Well, he cut down on the miss tackles. He was much more sound fundamentally. He did lead the defense and tackles once

again um in Winnipeg. But even though maybe he didn't have any of the blash plays or the flashy plays, because of the fundamentals and cutting down on the miss tackles, it was probably his best performance. Well. And here's the thing, Mike, that you have to realize with the inside linebacker position in two thousand nineteen, the splash plays are great. You want to have them. It's how you end up making a career for yourself as a first and second down linebacker. Though,

you just need the consistency side of it. You need to be able to to either tackle your guy or hold him up for the scrum, not lose them, not let him get behind you. Um be gaps, sound, be fundamental, use your technique. That's what the Packers want. That's actually, to be honest with you. Jake Ryan took some some hits at times from people, but he was consistent in that way. You could count on him against the run. Blake Martinez is the coverage you know, third down linebacker

right now. He's the guys on the field every play or in Burke's has those tendencies, But right now you just need something that's gonna stem the tide because in those sub packages you have Raven Green, they're hoping that they're gonna get Ibraheim Campbell back at some point. You have the defensive backs that can help you out. So for Summers, I thought it was an encouraging performance because

he just looked a lot more consistent. Yeah, and you mentioned the next guy that I want to talk about, and that's Raven Green, who we've been talking about him since the beginning of O t A s how he came back from the ankle injury, who kind of rebuilt his upper body, essentially put on about ten pounds. UM just looks physically larger, physically stronger. He's been playing safety as well as that hybrid linebacker role in the dime defense or whatever type of sub package that Mike Petton

calls there. And with the roster move the Packers made releasing or waving I guess I should say, to be technically accurate, waving Josh Jones, the former second round pick from North Carolina State. UM, the door now is wide open for Raven Green to take the job that he's been working on and that he has stepped into and filled so well throughout this offseason, throughout this training camp,

and start doing it in the real games. Raven Green was a very accomplished safety at James Madison fourteen interceptions school record. He did everything he could to put himself on the NFL radar. But I just feel like this position, this hybrid role that's in the box kind of slot cornerback linebackers position for him is tailored to a skill

set perfectly. Now he's in a unique spot because he's also the next man up behind Adrian Amos and with Darnell Savage back there, but in the interim playing that role in that that that package that we've seen become so prevalent throughout this defense and defenses across the league.

This is a key time for him. And it's also unique in that he's had a full off season because of Josh Jones not being here during O T A man, he was here many Cans, but during O T s in the off season program, this gave him a chance to settle into that role a little bit and he's going to be a key player for this Packers defense this season. They need him to be that in addition everything he offers on special teams as a personal protector and in things of that nature. Yeah, and I wrote

a story about him after Sunday's practice. It was posted Sunday evening on packers dot com if you want to check it out. It was an interesting conversation as locker me and a couple of other reporters. Two things really stood out to me in terms of what he said. One is that all of this stuff with kind of playing hybrid linebackers, sometimes blitzing, playing against the run, he didn't do any of that at James Madison. He was the center fielder. That's how he got a school record

fourteen interceptions. But that's all he did in college. And now this versatility and everything that is becoming his calling card as a young NFL player, it's all new to him. But he's loving it. He you know, he's really fitting what the Packers are are asking him to do. Excuse me. And then the other the other thing is just the coming back from that injury, that ankle injury. He last year he was making a name for himself a little

bit on special teams. He had five coverage tackles, he had a forced fumble, a big turnover in the San Francisco game, But then he started to get some more snaps on defense. When some injuries hit, he was getting snaps at safety. Things were looking a lot more promising. Then suddenly, boom, he goes down with the ankle injury. He ends up on injured reserve. I believe he missed the last six games of that was not easy to

come back from. But what he said is that he actually learned a lot from the experience in terms of really what it takes to be a pro. And not to say that, you know, he wanted to get hurt, but he said, really he feels like because of the injury and everything he had to do to come back from it, he's a better player now then if he

had never gotten hurt in the first place. And I thought that was a really interesting perspective because because a lot of at the time that had happened, you wonder, are we ever going to hear from Raven Green again? Because it wasn't It was a difficult injury, and and he's a young, undrafted guy who's just trying to make his way. Well here he is. He's back, and he's gonna be on the field quite a bit for Green Bay.

Glad made that little bit of a comment there, because there is a decision every GM has to make when you're dealing with an undrafted type player, and I kind of call it that Cris Banjo Mackinton door Lean decision, where you know, Chris Banjo got hurt, the Packers moved on and that was a mistake. He's become a really solid special teams player for New Orleans and also a backup that rotates in with that secondary Mackinton door Lean. The Packers put as an I R and they brought

him back desonator return. It never really quite worked out for him. You need to find that line of demarcation. It's not easy to really grasp. But I like that the Packers stayed consistent with green They went back to what they saw from him in the beginning and they trusted that, Okay, he's going to come back from this

injury and he becomes he can become a player. Because let's be honest, Mike, when a guy's coming off he's a second year player coming off an ankle injury, there might be some apprehension to have him with the starters. They're going back out into the offseason program. Packers didn't have any of that. And I think for everything we've seen from Raven Green, he's rewarded um for some of that, uh you know that dedication and trust and you know, knock on wood for him. He put the injuries behind

him and this can be a productive season. Yeah. No GM ever bats a thousand with those types of decisions, but they certainly like to see the players who reward their faith in them because this is the kind of thing that happens almost every year. Absolutely, and and and I let's be honest. I mean, you fill out a fifty three man roster, you're gonna have undrafted players. You're gonna have unproven players. You have to trust them and

they have to produce. Yeah, alright, well, with that, we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage on the team of the team excuse me on Packers dot com, on Twitter, He's at west Hot, I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team accounts. Subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services if you will. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time