De’Vondre Campbell Tweets His Frustration + The Return of Eric Stokes

On today’s show, Andy is joined again by Paul Bretl to discuss De’Vondre Campbell’s tweet, the return of Eric Stokes, and the Joe Barry decision. Don’t miss it!

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What’s going on Packer fans welcome into an all new episode of the Packa day podcast I’m your host Andy Herman you can follow me on Twitter at Andy Herman NFL I’m joined once again by the one and only Paul brle of Packers wire you can find him on Twitter at paulb or X

Whatever we’re calling it these days Paul great to have you back how the heck have you been I’m excellent Andy you know as we have these conversations weekly the way this season’s gone I literally never know what we’re going to be talking about or what the tone of the

Conversation’s going to be like because it has been an absolute roller coaster this season it has been as advertised going into the year we knew there would be highs we knew there would be lows we knew there would be frustrations and excitements and it has just hit every

Key of that at the absolute extreme ends of the Spectrum in ways that I cannot recall any other team in my lifetime hitting those levels of the extreme it and I know that Detroit and Kansas City have gone through a little bit of stuff since Green Bay played them but Kansas

City’s still a really good football team that is a Prime Time game Sunday Night Football Taylor Swift at Lambo field snowball game and that had a big fight feel to it and Green Bay came out on top in a big fight game and then and then

They lose two straight to the New York Giants with Tommy DeVito The Baker Mayfield LED Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it’s just and it’s been all year like this that opening game and I know it feels like forever ago but that Chicago Bears opening game I was like okay yes

This team is going to be able to play right out the gate and then you open those first three quarters against the Falcons and you’re like this is awesome like this team’s going to be so much better than we thought and then the fourth quarter against the Falcons and

Then you get three quarters against the Saints where you’re like this is one of the worst football teams I’ve ever seen and then the fourth quarter comes and you’re like they’re great again and it’s just been that way and you have no idea in any moment of any quarter of any game

Which version of this team is going to show up and I have more gray hair I think because of it so yes it’s been a ride you know the the highs seem higher than normal because coming into the season there’s not really expectations because we don’t know what to expect but

Then you see week one you know you see the last five weeks prior to these last two games and you’re like wow this is at least from an offensive perspective like this is what this team can be and then that starts to set expectations and then once you have those expectations and

Then you run into games like the last two weeks on on the low end it just makes those lows feel even lower and it’s just like the hard part too is even you know commenting on any of it because just when you start feeling some semblance of like I think I know what

This team is now I think I have I’ve got this this I know exactly what nope you have no idea you have no idea they could run off like five straight three straight get in the playoffs win two playoff games would have no shock they could lose to the Panthers I’m sure any

Of it makes sense at this point um obviously that has been the over arching theme through the course of this season and so it’s it’s not surprising when you get any sort of result in any game this was a little bit more you know this was different in the fact that the defense

Hadn’t looked this bad for an entirety of a game where the other team was able to put up that many points Green Bay just was not able to get stops I’m sure that was obviously the key takeaway from everything but what were kind of your overarching thoughts on Packers box yeah

Obviously the defensive performance and then coming into the game the the red zone aspect of it for the Packers offense like that was going to be a challenge in a huge huge aspect of this game ended up being obviously Red Zone always important but ended up being an even more important factor considering

The defense couldn’t get any stops but they had five trips to the Red Zone against the Tampa Bay Bucks and that’s that played out how it has for the bucks opponents All Season the Bucks entered the game allowing the ninth most Red Zone attempts per game but they ranked

Fourth in Red Zone success rate among defenses and that’s what the Packers ran into and they even had those strug struggles against the Giants I mean they’ve had 10 Red Zone trips in the last two games that’s a lot five per game but throughout the course of the

Season not just these last two weeks it’s been an area where even when this offense has seen their improvements it’s been an area that they’ve that they’ve still struggled in and so for me that was one of the big aspects of this that stood out and then of course the the

Defensive side of things and you know taking a 30,000 foot view of kind of just where things stand right now I have two two thoughts on Joe Barry this defense and the first goes into just wondering from the get-go was this hiring doomed to fail and I don’t mean

That from the sense of because his past experience or past you know Endeavors with Washington with Detroit any of that but when we look at what the issues are that this team’s experiencing defensively Matt Flor mentioned it over and over and over again miscommunications there’s a lack of adjustments sit situational awareness or

A lack of situational awareness and that’s not just these last two weeks it’s over this three-year period there’s a lack of development among the the players on this team like who on this team right now defensively is playing better than they were at the start of

The season I think maybe the only one that comes to mind at least off the top of my head is Kenny Clark and he notoriously does that during this time of the year and so to me when it’s when those same things are happening over and over again to a variety of players

Versus just one or two that maybe can pinpoint or having issues like that’s coaching that’s teaching and whether the message isn’t getting from correctly from Barry to the positional coaches to the players or wherever in that and probably all the above I mean when things go as poorly as they did these

Last two weeks like it’s everyone it’s everything that’s contributing to it and going back to my original point and I have this is just me pontificating this is just me spitballing but Matt LeFleur wanted this specific defense rant he was going out looking for coordinators saying all right here’s what we’re going

To do and he was trying to find who he thought was the best fit to run it Joe Barry’s experience in this you know the Vic fangio scheme that everyone refers to it’s one year as a linebacker coach with the Rams under Brandon Staley like Staley I believe did Coach under Vic

Fandu so there’s that obvious knowledge but in terms of what this defense is he had one year as a positional coach getting I don’t want to demean it by saying secondhand information but from where the source is like that’s where Barry is is in the pipeline in terms of

Getting that information and now he said you know he’s being asked to run this scheme teach this scheme to the players and again that’s just I have I have no basis maybe that means maybe what I’m talking about has a small degree maybe it’s absolutely nothing but when it

Keeps coming back to the teaching aspect of it the relaying of information the fact that the players do not you know can’t continually act on what you want them to do in a game that’s a problem and Quay Walker when he was talking at his locker on Monday I think was Rob

Damasi who asked him you know why are you guys playing so much Zone and you know he talked about how he’s just out there to do what’s asked of him you know and that’s what players do coach implements a scheme you go do your role but you would think from the why aspect

Of things you know there would be this understanding of all right here’s what we’re why we’re doing this against this defense and so I just wonder how that information within the building on the practice field is being relayed to these guys because if if when we were at the

Training camp practices if we saw that many breakdowns over the summer we would still be like whoa in year three this is not good now we’re in week 15 of the season and it’s happening out there so I just wonder if that Barry having to step

Into a defense that in the grand scheme of his coaching career is not something that he spent a ton of time around if that’s a factor in you know what we’re seeing take place on the football field other thing I want to say is in regards to Matt leflour you know obviously he’s

In charge he’s ultimately at the end of the day responsible for all this and he chose to bring Joe Berry back for the third season you know he said I need to be more involved on a you know throughout the week to make sure the coaches are on the same page that the

The players understand what their Communications are but you know when it’s the game plan going into the game Joe Barry is not going rogue on Sundays he’s not presenting something to Matt LeFleur on Friday and then doing something completely different like malur is signing off on this and then as

This Buccaneers game is unfolding and you’re seeing them you know playing pitch and catch attacking the middle of Defense in the same way you know uh Preston Smith keesan Nixon both after the game use the word scheme you know Nixon said that they schemed us Preston Smith talked about you know questioning

The scheme a little bit like it felt like the Bucks knew what was coming and I think we mentioned this on last week’s show where whether it’s Pat Mahomes or Tommy DeVito you you know what you’re going to get from this Packers defense and it felt like in every situation

Tampa new all right here’s where they’re probably gonna what they’re probably going to do here’s where they’re probably going to be and then attack that so if you’re Matt laflor and I get it it is a ton on his plate because he is the offensive plate caller like when

The defense is out on the field you know he’s partially preparing for that next possession making adjustments of his own but throughout the course of the game you’re the head coach you’re the CEO of this operation you have to step in you have to step in and say hey do something

Different whether you have a specific suggestion or you’re just like hey do something different like that’s his role that’s what you know needs to happen as the head coach and being completely tuned into the defensive side when again you’re the offensive play caller like in

The course of a game is that a lot on his plate absolutely it is but that’s a situation that he’s put himself in that the Packers find themselves in and that they need to figure out you know he talked about how I got to find Solutions gotta find Solutions it’s been three

Years I don’t know what the solutions are at this point I think Packer fans have an idea um but that did not happen on Monday that’s true um there’s so much that you said that I want to get into the first thing that you just mentioned

Is like how and I mentioned it very first thing in my postgame show as well the Tampa Bay was two steps ahead all day long they knew exactly what they were going to get and I think one of the really underrated things that’s hasn’t been talked about as much is the lack of

Disguise from Green Bay’s defense there there was a play I posted this was not in the the Tampa game and I don’t think Tampa ran this version of the play but there’s a flood concept that um both the the Chiefs and the Lions ran three times

Against Green Bay and got chunk plays on it every single time that play works against cover three specifically the way that Green Bay defends cover three there was no doubt whatsoever and in fact on mahomes’s yeah mahomes’s play and I think on the second golf one they

Checked into the play based on Green Bay’s very clear and obvious non- disguised they’re playing cover three they’re rushing five defense and then the second two plays the one by um the liines and the one by Mahomes they checked into it they got it in all three plays were huge explosive plays because

You me my mom my friend everyone else they could all tell that it’s going to be cover three on that particular play and there’s no disguising it whatsoever and that’s been a huge problem too is you can you you a can tell what you’re going to get so many of these times and

Even on the times where it’s not completely obvious what you’re going to get you have a pretty good idea based on what Joe Barry in this defense is called time over time over time again like I said Tampa was all over it it looked like they had a month to prepare for

This game and they they knew in every single third and short that exactly what Green Bay was going to do they ran multiple players into the same Zone had one person sit underneath pick up a free seven yards on a third and four pitch and catch is easy as it gets that was

Number one of all of the things that you mentioned number two you mentioned you know who’s getting better and that’s been the biggest thing for me that I keep coming back to is this is year three now of this Joe Berry defense and I have not not only have I not seen

Improvement through three years we’re starting to see significant signs of Decline and feels like a little bit of angst and frustration within the locker room and within in the team there’s certainly no progress there’s certainly nothing that you can point to and be like well the run

Defense is at least good nope they’ve gotten like four or five 200 yard rushing games against them well at least the pass defense nope Baker Mayfield just threw for a billion yards and four touchdowns well at least they’re not giving up big play nope they’re giving

Up big plays too well at least time to Poss nope time of possession is not great well at least you’re getting turnover nope not getting turnovers either there’s nothing that you can point to that this defense does well going back all the way to last year one

Of the biggest things I talked about is this defense has to find an identity they have to figure out something that they do well and it is very clear and obvious to everyone that what Joe Barry and Matt want this identity to be we are going to keep everything in front of us

We are going to make sure we don’t give up big plays we are going to hit and we’re going to tackle and we’re going to make them make mistakes throughout the their drive down the field and we’re going to bend and we’re not going to break and it’s not completely out of

Vogue in the NFL that’s still what a lot of teams do unfortunately not very successfully in that style system so far this year including Green Bay but that’s been what they’ve wanted their identity to be the bigger issue there is that they’re not good at that identity if if

They if they were good at that one thing if they were consistently Bend but don’t break and they like you talked about with Tampa Bay’s defense you allow them to get in the Red Zone but they actually stop for field goals and they’re allowing you know maybe a touchdown in

Three four field goals per game all right now you’re talking 19 16 points per game and you’re doing pretty darn well but everything that this defense has done has not gone according to plan and they still lack that identity couple other things the it’s funny because it

It was almost like when Matt lefur was asked about well it wasn’t necessarily a bad play call it was miscommunication and misalignment by the that’s worse that is a million percent worse in week 15 that is one million percent worse in week 15 than if you just said you know

What we should have called a different play if you just like you know what you went with something based on what you thought a tendency was of the other team you called a specific play and they called something different and they beat you that is going to happen in the NFL

Now it shouldn’t happen for four quarters over and over and over and over again but it’s going to happen the fact that in week 15 and year three of this defense with a lot of the same veterans on it and a lot of players who have been in this system for a while

Cannot communicate effectively and cannot get aligned correctly that is so much worse than just a poor play call so that’s another thing um and then the other the last thing and just kind of going back to the offense too that you mentioned was like the the lack of the

Red zone offense when I went through and I graded everything this week and I’ll get into this a little bit more in my grades tic or grades podcast at the end of the week here but one of the thing that really took me by surprise was how

Good the offensive grades were like they were really good in a week where they scored 20 points and seven of those were off of a turnover and they were not anywhere near as bad as I expected them to be on defense it was bad but I expected it to be this just atrocious

Grade but there was a lot that went into that I covered it in the Packer report article and I’ll cover it again this week but one of the things that really struck me in this game were key situations you mentioned it on offense in the the Red Zone they could get down

The field they could drive they could pick up yardage but when they needed those Red Zone scores when they needed touchdowns when Jordan love had Jaden Reed in the corner of the end zone and some other key third Downs they just couldn’t finish it off when they needed

To so you’d have all these great plays that led up to it but then in the end it would sort of spiral out which amounts to not great on the score sheet but in the grade sheet there was a lot of great stuff that led up to it on defense was a

Lot of the same thing you had these great sacks and these big plays and there was actually a decent amount five sacks Force fumble fumble recovery there’s actually a decent amount of good plays in this game it was just you followed it up immediately by like you

Get like a 12 yard sack and then you give up a 20 yard play and was that over and over and then the same situations when they did get Tampa down in the red zone or where they got them in third and longs it was this big explosive play and

It just counterfeit everything that they did in a positive sense so a lot of things obviously to go over there but you hit on a ton of amazing things and I was just trying to keep track of all of them as I was going through them because

There’s so much that I wanted to hit on yeah when when an offense comes out the gate moves the ball puts up points you know a lot of times not in absolutes but a lot of times that speaks to the defensive game plan you had in place you

Didn’t you know best prepare for how you thought that they were going to attack you when that happens in the second half in the third quarter they’re moving the ball they’re putting up points it’s a lack of adjustments when over the course of the Season like we talked about

You’re not seeing growth that’s a lack of development all of that circles back to the coaching it does so let me follow that up by asking you same thing I kind of asked Justice yesterday but are you surprised that Green Bay did not make a change at defensive coordinator on Monday and the

Bigger question is do you still think Joe Barry can keep his job I’m not surprised at all like if if we’re placing bet Sunday night I would have bet that he’s going to be here I think part of it has to do with the small sample size that the or just not

Sample size but that there’s just three games left in the season I do think whether or not this should be a part of the equation because you can argue very easily like hey the he’s in charge he’s not getting the job done you

You just got to move on but I do think a part of the equation is I don’t know I don’t know who you hire or not who you hire but who you replace him with that’s on your coaching staff wrote an article after the game just about a lot of

Things that we just discussed and that was one of the things I put like I wouldn’t even have a guess in terms of who like from that defensive staff that Matt leflour would would put in place and put in charge and be the play caller

I also do Wonder as well is if because technically still the playoff race if you’re just trying to hunker down hold tight and you don’t want to have that big change you know in the potential ripple effect we you know who knows which way that goes with the team and

Not knowing who would step in and be your defensive play caller if you’re just going to try to hang tight see if you can pull off some wins in the final part of the season and then just the the history the last three years like there’s been nothing to suggest that you

Know Matt leflour is going to make that inseason uh move you know the Eagles last season what’ they rush for like 300 yards uh against Green Bay and I think it was after that game when the flo was asked like though are you gonna make any

Changes and he like was like what why am I why you asking me this right now you know what I mean so there’s been like little evidence along the way that this is even part of the thought process and even up until the last few weeks like

When he’s questioned about hey it’s been four 200 yard games this season like it’s going back on the Players missed assignment Miss gaps like so again you add all that together for me and no I I I didn’t think that it was going to happen at this time now I do think it’s

Going to happen in in January once the season’s over you know the these guys are obviously connected at the hip Matt lefur this is his system that he wanted like that’s the thing about this Matt lefur wanted this type of Defense he hired Joe Barry that was his guy that he

Brought in and the longer that this goes on that he that this relationship goes the more that negatively reflects on Matt leflour because again at the end of the day he’s the man in charge he’s the you know the CEO of the the football operations in that regard of this team

So I think absolutely have to move on from him in January yeah I wasn’t shocked either the one thing that I did consider you mentioned the three games left and still in the playoff race I felt like maybe if they needed a spark just something different like if there

Was any inkling that the players had grown super frustrated or just needed something different I did want wonder if they would maybe go in that direction for the last three games the other question I have and I don’t know the answer to this one either what if what

If Carolina just blast Green Bay this week like what if the worst off like worst team in football worst offense and they just put 400 yards and this defense quits and I don’t think that’s going to happen to be Crystal Clear are you gonna fire that dude on Christmas because like

If like honestly if if you if you can’t stop Carolina this week and they’re already the questions and this is the first time from Matt that I got the inkling of like it wasn’t just a what what it wasn’t the same as last year right of like what are you talking about

It was he understood he he knew the question was coming um and I think even after the first night he’s like now’s not the time and I I didn’t when he said now’s not the time I didn’t take it as now’s not the time to fire the defensive

Coordinator I took it as now’s not the time to talk about this I need to go back and watch the tape and gather myself and everything like that it felt to me like there at least was contemplation from Sunday to Monday of what should happen I’m just like

Sincerely if they go out and that defense just quits or cannot stop this offense this Carolina offense that that gets into a very tricky situation with it just two weeks left um I don’t know what they do either I don’t know what I don’t know if it’s oliv adad I don’t

Know if it’s the the passing game coordin I don’t know what direction they would potentially go in um but they’ve they’ve left themselves very few outs if this week goes very poorly I do expect it to end at the end of this season I don’t expect this weekend to go that

Poorly Carolina’s offense is just that bad and then you follow it up with who knows Nick Mullins and the the Minnesota Vikings and then the Bears the final week of the Season I’m almost more concerned that they actually put three good defensive games together than I am concerned about them putting three awful

Defensive performances together but I I don’t know where they go from here and I think that kind of leads us to our next point and that was dandre Campbell’s very interesting tweet from Tuesday morning I’ll just read it out here not going out of my way anymore and I’m not

Playing through injuries anymore because when bleep goes wrong they always use it against you I’m treating everyone accordingly and giving them the same energy they give me focus on yourself and your mental 59 talking to himself clearly here you owe it to yourself now there’s three interpretations in my

Opinion of this and it’s not fair to jump to any of the conclusions um because we don’t we obviously don’t want to put words in deandre’s mouth the three things is that he’s frustrated the way that people talk like in the media online talked about him on Monday

Following the game he clearly had a very poor performance on Monday I think it’s probably also very clear even though he was not on the injury report that he’s probably fighting through being hurt in some capacity there’s a difference between being cleared and being 100% there’s difference between being injured

And being hurt there is probably something that is not quite 100% with dandre now that’s probably with most players this time of year but there’s clearly something that’s probably not 100% correct or right with him and he goes out and he plays he has not looked

Like himself the past two weeks I would also argue he hasn’t looked like himself the past two seasons but that’s maybe neither here nor there and he clearly feels that he is get you know it’s a no-win situation where if you’re G Alexander and you say hey I’m not coming

Back because I’m worried I can reinjure it everyone hates the player then if you come back early and you can’t play at 100% and play like you’re supposed to everyone hates you then so that’s one interpretation he’s mad at the way he’s covered the fans all of that for being

Trashed on Monday for what was a very poor performance in the game on Sunday understandably so I I understand it to some extent there’s a human element that goes into that I can if we’re playing devil’s advocate here and we think this is the Avenue that it was I can

Understand if you do everything in your power to rehab to get back to play to fight through injury to play on Sunday it doesn’t quite go your way but you knew you gave it your all and you gave everything you had to your team it didn’t go right and then you’re just

Trash the next day um that probably doesn’t feel great and if that’s what it’s about okay we can talk about that the other is that he’s upset with some sort of maybe position coaches or maybe the way that the floor handled the press conference and saying that it was on the

Players and the communication he’s upset with having to go in the game and then maybe getting his you know his feedback from the game from his coach es on Monday like there’s a lot of different ways again I don’t want to I don’t want to read into this anym than it is my

Belief is it’s probably more the frustrations with the way that he was covered after the game but what was your interpretation and thoughts on the overall tweet from dandre yeah so going back to the original point of where I talked about some of the reasons why you know lfl may

Have decided all right here’s why we’re just going to keep things status quo for these last three games and I put this caveat in the article and I’ll add it here as well if there’s any whiff inkling of you know the locker room losing faith in Barry there’s already a

Number of reasons why you know just from a pure football standpoint on the field why and we discussed them why you would make the decision to move on but if there is any sort of whiff inkling of the ladder happening where there’s you know they’re losing faith they’re you

Know whatever terminology you want to use you have to do it at that point because then it really starts to reflect on the head coach and like you laid it out perfectly in terms of what the reasons could be for that tweet you know obviously none of us know now tomorrow

The Flor will speak we’ll see if dandre Campbell’s available and maybe we’ll get a little additional Insight but either way it’s probably probably not very good that he’s that he’s sending that out there no I agree and and here’s the thing I to me it’s just it’s it’s bad

Optics in one way or the other and maybe that doesn’t matter all that much maybe that doesn’t matter in the locker room but it just it’s those things start to to fester and that stuff starts to paint a poor picture of just kind of what’s going on and again it’s probably just

The way that you know he was you know he was covered and he felt the way that he kind of just got dragged by everyone for the performance after you know coming back and playing the last couple weeks off of injury but um yeah it just it

Doesn’t feel great it doesn’t look great it doesn’t it it is probably one of those tweets that might is and we’ve all been there with sending an email or a text where you hit send and you’re like ah that felt great and then like 10 minutes later you’re like I was stupid I

Never should have sent that um I’ve certainly never had that experience on Twitter before uh that would that would be my first time but uh I’m sure it was probably something like that and again I respect the human element of this we we I’m not expecting anyone to be perfect

And this is if this is like the Scandal it’s really not that big of a deal overall unless he is calling out his coaches in which it becomes a much different deal very quickly but it’s tough to read into it too much it just overall Optics of it obviously not good

All right let’s go through I just kind of want to um you know kind of lightning round some other things that happened in this game because there were some other interesting things in this game even though I think 99% of everyone’s oxygen on the Packers this past week already

Has simply been about the state of the defense Joe Barry and what they’ve done or not done in regards to that but I wanted to start with Eric stokes’s return your thoughts on uh Eric’s return and how he played in this game yeah so

You know I guess it was naive of me to think that going into the game I didn’t think he was gonna start but looking back on it the cornerback room is obviously in a much different position than it was in week seven in Denver Jer in active razul Douglas is in Buffalo um

So again I didn’t expect that to happen but saw him going through with the starters in warm-ups he ended up playing 76% of the snaps Matt lefur said that you know Stokes did a good job of communicating you know when needed a breather got to get back into football

Shape it’s been over 133 months for him since he’ played you know those type of Defense snaps in a game and he was he was available on Monday at his locker and I mean you could tell that he was just he was just excited to be back out

There and I can’t even imagine the the the journey that he’s been on for the 13 months and the setbacks that he had because he had the hamstring injury reportedly during the summer that um stifled or gotten was a hurdle for him coming back and the obvious one that

Landed him on ir and he was just talking about the emotions coming out of the tunnel and then you know like you hear about once you make that first tackle that was when all right we’re good to go things kind of started to settle in for

Him but and there was uh there was no easing in for Eric Stokes as we just talked about as we saw he was he was a starter at the cornerback position he saw his share of Mike Evans and you know he was targeted four times allowed four

Receptions at almost 17 yards per catch so I mean everyone in that secondary whether was play or how they were positioned whatever it may be obviously took their lumps in that game but you know tough matchup first one back in 13 months to out there on the field on and

Be asked to all right go out there and and handle that type of you know handle Mike Evans Chris Godwin but obviously the positive he came out through the game feeling well and this is g to be a really really important three games for him just in terms of trying to get that

Trajectory the arrow pointed up for 2024 I was asked this a couple months but I think it was before his return to Denver like where does Eric Stokes like stand you know and I don’t have an answer 2021 his rookie year really good last year before the injury

Was struggled or did struggle this year’s been obviously hasn’t played up until this point like it’s kind of a big question mark on you know where he is and he’s gonna they have the fifth year option but he’s entering the final guaranteed year of his rookie deal in

2024 so hopefully uh can string together some positive games over these final few weeks get some momentum building up into 2024 and hit the ground run in this summer yeah not a super great performance from Eric but I don’t care at all like that I’m willing to give

Every ounce of forgiveness in his first game back in a 13-month absence going against Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and I didn’t think it was like I know a lot of people looked at like man it didn’t it wasn’t atrocious it was it was not a great performance but it wasn’t like

Anything brutal or egregious in my opinion and it was just great seeing them back out there and that’s kind of you know I know they’re still in the playoff race whatever like that’s still what the remainder of this season is for is to still evaluate as much as they can

In this season they’ve got a lot of really positive evaluation already this year but there’s still some evaluations that need to be checked off um the next one we’ll talk about is one of that as well but Eric Stokes is maybe the biggest one obviously Jordan is still being evaluated on everything he’s

Passed a lot of the tests already but that evaluation still continues but I think maybe one of the biggest ones that’s left that’s just kind of this blaring question mark is Eric Stokes and if you can go into 2024 expecting him to be just a part of your rotation or if

You’re like we we have no idea we might need to replace it we need competition whatever I think these last three games are going to be really important my bigger takeaway just great to see him out there and then again that other one is we’re continuing to see this

Offensive line rotation um I tweeted out today in the past five weeks and I know PFF has had something similar out there to me Rasheed Walker has looked like a starting offensive tackle it has been a night and day difference between those first nine games of the season and the

Past five it was something like a negative four point something grade over the first nine and a plus one point something grade over the last five like he’s just looked really freaking good and that to me that rotation is probably good to stop specifically when you add in the fact that Rasheed is

Under contract two more years and Yash isn’t under contract for any more years that just seems to be like a blar and Yash hasn’t come close to playing at the level that Rasheed has really even at any point this season in my opinion so that one feels like it needs to stop but

The other one is getting more interesting I will say I thought John runan Jr actually had one of his better games of the season this year but we also saw Shawn Ryan for the first time take about half the snaps away from John runan Jr your thoughts on that rotation

Continuing yeah it was a few weeks ago and stovich was asked about it and he said that they were going to continue to do it like him and the floor have loved this the the competition that’s been added to left tackle and Right Guard and they felt that it’s I think we’ve seen

It as well the collective unit but the play of this group is elevated since they’ve started doing this maybe putting you know everyone minus Elton Jenkins and Zack Tom on notice a little bit but oh he also added when talking about that that they were going to continue to do

It until someone really stood out Above the Rest and to your point you know while rashed Walker’s snaps in compared to nman have increased like it went from 5050 to about three quarters to a quarter you know I feel like we’ve seen enough there to go all right here’s your

Guy moving forward then everything you just mentioned as well from a contract standpoint you know two years left on his rookie deal a free agent like all the signs point to Walker getting those snaps at at Right Guard and obviously the rotation been going on there since

Week nine but the noticeable aspect that you mentioned is that it was about 50/50 this week whereas previously it had been you know a series maybe two series for uh Shawn Ryan out there and I had the opportunity to talk to him last week and Juan just asked them right year one to

Year two like where’s the where’s the biggest difference in your game and a lot of it goes back to you know the things we hear about just the comfortability with the Playbook and his role you know Aaron Rogers talked about that all the time there’s the Playbook

On paper and then there’s the ability to go out there and actually execute on the field when the defense is throwing different things at you and then there’s the understanding of not only what you’re doing or how to react to what the defense is doing but what the guys

Around you are doing as well and that ability just that understanding can help elevate your game and that’s what a lot of the progress that he’s seen he has he has chocked it up to I also asked him I said how was that rotation for you as an

Offense alinan you know and that’s the thing with Ryan like at least with uh at left tackle there’s there’s a Cadence like it was every other series and now it’s Walker gets two nman gets one Walker you know but for Ryan it didn’t seem like there’s been any real Rhyme or

Reason to when he’s been asked to go in the game and he said you know that has been challenging just to get that couple couple minutes notice and then all of a sudden you’re like all right I’m out there on the field but he did add this

As well he thinks that for the offens of line as a whole does provide them with a little bit of an advantage because just like an offensive lineman can get used to how a Defender is going to rush them the defender gets used to what the offensive lineman does and getting that

Bit of a change up and you know going from runan to Ryan you know he said that collectively he does think that that’s provided the the Packers offens of line a little bit of a boost I do wonder if you know obviously we’ll find out in the

Carolina game if this is where things are trending or if this was just hey we think matchup wise because you know they got V in the middle sha Ryan has been a more physical type of player someone more Stout who Maybe they felt could hold up better at the point of attack

Against a player like vea in the middle so we’ll find out on Sunday if it’s been more of a if that was more matchup based or if the pendulum is actually swinging more in Ryan’s Direction no I think that’s going to be interesting as well

I’d like to see a game where maybe it’s just Ryan 7525 at least just to kind of get a little bit more of a feel for what that looks like for a longer period of time but um to your point it’s been working and while I still would go with

Just Rasheed and continue the rotation at the other spot um if it’s working working maybe just don’t break it all that much and maybe keep that competition going to maybe keep everyone on their toes and see what that brings you the rest of the season uh all right

Couple other quick ones thoughts on Wicks Reed craft they continue to remain a pretty significant bright spot for this team on offense yeah I mean at the beginning of this we just talked about the lack of growth on the defensive side of the ball but Rasheed Walker Jordan

Love uh this Trio of rookie pass catchers I mean this continue to impress uh wix’s craf re I believe had 2 of Jordan Love’s 284 yards coming up in the Red Zone with some touchdown grabs from Craft and Reed uh third down plays I believe on that touchdown Drive in the

Second half that got him to 17 I think Wes hod quits tweeted it out they had like 61 yards on third down between three catches between Reed and Wicks like just absurd th those guys ability to create chunk plays to just the feel that they have to find the soft spot and

Defenses has been incredibly impressive and even as discouraging overall with the losses that have happened these last two weeks the way we talked about it last week how the offense finished on those final three drives against the Giants despite how poorly everything had gone and then the the continued progress

From Craft re and wicks in this game as well Jordan love Jordan love as well coming up being able to you know move the ball in those situations so uh hard not to be excited about what this this Packers receiver room tight end room looks like like the development that

Crafts had right now like they hadn’t had that combination with Luke Musgrave on the field like that’s gonna be incredibly exciting to see how how Matt LeFleur uses those two going forward could not agree more I I’m getting absurdly excited about Tucker craft and it’s not necessarily even from just a

Production standpoint not even just from a blocking standpoint it’s from an attitude standpoint um he’s having fun out there just hitting people every great tight end has a little bit of the right crazy in them and it seems like Tucker craft has that I I am really

Enjoying watching the way that he plays football his growth from the beginning of the year until now has been pretty dang exponential and I’m really excited to see where that ends up and the other reason that I’m so excited about him of kind of everyone it’s it’s not easy but

Teams know how to find good wide receivers there’s there’s a good chunk of good wide receivers in the league like if we’re looking at even like Reed and Wicks and those guys are playing really good football right now but there’s a lot of Reed wix’s and guys

That are at are around that caliber better in the NFL good tight ends are very difficult to find and when you can find one that can block and can catch and can run after the catch and can find ways to separate man those things are

Gold and I am not saying in any way shape or form that Tucker craft is a finished product he still has a long way to go to get to that point of being an upper echelon tight end but I’ve seen a lot of stuff that makes me super

Encouraged of what he could become I think sooner rather than later maybe in the next year or two and if any of that comes to fruition and you mentioned it as well the potential tag team with Musgrave and then now you add in on top of that the Watsons the Wicks the Dos

Like all of it man that there’s a lot of reason for optimism just with that that tight end and wide receiver group alone obviously the position coaches don’t get a lot of the the spotlight but I’ve been incredibly impressed and wasn’t you know not going to pretend like I was super

Familiar with them before this year but John done the tight ends coach one the growth progress that we’ve seen from Musgrave prior to his injury Tucker craft this season at what mattur called the second most difficult position to transition to from college to the NFL after quarterback and there’s been some

I the Christian Watson touchdown catch I know everyone where Matt lefur gave John Dunn the credit afterwards but there was another play earlier in the season too I apologize but I can’t remember which one but it was again John Dunn who drew that up on the fly like his contribution to

The tight end room obviously but just what he’s you know and those are only the stories that we hear about you know what I mean like but he’s someone one of those position coaches that obviously none of them get a ton of attention but he’s someone this season to me that’s

Really really stood out not not only just the plays and stuff like that he has there’s only three players in his room duu has been spending as you know a lot of time in that HB back fullback sort of role and I’m sure Dunn has some oversight he has three rookies and as

You mentioned this the second toughest position outside of quarterback transition from college to the NFL I have all three of them graded in the positive this year that is absurd when you because I can’t even tell you just in like the years of doing this how many

Tight ends just are going to end up in the negative just based on their blocking alone like it’s it almost doesn’t matter like what they do as a pass catcher just because their blocking was just going to get them in the negative more often than it was going to

Get them in the positive the fact that he has three rookies and all that they asked them to do in this offense and all three are graded in the positive through this it’s unbelievable it’s ab and one of them’s an undrafted waiver Claim by the way it’s it’s one thing if maybe the

Second and third round pick are doing it it’s another when you’re undrafted guy who would have had an explosive play this week too had Jordan love maybe just had that one throw a little bit more On Target Paul we had so many other things on our agenda but we uh like there’s

Just been so much to cover with this team and obviously we spent a ton of time on defense anything else that uh you want to get off your chest before we get out of here otherwise feel free to plug anything you want as well no we we

Hit all the Big Stuff Andy appreciate you as always follow me on Twitter at paulb find all my work over at Packers wire and then hit like hit subscribe on Youtube channel name is Paul brle make sure to give him a follow on X paulb and

Check out his YouTube page as well can’t miss stuff it’s always Awesome every single week of course you can follow me at Andy Herman NFL you can follow the podcast at paday podcast that’s going to do it for us today but until next time and as always go Paco