Hi, everybody.
Welcome to an on location edition of Packers Unscripted. We are here in Cincinnati, a day ahead of the Packers pre season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. I am Mike Spaffer from Packers dot Com, joined as always not really
you by my trusted colleague Weston Hankowitz. We haven't done the show next to each other for quite some time, but we were here yesterday as well, West for the Packers joint practice with the Bengals, which was just outside of pay Corp Stadium where the Bengals have their practice facility and practice fields.
So I'll just.
Throw it to you open ended at the beginning. What were your impressions of that workout?
Yeah, tough, physical, It was pretty much everything I kind of expected it to be with the joint practice, especially when you look at the Cincinnati Bengals both offensive and defensive lines. They've put a lot of resources into those two spots, and I felt like you saw some really good competitive work between the two teams. Certainly from Jordan Love's perspective, I think that was probably the most beneficial of everything he got those reps in with Christian Watson.
We saw the fifty yard touchdown during one of the team periods. Over to Romeo Dobbs, they're looking to build up the synergy of this group right now, and every rep matters, so we don't know exactly how this is gonna work out. On Friday night, there was some overtures made that maybe Jordan plays in this game. Maybe we
do see the starters out there. I think it was Pete Doherty if I remember correctly, that asked Matt about what does this mean about David BACTERI he was Bill or somebody, I forget who it was.
Doesn't mean David's gonna go. He's like, David won't golden, right, He's like, well, why would you say that? Right?
So, I just feel like with this team right now and where they're at, I don't think you can go wrong either way with how they deploy their preseason starters in this thing. But I really felt like that practice against the Bengals. It got heated at times, but I felt like it really good work for this football team.
Yeah. The thing that really stood out to me Wes was watching the guys in the trenches because that Cincinnati defensive line, that defensive front that is that is a as Larry would like to say assaulty bunch, right, I mean those guys, Sam Hubbard, Trey hendrickson DJ Reader like that is you can see why this Cincinnati defense has been one of the best in the AFC and in the entire NFL the last couple of years. These guys got to a Super Bowl a couple of years ago,
back to an AFC championship last year. I thought it was really really good work for the Packers offensive line and comment I believe John Runyon made a comment to you, yeah, to you after practice because one of the things that was so beneficial about this work that the offensive line got is this Cincinnati defensive line is built differently than the Packers. So the Packers have a lot of, as Runyon said, a lot of quick, quick twitch, and you know,
gap shooting type of guys. This Cincinnati defensive line is built on power and they just they play the differently. Their bodies are built differently, and it was a great change of pace for the Packers' offensive line to get them ready for a different opponent, even if those may not be the guys who were out there on Friday night in the Price Season Open, but this is about getting ready for the regular season.
Well, one of the points John made too after practice, I didn't even think about it this way. It's not like they were going to go down and break down all this film on the defensive front of Cincinnati. Obviously you have an idea what Trey Hendrickson can do and DJ Reader these guys, but it was mostly about adjusting and relying on your technique and your fundamentals. And you're gonna need to do that through the course of a season. You're not gonna have every single aspect of an opponent scouted.
You're gonna have to make some in game adjustments. And that's where John felt like it was very beneficial for him in this group. For me personally, I also thought seeing how the Packers stepped up to that, you know, we'll just talk about it quickly now. The Elton Jenkins little scuffle that he had sure starting with Pratt and then going over with Reader later in practice. You know, as John said, he's like one of the things, you know,
Mattleflore's talking about. We're all out here trying to build some chemistry, right, trying to build some team camaraderie. Seeing the way guys stepped up in those instances, certainly you don't want it to get physical. There was the agreement beforehand there won't be physicality. There's gonna be no fighting. But it is pro football. It's not badminton. I mean, these guys think about it. You and your family members, brothers, siblings,
what have you. You're out playing football in the backyard, You're you're rough housing and wrestling in the house. If you compete, it's going to bring the fire out, and sometimes that fire ignite. So I wasn't really put off by that at all. I mean, obviously it made for some good headlines and the media and some good interview questions and the postgame post practice locker rooms. But Elton Jenkins, I'll tell you what, man, he's a guy since the day he got here.
You want to be in the foxhole with these kind of kids.
I mean, they are the guys that are going to step up and they're going to own their situation and they're not going to back down. And you know, with John mentioning that, I thought all of that was very important because you're seeing, both on the field and off the field, the way the team has to carry itself. And maybe the most important comment that run you and made in that little media scrum we had afterwards, was you know, we know how good the Cincinnati Bengals are.
They're going to be again one of the top teams in the AFC, especially once Joe Burrow gets back. Sure, Packers still feel like they're a pretty darn good football team too, even though there might be so many people questioning them. You have to rise to those challenges. I felt like Green Bay did that during that joint practice.
Yeah, and everybody's asking, of course, you know, how did Jordan Love and the number one offense look against a defense like Cincinnati. Well, I think predictably, there were a lot of ups and downs in the practice. You mentioned the long touchdown pastor Romeo Dobbs absolutely perfect on the money deep ball from Jordan Love there, but earlier he had had an overthrown deep ball. He had another underthrown
deep ball. He hit a Christian Watson on a great, you know, deep crossing route on one play, hit Jayden Reid on a really nice underneath crosser where they got to the rookie from Michigan State the ball in space. But there are also times where he was under pressure, had to move in the pocket, had to take the checkdowns. Everything was thrown at at Jordan Love. In this practice, the Cincinnati Bengals were blitzing like they sent a slot
corner here and there. Aj Dillon had to pick up a blitz or or the running back had to help, you know, provide the chip, help on the edge rusher Trey Hendrickson for example, coming off the edge, and then allow Jordan Love to get the ball downfield. Everything was there, and a practice like this, there's so much more that number one offense is going to see compared to anything you're going to get in the preseason games, as important
as those reps will be. With the Packers having such a young offense and trying to figure things out this practice, with the Bengals having all of their ones out there, that was really good work.
And that door swings both ways, right because when you were watching some of the offensive stuff, I went over to the other field watching the defense. Green Bay was throwing the same type of looks at Trevor Simmon and Jake Browning. Over on Cincinnati's side of things. We saw corner blitz as we saw guys coming on stunts. This is the type of stuff you're not going to say, see in a preseason game, right, Sean Clifford after it saying, you know there's gonna be a lot of vanilla ice
stream out there. I love that line because in these settings,
that's where you got to let it all loose. And when you go back to the original first practice we saw against the Houston Texans now four years ago, when Aaron Rodgers and people talked about not really liking these things, it was because it was almost like an extension of the preseason, except you're also getting guys like Jake uh whatever his name was, the uh Jake Sternberg, Sternberger, Stenberger Stormberger, the other tight end we have.
But but situations like that where guys are getting hurt, right, yeah, you don't want that.
As Runyan said after practice, nobody got hurt. Everything was professional, And I think that is the key right now in these type of practices is getting in that type of stuff and making sure that you get back to the huddle afterwards fine and okay and moving forward. This was the type of practice, as David Baktiari said afterwards, when you were a part of that scrum, it kind of if you had some questions about joint practices and the
value of them. At first, I think these are the type of situations I kind of show you the true benefit of it.
Yeah.
Absolutely, And as far as the Packers defense is concerned, I wanted to ask because you mentioned it on our three Things segment that we did with Larry after practice. Jay R Alexander was not participating in the eleven on eleven.
He was just doing individual drills yesterday. So the rookie seventh round pick, Carrington Valentine out of Kentucky, he was the one running with the ones, you know, for the Packers against Cincinnati's number one offense, granted without Joe Burrow, but Carrington Valentine continues to show that A he belongs in the NFL, and B He's going to have a role somewhere somehow on this defense.
I really think so in Mike, what's funny to me is that, you know, I'm no type of soothsayer at all, but I remember just in the OTA's telling you, like when he was going up against when JayR wasn't there and Rasulle Douglass wasn't there, and these young corners had to go in with the one defense against Jordan Love and that offensive group and the weapons and the speed and everything that the Green Bay possesses.
Valentine was out there.
They gave him a chance to go out there and go up against Romeo Dobbs, and that kid did not back down. This guy, I believe is the youngest player on this football team. Talking to him, I feel like I'm one hundred and fifty years old. I mean, he legitimately looks like, you know, a kid, but he also plays with such an enthusiasm, in a humbleness and a confidence that I think is critical at that position. I've said it so many times, Mike, and at some point
I'll stop doing it. But that mel kiper assessment it stood in my head ever since Draft night. How how is this kid still there in the seventh round. I get it he had one pick or whatever at Kentucky. But the fact of the matter is there's certain guys that go out there and are not scared of the spotlight.
Valentine is one of them.
Yes it's not Joe Burrow, but that's still Jamar Chase, that's still t Higgins. These are one of the best receiving contingents in the National Football League, and they're trying to make you look bad.
They're trying to win their routes.
Valentine didn't let it happen, especially when they did some stuff down in the red zone. The Green Bay Packers, I think one of the things is you look at how good they are at the top of their cornerback room, right especially once Eric Stokes comes back. But how quickly that that can get really and be able to get the injuries and stuff.
You need six seven guys to navigate a season.
Carrenton Valentine, I don't know if it's week one, I don't know when it'll be, maybe not even the season, but I think he showed enough that the Greenmit Packers have to feel really good about that pick.
Yeah, and he's gonna he's a local kid, right, you know, went to high school here in the Cincinnati area, went to went to college just across the border in Kentucky. And he'll be making his NFL preseason debut against the Cincinnati Bengals. And the same goes for the Packers number two quarterback Sean Clifford. Big star here at quarterback in the Cincinnati area, and now he'll be making his his NFL preseason debut in the stadium where he I believe he had told you he had season six his senior
year of high school. Parents has season tickets for the for the Bengals. He and his brother, his younger brother who's also now at Penn State where Sean Clifford was a star quarterback. So this is uh uh, it's it's a really neat opportunity for both for both of those young men to be back here, you know, spending even a couple of extra days with the joint practice and everything else.
It's starting to sprinkle west.
So it doesn't bother It doesn't bother you, that gamer, as long as this isn't thundering, I'm really tough.
All right, Well, we'll we'll keep plowing through and I'll I'll take care of some sponsored business here in the meantime. So serious XM NFL Radio.
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Sub in a bowl. Cousin Subs fifty years of better. All right, this is the cool thing. We'll be right next to a hospital, by the way, I guess, so, I guess so.
Well, before this rain picks up too much, we'll do one other thing here on the show today. I have a story to write for Friday that I do for the preseason game. It's called what to Watch For? So I'm gonna ask you to help me write the story. All right, So what is there to watch for in this preseason opener at pay Course Stadium?
As I alluded to earlier, it sounds like Jordan Love is going to play in this game.
Now. I'll believe it when everything's out there and we see it.
I never like to draw false conclusions, but the fact of the matter is matt Lefluor talked about before practice, and Jordan also kind of alluded to it after practice. The Greenmit Packers are taking a little bit of a different prochare and I honestly don't. As I said, I don't think you can go wrong either way. You have a thirty nine year old quarterback like Aaron Rodgers who's seen and done everything.
No problem.
Let's get the you know, let's get the young guys in there. Let him take a break, get to week one. Jordan Love needs every rep he can get, Mike. I think it was something like, what was it, a one hundred and eighty snaps he's played to this point in the regular season during his NFL career, Right, you want to.
Be able to actually get him work. It's a great way to do it. Now.
Gotta keep the pocket clean, gotta keep these guys healthy. But I feel like that's probably the thing to look for is just seeing what that first team offense looks like. Who gets deployed, how long are they out there, and then when they're not out there, who's coming in there next.
With the receivers.
Bo Melton I think has had a phenomenal camp. A guy that doesn't get talked about nearly enough, right, I think you look at guys like Malik Heath who was sort of this undrafted guy that did some good things down in Mississippi, but for whatever reason, doesn't get picked and as he told us last week after family and Night, he has a list of everybody that was picked before. I mean he knows all of them in, knowing exactly what all their situations were, in him believing that he
should have been picked too. There are three really good receivers at the top of this step chart right now, right three guys I think are probably gonna be your Week one starters in Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, and Jayden Reid. But Samori two Rays stepped up, Melton Heath. These young receivers, the quarterback that they're in there with, they've put some good film on tape for these Packers coaches. Now it's going to be about putting that forward against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Yeah. Absolutely.
And I think the other things to watch too is we've been seeing the safety competition take shape for a while through training camp. Rudy Ford was running with the ones alongside Darnell Savage. Now it seems to have shifted to Jonathan Owens. But you know how this goes. Somebody makes a big play, has a really good preseason game, then we go to the practice field next week. In the depth chart is shifted around a little bit, so
you never know what can happen there. And then also with regard to special teams, there's a lot going on on special teams with this group. You've got a rookie kicker, You've got a punting competition, you have a long snapper competition. You got all kinds of young guys trying to state their case to Rich Basaci that they should be on the field on kickoffs and punts and whatnot. So there's a lot to watch here. And this is just the
first of three preseason games. But since your classes are starting to get covered in rain.
Drops, can I say one thing before we leave? Yeah, I feel terrible about that Jake Sternberger thing. I mean that kidd I honestly, goodness forgot his name.
That's gonna bother me.
If they were back home, we would tell them to cut it or we're not going to be able to do that. But again, it just that's me one of the things that's gonna hat a little bit. When I look at the tape and look at the mas from this appearance of Unscripted, that's gonna be high on that list.
Yeah, all right, Well, well, when we do another episode like this, we'll get it cleaned up.
I'm gonna go take a shower and then maybe just throw a towel on.
This ended up raining a lot more than I thought it was going to.
Yeah, well, you were the one who said let's just stay out here instead of going the hotel.
Fine, all right, Well, dude, back in the day when I have to use to shoot some of my stuff for Packers News and the Green Bay Press casette, we did this thing in like four degree weather, in freezing rain off the shore of Lake Michigan and Chicago. Pete Doherty and Mike Vandermoss both got sick. They actually had to miss work the next day after that game, and I was the only one that was left standing.
These bones are tough, all right.
This has been the best episode to date, by the way, take us home with another agreed that.
No, actually, I don't know, maybe another ambulance will go by while I'm trying to sign off, because we are gonna call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted's from Cincinnati.
Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the preseason opener from pay Course Stadium. We've got it all for you on Packers dot Com. For Wes I am Mike, Thank you for tuning in everybody, and we will in drier settings.
See you next time.