Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go to the Kwait Cobbs bel Hotline and bring on
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three. The game there
in Milwaukee's through your host for the Packers radio network, Doug.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How you doing this evening? I'm doing all right. Thanks
for having me on, guys, thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
For joining us.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
We've got joint practices coming up here. What is this
Green Bay Packers team? A team that offensively maybe started
a little slow last year, but orally turned it on.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
In the second half of the season.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Is that continuity going to continue to build this year
or is this a team that maybe takes a step
backward before it takes another step forward.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, that's a billion dollar question, right. I mean, I
think everybody was down and hopes that it is the
former as opposed to the latter. But you know what
we saw in the second half of last season, and
you guys saw Jordan Love and the Packers offense when
it was still very young, very raw, and you guys,
rightfully Brongos came away with a big win and that
(00:52):
was I think one of those learning experiences that Jordan
Love and not only Jordan Love, but his entire offense,
his entire group of wives. Last year, in their first
and second year, now in their second and third year,
so they're still pretty young. But that was one of
those lumps that they just had to take. It was
one of those growing pains that they just had to
go through in the second half of the season, as
I think everybody who observes the NFL saw, I think
(01:14):
specifically after the Steelers game, there was no better player
in the NFL last year the second half of the
season than Jordan Love. Obviously, Lamar had already wrapped up
the MVP pretty early in the season last season, but
you know, Jordan Love really showed why the Packers invested
fifty five million dollars a year into him a couple
(01:35):
of weeks ago when I signed them to his four
year extension. So there's a belief system in Green Bay
that they've got their guy not only at quarterback, but
also in the wide receivers room as well. They don't
necessarily need a number one wide receiver. Maybe three guys
can combine and be what DeVante Adams was at the
tail end of Aaron Rodgers' career with the Packers. So
(02:00):
you bring in Josh Jacobs on offense, there's a belief
system that they got a certainly younger at the feature
back position. Maybe he offers a few things that Aaron
Jones didn't, including durability. They bring in Xavier McKinney on
defense to help solidify a position of need for them
for the last decade or so, and expectations in Green
Bay or sky high for this team. They don't want
(02:22):
to take a step back, and they don't feel like
they're going to take a step back.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Well, Doug, with that being said, every single year we
see five teams make the playoffs when five other teams
didn't make it, and the Packers seemed to be one
of those particular teams. Do you worry that, Okay, did
they hit their selling are too early? And could they
have a season where now it's disappointing based on what
(02:48):
they did last year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
With Jordan Love, if they have a season that doesn't
result in a playoff earth this year, it will be
very disappointing. So if that answers your question, I mean,
I don't think that they're going to just based on
everything that I've seen from Jordan Love and the way
that he goes about his business. He did learn from
Aaron Rodgers for three years and Aaron Rodgers, for all
(03:11):
of his proclivities and weirdness that we all saw and
have seen the last several years, still a darning quarterback.
And Jordan Love picked up on a lot of habits,
of positive habits that Aaron taught him the last three
years of Aaron's tenure with the Packers, and we saw
some of that really kind of take shape. Everybody make
(03:31):
sure at the same time last year. So yeah, maybe
it's a long way of saying, if they don't make
the playoffs, it's going to be a major, major disappointment. Now,
everybody's got to stay healthy, that's kavea. If everyone does,
they don't make the playoffs, it's going to be a
major disappointment for the Packers. Yeah, you would think so.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
At the top of the division there it feels pretty
top have you mean, you've got Detroit and the Packers,
and then of course you know the down trace you
got the Bears were rebuilding. They've got some optimism with
Kayleb Williams and the Vikings, who I think are to
be charitable. I don't think they're going to be good,
but we'll see how that shakes out. The Packers on
the was talking the offense, but the other side of
the ball, the defensive side of the balls, would interest me.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
This has been something that from.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
My timeline, have seen fans catching about for quite some time.
What defensive improvements have they made and how does that
defense factor in this year?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The biggest improvement I think they made was with Jeff Hafley,
the air defensive coordinator. Former head coach at Boston College.
Jill Berry, I think is a good coach, and I
don't know that he was a great coach for these players.
That having been said, there was a change in the
coordinator's room, and now you've got someone who is more aggressive.
You've got someone who's schematically seems like he's going to
(04:41):
be someone who the players really respond to. They have
in the early going. Granted they haven't played a game yet.
They played one pre season game, so you know, success
will kind of bear that out as to whether or not,
you know, the players are still going to be on
board with Jeff Haffley from a player personnel standpoint. That
brought in the guy that I just mentioned, Xavier McKinney.
He's the new player that I think everybody's kind of
(05:03):
coalescing around a little bit, you've got a very young
defensive secondary at the safety position. Mckinning's entering his fifth
season after four really good years with Giants, but Anthony
Johnson juniors and steventh round pick in his second year,
he's the only guy that really might start that has
any experience because you've got a couple of rookies in
Javon Bullard and Devin Williams. And Williams, by the way,
has really shown out so far, not only in training
(05:26):
camp but also in the mini camps as well, performing
really well last week in the Packers preseason opener against
the Browns. So it's very young at the safety position,
but vager McKinnie is a guy that they think is
going to really solidify a position of need for them
that they really haven't had, you know, really Nick Collins,
and he had to retire because of a freak injury
a decade ago, more than a decade ago. So he's
(05:48):
the one guy that they're hoping solidifies that because you know,
Rashan Garry, they want him in this new scheme to
be able to get home and get to the quarterback,
not just pressure the quarterback was neutralized in the second
half of last season, but also their second round pick
from a year ago, Lucas van Ness. He's had a
really good camp so far and he looks like he's
(06:09):
primed to make a big leap from year one to
year two as well. So defensively, yeah, it's been a
buggerboo for them. We've all thought that the player personnel
didn't match the output, and perhaps a lot of that
was schematic. Now the scheme has changed, so the proof
is going to be in the pudding and the only
time is going to tell whether or not they're going
to be able to live up to the expectations.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
But one thing I love about watching the Packers last
season is that you saw a lot of young guys
actually step up to the play and play like they
were three four year veterans. And one guy that definitely
stood out for me from a tight end standpoint was
Luke Musgrave and just kind of let our audience know
(06:51):
that when you watch him in practice and watching him
do certain things, what makes this young tight end? You
know where most people will look? And he said, you know,
this is a guy that has a potential to be
mentioned amongst the great in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
What is it about him?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
One thing that isn't talked enough about, I think is
his relationship with George Kittle, to be honest with him,
You those two have known each other for a long time,
and for Luke, he kind of looks at Kittle as
a big brother. And we've all seen the success that
George Kittle has had. Musgrave is a big body. He's
a guy who has really soft hands. He's a guy
who can go, who can get down field. He's got
(07:29):
perceptive speed. They haven't featured him as much as they
did a year ago, and that's one of the questions
that we continue to ask Matt before throughout the course
of the offseason and throughout the course of training camp,
is you know when is Luke going to get back
at the speed? And you know because you've got this weapon,
and I know that there's been some injuries at the
tight end position, and maybe that's part of it, because
when you throw Tucker Craft in there as well, you've
(07:50):
got a really good one to tight end punch that
a lot of teams don't have. But both of those
players are entering their second year. So I think offensively,
if you're looking for a year one to year two
jump up, it might be with Musgrave because he's a
guy that showed last year that you know, he had
the touchdown catch obviously against the Cowboys in playoffs where
he was just all alone down the right sideline. Because
(08:11):
he's got that elusiveness, he's got rare speed for a
tight end at his size, and he just needs to
maybe get a little bit stronger in the right room.
But I think he can really be a special player
if he continues to develop.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Much like the Broncos, there is a quarterback battle for
the Packers, although it's a little bit further down the
jet chart after Jordan Love, Michael Pratt and Sean Clifford.
I've been hearing good things about Seawan Clifford thus far.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
How both those guys.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Looked And do you who do you expect to get
the job?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I Love? We're talking about the backup quarterback. This is great.
We don't normally talk about the backups. Sean Clifford is
in a second season. He played at Penn State, so
he's played in big time games. Though Michael Pratt had
some big time games at TWU lane as well. He
beat Now I'm they say this with a coveyat he
didn't beat Caleb Williams. That's been something that we've hurt
(09:00):
a lot. He beat Caleb Williams in the Cotton Bowl
a few years ago now, Tulane defeated a terrible defense
that Alex Grinch was co ordinating for Lincoln Riley at
the time. There was some other, uh, you know, things
going on in that game as well. But he has
played in some big time games. You played, he played
in and won, like I said, one of those New
(09:20):
Year six games. So I think that Pratt has the
better arm than Clifford. You got the better size than Clifford.
But Clifford has one more year in matt Lefluora's system.
So you're going to see both of them coming up
on Sunday Night against Denver, and I think that you're
gonna see Sean Clifford play most of the I would
say probably into the third quarter. Then Pratt will kind
(09:40):
of clean things up. But you know, if I had
to handicap it right now, Clifford has the upper light,
but only because he's been here for one extra year.
But Pratt has some tangibles that that Clifford may not have, including,
like I said, a bigger, better arm and maybe just
a little bit better size.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Sort of the situation we have here where a quarterback
and Jared's did had been here for a year and
had a little bit of a leg up early on.
Bo Nix has since passed him in the quarterback competition.
Everybody presumes he'll be the starter going on.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Right, right right, looking about QB two in the season,
because we're in trouble, well fair to be fair, Doug,
we really appreciate you tak us some time out to join.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Us today, and we look forward to having some practice
and see these two teams compete on Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Looking forward to it, Benjamin, thanks so much for
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Having me on Absolute take care, Doug Russell
Go to the Kwait Cobbs bel Hotline and bring on
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three. The game there
in Milwaukee's through your host for the Packers radio network, Doug.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How you doing this evening? I'm doing all right. Thanks
for having me on, guys, thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
For joining us.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
We've got joint practices coming up here. What is this
Green Bay Packers team? A team that offensively maybe started
a little slow last year, but orally turned it on.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
In the second half of the season.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Is that continuity going to continue to build this year
or is this a team that maybe takes a step
backward before it takes another step forward.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, that's a billion dollar question, right. I mean, I
think everybody was down and hopes that it is the
former as opposed to the latter. But you know what
we saw in the second half of last season, and
you guys saw Jordan Love and the Packers offense when
it was still very young, very raw, and you guys,
rightfully Brongos came away with a big win and that
(00:52):
was I think one of those learning experiences that Jordan
Love and not only Jordan Love, but his entire offense,
his entire group of wives. Last year, in their first
and second year, now in their second and third year,
so they're still pretty young. But that was one of
those lumps that they just had to take. It was
one of those growing pains that they just had to
go through in the second half of the season, as
I think everybody who observes the NFL saw, I think
(01:14):
specifically after the Steelers game, there was no better player
in the NFL last year the second half of the
season than Jordan Love. Obviously, Lamar had already wrapped up
the MVP pretty early in the season last season, but
you know, Jordan Love really showed why the Packers invested
fifty five million dollars a year into him a couple
(01:35):
of weeks ago when I signed them to his four
year extension. So there's a belief system in Green Bay
that they've got their guy not only at quarterback, but
also in the wide receivers room as well. They don't
necessarily need a number one wide receiver. Maybe three guys
can combine and be what DeVante Adams was at the
tail end of Aaron Rodgers' career with the Packers. So
(02:00):
you bring in Josh Jacobs on offense, there's a belief
system that they got a certainly younger at the feature
back position. Maybe he offers a few things that Aaron
Jones didn't, including durability. They bring in Xavier McKinney on
defense to help solidify a position of need for them
for the last decade or so, and expectations in Green
Bay or sky high for this team. They don't want
(02:22):
to take a step back, and they don't feel like
they're going to take a step back.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Well, Doug, with that being said, every single year we
see five teams make the playoffs when five other teams
didn't make it, and the Packers seemed to be one
of those particular teams. Do you worry that, Okay, did
they hit their selling are too early? And could they
have a season where now it's disappointing based on what
(02:48):
they did last year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
With Jordan Love, if they have a season that doesn't
result in a playoff earth this year, it will be
very disappointing. So if that answers your question, I mean,
I don't think that they're going to just based on
everything that I've seen from Jordan Love and the way
that he goes about his business. He did learn from
Aaron Rodgers for three years and Aaron Rodgers, for all
(03:11):
of his proclivities and weirdness that we all saw and
have seen the last several years, still a darning quarterback.
And Jordan Love picked up on a lot of habits,
of positive habits that Aaron taught him the last three
years of Aaron's tenure with the Packers, and we saw
some of that really kind of take shape. Everybody make
(03:31):
sure at the same time last year. So yeah, maybe
it's a long way of saying, if they don't make
the playoffs, it's going to be a major, major disappointment. Now,
everybody's got to stay healthy, that's kavea. If everyone does,
they don't make the playoffs, it's going to be a
major disappointment for the Packers. Yeah, you would think so.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
At the top of the division there it feels pretty
top have you mean, you've got Detroit and the Packers,
and then of course you know the down trace you
got the Bears were rebuilding. They've got some optimism with
Kayleb Williams and the Vikings, who I think are to
be charitable. I don't think they're going to be good,
but we'll see how that shakes out. The Packers on
the was talking the offense, but the other side of
the ball, the defensive side of the balls, would interest me.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
This has been something that from.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
My timeline, have seen fans catching about for quite some time.
What defensive improvements have they made and how does that
defense factor in this year?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The biggest improvement I think they made was with Jeff Hafley,
the air defensive coordinator. Former head coach at Boston College.
Jill Berry, I think is a good coach, and I
don't know that he was a great coach for these players.
That having been said, there was a change in the
coordinator's room, and now you've got someone who is more aggressive.
You've got someone who's schematically seems like he's going to
(04:41):
be someone who the players really respond to. They have
in the early going. Granted they haven't played a game yet.
They played one pre season game, so you know, success
will kind of bear that out as to whether or not,
you know, the players are still going to be on
board with Jeff Haffley from a player personnel standpoint. That
brought in the guy that I just mentioned, Xavier McKinney.
He's the new player that I think everybody's kind of
(05:03):
coalescing around a little bit, you've got a very young
defensive secondary at the safety position. Mckinning's entering his fifth
season after four really good years with Giants, but Anthony
Johnson juniors and steventh round pick in his second year,
he's the only guy that really might start that has
any experience because you've got a couple of rookies in
Javon Bullard and Devin Williams. And Williams, by the way,
has really shown out so far, not only in training
(05:26):
camp but also in the mini camps as well, performing
really well last week in the Packers preseason opener against
the Browns. So it's very young at the safety position,
but vager McKinnie is a guy that they think is
going to really solidify a position of need for them
that they really haven't had, you know, really Nick Collins,
and he had to retire because of a freak injury
a decade ago, more than a decade ago. So he's
(05:48):
the one guy that they're hoping solidifies that because you know,
Rashan Garry, they want him in this new scheme to
be able to get home and get to the quarterback,
not just pressure the quarterback was neutralized in the second
half of last season, but also their second round pick
from a year ago, Lucas van Ness. He's had a
really good camp so far and he looks like he's
(06:09):
primed to make a big leap from year one to
year two as well. So defensively, yeah, it's been a
buggerboo for them. We've all thought that the player personnel
didn't match the output, and perhaps a lot of that
was schematic. Now the scheme has changed, so the proof
is going to be in the pudding and the only
time is going to tell whether or not they're going
to be able to live up to the expectations.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
But one thing I love about watching the Packers last
season is that you saw a lot of young guys
actually step up to the play and play like they
were three four year veterans. And one guy that definitely
stood out for me from a tight end standpoint was
Luke Musgrave and just kind of let our audience know
(06:51):
that when you watch him in practice and watching him
do certain things, what makes this young tight end? You
know where most people will look? And he said, you know,
this is a guy that has a potential to be
mentioned amongst the great in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
What is it about him?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
One thing that isn't talked enough about, I think is
his relationship with George Kittle, to be honest with him,
You those two have known each other for a long time,
and for Luke, he kind of looks at Kittle as
a big brother. And we've all seen the success that
George Kittle has had. Musgrave is a big body. He's
a guy who has really soft hands. He's a guy
who can go, who can get down field. He's got
(07:29):
perceptive speed. They haven't featured him as much as they
did a year ago, and that's one of the questions
that we continue to ask Matt before throughout the course
of the offseason and throughout the course of training camp,
is you know when is Luke going to get back
at the speed? And you know because you've got this weapon,
and I know that there's been some injuries at the
tight end position, and maybe that's part of it, because
when you throw Tucker Craft in there as well, you've
(07:50):
got a really good one to tight end punch that
a lot of teams don't have. But both of those
players are entering their second year. So I think offensively,
if you're looking for a year one to year two
jump up, it might be with Musgrave because he's a
guy that showed last year that you know, he had
the touchdown catch obviously against the Cowboys in playoffs where
he was just all alone down the right sideline. Because
(08:11):
he's got that elusiveness, he's got rare speed for a
tight end at his size, and he just needs to
maybe get a little bit stronger in the right room.
But I think he can really be a special player
if he continues to develop.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Much like the Broncos, there is a quarterback battle for
the Packers, although it's a little bit further down the
jet chart after Jordan Love, Michael Pratt and Sean Clifford.
I've been hearing good things about Seawan Clifford thus far.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
How both those guys.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Looked And do you who do you expect to get
the job?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I Love? We're talking about the backup quarterback. This is great.
We don't normally talk about the backups. Sean Clifford is
in a second season. He played at Penn State, so
he's played in big time games. Though Michael Pratt had
some big time games at TWU lane as well. He
beat Now I'm they say this with a coveyat he
didn't beat Caleb Williams. That's been something that we've hurt
(09:00):
a lot. He beat Caleb Williams in the Cotton Bowl
a few years ago now, Tulane defeated a terrible defense
that Alex Grinch was co ordinating for Lincoln Riley at
the time. There was some other, uh, you know, things
going on in that game as well. But he has
played in some big time games. You played, he played
in and won, like I said, one of those New
(09:20):
Year six games. So I think that Pratt has the
better arm than Clifford. You got the better size than Clifford.
But Clifford has one more year in matt Lefluora's system.
So you're going to see both of them coming up
on Sunday Night against Denver, and I think that you're
gonna see Sean Clifford play most of the I would
say probably into the third quarter. Then Pratt will kind
(09:40):
of clean things up. But you know, if I had
to handicap it right now, Clifford has the upper light,
but only because he's been here for one extra year.
But Pratt has some tangibles that that Clifford may not have, including,
like I said, a bigger, better arm and maybe just
a little bit better size.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Sort of the situation we have here where a quarterback
and Jared's did had been here for a year and
had a little bit of a leg up early on.
Bo Nix has since passed him in the quarterback competition.
Everybody presumes he'll be the starter going on.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Right, right right, looking about QB two in the season,
because we're in trouble, well fair to be fair, Doug,
we really appreciate you tak us some time out to join.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Us today, and we look forward to having some practice
and see these two teams compete on Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Looking forward to it, Benjamin, thanks so much for
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Having me on Absolute take care, Doug Russell
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