#600 Packers Unscripted: Bright Lights

at lambeau Field without a thunderstorm, right. You think you're gonna have a nice night. You want some fireworks, you want all that stuff Mother Natures like, hold my umbrella. It was incredible. And then the thing that was great about it is there's been years where you see the radar, you know what's coming, and it's trying to get the thing in this particular one beginning to end rain the

entire time. But you know, I enjoyed it, and I was down on the field because there was a little bit of a mix up and figuring out when practice was gonna end. Win. Media need to be in the auditorium if they were going to do fireworks or not. So I was actually on the field for like a good forty minutes at the end of the game, and that I decided to stay dry. But go ahead, you've you've you ended up being a lot better off than

I was. But that was the first time I've been on the field during a live action lambeau Field activity since bart Star returned for Brett Farves Hall of Fame or his number retirement in two thousand fifteen. I believe it was. So it was a cool festivity to be a part of and just feeling the energy from the crowd. Yes they were wet, Yes it was a little humid, but you could just tell how excited people were to have to be back in lambeau Field and also the

players being able to kind of feed off that energy. Mike, how many times last season when you and I were sitting in our quarantine suite because we were in the tier group that was tested every day, did you and I say to each other like, this just doesn't feel the same as an empty stadium, and that that feeling was back to normal with thirty four thousand people or

whatever it was in in the bowl. Yeah, just shy of thirty five thousand braved that weather, and I give him a lot of credit for for sticking it out. And we'll be looking forward to an even larger crowd here as things ramp up for the first preseason game this weekend, and then of course not too far down the road will be an absolutely packed house when the regular season arrives. But what were your observations from Family night. Obviously it wasn't the cleanest practice in the world because

of the conditions. Um, you know, guys had to fight through some things there. I thought, on balance, the defense probably got the better of things overall, both with the with regard to the first and the second units. But what stood out to you, and as they should when it was raining the way it was raining from beginning end, and especially that last thirty minutes where it was almost kind of monsoon type conditions, Maybe not necessarily from the

Downpourt perspective, but just how wet the field was. I felt like there were three things that stood out to me. One, Aaron Rodgers is just on a different planet when it terms of throwing a football. We saw him in practice. I tweeted out, I got like likes out of it, really improving my social credibility. Uh with him throwing making the bucket shot in practice on Thursday, Well, there they go out. I think it was from the forty line, forty yard line wherever. That was, same exact deal and

Rogers drains two of them. Yeah, back to back, no less back. I mean, the guy is whatever you want to say. And I think the question was asked. I'm forgetting if it was to Al Lazar or who talked about it. But you know, if there was ever a guy that doesn't need an offseason program, it's Aaron Rodgers. He jumped right back on the pony and he's been doing great. The other two things, just to quickly touch on, I think kabion Ento has added himself into this cornerback equation.

He was being able to get some reps. They're seeing some first team reps in the dime, got a couple of past deflections and then you know, I'd be this if we didn't talk about the fact that, you know, you look at how this offense is structured right now, the litany of different packages that Green Bay was able to roll with now that the scheme was vanilla, and you know they're not they're not showing any big secrets out to thirty four thousand people, But you gotta feel

for how deep they could go at receiver, tight end running back, depending on what personnel groupings they want to go with on the field. Yeah, I share your enthusiasm for Rogers and watching him in that net what it was called the bucket drill, the raised hoop with the net thing, he kind of got warmed up. He dropped in a couple from like ten fifteen yards out and then when they moved back to more of the full distance, tossing to the to the back corner of the end zone,

he drops in back to back once. But also hats off to Kurt Banker, number three quarterback, he dropped one in from that long distance as well, which is the first guy we've seen. I guess I can't say for sure going back, you know, it's been it felt like it had been a while since we've seen a backup quarterback from that distance drop one in. Maybe Brett Hunley did at once, but but but I'm not But I'm not even a couple of times during camp. It's not

like they do it every day. So yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out to Banker there because that was pretty impressive with all the fans and they got a kick out of it as well. Um and yeah, absolutely kaban Ento took a step forward in you know, a very crowded defensive backfield in terms of how this is going to shake out for roster spots, practice, squad

spots and whatnot. I thought he could have he really could have made a big statement because they at the end of practice they did they did a live tackling period for the first time in camp with all the younger guys and on an end around too wide receiver DeAndre Tompkins, if I'm getting that name correctly, Ento had a clear shot to make the tackle. Would have been a very minimal game. He missed the tackle and it kind of ruptured into a big play, and after the

night he had had a couple of past breakups. I thought he really could have made a statement making that tackle there. Now, first live tackling period of practice. Not going to indict a guy for for when that happens, especially once wet, you know, all that kind of stuff. There was there were some things working against him there, but but he's definitely a guy to watch moving forward

here as we. As we head towards preseason game number one, Matt la Fleur said that there are going to be there's there will be a group of select veterans who are not going to suit up on Saturday night in the preseason opener. This is very much what's including you. I think you get a veteran nights off too. Oh well, that that's that's nice. You're gonna you're gonna handle all the coverage of the game. I get to prove yourself,

all right. I appreciate the sentiment there, but um, it's going to be a night Saturday Night for the young guys and for these competitions for the roster spots whatever you want to call it, the last ten twelve spots on the fifty three man roster, and with regard to the the expanded practice squad, that stuff's gonna start to sort itself fout on Saturday night. In these preseason games,

when the action is live, the tackling is real. Um, you're going against somebody, going against another team where you don't know exactly what they're going to do. The plays aren't all scripted in advance like they are a lot of times in practice. So um, there'll be a lot to watch her coming up on Saturday. Absolutely, And and I'll be honest with you, there's so many storylines that we've into that the fact that this will be the

first time Jordan's love is playing in a game. I mean what I know, it doesn't count wins and losses, but neither did the Senior Bowl and that's the last game he played in and that was twenty months ago. Now at this point, like some of these guys, you think about those running backs, Mike Kylan Hill, what could Kylan Hill do for his you know, candidacy for that number three job if he takes a kickoff return back

for a touchdown? What could Patrick Taylor do for you know, getting himself back on the map if he breaks one in the team, you know, in out of the backfield and in one of those periods. There are so many guys in so much competition at these different spots that I feel like this preseason especially, are only being three games, steaks are at all time high for a lot of these guys trying to make an impression on this coaching

staff and personnel department. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, on our next show later this week, we'll get into more of the specifics of what to watch in that first preseason game. But I need to take care of a little bit of sponsor business. Here West Sirius x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need seven three sixty five. And we have an old sponsor coming back as a new sponsor here for one. Welcome back to Cousin Subs.

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a Cousin shake at all? I have not. That's one thing I have not had from there now. Yeah, because I never really thought about that before, but one day I'm walking into Cousins. This was down in Appleton off Northland Avenue. It was with my friend Scott Vincy. We're doing some shopping, was during my vacation and we both wanted to grab us up. So we went to the Cousins and I was like, you know what, I always get the diet coke or a bottle of water or

something like that. I'm getting the chocolate shake this time. And it was delightful. So he hopped into Cousins. You tell him Hods Sanchia. They'll hook you up with a nice chocolate shake. And wonder who Hod was. Now I'm now I'm even hungrier. But um, but I do another thing from the weekend. I do want to get to though. The Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions in Canton, Ohio.

First off, congratulations, it was overdue and unfortunately a couple of years after he passed away, but congratulations to Bobby Dill and his family. UM star defensive back for the Green Bay Packers in the nineteen fifties. Played from nineteen fifty two to fifty nine. His final season was Vince Lombardies for first. He still holds the Packers all time record for career interceptions with fifty two. UM a big time player in an otherwise rather forgettable decade of Green

Bay Packers football. And he was part of the centennial class of for the Hall of Fame. But then the official induction ceremonies were postponed a year because of the pandemic. But congratulations to Bobby Dylan and his family. I was so happy to see that. You saw the photos of his family down in cant and you can tell how much this meant to him. I'm sure they would have loved it happened, you know, when Bobby was still with us.

But you know, the thing about Bobby Dylan that I love about his story so much is one obviously we hear that you know only you know, having cited one eye. Yeah, yeah, had a had a glass eye due to an accident from I think when he was ten years old or something like that. And uh and yeah, played played his entire entire football career with a glass eye. And you know, Pete Orty will tell me there's no such thing as irony,

but I think that's a really interesting dynamic. You know, a guy that had one line of vision there was able to intercept as many passes as he do as being a ball hawk on that side of things, and then the other thing I liked to about his story is that this was the very end of the era where he almost had to recruit guys to play. You had to convince them to want to play football because

the money wasn't great at that time. And I'm really so thrilled for Bobby Dylan in addition obviously be in the Hall of Fame, but the fact that he decided to come back for that last season, if you know anything about his story, Vince Lombardi had to do some real recruiting to be able to get him back for that last season he did. He got to kind of taste the beginning of the turnaround there in Green Bay.

It was the only winning team. The only team he played on with a winning record was Vince Lombardi's first season, which turned out to be his last. And and Bobby Dilon three times during the nineteen fifties had nine interceptions in a season, and that's in a twelve game season, folks, nine picks in a twelve games season. He did it three times for the Green Bay pack and unfortunately, Packers ended up giving the ball back quite a few times during the fifties. But be Dylan a much deserved honor,

and we talked about it a lot. We don't have to get into it. We want to talk about the next guy. But the centennial class. That's the reason why it was brought back. Not not this thing about bringing in like everybody else that didn't get in over the last twenty five years. It should have been about those guys in the pre sixty the pre Hall of Fame era that didn't get their due. Bobby Dylan was definitely one of those gentlemen. Yeah, absolutely, Well, the headliner from

this past weekend was none under than Charles Woodson. And interestingly, when you go in as one of three first ballot Hall of Famers along with Peyton Manning and Calvin Johnson, the guy giving the final speech closing the show on Sunday night from Canton, Ohio, the only one who wasn't on a time limit and he went ten minutes where everybody else was limited to six minutes, was Charles Woodson. If you haven't seen the speech, it's posted in its entirety on packers dot Com. Also wrote a story kind

of recapping it. Just um. Obviously we all know about his career and everything, but you saw a little bit of Charles Woodson, the man up there in front of that large crowd at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Within just you know, a minute or two of him starting to talk about his mother, Georgia, who was his presenter for for the Hall of Fame induction, he started to get emotional and his speech was emotional from from

start to finish. The way I summed it up was this was there the two things that meant the most and that means the most in Charles Woodson's life, football and family converged in that speech in Canton, Ohio on

Sunday night. Um. The night was a tribute to him and his first ballot induction, but he made that speech attribute to his to his family, to his mother, to his brother, to his sister, another close friend that he calls a brother by another mother, and then his own wife and two sons who were who were in the

stands there. Um just um, really really moving moment to uh to see and hear what he had to say, and UH and you know, I couldn't be couldn't feel more privileged to have covered his seven years as a Green Bay packer. You got all seven years. I only got two thousand twelve full time and then also you know, smattering of interviews during his time in Oakland. What I love the most about Charles Woodson is from a pure biological genetic standpoint, probably one of the most gifted guys

to ever play the game of football. Just really is and means has arguably the most decorated career of anybody, with the Super Bowl victory, any athlete when you look at high school, college, pros, everything, he did it all. Yeah, mr mr Ohio coming out of Fremont, Ohio, Mr Football

in Ohio. Won a Heisman Trophy at Michigan, first primarily defensive player to ever win the Heisman Trophy, and then wins a National Championship at Michigan, and then wins a Super Bowl and as a first ballot Hall of Famer a defensive player is a year of All Pro Pro Bowls. All that I mean, the accolades from this man's life as a teenager up until now just off the charts.

But what I love the most about Charles Woodson and why I enjoyed covering him for that one season, the only seven games I got to cover him full time other than being in the locker room in ten and eleven to get quotes. He and I wrote about the inbox he put the professional and professional football. The way he carried himself, the way he spoke, the way he dressed. There was, like I like to say it. I was trying to kind of find a way to say this

the right way. But he sort of reminds me of like Rick Flair with pro wrestling, where Flair was a pro wrestler, but he also was a showman. He also would go and you know, promote the brand. He would be. He was a good speaker. He could go on television shows. That was Charles Woodson the National Football League at the time. Charles Woodson finally hung it up after thirty seven seasons or whatever it was. He enhanced the shield he and has those three letters, and this is exactly the Pro

Football Hall of Fame was built for men like Charles Woodson. Yeah. The thing, the thing that I'll remember the most. You know, I've I've been This is my sixteen season now with Packers dot Com. I also covered some of the Packers glory seasons in the nineties um on a on a backup secondary basis during my newspaper days. I have never seen in person or covered a defensive player with the

instincts and anticipation of Charles Woodson. And yes, he started his career as athletically gifted beyond all get out, but he'd already been in the NFL for eight years by the time he came to Green Bay, and it was by then, you know, yeah, you start to lose a half a step or whatever by the time you get to fifteen sixteen years, he end up having an eighteen year career. You've lost a whole step. But why were why did those why were those thinks always on display?

It's because he studied film like nobody else, and he he knew from his film study what the other team was going to be doing. It was like he just he always he always had that knowledge before he walked out onto the field and the plays that he was able to make. The way the way he just anticipated and jumped plays and jumped routes and everything, I've never I've never seen I've just never seen anything like it.

He was such a he he was such a joy to watch and as you said, a true professional in the way, in the way he dealt with the media, in the way he was a leader in the locker room. We all know about the speech after the NFC Championship game, and then the speech at halftime of the Super Bowl when he when he broke his college boy. Now that one's not on video anywhere, but you know, he was so overcome with emotion and not being able to finish that game and to try to win that championship that

he couldn't even finish talking um. But the message got across to his teammates and and there was sort of just no way they were going to lose that game down in Dallas at night. And the reason his message really resonated balance he was the same guy. He didn't deviate high or low either way, every single time he was in the locker room, every single time he dealt with the media, every single interview you watch at Charles Woodson, same exact human being. And I think that's why people

respected him, on top of the fact of his athletic gifts. Yeah, well, hats off to hats off to Charles. I'm sure it was a great weekend for UH, for him and his UH and his family and and UH. And he closed the show with a great ten minutes there up on stage at Tom Benson Stadium. But with that, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script. If you should have, follow all of our coverage with the Packers and training camp as it continues

here on Packers dot com for West, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.