Intro
Introduction and Show Reintroduction
00:00:31
Speaker
Aloha and welcome back to another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. The podcast where I am going to try and keep all the screws in my head together as I battle through a cold and Joe is going to pick the pieces up off the floor when I do eventually fall apart.
Packers' Recent Win and Game Plan Discussion
00:00:47
Speaker
But Joe, unlike me, the Packers are holding it together with something more than duct tape and elbow grease and what a win today. like I know we talked about it on Thursday if you could hear us over the audio issues we were having, but I mean, it was just another masterclass put together by LaFleur. Half-Lee keeps putting good stuff on tape for the defense. And Willis, you know, I don't know how to split the credit between Willis and LaFleur. LaFleur drew up another masterful game plan, but Willis stepped up to the plate and took his best swings today, and you can't ask for anything more than that from your backup quarterback.
00:01:26
Speaker
We also got to throw Tom Clements in there. I mean, without Clements, there's, I mean, I have no doubts on the floor, but Clements is definitely a quarterback whisperer. He did it for Rogers. He's done it for love. He's done it for Willis. So I just, I got to give him a lot of credit too. Cause without his help, I don't know how prepared a player like Willis would be.
00:01:54
Speaker
I also want to again tell Taylor Luwan to shut the fuck up because it does seem like Malik Willis does know how to play football. I think it just shows how important the quality of the ingredients are, you know, that Bill Parcells, I know he was talking more about like roster construction, like being the one to put the ingredients in the kitchen, but I mean, you know, they were asking Willis to make chicken salad out of, forget
Offense Performance and Key Contributions
00:02:22
Speaker
chicken shit. It was like not even chicken he was working with in in Tennessee. And that product kind of bore itself through in what Green Bay's defense did to Tennessee's offense, but
00:02:33
Speaker
I mean We can spend all the time we want on this intro, but not a lot to complain about in this game. Just inefficient performance from the offense and the defense finally got to flex its muscle on multiple fronts today. And dude, let's just dive in. Like, Like, um where do you want to start? I don't have notes today. I've been trying to sleep this thing off as much as I can to survive through this podcast. But flip a coin. You want to start with the floor or you want to start with Willis?
00:03:04
Speaker
Well, I think we just need to start on the offense period. So I mean, just the game call again from the floor was top notch. There were some instances where, you know, it just, you wish he would have done a little bit something different, yeah but he the good thing about it is he did make adjustments. Like everybody knew that you don't run the ball up the middle, but it seemed like for the first quarter and a half, it was all right. We're just going to give it to Jacobs and run them up the middle.
00:03:31
Speaker
So I mean, but then after a while he finally got, but I also have to give him credit because he opened it up, allowing, allowing Malik to throw it a little bit more.
Willis' Gameplay and Leadership
00:03:41
Speaker
And he looked good throwing it. So i think I think it was a big statement to start the game with a fake toss into a play action look, like just right out the gate, you're like, and here we go. like if There was no ifs, ands, or buts. and And I have different theories on the running inside. right I do think it is a little bit of like that sort of Lombardi era macho, like this is what our team is, and this is what we do kind of thing. But also, I do think.
00:04:10
Speaker
A lot of what allowed Willis to be good, getting him on the edge, letting him operate you know outside the pocket. Having the threat of Jacobs banging his head against the wall, I know that it's not sexy. I know it's kind of frustrating for a lot of people.
00:04:25
Speaker
but to have those linebackers and safeties who are not great coverage people even thinking that there's anything happening inside that split second of hesitation created all the, you know, you saw it on some of the play action looks that they had some of the, the end arounds that they ended up doing. And then.
00:04:44
Speaker
The irony of it is that know save for some so penalties, Jacobs was going to have a really good game on the ground. um he started to break off some longer runs in the second half of this game. And I think it just goes to show like the difference between having that true Pounder workhorse back and I do think Wilson plays really well off of what Jacobs does because yeah I liken Wilson to sort of like a Ryan Grant where he might not hit the right hole every time, but he's going to hit it hard. And by doing that, you're going to create opportunities for the team in the run game. but
00:05:21
Speaker
i mean just top down, just a good performance against what we we were saying on Thursday was a very good Titans, the a stout Titans defense. For sure. And you know I understand what you're saying. i just I think it was getting frustrating because it was just continuous up the middle, up the middle, when, OK, let's start adding in some of the outsides. Let's start. so
00:05:52
Speaker
and then you know one up the middle, but then let's shoot one to the outside, one up the middle shoot, you know, rotate them in and out, but it ended up being better for, you know, in the end, obviously we're, we're talking about a win and not a loss. So it didn't hurt anything anyway, but, and like I said, they, they opened up Malik Willis with the passing and what wasn't for the first two compleashes were over 30 yards yeah anyway, you know, back to back 30 yarders. So, you know, he, he really,
00:06:24
Speaker
put the team on his shoulders and and led and he didn't look rattled. he I mean, there were a couple of times where throughout the game, he seemed to hold onto the ball because he wasn't sure where to go, but that was just because of coverage and everything. yeah even that oh boy even that i was kind of saying like i appreciate that he's trying to be a passing quarterback like in the first half especially but i thought there were times where they kind of would have benefited from him doing the like drop back read it's not there just go kind of thing and stuff because you saw him kind of trying to do the like love erin rogers things where he like
00:07:02
Speaker
gets You can tell he's getting through his first, maybe his second read. They're not there. And he's like, if I step to my right, someone might come open kind of thing. And you're like, oh, if you just ran right there and stuff. and it's such a give and take because you're like it's good because you can tell like you said the tom clement side of it you can see the coaching getting through to him you can see whatever la floor has coached you know has drawn into the scheme that it's like yeah like this guy is supposed to be there but if he's not there this route should come open you know a step behind it kind of thing and so it's good to see will is trusting the process and the play but at the same time selfishly as a fan you're like
00:07:40
Speaker
dude we need we just need this win and we need you to do whatever it's gonna take to score more points kind of thing and so it's like sorry bro but damn your personal growth we need points and we need wins but like it was unfortunate that it was like capping our proficiency because he was doing actual quarterbacking things but Like you said, there are multiple moments where Willis stared down the gun barrel and delivered. I thought he only had like two throws that were off target. One was that that slant to to read over the middle where it was like he he had pressure in his face but
00:08:18
Speaker
And I thought he tried to throw the perfect pass to Jayden instead of just throwing a pass to him that he could work with a little bit better. Reid had to kind of stop and catch it behind him and it kept
Trust in Willis and Game Atmosphere
00:08:27
Speaker
him from getting the first down. But I do think that was the one right before the the penalty on the field goal attempt. So it kind of worked itself out in the end.
00:08:35
Speaker
And then I had no problems with the like arm punts he threw up to Dobbs and to Wicks on those slot fade attempts because he bought time in the pocket. It's a safe throw because he's putting it where it's going to be a catch or nothing. And that's the kind of stuff you like to see from a developing young quarterback where Like we talked about last week, Joe, where it's like, this is a guy who's had turnover problems. He will put the ball in harm's way. And it's like, you're kind of seeing that transformation already where last week it was a very training wheels, heavy passing attack. And this week LaFleur is like, okay, you seem to have gotten in the concepts and understand the play call. We're going to let you let it rip. And the Packers benefited from that throughout this game, really. Right. And I don't even have an issue with the,
00:09:22
Speaker
the armpit as you called it ah ah to Dobbs I think Romeo just read it wrong because he was going out instead of- We can put the Titans for their stupid pyrotechnic show because I swear to God, we came out of the third quarter to fourth quarter break and I was like, did it start the Thunderstorm? And then you have Boost Johnston, he's like, no, no, that's not your TV. They set off pyrotechnics in between the quarters. And I was like, you're down two scores. What the fuck are you doing? Yeah, that made no sense to have it in between quarters. I mean, unless it was something that happened that it was supposed to be during halftime and they didn't turn off. Or like it's some celebration of some former team or some like military appreciation, like whatever. But third quarter break seems like a weird time. But yeah, like even Moose was kind of joking when, because Dobbs, he like looked one way and then he looked the other way and then he looked back and it's like,
00:10:24
Speaker
Moose kind of even made the joke for Romeo that he's like, hey man, like I'm seeing more fireworks still I don't know what the hell I'm looking at up there. So yeah, the Wix one was definitely work like I don't know if Dobbs would have caught up to the ball even if he saw it the Wix one was the one where I was kind of like damn like that was actually like kind of there if he found it faster, but Yeah, well and I even have to point out the one to read where You could see Jaden throwing a fit after. It's like, Jaden, i and I understand you wanted it here, but you had your fingers on it. Yeah. And what one thing that we always talk about that they tell you in the NFL, if your hands are on it, you need to come up with it. Yeah. But the two of them that Malik missed him on it was like, Jaden
00:11:12
Speaker
uh alligator armed it yeah i think like the the last swing route it was almost like reid wanted it on his body so he could like juke as he caught it kind of thing and it was funny because they showed a little bit of laflor talking to willis on the sideline and i almost think that laflor wasn't even mad about the throw i almost think laflor was telling him like you were supposed to keep that or so like their conversation almost looked more to that effect as opposed to like Because he was kind of asking him, what did you see? Like, you could kind of see LeFlore say, like, what did you see? And Willis was saying, like, oh, like, yeah. So I think it was even more that that they were discussing. Right. And it's like, Jaden, what are you? I couldn't understand. What are you? Is it more that you dropped it, but you're yelling at Malik? Malik put it in a nice spot. Yeah. like
00:12:02
Speaker
from a technical point it's in the perfect spot for Reid to take one step upfield and start to go kind of thing and that's where i kind of get into the whole like did he want it more on him because there was a defender cutting towards the sideline but there was a good deal of space between him and the defender that you know he probably doesn't get the first down but if you catch it you're already hitting upfield and with the angle to the sideline like we see we saw Reid run around these guys all day so it's kind of like like you said is like just catch it and see what happens kind of things so yeah not too many complaints at all today
Player Performances and Areas of Improvement
00:12:39
Speaker
And it was just good to see him get, like, it was good to see Watson get involved. I do think that was more a function of what the opposing defenses were doing and a little bit of like what kind of routes the floor was using Watson on, but seeing him get to run that slot fade and get, and Willis putting it in really the only spot that you could for that throw. And then that, that long dig route that Willis just puts it on a rope to him. Like, those are the things you want to see out of Watson. And- Was that the second one?
00:13:08
Speaker
the like third and 16 or whatever the hell it was and he had to like jump and make a play on it that was the that was the first one that was the the first third down conversion on the initial drive and then they had the one i was like he actually got physical you and it's not even that he got overly physical it's more that he just used the physical tools that are there for and we could go down a whole bunch of rabbit holes with it but part of me wonders like is it the renewed confidence that he has his lower body figured out where it's like if he whips his hip open and jumps for a ball something's not going to just yank itself and pull and he's going to be out for a month kind of thing whereas now he's like no like i've got full confidence you know like
00:13:58
Speaker
so you ask up that who and yeah to to use a forest gump new legs new legs for lieutenant dan but like christian watson's like i've got new legs and i'm i'm willing because we haven't seen him reach for a ball like that since that chief's game really that maybe that the cheat the the thanksgiving game against the lions or the sunday night game against the chiefs the week after where He caught those slot fades in the end zone. And this was that similar play, but.
00:14:29
Speaker
Just great to see. I wasn't at all worried about Watson. These last, you know, these first three games were just weird circumstances. The field in week one, then the last two weeks you don't have your starting quarterback. So of course the game plan is going to be a little wonky. So it's good to see him get back in the flow. There's a little bit of our new segment that I will go off on a little bit of more. I, I, I won't go into it too deep here, but Yeah, it's the only thing, other complaint that I, or two complaints that I have. No more Musgrave trying to block. Um, it just didn't work. Oh, sorry. You went kind of weird feedback. Okay. So Musgrave no longer needs to block. He was getting his ass handed to him all day to day blocking.
00:15:21
Speaker
And number two, Emmanuel, I love you. You were doing great. But please, please don't try to out jump somebody. Did you see his tweet after the game about it? He smiled in midair or something like that. He stopped laughing because he was like, oh shit, what did I just do?
00:15:42
Speaker
But that was amazing. weird play like watching the reverse angle i was like thank god he held on to the ball because when they show it from the end zone angle he's like because he's jumping and his arm comes like this it's like that ball was like this close from fumbling and stuff so yeah Well, who would have thought the DB would have been able to change directions? Because he was going low, and then all of a sudden he popped right back up. Well, the funny thing with that, too, is that's Quandary Diggs. And Quandary Diggs is like 5'8". Like, I'm taller than him. So yeah, even more so. And it was really funny, because then Jacobs just ran his ass over on the next place. So it was like, oh, I won that round, but I lost the war still. But.
00:16:28
Speaker
i welded ah ah you know I mean, there are some issues with the offensive line. There were more penalties, not just from Walker, but you had some from Elton and that. So that needs to be cleaned up a little bit. And I'm but going to argue that at least three of those, the two on Jenkins and the Walker hands to the face, I'm willing i i'm arguing that those were bullshit calls because the Walker one,
00:16:53
Speaker
It's unfortunate because his hand is in the area, but it's not on the face mask. He is like his throat choking the guy but, but it's not the face mask you know Detroit Lions fans will laugh at us saying that. And then,
00:17:07
Speaker
The Jenkins ones, the fact that they never showed a replay on it tells me that it was a horrible call on both of them. But you can't keep shooting yourself in the foot. Like, it's it's honestly kind of a miracle they overcame as many of those penalties as they did. And even on Rashid's hold, which was a legitimate call,
00:17:26
Speaker
i said it during the game is that's a technique thing and hand placement has always been the part of his game that needs the most work you watch any of Mike Wall's videos that's the part that he's always saying like you know he's like he loves almost everything else about Rashid's game but his hand placement is what needs work and i say it all the time give me the guy who needs some coachable technique work over the guy who just can't hack it out there. no grant and and And on top of that, Rashid is a former seventh round pick with one year's worth of game film. And he's very much in that first month of the season where everyone else has the book on him now. And so they're like, OK, these are the things he struggled with last year. No matter how good he was playing down the stretch and in the playoffs last season, he's still a second year starter.
00:18:15
Speaker
and we know what buttons to push and let's see if he can fix them and so no the penalties can't continue but i'm not discouraged by what we're seeing because overall he's playing fine to well just got to clean it up on the penalty front well yeah i just i i'm not overly worried about it it's just more cleanup but I gotta admit, I haven't fully watched him since he's taken over starter. Is he bear hugging? Is that why his hands seem to be getting? Honestly, it comes and goes. And like I said, that's the part where wall is critical on his plate because he's like, when he gets it right, he
00:18:49
Speaker
dominates people and you see it on like screen yeah you see it on on like the the plays where he pulls and gets out in space and even the ones where he down blocks he's but sometimes on those reach blocks he gets a little ahead of himself and it's sort of like he's overthinking and he's kind of doing the like instead of just blocking the guy he's like i need to reach him and i need to get outside of him and he tries to get two steps ahead of where he is and because of that it's like he's catching a fridge instead of pushing it uphill kind of thing. So like I said, that's what happened on that penalty. I think he just got out over his skis was like I said, one or two steps ahead of where he needed to be at that moment. And if he just sticks to his fundamentals shoots inside, he's got that block and Jacobs is reading it anyway. So like I said, it's it's fixable. And I count on
00:19:42
Speaker
what's it called, butt kiss and Stenovich to iron that out because we saw him clean it up a lot over the back half of last season. Yeah. So I'm not overly worried. I've always been on the Walker train. So I'm good on that. I just, I just know they need to clean it up a little bit because it can't continue yes to go down because then other teams will start using it. Okay. Well, we know he's going to do this. So we need to start going this route, but yeah,
00:20:10
Speaker
ah you know what's really weird about this is when the team loses we can go an hour and a half talking but with the team wins you know we're already looking and we're already halfway done with doing our our show just because of you know there's not a lot to break down with it and it's hard to with the backup quarterback because it's like you know it seems that jordan was really close i you know as much as media members and all that kind of stuff want to say he wasn't close i do think he was legitimately close and so it's like how much of this is what we expect to see next week against a good viking's team what is right now a good viking's team or how much of it is kind of going to be put on the shelf because jordan's going to start next week so that also kind of makes it like
00:21:00
Speaker
You know certain aspects of it certain aspects of what the run game looks like aren't gonna be super applicable next week, but penalties Catching the ball ball security not hurtling when you don't need and and um Yeah, just those that side of it that's all stuff that are definitely in play no matter who is but under center right, There was something I was going to say, but I completely blanked on it. Elephants. i guess Yeah. Yeah. So I guess you we need to move on. but We'll just circle back one more time. Just another, can't say it enough, just another stellar game plan put together by LeFlore using every aspect of every player. This goes back to
00:21:49
Speaker
the the extra dimension that Willis brings as a mobile quarterback. This goes to what we talked about with the the Packers. It doesn't matter who their wide receiver one is because they're all really talented in their own right. And it creates a lot of issues for opposing teams.
00:22:05
Speaker
And at thecent at the epicenter of it, you have a play caller and scheme creator who knows how to utilize all of those talents to put a scheme together that's going to maximize the abilities of the players at each position. and like Anyone who keeps saying that Lafleur is a Rogers merchant or whatever like that should have died last year with love turning it on down the stretch but this two-week stretch is just a total referendum on who Lafleur is as a OC and you know like you had Titans fans were like well he was here and we didn't do much I think we're seeing why he didn't do much it was because he was with his right hand and his left foot handcuffed behind his back together because of what you had on offense not Lafleur
00:22:54
Speaker
For sure. And, you know, i'm I'm completely in agreement with you that you can no longer put the whole thing on Rogers for the early success for LeFlore. It just goes to show LeFlore was able to turn him back into an MVP type. He had an equal opportunity partnership.
LaFleur's Coaching and Offensive Issues
00:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And, and you know, the success that the Packers started having last year,
00:23:21
Speaker
Obviously you can put a lot of that on jordan's growth But you've also got to put it in there with with the floor he's He's definitely proven that he is a top-notch head coach. Yeah But I and I think to the reason that we don't have yeah, we have a lot to say but we're not getting stuck on it is I think for the most part the the penalties the the whatever nitpicks we have, they're all fixable. They're fixable, whether it's improvement of the guy we're talking about or other players on the roster. There is no problem on offense that you're like, they're screwed because they don't have an answer.
00:24:02
Speaker
where I was going before my internet did died before I did somehow is what I was saying is I think why we're able to get through the offense pretty quick Joe is the issues that we have the complaints we have they're all things that are fixable in this season because they're coachable or you know part of it with love coming back from injury. They're all things that the solutions are on this roster. There are no, oh shit, they're screwed problems on on offense, to my opinion. Right. And it just also, it's a win. So it's hard to pick apart a win. Yeah.
00:24:40
Speaker
so will And that'll put our nice a nice bow on how we thought the offense did
Defense Performance and Key Players
00:24:45
Speaker
today. So to the defense, and it was a rough start for the defense, They had some issues with the Titan scripted ah first series. Tennessee went right down the field.
00:24:57
Speaker
There's a rough start to the game for both Kway and Isaiah McDuffie. Tennessee was kind of able to take advantage of them and play action situations on that initial drive. And then it looked like Rashawn was able to get a sack to stop them for a field goal, and Preston was lined up offside. And it was just one of those like, oh, great. Is it going to be one of those kind of games today? And after that, how did Preston not know he was not he was lined up and the wrong area so okay this doesn't excuse Preston but in my opinion he is a guy that has always pushed the envelope of lining up offside like he whether he's in a two point stance or a three or slash four point stance so he has always been a guy that has really crowded the line of scrimmage and has had some moments where like
00:25:48
Speaker
You kind of question if he was offside, like if he got off the snap early or was lined up a little bit in the neutral zone. And so that one, honestly, and I know I'm a homer for saying this, I didn't think it was as bad as some of his other ones. I think it looks worse because he's in a four point stance. So, you know, it's like your hand is here. So it's like, oh, it looks like you're offside more as opposed to when you're in a two point stance standing there.
00:26:13
Speaker
But he's always a guy that's kind of pushed the threshold on that, and he got caught. like it's it's not It's not an excuse, and you know it can't happen in that situation. But that's, from my eye, what happened on that play. He just lined up offside. and I mean, that could be the case. But he looked, when they did the replay, he looked like he was too far off side or offside. So it's like, how how are you not paying attention to that?
00:26:41
Speaker
but Yeah, that, that sucked for Rashawn and I know I'm going to sound like an asshole at this moment, but I think you do got to start worrying a little bit about Rashawn because we're, I know this is only week three, but he should have been dominating a little bit more on this, this week offensive line and yeah he just he hasn't been there we're already it's the it's the what's my bike wall always um harps on him is whoever is coaching him up has got to tell him stop speed rushing because lucas's sack is a result of rachon just dump trucking the right tackle into the quarterback and he he kind of created lucas's sack still a great rush and effort by lucas but
00:27:32
Speaker
Levis is there like a dead chicken because Rashawn had already gotten him off his spot and bewildered him. But it's not enough, not enough from what you expect from your top you know elite pass rusher. I agree with that. I think a big part of it is like, dude, just use, I know you're an Uber athlete for your size, but there's only like one or two guys in this league that can stop your bull rush. Just bull rush everyone and it'll set up the want for you to use your speed rush.
00:28:01
Speaker
But it is a bummer he that his sack got taken off the board, but he can be better. He definitely can be better. He definitely can because if you look at right now, I'm looking on yeah ESPN and it says for his regular season stats, he's got three total tackles, one solo, two assisted, one sack and one pass defense.
00:28:22
Speaker
We're week three. There should be a little bit more to it than that. And, and you know, as well. its come me we opera oh yeah Sorry. Sorry. Go for it. therere therere No, I mean, i'll I'll let you get to it, but I was just going to say they're projecting him at 26 total tackles and eight and a half sacks. That's not a good projection for a guy making as much money as right.
00:28:48
Speaker
and the sack number isn't that but it's the like you say it's the overall impact the lack of tackles and you can not excuse it away completely but you know you can explain it some with the last two weeks where it's like okay you had to contain the pocket and stuff but it was a bummer that you didn't see him get in on more action this week especially because according to what i was listening to and these andy herman's post game pod he did lead the unit in snaps so uh i by like six or something so you hope to see a little bit more from him but also at the same time i think that speaks to the games that in igbari uh preston ended up having and lucas i i think they all had dynamite games and that that force fumble that kingsley had was what i want
00:29:37
Speaker
Roshan to do more often is to use your bull rush, use your bull rush, set that tackle up for your bull rush, and then cut inside of him and use your use your athleticism that way. And that that rush that in Megbari created the four swamble on, that is the guy from South Carolina that excited me so much as a draft prospect prospect three years ago. And even his half sack where he starts off over the center and just swims around him. Those two plays are the guy on tape that I was like, that's the pass rusher that i I really liked coming out of college. For sure. And you know, for eight total sacks on the day, you can't ask for more. You just like I said, I got to go back to
00:30:25
Speaker
When your high money guy is not, I get one of them was wiped away because of penalty, but still, when one you have eight total s sacks on your defense and your high money guy isn't one of them, it it kind of worries you a little bit. But Devontae Wyatt come around two sacks and he created basically all of that on his own. yep oh Edge Cooper had a half a sack and he looked fast going in, knifing in for that one.
00:30:53
Speaker
yep and You know, everybody got into it a little bit. Lucas, I thought he had a fairly good game today. Even though he only had the two tackles, I thought he was really active out there. Yeah, I was kind of surprised that that was his, you know, obviously he has the sack, but I was kind of surprised that he only had one other tackle today. Right. and But his pressures had to been there. I don't have the stats on it right here, but You got to figure his pressure because he was driving his guy back a lot. Yeah. And he seemed to be in the pocket a lot. So, you know, good on him. And, and, you know, I'm going to pat myself on the back for this one.
00:31:36
Speaker
you know, x Xavier McKinney with another interception this week. And not the Gimme one that we were you were kind of calling. That one was a, I wasn't the best throw from Levis, but he ranged from center field to come over the top and grab that one. So like that was a playmaker, not a ha ha special tip drill kind of thing. Right. The one interception that was a Gimme was the Jair Alexander one. I mean, Jair made a tremendous play on it, but Levis pretty much threw it.
00:32:04
Speaker
Exactly where Jair expected it to be. Yeah. A couple of people were saying it more in complaint of the first drive where it's like he is staring down everything so hard and know you kind of just let him march down the field and stuff. Jair said, yeah, enough of that. that work I got you, boys. So yeah, I mean, for all the people that have been like questioning what's Jair doing, blah, blah, blah,
00:32:34
Speaker
That's, and, it you know, Jair hasn't capitalized, up we've seen him drop a few of those opportunities in the past, but, so it was really nice to see him just take that thing from start to finish and capitalize on that fully, as opposed to being just a really good pass breakup, he turned it into a complete excellent play.
00:32:54
Speaker
And you don't, you talk about how it surprises you that Lucas only had two tackles a day. Him, this being his first ever pick six surprised me when they were saying, right so I just, I mean, I know he hasn't had the numbers for interceptions for his career.
00:33:24
Speaker
So just, you know, and I thought it was, you know, outside of the the touchdown to Hopkins, which I don't think there was anything he really could have done except i've come commit defensive pass interference. I thought Stokes had a good game, yeah especially after, you know, there was the questions of like, is he getting passed up by Valentine? Blah, blah, blah. I thought that was more just trying to keep the two of them fresh and stuff. I thought Stokes played a really good game. He had that one play on the tight end screen where he knifes in between the three blockers and just cuts that play down for a one-yard gain. thought he tackled well, basically every play except for the Hopkins play. And the Hopkins play, that's just the Hall of Fame caliber player doing his thing. And Hopkins can't really run anymore, but you get him in a phone booth and he's still gonna make magic happen. So I thought it was a strong game from Stokes today. Well, the you said it perfectly. Stokes had perfect coverage on him.
00:34:21
Speaker
it just you know hopkins had that one move and and stokes couldn't avoid it so it just and it was like the best ball levies through like because it was in the one spot where s stokes couldn't do anything about it legally within the rules of the game so yeah like you combine all those things together it's like shit that's unfortunate but that's a hall of famer over there Right. And then his little jackass wink afterwards, whatever. to But I'm really surprised. Another surprise is, is that Will Levis went for 260 yards. that That just with the way the Packers were playing, it it was kind of hard to believe that
00:35:05
Speaker
he still went for 260 I think it really is on the back of their two touchdown drives because I don't let me look try and look it up real quick I don't think they really ran it on their opening touchdown drive and then the the second touchdown drive it was like the two big plays to Hopkins so yeah like Well, they hardly ran at all. Yeah. Pollard had six carries. Levis had three carries and TyJ Spears had two. So they had like no carries at all for, so they didn't rush at all. It was mainly pass, but still just with the way the Packers played, it it was hard to believe that.
00:35:41
Speaker
he still was able to come out with 260 yards on it. Yeah. So like their first touchdown drive of the 70 yards, like 64 of them were passing yards. And then the second touchdown drive, uh, it was 68 yard drive. that the that the Yeah, 65 of them were passing yards. So yeah, that's 130 yards right there. And then, you know, you just get some garbage time stats here and there kind of thing. And it's a little surprising. But at the same time, when you see those two drives, it's like, okay, like, that explains the bulk of it. But it is just funny to see throws for 260.
Packers' Defense Against Titans
00:36:24
Speaker
But net yards, it's only 200 when you get sacked eight times in a game. like And
00:36:32
Speaker
same thing with the offense there are some issues you as much as a scripted drive is the best an opposing team is going to look you can't just get pushed down the field like that the Packers did on the opening drive you've got to have a little more resistance but i think part of what went into that is I just think the linebacker play was just so much better after it from that point in the game on because a lot of a lot of the the openings that the Titans were finding on that first drive was like in that hook zone right behind the linebackers and the Packers kind of cinched that down after that point in the game. You saw Levis start to double you know double cluch double clutch on throws and not just wing the ball out there.
00:37:16
Speaker
and then And then the pressure just got turned up and Blevins just kept holding the ball longer and longer and longer. and That was all she wrote for the game really today. Pretty much. and And like I said, kind of with the offense, there's not much that you can really pick apart with the defense because it really you know they they did their jobs and they did it well.
00:37:39
Speaker
And, you know, there are little things just to clean up, but there's not much you can... I mean, other than working through practice and getting better at it, you're not going to be able to do much with it. I think Quay, outside of a couple of plays, still was a solid player today. Duffy was a little... Duffy showed that he's definitely not a coverage type backer. Yeah.
00:38:01
Speaker
You see it once or twice a game where it's like, yeah, you're in there for your run instincts and your physicality in the box. And anytime there's any sort of pass coverage, it's like you're just crossing your fingers that they don't look his way kind of thing and stuff. And unfortunately, the two times in the red zone, they found him this season. And it's been a touchdown both times. Week one against Saquon and then today against Vanette on the first series.
00:38:28
Speaker
uh yeah and i know it was venet's first touchdown in like 40 years or something like that so that's just the packer as usual and mcduffy just read it wrong which understandably because he was in the area he just had let venet drift off a little bit further than what he should have yeah but you know it is what it is and i think positive you kind of You kind of glossed over it a little bit, but Tennessee didn't run it a lot. But it's still good that against a under you know against our defensive front, an undermanned offensive line for the Titans, it's good that we didn't let any leaks spring out of that run game. you know even Even Levis only averaged four yards a carry. So it's not like he broke anything super. you know His long was eight. So on two other rushes, he got four yards.
00:39:19
Speaker
and Pollard's long was four, Speer's long was six. So it's just good to see the run defense, you know especially as they're in the point of the game where it's like, yeah, if you want to run it, we'll let you run it you know to a certain extent that they kind of didn't. So I think that's that's a big positive. year People were really concerned about you know what Saquon and Taylor had done. And the two of us, we had both kind of said that,
00:39:46
Speaker
We do, you know, it's not excusable to allow guys to average 10 yards a carry, but at the same time, I think a lot of that is you just have so much concern for this mobile quarterback you're facing that something's got to get put to the back burner or side burner. So it's good to see them in, like you said about the pass rush in a mismatch of our front against their front. We want that on both the ground and against the pass game.
00:40:12
Speaker
for sure. And, and, you know, had this been last year with the Barry defense, you know, they still would have gave up a hundred yards rushing or yeah, a hundred yards rushing and, you know, whatever, but they, as a team, the Titans only gained 33 yards on rushing. So, but overall, kind of like we, you know, we circled back to the floor, very pleased with what we're seeing from half Lee, just the fact that he's willing to show different looks on third downs, you know, you're seeing,
00:40:41
Speaker
early in the season, you're seeing bear looks on for, you know, the double A gap mug looks, you're not waiting till like, oh shit, my job might be on the line, I better try something different.
00:40:54
Speaker
Halfly has been, for the most part, what we've expected, you know, what we've been sold on him being. And it's just good to see that come to bear early on in the season. And next week will be a big test. This is, you know, i based on level of play, this Vikings offense is operating better than even the Eagles offense. So it'll be it'll be a tough test for them. I mean, I know we'll talk about it in the preview, but I i was looking over the stats.
00:41:23
Speaker
And this offense of theirs doesn't scare me so much. it Where they're good, Green Bay should be good too. And that's where I'm going to leave it for now. you know we We do have our preview to do. But just in terms of their output, like I am going to give them the the benefit of the doubt that they're producing.
00:41:42
Speaker
and you know they we'll see it's I think it's their first road game next week so we'll see where they're really at but it's good to see the defense playing like they are heading into that game that's kind of where I'm going with that so right yeah and on to special teams and Our boy Daniel Whelan got did dirty. He should have had just an astronomical day punting the ball. It's just unfortunate that he was like six inches off from just a nuke of a 60-yard punt. If he punts that thing 62 yards instead of 63 yards, that is one of the all-time. Pat McAfee might have blown his socks off and not come back to Earth for a week.
00:42:29
Speaker
And it's just unfortunate that and you know he tried to coffin corner it and it just bounced the wrong way kind of thing. But Weidland is again proving that he is excellent. Probably the best punter we've had since Prime Tim Maste. And he continues to do really well as a holder. So really happy with what we've seen from him so far.
00:42:51
Speaker
putt returns not too much happened there i thought our coverage was pretty good i thought our coverage on kickoffs was pretty good and then i know narvison ended up a hundred percent on the day it's not good that he missed the kick that he did but also i'm lenient because there was a penalty that created pressure that wasn't supposed to be there so i'm like it's one of those i'm not quite sure what to do with that but it was good to see him bounce back and make his next kick after it so it's kind of like uh not great to see him miss it but it's good to see him like we like you said about Anders that he didn't miss the next one and the next one kind of thing so i gotta give him credit for that
00:43:35
Speaker
not much i can add with it other than he did miss the kick and he did push it right so that's the concerning part is they're all to the right and like i said the excuse that i am willing to say is there was a penalty it was from his left and he was obviously going to adjust for that that rush that was created because of the penalty, but it's not good to see that all of his kicks are going from left to right. Like from his vantage point, they're either slightly off-center or on the left hash and they're shading to the right. Like that's something that Bisachi has got to figure out really quick with Narvis in. So other than that, you know, we say it all the time, we're not kicking experts, but it's nice to see him be perfect on a day.
00:44:20
Speaker
this, and we'll just earmark how he got there today. The only other thing that I want to bring up and it's not special teams, but I want to go back to offense and I forgot all about it until just a few moments ago when we were talking penalty. It's really weird what the refs were calling penalties and what they weren't calling penalties.
00:44:44
Speaker
And the one that really springs to mind to me that they didn't call was needs hit on. Yes. And it's, it it really is weird that it was not called just because he dropped, he didn't have the ball. You can't tell me Snee Snee didn't see him not have the ball because he had his eyes right on him.
00:45:11
Speaker
And Reed basically gave up after not having the ball. But yet Sneed is allowed to like pick him up and drive him into the ground. Well, and that last part is the part that pisses you off the most because we've seen the Packers get flagged for that. We've seen other people get flagged for that. And that suplex is supposed to be an auto flag regardless of whether the player has the ball. But especially if he doesn't have the ball. And then on top of that, like you noted, Joe, the timing was terrible because he takes like three steps
00:45:46
Speaker
after Reid has dropped the ball to initiate the suplex so all around it's just like dude what the fuck are you guys looking at like it just all around was just uh and then like Fox kind of conveniently put up the like Green Bay has five penalties and the titans have none graphic kind of thing and it's like all right like what are we looking at here guys and like i said it would be one thing if they were all the um rasheed walker hold like i said that was a hold but you throw on top of it the hands to the face that wasn't the holding penalty on elton that they don't even show the replay of and to the and further point moose johnston doesn't even comment on it because they must have seen it on their tv and moose must have been like well that's a load of bullshit and and so like you know like you know how this commentating works where if it's bad they'll be like we didn't get a replay of it but he got his money's worth kind of the fact that moose just is like we're moving on to the next play it's like that and the fact that we got no replay tells me like yeah plus it's like three plays after the the rachid hands to the face that wasn't it's like all right come on now this is smelling like home cooking right now so
00:47:02
Speaker
Yeah. And then, you know, you had a couple of plays, like there was one play I vividly remember where, where Sean and Preston both get like bear hugged and tripped from behind by two different linemen on the same play kind of thing. And it's like, okay, like what's that? Like that, that's not the way. And there's one, and I don't know if I'm mixing games together or not. Cause everything's running together right now, but I, I'm pretty sure that even the commentators called it out that there should have been a late hit.
00:47:37
Speaker
And I can't remember who it was, but- It was Jaden. It was Jaden Reed again. It was the punt return. I know which one you're talking about. It's the punt return where, you know, it wasn't an egregious hit, but two guys do come and collide with him late after he's like standing out of bounds kind of thing. And yeah, Moose and I think it's Burkhardt. They're both kind of like, uh, not Burkhardt, uh, Kruger. But yeah, they're both kind of like- It was like, well, we're looking for a flag, but well, I guess there's a no flag on that. Yeah. yeah so i i don't know this ah ah this crap is getting and i'm not saying that it's just a strictly packer's thing it's it's league wide that these guys are calling stupid ass calls but when they need to call something they won't call it yeah it it leads credence to the whole like
00:48:26
Speaker
they've called their quota already for the game. And it's like, oh, we we blew our we blew our six shots in the first quarter. I hope nothing happens after this point. So yeah, not not great from the refs. But other than that, any other thoughts on today's game?
00:48:44
Speaker
The one, the only other thing that kind of sticks out is the sideline report about Jordan. And I can't think of what her name was, but she was talking about how she was talking with Jordan. And she's surprised he wasn't starting just by what they were having him do pregame.
00:49:05
Speaker
I think, I think it just lays credence that he is ready, but the team is so confident in Willis and like this is just me speaking from, I think that LeFlore is like, we can do whatever we want with Willis, and let's just give Jordan one more week kind of thing.
00:49:23
Speaker
almost to the extent of hubris like and cockiness but yeah i heard that sideline report and i was kind of like yeah like it's what la floor has been saying it's what the the local beat writers have been saying that it's like yeah like he's ready they're just like so confident in what they've got that they'll beat tennessee with malique and whatever they want to do and do you think And I asked you this last for our preview, but I'm gonna ask you again Do you think Tennessee's kind of wishing they wouldn't have traded Malik with what they're seeing the last two weeks? Okay, and I'll preface it this way I'm gonna say yes because I think they're their front office is that bad if you look at how they've constructed their offense that they probably are thinking, oh, we're good everywhere else. We picked the wrong quarterback to a certain extent. I don't think they have the wherewithal to recognize, like, look at that O-line compared to all our O-line. Look at their receiver room compared to our receiver room. The running backs, you can kind of, OK, like, I like Pollard and Spears on some level. I don't think they're as good as Jacobs. But also, you know, Wilson is not as good as them kind of thing. so
00:50:37
Speaker
But if you look at receivers and tight ends and O-line and you compare the two, that's the difference. we right i think I think it wouldn't be as impressive because Levis can't run like Willis can, but if we took either of those two quarterbacks, we would have won these last two games. I really do think that the situation in Green Bay is that good that Lefloor would have won these last two games with either of those two quarterbacks.
00:51:04
Speaker
so long way of saying they might think it because they're just that bad at their jobs. But no, I don't think that's what it is. All right.
00:51:14
Speaker
Take it away. It's your segment, my good friend.
'Shut The Fuck Up' Segment and Player Trades
00:51:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's that time again for our favorite segment. Shut the fuck up. And this week, I got a couple of them.
00:51:26
Speaker
Uh, I kind of foreshadowed this one earlier in the episode about Christian Watson. This one comes from Dairyland express, uh, Mr. Or I'm assuming Mr. Jovan Alfred. And the headline is Packers have perfect trade partner for underperforming wide receiver. If Christian was Watson continues to struggle, the Packers might be better off trading him to this AFC team.
00:51:57
Speaker
I'm not going to read the whole article. If you guys want to go read it, it's over on Dairyland Express. My complaint about it is, uh, how is he underperforming? is Is he, I understand he's not having like multiple hundred yard games and everything else, but week one, shitty ass field. Everybody struggled week two.
00:52:25
Speaker
First start for the backup quarterback that's only been in the system for three weeks. Only throw the ball 14 times. And only throw the ball 14 times. This week he had a better performance. Honestly, how is he underperforming? I mean, he's doing perfectly fine for the system we're in right now without the starting the main starting quarterback. Now that yeah Malik has been able to throw it a little bit more,
00:52:55
Speaker
I mean, go to the stats right now. 19 throws today. that's under That's very under average. like Yeah. and And Christian had two receptions for 67 yards. one of them was His long was 37. Two catches on two targets. I think that's pretty damn good if you ask me. Yep. That's batting 1,000. So this whole notion that he was underperforming, so we need to ship him out.
00:53:24
Speaker
it's clickbait that's all you want is you want the content clickbait i fell for it so it part of it's on me but to be fair you're not the only one spreading this stuff everybody in their little brother is pushing the oh he's not doing this we need to get rid of him we need to get rid of him shut the fuck up and to go a further step than that if the whole point is to contend for a super bowl right now this season you cannot toss like you can't throw away one of your top physical wide receiver threat like athletic wide receiver threats the whole premise of the they have five wide receiver ones argument is that you have five really really good wide receivers and like unless you're going to somehow get that back in the trade it's you just can't do it and that would be it and like you said he's playing fine
00:54:20
Speaker
and it's just the circumstances that are not matching your sort your your perceived expectations, but he's stretching. He's forcing the defenses to play with depth whenever he's on the field. And if he's not getting targeted, it's because someone else is open because of him. So shut the fuck up. Chauvin, Alfred, shut the fuck up. This next one is going to be a light. Shut the fuck up, because I understand where the guy's coming from, but
00:54:53
Speaker
ah ah Statistically, you're in the wrong. and I got to pull it up here real quick, but a couple of days ago, there was a, uh,
00:55:07
Speaker
Twitter thread or X thread or whatever the fuck you want to call it. going on about Lucas Van Ness and it was Austin Kruger.
00:55:18
Speaker
Uh, he writes, he covers Packers for fans side in Lombardi Avenue. He, uh, I gotta pull up the original tweet here. he goes not panicking about the van S pick yet since he came out very raw, like Gary, but will McDonald has taken, was taken two picks after LVN and has been absolutely unstoppable this season.
00:55:45
Speaker
already four and a half sacks, four tackles for loss to LVNs, three total tackles, one tackle for loss. That's all well and good. ah There was another person that tweeted that LVN has only played half the amount of snaps and I did the research and yes, this year minus Thursday night's game,
00:56:10
Speaker
McDonald played 51% of the Jets defensive snaps to Lucas's 30% of the Packers defensive snaps. So that's 21% more snaps that will that McDonald is playing compared to Lucas Van Ness. Lucas also has to contend with Preston Smith, Rashawn Gary, Kingsley and Iqbari.
00:56:35
Speaker
you know, he's got other guys that they rotate in and out with. It's not just him out there. And to build off of that, McDonald's is seeing an increase in his snaps because Jermaine Johnson tore his Achilles tendon against the Titans. So that's one guy left. And is it just on Reddick still holding out? Yep, and that too. And his five sacks None of them were against the 49ers, the best O-line that they faced. He's got three sacks against this Titans O-line and two sacks against the New England O-line, which was starting like a hospital unit on Thursday night football because two of their starters were out. Another two were injured. They like moved their rookie right tackle to left tackle and bumped one of their guards out to right. They did all kind of musical chairs. so
00:57:24
Speaker
like yes he has the stats but that just shows you're only looking at what you want to look at like yeah yeah and that just means you panicked about the pick because it wasn't the quote unquote sexy pick for you so again i understand where you're coming from it does look like it's a big gap but in the end when you actually sit down and do the looking at it It's not that big of a worry. So Austin Krueger shut the fuck up. And who had more s sacks last season? Oh, it was Lucas. Well, let's see. That was the other thing that he tried to throw out there. Uh, he goes, I mean, that's another testament to McDonald's being more pro ready right now than LVN.
00:58:10
Speaker
He was out arguably the best pure rusher in the class. LVN was extremely raw with upside. Day one starter versus two, three year project. Jets have plenty of pass rushers while LVN can't overtake Enigbare. It's not that he can't overtake Enigbare. The Packers are rotating them.
00:58:28
Speaker
Yeah. That would be like saying Enig Bari has taken over for Preston or Roshan. That's not the case. Yeah. They're rotating snaps. And what's nice is that they're actually rotating them intermittently now. They're not just doing the like hockey shift anymore. You're seeing like Kingsley out there with Roshan, Lucas out there with Preston, Lucas out there with Roshan, and stuff like that. We still haven't seen the thing you wanted to see, which is Lucas next to Roshan, but we did i think there were at least one or two other nascar snaps where all four of the edges were out there so maybe we're getting closer but yeah i'd like call halfly half this has got to happen i think it's going to be killer you got to do it half so my last one here is going back to good old friend kyle wallace and i have to
Sign Off and Next Episode Promotion
00:59:21
Speaker
point out that somebody else actually called him out for this, so I'm just piggybacking off of it. Forgive me, I'm not sure what his actual name is, but his Twitter handle is furturgison. I think you know him a little bit. Monty. Yeah, yeah Monty. But I'm gonna play this clip first, and then we'll go into the shut the fuck up moment.
00:59:47
Speaker
Stop being around a bush. This is, let's call it what it is. Jordan Love is being selfish and it isn't just Jordan Love. It is his agency as well that is making Jordan Love put himself first. So that was in response to Jordan Love's not participating. Hold in, his hold in. Yeah, his hold in. So all well and good. You know, that's great. You know, you, you, you're calling him out for holding out or holding in and not participating in practice.
01:00:15
Speaker
But not just this past week, you decided to say, or love me to sit his ass down. And when I say that is I need him five be out on the practice field. But when it comes on Sunday, he needs to be holding a clipboard, clip helping out. I don't want him to be an emergency quarterback. Don't put no Russell Wilson and put it on shoulder pads and none of that. No, I need you to be in shorts and I need to be in the T-shirt and chilling in Tennessee. know This is where the shut the fuck moment, shut the fuck up moment comes in.
01:00:46
Speaker
You can't have it both ways. You can't say on one hand, oh, well, you can't do this because you're you're you're taking away or you're not participating. You're being selfish. youre Yeah. you're You're doing this and and you're not practicing. But then on the other hand, you don't want him to do anything just in case he gets hurt anymore. Well, I would rather him not practice in preseason because if he gets hurt, then you're going to be bitching about him getting hurt in preseason and how, why is he out there practicing and all this other stuff? But now you're going to go, Oh, well, he may be close to playing, but he just needs to sit his ass down. It it doesn't make sense. And I know Monty called you out for it, but I'm doing it right now too, because I still have not figured out
01:01:42
Speaker
Exactly who you are and what you're trying to be. But again, like I've said before, to you, Mr. Kyle Wallace, shut the fuck up. I got nothing to add on that one. Yeah, just a bunch of hot air.
01:02:04
Speaker
I have a feeling he's going to get more appearances on this segment. All right. Well, before we talk about before you die. That's going to do it for us. We'll be back with our Thursday preview show of the Maybackers first divisional game against the Vikings. Please check out the website, ohanapackers.org. Our writers are putting out content daily, basically at this point. Please check out the the streams of all of our shows. Check out our merch. Please support the channel.
01:02:35
Speaker
the website in the channel that way we've got coffee shirts tumblers joe is coming up with new shit every day so just keep your eyes on that and refresh as often as you can please follow the um follow the show on twitter at ohana underscore packers be following for any of our giveaways, any of our announcements, anything like that. Gotta be following the show's Twitter handle. Please follow the the show on your favorite podcasting apps. Give us a like and a subscribe. Positive and negative feedback. Please give it to us in the comments we want to be creating the content you're looking for. The Packers are above 500.
01:03:13
Speaker
done it on the strength of their backup quarterback and their brainiac head coach. And they go marching into their second home their second home game this season, the divisional home opener. And they looked at Takek just a commanding win over the Vikings next week. will re We'll take a look ahead of that on Thursday. But that's Iowa Joe. I'm Mike. Go, Pat, go. And aloha.
Outro