#609 Packers Unscripted: It’s go time

dive right into it. Keys to victory offensive side of the ball. What stands out to you protect Aaron Rodgers. I mean that that's the biggest key, and it's gonna be a key here, Mike for the first month of

the season, no question about that. Very quite likely. Although it seems like we've kind of broken the secret a little bit, even though mattal For said he didn't want to see the starters were on the offensive line, right, it's kind of the worst kept secret now and it is Josh Meyers and it's probably gonna be Roy s newman at right guard. But this is an important game for both of those guys because you have to imagine Dennis Allen in the Saints. Those edge rushers, they're gonna

throw a lot at them. They're gonna run some stunts. There's gonna be games you maybe see Demorrio Davis blitzing. There's gonna be a lot of stuff that they want to do to throw them off, especially early on, because you want to see what these guys are going to be able to give you, and for the agreement Packers perspective, you have to be ready for that. And it's not just on those two guys. It's gonna be on Matt Lafleur with the play calling. It's gonna be with Aaron

Rodgers and his checks. It's gonna be on Aaron Jones potentially being able to step up and block a free rusher. It needs it to be a team effort. In quite honestly, those first ten fifteen scripted plays, seeing what the Packers dial up to make life easy for those rookies and allow them to get comfortable in this offense, well, let's

be honest here too. With David Baktier out for a minimum of the first six weeks of the season and the Packers going with this, I guess you'd call it kind of a revamped offensive line with Elton j Pins at left tackle. You mentioned the two rookie starters on the interior. If you don't want the first six, seven, eight opponents, however many, it's going to be to uh, you know, to attack you in that way. You're going to have to handle the blitz is. You're going to

have to handle all the stunts in the games. Aaron Rodgers will have to make defenses pay for trying to do that kind of stuff. And this, this opener is what will set the tone for that in a sense. Now that's not to say, obviously with any team, any offense, any phase of anybody's game, the first game of the season does not define who you are for the next sixteen after that, right, I mean there will be evolution, there will be uh progress and improvement, especially with young players.

But the Packers can, the Packers can kind of put the kai bosh, so to speak, from the beginning here on teams that just just are gonna think, oh, they've got two rookie starters on the interior, let's do everything we can to mess them up. Well, Aaron Rodgers is going to have some counters for that. He's gonna have some ants, and I think we'll see we'll get a good idea of what those answers are when those situations

present themselves. If there's ever a quarterback in the league that's gonna know where's hot reads are in those type of things, it's gonna be Aaron Rodgers, right. And to be honest, I wrote this in our Insider inbox, the fact that this game is not in the Superdome is gonna be huge for everybody on the offensive line. No matter how loud it gets at T A, I A A bank field, it's not going to compare to the

noise pollution that you're dealing with in that venue. And let's just make a point too because and I don't know if you're into it too much in today's discussion, but Aaron Rodgers was very complimentary on Wednesday about Matt Lafleur, how he's grown as a leader, how he's grown as a play color, the way they've evolved this offense. So it's not just the same thing every single time. All due respect to Mike McCarthy, fantastic offensive, mine a lot

of success in Green Bay. This offense is different than when McCarthy was here. They are going to be able to die else some things up to get the ball out faster. They're not going to be relying on plays developing down field. That's where I think the key is going to be these opening weeks for the offensive line.

It's going to be in what Matt Lafleur does, what Nathaniel hack It dials up into your point, the checks that Aaron Rodgers making, the reads that he's making to make sure that this offense is able to get into a rhythm and get off to the fast start mic that they were able to do in two thous Yes. Certainly last last season the Packers came out of the

gates like gangbusters on offense. The other thing, too, is okay, you can't necessarily count on things carrying over obviously from one season to the next, but you go into a season opener like this coming off of the year the Packers had, there are certain things you're gonna want to hang your hat on. Right. The Packers were the best team in the NFC, second in the NFL last year

in third down efficiency. They were the best team in the league with a historically great red zone efficiency converting to downs. Those are the kinds of things that you want to see continue. And when when I asked Rogers about that in his UH press conference after practice on Wednesday, he said, he said, Hey, I want these guys, meaning the coaches, to keep coming up with this new and creative stuff. On third down in the red zone, he talked about how third down is kind of Luke gets

these um specific area in terms of the game plan. Uh, the quarterbacks coach and now passing game coordinator, and then the red zone or gold zone is is is coach Hacketts. So um, you know, Aaron's like, hey, keep keep dialing it up, keep getting creative that you know, you don't necessarily reinvent the wheel every time, but you do the tweaks and the adjustments you make things look a little

bit different. And and uh, I sent a quarterback you know, I wrote about it on the website how much he and Davante Adams really like the vibe of this Packers team. But Aaron Rodgers just in in his demeanor and his words and and and the way the way he speaks about this team right now, and and personally he just he strikes me as a guy who was ready to go, and he's he's telling the coaches, Hey, call whatever you want in that helmet. Let's go. Let's go get this thing.

And they have the horses to do it, right, I mean Matt Lafleur and and Rogers at different intervals of the day on Wednesday, we're basically to a point of listing off all these weapons that they can go to. Whether it is Davante Adams, a four time Pro Bowl or now whether it is Alan Lazard and Robert Ton who have had a lot of success down there, Mark quiz Velde, Scantling, and then as I think it was, was it Rogers la Fleur one of them said even and I didn't even get to the running backs yet.

I mean, there's just a bevy of options there, and I think that's where the brilliance lies with where Green Bay succeeded last year in the Gold Zone was that there was a lot of creativity. But it wasn't just one guy either. There was a multitude of players that stepped up in that area. And Green Bay is gonna need that again because this game, like the Saints are an interesting defense. Dennis Allen's a brilliant, you know, defensive mind. I was commending him on our last show but they

have pockets of playmakers in this defense. Whether it's Davenport, whether it's Cam Jordan's obviously Marshawn Lattimore. You can go. The list goes on and on. I mean, Malcolm Jenks has been doing this forever. But there are holes there. I mean, you look at their defensive tackle situation. I mean, Chris Ringo, love the guy, amazing dude, but he wasn't in the National Football League last year and now he's slated to be there. They're starting, you know, defensive tackle.

We heard about the issues at cornerback beyond Lattimore. They're going to throw a lot at them, but the Packers need to be able to weather that storm early because I feel like from a depth perspective, that can really propel them there in the second half. Yeah, the Saints did make a trade, essentially for a starting corner They picked up Bradley Roby from the Houston Texans. He won't be playing on Sunday against the Packers, but but they are still putting in some work on that defense and

with regard to the red zone. When you have a guy like Davante Adams, who ties a franchise record with eighteen touchdown options, and yet that same year you have another guy who still reaches double digits and touchdown catches in Robert Tony in with eleven last year. That says something to your point about about just the options that uh that coach Hacket and Aaron Rodgers and everybody has down there in that area. UM. Some shoutouts to the sponsors.

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You think maybe and maybe and maybe. This guy came out in our pre production and meeting where he asked me about the offense and what the Hacks have to offensively, and I still mentioned Alvin Kamara because you go back to last year, Mike thirteen catches on fourteen targets, two touchdowns, a hundred and thirty nine yards receiving, not even talking about what he did as a runner. Kamaras dynamic and and when they don't have Michael Thomas, he's become the

lead guy. Doesn't matter if he's carrying the ball, doesn't matter catching the ball. And now they release Latavius Murray as well, who was was thought to essentially be the number two or one a running back in terms of the ground attack. I think there's just even that much more focus on Kamara now in time, Montgomery's back at receiver for them. So I mean, like this is the guy, Like this isn't the you know, Pierre Thomas years where you got all these different you know, you know, Reggie Bush,

you have these different running backs. The mindsets kind of shifted. Now it's it's there's one horse that that they roll with in this race, and frightfully. So, I mean, I don't know if I've seen a guy that twenty seventeen draft class is going to go down as an all timer as far as running back positions concerned. Aaron Jones and Jimal Williams contributing to that, but Kamara as a dual threat. It's like you built him in a lab and that that's the guy that is absolutely perfect for

Sean Payton's offense and what they want to execute. Now, Drew Brees relied on him a lot. It's gonna be interesting to see what Jamis Winston does with them. But I mean, he's the guy. And if they're going to have success against green Bay and be able to move the ball against this defense and chip away against what they want to do and get some of the pressure off of Winston, it has to start with Kamara, and from Green Bay's perspective, you have to find a counter

to that. Yeah, isn't not not to get too far off track here from Sunday's game, but isn't that amazing the running back class that you have. Kamara, who is a star in this league, was a third round draft pick, and then Aaron Jones, another star and a Pro bowler, was a fifth round pick from that From that class, those guys are two of the premier backs in the

NFL right now. It's it's a it's rather remarkable. But you said it with regard to the with regard to the onus that is on Jamis Winston here too to take Sean Payton's offense and as best you can in taking over for a Hall of Fame quarterback, and Drew Brees to hope that it doesn't skip a beat, so to speak, and that and that they can still be the high powered offense that they've been for so many years. And Matt Lafleur said it. You know, Jamis Winston has a big time arm. He is going to try to

push the ball down the field. The Packers certainly have to be ready for that. That's also one of the reasons that Jamis Winston has thrown a lot of interception in his career because he will try to push the ball downfield. He will try to to make some big things happen. And I know I'm kind of getting beat up in Insider Inbox a little bit with regard to my comment about Winston and and and his scrambling that the Packers have to be ready for him to take

off and run. Look, I'm not trying to make the point that Jamis Winston is a running quarterback, that he's like Lamar Jackson or something like that. But look at winston stats throughout the course of his career. He has a good handful five six seven games where he's had

forty fifty fifty five rushing yards in a game. My point is that even if he only has gets twenty five rushing yards so to speak, that right there could be two or three first downs in a game that Winston gets with his legs that in a way that Drew Brees would not get the first down that way. That's the point I'm trying to make that it's just a little bit of an added element that the Packers have to be ready for along with that strong arm um that that will will change things in terms of

how you defend the New Orleans Saints without question. And Marvin, if you're back there, put the Mike Spofford. Let's be real moment of the week lower third on the screen. Don't overthink this. Yeah, you're going from seeing Drew Brees, which is, hey, can you get to him in less than two seconds or he's going to get the ball out from the pocket. Yeah, you talk about quick release and timing and everything else. I mean, Drew Brees was a master, maybe the best you know ever in terms

of that aspect of the quarterback position. To now you're shifting to Winston, who has a million dollar arm, can can create if he needs to win the play breaks down. I think historically if you look at him, that tends to be where his escape, his his release. Every everything has helped him from the turnover perspective when he is able to look downfield and just make something that happened with his legs. Oh and then, by the way, you still have the curveball of Taysom Hill in there as well. Yeah.

My big point all week is I don't know what this is gonna look like. I don't know exactly where this is all going to shuffle out. Maybe the Packers get two picks early on Winston, they get the ball rolling well in their direction. But the New Orleans Saints that the Packers have basically been preparing for for the last ten years, that's gone. You have a much different backfield that they're gonna have to prepare for that you

haven't quite seen. Fortunately for Green Bay, they've had success against Taysom Hill, but Jamis Winston, they've only played him once two thousands seventeen. I believe it was this is this is a new type of challenge, and he came

in here and won that year too. I believe, yeah, absolutely. Well, it's interesting that with Winston's track record with the interceptions and whatnot that that have plagued him during his career, that this becomes the first game for the Packers with new defensive coordinator Joe Berry, because one of the reasons that Matt Lafleur changed defensive coordinators is he wants to take the football away more. He wants a defense that

is going to generate more turnovers. The Packers lad the league last year in fewest giveaways on offense with only eleven, Yet they finished the regular season only plus seven in turnover margin, which is a very modest plus number on that side when you have the fewest giveaways in the league. Eighteen takeaways was in like the bottom third of the league in terms of takeaways defensively, the Packers want to

ratchet that up this year. That's one of the tasks that that that uh, that is a high priority for Joe Berry with this defense. If they those opportunities present themselves, they have to take advantage. But also I think we're going to see a Packers defense that's going to try to force the issue a little more, try to force some of those mistakes particularly from a quarterback with a track record like Winston. Well, you just think of all the bells and whistles this defense has to write, whether

it's the outside pass rush. Three guys who are all bona fide starter quality players in this league. I think with Shawn Garry's right there now too. You have a Pro Bowl nose tackle in Kenny Clark that can push the pocket when he's healthy. Has finished as strong as any nose tackle the National Football League the last few years. But trying to pull that across an entire season, right Jaire Alexander in All Pro at twenty three years old.

The sect defensive secondary. There is talent everywhere, Mike, and at certain points, when you have that much talent, there's going to be the expectations, the ex depectations to be a defense that dictates games, that takes the ball away.

This is a great first test because it's a high risk, high reward matchup when Suston can throw the ball as well as anybody in this league, and he can easily put up four hundred yards against your defense if you're not paying attention, but he also can give you some opportunities when those opportunities present themselves because it's gonna happen.

I'm not saying it's gonna be every play, but there's gonna be a few moments where whether it's the safety is the corners, they're gonna have a chance to make a play on the ball. It's about making sure that they can execute in those moments. And I think when you go back bring it back to Joe Barry, the structure of the defense allows guys to be able to

do that without forcing them to take chances. Yeah. Well, Phase number three, of course is special teams, and this is a starting over process and a lot of respects for the Packers. You have a new coordinator on special teams in Maury Straiton, a new punter in Corey Bojorkez.

Obviously you're old stand by a kicker Mason Crosby, still going strong, new returners like we talked about previously with Amari Rodgers, Kyle and Hill to rookie draft picks in that phase, tell me just your initial thoughts, what are you looking for from the Packers special teams in this in this debut of of that phase of the game. It's it's hilarious, right because you have all these different

things you can talk about. And the thing I'm most interested in seeing is the coverage units and just seeing how they handle things, because, yeah, there were some breakdowns. And I know that's an easy bone for people to kind of pick because it's preseason and you're just watching and you're trying to find things to you know, look at and diagnose. But a lot of the Goose guys, Mike, let's be honest, they aren't here anymore, or they're on

the practice squad. At this point. You do have war in Burke's you have Ty Summers, you have Henry Black, Malik Taylor's back. They have a core there that has been around for some time now. That core needs to help galvanize that entire unit. You can't have the breakdowns anymore. Your punts need to be where they need to be placed, and if it isn't, you need to have people that

are stepping up to make those plays. That's the big key for this one, because Mike, this is a this is a Saints team that's not going to give you much room for air. With Deante Harris back there, he's gonna hurt you if you give him an opportunity opportunity to Yeah, what you just said with regard to the directional um element of things, that's what That's one area where with the new punter, I'm curious to see how that goes because the Packers aren't just going to let

Bojorquez stand back there and swing away. I mean, you know, the guy could drill it seventy yards probably every time, but you do that, that gives a guy like Harris that heads start because because the coverage, the coverage can't get down there to uh to close off those gaps. So um, the directional punning and all of that. How that goes with with a new guy in the mix here,

I think is is something to watch. And then obviously on kickoffs, you hope you know when it's when it's eight plus degrees, it's I guess it's supposed to be mid eighties on Sunday in Jacksonville. You hope you know, Mason Crosby, can you know, can just give the kickoff coverage unit, you know some time off, I mean, just just boot the ball, take the touchbacks and and uh and focus on some of those other areas. And at thirty seven, you know, he's still seems to be really

strong in that phase of the game. It's not like the the ademinitary thing where you need to start having a punter that can handle that. I mean, Crosby's solid and he they were really careful with how they use his leg. Obviously they like JJ Molson. They kept him around the practice squad. They were careful with how much he was kicking off during the preseason, So I think he's gonna be fresh if he look historically, Mason has been a really strong kickoff guy at the beginning of

the season, so I don't expect any hiccups there. And just to make this point to Mike with when you look at the or quas, this is an interesting spot because the guy's coming off like a picture perfect preseason. I understand Denver and mile High and everything like that. In the air, you know, the air whatnot, But two punts at the one yard line that he was able to get out of owns ending the preseason with almost

a fifty two net average. In my opinion, you should end up seeing the best Corey be Hordques that you're going to see. This is the guy that competed all summer with Johnny Hecker for that job with the Rams. Again, special teams aren't gonna be anybody that you're not gonna be, you know, getting the microwave popcorn ready to watch special teams usually, but I really feel like this is a new day for them and seeing how these pieces fit

and if they can turn that page. Just one solid performance, one good day on coverage units could go a long way for building and kind of making a different taste in this team's mouth going into the season. Yeah, well,

we'll close on this. The statistic you want to see, aside from the numbers on the scoreboard, that will tell you the Packers are winning this game, Davante Adams having you know, probably a hundred yards in a touchdown because that means he got to Marshawn Lattimore or the Packers found opportunities to get him open and get the opera the offense moving. Uh. You know, Davante is at the peak of his powers right now. I wrote about it this week. A lot of people have talked about it.

Twenty eight years old, he's in a contract year. Obviously, that was one of the other subtle headlines of this offseason. If he's able, this is a great test from against Lattimore. But that cornerback room kinda is Lattimore right now. So seeing how the Packers stress him and if they can still find ways to scheme Adams open and Adams can work himself open, that's a great indicator of green Bay is gonna have success in this game. I say it's plus two in turnovers. And I know turnovers are always

a big one, you can always point to it. But the fact that the Packers, as I said, lad the league and fusest giveaways last year. Now you're facing a quarterback Lake Winston and last year's game down in New Orleans hinged on Zadarius Smith forcing that fumble from Taysom Hill. That's what changed that game in the fourth quarter and the Packers were able to come out on top. I say, plus two on Sunday and turnovers and the Packers get the victory. It's fun. It's fun that we're back at

this moment. I say this to you every year, Mike. It's incredible how quickly the off season goes and how much we're back just focused on football again. And for green Bay, Uh, this is the beginning of a gauntlet and it's going to be a twelve leak gauntlet to get to that by but my goodness, I mean, you

listen to the guys talk. You listen to Aaron Rodgers, you know, speaking about the focus of that locker room, the feel of this team right now, Davante Adams saying it's the hungriest team that he's been around so far. They know what's at stake this season, and it starts Sunday against the Saints. Absolutely with that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and of Sunday's big season opener against New Orleans. Will have

it all for you on Packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody. We will see you next time.