October 17, 2024 • 10 mins
Mike Heller from 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee (Packers Flagship Station) joins The A-Team. He talks about what makes this Matt LaFleur Packers offense so tough, CJ Stroud vs. Jordan Love and what he anticipates to see from this Texans team.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mike Heller joins us from The Mike Heller Show ninety
seven to three the game they're in Milwaukee. I really
appreciate the opportunity to catch up with you, Mike, talk
about this matchup and kind of where things stand for
these two teams. And there are a lot of reasons
why I think they can be tied together kind of
from the timeline of each of their quarterbacks making their
twenty second start. Both became full time starters at the
(00:21):
beginning of this past season. Obviously, Jordan Love had been
there for a bit before that happened, but late last
season it seemed like they were consistently producing eye popping
numbers week after week after week as both of these
franchises were charging towards playoffs, and then they each won
their opening playoff game before falling the following week. Do
you believe in is there any sense of that there
(00:43):
in Green Bay in Packerland that these two quarterbacks are
going to be quote unquote kind of with each other
over the next handful of years.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, I sure think so. I think they're going to
be compared favorably towards one another, even though they weren't
in the same draft class. To your point, they began
starting at the same time, and the numbers that both
have put up have been pretty extraordinary, maybe more so
for Stroud because he was doing so in his rookie season.
(01:13):
But I looked at Jordan Love the back half of
last year when he was going on an eighteen touchdown
one interception run. It was just really impressive. And that
Packers' mantra, their marching orders, as it seems, has been
now for more than thirty years, is to put the
quarterback in waiting. You know, they did it with Aaron
(01:36):
Rodgers for three years. They did it with Jordan Love
for three years, and that model has worked really well.
And Stroud's just really impressive. Every time I see him
do his work. I'm impressed. The quarterbacks are pretty similar too,
aren't they. I mean, neither one wants to run. They can,
but they want to beat you with their legs to
their arm rather than just their legs.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
There's no question about it. I'm curious what you think
happened during that run of Love's excellence. He was clearly good.
Prior to that, the record wasn't as good, and he
obviously was making more mistakes. So in that pocket of
games where things went so well for him and obviously
for the team. And I'm not sure how you view
his four games this year compared to like the first six, seven,
(02:18):
eight games last year, Like what's the real difference and
when he was so incredibly sharp during that last, you know,
really eight games of the season.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, I think in part Adam Matt Lafleur deserves a
lot of credit because he is what he told us
were the Packers' flagship. What he told us is he
just told him to let it go, let it fly,
stop worrying so much, just play, stop thinking so much.
I think that's an oversimplification of what they really told him.
(02:48):
But I think at that point he just began to
trust what he had learned and stopped worrying so much
about what he was doing. Plus, I also give credit
to the head coach and the bodies around him that young.
The Packers have a really young receiving cores, including the
side end Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave who was hurt
(03:08):
right now. But the wide receivers, you know, Romeo Dobbs
is relatively new to the to the NFL, the you know,
the third fourth year in the league. Then you look
at the Jaden Reid last year was a rookie season.
Christian Watson hasn't been healthy, but one he is, he
can take the top off the defense. The Packers just
had a ton of weapons, and I think at some
(03:30):
point last year, back half of the season, Love let
it go. I think Lakla there are some things there
that are deeper than just let it fly. And then
this year, I think the difference is Jordan Love had
a sloppy first game and he didn't play. He played
one series three plays in the preseason. He had a
sloppy first game, then had the mcl on the last
(03:53):
offensive drive of that game, missed two games, came back,
wasn't sharp, and then in week two that he was back,
he was much better. And then last week being back,
he was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It definitely seemed like that was a major uptick, just
quickly before you get into the additional analysis from the
practice report, with three of those four receivers you mentioned
all Butt Dobbs listed is limited and jyr Alexander there
and Kraft as well, is there real concern that some
of these players will not be available for the game.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It didn't seem like it I don't think so. Reid's injuried.
He would be the one I would worry about. And
you know, from a Houston perspective, I think that the
defensive coordinator. I think defensively, Houston and everybody else the
Packers play have to account for Jaden Reid. He lines
up a lot in the slot, but he is very
(04:44):
much their best player in space once you get the
ball in his hands, and he's got great hands and
great instincts. Christian Watson is the speed component, and he
is healthy, and if you don't roll safety help to him,
he can run by defenders. He's a very talented player.
And Romeo Dobbs is the combination. He is probably the
(05:05):
best receiver. He's had an off field issue that we're
not exactly certain what the base of the basis of
it was, but he was suspended for a game then
last week came back and caught two touchdown passes. I
think they're healthy enough, and I think crap is healthy
and he's a difference maker at the tight end position
(05:25):
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, definitely a good group. Mike Heller talking with us
here on Sports Talk seven to ninety on the A
team yesterday on our show. Just we were talking about
off season moves, and I thought one of the moves
in the AFC that kind of shifted things in a
positive direction. Maybe the best move addition was Derrick Henry
going to the Baltimore Ravens, and if I was flipping
it over to the NFC, I think two names stand
(05:47):
out as maybe the most significant additions in the offseason.
Clearly Kirk Cousins in Atlanta is one. Xavier McKinney in
the defensive backfield for the Packers. I can't imagine isn't
the other or one of the others. I'm sure it's
surprised everyoney how many plays he's made. But I think
the expectations you tell me if I'm wrong, were that
he would be a difference maker, regardless of whether it
(06:10):
showed itself in interception after interception after interception.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, and dude's been great. He had interceptions in six
straight games, the last game for the Giants a year
ago and the first five games for the Packers this year.
He didn't have one last Sunday. But he's always around
the ball. He's a difference maker on the back end.
He's got good corners in front of him. Especially in
Jaya Alexander, and he trusts them, and he trusts to
(06:37):
put them in the right positions and then he's allowed
to truly roam and do what a free safety does best.
And he has played the ball. Last week, Kyler Murray
didn't threaten him, didn't challenge anything deep over the middle,
which is where McKinney has made his hay so far
this year. But he has been you're dead on. I
(06:57):
think he has been the most significant offseed edition of
any team in the NFC, with some credit to Kirk
Cousins as well, but he's been a difference maker without
a question. The Packers also are faster defensively than they've
been in recent years. Eger and Cooper, a linebacker Koy
Walker in his third year as a linebacker. Their speed
(07:20):
reduced what Kyler Murray could do a week ago to
help Jalen Hurts in some check in the opening game.
They've they've been really good. So the Packers' defense, with
a new defensive coordinator this year, Jeff Athlete, who came
from Boston College as their head coach, has been a
breath of fresh air. The Packers are more aggressive defensively.
(07:40):
They play more pressman, and they've taken taken some opportunity
to get after him turn the ball over seventeen times already.
The Packers have gotten turnovers this year, and that's in
six games. Last year, in seventeen games, they had eighteen turnovers.
So they have been fantastic in taking the ball away.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, I think that number seventeen struck me as most impressive,
and that no other team even has fourteen. They've got
four more takeaways than every team, any team in the NFL.
I've been asking this question throughout the week and really
throughout the offseason because I didn't really have a good
answer for it. I'm curious if you do. Why did
the Packers offensively decide to move on from Aaron Jones
(08:19):
so they could move forward with Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I think the biggest reason is they traded years. They
traded years for similar money and they got I think
about well, you'd see three or four years younger, depending
on where you look at the calendar. That they just
got younger from Aaron Jones, who also last year his
finish was fantastic and when he's on the field, he's
(08:43):
a difference maker. However, he has not been on the
field enough. He was loved in Green Bay, but they
traded youth for about the same amount of overall money
that they were investing in Aaron Jones. And in this league,
the goal is to always be and certainly Brian Goodikun's
the Packers GM has embraced that model because they are
(09:05):
again and I think it's the third straight year that
the Packers are the youngest team in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yes, the rest of their division, which is very good,
and the rest of the NFC, I definitely think is
very unhappy about that fact. And we've been talking about
it all week. I'm curious in this final minute here,
what's been your view and what's been the talk about
facing c J. Stroud in this Texans offense.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah. I think it's the best team that Green Bay
has played this year. And I say that with some
level of understanding that I'm sliding by Minnesota, who beat you,
who beat Houston in their head to head match up.
The Packers lost to Minnesota and the Vikings are five
and oher so I get it. But I think Houston
(09:49):
is the best overall team that the Packers will have
seen so far. They'll get Detroit in a couple of
weeks and maybe that will be in that mode. This
is kind of for a lot of This is kind
of a prove it game for the Packers. They're foreign too.
They won a couple of games with Malik Willis and
then with Jordan Love. Last week was easily his best performance,
(10:11):
and I think Packers fans think that he has now
found that rhythm again. But this is a prove it
game for a lot of Packers fans to see if
this team that's foreign too, is ready to make their
run and truly be a Super Bowl contender.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I tend to believe fans here in Houston feel similarly
about it being a proved game on the road for
the Texans. Mike really appreciate the time Mike Keller. You
can find him on the X platform at Heller Sports.
Really appreciate you joining us here.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Welcome Adam, Thank you.
Mike Heller joins us from The Mike Heller Show ninety
seven to three the game they're in Milwaukee. I really
appreciate the opportunity to catch up with you, Mike, talk
about this matchup and kind of where things stand for
these two teams. And there are a lot of reasons
why I think they can be tied together kind of
from the timeline of each of their quarterbacks making their
twenty second start. Both became full time starters at the
(00:21):
beginning of this past season. Obviously, Jordan Love had been
there for a bit before that happened, but late last
season it seemed like they were consistently producing eye popping
numbers week after week after week as both of these
franchises were charging towards playoffs, and then they each won
their opening playoff game before falling the following week. Do
you believe in is there any sense of that there
(00:43):
in Green Bay in Packerland that these two quarterbacks are
going to be quote unquote kind of with each other
over the next handful of years.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, I sure think so. I think they're going to
be compared favorably towards one another, even though they weren't
in the same draft class. To your point, they began
starting at the same time, and the numbers that both
have put up have been pretty extraordinary, maybe more so
for Stroud because he was doing so in his rookie season.
(01:13):
But I looked at Jordan Love the back half of
last year when he was going on an eighteen touchdown
one interception run. It was just really impressive. And that
Packers' mantra, their marching orders, as it seems, has been
now for more than thirty years, is to put the
quarterback in waiting. You know, they did it with Aaron
(01:36):
Rodgers for three years. They did it with Jordan Love
for three years, and that model has worked really well.
And Stroud's just really impressive. Every time I see him
do his work. I'm impressed. The quarterbacks are pretty similar too,
aren't they. I mean, neither one wants to run. They can,
but they want to beat you with their legs to
their arm rather than just their legs.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
There's no question about it. I'm curious what you think
happened during that run of Love's excellence. He was clearly good.
Prior to that, the record wasn't as good, and he
obviously was making more mistakes. So in that pocket of
games where things went so well for him and obviously
for the team. And I'm not sure how you view
his four games this year compared to like the first six, seven,
(02:18):
eight games last year, Like what's the real difference and
when he was so incredibly sharp during that last, you know,
really eight games of the season.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, I think in part Adam Matt Lafleur deserves a
lot of credit because he is what he told us
were the Packers' flagship. What he told us is he
just told him to let it go, let it fly,
stop worrying so much, just play, stop thinking so much.
I think that's an oversimplification of what they really told him.
(02:48):
But I think at that point he just began to
trust what he had learned and stopped worrying so much
about what he was doing. Plus, I also give credit
to the head coach and the bodies around him that young.
The Packers have a really young receiving cores, including the
side end Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave who was hurt
(03:08):
right now. But the wide receivers, you know, Romeo Dobbs
is relatively new to the to the NFL, the you know,
the third fourth year in the league. Then you look
at the Jaden Reid last year was a rookie season.
Christian Watson hasn't been healthy, but one he is, he
can take the top off the defense. The Packers just
had a ton of weapons, and I think at some
(03:30):
point last year, back half of the season, Love let
it go. I think Lakla there are some things there
that are deeper than just let it fly. And then
this year, I think the difference is Jordan Love had
a sloppy first game and he didn't play. He played
one series three plays in the preseason. He had a
sloppy first game, then had the mcl on the last
(03:53):
offensive drive of that game, missed two games, came back,
wasn't sharp, and then in week two that he was back,
he was much better. And then last week being back,
he was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It definitely seemed like that was a major uptick, just
quickly before you get into the additional analysis from the
practice report, with three of those four receivers you mentioned
all Butt Dobbs listed is limited and jyr Alexander there
and Kraft as well, is there real concern that some
of these players will not be available for the game.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It didn't seem like it I don't think so. Reid's injuried.
He would be the one I would worry about. And
you know, from a Houston perspective, I think that the
defensive coordinator. I think defensively, Houston and everybody else the
Packers play have to account for Jaden Reid. He lines
up a lot in the slot, but he is very
(04:44):
much their best player in space once you get the
ball in his hands, and he's got great hands and
great instincts. Christian Watson is the speed component, and he
is healthy, and if you don't roll safety help to him,
he can run by defenders. He's a very talented player.
And Romeo Dobbs is the combination. He is probably the
(05:05):
best receiver. He's had an off field issue that we're
not exactly certain what the base of the basis of
it was, but he was suspended for a game then
last week came back and caught two touchdown passes. I
think they're healthy enough, and I think crap is healthy
and he's a difference maker at the tight end position
(05:25):
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, definitely a good group. Mike Heller talking with us
here on Sports Talk seven to ninety on the A
team yesterday on our show. Just we were talking about
off season moves, and I thought one of the moves
in the AFC that kind of shifted things in a
positive direction. Maybe the best move addition was Derrick Henry
going to the Baltimore Ravens, and if I was flipping
it over to the NFC, I think two names stand
(05:47):
out as maybe the most significant additions in the offseason.
Clearly Kirk Cousins in Atlanta is one. Xavier McKinney in
the defensive backfield for the Packers. I can't imagine isn't
the other or one of the others. I'm sure it's
surprised everyoney how many plays he's made. But I think
the expectations you tell me if I'm wrong, were that
he would be a difference maker, regardless of whether it
(06:10):
showed itself in interception after interception after interception.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, and dude's been great. He had interceptions in six
straight games, the last game for the Giants a year
ago and the first five games for the Packers this year.
He didn't have one last Sunday. But he's always around
the ball. He's a difference maker on the back end.
He's got good corners in front of him. Especially in
Jaya Alexander, and he trusts them, and he trusts to
(06:37):
put them in the right positions and then he's allowed
to truly roam and do what a free safety does best.
And he has played the ball. Last week, Kyler Murray
didn't threaten him, didn't challenge anything deep over the middle,
which is where McKinney has made his hay so far
this year. But he has been you're dead on. I
(06:57):
think he has been the most significant offseed edition of
any team in the NFC, with some credit to Kirk
Cousins as well, but he's been a difference maker without
a question. The Packers also are faster defensively than they've
been in recent years. Eger and Cooper, a linebacker Koy
Walker in his third year as a linebacker. Their speed
(07:20):
reduced what Kyler Murray could do a week ago to
help Jalen Hurts in some check in the opening game.
They've they've been really good. So the Packers' defense, with
a new defensive coordinator this year, Jeff Athlete, who came
from Boston College as their head coach, has been a
breath of fresh air. The Packers are more aggressive defensively.
(07:40):
They play more pressman, and they've taken taken some opportunity
to get after him turn the ball over seventeen times already.
The Packers have gotten turnovers this year, and that's in
six games. Last year, in seventeen games, they had eighteen turnovers.
So they have been fantastic in taking the ball away.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, I think that number seventeen struck me as most impressive,
and that no other team even has fourteen. They've got
four more takeaways than every team, any team in the NFL.
I've been asking this question throughout the week and really
throughout the offseason because I didn't really have a good
answer for it. I'm curious if you do. Why did
the Packers offensively decide to move on from Aaron Jones
(08:19):
so they could move forward with Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I think the biggest reason is they traded years. They
traded years for similar money and they got I think
about well, you'd see three or four years younger, depending
on where you look at the calendar. That they just
got younger from Aaron Jones, who also last year his
finish was fantastic and when he's on the field, he's
(08:43):
a difference maker. However, he has not been on the
field enough. He was loved in Green Bay, but they
traded youth for about the same amount of overall money
that they were investing in Aaron Jones. And in this league,
the goal is to always be and certainly Brian Goodikun's
the Packers GM has embraced that model because they are
(09:05):
again and I think it's the third straight year that
the Packers are the youngest team in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yes, the rest of their division, which is very good,
and the rest of the NFC, I definitely think is
very unhappy about that fact. And we've been talking about
it all week. I'm curious in this final minute here,
what's been your view and what's been the talk about
facing c J. Stroud in this Texans offense.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah. I think it's the best team that Green Bay
has played this year. And I say that with some
level of understanding that I'm sliding by Minnesota, who beat you,
who beat Houston in their head to head match up.
The Packers lost to Minnesota and the Vikings are five
and oher so I get it. But I think Houston
(09:49):
is the best overall team that the Packers will have
seen so far. They'll get Detroit in a couple of
weeks and maybe that will be in that mode. This
is kind of for a lot of This is kind
of a prove it game for the Packers. They're foreign too.
They won a couple of games with Malik Willis and
then with Jordan Love. Last week was easily his best performance,
(10:11):
and I think Packers fans think that he has now
found that rhythm again. But this is a prove it
game for a lot of Packers fans to see if
this team that's foreign too, is ready to make their
run and truly be a Super Bowl contender.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I tend to believe fans here in Houston feel similarly
about it being a proved game on the road for
the Texans. Mike really appreciate the time Mike Keller. You
can find him on the X platform at Heller Sports.
Really appreciate you joining us here.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Welcome Adam, Thank you.
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