Transcript

09/15/26 - Hour 1 · The Huddle

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Speaker 1: You are looking live at another edition, the Tuesday edition
0:03
Speaker 1: of The Huddle, Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin, 920 Milwaukee, 1070 Madison,
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Speaker 1: everywhere on that iHeartRadio app that's so fabulous, streaming live
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Speaker 1: for you early risers, insomniacs, and sociopaths on Facebook, X,
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Speaker 1: and YouTube. It's Drew Olson, Bill Schmid, and Armin Sarian.
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Speaker 1: We are another day removed from the debacle at U.S.
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Speaker 1: Bank Stadium, and I have more questions today than I
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Speaker 1: did yesterday.
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Speaker 2: Ooh.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, more questions than answers after you hear answers from
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Speaker 3: the head coach are never necessarily the greatest place to
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Speaker 3: be after.
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Speaker 1: Week one, huh? True. But I think upon further review
0:38
Speaker 1: and watching some of the film, some things confirmed and
0:43
Speaker 1: some new ideas popped into my head. And I'm so
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Speaker 1: glad that I've got Billy Schmidt, the guru, my tag
0:48
Speaker 1: team partner on Packers OT and the guru of offensive
0:50
Speaker 1: line play. to help me navigate and try to figure
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Speaker 1: out answers to some of my questions. Oh, dear. Oh, dear.
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Speaker 3: Because, listen, as I think we watched a lot of
0:59
Speaker 3: the same stuff, there were a lot of folks that
1:01
Speaker 3: looked like they all were asking a lot of questions.
1:03
Speaker 1: To each other. Not fun questions to answer, maybe, with
1:06
Speaker 1: this group. Yeah. Well, oh, I got a volume down here, Drew.
1:10
Speaker 1: There we go. Oh, by the way, there's our stream.
1:13
Speaker 1: It's proving that our stream is working. It works. We're there, guys.
1:15
Speaker 1: Thanks for hopping in. You can continue to do so.
1:18
Speaker 1: All right. Robust already. Plenty of questions upon further review.
1:23
Speaker 1: And one of the first things I noticed watching, especially
1:26
Speaker 1: in the first half, the Packers offensive line, even when
1:30
Speaker 1: they're in the course of building the lead, was not
1:33
Speaker 1: crisp and well-oiled. It was Jordan Love bailing their asses
1:36
Speaker 1: out by playing rock star ball.
1:40
Speaker 3: Jordan Love was phenomenal on Sunday, and for the majority
1:44
Speaker 3: of the night, the Packers were saved most of the
1:49
Speaker 3: time by what Jordan was doing and, and consistently getting them.
1:54
Speaker 3: And if watching a lot of it back yesterday, drew,
1:57
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw some of the same
2:00
Speaker 3: stuff felt like Jordan was almost a little jumpy early
2:04
Speaker 3: for like what he was anticipating. He was going to
2:07
Speaker 3: see later on into the game at no point to
2:09
Speaker 3: the Vikings relent on their pressure. They went all night,
2:14
Speaker 3: all night long and, They brought it the house. They
2:16
Speaker 3: brought as many walked up looks as possible and tried
2:20
Speaker 3: to make as many guys confused and that they were
2:23
Speaker 3: pretty good at doing. But early on felt like Jordan
2:25
Speaker 3: was getting rid of the ball, maybe a little earlier
2:27
Speaker 3: than he needed to be. And then in that second
2:29
Speaker 3: and third quarter, he reached a perfect flow state in
2:32
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter. That flow suddenly stopped and became a
2:36
Speaker 3: free fall as the Packers offense, the Packers in total
2:40
Speaker 3: gave up 22 points in two and a half minutes.
2:42
Speaker 1: I got questions and everybody has questions. And I still,
2:44
Speaker 1: for the life of me, time on task rings hollow.
2:48
Speaker 1: Why didn't you get rotated into that game and get
2:51
Speaker 1: to see? Cause they weren't exactly dominating. The offensive line
2:56
Speaker 1: was not exactly dominating. And I thought to myself, Look
3:00
Speaker 1: at the state of this offensive line in week one.
3:02
Speaker 1: And I know Aaron Banks is kind of the X factor, right?
3:04
Speaker 1: He's better than what they ran out there. He's not
3:07
Speaker 1: as good as what they paid him to be, but
3:09
Speaker 1: he's better than, and he would have helped and he
3:11
Speaker 1: will help. Yes. Right. So, but with that in mind,
3:18
Speaker 1: the attrition on the offensive line and makes me think,
3:22
Speaker 1: did we underestimate the Josh Myers, Rashid, walker and john
3:30
Speaker 1: runyons of the world that they just cavalierly let go
3:32
Speaker 1: because we're okay now any one of those guys seems
3:35
Speaker 1: like they would have helped yesterday and they would help
3:38
Speaker 1: sunday and they'd be better but at the time they
3:40
Speaker 1: were let go everybody's like yeah we're done with them
3:42
Speaker 1: i've seen enough rashid back he played some good football
3:46
Speaker 1: not maybe last year but the year before he had
3:49
Speaker 1: some good tape and he was solid and you thought
3:52
Speaker 1: there was an upgrade jordan morgan had a.
3:54
Speaker 3: Rough day it was rough, but he'll get better. That's
4:01
Speaker 3: a rough environment to start tackles into. I heard, I
4:03
Speaker 3: heard the former, the former Packer tackle talking yesterday. Like
4:06
Speaker 3: if there's ever going to be a place to throw
4:09
Speaker 3: somebody in for their first start on the left side, that's,
4:11
Speaker 3: that's not a great spot for that to be your,
4:14
Speaker 3: your soft landing.
4:14
Speaker 1: But yes, Sean Ryan was okay. Probably the best of
4:18
Speaker 1: the bunch, I guess. But while they look a little
4:22
Speaker 1: still hurt and compromised, not, Not as good as he
4:24
Speaker 1: has been.
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Speaker 3: And looked at us half a step slow, which that
4:28
Speaker 3: environment will do.
4:29
Speaker 4: Yep.
4:29
Speaker 1: Okay. And then, yeah, the whole thing about Kurt Benkert's
4:32
Speaker 1: thing about getting off and stuff. Then I thought, as
4:34
Speaker 1: I thought deeper, I'm like, okay, the evolution or the
4:37
Speaker 1: devolution of this offensive line, do they miss those guys?
4:42
Speaker 1: Were those core guys, Walker, Myers, Runyon, or did they
4:47
Speaker 1: miss Adam Stanovich at the head of that room?
4:51
Speaker 3: I think the first one might be or the latter
4:54
Speaker 3: might be the one that is probably bigger.
4:56
Speaker 1: Have they gotten any better or has the line in
4:58
Speaker 1: any way done anything but degrade since Adam Stenovich stopped
5:01
Speaker 1: being their coach? Now, he went from coordinator. It's not
5:03
Speaker 1: like he's not involved in the process. But when he
5:06
Speaker 1: was in that room, there was like this attitude of
5:09
Speaker 1: next man up and the next man up was always
5:11
Speaker 1: really good. And they were always like ready and on
5:13
Speaker 1: point and buttoned up. And they didn't look assignment.
5:18
Speaker 5: Sure.
5:18
Speaker 1: It almost looked like there were guys. there was confusion.
5:20
Speaker 3: It looked like, and now when you see Chris Brooks
5:23
Speaker 3: talking to three different offensive linemen after the play, that's.
5:25
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. It's like, I noticed stuff like that.
5:28
Speaker 1: And like, especially the tight ends and running backs weren't
5:31
Speaker 1: on the same page as everybody else a lot. And again,
5:34
Speaker 1: the noise and the defense and the seven men and
5:37
Speaker 1: the looks. Okay. But, and so this was an extreme example.
5:41
Speaker 1: We're going to, we're going to need more, but okay.
5:44
Speaker 1: So a lot of people are screaming for Luke buckets
5:46
Speaker 1: and that's like saying, well, fire the hitting coach, right? Well,
5:48
Speaker 1: what's he doing? Like, okay. But they were a really
5:52
Speaker 1: good offensive line when Stenovich was their coach. Yeah. And
5:55
Speaker 1: I guess the part of the random thought I had.
5:58
Speaker 4: No.
5:58
Speaker 3: And Drew, I think there's there's parts of it that
6:01
Speaker 3: are both a big key. Like Josh Myers, when he
6:04
Speaker 3: walked in free agency, I had anticipated he was going
6:07
Speaker 3: to walk and get a nice sum of money somewhere
6:10
Speaker 3: because I had thought he had played a bunch of
6:12
Speaker 3: football for you. It started a lot of games and
6:15
Speaker 3: had gotten better throughout his run. Then he goes to
6:18
Speaker 3: the free hits the free agent market.
6:20
Speaker 1: Waits, waits, waits. And I want to say signed like a.
6:25
Speaker 3: One-year $ 2 million deal with the Jets and wasn't even
6:29
Speaker 3: like fully guaranteed a spot as a starter. Then earned
6:33
Speaker 3: the starting spot, won it during camp, which I kind
6:36
Speaker 3: of figured he would, and then played well enough that
6:39
Speaker 3: in the middle of the season, in his one year there,
6:42
Speaker 3: they gave him a shiny extension and locked him up
6:44
Speaker 3: for a couple of years. You mentioned John Runyon a
6:46
Speaker 3: few years ago. he played signs with the giants for
6:49
Speaker 3: three years and $ 30 million. And that sounds like a
6:54
Speaker 3: decent deal. That's kind of the going rate of starting
6:57
Speaker 3: offensive linemen. And, and if there's anything that I think
7:01
Speaker 3: they've been guilty of is feeling the process a little
7:04
Speaker 3: too much that, well, if we can do it with
7:06
Speaker 3: insert four or five and six names here, we'll be
7:09
Speaker 3: able to do it consistently and probably undervaluing just how
7:13
Speaker 3: good of pros and, uh, less than replaceable.
7:17
Speaker 1: Some of those guys were, I haven't even mentioned in
7:19
Speaker 1: this discussion of attrition and guys who have left Elton Jenkins.
7:24
Speaker 1: Did this whole cascade start when they moved him from
7:26
Speaker 1: left guard to center? Should they have just left him
7:28
Speaker 1: alone and let him play left guard? Well, if they
7:31
Speaker 1: would have kept Josh Myers, then they would have been
7:33
Speaker 1: able to, um, But again, they were or draft a
7:37
Speaker 1: center and find somebody like, you know, isn't that kind of.
7:40
Speaker 3: Well, if you draft Creed Humphrey, then it's not as
7:42
Speaker 3: much of a conversation. I mean, like, but yeah, if
7:45
Speaker 3: you really want to go through it and if we're
7:47
Speaker 3: going to go with this guy and that guy was
7:48
Speaker 3: the problem. A lot of the biggest problem as to
7:50
Speaker 3: where you look in and identify in the football team
7:53
Speaker 3: is two guys just signed contracts for the richest values
7:56
Speaker 3: at their at their spots. Christian Gonzalez and Jackson Smith
8:00
Speaker 3: and Jigba. They were taking three and five picks after
8:03
Speaker 3: Lucas Van Ness. Right, like, I mean, in the offensive line,
8:07
Speaker 3: if you're wondering why you're still turning your wheels at
8:11
Speaker 3: the center position, well, it's because you drafted Josh Myers
8:13
Speaker 3: right in front of Creed Humphrey. Like, so, it's difficult
8:17
Speaker 3: to always do, but at some point, those decisions are
8:20
Speaker 3: coming back and biting you.
8:22
Speaker 1: So, the roster construction and the salary, that's all part
8:26
Speaker 1: of the equation of where they are, of why they
8:29
Speaker 1: are where they are. A big part of it, yes.
8:32
Speaker 1: Then I'm watching it, and I'm trying to watch Marshawn
8:34
Speaker 1: Lloyd running behind this line that's struggling and stuff. But
8:37
Speaker 1: then I thought to myself, some of these runs, he's
8:40
Speaker 1: just not Josh Jacobs. And I think I underappreciated how
8:43
Speaker 1: good Josh Jacobs is at taking a two-yard run and
8:46
Speaker 1: turning it into six because he's a dog. And he
8:50
Speaker 1: camouflaged a lot of the offensive line deficiencies, much the
8:54
Speaker 1: way Jordan Love wallpapered. over a lot of problems by
8:57
Speaker 1: making incredible throws and like jump, jump throws and back
9:00
Speaker 1: foot throw. And it's like under pressure throws and, you know,
9:04
Speaker 1: unlikely throws that other quarterbacks don't make.
9:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:07
Speaker 3: And I mean, there, there aren't a ton, but there
9:10
Speaker 3: are some holes out there to be able to run through.
9:12
Speaker 3: And I think that's where, as you and I were
9:14
Speaker 3: watching it, you probably got sick and tired of me
9:16
Speaker 3: saying it. You got to try to run it at
9:18
Speaker 3: least a little bit. You got to be able to
9:21
Speaker 3: throw the curve ball and without Jacobs in the backfield,
9:24
Speaker 3: they just didn't have enough confidence.
9:25
Speaker 1: So there was just reluctance there. Cause they were like,
9:27
Speaker 1: all right, I had it to Chris Brooks and Marshawn
9:29
Speaker 1: Lloyd's just new. And like we said, still getting his
9:31
Speaker 1: kind of bearings.
9:32
Speaker 3: And, Well, they also didn't run a ton of snaps,
9:35
Speaker 3: you know, right? Like, I mean, in the first half,
9:36
Speaker 3: they had 20 plays. Now they had an 81-yard touchdown
9:40
Speaker 3: changes it up. But when you run on first down
9:44
Speaker 3: and then that always feels like it's too predictable. At
9:48
Speaker 3: some point, you're going to have to squeeze it in.
9:50
Speaker 3: But if you go incomplete on first down, second and 10,
9:52
Speaker 3: that's an even tougher play to throw.
9:53
Speaker 1: Now, as I thought about the running back and Josh Jacobs,
9:56
Speaker 1: he has an uncanny ability to take nothing and turn
9:59
Speaker 1: it into three or four yards and just almost through
10:02
Speaker 1: sheer will. Does it a lot. Does it a lot.
10:04
Speaker 1: Through sheer will. And we'll get to it later, but
10:09
Speaker 1: I also think he is one of the dogs. He
10:10
Speaker 1: is one of the guys that.
10:12
Speaker 3: One of their captains the last two years had a
10:14
Speaker 3: C on the chess for a reason. Just the way
10:16
Speaker 3: he comports himself.
10:17
Speaker 1: And I don't know if he's the guy, because a
10:19
Speaker 1: lot of times when we're at the games, because of
10:20
Speaker 1: where we sit, we can't see directly down to the
10:22
Speaker 1: sideline and there's no sideline cam, but he seems like
10:25
Speaker 1: the kind of guy who will challenge teammates and like,
10:28
Speaker 1: let's go and like be the, you know, but not
10:30
Speaker 1: only that, just the way he plays other guys derive
10:33
Speaker 1: confidence and like, okay, like he's I'm with him. Like
10:36
Speaker 1: a little bit of that, right. The leadership factor. That's
10:39
Speaker 1: why he's, where's the seat. But then I thought, Look
10:42
Speaker 1: over on the other side. Aaron Jones is that guy. Beloved.
10:48
Speaker 1: Makes guys better, like lifts guys up and still plays
10:51
Speaker 1: at a high level. The criminal stuff aside. What if
10:57
Speaker 1: you just kept Aaron Jones going? I mean, Jacobs is better. Yeah, but.
11:04
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones was pretty good too. It still looks like
11:07
Speaker 1: he couldn't, you know?
11:08
Speaker 4: Yeah.
11:08
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Aaron Jones is a Packers hall of famer.
11:11
Speaker 5: Yes. Yeah.
11:12
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones.
11:13
Speaker 3: Wasn't going to tote the rock as much as you
11:14
Speaker 3: gave it to Josh Jacobs over the last couple of years.
11:16
Speaker 3: I don't, I don't know that that was, I guess,
11:18
Speaker 3: I guess.
11:19
Speaker 1: What I come around to is I see the football side,
11:21
Speaker 1: but I also think like the personal side of the
11:23
Speaker 1: locker room side, because then I'm asking myself who are
11:27
Speaker 1: the dogs that Zaire Franklin will be the way he
11:30
Speaker 1: played and the way he's chirping and the.
11:33
Speaker 3: Way he's, Oh, even though pro football focus graded him
11:36
Speaker 3: the lowest player on the defense.
11:37
Speaker 1: I can't understand that. I saw that because I watched
11:39
Speaker 1: the tape and I'm like, okay, he's he, he and
11:41
Speaker 1: Coop are, that's a pretty good, like whenever they had.
11:43
Speaker 3: I was going to say they had two guys that
11:45
Speaker 3: good and they're up the middle defense. Drew is going
11:47
Speaker 3: to be legit this year and everything. I was just
11:50
Speaker 3: listening on the way in. Some national guys were chirping,
11:52
Speaker 3: but they gave up 22 point. Well, now really they
11:55
Speaker 3: gave up seven with three bad calls and then they
11:57
Speaker 3: gifted two touchdowns. So it was actually one touchdown in the,
12:00
Speaker 3: in the fourth quarter aided by three.
12:05
Speaker 1: Anybody can say questionable. And upon further review, they were
12:08
Speaker 1: even more questionable. The three third down abominations, which we said, yes,
12:12
Speaker 1: it has happened once in 25 years of that. A
12:16
Speaker 1: drive had three we're off the field. No, we're not
12:19
Speaker 1: penalty episodes in a, in a long drive. So, all right.
12:23
Speaker 1: But Zaire Franklin's one of those dogs, but then who
12:25
Speaker 1: are those, who are the guys that are going to emerge?
12:27
Speaker 1: Cause you gotta have those guys. And then I'm thinking,
12:30
Speaker 1: remember the body language police and we argued and litigated
12:33
Speaker 1: Aaron Rogers and the unsnapping of the chin strap and
12:36
Speaker 1: him glaring at guys. Jordan Love doesn't have that in him.
12:39
Speaker 1: He's a great dude and he's chill. He's just very
12:42
Speaker 1: poker faced and you always want what you don't see.
12:46
Speaker 1: Like Brady got after guys like Jordan Love. I would
12:50
Speaker 1: have liked I didn't see it. Maybe he did but
12:53
Speaker 1: at a certain point I would love to have him
12:54
Speaker 1: walk by the bench where the offensive line are sitting
12:56
Speaker 1: like let's go boys. You know what's going on like
12:59
Speaker 1: So they need that element of this team because the
13:04
Speaker 1: coaches can only do so much. I'm convinced you can say, well,
13:07
Speaker 1: if there's the blame for all these meltdowns, well, at
13:08
Speaker 1: a certain point, I'm looking for somebody to tie a
13:12
Speaker 1: knot at the end of the rope and say, let's go.
13:13
Speaker 3: Well, when team when when people around sports are always
13:16
Speaker 3: going to say the best teams are the player led teams.
13:18
Speaker 3: And then you ask for players led leadership to emerge.
13:23
Speaker 3: That's not asking too much.
13:24
Speaker 5: Right.
13:24
Speaker 1: Like, I think what you're saying is spot on.
13:27
Speaker 3: And it's something that we've asked and looked at for
13:29
Speaker 3: different teams around the state to be doing. I mean, hell,
13:32
Speaker 3: Luke Fickle had mentioned it in the middle of last year.
13:33
Speaker 3: He's like, it's the first time that really guys have
13:36
Speaker 3: talked in the middle of the game. the players have
13:39
Speaker 3: talked during halftime. I've been waiting for somebody to do
13:41
Speaker 3: so three years in, at some point you need somebody
13:43
Speaker 3: to be able to take the bull by the horns
13:45
Speaker 3: and do that.
13:46
Speaker 1: The Jacobs one is interesting. I haven't thought about that.
13:49
Speaker 3: I'll need more time to chew on Jacobs or Jones
13:51
Speaker 3: for the last two years. If they, if they would
13:53
Speaker 3: be better off in that sense, but for them to,
13:57
Speaker 3: you ask who the dogs are.
13:58
Speaker 1: Okay. One of them just got, one of them just
14:00
Speaker 1: got locked up. Tucker craft shirt.
14:01
Speaker 3: I think he's one of those game one, three catches
14:04
Speaker 3: hard to be that guy in the, in the midst
14:06
Speaker 3: of your first game back.
14:07
Speaker 5: Yeah.
14:07
Speaker 3: The other one is their closer, Micah Parsons, out for
14:10
Speaker 3: the first four to five weeks. So as much as, again,
14:13
Speaker 3: some of this can be rinse and repeat because it's
14:15
Speaker 3: what we've talked about throughout the entire offseason was them
14:18
Speaker 3: having to be able to figure out how to make
14:21
Speaker 3: A while Parsons was out, you are still without your closer.
14:25
Speaker 1: You are still without your number one.
14:26
Speaker 3: Guy, and maybe that's not Maybe that shouldn't be so
14:29
Speaker 3: surprising that they were unable to close out a game
14:32
Speaker 3: with the guy that they paid two first-round.
14:34
Speaker 1: Picks to go get. We do underestimate that. It's like
14:36
Speaker 1: when we talk about, to mix metaphors, when we talk
14:38
Speaker 1: about the Brewers and like, oh, yeah, Yelich has been
14:40
Speaker 1: out or has been slumping. And it's like, we expect
14:43
Speaker 1: everything to be the same, but it's different when he's producing.
14:46
Speaker 1: Different when that one's producing and not, yeah. So on
14:49
Speaker 1: that vein, though, with those guys, and okay, again, Lucas
14:53
Speaker 1: Van Ness, another guy, and he you would hope he
14:56
Speaker 1: has a high motor and i don't know if he's
14:58
Speaker 1: the dog that's gonna like lead guys say i got
15:00
Speaker 1: this let's go but he looks good he'll contribute he
15:05
Speaker 1: will he ever live up to where he was drafted
15:07
Speaker 1: and to see hawk comma aj yeah hard to say
15:11
Speaker 1: but he's gonna be a solid player and he'll be
15:13
Speaker 1: better when parsons does come back because i think he's
15:16
Speaker 1: going to he's he's going to be one of those
15:18
Speaker 1: guys that's just there every week and you just count
15:19
Speaker 1: on him and he's going to give you a high
15:22
Speaker 1: a high average, a high floor. Yes. His baseline will be,
15:27
Speaker 1: he's going to make, he's going to make plays every
15:28
Speaker 1: game that you go, Oh, Lucas Van Ness. Okay. He's,
15:31
Speaker 1: he's not going to like disappear anymore. Like he did
15:33
Speaker 1: like kind of in the wash and the first, and
15:35
Speaker 1: that's a, and that's a heck of a place to
15:37
Speaker 1: be for him.
15:38
Speaker 4: Right?
15:38
Speaker 3: Like when, when Parsons is on the other side, he's
15:40
Speaker 3: going to stumble into a couple more plays.
15:42
Speaker 1: That's what I'm thinking. And drew like that about Rashawn Gary,
15:45
Speaker 1: but it didn't come to fruition, but I think Van
15:47
Speaker 1: Ness will be that guy.
15:49
Speaker 4: Yeah.
15:49
Speaker 3: Cause I think Van Ness is on the way up
15:50
Speaker 3: and I think Rishon was probably on the way down. And,
15:53
Speaker 3: and from what you got to see from Van Ness,
15:55
Speaker 3: at least in Minnesota, like TFL is as good of
15:58
Speaker 3: an individual play as you can have. You get one
16:02
Speaker 3: to two of those a game and you're going to
16:03
Speaker 3: be a pretty, pretty solid defense. I, Look at Kenneth
16:07
Speaker 3: Walker last night.
16:08
Speaker 1: They bring him in.
16:08
Speaker 3: He has almost 200 total yards for Kansas city, two
16:11
Speaker 3: touchdowns run the most for a chiefs running back since
16:15
Speaker 3: Andy Reed has been the head coach.
16:17
Speaker 1: They've been pretty successful with him as, as the head man.
16:20
Speaker 3: The NFL has gone so left and right on running back.
16:25
Speaker 3: So when you talk about Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones,
16:28
Speaker 3: So much of the value in these different positions has
16:31
Speaker 3: been skewed and flipped so much. Whatever Kenneth Walker is making,
16:35
Speaker 3: it's more similar to the Jaden Reed contract than the
16:40
Speaker 3: Christian Watson contract, right? But you're still going to put
16:43
Speaker 3: the ball in his chest 20 to 25 times a game.
16:46
Speaker 1: They gave Jaden Reed the ball, what, three times?
16:48
Speaker 3: So when you start looking at the value, and I
16:51
Speaker 3: understand it became so in vogue to say, well, you
16:54
Speaker 3: can grab running backs at Costco.
16:57
Speaker 1: Because they're so replaceable.
16:59
Speaker 5: Sure.
17:00
Speaker 3: One's 12 to 55 might all be very replaceable. But
17:05
Speaker 3: when you're talking about the best players at the position,
17:07
Speaker 3: they're still elite guys. And you're going to count on
17:11
Speaker 3: them so much more than other positions that that contract
17:16
Speaker 3: is going to end up turning out very, very well.
17:17
Speaker 3: And when Jacobson Jones went through that, I think the
17:20
Speaker 3: volume of touches was the bigger question. That being said,
17:24
Speaker 3: Jones hadn't been healthy consistently for, you know, 17 games
17:28
Speaker 3: throughout and, Until he goes to Minnesota in the first
17:31
Speaker 3: year that he's there and runs for 1100 yards and
17:34
Speaker 3: plays 17 games. So it's all very unpredictable. But that
17:39
Speaker 3: position is one where you when you're paying somebody to
17:42
Speaker 3: do so, you're really counting on them being one of
17:45
Speaker 3: your biggest bell cows.
17:46
Speaker 1: And without looking at it, it's just obviously and I
17:49
Speaker 1: will admit this off the top. it's colored by the
17:52
Speaker 1: fact that I had a couple of interactions with Aaron Jones,
17:54
Speaker 1: everything I heard. And you just, the love for that guy,
17:57
Speaker 1: the greatest guys around guys that has ever come through
18:00
Speaker 1: there and is beloved. So that's, that's part of the
18:02
Speaker 1: vibe now existentially. I got one question and I don't know, Billy,
18:06
Speaker 1: we'll have to think at you on this for a while.
18:08
Speaker 1: When I'm looking at Matt Lafleur and I'm looking at
18:10
Speaker 1: what they're trying to do. Matt Lafleur is by all accounts,
18:13
Speaker 1: a play calling wizard there. He's, he's highly respected in
18:16
Speaker 1: the league for the way he designed schemes and stuff
18:20
Speaker 1: is his current scheme. beyond the reach and grasp of
18:26
Speaker 1: his current roster?
18:28
Speaker 4: No.
18:28
Speaker 1: Is he asking guys to do too much? Should it
18:32
Speaker 1: be a little simpler? Should they streamline things in order
18:36
Speaker 1: to accommodate without Aaron Banks and with a guy making
18:43
Speaker 1: his first start? I'm looking at some of the handoffs
18:46
Speaker 1: and some of the stuff, and I know there's a
18:48
Speaker 1: lot of stuff involved in the whole NFL that I
18:50
Speaker 1: don't understand that none of us will ever understand, but
18:53
Speaker 1: Is that an issue or no? Because they've been running
18:56
Speaker 1: it for a while. But is he running? We always
18:59
Speaker 1: talk about people, this coach will adapt to whatever talent
19:02
Speaker 1: he has and change. They say that about Andy Reid.
19:04
Speaker 1: They say that about the good coaches. But then some
19:06
Speaker 1: guys have the things they do, and that's what they do.
19:08
Speaker 1: And damn it, we're going to do it. Is it
19:09
Speaker 1: square peg, round hole in some fashion with these guys?
19:13
Speaker 1: Can they do the things that they want to do
19:16
Speaker 1: with the talent on hand?
19:20
Speaker 3: I guess I think that's probably going to– it's going
19:24
Speaker 3: to bear itself out over more than one week.
19:26
Speaker 1: Like, I think that's, that's difficult to, to, I guess
19:30
Speaker 1: this is all colored because it's all back comes back
19:31
Speaker 1: to the offensive line. Yeah.
19:33
Speaker 3: And I mean, because when, when Jordan love has a clean,
19:35
Speaker 3: because you're watching 25 teams running pretty much the exact
19:38
Speaker 3: same offense, right? So like at some point you're, if
19:42
Speaker 3: you're going to play in the NFL, you're going to
19:43
Speaker 3: have to run something similar to this. And I don't
19:45
Speaker 3: necessarily know that it's, you're asking them to do too much.
19:49
Speaker 3: You're asking them to be, assignment.
19:50
Speaker 5: Sure.
19:51
Speaker 3: And yes, that sounds a lot easier said than done,
19:54
Speaker 3: but like when the avalanche starts rolling downhill, everything starts
19:59
Speaker 3: getting more clouded. And when you are worried, wondering about
20:03
Speaker 3: your own situation and then what the guy next to
20:05
Speaker 3: you is, and then not having full confidence around them,
20:07
Speaker 3: that might be a bigger problem.
20:09
Speaker 1: I think when, if, sorry. No, I was just going
20:12
Speaker 1: to say, one of the things I heard LeFleur say
20:13
Speaker 1: yesterday about the offensive line was we've got to find continuity,
20:16
Speaker 1: which is more important than, like, it's always like, get
20:18
Speaker 1: your best five guys out there.
20:19
Speaker 3: Then maybe practice together. I was going to say, I
20:23
Speaker 3: don't know, maybe that would work.
20:25
Speaker 1: Get five guys and settle on them, and then let's go.
20:30
Speaker 1: And that's part of what I'm saying. They saw more
20:32
Speaker 1: time on task. It all comes back to the offensive
20:35
Speaker 1: line for me. So that's what I wanted to ask you,
20:36
Speaker 1: some of those questions. But that was another thought I
20:38
Speaker 1: had is like, It's not. So this isn't because when
20:41
Speaker 1: they have time, the offense can look great and it'll
20:43
Speaker 1: probably look a lot different when they're not in the
20:45
Speaker 1: U S bank playing the Vikings. They had 400 plus
20:47
Speaker 1: yards of offense.
20:48
Speaker 3: I know.
20:48
Speaker 1: I mean, they did do some, I know, but it
20:49
Speaker 1: was cute. A couple of long games. It was, that's
20:52
Speaker 1: the reason. That's the biggest problem. They can't control the ball.
20:56
Speaker 3: If you're, if I guess when, when I know, I'm sorry,
21:00
Speaker 3: I don't know if we got to take a break
21:01
Speaker 3: where we're at, but when you are running as many
21:05
Speaker 3: long developing plays as the Packers are to, Your last
21:09
Speaker 3: point and your last question. They could shorten some things up.
21:14
Speaker 3: At some point, I know you want to throw the
21:17
Speaker 3: ball down the field. You want to air it out.
21:20
Speaker 3: You want to utilize the big arm. Armin loves it
21:22
Speaker 3: because he loves telling us that explosive plays help you
21:24
Speaker 3: win games. That does make sense. You get big chunk
21:28
Speaker 3: yards that helps you score points. But at some point,
21:31
Speaker 3: you got to move the football down the field. And
21:34
Speaker 3: they're playing a little bit too much Mel Kiper football.
21:36
Speaker 3: of let's run the football on first and second down.
21:39
Speaker 3: Let's throw these big, long, developing pass plays. And at
21:42
Speaker 3: some point, you're going to have to shorten things up
21:44
Speaker 3: to get the ball out and get the ball to
21:46
Speaker 3: your playmakers.
21:48
Speaker 1: That would be if you're asking what you need. That
21:50
Speaker 1: might be it. That might be it. All right, man,
21:51
Speaker 1: that was meaty. But that's what happens when you rewatch
21:54
Speaker 1: the game and you got a lot of thoughts.
21:55
Speaker 5: Right.
21:56
Speaker 1: And you wake up because the dog is freaking out.
22:00
Speaker 1: The dog wakes me up during a thunderstorm and I
22:02
Speaker 1: had these thoughts. Man, I didn't even realize it was
22:04
Speaker 1: going to rain last night.
22:05
Speaker 4: Brutal.
22:05
Speaker 1: I thought I left my windows open. We're going to
22:07
Speaker 1: take a quick break. Oh, we got Hunter live from
22:10
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh today as the Brewers hope for an Iron City
22:13
Speaker 1: Champagne celebration in the clubhouse tonight. You're in the huddle.
22:17
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio.
22:20
Speaker 5: I saw some good things and I saw some of
22:22
Speaker 5: the things that we have to clean up and just
22:25
Speaker 5: what's disappointing is we had a few protection busts that
22:30
Speaker 5: absolutely should not and cannot happen and especially we knew
22:34
Speaker 5: that was the challenge going in. I mean, they were
22:37
Speaker 5: going to give you some tough looks and that's the
22:40
Speaker 5: toughest test that you're going to face week one is
22:43
Speaker 5: to play that defense in that environment. And like I said,
22:48
Speaker 5: I thought it was, there was some really good stuff,
22:50
Speaker 5: but when your quarterback gets hit 15 times or whatever
22:53
Speaker 5: it is, that's, that's too many times.
22:57
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur, yesterday's post-mortem on the Packers loss to the
23:02
Speaker 1: Vikings Sunday. Welcome back to the huddle. Reach us, Nicoletlaw.com
23:06
Speaker 1: talking text line 877-794-1973. Packers against the Jets. Must win
23:12
Speaker 1: game in game two. And then that Ravens game might
23:16
Speaker 1: be tougher than it looked initially. Yeah, man.
23:21
Speaker 3: You get Atlanta coming in on five days rest and
23:25
Speaker 3: you got to be able to try to somehow stop
23:27
Speaker 3: Bijan Robinson.
23:28
Speaker 1: That's no easy task.
23:30
Speaker 3: They ended up losing most of their pass rushers, but Listen,
23:33
Speaker 3: the whole schedule looks a lot different when you choke
23:35
Speaker 3: away the game that you did on Sunday.
23:38
Speaker 1: It does. Every game looks like a mountain.
23:40
Speaker 4: And you haven't won in a long, long time. I mean,
23:42
Speaker 4: that's the other thing. I mean, the Packers have to
23:44
Speaker 4: just get a win. I mean, they haven't won since
23:46
Speaker 4: December 7th.
23:47
Speaker 1: Exactly.
23:48
Speaker 4: So, you know, you mentioned Parsons earlier and his effect
23:51
Speaker 4: on closing. Oh, yeah.
23:52
Speaker 1: One without him. They're over without him. So that whole thing.
23:56
Speaker 1: And it's it's it's an intangible is what it is.
24:00
Speaker 1: It's absolutely. How do you I mean, and how do
24:04
Speaker 1: you stop this? And then if you're a player and Bill,
24:06
Speaker 1: you've played and there are times when you're like, oh,
24:08
Speaker 1: here we go again. It's an athlete. It enters your mind.
24:12
Speaker 3: Well, the here we go again thing is something that
24:14
Speaker 3: is probably the scariest part of it, because as much
24:17
Speaker 3: as I mean, and I understand that we do it
24:21
Speaker 3: because it's it's the it's the game and we have to. But,
24:25
Speaker 3: you know, you lose the five games to end the
24:27
Speaker 3: season last year. The only thing that that matters to
24:29
Speaker 3: is the ones that are bringing it up, right?
24:31
Speaker 1: Us that are talking about it on the side.
24:33
Speaker 3: Because we encountered them and all the cool special graphics
24:36
Speaker 3: came out of the folks. Like, if you were born
24:37
Speaker 3: in 1992, this is the longest losing streak you've watched
24:40
Speaker 3: the Packers have. True. So, I mean, like, there has been,
24:44
Speaker 3: there's become accustomed to a certain standard of living, but
24:47
Speaker 3: you can't, last year isn't and doesn't matter to how
24:51
Speaker 3: this team ultimately performs outside of psyche, things like that of, damn,
24:56
Speaker 3: we did this all offseason. We talked about this all offseason,
24:58
Speaker 3: and now all of a sudden they've blitzed us for
25:01
Speaker 3: 14 points in a minute, and it doesn't look like
25:03
Speaker 3: it's getting any better. Hearing Matt talk about it right there,
25:06
Speaker 3: and you could see it a lot more yesterday, the
25:11
Speaker 3: really frustrating part is they know where they're trying to go.
25:15
Speaker 3: They know who potentially is coming. They know who are
25:20
Speaker 3: some of the immediate threats, but the lack of confidence
25:23
Speaker 3: in each other to know who is going to grab
25:26
Speaker 3: who and that everybody is assignment.
25:28
Speaker 1: Sure. That's the, that's the worst part.
25:30
Speaker 3: And like the, the Jacob monk blocking air highlight is
25:33
Speaker 3: one that sadly you see a couple more times. And
25:36
Speaker 3: then for big citrus, Dominique orange to be the guy
25:39
Speaker 3: that ultimately falls on top of Jordan loves stopping that
25:42
Speaker 3: fourth down fourth and one sneak.
25:45
Speaker 1: And that being one of my draft crushes made the
25:48
Speaker 1: tape even harder to view yesterday. Yeah. And you know, I,
25:51
Speaker 1: as it unfolded, And I watch it. I'm like, well,
25:54
Speaker 1: Dallas Turner is going to be a problem. He was
25:56
Speaker 1: good at Alabama. He's really good now. He's kind of
25:58
Speaker 1: blossoming into one of those dudes, right? Yeah, definitely. Definitely.
26:05
Speaker 1: He also had a couple of plays where his path
26:07
Speaker 1: to hit Jordan Love, any one of us could have
26:10
Speaker 1: run through. He was untouched, right? So it's like, well,
26:13
Speaker 1: we need a little bit more resistance there.
26:15
Speaker 3: Well, and you saw his getoff be the biggest thing
26:20
Speaker 3: win by us bank stadium, right? Like that unimpeded running
26:25
Speaker 3: around the offensive line doesn't happen in a lot of
26:28
Speaker 3: places because there's not as many places that are that
26:31
Speaker 3: consistently loud on the outside. And when you got your
26:35
Speaker 3: best offensive lineman coming off of one of the worst
26:37
Speaker 3: injuries you can have, that's why Zach looked as yep.
26:41
Speaker 3: Potentially slowed as he did. I thought once he got
26:44
Speaker 3: hands on people, he looked a lot more like the
26:47
Speaker 3: same Zach Baco Buele that we've known and loved.
26:49
Speaker 1: Just a step slow. But a step slow in that building.
26:53
Speaker 3: And that was what really felt like it had Jordan
26:56
Speaker 3: Morgan's head spinning.
26:57
Speaker 1: There are not many. Maybe, what, Seattle? And maybe Philly
27:04
Speaker 1: or something like that. Seattle, Philly? Not many environments that
27:07
Speaker 1: cause you to do that.
27:08
Speaker 5: Yeah.
27:09
Speaker 3: Cause a lot of the indoor places aren't as live
27:11
Speaker 3: as they used to be like Atlanta in the Georgia
27:13
Speaker 3: dome used to be a fever pitch. Now at Mercedes
27:16
Speaker 3: Benz stadium, it's a lot more of a luxury ride
27:19
Speaker 3: like that.
27:19
Speaker 1: That's a lot. So they're going to face a couple
27:22
Speaker 1: of them though.
27:23
Speaker 3: Caesar superdome is as difficult a place to communicate as possible.
27:27
Speaker 1: They'll play there in December. Arrowhead's notorious. Arrowhead's pretty damn hard.
27:31
Speaker 1: Those are loud. But the loud places are going to
27:33
Speaker 1: have that. So you're going to have silent counts in
27:35
Speaker 1: hostile environments. And they just happen to play in the
27:37
Speaker 1: toughest one right off the gate.
27:38
Speaker 3: And that's where, you know, depending on being able to,
27:42
Speaker 3: are you putting yourself and your guys in the best
27:45
Speaker 3: position to be able to change up some of the
27:47
Speaker 3: silent counts? That's where I think the real lack of
27:50
Speaker 3: playing together reared its head of guys just not being
27:54
Speaker 3: as confident in that part of it.
27:55
Speaker 1: The other thing, and part of my thing with that
27:57
Speaker 1: whole scheme thing, and do they need to, for lack
27:59
Speaker 1: of a better phrase, like dumb it down or pare
28:01
Speaker 1: it back or do something like it even is as
28:04
Speaker 1: basic as who do you trust? Like, okay, we need
28:08
Speaker 1: a couple of yards here. Well, we're not going to
28:11
Speaker 1: run behind like Morgan and Jennings right now. We got,
28:13
Speaker 1: so do you come become predictable? Cause you're going to
28:16
Speaker 1: go to the guys that you trust more and that
28:18
Speaker 1: becomes evident and you become predictable and that.
28:21
Speaker 3: Well, they were too predictable. It was more of just
28:23
Speaker 3: who was in the backfield. Like, I mean, when Lloyd
28:26
Speaker 3: was in the backfield, it was pretty damn clear they
28:28
Speaker 3: were going to run there. And when Brooks was in there,
28:30
Speaker 3: they're probably going to throw. And it felt like a
28:32
Speaker 3: win whenever they handed it off to him. But I
28:35
Speaker 3: do struggle with watching it back. The one that I
28:38
Speaker 3: was waiting for was some kind of a change up
28:41
Speaker 3: of a screen. Like, I know we were talking about
28:43
Speaker 3: it during the game of trying to slant them to
28:46
Speaker 3: death like different teams do to try to beat the Blitz.
28:48
Speaker 3: But at some point, you wanted to throw a curveball
28:51
Speaker 3: in there to slow down the rushers. But when the
28:54
Speaker 3: avalanche started, I think they actually were trying to set
28:57
Speaker 3: up one of the screens on one of the sacks,
28:59
Speaker 3: but they just ran right through the lack of protection,
29:02
Speaker 3: which is as tough of a spot as you can
29:04
Speaker 3: be in when you can't even get out to your
29:07
Speaker 3: spot in the screen because you're getting run through by somebody.
29:10
Speaker 1: Because everything was getting blown up. All right, Billy, here's
29:11
Speaker 1: a really basic football question. Whether it's the Carroll Pioneers,
29:15
Speaker 1: the Arrowhead Warhawks, the Green Bay Packers, It changes at
29:19
Speaker 1: different levels and protections change. And like one of the
29:22
Speaker 1: things that we're going to slide, that's where it was
29:24
Speaker 1: like that. You heard JJ talk about that on the air.
29:28
Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah.
29:28
Speaker 1: Offensive line is going to slide one way and then
29:30
Speaker 1: Chris Brooks goes the other way. And like he didn't
29:32
Speaker 1: go the right direction. So there's a lot of that
29:35
Speaker 1: that can be cleaned up. But I would ask you,
29:37
Speaker 1: like at any level, how many plays are in the playbook?
29:40
Speaker 1: and how many plays are in a playbook for a
29:41
Speaker 1: specific week? Wow, that's a that's a great question. Yeah,
29:47
Speaker 1: because that's what I'm wondering is like, let's say you
29:49
Speaker 1: have what do they have, like 15 runs maybe and.
29:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd say probably 20, 25 runs and a certain
29:57
Speaker 3: amount of pass.
29:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, some 50, 40, some. I guess I don't necessarily know.
30:02
Speaker 1: That's what I'm wondering. I don't know.
30:04
Speaker 3: Once you get to these, I mean, as much as
30:06
Speaker 3: I appreciate when people compare, you know, the Pios to
30:11
Speaker 3: the Packers, I don't necessarily know the depth of it.
30:15
Speaker 1: And how much the volume of it.
30:17
Speaker 3: I know you're shrunking some of it down and you're
30:19
Speaker 3: going in with a plan of what you want to run.
30:20
Speaker 1: Based on what the defense is and who you're facing.
30:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I mean, I guess 40, 50 plays is
30:27
Speaker 3: probably the best way of putting it, but somewhere in there.
30:29
Speaker 1: But I mean, you might have like 100 in the
30:32
Speaker 1: book and then each week you're pairing it down. So
30:35
Speaker 1: it's like, okay. I'm just wondering, and again, because when
30:38
Speaker 1: you have younger guys. And when you have, I'm just like,
30:41
Speaker 1: that's where I'm getting to is like, but I struggled
30:43
Speaker 1: to drew and I didn't mean to cut you off.
30:45
Speaker 5: Yeah.
30:45
Speaker 1: I don't know that they were doing that much.
30:48
Speaker 3: Like, I don't know that they were great, that they
30:50
Speaker 3: were going super complex and deep, way deep into the
30:55
Speaker 3: bag of tricks.
30:56
Speaker 1: I mean, they're, they were messing up more.
30:59
Speaker 3: Of the basic parts of the, the, of the blocking
31:01
Speaker 3: and tackling assignments. So like, I don't, I don't know
31:04
Speaker 3: that the, the dummy guys, You could absolutely do it.
31:08
Speaker 3: And they would know a lot more about it than I,
31:10
Speaker 3: but it appeared that they were making some more simple
31:13
Speaker 3: mistakes than it just being too big for him in
31:15
Speaker 3: that moment. That's where I think some of the environment
31:17
Speaker 3: comes in and just, you gotta be better.
31:19
Speaker 1: You have to have better guys doing it.
31:21
Speaker 5: Yeah.
31:21
Speaker 1: That just, that was just something that spun to me.
31:23
Speaker 1: Cause I'm thinking about the big picture with, you know,
31:25
Speaker 1: LeFleur in general. And like, is he, are you trying
31:27
Speaker 1: to be too cute? No, I agreed. It was just
31:30
Speaker 1: basic nuts and bolts. Right. Because, I mean, they had
31:32
Speaker 1: a couple of guys in there that had been playing for, what,
31:35
Speaker 1: maybe a week and a half when you talk about Redmond?
31:37
Speaker 1: That's true. You had some guys in there. That's true.
31:40
Speaker 1: And so that– And then that, again, gets to, okay,
31:44
Speaker 1: are we asking them to do beyond their– too much
31:49
Speaker 1: or asking them– Ian, I know you've got to– everybody
31:52
Speaker 1: thinks football, but don't just hit the guy in front
31:53
Speaker 1: of you. Well, no. There's a lot more to this.
31:56
Speaker 1: This choreography is something else. And the timing of plays
31:58
Speaker 1: and the timing of– now– Will we see more motion
32:03
Speaker 1: and things? Because we didn't see that much. The illusion
32:06
Speaker 1: of complexity that we used to see? Yeah, the illusion
32:08
Speaker 1: of complexity. I just saw a thing with how Rodgers
32:11
Speaker 1: used to be. The Steelers had less motion than anybody else.
32:17
Speaker 1: But that kind of stuff, is that... Is it tougher
32:19
Speaker 1: to run those timing type things in the noisy place
32:22
Speaker 1: on the road? I think that's very much true.
32:24
Speaker 3: I think that was probably tough to get a lot
32:27
Speaker 3: of their motions in now. That also is a lot
32:30
Speaker 3: easier to do under center. They did a lot more
32:33
Speaker 3: of that earlier on. But understandably so, probably went away
32:36
Speaker 3: from some of that when they realized that if I'm
32:38
Speaker 3: having my quarterback turn his back to this offensive line,
32:41
Speaker 3: we're going to be in some serious problems. So, again,
32:43
Speaker 3: there's a lot of give and take here. I think
32:45
Speaker 3: you've got to run the ball more, but you're going
32:47
Speaker 3: to have to go under center if you're going to
32:49
Speaker 3: be more successful running the ball. But you're going to
32:54
Speaker 3: have to give at least somewhat of an illusion that
32:56
Speaker 3: you're going to be able to block up.
32:57
Speaker 1: Well, you said you have to force the run that way.
32:59
Speaker 1: You have to force the run under center because then
33:02
Speaker 1: if you have any chance of a play action or
33:03
Speaker 1: anything working, right? It's going to come off that.
33:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, because then... that's, that's just what we saw so
33:09
Speaker 3: much of what they wanted to run. And we're planning
33:11
Speaker 3: on hoping to run during training camp, unless what they
33:14
Speaker 3: were working on most of throughout practices was not what
33:16
Speaker 3: they were hoping to do. And what you saw a
33:18
Speaker 3: lot of what they wanted to do early, there was
33:21
Speaker 3: a lot of under center stuff, but once they went
33:24
Speaker 3: into gun, it was pretty obvious as to what they
33:26
Speaker 3: were doing. And you could see there was foot gas pedal,
33:31
Speaker 3: break that son of a gun by the Vikings. And
33:34
Speaker 3: they just, they just tied that thing to the floor and,
33:37
Speaker 3: and dared you to stop him.
33:39
Speaker 1: Another thing, you mentioned the gun, and this is just,
33:41
Speaker 1: I don't know how big it is on the timing
33:44
Speaker 1: of things, but Sean Ryan was not that consistent with
33:48
Speaker 1: the delivery of the snap, because he was hurrying to get,
33:52
Speaker 1: because he was under siege, but... delivering the ball high
33:55
Speaker 1: low all over the place all.
33:56
Speaker 3: Over the place yeah you you even saw one of
33:59
Speaker 3: the best in the business creed humphrey have a little
34:00
Speaker 3: bit of problem with that but yeah any drew in
34:03
Speaker 3: any you know six inches uh where the ball goes
34:06
Speaker 3: that way uh is gonna throw off a lot of
34:08
Speaker 3: timing that that's gonna throw that doesn't.
34:10
Speaker 1: Help and that's part of the stew of playing in
34:11
Speaker 1: that place where you got to be faster and loud
34:14
Speaker 1: it's loud and that's okay yeah and i mean i'm
34:16
Speaker 1: like damn you know because i saw i just noticed
34:19
Speaker 1: like Look at Jordan having to go through all that
34:21
Speaker 1: to catch the damn ball to get the play started.
34:23
Speaker 3: There was a lot of rolling that way. A lot
34:26
Speaker 3: of unnecessary movement, you could say.
34:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. Yeah, and he got a flag for being
34:32
Speaker 1: too demonstrative. To being too demonstrative. Sorry, I'm just trying
34:34
Speaker 1: to catch the freaking snap, Sean. 877-794-1973. Buy or sell
34:40
Speaker 1: propositions coming up. Hunter Baumgart live from Pittsburgh today with
34:43
Speaker 1: the Brewers. He's got a report, too. Getting ready to
34:45
Speaker 1: face the, well, let's spin through that next. The Brewers
34:48
Speaker 1: getting ready to face the Pirates with a chance to clinch.
34:50
Speaker 1: You're in the huddle, Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin. Drew Billion-Armond,
34:56
Speaker 1: the huddle, Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin. This portion of the
34:58
Speaker 1: program brought to us by Game Day Men's Health. I
35:00
Speaker 1: visited there yesterday, the Brookfield Clinic. Find a clinic near
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35:11
Speaker 1: Our buddy Hunter Baumgart has hit the road. Boots on
35:15
Speaker 1: the ground. Come on, Hunter. We'll find out today if
35:17
Speaker 1: he's one of the only local reporters other than the
35:20
Speaker 1: normal beat hacks. Do you think Hunter's going to have
35:23
Speaker 1: a pro tip? That's a good question. Too much gluten.
35:28
Speaker 1: He's in a bad town for gluten. He can't have
35:30
Speaker 1: a Primanti either. I was going to say, a Primanti
35:32
Speaker 1: sandwich is not going to go well for our boy Hunter.
35:34
Speaker 1: I told him he should walk in there and say,
35:36
Speaker 1: what are your gluten-free options? I have buddies that just
35:39
Speaker 1: pick this trip. They go on one brewer's trip a year,
35:41
Speaker 1: and this is the trip they pick. I'm like, you
35:42
Speaker 1: guys are going to see a clinch. And I told them,
35:44
Speaker 1: go to Primanti Brothers. You've got to make the pilgrimage
35:46
Speaker 1: and get the sandwich with the fries and the coleslaw
35:48
Speaker 1: stacked on top.
35:49
Speaker 3: It just looks unreal. They had so many of them
35:52
Speaker 3: during the NFL draft. And listen, 300 pounds, I get
35:55
Speaker 3: food envy a decent amount of time. I had a
35:57
Speaker 3: lot of food envy looking at that sandwich throughout three days.
36:00
Speaker 1: No doubt. So Hunter is in Pittsburgh. He's going to
36:03
Speaker 1: join us live momentarily, but he did file a report
36:06
Speaker 1: for us as the Brewers get ready to take on
36:08
Speaker 1: the Buccos today in the opener of a three-game series
36:12
Speaker 1: at PNC Park. Take it away, Hunter.
36:15
Speaker 2: Thanks, guys, and hello from a hotel room in Pittsburgh
36:18
Speaker 2: as the Brewers will try to clinch the National League
36:20
Speaker 2: Central here this week. The magic number sits at two.
36:24
Speaker 2: It remained that way because the Cubs beat the Braves
36:27
Speaker 2: 7-3 last night, although Ronald Acuna Jr. did have a
36:31
Speaker 2: chance to tie the game. He was up with the
36:32
Speaker 2: bases loaded. He was the tying run in the top
36:34
Speaker 2: of the ninth, but grounded into a double play, and
36:36
Speaker 2: the Cubs ended up winning. So that means the Braves lose, though,
36:40
Speaker 2: as well. So the Brewers now up 5.5 on the Braves.
36:43
Speaker 2: for a bye in the National League playoffs, which is
36:46
Speaker 2: really good news there. The Dodgers did win, so the
36:48
Speaker 2: birds are two games up on the Dodgers for the
36:51
Speaker 2: one seed in the National League. Brewers in Pittsburgh, as
36:54
Speaker 2: I mentioned tonight, Jacob Mizorowski will take the mound tonight,
36:57
Speaker 2: Logan Henderson tomorrow, and Dustin May on Thursday. I will
37:01
Speaker 2: join you guys at 725 live from Pittsburgh to talk
37:04
Speaker 2: more about the crew as they close in on a clinch.
37:08
Speaker 2: This report brought to you by Import Minded, your trusted
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Speaker 2: choice for exceptional vehicle care on South 27th, just north
37:13
Speaker 2: of 894. Back to you guys.
37:15
Speaker 1: Thank you, Hunter. Hunter pointed out what Jan and Appleton
37:19
Speaker 1: hit us on the talking text line. If the Cubs
37:20
Speaker 1: have to win, at least it helped the Brewers that
37:22
Speaker 1: they beat the Braves. Yeah, at least do something that way.
37:25
Speaker 1: At least at least now closer. The magic numbers two
37:28
Speaker 1: for the division, 10 for the one seed, seven for
37:31
Speaker 1: the buy.
37:32
Speaker 5: Yeah.
37:32
Speaker 3: And I end up the Braves one for that buy
37:35
Speaker 3: because the L.A. Dodgers have gotten hot. Let the wrong time.
37:40
Speaker 3: Seven shutout from Derek Scoble yesterday. just allowed four base
37:45
Speaker 3: runners against those Cincinnati Reds. Getting ready for October.
37:47
Speaker 1: Starting to look like himself. Yeah, getting ready for October.
37:50
Speaker 1: Padres also very hot, if anyone's still watching. Padres are scorching,
37:53
Speaker 1: and the Diamondbacks won a walk-off yesterday. Kind of stay
37:55
Speaker 1: in the throes of.
37:56
Speaker 4: It, too.
37:57
Speaker 1: Pretty interesting. Diamondbacks got a walk-off from Corbin Carroll, and
38:01
Speaker 1: so they trail the Padres by two and a half. Yeah,
38:07
Speaker 1: they didn't get a great start from Armand's guy, Corbin Burns. No,
38:10
Speaker 1: he didn't. His eyes were. So they have. Second or
38:13
Speaker 1: third start back, yeah. The Padres are, you know, it's
38:15
Speaker 1: a hill to climb, but they have the, I mean,
38:17
Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks have the Padres in their sights. So the Padres,
38:21
Speaker 1: nobody's relaxing right now, really, because the Cubs and Phillies
38:23
Speaker 1: are obviously going at it to see who's going to be.
38:26
Speaker 3: And that's tight. I mean, now it's tied in the
38:28
Speaker 3: loss column. Now it's only a game and a half out.
38:30
Speaker 3: And Arizona and San Diego, three to close the year.
38:34
Speaker 1: That's what. Yeah.
38:35
Speaker 3: So, I mean, that's going to be that's going to
38:36
Speaker 3: be fun to see if you can have them within
38:39
Speaker 3: a game of each other to see who ultimately prevails
38:41
Speaker 3: with it.
38:41
Speaker 1: And everyone jockeys in position. The Phillies aren't catching the
38:45
Speaker 1: Braves in the division. But so the Phillies mission is
38:48
Speaker 1: to finish ahead of the Cubs. Have those games at home.
38:51
Speaker 1: So the Phillies are actually probably rooting for the Braves,
38:54
Speaker 1: as strange as that may sound. And, you know, that series.
38:57
Speaker 1: But yeah, Phillies and Cubs are tied in the loss column.
39:00
Speaker 1: So the Cubs are a half game ahead of the
39:01
Speaker 1: Phillies for the right to play that series at home.
39:04
Speaker 1: And then the Brewers await the winner of that series. Yeah,
39:06
Speaker 1: because if things hold the way.
39:07
Speaker 3: They are, the Phillies had the very, very similar situation
39:10
Speaker 3: like the Cubs did, where they were chasing and looking
39:13
Speaker 3: up at Atlanta throughout the majority of the year, much
39:16
Speaker 3: like the Cubs to the Brewers. They had circled seven
39:19
Speaker 3: games in 10 days and a chance to be able
39:21
Speaker 3: to get themselves right through it.
39:23
Speaker 1: Instead, they went three and four.
39:24
Speaker 3: So much like the Cubs, they did not take advantage
39:28
Speaker 3: of all of the head-to-heads. And now you have to
39:30
Speaker 3: shift your focus to a wildcard race, which is going
39:33
Speaker 3: to be very interesting to see because neither of them
39:36
Speaker 3: are playing probably their best ball. San Diego has been
39:39
Speaker 3: playing their best ball for, what, the last three and
39:41
Speaker 3: a half months?
39:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've won eight in a row now. They've been hot.
39:45
Speaker 3: And we saw them in the early portion of August. Uh,
39:49
Speaker 3: and at that point they had been, they were the
39:50
Speaker 3: hottest team in all of baseball. So they've held this
39:53
Speaker 3: now for about two and a half, three months. They've
39:55
Speaker 3: been rolling and the Cubs and Phillies have been sputtering
39:57
Speaker 3: at least lately. The Cubs have been playing at a
39:59
Speaker 3: high level all year, but lately they've been sputtering a
40:01
Speaker 3: little bit.
40:01
Speaker 1: They're 500. Yeah. Yeah. They're playing, they're playing like 500. Yeah.
40:05
Speaker 1: The Brewers did kind of start that, but.
40:07
Speaker 4: They still clinch, you know, everyone's got to get their
40:08
Speaker 4: spots in there and then get their positioning.
40:10
Speaker 1: So Phillies are fascinating to me because I think of
40:13
Speaker 1: them as a good team, a formidable team with a
40:15
Speaker 1: good top of the rotation. Good back end, bullpen, and
40:17
Speaker 1: like some guys that you fear in the lineup, their
40:20
Speaker 1: run differential, plus 31. It's not crazy, but it's always
40:24
Speaker 1: one team.
40:24
Speaker 4: And I think you guys would agree, Zach, when you
40:26
Speaker 4: get into a series with them and you put that
40:28
Speaker 4: lineup in rotation together, it's always scary.
40:30
Speaker 1: But man, the Cubs are plus 142. That's a gigantic
40:34
Speaker 1: difference in run difference. And they had so many runs
40:36
Speaker 1: in August. It's wild. Wild, absolutely. And again, Brewers lead
40:40
Speaker 1: the world in run differential, plus 195. Because these names
40:43
Speaker 1: jump off the page. Of course, Spurs won 20 to
40:46
Speaker 1: nothing the other day. That will skew your run differential.
40:49
Speaker 3: I was going to say, the amount of 17 to
40:52
Speaker 3: 3 decisions for the Cubs at Wrigley has definitely helped
40:55
Speaker 3: them in that department.
40:57
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. For sure. All right, we're rolling.
40:59
Speaker 1: We're going to do some buying and selling next. Continue
41:01
Speaker 1: to talk Packers and Brewers. We're glad you're with us.
41:04
Speaker 1: It's The Huddle, Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin.