The Packers Have No Choice Now... | Packers Weekly #160

0:00Welcome to Packers Weekly Podcast, part of PackersTalk.com Network. I'm your host, Miles Tetic, joined by your co-host Tim Hamilton. We are diehard Packers fans. Just love talking about the pack. We are not getting into all the national sports media distractions. We're diving into the top topics around the pack every week, breaking down games during this glorious regular season that is now upon us, and sorting through all the draft dreams and drama of the off season way down the road that is not now. If you all want to support the podcast, please spike that like button for us. Most importantly, jump on over YouTube type in PackersTalk Network. Hit that subscribe button.

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3:04Just for the time we got we got NF we got Wednesday night. We got Thursday night NFL to get us started and we got Packers Vikings week one. Like it is finally here. All these questions, all these things we've been talking about all off season. Don't need to talk about them. We're going to start to get answers. So yeah, man, like let's get into it. It's week one. It's the Vikings. How the way to start the season? Absolutely. Now I can't wait. I'm very, very excited about this. I'm very excited for the rest of the division to get acquainted with the talent of this roster because boy, oh boy, are they sleeping about as hard as you can? They are in a coma on this team right now. And that's just fine. Y'all keep sleeping. Y'all keep sleeping. It's going to be rude, ice water in your face whenever you wake up. But yeah, I'm pumped. I love that we get to start the season against the division opponent. The Vikings seem to be one that we've started against pretty frequently. Breaking down this game is a lot of matchups to get into.

4:05Certainly if you topics to jump into and maybe some hot butt nightings, but the team captains were announced today. We've got 10, do you have them listed there? Yeah. So on offense, it's Jordan Love, Tucker Craft. I'm not a surprise. Defense, you're Franklin and Xavier McKinney and then the special team's captains. Isaiah McDuffie. So pretty similar in the last year, except they went from three captains on offense and defense just to two this year. A little bit, so there's a little difference. Love, craft, McKinney, McDuffie, Raw captains last year so the new one is Franklin who they obviously just acquired in the off season. That's their captains. I don't think there's any big surprises other than I guess maybe sort of a surprise that they only did two on offense, two on defense after doing three last year. You know, I'm fine with that. I think there's other guys you could have names, you know, if you wanted to make it more. I saw the Rams that had likes, I don't know.

5:05I think they had 40 captains on their team, which is just ridiculous. But yeah, I don't have a huge reaction to it. You know, Christian Watson could easily been a captain on offense, Zach Bakker, Buwele, Sean Ryan, defense, it could have been Micah, Parsons, of course. I mean, could have Evan Williams, I think would be a good name to throw out there too. But like, I'm not upset. They name their captains, make sense. You know, whatever. I don't think it's a controversy. Well, I wouldn't say that it's a controversy, but I do think that there's a lot of surprise that Micah wasn't on there. I think I share that a little bit. One because we've seen like he, you know, you never know what you're seeing may not be what it is. But we've seen some public support that Micah has put out there. He's frequently talking about other guys like LVN and some of the other young ed rushers

6:08to the media, on social media. Seems like he's working his butt off with this injury. You know, a lot of good reports around his recovery timetable. So you know, there's a lot of positive things that are very visible. And that would lead me to believe like, hey, man, like this guy's a leader of this thing. And he's bringing guys along with him. But just the same. And it is possible, not saying this is the case, but it is possible that maybe guys don't like the, you know, the forced media stuff. Maybe they wanted to back off. I know that was a complaint of the Dallas Cowboys when he was in Dallas. Nobody liked the Edda podcast. So you just never know what leads to those things. And to your very good point to him, there are a lot of other guys that could have been captains on this team. So when you're split in hairs, you know, you got a lot of competition for leadership. And one thing here, one thing there is the difference, you know. So there's room for these things.

7:09I also think it's possible that they may just announce another captain on both offense and defense later in the season. Maybe there's some, you know, you don't understand. There's going to be interworkings we don't get to see. We don't know what their team philosophies are. They decided as a group that you can't be a captain if you're not on the field. You know, so there's also possibilities. I mean, you know, Micah seems like he's fit right in and taken a leadership role since he got here and I just saw some kind of picture. He was at a concert with a bunch of the guys over the weekend. So like, he's hanging out with his teammates, but like he's around these there. He's, but he's not on the field. He's rehabbing and, you know, getting ready and stuff. So maybe that's part of it. You know, a lot of times the middle, the guy who's calling your defense who has a green dot who's your middle linebacker, like Sia Franklin, they get, they get that kind of responsibility because they're leaders. They're, you know, they're calling the defense on the field.

8:10That's part of it. I really don't think there's anything to like make of this. I don't think there's like, oh, Micah Parsons is, you know, not like by his teammates or anything. Like, I don't think that's the case whatsoever at all. It's ridiculous. And maybe they just decided to cut it down to two this year for whatever reasons. Maybe they, like to your point, maybe they will eventually name two more, though I don't know why they just wouldn't do that now. But, you know, last year, two of the captains were Kwei Walker and Roshong Gary. So I don't think we need to really be worried about who the captains are now because, you know, in the past, Roshong Gary and Kwei Walker were two of the leaders of the team and we saw how that went. So, well, and I can say that how captains are selected can change season to season. So again, like there might be some, some core values that they decided on as a team over the off season that didn't exist this last year or vice versa. You know, you had some leadership changes at the coaching level with D'Sachik leaving

9:15and some other guys coming in a cordon and Ganon. So there's, yeah, like there's a lot of room for how things might have been different. And yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly that this should not be taken as like, oh, Micah, his teammates don't believe him in him or seem as a leader. I just, I don't think that's the case at all. I just like, you got a lot of leaders on this defense, man. I mean, like your point, Edger Cooper, Ed Williams, like those guys definitely could have been in the mix there. Even probably LVN and Devante, why? You know, like these are veteran guys that all could have, could have warranted leadership. I mean, LVN was like the MVP of the off season from what we heard. You know, so you just never know what decides these things. Right. And I kind of think the whole captain thing is completely overrated. And I wish they would go back to not doing it. Like they've done at times in the past where they just name a weekly captain because I mean, what does it really mean? It causes people like we're doing right now to talk about something that really is nothing.

10:18And apparently even some of the players, you know, we've seen in the past, there you Smith wasn't a captain, but he, you know, made himself a nice necklace. And Jair wasn't a captain, but he went out for a coin toss when you shouldn't have like, I mean something to some people. It does. Well, and it does mean something to the players because those are your peers, right? You know, yeah. But I think again, like it's probably just, just nothing you can do about it, right? Like those guys that get upset about not being the captain and act the way they do, it's sort of like, well, that's why you're not the captain. But so, you know, like, yes, those are, what are you going to do? You're not going to make that guy a captain just because you're worried about him throwing a fit about it. You know, it's like, that's the reason he's not a captain. So I don't think that that's the case for any of these guys, though. I mean, honestly, and we're going to get into it as far as the matchups go. This defense has some great pieces. You know, we certainly have question marks, but there are some truly great pieces on this defense.

11:20Great leaders. And again, we've seen a lot of the public leadership. A lot of these guys put it out there in the media. They put it on social media, working with the guys, pumping guys up, love it here. There's just not a lot of drama or anything like that. The president on this team that anybody's even alluded to. So that's where I just, yeah, I'm with you. I don't think it's an issue. I get it like, you kind of wish that there wasn't something additional there to create drama. Like we did with Zadaria Smith. And maybe Jaiyur to an extent. I think that was more of a one game thing than it was about a season thing. But, right, you know, like either way, it's like, are we mad that Zadaria Smith is not with the team anymore because we didn't make him a captain's not really. We kind of see how that story played out. And again, usually when Goody moves on, he's been right. You know, so yeah, I get it. But it does mean something to the players. It's their peers, all that. And then, you know, the coaches do it for a reason too.

12:21So we won't get to know a lot of that stuff. That's inner workings of the team. That's not stuff that they're going to ever divulge. And, you know, that's just what it is. So, captain's named. I do believe they'll name one more on offense and defense later in the season. We'll see. That's not based on any sort of real information. Just kind of a hunch. But other than that, I'm just excited. We're talking about real football, man. I'm just pumped for what is to come. We got the Vikings here in a few days. Days away. Gosh, it feels good to say days away from the Vikings. Man, what like what where do we begin to him? What's your what's your recipe here for beating the Vikings? What are we doing? What's the game plan? Protect the quarterback. All right. That's what it comes down to on offense. There we go. Protect the quarterback. If Jordan loves standing up, he will light up this defense. I'm very confident about that. And it's a really good defense and all respect Brian Flores. And when he's done there, there's time in Minnesota. Like that's a great scheme. It is very aggressive.

13:23It's tough to figure out. They will blitz you all over the place. And then they will drop eight guys in the coverage when you think they're blitzing you. And they're going to blitz you with, you know, they're going to cover zero you, but they're going to play zone defense behind it, which nobody does. And they're going to blitz you on furt. They're going to blitz you on un familiar, not normal, down in distances, whereas other defenses, you know, it's third down along here comes the pressure. Like they're going to blitz you on first and 10. They're going to blitz you on, they're in like, and they come from all over and he gets free rushers and he confuses your blocking schemes. It's a great scheme and it, you know, it's not a fluke and Flores is what going, I think, believe he's going in those fourth year now, Minnesota. It's been really good throughout his time there. But I just think Jordan Love has seen it. Jordan Love is set up for a big year, which we're going to get into in a little while here. I love the weapons and I think if they can block it up,

14:24and Flores is going to get him at times because it's just they're that good of a defense. He's going to get him. But if they can block it up enough and consistently, I think there would be plays to be made. I love Jordan Love and the receivers tight end in this match up tight ends now that we have John who Smith. I just really like the match up for the Packers. I'm confident that if they can pass protect, green Bay is going to move the ball and score some points on this defense. So to me, that's start there. If they can't pass protect, they got no chance. So yeah, they're not going to be able to move because I don't expect anything really from the running game. I just I don't number one, I don't have confidence that they can run block yet or at least consistently. And then Marshawn Lloyd is a complete unknown and he's going to be getting the majority of the carries. We're going to I think we're going to see a lot of Chris Brooks. I think we I'm not sure if we're going to see Pierre Strong or if we're going to see Caleb Johnson. But we're going to see a little dose of those guys and I think it's going to be a lot of

15:26I think the snaps are going to be almost 50-50 with Marshawn Lloyd and Chris Brooks. Lloyd will get the majority of the carries, but I think Brooks is going to play a lot and be in there for past protection situations. But I don't expect them to do much in a running game. This is going to be air it out and it needs to be. So if they if they can pass protect I think there's there's points there that there's plenty of points that they're going to put on the board if they can't. It's going to be really hard to win this game. So you start there and then we can get in the other side of the ball too. But I like to me the recipe to beat that defense is make sure Jordan love his honest feet and has a little bit of time to throw. Yeah, yeah, and I mean that's I think that's a very on point man. I think you have to at this point and the name of the episode the Packers have no choice now but to let love cook. You have to put the football in his hands and let him be who he is. Use these weapons you have you have a plethora of weapons like the weapons on this offense and yes I get it Jacob's is out

16:30but he was not the focal point of the offense. He just wasn't. He was good and let's not like let's not discount that it's good running back. Very good very reliable on the goal line for talking goal line there's probably a little bit more of a case to be to be made about the impact of Jacob's absence but you know there's also no saying that Lloyd can't fill that gap right we just haven't seen him. So that's that's a big thing but I really think that again the Packers have no choice but to turn love loose and let him just completely take over this game and dictate the pace and the terms of this game and in order for him to do that they must protect him. Now I'm not saying that this has to be a clean pocket you know Jordan love is not Tom Brady he doesn't wear cinder blocks on his feet he's an athlete he can move they've been working on his footwork this off season specifically so I do expect him to be able to navigate a pass rush you know he knows he's going to get it you've got film on flores you've got data on

17:32his tendencies you can figure out some of the things you're going to see there might be some unscouted looks there's always something new there's always wrinkles but you know that doesn't mean that you won't be able to at least navigate some of these things that you've already seen in the past and do it with you know a wiser perspective but yeah I do expect a more mature Jordan love to you know improve footwork Jordan love to be able to handle whatever flores is thrown out of and put up I you know enough points to win we'll get it in predictions later yeah yeah and it's kind of funny that all of a sudden here comes Harrison Smith back for the Vikings right right just signed and here he is week one walking into it and that that makes a big difference for Minnesota like he is a huge key to their defense because he's incredibly smart he can play all over the field I mean they bring him up to on the edge of the line and then he'll drop

18:33back to the middle of field in the snap of ball and being in the right spot he's just oh very good oh blitz off the edge and coming on block to make a play like he is damn good I know he's a Viking but man he's been damn good for his entire career and I can't wait till he retires I was hoping this was the year but area is showing up right before week one and he's going to play a big role for them just because he his presence puts everybody else in that secondary kind of like inner right spot now they can move Josh Matullis around like and use him as a linebacker spot use him on the line of scrimmage in the middle of field Harrison Smith all over the field like and he's incredibly smart he knows the playbook we'll get everybody in the right spot my only thought with that is like all right the dude missed all of the offseason you missed all of training camp he's older he's got older legs yeah I'm sure he's in incredible shape and who walk in there ready to go and mentally he's ready to go but there is that layoff like and as an older guy I don't know like it does

19:35it catch up to him is he a little bit slow is he not up to speed right away physically because he's he wasn't there all offseason that'll be interesting mentally I think will be fine who you know whole no where to be but like does he get there quick enough whereas he has step or two behind because he's just he's older and and he hasn't had the reps this offseason so that'll be interesting but yeah unfortunately he shows up right before week one I guess I'm not surprised you know and they asked Matt LaFlaura about it and he said yeah we were we were expecting the same yeah so you know it was just one of those a veteran who said you know what I don't need training camp so much but I'll be there for the first game yeah and and plenty of guys have done that I shouldn't say plenty the guys who have done that usually know what they're doing they know how to calibrate themselves so yeah I don't expect him to necessarily be a weakness because of his absence but I do think that you're right like he's not getting younger and it's not that he will be in bad shape or

20:39anything like that but this is a game of inches man and it's a game of half steps and when you're going up against Matthew Golden and Christian Watson a half step is a big deal and I think that is something that could end up being a limiting thing for him you know you may need to limit the range that you expect him to cover and and you know as far as the bluffs go and the different you know disguises if you got to cover a lot of field because you got track stars across from you you got to be careful right and I wonder how they use them like is this the full like Harrison Smith we're going to put them everywhere and see you know hold do everything where it's just like let's be careful like we don't need him covering all over the field we don't need him you know in the middle of the of the line in the a gap and dropping straight back like maybe there are a little bit different how they use them we'll see I think from a packer's perspective like let's take like I don't want to test them because he's really good and he's real smart but like let's see how much this dude can run right I wouldn't be surprised because we did see how much he can run 2023 and Christian Watson right

21:44comes out and that was a 20 wait 2022 Roger's 22 Roger's Christian Watson comes out and they test the veteran Patrick Peterson who is a good great player but losing a step and you know you've got a stinking gazelle right there and Christian Watson send him down the field because with that is it's more than just one play right like even if just like with Christian Watson you know dropping the ball in that play that opened their eyes like oh boy hey hang on a second we can't let that happen again all right he may have dropped that but my goodness he is fast the guy can cover ground you can't just slap Patrick Peterson on him and say good luck like you're going to get torched doing that and they that's kind of the point is to say all right you guys got some good players in your secondary we're gonna flex a little bit you know we might throw a little bit downfield right away send a couple track stars up on each side and see how well you guys can account for that

22:45no by the way we can play that card any day any time so just just know right and I kind of like that let's test and deep early but you got to block it up exactly and like their edge rushers aren't you know you're not going up against miles Gary right you're but Andrew Van Gangle Dallas Turner like those are productive guys but it's more so the scheme and how he gets free rushers or how he gets favorable one-on-one matchups and they get into the backfield quick or he's got guys that are coming free because you're sliding your protection towards somebody and whoop they're coming off the other edge and your somebody's turn loose yeah like so that's the problem so if you can block it sure test them deep early but like you might want to do that but when Jordan Love drops back and he's got a free runner in his face you can't but yeah I hear you like I'm with you let's maybe let's test him early let's show him a little bit of golden and and watch and get in deep on him and that might soften him up and that might back floor is off a little bit well and you know it's kind

23:49of like who's gonna punch who in the mouth first and that's a good way to send a shot that makes them go oh hey whoa I gotta hang on a second like these guys they got they got a little something coming at me you've got to recalibrate right like you have to make sure and it's not like this is a secret so I don't exactly expect them to be surprised by this but you're gonna get tested like your athletes are gonna have to see what they can do and you might have to get burned a player too to find out if you're that defense so it'll be interesting to see because it is a little bit of a negotiation because if they do soften up that opens you up to be able to let your runners get going and we're gonna test Marshawn Lloyd and see what he can do he sounds like a confident man to me he stayed healthy through pre-season and training camp you know we might have a gym on our hands that we don't even know about because we haven't seen it yet but that's a great way to start right like get him softened up get him worried about you going deep and then give Marshawn Lloyd and company a little bit more room to breathe and that that would as far as you know we're talking

24:54recipes we're gonna get into matchups but that would be my recipe as far as you know for one you don't necessarily know what to expect on the other side with the Packer's defense against the Vikings offense in a lot of ways right you got a new defensive coordinator and JG you got a new quarterback over there in Kyler Erk Kyler Murray and the real interesting wrinkle with that one is JG knows Kyler Murray you know like so you can't you know there's not a whole lot of surprises there you got tendencies you know there's some things you know about that guy that are gonna help you call the game against him so yeah I'm I'm very interested to see but if I'm the floor if I'm looking at this from a holistic perspective my idea is I've got to outscore these sons of guns you know it's not like I can sit over here and expect the defense to come out and hold these guys to ten points okay then if that's what you're betting on that's not good that's not a good place to start right like I'm thinking right the floor my goal is we got to score 28 plus points to win

25:57this game yeah and I don't I agree with that thought I don't think it's necessarily gonna take that much but we'll get to the defense in a second but yeah I agree with what you're saying I think it and I think it's gotta be all passing game like it's gotta start there and I'm not saying you know throwing every down ignore the running game but I think you you sprinkle the running game in and you make it complimentary to what you're doing in the passing game and you just kind of keep them honest but it's it's all flowing through your quarterback and yeah I think it's gotta be a mixture like you're talking get it deep but I think it's gotta be a lot of the quick passing game to get out of Jordan's hands quickly to beat the rush but also to kind of you know have have it so that they're not sitting back taking away the deep stuff you gotta have them underneath and try to give your guys an opportunity to run with the ball but also like hey it's first from 10 and you gotta get it out quick and just pick up five yards okay your second and five that's not bad like you're still getting ahead of the sticks but yeah I think everything's gotta be

26:58off of that passing game and whatever you get in the running game is it's almost and again I don't want to make it sound like you just completely ignored but it's almost like a bonus like you're just all right we're gonna be real pass heavy and then we're gonna sprinkle on some runs here and there and maybe you catch them off guard and maybe you run at some situations maybe it's maybe it's a third and six and Brooks is in there and you hit him with a little draw out of Brooks and you pop something for a first down you know like it's it's a complimentary piece you're running game and if it you know early in the game if you're if you're getting stuff in the running game then you start trying to make it a little more balanced and you say all right we're running the ball well it's sprinkling some more runs but I think it begins with Jordan love in the passing game and taking advantage of their weapons obviously you know a unique scheme a very good scheme with Brian Flores so you gotta be well prepared and you gotta understand what they're trying to do to you but yeah it's um you're gonna have to score you're gonna have to you can't take

28:01sacks you can't turn the ball over like the negative plays to get behind a stick they're just gonna each alive with that defense so on rhythm with a tempo air it out man like this is we've been talking about like Jordan love cook it is time baby it is time with the way they're running back situation is right now too I don't even know if it matters to the opponent is like he should be throwing the ball a lot right now until you figure out what you have in Lloyd and and maybe Caleb Johnson but like especially against this opponent to start off the season like air it out I think and again like I like I like what Lloyd can potentially give him and I think he'll lead the team and carries but like the snaps I think we're gonna see a lot of Chris Brooks in this game and then whether or not they bring up strong from the practice squad which I think they may do or if they say you know what we're fine we're comfortable with Caleb Johnson just getting a handful snaps I don't think he's gonna play very much and if he does he might get a couple of carries

29:03but yeah I mean I it's all got to be based on the passing game offensively absolutely no doubt about it we got a couple of friends hanging out in the chats wanted to bring some of the at least one topic here so our friend Chris the casual says I think it's gonna be a real struggle something that doesn't seem right about number 26 to me Chris I'm not sure man I don't I don't think I agree I I like the the edition of Johnson I like them coming out of Iowa I thought he's strong would have been I thought it would have been a good pickup if the Packers had drafted him and they certainly were in that range being able to do so I'm with you I don't I don't know Tim I don't know that he would contribute right away but I like the addition I mean you know and I think a few comparisons have been made to Amon Green I threw out their Ryan Grant as well I mean Ryan Grant was you know a rookie you know that they acquired for a six-round pick you know so it's like

30:08yeah I mean I get it like it's it's very similar doesn't mean that Caleb Johnson is gonna turn into a legendary Packers running back but certainly is evidence that these situations have worked out before it's not like this is you know it would be unprecedented for Caleb Johnson to be an effective addition you know and there's been some cases where it's very simple guys just get off to a a tough start you know and in the NFL where evaluation is done in such a concentrated time and way one mistake two mistakes that can just bury you on the depth chart and they've got some talented backs over there and stealer in the in Pittsburgh and so yeah I mean I don't think that there's anything I don't know it I don't think there's anything to worry about I don't think it's like there's some something wrong with him that we aren't aware of some like that he you know listen to him talk seems like a good dude but you know I like I like the ability to go do it you turned

31:12a street free agent in Kyle McCord and really somebody who wasn't brought in to be much more than a camp arm you know like they already had Tyrod Taylor I don't know I don't think they had Tyrod Taylor but they went and got Tyrod Taylor because they did not expect Kyle McCord to be QB2 at any point he was brought in essentially to be a camp arm maybe do what he did and become a QB3 but you turned that guy into a six-round pick who you then turned into Caleb Johnson who you know he may not be the starter he may not be you know Ryan Granemann Greene but dang man that's a great addition when you lose Josh Jacobs you've got Marshawn Lloyd who you know his obvious injury injury history is obviously questionable and Chris Brooks is just not thought of to be in as an every down back great past blocker but you know when you just got those two guys that you're going to the season with and you didn't really like anybody I mean pure strong's there but they clearly

32:15didn't like him enough to not trade for Caleb Johnson so it's like I think it's a great deal you you turn something or nothing into something really so worst case scenario is he does it pan out and you get rid of the guy but you know you're out a six-round pick that you weren't gonna have anyway and he's a rookie oh so he's one year or a second year player so he's on his rookie contract is what I meant to say so he's got three years left on a rookie contract like and you traded a six-round pick so you're essentially like would you have taken this guy in a six-round like that's yeah yeah it's it's worth a shot I don't know what he's gonna be with the packers like there's some signs there that obviously he was really productive that Iowa he was a third-round pick for a reason and it's not like he was a third-round pick just because the Steelers picked him there like he was going to go in that way he also went yeah yeah well it's not there's surprised he made it that far right and I like that the system at Iowa and this was interesting that they're off into courney and they're a Tim Lester had been had spent a year on the packer staff is like an analyst

33:18under the floor and from I read an arrow I think Bill Huber put it out there he talked the Lester and and Caleb Johnson said it like they ran a very close version of the packer's offense with Caleb Johnson there so he might be able to get up to speed as far as the playbook goes pretty quickly in you're in for 1500 yards last year at Iowa yeah damn good and I know what the yards in the big 10 is not something to look past no and I know it didn't work out in Pittsburgh but he was just a year in they already gave up on him like maybe there are bad signs there but I think he just got buried behind Jalen Watson and you know the depth chart there he made a big mistake on a kickoff return which is not going to be doing that in green bay and you know he just he I guess he fell behind and they gave up after him gave up on him after a year so is there some kind of like why are they even up on him after you yeah you wonder about that and who knows but it could just be he needs a fresh start and a change of scenery and this is it now will it work out will he be

34:21like a Ryan Grant I don't know it's possible but I don't I think it's going to take him time like I wouldn't expect to see him much week one maybe he might even not you know if they bring pair strong up from the practice squad Johnson might not even be active yet and if he is active I don't think he'll see more than you know a couple of carries unless he's running well which would be great but I think it's going to take time for him to start seeing more playing time and get the ball more but for a second year player I think it's who was highly productive in Iowa and it was a third round pick last year I think it's worth a shot absolutely yeah and again I just I got nothing bad to say about it because it's just such a low risk move if it doesn't work out oh well whatever right it's worth a shot yeah um okay so just jumping in there and then our friend Matthew Tan he's trying to get us off into these matchups how do we stop just Jefferson do you think the defense can stop him Tim

35:23stop him huh that's probably not no I think they get what was the old was a damn Patrick you can't stop him you can only hope to contain him right I'm okay and I think that's what you got hope I think it's it's got to be scheme and it's not like hey can CC stop him no I don't think brain and CC say yet in his career's first game is going to be able to stop Justin Jefferson nobody's going to be matching up on him right Nixon's going to see him CC's going to see him Bollard's going to see him in the slot they move him around none of the corners are following him it's going to be a scheme thing and it's going to be you know you've got to have two guys around them at least and I think you got to confuse Kyler Murray some of the things that you're doing you got to get the ball out of Kyler Murray's hands fast which part of that I think is going to be speeding him up by showing him different looks and maybe he thinks the pressure is coming so he's throwing it quickly and it's not going right away to Jefferson I just I think he's going to get his Justin

36:26Jefferson it's just you can't let him tear you apart and go off and that's anytime you play the Vikings the number one goal is to contain Justin Jefferson and I'm sure that's the number one goal for the Packers this week but it's how you go about it and a big part of that is going to be to me it's going to be it from a skiing standpoint and it's going to start not so much with Jefferson it's going to start with Kyler Murray and one you got to keep him in the pocket but I think you also got to confuse him and of course you got to get to him a little bit and then Viking offensive line it was beat up a lot last year but there's some good pliers on that offensive line and obviously the Packers pass rushes a huge question mark I think the interiors got a win so Javon Hargrave revenge game against this former team the Vante Y I think those guys got to have big games for you and then hopefully Vaness, Sarell Cox on the outside like sprinkle some of that in maybe we see some of these creative blitzes that they were running in practice throughout training camp but

37:26you got to keep Kyler in a pocket right because he can get off platform and make some plays and he can also scramble and then I just think it's confusing him it's and and Ganon knows him as well as anybody from being his head coach so like what bothers him what does he like to see what does he like to do obviously he's a smaller quarterback crowd is vision right got to the line getting his face in the middle of that line of scrimmage so he can't see through the big bodies in front of him I can't that he can't do yeah I mean bad it down all those passes and training camp let's see if he can continue in the regular season but to me containing Justin Jefferson isn't even so much about like who's covering him it's what are you doing to disrupt Kyler Murray or confuse Kyler Murray so that he can't get the ball to Jefferson and then obviously when he does tackle him right away tackle him in very easy fashion yeah I don't think you can stop him I think you can hope to contain him first of all let's not lose sight of the fact that the Packers safeties are probably two of the

38:32best save you know as far as safety tandems go I would say at least top three in the NFL there may not be a better safety tandem than Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams so that's a great place to start as far as trying not to let the top off of the defense but I think CSA is definitely going to have an impact on it you know it I think he can hold his own will he give up some yeah he's going to give up some we'll see who's on the other side of CSA you know if they've got Nixon out there if it's Valentine who wins that spot and what's the you know is it a lot of zones a lot of man like what what's going to be going on there I think is a big part of it and then certainly the pressure but you know the past rush gaps is more kind of what you're trying to do like you're saying you want to be able to block Murray's vision as much as you can force him out of the pocket so you want that even rush or maybe like you know deceptive rushes but yeah I think there's ways that you can cap him I think

39:40you know he's going to get loose if you can hold him under a hundred yards and to like a touchdown that's that's not a bad day right you didn't get to get to go with that yeah you know hold him under a hundred yards he's probably going to get a touchdown if that's the most their offense can do that you should be able to beat that because while good that's not elite right with Justin Jefferson is elite you know and to take a flashback when Jair Alexander was a rookie in 2018 the you know first matchup begins the Vikings feeling and digs had a heyday they went for like over 250 yards combined in three touchdowns like it was they feasted so and it was a tight game but you know it's just one of those things like you can't you're not going to stop him you're you're not going to have a game where he has two catches for 10 yards that's not happening Justin Jefferson's is too good and he's been that good with different quarterbacks so it's not like a situation

40:44where like yeah well now he's got a different quarterback no he's been that way with bad quarterbacks and good quarterbacks so the guy is going to get his phenomenal yeah he's a phenomenal receiver he's going to get his it's just limiting the damage yeah right exactly don't let him go for 200 yards or 150 yards that's a that's a bad day you you failed if that happened and they should be able to prevent that you know I really do think that this defense has a balanced enough approach with you know the past rush the D line and again the safety's over the top bouldered in the nickel that you should be able to bracket him with some double teams in certain situations you should be able to limit the amount of time he's got to get down field and that's not to sleep on the Vikings O line their O line's not bad but you should be able to win find some wins there you know the interior of their offensive line is probably the weaker area you should be able to get some pressure

41:44up in the A and B gaps you should be able to send you know Cooper on some of those those inside rushes you should be able to win the line of scrimmage with hardgrave and those guys yeah you should be able to limit Murray's time to throw if not get pressure on him a lot and then you know you kind of look at the running game it's not the scariest running game but it's not a running game it would be slept on Aaron Jones as long as he's playing I think it's going to be good I don't think he's going to not be good if he's playing he's on the downside very sure yeah yeah but he's also split and carries with is it Mason yeah there's Mason who's you know shown some promise I think those two splitting carries keeps Jones healthy so I wouldn't expect their running game to be non-existent or assume you can just shut them down I'd probably be most worried about in this game you know kind of the screen game the dump-offs how are you handling those things where they take advantage of your pressure and and slide in behind you that that's kind

42:45you know that would be my concern with those types yeah and I just I think it's one of those games where if you cannot give up you know a big game to the Vikings on the ground like you shouldn't because I don't think they're that good at running back and I I respect the offensive line but it's not like a dominant unit but the right I mean the tackles are really good they're a song on the ill the interior not bad but they can be beaten like yeah but this is not a game where you should get you know run over on in the running game and if you are at the bad sign for what's coming this season because you're going to see much better running games in Minnesota like you have to take it away so it's not there and you can just you can sticker your game plan to limit the explosiveness of their passing game if they're getting both you're in trouble obviously and it's not just Jefferson Jordan Addison's a good receiver they added John Jennings from the Niners Hockinson at tight end like they have some other guys to that can hurt you but obviously the big one is Jefferson and it's interesting because obviously this is Ganon's first game with the Packer so

43:48there's a lot of unknown what he's going to do we're hearing about all these different flitz looks that he's done throughout camp and you know he's going to play a true three safety look not just like bullard and as the nickel but bullard like as a safety three safety look we're going to see some injured Cooper on the edge like literally lined up on the edge is he Russian is he playing a linebacker spot and you know how are they using him like we're going to see some different things so there's unknown there but there's some unknown with the Vikings offense because Murray hasn't been there and Kevin O'Connell really hasn't had like this kind of athletic quarterback like a guy that they can use his legs a lot like he had Kurt Cousins and he had Darnold and he had McCarthy like this is a different dude so like how do they incorporate moving Murray around and how much of it do they do because like you've seen he's had some injuries so like you don't want him taking too many hits but like he has the ability to move the pocket to scramble and like you can incorporate some of that stuff in your offense so like that's an unknown for what the packer is going to be facing

44:51too yeah yeah so there's definitely some unknown some unscouted elements to this but you also do have the history again with JG and and you know I mean the floor has gone up against color Murray a few times and done pretty well so I that's where I think like this you you put it very well like it's not that they're bad but they're beatable and you can kind of say that across the line you know and and even though on defense that you know that I think we would be far less afraid of this defense if Laura's wasn't running it which you know it's like saying it's a different scheme yeah right like it that's saying a lot but point being is you know when it comes down to the one-on-one matchups player-to-player matchups I think that they're they their players are good but beatable in a lot of ways it just just and Jefferson's probably the only one I'm not saying that about and maybe you know O'Neill but otherwise like yeah they're good but beatable I think and so you should be able to

45:51manage this game I'm not calling it a blowout I'm not expecting them to go out here and just win 35 to three or something crazy like that but I do think the defense here should be able to disrupt Kyler Murray enough contain the run game enough to be able to put the extra attention on Jeff Justin Jefferson that contains this offense and holds them to a less explosive outcome maybe holds them to 21 points or less I could easily see that right is you know keeping these guys down a little bit they're gonna get some points they're gonna make some plays but you know if you can contain them enough keep pressure on them enough to keep them off balance I think it's gonna be tough for them to generate those points in those plays so yeah I guess I ultimately I guess to summarize what I'm looking for you know you got we're going through matchups here we talked about Justin Jefferson against the DBs you know we're not gonna have a situation where somebody's

46:53shadowing him but collectively and we've got we've got our friend our showers in here I think he's right on the nose here he says matchup zone can control Jefferson the biggest things taking the right away yeah I think honestly collectively you can handle that and you can execute on it and I think that's the way to do it but you've also if you're Jonathan Ganon you've got to be able to throw some deception in there that is not unlike the way Flora's does and you've got to be able to keep them on their heels as far as understanding where the past rush is coming from and when it is coming right you've got to be as unpredictable and as deceptive as possible in order to keep their their true playmakers from making plays and I think they can do that I'd like to see some really cool blitzes I'd love to see Edger and Cooper blitzed I'd love to see the safeties incorporated maybe kind of similarly the way we're talking about Harrison Smith where you know let the guys come down and play towards the line show some deception and then drop back I think

47:54they've got the athleticism for that I think you're gonna have to see that because I don't think this is going to be a big game for the edge rushers which is because I think Minnesota is pretty good at offense attack also I think right maybe you will see a ton of blitzes but they got to get home when they bring it so like if your brain blew it off the slot or one of the corners or one of the safeties they got to get there and I think they're gonna mix Cooper in a little bit maybe we'll see if they start like I say they're gonna mix Cooper in as a rusher but I don't know how heavy they're gonna go week one it kind of depends on the matchups and what they say but you could yeah but when you bring guys like Cooper Bullard and the safeties like I think this could be the week where they get home and they make whether it's a big sack whether it's a big you know turnover play whatever it is I think you're gonna see more from them than you are from the edge rushers as far as big plays go just because Darryl and O'Neal are really good and I don't know how often our edge guys are going to beat them yeah right and I totally agree I don't think this is the the surreal coming out party

48:56now and even LVN you want him to be disruptive and have a day but I don't think this is going to be his his three three sack coming out party kind of thing I'd like to see him get a sack and hopefully they move him around enough where he's not just rushing against the same tackle the whole day but yeah I agree with you wholeheartedly I think you got got to get creative and hopefully yeah they've shown some DB blitzes you know hopefully they sling a few out there I that would I think that would work well ultimately you got to bring the pressure and dictate the the pace and the tone of the game you can't wait for that offense to to get comfortable or or give them time to get comfortable because they do have enough playmakers that they will be able to move the ball so um we'll see that's that's our little flyover the the defensive matchups offensive matchups now we talked a little bit about this um I'm you know we talked about the running backs you know for offensively you know got to let love cook all of that I'm very very excited to see

50:02how the receivers matchup you know we're talking a little bit about sin and g- golden and Watson deep obviously craft is coming back I'm very excited to see how these guys really cut loose as far as you know your offensive weapons how are you using read behind those guys and you know how are you getting Lloyd incorporated outside of the run game because I think that he's got something to offer in the screen game as well but yeah you know I think the only thing that we're all hoping for is to limit the number of endarounds right Jetsweeps let's just yes keep a few of those in the pocket today yeah I think this is uh this is a week for for reading golden I think they're either they're going to be the ones in a passing game that have the big games this week because I think you can get the ball out over the middle to read pretty quickly um we've seen that in the past against his Viking defense where he can run after they catch against it and then I just think gold ring can win so easily so quickly in his routes where Jordan can

51:08get it to him real fast and you know not have to wait for him to get to uncover himself or not wait for him to get down the field not that it takes him very long to get down to field with his speed but I just I think gold is around running in ability or win quick and then read being able to sometimes maybe he's the hot receiver of the middle um against some of the blitzes and with the ball in his hand he's going to be real dangerous so I think read and and gold and are going to be the big guys even over you know more so than watching and craft what both will be involved but I just could see big games from gold and and read to me the matchup um that's going to dictate a lot of things more so I mean we talked about Jordan against Brian Flores and we talked about the receivers but how does that offensive line handle it how's it going to handle the pressure and who's playing on the offensive line because apparently we don't even know who the starters are maybe some of that mad is just being a little coy and like trying to keep it close to us there's a little of that I I'm sure they

52:10know who's going to be starting at this point but is it banks in Bacabuailly is it banks in you know Belton is it is it Burton and Belton it's that's completely different and I don't want to put Jagger Burton out there in this first game you know along with Jacob Monk who's going to be making his first real start in NFL and how we played last year against the Vikings but that was a much different situation right on that week 18 like so and Ken banks and Bacabuailly if they do start can they play the entire game like what what's the situation there so until we know that and we're recording this we're talking one day night we'll get more information I'm sure once practices start Wednesday I mean you're not going to see a whole lot the B reporters there but they'll be able to see at least who's practicing now we won't really know like who's practicing and taking the reps with the with the first team because I'm sure those guys will be listed as limited

53:11all week but yeah I how does the offensive line whoever's playing at left guard and right tackle how do they match up and how do they figure out who's coming and who they're supposed to block right because that's so much the key to this is like you're not facing the defense where like you're just blocking the guy in front of you like yeah you're going to have to do that a lot but like which where you slide into protection who you know they're going to crowd the line of scrimmage let's figure out who's coming who's dropping who's my guy like it's communication it's it's being prepared from a film standpoint and a game plan standpoint so I to me the big one of the big match-ups offensively is just the offensive line versus the pressure packages and sorting that stuff out yeah and again I do think you know because like we're talking about there's a lot of unscouted things going on right now I do think there's a little bit of playing koi and you know keep things close to the vest I think they know a lot more than what

54:12they're showing and you know really the the thing with with zbb he was expected to be ready almost no doubt about it and we've only recently heard some doubts about that so I'm nervous about what that could mean but I'm also wondering how serious it is and if it's more of precautionary stuff and once he gets going he gets going so you know I we'll see we certainly can't figure that out here but I would expect that he goes my questions are definitely more about banks who you know apparently couldn't do anything in team at all because of his ten to nitis and you know unless he's just started stretching yesterday ten and i just doesn't just go away right um I had ten and i just in my knees when I played and uh went to the doctor because it got bad and they asked me how much I stretched and ultimately determined not enough and started stretching more and more

55:14properly and I have never had issues since so I wonder what his issue is it would be shocking to me if a guy has ten to nine to ten his knees because he isn't stretching up in the NFL um what we have seen more shocking things even right here with this packers team who apparently we're not warming up properly just a few years ago so um it's interesting to see banks is the one that I have more doubts about than zbb I think balka buwellies we're gonna be ready to go um he might have to tough out a little bit of pain or you know whatever the issue is but I'm being optimistic I say he is in there um where I will you know go a little bit more about areas we can speculate and comment on with the rest of the positions I think morgan is going to be without a doubt and upgrade over walker um your left tackle position being secured is gonna be a big deal to the performance of the rest of the o-line so

56:17if he can hold up his into the deal that makes everything else better I think ryan holds up his into the deal he seems very comfortable at center uh doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of issues there um so I'm confident that you've got stability at least at those two positions and when you talk about the depth monk and burden I think you could be in a far worse position as far as depth goes with those two guys excuse me I'm gonna a little tickle my throat there so ultimately I got to hand it back to Tim I'll take it for you we're talking offensive line and I'm with you I feel morgan is going to be an upgrade over what we saw last year from Rashid Walker and I think ryan will settle away and he was settling last year he's better than what Elton Jenkins was giving him last year before Elton Jenkins got hurt so I feel good there all signs have been good throughout the all season training camp preseason at those two spots and if zbb is healthy I think we'll be back to being zbb where at least close to that level my concerns are at the guard

57:23spot and what are we gonna get out of banks when he's healthy if he's healthy and then Jacob monk is just a complete unknown and I think he's improved himself and I give him credit like he's he was a guy that was very much it seemed like on the bubble and now here he is he's he haven't named them the starter but I mean all signs are he's the starter this week going in the Minnesota I'm still very skeptical about it and how long he will be the starter and and what they're gonna get out of him production wise because I'm just not a big believer I think he's a little too small I don't think he's going to last you know that long as the starter whether they're going to be rotating him or they're just straight out replacing him so he's the unknown there but three spots on the line barring health I feel good about it so it's two guard spots that I really have a lot of questions about I think eventually one of them is going to be Burton how quickly we'll see can belt and get back in there and regain his job and improve I don't know I don't like how

58:28quickly they pull them out of there but maybe that had something to do with his EBB's health and they want it belt and to get a lot of reps and get comfortable at right tackle because he might have to play right tackle starting this week against the Vikings yeah and you know again like you could be in a worse position when it comes to depth you know and I know you got your concerns about monk I'm less concerned about monk I you know the the coaches seem to really like his style and there's a reason for that you know it's not unwarranted or unfounded how far does it go we'll find out I mean that that's the beautiful thing about this is the proofs in the put in man if he's a liability he's not gonna last long you know if he can hold his own I think he'll be all right the other one is Burton I think Burton's far more of an interesting case because I think once you plug him as it's in as a starter it's gonna be very difficult to pull him back I think he's only gonna continue to develop he's already showing a lot of great promise so he's one that

59:29you don't want to have to put him in there too early but it kind of makes me think of Cory Linsley you know when Cory Linsley came in as a fifth round rookie then his first game was against the Seahawks which back then they had that crazy D-line it was a pretty tough assignment he he held his own and then he only got better from there and ended up being a great center and never let go of that starting job so Burton to me kind of seems like one of those types of guys and like like Baku Baweli as well you know he's a fourth round pick you put him in there and he just never gave up the the job you know so I would love it if that was the case and if that turned out then you know you you are in a much better position very quickly whereas you know the the left guard becomes probably the biggest question mark with that bank's contract do you plug in Burton at left guard does he have to go to right guard can he can munk hold his own at right guard long enough for Burton to be you know there's a lot of those ways that those pieces can be interlocked and that's one of the reasons and whether we were okay with it or not it's one of the reasons

1:00:31that Goody prefers the versatility that he prefers on offensive line so that you can have this kind of plug-in play approach with these positions that are less certain but I will say I think again Morgan stabilizes things Ryan stabilizes things Baku Baweli if he plays he stabilizes things and then you've got two questions there at guard and I don't think the answers are that bad so you know is it going to be a perfect line you know one of the best in the league maybe not you know that might be a little ambitious but are they going to be serviceable enough for the rest of these weapons to flourish I think they can be and so the one player on offense we're talking about matchups here that I think is set up to have a big game and and maybe a comeback party if you will is Tucker craft I think like we were talking about you've got the ability with Golden and Watson on the outside to scare the hell out of their secondary and make some room you've got the ability with Reed also to manipulate some of those pieces and clear them out and then you've got these matchups

1:01:37with craft on linebackers that aren't terrible but I'll take Tucker craft against most linebackers you know what I mean like maybe Fred Warner can hold his own against him if you guys it might be all right Tucker craft is going to beat most linebackers and that's one where I think if you're if you've got your safety's backed up you got your corners running for their life kind of you know trying to cover these track athletes Tucker craft is going to find space to to much I'm very very excited about his opportunity here to find those gaps in the defense and be able to feast on on those you at those yack yards but that's you know you don't have to have the other half of that for craft you don't have to have five seconds for him to get down the field you know what I mean he can be your hot in a lot of cases so if pressure's coming he's going to be a guy who's going to post up hot he's going to be a guy who's going right over the front seven and being your dump off and he's going to benefit from that and he again the yack yards he will feast up so that's the one I would

1:02:42keep my eye on is Tucker craft to be poised for a big game here as far as the matchups go um you know again the safeties aren't bad but when you've got to protect the top like they do I think there's going to be a lot of space created underneath so that's what I'd be watching for if the line can't hold up too too well but they can hold up a little bit Tucker craft feasts and maybe Jordan read as well I'm just excited to watch that maniac play football again yeah it's been a way too long welcome back we'll see if they hold them back as hard as snap count goes a little bit um they might get into the game and just be like to hell with it like he's yeah it's Tucker craft we're just gonna let it out this man loose yeah we'll see um and then like how much then does John who Smith play because I think John who Smith is definitely gonna have a roll yeah we haven't talked about him yeah I think I have a roll in the offense I don't know how long how big it'll be week one not so much from like learning the playbook thing because he's a veteran I think he can do that pretty quickly I just think it's like they might go with a lot of three

1:03:44receiver sets so he's gonna be off the field um I guess it's defense but we'll say and then maybe you know obviously if they are gonna limit craft a little bit then that's gonna jack up John who Smith's um snap count a little bit but yeah to your point I'm just I just want to see Tucker craft out there man he brings so much juice to that offense and he's he's such a great player I yeah I just want him on the field I want him healthy and anytime he's out there he could he's capable of breaking loose and taking a two yard pass 50 yeah absolutely so all right man we've done our matchups we've done our flyovers it is time for a season outlook we are here upon week one of the 2026 season the uh there's already some wrinkles baked in that we know about right you know the the starting running back is out um maybe for good we'll see um I will

1:04:45say goodie said that they haven't seen the video that changes my whole perspective on the whole thing if they haven't seen the video when that video comes out I think it's done I think we're I think we're moving on to different places um could be wrong we'll see but you at least for the time being have to plan to be without RB one um you're obviously without Michael Parsons so the first call it quarter of the C quarter plus you know quarter with a little lean over uh of the season could be different will be different than the rest of the season what do you think man like are we are we in for the struggle in that first quarter without Parsons and he comes in as the savior and we you know limp our way to a wild card do you think this team has what it takes to be successful right out of the gate it's I think they can I think they can be and it's going to depend on

1:05:46some players who were really good becoming great and the development of of younger players whether that's second year players rookies third year players that have yet to kind of take that jump like it's it's going to be you know the Matthew Goldens of the world and and you know Martian Lloyd and Evan Williams Javan board like those younger players continuing to get better and become different makers and it's going to be guys like Watson and Kraft taking their game up on another level Ken Jordan love take another step right like Jordan Morgan and and Sean Ryan and ZBB on the offensive line like yeah I think they can be fine without Mike I still have a lot of questions about this team but I don't think they're gonna you know completely fall apart I think they can be you know what whenever he comes back I think they can be out in front of it record wise where they get him back and all right here's the jolt that we need Mike is going to hop on the train and we're going to go from here if they're in a space where they're so far behind that he's got to rescue their season I think it's going to be a long way to get like it's going to be tough to get to the playoffs

1:06:51like he's if you're asking him to rescue your season and drag you there as great as he is you might just not be that good of a team yeah I think you need to be really good without him as much of a difference maker as he is and he's phenomenal but everybody's got to step up and and improve themselves and take care of their own business and and get better and if enough of got oh those guys do it and enough of your difference makers go from good to great Mike apart since can jump on a moving train and just add to it from there that would be my hope and I know the the NFC North rivals are just loving that they could say you guys didn't win a game without Michael last year all right well it wasn't as if all the variables are the same I mean they didn't it wasn't just Mike now I was just gonna say it wasn't just it was Mike along with Zach ZBB and Tucker Crack and the Vonte wine so like they were other fact and losing your starting quarterback for a full game plus what it was it was a game

1:07:56in a half yeah so there was a lot more to it than just Mike apart since but yes and you know yeah they didn't win without them but there are a lot of other players missing from that roster difference making players baked into that too you know yeah pretend that the team wasn't capable of winning without him because they certainly were playing pretty well and it took a pretty historic collapse more than once for the season to end the way that it did so that's where I kind of look at it and go sure ignore all the context and all the variables that have changed and you guys keep so you can't win without Michael Parsons all right fine the game of football comes down to one position in one player that's great good good for you but no I do believe that this team got better and when you look at it across the board and you can see where there were problems last year and what was addressed it's not perfect right you didn't go out and find two alt pro cornerbacks that

1:08:57would have been great right you didn't go out there and get another 10 sack edge rusher to take Michael's place when he's not there you know you still have questions on the offensive line but when you go down you look at it you the kicker alone is the difference in the playoff game the kicker alone is the difference in you being a wild card exit or in the divisional round against the Rams who their head coach has never beat your head coach you know and the Rams went right under the wire with the bears too you know so they would they would have got the Seahawks not the Rams oh that's right sorry yeah they would have been up to Seattle anyway yeah well and Seattle did what they did to your point and get it you don't know what would have happened point being is you wouldn't have been a wild card exit if you had a kicker who didn't leave seven points on a on the board and a four point game it's it's not often that a kicker in the playoffs is going to leave seven points

1:09:57on the field that's a pretty epic bad performance so just by having a competent kicker alone and it's not like he missed from 60 and 65 he missed two from the 40s and he missed an extra point so like if you've got a kicker who should just be able to do his job which it looks like trace mac can do that changes the whole conversation on its own before you get anywhere else okay and then the rest of it I do believe Ganon can be an upgrade over halfly that doesn't mean half least garbage it means I think can Ganon is a pretty damn good defensive coordinator who won a Super Bowl as a defensive coordinator and has really good players that want to play for him uh like he's not a slouch sure he didn't do well as a head coach in Arizona there's a lot of context involved with that too so I'm I'm not I'm I'm bored with the idea that this team can't win without Micah I think that there's a lot of things that have been improved since last season um even the old line you know I think

1:11:02the questions were bigger last season the issues were bigger um then they are right now uh but just all of it all of it together I think the defense is better the offense is better um and you have a better kicker right at least from what we can see here so I do think this team can win without Micah I do think that they can be great and a contender with Micah assuming that the group can stay mostly healthy um so yeah I mean I've been saying it for a while now I think that this is a 13-win team I think is a 13-win team if everybody stays healthy at least for you know the most part and you can grow throughout the season you get Micah back in October um you know Marsha and Lloyd might be a dude you might not even miss Josh Jacobs you can't rule that out um so we just there's a lot of there's a few things that need to be seen so but getting the pieces back that they're getting I think this is a better team right now than they were at the end of 2025

1:12:03even without Micah I mean you add Tucker Kraft and right DBB and Devante why there's a pretty big off-season additions right that you didn't have right the last season when you were you know you were a 9-3-1 in Denver um Denver who at the time I mean they were really good to host the host at the ABC Championship game and you were beaten it's not out of them yeah and then it all fell apart with the injuries in that game and you lost that game and you didn't win a game again again after that so yeah you you can knock the team for not recovering from that and absolutely and there were the blown leads in Chicago packers deserve all the blame for that I am fully on that but they are getting some really key players back hopefully right away we'll see we'll see about ZBB and then you're getting you're getting Micah back at some point after the first four or five games whenever he comes back so that's huge and this is a team if you told me they they they're

1:13:06going to win 12 games I would buy and if you told me they won eight games I could see that too some of my concerns with this team from before the season I still have now it's the offensive line the past rush without Micah Parsons and it's the cornerbacks and now kind of add the running backs to that as well but I have those concerns I think there's some solutions there but there's a lot of ifs and there's a lot of hoping for this and that on the other part or the other side of it I think Jordan love is going to take another step this year and I think the doubters I know there's still a lot of them they're going to be silenced or there's still going to be ones that are still going to talk their trash but like they're going to look so ridiculous after he takes another step this year yeah and it's not just Jordan it's the passing game so it's watching and it's gold and it's read and Tucker craft I think the passing game is going to be much improved and more consistent that gets me really excited I think schematically defensively it's going to be

1:14:10a little bit different I think Ganon might be able to do some things especially the first party or Micah is out to help the defense you know they're not going to be the number one defense there might be some consistency issues but I think he can get some some big stops with this defense at times when you need it and contain teams for long enough for your offense to put up points to get you ahead and you can hold on the windows games and I just then there's the unknowns of like I hope that there's not the injuries the key players again this year like the packers aren't hammered with that yet again that's the unknown we don't know about but like it can't happen two years in a row Kennan I guess I should be knocking on the woods I'm not asking that question right like that can turn for you and I think to turn over situate like dating generate very many turnovers last year and when they did there was only one team in the league that scored fewer points

1:15:12than them off the turnovers that has a way of kind of swinging back the next year and I'm not you know you might not lead lead the league in turnovers but I expect them to get more and that can change some of these close games yeah and then it becomes you know and the question the question is going to hang over all season long is can they close out games in the fourth quarter right because that was a huge issue last year and we're not going to know until the season plays itself out how they do and you know along as it goes along what they do but I saw something interesting today there were only two teams in a league last year that had more fourth quarter comebacks when they were trailing in the fourth quarter to win games in the packers so they did some things right at times in the fourth quarter right but we talk about all the games that they couldn't hold on to well they won four they won four games last year when trailing in the fourth quarter only the most was six and then there's a team with five ahead of them as well so they did some things right but obviously not enough so yeah they do have to close out games and we're not going to

1:16:15know about that we're not going to know about injuries or how many more turnovers they force those are going to play itself out and I so those are the unknowns and you hope that some of it flips in the packers favor at least maybe not dramatically but at least a little bit to kind of help you go in the other direction from where you were last year I still have major concerns about this team but I think if like I said earlier if some of these good players these young players who still have steps to take if they can go from good to great that's going to make up for a lot of deficiencies and can take your team a long way but can enough of them do it that's going to be the question and I think that's what's going to determine their season yeah no I agree with that you gotta have guys take steps forward but I think we're already seeing some of those happen right this Matthew Golden has had an incredible camp seems like an incredible offseason you know there's there's several guys that they're the needles pointing up and it looks really good for them so

1:17:16hopefully that continues to be true going into the season but all right man we've made it late enough in this episode quick shout out to some of the folks hanging out with us in in the chat here we got we got a new new new friend here we got the Renard 10 says go pack go absolutely sir go pack go welcome thanks for coming to hang out with us and had a question could packers win lots of games back to back this season interesting um I guess that would depend on how you're looking at the schedule uh I sure hope they can win some back-to-back games put some momentum together yeah have to yeah definitely gonna need to um let's see if we can we can mess around here on the schedule and find some of those opportunities for some back-to-back wins I think right out of the gate you got an opportunity for back-to-back wins I think you can win this game in Minnesota and I think you can win in New York so you know right off the bat I think you've got an opportunity there for some

1:18:17back-to-back wins I tell you one one back-to-back week I would love to see is just that that week against the bears followed by the cowboys if we could get back-to-back wins anywhere on the schedule I will take that one give me that one right there um those two teams at Lambo would love to just see I would just just an absolute beating beat the brakes off of both of them um I don't know what do you what do you think Tim you looking for a lot of back-to-back win opportunities here if they want to be a playoff team you got to win back-to-back games I mean there's no way there's no way around it you have to yeah yeah I mean they're definitely winning back-to-back games at different points this season for sure it's just you can't lose back to back games is the more important thing like you you got to be able to turn it around pretty quickly when you do take a loss absolutely and they've been pretty good at that in La Flores tenure they don't lose a lot

1:19:18for last year well yeah last year was an anomaly when it came to that but they've been generally pretty good about not losing back-to-back games that's good good to have um all right man what's our prediction this week you got a score prediction for for the game yeah I think they beat the Vikings and I'm gonna say they start off hot on offense um maybe this is a little too high for week one but I'll say 30 to 24 Packers ooh 30 to 24 I like that score prediction here um all right so we'll put that down um I think so I was kind of hinting at it earlier I think the Packers can score 28 I think they can hold them to 21 I will go with I think they I think they can put up some points man I'm gonna go with 34 to 17 and I think it probably starts off closer and they pull away in the second half um I think there will be some things that they're able to set up on offense uh that you know maybe

1:20:22you you do that in the first half and in the second half you you cash those things in um but yeah so 34 to 17 Packers win is gonna be my prediction here um all right that's week we got week one upon us man we're we're we're staring real football in the face no more uh you know brutal offseason to get through where we're talking about lists and all sorts of just miserable things we got real football we got real NFC North football we got the Packers and the Vikings I cannot wait um so if y'all had fun with us tonight spike that like button jump on over to the Packers Talk Network YouTube channel if you're not already there hit the subscribe button if you are watching or listening on YouTube right now you have no excuse it's right there under your video screen just go and click that thing right now it helps us out so much and I know you hear this on all the other YouTube streams and whatever you're listening to and watching there is a reason it's because it's

1:21:24super helpful so do it right now please uh and come back next week hang out with us on Monday night 9 30 p.m. Central stream and live we are going to be breaking down this game hopefully talking about a beautiful w where everything went perfect and and the special teams even went perfect we're going to get a kick return for a touchdown we're gonna we're gonna stop these guys all right I'm gonna low it's time you gotta find a way to get 34 points man you can't necessarily do it all in office but uh anyway come on back next week let's see what's happening against the Vikings and we will begin to also look at that jets matchup see if uh if they really present any kind of challenge at all let's not give ourselves any bad luck in in jinks and anything but still the jets or the jets so um thank y'all for hanging out with us love it when you guys get active in the chat and bring all the good energy and uh as always go pack go