Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted colleague Weston had Quitz. Coming to you hear from our studios at lambeau Field and Wes. I apologize I'm going to dominate the early part of this conversation because I have a lot to explain to our viewers and listeners. There have been some technical difficulties going on.
To put it mildly, our last episode, which we taped last Thursday, did not get posted for a couple of days because of these technical issues. It is available on packers dot com, but video only. There are still issues with regard to audio uploads and the whole podcast thing. These are out of our control. They have to do with the NFL's platform, and these issues, to my knowledge, are They're working on things to get them resolved, but we don't know when they will be resolved. So our
last episode is available, it was just posted late. This one will be posted the same way video onpackers dot com, not in podcast form, and because of all of these technical issues and all of the logistics with the upcoming trip to Brazil, this will be our only episode four this week. We are not going to try to do an episode from Brazil. There's just too much other stuff going on. So I hope I did explain all that. Yeah, did I cover all the bases?
And until next time, He's Mike. I'm wes we'll see it next time.
But we do have a show to get to and because this is our only show this week, this will focus this This show will serve as the preview for Friday nights, Week one, season zero in Brazil. Our last episode was we talked about all of the roster maschinations, the trade, the waiver claim, backup quarterback kicker, how it all shook down. But now week one is here. So my question for you is, are you ready to go to Brazil.
I'm so ready. I'm so ready for this entire thing to get going. I remember talking to you when I
came back. I mean, we had that really busy first day of training camp right where we had practice in the morning, I went and covered the shareholders meeting in the afternoon, And that seems like a decade ago, and here we are still kind of leading up to this first meaningful, tangible football game, and the fact that We're going to South America for the first time that the NFL, this is their debut in Brazil and trying to expand
the global footprint of this game. What it means on that level, just hearing some of the guys talk about that this week, but then also from the x's and o's perspective, which Matt Lafleur has been hard bring on big time. This is not a vacation, This is not a trip. This is something where the Green bit Packers have to go into this stadium against this opponent and
come up with a victory. Because suddenly, Michael, for as much as we prepared and we team bonded and we put in the hours, now it's time to play football again, and the Green Bait Packers have a very difficult opponent facing them in Brazil.
Yeah, one hundred percent. And I don't know about you, but I get the sense both last week as the roster stuff sorted out, and then this week as the team has gotten into the practice routine for the game in Brazil and everything, I get the sense that these guys in this Packer locker room, whether this game is in Brazil or at lambeau Field or in the City of Brotherly Love or in Timbuctoo. These guys are eager to get out there and play a real football game again.
I mean, I think it's it's partly it's partly the way the way last season finished, both in terms of the late season run and the disappointment of how things ended up. But it's also the youth of this team, all of these young guys that are taking a step forward, but also all the changes that have gone on with this team. You have a brand new running back who's going to be the new belcow running back in this offense. You have a new defensive coordinator and a new approach
on defense. Suddenly there's also a new kicker in the mix. I mean, for a team like the Packers that made the playoffs and made a run and it is considered a contender in twenty twenty four, there's a lot of change with regard to this team, and I think these guys are eager to get out there and show it. They can't wait.
Yeah, it was funny too, because even though there has been that amount of change, as we saw for the thirty third Teams Report, this is still the youngest team in the National Football League by.
Quite a significant margin quit.
Frankly, after all of that, Greenmit Packers are still the youngest team in the league. But I was sitting there and I was talking with Bo Melton for a story I worked on that actually posted on Wednesday, and him talking about the tight knit nature of that locker room. Certainly with the receiving corps, that's one of the things that has made that room go. But just the amount of love that those players have for one another, and
I think some of that is steeped in. Yeah, the team and you had the team bonding and obviously winning at the end of last season helps, but it's the fact that they're basically all in the same social circle. I mean, all these receivers are pretty much the same age, even the guys that are more veteran, like Josh Jacobs is twenty six years old. I mean, the Green Bay Packers have such a young nucleus there that has grown together, that has seen, you know, themselves go through the ups
and the downs, and the ebbs and the flows. And because of the way the Packers structured their preseason, the offense only playing three snaps, the defense starting defense only playing eight snaps, so many of these guys, whether it's the new incoming free agents like Jacobs, like Xavier McKinney, or it's just the undrafted players that made the roster. So many guys are just kind of champing at the bit to get out there and play football again and
challenge themselves. Because even though it was a sour aftertaste of how things ended for the guys that came back from Santa Clara, the optimism that has followed them, seeing how Jordan developed in the second half, seeing how this offense came together, and seeing how this defense in this self belief that they've been fostering here under Jeff Haffley, I think it gives them the confidence they want in the early momentum. They want to try to start this thing off fast. Yeah.
I think there's really there's some really interesting things about this particular matchup. I started to suggest it a little bit on our last show, But when you look at the fact that you know, these are two teams that went to the playoffs last year, they finished finished the season kind of you know, going in very different directions. But that being said, the Greemiat Packers have a new defensive coordinator. The Philadelphia Eagles have a new defensive coordinator.
They also have a new offensive coordinator as well. Both teams have a new number one running back with Saquon Barkley, whom Packers are plenty familiar with, having faced the Giants each of the last two years away from lambeau Field and coming up short in both of those games, and Barkley playing a huge role in both of those losses to the Giants. The Eagles now have Barkley, the Packers
have Josh Jacobs. And when you know, on the subject of change, I think one of the things that's interesting about the Eagles and we're not there every day and you know, processing all of it and covering all of it. But when you think of the mainstays over the years of the Philadelphia Eagles, two of them and center Jason Kelsey and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, neither one of those
guys is there anymore. That's a big adjustment for those for that team in the trenches on both sides of the ball, wouldn't you say?
I would say it's a huge difference maker. I mean, I mean that kind of quipped last week about the tush push, But I mean there's so much that Kelsey did that goes beyond that. As you know Kenny Clark was saying this past week, he was really the general up front. As talented as Lane Johnson is and as talented as Jordan Myletta is, it was Jason Kelcey as far as the captain up there, the communicator, the guy that when you think about those really dominating Philadelphia Eagles
offensive lines, he was the center of that. Now Cam Jurgens is the one that I think is sliding overhanding those responsibilities. I'm very interested to see this next chapter from Akai Becton. He transitions going from the Jets. Now he goes over to Philadelphia. He's going to be making a shift inside to guard after things didn't go great for him at tackle. But overall, I mean the you know, Landon Dickerson, I mean the way that they have structured
this thing. They have built so many resources into that offensive line. Interested to see where that goes. Defensive line wise, I think they're set up pretty well. Fletcher Cox was a stalwart, one of the best to do it, especially at his size and his position. But I mean you look at last year. I mean, Jalen Carter, this guy, we knew what he was athletic coming into the lead.
Drafted Jalen Carter because they knew that Fletcher Coss couldn't play forever, right, I mean, this is the guy they're trying to make that transition from that anchor in the middle of the defensive line. They're trying to make that as smooth as possible.
And with him coming in and getting six sacks right off the bat last season, I think he showed his natural athleticism. Now he's going to get more comfortable. The expectations are sky high for him. Jordan Davis is a guy that I'm also very high on. I think he's a good compliment to Carter. The one change that's going to be very interesting though for me watching this Vic Fangio defense and knowing and having such experience with what Fangio has done in this league for so long, is
it is kind of an inside out. You know. They are more geared towards their what they have in the middle of that defense as opposed to the edges, which historically when you think of the Blitzburg schemes and some of the things that he did in Chicago and obviously San Francisco.
While one of their top pass rushers Sosan Reddick. He's now with the Jets and holding out for a new contract and all that. The Eagles sort of got rid of that that problem from a financial standpoint, but the guy was also pretty darn productive as a pass rusher for them, and they have to find a way to replace that with Fangio scheme.
Yeah, and we'll see who all emerges on the edges, But in terms of this early part of the season, I think it's the interior defensive line is where they're looking to hold up despite the fact that Fletcher Cox is no longer there.
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All right.
For those wondering about some of the logistics with regard to this trip, the Packers are traveling to Brazil on Wednesday. It's essentially an all day flight. I've heard anything from like to twelve hours that the plane will be in
the air. Then there will be a practice of some sort on Thursday, and there will be some interviews, media availability, a lot of that being for the Brazilian media who are covering the first NFL game in that country, and then there will be sort of the I guess, the long wait on Friday, all the way up until the game is played in prime time. Hopefully we're going to have a way to watch the Chiefs and the Ravens
on Thursday night, like at our hotel or something. I'm assuming maybe we can get together and do that to pass a little bit of time. But that's sort of the plan for the trip itself. So packers leaving for Brazil very soon. I'm just gonna throw this out there to you, Wes. When you look at this, you look at this game and week ones, as we've talked about in the past, I actually wrote a story earlier this week about how weak ones can be so on predictable teams,
holding stuff back, not showing things in the preseason. They got all these tweaks and whatever in the playbook, and then we've already talked about all the changes with the coordinators and the running backs and everything else. But what is at the top of your list as a key to victory for the Green Bay Packers in this matchup?
Winning in the trenches, and I will talk specifically on the offensive line aspect of this. The Packers said they have their plan for how they're going to handle right guard. They know what they're going to do on Friday night. We don't know yet if it's Sean Ryan, if it's going to be the rookie first round pick Jordan Morgan, or accommodation of both like it was at the end of last season with John Runyon and Sean Ryan managing
that position. We'll have to wait and see. But if the Packers can hold that Fangio front at Bay, we've seen time and time again what Jordan Love can do, being able to manipulate the pocket, being able to look downfield towards his weapons. Green Bay Packers, Mike, You're not gone wood for it, but floor disgusted it this earlier
this week. This is the healthiest they've been going into a season under Matt Lafleur, because if you remember last year, even though they got through the preseason okay, then you had Christian Watson developed the hamstring injury in a practice in that little bye week or whatever you want to call it. Before the opener. They ended up starting Malik Heath. Maliek Heith ended up becoming the first undrafted rookie to start at receiver for the Packers in a Week one
opener since nineteen seventy, since the merger. This year, you have everybody available maliek Heith, depending on how you look at it is probably five or six on the depth chart. This is an opportunity I feel like for the Green Bay Packers to protect the quarterback and let Jordan Love go to work. You want to respect everything that Philadelphia
has to offer. They were a very good football team, a Super Bowl contender, a Super Bowl favorite basically through December first of last year, but things went the opposite direction. If you can control the physicality of this game, if you can come out fast, if you can make them kind of second guests themselves thinking, okay, wait, is this going to be any different than the end of last season.
That's the momentum you have to seize because we've seen it time and time again with Fangio, whether it was in Denver, whether it was in San Francisco, whether it wasn't Chicago, and the list goes on and on. If you allow that front to start penetrating, that's where everything else gets set up defensively.
Yeah, I'm with you there, because when I think about when I think about facing Vic Fangio defenses, I always think about those moments where Fangio dials something up in a certain situation to get that negative play, the tackle for loss, the sack, the play that the play that
just disrupts the drive right. And I think if the Packers can get something going with Josh Jacobs to where their play action game can keep that Fangio defense, honest, I think having watched, and this is really whether it's been Aaron Rodgers or Jordan Love at the controls of a Matt Lafleur offense. Lafleur's offense is at its best and in its best rhythm and at its most dangerous when the play action game is working. And you can't get the play action game working until you get something
going on the ground. And that's where you talk about controlling things in the trenches so that you move the line of scrimmage a little bit. You get them to have to respect Josh Jacobs, and then they got to play you honestly runner pass and that play action I think becomes huge that the uh with the baturation of the weapons around Jordan Love at receiver and tight end. I'm really excited to see what this offense can do when that play action game gets rolled.
This game will be one and loss based on explosive plays. And whether that's the eighteen plus passes, eighteen plus yard passes, or twelve plus yard runs, that's the domino effect that you're looking for. Because conversely, Philadelphia with aj Brown, with Smith, with all these different guys that they can throw at you. Obviously, the Packers is you talked about, have seen Saquon Barkley. We saw how Saquon Barkley's explosive plays affected last year's
game against the New York Giants. Absolutely, those are going to be the huge aspect of this that the Packers are going to to buoy themselves with to try to find that victory. And all that being said, when you bring it back to Josh Jacobs, I know I remember sitting at the table with Matt Lafleur in Orlando at the NFL Owners meetings and he was talking about, you know, they aren't sure if he's going to be a three
hundred touch guy here like he was in Vegas. That's typically not the way the Packers have gone about it. But you know he can do it. Yeah, And especially in this early part of the season where you're trying to figure out, okay, exactly what you have now that ag Dillon's not there as a compliment, you have Marshawn Lloyd coming back. You practice this week on the hamstring. We'll see whether or not he's in the cards for Friday night. Emmanuel Wilson is healthy again, could he be
an RB two. Those are things that we're going to learn throughout the course of the season, throughout the course of September. But from day one, you know what you have in Josh Jacobs and being able to keep him healthy, keep him fresh, and have him so motivated to show that he's one of the top running backs in this league.
I just look at him as the perfect compliment right now to what Jordan Love is doing in that in that quarterback spot, and offensively how the Packers want to spread this thing out.
Yeah, and defensively, for me, I know that Jeff Hafley has been you know, it's been about the play style and wanting to wanting to attack the football, take the ball away and all that. And the Packers they need to improve their takeaways, they need to get more turnovers. On defense, they were you know, toward the bottom of the league in that category last year, and that is something that that can definitely change and they are going
to try to change that equation. But when I look at this matchup in particular, and when I look at guys like Sakuon Barkley and Jalen Hurts, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, and the fact that this is Week one and you've had a whole bunch of defensive starters who you know, they only played a handful of snaps in the preseason. Everything else has been practice, joint practices, et cetera. To me, this game comes down to tap cling because when we've seen Saquon Barkley do his damage
against the Packers, it's because he's breaking tackles. And when you look back at that game two years ago in Philadelphia, when in the first half, in particular, when Jalen Hurts was kind of running all over Green Bay and the Philly or sorry, the Phillies. The Eagles were building that big lead. The Packers usually had somebody in position to make the play, but they missed the tackle. And now those guys Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts are paid to
break tackles. That's part of that. That's part of the deal, right, So you're not gonna make every single tackle, but man, if you can make some of these one on one stops against these guys in the open field and not let them slip through to them where they get in, you know, more into the open space, I think that's what's going to cut back on the explosives and try to, you know, keep this thing contained because uh and we haven't even really talked too much about the Eagles receivers yet.
But but Barkley and Hurts are just our dangerous playmakers well and they can turn a game around in a hurry.
They knew they needed a guy like Barkley. I think last year proved it. You saw with Jalen Hurts, he
was my quarterback in fantasy. It was not a great season for hurts and takeaways and turnovers became a huge issue for them, and not being able to overcome those defensively and being able to get a guy like Barkley back in there, being able to have somebody that's going to compliment and really be able to be a bell call when they need him to be, but also his running style and how it could actually help maybe make hurts a little bit more elusive. That's the combination they
wanted to get back to with this move. And even more than that, I think for the Packers' standpoint, it comes back to the takeaway aspect of it as well. If you're able to get an interception, if you're able to get a punch out like what happened last year with Barkley, that almost saved the Packers in that game too. I mean they had three and out afterwards, but otherwise it looked like that could have been a turning point when they got that football. Even though it's kind of
a wonky play. Now you flash forward into this season and hey that everything is structured with this matchup. There's gonna be unknowns, there's gonna be things they're gonna throw at you. You're gonna have to overcome those moments of adversity, but seizing that momentum back and finding outlets to you
really control the tempo. This football game is gonna be paramount because again, as I allude to earlier with AJ Brown, who's gonna end up going down as probably one of the best trades in the modern era for Philadelphia being able to acquire him a few years ago, DeVante Smith and where his arrow is pointing right now, they have guys much like with Christian Watson that can just completely take the top off the defense in addition to dicing you up underneath if you let them sure, and if
Jalen Hurts gets in that rhythm, in addition to all the ways that they can get you out of the backfield, that is the path to victory for Philadelphia. So from Green Bay standpoint, getting after him early and often it's gonna be paramount.
Yeah, and we'll see, we'll see where things land on special teams in this game. Of course, now we've been talking about this new kickoff thing, it's gonna be for real. Now we don't know, I mean how much we're teams just keeping under wraps in the preseason, not really showing what they were going to do, et cetera. The Packers have a brand new kicker and undrafted rookie and Brandon Arveson,
and we'll have to see how that goes. Anything else that stands out to you in any phase of the games as something that's a key to victory here for Green Bay, because I'll just say this, in twenty twenty two, Packers had a rough season butt and other than the final game against Detroit when there was the shot to get into the playoffs and the Packers failed and didn't
get in. To me, there was no more depressing loss of the entire twenty twenty two season than the loss in London against the Giants, and not just because it started a losing streak, but everything that goes into it, all the long travel, the logistics, figuring everything out, and just how exhausting the whole process is to play these international games. To come away with a loss was just
it was deflating. It was depressing. Getting a win in this game, and I know the Eagles are after the same thing clearly, but getting a win in this game could be just enormous to set the table for twenty twenty four for the Packers.
And if you get off to a fast start sustaining that. That's what made the gut loss against the Giants so gut wrenching is the fact that through the first half it looked like that was just gonna be something that you know, they could control this thing and you know, walk away with a win against the Giants team that not a lot of people are expecting out of, you know, much from at that time. And then lo and behold.
I mean, obviously give credit to the Giants. They were much better that season than we all thought they ended up.
They ended up going to the playoffs and winning a playoff game.
Resurgent year for Saquon Barkley that season, that got him back on track with his career. But the Packers wi let that one out of their grasp. Yep, this is going to be the difference now, And to be honest with you, I'm very curious to see what that environment is like and how the Packers handle it. I mean, again, it could be more like that soccer type style where you're just gonna have people cheering and ranting and raving just for sixty minutes regardless of who has the ball.
I could see people being that energetic and that ex zuberant about this. Managing those elements. The Packers have done everything they can do to prepare for this last Thursday, going out on lambeau Field, predicting and kind of laying out their entire day like a game day, and then having you know, that practice out here. All those things
are part of the equation in this It is. It's a huge game, it's an international showcase, but it is just a game, and it's a Week one opener in regardless you win, loser, draw, you have to come back here at Lambeufield next week and face the Indianapolis Colts. The gauntlet has begun. There's no better way to start that, though, than a victory in what is supposed to be a road matchup in probably a much more favorable crowd, I would say, Mike, than what they would have seen at the Link.
I think it is. I think it is going to be a much more favorable crowd for the Packers than than what they would get at the Link. It's interesting because over the years in Philadelphia, things have gone either way for the Packers, right. There have been some there have been some really really tough and in fact, some kind of blowout losses, and there have been some really
really uplifting victories as well. I do think, much like London a couple of years ago, I do think the crowd is going to be in green Bay's favor in this from what we know about the Packers fans in Brazil, the Packers fans in South America. So hopefully the Packers can can take advantage of that because it was something they did not take advantage of two years ago at Tottenham Hotspur.
You take advantage of it. You have nine home games the rest of the season. It's right, you know, that's the other aspect of this. Nine home games and seven away the rest of the way, So huge opportunity for green Bay and I think that's the biggest point that Matt Laflor's beendrilling home. And again, listen to guys talk about the locker room this week. Everybody understands the business
aspect of this thing. And while it is a long freaking flight and you better have something either keep your mind occupied or sleep, this is also something where the Greenwit Packers just have to go into that stadium like it's any other NFL venue.
Yeah. Absolutely, Well with that, we'll call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and all of our coverage of Friday night season opener from Salpolo in Brazil against the Philadelphia Eagles. We will have everything for you on Packers dot com for Wesi am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time.