#602 Packers Unscripted: Initial action

First and foremost, this game was well, yeah, the Baltimore Ravens, who are now on a five or six year winning streak in the in the preseason, but that aside. This game, first and foremost was about quarterback Jordan's love. Um. We talked about it all last week, a lot of anticipation, a big spotlight on the young man. Saturday night at lambeau Field. What do you think, Yeah, I thought it was a good performance, not a great performance. Jordan's it.

I think there were some moments there as as Matt Laflour talked about letting it rip a little bit more. You know, there's a couple of times and we've seen that in practice too. Somebody asked me this inside of inbox, I'm in the middle of answering it. You know about how much surprise is you from what you see in the preseason games as opposed to what you see in practice, And certainly that does it does happen, but a lot of times I think the preseason is a continuation of

what you've been seeing for the past few weeks. And really that's been the story for Jordan's Loves so far. It's an extremely talented twenty two year old man that can really throw a football, and it's just been a matter of finding those moments when he's in a rhythm and building on those because I'll tell you what, when he gets into that run and he can, you know, kind of string together some passes, it looks the way it's supposed to look, but it's making sure that you

can stay on that trend. It's the hardest position to play in all of sports. I will say that forever, just because of all the variables, the fact that there's eleven players on the other side of the field. Any movement that they make changes those variables. So for Love, it's it's about trying to make sure that he can

stay up on that playing within himself. As Matt Lafleur kept saying, trusting his footwork, trusting what he's seeing, playing instinctively, but all things considered, it's still or excuse me, twelve of seventeen yards and a touchdown a hundred ten pass rating a good first step for Jordan's love. Yeah, absolutely he It took a little bit to get going. The first two possessions were three and outs. The Packers were not running the ball with any effectiveness, which we'll get

to a little bit later on here as well. But then drive number three, third and nine, a really nice pass, good route, good catch all that over the middle to j Sternberger, and that kind of jump started Jordan's love. It got him going. Then all of a sudden it was boom, boom, boom, hitting some passes um you know, in succession there and then after the quarter quarter break,

excuse me, flipping directions going the other way. The screen passed to kyl and Hill, the rookie seventh round pick out of Mississippi State, and gets a couple of good blocks from his linement out there and takes it in for a touchdown. So the Packers get on the board there at that moment, I think, obviously there are a couple of plays that Jordan's Love would like to have back,

probably more than any other. The fourth and two where Matt Lafleur says, Okay, you're staying out there, We're going for it, and then whatever the play action keeper that was called Love turned the wrong way when he took the snap, so the whole play action, whatever it was supposed to be, didn't develop, and he kind of ended up just having to, you know, throw it up there and hope, hope that Devin Funcius could come down with it.

Those are the kind of things like, yeah, it's a mental, mental mistake and it's unfortunate, but again that's that's just another thing for him to learn from because that's happened to every quarterback who's ever been out there, and hey, if it's going to happen, it might as well happen in a preseason game. Absolutely, And those are just the reps that you have to take the moment, you have to learn from and really make sure they don't happen. Again.

I don't really read too much into those. You've seen all the young quarterbacks. So you can go back and watch Aaron Rodgers film in two thousand five from his first preseason. The bigger thing for me is seeing the game continually slowed down for Jordan's love and wanting to see that continue to happen, because the less that a quarterback has to think about what they're doing, the more that you're gonna see those results really come to them. And you know, some of the throws he did make

in this game, as we've seen in practice. You know, he has a world class arm. It's what made him a first round pick. The fact that he has that type of ability. You know, I think as time we get kind of away from his you know, his last season at Utah State, you see the fact that Utah State still hasn't really had anyone drafted since Jordan's loved, you start to understand maybe why he did certain things is last year that some people perceived as a step back.

He has all the ability of the world. He is a guy that I think you can see players rally around. It's a different type of confidence in Aaron Rodgers. You know, he's not a huge, ext reverted, you know, kind of guy in there, you know, kind of boisterous, but he still commands the huddle and listening to Kyle and Hill talk about that and some of these offensive players. There is a steadiness with Jordan's Love that you really like.

It's just that once that whistle blows and once that ball is snapped, seeing things move a little bit faster for him. He did suffer the shoulder injury before halftime. He was not practicing on Monday. Matt Lafleur left the door open for him to potentially still practice this week, maybe play against the Jets. If he can get these last two preseason games. I think that would be really

beneficial for him now down the line as he develops. Yeah, we'll be following the health reports on Love with regard to these joint practices with New York. The preseason game coming up. Really unfortunate because Matt Lafleur was using his time outs at the end of the first half trying to set everything up so that Jordan's Love could have a two minute drill there at the end of the first half and ends up with only I think it

was fifty three seconds on the clock. And then the very first play, unfortunately from the blind side, he doesn't see the guy gets his arm raked, the ball comes out, um, there's a there's a fumble, there. Matt Lafleur initially sort of said Love maybe took too deep of a drop there. Then after reviewing the film really kind of absolved him and said, you know, there really wasn't anything uh differently that that Love could have or should have done there, but you know, a little bit of a tweak to

the shoulder. So they held him out. He did not play in the second half, and he did not practice on Monday. So um but by all accounts optimistic that that he's going to be back in fairly short order here. Yeah, I don't think there's any real long term concerns there at all. It's more about how quick these timelines I remember thinking back to I think it happened with Brett Hunley a little bit too during his time in Green Bay.

When you get hurt during the preseason and miss those opportunities, those are such huge reps for guys to be able to take. So certainly the Packers want to get him back sooner than later. Kirk ben Kurt was able to get the entire second half. The second year quarterback that actually spent a number of years on the practice squad with the Atlanta he had an opportunity to get out there. I thought you saw him throw the ball and definitely fearless back there. Had a couple of hours though that

they're gonna want to try to clean up. But uh, Aaron Rodgers isn't gonna play in the preseason for the most part. That's what Matt Lafore started hinted at. So if it's not love on Saturday, it'll be a lot of Ben Kurt and potentially, as they said, they'll work out some quarterbacks this week and see if there's another guy they need to add. Yeah, it'll be a situation to follow as the week goes along. We'll get to

some other positions here as well. West but first series x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanetics need. Seven three and at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone, like our Wisconsin Cheese kurds, mac and Cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or sub in a bowl. Cousin Subs, we believe in better not tried the sub in the bowl yet. That might

be one you have to break in for us. Okay, maybe I'll have to provide a report later on this season when I get that opportunity. I heard a lot of good things about the cheese skirts too. So I know you're not a fan of cheese, but but only raw cheese. Oh you like you like fried cheese? Yeah, okay, I just don't want to Let's see, I learned something new about you every day. Um. Well, we mentioned Kyle and Hill. He gets the Packers touchdown on the screen pass.

Not a whole lot to really be able to see other than that. With regard to the three running backs, we talked a lot about that battle for the number three running back job. Hill, Patrick Taylor, Dexter Williams. Dexter Williams with some nice carries late in the fourth quarter

when he got in there. But but on balance, Um, the coaching staff from Matt Lafleur to Nathaniel Hackett to Adam Stanovich offensive line coach and run game coordinator, not happy with, uh, with the Packers inability to run the football.

And uh, you know really they talked about it not not being mental errors and whatnot up front, just a little bit of a lack of density, not carrying over the techniques and the things that they're being taught they you know, Matt Fleur said it after Saturday night's game,

the Texans won the battle in the trenches. And one reaction to that now, nobody's blaming any specific individual, but one reaction to that now is the three headed competition for the two guard spots now has become a foreheaded competition because in Monday's practice, rookie fourth round draft pick from Old Miss Royce Newman was worked into that rotation that also includes Ben Braden, Lucas Patrick, and John Runyon. So another guy, another young guy in the mix here

west for a for a starting guard spot. With Elton Jenkins filling in for David Botry at left tackle, Packers are going to see what they what they have in this young man. Take a little bit of a story trip down memory lane, if you will. Packers of their offensive line position, it tends to be an older position position where the experience kind of of times ways out. And there's two episodes that kind of always ring true

to my mind. Obviously, we always talked about the Corey Linsley story, the fact that this is a guy that took the two reps, the entire training camp, all the preseason. J C. Treader ends up suffering. I believe it was the knee injury. Corey is suddenly the starter. Boom, here you go, Welcome to the NFL. The other one, and we talked so much about David Baktr going to left tackle when Brian Bulaga got injured at the Family Night

scrimmage back in two thousand thirteen. But what we very rarely talked about was in that game or in that scrimmage. Excuse me, that practice at Lambou Field was the first time box Tr was actually starting to take starting reps. They actually started working them at right tackle. My point being with the stories, there comes a time during every training camp where the rookies sometimes you do take the wheels off a little bit and see how they function. Can they go out and swim a little bit in

some deeper water. That was this day for Newman. The fact that the Packers threw them in there right guard. They used Branden at left guard. They did that, I believe for two or three plays and then with the ones. Yet it wasn't like they switched over to the twos with the ones then taking a look at running and left guard and back to Lucas Patrick, who was the start of their last season. Yes, and and running and Patrick were the starters on Saturday night in preseason game.

So they are casting a wide net here and listening to Matt la floor talk about this and into credit. You know, Adam Stanovich was right out in front of it to bench sermons. Everybody wants to run the ball better. But Matt Lafleur really laid it down. And even when he was talking about the joint practices this week with the Jets, Mike, one of the things he said is he wants to see how these guards handle a different

team in these practice settings. So for Roy Snwman, a guy that's been so multiple has played all these different positions, even joked about, you know, some of the time he's spent at tight end, you know, in the past, this is a big moment for him and it's a big moment for all those guys because there, as I said to you all along, Mike, I'm pretty confident throughout the course of the year, they're gonna need most of those guards. It's most of those offensive linemen to navigate the whole season.

Whoever ends up at left and right guard, with a few exceptions, that's usually not the way it ends by the end of the season on the old line. So for Newman seeing how are he responds to this. He actually was the highest graded offensive lineman the Packers had by Pro Football Focus in the preseason game, albeit it came late against some reserves. This is the chance that he was hoping for, and now he's getting a chat to show that, hey, maybe in year one he can

be that next offensive lineman that plays as a rookie. Yeah. And we should say as well with regard to the offensive line, we found out Saturday night there were thirty players on the Packers ninety man roster that did not suit up for the game. The vast majority of the starters did not suit up. So what you had on the offensive line was essentially your number one guys on the interior center Josh Meyer's the rookie, and then the

guards that we've been talking about. But then the reserves at tackle in yosh Naiman on the left side and veteran Dennis Kelly on the right side. And I'm not trying to make excuses for guys, but that is a combination essentially that we had not seen during training camp because it was a it was a mixture it was a mixture of the ones and the two's. UM. Now, the coaches didn't talk about that because they're looking individually.

They still want to see the execution and whatnot. Um, there are obviously some issues with regard to combo blocks and a lot of things that do take some chemistry and some timing and that kind of thing. So those are the things they'll be looking to see improve as things go along. But the other point, though, is that rookies second round pick Josh Meyers at center. UM, folks, I encourage you check out Larry mccarren's rock Report that

that is on Packers dot Com. On Myer's debut there in the in the preseason game, really no disappointments, no issues as far as as far as wondering if this young man is going to be the Week one starter at center. He's the guy. Yeah, he can play it. You know. Matt Laufer has already said Elton Jenkins and Billy Turner probably won't play during the preseason. I'd be curious to see how long Myers is out there too. To be honest with you, it's not to say he's

He's not without fault. There was that one play. I think he kind of got blown up a little bit early on as a guy I was able to get into the backfield. But generally speaking for you know, there's that line that David Batar said about Okay, you're six five or three ten? What what's wrong with you? Why are you at center? Are you not a good athlete? No? You could really see his athleticism in this game. And when you're going up against you know, a lot of reserves.

What do you always look for in these games, Mike, It doesn't matter if your quarterback, punter, safety, offensive lineman. You want to see guys who dominate the competition because athletically you just are better. You're cut above. Josh Myers looked to cut above to me in this game, just the way he moves. Obviously getting down some of the Caden stuff with Rogers is going to be huge, But you go back to that screen pass to Hill, the

fact that he's able to get out in space. And I love what Larry said in his interview UH with with Myers after the game, saying, you know when he taught it back in the day, it was you're not a dancer, so don't dance, you know, don't go dancing with a dancer, right, the fact that those guys are a lot quicker, they're a lot faster. Just get your body on him. Myers did that and he ultimately kind of gave him, gave Kylan Hill the block that got him into the end zone. Really talented young man. You

can see why this guy was a second round pick. Yeah, absolutely well. Shifting gears to the defensive side of the ball. The the defense only allowed and again it was primarily reserves. The only really projected starter for Week one who was in the starting lineup on Saturday night was Chris Barnes. Now. The other one who did play at the beginning of

the game was rookie first round pick Eric Stokes. Were expecting him to certainly be in that mix for a lot of playing time early on as well, but Packers only gave up the one touchdown until a second touchdown late in the game. Otherwise it was field goals, the Texans taking advantage of some good field position because of

some good punt returns. Packers had some special teams breakdowns unfortunately, and the failed fourth down situations that that gave them good field position, but a few guys that stood out to me West and I'll get your thoughts here. Um obviously, or in Burke's um real solid game at inside linebacker, kaban into getting um an interception and seemed to acquit himself well at at cornerback. And then also t J. Slayton,

the rookie fifth round pick on the defensive line. Now, i will say with Slayton, I thought early in the game, Slayton and Lancaster, Tyler Lancaster, the veteran from Northwestern, they were they were kind of anchoring the middle of the D line and Houston seemed to have some trouble running the ball. Then in the second half, when Slayton and Lancaster were still in there, it kind of looked to

me like they ran out of gas a little bit. Now, this is you know, you only get so many reps in every practice, and then suddenly they were in a they were in a preseason game, playing you know, the vast majority of it. So I'm not surprised they got a little tired. Um, this was certainly an opportunity for them to uh to work on their wind in their

and their stamina. I don't know how anybody given just certain training camp practice could go out and play fifty snaps all of a sudden, not get a little bit tired out there as a three plus pound individual. But I thought Slayton for his for his rookie debut in the early going of the game, I thought he really looked like he belonged out there. Yeah, they played Slaton snaps. I was I thought it was about fourty six. I

think they played like seventy totally defense. They were in a kind of a jam because they didn't have Kingsley Kiki in the fold. Yea, he just had got you know, just getting working his way back. Dean Lawrie was down, Kenny Clark was down. So Lancaster ended up being like one of the captains for the game, Mason Crosby and and before we get into slat and I just want to say, Tyler Lancaster played ten snaps. Most of them

were early on. Tyler Lancaster played like a beast. And that doesn't get said enough because he's just he is. He's one of those gritty, just kind of gap fillers in the defense. But my god, you need guys like that in your scheme because when Kingsley kicks down or Kenny Clark is down, you can't just start finding these guys off the street and plugging in three twenty pound men.

You've gotta have guys that can play. Tyler Lancaster can play for t J. Slayton, though to go forty six snaps at three and thirty pounds, you know, I think there probably was that conditioning aspect of it. But when he was talking to us last week, he was mentioning how he was really inviting that he wanted to play. He wanted to be out there. And I also have to throw out a quick hat tip too to Jack Heflin as well, the rookie out of uh Iowa. So

another defensive lineman here. Packers need options, and I thought he's another guy that that kind of contributed. There had forty snaps as well in this game. Um, but Slayton, I mean, when you just look at a pure measurable standpoint, you dream of defensive linemen that looked like Slayton does. And he has to put it together. Jerry Montgomery was saying, there's there's things that he has to learn and he

has to translate to the football field. But he he is a guy with with some big pause and I think he has a big future in front of him if he can figure out all those nuances out of the game. Yeah, what did you think as far as some of these young guys in the defensive backfield, Obviously Ento had the pick. I thought Vernon Scott he had a big pass breakup on the third down. Um. There, you know the Packers are. The Packers know who their

frontline guys are in the secondary. They really know who their front line guys are across the board with this team. Other than the guard situation. We've been talking about a lot on offense, but there's there's a lot of competition here with regard to whether it's going to be roster spots, practice squad spots with a lot of these uh, A lot of these young guys and defensive the defensive secondary is uh. Um is no exception to that and UH and guys like Ento and Scott I think got themselves

off to a good start here. As far as these three preseason games, I've been high on Vernon Scott since he came out at TCU. I think he's a guy that he was only a one year starter there, didn't even get a chance to get his pro day. We were talking about the scouting comment the kid couldn't even do his pro day. Uh, And I really would love although you don't want to do it now because you don't want anybody tearing their hamstrings. But I really it's a shame that we don't have an official forty time

on Vernon Scott. I think he'd really impress some people with that. All that being said, the guy I just asked for an opportunity. He was at his press conference on Tuesday talking about the seventh round tour and thirty six pick overall tattoo he got on his left arm. That isn't a chip on his shoulder. That's not a motivational technique. He's that proud to be in the National Football League. And he comes from a he has a really interesting backstory down in Texas, and and I think

he plays that way. He's one of the guys that when you hear him speak and you see the way he plays on the field, you can tell how much this whole thing means to him. Now that being said, that's safety competition is really tight. Henry Black worked his way into that midway through last season. He started next to Scott. Will Redman is coming back from his injury He's basically sort of been that dime guy here, at least he was last season after Raven Green was missing

um in in his gains. Speaking of TCU and his former teammate, Scott's teammate at TCU, who had a litany of knee injuries and other issues, that kid has made more plays than he hasn't in practice on the scout team. So yeah, it was a really tight competition for the backfield. Then you've got guys like you know, Chamargine, John Charles. Now he's trying to defend that backup slot position, that

nickel job to Shannon Sullivan. So I thought, I thought John Charles there there were a couple of a couple of hesitations, a couple of you know, maybe rough moments. Early, I thought the more he played, the more he seemed to kind of settle in. And again it's like I'm I'm watching from the press box and it's like, Okay, does this guy look like he belongs on an NFL field? First couple of snaps, you're kind of like, you know, you're not quite sure. But once he once he settled in,

then it's like, yeah, this this guy belongs. Fifth round pick from app State and uh, I think he's Uh. I think he's another one of these reserve defensive backs that that the Packers. Ultimately, if anybody goes down, anybody gets hurt, you know, he's gonna he's gonna have to play. Yeah, and he has. You know, again, he's picking up a

new position. He played mostly on the perimeter at app State and made a little bit of an adjustment there is last year, and I think they put him in more of that showtime kind of star roll a little bit. But that being said, I find it really interesting. Green Bay just pointed to him and said, you're you're gonna learn slot. You're gonna go learn nicol. That's where we're

gonna start you. Um. And now the other thing is too as we go into this Jets game, we had Kevin King's back in the fold now for Green Bay. So I really would love to see Eric Stokes play, you know, whether it's the Jets game or whether it's the Bills. I think that's a young man that really could use the reps. He's seen Davante Adams in practice

a lot the last couple of weeks. Be curious to see what he looks like when he sees more of these guys that are of his similar our age, and you know, and uh, you know, not necessarily a four time Pro Bowl receiver, because I think there's a lot of ability there as well. Yeah, well, we mentioned the running game. We talked about the run defense in the second half. Matt Lafleur talked about that not really being up to par and um and the Packers still have

some issues on special teams. I think it was it was certainly disappointing for Mo Drayton. Nobody said this was gonna be easy for Mo Drayton. Right, There's there's an unfortunately a long history here of of struggles in this phase of the game. And you know, there's there's no final judgment being made after one preseason game. But Packers still have they have their things to work on, they have their issues. A couple of punt returns went against them.

Amari Amari Rodgers had one nice pump return, but then you know, muff the one punt by the goal line.

You certainly cannot do that. So a lot of things here for the Packers to work on in you know, really a key thing in all three phases for the Packers to work on as they go from the first preseason game to the second one, and there are some really well stable, you know, legitimized special teamers on this roster or in Burkes, who again, as we talked about, had a big game defensively, Tye Summers, Vernon Scott was one of the top leading snap guys. They did lose

Randy Ramsey, but you know, Will Redmond is back. There are a lot of guys that are pretty well regarded on these special teams units. So while most of them weren't involved in some of these errors on special teams, the reason my antenna went up is that's the standard if you want to carve out a roster spot, if you want to be able to earn a spot on those core four, you've got to perform. So whether it's the jam ors, whether it's the gunners, whether it's the

inline guys. As they mentioned one of the blocks kind of coming loose on the j K. Scott punt that sort of rushed the effort. You guys have to step up if you want to earn a roster spot, if you want to be on that team when they travel to New Orleans, you have to do that because there are known quantities on the special teams unit. In addition to the changes they're trying to make, they've also made a commitment to some of those guys. The Birks is the Summers, the guys that they know, Okay, you can

play them anyway. They know the scheme. They're going to be accountable because at the end of the day, is as cool as the explosive players are as neat as it is to talk about a kickoff return or a fake field goal or what have you. You just need to be consistent. You can't be gashed. And you know, obviously they had the one punt come loose that was corrected.

Ryan Winslow was also let go, So they got to make another step forward, and I think there's gonna be a chance to really kind of reset themselves here against the Jets and hopefully put a better foot forward. Yeah, Packers are looking for looking for those guys who are going to join those core guys on special teams and and get things turned around in that phase of the game. So with that, we'll call it a wrap on this

edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of training camp and continues every single day on packers dot Com for West, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.