#438 Packers Unscripted: Diving into Denver

in this league. Although Vic Fangio has certainly been around the NFL for quite some time. But the bottom line is right now with his team, whether you want to talk about roughing the passer and clock controversies that we discus gust on our previous shows, the Broncos are oh and two and they're still trying to get Vic Fangio his first win as a head coach. Yeah, and you could talk about all those things. Certainly, we wasted a lot of breath the last few days, you know, expounding

upon all those topics. But to me, I expected them out of the gates to have some you know issues offensively, I think, right now, what are they in the league? Fifteen points a game. What has surprised me is the defense though, And we're gonna talk about both sides of the ball here, but Vic Fangio, you think, uh, you know, he doesn't blitz a lot, but he does generate a lot of pressure, generates takeaways. The Broncos right now don't have either. They don't have any sacks and they don't

have any turnovers for us. So, um, that I think is going to be an anomaly. I think when you look at the firepower that that defense has, they're going to get their opportunities. But for the Green Bay Packers perspective, you hope it's one week after this upcoming Sunday. Yeah, I mean, let's go ahead and talk about that defense, because you said it. The two statistics that jump out at you is that through two games, no sacks and no turnovers, which for Vic Fangio defense is almost like

mind boggling. It's hard to believe. And when you look at the players that they have on the edges, you have Von Miller and you have Bradley Chubb, and on the interior with that pass pass rush. You have Derek Wolf, who's being paid as a as an elite interior rusher in this league, and Chris harris Um certainly a bona fide number one cornerback to to lockdown or attempt to lock down an opponent's top receiver. They spent a lot of money to get to Bryce Callahan this offseason as

well from Chicago. That was who was Yeah, and and Callahan is a guy kind of making that step up from being the nickel back in Chicago to being a starter. But he obviously has all the knowledge of Fangio's defensive scheme and everything, so they felt he would be a good fit there. There's talent on that side of the ball. But the no sacks and no turnovers through through two

games is really startling. Yeah, and von Miller, some of these guys have talked about it, you know, their need to step up and to you know, make some plays for this defense because certainly the firepower is there. As I just said Bradley Chubb, I mean, I think he's one of the top young rushers in this league. Certainly, the Denver made a big investment in him a year ago, and he paid them off for that. I think he

had twelve and a half sacks last year. So yeah, seeing how these pieces come together and fit into Fangio's defense is going to be, you know, one of their big storylines for the season because ultimately, while they did trade for Joe Flacco, um, you know, they have different players there. I think offensively they feel they can win with, but the Broncos for the better part of the last decade have won with their defense. Um, you know, basically

since uh, you know, Peyton Manning's MVP season. So um for them finding that right rhythm. You know, they're not giving up a lot of points. That's kept him in these ball games early. But as Mike Petton has said time and time again, in order to be a successful defense over the course of the season, you need takeaways,

you need pressure, and right now the Broncos are getting neither. Yeah, when you want to look at a statistical comparison, the Broncos obviously played the Bears last week after the Packers played them in Week one, and really from a yardage standpoint other than core Darrell Patterson ripping off about a forty six yard run for Chicago in one of those funky formations out of the backfield. The Broncos defense really did to the Bears offense statistically, you know, the same

type of job that the Packers did. Rabinsky didn't have a pass I don't believe of more than twenty five yards a completion, that is. And the Bears running backs other than I said, the one long run by Patterson, the Bears running backs did not have any other explosive games really, but not having any sacks and turnovers has been the difference. Even though, um to the Broncos credit, they did hold the Bears to just thirteen points until

the last play of the game. Yeah, and that's all, you know, that's where the difference is going to be made again. Up until that last play. Mitchell Robinsky had ninety passing yards in that game. But I think what it shows you, though, Mike, is that you can play really stout defensively, but if you don't get the takeaways, or you don't get those critical stops when you need them the most, how it's going to impact the final outcome up games. So I expect there's gonna be a

hungry team coming in here. And I wrote about this an inbox this week. I think it makes that Broncos really dangerous because they didn't we'll move on to offense here in a second, but they didn't trade for Joe Flacco thinking that this is just gonna be a total rebuild here. John Elway wants to find a quarterback. The Broncos want to return to being a contender, and let's be honest, that division has suddenly become a real juggernaut now in the NFL and they're trying to keep up

with the Joneses. So yeah, this is, uh, this is gonna be a tried and true test. You win with defense. I think a lot of times in this league. The Broncos won a Super Bowl a few years back based on that defense. We remember that team that the Packers had that win into Mile High and you know, they struggled to pass the ball on this defense, and that was when the Packers were six and oh and writing high and that Broncos defense that ultimately ended up winning

the Super Bowl that year. That Broncos defense completely shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. I was four years ago, yeah right, and you know right now, the Bronco Broncos do technically have a top ten defense, but if you're Aaron Rodgers, if you're Aaron Jones, you want to protect the football. That offensive line needs to protect the quarterback because this little mini gauntlet that they're on here facing defenses that can hurt you. You know, the Packers haven't

escaped that yet. Yeah. Well, you mentioned Joe Flacco on the offensive side of the ball for the Broncos, and as you said, John Elway made the trade, brought him in because they feel like they can contend now in a in a tough division with Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers and whatnot, and Flacco his numbers so far this year statistically things look okay, but much like the Packers, the Broncos aren't scoring enough points. They are trying to

get their running game cranked up. Interestingly, though, the guy who made all the headlines for them last year in the ground game, Philip Lindsay, isn't really producing to the level he was last year. But the number two guy, Royce Freeman, is the one who's you know, kind of been a bright spot offensively. They're gonna have to make a decision here on what they want to do unless they are fully committed to this committee approach, because right, I mean Philip Lindsley, you know, one of the top

rookies in the league last season. I think he was the only undrafted rookie that made the All Rookie Team didn't go to the Pro Bowl. Yes, correct, and the only one to make the Pro Bowl. Carries seventy nine yards, only has a long of nine right now, three point three yards per carry. Then you have Royce Freeman on the other side of the carries for hundred and ten yards along of twenty six in an average of five

point two. I think there's a lot of people, you know, when you look at the way that this backfield is constructed, there's a lot of people, I think, including myself, that thought Royce Freeman this was his backfield. They were going to turn the keys over to him. And then Lindsay kind of came out of nowhere last year to be that guy. So what they want to do there is going to be interesting to watch and how they approached

this game and how those reps are divvied up. Because again getting back to what point I made a few minutes ago, you know this team since that Super Bowl run or even before that, really, because there were some quarterback questions that year, going back probably even to when Manning was an m v P. You know, they've been built around the run, and there's been a lot of

different guys that have carried that mantel for them. Yeah, they're trying to figure out who that guy can be for Joe Flacco on this offense right now, as far as the weapons in the passing game. Emmanuel Sanders, who was a free agent signing. I guess it was a year or two ago. I'm trying to remember my timeline exactly, a free agent signing from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's there six? Is that really help? Are you serious? Okay, well, sorry about that, folks. I thought it was just a couple

of years ago. Um, But he came over from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's been a pretty steady consistent presence for them in the passing game. Two years old already? Wow? And yeah, well, clearly I didn't realize he was that old, or I would have thought he had been there longer. Um. But aside from Sanders, who else has Joe Flacco at least in this early going. He's only got two starts under his belt as a Broncos quarterback. But who else

is he looking at it? Well, Cortland Sutton is the other person in this uh, in this offense, you know, since the Damerius Thomas Emmanuel Sanders era kind of went by the wayside, and he is kind of a young guy, right like Sutton actually is young. Let's let's get an official ag. I want to see twenty three years old. Last year, really promising rookie season, forty two catches for

hundred seventy four yards out of SMU. He was one of my favorites at the combine and he's off to a nice start and had a hundred and twenty receiving yards against Oakland. Six ft four two sixteen pounds. Uh, you know, really dynamic player. I think without having in front of me, I think he ended up going in

the second round. They have high aspirations for him. He's been a favorite target so far early as I was just saying with Joe Flacco in this offense, and the thing I love about Sanders is that he was one of the rare exceptions where a guy reaches free agency at that position and really hasn't kind of reached his ceiling yet. Uh. He had four fine seasons with Pittsburgh, but it was when he got to Denver that he really took off. I think he had a fourteen hundred

yards season during one of those years. His numbers have kind of plateau the last two seasons, but still a very dynamic guy that the Packers are gonna have to bec started with. Well here's an interesting stat I'll just throw at you, and I don't want to get into too long a discussion about it, but Garrett Bowls, the left tackle for the Denver Broncos. Through two games, he's already been flagged five times for holding. Now three of those were declined, excuse me, but the bottom line is

five flags for holding in two games. We've seen there's been this emphasis on holding. Holding calls are up around the league. We've seen we saw David Bactieri in WELAK one in Chicago and All Pro the number one left tackle in the league last year, first team All Pro guy, got flagged for flag twice for holding in Week one.

But this is one of those things when when if a guy starts to get that kind of reputation amongst the officials, the officials look at the stats and stuff too to know who's out there and what's going on. Be interesting to see just what Mike Petton dials up, so to speak, or who he wants matched up against. Bowls at left tackle for a guy who is struggling a little bit to stay away from the penalty FLA yeah,

overall pick in two thousand and seventeen. He was an All rookie member of the p f w A during his rookie season. But yeah, he's it's it's one of those rocky stars that you sometimes deal with. You look at, you know, the way that this offensive line has been built over the years. Um that was one of the reasons why they were able to win a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning with some of the issues that they did have in the passing game, is what they were able to do with that line and what they were

able to do with that run game. Bowls has been kind of a part of that next guard. There really has been a passing of the torch in the last couple of years. You know, Ronald Learry, the former Dallas Cowboys guard. I've always been a big fan of his work. They signed him a couple of years ago. He's been kind of moved in there at right guard. Certainly Dalton Risner is the guy that you and I have talked

a lot about over last year. He was one of my favorites at the combine this uh this this past year, and they're currently using him at right guard I should say, excuse me, left guard. So they have some pieces there, But you know, the the lynch pinned all this is Bowls.

He was the first round pick. He was seen as the franchise left tackle, and this is where if your's a Darius Smith, Preston Smith and the rest of those edge rushers, you want to be able to give them a run for their money a little bit and make things uncomfortable for Joe Flacco because, as we've seen over the years, Flacco can hurt you. But he's also a guy that pretty much stays to that pocket. So I think in some way it's a very similar matchup to

what they saw a week ago with Kirk Cousins. Yeah, I think that's a matchup to watch definitely in this game. Real quickly, here, West 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 all right. Another aspect with regards to the Packers and this most recent victory against the Vikings that I want

to get back to. You posted a story on Packers dot com yesterday. It's your weekly or sometimes semi weekly Player on the Rise feature, and you actually selected two players in talking about the tandem and presses have at cornerback, the young cornerback tandem of Jayar Alexander and Kevin King, and we talked a lot in the offseason West As you know, we mentioned I wrote its story in the

yearbook about it. Talking to both of these guys, they feel like when they are on the field together, they can be one of the top cornerback tandems in the league. This Mike Petton defense. In the little that we saw last year when these two were on the field together, the defense was playing at a different level. Through two games, both of these guys have been on the field, knock on wood, playing their fair share of snaps and it's

making a big difference for Mike Petton's crew. I'll be honest with you one thing, I am kind of kicking myself with and certainly our offseason was pretty busy. Um, I know there's a couple different projects I worked on. I am sort of kicking myself. I didn't do a little bit of a study on where these where this defense was at when King was available, because I even think I go back to that second game of the season against Minnesota when King played to when he left

the game, and just a real big difference there. Yeah, Minnesota's fourth quarter comeback, and I know, you know there was the penalty controversy, but Minnesota's fourth quarter comeback. They suddenly became this explosive offense in the fourth quarter to get that aim to overtime, and Kevin King's absence was

a huge part of that. All you have to do you look at you look at the second half of the first Minnesota game and then the entire second Minnesota game when the Packers did not have both King and Alexander, and look at the numbers that Digs and Theeland put up against the Packers compared to what they did on Sunday in the first matchup of twenty nineteen. Night and day difference in terms of production, it was pretty incredible

when I looked it up. I mean it was like almost like four and er in sixty yards or something like that in two games. Two receivers, and they had five touchdowns and they were all pretty much balanced across both games. So yeah, they were a big problem. And you know, suffice it to say, King and Alexander took care of that issue, and this is going to be something as long as those two are on the field.

I think the Packers are very confident about putting either of those guys outside on anybody in this league and being able to be up to the task. And Aaron Rodgers comment after the game was very telling as well, where he said, you know, we've had, you know, various guys who have come through here over the years that maybe they don't really want the at that smoke with the top receivers in the league. And he wasn't singling on anybody, but he's been around for fifteen years. He's

seen a lot of ball. Kevin King, not that guy, Jr. Alexander, not that guy. They want the challenge. And you know, King, when I was in his huddle and talking with him a little bit after the game, he echoed the same thing because he was asked, He's like, you know, do you do you feel pressure in these instances? He's like, we don't feel any pressure. You know, you see us in the way we act. They want that challenge. Jyr

Alexander does not back away from that challenge. I think the way he played in that game, you know, he's within a you know, two eyeballs and a fingertip of catching that interception that ended up being on the forty five yard touchdown pass for Digs, and he didn't bat an eye. He came right back with a short memory of the next series. As long as those two guys are healthy and in that secondary, I think the Packers

really like where they stand right now at their cornerback position. Yeah, I mean they're Their approach, their attitude throughout the whole offseason was evident, was palpable in a sense. Anytime you

talk to him. I know, we keep referencing the yearbook story that I wrote, but I had separate one on one interviews with the two of them for that story, and in separate conversations, they both talked about how they want the challenge of taking on that number one receiver to the extent that you know, behind closed doors, they were joking that you know, they they'd probably be fighting with the other guy over over who was going to get it, or they'd be making their please to Mike Petton,

you know, yeah, give me this assignment kind of thing. And and yeah, that's what you that's what you love to see and love to hear. Aaron Rodgers was making reference back to the days of when the three the top three cornerback group for the Packers was Charles Woodson, Al Harrison, Tremont Williams, when he was the you know, the young up and coming guy behind the two veterans. Now he obviously couched at. Charles Woodson is going into

the Hall of Fame. He's you know, Rogers considers him, you know, maybe one of the best football players he ever played with. I think even said the best words at all. And uh, but that being said, it's the it's the attitude and the approach that, you know, whether you're talking a future Hall of Fame wide receiver on the other side or whoever it is, that there's no backing down, that it's like, all right, this is my job, let's go, let's play and um and these guys, these

guys take that approach every single time. And one of the things that's exciting about this particular duo is they're both right in the same you know, generational gap in terms of NFL careers. And when Rogers made that analogy with Woodson, Treman and al Harris, it's a good analogy. He's talking about three of the best cornerbacks to do it in Green Bay. But they were all at various

different points of their careers. Treman was right at the beginning, Al Harris was pretty near the end, and you know, Charles Woodson was probably and maybe the early fourth quarter at that point when he kind of had his late resurgence. These two guys are both young, twentysomething you know, guys that have a lot of athletic ability. I thought you had a really astute observation about the interception that King had where he was actually when he caught that pick.

He wasn't even high pointing the ball at that point. He was actually on his descent along with Digs. And that's just what you get from him though at six ft three, The the rang nous, the catch radius, the speed, the quickness, just how long he can keep his body in the air when he elevates like that. That he was still that he was able to stay in the air long enough to still get his hands on the ball even though he was coming down and crashing to

the ground. And the point I want to make with this is when you look at this defense the way it's structured right now, you don't just have good defensive tackles, good outside linebackers, and good cornerbacks. You have players who play a position but are also incredible athletes. Kenny Clark is not your traditional defensive tackle. He has more speed and quickness than most at that position. You've seen it with Preston Smith. Preston Smith has an interception in his

last five seasons now or whatever that is. I mean za Darius Smith, what he can do. The athleticism. These are guys that are that test off the charts and play at a different level. If these guys can stay healthy, I think ultimately that's what's gonna help the most. You Off the chemistry that's incredibly important. You have the guys

playing discipline football incredibly important. But when you talk about an absolute athletic perspective with guys like King and Clark and Alexander mixed with some of these veterans they brought in the Packers are just a cut above right now. I mean, we're talking about a defense that you know, you can make an argument is one of the most talented that they've had since the Super Bowl, if not the most talented. And a lot of these guys are in the prime of their careers. Yeah, I mean that's

how that's how this thing has been built. When you combine all the investments in the draft picks in recent years with then that free agent class of signing three um as, you say, prime of their career starters to come in and start right away and be leaders. Zadarius Smith voted a team captain when before he even plays his first game essentially as a Green Bay Packer, he's voted the permanent captain on the defensive side of the ball. That says something about about these guys and and about

their presence since the day they arrived. And it makes for some fun banter between King in Alexander, But okay, which guy is the number one shutdown guy? But the real serious note to that is that then you have a game like Adam Feeland Stefon Diggs coming in and you need two guys are gonna be able to match up with those guys the Packers had that they're gonna see Sutton and Sanders this weekend. You're gonna see a litany of those other combinations to come those guys around

the field. I think Mike Petton likes his chances. Yeah, I think he does too. With that, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Scripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com, Subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services. 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.