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Green Bay Packers vs. Cincinnati Bengals Week 6 Preview
31 Plays18 days ago
Join us as we preview the exciting NFL Week 6 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals. Our discussion dives deep into the strategies, key players, and what to watch for as these two teams collide on the field. Tune in and embrace the Ohana spirit as we gear up for this thrilling NFL showdown!
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction & Game Preview
00:00:21
Speaker
Aloha and welcome back to another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. Today we have another of our opponent preview episodes. We are going over the week six game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Packers' Performance Review
00:00:33
Speaker
The Packers have their third home game of the season and they look to get back to their winning ways coming off the bye after the realistically slumping in after starting the season off 2-0.
Bengals' New Acquisition: Joe Flacco
00:00:47
Speaker
Despite this being an AFC opponent, they'll be facing a familiar quarterback after the Bengals traded for Joe Flacco. And we'll see.
Expectations for Joe Flacco's Impact
00:00:58
Speaker
Zach Taylor said they expect Flacco to start on Sunday with basically just the three days of practice. Yeah, it's going to be a very vanilla offense.
00:01:09
Speaker
I mean, I'm expecting at least half of it to be, Joe, huck it up down the field. Like, just your arm is still decent. Just huck it up to Jamar Chase
Concerns Over Packers' Defense
00:01:19
Speaker
kind of thing. And, you honestly, if the Packers quarterbacks don't have a cornerbacks, don't have a better game, it could be a struggle for them if they allow Chase to get going and Flacco to feel any kind of comfortable back there. But.
00:01:33
Speaker
Well, McKinney can't come out and say that he was bored this game because definitely going to need to be covering that deep end.
00:01:41
Speaker
Yep.
Injury Report Impact on Gameplay
00:01:41
Speaker
So as we always do, we'll start off with the injury report. It, it always, it never does feel great to have an injury report this long coming off of a buy, but we kind of touched on going into the buy that I do think the Packers are overcompensating after, was it the Falcons, right? They got busted for, misreporting an injury.
00:02:01
Speaker
So I, I do think that the Packers are kind of being snarky with it a little bit. you know, they like, Jordan Morgan being a full participant with a knee injury that was never reported before time.
00:02:16
Speaker
Even going so far as to say like Jordan Love is dealing with not just the left thumb, but also an ankle thingy. But he was a full participant. I'm surprised I can't take him off with the thumb now because it's been long enough.
00:02:32
Speaker
I think they're going to leave it on there as long as he's got some kind of bandage or wrap on it. That's just my thinking of how it's going to go. And I believe the picture showed he still had some kind of wrap on his hand at Wednesday's practice.
00:02:47
Speaker
Tucker, it's good that the knee isn't getting listed anymore, that it's just the elbow, that I don't think he even has a wrap on it. Or no, he did, I guess, but not like a brace or anything.
00:02:59
Speaker
Limited participants.
Concussion Protocols and Key Player Status
00:03:01
Speaker
The big ones are that Aaron Banks and Zach Tom returned to practice. Not as great. Rasheed Walker is still on there with that quad, but he was listed with that prior to the Dallas game.
00:03:11
Speaker
And then you've got JJ Inagbure, Ankle date hop with an ankle Nate Hobbs deal going through concussion protocol, but good that he's listed as a limited participant. That one's confusing because when I think they get a concussion.
00:03:28
Speaker
If you remember he had that play where. Dallas ran like a screen and he like kind of jumped over the pile to get in on the tackle. And then he was down after the play. And then they did like, they stopped, they did the whole like side observer stop play and got him out of the game kind of thing.
00:03:46
Speaker
And so I know some people are gonna be like, oh, how come he's still like listed with a concussion? I think that's part of the weird thing with the protocol where you have to complete practice. It's kind of dumb because it's like you can't clear protocol without practicing.
00:04:04
Speaker
do believe that's written into the CBA and the concussion protocol is like you have to get through a practice without symptoms and without exhibiting systems post-practice.
00:04:14
Speaker
So I get the feeling that he could be a full participant as soon as tomorrow or Friday, where it's just a matter of, you know, it's semantics, really, because he technically hasn't cleared protocol because he hasn't hit the the landmark of practicing without sort of issue you know issues springing up so i i believe that's what it is jacob monk returned as a limited jaymond monk and christian watson had their 21 day practice windows open so they are always going to be listed as limited participants the two
00:04:51
Speaker
I don't want to say most concerning, but the two that kind of pop your eyebrow are McManus being listed with the right quad, which pretty sure he got dinged up on his last tackle attempt in the overtime kickoff coverage.
00:05:03
Speaker
And then Savion with the groin where, you know, he's picking up a lot of steam in terms of his special teams contributions. And LaFleur is obviously involving him more and more on offense as the season has gone along. So you don't want to see him potentially missing time. with any sort of injury. So good that he's out there practicing.
00:05:23
Speaker
And then the two DNPs are Devontae Wyatt and Anthony Belton. Belton is the one I'm more bummed about that he's not back yet. I feel like they were a little more candid with him potentially being, well, I can't say candid.
00:05:38
Speaker
They were a little bit more bullish about him being like a short-term, he'll be back sooner than later kind of thing. Whereas with Wyatt, they were a little more upfront that it's like, it's truly week to week with
Player Readiness and Strategic Decisions
00:05:48
Speaker
him.
00:05:48
Speaker
I do think it's a good sign that they worked guys out on Monday but didn't sign anyone because I feel like if his knee was more... I still think his knee is more of a... two to three week thing including the buy so like he'll miss one or two games kind of thing and that's why he hasn't gone on ir yet and they wouldn't technically need to put him on ir until saturday because the the counter is games missed you gotta miss four games kind of thing so there's no point in putting him on ir before the bye week
00:06:21
Speaker
And I do, you know, Carlos and I have gone back and forth on another thread about this little bit. And I do think it's one where with Wyatt, they're going to want to slow play it and see if they can, you know.
00:06:34
Speaker
get through couple weeks with him on the active roster instead of, you know, him having to miss more games than he'd need to, that concept of it. So I think it helps that they haven't brought in an outside body.
00:06:46
Speaker
And hypothetically, they'll
Defensive and Offensive Strategies
00:06:48
Speaker
just, you know, if Wyatt's down, they'll activate both Stackhouse and Brinson. And maybe even James Esther gets an elevation on game day for this Sunday. So...
00:06:59
Speaker
I'm thinking Brinson's going to have to be active one way or other, because even if Wyatt plays, you can't guarantee he's going to go through the whole game.
00:07:10
Speaker
Not hoping that he gets hurt, but I mean, it's just one of those things you got to have that insurance. If he somehow plays, he's on a snap count. Absolutely. Right. Yeah. And then let's face it, you know, Stackhouse is a good story and all that, but he did struggle in the Cowboy game. So they are most definitely going have to have least Warren active, if not taking a rotation with Stackhouse. Yeah, Stackhouse, he's just not ready yet. You know, the thing that popped out on film is... He's a guy that you kept him around because you're like, that's your true nose tackle type that's going to demand double teams. Well, he's not demanding double teams at this point.
00:07:50
Speaker
And there were several stretch plays in the Dallas game where He just doesn't get to the outside shade of his man that's over him. And because of that, the combo blocker, the guard doesn't even look at him.
00:08:03
Speaker
He just goes right up to get Quay or Edge at the second level. And that just can't happen. That was a big reason for a lot of Dallas' success running the ball, especially in the second half. They've got to get someone who's a little bit more agile. They're doing a lot of, you know, they're having guys jump gaps, move over laterally at the snap and things like that. So they need guys who are going to be more active in the run game.
00:08:25
Speaker
And that was one where, you know, we had talked about it the early weeks of the season where it was kind of like, Is the theory of what Stackhouse brings in short yardage so much more valuable than a Brinson who is a more versatile player? He might not maybe be as good at any one thing, but he can play nose tackle one technique, three technique. Whereas Stackhouse, it's like he's here to play five to ten snaps. And then if you have an injury like Wyatt, you're kind of shit up the creek with no paddle kind of thing. So yeah.
00:09:01
Speaker
For sure. And like I said, just with for your insurance, you need to have him least active and maybe rotate in. And of course, you know, I think the big talk now and I love how everybody's reporting on this now, but both me and you have been talking about it since last year that maybe we're going to see Lucas Van Ness play more on the inside than on the outside.
00:09:26
Speaker
And now everybody and their little brother is reporting on that. It's like, We all knew this. It kind of was like... You know, my only hesitation was like they were always talking like we want to see him on the edge. But I'm like, the way that D-tackle room always broke out, especially after they traded for Parsons, it was kind of like, well, you're going to want as many of those guys on the field as possible.
00:09:50
Speaker
And that means unless Parsons is playing linebacker, one of those guys is on the inside. And, you know, in the cheetah package, they have rotated... mean...
00:10:00
Speaker
All of Rashawn, Lucas, Parsons, even in Nagbari have gotten snaps at the three technique spot. So, you know, it is part of their arsenal.
00:10:13
Speaker
And honestly, this is the game that if they're going to be a little, you know, if they're not going to have Wyatt and they're not going to bring up an extra body to play defensive tackle, they're going be bit this is probably the game they can get away with being light on the interior, you know, having one of the ends play more tackle because Cincinnati lacks the O-line to blow you off the ball like Dallas could, even Dallas down a couple of starters, or even Cleveland who, you know, could get into heavy sets and really take you off the line of scrimmage. So this is the week that we could see Green Bay go, you know, a little bit more,
00:10:54
Speaker
athletic on the front to
Injury Analysis and Recovery Expectations
00:10:56
Speaker
speak. And obviously the big one that a lot of people are talking about this week, Christian Watson is practicing and Both you and I were skeptical about it. And not because we doubted Christian.
00:11:10
Speaker
This is at the extreme early end of, you know, he's still, and LaFleur has kind of thrown water on the fire and said, like, it's very unlikely he plays this week, but we're not close. Like, I don't think he even went as far as to say we're not closing the door.
00:11:27
Speaker
I think he kind of just said it's unlikely he plays this week and he sort of left it there. I was trying to think, when is the last moment that they can activate for a week? Is it the day before a game?
00:11:39
Speaker
So, okay. So, in terms of activating for the week, it's like the day before. It's Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern or whatever. But because he practiced Monday, it's a little different because he's coming off of PUP.
00:11:55
Speaker
The 21-day thing, they'd have to activate him 21 days from Monday because that's the first day he stepped on the practice field. So in a normal week, like, so if he's activated for this week, they have until Saturday to be like, he went through, like, full three Well, meant more than this isn't something that they could...
00:12:18
Speaker
wait until like the day of and be like, all right, we're going to activate him and now he's going to I think, I think the only situation you could do that is if you played on Thursday, because the rules are a little wonkier because the week is, you know, is, truncated for you.
00:12:32
Speaker
But yeah, it would be Saturday that you'll find out like when they do the whole, uh, what's it called? Who's elevated from the practice squad and all that kind of stuff. And they don't have to make a subsequent move. They're at 51 players because, you know, they never filled Reed.
00:12:50
Speaker
Well, they, they filled one of the spots from Reed and Cox going on to IR, but then they cut, uh, banks last after the Dallas game. So they're back down to, having two open roster spots. So, you know, they've, they've, brought Watson and Monk back to practice and both have it, you know, if they check out sooner than later, there's they don't have to make another move. They can just sign them to they can just fully activate them to the active roster.
00:13:18
Speaker
So here's the one thing that I have to say about this whole situation.
00:13:23
Speaker
When we were talking about when Christian would come back, the earliest we said was always going to be Halloween.
00:13:32
Speaker
Okay. I really doubt he's going to be this week. I really do. I have my doubts that it's going to be this week. Well, next week, what is it? Next week's game.
00:13:44
Speaker
Arizona is right. Which is the 19th. They may activate him, but they're going to be playing that weird turf surface that Arizona has.
00:13:59
Speaker
Do they want to put him back out there on his first game?
00:14:02
Speaker
That the field that basically ended Robert Tunyon's career. So when you get to looking at the dates, if he's not activated this week and he's not activated next week, he'll be activated for the 26th, which is the week of Halloween, which is the date that we've all been talking about is the most realistic for him to come back.
00:14:27
Speaker
And even that one is a little dicey because... Fuck, I don't even know what called anymore. But Hines, Fields, Turf... I mean, that's where Jordy Nelson blew his knee out in preseason. And the Steelers field, there's...
00:14:43
Speaker
At its worst, it's close to as bad as Soldier Field, but it's one where they all say that it gets better as the season goes, which I've never understood, but it really does seem to get better as they play on it. It's one of the weirdest things, but even that's one where it's kind of like...
00:15:04
Speaker
Suffice it to say, it's not as clear cut as lot of people want it to be. Now that said, Christian gets through these three official days of practice, and if the doctors are... If he checks all the boxes, he checks out medically,
00:15:24
Speaker
if he is medically cleared, He'll be active. And I know what you're pausing for, and I know what I'm pausing for.
00:15:32
Speaker
It's like 200. It'll be like 280 days from when he had either from when he tore his knee or had surgery, which is at the extreme short end. Nine months is typical, which we're bordering on that.
00:15:46
Speaker
But at the same time, he tore not just the ACL. It was ACL and other damage. And yet, it is really refreshing for a guy. You know, we always hear blank player is having a great rehab and it's going so well and he's pushing physically. This is one of the first times for a Packers player, at least, where I'm like, he actually legit looks great moving around. Like, he really looks good. And, you know, a lot of the clips that are being posted are him running hitches. There's like one slant route.
00:16:25
Speaker
But he's like cutting into that route pretty aggressively. It's not the like, oh, let me go take three jog steps and sit into a route kind of thing. He's like, he's not fully opening the throttle, but he's at a good 75, 80% run on those. So I'm trying not to get my hopes up.
00:16:44
Speaker
More in the sense of like, he is coming back sooner than later kind of thing. Like... Right. But like I said, it's always been the, at least me and you have talked about it.
00:16:55
Speaker
Halloween is what we pegged. And it just, it feels like one of those things. And you don't want to rush them back.
Receiver Lineup Strategy
00:17:02
Speaker
Because you don't want to have Bakhtiari situation going on.
00:17:06
Speaker
You don't want to have Tanyan situation going on. Where you come back and you just can't get back to form. Or you're continuously having to have your knee drained because...
00:17:17
Speaker
you know, you're having issues with it. So as much as I want to say, yay, let's go for whatever, don't want to push it. You don't want to. And anyway, we're getting to the point where we were all talking about him coming back anyway.
00:17:33
Speaker
This isn't surprising in the least because we were talking, maybe not this early, but we're around the timeframe we were talking about that he would be coming back.
00:17:45
Speaker
Now, whether or not he'll be back at full blow when he actually is activated, people are going to temper their expectations. My biggest question is, how are they going to handle that room when he's actually back?
00:18:01
Speaker
Do they trust that if they release a Malik Heath, that he's going to make it through waivers to be able to be on the practice squad?
00:18:11
Speaker
I don't think they're releasing Heath at this point. I don't think Heath becomes a question until Reed is back in the picture. Because at this point, you bring Watson back, you're only at six receivers.
00:18:24
Speaker
And... Watson is going to be limited. As much as we can say he looks great and all that kind stuff, he's not football conditioned. And the knee hasn't been hit. His body hasn't been hit in almost a year.
00:18:35
Speaker
So it's going to take time. Just like Parsons was on a snap count to start the season, Watson is going to be on a similar load management snap count kind situation too. So And on top of that, LeFleur likes to rotate his receivers. And sure, maybe Heat's snaps go down from a dozen to like five a game or something like that.
00:18:56
Speaker
But they're not cutting him until like their dead-ass certain Watson is fully healthy. And then on the other side of it, it's like Reed's hurt.
00:19:07
Speaker
All the guys except for Dobbs have spent time on the injury report so far this regular season. So I just don't think they're going to chance. And like Savion spent the whole season on the injury report. So I just don't think they're in a position to be like, yeah, let's just cut a guy loose. Because like I said, they don't need a roster spot.
00:19:30
Speaker
Right. But I'm just trying to figure out how that room is going to look. Because yeah, But I guess I should add it on there when Reed comes back. Because then you're going to have all these guys in there. And it's like, but Heath has been reliable when needed.
00:19:49
Speaker
He may not be getting the snaps, but look at the catches he's been having to make. Somebody's going to take a chance on him. I think the Heath thing, it's so far out because, you know, Reid's rehab is still like, you know, the best timeline was like six to eight or eight to 10 weeks or something. So he's still six or eight weeks away at this point.
00:20:11
Speaker
And to me, it's so far out that the way that the NFL goes, it's a moot point worrying about because whether they keep seven receivers. I'm going worry about it. Don't tell me not to worry about it.
00:20:25
Speaker
Whether they keep seven receivers when Reed is healthy, because that's the thing is he's going to need to. He's going to be on a snap count, too, when he comes back. So it's like to me, that thing is so far away that what's it called?
00:20:41
Speaker
either because of Reed still being on a snap count, there's a chance Watson's still on a snap count at that point because they're not babying him, but they're having the proper abundance of caution kind of thing and stuff. So it's like, you're still heavily rotating the receivers.
00:20:59
Speaker
And then on top of that, like I said, someone else is going to get injured. I hate to say it, but they're going to put someone else. If they don't put another player on IR this season, I'll be absolutely shocked.
Defensive Line Depth Discussion
00:21:11
Speaker
But the way that injuries just go in the NFL, there's going to be another roster spot that opens up and they're going to be able to... Well, the thing is, are you going to be able to keep all those guys? Yeah.
00:21:27
Speaker
Because, you know, if... Watson comes back, we're at six. And Reed comes back, we'd be at seven. With the carousel that they've been kind of running with the O-line right now, are they going to be able to justify keeping seven guys on roster?
00:21:44
Speaker
Well, that's the thing is, if they bring Monk back this week, they're at eight O-linemen on the roster. And eight is the, like... Mosqueda talks about it all the time.
00:21:55
Speaker
If you... So the game day active roster is 47. But if you have eight linemen, you can have an eighth lineman active as like an extra roster spot.
00:22:06
Speaker
So that's why they've it's been don't want to say easy, but you kind of like, oh, what are they going to do for like active roster for game day roster and stuff? They've you know, that's why they were they were elevating Banks while he was on the practice squad.
00:22:20
Speaker
I think that's why they brought Lassides Smith back is because, you know, right now they're sitting at seven old linemen. Yeah, so they have options there.
00:22:30
Speaker
And so even if Belton misses this week, whether it's elevating Lissetus Smith or bringing Monk back to the active roster, they're going to have It's...
00:22:43
Speaker
What I'm trying to say is it's not O-line where they're going to be like, oh, that seventh receiver spot, you know, do we need that for something else?
00:22:52
Speaker
Maybe it's for, you know, to bring Brenton Cox back or Colin Oliver off PUP or... Maybe it comes down to seventh wide receiver or Marshawn Lloyd kind of thing. Like it's that, but Lloyd's not ready to come. You know, he's eligible, but he's not ready. You know, they didn't open his 21 day window.
00:23:12
Speaker
Same with Oliver. What's it called? Cox has another week. He has to miss because he's been out since week one. So they, they're, they're, You know, there's balls for Gutekunst to juggle, but they're not there yet.
00:23:26
Speaker
So until we see some of those things start to get into motion... It's one of those, like, don't want to say, you're right. I'm not, I shouldn't say I'm not worried, but it's one of those where the roster spots they have, really, Lloyd is the first one where it's like, okay, how do they look at that seventh wide receiver spot on the 53-man versus having Lloyd? Because everywhere else, it's like, for Cox, it's like, they have, you know, because Sorrell is healthy now, they have five edges up on game day.
00:23:59
Speaker
And same with Oliver. It's like, okay, whether you have a fourth line or fifth linebacker or a sixth edge, whose spot on the roster does he take?
00:24:07
Speaker
It would be from a defensive guy, not necessarily a seventh wide receiver. So there's routes for them to go, but I don't... That's my long-winded answer for saying they're going to juggle lot before the Heat position comes into question. That's just my point of view on it.
00:24:27
Speaker
From the Bengals' point of view, much shorter injury list. Old friend Lucas Patrick was designated to return. So the Bengals opened his 21-day practice window.
00:24:39
Speaker
Tight end Drew Sample did not participate, I believe.
00:24:44
Speaker
No, he is not their starter. He's their third-string tight end. Gesicki and I forgot Noah Fant plays for the Bengals now.
Bengals Team Composition Analysis
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah, they got two Hawkeyes over there. They got Fant and they got Eric Gall.
00:24:55
Speaker
But I think Gall is on injured reserve. Yeah. They're... Starting left guard, Dylan Fairchild did not participate on Wednesday with a knee injury.
00:25:14
Speaker
BJ Hill, who is their starting defensive tackle, along with TJ Slayton, was a full participant. Backup wide receiver, Charlie Jones, was a limited participant.
00:25:26
Speaker
And then their first round pick, Shamar Stewart, was a limited participant. So... You know, shorter list for the Bengals, but as we noted, the big thing for them is they're a new quarterback.
00:25:39
Speaker
And he is going to be playing behind one of the most inconsistent slash bad offensive lines in the NFL. You've got former first-round picks. You've got former high picks. You've got former Patriots. You've got Super Bowl champions.
00:25:58
Speaker
But they're all guys who have either underwhelmed or have been allowed to walk by former organizations because their level of play was not up to snuff. And, I mean, it shows. This team, they allow...
00:26:17
Speaker
What is it? They're allowing their quarterback to get sacked on 8.5% of That is bottom third in the NFL. They're 31st in interception percentage. And I know that's mostly an individual quarterback thing, but if your quarterback is under duress as often as the Bengals quarterbacks have been,
00:26:39
Speaker
the chances where interceptions go up. And, you know, that's one thing that this Packers defense hasn't done a lot of. And, you know, up until the Dallas game, they were playing some stifling defense the first three weeks of the season. And the, you know...
00:26:55
Speaker
At the time, my comeback was that the opponents had just been going to college offenses where everything is spread out short kind of thing. And Dallas was the first time where we saw big plays popping up left and right across the defense. So...
00:27:12
Speaker
this is the week to not allow that to happen you know jamar chase is as dangerous of an opponent as there's gonna be in the nfl t higgins is healthy for now and you know gisiki is not a blocker at all but he's still a receiving threat so well neither one of them are that was the main knock on noah fan was he couldn't block to save his life So, you know, and it shows they've got a lot of talent at the skill positions, but...
00:27:43
Speaker
The Bengals have real problems protecting the quarterback. And on top of it, their rushing offense is dead last in the NFL. I was like, I know they're bad. And I'm like, oh, shit, they are dead last.
00:27:56
Speaker
They're second to last in yards per rush at 3.1 yards per carry. They are dead last in rushes per game because they've spent a lot of their recent games playing from behind.
00:28:07
Speaker
And they are dead last with 57 rush yards per game. So, you know, and Green Bay's defense, I know that they haven't been as stout the last two games as they were the first two games of the season. But they're still fifth in yards per rush at 3.6. They're third in rushes per game at 21 and a half.
00:28:29
Speaker
And they're second in rush yards per game allowed at 77 and a half. So, yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker
You know, that, what does that all point to? It helps you, you know, if you're able to snuff out an opponent's run game, you're putting them in third and long situations and that gives this defense what it wants to do most.
00:28:47
Speaker
And, you know, you want to have opportunities to rush the passer. And, It's really important for the Packers to get back on the horse of, you know, getting quick, immediate pressure on quarterbacks to convert some of the more of those for sacks, but also, you know, induce interception worthy plays. And it was so frustrating watching the Browns play Detroit and see Flacco put up some absolute damage.
00:29:16
Speaker
Duck worthy interception balls in Detroit. And it's like you couldn't throw any of those against, you know, any of those against Green Bay when it would have been beneficial. You know, he threw the one bad ball, but it was end of half situation. I know some people are like, oh, McKinney's got to know to let that one go, all that kind of stuff.
00:29:36
Speaker
If he lets that ball bounce, I don't think Green Bay runs up. Because Green Bay was getting so beaten up up front, I don't think Green Bay even bothers to try to run a Hail Mary play out of that situation. They probably just kind of kneel it down and go into the half because there's like six seconds after the play or whatever kind of thing. So, you know, time to see this defense start to turn opponents over.
00:29:59
Speaker
on offense, like... I know Trey Hendrickson was a topic of discussion for a lot of this offseason. Outside of him, this defense is not stout at anything. They're bottom third against the rush.
00:30:15
Speaker
They're, what's it called? They're actually middle of the pack in opponent's yard per rush, but they're allowing 4.3, which would be absolutely great for green Bay's offense. If they were getting four, 4.3 yards per pop and they're giving up, 132 rush yards per game, which is bottom
Game Strategies and Key Player Performances
00:30:34
Speaker
third. So, you know,
00:30:37
Speaker
LaFleur is going to want to, as much as Jordan is really setting the tone for this team and has been outside of one throw, one and a half, if you want to count the one that got called back against Detroit, he has really been on one this season.
00:30:52
Speaker
And this is a week that, you know, know we said it about Dallas's defense. And the thing is, is that he did get right after a Cleveland game where he got beat up a bunch.
00:31:03
Speaker
But this is one where especially if Banks and or Tom are able to come back for this game. You really want to see this O-line gel both as run blockers and as pass protectors and see this offense get back to being on track for a whole game and LeFleur having the confidence that he can just move the ball at will down the field.
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. was just looking at some of this stuff. And I was watching Lombardi's Bar earlier, and they had a beat writer for the Bengals on and talking to her.
00:31:38
Speaker
And she said that, you know, the secondary is what's hurting them the most because they're just not living up to their hype.
00:31:49
Speaker
And I felt a little bit bad for you because you got two Michigan alums – over there and and dax hill and dj turner and mean they're they're defending passes they got some pds turner's got six pds but there's and they're taking the ball away a little bit But it's not major.
00:32:15
Speaker
And even looking at their sack numbers, I know people are giving the Packers a hard time because Trey Hendrickson's got four sacks and Micah's only got, what, two? and a half, I think, yeah. And then you look at Joseph Asai and Chris Jenkins and Miles Murphy and B.J. Hill.
00:32:36
Speaker
They've got some numbers going in there, too. But Really, there's not much on their defense that's really scary. And I hate to say it that way, but they're struggling. And they've got two young linebackers that are pretty decent, but...
00:32:57
Speaker
Other than that, as long as the old line can hold out for the Packers, there should be no reason that these guys can't get carved up. And I know some people are going to point at the Browns game, but the Browns had more established players who are havoc creators on their front than the rest of... This Bengals game is truly one where you can account for Hendrickson and kind of live with everyone else doing whatever on their own kind of thing. Like, the main thing, and, you know, some people are like, oh, what does that mean? I'm like, I don't think you should be throwing three guys at Hendrickson because he's not that kind of rusher.
00:33:40
Speaker
It's more like he's a high effort, good technician kind of He's not the, like, athletic freak that Garrett is where he's going to just run around someone kind of thing. It's going to, it's going to take him some time to get to the quarterback, even on his best rushes.
00:33:59
Speaker
You know, he's not the guy that he's not a DeMarcus Ware who's going just teleport around the guy kind of thing. It take, he's a, he's a more in like the Kenny Clark mode where I don't want to say it's a slow burn, but it's a, like, it's like a, it's like a, it's like a,
00:34:16
Speaker
it's like a piston compressing a beer can kind of thing where it's like, it's like the piston is going to beat the beer can, but you've got time till it happens kind of thing. He's more quick than he is fast.
00:34:28
Speaker
Yeah. And he's also more of your, your strength than he is your speed. And it's something that we've talked about with Rashawn for the longest time is, you know, Trey will knows that his, his ability relies on strength more than speed whereas rashaun knows he can do it with strength but for some reason keeps going with the speed on it and so and let's face it we all know this and i think even the floor is kind of kind of mentioned it that they over prepared miles garrett and as long as they don't fall into that same trap with trey hendrickson
00:35:14
Speaker
and they you know the line can stay relatively healthy don't think you're going to have too much of an issue with it i'm not sure off the top my head do you know off the top your yours what if for if by chance any of the guys that are not able to play Do we have any other O-linemen on the practice squad?
00:35:44
Speaker
So, Lucita Smith is there. Right, right. That's the thing is they're light on tackles right now. That's the biggest problem Packers have is that like, you know, while I wasn't the biggest banks fan, they don't have a lot of options. It's the, I think the only other tackle they have is that, that Oklahoma state kid Dalton Cooper. And those are the only two offensive linemen on The practice squad is Smith and Cooper, which is pretty normal.
00:36:17
Speaker
That's pretty average. And it's, you know, you, they might keep three at a given time, but you know, you're kind of using, you're splitting those 16, 17 spots amongst all your position groups. So that's not out of the ordinary to have just two old linemen.
00:36:35
Speaker
And it really is just going to come down to whether Banks and Tom can go. And what I want to see is that they have learned lessons from the Browns situation where, you know, like you already pointed out that after the Browns game and going into this game, LaFleur has made comments about how he, like you said, he overcompensated, overprepared, overworried about Banc.
00:37:02
Speaker
Miles Garrett. And I do think that that played into like, I don't want to say they were reckless with Zach Tom, like Spoon Silverstein has come out and said like, no, like they weren't blowing steam up our ass. Like they, he really was truly like a pain tolerance thing. And it's not a re-aggravation and all that kind of stuff.
00:37:23
Speaker
But what Spoon and a lot of other guys on the beat have alluded to is that LeFleur was so concerned with Miles Garrett that he kind of was like, oh, Tom can play. He's playing kind of thing. And then he like went in with kind of, you know, they were practicing one way, like where they were like, is Tom going to play? Is he not going to play?
00:37:46
Speaker
And then. He gets hurt after the first play and then Banks gets hurt and then Rashid's face mask breaks and stuff. And so LeFleur is already like overcompensating for Myles Garrett. And then he's got three, five alarm fires that go off on because of injury and stuff. And so both in terms of like,
00:38:06
Speaker
Like I said, I don't want to say he pressured Tom to play, but I think like there were multiple light bulbs that were like, problem solved. Zack's going to be able to play kind of thing. And then when he couldn't play, it was like, oh, like now what do we do kind of thing? It's probably like anybody else who works a job.
00:38:27
Speaker
And they probably went up to Zach Tom or like, hey, can you play? And instead of being the typical no, no, no, he was like, yeah, yeah, I can get through it. I can get through it. And like you said, then that lit the fire under the floor. It's like, OK, yeah, we're good. We're good. He's going to play.
00:38:43
Speaker
And then that all went down the hill, but downhill. But I just if I don't want to see him come back if he's not ready to come back. Yeah.
00:38:55
Speaker
So, you know, whatever. But obviously if Belton is DNPs today and going up to Saturday, he's not practicing.
00:39:07
Speaker
He's most likely not playing. Banks, I think, is probably a little bit more of a go. Because even he kind of said that it's not a major concern.
00:39:21
Speaker
Just... he you know whatever he tweaked it or whatever and know it just pain tolerance with him too but this is where we were kind of saying last year we had an overabundance of exterior guys but hardly any interior depth we're running the opposite now we're having a ton of interior depth but we're having nothing on the outside and know
00:39:53
Speaker
It's not looking good. They are going to have to bring an extra guy to the practice squad. I don't care what they say, know, unless they really think this Cooper is something else. And I don't know. I don't know much about him.
00:40:09
Speaker
He was a guy that I did like coming out of the process. I do think the problem there is I think he only is he's only a right tackle. I don't think he's even really a guard because of how he plays. So it's like it's always hard to have guys. And I think that's Banks got activated over him, you know, and and even got elevated to the active roster ahead of Cooper is because like plus Banks was in there the whole preseason, whereas Cooper got added a little bit late in the process and stuff.
00:40:35
Speaker
But It is one of those where it's like, okay, if Tom can't go, then you're putting Kennard at right tackle because you want Morgan ready in case Banks re-aggravates the groin and stuff. And, like, it's so hard to, like, weigh which is worse in terms of, like, Zach Tom dealing with the same oblique problem or Banks is on his second injury of the season kind of, like, you know, it was the ankle, but it's traveling up the leg kind of thing, you know.
00:41:06
Speaker
whether it was compensating for the ankle and that's how he tweaked his groin, or if it's just a freak, like it happened kind of thing and stuff. So you hear different theories on which is worse kind of thing. But, you know, the big thing for the Packers and for them to like be able to string together some wins and get on a roll, this O-line's got to get healthy.
00:41:27
Speaker
And as much as you and I ripped on LaFleur, don't want to say has... But we've, and of course it's right after I lauded the Packers for how they've approached their O-line construction and the depth that they have that they've gone and had two like subpar games out of that group.
00:41:49
Speaker
But, All the mental mistakes, the false starts galore in Cleveland, the physical missed assignments that they've the past couple of games.
00:42:04
Speaker
As much as I say that you've still got to run your own shit, I understand where LaFleur is coming from. how can I call these plays if they can't pass pro from under center kind of thing and stuff. So it does handcuff his calls if he doesn't feel comfortable running the whole playbook.
00:42:21
Speaker
And at the same time, you've had the buy to work this shit out, whether it's Stenovich, you've got to get your ass back in that old line room and get help, but just get it figured out, whatever, you know, something we talk about a lot, like you've had the time to get shit worked out.
00:42:38
Speaker
The obviously most ideal situation is Monk and Tom... Or not Monk. Is that Banks and Tom are good to go. And not, like, good enough to go. They're, like, good to go kind of thing. And you're just keeping them limited to, like, not waste reps at practice. You know, keep...
00:42:57
Speaker
keep reps off their body and so that they're fresh for the game and all that kind of stuff. So that's obviously the ideal, but one way or the other, this old line got to get it going. We're seeing the receiving core come around. Golden was flashing in that Cowboys game. You know, he had not just the big play on the opening drive, but he had the fourth down conversion on the in overtime or yeah, in overtime.
00:43:21
Speaker
yeah, you're seeing that group come around. Tucker's being a little bit more effective in the pass game. And that's the thing is like, everyone's like, why doesn't Tucker Craft get used? Because he's got a block.
00:43:32
Speaker
And so like, you know, as much as I hate, like, it goes back to something you and I have talked about and Dusty was putting out there is like,
00:43:43
Speaker
Unfortunately, because of their O-line issues, I know LaFleur wants to operate out of bigger personnel packages, but because you're dealing with O-line issues, you've got to go spread because you want less guys in the box.
00:43:59
Speaker
And I know that goes against LaFleur's base
Snap Counts & Play Calling Insights
00:44:01
Speaker
DNA. He likes to be a big personnel with condensed packages and stuff. But if your O-line is having issues blocking things up,
00:44:10
Speaker
Just, you know, on standard stuff, you've got to help them out by like, okay, wide receivers, get the hell out there, have a slot who's going to take another defender out on the perimeter. And then, you know, Tucker, you're going to either help block or you're going to motion out kind of thing and stuff. So,
00:44:27
Speaker
like i said you know lafleur's had a little bit rough coming out of buys the last few years he's got to come out this week and you know this should be a good opponent to hit the ground running literally and figuratively but you got to do it this week like no if ands or buts and there's one thing i want to say and this has been a big thing ever since collinsworth said something during the cowboys game about Elton Jenkins having to look between his legs at Jordan to get the call.
00:44:57
Speaker
That's been every single Packer center for years. They've never, they've never done that little tap. No, they've always, it's just guys like Josh Myers and Corey Lindsley have been able to hide it a little bit better than what Elton was where they would do their look. Then they would just go ahead and And they knew the snap count.
00:45:22
Speaker
So I don't know what it is with Elton and not understanding what the... Because if I remember right, it was always with Rodgers that they knew to hike it on a certain cue. It wasn't a visible thing. It was a verbal cue that when he went through his progression, that's what you went on.
00:45:41
Speaker
So don't know where that weird thing... I know we see more and more teams going to that weird... Guard tap. Yeah. Yeah. And but I don't know where this is all coming from, where the Packers are being called out because Elton Jenkins is. I, you know, it's honestly to me, like Collinsworth is going to.
00:46:04
Speaker
blow vaid and make a bigger deal out of it the packers aren't the only team they're one of the last teams who do it that way but it's like it's much closer to like 50 50 two-thirds one-third kind of thing he's pointing it out because the cowboys do the hip tap thing and stuff and it and and i just i'm i i'm so weird about that because maybe it's because i'm a little bit old school too But I don't know how that doesn't borderline false start.
00:46:36
Speaker
Because you literally have a guy, like, lean back and then go forward and then do his tap or whatever. Right. And there are...
00:46:47
Speaker
It's funny, like the rules that allow that are like they're so stupidly vague how they write it up. Instead of saying like, this is the thing you're allowed to do, whether you're the center who's flipping your head down and coming back up or the guard that's tapping the center on the shoulder.
00:47:05
Speaker
There isn't like a, you may tap them on the shoulder or you may put your hand in front of their face and like, you know, swipe kind of thing. There is no explicit, this is what you can do. It's a...
00:47:19
Speaker
You're allowed to signal the center, but you must not do something that simulates the snap or something like that. And that's where you see a lot of people complain about what Elton's doing because they're like, he shouldn't be allowed to snap his head up like that.
00:47:33
Speaker
But then the rule is like the center is allowed to look at the line call kind of thing and stuff like that. So it's like, and, and. the part that irritates me is when they're like, Oh, Jenkins, he's doing too much. I'm like, he's not jerking his head back unnaturally.
00:47:51
Speaker
His head is coming back because he's literally looking up. But the thing that people that are complaining, I've never worn a football helmet in their life. And, and the thing that's quote unquote, supposed to get called is like something that looks like Elton has snapped the ball.
00:48:08
Speaker
But what Elton's doing is, He's like, so he's down and then he's up. Like, he's not even fully up because like you said, the helmet hitting your pad restricts you from like, you can't do this.
00:48:22
Speaker
When you're crouched in a stance like this, you can't lean your head back this far. He's literally looking out the top third of his face mask. And so, yeah, it's like what Elton's doing is like he's turning his head side to side.
00:48:38
Speaker
And people that are like, he's simulating the snap. I'm like, I've never seen anyone do this when they snap the ball. Especially with, like I said, that tap thing. Because how many times have we seen the guard literally almost stand up out of his stance to look back at the quarterback and then come down and then throw his arm out?
00:48:57
Speaker
Right. And the Steelers, I think, were the first team to do it. Ramon Foster would do it. And at least when he first did it, he would be swiping his hand as he sat back into his stance. It wasn't like a... He wasn't being super... aggressive with it where, like you said, it's a very rigid, like, look back, look down, like, swipe kind of thing. He was kind of like, okay, here we go kind of thing and stuff. And then, like, so, yeah, it...
00:49:28
Speaker
It is what it is. don't lose a lot of sleep over it. I don't either. For some reason, that's become the topic of debate since Collinsworth pointed it out against the Cowboys.
00:49:40
Speaker
And honestly, it shouldn't be a problem this week because we're at home. So, like... Yeah. I mean, they're going to, you know, they've got couple of back-to-back road games coming up after this. So obviously Jenkins is going to have to work on it, but it shouldn't be an issue this week because you're at home.
00:49:56
Speaker
Like you're at home against an AFC opponent too. So like noise shouldn't be a problem.
Broadcast Details and Commentary
00:50:02
Speaker
Right. All right. Let's, let's move on to our next one. Unless you've got anything else you want to hit is we're, we're, we're getting to the point where we're going have to call her. Yeah.
00:50:15
Speaker
All right. All right. yeah, over-unders. So I real quick had to think of these because normally I at least put an hour or two thought into it, but I didn't this week because it's like, I don't know...
00:50:28
Speaker
It's kind of hard coming off of a bye week to come up with over-unders because it's like, well, I can't. The nearest game is. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm going to go with Micah Parsons over-under half a sack.
00:50:43
Speaker
I've limited to half a sack because he has been targeted more on, for one, like we have talked about the last few weeks. He's been getting held and not called.
00:50:54
Speaker
Again, I go back to this is reminding me a lot of when Clay Matthews was in his heyday because there's a lot of things not getting called against him.
00:51:06
Speaker
And two, even though Rashawn has been looking better, Lucas has been looking better, we're still not getting that fill the void from when Micah disappears.
00:51:18
Speaker
So over under half a sack for Micah Parsons. I'm going over for him. I think it's just the one again like it was last week, but I think he's going to get on the board again.
00:51:30
Speaker
I'm thinking so too, but I'm wondering. I'm going to go over, but I'm limited on what I want to say over just because I'm wondering if maybe they'll do to Micah what the Packers ended up doing for Miles Garrett and overthink things with him.
00:51:50
Speaker
So it's going to be a lot harder for him to, to nab a sack. My thing is that I don't think the Bengals can like, okay, this is to sound really weird because their passing game is so oriented around the basketball on grass kind of thing where it's like trying to get five guys out.
00:52:11
Speaker
None of their tight ends are good blockers. I don't think any of the running backs are plus pass blockers either. So it's like, what's it called?
00:52:21
Speaker
Their base concept is to get as many guys into the route as possible already. And that's their like pass pro help is like, you can't send extra guys on the rush. So, you know, there's going to be one natural double team because you have five O-linemen against four pass rushers.
00:52:38
Speaker
But also that means that You know, like against the Cowboys, how did the Cowboys have success keeping Green Bay at bay? It was running the ball and forcing Rashawn to have to play run contained, forcing Parsons to have to look for the running back first kind of thing. And, you know, as the game went, Micah kind of said, fuck this. I'm going to just go after the quarterback kind of thing and stuff.
00:53:00
Speaker
But Cincinnati doesn't do those things. And I know Burrow would do some zone read kind of stuff, and I think Browning did a little bit.
00:53:10
Speaker
Flacco ain't doing that shit. And if he does, he ain't getting very far at this point in life. So I just think that they're... Because like, whereas Green Bay is like, we're going to throw Chris Brooks his way and we're going to throw Tucker his way or even Musgrave his way. Like they we just our offense just operates at a totally different wavelength that since you have to remember Flacco is only going to be in the system for three games or three days.
00:53:40
Speaker
So they're going to have to do something to protect him because he doesn't know the full offense and they're not going to be able to rotate in and out like they would if it was a Burrow or a Browning.
00:53:51
Speaker
That's why I'm really surprised that because Clifford's been in the system for at least what, since the end of preseason, final cuts, or has it been?
00:54:04
Speaker
he's been in the system for at least two or three weeks. I'm surprised they didn't bring him up.
Historical Context and Records
00:54:11
Speaker
And if Browning continued to, you know, do what he did, throw him in there.
00:54:18
Speaker
But it is what it is. I, you know, I'm not making the decisions for, because at least with Clifford and Browning, you're going to have a mobile ish guy. Whereas Flacco is not going to be mobile. He's going to be more of your statue in the pocket.
00:54:35
Speaker
So It is what it is, but over under Jordan, passing 235 and a half. Over. I think that, like I said, I think that your money is going to be made in, excuse me, is going to be made spreading this Bengals defense out and just kind of picking them apart and getting what you want from them. So I think take the over.
00:55:00
Speaker
I'm going to take the under because of one thing. And that's, I have, I know I've been doing this a lot lately, but LeFleur is starting to remind me of Kirk Ferentz a lot.
00:55:15
Speaker
where he's going to get so bullheaded that he's just going to continue to run the ball. He's going to give Jordan his chances, but he's going to keep continuing to run. Now, I'm going to say it's probably going end up being like 225 or 230.
00:55:31
Speaker
So it's not going to be too far under. But I just, it scares because we get into games with these type of teams and LeFleur, again, I go back to, it's like LeFleur thinks you can only score 600 points in a season and you got to spread it out throughout the season.
00:55:51
Speaker
So next one is Golden receiving over 40 and a half yards. I'm going over. I think with the struggles that this Cincinnati defense has, I think he's going to get in that 70-ish range.
00:56:10
Speaker
I'm going to say over, but more like a 50, 50.5, 55, or something like that. I really hope that they start using him more as a featured receiver.
00:56:23
Speaker
even though i don't get me wrong i love dobbs i love uh uh heath i'm still 50 50 on wix even though he's showing more progression now so i hope they start featuring golden a little more just because of his speed his route running ability ability his capability at catching i'm hoping so this last one is funny just because i keep hearing this all over the place and they keep talking about that because flacco was traded to the to the bingles that if he if the bingles were to beat the packers it would be the first time since like 1950 that a quarterback has
00:57:18
Speaker
beaten the same team with two different playing on two different teams so this is mentions uh how over under mentions of if flacco wins it'll be the first time since 1950 we'll go over under seven and a half going under
00:57:39
Speaker
I just think that you're going to get, I'll go with like three. You'll get like one at the beginning the game, one at halftime, and one like late in the game, whether it's close or not. Because it's like, if it's close, then it's the like, remember, he could be the first to do this. Or like, if Green Bay, you know, and I'm,
00:58:02
Speaker
especially with a young team with a still young quarterback and a like unsettled old line and stuff a 14 point spread makes my eye twitch a little bit because it's kind of like those are the kind of situations where i know vegas is almost always right but you get into those ones where like you know, lightning in a bottle, all that kind of stuff. And then, you know, LeFleur chooses to keep opponents within arm's reach.
00:58:29
Speaker
And if you remember how the last Bengals get, you know, everyone remembers obviously Crosby's issues and all that kind of stuff. That game is close because they had chances to like,
00:58:39
Speaker
push the lead, take a bigger lead. You know, Rodgers throws a weird interception in the first half and stuff.
Trust and Performance on the Field
00:58:45
Speaker
And then the game, the Packers are like, look like they're in control going into halftime.
00:58:50
Speaker
And then you have that weird play where like Burrow gets flushed. He's running for his life. And then he kind of just wings the ball downfield. Savage tries to dive to break it up.
00:59:01
Speaker
And then it gets behind him. And because he dove, Jamar Chase gets up and runs for like a 70-yard touchdown and it's 16-14 at halftime or whatever the fuck. And it's like, fuck. Like, you know, a game that should have been like, you know, like I said,
00:59:18
Speaker
If it doesn't work out for LeFleur, the thing that'll be on his figurative gravestone is going to be not the all-gas, no-fucking-break, not the wake-up-with-your-piss-hot.
00:59:31
Speaker
The epithet on his gravestone is going to be dominating everywhere but the scoreboard. Like... It's been the story this whole season so far, and it's bit them in the ass the last two games.
00:59:45
Speaker
But obviously, like Dallas was moving the ball, but like there was a point where they were dominating everywhere but the score. That statement has been true at some point in every game this season.
00:59:56
Speaker
And you really don't want to see it become reality again this week because it should not against this opponent. It absolutely should not. Okay, in a shocker, I'm going to go over because I think it's going to be talked about a lot in the first half.
01:00:13
Speaker
And then depending on how the game's looking, like you said, in the second half, you know, if it's – hopefully it's not, but if it's, like, close, then you're going to hear it couple of more times.
01:00:30
Speaker
But – Yeah, I think you're going to hear about it a lot in the first half unless the Packers come out and just completely go nuclear on the Bengals and go into halftime up like 28 to nothing or something.
01:00:49
Speaker
Then the talk's going to end pretty quick. But I think you're going to hear it throughout the first half good chunk. The way that you avoid that you either get up a lot of scores on them and or you force a lot of three and outs.
01:01:06
Speaker
Like the longer drives go and the more like BS 50-50 balls Flacco's allowed to throw up, you know, arm punts that Jamar Chase is allowed to moss our DBs over.
01:01:18
Speaker
The more that you have that happen, the more they're going to say shit like that. So eliminate those chances and score multiple touchdowns.
01:01:30
Speaker
Enough of this being up at the end of the first quarter shit. I'm so sick and tired of that. Like, God damn it, at least be up 10 zip kind of thing. Like I said, go for the kill.
01:01:42
Speaker
Don't go for a wound. Don't go for a draw. Go for the kill. Yeah. Like, I hate the people that oh, but they were driving. And I'm like, yeah, against the Cowboys, they punted on fourth and two kind of thing. Like, right after the second quarter started. So, yeah, exactly.
01:01:58
Speaker
Any other thoughts? I do have a feeling that it's going to be mentioned quite a bit in the first half just because... Yeah. What is this? Is this a Fox game? Yes.
01:02:08
Speaker
It's... Okay. Or wait. No, no, no, no, no. I think it's a... Okay. The broadcasting thing always... No, it's CBS. Okay. They keep flipping it. For the longest time...
01:02:19
Speaker
it was the the home team is the the channel but i think in the 2000s they shifted it where the road team is the one who's brought so like afc is cbs uh nfc is fox and so maybe because it breaks the blackouts or something something like that yeah yeah yeah i i think that's what it is so because the the packers are at home it's a cbs game so does that mean we're gonna have romo Uh, no, I don't.
01:02:49
Speaker
Or do we hold No, I think Romo is at, uh, oh shoot. Hold on. 506 sports.
01:02:58
Speaker
Cause if we have Romo, then I'm going to put it at like 20 and a half. Cause that bastard is going to just keep saying it over and over and over again. We
01:03:10
Speaker
Nope. Romo and Nance are on the NFC poll game for CBS. We've got Green Bay's own Kevin Harlan and Trent Green.
01:03:23
Speaker
Well, then I could see Kevin saying it a couple of times. Yeah. Because he's... Trent's played for a bunch of teams and can see Kevin doing it, doing the like, Hey Trent, have you, you know, you, you've played for a couple of teams. Have you ever been traded in season kind of thing? And like, yeah, like I can totally, especially because Trent's a quarterback, he's played for a few teams kind of thing. I can see Packers have to do this once before. Wasn't it Baker that was like on the,
01:03:54
Speaker
Rams and then it was on like the Panthers and then went to the Rams.
01:04:00
Speaker
Oh, maybe it was. I know for sure they did it in 2011 because Orton, he started for the Broncos. That was Woodson's last pick six. And then he started for the Chiefs when they lost the undefeated season.
01:04:14
Speaker
So I know Orton's done it. And then can't remember. Hold on. Let me look that up. Yeah, I don't know. I can't remember either. I want to say it was... the it was baker yeah hold on okay maybe did but he we didn't play him that year if that makes sense but yes baker did start against us in that rat that 2022 game
01:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, because I know it was Rippon that started for the Rams that year against the Packers, I'm pretty sure. But I think they had just signed Baker or something, and they were reluctant to put him out there because they had literally just brought him in.
01:05:02
Speaker
No, the 2022 game, Baker started. Oh, okay. Then was it that he went to Carolina? think he came from Carolina that season, yeah.
01:05:12
Speaker
Okay, well then maybe I'm remembering it wrong. I just... Yeah, he came from Carolina. Okay. But I was pretty sure there was some other quarterback other than the Orton one that was more recent, but I guess that's research I'll have to sit down and do.
01:05:30
Speaker
I'm not going to do it now.
01:05:32
Speaker
right, but that's all I've got for this one. Yeah.
01:05:37
Speaker
I wish that we had more to say, but this team has been relatively inconsistent with how they've gotten about this season because of all the injuries they faced on the O-line.
01:05:49
Speaker
There's been a bunch of, you know, like... LaFleur hasn't been able to call the games he's wanted to call because of the injuries on the O-line, because he's waiting for guys to get healthy.
01:06:01
Speaker
Can't go to his under center game as much as he'd like because of the issues he's dealing with and stuff. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see. I'd love to have more concrete answers, but it's going to take some clarification.
01:06:17
Speaker
For sure. And it's also tough this week because we're coming off the bye. So we don't have anything really. last thing that we have to go off of is the, the Cowboys game.
01:06:29
Speaker
Mike's being invaded. So that means we're going to have to wrap up here pretty quick. So the pups are, the pups are going home for the night.
01:06:38
Speaker
And on that note, as Joe said, we're going to put a bow on this one. Like we said, it's not that we're running out of things to talk about. It's actually that we don't have enough surefire answers to give because this team is in flux based on where they're at injury-wise. So that is something that I'll be interested to see how it plays out over the course of the game.
01:06:59
Speaker
But like I said, the main thing is just have a better plan and have a better contingency if that initial plan goes up in smoke. Because like I said, looking back on the cleveland game i understand why it happened but that can't be your responses to panic if your initial plan your your already duct tape and scotch tape together plan goes down in flames like you can't be like push the push the red button that's not working kind of thing so uh you know have a little bit more poise under fire in that case and
01:07:31
Speaker
The one that I keep going back to is trust your quarterback. LaFleur was so ready to turn the key. Not that he just tossed love the keys in 2023, but it was made very clear that this team is going to go as far as Jordan can take them. And, you know...
01:07:50
Speaker
And I don't think LeFleur doesn't trust Jordan, but it gives credence to the, like, he's sheltering his offense because he's worried Jordan's going to make the big mistake.
01:08:01
Speaker
I think it's more because of the O-line inconsistencies, poor play, LaFleur is like, can I trust them to run all my bootleg deep drop packages?
01:08:12
Speaker
But it's going to always come off as he's afraid of his quarterback. And, you know, like Jordan might have good stats, but it's because LaFleur is, you know, he's hand signaling everything. You know, he's drawing everything up and setting it up on a platter for Jordan, which couldn't be further from the truth. Like, you don't get the... Even if was true, what quarterback in the NFL doesn't?
01:08:35
Speaker
You still have to execute. Like said, I've matured to the point where everyone's like, oh, Tom Brady's just assistant quarterback. His superpower is that he fucking knew his system inside out, was willing to throw to whatever guy was open, and he would do it.
01:08:51
Speaker
And he's got seven rings in his pocket because he's like... i trust this offense is gonna run and my job is to deliver the ball on time and on target and that's a superpower like and what separated him is he could throw the ball to all parts of the fields kind of thing and stuff and you know getting back to the jordan of it all it's like your guy can do it you know he might not be as accurate he might not make always the perfect decisions but He's been right way more than he's been wrong.
01:09:22
Speaker
And that's the thing is like, everyone's like, oh my God, he farves it. But I'm like, he farves it on the bad plays. But the bad plays and the bad play opportunities, for Jordan are not nearly as frequent as people make them out to be.
01:09:37
Speaker
You've got two plays this season where three plays, I guess, because of the sack fumble against Dallas, but you got three plays this season where you can be like, what the fuck was he doing? And so it's the sack fumble against Dallas where he's got, you know, as much as it was dumb for him to be in that position, he's gotta be more aware of the edge rusher in that scenario.
01:09:57
Speaker
The against Cleveland, I'm still of the belief that he got duped pre-snapped and he tried to save it at the very end and he just couldn't hold on to the ball kind of thing. And, you know, and it still took a really nice play by Grant Delpit.
01:10:13
Speaker
And then the pick six that wasn't against Detroit, I think he knew that he got the flag. And then he was like, let me just try to throw this thing. And Brian Branch makes a stupid good play on that ball that, like,
01:10:27
Speaker
Like, sure, Love could have thrown it another foot outside, but he's like, I'm throwing it to a tight end, so it's still got to be sort of on his – even though it's Tucker, it's like he's not a receiver. He can't sprawl and, like, jump. He's not going to dive three feet wide kind of thing and stuff. So, you know.
01:10:45
Speaker
All that to say, trust Jordan. Like, put it on Jordan. Like, you're paying him to be that guy.
Closing Thoughts & Key Strategies
01:10:51
Speaker
Let him go be that guy. And he almost bailed the whole team out against Dallas. And, like...
01:10:59
Speaker
That's your guy. Like, Josh is really great. Josh is single-handedly propping up this run game because he's getting like, what is it? Like 92% of his yards are after contact kind of thing. And he's had a couple misreads and stuff. But for the most part, all the stuff he did against Dallas was like, let me discard this first defender. And then I'm going to go run for 10 yards afterward kind of thing. So it's like, help Josh out, get extra guys out of the box and stuff. And, you know,
01:11:27
Speaker
run to set up the path right or pass to set up the run but speaking of josh jacobs i do have the new design up in our halloween collection of the soul stealer go over to now things have changed it's not quite on the packers or on the ohana packers.org site You can still go over there and click on store and it should take you to the actual store.
01:11:55
Speaker
But it is
01:12:03
Speaker
Now that's a mouthful, but it just it does take you there. It does take you there. So whether you want to and fourth wall is spelled out, not for not the number four th f o u r th.
01:12:16
Speaker
But instead of remembering. So it is up over there. It is the font does come in two different colors. You've got plasma purple and blood red. And make sure you go over there. It comes in T-shirts, hoodies, pint glasses and mugs.
01:12:33
Speaker
Yep. So check it out. Just tested the link to make sure it's going right. It does. Check out our articles there. Check out the recaps of all the episodes from us on OAPE and from Cheese Talk Radio. Those are all on the website.
01:12:52
Speaker
Follow the podcast on your social medias at Ohana underscore Packers on Twitter at Ohana Packers edition on Instagram, on Facebook, search Ohana Packers edition. Please follow us there.
01:13:03
Speaker
keep saying it, trying to get to our hundred followers so that when we do our live streams, we're live streaming not only on Instagram or not only on YouTube, but also on Facebook as well.
01:13:14
Speaker
Follow the podcast on your favorite podcasting apps. Please give us a like and a subscribe and subscribe. especially for nights like this where, you know, we're trying to come up with all the things to think about during the game. If you have any thoughts or questions that you want us to talk about or topics to sort of jump over and discuss, please send those to either of us individually. Send it to the show's Twitter account, to the Instagram.
01:13:39
Speaker
We want to create the content you're looking for. So with that... Or if you just got somebody that you want us to talk to. I have no problems sending messages out for people.
01:13:50
Speaker
Unfortunately, right now, I can't go to Green Bay to stock Lambeau Field for anybody. So will have to be a message, but yes. So with that, like I said, Packers are trying to get back on the winning side of things. forget who it was. I think it was Felice or Wendell. Someone put on that, like, the Packers, by virtue of losing and then tying their last two games, it's been a month.
01:14:14
Speaker
It will have been a month since their last win, so get back on that winning side of things. You know, that's the one thing that they've struggled under Love, is that they just, you know, they've not gotten off to that run to start a season. You know, we thought they were going to do it this year, and they stumbled, so...
01:14:31
Speaker
Stop the bleeding, get back on the winning side of things, and let's get marching on the winning side of the column again. So with that, go Pack Go and aloha.