Packers Dominate Ravens, But Questions at Kicker/QB2 Remain

[Music] it is Victory Sunday welcome in everybody to an all new episode of the pack a day podcast I'm your host Andy Herman you can follow me on Twitter at Andy Herman NFL you can follow the podcast at paday podcast we've got a ton to go over today the Packers defeat the Ravens 30 to7 a complete 180 from a week ago with what happened not only in the joint practice but in the preseason game with Denver we'll talk about that all the key takeaways the biggest plays uh the players that really helped themselves in this game some players who hurt themselves and I did have the opportunity already the game film came out early so I had the opportunity to go and do all of my grades for both offense and defense so we will get to those at the end as well before we get into everything we do have to go over of course our Luigi's Pizza player of the game a lot of options in this one right but I went with Christian Welch I thought he did a fantastic job of just being all over the place not only on defense but on special teams as well end of the day with six tackles two pass breakups one interception almost had two interceptions could argue maybe should have had two interceptions but either way still a massively impactful game had a really nice return on that interception as well played a huge chunk of the game was even making tackles really late in the fourth quarter in this one so I just thought this was a massively impressive performance from Christian Welch and for a guy who is right on that roster bubble who is right there with an opportunity I think to make this team and is certainly in in conversation to do exactly that he made it incredibly difficult uh not only just in this game but all throughout Camp all throughout preseason these last two games from Welch have been really really good and he's been a player that I don't think anyone really you know going into training camp expected a ton from you're just sort of expecting yeah he's kind of a core special teams guy but they went out and they drafted a couple linebackers they brought back Eric Wilson Isaiah mcduffy's here Quay Walker's here maybe there's a spot for him as a special teamer but that might be it but he's really played well on defense like what he's done in run defense and then of course has the big interception another pass break up just just a fantastic game and when you're going into a game like this and your potential spot on the team is on the line and you go and perform at that level it always is a little bit more special so my Luigi's Pizza player of the game is Christian Welch as a reminder hi ve this week in Green Bay is selling Luigi's thin crust pizzas for $5.99 a piece over the next month so you're going to want to make sure you check that out I also want to clarify I know if some people have uh asked me both in person and on Twitter Hey like this is the Luigi's there's no uh this is not a Luigi's Pizza place there's no place that you can go to and get a Luigi's Pizza like there's I know there's like Luigi's Pizza Palace and some other ones those things are totally different so the Luigi's Frozen pizzas you can only find at your grocer they don't there's there's not a restaurant that's attached to this so it's just the frozen pizzas you can find them in Wisconsin Minnesota North Dakota South Dakota Iowa Michigan and Illinois make sure to get one as soon as you can because they are delicious and you will not go wrong anytime you are having a victory pizza with Luigi's all right let's go over everything that happened in this game all the key takeaways and then we'll get into some positives and negatives and then we'll go through the grades as well let's start with the with the inactives because it was a lengthy list of inactives 38 in all I will read through them in just a moment at warp speed but I think there's a couple noteworthy things here one Robert relle was out with a hip injury now this can get very complicated I talked about this a little bit on the live postgame show but when you have a player that has an injury if you do want to wave them you have to wave them injured and then if they go unclaimed they revert to ir and then you release them off of ir with a injury settlement which you have to pay for which comes out of the salary cap but also you cannot resign them for the length of the time that they would be injured for uh meaning like if you settled at like a four-week injury you can't sign them for the four weeks plus I think it's like six weeks after that as well there's a length of time after that which makes it near impossible that you ever get a player like that back and we saw that happen last year with Lou Nichols where they had to release him you know with the injury designation he ends up on the Eagles practice squad before he would have been eligible to even return to Green Bay so those things get a little bit more complicated obviously if they want Robert relle on the roster and you know hopefully he's just good to go by week one and they can make that decision in and of itself but if it's not you know had had he not been hurt if they don't have to release him with an injury settlement and maybe they still don't but if they don't have to then he's a a player that you really want back on your practice squad right but if you release him with that injury settlement it gets a lot more complicated at that point so a noteworthy hip injury for Robert relle hopefully he can get back sooner rather than later and hopefully it doesn't affect his status with the Packers or any team for that matter uh with what's going on with what is considered a hip injury per the Packers uh the other two that were somewhat interesting here Edan Cooper did not play that's not unexpected he is not done any teamwork same thing with Jordan Morgan he did not do teamwork this week you know that they would have loved to have gotten those guys some playing time and you know just kind of work a little bit of the rust off and get them more ingrained in the system but neither were able to go both of them did not play you knew they'd be cautious if need be and that's the direction that they went with but uh both Morgan and C excuse me Cooper did not play in this game all right uh the full list of inactives outside of Robert relle who we went over Quay Walker Josh Jacobs Christian Watson Jordan love Jaden Reed Davian Wicks Javon Bullard Eric Stokes Gyer Alexander kesan Nixon AJ Dylan xaver mcken Marshon Lloyd Evan Williams Carrington Valentine Eric Wilson Zack Tom ran Gary Kingsley and nbar edrian Cooper Isa McDuffy Rasheed Walker Spencer wagy Josh Meers Andre Dillard Elton Jenkins Shawn Ryan Jordan Morgan Tyler Davis Tucker craft Romeo dobs Luke Musgrave LVN Preston Smith TJ Slayton Devonte Wyatt and Kenny Clark Green Bay basically told us uh who the majority of their roster locks are coming into cut down day obviously some of those guys are out injured like a Spencer wagy and AJ Dylan Etc but uh the huge chunk of those players are healthy scratches because they want them healthy for the season which again is basically telling you which players are locks and it's not to say that guys like Tyron Hopper um and a few other guys obviously um Danny whan and and there's a few more that uh you know played in this game aren't roster locks as well but uh you got a good feel for where Green Bay stands on a lot of these players so those are your inactives as I sort of mentioned at the onset this was such a ju position from the Broncos week and I want to go back a week because I think it's important to do so one of the things that I mentioned last week that I was almost excited for was that Green Bay got punched in the face a little bit that's a great time to get punched in the face it's going to happen to almost every team at some point in the season and if you can experience that in the preseason and in a joint practice and the preseason game after and understand like hey all right we have work to do that can be a very powerful thing and like I said there are very few times and in fact I would argue there's no better time period than like the second preseason game that is a great time to have that happen and I think we saw that Green Bay did have lessons learned from that game now it's it's still again a lot of backups last week and we you know obviously during the joint practice the starters played but I don't want to read too much into it but I do think that we saw a much greater intensity a much greater physicality we just saw better emotion more effort I I just thought everything was better that you want to see out of a game that had a little bit of a rough week a week ago they bounced back in a very big way and the results in either game do not matter one iota right it it does it couldn't matter less you know we're looking at player evaluations in these games but you do like the fact that they responded in a big way and like I said it was almost the exact opposite Denver uh you got the better of of Green Bay and Joint practices and then punched him in the mouth in the game and completely ran away with it Green Bay got the better of Baltimore in their joint practice and then completely you know punched Baltimore in the mouth in the preseason game I I'll be it again with both sides having a lot of backups but it was just a much better brand of football and I liked how Green Bay responded overall and I think that was a really great I think even though again the majority of players that are going to be playing in week one against the Eagles are not even in this game I still thought it was an important response and you could tell that there was a better energy not only in the game but in the practice on Thursday against the Ravens as well so loved the difference and I think they did learn a little bit of a lesson against the Broncos and as I mentioned just like last week the the score doesn't matter here but the evaluations do and there were a lot of core players that um I should say core players but a lot of bubble players that had either some really impressive performances or some that are still question marks and let's just get the elephant uh in the room out of the way right away the two sort of big naging takeaways and there's a lot of positives we're going to get to so uh bear with me but the two big takeaways from this game are still backup QB and kicker and it's been this way for a bit now right where those are sort of the two that just kind of are like you know gnawing at your side and being like hey you know this this might be a problem and let's start with let's just start with the quarterback position uh Michael Pratt did some good things the touchdown to Bo Melton was awesome beautiful throw uh you know he he led a couple scoring drives eight of 12 80 yards one touchdown and actually it was going pretty darn well until it wasn't and there was a really awful interception that I don't know entirely so I think it was Swinson was the tight end on the play I could be misremembering that but I think it was Swinson did a little out and up he's looking left he comes back right I think he sees Swinson on the up but somehow completely misses the defender that's very clearly right in front of him and he throws it in a way that I don't think Swinson ever would have had a chance and instead right to the defender it was a very odd play what I will say about Michael Pratt is turnovers have not been his Mo in training camp at all he has taken fantastic care of the football and this felt more like a one-off and if you do take that one play away which was a little bit chaotic you know he was looking left and looks back right and Tom Clemens will work with him on that I I think it was a solid performance that still left you maybe wanting a little bit more but a quarterback that still to me is trending in the right direction that shows upside that shows promise and potential but it's still raw is extremely extremely raw and is going to make mistakes like that but do I think in a in a worst case scenario meaning if Jordan love goes down like could you game plan some stuff for him with an actual you know Big Time wide receiver core good running back great offensive line I think there's enough there and I think he's enough of a gamer that he's at least going to make it interesting it's probably not going to be perfect I don't know he's going to go two and two in a Four game series or four game stretch but I like a lot of the stuff that I still see from Michael Pratt that if and if you erase that one interception which is a big play to erase from the game that's a brutal throw but if you took that away I'd feel pretty confident not not conf I feel pretty good uh coming out of this game for Michael Pratt but that was a a big time throw um in in a in the wrong way right but he had the great throw too to B Melton and again I don't think it's difficult I don't think you have to be an NFL scout to see what a lot of the the really fun things that Michael PR can bring to the table and I know that the the play to go try to make the tackle is is stupid and I'm sure Matt LEF Floren company don't necessarily want that there's a part of me that's like all right you know this isn't Jordan love like you know if you lose Michael Pratt it's not you know to an injury or whatever it's not like oh my goodness the season's over obviously you don't want him to get hurt but I I kind of like the intensity I kind of like that he's going out to lead uh on a blocking play I kind of like that he's going to do everything he can to get down there like I think Matt La Flor had like a gunner on special teams to go make a tackle I kind of like that energy and you can just tell like and trust me that the guys on the team are going to respect that as well and they're going to see it and they're going to notice it and they're going to Rally around that in case he ever does have to get into a game cuz he's going to give everything he's got and if he does make a mistake he's going to go and he's going to go try to you know Murder the inter Interceptor excuse me to try to get that ball back and force a fumble or something like he was trying to lay a hit and unfortunately he got some Friendly Fire and you know got the the wind knocked out of him on the play but I do like the passion that he plays with but clearly a lot of work to do still for Michael Pratt and then Sean Clifford six for 14 53 yards one touchdown no picks ah you know there there's the the throw to Maliki In The End Zone I thought it was a really good throw it looks behind him on the play but it's kind of exactly where that throw needs to be if he leads him it leads it right into a Defender and Malle Keith did a great job adjusting on it if that ball is any higher lower left or right I think it's incomplete and it might even be worse than that if it's if he throws it left and and actually leads him on the play so I thought that was actually a really nice ball you know there's the play where he kind of like he gets the snap clean and fumbles it and has to roll out uh there's some throws that he would certainly like to have back it just it it just always kind of leaves you wanting for a little bit more and I think the the disappointing thing for me is I I thought Clifford last year for the most part preseason training camp did some pretty good things and it just has felt a little bit off just this entire off season just hasn't felt as clean crisp efficient a lot of turnovers and just some some throws that he is not completing with you know confidence is how I would kind of put it and there's a little bit of gamer in him I didn't think this was a brutal game for Clifford um it started that way it was it was a really rough start although I will say Joel Wilson uh dropped one of those pass which hurt his completion percentage a little bit as well but you know 14 attempts for 53 yards is not a great day at the office for you know a quarterback I you know if the number two quarterback is on the roster I don't know but there's some serious question marks as to whether or not they have a true backup on this team I think they have two guys that they can maybe develop I think Michael Pratt's the better developmental quarterback now the question is do they actually have a backup quarterback more on that in just a moment and then obviously the other one is the kicker battle which was going incred incredibly well on the day at least Joseph was two for two on field goals one for one on extra points at a 55 y Carlson was one of one and two of two of on extra points hit a 54 yard field goal you're feeling like this is going well and then it wasn't 32 yard attempt at the end of the game and he completely misses it right and this is one of those things where it is no conditions good snap Perfect Day friendly confin of Lambo field no pressure whatsoever 32 y has to be a gimme has to be a gimme and it's not and this is the sort of chaos and the unpredictability that you get with Anders Carlson it would be one thing if like 45 or let's even say 40 and under like 40 and under he's got it unlock right and then anything 41 to 60 is like no idea we don't know what's going to happen like okay it's still not ideal but you kind of at least know a little bit what you're getting and you know if it's 40 or under it's going to be you know made almost no matter what this is just indicative of the Andre Carlson that we've seen not only since he's got to Green Bay but even in college as well we haven't necessarily seen the growth the inconsistency has been consistent and I don't feel like that anyone can be super confident going into the season with Anders as the kicker I hope you know if they do go with Anders that he just goes out and crushes It All season and he takes that that step and all of a sudden he gets on a hot streak that's great but even if he does get on a hot streak we've also seen him go on cold streaks and that could be an issue at some point as well and that's what's going to make this I think a really I don't know if it's a difficult decision it's just it's a it's a you know it's a really difficult spot to be in for Green Bay because I'm sure the fifth round pick they spent the the ammo on them this is a position that sometimes kind of like QB you have to have a little bit of patience and understand that it wouldn't Shock Me still if Green Bay went with Anders but this is just the anders Carlson experience we just when it kind of feels like all right hey we're we're getting something going a little bit here it's like up 32 yard or missed and those are big points in games this one obviously did not cost them not that it would have mattered in a preseason game anyway but those will matter come regular season time those will win or lose you games and we don't have to go far back where it's you know again the the playoff game is not all on oners by any stretch of the imagination but that's a huge field goal to miss in that game that could have potentially changed the outcome and those those points those lost points I mean man this is a a league of parody these games are close Green Green Bay is going to play a lot of really close games this year and if they continue to have some of these kicks that you know they lose points on that could result in an extra loss or two through the course of the regular season and do I think that that's going to be the difference between playoffs and no playoffs I hope not but it could be the difference between the North and you know just a wild car team it could be the difference between advancing in a playoff game and not advancing in a playoff game and I get that the the problem here is that you know Anders Carlson now is 81.6% in Camp but Greg Joseph 78.9 Alex Hil 66.7 there's not a very clear and obvious you know answer that's on the roster right now and if you look around the league it's very difficult to find a easy solution either but when Matt laflor was asked about this cuz I got accused in the post game of just being an Anders Carlson hater that that I'm you know trying to spin a narrative here this is a real legitimate thing and one I know because I'm in the Press Box and hear every other person talking about it as well uh all the key articles from all the key beat writers included do the Packers have the kicker on the roster right now but also Matt freak the floor answered the question about the kicker in this way about whether or not the kicker is on the roster he said quote that's not even a question for me to be honest with you meaning that this is a goody question basically it's Goody's ultimate decision he said we've got a really good sample size and then we'll see what happens just around the league more on that in a moment certainly there were some really good moments but those guys went in there both those guys went in there hit a 54 Y and a 55 Y and then there's a poor moment there where we missed the Chip Shot again lot of good some we know we can be better at and we'll wait and see I just want to go back we'll see what happens around the league that like he has every opportunity here to be like yep Anders is going to be our kicker this year and I'm not saying he necessarily would have done that when he's got two other kickers on the roster but like he could have been like yes we we're you know one of these three kickers will be our opening day kicker and then you would have probably read into it that all right Anders is the guy he literally said we'll see what happens around the league that is not exactly a ringing endorsement of any kickers that are on the team and you might think that this was just some kicking shenanigan sham that it was always set up for Anders Carlson to be the kicker I don't see it that way I I don't think that they wanted to go out and spend major money because I think they hoped that Anders would be the guy but it has been very clear that they have been trying to bring in competition to try to find someone that if it's Anders great if it's not they're willing to go in a different direction whether that is Joseph whether it's you know Alex hail which is obviously probably more of a long-term option um they've they've gone through other kickers through this off season as well and it has been quite frankly again not good enough and I I like if Matt laflor the other day said he wants to vomit every time he he's asked about number one wide rece I want to vomit every time I hear somebody compare the situation to Mason Crosby the kicking is different now the bar is raised and the you know 81.6% would have been been at the very bottom of the league you know uh this past year and you need consistency at that position and Matt LL again in his quote said we'll see what happens around the league that means they're looking at other kickers to see what might be available and if they think there's a better option they will go with a better option and then he was asked about the backup quarterback job and similar and said quote similar to The Kicking competition in terms of there were some really good moments and then there's some things that we absolutely have to do better and then we'll eval valate everything that's out there for us now that could be interpreted as will you know evaluate everything that's out there meaning like all the tape all the prees it felt like with him saying very similar to the kicker position we'll see what's out there on the market if we need to bring in a different backup QB I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility that the backup QB could be on another roster right now and you could maybe keep a Michael Pratt as a developmental qb3 on the roster these are going to be some big time decisions to make and maybe we will get to Wednesday next week after all the waiver claims are made after cuts are made Tuesday waiver claims are made on Wednesday all the trades are done and maybe Sean Clifford is just the number two and maybe Michael Pratt's the number three and maybe Andre Carlson is the kicker and we'll look back and say oh guess that was all much a do about nothing but right now I do really wholeheartedly believe that it is a coin flip as to whether or not it'll it'll and I'll say this I don't think Greg Joseph and I certainly don't think Alex hail are in this conversation it is Anders or it is somebody that's on another team right now and I think it's a true coin flip between the two and as far as backup QB I'm more inclined to say I think one of the quarterbacks on the team right now are more likely to be the backup QB but there will be quarterbacks that will be available that I think they can acquire either via trade or waivers that could be in that conversation and that will be something that goody has to look at so uh that is going to be a very interesting next for 48 to 72 hours to see I guess 72 since what Sunday Monday Tuesday but uh I'll even go further 96 because you know waiver claims on Wednesday too to see what happens at those two positions in case you are wondering some of the other kickers that are out there Matthew Wright one for one with a 26y uh in the for the Steelers in their preseason game this week Jude McMan uh two for two with a 43 Y for the Giants this week Austin cybert the Jets other kicker did not kick in the game Spencer shider for the Colts was two for two on field goals including a 56 Y and two for two on extra points and if you're a real junkie and want to watch preseason football on Sunday to see some of the other kickers it is possible that Braden narvon for the Titans Joyce Sly and Chad Ryland for the Patriots and Charlie Smith for the Saints all could kick on Sunday so keep an eye out for those as well those are probably the names that you would be looking at if Green Bay did go with another kicker all right other notes from the game I thought this is the best that the Run blocking has looked at any point in camper preseason so far again take it with whatever grain of salt you want because all the starters are not out there even the top two backups are not or at least top backup is not out there Dillard is not out there if he ends up making the team so you're missing a lot of guys that are going to be your core seven here probably on the team but I did like what Kadeem telfor did Jacob monk had moments L Smith had moments uh there was just a lot better run blocking and I thought we saw more cohesive overall game I don't even say game plan but just how they went about running the football really smashing it down the the Ravens throat and just playing with a physicality and I thought that was really fun to see and I really thought that that served the running backs well and I thought the running backs ran really really hard all three of them Wilson Maryweather and uh mccre now all especially I'll say Maryweather and Wilson had some plays from a pass Pro standpoint that you would like to see still a little bit better which is why they didn't maybe grayed out quite as well but I thought from a running standpoint I thought they both ran all three of them ran very very hard behind their pads and it was fun to see a more physical brand of football in the running game and just dominate in the trenches and I thought that was one of the real keys to why Green Bay was able to win this game as easily as they were just a couple really interesting defensive notes it was interesting that when they started the game Christian Welch was the sort of Base nickel linebacker and then in obvious passing Downs it became Christian young who is a safety in college who's moved to linebacker so they made that sort of run defense for pass defense Swap and more obvious Pass Downs it's not necessarily noteworthy for anything that's going to happen the season but it does tell you maybe what they feel a little bit about Christian Welch as a cover linebacker they probably view him more as an early down backer with special teams value and don't really probably see him as a guy who maybe want is going to play even in some injury situations as a a a linebacker on passing down so just kind of a noteworthy one there is you start making your 53 man roster predictions and then they did have Zayn Anderson over katano ladapo in this game meaning Anderson was playing earlier and um oladapo came in later now I don't think there's any real chance that oladapo gets cut as a fifth round pick and I think Matt lefur spoke highly of him the other day with what he did he's still kind of catching up from all the time that he missed so I'm not necessarily comparing Apples to Apples there but I am you know it was interesting nonetheless that Zayn Anderson was in prior to katano ladapo some of the big plays in this game of course the Aaron Mosby sack fumble that was a huge play he's unblocked on the play but he gets there in a millisecond and then forces the fumble probably would have had a scoop and score had Anthony Johnson not beat him to it uh so kudos to Anthony Johnson for winning that race Aaron Mosby also had a pick dropped into coverage and then you know just really made a really nice hands catch on it which sometimes for those dropping defensive ends you don't know how that's going to go but he made a super athletic play and a big time interception Christian Welch's pick which we talked about and then the B Melton TouchDown for Michael Pratt those are I think the the four big plays in this game the players that help themselves the most I'll Aaron Mosby you know I don't know that Green Bay is going to keep five defensive ends if they do they'll have a decision between Breton Cox and Aaron Mosby but I think Mosby's been the better of the two in preseason so far and I would argue probably in training camp as well and that's a huge performance man you get a pick and a force fumble that turns into a touchdown that's a that's a big day at the office and when you are again a player that's right on the bubble and you put that on your tape and I thought he did a couple other nice plays as well in this game that's going to go a long way now there's you know this is not a a complete and total package at defensive end he can play some special teams he does have a little bit of Versatility he has played some you know standup linebacker in the past I don't think that's in his future right now with where he's at with just his body type right now but he is an interesting player and he's got a little bit of juice coming off the edge again and he's just kind of outper formed Bretton Cox up until this point doesn't necessarily mean that they would keep him over Cox but he really put his best foot forward and really showed why at least for his from his standpoint what he can be and again you put that on tape and put that on your resume that's going to be noteworthy in a game like that Christian Welch same thing we talked about that already but big interception pass deflection multiple tackles had a really nice play on special teams again for a player that's doing everything he can to make the roster thought that was a really impressive performance Malik Keith man after week one it really felt like this was trending towards Grant Duos I think Malik Kei has put this away in my opinion I maybe it's not quite that cut and dry but man Malik kei's been awesome these past couple weeks and the touchdown catch he had he had another catch had to reach behind him thought he was getting open even in the uh Denver game he was getting open deep that just wasn't uh the connections from the quarterbacks but I thought he's had a really really impressive two weeks of football I think he's put himself ahead of Grant tuos in a at least not insignificant way I'll put it that way uh but I thought he really really helped himself in this game I don't know that Bo Melton needed to help himself and this was still not a complete game for Melton he had a couple plays where he didn't get open another play where he had a false start but uh huge touchdown it just shows the upside that he has and I think I think Melton when he gets more with the ones and gets with Jordan love you can see I think a little bit of different juice and and you know just maybe a little bit more comfortability but I didn't think this was a great preseason from but I still think there's so much talent there so much upside and he showed that that was a great catch on the back shoulder to go up and get it high point it keep it away from the defender come down with it survive the ground just just a big time play from Bo Melton I think that was exactly what he needed and hopefully that gets a little bit of confidence back for him I I'm not saying he was necessarily lacking it but there were a couple of drops early in preseason and I still think there's a ton of talent there with B Melton Anthony Johnson Jr another one where I don't know that he needed to help himself but man did he play physical football he had a couple big time hits in this game and you just love seeing him play with that tenacity I thought he set the tone on defense and I do think on the big touchdown play I know kin King's kind of the one I asked Matt laflor about that post practice and he said two players kind of took the underneath route and looks like the linebacker probably was maybe a little bit more right to do so on Anthony Johnson probably came up a little bit too aggressively probably should have stayed back in that moment but uh overall he made up for it in a uge way and of course had the scoop and score as well kin King had the force fumble I thought kadim telfort had a really solid game overall I thought he helped himself Travis Glover I thought not a perfect game there's a lot to clean up but I did think there was if if you look close enough these last two weeks there's some good stuff that he put on tape that I think is going to be sort of you know upside stuff that's exactly what he needed to show I still thought this was a A plus overall for Glover as he tries to make the team and then one other player I want to talk about here Chris freaking Russell a guy they picked up picked up kind of out of nowhere he's played minimal snaps these last two weeks he is a tackling machine and he looked really good both weeks doing it I mean really good I mean he looked so smooth and just getting to the ball looks so natural really instinctive he's not going to make a 53 I mean unless he has like some sort of Chris Barnes moment that'd be crazy but man what he did in limited playing time was impressive and I really hope that they bring him back in the practice squad because I was I was once again he had five tackles I think he played like 20 some snaps towards the end in this one but like last week it was like seven snaps and he made like four three or four tackles I think it was three but like he he look like I said he looks really good doing it I and my guess is this is probably nothing it just ends up being a practice squad guy and that's probably it and this is probably I don't know maybe we never hear from Chris Russell again but um man I was really impressed with what he put on tape in very limited playing time these past two weeks a few players hurt themselves Grant toos I thought these past couple weeks he had opportunities a lot of playing time didn't separate well couldn't make any big plays I thought not not a brutal game I had a very slight negative grade on Duos there were a couple really good blocks that he had in this one but just if you're comparing Heath to Dubose Heath had the better day and that's that's bad for Dubose and again I didn't think he did anything to sort of stand out uh Sean Clifford you know we kind of went over it if you're trying to win the number two job these last two weeks have not been a great way to you know kind of do that I thought he you know both these last two weeks for him have been missed opportunities and I think just left everyone wanting a little bit more Brenton Cox Aaron Mosby huge performance I thought Cox had a a rough week one really good week two and then a tough week three didn't didn't have a ton of opportunity in this one but um I think there was one good play that he had on a pass rush but still relatively quiet and then Jonathan Ford not not a um a brutal game there were some really good stuff that he did but he still plays really high gets washed out of play sometimes there is good out there and and we'll talk about his injury in just a second as well so it wasn't again a brutal performance but I thought he needed to do a little bit more and show a little bit more consistency if he really wanted to make the case for being a six defensive tackle on this team injury updates raan go forth left with an ankle injury LJ Davis was not announced or anything but I on on tape you could see him pull up almost like on his hamstring and uh it was on the play that they they targeted him deep down the right sideline it should have been a catch but the receiver uh I think kind of bobbled it a little bit and went out of bounds or just let him too far out of bounds one or the other and right after that play he pulled up lame and it looked like a hamstring sort of thing and he did not return to the game Michael Pratt just got the wind knocked out of him and then Jonathan Ford was carded off with a calf injury which of course is not going to help his case either and that'll be an interesting injury situation as well one of the things I asked Matt lefur about in his postgame presser was about the right guard position there I think somebody else asked the question first about Right Guard and and who would be you know the potential starter first of all he was extremely complimentary of Shawn Ryan I do believe Shawn Ryan will be the starter in week one but one of the thing what I asked him was you know last year you did the the John running Jr Shawn Ryan rotation is that something that you could do with Shawn Ryan and Jordan Morgan and he said huh like the way you're going there and you know he kind of had a you know and he said basically I don't know we'll see everything's on the table but you could tell there was uh you know maybe a little hint of yeah we've we've had some thoughts about doing that and and maybe we will do that maybe it won't be week one we'll see what Jordan can kind of handle coming back from injury and how much they want to put on his plate but it would not surprise me if we did see a Jordan Morgan Shawn Ryan rotation at some point this season and it would not Shock me if it was as early as week one against the Eagles all right we'll finish up with grades my high we we talked about the vast majority of these players so I'm just going to go through them a little bit more quick here my highest graded defenders in this game Christian Welch Plus .9 Aaron Mosby plus 75 Anthony Johnson Jr plus 45 Chris Russell plus. 35 kayin King plus3 we talked about all those guys already and the Carl Brooks plus .25 really liked what Brooks did thought he held up well in the Run game made a couple of penetrating plays thought that was a nice performance I thought him and wooden when you're matched up against backups and you're I don't necessarily say that they're at least like wooden like a starting caliber player but they're good rotational players you want to see them stand out I thought wooden and and Brooks you could easily tell were like all right yeah those two are probably don't belong on a a group of backups on the field you could just tell there was a degree better of what they were and that's exactly what you wanted to see my lowest graded Defenders LJ Davis negative .35 Keon Shad negative .25 and then Katan oladapo negative .25 the big negative for oladapo was the um illegal block penalty on the return from Christian Welch so that was like the big negative play other than that it would have been a slight negative negative but mostly a neutral game no no major concerns there for oladapo my highest graded players on offense Malik Keith plus .55 Kadeem telfor plus. three Royce Newman yes Royce Newman plus3 at a solid day at the office and Nate MCCC plus .25 my lowest graded players I really didn't have low graded players on offense Donovan Jennings had like one bad play negative .15 uh Caleb Jones was mostly fine there was some good stuff there's some stuff that need a little bit of cleaning up he had a negative point1 that's like a neutral grade and grade to Bose was a negative .05 almost an entirely neutral grade so there's really not any negatives here for the offense and there was barely any for the defense it was just a good clean game and a lot of the guys that really needed big performances guys like Welch Mosby uh you know kin King Malik Keith kadim telfor thought those guys really really helped themselves in this game all right that is going to do it for me today thank you so much for joining me I will be back tomorrow with a 53-man roster prediction my final prediction on who is going to make this team starting to feel a little bit more confident about my prediction we'll see if I can get it right or if it goes drastically wrong and Green Bay goes an entirely different direction I do think there's some hard things to predict with the injuries which players go on that you know IR to start the season that you can use those two new IR you know designated to return spots prior to having to cut players you know I think there's going to be some very hard things to predict what do they do at kicker and quarterback it'll be interesting but I'll do my best to sort through it all on tomorrow's episode so make sure to subscribe like comment give those five star reviews and check out those pack aay podcast YouTube memberships as well shout out to our Hall of Fame and All Pro members most hated Minnesota and PJ Wayne John wild Shay BR dad Brandon petta Jennifer Wright boom handle Donald D Lor Lord baby QB David mcclusky Donald Decker Dan Miller Alex hanger noo Espinosa Peter raka Caleb cookster SoCal Pac Dan gford and love and football I will see you guys soon but until next time and as always go Paco