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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Green Bay Packers · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:24
Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:27
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:30
Speaker 1: in the world, twelve years strong. We've got a great
0:33
Speaker 1: discussion coming your way here on Opposition Territory this week
0:36
Speaker 1: where we dive into the Green Bay Packers what their
0:40
Speaker 1: off season has looked like. We got a great discussion
0:43
Speaker 1: and joining us this week coming to us from the
0:46
Speaker 1: Acnepackingcompany dot com. He's got some cats in the background
0:50
Speaker 1: as they're going through some home renovations. As you can hear,
0:54
Speaker 1: We've got our good friend Evan tex Western text buddy,
0:56
Speaker 1: how you doing, my man?
0:58
Speaker 2: Hey doing great? Yeah, Sorry this this old cat here
1:01
Speaker 2: might showing up in the background of the audio, but yeah,
1:05
Speaker 2: it's it's going well. Summer's going great. Packers first practice
1:08
Speaker 2: is underway as we speak. So yeah, it's an exciting
1:13
Speaker 2: time and looking for looking for this team to build
1:15
Speaker 2: on some of the things that they put together in
1:18
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty four season, especially defensively, which we'll get into. Yeah,
1:22
Speaker 2: it's it's an exciting it's a fun time to be
1:25
Speaker 2: a Packers fan. And you know, having the draft in
1:28
Speaker 2: Green Bay this year was just fantastic, got out there
1:31
Speaker 2: for for the whole time, got to sit in the
1:34
Speaker 2: in the theater for a little bit right on Saturday,
1:37
Speaker 2: which was a blast. So, I mean, just such a
1:39
Speaker 2: cool event, and.
1:40
Speaker 1: You guys did a lot of content. You guys did
1:42
Speaker 1: a lot of content from there. Yeah.
1:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we tried to do. You know, we were
1:46
Speaker 2: doing little Instagram videos myself and a couple of other
1:49
Speaker 2: Active Packing Company colleagues out there together kind of just
1:53
Speaker 2: trying to give everybody a feel for the event and
1:55
Speaker 2: the space and how everything was being run. And the
1:59
Speaker 2: Packers got some really exciting players too, so that's that's
2:01
Speaker 2: also fun. But yeah, it was a great time and
2:04
Speaker 2: looking forward to the season coming up.
2:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Packers are a team that are growing, developing
2:08
Speaker 1: in various ways. You know, whether whether Eagles Nation likes
2:11
Speaker 1: it or not, they're a team that that is it's
2:15
Speaker 1: still continuing, I think, to be on the rise here
2:18
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, and we're going to get into
2:20
Speaker 1: a lot of it here on this podcast episode. But
2:23
Speaker 1: before we do, buddy, okay, before we get into any talent,
2:26
Speaker 1: before we get into what we may see on the field,
2:29
Speaker 1: we got to get into this one topic right off
2:31
Speaker 1: the bat, because of course you cover the Packers. I
2:34
Speaker 1: you know, we cover the Eagles here on this podcast platform,
2:37
Speaker 1: and I guess it's the elephant in the room here.
2:39
Speaker 1: And I know you and I are good friends even
2:41
Speaker 1: outside the realm of this podcast and in the sports world,
2:46
Speaker 1: and I know our listeners would want me to ask this.
2:49
Speaker 1: So during the offseason, as we all know, the Packers
2:51
Speaker 1: proposed a rule to ban the tush push in the NFL,
2:56
Speaker 1: and it came close to being banned, but it's still
2:59
Speaker 1: at this point. Eagles Nation obviously just absolutely especially online
3:04
Speaker 1: on social just killing Packers Nation over this. When the
3:08
Speaker 1: proposal and the vote was going down, I wanted to
3:11
Speaker 1: get your take on this, my friend, the rationale for
3:14
Speaker 1: the Packers team wanting to go ahead with this in
3:16
Speaker 1: the first place here, and just what your overall rat
3:20
Speaker 1: reactions have been to this. What are your thoughts here, buddy.
3:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, I think there's a couple of things
3:26
Speaker 2: that are in play here. Right. Based on the voting,
3:29
Speaker 2: we saw that there was a lot of support across
3:32
Speaker 2: the league for banning the toush push. Right, it came
3:34
Speaker 2: up just two votes short of the twenty four votes
3:37
Speaker 2: that they needed to make that rule change happen. And
3:42
Speaker 2: I think there's something with that we need to keep
3:45
Speaker 2: in mind with the politics of the owners in the NFL.
3:49
Speaker 2: Right the Packers don't have an owner. They have a
3:52
Speaker 2: president and CEO who is there representative and owners meetings
3:56
Speaker 2: and things. And Mark Murphy is retiring on Friday, is
4:00
Speaker 2: bypackers by laws is at seventy years old. Yeah, he's retiring.
4:05
Speaker 2: And I think the narrative of the Packers being the
4:10
Speaker 2: ones to submit the rule was a bit overblown because
4:15
Speaker 2: there's some reporting out there that Mark Murphy basically offered, up, Hey,
4:20
Speaker 2: I'll be the sacrificial lamb. I'll be the one to
4:22
Speaker 2: fall on the sword because I'm retiring anyway and I'm
4:25
Speaker 2: going to be gone, So what does it matter if
4:28
Speaker 2: I'm the one who, you know, who suggests this rule change,
4:31
Speaker 2: and then it kind of takes pressure off all of
4:33
Speaker 2: the other owners who maybe wanted to see that rule
4:36
Speaker 2: change it or changing, but didn't want to be the
4:38
Speaker 2: ones to take the heat. So I do think there's
4:41
Speaker 2: a lot of that in play here that Murphy, you know,
4:45
Speaker 2: especially he's he got the draft to Green Bay, He's
4:48
Speaker 2: done all these great things for the team and some
4:51
Speaker 2: you know, he's done some really good things I think
4:53
Speaker 2: in the league and the competition committee as well. But
4:56
Speaker 2: I thought this was sort of I think that that
4:59
Speaker 2: reporting makes a lot of sense that he could be
5:01
Speaker 2: in a position where he could take that sort of
5:04
Speaker 2: political heat, so to speak, by presenting this this rules
5:08
Speaker 2: change proposal knowing that you know, he's basically a lame
5:11
Speaker 2: duck and he's going to be out of you know,
5:13
Speaker 2: out of that that position and not be representing the
5:17
Speaker 2: packers and owners meetings and things moving forward. So I
5:20
Speaker 2: think that plays a lot into it. And as far
5:22
Speaker 2: as the play itself, like I don't know, I don't
5:26
Speaker 2: really care like defend and figure it out. The Packers
5:30
Speaker 2: have actually half way decent job of defending it over
5:32
Speaker 2: the last couple.
5:33
Speaker 1: Them in the Buccaneers.
5:34
Speaker 2: Yes, So that's part of why I don't necessarily, like
5:38
Speaker 2: really fully buy into the idea that the Packers were
5:41
Speaker 2: scared of this play because they've actually had a halfway
5:44
Speaker 2: decent job of defending it. So with all that combined,
5:48
Speaker 2: you know, I don't really it's it's also one of
5:52
Speaker 2: those things, right, they wanted to They originally had a
5:54
Speaker 2: very narrow carve out to to make that that play illegal,
5:58
Speaker 2: and then they expanded it out to be all pushing
6:01
Speaker 2: the runner, which was I mean illegal until whatever it
6:03
Speaker 2: was two thousand and five or something anyway, So I
6:08
Speaker 2: don't really care either, to be perfectly honest, fan like,
6:12
Speaker 2: if it's legal, figure out how to defend it. If
6:14
Speaker 2: it's not okay, well then then it's out.
6:16
Speaker 1: So it was probably the dirty, dirty Washington Commanders organization.
6:20
Speaker 1: That's probably who it was. Behind the scenes. We saw
6:23
Speaker 1: what happened in that NFC Championship game.
6:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Murphy played for the Commanders, so who knows,
6:30
Speaker 2: maybe he talked to you know, let's let's go down
6:33
Speaker 2: the conspiracy theory. He figure out how.
6:38
Speaker 1: Well, Buddy, I really wanted to. I'm glad I was
6:41
Speaker 1: really happy to get you know, your take on that.
6:44
Speaker 1: It's an interesting take, for sure, it really is. But
6:47
Speaker 1: I mean, most importantly, as we're moving forward here in
6:49
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, the Green Bay Packers, they're going to
6:52
Speaker 1: be a team to watch in the NFC for sure,
6:54
Speaker 1: and specifically their quarterback Jordan Love and what he is
6:59
Speaker 1: going to be doing as the leader of this Packers offense.
7:03
Speaker 1: Wanted to get your take and you your thoughts on
7:06
Speaker 1: where he is going to be going, because he's certainly
7:09
Speaker 1: been developing. As we have been seeing he's one of
7:11
Speaker 1: the better quarterbacks in this league. But last year, I
7:14
Speaker 1: mean he did take some step back, or he had
7:17
Speaker 1: some step back in just about every major statistical category
7:20
Speaker 1: from what I was actually reading and going through. Look,
7:25
Speaker 1: he does have fifty seven total touchdown passes in his
7:27
Speaker 1: first two years as a starter. So end of the day,
7:31
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, like, what kind of Jordan Love are we
7:33
Speaker 1: going to be seeing under center on the field this
7:36
Speaker 1: coming season? Text, what are your thoughts?
7:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the first biggest thing to keep in
7:42
Speaker 2: mind with Love is that in that Week one game
7:45
Speaker 2: against Philly and Brazil, he messed up his knee pretty
7:48
Speaker 2: good at the very very end of that game.
7:50
Speaker 1: It was an MCL, right, I think, yes, yes.
7:53
Speaker 2: Braindo's MCL. He missed the next two games. Packers were
7:56
Speaker 2: able to win both of those games with Malik Willis
7:59
Speaker 2: the back ofquarterback coming in and and and playing well,
8:03
Speaker 2: but it really it clearly affected him throughout the rest
8:07
Speaker 2: of the season. And then he kind of had a
8:09
Speaker 2: muscle issue, like a growing issue that flared up again
8:11
Speaker 2: later on in the season, so he was never fully
8:13
Speaker 2: healthy at all last season. I think that's part of
8:16
Speaker 2: why the Packers were such a run heavy team throughout
8:19
Speaker 2: the entire year. At some points, I think those of
8:23
Speaker 2: us at act Me Packing Company, you know, who think
8:26
Speaker 2: that they were too reliant on the run last year,
8:30
Speaker 2: but they were definitely calling things to keep him protected
8:34
Speaker 2: and and kind of building around. Certainly finding Josh Jacobs
8:38
Speaker 2: as a as a bellcow running back helped out with that,
8:42
Speaker 2: but they made some changes. I think this this offseason,
8:44
Speaker 2: I think you I don't think you're going to see
8:46
Speaker 2: as heavy a run script focus uh this coming season
8:51
Speaker 2: as you did last year, just because as long as
8:53
Speaker 2: Jordan Love is healthy, I think you've got a quarterback
8:56
Speaker 2: who who can very well play up to the second
8:59
Speaker 2: half he had in twenty twenty three when he was
9:01
Speaker 2: just lighting the world on fire. So I think the
9:04
Speaker 2: the enter the injury piece of it was really a
9:07
Speaker 2: big factor for him last year. He wasn't nearly as
9:09
Speaker 2: mobile as he was when he was healthy, and the
9:12
Speaker 2: couple of games kind of around mid season between when
9:16
Speaker 2: he was heeling up from that knee injury and before
9:19
Speaker 2: the groin kind of flared up. There was a game
9:22
Speaker 2: against the Texans where, in particular, like the Cardinals and
9:25
Speaker 2: Texans games like Week six, seven, eight, somewhere in there,
9:29
Speaker 2: he started riping it again and you started to see
9:32
Speaker 2: the Jordan Love that you saw in the second half
9:34
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty three. As long as he's healthy. The
9:38
Speaker 2: Packers have invested some in the offensive line this offseason.
9:41
Speaker 2: I think you're going to see a return back to
9:44
Speaker 2: that early Jordan Love. And I think the other thing
9:47
Speaker 2: is development to the receiving court. You've got a more
9:49
Speaker 2: diverse group of receivers I think this year, and if
9:53
Speaker 2: they can catch the ball better than they did last season,
9:55
Speaker 2: which was a big problem, yes, you're gonna he's gonna
9:58
Speaker 2: get some I think he's going to get some more
9:59
Speaker 2: help from as receivers in ways where I mean, they
10:03
Speaker 2: were among the league leaders and drops last season. So
10:05
Speaker 2: he kind of got screwed over a little bit by
10:10
Speaker 2: some some major drops issues by Jaden Reid and don
10:12
Speaker 2: Tavian Wicks in particular. So there's a lot of reasons
10:14
Speaker 2: to think that a big balance back season is coming
10:17
Speaker 2: this fall.
10:18
Speaker 1: It's a great segue into the next topic here because
10:21
Speaker 1: this Packers' offense overall, techs gonna be interesting to watch
10:27
Speaker 1: as they're in a division with some very I mean
10:29
Speaker 1: some high caliber defenses. There's a lot of really great
10:32
Speaker 1: defensive talent within this division. As you mentioned, you know,
10:35
Speaker 1: Josh Jacobs being that bell cow running back, really strong
10:39
Speaker 1: coming out of the backfield last year with three and
10:41
Speaker 1: twenty nine rushing yards. I feel like the Packers receiving
10:45
Speaker 1: corps was developing to an extent. You did mention the drops, however,
10:49
Speaker 1: you know, if you're into fantasy, folks, you gotta be
10:52
Speaker 1: able to wary. I guess going into this season, but
10:55
Speaker 1: I'm wondering what that balance is going to be. You
10:57
Speaker 1: kind of touched on it a little bit, but the
10:59
Speaker 1: balance between the Packers rushing attack and the receiving and
11:03
Speaker 1: passing game overall this year, how do you see that
11:06
Speaker 1: balance really taking shape?
11:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, towards towards throughout most of last season, Again, they
11:12
Speaker 2: were one of the most run heavy teams, especially in
11:15
Speaker 2: neutral game situations in the NFL. They were not that
11:19
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, and so I think you'll see
11:21
Speaker 2: them revert a little bit back again. As long as
11:24
Speaker 2: Love is healthy, they'll be there'll be a more conventionally
11:27
Speaker 2: balanced team versus run pass ratio relative to the rest
11:32
Speaker 2: of the league. I don't think they're going to be
11:33
Speaker 2: out here, you know, coming out and throwing on seventy
11:36
Speaker 2: percent of their first down plays. But you know, something
11:39
Speaker 2: more like a normal fifty five forty five split is probably,
11:43
Speaker 2: you know, probably reasonable. I would expect them to be
11:45
Speaker 2: middle of the pack rather than so so run heavy
11:48
Speaker 2: this season. And some of that, again, is is you've
11:50
Speaker 2: got a big group of diverse wide receivers, diverse talent.
11:55
Speaker 2: And I think the other factor here is they're they're
11:58
Speaker 2: also sort of changing the way they they want to
12:00
Speaker 2: run the ball. They're seeing the success that Philly and
12:04
Speaker 2: Baltimore are having with the power running game and these
12:07
Speaker 2: you know, these big road grading offensive lines, and the
12:11
Speaker 2: Packers have invested in beef this they have. They signed
12:15
Speaker 2: Aaron Banks, big guard from San Francisco. They moved Elton
12:19
Speaker 2: Jenkins to center, got rid of Josh Myers in free agency.
12:22
Speaker 2: They drafted Anthony Belton, who's a massive six six, three
12:25
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty pound tackle in the second round. Might
12:28
Speaker 2: end up kicking inside the guard, playing right guard. So
12:31
Speaker 2: they're they're definitely clearly focusing more on you know, big guys,
12:36
Speaker 2: big guys who can move, but big guys who can
12:38
Speaker 2: also move defensive linemen in the run game. You know,
12:42
Speaker 2: for so long this team has been kind of a
12:44
Speaker 2: finesse running team. Aaron Jones, is that more of that
12:47
Speaker 2: type of back Ye did a lot of zone running with,
12:50
Speaker 2: you know, in the early floor days. I think they
12:52
Speaker 2: want to be a power running team, but they're going
12:54
Speaker 2: to be an interesting kind of spread power team the
12:57
Speaker 2: last couple of years they've used so much of their
12:59
Speaker 2: bigger receiver is to block as slot players. I think
13:02
Speaker 2: you might see a little more spread out formations, but
13:05
Speaker 2: still running power running concepts in the interior with this
13:09
Speaker 2: big offensive line. So that's that's sort of how I
13:11
Speaker 2: see the running game maybe evolving this season.
13:14
Speaker 1: It's really interesting how you mentioned the power running game
13:16
Speaker 1: of the Eagles the Ravens. You can even say with
13:19
Speaker 1: Bijon Robinson down in Atlanta too, just how how we
13:23
Speaker 1: have a I don't want to call it a change
13:25
Speaker 1: in offensive philosophy in the NFL overall, but more along
13:29
Speaker 1: the lines of we have to adapt as we're moving forward.
13:32
Speaker 1: It's not just about throwing five hundred yards per game
13:35
Speaker 1: for any NFL team anymore. The balance of the rushing
13:38
Speaker 1: attack and in the passing game too. I think we're
13:41
Speaker 1: starting to see that evolution a little bit more. You know,
13:43
Speaker 1: there's different eras in the NFL from an offensive perspective.
13:47
Speaker 1: You know, we were it was high flying offense consistently
13:50
Speaker 1: in those teams we're doing really well in terms of
13:53
Speaker 1: their playoff chances, what they did in the postseason as
13:56
Speaker 1: well winning championships too. But we're really seeing that change
13:59
Speaker 1: and I think we could potentially see that with the
14:02
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers this year. They're understanding what's happening here
14:06
Speaker 1: again with with how the power running attack leads to
14:10
Speaker 1: success in the league. So I think it's going to
14:12
Speaker 1: be fascinating.
14:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, you always want to be on the cutting edge
14:16
Speaker 2: of those those transition periods, right, You want to you
14:19
Speaker 2: don't want to be the last team to figure out, oh,
14:21
Speaker 2: we need to be going to a power run, power
14:23
Speaker 2: run game, right And with the trends on defense being
14:27
Speaker 2: to to play so much nickel and dime and some smaller,
14:30
Speaker 2: you know, so much smaller personnel groupings, it just kind
14:32
Speaker 2: of makes sense that that's the next kind of shift offensively,
14:37
Speaker 2: so you know, things are cyclical, you know, that's that's
14:40
Speaker 2: how this works in the NFL. I'm glad the Packers,
14:43
Speaker 2: it feels like, are kind of getting, you know, on
14:45
Speaker 2: on the early side of this wave and making this
14:49
Speaker 2: investment in this sort of philosophy change. And again they've
14:52
Speaker 2: got some some really interesting receivers. They've got some great
14:55
Speaker 2: offensive weapons in the passing game as well. And and
14:58
Speaker 2: Matt Laffer really loves this idea of the illusion of
15:01
Speaker 2: complexity where you give a lot of different looks, you
15:06
Speaker 2: throw a lot of different looks out there, but then
15:08
Speaker 2: you also run similar looks a lot, and you do
15:11
Speaker 2: do a lot of different things out of the same
15:13
Speaker 2: types of formations, so lots of different ways to to
15:17
Speaker 2: set up plays and play calls. And you know, their
15:19
Speaker 2: their play action calls when they when they can get
15:22
Speaker 2: them going, are are really exciting. And Tucker craft is
15:26
Speaker 2: has you know, blowing up as one of the most
15:28
Speaker 2: exciting young tight ends in the NFL too, So there's
15:32
Speaker 2: lots of reasons I think to be excited about this
15:33
Speaker 2: Packer's offense.
15:34
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fun to watch them. And uh again, folks,
15:37
Speaker 1: we're talking to Evan Tech's Western from Acmepackingcompany dot com,
15:42
Speaker 1: great SB Nation site. Know we love our Espnation sites
15:45
Speaker 1: here at the PSD podcast show, Buddy, tell everybody where
15:48
Speaker 1: they can find you on the interwebs out there if
15:50
Speaker 1: they want to connect with you. I know you're on
15:51
Speaker 1: Blue Sky. Uh, tell everybody where they can find you.
15:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so, Yeah, Acmepackingcompany dot Com. That's the that's
15:59
Speaker 2: the primary place. We just finished up a series on
16:03
Speaker 2: the Packers All quarter Century Team, so we picked the
16:05
Speaker 2: best Packers players at every position for the last twenty five.
16:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:11
Speaker 2: I did a Yeah, there were several of us that
16:13
Speaker 2: were contributing on that one and took taking reader votes
16:16
Speaker 2: and things. We uh, we put together a pretty impressive squad.
16:19
Speaker 2: I think there's been some good, good players that have
16:22
Speaker 2: come through Green Bay in the last twenty five years.
16:24
Speaker 2: So that was a front, a really fun project to
16:26
Speaker 2: work on during the during the season. Once we get
16:29
Speaker 2: into the regular season, I'll be recording our our kind
16:32
Speaker 2: of game repack recap podcast on the Frozen Tunder Frequencies
16:36
Speaker 2: podcast network. So you look up Frozen tunder Frequencies anywhere
16:39
Speaker 2: get your podcasts, you'll find myself a couple of our
16:43
Speaker 2: other our other folks working on different shows throughout the week.
16:47
Speaker 2: And then yeah, you mentioned a Blue Sky at text Western.
16:50
Speaker 2: I'm on Instagram at texts text Western as well. And
16:53
Speaker 2: then you can find Acne Packing Company on Blue Sky
16:56
Speaker 2: on Instagram. Uh at Acne Packing Co.
16:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, they do great over there, folks. And if you
17:02
Speaker 1: want to follow us, if you're watching here on YouTube
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Speaker 1: and if you're listening as well at Philadelphia Sports Table
17:09
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17:14
Speaker 1: You can just search us out on just about any
17:16
Speaker 1: social media platform like our Facebook page. We're over on threads.
17:20
Speaker 1: I'm over on Blue Sky at Jeff Warren. I'm also
17:22
Speaker 1: on TikTok at mister Jeff Warren. So that being said, folks,
17:27
Speaker 1: we are gonna take a quick break and when we
17:28
Speaker 1: come back, we got more packers talk coming your way.
17:31
Speaker 1: Stick with us. All right, we are back and again
17:35
Speaker 1: we're with our good friend Evan techs Western from Acmepackingcompany
17:40
Speaker 1: dot com talking about this Green Bay Packers team the
17:43
Speaker 1: upcoming season. I want to move over to the defense now,
17:46
Speaker 1: techs Ub, there's some reasons I think for optimism with
17:50
Speaker 1: this Packers pass rush heading into the twenty twenty five season.
17:54
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark is now healthy, Lucas van Ness is poised
17:58
Speaker 1: to take some major steps I think, I think here
18:00
Speaker 1: in year three for him and Jeff Hafley. I mean,
18:04
Speaker 1: he gets real creative when it comes to blitzing packages,
18:08
Speaker 1: as many of us know who have followed his career
18:11
Speaker 1: and what his defensive fronts have been able to do.
18:14
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering what are your thoughts on where the
18:16
Speaker 1: pass rush goes for the Packers this upcoming season.
18:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I think that's one of the biggest questions
18:23
Speaker 2: for this squad is how do you get consistent production
18:27
Speaker 2: out of that pass rush? Last season that was that
18:29
Speaker 2: was a big challenge was was they didn't get a
18:32
Speaker 2: consistent production out of that group. You know, there were
18:36
Speaker 2: a couple of games that they had seven eight sacks,
18:38
Speaker 2: but that happened I think once or twice throughout the
18:41
Speaker 2: season against bad offensive lines and quarterbacks that take a
18:43
Speaker 2: lot of sacks. It was Tennessee, it was Seattle. Other
18:47
Speaker 2: than those couple of games, you know, they were out
18:49
Speaker 2: there getting maybe one, maybe two sacks a game, and
18:53
Speaker 2: it was just a very inconsistent group. So you mentioned
18:57
Speaker 2: a couple of the big ones right off the bat, right,
18:58
Speaker 2: Kenny Clark healthy coming into this season. He also we
19:02
Speaker 2: found out this offseason that he also had a toe
19:04
Speaker 2: injury that hit him in that Brazil game, and that
19:07
Speaker 2: really kind of sapped his explosiveness and his ability to
19:12
Speaker 2: collapse the pocket throughout the entire season. I think it
19:14
Speaker 2: was the only season of his career that he didn't
19:16
Speaker 2: even have a sack throughout the whole year, So he
19:20
Speaker 2: definitely seemed to take a step back. Now we know
19:22
Speaker 2: that that was injury related. Hopefully, looks like he's I
19:24
Speaker 2: think he's going into either the last or second to
19:26
Speaker 2: last year of his contract, so he'll be motivated to
19:29
Speaker 2: put up a good performance this year. He's also moving
19:32
Speaker 2: back to the nose tackle position, where the Packers had TJ.
19:36
Speaker 2: Slayton last year who was a solid run stuffer but
19:40
Speaker 2: gave you basically nothing in pass rush. So you move
19:43
Speaker 2: Clark over from the three tech to the nose. Now
19:45
Speaker 2: you put a guy like Devontae Wyatt, who's more of
19:47
Speaker 2: a pass rusher, more of a penetrator at that three
19:49
Speaker 2: tech spot, so you got a better mix of pass
19:52
Speaker 2: rushing talent I think on the interior, you move out
19:55
Speaker 2: to the edge and you're hoping for Rashan Gary to
19:59
Speaker 2: take a step in year two in the new Jeff
20:01
Speaker 2: athlete scheme. He did a better job as a run
20:05
Speaker 2: defender last year, but you know, still needs to be
20:07
Speaker 2: that number one pass rusher, that that guy that he's
20:11
Speaker 2: got all the athletic ability in the world, but he
20:14
Speaker 2: needs to and he needs to be a little more
20:16
Speaker 2: consistent with getting to the quarterback. Vanessa's kind of an
20:19
Speaker 2: open question great athlete, but the production hasn't been there
20:22
Speaker 2: yet in the first two years, so I think. And
20:25
Speaker 2: they've added some interesting pieces in the draft, and early
20:27
Speaker 2: on in Day three they added Baron Sourrell out of Texas,
20:31
Speaker 2: who was kind of a shock when we realized just
20:34
Speaker 2: who he was and his whole story that he lasted
20:36
Speaker 2: all the way to the fourth round, right and if
20:39
Speaker 2: anybody followed the draft closely, that was the coolest moment
20:42
Speaker 2: of Day three was the fact that he was there
20:44
Speaker 2: in Green Bay just because he's a big draft fan,
20:46
Speaker 2: and let him sit in the green room and walk
20:48
Speaker 2: out and get to experience the you know, getting drafted
20:51
Speaker 2: in Green Bay and do a Lambell leap and everything.
20:53
Speaker 2: That was awesome. But you know, everybody at Texas says
20:56
Speaker 2: that like he was their favorite teammate last season in
21:00
Speaker 2: terms of character, motivation, ability and everything. So he'll be
21:04
Speaker 2: an interesting guy to watch. And then they added Colin Oliver,
21:07
Speaker 2: a speed rusher out of Oklahoma State, in the fifth
21:10
Speaker 2: round too. It was probably like just a third down
21:12
Speaker 2: pass rushing specialist. So there's some players there that they
21:16
Speaker 2: can build around in some skill sets that if they
21:18
Speaker 2: put him in the right positions, I think there's a
21:20
Speaker 2: really good chance that they could put together a good
21:22
Speaker 2: pass rushing unit. The other guy I got to mention
21:24
Speaker 2: is Edrian Cooper, the second year linebacker. Yeah, who was
21:28
Speaker 2: a great, great blitzer both in college and even last
21:31
Speaker 2: season as a rookie. So he'll be certainly an every
21:34
Speaker 2: down linebacker this season. Yeah, Packers are expecting big things
21:38
Speaker 2: out of him. Fans are expecting big things out of him,
21:41
Speaker 2: and his ability to blitz and get after the quarterback
21:43
Speaker 2: is one of those things that he really brings from
21:46
Speaker 2: an off ball linebacker position as well.
21:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. I really would like to next get into an
21:51
Speaker 1: aspect of this Packers defense where I have a lot
21:54
Speaker 1: of questions and I'm sure there are some folks within
21:56
Speaker 1: Packers Nation that also have some questions and even folks
21:59
Speaker 1: that follow the NFC NFL in general too. The Packers secondary,
22:03
Speaker 1: I you know, there have been ups and downs over
22:06
Speaker 1: the years with this unit, with this group, How do
22:09
Speaker 1: you view the Packers secondary, especially in a division where
22:14
Speaker 1: you have some very high powered offenses who are going
22:17
Speaker 1: to try to really get the ball down the field? Text,
22:19
Speaker 1: So what are your thoughts on, you know, your analysis
22:22
Speaker 1: with regard to the Packers secondary.
22:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, you start from the middle and work outwards. You
22:29
Speaker 2: started that safety position where the team completely revamped the
22:33
Speaker 2: group last season. Signing Xavier McKinney was a stroke of genius.
22:38
Speaker 2: Goes out there and has a pick and each of
22:39
Speaker 2: the first five games gets all pro you know, as
22:43
Speaker 2: a no doubt, you know, all pro safety. So you've
22:46
Speaker 2: got a great player back there as your center fielder,
22:49
Speaker 2: kind of set in the tone a little bit as
22:51
Speaker 2: a as a deep roving ballhawk out there. But Evan Williams,
22:55
Speaker 2: the fourth round rookie last season, stepped in and was
22:57
Speaker 2: a really nice player at strong safety, you know, coming
23:01
Speaker 2: up and making tackles in the box. And so you've
23:03
Speaker 2: got a solid core there between those two at safety.
23:07
Speaker 2: I think the biggest question is going to come at
23:08
Speaker 2: corner where JayR. Alexander's gone, you know, amid the whole
23:12
Speaker 2: contract situation and his continued injuries and missing games and things.
23:18
Speaker 2: But you look back at last season and they managed
23:20
Speaker 2: to put together a pretty darn good passing defense with
23:24
Speaker 2: guys like Keishaw Nixon and Carrington Valentine taking most of
23:28
Speaker 2: the reps at cornerback. So this year you got those
23:32
Speaker 2: two guys, plus Nate Hobbs coming over from the Raiders
23:34
Speaker 2: and free agency. He'll probably be your main slot guy.
23:37
Speaker 2: If they can stay healthy and they can get a consistent,
23:41
Speaker 2: you know, help from the pass rush. I think there's
23:43
Speaker 2: a chance that the pass rush and the corner group
23:45
Speaker 2: can can build off of one another and still end
23:48
Speaker 2: up functioning pretty well as a as a pass defense.
23:52
Speaker 2: I think Nixon's play as a boundary corner last year
23:55
Speaker 2: surprised a lot of people. I think he was a
23:56
Speaker 2: lot better on the outside than really anybody expected him
24:00
Speaker 2: to be when he shifted out outside to cover after
24:04
Speaker 2: Alexander pretty much went down for the season. So he's
24:07
Speaker 2: he's solid. Valentine's still a young ascending player. I think
24:11
Speaker 2: there's a lot of potential there with him. He's never
24:14
Speaker 2: going to be a big, physical tackler, but he's got
24:16
Speaker 2: really good ball skills, really good speed. So all these
24:19
Speaker 2: players have traits that you can really build around and
24:23
Speaker 2: be excited about. Obviously, health is going to be a
24:26
Speaker 2: big part of that. There's if there's one position on
24:28
Speaker 2: this team where depth is a big concern, it's probably
24:31
Speaker 2: a cornerback because outside of those top three, I don't
24:34
Speaker 2: really know that the Packers know who cornerback four is
24:37
Speaker 2: yet in that room, and so there's a lot of
24:40
Speaker 2: questions down the roster of who would step up if
24:44
Speaker 2: somebody goes down in that cornerback room. And so that's
24:46
Speaker 2: where I would really have some concern is if there's
24:48
Speaker 2: an injury, then I really, you know, I start to
24:51
Speaker 2: score them quite a bit.
24:52
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, before I let you go, buddy, you know
24:56
Speaker 1: we're going to be getting into this. There are these
24:58
Speaker 1: questions to out on our future opposition territory podcast talking
25:03
Speaker 1: about other teams as well, talking about the biggest concern
25:07
Speaker 1: and what you are least concerned with in terms of
25:10
Speaker 1: the team, and again on our opposition Territory pods, just
25:14
Speaker 1: to let our listeners know we're gonna be talking about
25:16
Speaker 1: this more and more with each interview each week here
25:20
Speaker 1: on Opposition Territory. So get two part question for you
25:23
Speaker 1: here to close us out. What is your biggest concern
25:26
Speaker 1: for this team heading into the season. Then we'll get
25:28
Speaker 1: into what you're least concerned about. But what's the biggest
25:30
Speaker 1: team What's the biggest concern for the team heading into
25:33
Speaker 1: this season? I mean, is it is it the depth
25:35
Speaker 1: that you were just talking about at the cornerback position, Yeah,
25:39
Speaker 1: that's that's right up there, or is there something else?
25:43
Speaker 1: I still think for me.
25:45
Speaker 2: It is the pass rush. Okay, it is the consistency, Yeah,
25:48
Speaker 2: finding a way to consistently get to the quarterback when
25:52
Speaker 2: you know when when you need to. They they haven't
25:55
Speaker 2: had the guy that you know, like Zdarius Smith a
25:57
Speaker 2: couple of years ago, like Claim Matthews in his prime,
25:59
Speaker 2: where you know, if a play needs to be made,
26:02
Speaker 2: that's the guy that you can count on to to
26:04
Speaker 2: get there and and make that play. Rashan Gary hasn't
26:07
Speaker 2: quite been that guy yet throughout most of his career,
26:11
Speaker 2: and and this is a season where he really needs
26:13
Speaker 2: I think to step up and and be that true
26:17
Speaker 2: game changing pass rusher. They can cobble together again. I
26:21
Speaker 2: think some some pieces from from other other areas of
26:24
Speaker 2: the team, but I really would like to see him
26:26
Speaker 2: take that step. If he doesn't, I'm you know, I
26:30
Speaker 2: just wonder a little bit how consistent the group as
26:32
Speaker 2: a whole can be at affecting the quarterback and then
26:35
Speaker 2: does that carry over to, you know, to affecting the
26:39
Speaker 2: secondary if if a quarterback has got a lot of
26:41
Speaker 2: time to sit there in the pocket and dissecting things.
26:44
Speaker 2: So that's probably still my biggest issue, if only because
26:48
Speaker 2: it was an issue all throughout all of last season
26:52
Speaker 2: and they didn't really, aside from some mid round picks,
26:56
Speaker 2: do a lot in terms of player acquisition to to
27:00
Speaker 2: bolster that pass rush.
27:01
Speaker 1: Gerer, Okay, but what about what you're least concerned about?
27:04
Speaker 1: Is it Jordan Love? Is it the receiving corps? I mean,
27:08
Speaker 1: what are you least concerned about following this Packers team
27:11
Speaker 1: heading into this twenty twenty five season.
27:14
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with a little more broad concept
27:18
Speaker 2: and say offensive explosiveness. I think this team is going
27:22
Speaker 2: to have a very explosive offensive philosophy, and they've got
27:29
Speaker 2: the players to do it. So we haven't even talked
27:31
Speaker 2: about first round pick Matthew Golden yet. Oh yeah, who
27:34
Speaker 2: has four to two speed. You know, had a phenomenal
27:37
Speaker 2: season of Texas last year. He's easily going to be
27:41
Speaker 2: probably the fastest Packers receiver in modern history. And he's
27:48
Speaker 2: kind of a do it all guy. He's not just
27:49
Speaker 2: a speed dimon. He's not just a pure like Deshaun Jackson,
27:53
Speaker 2: deep threat. He can he can run a full route tree,
27:56
Speaker 2: I think, and he's good on contested catches and things,
27:58
Speaker 2: despite you know, being a little smaller guy five to eleven,
28:01
Speaker 2: one to ninety something like that. So I think you're
28:03
Speaker 2: going to see them use him a lot of different ways.
28:05
Speaker 2: I hope that we're going to see Jayden, Reid and
28:08
Speaker 2: Wix bounce back a little bit from some some difficult
28:11
Speaker 2: seasons last year with drops and things. You've got Tucker Craft,
28:15
Speaker 2: who's become a big play machine, you know as a
28:18
Speaker 2: tight end. You've got Josh Jacobs again with with kind
28:21
Speaker 2: of his explosive ability, both both as a receiver and
28:24
Speaker 2: a rusher. So I think there's lots of weapons, and
28:26
Speaker 2: I think a healthy Jordan Love is going to have
28:28
Speaker 2: no trouble distributing the ball of finding receivers and he's
28:33
Speaker 2: not afraid to chuck it and let his guys go
28:35
Speaker 2: get it too. So the big plays, even when the
28:39
Speaker 2: offense was kind of inconsistent last year, there were still
28:41
Speaker 2: big plays happening on a consistent basis. I see no
28:45
Speaker 2: reason that that is is going to change this season.
28:47
Speaker 2: I think you're going to see them picking up chunksy
28:49
Speaker 2: yardage pretty consistently throughout the year, and it's going to
28:52
Speaker 2: be a fun, fun offense to watch. I think with
28:55
Speaker 2: the way that they use the play action game, the
28:57
Speaker 2: way they use you know, tight ends and receivers on
29:00
Speaker 2: league plays and things to get them open for big plays,
29:04
Speaker 2: it's gonna be aesthetically pleasing to watch as a football fan.
29:08
Speaker 2: But I think the explosiveness is going to be, you know,
29:11
Speaker 2: a big, big function for this this Packers offense again
29:15
Speaker 2: this season.
29:15
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be interesting to see where the
29:17
Speaker 1: Packers go and whether or not them and the Eagles
29:19
Speaker 1: will be facing each other in the postseason. I think
29:22
Speaker 1: there's a good possibility of that happening for sure. Again, folks,
29:27
Speaker 1: he is Evan techs Western from ACME Packingcompany dot com. Buddy,
29:31
Speaker 1: it is always great to talk to you. I always
29:33
Speaker 1: love our discussions. Our conversations are fantastic, and I'd love
29:37
Speaker 1: to have you on the show at some point down
29:40
Speaker 1: the road, my friend.
29:42
Speaker 2: Hey, I appreciate it. It's it's my pleasure. I love
29:44
Speaker 2: doing this. And hey, I mean we got a week
29:46
Speaker 2: ten game, yeah, Monday night game, which I think would
29:49
Speaker 2: be a nice, big measuring stick game probably for both
29:51
Speaker 2: teams this season.
29:52
Speaker 1: Absolutely, i'd love to have you come on our our
29:55
Speaker 1: pregame show. You know you've done it many times. Let's
29:58
Speaker 1: get it done. Let's do it on.
30:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely, let's do it. So thanks a lot, man, Hey,
30:03
Speaker 2: and go back go.
30:04
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
30:07
Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
30:10
Speaker 1: and family members who are Philly sports fans or sports
30:13
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30:16
Speaker 1: part of this online community with us and within this space.
30:21
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30:24
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30:26
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30:29
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30:34
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30:38
Speaker 1: we will catch you next time.