August 8, 2023 • 26 mins
Mike and Wes discuss the standouts from Family Night, including K Anders Carlson and LB Tariq Carpenter (:20), along with the young reserves on the defensive line (7:11), plus the tight ends and the concluding two-minute drill (10:16). They also look at the activation of LB Rashan Gary (15:15), the latest roster decision at QB (19:34) and the upcoming week in Cincinnati (22:43).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
by my partner in crime, Weston hod Qwitz. We're coming
to you here from different locations at Lambeufield and Wes.
A lot has gone on since our last show, So
without further ado, let's dive into it. First and foremost,
(00:27):
the Family Night practice, the big event Saturday night at
lambeau Field. If you were to ask me to pick
a one and a one A in terms of players
who stood out on the practice field at Lambo on
Saturday night, my one is rookie kicker Andres Carlson, and
my one A is converted inside linebacker Turek Carpenter. I
(00:49):
thought both of those guys made certain statements of their
own during that practice.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That's a great observation, Mike. It was funny.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I we talked about this before, and I haven't covered
the Family Night scrimmage practice. Now excuse me in a
while because I was with Leroy Butler last year at
the Canton for the Hall of Fame, so maybe I
have like recency bias here. I actually felt like it
was more the it was one of the more consequential
family knights i've covered. It felt like stuff happened when
(01:17):
I was in the locker room afterwards. I felt like,
not only was it the seventy thousand people or sixty
five thousand people, not only was it just the event,
but I actually felt like it was a really productive practice.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I thought, and I wrote about it in the Follower.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Whatever you want to call it, the locker room report
version of what we did with the practice in Tari
Carpenter because to me, although he's no longer a defensive
back technically in Green Bay, he's an inside linebacker now.
I thought that was a performance that reminded me of
the Brandon you know, ross the what's the kid's name
(01:51):
that was the Was it Brandon Smith? I'm trying to remember.
They've had these guys that have been either like undrafted
free agents or late round picks that have really stood
out during the family night, and I felt like that
was Terrey Carpenter. What I love about this guy is
six foot three, two hundred and thirty pounds, runs of
five excuse me, four or five to two forty and
(02:12):
is so athletically gifted. But I think the Packers and
a lot of teams around the National Football League. We're
trying to figure out, how is it going to play
in the NFL, What is his position going to be now?
As he said afterwards to us, I mean a lot
of days, this still feels like an extended rookie season
to him because he is learning a new position. But
for a guy that I think probably was sort of
(02:33):
looking for that confidence boost, he found it in that performance.
I mean the interception he had off Sean Clifford in
the live tackling period was just a heads up play.
It's one of those, as I said when we did
our three things afterwards with Larry, it's a bang bang play.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You gotta get it. You have to make it. You're
not going to get a second chance at it. And
he made it.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And then obviously later on was in the right place
at the right time on the Benny Sap hit of
Dantavian Wicks that led to a second pick. Some people say, well,
that one was kind of in his lap, but those
are the plays you have to make, and you have
to be in the right position to make the play
when it's there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So I was really impressed with him. And then Andres Carlson.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
It was exactly what that young guy needed. I don't
think he lacks for confidence at all. He seems like
a guy that is pretty pretty confident in his abilities
and what he can do on a football field. But
I think it was a reminder to all of us
of Okay, this is what the Packers really liked about him.
He had some struggles in practices, he's been missing his
first kick on some of these rotations he's gone through.
(03:29):
But when the lights were brightest and he needed to
make a statement, as you said, he definitely did that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, Carlson was eight for nine I believe were the
final numbers on his field goals during family and the
one miss was really not on him. It was a
bad snap, the operation was kind of all messed up
there and he missed the one. But then he also
followed up with a pretty pretty solid effort in practice
on Monday back on Nichkie Field, dealing with some significant win,
(03:56):
probably the most significant win that he's dealt with in
practice so far, and uh and had another solid showing there.
So you have to like the way the way Carlson
has uh had has you know, continued I guess to
ascend you know, after a little bit of a rough start,
some ups and downs, maybe things are starting to smooth
out a little bit for him.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Go ahead, yeah, something. I'm very proud of myself. I'm
very proud of myself. It was Brandon.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It was it was Brandon Smith, the CONVERTI nice job.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I would not I remember Brandon Ross And obviously it's
easier to remember him.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
He works in the apartment here.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, he's been he's been back since his playing days.
He's been back for quite a while. But but the
Brandon Smith one, it's a good recall.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
The reason I wanted to bring that one up so
badly was the fact that he was a receiver at
ASU that converted to cornerback. He made a big play
during Family Night in twenty thirteen, I believe it was.
And again it's those little moments that these guys. You're
not going to get a live tackling period with Jordan
Love and Christian Watson and Jay R Alexander, but you
get the live tackling period with some of those young guys.
(04:58):
Now that that that live action, and I feel like
that's where you see the hunger in the desire in
these A lot of guys.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Give credit to Benny sapp.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I don't know anybody talk to him after the practice,
but that guy went out there and put it on
the line to create that play for Carpenter.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So yeah, it's gonna happen. Mike.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
We're days away now at the time we're taping this
away from this, these joint practices, and that this preseason
game against the Bengals. You've got three weeks to make
a statement, make the fifty three man roster, and I
felt like Carpenter did that.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, And I have to admit, Wes, and I think
I told you this back when we first heard about
Carpenter being shifted from safety to inside linebacker. I am
like the ultimate skeptic when it comes to these position changes,
Like I've seen this happen with young players. Usually, as
you mentioned, it can be an undrafted guy or a
late round draft pick. In Carpenter's case, He's a seventh
round pick last year, and it just it very rarely
(05:48):
do these things work out. Every once in a while,
you know, a Spencer Havener comes along who converts from
linebacker to tight end and ends up making the roster
and making an impact on the team. But that is
definitely the exception and not the rule. This one with
Carpenter just might stick. It just might work out because
he had already established himself on special teams, so that's
we have to get that out of the way first.
(06:10):
So my skepticism was not so much in terms of
what he could still contribute to this football team. But
these positions switches, it's it's tough. It's a tough deal.
They don't work out very often. But he looks like
he's really settling in to inside linebacker. He doesn't have
the prototypical body for it, but he also doesn't have
(06:31):
the prototypical body for safety, which is why they've been
trying to figure out. You know, he's got he's got size,
he's got decent speed. There's a lot to work with
there physically, but where does he best fit if you're
going to put him into eleven on eleven on defense?
And I thought he had. I thought he had a really,
really solid practice. He was obviously very excited about it
(06:52):
as well as you talked to him afterwards. He felt
like it was his best practice at inside linebacker since
he had made the switch. And when you can do
that on a night like family night under the lights
sixty five thousand. It sets up well for him to
now move into the joint practice with the Bengals, the
first preseason game in Cincinnati. So so Carpenter definitely a
guy to keep an eye on. A couple other things
(07:13):
to watch for here, And as you said, Wes, not
long after we turn off the cameras here, we're going
to be headed to the airport to go to Cincinnati.
The Packers have a joint practice with the Bengals on Wednesday.
The preseason opener is on Friday. But a few other
things that stood out to me. I'm really curious to
see if what appears to be developing some decent depth
(07:36):
on the defensive line with these young players. I'm curious
to see if this can now carry over into these
preseason games. As can't move along. Because we've seen Colby
Wooden and Carl Brooks, the two draft picks, the two
day three draft picks from this last draft class, and
then a seventh round pick from last year, Jonathan Ford.
(07:56):
These guys are starting to flash. Now they're not going
up against the ones you know, they're they're playing on
the reserve units and whatnot, but they're doing some things
to get noticed, and I think as training camp goes along,
these guys are really starting to get their legs under him.
And I kind of like what I'm starting to see
from these young defensive linemen that the Packers are to
some extent certainly are going to be counting on in
(08:18):
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
They're all going to be such huge perirs, you know,
pieces of this whole puzzle. Mike. I mean, I think
you've even seen with Kenny Clark.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I think Kenny had one of his best practices back
to back from family Night and then going into Monday.
These young guys in the rotation the Packers can get
going is going to be so critical to the success
of this unit moving forward. DeVante Wyatt flashed early on
that was great to see. As a former first round pick,
I think TJ. Slayton could potentially feel a huge, huge
(08:45):
need in this defense as a run stuffing nose tackle.
But then it's the Carl Brooks is just randomly showing
up in the backfield so many times now for Green Bay.
Colby Wooden has really struck me as a very consistent,
disruptive play.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Here early on.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's how you get in the rotation, right, Mike, when
you go back to Kenny Clark's rookie year, when you
go back to Mike Daniel's rookie year. Shoot, even look
at the way a guy like bj Rogie broke in
the door in two thousand and nine. You have to
find ways to contribute to the group, and I feel
like you're seeing that with these young guys.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
The Packers took a risk.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I've talked about this in inbox, you and I have
talked about on this show. They could have easily looked
to find a three million, four million dollar a year
veteran defensive lineman to bring into that rotation, but kind
of like what they did at tight End, kind of
like they've done in some of these other positions, they
opted to go young, take those lumps together, but hope
that over the long run, you're gonna find some real answers.
(09:40):
But I'll say this, Mike, with DeVante Wyatt specifically, if
this kid can continue to stack these days the way
he has for the first two weeks of camp, maybe
show some of that in the preseason, we'll see. But
if he gets off to this, you know, kind of
torrid start that he's been off to in training camp.
This is probably the most excited I've been about a
Packer's defensive lineman from the jump in a very long
(10:02):
time in terms of what his long term potential could be.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, I think there's a there's a lot to like
there from what we've seen. It's still early, long way
to go, and the preseason games are certainly going to
show us a lot in terms of how far these
young defensive linemen can develop. A Couple other things on
family and I don't want to touch on. I thought
coming off of what was a pretty good practice for
the Packers tight ends on Thursday, and I had mentioned
(10:27):
on our three Things video after that practice, I thought,
you know, Tyler Davis was laying some of blocks in
the running game and Luke Musgrave and Tucker Craft were
making some nice catches downfield. I thought they followed it
up with a pretty solid family night practice as well
in a lot of those same respects. And then connected
to Luke Musgrave, he was a big part of the
(10:51):
lightning fast two minute drill that Jordan Love ran getting
going seventy five yards I believe in four plays, maybe
it was five down the fil Old Musgrave had a
big catch there, and after the two minute drill had
to be re wrecked because there was a bad snap
or I should say a mistimed shotgun snap on the
first one, So rather than just end the drill right there,
(11:12):
they rewracked it and Jordan Love took the offense right
down the field lickety split. And another thing I guess
to make note of, we hadn't really heard or seen
a whole lot of Christian Watson on Family and Night,
but then boy, during that two minute drill, it was
it was banged two catches. I think he covered, you know,
roughly forty of the seventy five yards, including the last
(11:34):
twenty with a touchdown on a back shoulder throw and
a great catch against some pretty good coverage. So that
two minute drill was a was a pretty good way
to end that night for the number one offense.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It really was.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I mean, I you always have to throw in the
caveat that. You can't have the miscommunication or whatever that
issue was that led to the fumbled snap at the beginning,
because as I was sort of talking about writing about,
that's the difference between them either getting the ball in
the red zone the opposition or getting a touchdown or
Jordan Love bringing this team down the field and looking
like a million bucks while doing it.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, it's that narrow right. But here's why I like
the most about it.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Talking to Sean Clifford, it wasn't about this place specifically,
but it was Bill Huber asked this question of Sean Clifford.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I thought it was an excellent question and even better answer.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
The the the rhythm of a two minute drill in
what it represents, and Clifford said, in a lot of ways,
it's like art.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It is. It is a feel.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
It is. You know, there's decisions that you have to
make within it. You know whether or not to check
down and do you have a timeout? And if you
don't have the timeout, you're in the middle of the field.
Is it worth the five yards? Do you just throw
it away? Do you dirt it?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And I just.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Thought that that series in particular showed the mastery of
Jordan Love and it kind of gave me some callbacks
to that game in Philadelphia a little bit. He starts
off with a very what does the Watson plays were?
And we'll talk about those in a second. Hitting Luke
Musgrave down in the seam on whatever that kind of
(13:08):
like a skinny post, sort of rowdy was running. That's
something Green Bay's been searching years for. Robert Tunyan did
it at times, but it's been difficult to find that
that seam threat. They've been kind of searching for it
for ten years, to be honest with you, since Jermichael
Finley retired. So being able to get a big chunk
play like that, that's what the big offenses in this
league do. That's why the Travis Kelceys are making the
(13:30):
money that they're making right now. Flip it forward them
the two Watson plays. He showed his speed and explosiveness
on the first one and then just the Aaron Rodgers,
Jordan Nelson whatever kind of you know relationship you want
to call it on the back throw, back shoulder throw
and love put it on the money with the catch
(13:52):
radius of Christian Watson. He caught it, kept it away
from the defender, scored the touchdown. I think that was
one of the bigger moments for the Powers number one
offense in this training camp because those are the competition
periods and nobody's doing push ups or set ups or
you know, updowns or whatever. But let's be honest, Mike,
you and I have watched enough of these things. That's
when the rubber hits the road in these practices is
(14:15):
when you get to the two minute situation. I felt
like the offense, after a little bit of a stumble
early on, really rallied and I love what I've seen
from Jordan Love in those moments.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Absolutely, it was a rough start to the night for
the number one offense. There were lots of bumps in
the road in the first you know, one to two
team periods, the eleven on eleven, But then you saw them,
you know, kind of start to find find a little something,
find a little bit of rhythm, and then with the
two minute drill they got things figured out and lickety
(14:45):
split went right down the field. So some other news
actually post family Night that I want to get to,
but we'll take care of some sponsor business. Here for
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(15:08):
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with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl cousin
subs fifty years of better. All right, some news. First,
on Sunday, the day after Family and Night, the Packers
made the decision to release backup quarterback Danny Ettling, which
has now reduced the quarterback room heading into these preseason
(15:29):
games and the joint practices from four down to three.
So you have Jordan Love, you have rookie fifth round
pick Sean Clifford, and you have the reigning USFL MVP
in Alex Magoo. And then on Monday, Rashaun Gary and
rookie seventh round pick at wide receiver Grant Dubo's they
(15:50):
both were activated and practiced for the first time. For Gary,
it's his first practice since the ACL injury in Detroit
last November, and for dub it's his first practice as
a Green Bay Packer because since the Packers had drafted him,
he'd been dealing with a back injury. He missed OTA's
and Mini camp and everything in training camp up to
(16:10):
this point. Now, both of those guys as of Monday,
just doing individual drills, not cleared for eleven on eleven,
you know, the full contact stuff just yet. But a
good sign that those guys are activated, and certainly a
potentially really good sign that maybe the Packers will have
Rashaan Gary on the field for a Week one in Chicago.
(16:30):
Nobody's making any promises, but that game is still a
month away, and Rashon Geary is cleared to be doing
some drills on the practice field. That's a great sign.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Mike, looking at my phone.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Here the time in which, again we're taping this August eighth.
The Green Bay Packers at the beginning of the training
camp said, Hey, we're gonna take these two weeks. We're
going to see where things are at with Rashaan Gary
and then move from there. I think that is a
huge positive sign that everything in his rehab and that
final sort of stretch in terms of the return into
play was sort of green light to get to this point.
(17:04):
You're not going to put Rashaun Gary out there if
you don't feel confident in the ligament and confident in
his recovery. Nine months in, one day after tearing his
ACL he was back out there now again. As you said,
you don't want to overemphasize things you don't want to
talk about. Hey, what is this going to mean, when's
he going to play, is he going to be in
team periods, what have you. But there was a lot
(17:24):
of people, including myself, that when those injuries happened in November,
you immediately start thinking what does that mean for their
next season? Last year, Elton Jenkins ends up making it
back after suffering a November ACL tear he missed at
the beginning of the season, but then is available to
be able to get Rashaun Gary back in the flow
of things, I think was huge, and as Larry pointed
(17:45):
out in three Things, I mean, the fact that this
young man stood right up and took the first reps
of the individuals. I think that sets the tone for
the entire group, and Mike I just salivate at the
thought of the ways in which Green Bay can use
all of these pass rushers when they get Rashaan Gary
back on the field. Lucas Fans is not going to
be an MVP overnight. I'm not going to try to
(18:07):
illustrate it as such, but you know, I actually think
that was one of the things they've kind of missed
here since the end of the Zadarias Smith era was
having the three sort of outside backers and the dime
package that you can really rely on for pressure. Gary
can play inside, Ben ask could potentially play inside. You
have pressed and available Kingsley and Nigbari I thought really
passed a lot of tests last year, and then obviously
(18:28):
Kenny Clark being utilized in that capacity.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
That's the money down.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And I would say the Packers with the way they're
set up right now with those cornerbacks and those inside backers,
they have a lot of bases covered. But it was
trying to make sure that you can pressure the quarterback
in those instances, and Rashan Gary being back and having
Lucas fans in the fold now goes a long way
and helping accomplish that.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, And the way I look at it, I mean
hopefully Gary is on track to be available for Week one.
I don't necessarily see Rashaun Gary playing sixty snaps at
Soldier Field in Week one, considering the length of the recovery.
But the way this timeline has gone, if you get
Rashaan Gary for ten snaps at Soldier Field in Week one,
that's a huge victory for the Packers and for this
(19:08):
defense because then he can only take off and and
go from there. So that that was that was really
really positive news to see him back on the practice field. Obviously,
he's very excited about it as well, although trying to
temper his own excitement knowing that it's it's not as
though he gets completely cut loose to do everything he
(19:28):
wants to. You know, the medical staffs has have a
plan for him. They're going to They're going to bring
him along and see where things go. With regard to
the backup quarterback situation, We're certainly going to see I
think a fair amount of rookie fifth round pick out
of Penn State, Sean Clifford in these preseason games. Matt
(19:50):
Lafleur had suggested that that, you know, Jordan Love may
may be playing some in these three preseason games as well.
But but I think I think the coaching staff is
gonna is gonna put Clifford in there and for a
good chunk of time, and these these three preseason games
are going to be, you know, trial by fire for
(20:11):
him in terms of how quickly, how quickly can we
get a rookie quarterback to a level that that if
he's needed, he could step in and no offense to
to Alex Magoo. But he like just got here right
before training camp. I mean, there's still a lot with
the playbook that he needs to learn and everything like that,
and he's certainly coming along and he's made his share
(20:32):
of plays. But the Packers invested a fifth round pick
in Sean Clifford, and now Danny Ettling is gone. Clifford
is the guy who who's going to have a big
spotlight on him. I think in this preseason Yeah, credit
to Edling.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I mean, he did pretty much everything this team could
have asked him to do. But at the end of
the day, Sean was the fifth round pick. And this
is kind of the way I sort of saw this
thing playing out as soon as they signed Magoo, because
it's like, all right, Danny's twenty eight, Do you really
want to have him on the practice squad again this year?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
If that goes, do you want to take a look
at somebody else.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I really thought it was going to take a hercu
lean effort for him to really use surp Clifford as
a rookie fifth round pick for that number two job.
But it also says that the Packers do have confidence
in Clifford to handle this, because if he did, if
they didn't. You could have waited another week with Danny,
you could have gotten through this Bengals game. I think
they made the ultimately, the decision that Clifford is going
(21:22):
to be, you know, a guy that we're dedicated to,
We're dedicated to see in his development, and we've seen
enough from Alex Magoo to validate no longer having Danny
here because it is tough. Man.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It's tough being.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Able to work in four quarterbacks, especially when everybody's healthy,
and especially when Jordan Love is going to you know,
require them on a reps that he does need during
a training camp. I'm personally very excited for these preseason games.
I think it's going to be very exciting to see
what Clifford can do. It's actually interesting he gets to
play his first preson season game in his hometown of Cincinnati.
(21:53):
He said he'll have about twenty to thirty people there.
I'm guessing you'll have some people cheering for him. He
mentioned having some you know, Clifford number eight Jersey's walking
around there at the joint practices as well. So a
neat experience for a guy that used to be able
to go to Paul Brown Stadium head season tickets, I think,
he said his senior year of high school. So him
and his baby brother who's now at Penn State, when
he was in eighth grade, they went to quite a
(22:13):
few games together, really grew their relationship and love for
football that way. So for him to be able to
start that chapter of his career is very interesting and
very cool. But Alex McGoo is an amazing story too, Mike,
and a guy that was actually drafted back to back
picks with Atling in twenty eighteen has sort of risen
from the ashes to put together two impressive seasons in
the USFL to re earn another opportunity in the NFL
(22:34):
at twenty seven years old. And if you talk about
a guy that's gonna be hungry and motivated to show
that he belongs that those two quarterbacks together, I think.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Are going to make for a really good competition the
rest of the way.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well, very shortly here Wes, as a famous
head coach once said, we are on to Cincinnati, and.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
The famous head coach is going to be here next week. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
One last thought for me though, what are you looking for?
And we'll talk more about the game, hopefully on our
next show. Technically, if everything goes okay, our next show
will actually be from Cincinnati. You'll be hearing from us near.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
It will be next to each other.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
But yeah, yeah, perhaps perhaps we can get that worked
out as well. But with regard to the joint practice
on Wednesday, what are you looking for? What are you
gonna have your eye on? For me, it's seeing Jay
or Alexander against Jamar Chase hopefully, and then I think
on the other side, it's seeing a woozy a the
number one cornerback for the Bengals, up against Christian Watson.
(23:32):
These will make for some interesting matchups because we don't
really know if we're gonna see those matchups Friday night,
but we very well could see them on Wednesday afternoon
on the practice field.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, and you know guys like t Higgins too, right,
Rasseill Douglas. I mean, there's a lot of opportunities and
matchups are gonna be fun to watch. Me personally, I
can't wait to watch the O line D line work.
We talked about how good the Packers young defensive line
has looked. Cincinnati historically has not had one of the
strongest lines in the football in terms of their O line,
So seeing and if maybe some of those successes that
that Slaton has had. You know, you talked about why
(24:04):
it's seen if those translate, does a guy like you know,
you know, these offensive linemen that I think have really
stood out. I thought Sean Ryan has put together a
good camp so far, Caleb Jones has looked great at tackle.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
They'll get some reps there as well.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Very interested to see how that plays out for them,
and honestly kind of seeing how the offensive line rotation
is going to look. Maybe Dave practices in these things.
I don't know if him and you know, if he's
going to go or not. If he does great, you know,
Trey Hendrickson, you know Sam Hubbard. They got some really
good edge rushers down in Cincinnati as well. But also
you know, where's Joash Shneiman, Where's Zach Tom How are
(24:39):
they looking at that competition? Because that's ultimately the thing, man,
is that when you get some of these position battles,
and you talked about it, you know, with the with
the John Owen story and everything that's going on with
him at safety right now, there's a trickle down here
where you want to give everybody an opportunity to win
the job. But at some point you do need to
start turning the clock towards the season. And where do
you feel most comfortable. Where's Jordan Love most comfortable? Where
(25:01):
is Darnell Savage in the back, and most comfortable seeing
when the rotation stop, regardless of whether or not we're
in Cincinnati practicing against the Patriots or the following week
back get ready for that finale against the Seahawks. When
the rotation, when the musical chairs starts to end and
they start to settle in. That's what I'm always interested
to watch. And for the guys who don't play in
this preseason game against the Bengals, that practice is going
(25:24):
to be really essential to understanding not only where they're at,
but where the direction of this team is at. Now
two weeks into this program and realistically, you know, four
months now into the Jordan Love era here in Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, absolutely, well, my friend, we have a flight to catch,
so with that we will call it a rap on
this edition of Packers Unscript. You'd be sure to follow
all of our continuing coverage of training camp. Will be
in Cincinnati for the joint practice the preseason game on
Friday Night. Be back here in Green Bay next week,
continuing with everything with the Patriots coming to town, so
we've got it all for you on packers dot com
(25:58):
for wes Im Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody.
We will see you next time.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
M HM.
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
by my partner in crime, Weston hod Qwitz. We're coming
to you here from different locations at Lambeufield and Wes.
A lot has gone on since our last show, So
without further ado, let's dive into it. First and foremost,
(00:27):
the Family Night practice, the big event Saturday night at
lambeau Field. If you were to ask me to pick
a one and a one A in terms of players
who stood out on the practice field at Lambo on
Saturday night, my one is rookie kicker Andres Carlson, and
my one A is converted inside linebacker Turek Carpenter. I
(00:49):
thought both of those guys made certain statements of their
own during that practice.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That's a great observation, Mike. It was funny.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I we talked about this before, and I haven't covered
the Family Night scrimmage practice. Now excuse me in a
while because I was with Leroy Butler last year at
the Canton for the Hall of Fame, so maybe I
have like recency bias here. I actually felt like it
was more the it was one of the more consequential
family knights i've covered. It felt like stuff happened when
(01:17):
I was in the locker room afterwards. I felt like,
not only was it the seventy thousand people or sixty
five thousand people, not only was it just the event,
but I actually felt like it was a really productive practice.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I thought, and I wrote about it in the Follower.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Whatever you want to call it, the locker room report
version of what we did with the practice in Tari
Carpenter because to me, although he's no longer a defensive
back technically in Green Bay, he's an inside linebacker now.
I thought that was a performance that reminded me of
the Brandon you know, ross the what's the kid's name
(01:51):
that was the Was it Brandon Smith? I'm trying to remember.
They've had these guys that have been either like undrafted
free agents or late round picks that have really stood
out during the family night, and I felt like that
was Terrey Carpenter. What I love about this guy is
six foot three, two hundred and thirty pounds, runs of
five excuse me, four or five to two forty and
(02:12):
is so athletically gifted. But I think the Packers and
a lot of teams around the National Football League. We're
trying to figure out, how is it going to play
in the NFL, What is his position going to be now?
As he said afterwards to us, I mean a lot
of days, this still feels like an extended rookie season
to him because he is learning a new position. But
for a guy that I think probably was sort of
(02:33):
looking for that confidence boost, he found it in that performance.
I mean the interception he had off Sean Clifford in
the live tackling period was just a heads up play.
It's one of those, as I said when we did
our three things afterwards with Larry, it's a bang bang play.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You gotta get it. You have to make it. You're
not going to get a second chance at it. And
he made it.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And then obviously later on was in the right place
at the right time on the Benny Sap hit of
Dantavian Wicks that led to a second pick. Some people say, well,
that one was kind of in his lap, but those
are the plays you have to make, and you have
to be in the right position to make the play
when it's there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So I was really impressed with him. And then Andres Carlson.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
It was exactly what that young guy needed. I don't
think he lacks for confidence at all. He seems like
a guy that is pretty pretty confident in his abilities
and what he can do on a football field. But
I think it was a reminder to all of us
of Okay, this is what the Packers really liked about him.
He had some struggles in practices, he's been missing his
first kick on some of these rotations he's gone through.
(03:29):
But when the lights were brightest and he needed to
make a statement, as you said, he definitely did that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, Carlson was eight for nine I believe were the
final numbers on his field goals during family and the
one miss was really not on him. It was a
bad snap, the operation was kind of all messed up
there and he missed the one. But then he also
followed up with a pretty pretty solid effort in practice
on Monday back on Nichkie Field, dealing with some significant win,
(03:56):
probably the most significant win that he's dealt with in
practice so far, and uh and had another solid showing there.
So you have to like the way the way Carlson
has uh had has you know, continued I guess to
ascend you know, after a little bit of a rough start,
some ups and downs, maybe things are starting to smooth
out a little bit for him.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Go ahead, yeah, something. I'm very proud of myself. I'm
very proud of myself. It was Brandon.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It was it was Brandon Smith, the CONVERTI nice job.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I would not I remember Brandon Ross And obviously it's
easier to remember him.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
He works in the apartment here.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, he's been he's been back since his playing days.
He's been back for quite a while. But but the
Brandon Smith one, it's a good recall.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
The reason I wanted to bring that one up so
badly was the fact that he was a receiver at
ASU that converted to cornerback. He made a big play
during Family Night in twenty thirteen, I believe it was.
And again it's those little moments that these guys. You're
not going to get a live tackling period with Jordan
Love and Christian Watson and Jay R Alexander, but you
get the live tackling period with some of those young guys.
(04:58):
Now that that that live action, and I feel like
that's where you see the hunger in the desire in
these A lot of guys.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Give credit to Benny sapp.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I don't know anybody talk to him after the practice,
but that guy went out there and put it on
the line to create that play for Carpenter.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So yeah, it's gonna happen. Mike.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
We're days away now at the time we're taping this
away from this, these joint practices, and that this preseason
game against the Bengals. You've got three weeks to make
a statement, make the fifty three man roster, and I
felt like Carpenter did that.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, And I have to admit, Wes, and I think
I told you this back when we first heard about
Carpenter being shifted from safety to inside linebacker. I am
like the ultimate skeptic when it comes to these position changes,
Like I've seen this happen with young players. Usually, as
you mentioned, it can be an undrafted guy or a
late round draft pick. In Carpenter's case, He's a seventh
round pick last year, and it just it very rarely
(05:48):
do these things work out. Every once in a while,
you know, a Spencer Havener comes along who converts from
linebacker to tight end and ends up making the roster
and making an impact on the team. But that is
definitely the exception and not the rule. This one with
Carpenter just might stick. It just might work out because
he had already established himself on special teams, so that's
we have to get that out of the way first.
(06:10):
So my skepticism was not so much in terms of
what he could still contribute to this football team. But
these positions switches, it's it's tough. It's a tough deal.
They don't work out very often. But he looks like
he's really settling in to inside linebacker. He doesn't have
the prototypical body for it, but he also doesn't have
(06:31):
the prototypical body for safety, which is why they've been
trying to figure out. You know, he's got he's got size,
he's got decent speed. There's a lot to work with
there physically, but where does he best fit if you're
going to put him into eleven on eleven on defense?
And I thought he had. I thought he had a really,
really solid practice. He was obviously very excited about it
(06:52):
as well as you talked to him afterwards. He felt
like it was his best practice at inside linebacker since
he had made the switch. And when you can do
that on a night like family night under the lights
sixty five thousand. It sets up well for him to
now move into the joint practice with the Bengals, the
first preseason game in Cincinnati. So so Carpenter definitely a
guy to keep an eye on. A couple other things
(07:13):
to watch for here, And as you said, Wes, not
long after we turn off the cameras here, we're going
to be headed to the airport to go to Cincinnati.
The Packers have a joint practice with the Bengals on Wednesday.
The preseason opener is on Friday. But a few other
things that stood out to me. I'm really curious to
see if what appears to be developing some decent depth
(07:36):
on the defensive line with these young players. I'm curious
to see if this can now carry over into these
preseason games. As can't move along. Because we've seen Colby
Wooden and Carl Brooks, the two draft picks, the two
day three draft picks from this last draft class, and
then a seventh round pick from last year, Jonathan Ford.
(07:56):
These guys are starting to flash. Now they're not going
up against the ones you know, they're they're playing on
the reserve units and whatnot, but they're doing some things
to get noticed, and I think as training camp goes along,
these guys are really starting to get their legs under him.
And I kind of like what I'm starting to see
from these young defensive linemen that the Packers are to
some extent certainly are going to be counting on in
(08:18):
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
They're all going to be such huge perirs, you know,
pieces of this whole puzzle. Mike. I mean, I think
you've even seen with Kenny Clark.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I think Kenny had one of his best practices back
to back from family Night and then going into Monday.
These young guys in the rotation the Packers can get
going is going to be so critical to the success
of this unit moving forward. DeVante Wyatt flashed early on
that was great to see. As a former first round pick,
I think TJ. Slayton could potentially feel a huge, huge
(08:45):
need in this defense as a run stuffing nose tackle.
But then it's the Carl Brooks is just randomly showing
up in the backfield so many times now for Green Bay.
Colby Wooden has really struck me as a very consistent,
disruptive play.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Here early on.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's how you get in the rotation, right, Mike, when
you go back to Kenny Clark's rookie year, when you
go back to Mike Daniel's rookie year. Shoot, even look
at the way a guy like bj Rogie broke in
the door in two thousand and nine. You have to
find ways to contribute to the group, and I feel
like you're seeing that with these young guys.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
The Packers took a risk.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I've talked about this in inbox, you and I have
talked about on this show. They could have easily looked
to find a three million, four million dollar a year
veteran defensive lineman to bring into that rotation, but kind
of like what they did at tight End, kind of
like they've done in some of these other positions, they
opted to go young, take those lumps together, but hope
that over the long run, you're gonna find some real answers.
(09:40):
But I'll say this, Mike, with DeVante Wyatt specifically, if
this kid can continue to stack these days the way
he has for the first two weeks of camp, maybe
show some of that in the preseason, we'll see. But
if he gets off to this, you know, kind of
torrid start that he's been off to in training camp.
This is probably the most excited I've been about a
Packer's defensive lineman from the jump in a very long
(10:02):
time in terms of what his long term potential could be.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, I think there's a there's a lot to like
there from what we've seen. It's still early, long way
to go, and the preseason games are certainly going to
show us a lot in terms of how far these
young defensive linemen can develop. A Couple other things on
family and I don't want to touch on. I thought
coming off of what was a pretty good practice for
the Packers tight ends on Thursday, and I had mentioned
(10:27):
on our three Things video after that practice, I thought,
you know, Tyler Davis was laying some of blocks in
the running game and Luke Musgrave and Tucker Craft were
making some nice catches downfield. I thought they followed it
up with a pretty solid family night practice as well
in a lot of those same respects. And then connected
to Luke Musgrave, he was a big part of the
(10:51):
lightning fast two minute drill that Jordan Love ran getting
going seventy five yards I believe in four plays, maybe
it was five down the fil Old Musgrave had a
big catch there, and after the two minute drill had
to be re wrecked because there was a bad snap
or I should say a mistimed shotgun snap on the
first one, So rather than just end the drill right there,
(11:12):
they rewracked it and Jordan Love took the offense right
down the field lickety split. And another thing I guess
to make note of, we hadn't really heard or seen
a whole lot of Christian Watson on Family and Night,
but then boy, during that two minute drill, it was
it was banged two catches. I think he covered, you know,
roughly forty of the seventy five yards, including the last
(11:34):
twenty with a touchdown on a back shoulder throw and
a great catch against some pretty good coverage. So that
two minute drill was a was a pretty good way
to end that night for the number one offense.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It really was.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I mean, I you always have to throw in the
caveat that. You can't have the miscommunication or whatever that
issue was that led to the fumbled snap at the beginning,
because as I was sort of talking about writing about,
that's the difference between them either getting the ball in
the red zone the opposition or getting a touchdown or
Jordan Love bringing this team down the field and looking
like a million bucks while doing it.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, it's that narrow right. But here's why I like
the most about it.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Talking to Sean Clifford, it wasn't about this place specifically,
but it was Bill Huber asked this question of Sean Clifford.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I thought it was an excellent question and even better answer.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
The the the rhythm of a two minute drill in
what it represents, and Clifford said, in a lot of ways,
it's like art.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It is. It is a feel.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
It is. You know, there's decisions that you have to
make within it. You know whether or not to check
down and do you have a timeout? And if you
don't have the timeout, you're in the middle of the field.
Is it worth the five yards? Do you just throw
it away? Do you dirt it?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And I just.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Thought that that series in particular showed the mastery of
Jordan Love and it kind of gave me some callbacks
to that game in Philadelphia a little bit. He starts
off with a very what does the Watson plays were?
And we'll talk about those in a second. Hitting Luke
Musgrave down in the seam on whatever that kind of
(13:08):
like a skinny post, sort of rowdy was running. That's
something Green Bay's been searching years for. Robert Tunyan did
it at times, but it's been difficult to find that
that seam threat. They've been kind of searching for it
for ten years, to be honest with you, since Jermichael
Finley retired. So being able to get a big chunk
play like that, that's what the big offenses in this
league do. That's why the Travis Kelceys are making the
(13:30):
money that they're making right now. Flip it forward them
the two Watson plays. He showed his speed and explosiveness
on the first one and then just the Aaron Rodgers,
Jordan Nelson whatever kind of you know relationship you want
to call it on the back throw, back shoulder throw
and love put it on the money with the catch
(13:52):
radius of Christian Watson. He caught it, kept it away
from the defender, scored the touchdown. I think that was
one of the bigger moments for the Powers number one
offense in this training camp because those are the competition
periods and nobody's doing push ups or set ups or
you know, updowns or whatever. But let's be honest, Mike,
you and I have watched enough of these things. That's
when the rubber hits the road in these practices is
(14:15):
when you get to the two minute situation. I felt
like the offense, after a little bit of a stumble
early on, really rallied and I love what I've seen
from Jordan Love in those moments.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Absolutely, it was a rough start to the night for
the number one offense. There were lots of bumps in
the road in the first you know, one to two
team periods, the eleven on eleven, But then you saw them,
you know, kind of start to find find a little something,
find a little bit of rhythm, and then with the
two minute drill they got things figured out and lickety
(14:45):
split went right down the field. So some other news
actually post family Night that I want to get to,
but we'll take care of some sponsor business. Here for
serious XM. NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up
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(15:08):
mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes. All paired
with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl cousin
subs fifty years of better. All right, some news. First,
on Sunday, the day after Family and Night, the Packers
made the decision to release backup quarterback Danny Ettling, which
has now reduced the quarterback room heading into these preseason
(15:29):
games and the joint practices from four down to three.
So you have Jordan Love, you have rookie fifth round
pick Sean Clifford, and you have the reigning USFL MVP
in Alex Magoo. And then on Monday, Rashaun Gary and
rookie seventh round pick at wide receiver Grant Dubo's they
(15:50):
both were activated and practiced for the first time. For Gary,
it's his first practice since the ACL injury in Detroit
last November, and for dub it's his first practice as
a Green Bay Packer because since the Packers had drafted him,
he'd been dealing with a back injury. He missed OTA's
and Mini camp and everything in training camp up to
(16:10):
this point. Now, both of those guys as of Monday,
just doing individual drills, not cleared for eleven on eleven,
you know, the full contact stuff just yet. But a
good sign that those guys are activated, and certainly a
potentially really good sign that maybe the Packers will have
Rashaan Gary on the field for a Week one in Chicago.
(16:30):
Nobody's making any promises, but that game is still a
month away, and Rashon Geary is cleared to be doing
some drills on the practice field. That's a great sign.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Mike, looking at my phone.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Here the time in which, again we're taping this August eighth.
The Green Bay Packers at the beginning of the training
camp said, Hey, we're gonna take these two weeks. We're
going to see where things are at with Rashaan Gary
and then move from there. I think that is a
huge positive sign that everything in his rehab and that
final sort of stretch in terms of the return into
play was sort of green light to get to this point.
(17:04):
You're not going to put Rashaun Gary out there if
you don't feel confident in the ligament and confident in
his recovery. Nine months in, one day after tearing his
ACL he was back out there now again. As you said,
you don't want to overemphasize things you don't want to
talk about. Hey, what is this going to mean, when's
he going to play, is he going to be in
team periods, what have you. But there was a lot
(17:24):
of people, including myself, that when those injuries happened in November,
you immediately start thinking what does that mean for their
next season? Last year, Elton Jenkins ends up making it
back after suffering a November ACL tear he missed at
the beginning of the season, but then is available to
be able to get Rashaun Gary back in the flow
of things, I think was huge, and as Larry pointed
(17:45):
out in three Things, I mean, the fact that this
young man stood right up and took the first reps
of the individuals. I think that sets the tone for
the entire group, and Mike I just salivate at the
thought of the ways in which Green Bay can use
all of these pass rushers when they get Rashaan Gary
back on the field. Lucas Fans is not going to
be an MVP overnight. I'm not going to try to
(18:07):
illustrate it as such, but you know, I actually think
that was one of the things they've kind of missed
here since the end of the Zadarias Smith era was
having the three sort of outside backers and the dime
package that you can really rely on for pressure. Gary
can play inside, Ben ask could potentially play inside. You
have pressed and available Kingsley and Nigbari I thought really
passed a lot of tests last year, and then obviously
(18:28):
Kenny Clark being utilized in that capacity.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
That's the money down.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And I would say the Packers with the way they're
set up right now with those cornerbacks and those inside backers,
they have a lot of bases covered. But it was
trying to make sure that you can pressure the quarterback
in those instances, and Rashan Gary being back and having
Lucas fans in the fold now goes a long way
and helping accomplish that.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, And the way I look at it, I mean
hopefully Gary is on track to be available for Week one.
I don't necessarily see Rashaun Gary playing sixty snaps at
Soldier Field in Week one, considering the length of the recovery.
But the way this timeline has gone, if you get
Rashaan Gary for ten snaps at Soldier Field in Week one,
that's a huge victory for the Packers and for this
(19:08):
defense because then he can only take off and and
go from there. So that that was that was really
really positive news to see him back on the practice field. Obviously,
he's very excited about it as well, although trying to
temper his own excitement knowing that it's it's not as
though he gets completely cut loose to do everything he
(19:28):
wants to. You know, the medical staffs has have a
plan for him. They're going to They're going to bring
him along and see where things go. With regard to
the backup quarterback situation, We're certainly going to see I
think a fair amount of rookie fifth round pick out
of Penn State, Sean Clifford in these preseason games. Matt
(19:50):
Lafleur had suggested that that, you know, Jordan Love may
may be playing some in these three preseason games as well.
But but I think I think the coaching staff is
gonna is gonna put Clifford in there and for a
good chunk of time, and these these three preseason games
are going to be, you know, trial by fire for
(20:11):
him in terms of how quickly, how quickly can we
get a rookie quarterback to a level that that if
he's needed, he could step in and no offense to
to Alex Magoo. But he like just got here right
before training camp. I mean, there's still a lot with
the playbook that he needs to learn and everything like that,
and he's certainly coming along and he's made his share
(20:32):
of plays. But the Packers invested a fifth round pick
in Sean Clifford, and now Danny Ettling is gone. Clifford
is the guy who who's going to have a big
spotlight on him. I think in this preseason Yeah, credit
to Edling.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I mean, he did pretty much everything this team could
have asked him to do. But at the end of
the day, Sean was the fifth round pick. And this
is kind of the way I sort of saw this
thing playing out as soon as they signed Magoo, because
it's like, all right, Danny's twenty eight, Do you really
want to have him on the practice squad again this year?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
If that goes, do you want to take a look
at somebody else.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I really thought it was going to take a hercu
lean effort for him to really use surp Clifford as
a rookie fifth round pick for that number two job.
But it also says that the Packers do have confidence
in Clifford to handle this, because if he did, if
they didn't. You could have waited another week with Danny,
you could have gotten through this Bengals game. I think
they made the ultimately, the decision that Clifford is going
(21:22):
to be, you know, a guy that we're dedicated to,
We're dedicated to see in his development, and we've seen
enough from Alex Magoo to validate no longer having Danny
here because it is tough. Man.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It's tough being.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Able to work in four quarterbacks, especially when everybody's healthy,
and especially when Jordan Love is going to you know,
require them on a reps that he does need during
a training camp. I'm personally very excited for these preseason games.
I think it's going to be very exciting to see
what Clifford can do. It's actually interesting he gets to
play his first preson season game in his hometown of Cincinnati.
(21:53):
He said he'll have about twenty to thirty people there.
I'm guessing you'll have some people cheering for him. He
mentioned having some you know, Clifford number eight Jersey's walking
around there at the joint practices as well. So a
neat experience for a guy that used to be able
to go to Paul Brown Stadium head season tickets, I think,
he said his senior year of high school. So him
and his baby brother who's now at Penn State, when
he was in eighth grade, they went to quite a
(22:13):
few games together, really grew their relationship and love for
football that way. So for him to be able to
start that chapter of his career is very interesting and
very cool. But Alex McGoo is an amazing story too, Mike,
and a guy that was actually drafted back to back
picks with Atling in twenty eighteen has sort of risen
from the ashes to put together two impressive seasons in
the USFL to re earn another opportunity in the NFL
(22:34):
at twenty seven years old. And if you talk about
a guy that's gonna be hungry and motivated to show
that he belongs that those two quarterbacks together, I think.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Are going to make for a really good competition the
rest of the way.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well, very shortly here Wes, as a famous
head coach once said, we are on to Cincinnati, and.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
The famous head coach is going to be here next week. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
One last thought for me though, what are you looking for?
And we'll talk more about the game, hopefully on our
next show. Technically, if everything goes okay, our next show
will actually be from Cincinnati. You'll be hearing from us near.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
It will be next to each other.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
But yeah, yeah, perhaps perhaps we can get that worked
out as well. But with regard to the joint practice
on Wednesday, what are you looking for? What are you
gonna have your eye on? For me, it's seeing Jay
or Alexander against Jamar Chase hopefully, and then I think
on the other side, it's seeing a woozy a the
number one cornerback for the Bengals, up against Christian Watson.
(23:32):
These will make for some interesting matchups because we don't
really know if we're gonna see those matchups Friday night,
but we very well could see them on Wednesday afternoon
on the practice field.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, and you know guys like t Higgins too, right,
Rasseill Douglas. I mean, there's a lot of opportunities and
matchups are gonna be fun to watch. Me personally, I
can't wait to watch the O line D line work.
We talked about how good the Packers young defensive line
has looked. Cincinnati historically has not had one of the
strongest lines in the football in terms of their O line,
So seeing and if maybe some of those successes that
that Slaton has had. You know, you talked about why
(24:04):
it's seen if those translate, does a guy like you know,
you know, these offensive linemen that I think have really
stood out. I thought Sean Ryan has put together a
good camp so far, Caleb Jones has looked great at tackle.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
They'll get some reps there as well.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Very interested to see how that plays out for them,
and honestly kind of seeing how the offensive line rotation
is going to look. Maybe Dave practices in these things.
I don't know if him and you know, if he's
going to go or not. If he does great, you know,
Trey Hendrickson, you know Sam Hubbard. They got some really
good edge rushers down in Cincinnati as well. But also
you know, where's Joash Shneiman, Where's Zach Tom How are
(24:39):
they looking at that competition? Because that's ultimately the thing, man,
is that when you get some of these position battles,
and you talked about it, you know, with the with
the John Owen story and everything that's going on with
him at safety right now, there's a trickle down here
where you want to give everybody an opportunity to win
the job. But at some point you do need to
start turning the clock towards the season. And where do
you feel most comfortable. Where's Jordan Love most comfortable? Where
(25:01):
is Darnell Savage in the back, and most comfortable seeing
when the rotation stop, regardless of whether or not we're
in Cincinnati practicing against the Patriots or the following week
back get ready for that finale against the Seahawks. When
the rotation, when the musical chairs starts to end and
they start to settle in. That's what I'm always interested
to watch. And for the guys who don't play in
this preseason game against the Bengals, that practice is going
(25:24):
to be really essential to understanding not only where they're at,
but where the direction of this team is at. Now
two weeks into this program and realistically, you know, four
months now into the Jordan Love era here in Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, absolutely, well, my friend, we have a flight to catch,
so with that we will call it a rap on
this edition of Packers Unscript. You'd be sure to follow
all of our continuing coverage of training camp. Will be
in Cincinnati for the joint practice the preseason game on
Friday Night. Be back here in Green Bay next week,
continuing with everything with the Patriots coming to town, so
we've got it all for you on packers dot com
(25:58):
for wes Im Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody.
We will see you next time.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
M HM.
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