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Fly Cheesehead Fly: Packers vs. Eagles Week 10 Preview
0 Playsin 2 hours
The Green Bay Packers take flight in Week 10 as they face the Philadelphia Eagles in a primetime NFC showdown. We break down the biggest storylines — from Jordan Love’s growth and the Packers’ offensive rhythm to how the defense plans to ground Jalen Hurts and Philly’s high-powered attack.
Expect sharp analysis, bold predictions, and plenty of cheese-fueled humor as we look at matchups, X-factors, and what it’ll take for the Pack to clip some wings.
💬 Topics include:
- Jordan Love vs. Jalen Hurts: QB duel of Week 10
- Can the Packers’ run defense contain Saquan Barkley?
- Offensive keys to keep the Eagles grounded
- Our fearless predictions and fan takes
Whether you’re a lifelong Cheesehead or just here for the laughs, this episode’s got you covered.
#GoPackGo 🧀 #FlyCheeseheadFly #PackersPodcast #NFLWeek10
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Transcript
Intro
Packers vs. Eagles Game Preview
00:00:22
Speaker
Aloha and welcome back to another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. Today we go over the upcoming week 10 opponent, which is a Monday night duel with the Eagles in Lambeau as the Packers look to lick their wounds from a disappointing loss to the Panthers in week nine and the gut wrenching reality that Tucker craft is done for the season.
00:00:44
Speaker
And, while they made no trades, they did make a flurry of moves to fill some roster spots. k craft was put on IR, Christian Welch was released.
00:00:55
Speaker
Josh Wiley and Aaron Mosby were brought up from the practice squad. Yeah, and Welch was signed back to the practice squad. Her situation makes no sense to me. Yeah, the and what's it called?
00:01:14
Speaker
Former Eagle Titan McAllen Castles, which I swear to God is the name of a villain from at or is the name of the main character from Andy Weir's next space novel.
00:01:26
Speaker
Like, so, OK, you brought up the Welch one and.
Roster Changes and Strategy Questions
00:01:32
Speaker
My whole thing with the Welch one is, okay, I understand that Mosby was, i think, out of elevations, but why did you sign Welch to the active roster last week then just to cut him?
00:01:45
Speaker
You don't reset the call-ups afterward. You should have just... Honestly, you kind of kind of almost could have Ben Simms' Welch in the sense that you kind of w risked him to waivers when you didn't need to if you had just brought Mosby up in his spot instead of Welch.
00:02:05
Speaker
you know And not to say that anyone thinks the world of Welch like like Joe and I do, but you know that's the kind of just roster inconsistencies that...
00:02:16
Speaker
every once in a while green bay runs into but they're still kind of baffling when they do it because it's like they're usually a little bit more there's they they have a little more finesse and smarts to it than that but i mean it worked out for them on this one welch was able to be brought back to the practice squad and yeah mosby up to the active roster after he had exhausted his practice squad elevations for the season As Joe noted, former Cincinnati Bearcat tight end Josh Wiley is brought up to the active roster to be tight end number three.
Tight End Adjustments and Offensive Strategy
00:02:52
Speaker
And, you know, he brings a decent amount out of athleticism. Not sure what he's going to bring as a blocker. He's kind of like a high hip 6'7", 2", excuse me, oo sub tight which I've come to the de Guara or even yeah Lucas Musgrave or Luke yeah Musgrave uh light if you can call him that maybe a little bit more in the blocking area than Lucas or Luke I keep wanting to say Lucas Lucas Lucas later
00:03:30
Speaker
But he's been in the league two years already, and he's bounced around to numerous practice squads. i I'm, you know, maybe they got lucky with a, you know, maybe this could be the Brazil Douglas type deal for him or something. But I i don't i don't know with him. It's definitely not a Tucker replacement.
00:03:55
Speaker
the The thing that's kind of funky is like, Tucker was your shortest tight end on roster, basically, at six foot five And none of these guys... Wiley kind of showed it in college, but I don't think he'll be able to do it in the NFL as well, in terms of being able to take short throws and turn them into longer receptions, just because he is kind of long-levered and high-hipped a little bit, and he...
00:04:21
Speaker
he doesn't turn as bad as musgrave does but you know it's not like he corners like how craft could and and really turn those quick hitters into big gains the big thing here is that the floor cannot fall into the trap of thinking that any one of these guys is going to replace craft and you know musgrave is going to become your top pass catching option at tight end and the big thing there is you LeFleur cannot run him on the same kind of routes that he had Kraft running. We saw that as a rookie. And I know several people have said like...
00:04:52
Speaker
and We both brought it up. They're rookie seasons. They tried to force feed the shit out of the football to Musgrave. And for understandable reasons. like They were thinking, this 6'6 guy that can run a 40, he should threaten an opponent down the seam.
00:05:07
Speaker
Jordan missed him a few times. Musgrave didn't run his seams right a few times. So they had some misfires there his rookie season. But if you go back and watch that 2023 season. didn't stay on his feet when he caught the ball. You watch that 2023 season, though, there's still reason for
00:05:28
Speaker
yeah all right so going back to musgrave as a rookie you know you saw the downfield ability the obviously the plays that stick out are he has some deep catches against pittsburgh against the saints and the big one obviously being the playoff game uh against the cowboys and the most important thing there is like you've just got to use him in that for if you're a floor don't Try to run him on short hitches or those quick outs or anything like that.
00:05:58
Speaker
Send him up the seam, use him as a vertical threat so that you know he's just running kind of thing. And you know fill in the intermediary with you know a Dobbs or a Wicks on the short routes and stuff.
00:06:12
Speaker
I do think LeFleur still comes up some really good schematic things, but what we're talking about here is all about knowing, understanding and utilizing your personnel properly. And he's going to have to adjust, you know, craft was sort of a one size fits all, you know, hat that he was able to put over the top of this entire offense.
00:06:32
Speaker
And that's the biggest loss there is like you had an all in one blocker, short route, deep route running extraordinaire, and you don't have that anymore out of these tight ends. Well, at least so far as we know, like Fitzpatrick,
00:06:47
Speaker
he's not the He can't dig guys out at the line of scrimmage. i don't three I don't think Wiley is going to be that guy either. and Musgrave, we know he's out there to be in the way at most kind of thing and be in the way is a figure of speech determining whether you're thinking in the way of the defender or in the way of his own running back. But, you know. Well, one of the guys that they signed on the practice squad seemed a little bit interesting when they when it comes to maybe being a blocker.
New Signings and Opportunities
00:07:15
Speaker
And that's at Drake Dabney. Yeah. He's got a little bit of size to him. He's six, five, two 53. He doesn't show much athletic wise, but he's, it's all unofficial because he wasn't at the combine. This is from a pro day, but you know, that, that kind of i I know it's not going to be this week by any means or whatever, but it makes me wonder if he starts showing off in practice that they might bump him up as a Ben Sims type guy. Yeah.
00:07:47
Speaker
I mean, at this point, the castles and the Dabney, I forgot about Dabney because he came like after the all the flurry of moves they made. And they signed that Michael what Wilson or whatever.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah. Michael Woods. I think Woods is more of just like a you're elevating extra guys. You need people to just run routes and practice thing. Whereas Castles and Dabney have a real opportunity that, you know, if Wiley doesn't cut it, one of those two guys, if they can pick up the playbook quickly could make an impact, you know, kind of like in 2020 when they brought Dominique Daphne in midway through the season and he ends up being kind of a key contributor down the stretch and into the playoffs of that team.
00:08:28
Speaker
So you know that's kind of also said he would be more than happy to come back up and that was funny i like he's just i think he's been coaching i don't think his alma mater but whatever division his alma mater's at but i did like what daphne brought to the offense and yeah like i feel like lefleur has been searching for that kind of player since but we'll see what where did he start his college time at i i i can't seem to remember that I believe it started with an eye Well, that doesn't matter because they both started with an I. yeah Because didn't he end up at Indiana State?
00:09:08
Speaker
Yeah, i think so.
00:09:11
Speaker
But so that's the tight end situation. Like I said, they they do. You know, I know a lot of people are out on Musgrave. I've sold most of my stock. But what people have to remember is he's still...
00:09:25
Speaker
even in his own Bambi falling over way, he is an athletic freak for someone his size. And he is someone that they tried to run a chunk of the offense through as a rookie, as he was like picking things up on the fly.
00:09:37
Speaker
And I know he's missed a bunch of his two first seasons, two injury, but the good thing there is like neither of those have been due to like repeated soft tissue injuries that would sap his athleticism. You know, he had the- They were weird ass injuries. Yeah, he had the the lacerated kidney, which, you know,
00:09:54
Speaker
you hope he doesn't have another one because you're running out of kidneys to lacerate and then last year it was the ankle injury that like i've said it a million times but it surprised all of us because it looked like a run-of-the-mill ankle and then after that first vikings game the floor is like yeah he's done for a while and you're kind of like okay like did it fall off on the side of the field but yeah yeah like you you've seen it you know he's Musgraves had a couple deep receptions this season, you know, against the back-to-back weeks against the Steelers and against and against the the Panthers. So, you you know, he's not going to be the guy that you can just pump six balls to like you could with Kraft. But if he can catch you two 20-yard passes, that's a big impact from your tight end at this stage of the game.
00:10:45
Speaker
Well, like you keep saying, if they can scheme him open, which he's got the athletic ability to do, and he's got, I mean, i got to give the kid credit. You know, he's got catching ability, ability he's got speed ability, he's got route running ability.
00:11:01
Speaker
It's just he has no balance. And it just, if they can scheme him open, he could easily, be somebody you can run the offense through.
00:11:12
Speaker
yeah Because he could easily slip into that Jimmy Graham type situation or what's another one off the... Like Cook was supposed to bring the offense to a little bit. Right.
00:11:23
Speaker
But Cook had a little bit more of friggin' blocking ability. But, you know, it was a guy that... Lance Kendrick. There you go. yeah The guy that they signed with Cook. So...
00:11:35
Speaker
he He's got that ability to be able to do that stuff and he can catch. you know It's not like he's a guy that can do you know what we were talking about with Wicks for the last couple of years.
00:11:46
Speaker
He can do all the other stuff. He just couldn't catch the ball. Well, Musgraves can do most of all that stuff. So it's just whether or not they can get him into space and don't get cutesy with trying to force him to be an inline blocker and
Challenges Against Eagles' Defense and Offensive Adjustments
00:12:04
Speaker
and shit like that. so Or don't get cutesy with maybe the the Tucker push.
00:12:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah, no, that's out. They don't have anyone to run that anymore. And i will I know the Eagles have added talent at... the in their defensive backfield you know they traded for Michael Carter they traded for Chai here but the thing is is that that still leaves them with question marks at their second corner spot I know that Quinian Mitchell and Cooper Dugin have been really good in their roles but like they still have a cornerback two or slot like wherever those two guys play the other position is a weak spot and I think this is a week where
00:12:48
Speaker
LaFleur has got to dump the 12 personnel and just be okay living in 11 this week and just try to put as many good route runners as he can on the field. Unless he brings back the U71 formation. Right.
00:13:03
Speaker
And my only hesitation with that is I have no clue what offensive lineman we want to do that. The good news on that front is Banks' injury looks like it's not a long-term thing.
00:13:15
Speaker
I know it's one more thing on on his record for this season, but stingers happen. They suck. And yeah, like, you know, people are like, oh, like, why didn't he tough it out and go back? I'm like, if he had the kind where you don't you lose numbness for hours, like you don't want him in a game because if you can't block if one of your arms is worthless.
00:13:34
Speaker
So it's a shitlock injury. But yeah, I feel like it's prop If they do do a sixth offensive lineman, you probably want it to be Belton.
00:13:46
Speaker
or Or you do the thing where you put Belton in at right tackle and you move Tom around. No, I have it completely other way.
00:13:57
Speaker
They have Donna Ben Jennings on there, who is an athletic type of lineman that you know they could fit in there. Or... I know some people are really not fan of his, and he really hasn't shown a lot, but because of injury, they just brought Jacob Monk back. the you know He could basically be that tight end type blocker on the end, yeah especially when it comes to just running a run play or something like that.
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, I just have no idea what direction they go in because LeFleur hasn't done it. And i usually towards- they haven't done it since Sherman was on the team. Yeah. And I've always leaned towards using a tackle type because, you know, that they're used to playing the angles on the perimeter and used to, you know, even if you- you like pull those guys know how to read the defense from that outside split and stuff like that whereas like a guard or center type it's like sometimes they're a little fish out of water when they play that exterior position but we'll sometimes but a lot of times when they're in that use seventy one they are in a three-point stance they're not yeah
00:15:03
Speaker
uh a stand-up position you you and i we could be i mean the the most likely thing is they just don't do it but if they did we know they're not going to do it they have no we have no trend to go off of in terms of what they would hypothetically do but yeah i think you just go with 11 especially it sounds like watson's okay i know that his dad made this big stink and I kind of agree with him that it was really weird how he got taken out of the game on the failed fourth down drive and stuff like that. And like Tazeem was saying like,
00:15:37
Speaker
And I know that this doesn't mean everything, but it's like, he doesn't get hit in the head. He doesn't go into a pile. He doesn't like hit the ground. And he's like, it's a little odd that he got taken out of the game kind of thing. And like you said, you know, we don't we know necessarily promote the tinfoil hat thing, but it's like, okay, like what's going on here, NFL? Like how how does this happen and stuff?
00:16:00
Speaker
You might not be able to answer it, but can they only do that if they think it's a head injury? yes like it the because the guy stopping it is the concussion expert so yeah okay they they can't be like oh it looks like he pulled the hamstring or something like that that's the team if that happens kind of thing like if the the whole he's not moving well or whatever like that's a team decision but like you just I don't think you saw Watson until like a few drives later kind of thing.
00:16:33
Speaker
But LaFleur noted that they're hoping to get Wicks and Lucas back. We'll touch on Lucas later. But you know if you're if you get Wicks back, Watson's healthy.
00:16:43
Speaker
You have still enough players. And Golden is truly day-to-day and able to go this week. You have enough weapons on offense. If you're LeFleur, you've got to open this thing up, especially because I know Philly comes in with this, this, this,
00:16:59
Speaker
the history of being like really stout on the front and stuff. and Mike went on the fridge. The Matrix went. Hey, Daylight Savings but might only make the night start earlier for you guys. But for me, it's an hour later that we're recording this than usual. So the brain is a little is a little fluttering towards off at this point. The the vocabulary is limited.
00:17:21
Speaker
so, you know, I mean, look at what Philly had to do. They had to. ring Well, first, the fact that they signed Z'Darrius Smith is signed enough that they're not pleased with their pass rush.
00:17:31
Speaker
And then he retired. They bring Brandon Graham out of retirement who didn't play last week because, you know, he's got to get in football shape. I yeah don't know what his chances are to play this week, realistically. i I think he'll try because he has an extra day and stuff. But...
00:17:46
Speaker
I don't think he can play more than like 20 snaps unless like Philly is just up and they're like, go get conditioning in kind of thing. And then they just trade for j trade for one yeah they traded for Jalen Phillips from the the Dolphins. That's it.
00:18:02
Speaker
You know highly talented pass rusher, but has dealt with injury the past few seasons. He's going to be a pass rush specialist for them. Kind of like how they used Hassan Redick a few years ago because he's not a run defender. He's like the the skinny, high hip type of defensive end who gets washed out even by our offensive line.
00:18:25
Speaker
But... They still have their two monsters in the middle in Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. And with the way that our interior O-line is blocked, I just don't think it's worth LeFleur burning plays on early downs trying to establish a run game. Like this is one of those, if you get to 25 carries, it better be because you have a lead and you're trying to bleed the clock out at the end of the game kind of thing.
00:18:49
Speaker
This is one where I know he had a bad decision last week, but you know I'm so sick and tired of hearing even Packers writers, you know which ones you are, who are like, ooh, why doesn't LaFleur throw, blah, blah. blah I think that's more of an identity thing for LaFleur than it is truly a he-doesn't-trust-his-quarterback thing.
00:19:12
Speaker
But, dude, whichever side it is, he better start trusting him because your ground game ain't good enough to do it, especially against this defense. Now, I am. One of these days, I'm going to get a tinfoil hat.
00:19:24
Speaker
and put in this is when I'm going to put it on. But I think it was on Lombardi's bar that they kind of mentioned it that is it possible that LeFleur will call in the play and Jordan is audibly
00:19:45
Speaker
Checking out of it. I can't say the other word for some reason all of a sudden. Checking out of that play, and that's what's causing a lot of the issues with the offense. Because we saw it where we knew Rodgers was literally checking out of the majority of the plays LaFleur has called.
00:20:03
Speaker
But we've seen how LaFleur can call a game because he's made the perfect game plans for Malik Willis last year when in the two starts that Malik played in.
00:20:16
Speaker
So is there a possibility that he's the reason why we can quote unquote say he's not trusting Jordan is because Jordan's pulling some weird ass shit at the line?
00:20:30
Speaker
i would i would i would I won't say it's not a possibility. It like it definitely is. But the counterargument I'll have is like there are hand like there are numerous checked or canned plays.
00:20:42
Speaker
yeah You can hear Jordan call can, can, can, which is the the code word for Like one of the ones is he can against Pittsburgh. He cans to the he cans to the dig route that Dobbs catches and gets the offense past midfield on their touch their first touchdown drive and stuff. And I know that's just one example, but, you you can tell when he changes the play.
00:21:03
Speaker
And this is one of those we'd have to be a fly on the wall to really know what's going on, because. who's to say who is responsible for saying if they show a too high look, we are auto check. Like it becomes a run no matter what kind of thing that feels more like a coaching thing than a quarterback thing.
00:21:24
Speaker
But I won't argue the point that if Jordan doesn't read the coverage, the pre-snap look right, or If the defense tricks him by rotating post-snap into a different coverage, Jordan, you know, the and that's the problem with LeFleur getting into these tendencies where it's like second and long and you show him a light box, he's going to run it kind of thing.
00:21:47
Speaker
And a good defense, what they're going to do is they'll just wait until you snap the ball and they'll just hang in a too deep look with the light box and they'll just say,
00:21:58
Speaker
That's okay. Your interior O-line sucks at run blocking. We're okay with chancing that even if we're a step late to the line of scrimmage, we're still going to be able to cause some kind of disruption. Plus, Josh isn't seeing the holes very well. He's a little dinged up, all that kind of stuff, that he's only going to gain three yards anyway.
00:22:18
Speaker
And that's the big problem. And Bukowski pointed it out. Yeah. I think Morley pointed it out and a couple other people have noted like the problem with the Packers leaning on the run so much is they're just not creating explosive run plays like they were last year.
00:22:34
Speaker
And even last year, there was a little bit of like the advanced stat head saying like, okay, overall, Jacobs is having a great season, but how much of it is like...
00:22:45
Speaker
he's popping just enough 15 plus yard rushes to keep his average in the healthy range. Whereas like he is kind of banging his head against the wall, every other play kind of thing. And then you just get this spurt for eight. And then eventually it's like, Oh, 20 yard run, 20 yard run kind of thing and stuff.
00:23:02
Speaker
And you're just not getting even the eight yard runs this season. Or when you do, you go and turn the ball over the next play. So it's like, okay, like, come on now guys. And like,
00:23:13
Speaker
Dusty evilly broke it down and no game is ever as terrible as anyone thinks and no game is ever as great as anyone thinks. That said, the big piece here is LeFleur's got to go back to the drawing board and The thing with him is he was ready to turn this offense into the Jordan Love show when Jordan Love was a first-year starter in 2023, when he had no run game after Aaron Jones pulled his hamstring.
00:23:40
Speaker
He had no veteran receivers who were healthy after Watson and Dobbs both pulled their hamstrings at the end of training camp. And you had three rookie receivers who, Lord knows if they were going to run the right route on a given play.
00:23:53
Speaker
And you were trying to feature two rookie tight ends in an offense that was... you know we they were it was two steps forward four steps back so often during that season until you hit toyota thon and so the and the problem for laflore is not only does he need to reassess how he calls his playbook but also he lost tucker craft which was his most versatile weapon on offense that said as much as the Panthers put a lid on their offense, you have to leverage the speed threats you have to create and intermediate and underneath route opportunities.
00:24:32
Speaker
You have, you know, you have watson and musgrave who are height weight speed threats at their positions you have golden who has speed at his position even if he's not as tall hell you could even have melton go out there and run a deep route for you if you really absolutely needed to at this point so just you know you can't have more oh go for it i i have this play idea and i don't know how it would work in the nfl
00:25:02
Speaker
It might not even work in college, but I've i've always been, I've thought of this all in last year and this year. And I just, it's basically like a wildcat formation, but you have Jordan on one side, Malik on the other, and then like Josh Jacobs in the middle.
00:25:25
Speaker
Then you don't know who they're snapping the ball to. Are they sending it to Jordan? Are they sending to Malik? Are they sending it to Josh? And then you have, you know, you're but now it kind of sucks now because you don't have Tucker that can do a little bit more.
00:25:38
Speaker
And that's where it kind of falls apart a little because it's like you're limited in what you're throwing out there for route combinations, but you can still make it work with like so, you you know, you're for all intents and purposes, you have a two back.
00:25:52
Speaker
backfield and then with the quarterback. And then, so you still have a tight end and two receivers or two tight ends and a receiver. But like, let's say you go with the tight end, two receivers, you can still throw, you know, if you want speed, speed, speed, you can put Musgrave as the tight end and Watson and golden out there as the wide receivers. And you kind of muck it up from there and stuff.
00:26:12
Speaker
But yeah, like, LeFleur, in a way, almost has to start calling games like he's calling them for relief. And that's not a shot at Jordan. It's just so much stuff has fallen off the table in the past week.
Defensive Weaknesses and Improvements Needed
00:26:27
Speaker
The Kraft injury, your O-line still hasn't gotten its shit together. Plus, you're playing a way better defensive front than you were last week on paper. Like... And that was the most disheartening part about that Panthers game is how many times the Panthers broke through for easy pressures up the gut against this Packers O-line.
00:26:46
Speaker
You've got- Cough, cough, Jordan Morgan. Cough, cough. Yeah. like it Like, that stuff can't continue to happen. it's It's time. Like, you you've got to figure this stuff out. you You can't continue to let this go by the wayside.
00:27:06
Speaker
And weirdly enough, I do expect this team to play better against the Eagles because that's just what they do. That's part of the product. That's part of the product of being the youngest team in the NFL is that your team does stupid shit in the worst moments.
00:27:21
Speaker
But... because they're young and and don't know how brave or dumb they are kind of thing, they're going to puff their chest out, you know, put their hand on their pants, feel themselves and be like, yeah, we measure up on this kind of game and stuff. And I do think that they're going to put a much better foot forward. it Is that going to lead to better play?
00:27:41
Speaker
Uncertain. But I do think that at least on offense, we're going to see a much better effort come Monday night against the Eagles. Defensively, kind of alluded to it earlier they're expecting to get lucas back this week and honestly against this philly offense that's an absolute must what's it uh well while you're looking that up that should help with both the run game and the pat and the the pass rush because you know we know
00:28:11
Speaker
rico daddle put up 130 freaking yards against this defense without lucas
00:28:18
Speaker
The Eagles have a much better running back in Saquon Barkley than Rico Daddle. You're going to need all hands on deck for this. Now, this is also a week you don't sit Warren Brinson.
00:28:33
Speaker
yep i don't care who you've got to put as an inactive you don't sit lauren brinson all hands on deck especially because wyatt is still probably not a hundred percent and uh wooden went down in the last game know he said he's gonna play but you don't know how limited or not limited he's gonna be you need like you said you need all hands on deck for this one all the beef you can muster and Even if that means that you have to sit a a Baron Sorrell this week, he'll have his time, but you need all the muscle you can get. And Devin Jackson put out a tweet how the Packers are, you know, they're sixth in the league defending shotgun runs or something like that.
00:29:18
Speaker
Oh, no, they have the lowest yards per carry in the NFL, but they struggle against outside runs. And what the Packers run into is they have... Too many guys thinking I'm going to be the one to make the Superman play on this thing.
00:29:31
Speaker
And especially against this Eagles O-line, you have got to stay gap sound against this defense. No hero ball. Everyone needs to play outside shoulder.
00:29:42
Speaker
And I think that... is Philly is going to try and do some jumbo sets or multiple tight end stuff. I think you have to dump the 4-3 under stuff. I applaud McDuffie for trying to make it work, but he's just too small to play that Sam linebacker spot. like the When Pittsburgh put their extra linemen out there, he got engulfed. When Panthers put their big packages out, he got washed down the line of scrimmage.
00:30:08
Speaker
I'm surprised they haven't been incorporating Tyron Hopper in a little bit more because... I know he's a little bit underweight, but he's a little bit taller than McDuffie. Yeah, but he's not that he doesn't have long arms either to really set the edge. I think this is where Lucas coming back really helps because they did show some what amounted to a 5-2 look in the preseason where whether it's three defensive ends and two tackles or two defensive ends and three tackles he just gives you more versatility in what you can do up front and in terms of being bigger against the front and if you can put a defensive an extra defensive lineman out there you're just inherently bigger against a team that wants to run and realistically
00:30:54
Speaker
because of how the Eagles play offense, it's okay to have a fifth defensive lineman out there this week because Hertz does a lot of things really well. The thing that he doesn't do is he's not an anticipation thrower. So...
00:31:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. If you want to just have more guys up front to either stuff run lanes or to always be sending five guys at the quarterback and keeping, you know, one of the the linebackers as a spy, you can do that with a 5-2 front.
00:31:24
Speaker
And I think that it'll... eliminate one of the nagging things that I brought up in my stales from the game, that which is Halfley, when they go to a mush rush, he gets too conservative with it.
00:31:37
Speaker
And I think that you you've got to stay disciplined. You've got to maintain contain on Hertz. But what he should be looking to do is playing that 5-2 look and unleashing...
00:31:49
Speaker
whether it's Parsons, Quay, or Edge as that fifth rusher, that guy can go and fuck up the pocket. Everyone else maintains contain on the pocket, and then you can kind of still spy Hertz.
00:32:01
Speaker
You cannot let him sit back there and just... yeah have the opportunity to just lay balls out to AJ Brown, who I'm not sure is going to play because he missed the game last week with a hamstring injury. But Devontae Smith has been on an absolute tear the last three games. So they're going to need all hands on deck there.
00:32:20
Speaker
But you've got to create pressure on Hurts. you You cannot just let him have two years of throw like they did in the playoff game. I know it had its moments, but like the only sack you got is because Rashawn literally pushed Lane Johnson into him and it took him a year to get there.
00:32:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and obviously having Micah helps a lot because he's used to playing Hurts twice a year. So he'll be able to bring some expertise in with that.
00:32:52
Speaker
And the Packers have really built up their speed guys this year. So, you know, hopefully that contain can help a little bit more. But you're right. They can't go with that mush – that mush oh look because it's not working for them.
00:33:11
Speaker
No, they don't have the corners for it. Yeah. And, and I, I didn't like it against the Panthers last week because it's like, why, why why, Bryce, the ability to throw with the heat off.
00:33:24
Speaker
Like, you should have lit him up every chance possible. It was a mistake to play conservative. Frankly, it was a little Joe Barry-ish. And I was a little bit disappointed in Halfley for going that route.
00:33:37
Speaker
And that's why it's a concern for this week because it's like, well, you did it against a not good quarterback. So what are you going to do against Hurts, who's a much better version? and Who's like the ideal version of what you want Bryce to be kind of thing.
00:33:50
Speaker
So... athletes Like I said, there comes a point if you want to beat the best teams, you're going to have to be willing to live and die by the sword. You cannot just keep it in your back pocket or sheath all the time.
00:34:03
Speaker
You have to be willing to to gamble and to to be to bust every once in a while. like That's the thing is... parson you You can't help Parsons be blocked by playing pat him passively.
00:34:16
Speaker
You can't help Rashawn get blocked because you're telling him, oh, just sit out there five yards outside the pocket, make sure he doesn't get outside of you. Rashawn's good at containing in the pocket, but also like contained by collapsing it in and just have Edge or Kuei with eyes on the quarterback afterward.
00:34:35
Speaker
And you know what? I know they're not the ideal situation, but all those guys in the back end are getting paid. You've got to play like you're getting paid. And that's going to be the name of it.
00:34:48
Speaker
I know that they're down Hobbs this week, which means that they get into some gnarly, well, does that mean that does that mean that Bo is up next or Kamal Haddon is up next or whatever?
00:35:03
Speaker
You're in that dicey straight now. Remains to be seen what they're going to do there. One note, Asante Samuel Jr. is supposed to come in for a workout on Thursday. The thing that the Packers can sell him on is he is literally... Yeah.
00:35:19
Speaker
Like, he he is this close to starting. He is one more bad Nixon performance. He is... you know as long as And I know he's clear for contact, but he has to get conditioned, all that kind of stuff. so i don't know I was just going to say that that you have to temper expectations. If they do not let him leave Green Bay without a contract, he's still not going to play this week.
00:35:42
Speaker
because it's kind of like you were just saying with with brandon graham is yeah there's no way he's even close to football ready graham played football more recently than junior samuels jr has like i don't think he played since like week two of last year that i couldn't tell you because i haven't paid attention to it much but i just yes he's younger he's much younger than what brandon graham is but he just got cleared for working out and contact yeah he may be able to you know lift 300 pounds or you know squat press 500 or whatever you know numbers you want to throw out there but that doesn't make you game ready yep that makes your body feel better it doesn't make your your your you game ready
00:36:34
Speaker
Yep. So they're going to have to deal with what they've got. And like I said, Halfley's got to deal with that. And we kind of talked about it last year where, you know, he called games differently early on in the season, depending on if Jair was in the game versus if Jair was out of the game.
00:36:48
Speaker
And then he did get more aggressive with the guys he still had at, you know, once Jair was like out, out. You're at that point now, Jeff, and you know what? You just got to live.
00:36:58
Speaker
You got to live with your fastball at this point. The curve, everyone's sitting on it at this point, and they're just cranking it out of the park. yeah Another one is the, da and Olsen great job highlighting it during the game where,
00:37:14
Speaker
Halfley shows that double-A blitz look so often, but he never sends it. And Carolina saw it at a couple points in the game, and they're like, okay, cool, we're running a dive right at it.
00:37:24
Speaker
And you had Kwe and Edge who were like, oh, shit. like they They take a step back, and it's like, oh oh, no, it's a run, and got to come up and try and hit a guy who's coming at them already. So Halfley's got – same like LeFleur, you've got to break these tendencies. You've got to come out and do things differently.
00:37:42
Speaker
And – There's no time better than now. You know, you've got the extra day of like game planning to go into it. And like,
00:37:51
Speaker
I know that you never want to empty the playbook at any point, but this is one of those moments where it's like you want to step down or you want to you want to put your foot down and say, yes, we do deserve to be talked about as one of the best teams in the league.
00:38:07
Speaker
And you want to show that you do have an extra gear, an extra level to get to, especially coming off of a disappointing loss. So... you know, I said it before the Steelers game. This is another one of those.
00:38:17
Speaker
I don't care how they do it. I just need them to win this game, especially considering how they fucked up against the Panthers. They have got to scratch, claw, b bite, kick below the belt, whatever.
00:38:30
Speaker
Like, this is one of those games that, like, you just got figure out how to come out of here with the win. Yeah, and you know I kind of joked on the Lombardi's bar chat that maybe this is the game somebody pushes Bisacci into a broom closet and locks him in there for a full game.
00:38:49
Speaker
Because i i have this funny feeling that LeFleur is relying on him way too much. And that's really hurting a lot of things with it. You know, not just for special teams, but because he's the assistant head coach, he, you know, decisions are being made and everything else. So, you know, and maybe it's time to finally cut the cord, Matt, and say, Rich, you need to concentrate a little bit more on your special teams and let me handle how the, how the team should be run and stuff like that. So, yeah,
00:39:24
Speaker
yeah i mean i don't know more how much more we can really talk about it this is going to be the the only other thing gotta say is if you've got youtube tv you best just go find you a pirate stream or something because you are not getting the game for nothing yep they're disney is pulling out all the stops to say that no we're the good billionaires like which they are not they're they're
Broadcast Issues and Predictions
00:39:50
Speaker
Neither side is great. I know if there's such thing a good billionaire.
00:39:53
Speaker
Neither side is doing great, but Disney is being a bunch of little shits about this whole thing, trying to paint like, oh, no, we're caring about you. They don't care. If they cared, they would be just – they would be doing the – we can print money. They own Fox too. Yeah. they They would be doing the we can print our own money. We will work the deal out, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff. But all these ESPN PR tweets – they're all a bunch of shit and no youtube tv and google aren't aren't like they're they're not they're not great either in this case but like this is definitely coded in a disney identifies that youtube tv is one of the like streaming services that they do not own or control so they're trying to strong arm them into a corner
00:40:39
Speaker
Honestly, the only way this gets resolved, the quick the quickest way this gets resolved is if yeah ESPN games just take viewership hits. And it's really shitty to say that, but that's the only way that the position really gets changed because I do think YouTube TV is, in a sense, right not to cave to ESPN's demands because ESPN's just like, well, we charge everyone this rate, blah, blah, blah, kind of thing. And it's like,
00:41:05
Speaker
that's not how you negotiate on good faith and all that kind of stuff. But this is not a legal show. This is not a one more fact on that is they also took a bath on the NFL Sunday deal. So they're trying not to take a bath on the the Disney deal also. So yeah, this this isn't that type of show, but I'm just fair warning people. If you've got YouTube TV, you're not watching this game.
00:41:29
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah, and like Joe said, I know we've gone for 40 minutes, but usually we're hitting close to an hour by the time we get to we get into our over-unders. But the thing is, like they haven't neither team has practiced yet, so we can't tell you who's truly back. you know Is AJ Brown looking like he's going to play? Did he sit out on the first day of practice? All that kind of stuff. you know What are the Eagles insiders saying?
00:41:53
Speaker
We don't have any of that information at this point. So we're totally in wait-and-see mode, and we're... you know By the time you're listening to this, the Packers might have released their injury report already. And by the time you're listening to this, Asante Samuel Jr. could be signed.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yep. So, all right. Let's go ahead and jump into over-unders. Unless you've got a rant. People seem to love the Mike rant. so i don't I don't have one right now because, like like I said, I don't even have practice things to Like I said, my only thing is, like, I am begging LaFleur, like, this is not the week to try and show that you can run the ball because you're not going to.
00:42:34
Speaker
Morgan's going to get his ass driven five yards back on every other play. You hope that you hope that what's his face? Banks can stay in the whole game.
00:42:46
Speaker
And if he can't, for the love of God, let Ryan play right guard. Like, stop trying to be smartest guy in the room and shit like that. And like start using Kennard a little bit more. I understand that Morgan is supposed to be your guy of the future.
00:42:59
Speaker
But I think Kennard's been on the team long enough that, you know, he can start filling in some of these extra spots. Morgan's just not a guard. Like, I know some people say, like, oh, he's doing well. I'm like, your guard can't be getting put in the quarterback's lap every other play. Like, that's just unacceptable.
00:43:13
Speaker
Like, I don't care that he doesn't have mental busts or he's better in pass pro. But it's like, if Jordan looks to his right and Morgan is next to him, on a pass play that or a run play that's that's a flunk for me i don't give a shit if he's blocking the right guy or not like you can't lose that much ground every other play but all right let's get into your over-unders i actually had forgot that i was doing these there i didn't have any ups i had to real quick do them you have good ones
00:43:47
Speaker
Mainly they're going to be offensive ones just because that's that's the biggest question mark at this point. So my first one's going to be Romeo receiving over under 55 and a half yards.
00:43:59
Speaker
I'm going under because I think what's going to happen is he's going to draw Mitchell. I think the Eagles are going to put Mitchell on Dobbs and they're going to say like,
00:44:12
Speaker
and which is kind of funky to say, but, you know, Watson is still working his way back, you know, from rehab and all that kind of stuff. Wicks hasn't played in three weeks. and I think they're just going to say like, okay, we're going to put our best cover guy on Dobbs and you figure out who's going to try and beat our number two corner.
00:44:30
Speaker
I hope to God they send Watson deep early. If that's the case, if that's how they line up, because, you You want to get Dobbs on a lesser cover corner, but also if he's the one eating Mitchell, this is a game for Wicks. This is a game for Watson. Like eat up that coverage.
00:44:49
Speaker
I'm going to actually go over at like 60. Because we know that Romeo is the safety valve of Jordan Love, so he's going to find ways to force it to him.
00:45:02
Speaker
You know, I kind of said that in in our review of the Panthers game, that it just seemed like he was force-feeding Romeo. And, you know, I see that continuing on, even though Watson's getting more back in there, and, and you know, you got Golden, and maybe Wicks will be playing, and all that stuff. But Now that Kraft is down, he's down one safety valve.
00:45:27
Speaker
Yep. So I see him trying to lean on Romeo a little bit more. and that's something that he does need to break a little bit i he's he's veering a little into like rogers and adams farv and driver territory there where it's like he can't be your binky like it was fine early in the season because you were still distributing the ball around but he's getting a little heavy-handed in that department and so even if it takes matt taking dobbs off the field which i know isn't necessarily the smartest thing, but if you got to do what you got to do to break love out of this habit as well.
00:46:03
Speaker
So yeah, for sure. And, and that's why I was kind of complaining about it against the Panthers was because he had other shots that he could take, but it just seemed like he was concentrating on Romeo a little bit more than anybody else. So,
00:46:19
Speaker
All right, so my next one is obviously with Kraft down, they're going to be trying to bring in more from the tight end position. got 35.5 for Musgraves. going over because think...
00:46:31
Speaker
i'm going over because i think
00:46:35
Speaker
I think he should have opportunities against... I know Bond comes in highly regarded as like a two-way linebacker and all that kind of stuff, but Campbell is still a rookie. And yes, I know he's had some big plays, but he's still prone to some busts in coverage and stuff. And if you can get Musgrape isolated on him...
00:46:53
Speaker
Campbell, Jihad Campbell is a lot like Edge where he has the athleticism to run with guys, but his brain, like football IQ, he's a little bit of a slow processor and identifying coverage responsibility. And I think that Musgrave could pop one or two catches in this game.
00:47:11
Speaker
I think he's going to get his catches, but until I see more improvement on the balance type thing, I don't know if he's going to get yak. So, yeah, I am going to go under, but it's just going to be he's going to hit like 35 yards. So it's not going to be like a much under.
00:47:28
Speaker
So my last one for our serious ones is over under Micah. half a sack against Hurts. And the reason why I set this like it is is because last week the only sack that happened was the the McKinney strip sack.
00:47:46
Speaker
Micah does know the Eagles a little bit better and and that should help him out some. But if Halfley reverts back to the defense he put up against the Panthers, then you're not going to get a lot of a lot of sacked. You might get the pressure, but you're not going to get the sacks of it.
00:48:06
Speaker
Yeah, and I agree. I have the over, but like by default, because I just think Micah's going to just win a play, kind of like he did against Pittsburgh. but and But I don't think he... I think because of the things you pointed it out, I don't believe he's going to have like a great, unbelievable game kind of thing, you know like like a Cardinals game.
00:48:24
Speaker
I hope he does, but I just do not trust Halfley in this kind of spot right now. I feel like he's going to double down on it, especially with Hobbs out and not like, you know if anything happens to, you know, in his mind, where he's looking at is like, I am a bad step away from having to choose between Melton and Haddon at corner in this game. And i think that's, you know, the weird thing is, which is it?
00:48:52
Speaker
Yeah. And the weird thing is, is they always tell you a good pass rush can cover bad corners. and we're not seeing that right now because he's not utilizing his good pass rush yep like he just has to reach the point where it's like just let him be bats out of hell when it's a pass situation like play like i said you got to be disciplined this week but attack like that's the thing is like they have it's been a while since we've seen them just attack attack attack
00:49:26
Speaker
So I'm hoping that we can do the whole reverse jinx thing. And I'm going to say the under, just because I'm hoping that that can reverse jinx it and he'll come out with like three sacks on the day.
00:49:41
Speaker
So my last one is kind of a goofy one, but I heard it on Lombardi's bar. And then with all the talk about it in the off season and all that stuff, over under six and a half for six and a half for tush pushes.
00:49:56
Speaker
They were talking about how it's probably going to be only a certain amount, but you got to remember the Packers were the ones that were supposedly leading the charge to have the Tush Push band.
00:50:09
Speaker
They have a weak front or showed a weak front against the Panthers. There is a strong possibility that we will see it more often.
00:50:21
Speaker
so what do you got for over under six and a half? I'm going over at eight. and okay And the way I put it is the Packers voted against it, but they're also one of the best teams that stopped. They've had decent success at it.
00:50:34
Speaker
I'm also kind of cheating on this because I am including the Eagles ran the fake tush push on them last year where like Hertz took the snap step back and tried to throw a goal route on top of it. So I'm counting that in there as well because it is out of the tush push look, but I'm saying eight because so they're going to have like eight drives in the game.
00:50:56
Speaker
The, this game could set the record for least drives if the two teams get rolling on offense because both like to operate at a very deliberate pace if given the opportunity.
00:51:08
Speaker
but You figure the Packers have had this bad habit of allowing teams to like get into third and short. And I can just see Philly being like any third and two, we're running it. We're running the tush push.
00:51:20
Speaker
And so the Packers will like stop it once and give it up. Stop it once or stop it twice. kind it like It's going to be one of those kind of things. So I think they're going to get to eight, but it's going to be like... it's going to take like more position possessions than people think kind of thing because they're going to go like back-to-back plays on it. it's like Also, Sirianni is that kind of guy to be like, oh, you're the one team kind of thing. and like Especially if they're up late.
00:51:47
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if the Packers offense can't do shit. I can easily see the Eagles in bleed the clock mode, just be like, we're going to run the tush-push four plays in a row and fuck you guys kind of thing. Yeah.
00:51:58
Speaker
yeah i can and that's kind of the thought process that i had i almost set it at like 10 and a half yeah just because of that i i do think it's going to be over just because of that simple thing And I think a couple of times they're going to end up doing it on, you know, you'll see it toward if they have the ball after the two minute warning at the first half, you'll see it a little bit more often just for the hell of it.
00:52:26
Speaker
So yeah, I, I, I'm going to go over, i'm going to say a about nine. I'll, so I'll say about nine on it. Got it. But yeah. So like i said, know, obviously we would love to have more things to talk about, but you know, the,
00:52:43
Speaker
we're still As fans, we're still allowed to like lick our wounds at the the the talk of Kraft being down. It is such a damper on the season. That said, the Packers still have more than enough talent to not only win this game, but to still go on a run and potentially win the Super Bowl.
00:53:01
Speaker
It's going to take LaFleur... breaking his trends, adjusting his offense, making, you know, making changes, how fast he's willing to or do, does do them is going to determine how quickly this offense gets, is able to get rolling against the better defenses.
00:53:20
Speaker
And on defense, Halfley, like,
00:53:23
Speaker
It's time. like let the Let your best players be the best versions of themselves. don't Don't handcuff your best players on defense because of the worst players on your defense. like you you You cannot turn a strength into a weakness because of the the that verifiable weak points on your defense.
00:53:43
Speaker
Those are the two things that I'm looking forward to most in this game. Is LeFleur going to adjust or is he going to die by his run game? And on defense, is Halfley going to you know I hate to say it, but is he going to play conservative out of like fear or is he going to be the aggressor?
00:54:01
Speaker
like Is he going to throw the first punch? I hope that both of them take the the take the side of being the aggressor in this game because you're going to need to do it to to win this game.
00:54:12
Speaker
I think that if you had Kraft, that you could argue the Packers might have the deeper roster. Without Kraft, I think it slides over to the Eagles just because... obviously depends on if aj brown plays but they're potentially missing a lot of guys right now out of this game like aziz ojolari is on ir nolan smith they're opening his practice window but there's no guarantee that he's gonna make it back for this game hence why they traded for jalen phillips why they called brandon gram out of retirement so like i said
00:54:45
Speaker
If both of those, well, Aziz just went on IR, so he's out. But if Nolan doesn't play, like go after these guys with the passing game. Like I get it. you You sign Jacobs, but you sign him to compliment Love in this passing game, not to be the focal point of your offense.
00:55:03
Speaker
You paid love all the money you did. You built the offense around him in 2023. And you had it going that way in 24 until he screwed up his knee at the end of week one. It's time to go back to that.
00:55:15
Speaker
Like your offense just doesn't run the ball well enough for not to be. And. I know that he's a smart guy and he skis and all that kind of stuff, but like, there's a lot of smart people who are not with the Packers who have identified that as a a flaw and it's from within the building and they've got to change that.
00:55:33
Speaker
Joe, you got any last thoughts on this game before we sign off here?
00:55:39
Speaker
nothing that i can think of not about the game obviously you know go buy merch but also we're doing a favor go out if you're ever in sheboygan wisconsin go visit clubhouse sports uh john del rey new shop he's been kind of helping us with some stuff so we're gonna give him as much free advertising as we can give him.
00:56:05
Speaker
So, you know, go, if you're ever in Sheboygan, go visit him. I'd say mention our that you heard it on here, but he'd probably charge a double for it. So, uh, you know, uh, he's got a great shop going up. He's got a website that he's starting up here in the next week or two where he's selling sports memorabilia, autograph photos, canvases, helmets, uh,
00:56:30
Speaker
jerseys he's also got a bunch of non-signed items but his big draw is pretty much his signed items so check him out uh clubhouse sports sheboygan wisconsin and like i said give him a shout yep And oh, one programming note, we still haven't decided how we're going to handle the post game.
00:56:51
Speaker
If it's going to be a live show or if we're just going to record it, you know, we'll post that either hopefully before the game, but at least during the game or shortly after whether the show will be live or, you know we'll we'll say it right now. It's probably not going to be live.
00:57:06
Speaker
Okay. Sounds good. Either way. I was going to say you you're going to be able to hear it on your favorite podcasting apps. Please give us a like and a subscribe. and whether you're able to watch the game through scrupulous or unscrupulous means on Monday, please send us in any questions you may have. We want to hear your we want to produce the content you're looking for.
00:57:28
Speaker
Packers look to get back on track. And hey, if they win this game, they'll stay atop the NFC North. They will go back on top of the NFC Conference. It's a big game for the Packers, especially with the rest of the division on their heels.
00:57:41
Speaker
If they lose and the rest of the division wins, they're in third play. So you can't afford to drop this one. you know that's That's that's the that's the the cost of blowing these games that you should have won against the Browns and the Panthers. But for Iowa Joe, I'm Mike.
00:57:58
Speaker
Go Pack Go and Aloha.