#439 Packers Unscripted: Double duty

And just to give a heads up here, because this show is truly unscripted, we're going to combine our Thursday and Friday shows into one show because our wonderful producer, Marvin, he needs to leave and be out of the office on Friday. So today's show we'll go a little bit long. We'll try to kind of pack the last two shows of the week into one. And I want to start with a story that that you've posted on our website examining the first two weeks of the season for the

Packers veteran right tackle Brian Blaga. Because we watched throughout o t a s throughout training camp, you know, blog, I had a day off here, and a day off there, and sometimes even a couple of days off in row. This was all part of the plan, wasn't it. Because he got to Week one healthy and ready to go. He had He's had two absolute knockdown, drag out assignments. He's got another one here in Week three against the Broncos as far as his one on one matchup, but

he is playing some outstanding football for the package. He really is, Mike, And it was interesting when I presented this to Corey Lindsley in the locker room on Wednesday, Lindsley basically said, I mean, yeah, this is what Brian Bolaga does. It's what he's done for the last ten years in this offense. A couple of different layers to this. The first thing they did have a plan for him, and Adam Stanovic actually said it sort of began his

time with Joe Staley and San Francisco. Staley is one of the most durable, reliable and successful left tackles in the game. In the San Francisco forty nine for the past few years have been very smart about how they used him in practice. The Packers took the same approach with Brian Bulaga. Now, who's thirty years old. You know, in his tenth NFL season, he's seen it, he's done it. He's lived at in the NFL. They felt there was a need to be able to push him the way

they need that he's previously been pushed in practice. He can get his work, get his reps, be smart, and be healthy for the start of the season. The other thing that's impressive about that is it still puts him well ahead of where he was a year ago when he came back from the torn e c L in ten months. He did not actually practice in a live

capacity until the last week of training camp. He didn't play in a preseason game until the finale against Kansas City, and then oh, by the way, go block Khalil Mack and the opener. Seeing the difference in Bolaga this year, it's just incredible where he's at being able to have a full off season with those reps. He even put it out there he said he took more snaps that first week and a half of this year's training camp

than he did all of last offseason. With those practices with the Texans mix J. J. Watt, Whitney Merciless and getting live reps against opponents like that and Whitney Whitney Merciless, mind you, I think was the reigning a f C defensive player of the week. I mean, just the stretch that he's had, the competition that he's faced here early on, and the fact that he's doing what he's doing a big feather in his cap, But to those who know

him best, it's nothing out of the unusual. Yeah, I mean, I remember talking a lot last year just about how impressive it was that from when his a c L injury occurred in seventeen being late in the season, that then he was actually ready for the opener in eighteen. It was a tremendous achievement, quite frankly, But as you say, now, you look at it this year and there's just no substitute for the practice time, for the rest that he got, and and also obviously just being another year removed from

an injury like that. All of that has has added up to Brian Bulaga really starting the season off on a tremendous foot. Because after the Bears game, we weren't talking that much about Khalilick, And after the Vikings game, yes, Danil Hunter had a sack, but that actually didn't come against Bolag as far as a one on one matchup there, and both of those guys have been All Pro, either first team or second team over the last couple of years,

and now he's got I'm trying to remember now Miller. Yeah, he's gonna be He's gonna be matched with Von Miller on Sunday. And from what we understand what the Broncos, they don't move their guys around quite so much. It's probably going to be seventy five snaps or whatever the

number is, Brian Bulaga against Von Miller. Okay, here we go, and uh, it's it's gonna be a great matchup to watch on Sunday because these are these are two season pros who have done it and uh and both of them, quite frankly, are still very much on the top of their game. Was interesting when I was talking to Lindsley a little bit about this in its comments that Brian or I just said David botr Of echoed in the

past about Bulaga as well. So much of his story and the way it's been formatted has been around the injuries and the a c L tears and you know,

and that sort of thing. You could actually see in sense because I didn't even ask Lindsley about that, but you can see how much that bothers some of the people that are you know, friends, colleagues, teammates with Bolaga, because as Lindsley said, I mean, you've gotta understand what this guy is doing behind closed doors, what he is doing to put himself in the position that to make

him the player that he's become today. You're not going to find a harder working athlete in the Packers locker room. And really, you know, at his position for the way that he approaches this thing at the end of the day. And I wrote this, and we talked about this couple of weeks ago, and I wrote it an inbox. But I think history will be kind to Brian Blaga's career. I don't think people fully appreciate what they've had with him over the last ten years. Now, there's been some changes.

You know, the AP now recognizes the right tackle position when it makes their AP teams. Pro Bowl is still the same, you know, it's mostly all left tackles. But you know, I think when you look at guys like Lane Johnson, when you look at guys like Brian Blaga, it's showing you what how NFL offenses have adapted in the caliber of players that are manning that right tackle position now because of the Vaughan Miller's, because of the

Khalil Max. This is gonna be another big battle. Blaga said he doesn't care whether or not he gets the accolades, even though if some other people in his offensive line room feels like he should get them. His task is to go out there and pitch another shut out and that's where his sole focuses on. And whatever happens after that,

he'll let the chips fall where they make. Well. I think we're seeing and guys like Bolaga and David Bakti have talked about this, that the evolution of defenses in the NFL, it's not just about getting your one Reggie White as your premium pass rusher. And then this is I mean, these teams are loading up with past rushers. And yes, the guy for a right handed quarterback, the left tackle is the one protecting the blind side, which

is a little bit tougher job, so to speak. And I don't know if tougher is the right word, but it's, you know, because the quarterback doesn't have the eyes in the back. Yeah, And but that's not to say that the guys who are rushing on the other side against the right tackle or any are any less caliber these

days than maybe they were twenty five or thirty years ago. So, um, the match up, the matchups on the edges, it's it's been, they've been the matchups to watch through the first two games when you're talking Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd and Everson Griffin and Daniel Hunter, and now it's Von Miller

and Bradley Chubb. And now I don't know if the Packers are gonna necessarily have a three game gauntlet of pass rushers in a row quite like this later in the season, just the way this season has started, but it does seem that more often than not, you're not just talking about one edge rusher from another team, You're talking about both of them. And that's how the Packers

have built their defense now as well. It's funny you mentioned that too, because while they're not going to get a stretch of three like this again, they do have another stretch of Chicago and Minnesota in December. That's right back back back to back in Dember. In regards to having Van Miller on the end of that, that's a different type of problem, but it is coincidental how that schedule works out that you get Chicago Minnesota in September

and then Chicago Minnesota in December. Be that as it may. And you talked about it when you when you mentioned the right tackle position. Just ask Aaron Rodgers how important it is too, I mean, for him in this offense and even in Mike McCarthy's scheme, the the offensive lineman, this is a tough task for them and enabling him to have the time in which he wants to work, uh in giving him a clean pocket to you know,

be able to execute the plays under. Bilaga has seen it for the last ten years, and we talked you know so furvishly uh you know about you know, Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher and a lot of these great offensive linemen that the Packers have had over the is I really do believe when it's all said and done, you gotta put Bryan Blogg in that conversation too, because this is when you use a first round draft pick on the tackle position. You want a decade from that player.

You want to be able to plug that guy in and not worry about it again. And you know, with a few little bumps in the road, mostly on the injury side of things, Bolaga has given that to Green Bank well, and I still remember Bologa being I still believe he's the youngest player ever to start in a Super Bowl. He was barely over one years old as a rookie and he got matched up with James Harrison on a fair number of snaps as a rookie in the Super Bowl. And yet nobody was talking about James

Harrison after that Super Bowl. So, I mean, the guy has been doing it. And yes, there have been some bumps in the road with the injuries and whatnot, But regardless of the the accolades and some of that is just circumstance, as you mentioned, with how the voting and things like that go, this guy has been doing it since he came into the league, and very quietly, Mike, I mean, the guys started ninety seven hundred and one regular season games with the Green Bay Packers. I mean

that is a heck of a career. And as he said, I mean he has no plans on stopping. He sees himself with the bright future here in Green Bay and a lot of more football games to play this season to continue to live up to that type of playing potential. Yeah, Well, as the Packers get ready for the Broncos here on Sunday. It's been a little bit of an adjustment to the

practice schedule, and the Packers are not alone here. The fact is Matt Lafleur and his staff they're looking ahead to the fact that there's a short week next week with the Philadelphia Eagles coming in on Thursday night. And we saw on Wednesday both the Packers and the Eagles essentially canceled or adjusted their normal Wednesday practice to go to a walk through to save a little bit on

the players bodies and whatnot. In that sort of with that lens looking ahead to knowing that that next week is a short week, trying to plan ahead from a physical recovery standpoint. Now, it's it's an interest sting approach, does not not all teams have done this with Thursday night games over the years. I think it's a great approach. I thought it was very interesting that both Green Bay and Philadelphia both took the same attacked without, you know,

presumably conversating about it. Because here's the thing, Mike, I mean, you go into this next week, once that game gets played on Sunday afternoon, you're already into the region mode. You're already having to get ready for practice on Tuesday and a little bit on Wednesday, and then hey, by the way, Thursday night, you're playing football again, So it comes it comes fast. Next week is going to be a short, fast week if you look at an eight

day schedule. Yeah, your biggest shot to be able to take a little bit off of players is going to be that Wednesday, we're shooting this before practice on Thursday, conceivably players will be in pads. They won't be in pads next week. So I mean, just kind of figuring

out those pieces. I think it really shows, you know, Matt la Floor, what they thought about this, how they wanted to approach this thing, and making sure that Okay, if you have some bumps and bruises coming out of that that Minnesota game, you give the guys an extra twenty four hours, you do the mental stuff. They called it a mental day out on They're still presenting the game plan, going through the basics of the game plan for the opponent, They're just not doing it at full speed on the

practice field. Yeah, Because I mean, it is the biggest challenge in the National Football League is having to go from Sunday to Thursday and being able to make sure that you're right for that game. Remember how many times guys in the past have talked about it really isn't until Thursday till Wednesday that you start to actually feel recovered from that from the previous game. Anything that the team can do to kind of lessen that burden on

guys is valuable. Fortunately, as Aaron Rodgers pointed out, the Packers have been very lucky that they've been able to do these swings mostly at home. So you're gonna play against Denver, you're gonna be able to you don't have to travel, you sleep in your own bed. You're gonna

have that same opportunity going into the game. So there is that advantage because Mike, the reality is by September, if you can get through these next seven days, the Packers are in a real good position to be able to be, you know, three and one, four and oh somewhere in that realm to kind of leap frog yourself into that second quarter of the season. Yeah, exactly. Well, speaking of which, leap frogging, let's start our Friday show right now. How about that? Okay, So Keys to Victory,

that's how we always end the week. It's Packers Broncos, an uncommon opponent. The Broncos have not played at lambeau Field since two thousand eleven, if I have that correct. Yeah, two thousand eleven was the last time the Broncos were here in the regular season. So what stands out to you as the key, whether you want to talk offensive or defensive side of the ball, what are the Packers need to do to win this game? You and I discussed this week a lot of different scenarios Mike with

the Packers and especially how Denver's playing right now. Joe Flaccos off to a slow start. We talked about, you know, Lindsay off to a slow start in his second season. Certainly Miller Chubb no sacks at this point for the Green Bay Packers. There's gonna be certain things that are going to go right for the Broncos in this game. The law of averages says that's gonna happen. But you want to make sure you don't allow all those pieces

to go off. You want to make sure that you can you you, you know, you carry on for another week here being able to either stop Flacco or Lindsay or those pass rushers and do what you have to do to win this football game. Because here's the facts. Now, Mike, You've just won two games in the NFC North. You are out front in the division. You look at those NFL power rankings. Suddenly the Packers, who were sort of left for dead by some people going into the season,

now they're back in the driver's seat. You're taking on a Denver Broncos team that's OWEN two at this point. They've had some bad luck go their way, but it's still an OWEN two football team. You have to take care of business, so I you're you're not gonna be able to plug every hole. I understand that the game there's too many variables to it, but if they're able to make sure that they continue the slow start at little bit farther for the Denver Broncos, I think the

Packers were able to hold serve here against them. I think for me that what I look at on the offensive side of the ball. It really my thoughts for this game stem from what happened in the Minnesota game, and it's a couple of things that stick out to me because while Minnesota did make some adjustments defensively and started to clamp down and obviously slowed down the Packers

after that fast start. There were two things that I There are two areas that I felt the Packers still should have been able to control better and not let Minnesota necessarily get the momentum and get back into the game. And what I'm talking about is protecting the ball, because I thought Allison's fumble and then the fumbled snap in the second half were the fumbled shotgun snap. Those were both huge turnovers in the game that that really kind

of gave Minnesota life. And then the other thing was the short yardage stuff, because Matt Lafleur had talked about, you know, hey, let's stay in third and manageable, let's not be in these third and long situations. Well, sometimes you are going to get third and long situations that happens. You're not gonna play four quarters of football and not have a holding penalty or a sack or something that's

gonna put you in a bad spot. But the Packers had their share of short yardage opportunities against the Vikings and they didn't convert them. And this Broncos defense is not off to a very good start early in the year as far as stopping the run and the way the Packers ran the ball last week against Minnesota, I think Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams are gonna be able to churn out the yards that the Packers need on

first and second down. But if the Packers get in the third and one or third and two, they've got to convert those short yardage situations. They can't let those opportunities get away because you're gonna run into some third and tens and third and twelves where the Bradley Chubbs and von Miller's of the world are going to affect the game at some point. And this is where everything

comes back together. With the no takeaways, the no sacks for Denver's defense, they've been, you know, fairly stingy, given up yards, but their third down percentages not what they're looking for right now. I mean, they have three of twenty five opponents are thirty excuse me, of twenty five opponents are on third downs right now, and it's an even mesh. Fifteen of those first downs off the rush,

eighteen off the past four due to penalties. So I think that that's a huge opportunity for the Packers going into this game because when you look at vic fan Joe's defense, you think of pressure, you think of takeaways, and you think of stout third down play. Think of how many nightmares that he gave the Packers when he was in San Francisco, in Chicago through those three things. So no doubt, I just I really when you look at whether it is you have to win on first

and second down, that's what makes your life easier. But even you know, in some of those third and long situations, looking to get some of the route concepts together, and even if they know the past is coming, being able to still succeed and thrive. That's when this offense is at its best when you do move the ball appropriately. But in those situations where you've got to confer to third and nine, you do it. So I think you're right.

I think that that's one of the things that I really you know, Earmark going into this game, is if the Packers can succeed it that way, they're gonna have you know, things are going to happen. Yeah, well on

the defensive side of the ball. Again, my my thoughts for this game stem off of what happened in Minnesota, Because Minnesota got all of its points off of the big plays seventy yard touched on run, sixty one yard catch and run that led to a field goal, and then a forty five yard touched on past that Unfortunately Ji Year Alexander lost in the sun, or you might have picked it off, if not at least knocked it away.

But through two games, and two games is not a huge sample size, But through two games, I think the evidence is there that if if this Packers defense is making teams put together a methodical drive down the field that takes eight or nine, ten or eleven play, if they're gonna make them take that many snaps in order to score, this defense has a really good chance to get the stop. I mean that that's what we've that's

what we've seen so far. I actually looked. I think all of the scoring drives through the first two weeks for the opponent have in six plays or less, and it's because of a chunk play, you know, of of of a big play. Particularly against the Vikings, those big plays were what produced the points against this Broncos offense. And as you said, with Joe Flacco, he's not lighting

the world on fire right now. He's obviously an accomplished quarterback and the guys won a Super Bowl, and he does have a couple of really good weapons in the passing game. But I think if the if the Packers don't allow the big play, then I like their chances of of getting stops or at least forcing field goals and not letting a team into the end zone too often. So that that is the blueprint. I mean, that's what they have to do in this game. Because you also

can't get down on yourself. Joe Flacco is completing passes almost se so far. But one of the reasons why defense have been successful against the defense the offensive front of the Broncos is because they're tackling the receiver. They're not allowing big plays to happen. The few big plays that Denver has had with you know, you look at some of the things that Emmanuel Sanders has done have been off making guys miss and getting to the second level the yards after the running. So that's where I

think the Packers got to stay stout. They gotta stay fundamental. And then also you know, Zadarius and Preston Smith, they got to keep this pressure coming. I mean, they know that that's what their job responsibility is. That's not breaking news. But you know, we talked about Garrett Bowls some of the issues he's having right now. Five holding calls right off the bat. It's been a big topic in the Broncos locker room that they've had to discuss. You know,

five sacks allowed so far on Flacco. You want to keep it, you know, keep that coming because if you get that pressure in Flacco's face, we know what the type of quarterback he is. He likes to be in the pocket, He likes to be comfortably, likes to step into those big throws. That limits that and it also creates more opportunities for your gire Alexander's and Kevin King. So I still think and we're probably every single week

we do this. Might we're gonna be talking about the Smiths as long as they're on the field, but they really are a big catalyst to this defense accomplishing what it wants to accomplish. Yeah, no question about it. Well, looking ahead to the rest of Week three in the NFL, I want to get your thoughts on a game here that I don't think it's necessarily going to attract a lot of national attention, so to speak. But for Packers fans,

I think it's one to keep an eye on. And I'm talking about Detroit going on the road this week to play Philadelphia. Obviously Detroit being a division opponent. Uh they are. The Lions are one oh and one after a home victory over the the Los Angeles Chargers last week that a lot of people, including me, didn't think

they were going to win. But the Lions here with an opportunity to stay undefeated, I guess if you want to put it that way, and the Philadelphia Eagles being the team that the Packers are going to play on the short week on Thursday night, the Eagles are coming off of a tough road loss at Atlanta in prime time when they had a chance to win that game and get to two and oh, instead they are one

on one. They had a really impressive Week one comeback against Washington, one of their rivals from the NFC East, but then when they had a chance to come back against the Falcons, a couple of misquse a couple of the plays got away from him, and uh, the Eagles are one on one with with a big home game here, and the Eagles are hurting unit right now. Mike, if you watch that game from a week ago. I mean,

they were banged up. They with their injury report, like the Packers, they estimated it because they did not actually practice Corey Clement, Dallas Goddard, uh, Sean Jackson, Elshan Jeffrey, Tim Jurgen. I mean, uh, there are so many guys that would not have practiced for them. In addition to the fact that, you know, you also had the quarterback Carson Wentz leaving temporarily. So who's going to be healthy for this game on Sunday and then by proxy, who's

going to be available on Thursday night. That's gonna be a big thing for the Packers. If you're the Lions, who are still six and a half point dogs going into this game, I mean, this is gonna be a big moment for them. I mean I have to imagine that whatever feelings they had or whatever disappointment there was, you know, giving up that lead to the Cardinals, they got some of that back by taking the wind out

of the Charger sales a little bit. I'm just very interested to see which team is available for Philadelphia and that after all those injuries that they suffered, and exactly how the Lions respond to it. Yeah, well, a couple of other games that I think we'll have our eye

on Sunday that involve the quarterback injury situations. With regards to the Saints and Drew Brees being out and the Pittsburgh Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger out for the rest of the season, sounds like Breeze for the Saints will be out roughly six weeks or so. But New Orleans going on the road to Seattle. Where I mean, could the schedule have set up any nicer for the Seattle Seahawks. They get They get Zach Taylor for the Bengals as a rookie head coach. He gets sent to Century Link

Field for his first game. Okay, the Seahawks survived that. When they're want to know, they go to Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger gets hurt, so they win that one. Now they're too you know, coming back home for what looked like a huge game against the New Orleans Saints when you originally look at the schedule, and now Drew breezes out, so the Seahawks have a huge opportunity to get to three and oh while the Saints Sean Payton is talking about

using potentially two quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater, Taysom Hill. He's not announcing who the starter is gonna be or anything about his his specific plans. This is a really interesting one. It is really interesting. I mean, Teddy Bridgewater will be the starter. I mean, it's just that he's one of the highest paid, if not the highest paid backup quarterback in the league. They are credibly high on him. I

still imagine he's going to be the guy. But Taysom Hill is a great accessory piece to what they can do offensively as a receiver, as a tight end, as everything you can use him as, and at times a quarterback. So I bet you're going to see both of those guys. But for Bridgewater, this is such an important time, Mike, because this is a guy that had to get his

career back on track. The Saints bring him in, and now he actually has a chance to prove here in this next month and a half that he's still a starting quarterback in this league and he can be a franchise quarterback for somebody, maybe even the Saints someday. So it's a great opportunit the downside of it for him, while the Seattle defense isn't maybe as lockdown as it used to be. You're still playing in Century Link and you're still playing that is a tough place to play.

Bobby Wagner, can't chancer. All those guys are gonna be gunning for you. But you know it's it's gonna be a good one to watch as well. Yeah. Well, with regards to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they've lost Ben Roethlisberger for the season. The other reason I bring them up this week is because they are on the road at San Francisco to face a forty Niners team that is two and oh with an opportunity to go to three and oh. And this is a forty Niners team the Packers are

going to visit later this season. The forty Niners are with Jimmy Garoppolo, uh the second year with Kyle Shanahan as the head coach. This is a franchise that looks like maybe they're starting to put things together the way they wanted to look. We've talked a lot about Shanahan and La Fleur and mcvag and all these guys, but I just I have so much respect for Kyle Shanahan.

I mean, you look at their roster, you look at at offensive roster, you know, certainly you have George Kittle, who opened a lot of eyes last year, but there's not a lot of like household names, and yet he's still with his scheme with what they want to do effectively on offense, they hit all the notes to a t in Garoppolo. Now that he's healthy again, you know, there's gonna be some take you know, turnovers here and there.

He looks like he's gonna be that type of quarterback that might end up with like ten, twelve, fifteen picks a year. But he can throw it, man, and he isn't afraid to so seeing how they match up now against the Pittsburgh team that while they did, you know, make this trade for makeup Fitzpatrick for a first round pick, there's a lot of questions there with Mason Rudolph. Now is their quarterback that is going to be a big one to follow. Yeah, one other game I want to

get your thoughts on quickly. Has nothing to do with the Packers because it's two A f C teams and the Packers aren't necessarily involved here. But the two and oh Baltimore Ravens, the two and O Kansas City chiefs Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes really really interesting matchup here. What do you think, real interesting matchup and two teams that do it completly different. I mean, Patrick Mahomes is gonna throw for five thousand yards again this year. Lamar Miller

has proven he can throw. But their ground game is to be feared. Kansas City. The one question mark they had coming off the last season was their defense. They're going to be stressed in this game against mark Ingram and all those weapons that they have on the ground. It's gonna be a fun one to watch. Unfortunately you and I won't be able to, but I have to be scoreboard watching online with that one. But I mean we saw, yeah, we saw Lamar Jackson in the preseason.

The Packers are gonna see Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in that offense mid season this year in a in a big Sunday night game down to Arrowheads. So this this is this is one of those that got to make sure we catch the highlights. I guess when we get a chance, right. I'm just surprised they didn't put this on Sunday night for Monday Night football, like off the bat with the schedule, I know there were some questions about Baltimore and what they were to look like

last year. But I also think we saw enough to know that Lamar Jackson was for real and they were a playoff team. And so this is again it's one that I wish, I wish I would be able to check out. But seeing how they you there and if he can go tip for tat with the m v P, it's a big test. Yeah, all right, Well with that we will call it a rap on this combo edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and of Sunday's big Week three

matchup with the Broncos at lambeau Field. Will have all of it on Packers dot com. Subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services. On Twitter, He's at west Hod, I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you next time.