#728 Packers Unscripted: It’s almost here

Central Time. And normally when we get to this part of the week and it's week one heading into the season opener, you like to talk about how healthy the team is and how you know everybody got through training camp in great shape. And well that's not the case for the Green Bay Packers at one position in particular.

And of course I'm talking about wide receiver because at the time that we are taping this, which is Thursday morning, at Wednesday's practice, both Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs were out with hamstring injuries. Dontavian Wicks, the rookie fifth round pick who had missed the back half of training camp with a hamstring injury. He's still on the injury report with that injury, but he was back practicing on a

limited basis. But regardless, what the Packers' receiving corps is going to look like on Sunday afternoon in Chicago is a bit of a question mark.

I think Romeo has been such a consistent presence. You certainly seen the dynamic deep threat that Christian Watson provides. You just wanted to be able to see them get out on the field full go one hundred. Let's see how this all plays out. And unfortunately, even if they're able to play, they're probably gonna be somewhat compromised. But it's a difficult, tricky thing for the Green Bay Packers right now because you have to navigate what your plan is going to be and how you're gonna go about

handling it. The one thing. Again, this is a very small silver lining, but this was Wednesday's practice. So it tells you that the Green Bay Packers went into Wednesday knowing, okay, Christian Watson's and they're probably not going to go today for whenever it happened, probably not going to be out there. So the coaching staff at least has been able to adapt to that, make their adjustments and put together a plan that can win here for Jordan Love and this young offense.

second half of his rookie season. We obviously saw what Christian Watson brings to this offense, but because of the the on again, off again, you know, dealing with with the hamstring issue last year, we didn't really see what everybody was hoping from Christian Watson until the calendar got much later in the season. So the Packers now have that history, they understand what happened last year. That will all be taken into account in terms of moving forward here.

But what this does on Sunday in Chicago is creates an even brighter spotlight than was already going to be on two rookies that we knew were going to be significant parts of this Packers offense. With Jordan Love at quarterback and I'm talking about the two second round picks Jaden Reid at wide receiver more so slot receiver most likely,

but then also Luke Musgrave at tight end. If each of those guys was expecting maybe four or five targets from Jordan Love in this game, maybe double that head heading into Sunday, We'll just have to see.

the deep end right off the bat. These aren't guys that just sort of crept up and kind of got their way into the starting lineup like a Malik Heath did during the last week of training camp. No, for the most part, they've been running with the one since day one of the offseason program. They understood what was going to be asked of them. The thing I'm really excited to watch this season, looking specifically at Luke Musgrave, is the tight end in this offense in the Jordan

Love era. Very very small sample size with Jordan Love so far, but he has a knack for finding his tight ends. He had a little bit of a rapport going on with Josiah Deguara before in the past. We've seen, you know, Musgrave gets five receptions during the preseason during his limited amount of work. The tight end is going to be a focal point of the passing game here, and I think having two guys with Reed and Musgrave that can attack the middle of the field, especially when

you get Dobbs and Watson out there. It can be a real catalyst for this unit because you saw the stretch plays, you saw the nineteen yard touchdown in the preseason, you know, coming on the crosser like Jaden Reid did. They're going to challenge the eyes and the integrity of opposing secondaries. And watching those two guys work off of each other, I think is gonna be really exciting here this first season.

undrafted rookie from Mississippi. You know, throw him in there as well, and we'll see what happens with with don Tavian Wix. He is at least practicing on a limited basis, and he was running with the ones in training camp at times before the hamstring injury cropped up with him.

But I was what was interesting to me in going through kind of all the notes and the interviews and everything that was going on in the locker room after practice on Wednesday, and then I wrote a story on our website, you know, kind of outlining what's going on at the receiver position is you know, big crowd gathers around Samorri Tour, a bunch of cameras, and the questions are firing, and you know, we've talked about, you know, the poise, the you know, calm, cool, collected, Jordan love

Samai Toure did not look bothered in one bit by all this attention that was coming his way and what might be a big opportunity for him on Sunday. To me, he looks like a young man who has a lot more experience then he actually got as a rookie last year. He looks like he's ready for whatever comes his way up.

being their leading receiver. I wrote in the off season, I know you and I have talked about it too. He has succeeded at every level of football he's played, regardless of what people have thought about it. But what you were over in the Milie Heath huddle too. What stands out to me the most, and it goes back to something Samori said when I asked him about the collective you know group and how they've kind of grown together here is whatever the outside perception is of their inexperience,

there isn't that expectation and theo they look at. Maybe it's because they all were pretty much star college focal points for their respective teams.

The biggest challenge is going to be what they're seeing lined up across from them. When you see you know, Johnson and these other defensive backs and Eddie Jackson hovering over the back end. Yeah, that's going to be the challenge winning those opportunities. But in terms of that atmosphere at Chicago inside Soldier Field, I don't think these guys are wavering at all. Yeah.

And then the fourth down catch in Detroit that that kept the Packers, you know alive for what they were hoping was going to be a game winning scoring drive there at the end, he's you know, he's had he you know, didn't have many, but he had some big moments as as a rookie, and I think he's a young man who will step up to the challenge. I want to get to our keys to victory, as we like to do at the end of the week, but

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out war at Soldier Field between those two teams. And that's why I think it's ultimately going to take Packers certainly want to score more than ten points, but I think it's going to come down to this scheme. This defense in neutralizing justin Field's the best that they may Packers have actually had quite a bit of success against fields Joe Berry's had some really smart game plans for

how they've defended him. But you know that Lukeetzi and the coaches over on Chicago side, they're looking at Justin Fields now, year three. What can we do with this kid that we couldn't do three and sixty five days ago. What areas of his game has he grown in that we can make him a viable threat against this defense? Certainly, rushing to contain, I think is such an integral part of this. You can't get greedy, you can't get out of your gaps, because the thing is the kid's not

just fast, he's explosive too. He's not easy to take down. Yeah, that's going to be the ultimate challenge for Green Bay.

is going against a quarterback like Justin Fields. This is you know, if I can still call somebody like this a non traditional quarterback in the NFL. When you rush for one thousand yards in the n exactly eleven hundred yard rusher for a quarterback, that's still that's still non traditional. That's unusual. This this is a This isn't about aggression. This is about discipline. This this game, this game is going to be about the discipline of the rush lanes

being able to contain him in the pocket. I mean, just just look at the game last year, and it was in December. It was when Justin Fields was starting, even though the Bears weren't getting wins. You look at Justin fields statistics. Statistically the second half of last year, he was way better than he was in the first half. Things were starting to come around for him and Luke Getzi's offense and all this what happened early in the game, he gets loose for a fifty plus yard touchdown run.

Later in the game, when the Packers made him throw the football, he threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter. You know, and I'm not saying Justin Fields isn't better, things aren't going to change, but that was just last December. You go into this game. That's the formula for beating these guys. You at least have to make Justin Fields prove that he can beat you with his arm before you let him beat you with his legs. And in

order to do that, it's all about discipline. The guys up front, whether it's Preston Smith, Kenny Clark, or Sean Gary, Lucas Fanas, whoever it is. They can't be worried about, you know, how many sacks they're going to be talking about with reporters like after the game. What they have to be concerned about is how many rushing yards are they going to be talking about that Justin Fields ends up within this game, because I think that's the entire key for Chicago to get a win.

the pocket. That's the big one here. You know there's gonna be opportunities to get sacks, There's gonna be opportunities to make your money. Absolutely, but this is one of those where it takes a group, absolutely team oriented thought process in order to succeed against a dangerous quarterback like this, Because, honestly, Mike line up the rest of it. I don't know how they'll defend Chicago. But Dj Moore really super talented receiver, legitimate number one lined up against joy R Alexander. I

feel okay about that, right. Chase Claypool lined up against Rasul Dougley's you feel fine about it. Darnell Mooney, big matchup inside against Keyshawn Nixon, Devondre Campbell going up against Cole Comet. There's a lot to like in terms of how Green Bay matches up defensively. I agree, But where is the question mark? It's at that quarterback position. It's the one that is normally not accounted for. Are you spying him? Are you watching your edges? What is the plan?

The packers have a plan. Very curious to see how they can go about executing him.

get the ball in some open space. The Packers have to be able to make the tackle, don't let the miss, don't let misstackles, then rupture into the big plays because that's what that's what the Bears are counting on. That's the Chicago Bears' biggest highlight from the preseason was a bubble screen that DJ Moore took eighty yards or whatever

to the house. Right, you have to be able to make tackles on these guys because they are counting on their short, simple plays at some point rupturing into a big one that's going to shift the momentum and get and get things on their side, and tackling is a huge wildcard in Week one. Now, the Packers obviously, you know, played their starters at least a few series here, and they're in the preseason, so they're going into this Week one a little bit differently than they have in previous ones,

but still sixty seventy seventy five plays whatever. It's going to be, first game of the season, all the tackles that have to be made. You never quite know what you have defensively until you're forced to make those plays.

It's a much different offense than what Green Bay runs, but the overall simplification, if you bring it all down to it, it comes down to making guys get the ball in their hands and allow them to make plays. I think that's why DJ Moore so excited about this opportunity. It's going to put him in a position to make plays. Chase Claypool did not get off to a strong start

last year, seeing how he rebounds from that. Darnell Mooney took a step back last year from his breakout year of the year before, seeing how he responds to that as well. And Juice Herbert now being the featured guy in the backfield with no more David Montgomery, even though they were without him several times because of injuries, still he's the guy back there. Now, what does he do with that opportunity. I just feel like for as much expectation as there is on this Bears team, because honestly,

you've got to get off the basement floor. If with that fan base, there still are a lot of question marks and how it all ultimately comes together. But those type of playmakers, that type of athleticism, you get them up in the space, it's easy for us to say, go tackle them, Yeah, but it's not always that simple. That's why hats to the ball matter, and that's why integrity matters.

in the preseason. That's how they did things. So now it has to it has to translate into this game. In Week one, on the offensive side for Green Bay, we talked about the injuries, the uncertainty at wide receiver. It certainly shifts the the focus perhaps even you know, more so than it would have been already, on how the Packers are going to be able to run the football. With Aaron Jones with AJ Dillon, you know you've set

up before yourself. Those two running backs can you know, can be a new quarterback's best friend, right, And the Packers like what they have up front with their offensive line. They you know, we know that Matt Lafleur likes to do a lot of misdirection in the running game and then run play action off of that misdirection stuff. You know, I mean all all those kinds of things. But the only way that that stuff works is if you can line up and run the ball consistently and efficiently, because

then everything else works off of that. And given the Packers' situation at wide receiver going into this game, perhaps it's even more paramount that this ground game establish what it needs to be.

But being dominant in the trenches I think is going to be important in this game. Give Aaron Jones and ag Dillon those opportunities. I thought aj Dillon ran the ball really well in the preseason. He even talked about it yesterday in the locker room when we were in there. You know, he probably got more preseason reps this year than he's gotten maybe ever, thinking that twenty twenty there was no preseason right rookie season when he might have

been more in line for something like that. So he feels like that was actually good to kind of get that wear and tear on him a little bit and feeling good right now, but being able to at least get some of those bumps in.

in favorable situations for your defense. Those are all gonna be the keys to this thing. And I feel like if Jordan Love in this scheme they can go in there. This is going to sound really bad, but punting is not always the worst thing. And I just feel like if Green Bay can control the field, position, control the pace of this game, they are the more talented team. It's just making sure you eliminate as many mistakes as possible.

penalties or negative yardage plays or whatever. And that's what you have to stay away from because they only scored ten points in that game because of a lot of self inflicted stuff that just they put themselves in positions that were really really hard to convert, but the defense held up its end to be able to get that win. So you know, Matt Lafleur knows all about that experience in in a week one game at Soldier Field, and

that's what they'll be looking to avoid. For me, the I'm I'm curious to see just you know, you mentioned it earlier, what's known as the Pony package, which is when both aj Dillon and Aaron Jones are on the field together with the situation now at wide receiver, what might we see in the in the creative realm from Matt lafleur from offensive coordinator Adam Stenovich with regard to the running backs and how they're used in this game.

You know, I guess color me curious as to as to maybe what, you know, what might be you know, pulled out of that grab bag as they get ready to play on Sunday, just in case they need something for a little change up or something for a little spark or whatever. Offensively, if there is something like that that they're going to go to, I think it's gonna involve one of the running backs.

possible with Aaron Jones. Let's get him catching passes, Let's get him out of the backfield, let's get him on bubble screens, Let's do all that stuff. And have you know AJ Dillon as your prototypical starting running back. Sure, I'm really excited to see what those two guys can do off each other. There's gonna be some pre pre snap action motion, you know, with Red or with Jones, and being able just to challenge the eyes of a defense I think is going to be really important because ultimately,

that's what it comes down to. Yes, you want to get your best eleven players on the field, but it's how can we use two hundred and eight pound five foot nine Aaron Jones in six foot whatever, two hundred and forty seven pound AJ Dillon. How can we use this to kind of confuse a defense and give them multiple looks and not sure what they're going to see on any given play. That's what I think ultimately can be the biggest thing because whether or not Dobbs and

Watson played in this game. It still comes back to your veteran leadership and the big thing I've been hitting on Mike day after day. You're probably getting sick of me saying it is the Packers have veteran experience where they need it most in the backfield and on the offensive line, and I'm really excited to see what they can do with it. Like this could really be a Krem Da La Crem type season for Aaron Jones, just if he stays healthy. Just open the box of tricks. Yeah.

thirty three, thirty four games, whatever it's been. And the fact that week one, that's what we're going to see and you hope that you're going to see that on a weekly basis, that's gonna be big for.