#552 Packers Unscripted: Unsung heroes

to be showing some signs of progress. So here at the break, I want to get your thoughts on what we might refer to as the unsung heroes on this team. Let's start on the offensive side. Is there somebody that maybe we haven't talked about a whole heck of a lot on this show, on the offensive side of the ball, that you would consider an unsung hero in this four no start, Yeah, Mike, I'm gonna go with Lucas Patrick as the answer to that question. Now. For for a

number of reasons. One, Lucas started this season. I remember, if you go back to August, we were having a conversation with him about how he was making sure that he was staying ready. He was wearing a COVID type I think oakally face mask to make sure that you know, he stayed healthy and was accountable in case they ended up needing him as a sort of that inside backup

at the top three interior positions. Well, then, as it turns out, because of the injuries at right tackle, he starts the opener against Minnesota and then unfortunately the injury to Lane Taylor and Lucas Patrick has become a starting offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers. And what I really like about him is is he has a lot of the same intangibles I think as t J. Lang had during his running Green Bay. He's a very nice guy. I mean, you can sit down and have a really intelligent,

thoughtful conversation with Lucas Patrick. Obviously not right now, but in general you can do that. And but once he's on the field, man, there is just a mean streak in him. And there's a couple of offensive line I think Corey Lindsley was the one who mentioned it last week, the way that he finishes plays. Uh, some defensive lineman don't necessarily like it. It's caused him pushing and shoving and practices the past few years of training camp, even

in Green Bay. But I think it just shows you the type of approach that Lucas has and where he's come from. He's a very humbled beginnings kind of kid. He's self made through and through, whether it was his education or now being in the National Football League, and he plays with that edge to him. Uh, nobody is

his friend on the opposite side of the field. He needs to, you know, continue to show that he deserves this opportunity, and very quietly, Mike, in the first month, this first month of the season, Lucas has become a starting offensive lineman and that isn't gonna be changing anytime soon. He looks like he's the starting right guard. Yeah, and I am totally with you here. In terms of the unsung heroes, I guess it's natural to look at the

offensive line, and I'm gonna go there as well. First, I want to say, definitely a shout out to Addam Stenovich, the offensive line coach, for all of the injuries that the Packers have dealt with on the offensive line, the shuffling around and everything that you mentioned, this unit has held together. It is it has executed, it hasn't been noticed who's playing in what spot, and that's a credit to Stenovich and to assistant offensive line coach Luke Butkus.

So I definitely want to get that out there. But I am with you as far as the offensive line. And I'm going to mention the name of Corey Linsley, and I know we have talked about him a little bit on the show, so I'm probably breaking my own rule a little bit in that respect, but I'll say this, If Corey Lindsley is going to get to a Pro Bowl at some point here in his career, man, you would think it would be this year. The way this has started, the way the Packers, the way the Packers

offense has gotten off to this start. It's ranked at the top of the league, and so many categories. Corey Linsley and Aaron Rodgers have been completely on the same page, and Rogers has talked about it. With regards to the protection calls, the adjustments that are made up front, all of that communication falls on Corey Lindsley, and you know, Rogers has talked about it. He's only been sacked three times in four games, and he blames himself for for

two of those. So um, I think you know number sixty three in the middle of it all here for the Packers on the offensive line, and I totally agree with you going with number sixty two. Lucas Patrick is another guy in this discussion. What the Packers have done up front, especially on the the interior, that offensive line has been pretty impressive. Yeah, and and just a touch on your your pick of Lindsley as well. Yeah, he's a starter. Yeah, he's been entrenched, and certainly we have

talked about him. But I think this is a guy that over the course of his six seven years has really gone unappreciated, underappreciate, I should say in Green Bay. You know, I go back to two thousand and fourteen, Mike, and I kind of wrote about this last week in the feature I did on him. You know, I remember being at the Prescazette and this was the guy the very modest expectations as a fifth round pick. JC Treder suffered.

I believe it was that knee injury right before the start of the season, and and Corey had to start that first game against Seattle without having taken any preseason snaps with Aaron Rodgers very minimal, uh snaps with him in practice during training camp, and here he is low and behold as the starting week one center for Green Bay.

And he got a lot of praise those first two years, and there was a lot of you know, pushing for him to be and make a Pro Bowl and then for whatever reason in sixteen seventeen eighteen, it got quiet again. Now he has been a Pro Bowl alternate the past two years. But I do think when you talk about a guy that has really shown his stripes as a leader and also just a really darn good offensive lineman, a guy like Corey Lindsley, I don't think you can

really say enough about him. Yeah, I totally agree. Alright, defensive side of the ball, who's your unsung hero through this four game winning streak? West, Yeah, there's a lot of guys you could say here. Um, I'm gonna actually kind of split this award a little bit. I'm gonna give it to Tyler Lancaster and Kingsley Kikey and and the reason I want to do that is because on the other side of this, and obviously you were a part of Kenny Clark's conference call on Saturday, and I

had asked Kenny about this. One thing the Packers needed to learn here earlier in the year is who are they going to be able to count to make sure that Kenny doesn't have to play of the snaps this year, in this last three weeks. It is not the way you want to do it. You do want to not have you know, Kenny Clark available for you know, it would be the last what fourteen quarters now he needs to be on the field. He's a pro bowler and he's a He's a guy that really does make that

defensive front work. He makes everybody's life easier. But the one thing that this challenge the Green Bay Packers to do was to find other guys on the defensive line that are gonna be able to take some of the pressure off Kenny when he does return. I think Lancaster and Kiki have done that in entirely different ways. Lancaster has basically been the nose tackle that one technique right over the center here in the base packages, and he's

gotten better every single week. It hasn't always been perfect, but I thought he's really put together two of his better performances, maybe the best performances he's had in two plus seasons with Green Bay. In back to back weeks here, certainly the way he stood, he showed out and really clogged up the middle of the field there for Todd Gurley in that game against Atlanta. But then you look

at Kiki too. You know, there are a lot of years here the last few seasons since Mike Daniels has been gone, where it has to be Kenny Clark is that one defensive lineman in the dime package. I think Key has shown that he's up for that duty as well. He obviously had a sack there two weeks ago and then also contributed another out of the base package. He's made a big jump this year in year two, and he has sort of some of those Mike Daniels type qualities.

He's not the biggest defensive lineman in the world, but he's powerful and he's playing with more power this year. I think Kiki and Lancaster two unsung guys that are gonna make the packer's job a lot easier here as a season wears on on the d line. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And in fact, you stole my thunder a little bit with regards to Tyler Lancaster. But you knew your western I should have anticipated that you knew you were doing that. Anyway, I'll say this though, too,

just to follow up on that, Mike Petton. It wasn't. It wasn't a big blown up comment by any means. But last week after the New Orleans game, when Mike Petton met with the media, he slipped a line into one of his answers about the defensive line and he said, Tyler Lancaster did like right around a hundred percent when they when they graded the snaps from the Saints game. So that prompted me like, huh, I wonder what that's all about. So now after the Falcons game, I've taken

a look at the the defensive film. After I did my what you might have Missed on za Darius Smith, which is posted on Packers dot Com, I went back and looked at everything from Tyler Lancaster in the Falcons game. So I'm actually gonna put together another What you Might Have Missed next week since we don't have a new

game to look at. But I'm telling you, Tyler Lancaster's film from the Atlanta game really really is impressive and uh and I'm excited to put that together, So keep an eye out for that early next week to throw another name out there West in this unsung hero category.

On the defensive side, I'm going to say Adrian Amos and I know on our last show I talked about that great play he made coming over knocking the ball out of Calvin Ridley's hands, you know, at the goal line when the Falcons are trying to score on that fourth and tent play. But here's the here's the thing with with Amos, It's it's not so much the splash

plays like that that that really get noticed. How often have you seen in these four games, even with the times the defense has had its struggles, how often have you seen a miscommunication on an assignment on who's covering who and who's supposed to be where. That hasn't really happened on defense thus far. And I credit Adrian Amos a lot for that. He's the communicator in the back end. He's the one who's you know, relaying the checks and calls to the corners and and the other defensive backs

who are out there. I think Amos has done a really really solid job now that he's in his second year of of Mike Patton's defense, and I know, hey, everybody on this defense has missed a tackle here and there. I know we saw Amos took a bad angle on the one run by Kamara in New Orleans that got out of the gate, you know, Okay, so that happens. From a communication standpoint, I really think Adrian Amos has

been a very, very valuable player in Patton's defense. Yeah, to throw one more out there too, Mike, almost as an honorable mentioned And I probably should have done this, gentleman instead, So you could have still had Tyler Lancaster upted. It's unscripted. There's no preproduction meeting anymore, especially during the COVID era, So right, we don't we can't get together and do that kind of You can always text, I guess, but I mean you know that that is no. Hey,

let's throw this one out there to Chris Barnes. Now, Now, Barnes did suffer a shoulder injury. You hope for his sake he's gonna be okay coming out of this. But you know, Barnes is a guy, Mike. You know, for a number of years here, the Packers have really struggled to fill that rung linebacker spot. It was a spot that you know, really Jake Ryan held down pretty well for the better part of four seasons, and Ryan was

kind of an underrated player in that regard. People's you know, sometimes there isn't that appreciation if you're not a three down linebacker. There's not that appreciation for what those guys do on the early downs. I think Chris Barnes is reminding everyone so far with what he's done through the first month of the season exactly how effective that position can be when played properly. And he came relatively out

of nowhere. This is a guy that I wrote a story on him during the offseason program, and and certainly he had his credentials he played at u c l A. But I'd be lying if I told you that one of the main reasons I pursued it was because he was Jordan's Love's teammate in high school. And here he comes. He was a credential four star athlete when he went to U c l A. For whatever reason, kind of flew under the radar in the draft process, hurt by

the fact he didn't have a pro day. The Green Bay Packers snatch him up, and here he is Week one ends up playing with the defense this past week ends up sharing the communication helmet duties with Ty Summers when Christian Kirksey now is on injured reserve. This is a guy, Mike, that he isn't just a thumper. He's not just a guy that's gonna get down the ball here. He can make open field tackles. He's showing some stuff

in coverage Green Bay Packers, Mike. Over the years, obviously you and I have talked at nauseum about the undrafted free agent process and the college free agency and how important that is to building a fifty three man roster. Chris Barnes, very quietly, for a guy that did start the season on the practice squad, has been a really

sharp addition for this defense here in the early going. Yeah, and we've actually heard from a few of our insider inbox readers out on the West Coast to have mentioned that Barnes wasn't necessarily a totally healthy linebacker as he finished up his career at U c l A. And that may have been part of the reason he did fly under the radar and go undrafted, not just because you know, he didn't have a Pro day and whatnot.

He might not have had, you know, all that the best of his film might not have been what um, you know, scouts and and and other folks were looking at. So the Packers look like they um, you know, they scored another undrafted gem there with regard to Barnes um quickly, a little bit of sponsored business here. West Serious x M NFL radio channel is the only radio outlet dedicated to the National Football League seventies a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year. And everyone also needs

to gear up for game day. Open a Packers checking account from Associated Bank and score a fifty dollar Packers Pro Shop gift card. Learn more at Associated bank dot com. Backslash Packers. All right, we was before we take a break here for the bye weekend. The Packers will not be playing in Week five obviously in the NFL, but there are some other interesting games to keep an eye on. First and foremost Thursday Night Football, the Chicago Bears against

the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So here you're talking about the team. The Packers are going to play Tampa Bay coming right out of the by and the team that as of now looks like the Packers biggest challenger for the NFC North title in the three and one Chicago Bears. How do you see this one shaping up on Thursday Night football? Yeah, if the Packers had their druthers here, I think they'd be hoping for a tie, really demoralizing, depressing, uh tie

in which neither team plays particularly well. Uh No, I mean this is gonna be a good little battle, and really seeing how the Bears bounce back is going to be the biggest really indicator I think of where their

season is heading Tampa Bay. It's really funny, Mike, for as many issues as they had a year ago, and certainly Jay Ms Winston's interception streak at the end of the year got a lot of attention, kind of overshadowed the fact they had a pretty darn good defense and a lot of playmakers on that side of the ball. How exactly does Nick Foles bounce back from kind of

a downtrodden performance. That's gonna be huge. And then also, Mike, father time still cannot locate Tom Brady, and there were some you know, ups and downs early on and people are wondering what he's gonna look like at age forty three. Well, last week he looked like Tom Brady and he looked like he's having a lot of fun doing it. So I'm I've said it from the beginning, Mike. If you go back and play back, the unscripted is that you

and I did. I think in early August the Packers Buccaneers game, that's the one I had circled on my schedule all along, just because you don't get these type of matchups very often. And and it added a new layer with seeing Tom Brady once again for Green Bay. But Bears started off, they won the games they're supposed to win. Now they're seeing some real tough competition. Are

they the team that they felt they were? Well, what you said about Brady is really interesting because after Week one, the Buccaneers have a big NFC South matchup against the New Orleans Saints. That's how they start their season. The Saints get to win. Not that anybody was super surprised by that, but in this age of the instant analysis and the snap judgment, everybody wants to write off Tom Brady. Oh, it's not gonna work in Tampa Bay. You know Brady

is on the decline. Well, then what's he doing Less than a month later, Yes, he throws a pick six against the Chargers. That helps put his team in a to seven hole. But he brings his team back from that to seven hole with a vengeance against a pretty darn good Chargers team that looks like they've got a rookie quarterback who's gonna be their guy of the future. And uh and the Buccaneers end up winning that winning that game against the Chargers, coming back from a seven

team point deficit. They're sitting at three and one, and guess what, They're in first place in the NFC South despite losing Week one to their division rival, the New Orleans Saints. So and you said it with regard to the Bears, this is all about Nick Foles and how does he bounce back. He comes off the bench, leads the big comeback against the Atlanta Falcons. Everybody in Chicago is all fired up, all right, now they've got their quarterback.

And then the Indianapolis Colts completely shut down that Chicago Bears offense and they lose at home. They're sitting at three and one, and now they've they've got a big game here with with Tampa Bay on a national stage heading into Sunday. We talked on our last show about Sunday Night football will be the Vikings and the Seahawks, and that's obviously going to be a big game that a lot of Packers fans will have their eye on.

So with the Bears playing on Thursday night, with the Vikings playing on Sunday night, and with the Lions being on the bye week along with the Packers, what do you watch on Sunday afternoon? West Let's see something. Well, depending on where exactly you are right now in our country, the two big matchups. I have my eye on one just because of following what has been going on in Atlanta.

How do they do against Carolina? Uh, you know these things doesn't really have huge playoff implication Asians right now, but this is probably the game where they have to be able to find a way to win it, and or there could be you know, maybe you're looking at the type of changes that that Houston went through, but also the Oakland Oh man, I caught myself there the veas Mike my goodness against Kansas City, and obviously there's been a lot of stuff in the media here about

Kansas City. We'll see how the week plays out, but you know, the Raiders are a team that they've done good things, and they've had moments. Are they able to sustain them? Because this is the biggest test for a lot of time, a lot of years. They talked about the rebuild, they talked about all these things. The moves that they made this offseason weren't the type of moves of rebuilding team makes. They were making a push here two and two. They've had some eyes, they've had some lows,

and then Kansas City's Kansas City. This is a measuring stick game, and especially in that division, these are the type of matchups that you have to win if you're really gonna compete for a playoff spot. Yeah, that will be a big game out there in the f C West. I will throw another one at you, and it is

the Giants against the Cowboy Ways. And I bring that one up for a couple of reasons, not only because it's just interesting to follow what's going to be happening here in Dallas with Mike McCarthy taking over there being in his first season as head coach of the Cowboys. But here's the thing, West, if the Giants beat the Cowboys, and if the Steelers beat the Eagles, which they would

be favored to do. And if the Rams beat Washington, which they should be favored to do, through five weeks, there will be every team in the NFC East will only have one victory apiece. Like it's actually it's it's not just possible, it's it's you know, there's there's a legitimate chance of this happening here that after five weeks every team, no, no, team in the NFC East will

have two victories. Now the Cowboys are the Cowboys have the best chance to uh to change that narrative, get their second victory against the Giants team that is struggling, dealing with injuries and all that. But this, this story with regard to the NFC East is not going away. Well.

And let's be honest about something here. I mean, for whatever reason, I don't watch the Eagles enough week to week to tell you exactly what has sort of hampered them since they're Super Bowl win and why they've been kind of hovering near that mark for so long now.

But Dallas was built to compete this year. They were built to contend for a championship and and this is gonna be the type of game that I think, well, one obviously the division ramifications of it are huge, but you gotta start picking some of these up, and you can't just be because realistically, Mike, they're one on side kick away from potentially being at own four at this point.

So that's gonna be that's gonna be absolutely critical. And in looking at that division as a whole, they've already made the announcement Dwayne Haskins not gonna be starting for Washington. It's very interesting that the reports are right now that Haskins won't even be active, So that means, for the first time since his gruesome leg injury, Alex Smith will be active in this game. So if things don't really go well early on, could you be looking at Alex

Smith retaking the reins there in Washington. So many things to figure out with that division, and unfortunately Mike, for the better part now of what four years, basically since almost Tom Coughlin was with the Giants, Uh, there's just been this weird thing going on in that division where nobody's really ever been a clear front runner and everybody's

kind of within striking distance of the lead. Yeah, it's gonna be an interesting division to follow, regardless of regardless of who ultimately emerges, because the way it works West is whoever wins that division, however many wins it is, they're not only in the playoffs, but they get the host of playoff game. That's that that that is how it works here. So so it'll be it'll be interesting to follow that as the season goes along. Yeah, and and just looking back to the Packers very quickly will

close on this. I mean, this is kind of a huge week when you look at the way that this shuffles out. You have Houston, who's gonna be coming up on the schedule there oh and four going up against Jacksonville. They just made their coaching change. We already talked about the vikings and and them trying to get the you know, their situation straightened out, going and facing a tough Seahawks team on the road. And honestly, might keep an eye too on that matchup between the San France score forty

Niners in Miami. That's almost kind of like the old boxing match right where the contender, the champion, loses a couple and then they get a tune up fight. It's kind of a tune up fight here for the forty Niners. Can they still prove in a division that appears to be pretty jam packed and Seattle is not allowing them to stay within the race right now. Can they pick up a win that they most definitely need with them now within the radars for the Packers in the next

month or so, Yeah, no question about it. Well, with that we will sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted. We should have follow all of our coverage of the team this week through the bye weekend. Lots of content available on Packers dot com for Wes. I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.