#465 Packers Unscripted: A return and remembrance

at practice now on a limited basis. No guarantees for Sunday, but there's a lot of optimism that this could be the week the Packers get Davante Adams back on offense after sing four games with the toe injury. Well, and I'm sure the Packers are knocking on wood right now with all this. But the biggest sign here of progress is the fact there's been no setbacks last week. He started stretching a little bit more on Wednesday. He's running

routes out there now. They didn't have the helmets on, but he was qualified as a limited participant, which would be his first official return to practice in the last months since he sustained that turf toe injury against Philadelphia, So all of those things checking the right boxes for Green Bay. It was really interesting listening to Vante Adams at his locker um after the practice ended on on

Wednesday evening. You know, when he's he said many of the similar things that he said in the past few weeks. He wants to be healthy, but he started saying, you know, it's gonna be up to the doctors now. He was mentioning the doctors. In the past, it was always about how he was feeling. So by all accounts, I mean, he's feeling pretty good right now with where he's at with this thing. Now, you do want to be smart.

You don't want to have any type of aggravation. That's what the rest of this week of preparation is going to be for and determining whether or not he can play in l A. But to at least be in this place that the Packers are at right now seven and one four or no without him what a you know, a big thing it would be for this offense to get him back here, um these next two games before

the bye week. Yeah, and it was interesting. I asked Aaron Rodgers at his locker, knowing that Adams had returned to practice, So what's the mindset he wants to see from these other young receivers that Jake Kumros and Alan Lizard's whose opportunities have increased and they've come through and called upon in Adam's absence. But obviously, if Adams is back in the lineup, the snaps for those other guys are going to go down. They aren't going to get

as many chances. And Aaron Rodgers said flat out, hey, they still have to be ready. I mean, for one, you're still only one play away. But the interesting part I also thought that he said was number two, these guys have earned chances and it doesn't mean you just send him to the bench completely. These guys have earned an opportunity to be in the rotation on a regular basis.

And I think that's the most intriguing part about where the Packers offense goes from here when you get Adams Adams back, if it is this Sunday or if it's next week, whatever the case might be. But that we kind of went into the start of the regular season thinking, Okay, you've got Adams, You've got MVS, you've got Allison. It seems like the you know, the list of options has expanded because of what some of these guys have done

over the last month. And that's a positive thing because I know there's been teams I've covered in the past where it's like, okay, well it's the top three guys and then that's who you live with, and this is an option. I think one thing you never want to see, you know, MVS or Allison get hurt. But the one thing I think the packers learned about this receiving corps when those guys are working through their stuff is that they can rotate, be multiple and still be effective on offense.

It's been a very balanced approach in the last two and a half weeks with how Matt Lafleur and Elvis Woitted have sort of passed around these snaps. Very balanced across the board for all these guys, and I think you've seen it. I think last week you saw Alan Lazard five catches for forty two yards. That's not going to jump off the page at you, but a lot of those catches were designed. You know reads four Alan

lazare those are plays made for him. Jake Cumro made some significant catches early on, and certainly John Willison has been such a big veteran presence here for the Packers for that last three years, that that his you know, you know, being able to move the chains and and the options he gives you there are something you have to take into account as well. The thing about Davante Adams is when he's back, okay, he's gonna eat up the snaps. You want to have him on the field

as much as humanly possible when he's healthy. But the different types of combinations that Matt with floor is gonna be able to run with now and and scheme up it only you know, you know, increases the flexibility unpredictability of this offense when you can turn to that many different skill position players to to step up. Well, I'm curious just where the chess match goes from here in terms of defensive coordinators and how they want to combat

the Packers offense. Because what Aaron Jones did in Kansas City. I made the comment and Insider in box earlier this week, the chess matches started for real. Because what Jones did with a hundred and fifty plus yards receiving over two hundred total yards Okay, you've got to make a decision. Do you go with a linebacker, do you go with a dB? How light do you want to be if the Packers decided to run the ball. Now you throw

Davante Adams back into that mix. Who at the start of the season, most defensive coordinators would say, Okay, we put a corner there. A lot of time, we're going to shade a safety over the top. We're going to make sure that number seventeen doesn't beat us. Well, there's another pretty significant chess piece here now with number thirty three for Matt Lafleur and this offense. I'm really really curious and really interested to see where it goes. That

used you use the word unpredictability a minute ago. I think that's where we're headed. Yeah, I think the number one beneficiary of what Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams have both put on film the last couple of weeks is going to be Davante Adams. I mean teams. I mean, we had that one play against Chicago where you know, everyone was making fun of it, but he was counting all the defenders that the Bears had on that one in completion. Yeah, that was kind of reality though, with

much they were shading coverage in his direction. That can kind of change here, because now if you're forcing those safeties to take into account where Aaron Jones is in the flat or Jamal Williams between the tackles and and things of that nature, that's going to reduce some of those restrictions on Davante Adams and how much attention coordinators

can really truly give the receiver. The thing I really enjoyed the most though about that game plan against Kansas City that I did not see happening as we went into that game last week, was, you know, I looked at the you know, the run defense for Casey, I saw some of the big plays they'd allowed in that capacity, and I am assuming, you know, Steve Spagnola, they were looking at, Okay, how do we make sure that we stopped these guys and not allow them to run on us?

So what was the counter to that? Before he even got to that blow. It was getting Aaron Jones out in space. It was using those guys on wheel roads, it was motioning them in, lining them up in the slot in different areas of the receiving um. You know, Tree incredible adjustment I thought the Packers made, and I think that allowed them to be able to get in front of this thing. If the more Aaron Jones catches passes, the more touches that those two guys get, that that's

going to really spring this this offense moving forward. And I even wrote an insider inbox today you can start to send us a trend here week to week when we're talking about, Okay, what do the Packers need to do to be successful? They gotta get Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams going, and that has been a big key, and especially during this time that they haven't had Davante Adams. Yeah, and if you get the play call in and get out of the huddle and get up to the line

of scrimmage, then Aaron Rodgers can survey things. And if Aaron Jones is out wide, he can say all right, hey, get over here, let's get back in the backfield. Maybe Rogers see something else that he can take advantage of, depending on how the defense lines up. So there's a lot that a lot that can continue to evolve. I think we've seen My point is that we've seen an

evolution of the Packers offense. But it's not done evolving when you're gonna throw Davante Adams back into the mix in the midst of a four game winning streak and

a team that's seven and one at the halfway point. Yeah, absolutely, And just I think this game on Sunday is going to be critical for all this too, because you know, Matt Lafleur said, there's still planning for it to be a road environment, but there's a very good possibility and probability that it's going to be a Packers heavy crowd that they might not have to move to the silent

count like they did last week against Casey. Seeing these pieces fall into place now for Green Bay, if you can get Davante healthy and keep him healthy, man, going into a bye week and having the second half of your season coming up, your really position well here to make a run. Yeah. Well, another topic we need, definitely

need to talk about today. I want to send out a huge congratulations to you, sir, because the piece that you posted on our website yesterday on Tyler Lancaster, his family story, the loss of his father and everything that the family dealt with and where Tyler is now as a second year defensive lineman A guy who wasn't recruited, he wasn't drafted. You look at where he is, He's coming off of making the biggest play of his young career. Kudos to us. Absolutely fantastic piece. And I would encourage

all hackers fans. If you haven't read this story on Tyler Lancaster, please set aside some time to do so. Yes, it is long. Set aside the time, but I say it's long, but it's worth it. Um set aside the time to read it, absorb it. You really will enjoy getting to know this young man. And I think you enjoyed getting to know him as well. I did. And and certainly you were the first one to write about him when he came to Green Bay. And there has been a lot written on Tyler's story, a lot of

really good pieces Chicago Tribune. I'm not the first one to tell the story of Tyler and Brad Lancaster, but what I hope to do with it, And as I wrote this an insider inbox, I wanted because we're almost two years removed from this now, And Entyler even said, after I talked to him a couple of weeks ago, you know, once you're allowed to process things a little

bit more. You start to see the big picture and you start to you know, really be able to pull out the memories and take some of the emotion out of it. And and that's what's special for him now.

And I think that, you know, having a chance to talk with him and his mom, his fiance, Megan, was fantastic for the story as former high school football coach, a couple of the guys in the locker room that he played with a Northwestern seeing the maturation of this guy and how he's overcome what he's overcome, and think about it, Mike, as you were saying all the things that you know in terms of scholarship and NFL, and just how nobody really ever seemed to want to give

him his due, even though he had a good pro day, even though it seemed like he could really be an NFL player. You know, teams, you know, schools, they didn't really catch onto his fire right away. And with everything he dealt with his dad his senior year and and you know, trying to tell Brad's story a little bit, who this guy was and why Tyler he meant so

much to Tyler. He's you know, Megan said it better than I could have ever written, which is that you just you want for him so badly to succeed because of everything he's invested in the fact that he has not had a single door open for him. There's a little joke amongst the family where he Tyler always says, I'm so lucky to be where he's at, and Megan says, no, no, you're not. And you know, even a direct quote from her, she said, everything that you've done a d it's been

because of what you have actually he earned. Nobody opened up any doors for you. And it's just an incredible story. I know there are some curmudgeons in Insider Inbox that we're commenting that you know, was doing too much of a victory lap patting myself on the back, but I really wish people and you were the first one to

point this out to me. The submissions we got after the story came in, I estimated, honestly, Mike, I estimated the submissions were somewhat oriented around Tyler's story because everybody could relate to it. Yeah, everybody's had been touched by cancer, everybody's lost to fit, you know, someone by cancer, and hearing those stories, I really wish that I could have just posted an inbox where was just people recounting, you know, their their brothers and sisters and mothers and sons and

people who have lost. That is human emotion and that's why I found his story so captivating. And hopefully I did it justice. Yeah, no, you certainly did, and it was It's an enjoyable read. I think this is the thing that I when I sat and talked to Lancaster when he first got here. It was his first day actually in the Green Bay Packers locker room. He's an undrafted rookie. He was one of those guys. Obviously, I'm a little biased because of the Northwestern thing, I'll admit that.

But what was interesting to me is that, you know, even if Tyler Lancaster had not had not made it with the Packers and not made it in the NFL, he already has one heck of a story because when you you look at how few opportunities he had to even get into college football, and he gets a scholarship to Northwestern, he gets an offer, he goes there, and you know how these college programs they have their different traditions and whatnot, and one of them at Northwestern as

it is at a lot of schools. Are those single digit jersey numbers. Well, Tyler Lancaster, a three d pound defensive lineman, ends up wearing jersey number one at Northwestern. That's a big Dealwestern. Yeah, for the Northwestern Wildcats, that's a big deal. And and Pat Fitzgerald, he has been the head coach there for a long time. Those are

things that are not taken lightly in that program. And the fact that a guy who he wasn't recruited by the Ohio States and the Michigan's and the Alabama's and the U c l as of the world, that he goes to Northwestern and then ends up with that type of honor. As I say, I think his story is fantastic, whether he had made anything of himself in the NFL

or not. And then the fact that he did. He here he is in the NFL in his second year playing a good share of snaps for the Green Bay Packers on the defensive line, as an undrafted guy who couldn't get anybody's attention during the draft. To get that type of opportunity. Um his um, his his story, His story is a great one. And and uh and the strength the support, everything that his family has given him, with everything that the family has gone through along the way. UM,

really really special. Yeah, and one of my favorite anecdotes that actually didn't make it into the story was Okay, So he finally gets a scholarship offer from Northwestern and he's excited. This came after a camp with Northwestern they let him go without when they ended up calling him back and saying, yeah, we're gonna give you one of our last ones for the thirteen class. And one of his first questions was, oh, that's cool, Like how much does that pay for? And they're like all of it.

He's like, oh shoot, like he thought he was getting like a partial scholarship something. They're like, no, yeah, we'll pay for a couple of classes and we want you to play some football though that that wasn't the deal. It was a little bit bigger. And if you read the story, you know his story. Um, nothing ever came easy,

even when he got the scholarship. He dealt with the sleep app knee, he had the injuries, everything he's had to work for, and his father, Brad passed away at the age of fifty five in January of two thou eighteen. Weeks after his final college game. I have to imagine he's smiling down. A hard working guy there. They were not a wealthy family growing up, but as as you know, Tyler said, you know, they enjoyed everything. He appreciated everything that his father did from even if he couldn't be

at all the football games. And obviously now with his mom being able to come up and see all these games in Green Bay, and Brad obviously, uh, you know, getting a chance to you know, really relish this opportunity that his son has been able to achieve. Well, I remember from the first time I talked to him, the one quote that stood out to me is that he said, he said, there is no bigger fan of Tyler Lancaster than Brad Lancaster. And if if nothing else, that's got

to stick with you. As I said, take the time to read the story. It's a great piece, but I know we gotta go. We're a little short on time today, so we're going to call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot Com. Like us, subscribe to us on iTunes and other podcast services. On Twitter, he's at West hod at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.