#661 Packers Unscripted: Covering all bases

the weekend go? What did you think? Well, the weekend was great, But I just have to mention before we get started here. It's amazing to me. This is why I love about the human condition. Right, we sat here a week ago, we did Unscripted. Then you and I like to ping pongs in the universe, go off and just sort of bounce and do our own thing. I'm covering the Hall of Fame. You're doing Family Night by yourself, and then we just kind of get this gravitational pull

back and once again it's training campaign. Here we are. Yeah. I love how that happened, the stuff that I did, the stuff that I wrote the stuff that you wrote, um Leroy Butler's Hall of Fame celebration, it was exactly that. It was a celebration, and just as I talked about last week very fervently, just to see him get his moment was really special. Going to the party on Saturday.

The teammates that showed up, former head coach Mike Sherman, just a nice uh homage to to everything he accomplished throughout his career, and and Leroy actually even allowed me to take a picture with the bus too. So it was a pretty neat weekend. I don't know how many times you're ever gonna have an opportunity to be able to actually be positioned next to a Hall of Fame bust,

and certainly now it has taken his rightful place in Canton. Yeah, I think I think an interesting aspect of this is uh with with Gilbert Brown being one of Butler's co presenters and everything that Leroy has said about Gilbert, and then seeing you know, what Gilbert said in the media about Leroy, and then the video, the part of the presentation,

everything that was that was put together. I think there there's maybe an appreciation that that didn't exist before that people just weren't necessarily aware of how close Leroy and Gilbert were not only as teammates, but but as friends. And you know, you don't think of a you know, a big defensive lineman and a defensive back who doesn't you know, they don't play the same position, They didn't spend all that time in meeting rooms together, you know,

as players and whatnot. But these guys have gotten awfully close and and Gilbert was truly honored to do what he did for Leroy and Camp. Yeah, they're brothers. And and you know, Gilbert even mentioned I thought he just absolutely hit his presentation out of the park. I thought so too. I thought it was fantastic energies the storytelling. It's such a small window that they have to do it now. But I mean, I thought he couldn't a thousand words couldn't have summed up what he did in

those two minutes. And you know, recounting the story about how he's driving and here's that GiB Roy is getting in. He stops the car and he's shouting, you know, it's time, It's about time. And it's true because this is a guy that he was quieter when they first when he first went to Green Bay, his blocker was positioned next to Leroy Butler. And as he said in my feature last week, I mean everybody and their mother wanted to

talk to Leroy Butler back then. So I mean trying to get a three and sixty pound man into his locker to be and you know what those old packer locker rooms look like. It was not easy for life being Gilbert Brown when he was younger. He mentioned to me and that story. You know, he ran his mouth too much. But the two became incredibly close friends to be able to have Leroy or I should say Gilbert and Genesis, LeRoy's wife presenting him. His father in law

was the one that took, you know, help unveil the bust. Uh. Just a community affair. And I gotta give a lot of credit to Leroy too. At the party that night, he did like a thirty minute like almost like a stand up routine, it seemed like at times. But well, he was the star of the show. He deserved every moment, every moment that he got, He absolutely deserved it. Right. He had the jacket on and he actually the thing.

I gave a lot of respect for him. He brought up every single member of his family, from his children, his six daughters, and and also talking about his his you know nephews and you know uncles and aunts and and father in law, mother in law. It was just

he wanted everybody to be a part of it. And he closed by bringing up all the teammates that he had that came to the party, thanking each and one of them and reminding everybody, like he did in his speech, if it wasn't for these guys right here, I'm not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They're the ones on my days where I wasn't the top notch safety I need to be. They were the ones that picked

me up. I wish Leroy would have probably been a little bit more about himself, to be honest with you, because I think it sometimes gets understated how good he was as a player. But his big message that weekend, going back to what his mother told him, is it's not about you. You're not the headline. It's everybody that

helped you. And Butler certainly did that. Yeah, and you and I were we were texting back and forth at different times throughout the weekend when you were on the trip, and as we talked about on last week's show, like I was in Canton for fives in Shriman and for Jerry Kramer's. I wish I could have gone for Charles Woodson's last year, but the COVID restrictions and whatnot, um eliminate to that possibility. But um, as somebody who's been there a couple of times, and I know you were

excited to go cover Leroy. If you work in this league, you cover this league as a as a writer, as a commentator. You have to see Hall of Fame and

Shrineman weekend at least once. You have to see what it's all about, the gold Jacket ceremony, the the actual Enshrineman in Tom Benson Stadium, not just watching it on TV, but to be there for it and to feel the energy of that crowd when the different Hall of Famers give their speeches and you and you have the different pockets of the crowd that that are you know, very you know, intensely listening and yelling and screaming and celebrating

their guy, you know up there on the stage. There's something about there's something about being there for something like that that that that the television broadcast is great a job as they do on ESPN and NFL network. With that the television broadcast can't capture it. And and I'm thankful that I've gotten to go a couple of times, and now you've gotten to go. And we'll see. We talked last week about maybe some other possibilities here in the near future, maybe one of us gets to go again.

But it's it's quite the time, it really was, and you know, just mentioning this too before we move on to back to the current day, modern day packers. I was chatting with Mark Murphy on our way back to Green Bay, and one of the things I said to him that really struck me the most was going back to that gold Jacket ceremony. It's one thing to see Kurt Warner and Steve Young and guys that you know,

Charles Woodson, guys that are very visible. It was another thing for me seeing the truth, not that these guys aren't, but the other legends of the game that aren't as much in the public eye. It was really cool seeing Kelvin Johnson again. Kelvin Johnson isn't out doing all these endorsements. Kelvin Johnson's outliving his life. And kind of re emerges for this. Lawrence Taylor, even Ted Hendrix, you know, the former Packers linebacker spent that one season with Green Bay.

Seeing him up there, you know, Fred belichnikof I mean, just so many different guys that it's like, that's what the sport is all about. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, while you were in camp, and as you mentioned, I was in the press box at lambeau Field on Friday night covering the annual Family Night practice. I'll just I'll share a few observations on offense and on defense. On the offensive side of the ball, I thought the two stars of the night were seventh round wide receiver Samari Toura and

then also quarterback Jordan's Love. And starting with Toura, he he just he had one of those practices that you know, where a guy's presence is being felt in all these different segments of practice kind of start to finish. He had a really nice touchdown grab in the one on ones, then he had another another nice difficult sliding catch, a touchdown grab in the eleven on eleven when they were you know, close to the goal line, and then he hauled in a bomb from Jordan's Love. You know, Jordan's

love with Davante Wyatt right in his face. Love let it Go too had gotten behind the defense. He makes the catch and completes it for a fifty plus yard touchdown. For all the talk, and rightfully so, about Romeo Dobbs and what he's doing, and all the curiosity about Sammy Watkins and and where this will go and Al Lazard sort of getting taking hold of that number one receiver job. Samore toure Um made a little bit of a statement on family and to say just say, hey, don't forget

about me. I know, I'm the seventh round pick. And and we haven't seen Christian Watson on the field yet, the second round pick Um, but Toura showed some playmaking ability and it's going to be interesting to see. Now. Can he take something like that family night practice under the lights and carry it over into the preseason games

which start Friday night in San Francisco. Yeah, And and and without you know, putting down any kind of you know, guarantees or qualifiers, I have no reason to believe he can't. This is something that to ray, since he was drafted, he's been making these type of plays. He's been having these type of practices, and that's what has impressed me the most about him and Dobbs is the fact that these guys just don't flash, they sustain, and Tore hasn't

been as probably as exceptional as Dobbs been. Dobbs and made so incredible catches for fourth year or fourth round rookie draft pick. But to that, the statement I keep making Mike, and I don't want to just continue to be a broken record, but it was really true, is that every play that has been offered to him, every opportunity that has been given, he has made the most of that. He has capitalized on it. He's made a lot of those catches that you expect a guy competing

for a roster spot to make. And if you flash this thing back to two thousand twelve, where everybody was drooling over DeAndre Burrell and Tori Gurley, but you had a real set four or five up on top. Uh. I believe Samaria to Ory would be a big head er, bigger headline that then he's been so far, just based on the fact that there are all these other names and all this other uncertainty at that position that people

tend to gravitate more towards that. But if this was old school football, where you maybe have your top three pretty much solidified and those young guys are getting more opportunities to really you will work with the ones I think too, Ray would be a guy that probably would get a little bit more attention. That being said, Uh, this is going to be the proving ground. Now. Jordan's Love, we know, is going to start on Friday against the

San Francisco forty Niners. I would imagine he's going to have a young offensive line in front of him, He's gonna have young receivers that he's gonna be throwing too, and probably young guys in the backfield. Uh, this is where you want to see to Ray, and I would assume Dobbs will be out there to really carry over everything they've done over the last five months and put

it to an actual in game setting. Yeah. And the same goes for Jordan's Love as he is about to uh to start the preseason opener Friday night in San Francisco.

I thought Love had a really really good practice um on Family Night, just just a lot of the timing and and uh um, just the the comfort that he showed in the offense and all that it really seemed to to come together on Friday night against you know, even going against the twos, and we'll talk about what this Packers defense has been doing in practice lately in a minute, But even going against the twos, you know

that that's still a pretty decent defensive unit. And I thought he was, he was, he was really performing well. Then on Monday on the practice field, things didn't go well for Jordan's Love. He had some more of those hiccups. And I think I think with Love, we're just waiting to see. Now. He got those first two preseason games last year under his belt, he got his first regular season start, played the second half against Detroit in that

regular season finale. Now he's back with with another off season, another training camp of growth. What sort of what sort of level is Jordan's Love going to establish? Right? What is what is what sort of consistency can he established through these preseason games. I think that's the thing to watch. Nobody, as you said, he's going to have a young offensive line, young playmakers around him, and all of that in these preseason games. Nobody's expecting him to look like a Hall

of Famer out there in the preseason. But can he can can he level things out a little bit instead of going through some of the some of these ups and downs that we continue to see in practice. What's going to be his level of play in the competition in those preseason games. That's what we're waiting to see. You're absolutely right. But I also remember going back to two thousand and twelve when Graham Harrold probably needed to have a really memorable performance in the finale to lock

down the number two job. The guy went and completed like sixteen of eighteen passes for two or twenty yards or whatever against Kansas City starting defense in the first half with all guys that were either going to be on the practice squad or barely on the roster. That's the thing here. You're going to face good defenses. You're gonna, at least for a couple of series, you're going to see some stars out there, and you're gonna have young

guys around you. How do you rally those guys? As you said, Mike, you did it three times and it was right on level consistency, even Keel. That's what you're looking from from Jordan's love, because we've seen the guy now for two and a half years he can make the throws, he can stand tall in the pocket. He is fearless. I mean, this guy's not panicking back there. He He definitely has the right temperament in that regard.

It's about making the right decisions in that blink of an eye, that millisecond, making sure that you protect the football. That's going to be the big key for Love and honestly the thing I want to see more than anything else with him, like let it go, trust yourself, way within the system. Keep up the tempo, because when Jordan's Love plays on tempo, he's a first round pick. You see it every time. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, Um. I want to take care of some sponsor business before we shift

gears to the defensive side. Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need. Seven three and had Cousin subs. We have something for everyone like our Wisconsin Cheese Kurts, mac and Cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or Submennabowl Cousin subs. Fifty years of better Um family night. On the defensive side, I thought two guys that definitely caught my eye. Were

surprise surprised the two first round picks from Georgia. I thought Quay Walker Um really showed up. Um just you got to see a little bit of of that of sort of that sideline to sideline range that he's got. You see the speed that he has, and he nearly and this is you know, the difference between Aaron Rodgers and other quarterbacks. Walker nearly had a deflection, if not an interception of a red zone past him Marcedes Lewis, but Rogers was able to just zip it, you know,

right past him. And uh. And that's you know, that's a great lesson, a great learning moment for for a young first round pick like that. With Wyatt, I mentioned the play where Jordan's Love hit the big bomb to tour a Um. DeVante Wyatt put a spin move on at the line of scrimmage and then was bearing down on Jordan's Love right and it's practice, He's not going to be able to bury the guy. Um, but you got a chance to see that the quickness of a

three hundred pound man. That's why Devontae Wyatt was a first round pick. Um off a defense that had plenty of guys to choose from right in the first round. That kind of quickness off the line of scrimmage at three hundred pounds, Devantae Wyatt is starting to show it more and more on the practice field, and again that's another thing I'm interested to see. What does he look like now in the preseason games. Well, let's be honest about something, Mike. The the area or why it needs

to catch up. Where he's gonna have to to grow is the run defense aspect. But he does look like a guy in terms of past Nickel, maybe even Dime I think can contribute from day one in that way. He's bigger, but he reminds me of Mike Daniels, where for Mike that was his building block was the fact that he could press the pocket, he could get inside pressure, and then he rounded out the rest of his game from there. That's what I see with why it why it looks like he has all the traits you want

to see. It has been an absolute treat watching him in the one on one drills because even if he doesn't quote unquote win the rep, he's given those guards and center headaches. He just is because he's just a ball of energy, it's not just bullrushes, it's spin moves from a guy his size. It's being able to you know, you know, maybe even you know, swim pass guys. He's had a couple of those secks too, And to do

that in short area is very difficult. Like you see outside linebackers doing that, but when you have all that energy, all those bodies in between, it's difficult to pull those things off. So again that story I did right before I left on Kenny Clark talking about, you know, these guys are gonna make my life easier him, t J. Slaton, jarn Reid. I have to imagine now, I'm sure Brian goodcaute, everybody's you know, praying that these guys can all stay healthy,

get the bubble wrap out. But the Joe Barry, you know, Jerry Montgomery have to be salivating behind the scenes here at the thought of what this whole group can do in Unison. Because Dean Lowery has looked really good through the first week camp, Kenny Clark is doing what Kenny Clark always does, and t J. Slayton looks like a ball player, so to see why it doing that great Very quickly moving on to Quay Walker, He's been everything

I think we wanted to see from him. Practice on Monday, we got to see Devondre Campbell batting a past two almost a near interception came down. He's putting his hands down two guys that's six ft four with that kind of speed. You talk about Lowry getting the past deflections, you talk about some of the stuff that happens to the trenches. There are rows of hands that these quarterbacks

are gonna have to throw past this season. Well, this, uh, this Packers defense in general as a whole, has particularly in Monday's practice, which was which was a full pads, lots of eleven on eleven including two minute drills and the whole thing. After the players had Saturday off and then more of a jog through type practice on Sunday, So they really went at it on Monday, and this Packers defense was given Aaron Rodgers and company a lot

of problems. I mean the offense. They made some plays here and there, as they always do, but that offense with Aaron Rodgers never found any kind of a rhythm on the practice field like we've seen year after year after year. They didn't find any kind of that rhythm on Monday against this Packers defense, and one guy who absolutely jumped off the chart in terms of what he

did in one practice was Jaire Alexander. Now Alexander take he's taken some reps off here and they're resting his body some different things, but he was full go, all out on Monday on the practice field, and whether you're talking the one on ones when he was going up against Romeo Dobbs and Sammy Watkins in the eleven on eleven,

he handled Almazard and Watkins both on deep routes. Um. J Alexander really came to play on Monday, and he showed for for as strong as this Packers cornerback group looks, there is no question who the alpha dog is in that cornerback room because j R. Alexander showed it on the practice field Monday. There are a handful less than five, I think, guys that I can think of where I've watched him on the practice field and I've seen them being a zone where it doesn't matter who the receiver

is who. But the defense looks like they are just so in cell belief immersed in it that they're going to stop the play. And there's about a two minute stretch near the end of practice. I was watching team periods that everyone's just glowing about Jay. I didn't tweet it all during that moment. I just watched him and whether he's playing off, whether he's jamming, whatever he's doing,

it's just so effortless. You know, I've watched for years my cornerbacks that are they're kind of in their own head. And it's not just Green Bay, I'm saying league wide, where you know, they're trying to make sure the footwork is right there, trying to make sure that their hands are in the right spot off the line of scrimmage.

And Jaire Alexander, it's just I don't want to make it sound disrespectful, but it's almost like he's on autopilot and he's just an impenetrable wall to be able to pass through, because if you beat him, he's going to catch up. If he's out within arms reach of you, he's going to find his way to the ball in terms of getting his hands on it, and he does it all without really being grabby. Yeah, it's he's He's

the total Axander. To me, what I've seen when I when I watch a practice, like he the way he performed on Monday. He has an amazing way to combine an intensity to what he's doing with everything looking so natural, and that's just not normal. I mean, normally, you know, guys crank up the intensity and then you see it's like they're exerting all this extra effort and and and everything like that. And Alexander has a way that he can turn up the intensity and still just let his

natural athletic ability take over. And that's what makes him a special player. That's what makes him one of the top cornerbacks in this league. And you know, now he's getting paid like and of course too, and it's fun watch him practice again unabated, like you said, I mean, yeah, there was a little bit of a hiccup there whatever you wanna call it, with the tightness. But you know, even last year when he was trying to get back into the groove again, he's you know, he's not wearing

pads for a time. He's only doing individual stuff. Alex r Alexander was going on Monday, and you hope it can be that way the rest of the way because if he's ready and he's a game week one, all those pieces everybody that's available to the on the defense, especially that Nickel. It starts with yeah, absolutely, Well with that, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script, and be sure to follow all

of our coverage of the team training camp. We've got it all for you on Packers dot Com leading into Friday night's preseason opener against San Francisco, and we'll have another show previewing that game coming up soon. So for West, I am Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We'll see you next time.