Transcript
Speaker: Aloha and welcome back to another edition of the another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. As Joe and I were just discussing before, we're trying to get back in the groove and you can tell the groove is not there just yet, but we're getting there. Just like the Packers are getting back into the groove of playing football, Joe and I are getting back in the groove of hosting podcast episodes. First note, Jake Savink, thank you for stepping in for me in last night's live um live episode post-game.
Speaker: for the preseason week one. I appreciate you hopping on i'm on short notice. So thank you, Jake and Joe. Honestly, for the things for like most of the things I thought we needed to see, I thought it was a good good um good outcome for the Packers.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, i've so i said it on the live stream. I've said it before on other things. i like preseason football, not because it counts anything to winner losses, not that it counts anything for the regular season.
Speaker: But it's I think it's a more pure version of football because you've got people out there playing for their NFL careers. So they're they're putting more effort.
Speaker: Not that they don't put a lot of effort in it during the season, but these guys are trying to make that extra special effort to really stand out to to make that roster spot. So that's why I kind of enjoy preseason a little bit more.
Speaker: i i I think we talked about this in the last episode that we do have to kind of quell expectations, though. We can't just automatically jump on something and say, yes, that's it. You know, he's going to be need you the greatest player ever and stuff like that. But, you know, last night was pretty good. Football's back. Yeah.
Speaker: There were some goods, there were some bads, there were some things that obviously they're going to need to work on. But overall, i a you know like I said, football is a back.
Speaker: So I know you and Jake went through a pretty comprehensive breakdown. You know you did our usual um fresh... um We did a version Fresh, stinking, moldy. I'm going to let you take the lead on this one, just because, like I said, you were the one who... um You did the the recap episode and, you know, we're we're recording this the day after you guys did the recap episode. So not much has really happened. You know, the only thing that really came up is there were post-game, post-week one um press availability. So LeFleur, Gannon, and then Demarcus Covington, the D-line coach, and... Wasn't that the corner coach?
Speaker: The DB coach. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't think of either. Babich talked. Like, all the defensive coaches actually talked, and I realized.
Speaker: bad bullet yeah Yeah, Bullocks, Babich. um So, Bullocks is the cornerback coach. Babich is just secondary coach. um Ogobase, the D-line coach, spoke.
Speaker: but That's right. Covington is no longer the D-line. He's the the edge coach. And, um yeah, all these title shifts. but but So, like, all the me all the big heads on the defensive staff talked today. And then it was just LeFleur talking about the offense. So um you had some availability. um On the defensive side, it was a lot of not glad-handing, but just kind of um reinforcing what we saw on tape where um you know Lucas had a good game, Gannon was praising C-Safe for um
Speaker: for not only stepping in and being ready to go but also for being like a diligent student of the game mentioning that um csa has been really on top of like his own self scout he's ahead of the coaches in terms of asking for help on a certain aspect of his game versus um waiting for a coach to point things out to him and stuff uh covington is pointing out that for Lucas this is the guy that he was before he messed up his foot against Cincinnati last year and they expect it to just be a continuation of that um ascension that Lucas was on prior to the injury so just
Speaker: Like you said, you know, as far as preseason week one and all that stuff, same goes for like all the news coming out of practices where it was like, oh, you know, half the reporters are like, Lucas is doing a lot of good stuff. And the other half is like, oh, like Lucas hasn't had a splash play in a while kind of thing. And then what does Lucas do in three plays? It's like gets the run stopped.
Speaker: for basically does everything but get credit for the sack on the second down sack play and then is getting quick pressure again that you know forces a hot throw from on third down that had no real chance of getting a first down then it's like yep between him and Sorrell it's like sure it was only three plays but there were three really good ones between those two guys so um cycle through a lot of things but anything from the pressers that kind of stuck out to you today Honestly, no, because I didn't pay attention to them.
Speaker: I spent a long day of travel and everything else, so I didn't really... ah i didn't know that they were speaking today, so I didn't... um listen to any of them. I kind of caught a little. I think the only thing that kind of sticks out to me that I did see people talking about was the DB coach going something like Cissé is in considerations to start week one and
Speaker: At this point, I think it's a must start week one with the way yeah yeah the corners are playing. So i I've always been in the boat that I don't want to rush somebody into starting position.
Speaker: But when he's been consistently your best corner so far, even though, like I said, we've got to quell expectations because this is only the first preseason game and we've only had a couple weeks of of training camp practices.
Speaker: We've already seen Nixon in regular season form at the during the preseason game. He, I don't know. I really don't. But, yeah, I think it's got to be more than a consideration for Cisse to start.
Speaker: Yeah, like you said, the reason we pumped the brakes on it this whole way through training camp is, like you said, um the Packers are notorious for bringing rookies along, you know, slowly, make sure they really understand their role, really understand the the playbook, their expectations, technique, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker: But when you get a rookie who kind of is following the tracks of like what Jair did in 2018, where it's like it... the the the phrase i use is they this the kid proves he belongs that's what cc has done and yet like you said there's gonna be bad games there's gonna be times where it's like oh that stuff about his technique not being quite game ready yeah it showed up this week whatever it's gonna happen because forget the fact that he's a rookie it happens to experienced players and then you add in the factor that he is a rookie on top of it but like you said
Speaker: when you Whether you want to look at it from Nixon being exactly who we thought he was, Valentine and Damani Jackson being injured, um St. Juice being you know new to the defensive scheme, all those things, it's like, you need two starters.
Speaker: And so no one is like... um And because it's a new scheme, there's no, well, this guy was in it last year. you know We didn't bring anyone from Arizona, so that's out the window. And... um And then in the incumbents' corner, there there is no incumbent scheme, so you can't really say anyone has a leg up on the scheme because none of them played for Ganon previously kind of thing and stuff. so all not at the Not at the corner position. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. so
Speaker: good on Cissé, and was he perfect? No, but also there was nothing on film that really stood out as bad. I know some people were saying that on um Lou Nichols' touchdown that got taken away by the holding penalty, he didn't crash from the perimeter at a great angle. And then, you know, like four plays later in that sequence, he makes ah he makes a tackle that in the end does not just saves a touchdown, but saves points off the board for that whole drive. So just, um...
Speaker: It's nice when the stuff he showed in college translates um translates to the NFL field. And yeah, it's preseason, but it's just good to see it. You need to see it from this defensive group.
Speaker: um Well, it's nice to see a corner actually tackle. right That's the main idea there. So he's already got a leg up on that. But I think it was just weird that... And I know he can't come out and just Cissé's starting week one. But to phrase it, he's in considerations to start week one. just was a little weird coach speak. But outside of that, I really, you know, I think the, and obviously this isn't going to be like the starting front seven for the defense week one. Because, you know, they didn't have Wyatt. They didn't Hargrave. They didn't have,
Speaker: of i think they did I don't think they had Cooper out there. um So it's not going to be the starting front seven, but this kind of gave us an idea of what it may look like until Micah comes back and really...
Speaker: Like Jake and I were talking on the live stream, Pittsburgh offensive line was the number one offensive line that we're predicting to be the number ones going into the regular season. And the Packers defense gave them all they could handle.
Speaker: Right, the only guy from that group who missed was Iyanachor, the rookie who was out injured. So it's like, yeah, he's battling for a spot. But Cook, I think, is the, just on seniority, he is expected to start at right tackle.
Speaker: And yeah, like you said, like, Lukas just put Fatanu on, or not Fatanu, um... ussh I was watching the Jets game, so rocks wrong wrong name. um ah The UW kid that I really wanted Green Bay to pick. I'm totally blanking on his name right now. But Lucas put him on skates on the plate that he got the sack on. um Sorrel was showing off his power on the edge as well. um
Speaker: Your guy, Jonathan Ford, I thought of the light of the trio of Ford, Campbell, and Stackhouse, I thought Ford had by far the best game out of the three of them. Campbell's was obviously cut short by injury. oh I think you're right, it's Fatanu.
Speaker: F-A-U-T-A-N-U. Okay, it is Fatanu. What is... Hold on. Because the offensive tackle out of Washington, third-year guy is Troy Fitanu.
Speaker: Oh, okay. Oh, you know what? The Jets guy is Fashanu. That's why. Okay. yeah but see too many too many draft prospect names in my head. Get them all mixed up.
Speaker: But, um i like I said, like and like you and Jake said, it wasn't a lot of plays by the top, but the the guys who will be part of the top unit while Micah and Wyatt and Hargrave worked their way back.
Speaker: But um you had to like what you saw out of them against a top tier, you know, opposing um offensive line. And... combine that with Ganon showing like he obviously didn't show everything but you know one of the things that you and I kind of grumbled about last year is like Halfley showed a lot of like pre-snap looks but he never really actually pulled the trigger on any of them and it was nice to see Ganon show that like we're not gonna do it every time but if we show double a gap look we are gonna send six guys kind of thing because that
Speaker: You know, that was one of the ones that we pointed out with Halfley was it's like, okay, you've you you bluff it so much that other teams count on you bluffing it and it hurt them against the Cardinals.
Speaker: Johnson took advantage of it in all three of the Bears games at different times where it's like, we're just going to basically trap your interior defensive linemen. And because your linebacker is backing up, it's going to screw up the timing of your defense and stuff. So, um,
Speaker: You know, it's cool to bluff it, but you do... It's just like the jet suites on offense. Like, I know a lot of people don't like them, but showing motion doesn't do crap if you don't hand the ball off ah to the jet suite guy once in a blue moon at the bare minimum. Because then it's like, if it's it can't be eye candy for the sake of eye candy. It has to actually amount to something at some point. So it's it's good. You know, some people would say, like, was Ganon showing too much? was like, no, I think it's...
Speaker: you're He's not showing everything he's going to do with it. He's showing like the very basic thing he's going to do out of a certain look. And I think it's important to show that not only are we going to show something, but we're going to actually do something. So it puts that little bit, at least amount of doubt in an opponent's mind that like, oh yeah, we do have to prepare for this and stuff. So I like that usage of preseason.
Speaker: well that yeah that's the reason pre-season is there is because it's a continuation of teaching the system to the players so you can't not run certain things in the pre-season because if you if you don't run it then how are they going to know how to do it in season exactly it also gives you a better idea on when it comes time to make decisions for the 53 man roster, cause well, you know, this guy picked it up a little bit quicker.
Speaker: do we keep him? But this guy may be our long-term guy, but he's, he's struggling kind of picking it up right now. Do we, you know, do we cut this one and keep that one?
Speaker: So it kind of uh,
Speaker: A learning experience for all of them. But yeah, with what little bit he showed last ah ah during the preseason game, I keep wanting to say last night. It was last night, but this episode doesn't come out until Monday. So I'm trying to talk in future talk.
Speaker: yeah But yeah, and really some of the... um There was one other thing I was going to talk about with it.
Speaker: Brinson, you mentioned my guy Ford, but Brinson also had his moments. And there was one where he almost had the sack, but Rudolph kind of got out of it. But a I think Jake said it and then somebody else said it on Twitter that if you go back and look at the play,
Speaker: his helmet was almost coming off. So it was probably going to be, hands it probably should have been hands to the face. And you know, if you got to wonder if he would have not had that issue. Would it he'd been able to finish the sack on that? But they were getting strong push throughout the night.
Speaker: ah Obviously later on when the deeper down on the depth charts came, they kind of struggled a little bit, but that is That's going to be an overall thing no matter what. You're not going to have six deep on star players at positions.
Speaker: That's just not feasible to happen. But I think overall the whole defensive line well played really well. Yeah, yeah, Brinson, basically his lone scratch mark on his day was not finishing that sack, but he was getting good push and or penetration all night. Cox, thanks for saying penetration. Britton Cox was...
Speaker: We're in midseason form. What am I saying? We need time. oh Because I just I'm glad you said that because it's it's my thing that every time and something happens and he's doing something good, I always tweet out or message Cox got penetration.
Speaker: um So i thought he looked really well, even even from rushing from a stand up position, even though he's more used to you know, he came out of college as a down lineman.
Speaker: and you know he's had it kind of kind of like lucas and all them right now they they go from three four to four three now back to a kind of three four so even though i don't care what anybody says i'm still not sold that it's going to be a pure three four type thing i think it's going to be whatever front suits them in matchups and so But i thought he played well. you know, this is going to be a make or break season for him. They did give him the one year extension.
Speaker: But, you know, this has got to be the year that they that either really turns it into that rotational guy because I ah love Brent Cox something because I think he's a good player and I've been sold on him since since they brought him in as a UDFA.
Speaker: But he's never going to be that superstar a player. He's going to be that rotational a guy that goes in and out.
Speaker: I'm starting to get dirty, mine. You can frigging tell I'm tired. He's going to rotate in and rotate out as needed, but he's never going to be the guy that you're going rely upon as every down rusher. So...
Speaker: so This is where he needs to solidify his spot and say, OK, you've got me for first down, third down. And I'm going to give you this everything I got. And this is what you're going to get out of it.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that was always um sort of the the appeal to cock to Cox as ah as a prospect. He's doing it now, too. ah ah But um like the whole thing coming out of college is like okay like this guy he fell you know maturity issues all that kind of stuff you know what are exactly are you getting out of him and all he's really done since then is really sort of prove like he you know while not being a great athlete he does seem to have a knack for like understanding pass rush concepts having a plan on how to attack and then just like being a relentless player and i do kind of wonder if they would have given him like not a bigger deal but like just more years if he wasn't coming off of a season where he lost the whole thing eating core muscle surgery after like week one because
Speaker: As much as they're hyping him up this preseason, he was getting all that talk last preseason as well, and then he goes and gets hurt on like his fifth play in the the week one opener and stuff. I don't know. I'm wondering if more they gave him the one-year extension to give him the Enigbare-type deal, where you know this is technically going to now be your year four. This is going to be the year that you need to show us that we give you...
Speaker: a two to three year extension. Obviously it's not only, you know, $40 million dollars a year or anything like that, but it's going to keep you in Green Bay for another couple of years.
Speaker: So I think it was more kind of the Watson end of things. You're coming off ah pretty much a season ending injury. We'll give you this contract to come back, show yourself, and then we'll talk about a little bit of a longer contract.
Speaker: Yeah, but just like to see that the effort is there, that the fire is there, and they're going to need that. Like, it's it's you the cliche of all cliches, but it's going to be all hands on deck for the first however many games until Micah comes back.
Speaker: Just it has to be because you you none of those guys no matter, you know, unless Lucas just becomes peak Aaron Kempman this season. None of these guys is like a one man pass rush dynamo in the way that Micah is like you're just not going to get it out of any one of these guys. um Ironically, the guy who might be the closest to that is Wyatt and it's.
Speaker: While interior pressure just kills, it's hard to be that good at that at that one thing from as an interior pass rusher because it's easy to send help on the interior. like It's easy to like slide or push a backup or things like that. so um It'll be really interesting to see how Ganon...
Speaker: kind of like keeps this group together and like it tries to exploit openings for you know it really is gonna be like um he's gonna have to show something to like kind of sneak a rusher in the back door kind of thing and say it's gonna be a lot a lot of smoke and mirrors to open the season but like you said that's one of the reasons why we're encouraged by the fact that he's like yeah i'm gonna show a bunch of of a bunch of stuff to open the preseason because like it's um it's like in top gun maverick when um What's his...
Speaker: Maverick has like his dude um and he keeps telling him at different points of the movie, like, I don't like your look. And he's like, well, it's the only one I got right now. And that's kind of what Ganon's gonna... That's kind of his M.O. for the first you know third of the season is like...
Speaker: Well, and even even once Micah comes back, Micah's going to be on some kind of pitch count. Like, that's the thing is it's going to be like when he came in last year and it was like the bulky back and, you know, how long until he plays 80% of the snaps and all that kind of stuff. And knowing Gannon's history, he's a guy who doesn't want his frontline guys to play that many snaps. He wants them to play 60-65 max so that those sixty sixty five it can be...
Speaker: balls to the wall week one week 17 into the playoffs it like that's that more than anything is the key to his philosophy so the more confidence technique bravado whatever thing you want to say he's building up in the core of um Lucas, Sorrell, Cox really those are the things that you should be expecting things out of to start the season and then on the interior with Hargrave, Wyatt, Brinson like those are you know like out of those six guys it's like okay like you six you're the six and then whatever he does with Cooper
Speaker: the seven of you this is going to be how we're going to generate pressure to open the season and the seven of you are like that that's my game plan and we've kind of loosely talked about it but even when micah comes back i hope that gannon sticks with that mindset of like yeah micah's special but like you're one of the guys kind of thing as opposed to you know halfley did a lot of great things but um It kind of felt like everything was sort of like catered to, okay, we're going to kind of funnel stuff to Micah. And not saying that Micah wasn't doing a lot of the game wrecking on his own, but it did feel like it was shine the spotlight on Micah and let him make something happen kind of thing. whereas it
Speaker: it's hard to say because we haven't seen ganon practice in or micah practice in ganon scheme but you're kind of hoping like this is what he's doing to generate pressure without micah and then when micah comes back it just gets easier and you keep doing more of the same and like evolving a little bit and stuff so that's the whole the thing ah to kind of give Halfley credit, you know, Micah is like getting that brand new toy, you know, yeah that that like when i was a kid, it would have been like the Technodrone or or the the Turtle Blimp or whatever it was that it's this giant new toy that
Speaker: that you want to show off to everybody so you're going to do everything you can to of get him featured on it but yeah i mean i do think that he is going to scheme a lot of things for micah but i think he's going to do it in a way that also you know maybe
Speaker: doesn't isolate Micah, but you know features Micah. You know what I mean? It's not going be like a mainstay Micah. Okay, we're going to put three guys on this side, and Micah, you're on your your own on this side.
Speaker: i think it's just going to be one of the – I think they'll do a lot of moving around of Parsons, you know, rush him up the middle, rush him from the sides, maybe drop him a little bit.
Speaker: just to shock just for shock value right and go from there but you know that's that's a ways out of there uh the one thing since we are kind of talking about it i do think they need to start hitting the waiver wire for inside linebackers um Quinn is rough.
Speaker: I mean, he's he's got athletic ability, but he's a little bit rough. I just, I like Isaiah McDuffie, but I just don't think he's going to be able to hang. ah Trust me, I like the Iowa guys too, Welch and Neiman. And Neiman is maybe a little bit more athletic than McDuffie.
Speaker: But that's not saying a ton. They're just more downhill guys than they are drop them into coverage type guys. Welch, I think, can do a little bit of everything, but he's never going to be a superstar type person.
Speaker: um So I think that they're going to have to start hitting the wire to maybe bring in some guys for competition at the linebacker position. Like Neiman and Welch are battling for one spot and that's to be the special teams ace. I think Neiman's going to win it because he is the better special teams guy over Welch. And the the good side of that, and you're right, I do think they do need to go fishing for the waiver wire on linebacker.
Speaker: But Hopper did flash a little bit yesterday and it's always hard to see. It's always hard because like he was like the one guy who like you can expect to get like amongst the back seven. He was the one guy that you're like, they you do want to see him play defense at some point this season. Everyone else is like a deep backup slash bagging groceries kind of guy and stuff. But he popped a few, he popped a couple ball carriers or guys trying to make receptions. um And it's just hard to tell because like the guys next to him, he shouldn't be playing next to them in a real NFL game. like If he's playing with any of these guys, something has gone terribly wrong for the Packers. so But then on the other side, you know it is going to be a more of a 3-4 type d defense. right
Speaker: So you're going to need that extra linebacker anyway. And you know in case something happens, you're going to need somebody to rotate in. And right now, I just don't know if that guy is on the roster to be able to. Right.
Speaker: do it and I don't know if it's you need to go out and get a a middling guy not like um a bad guy but somebody who's not exactly like 40 something years old but you know not a young UDFA maybe somebody who's played in a couple of systems I don't know if there's any of the guys ah Gannon coach down in Arizona still available or not but It might be something that they need to look into. Otherwise, I think they may be in a little bit of a world of hurt if something were to happen.
Speaker: Yeah. So we shall see. And other good news. um I had mentioned it earlier. Anthony Campbell was he left with some kind of lower body injury. LeFleur confirmed that um it was nothing major. They expect him back sooner than later.
Speaker: and like I said, I thought... Of the three, like, kind of end of the roster defensive tackles, I thought Ford had the best game out of the three. And Campbell gets, like, an incomplete because I thought he was playing decently, but he only played, like oh like, a handful of snaps because he went out and stuff. But I thought he was getting some push, getting some movement on the interior. So I liked what he was doing.
Speaker: Stackhouse, he just didn't do much. And, like, wasn't bad, but he wasn't standing out either. And he was playing against like the bottom roster guys. And so he can't afford to do nothing in his snaps. Whereas like um Ford was flashing against the starting Steelers interior O-line. And, you know, he was still, you know, he was playing down the stretch some as well, but um he was um having an impact no matter when he was in the game. And I thought he'd,
Speaker: He did well for himself and... um Let's see, where is Keo?
Speaker: Which one are you looking for? Campbell's snap count and... oh I don't have the snap count. I've got the mouse here. But yeah, just, um, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Oh, there it is. Looking at the thing, right? Yeah, he played 17 snaps, so, you know, relatively nothing. But, um, just thought he was doing well for himself and, you know, just hope that he can get back on the field as soon as he can because, um, he needs to put as much on tape as he can because that's the, you know, that's the, um, the part of the roster that he's at is, you know, he he just needs to be out there.
Speaker: Um, Kent Darling, Jalen Simpson had an awful game. um You could probably say that about all the ah bottom of the roster type secondary. They were all kind of rough.
Speaker: Yeah. But especially for Simpson, who's just been like, especially since... um especially since baldwin was released there's like okay now simpson is like the the um the the deep roster secondary guy who maybe has a chance to get a spot because of baldwin's injury and like it's he's a year away from maybe being a year away kind of thing still so um unfortunate there's still two more games but that one does leave a bad taste in your mouth anything Anything else on defense that stood out to you? or Like you said, I'm not going to split too many hairs over how the light fourth string DBs looked because you know you're at the point of the game where it's like, okay, none of these guys are going to be doing much and stuff. The only one that I'll mention is Catan.
Speaker: I thought he was a little bit rough. I mean, he did have the sack. He did have the pressure. But I think overall i he had a rougher game. Yeah.
Speaker: and it's why It's why... Oh, go sorry. Oh, I was just going to say that's that also lends to the whole Nixon situation because ah it looked like Oladapo was going to get any a pretty good stop on a catch. and And then Nixon comes over and like gets in Oladapo's way and Oladapo has to let go of the guy.
Speaker: and Yeah, so that Jake and I talked about that last and on the live stream, but he...
Speaker: he For a guy that has is going to have to be the guy that is most likely going to be the fourth string safety and then your special team safety, and last night was kind of a poor showing. and And if you want, do you have anything to say about Oladapo?
Speaker: Oh yeah, but you can you can finish first us and then I'll come after. Well, no, I was going to roll into something else. Oh, okay. So I was just going to say, like, the parts of the game that Oladapo looked rough in were the parts where he was playing nickel. And um that's never where I thought his future in the NFL would be. I always liked him better as a deep, more of a deep half cut type of safety. Maybe with some eventual center field type skills and stuff. But...
Speaker: There's just no snaps at that role because you're just buried behind Williams and um williams and McKinney at this point. And that's why like my tinfoil hat thing was like, I wonder if they're trying to get Oladapo snaps as the nickel to match up against the tight ends in the division because you do need...
Speaker: You need an answer if Bullard just gets, you know, not bullied, but like just gets, you know, out-heighted because Bullard is 5'11 on a good day. And, um you know, you've got to deal with Loveland, Laporta. um What's his? um Totally blanking on um the Vikings tight end. um your other ah Yeah, Hawkinson is still there. And then, you know, the Bears, as much as we tease them for drafting 40 gazillion tight ends, those are 40 gazillion 6'6 guys you have to figure out how to cover. And um you've, like...
Speaker: that's the thing is like none of the guys oladopo covered are the kind of guys that i'm like in this thing that i'm like oh that's the one you want him covering he wasn't covering even a big wide receiver he was covering like jeremy bernard he's covering all these like short slot types that it's like well that's not who you want him in the slot for anyway and i commend him for like you know like the the play you referenced that everyone is pointing out where he couldn't wrap up um bernard on the sideline but it's like I commend him for being there. And even that one, he wasn't in man. He kind of like closed from like a short hook and stuff.
Speaker: And I don't even blame Oladapo for that. I blame Nixon for that one. But it's the whole... Like like I said, i do think it's the staff like, let's see if there's other ways we can get Oladapo on the field. Let's see if he can be an answer to the, okay, who's going to cover these tight ends question. Because like I said...
Speaker: Okay, like, if Bullard can't do it, then you're into, are we putting Cooper on him? who Which I do think you can do from time to time. You don't really want Zaire on them because he's six foot tall. And then it's like, okay, and now do we have to bring McKinney into the box and stuff? So, like, you're sort of, like, taking... You're robbing Peter to pay Paul if you can't find, like, some kind of specialty player to step in and fill that And that's the thing, too, is, like, okay, like...
Speaker: Yes, you want Oladapo as this specialty player, but in the event where he gets locked on the field because the defense gives up a first down, it's like, okay, it can't be like, oh, fuck, like we have to burn a timeout because this guy can't do literally anything else, and we're totally screwed if that personnel package gets stuck on the field with tempo.
Speaker: it's what this is It's one of those where it's I relate it to preseason baseball where it's like, I don't care that your number one starter has a six yeah ERA because it's like, okay, if you really understand baseball, it's like he's working on a sixth and seventh pitch that he learned how to throw over the offseason. And this is that kind of thing where I'm like, I'm not worried about Oladapo in that sense where it's like, yes, it's not, I wish he was doing better at it, but he was He was good as a good... you know He's still one of your top gunners on special teams. um He's playing the other special teams. And um yeah, he can't get blown back into the returner. That wasn't good either. um But overall, like there was nothing in Oladapo's game where I was like, oh, his roster spots in Jeopardy. like No, they are just trying to see if there's like other things he can offer the roster and like more versatility and all that kind of stuff. But... um
Speaker: Now, like take it away again to where you were going to go with this. Well, I roll into that to say kind of what ah Jake and I were talking about on the live stream about Sky Moore.
Speaker: And I kind of tweeted this and then I got some responses from Westendorf and guys like that. that I said, are we really sure Skymore is going to have a guaranteed roster spot come the fifty when it time comes time to trim down to 53? And a couple of them, like Jacob, said, well, yes. and But then you go and watch the...
Speaker: He's dropping passes. He's not looking good on his routes. He's, you know, ah i have the his statistics up here. the I think he was one of three because he dropped the other two.
Speaker: Yeah. um Where is it? Where is it? He's 1 of 3 or 1 of 4. Yeah, 1 of 3 with a long of 11, and that was just a quick slant that he caught. it and then he had one rush, credited one rush for six yards.
Speaker: um But then you look at it and... They, he ripped off a 14 yard frigging punt return and and the answer is, well, that's why you keep them on the roster.
Speaker: 14 yards, Mike, 14 yards. And I kind of said this, that are we viewing this like the McManus situation from a few years ago where Narvison was struggling,
Speaker: You know, they cut Carlson because he was struggling. All of sudden, McManus comes in here and he has some success. And now they've crowned him the savior of the the special teams unit.
Speaker: And he's going to be our kicker going forward. and But in actuality, he really wasn't that great of a kicker, but he was just better than, you know,
Speaker: Instead of being 32nd out of 32 teams, you were 30 out of 32 teams. So you weren't really any better. Is that the same thing that we're going to see out of Sky Moore? The way they talked about that punt return was that he ripped 30-yard punt return.
Speaker: um I didn't get to see it because I was dealing with something else and But I look at it and they credit him 14 yards on that punt return. You're going to save a roster spot for a guy who returned one punt for 14 yards?
Speaker: And yeah, and the other part of it that Jake brought up is like, he's not really with the top kick returners. And that was like, part of the thing too is like, he was returning kicks for San Fran as well last year, if I'm not mistaken. And it's like, okay.
Speaker: And where I agree with you, what you the the thought process that you and Shavink were coming up with last night is like, you're gonna keep not just a 53-man spot, but one of your 47 game day active spots for a guy who is literally there just to return punts.
Speaker: And I get it. like we Like, we went to Romeo Dobbs returning punts because we were so, so, like, just over punt returning. It's like, we just need a guy who's gonna read the punt correctly in the air and catch the ball.
Speaker: And, like, that's how low we had. And if he gives us anything on the return, great kind of thing. yeah But, like you said, that punt return yesterday, it wasn't like he creased it for 14 yards. He kind of, like, it looked like one like, people are going to hate me for saying this. It kind of looked like one of the Dobbs ones last year that everyone got, like, salty about where he kind of, like...
Speaker: was like picking his way through the lanes kind of thing it wasn't like he caught it and just like went kind of thing it was like a he caught it kind of like took a couple hesitation steps then he went then he caught and it's like on one hand it's nice that he found 14 yards but it wasn't like he just eight just like creased the coverage team and was like, bam, I got 14 yards. It was kind of like a, okay, like I caught it and I kind of found loose change in my pocket kind of thing.
Speaker: And if he keeps doing that in the preseason, I guess, but like we, like you said, like I was tweeting, like Shavik pointed out, like all that crap we were being sold the last couple of weeks about, oh, he's such a big part of like our plans on offense kind of thing. Like,
Speaker: No, like still the same st still the same guy like like for like Shavin keeps talking about corn dog and it's basically a trick play where you get the whole defense going one way and you pop him back out the other way.
Speaker: And it's an elongated swing pass for all intents and purposes. He's not doing anything as a route runner. It is the epitome of, you know, the old school student body left play. It's the student body left. Just kidding, we're going right. And because no one is in the same zip code, I can lollipop this ball out there to him. And he's going to just walk into the end zone for a four yard touchdown. It's like...
Speaker: I can't justify keeping a guy for like, okay punt returns only and um... just okay punt returns and like plays that have to be so like baked in for him that, you know, for him to be effective. And like Shevink pointed out, the fact that Kansas City of all teams gave up on him should be the screaming sign of like, oh, are we sure about this kind thing? And San Francisco gave up on him with all the issues that they're having at wide receiver.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah Like, this is a guy who's had 38 targets max in a season. And those were years where they were, like, begging someone else to step up in that receiving room um in Kansas City. So...
Speaker: Like, I never bought into the, like, he looks so good. kind That was one of the things we talked about in like a couple like on here and on a couple threads is, like, who's he going against? Oh, he's going against Oladapo, who should be a mismatch in his direction, and he's not getting that good separation on those plays. Like, Oladapo, like, that that one day where it's like, oh, Moore did all these great things. It's like, he's diving for the ball because he can't separate from a guy who's six inches taller than him. Like...
Speaker: and six inches and 30 pounds heavier than him so like that doesn't get me excited you know like it it's one of those where i i'm just like i don't care i'm not watching him i'm honestly kind of sight like um but brendan draczynski kind of like in the same boat too where he's like I don't need to see 23 on offense ever again. I don't care that it's the preseason. Give 80, 82, 87 all the offensive snaps. Like, stop wasting them on more at this point. And it's like... But Brendan's right where it's like, I guess if he's gonna have, like, two to three nice punt returns a game, cool. But even Brendan's like, I'm not going further than that. Like... It's, it's, but, and, and like I said, the part that I didn't even think about until Jake mentioned it on the live stream last night is, Moore isn't with the top, and I have to go and watch, but I thought it was Nixon and Savion who were the top return guys last night, and I'm kind of like,
Speaker: Okay, if you're going to lock in a roster spot because you're the returner especial, it's like, you better be doing both of them. You can't be doing just one of them. Like, yeah, and that was the thing that Jake kept hammering home is it's like, you're going to keep a 53 and a 47 game day roster spot for a guy who is literally here to just return punts and maybe get a jet sweep every once in a while. Like, that...
Speaker: that's a mismanagement of resources and on ah the other hand it's hard for you and me to argue because it's like yeah i don't know who else on the roster is gonna effing do it but like i really wish submit yeah this is why i rolled into the sky more thing will shepherd was looking better with his lone punt return the only thing that stopped him was olodapo getting shoved back into him and pretty much knocking the shit out of Will Shepherd. But you know even last year during the preseason, they had Will Shepherd back there doing punt and kickoff returns, and he looked pretty decent at it.
Speaker: So why do we want to keep Sky Moore to do one or two things when Will Shepherd is looking like somebody who can be the six wide receiver, your special teams guy, and your return guy?
Speaker: Right. And that's like and like that's the difference between Moore and Melton, and it would be so good if Melton could return punts. like if If Melton could return punts, that would be awesome. It would help if he could catch, too.
Speaker: Yeah, I know. But I mean, like, with Melton, it's like you get top... Like, he could... He's good enough as a gunner on punt team and some of his other special teams things where it's like he could be in conversation for a Pro Bowl spot as a special teamer.
Speaker: And then on top of that, you get the, like, random Melton bomb play every fourth game that actually does work kind of thing. So you're getting something tangible on offense, whereas with Moore, it's like...
Speaker: what else do you do around here kind of thing. and But like I said, it's hard for us to stamp on the table for that when there's like, and I agree with you, it would be much better if Shepard or whoever could take that role because then it's like that guy does more at his listed position.
Speaker: yeah It's the Zane Anderson conversation where it's like, okay, you're supposed to be this special teams ace, but are you actually an ace? you know like we i say that nick neiman's roster spot should be locked because he actually is a special teams ace and i don't really give a rat's ass what he does you know at his listed position and so it's like with more it's like well you're i care more is a nothing at wide receiver until proven otherwise multiple times in a row and
Speaker: like, cool, you fielded, you cleanly fielded and returned the one punt you got. That's not been Green Bay's problem. It's been who's going to do it for a whole season. Because Reed's had a couple nice-looking ones. um Golden's had a couple. And then he almost got concussed on the next one kind of thing. So, like, it's not the doing it once. It's the are you going to do it six times a game for 17 games over the whole season?
Speaker: That's the part. And so, like... I'm not feeling so warm and fuzzy about what Moore did in Pittsburgh on Thursday, you know, in terms of what it means. it It doesn't change how you and I feel about his roster spot moving forward.
Speaker: No, and that's why i kind of brought it up again because and I rolled it from the Oladapo. ah Oladapo had a rough night. You know, he was getting tossed around and all that, and that's what kind of halted the Will Shepherd.
Speaker: What'd they give Will Shepard for his? They gave him a zero, and I was like, I thought he made it farther than that. So I don't know if he just bounced so far off of Oladapo that it negated his return, but I gotta go watch that one back. Yeah. But, you know, he was looking like he had some significant moves before getting de-cleated by his own teammate.
Speaker: um So my... dad I would have no problems throwing him back there the rest of the preseason and say, here. Oh, Give me shot.
Speaker: Because right now, Skyward's just not doing it for me. And it's just unfortunate let that after the first light two the first three drives, the Packers defense just couldn't get off the field. So you but Pittsburgh literally punted twice.
Speaker: yeah Or three times, sorry. One touch back and then the two return. So like that that's what happens when you just don't get off the field. like That's the one area where I'm like, wish they would have gotten a few more stops. Then we could have seen a few more returns and stuff. But... um Is there anything else you really want touch? Well, it's not all for the special teams because I guess we could talk about the Trey Smack.
Speaker: um I do think we're going eventually come up with a Trey Smack nickname like Smack Dat Club or something like that. um But, you know, technically speaking, he he was four for four, two 56-plus yarders,
Speaker: uh yeah 58 50 58 30 i forget which order but 37 and 38 and then the 58 yarder then counted so um like they were all center mass obviously the first 58 yarder was more impressive than the second one but i think the second one like people are going to talk about the first one because it looked good from like 60 something but To me, the second one was more impressive because the second one was going towards the end of the stadium that has been the absolute house of horrors for kickers in the NFL since Heinz opened. So that one to me was more impressive because he he nailed that one. And it still had a good couple, you know few more yards on it. Not not the like 10 extra that the first one looked like it had, but um it was still a good kick.
Speaker: And... The thing that I kept thinking about watching SmackDown go, and then it was kind of confirmed in the postgame with um a comment LaFleur made, is um one of the things we kept kind of joking about early in 2023 is, like, it felt like...
Speaker: You know, and for all the talk about people like, oh, my God, is um Smack so mentally fragile that they don't want to show if he, you know, they don't want to have official signal if he made it or not or this and that. And they're not like officially keeping tally and they're making the reporters tally his misses and makes and stuff.
Speaker: But one of the things that you and I joked about in 2023 was. Are they just not having Anders try certain field goals because they're too difficult? And he's working on so many things that Visaccia is just like, nope, we're not doing work. This is a no. it's a But the thing from last night is the first kick.
Speaker: LeFleur turned to Acord and this is from LeFleur's point of view is he said he turned to Acord Cam told him no and LeFleur said yes we're kicking it and honestly i like that that LeFleur understands like We've tried the other like I don't think you'll ever admit it, but it really did feel like we tried the other thing it didn't work so I appreciate that. He's like, you know what fuck it We're just gonna try it and I think he was going into it saying if he misses it
Speaker: Hey, kid, don't worry. Hines is a hard... I'm not calling it by Akersher. This is one of the hardest field goal... Arenas to... Fields to kick field goals in. We're gonna see what you're made like there We're gonna see what you're made out of today. And, like... I just like that LaFleur is like, Fuck it. We're going for... Like, we're trying it kind of thing.
Speaker: And this is the one game where I don't care the Packers didn't score a touchdown. Because it was more important for the team to see... Smack go out and kick field goals in the worst ah the worst football stadium for kicking field goals in in the NFL. And so, yeah, like, ah obviously, I wish they would have won the game. I wish they would have scored more. Would have loved to see Jordan's and the open the starting offense score a touchdown. But...
Speaker: In terms of what we needed answered, you didn't you couldn't have asked for a better situation than to see Smack kick four field goals. And not just kind of make up, he nailed all four of them. And no, it's not cold. It wasn't a particularly windy day in Pittsburgh. But everyone, even the even the Steelers guys were like, this is interesting that the rookie's going out for a 58-yarder kind of thing. And but Bob Papiani's kind of oh, wow, he nailed it kind of thing. And like... you like um
Speaker: So I thought that was just from everything. Like I said, from LeFleur understanding what's like what the weight of what's on Smack's shoulders to them finding out what he's made of and all that kind of stuff to Smack executing and Adam-Eyedus snapping it cleanly, Whelan being Whelan on the hold and stuff. like it was It was a perfect day for Smack. And and his kickoffs were good too.
Speaker: Well, and that brings up a good point. I can't remember. Maybe it was Morley or somebody like that. And I guess, you know, they can come up with a good point once in a while. But does this mean that they'll have to stick with Adamidus going forward because it's all about the procedure?
Speaker: So if he's getting so used to Adamidus being the... the snapper, do you really want to disrupt the flow by cutting him and keeping Orsic?
Speaker: Or do you go ahead and just keep Adam Midas and either IR or cut ties with Orsic? It's tough because
Speaker: You're paying Orzic a lot as a long snapper. It's not a lot overall, but like for a long snapper, he's like top five in like like contract or whatever.
Speaker: I'm not a kicker, so I don't... This is one of those where I'm kind of like, especially how Acord described how the the like operation is going where like it's on Wieland set the ball and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker: I feel like this is more of a Wieland question than it isn't that it is a smack one. Like, you know what i mean? Where it's like... for It's almost from Wieland's point of view, like, unless Adamaitis snaps the ball, like, with so much less velocity, or Orzic does snap it slower than Adamaitis does, which is still Wieland's problem to deal with, but, like...
Speaker: Unless that is the key differentiator, this is more of a Wieland thing than it is ah ah than it is a a smack thing. But it does open that door. It really does open that door, that possibility of like, oh, is this the point of, you is this the sliding doors moment where because of Orzic's injury, does this give us the opportunity to get younger at the position, get cheaper at the position?
Speaker: maybe get better at the position, you know, like, a I can't give an honest answer because I don't know what exactly Acord, Whelan, Smack are looking for, but this is, I think, but the the fact that it went so well in Pittsburgh,
Speaker: I'll say this. Morzik needs to be, for his own sake, he needs to be back sooner than later. Like, because he hasn't been perfect, and this isn't Bisac... Like, again, this is like our whole, like, hair-pulling-out thing with Nixon on defense. defenses This is like, this isn't the guy who brought you here, like, or the guy who's been, like, s stumping for you. This is a new coordinator, and you haven't really practiced with him yet, so... Like, you better get back out there sooner than later, and that's where I'm going to leave it at that.
Speaker: Well, yeah, and that's what I, but I thought it was an interesting point because if if the kicker's getting used to a certain way of doing things, you know, do you stop that certain way just to bring the other guy back in and start all over again? or do you just leave it as is? But yeah, I mean, that's about all you can really do for special teams at this moment. Smack.
Speaker: At least he's he's stacking successes, and that's all you really ask for with him. Is there much more we really want to go over? i a little bit of offense, but really the offensive production wasn't there And that's a function of like, okay, so yeah, basically it's just going to be all O-line talk for me because the backup quarterback situation is whatever. I think none of these guys, unless one of the two young guys blew us away, i whatever I'm whatever on Tyrod, Taylor, and all that kind of stuff. He was almost worse than what I expected him to be. The deep balls he threw had no chance. Like... like
Speaker: Like, I know some people, like, I saw some people complaining about Savion on the two play, the first the two Terod Taylor plays, and like, I don't know what you want him to do on the first one, because he's literally supposed to run an inside release corner route, and the by leverage, the cornerback is outside of him. There's, like, nothing he can do there. um And then the second one...
Speaker: Taylor throws a completely uncompetitive ball. Like, it's it's it's the wrong kind because the corner is over the top of Savion, and it's so on like it's out of bounds that Savion would have to be seven feet tall and just not jump to have a chance at it. kind of like It was that bad of a ball, in my opinion. So, um hey like I'm completely unmoved, if anything, moved backwards by what Taylor did. um
Speaker: With Howard, it's like, it was fine. Like, good I mean, either way. I'm McCord, wrong, wrong oh high former Ohio State guy. um With McCord, i was like, I like the two minute drill. The two minute drill was good. I'll give him that. Like, he handled that really well, especially that last play where it's like, okay, you have 12 seconds, so you've got to throw this pass now and you've got to get everyone to the line of scrimmage and and spike the ball yesterday kind of thing. So I give him kudos for the two minute drill.
Speaker: And then Drones is like, he's like two years away from being two years away kind of thing. So that's the, re you guys recap the quarterbacks well enough. Those are just my thoughts kind of aligning with yours.
Speaker: And online with McCord, he was the highest rating quarterback on the Packers side coming out of it. so Yeah. um And then with Jordan, I'm fine. like The only critique is like that last throw to read was like six inches inside. like there wasn't That route wasn't... a like that The play called, it wasn't the best call in that situation where it basically amounted to...
Speaker: it was a ball to read or nothing like it really was and for that play the ball was too far inside like reed didn't have a chance at it and um kind of did a good job making sure that samuel like didn't get around early enough to potentially intercept it kind of thing um the big thing is the o-line looked fine like and that was without bakubo la maybe with your starting left guard in Burton, we can talk a little bit about LaFleur's
Speaker: tense, frustrated, um short, pissed off comments in the presser today about that situation. um But I thought the starting group was was fine.
Speaker: I'm happy with what Morgan put on tape. You know, not lighting the world on fire, but um I know we were kind we were kind of going back and forth in one of our threads about, like, you know, how impressive was the block on the play that Lloyd cut back too early.
Speaker: It's... Impressive in the sense that he got on a corner in like partial space kind of thing and like yes he should ragdoll a guy who's not you know a hundred pounds less than him but for him to get himself in position to square up a corner and like Chuck him like that that that's the impressive part the like burying a corner is not overly impressive for a lineman but for him to get five yards away from where he started, line him up and like put him on the dirt. that like That's the impressive... The setup was the the good part of that play from my point of view. um And then
Speaker: Westendorf kind of said it on Locked On Packers. He wasn't going up against some scrub. like Alex Highsmith is a bona fide pass rush threat for the Steelers and the kind of guy who could give Morgan um some some frustrations because he is like a a speed a speed to power guy off the edge. you know Those are the kind of guys that have given Morgan issues in the past.
Speaker: And I thought Morgan had a clean day in pass protection. um Honestly, outside of the the the lining up off the line of scrimmage penalty, i I was fine with what Belton put on film. I didn't mind. um Monk, im I'm okay with what Monk did. I'm still scratching my head as to why he doesn't get a why he never got a shot at center. I don't know if the injuries the last two preseasons.
Speaker: like He's always going to be a little lighter for um guard. But the thing I do give him credit for is he's always in between hit the he's always between his assignment and the quarterback. you know Is he too close to the quarterback? we can you can you know you can You can parse hairs over that, but...
Speaker: he did put himself in position to like be between himself and the quarterback and on the play where Terod got hit late after he slid. He is the guy who got in, um, um, Holcomb's face, you know, like, and you know it wasn't like to the level of like a TJ Lang, but you know, there's levels to it. It's, it's, um, it's preseason. You're not going to get off. You don't need, I don't need you to get a fine to prove that you care in the preseason and stuff, but it,
Speaker: For someone who's clinging to a little bit of old school football mentality, I do like seeing that two of the guys who are mired in this O-line battle, Monk and Belton, were the two guys that are like kinda gooning a little bit after that play to at least be like, hey, don't do that. And like I said, Holcomb's play wasn't like the dirtiest of dirty or anything. It was more of like a a circumstantial thing.
Speaker: But you saw none of that out of the Packers last season. So I like seeing that on any level. And i it's it's sort of like St. Juice chasing down Wee Jin on that slant play. that you know He could have just been like, I'm not pulling a hamstring for this kind of thing. But he goes and makes the tackle on the three-yard line. Same thing with Monk and Belton where it's like,
Speaker: um like we're not going to see this team, it's preseason, it's not Jordan. I kind of do like seeing, like, they care enough to care kind thing. Like, I i i know that it's nothing special, but it I do think these are the incremental things that, like, coaches care about, teammates care about. Like, it's it's that, it's those little things that tighten up a locker room and make, you know, the team bond over and stuff like that. Um...
Speaker: But otherwise, like um Lloyd got out of the game healthy. it wasn't great running lanes, but I did think Lloyd missed one on um the play that everyone's highlighting Morgan jumping on Jamel Dean. Also, fuck Jamel Dean and your little tug-of-war interception in the championship game. I still haven't gotten over that. Still salty about that. But... um If Lloyd is a little more patient on that play, I think he gets the first... He gets a bigger yardage than he does cutting it back inside. And I do think that's more of a product of he hasn't played, like, really played in three years kind of thing. And I think, like, he's like, ah, um...
Speaker: do i I don't know where that play is intended to go. To me, it looks like it's supposed to be an outside run play, but he kind of just is like, ah, like let's just cut it back, get back upside. And the main thing to me is like, to me, he made the wrong read, but he made it decisively. And he didn't just like, kind of like go, oh, am I supposed to go outside? Do I need to cut it back inside? It's like, he made, to me, the wrong play, but at least he was like decisive about And was like, I'm going to just hit it up inside and get whatever I can kind of thing. And It's one of those coaching film, teaching tape kind of things, but at least like you made a decision decisively, and that matters a lot too. so
Speaker: um I know you and Jake went over it. um so I guess I'll use this to dovetail into LaFleur's comments. so LaFleur was asked in his presser about the starting O-line, what he thought about how the guys looked.
Speaker: and um He said, i don't have the exact quote, but he basically said, i don't have the the stuff before and after it, um but he said he thinks Burton is gonna make it, um the the decision difficult.
Speaker: And so there's different layers to this. On one hand, it's kind of like, that's good because this is the guy on the rookie contract that you would rather have moving forward. It's like he's younger, he might fit the scheme better, you know, he's cheaper, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker: But on the other side of it, you basically anchored yourself to Banks for this season and by by restructuring his contract because you just made it way harder to cut him or move him now because you guaranteed more of his deal for this season you can still move on from him after this season but it's like the team basically gambled on hey this guy looked a lot better down the stretch when he finally got healthy so and and for all the people that are like wringing their hands over it
Speaker: It looks bad now because it blew up in their face again. And and we don't know if Banks... And that's the thing, is like part of the quote from LaFleur is... he he was asked like oh is you know banks's issue does he need to get surgery and the floor is like uh we're not there yet we don't you know we're still getting more info you know he kind of went down that road but there was an air of irritation in his voice when he answered the question and so at this point you know a lot of people are you know are for understandable reasons like oh what the hell like why did we do that but
Speaker: from remote From a team construction point of view, you knew that you You had questions at right guard. You had potential questions at center because you didn't know if you were going to get Ryan back at that point. And so instead of... And your right tackle, you're you're replacing your left tackle. So there's a question mark there. And the best lineman, your right tackle, you don't know if he's going to be that same guy coming off a patellar tendon repair. So...
Speaker: it's really easy for everyone in hindsight and this is with us not even seeing what bakubule looks like in a game it's just like oh he's back for team activities great like he's back it's like oh we still need to see it you he still might need to play center soon kind of thing like we're we're still at that junction of the woods kind of thing um but for everyone that's like jumping from the cliff to be like ah they screwed it up again In in inel in into to in total, maybe the bank signing was a mistake.
Speaker: But the decision to you know rework his contract, to me, I think, I don't want to say it's unfair, but it's mis it's misguided to say the team was wrong to try and get some sort of a surety at one of the five positions when it's like you had question marks at four of them and it's like let's try and get some certainty to reduce that down by one because it's like everyone is looking at it under the guise of morgan looks good at left tackle bakubo ele is back ryan was retained kind of thing and it's like
Speaker: Yeah, and we hadn't drafted Burton yet. That's the other thing. It's like we didn't have Burton at the time. So I push back on people and not too hard because every day Banks isn't back. It's like, okay, yeah, it's it's it's the same. It's sort of the same thing with the Sky Moore at punt return. It's like, okay, we don't have another option, so I can't fight it kind of thing. And with the Banks one, it's like every day that Burton looks good, Monk answers questions at right guard,
Speaker: Maybe Belton gets back into that, you know, that that competition. Maybe Williams throws his hat in the ring once like the season starts and stuff. But Like, every day that goes on, it's harder to argue that the front office was trying to be proactive by retaining banks. And i the one thing that I can't argue, and, you know, people are like, well, why did they restructure him? i was like, well, they restructured him because they knew that there were, like, four deals they had to do this year. Watson, we didn't know Reed was a one of them, but Reed was one of them. They brought back Ryan. And then the big one is Tucker. And so it's like...
Speaker: That's all money you're using to like, and like, I don't know in the end how much they really needed the stuff, the money they're going to get back from banks. But I understand the order of operations the front office was working through, but Banks missing time.
Speaker: I say all of that, the more time Banks makes misses and the if he can't win the spot back from Burton, like, dude, you set yourself on fire and I'm not going to put you out kind of thing. So I say all this stuff more to say i understand what the front office was doing, but I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say like it hasn't blown up in all their faces. Like, at the end of the day, like, everyone has egg on their face for it, kind of thing.
Speaker: So, that's kind of where I'm going to lay that out, because I know you and Jake kind of talked about it a little bit last night, but that's my whole thoughts on the Banks and Left Guard situation is, like...
Speaker: In their heart of hearts, like, yeah, they wish the guy they paid all that money was doing better, but there's the sicko part of a GM that's like, the guy we drafted is doing really well there, and we we're happy about that.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think that was... and think... Burton landing where he did threw the monkey wrench into everything because it seemed like he was a guy that the Packers really wanted but didn't know that he was going to be there when they were going to take him.
Speaker: So, yeah, I mean, it whatever Banks does, Banks does, but we do know that there's possibility of a a capable a guy who can take over Should they decide to move on from my I can't remember who said it on Twitter, but something that there's a real possibility that they could I are with return banks and and then at the end of the time for him to come back, he's already lost his job because Burton's taken it over and won't give it back. But
Speaker: I don't know. I don't think that's going to quite happen unless this is a bigger injury than what people are. But even then, they can't IR him until the start of the season. Yeah, and that's the thing that we were going back and forth in our thread. is like to So the the IR rules is like, they could IR him now, but for him to be eligible to be designated to return, they have to designate him...
Speaker: at the time of final cut so then his clock starts to run at that point like the the the three-week practice window starts the moment you designate him to return and so you really gain nothing other than the roster spot um But then you lose one of your designations to return on a guy that like, so it's like, what are you really gaining? You know, you're gaining roster flexibility, but at the potential expense of bringing someone more important off of IR kind of thing and stuff. So.
Speaker: It really... what the the The real stupid part is that he came off of PUP and he's not bret like he's still getting maintenance days after coming off of PUP and it's like, what do you need maintenance days for? like And i get I know they're going to say like we're trying to manage him and all that kind of stuff, but it's like...
Speaker: You probably should have waited another week or two before you brought him off Pup then, if that's the case. So, yeah, it's it's one of those where, and i and I do think that's where the frustration in Matt's voice in the presser today on Friday was, is like...
Speaker: I think he's kind of at the point where he's like, you said you were ready to come back and we're still giving you maintenance days. Like what the F kind of thing and stuff. So like, yeah, I, there's a little bit of like the stuff we're kind of teasing Nixon for. There's a little bit of it with Banks where it's like, oh shit, like the young gay, the young guys are capable. And the guy who would, they drafted last year and didn't do anything. Cause he was on IR the whole season. He's looking good too. And John Williams. So it's like,
Speaker: uh so yeah like i said like i said all things being equal i do think the best version for 26 is if banks is healthy you do want him to start instead of like burton learning on the job kind of thing where that like makes them better for 27 and on but it's like if you're looking to compete this year you want the sure answer now kind of thing and stuff but yeah like And we could be bellyaching over all this and Banks could be ready to start next week's preseason game and whatever. like we're We're talking before, like I said, we're filming this on Friday because of scheduling. You're worried about when the practice schedule might be.
Speaker: I might not be able to record on Sunday because we have a ah hurricane coming and I might not even have power on Sunday. So that this them's them's the hangs kind of thing and stuff. So we're we're talking about the pre we're talking about preseason week one.
Speaker: in review trying to project but we haven't had a practice after the preseason game to properly project so but instead of us circling ourselves for like another half hour or so i think i've said all i've had to say we've you and jake did an awesome job on the the game recap unless there was anything between 24 hours ago and now that you've thought of that you're like oh yeah we really need to talk about other than what we've gone over already so far No, I think we pretty much hit the points. Because again, this is a preseason game. It's not like a regular season game where we need to nail home ah aspects of it. But yeah, I think we're good.
Speaker: sounds good like I said from a from a 10,000 foot view the Packers saw a lot of the things they needed to see the O-line didn't get its ass kicked without you know its best player and one of what should be one of its better players the Jordan did not get his jersey dirty really important um i know they weren't calling anything super sophisticated but jordan came out of the game clean lloyd got out of the game healthy the starting defensive front looked good against a starting offensive line and smack is a game player not a practice player so like those are the big things they needed to see and we saw it but um
Speaker: You know, thanks for hanging, you know, I know Joe mentioned it during the live stream. Thanks for hanging with him and Jake after the game. You know, those that's the kind of interaction we're looking to get as we move forward into the 2026 season. Please follow us on social medias at Ohana underscore Packer on Twitter, at Ohana Packers Edition on Instagram. um Get our follows up on Facebook. We're trying to hit the 100 follower minimum moment so we can live stream there. um As we've kind of mentioned, Joe is up at priests are up at training.
Speaker: Okay, I always forget where the designation is. is Joe is in Green Bay this week until Wednesday. If you run across him, say hi, you know take a picture with him. We'll post him as we do the show kind of thing. and stuff You might be the background of our next episode. ah Um...
Speaker: But say hi to Joe. um Please follow our episodes on your favorite podcasting apps. Give us a like a subscribe. We had no comments or inquiries before this episode, but send those in. We'll be sure to hit... hundred it out there Nah, no worries. um Be sure to hit us up. um Even if Joe doesn't put that up there, um just message one of us directly. Message the show's account directly.
Speaker: We want to put together the content you're looking for. Especially, like I said, on a day like today where we're like, mmm. like It's still fresh because you and Jake did an awesome map episode yesterday. and we're trying to like make sure that we get something together in case we can't go on Sunday. But for Iowa Joe, I'm Mike. Go Pack Go! And aloha!
