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OPE Season 3 Episode 24 Midterm Grades
19 Plays2 days ago
Aloha and welcome to another episode of OPE! On this episode we take a look back at the first half of the season and discuss what was Fresh, what was Stale and What was Moldy!
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Bye Week Reflections
00:00:19
Speaker
Aloha, and welcome back to another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast, the podcast where Joe and I are enjoying the bye week. The rival teams seem to be on some sort of voodoo bullshit streak. And my daughter is fighting every ounce of with every ounce of her energy to stay awake in the middle of the bus.
NFC North Dynamics: Rivals and Struggles
00:00:38
Speaker
looks like So as you're, how's bye week been going for you so far? Oh, a little bit up, a little bit down. I did, uh, well now it's, I hate saying this term because it sounds so ridiculous, but skeeting, I I've been testing out the new blue sky and, uh, I, I skidded out today that it was pretty nice not having to stress over a football game today. I could just sit here and not worry about my team playing.
00:01:16
Speaker
But other than that, just trying to make it through the week. Yep. Every week is another one. Last week was an adventure in and of its own for exterior, interior reasons. But we're back talking football again. And as I said, we'll get into our fresh stale and moldy for the Packers. but today was you're if you're standing watching for you know with the intent of the Packers you know like we said the NFC North is completely out of their hands at this point after the the two eggs they've laid in their two division games so far this season but
00:01:56
Speaker
like I said this could go into one of the topics but I want to know how many uh live chickens these two teams have sacrificed what voodoo equipment they have they have purported and utilized in their uh nefarious means to grab and maintain their positioning atop the division because my oh my did they get all kinds of stupid out of their opponents for large parts of their games that helped them remain at their con their uh you know remain with one and two losses respectively for the lions and vikings but overall we're going internal this week know packers are on their by so we're going to
00:02:35
Speaker
This show is going to focus on both what has been and what we're hoping will be for the rest of the Packers season. But Joe, kick us
Josh Jacobs: Key Player Analysis
00:02:44
Speaker
off. What is your freshest thing either so far or coming up you hope coming for the Packers this season? I guess the first thing's got to be that the big fear was we were going to miss something with the replacement of Aaron Jones with with Josh Jacobs, but really, I think it's been a boon more than it's been a struggle. I mean, yeah, it didn't look good in week one, but I think nobody really looked good in week one in Brazil. But for him to come out and be the real, what's the term, bell cow,
00:03:27
Speaker
for the offense, you know, that's something the floor has been wanting for a while. And that's no disrespect to Aaron Jones. I'm one of the biggest Aaron Jones supporters you you want to know. It's just he did not have the body type and the strut and the build to be able to handle what Josh Jacobs has been able to handle so far. And I did catch just a little bit of the Vikings game today, which was a fucking cluster of a cluster.
Impact of Injuries on the Packers
00:03:57
Speaker
And you know, he got hit and it just hit him wrong and he was down again now I don't know if he went back in I don't know if if You know what was going on with him, but you know, that was the issue that we had with him was that just taking a hit You were worried he was gonna be out for a long period of time whereas Josh Jacobs when he gets hit you're not as worried because you can tell he can handle it and Yep, and as of right now, they're saying that yeah he did apparently return, but they had to you know he had to get x-rays and stuff like that. and
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, not not to beg on Jones, more to look at the positive, what why um so Jacobs has brought to the table. Too many Gs in the book. easy Yeah. I'm like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Which one? Which one? But yeah, so more to focus on, like you said, what Jacobs has brought to the table and just being that guy that, you like you said, you can just turn around and hand them the ball 30 times. Luckily, they haven't had to do that very often this season. You know, he's They've only had to really run him into the ground, really that that in the app the Indiana, like you said, this is the NFL, not not basketball.
Offensive Strategies and Penalties
00:05:14
Speaker
Indianapolis game is the only time that it was like, oh, let's just you know put the game on his back and let him run with it. I know he had 25 carries against Jacksonville, but
00:05:23
Speaker
other than that they have limited his touches similar idea you want him fresh for the stretch run just like Jones but like you said just a sturdier package that is along for the ride at this point and yeah you know there were some concerns about like, oh, is he this? Is he that? you know I will say that at times you maybe see the loss, you know the difference in explosiveness between the two you know between what Jones would have given you, that little bit of extra wiggle, that little bit of extra um juice to create explosive plays. But it goes without saying that Josh Jacobs probably has, oh, 150 or 200 yards of rushing that are just gone because of you know numerous holding penalties on the offense. so
00:06:08
Speaker
it's, it's honestly, it's worked out as well as they could have hoped. I know that the ideal would have been for both Jacobs and Jones to be in Green Bay. And that obviously didn't work out the way that, you know, the front office had hoped it would, but all in all, you know,
00:06:24
Speaker
the It's worked out best for the Packer. It's worked out as good as it can for the Packers. And for the people that are like, oh, like he went to the Vikings. Aaron Jones is not the reason the Vikings are, what are they, six and two or whatever the hell they are at this point. Like I said, it's more voodoo voodoo ah bayou magic at this point than it is the fact that Aaron Jones is on their roster. So, yeah. Well, just um look at today's game. What was it? It was 12 to seven was the victory.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, they only scored 12 points against Jacksonville. And Jacksonville was on their backup quarterback. Yep. I saw a tweet that was, it so it's these two like track sprinters and they like the caption was Sam Darnold and Jared Goff trying to catch Jordan Love for the interception lead while backers are on their by. And it's the two runners falling over it themselves to cross the finish line. But I mean,
00:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, like we said, keeping this packer centric. I don't think Green Bay could have hoped to get anything more out of Jacobs at this point. you know He's one fumble into the end zone from having an even better stat line. And he has not cost the Packers. there It has not been like the differential between Aaron Jones to Jacobs is nowhere near the reason that they are you know they have three losses. If anything, he's the reason that they have to fewer losses than they could yeah you know know um at this point, given how the season has played out dependent on who is on the roster. So like you said, it's been a boon. We wish, obviously, Jones could have still be here, but that's how this league works. Nothing is permanent. Ty Martin is on waiting for no one.
Defensive Evolution Under Halfly
00:08:08
Speaker
Right. And stat-wise, there's not much difference than what Jones
00:08:13
Speaker
I'm looking at a stat line right here. Jacobs, you know, nine games started 158 attempts, 762 yards, but only three touchdowns. But like you said, you know, the it, it should be more, but penalties and everything else, but he still average in 4.8. Now we know Jones's mythical figure was always, he he would always seem to average about five yards a carry. You know, that's only 0.2% off or 0.2 per 0.2 off of what that 5.0 figure. So there's not really a loss there. and they're And they're just totally different runners. And actually, on that front, too, Jones was you know he was well over 5 yards a carry earlier in the season. But now he's actually he's only at 4.6. So that's taken a decline in the past few weeks you know compared to where the two were really when the Packers and the and the Vikings played each other. so
00:09:12
Speaker
like I said, can't complain. It's, it's a vibes and a feel thing that people are complaining about at this point, but what Jacobs has given the team this season, especially with the love injury, you know, needing to like have Malique Willis start games. Can't complain at what Josh Jacobs has given you.
00:09:29
Speaker
My Fresh is going to have to be the just how the Halfly experience has gone overall. I know you know it was a little bit of a disappointment going into the buy, but he had one hand handcuffed to ah ah to you know a drainage pipe because of the injuries that he was dealing with.
00:09:47
Speaker
know to Jair, to Evan Williams, and it forced a shuffled secondary and couldn't have all the pieces he wanted out there the way he'd like to. But you're seeing a much more aggressive approach on a down-to-down basis. You're seeing this team try to dictate terms to its opponent. Basically, all the things that we've complained about that Barry, I don't like to use the word never because never is almost never true in sports terms, but it really did feel like whenever you needed some sort of curveball or change up just to throw an opposing team off, Barry was just completely unwilling to do it and it cost the Packers whether it was losses to better teams or just making games against inferior opponents much more difficult than it had to be, you know, like
00:10:36
Speaker
And it's just it's just a breath of fresh air to see Halfly bring in this system that is about attacking, forcing the opponent to you know play on your terms when that's the thing that we've said all along. is you know We watch the Packers offense run into these really good defenses in the playoffs and it's like,
00:10:52
Speaker
Oh, it would be really nice to have a defense that tried to do that. You know me we know, we know that it's hard to replicate that when other teams are built to be defensive teams, but we always just kind of said, like, we'd like to see the Packers attempt to do that. And Halfly has not just attempted to do it, but I think for the most part succeeded so far this season in that regard.
00:11:12
Speaker
it It is, it's like ah night versus day compared to what we've had with Barry. And even to a certain point, Patton, I know the big complaint everybody's going to make is, oh, well, those sacks aren't there. The sacks aren't there. Well, you know, there's reasons for that. And people just don't want to see those reasons. They just want, you know, we want results now. You know, reason number one, it's a new system for everybody.
00:11:38
Speaker
At one point, a lot of these guys did play in you know a 4-3 or whatever, but they had to convert to 3-4 when they came to Green Bay. This is the first time the Packers have played a 4-3 defense in what, since the early 2000s? Yep. Maybe the Sherman era of of Green Bay Packers? 2008, basically, yeah. Yeah. so You know, that's what 16 years already that they've run a three, four style defense of
Adapting to New Defensive Systems
00:12:13
Speaker
some kind or another. So, you know, it's getting back used to a four, three defense over a three, four defense ah ah guys.
00:12:23
Speaker
I think just to go on that point, I think the average fan just doesn't comprehend how different it is to view the game from a two-point stance where you're standing up and you're like how you survey the field from us basically a standing position to when you're down on in a three-point stance and you know you're you're at hip level with everyone like the the way that you it's a literal difference in how you view the game and because of that like you said it's just totally different on how you play and Not that you know this is any sort of linear correlation or anything like that, but what did we hear from Preston Smith from the moment he was traded to when he like got to Pittsburgh? He's like, hey, look, I'm at the point in my career. I'm a better 3-4 player. you know I tried to make it work out, but the opportunities that it wasn't working out the way I hoped to. And I did ask. him I appreciate that Preston was honest and was like, hey, like I'd like to go back to a 3-4 team where I'm going to be more effective.
00:13:18
Speaker
And what does he do? I know he was playing limited snaps and stuff, but he goes out and has a sack against the Red Skids today. And, you know, not that like I said, not that that's the one size fits all or anything like that, but it was going to take a time to for all these guys to reprogram. And what you're hoping for is that coming out of the buy, that helps accelerate that process.
00:13:40
Speaker
Right. And, you know, I didn't know about the Preston sack today. I, like I said, I, I kind of took this day off for the most part from watching football. Uh, I did have, they did have the chief's game on and that was a fucking cluster too. That's a good all. Yeah. And, uh, and like I said, they had the Viking Jaguar game and I just, just kind of flipped back and forth, but I didn't really pay attention to it too much.
00:14:10
Speaker
but you know, that's what I said from the start with him. When the rumors that they had him on the block. Now I'm glad it was a mutual thing, not like ah ah a, uh, uh, resule where it just kind of came out of nowhere. And, and that kind of stuff, but I'm happy to hear it was a mutual thing that there's no reason for either side to hate each other. But.
00:14:39
Speaker
I can understand it. Preston wants to be able to use what, he wants to get what left of his career he can. Yeah. And on his current contract, yeah, exactly. right And he's got to produce to keep that contract. Right. So the best place for him to go is a 3-4 team. And of course, Pittsburgh's going to get every ounce of him out ah out of him that they can. and And he's going to have more success because he's got other guys he can rotate in with over there, you know, TJ Watts and and the likes. So, you know,
00:15:13
Speaker
That's great, but the other reason why the numbers aren't there is... How do I want to put this? it's it's I want to say it's more of a scheme thing because it it's it's not really a more, well, we want sack after sack after sack after sack.
00:15:34
Speaker
It's more of, we're gonna put pressure on so you make a mistake so our back end can make the plays. Now, in a way it works because they are still collapsing the pocket. They are still putting pressure on on the quarterbacks. What is it? They were at one point, they were at the top of the NFL for takeaways, weren't they? Yeah, so,
00:16:00
Speaker
That's more of what Halfley's system is because he is more of a defensive back style coach. Now, yes, I agree. We need to see more from our high money guys like Rashawn and Kenny and and you want to see more out of guys like Lucas, but And I know I've said this for a long time now, and I know I'm going to sound biased because you you're, you're from Iowa and you're going to say everything Lucas does is.
Emerging Offensive Players: Dobbs and Reed
00:16:31
Speaker
But he's in the first half of his second year in the league. I get you didn't want him to be picked at by the Packers. I get it. You guys didn't want him as a packer. You wanted the flashy name and like will McDonald or whatever.
00:16:49
Speaker
There's a big difference between how Lucas has been handled in Green Bay and will McDonald's been handled in New York. McDonald was thrown out there and said, you're going to get as many snaps as we can give you because we have nobody else to give them to. Lucas was brought in and said, we're going to rotate you. We're going to slowly bring you along because we have pressed and we have Uh, Rashawn, we have all these other guys at the edge position. So we don't have to force you into anything. You just do what you can when you can. Well, now with Preston gone, you're going to see him get more snaps. You're going to see probably a Cox get more snaps. You're going to see a Mosby get more snaps and snacks, snaps. You can tell where my mind is right now.
00:17:36
Speaker
Speaking of I'm gonna I'm gonna break this since I kind of if you're ever in a Tama, Iowa Go to Main Street donuts. That place is the best place in town for anything like Yesterday, I went over there and got me some pumpkin bars from them and they were pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting Oh my god, that's just heaven. Okay back to thought and so oh It's one of those things that
00:18:05
Speaker
Now that they have, they I don't want to use the word coal because it's another, it makes it sound bad, but now that they've lightened the room up a little bit and gotten you know fewer guys to rotate in, these guys should be able to get more snaps and you should be able to see more out of them.
00:18:26
Speaker
you know, maybe we'll see more of Rashawn and Lucas together on the field. We'll see a Mosby and a Rashawn and a Cox and Lucas out on the field. And you should be able to see more things out of them. But it's a whole cohesion thing. I said it last week that it kind of makes sense that We're seeing the edges do their job, where they're wrapping around and pushing the quarterback up in the pocket to where the defensive tackle should be able to be making plays, and the defensive tackles aren't making their plays. So it's it's kind of a whole thing, but I know I just went on a whole ramble that included snacks, so. No, I agree. And I think Kenny does look like he's ramping up. you know he's
00:19:18
Speaker
I've always felt he's been a little bit of a slower starter as the season goes and he's another guy you know we talked about getting used to this new system and you can see it if you're just you know, if you're not being super biased or overly disappointed for no reason, there's a guy who, for his whole career, has been, okay, I'm gonna take on double team, I'm gonna read it, I'm gonna play it, you know, I'm gonna play stra strong and stout, I'm gonna split it, and then I'm gonna make a play. This year, it's like, Kenny, you get to push the gas pedal down and go, and you saw so so many plays where he's like, oh, my God, I get to do things I've never done before in the NFL, I get to shoot a gap, I can hop over a gap, and I get to, oh, oh shit.
00:19:56
Speaker
There goes the player. Oh, damn it. I ran right by the ball carrier kind of thing. And it's it's that whole like when you get behind your first sports car and it's like, yeah, it's great to have all the horsepower under the hood, but you got to know when and where to use that horsepower. You can't just floor the damn thing at every straight. And I do think we've seen Kenny do that. You know, we've seen him get more stops in recent weeks. just And even plays where he's disrupting in the backfield, it's not just like, oh, it's just two ships passing in the night. He is throttling down and you know forcing a redirection that allows someone else to come and make the play. and
00:20:31
Speaker
I think the next key in Halfly's, not his development, but just these guys making sure that, because I think, so backing up, I think overall you can tell that Halfly's a good teacher because the stuff that he's been able to call, the more exotic looking pressures and things like that,
00:20:49
Speaker
you see it happen and you know it's all this like well orchestrated controlled chaos kind of stuff and you can't get there without good coaching good you know classroom whiteboard um teaching and the next step that you want to see is these guys just be a little more disciplined in their play a lot of the big runs that are broken is because one guy is off a gap you know the Gibbs touchdown and you know no one knows who it was but it's one of Edge Cooper, um Xavier McKinney jumped the wrong gap on that fourth downplay against the Lions and it leads to a walk-in touchdown for Jameer Gibbs.
Defense Improvements and Expectations
00:21:22
Speaker
And it's those kind of plays, you know, different points in the game where it's like, oh, some running back will, you know, bust one for 20 plus or something like that. And you go and watch to all 22 and it's like, all right, it's that one, you know, someone wasn't where you're supposed to be. And those are the ones where I don't want to say I expect them to get fixed, but I'm really hopeful that they will because
00:21:44
Speaker
the progression we've seen on defense, we've seen them make the splash plays, and we've seen them overall just be more efficient at stopping offenses on a down-to-down basis. And now it's, can these guys that definitely are talented, you know, you had different points in the season, it's like, maybe they're not talented, maybe, you know, it goes through that every year where everyone gets down on the side of the ball at some point because team isn't perfect and stuff like that. But,
00:22:10
Speaker
You do see the athleticism. You see the playmaking skills on all three levels of the defense. And it's like this bi-week, this is where you hope that there is you know not the big light switch, but there is like at least a preliminary one where everyone looks a little bit more settled, a little more, I don't want to say necessarily at ease, but they're just more in tune with what their're with their assignments. And that's the next step in the progression that I want to see them make because If you get that, especially with you coming out against Chicago and then Chicago, San Fran, and then Miami, that's three teams you've got to be assignment sure against. Because you know I know some people are like, oh, Chicago. But it's like, look, you're facing off against a rookie quarterback who's losing confidence because the last three weeks, that often, like
00:23:02
Speaker
you know Caleb hasn't been good, but they have just all around him been shitty too. So you just don't want to give them any free passes. The 49ers, you got to be assignments, sure, because they're going to throw the kitchen sink at you. You know, Shanahan is going to scheme up all kinds of bullshit to throw at you. And then with Miami, you just have to be so disciplined because it's like you have a team that just wants to go deep on you with Waddle Waddle and ah Tyreek Hill and so you just got to make sure that you're playing disciplined in your defensive assignments there to not let any free runners go by you so just that continued improvement and that's why I have the defense in my fresh because we've seen them just steadily improve as this season is gone and the hope is that you can continue to get that kind of improvement out of this group as the season goes along and they're trending to be like a top 12 top 10 unit and as long as they're giving you that
00:24:00
Speaker
This team was always supposed to be an offensive leaning team. And if you get a top 10, top 12 defense, this should be a deep playoff run roster that you have on your hands as a Packers. For sure. And you know that's better than a bottom 30 defense that we've had for the last couple of years. So you know that that would be great to have. So oh I'm trying to think.
Receiver Roles in Jordan Love's Gameplan
00:24:28
Speaker
I'm gonna say it, and I know it can be placed into a stale tube, but I'm going to lump two of them them together and say the emergence of Romeo Dobbs and Jaden Reed. Jaden Reed definitely looks like, you know, I know there was a big talk of number one receiver, number one receiver. I think you'd have to split the job between Romeo and Jaden, because with Jordan Love,
00:24:58
Speaker
those seem to be his two safety battles. And anytime he gets in trouble, those are the two guys he's really looking for. And that's not to say anything about Tucker and I'm sure that one will be ah ah Tucker will be something you'll talk about here in a few minutes or whatever. But, you know Jayden has been that gadget guy that our offense has been looking for since they drafted Randall Cobb in 2011.
00:25:23
Speaker
And I think he is a tremendously better version of Cobb. And again, that's not a slight against Cobb. I like Cobb. He just was never what they truly hoped for in a weapon. But you know Jaden can be the end-around guy. He can be the touch pass guy. He can be the deep threat. He can be a slot receiver. He can pretty much be whatever you want him to be out on the field. And he'll do it and success successfully.
00:25:52
Speaker
and then Romeo I know we had the one little hiccup with him and the issue that nobody even is still sure of what happened with it and Everybody should just shut up about it because it's in another fucking business anyway and But when he's in there He seems to be the number 1a or B or whatever you want to put it target of Jordan Love so yeah i oh no no i was gonna say like to that degree he's missed the game and he's only two targets behind jaden reid
00:26:26
Speaker
and that's with jaden reid getting all those little like we call them like faux jet sweeps where it's the one where they're in shotgun and love pushes the ball forward towards him and it touches the target yeah the touch pass Yeah, because it's you know it's a forward pass kind of thing and stuff so you know he's got like a half dozen of those on the season go ahead. and like i said he's at 47 targets Dobbs is at 45 and Dobbs missed the game so like you said it goes to show who's who and i do think that
00:26:56
Speaker
To that degree, to build off of it, I think Watson is doing a good job at taking what's so far been available to him. I think he's the guy that has been most hurt by love's injury issues and you know inconsistent play so far this season because, unfortunately, Watson was never going to be featured in a Malik Willis offense because his job is to just go out there and run deep and take the top off the defense and make them you know respect something down the field.
00:27:24
Speaker
and You c saw it like in the Arizona game where he catches that deep pass and stuff. And the nice thing with Watson is you've seen him do more just like receiver things as opposed to being like just go get open deep guy. You've seen him run more digs, hitches, know the the kind of like quote unquote meat and potato routes as opposed to just like specialized vertical routes. So that's good to see.
00:27:47
Speaker
and Yeah, another fresh is just the breakout of Tucker Craft and it's been even more necessary because because of the love injury you know backups like to rely on tight ends because they're just such big targets and craft is definitely one of those and then on top of that the musgrave injury you know you have these two guys that you drafted they're you know they're both tight ends by name but they don't play the same position they're both very different players and it's unfortunate that musgrave is missing probably like 80 of this season but it's just a boon that craft has really blossomed into a top
00:28:23
Speaker
eight, five tight end, you know, he's still got some consistency things to, you know, the the drop against Detroit cannot happen if you're going to be a top three to five player at the
Tucker Craft: Stepping Up
00:28:33
Speaker
position. But just where he was last year to where he is now. it's just that It's just a great leap for a second year player who some people were so down on early last season, which was just totally unnecessarily unfounded because, like I said, we both said it last year without fail. Like, there's a guy making a jump from FCS to NFL in a year, and he's not getting, like, the free touches. You know, he's not the guy, it was Musgrave who's like,
00:29:01
Speaker
that LeFlore flat out said that, hey, like we're going to do everything we have to put the ball in his hands. And Kraft, meanwhile, it's like you're not even going to necessarily get scraps off the end of the table. So it's just been such a boon for the Packers that Kraft has broken out that way. And you can just see that there's even more for him out there because he has some unfortunate drops in key situations. They've had some plays where he's been the target but they've either fallen apart for a couple of reasons here and there and his ascension goes hand in hand with Dobbs returning Watson taking a step forward in his overall play and Reed just being the effective because Reed
00:29:46
Speaker
isn't as effective if you don't have a Watson going deep a Dobbs playing the perimeter wide receiver to suck you know the top corner back coverage or craft pulling deep safety look and stuff like that so it all is a It's all a symphony together and need all those pieces and Reid is the one who's benefiting so far. And he probably kind of will be because for all intents and purposes, this is not a shot at Jaden Reid, but it's kind of also how you got like the Cobb 1200 yard season is because Reid is a little different. He's a more athletic player than Cobb ever was, but it's like, okay,
00:30:26
Speaker
but on this, you know, on that 2014 offense is like, we don't want Jordy Nelson to kill us. And he still killed most of the teams they played anyway. But it's like, we're going to do so many things to try to take away Jordy Nelson. And also we don't want Eddie Lacey to just run all over us. And so Cobb just had the middle of the field wide open for his use. Same thing for this team where especially with the addition of Jacobs, it's like we don't want the Packers to be able to just put the ball in someone's gut and run it 40 times for four and a half yards a pop. And at the same time, you don't want Christian Watson beating you over the top with ease. You don't want Dobbs going for 15 yards. and um And at the end of the day, and you don't want Tucker Kraft just running rough shot in the middle of your defense. And it's like, okay, who are we gonna,
00:31:16
Speaker
You know, you you there's very few defenses that can cover everything in the modern NFL. So what are you going to give? up Are you going to let 65 250 pound tight end run rough shot in the middle of your defense? No, you're going to say someone will be able to ankle tackle the little 190 pound slot receiver.
00:31:35
Speaker
He's definitely won more than he's lost, he's dropped more than he should, but Reid has made the most of most his opportunities so far on the season. And just like Tucker, if he wants to take the mantle of being the team's top receiving option, like yes, he's the most productive, but also he cannot be dropping a key third down here a key you know deep shot and the two minute drill there know slipping and falling down on a route here and stuff like that like those are the parts where you know some of them aren't totally in his control but the stuff that's in his control you can't you know if you're a number one receiver i know they drop passes devante dropped passes but you can't be
00:32:20
Speaker
dropping gimme first downs at key points of games and things like that. So, you know, like you said, overall it's a fresh, but there's even as fresh as Kraft, Reed, Dobbs breaking out in some form of the word, there's an even higher level they can all get to because they've all missed some opportunities and they're all plays that we kind of expect them to make. So they can clean that up. That's just another positive boon for this team, but I think you know we can unless you have anything that really else that really stands out to you, can start to move into our stale for the season so far. Well, the only one that I have that probably should be talked about is Malik Willis.
00:33:03
Speaker
Without Malik, you know who knows what the Packers record would be right now? And i I wish I would have done a little bit more research and pulled out some of the receipts from the Malik Willis trade and how many people were upset trading for Malik Willis and all that shit.
00:33:23
Speaker
And then he comes in, yeah, the Philly game, but again, that was a mess for everybody. He came in with under, what was it, under a minute to play and had to try to drive the field and and all that jazz. But then when he had to step in for the Indianapolis game, when he had to step in for the what's the other one, the the Titans game, oh you know he looked amazing. Did his stats wow anybody? No, but they were good enough to get the victory and he looked good enough playing quarterback that you were like, okay, hey, we might be okay here. So just I gotta to give him a fresh just because of what he's been able to do in a short amount of time. Yeah, agree. And like like you said, to the point where
00:34:15
Speaker
Many, including us, were kind of debating, like, do you just sit, love this, that Detroit game before the buy? Because, you know, the whole, the fact that you can have the conversation is a 70% Jordan love really better than a 100% Malik. The fact that you can have that conversation about a guy who got here six days before the beginning of the season is just absolutely bonkers. So, yeah, it's an absolute fresh and one that needs to be recognized. So, yeah.
00:34:44
Speaker
We'll definitely go there. And I guess, you know, we'll go into our stale for the season so far and I'll beat it off. The biggest stale that I've got so far is just the self-inflicted issues that this team has run into.
Self-Inflicted Mistakes: Penalties and Drops
00:35:01
Speaker
And it's not like it's even one of those, the three games they've lost are, to you know, it's only happening in their losses.
00:35:08
Speaker
these should have two or three blowouts on the season that were not because Josh Jacobs fumbled the ball going into the end zone against Indianapolis. You have whatever the hell the end of the Jacksonville game was where everyone just kind of went brain dead on both sides of the ball. The even to an extent the Houston game kind of had moments where you're like they should be up more than they are and stuff and you like had barely enough in the tank to go and get a game winning kick out of that one and so
00:35:42
Speaker
And then you look at the three losses and you know a lot of the inflicted mistakes in those are Jordan Love interceptions. Gotta get better on those. But on top of that, you have penalties. The penalties have just absolutely torpedoed this team so often and in early parts of the season. And on top of that, you just look at where they stand and like they're a good team overall, but if they want to take that step to being true title contenders, they've got to clean up a lot of the slot that they're dealing with because you just can't, dick you know, even the best teams
00:36:22
Speaker
can't survive committing as many mental mistakes as they are you know they're like bottom three not bottom third bottom three in the league in penalties per game and just drop passes i think they're like second worst or something like that and you just can't continue to do that especially if you know as much as i joke that this often should be lean on the run more even if jordan is healthy but if you're going to put the game in Jordan's hands. Yes, Jordan's got to be better, but your receivers have to be better top to bottom. And it's not, you know, I know Wix is the guy that catches a lot of the flack, but Reeds drop the handful of really key passes. Dobbs has a couple here and there. Watson's got not so much drops as just total misreads on on passes. And then Kraft has a couple that you're kind of like, like, what happened there? So
00:37:15
Speaker
I do think they're going to, because this is kind of where they were last year, where it was wasn't dropped so much as guys just weren't running the right routes. And we did see them in the middle part of the season as guys got more comfortable. You saw them just improve on the mental side of things and take off there.
00:37:32
Speaker
And to that degree, you just want to see it on you know the fundamental side of everything. Getting your hand placement correctly, not getting your feet out of whack so you're you know you're exposed to a potential hold or catching the ball or not or not fumbling or just knowing when you're if you're it's Jordan just knowing when to take an L and just throw the ball a lot of bounds like all those little things and that's the beauty of having the buy now is it's that time to go in and make these kind of tweaks and adjustments to I don't necessarily say save the season but this is really a mesh point of where
00:38:13
Speaker
it's ah ah the the back half of theirs you know so The back half of their schedule is tough. Like I said, you open at Chicago, home against San Fran, and then the short turnaround to Miami, but both of those are home games. Then you're at Detroit, at Seattle, home versus New Orleans, at Minnesota, home versus Chicago. So it's a tough stretch, but honestly, out of those games,
00:38:38
Speaker
really the Detroit and San Fran games are the two that you're like like those are really tough games everything else it's more of like a it's a scheduling thing or oh it is a division you know it is a division game or whatever so if you clean up a lot of this stuff not that you should expect to go six and two or seven and one but it's on the table for them because this is a talented roster and they really could be doing just it's
00:39:10
Speaker
it's not like they're just playing the wrong guy or they're just don't get it kind of thing it's a little thing here a little thing there that would you know it's a little improvement on the Packers end that would lead to a surmountable improvement in production on the field so that's the stale because like I said it would be moldy if they couldn't fix it but because it's something that's not a major fix it's a you know it's a tweak it's a technical improvement that needs to be made that's why I'm like it's stale because it has to get fixed and it's been a problem all year kind of thing and to kind of
00:39:50
Speaker
Do the flip side of yours. One of the guys that we talked about early on in the season about the penalties seems to really kind of turn his shit around and that's Rashid Walker. yeah you know You're not really hearing him called for the penalties as much anymore as you were early on in the season. So you know that just shows you that it can be fixed. They just got to put the work in to fix it. Now another thing with yours is I'm looking at the receiving stats here and there are only for she players that are over 60% success rate on their catches.
00:40:26
Speaker
Ben Sims who has only recently caught three out of four. Romeo who, and he's at 75%, Romeo is 30 of 45 and he's at 64.4% and Malik Heath who is four receptions out of five targets. So he's at 60%. Everybody else is under 60% success rate when it comes to ah ah to receiving.
Concerns Over Receiver Dontavian Wicks
00:40:50
Speaker
And then you've got,
00:40:53
Speaker
one major one that is even under 30% when it comes to um success. You've got three who are under 30, but one major one. what The first one under 30 is Luke Musgrave. You got to kind of give that a pass just because of injuries and all that shit. He's not been on the field. The other one that you know you is Emmanuel Wilson that You just he's not getting the reception, you know, the targets to to even mess with that. And he's a running back. so it's something kind of thing Right. So the major one is Dontavian Wicks. He's at twenty seven point nine percent success rate. So I know. Oh, I told Mike I was out of friends today and he's he's a heavy smoker. So my my lungs are trying to clear out all that shit. Oh,
00:41:48
Speaker
But he's at 27.9%, 16 receptions on 43 targets. They still keep going back to him, which is, you know, that's obviously something you want to do. You don't want to just completely take him out of game plans, but that's something that the receiving coaches need to work on with him. I don't know if it's the old drill that they usually do during training camp where they have them stand in front of the, or off to the side of the JUGS machine and put their hands like right at the mouth of the JUGS machine and just, and and make them catch the ball from like five inches away from the JUGS machine. I don't know if that's something they've got to work on with them. I know that's what Devontae did. Devontae's turnaround came because of that work with the JUGS machine, but
00:42:41
Speaker
something's got to give with it because whereas you put it as a stale, that one would definitely be a moldy for me is the Don Tavenwicks. And I know you said that everybody's kind of piling on him. I've been piling on him for a completely different reason than other people have been piling on him. Mike and Mike, you know this and anybody who's listening to the show that's know this or anybody who follows me on socials know this. I've said from the minute that game happened, I want to know what the hell's up going on.
00:43:10
Speaker
why he only had one snap in the whole of preseason. Because we knew this right here was a possibility with him. Because he had issues in college doing the same thing. So why only one snap? Now, it was a great snap. It was a great route. It was a great catch. It was all that. But because of what we're seeing now should have been something that could have been worked on during preseason when they known that that was an issue.
00:43:41
Speaker
So i this would be one of those things that I would have to sit down with like Matt LaFlore and the wide receiver coaches and say, hey, what gives? Why was there only one snap? And now we're having all kinds of problems with his with his success rate.
00:43:58
Speaker
Yeah, not to rehash the whole thing. My argument in preseason was I thought it was more important for him to be getting stacks with love and if love isn't playing, like it's fine. But yeah, like, you know, if it is, quote unquote, just a concentration thing or whatever, then reps from anyone would have helped. Like, yeah. So it's It's not going the way that I thought it would. And yeah, like you just have to get better. There's no if ands or buts or there's no nothing special or no smoke and mirrors about it. You just got to be better than what you've been. And like I said, I do think him having dealt with those kind of struggles
00:44:44
Speaker
it's a I don't want to say it's a good thing, but it's it's it's helpful that it's not like he just started to get the dropsies out of nowhere kind of thing. It's something he's dealt with before and hopefully he can recalibrate, refocus in and stuff and get back to it. Did you have a still off the top of your mind that you wanted to get to? Cornerback play. I would have to say right now, cornerback play.
00:45:12
Speaker
and it's I know I've said this before in episodes, and I know I'm not an expert by any means. Of course, I've never have played cornerback and to save my life, whatever. But I'm seeing stuff on the field differently than some of these other people is. I think Keyshaun's had a rough go at it as a boundary corner in this on this team. Whereas I also think Eric Stokes has been pretty decent
00:45:43
Speaker
compared to what he was last year before all the injuries took its toll on him. I think it's just been Stokes has had a lot of bad luck with his where he's played perfect coverage. It's just the quarterbacks are hitting the right spots and he's not able to make the play on him.
00:46:00
Speaker
But the reason I put cornerback play in the stale is without Jair, somebody has to step up and nobody in that cornerback room has stepped up enough to do anything for this team. And the times Jair has been out have been times that this defense have looked rough. And I kind of wish that they would have done something during the trade deadline, I didn't figure they were gonna go after Greg Joseph, or or not Greg Joseph, Newsom, or whatever, but they could have brought in somebody to at least help out, you know, trade for a result type, trade for a guy that needs to change a change of scenery, whatever,
00:46:50
Speaker
Something's got to give and it's not the same retreads that we're putting out now Don't get me wrong. Robert Rochelle has done what he's done, but he's not Obviously he's not the guy that we need out on the field when your number one corner is out is gone What's the guy's name? Hayden Hodden. I think guys calling up houghden is actually make I I don't know how to pronounce it. Yeah, I think it's spelled like Haddon. Yeah, so he's not been somebody that they need. Why we're not seeing anything out of Kalen King, I don't know. You know, maybe they really don't think even though he had some success in preseason, they don't think he's ready for prime time.
00:47:31
Speaker
He couldn't tackle by the end of preseason so I understand why they're a little gun-shy with that one. But my thing is, is that's why you have safety help too. yeah You know, if you've got a guy can be a locked down corner by breaking up passes or making, the making sure that the guy can't make the catch. You can kind of give up the tackling bit when you've got a guy like Xavier McKinney or Evan Williams or Javon Bullard, or even Katon Oladapo that can make that tackle. So.
00:48:05
Speaker
that That's why I put the cornerback play a little bit into the stale side.
Cornerback Performance Issues
00:48:11
Speaker
All right. Yeah. And it, for me, yeah, it's, it's a weird one because I'm like, I do think overall it's been stale. I don't put the gyre injuries or cause I know some people are like, Oh, it's so, but I'm like,
00:48:27
Speaker
They're freakin' treats. It's not like he's dealing with the same shit over and over again. It's completely different injuries. yeah like Honestly, everyone should just be happy that he can still play this season after what I was worried was the the worst possible outcome with the one he got in Jacksonville. So I'm choosing to be a blissfully blissfully happy about that one instead of the opposite. but to me, it's definitely, they definitely need to figure something out. And at the same time, I'm kind of like, it's the point you brought up where I'm like, they should have done more, whether in the off season or at the deadline to like, just shore that position up because, they they just needed more than to be relying on.
00:49:13
Speaker
the hope that Eric Stokes would get back to what he was and that Carrington Valentine wouldn't be just the seventh round pick and you know whatever you're getting out of Nixon and stuff like that so yeah it's it's unfortunate that you're at this point of it but At this point, the thing you can do is burn some sage and some incense and just hope that Jair is gonna stay healthy the rest of the season because that's it. you you need that You need him to be the... And he has been really good this season, I think. I don't really care what he's grading out at. When he's played on a real field, he's been pretty damn good for the Packers this season. So that's all you can ask for. You need that...
00:49:56
Speaker
number one corner to just and and no defensive coordinator is immune to this having that number one corner that that just having one side of the field answered just makes such a big difference for your whole scheme and so Yes, I do want to see something more out of the quarterback two spot. But we'll see what they do moving forward because it's going to be, like you said, it's got to be all in-house answers at this point. So that's the bed that they've made and that's kind of where they're at with this one.
00:50:27
Speaker
Well, yeah before we go on, we should have put another one in the fresh, and neither one of us really did. You kind of lumped it in as a whole with the safety play. Xavier McKinney, Jevon Bullard, and and Evan Williams have been really lights out back there. I know Jevon has struggled a little bit, but they're flipping them from slot to, yeah. But x Xavier has been, you know, arguably one of the best free agent signings the Packers have made in a long time.
00:50:55
Speaker
yeah and then and like you said i know some people are like like ragging on Bullard but he's basically been playing two different positions you know he's been flipped and then he had to flip back because Williams got hurt and then it's nice on the Evan Williams front it's nice to see a guy a rookie that got talked up so much in training camp actually play well when he gets on the field because we've seen that so often is like i mean A guy they finally cut this year, Royce Newman, was a guy that was forever talked up about in camp. And wow, you fix this and that. And it's like, nope, it's still the same old guy and stuff like that. so all it deterd It's still a turd. Yeah, it's nice to see that he actually is a shiny gem, not just a turd. So no, you're absolutely right.
00:51:43
Speaker
and getting Williams back would make a big difference for what this defense can do down the stretch because if you're able to account for deep coverage and your cornerback one spot, you can massage the rest of your coverage to account for the rest of your corners kind of thing.
00:52:01
Speaker
so Hopefully everyone is feeling a lot better and healthy coming out of the bye, not hacking up along like I am right now. one b
00:52:12
Speaker
But and let' i let's just let that be the turning point to go into the moldies topic. Yeah, what's something that's just been stinking your mind up so far this season?
Special Teams Inefficiencies
00:52:25
Speaker
Every aspect is special teams but one.
00:52:30
Speaker
the Irish, the luck of the Irish. the the The Celtic cannon has been tremendous. So he should be afresh too. But obviously kicking has been a problem. Snapping has been a problem. And the holding has been perfect. You know, Whelan has been able to do some matrix ass shit when it comes to ah ah snagging the snaps. But I know everybody thinks the godsend of of of McManus, but, you know, he just missed a kick this last game. Yeah. I'd look completely miffed as to how and why. And so, and then, you know, the whole Narmuson situation and and everything else, but
00:53:19
Speaker
I like Rich Bassaccia. I think he brings an element to the team, that you know that attitude to the team that really helps out in a way. But I have to say, i'm and I'm not typically this guy, but I'm starting to wonder what the Packers are paying him for. Yeah. it's It's a rational thought. like there's you know It's not like it's his first year. It's not his first rodeo or anything like that.
00:53:48
Speaker
This is, you know, who knows what the numbers really are around the league and here, but by all accounts, you hear that he's what he is, if not the one of the top. paid special teams coordinator plus he has associate headquar head coaching dibs dibs on his ah to his title and yeah it's like you can't have all that and have your unit be yeah not just that you can't have all that have the front office keeping certain players on the roster because their special teams
00:54:24
Speaker
Contribution is supposedly so great that it demands a roster spot despite them being a negative or just unplayable player at their listed position and have your units come up short in so many regards. I understand that like the kicking part of it, it's not, you know, he's, and all accounts are that like Narveson was like a perfect practice player and he had it like figured out in Hudson and on Clark Hinklefield and stuff like that. So like to that degree it's like okay I can't blame him so much for that because it's like you know on the in the instances where it's like every day of the week leading up to the game it's like no like he's he's doing it well and stuff and so like okay I can't understand that part of it but
00:55:18
Speaker
like you said the penalties insisting on like a Zane Anderson up until this year what's his face uh Dallin Levitt had to be on the roster even though they've been two of the worst personal protectors on punts that i've seen in a long time. And then just the penalties. like it's like It feels like every time there's anything, forget a positive or a big play on special teams, it's like every play that's even just marginally average or above average, it's like there's a penalty bringing it back. Or you have like guys just biffing the fundamentals of when to fair catch something, dropping a punt or whatever kind of thing. So it's just so many backbreaking issues
00:56:05
Speaker
And it's just inexcusable for, like you said, this to be the issue and stuff. And like I said, it would be one thing if it was just like mental mistakes by players, but it is so apparent that a lot of these mistakes are from the guys that the Sasha has like banged the table for. Like I said, Dalin Levitt, who they finally got rid of this off season, Zane Anderson, like,
00:56:33
Speaker
hasn't been that great more, you know, you've heard his name more often than not because of a mistake. Same goes for, excuse me, same goes for Orzic. You kept the veteran long snapper because blank, you know, like it's it's all that kind of stuff. Well, and I'm going to say the reason why that I'm really starting to lose my allure with Versace,
00:56:58
Speaker
is the simple fact that when he was asked during one of his press conferences, are you thinking about making a change at long snapper? they' you know what What do you think about the issues at snapping? Oh, well, he snaps hundreds of times during practice and never has an issue. And I don't you know i never see anything wrong with his snapping. I'm sorry, are you like,
00:57:25
Speaker
Legally blind are you you know, do you need a new prescription in your glasses? Are you drunk on game day? Are you hitting too many old fashions or something? If my dumbass can sit here and see there's a problem with the snap You're getting paid a hell of a lot more money than I am to be doing this shit You should be seeing it too and if you can't see it on the sideline get your ass up in the in the booth and look at it and But that's where I really started losing my Lord, because everybody knows there's a problem with the snapping, but rich pessachio. Yeah. And like you said, it's inexcusable at this point. And, you know, it's it's partly on, you know, you can argue that it's partly on like
00:58:09
Speaker
It's partly on Gudakunz for like not you know bringing in a better player or just like you know kind of with Narvison just saying like, that's it, we're done. like we're We're not going another. That's the other thing. Gudakunz was so quick to cut Carlson, but he stuck it out with Narvison. He's he's sticking out with Orzalik.
00:58:34
Speaker
You know, why are you so quick to cut out Carlson? But you're keeping these other two for so long that they're the bigger issue. Yeah, and I'm sure to some degree it is the whole like Anders probably was having issues that were getting ironed out, but they were still apparent, you know, struggles in practice and stuff like that, where it appears that, you know, nervous in everyone, even the like media writers were all too amazing, like, no, like, he was perfect in the media portion of practice and stuff like that. But then get to
00:59:11
Speaker
And then you know the coaches are kind of all saying the same thing too. So yeah, it's it's one of those, it is what it is, but you know we're we're not we're we're not even a fly near the wall for these kind of things. So you wish that you could get answers to these kind of things. And realistically, and I'm going to say it too, that's really the only moldy I've got to for this season that's inherent like directly with the Packers. Because like I said, everything else looks like it's got a relative answer on roster. Even with the trade of Preston, you know, I do think Rashawn is turning a corner. I do think Lucas with more snaps is going to turn a corner and level up and hopefully Inaugbury will continue because I think Kingsley's been coming on of late too and stuff and so I think you have answers there. The cornerback room is
01:00:03
Speaker
bordering on so you're like more than concerning, depend and it's all pending Jair's health and what you get out of him the rest of the season. but It's special teams is the only one that really just reeks of moldy on this f roster. Because like you said, it's it's there's certain parts of it that are you know just kind of inherent. like you're on the you know They say it's the third of the game, but you're on the field much less than the third of the game. And you have these individual handful of moments a game where special teams has to come through. But like you said, it'd be one thing if everyone was perfect in practice and it was just like they just shrank when the lights were bright. but
01:00:42
Speaker
if your coordinator is making comments contrary to the obvious that's the part where it's like oh no like oh boy like what do we do now kind of thing so yeah it's I've got three quick ones before we leave yeah we quick ones moldy takes Jordan loves interceptions I know we talked about it a little bit earlier But it's not more that his interceptions, it's the fan reaction to the interceptions.
Fan Reactions and Ticket Sales Issues
01:01:13
Speaker
I'm getting tired of hearing the the whole, oh well, interceptions are no big deal. We're seeing them start to become a big deal with Jordan Love. So that's another multi for me. Number two and three kind of mix in together a little bit.
01:01:30
Speaker
Gold package fans, stop selling your goddamn tickets. I'm tired of hearing more visiting team fans and Packer fans. If you can't make the game, don't fucking renew your tickets. And the last one are the are the idiot fans are calling for a dome on Lambeau Field. Yeah, that last one is just so dumb. Like, to me... I i mean, I get it. Yeah.
01:01:55
Speaker
This team has looked horrible in the elements for a long time now, but that still doesn't mean that we need to put a dome on. ah No. like it's It's more the who they're doing it against. like You can't be getting out-elemented by West Coast.
01:02:10
Speaker
like Not just West Coast, because I know the weather gets bad, and yeah but like California teams, or a friggin' dome team that doesn't, you know, why would a dome team practice outdoors and stuff, but yeah, like, you can't be getting domed by a dome team, because that's just inexcusable, and yeah, it's...
01:02:31
Speaker
putting a dome on the Packers isn't gonna, like, you just can't. Like, the that would be, you know, that would be akin to, like, finding some, you know, King Tut's tomb and opening it kind of thing and stuff. Like, you just don't do such sacrilegious things to, you know, a a vaunted piece of sports, um royalty.
01:02:52
Speaker
So, yeah. Other than that, I don't have too much more. We'll go back to having our our preview. ah We'll preview the Bears matchup coming up on, we'll record on Wednesday, show will be coming out on Thursday. So that'll be, you know team needs to get its first division win of the season, right the boat in that regard.
01:03:15
Speaker
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01:03:31
Speaker
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01:03:52
Speaker
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01:04:04
Speaker
The packers come out of the by hoping to be healthy and fresh. We're going to be keeping you posted on their injury reports coming through the week. We're hoping to see a lot of things trending in the upward direction. Hope to see Marshawn Lloyd be, know, have his 21 day practice window open because he's been on IR for, you know, he's been eligible for a few weeks at this point. So packers looking to I almost said pick up where they left off. No, don't do that. you me this Get off on the right foot coming out of the buy, secure some of these wins, especially these next two would be absolutely massive for Green Bay to lock down. But until then, this is the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. Go Pack Go and Aloha.