The Rise Up, See Red podcast
2024 Cardinals opponent preview: Green Bay Packers with Paul Bretl
The 14 shows in 14 days about the Arizona Cardinals' 14 2024 opponents continue. This show focuses on the Green Bay Packers, whom the Cardinals face in Week 6 on the road. Jess brings on Packer Wire writer Paul Bretl to talk about the Packers' 2023 season, their offseason and the lofty expectations they have in 2024.
- Duration:
- 48m
- Broadcast on:
- 16 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
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Visit Shortline Buick today and experience all Buick has to offer in its new lineup of vehicles. At Shortline, you do the drive-in. We'll do the rest. This is the Rise Up C Red podcast. All about the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL. Featuring insider and outsider perspectives. Enjoy the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the Web. Now here are your hosts, Jess Root and Seth Cox. Hello Arizona Cardinals fans and welcome to the latest edition of the Rise Up C Red podcast. It's our Cardinals Talk on the Web. I'm your host Jess Root from cardswire.com. The USA Today and the Phil Wiresight. Of course, covers Arizona Cardinals and we are in the middle of our 14 shows in 14 days previewing the Cardinals 14 regular season opponents. And in this edition of the show, the focus is on the Cardinals Week 6 game when they travel to Lambo Field to take on the Green Bay Packers. With me to preview the Packers. Talk about their season. They're off season, the upcoming season. I've got one of the riders over at the Packers Wire and that's Paul Brettel. Paul, welcome to the show. Nice to meet you. Again, this has been it. I love this experience because one, I get to meet. I get to talk to guys that I've been on the network for a while and in your case, this is the first time we're meeting. It is. It is. I appreciate you having me. I'm always happy to talk Packers and looking forward to it. Awesome. So the obviously last season was from on my case, I viewed it as a surprise. Now granted, it didn't start that way. Just but they got hot. They start out the season three and six. Then they they close out the season winning winning six, seven of their last 10 games for their last. Well, they win six of their last eight in the regular season to squeeze into the post season. Pick up a post season when it gets the Cowboys only to I guess it wasn't just Aaron Rodgers, right? It's it's the Packers glues of the 49ers in the playoffs. It's not just Aaron Rodgers. It's now Jordan Love as well. Tell me about last season. Like how was that season, especially the way it looked at the start? Yeah, it was really a tale of tale of two years, two seasons for the Packers with how that started. And you mentioned their record early on and coming into the season, I'm not even sure if organizationally the Packers knew what to expect. But you know, they're always going to tell you the ultimate goal is to win. That's Super Bowl expectations in Green Bay every year. That's what they're always going to tell you. But really, the ultimate goal of last season was to figure out, can Jordan Love be the long term answer at the quarterback position? What they didn't want to end up in is no man's land. Like that's kind of the worst place to be in the NFL. You either want to know you have your guy or know, all right, we got to be looking for a guy. And they clearly found out that they have their guy. But in the early portion of that year, it was tough to know. And it wasn't all on love. There was chaos going on around him. The offensive line unit was struggling. They had a receiver unit, extremely young, a tight end unit, extremely young. So you have guys running the wrong routes, guys not on the same page. And there wasn't much of a run game either. So it's really difficult in those situations to sit back during that first half and truly evaluate what you have in Jordan Love. Because he's a first time starter. And like I said, there was a lot of chaos going on around him. But during that second half of the year, those, those parts that I just mentioned, the offensive line play, the receiver play, that started to work itself out along the offensive line. The Packers started a rotation in game at left tackle and right guard that they that bolstered the level of competition. You know, Matt LaFluor, Adam Stenovich, Luke Buckkiss, they all talked about how that was a key part in that unit turning around. Because part of the early season issues was there was too many long down and distant situations that the offense was being put in. As we all know, the defense has the advantage in those situations. Defense affront to pin its years back. When it's third and 10, third and 12, there's only so many routes you can run. So the secondary has the advantage as well. But they started to find success. Give Jordan Love more time. Find success in the run game, especially when Aaron Jones was back in the mix. And now you're operating from second and short, third and short. You know, from Matt LaFluor, the play caller that opens up the playbook for you, opens up opportunities in the passing game. And then again, we saw the emergence of the Packers wide receivers. It was several weeks into the season. And Matt LaFluor is talking about how there's still, there was still a learning process being going, taking place, not only for the receivers, but for the coaching staff, and truly trying to figure out, all right, where do these young players, what do they best do? How do we put them in the best positions to be successful? So it wasn't just the players going through a learning curve last year as the coaches as well, and trying to figure out how all these different players, new players, many of them fit together. And during that second half of the season, we really saw that start to take off again, because of all of those components around Jordan Love coming together. And then again, we saw Jordan Love's growth on display. Don't get me wrong. This isn't me saying that the, you know, all those other pieces were, you know, it was definitely a piece of the puzzle, but Jordan Love showcased his ability to be a top talent at the quarterback position. Yeah, it's, you know, he started the season, this first two, his first two games, like you look at the yards, it wasn't impressive, but he was sacked only twice in each of those games, six touchdowns, no interceptions. That was a, Oh, hello, no granted, it was against two teams that were not expected to be that good. I mean, they beat the Bears, lost to the Falcons. What, what was kind of the, the season arc? Obviously, six touchdowns, no interception, the first two games, the last eight games were incredible over the regular season, 18 touchdown passes, only one interception in the last eight games. What was it about Jordan Love's play last year? How did that arc go? How did it? Obviously, you talk about supporting cast, but how did he look? I think the, there's a play from the playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys that just encapsulates the growth we saw from love. It was a touchdown pass to Don Tavian wicks, but we're going to take the end result out of the equation because the growth that we saw over that final seven, eight games, whatever it was, was on display in that one play. And it was the processing standpoint. It was pre snap, changing the protection at the line of scrimmage because the Dallas Cowboys were showing blitz. Once the ball is snapped, it's looking off the defender while that pressure is coming in. There was a blitzer who still got through, he didn't panic. He didn't leave the pocket. He went through his read. He made the throw with a defender in his face, put it on the money in the end zone. Like that play right there, I thought was just an imperfect, a perfect encapsulation of Jordan Love's growth in that play over the second half of the season, because it showed the processing. It showed the ability pre snap. It showed the ability to remain calm and poised in the pocket when there's pressure around you, showed the ability to deliver an accurate pass. And I think that that was, you know, one small sample, obviously one play, but a good example of the trajectory he was on during that second half of the season. Something that I noticed in the few packers games that I watched last year, how similar, like obviously Aaron Rogers and Jordan Love don't look the same. But if you look at the way that if you watch the way that Love moves in the pocket, his poise, his arm motion, he looks a lot like Aaron Rogers. There are a lot of, there are a lot of physical techniques that he picked up that, that he mimicked his former teammate. Yeah, there's definitely some mannerisms, especially if you watch the footwork, there's a lot of off-platform, you know, almost, you know, off the back foot. Sometimes stuff that if you're a quarterbacks coach, you're probably not, you're not teaching, not advocating for, because it's not part of the fundamentals. But you know, Jordan Love has the arm talent, he has the arm strength to be able to make those throws just like Aaron Rogers does. And so you see some of those mannerisms take in place. And, you know, they've spent, you know, three years on the practice field together. And Aaron Rogers was always very, very, you know, helpful towards Jordan Love, you know, he was always willing to help Jordan Love out on the practice field. And you could definitely see that coming through. And to that footwork point, Tom Klemens, who's been the Packers quarterback coach, he's going on year three now, he was the Packers quarterback coach back when Aaron Rogers was first drafted as well. So there's definitely in the teachings and the drills, obviously some of that's changed over the years, because what's required of the quarterback position has changed from, you know, nearly 20 years ago when Aaron Rogers was drafted. But a lot of those core fundamentals, core teachings, core drills that Rogers went through as a young player with Tom Klemens, Klemens is doing the same with Jordan Love right now. And that footwork is a continued emphasis for Jordan Love this offseason. Tom Klemens has said that, you know, he can often tell how the plays can end up just by watching the quarterback's feet, you know, no pun intended, but that's the foundation for success. That's the foundation for your mechanics at the quarterback position. So that's been a big focus for Love this season, maneuvering the pocket, remaining balanced when he's on the run to help him deliver those accurate throws. Interestingly enough, the success that they have, they go nine and eight, they make it the post season, but they did it without a thousand yard rusher, they did it without a thousand yard receiver last year. Interesting. Who else emerged? And was there anything disappointing about the supporting cast? I mean, statistically, you don't have the big numbers, but you've got a lot of guys, you've got Jade and Reid had almost 800 yards, you had Dottavian wicks with nearly 600 Romeo Dobbs, 674. You had a really, you had a whole bunch of contributors. What was good and what was bad about what you, what was good? Well, like, okay, what were highlights and what were lowlights of the supporting cast? I think the definite highlight was just the number of contributors that the Packers have. And, you know, that's been a question this offseason. Do you need a true number one? And that isn't to say that they don't have someone who could emerge into that role. But the fact that they had legitimate each week, six receivers, two or three tight ends, the running backs are active in the passing game. Like you have eight, nine, 10 guys that could legitimately get the ball on just about any play regardless of the situation. And one, that's a credit to the skill position players. That's a credit to Jordan Love as well, where he showed that he's going to go with the ball where the defense dictates, where the Reid dictates, you know, and for a defense, that's challenging. You can't hone in on one guy. You can't even hone in on two guys. So that leads to better spacing, more room to operate. It's more one-on-one matchups for the skill position players to take advantage of. And I think that was a real advantage that the Packers had last season, because if you're a defense or almost regardless of the situation, you got to be ready for anyone to get the ball. You got to be ready for just about anything. And I think that definitely played to the Packers advantage on offense as a whole. And I think that's going to continue to be an advantage of this season. You know, as far as the negatives, I mean, honestly, there's not much that really comes to mind for me. And the reason that I say that is because it was such a young group. Wicks, Reid, were rookies, Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, rookies at the tight end position, you know, dogs and Christian Watson were only in their second NFL season. Like the ups and downs that they went through early on that I described earlier, you know, to me, anyways, my perspective, like that's expected, you know, you have rookies coming into the NFL or being thrust into these massive rolls right away. Like, there's going to be ups and downs, there's going to be growing pains. And through that early portion of the season, some of those mistakes were they looked repetitive. And so you were wondering at that time, like, is this going to be figured out? But clear, they were able to do so. So with how that season ended, that surge from those playmakers, I don't think that there's, you know, no reason to have nothing but optimism for this group. I will say this about the Packers. It's from a fan perspective is not a Packers fan house sickening. It is to have the last 30 years seamlessly, seemingly to go from Hall of Fame quarterback to Hall of Fame quarterback to a great young quarterback. And I started following all I remember Don McCousky barely. But to go from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers have won the at base now now granted the ending of Farr and the ending of Rodgers, their their time in Green Bay. It wasn't the best, obviously, is is it felt like there was a there was an impending exit coming at some point. But to go to have just the one dip in Aaron Rodgers first year starting and to basically seamlessly going from Rodgers to Love, even with the win loss from you get into the playoffs, that's that's not fair. That's not fair. I hate it because as a Cardinals fan, since 1992, we've had like 80,000 quarterbacks and only three of them have been good. I forget who it was. If I credit the wrong person, but I think it was Mina Kimes with ESPN. She tweeted out what a what a grueling two month stretch of uncertainty for Packers fans at the quarterback position. Oh my gosh, I mean, you get the off season. I will say this. Farr brought off season drama. Rodgers brought off season drama. But once it was on the field, it was it was great. And then I honestly, you know, from an outsider perspective, I I really got some really I really appreciated the hard knocks last year when it was all about Aaron Rodgers with the Jets. Because you got to see him with his teammates. You have you saw him and how absolutely serious he is about ball and how absolutely amazing he is as a technician about every little thing about the football stuff. Say what you want about the nonsense that he brings off the field in the off season. But the football football was amazing. And I think, you know, obviously the stretch of the Packers on with quarterback, we have to acknowledge is there's some luck involved just the nature of the position and absolutely just luck. But it's, you know, it's clearly an organizational philosophy, because this is now spanned several several GMs, you know, Ron wolf to Ted Thompson to Brian Goudikens. It's it's spanned, you know, different head coaches during that span as well. Home grand few in between Mike McCarthy, Matt LaFluor, where they're at. But there's this organizational philosophy and Brian Goudikens talked about it this this past prior to the draft. He wants to get back to drafting and developing quarterbacks. You know, they were going into last season, got to figure out if loves the guy, they draft Sean Clifford. They come into this year, if they know love the guy, they have Sean Clifford as a backup, they draft Michael Pratt to in the on day three of the draft. It's a philosophy knowing how important that position is to continually invest into it, even though you know, you know, you have you guy, you know, you have that stability. And I think a big credit as well, obviously has to go to Matt LaFluor for his ability and his offense to, you know, help bring Jordan Love along to help put him in situations where he can be successful. And then for Jordan Love's natural ability, obviously, to take over and, you know, put on that, that, that, that incredible performance we saw over the second half of the season. Defensively, the pass rush contributions all over the place. One of my longtime favorites, Preston Smith, eight sacks, Verschanger, he had nine Kenny Clark, seven and a half, Duvante White, five and a half Lucas Venice, four. What was the sort of the tale of the, what was the tell, what was the tale on defense last year about how things went, who stood out and who may be disappointed a little bit? Yeah, I think, I mean, overall, the defensive performance, I think most are going to agree that it was disappointing, just kind of an overall 30,000 foot view of what took place. And that's why they moved on from Joe Berry as the defensive coordinator. You know, even those, those sack numbers that you mentioned, the defensive front was inconsistent. There were seven games where they generated pressures on the quarterback on 45% of their snaps. That's excellent. There were seven games where they generated pressures on 30% or fewer of the quarterback strap backs. That's the opposite of excellent. I think overall, they ranked in the bottom third and pressure rate. And then the run game was an issue as well. They had four games where they allowed their opponent to get over 200 rushing yards, obviously in the most in the NFL. So what they need up front is more consistency. They have the guys on the back end, they overhauled the safety position this offseason. You know, there were too many explosive plays given up, not enough plays on the football being made in the secondary as a whole. And in part, that was a product of Joe Berry's defense. You know, there's a very off coverage, soft approach where I don't think players like gyro Alexander, Carrington Valentine were necessarily always in the best position to make those plays on the football. The talents there, we know that they've invested happily in the draft in the defensive side of ball. I don't really exact number, but there's a ridiculous amount of first round picks on the Packers defensive side of the football. The whole this season is that Jeff Halfley system, which is going to be more aggressive as particularly up front, you know, they're going from Joe Berry's three four scheme where the defensive, the defenders up front have are responsible for two gaps. It's read and react. What's the offense line doing? What's the backfield doing? Feel the vulnerable gap? Jeff Halfley system in the four three, it's a one gap. It's an attacking front. You get off the ball, you get into the backfield as quickly as possible. They're going for disruption. They're going for a change in mentality. And so hopefully that coupled with the talent that they have because they absolutely have it is going to lead to better play overall. Because for all the reasons I just mentioned the inconsistency in the run game, then consistent pressure, too many big plays given up. They had seven interceptions last year as a second few us in football, not enough plays on the ball being made. Again, at the end of the day, the players are on the field. They have to make plays, but it's the coaches responsibility to drop game plans and put them in positions where they have that opportunity to do so. And hopefully Jeff Halfley can help with that. Coming up next on the Resipsear podcast, Mr. Carter's talking about this move on to the off season. What have they done since last season? 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You know, there was talk of retirement. I think he still wants to play. It'll be a question of where he lands. Were there any other major losses that the Packers have suffered at free agency? Those were really the big ones. And you know, Aaron Jones, not having him in the locker room, he brings so much off the field to this Packers team being in that locker room as one of the veteran voices. And you know, his return from injury last season was a big part in the offensive turnaround. I mean, he, I think he had four, maybe he's in five games in a row where he had over a hundred rushing yards. Like when an offense, especially with the players that the Packers have at receiver in tight end, when you can couple that with Jordan Love with a strong run game, I mean, that's a brutal challenge for any defense. Again, not knowing whether it's a run or a pass, you know, whether they're going to run or pass on any given play. You can't play towards one or the other because they'll take advantage of you and the one that you're light at. Like that opened up so many opportunities for this Packers offense. Like I mentioned earlier, kept them out of obvious passing situations, opened up opportunities in the passing game. So Aaron Jones was a huge catalyst towards the success that the Packers had on offense during that second half search. So losing him is obviously a big loss, but Packers brought in Josh Jacobs to, you know, to fill in for him. I don't want to use the word replace, but to, you know, take his spot on the on the roster. And you know, being in that locker room when Josh Jacobs was first signed, you know, his, you don't have to spend more than 30 seconds with Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney. There are other big free agents signing to realize the high caliber people that they are in the high caliber editions. They're going to be not just on the field, but to that Packers locker room. And Jacobs, you know, two years removed from being the NFL's rushing leader, you know, dealt with some injuries last year's the uncertainty of the Raiders offense. So, you know, someone obviously that's going to need to bounce back. And for the reasons I mentioned with Aaron Jones for what he added to the offense, you know, the Packers are to be at their full potential to reach their ceiling. They're going to have to have that run game to lean on just because it opens up so many other opportunities. They add Greg Joseph that I will say that you guys have seen Greg Joseph. That's a risky move, isn't it? It is, especially since his particular Lambo. I don't think he's fared too well over his career. But yeah, that's one of the honestly bigger position battles taken place this summer is at the kicker position. You know, they drafted Anders Carlson in 2023. And man, he went through the ups and downs that come with, you know, being a rookie kicker in the Packers, you know, the Flure Goudakins, Rich Basaccio, special team score. From the moment they drafted them, they set the expectations that, hey, kickers can take a little time to develop. They're going to go through ups and downs. We know this is part of the equation. But my guess is that when they were saying this in April and June and September, they didn't necessarily know that they'd had the opportunity to go to the NFC Championship game with Anders Carlson kicking. And you know, they gave him that time. They gave him that patience to develop and come along. And there was good as well. You know, we often heard Richard Basaccio talk about his ability to bounce back and to his credit, he never missed more than a kick in a row. You know, he always did find a way to bounce back. But now this is a team of Super Bowl expectations. They have to get the kicker position right. And so they brought in some competition for him this summer. And you invested the draft pick into him. You hope that Anders Carlson can be can win that. And the reason I say that is because, you know, Greg Joseph, he's, you know, at this point in his career, we know who he is as a kicker. He's not going to be your long term 5, 6 year option at the kicker position where if Anders Carlson can come out and win that competition, he's in year two. He invested the draft pick in him. You know, he's, he's someone that you, if you figure it out, you're like, all right, we can rely on this guy for a long time. And this is coming off the Packers having Mason Crod to be here for a really long time at the kicker position. So that's something that they're going to have to get figured out this summer. It's something that's going to have to get worked out. And the difficult part of that and the floor's talked about is, you know, you don't truly know until the intensity gets cranked up, till they're in those, you know, high, high stress situations. But it's tough to recreate in training camps, tough to recreate that exactly in the preseason. So they're going to have to, they're going to have to find a way to best evaluate who can make those kicks in those high pressure situations. Another addition was Andre Dillard, a guy that was highly touted for a really high draft pick, but hasn't quite panned out as a really good left tackle. Is the plan for Dillard to be their left tackle this next season? I don't believe so. I think so when he was signed, it was before the draft, I think that that was one of those veteran additions you make to bolster your depth to help bolster the competition. But, you know, Rashid Walker was their left tackle last season after after David Bakhtiari season ended, he went through some ups and downs, you know, he's a 2022 seventh round pick. So this last year was his second NFL season, first time getting in as a starter and, you know, the floor offensive coordinator, Adam Stenovich talked about how they really liked what they saw from him. It just came down to consistency, being consistent over the 60, 70 snaps that he's going to be on the field for week to week. But I think he's going to be, I think he's the front runner for that left tackle spot. Their first round pick, Jordan Morgan, you know, he's someone that they've moved all up and down the line during offseason programs. He's lined up everywhere except for center so far. So they're trying to find where he fits best. But his, his main position, his only position at Arizona was left tackle. So I think those are the first two options. But when it comes to Dillard, like I said, I think he's there for depth, he's for there for competition. But his contract is non guaranteed, you know, he's not even guaranteed to be on this roster in my opinion. I think he's going to have to showcase that he's someone that can be relied upon. The Packers like his athleticism. They like his fit in the system. But I don't see him as being someone that's going to be on their starting five week one. So you talk about the draft, Jordan Morgan, Arizona, you don't know where he quite fits yet. What made him what, what do you think it was that endeared him to, to the Packers? I think that's, I think it's twofold. I think that they really liked his, I think one is his versatility. Again, played, I believe almost all his snaps at left tackle at Arizona. But one of the first things Brian Goudekin said, you know, after they made that pick, he came down and was speaking with us was that, you know, they believe he's someone who can play guard. And we've already seen that during OTA's mini-campus play, both tackle spot, post guard positions. And the Packers absolutely love the covet versatility on the offensive line. So the fact that they could get him, someone who plays those, who they believe can play for spot, they think was incredibly valuable to them. I think the fact that tackles his primary position, you know, the first round is typically for the Packers, a position around where they're going to take premier positions, pass rusher, tackle, quarterbacks. I think he fit that mold as well. And then his experience, an experienced player coming out of Arizona. And, you know, when he, I believe it was his 20, it would have been his 2022 season when he had the ACL injury, you know, a couple of the, I can't remember his Goudekin's or the scouts that the Packers had speak with us. But they had talked about with how impressed that they were with his work ethic during that rehabbing from that injury and how quickly he was able to get back on the field. You know, the Packers always talk about bringing the right guys into the locker room. And so I think they really like that mentality, that work ethic that he brings to the table. And where he's going to end up, you know, I'll be honest, I'm not sure right now, but once they find a spot for him on the line and realistically, that might not come till maybe even a few weeks into training camp, because it's really tough to evaluate off into the line play when the pads are not during off-season program. So they're going to see how he performs when the pads are on. And I think once they can do that, he'll focus in on one, maybe two positions max and that Packers starting off on the line will start to take shape. But he's had a ton on his plate. He's had a ton on his plate, not only jumping from college to the NFL, but playing guard and not only playing guard, but playing on the right side guard and playing on the right side attack when he only played on the left in college. So he's been taken on a lot. But what I will say, the Packers, they don't, they don't put a ton on a players plate if they don't think he can handle it. They have shown that they will bring even first round picks along slowly and make sure that they're ready to go before giving them a full workload on Sunday. So the fact that he's being asked to do so much early on, I think speaks to how highly the Packers think of them. Round two, they go with Texas A&M edge or a linebacker edge or in Cooper and Georgia safety Jevon Bullard. Do either of those guys fit figure into what they're doing this year? Yeah, absolutely. I think Jevon Bullard's going to be my guess right now is he's going to be starting next to Xavier McKinney at the safety position. Again, they loved his versatility. Brian Gudekin said he wanted the two safety spots and the nickel slot to be interchangeable. Basically, any one of those players you can move around to any of the three, just to keep defenses off balance, keep them guessing. You know, them that, or offense is, excuse me, not being able to cipher pre snap what the defense is doing based on where players are. So I think Bullard's going to be a big factor right away. I said, I think he's going to start Adrian Cooper, I think he'll be the third linebacker or possibly the second, you know, it's a four, three defense, but 70, 80% of the snaps are going to come in nickel, two linebackers on the field. We know one of those linebacker spots belongs to Quay Walker. And through off season programs, Isaiah McDuffey, a fourth year player out of Boston College for the Packers. And he saw a significant playing time last year because both Devandre Campbell and Quay Walker dealt with injuries. But right now, he's been taking more starting snaps than Adrian Cooper. And I don't think that should come as a surprise again. You got a fourth year NFL veteran at this point versus an incoming rookie who's absorbing the playbook and just ended the NFL speed and all of that. So I don't think that's surprising, but I could see Adrian Cooper, you know, pushing McDuffey for those starting snaps as we get into training camp, as he gets more reps with the pads on. But and Adrian Cooper brings some, some high level speed to that Packers linebacker position. And if it's him and Quay Walker on the field at linebacker, they're going to have some serious speed and playmaking potential at that position. The rest of the picks go like this. Round three, USC running back, Marcia on Lloyd, Missouri, and also in round three, Missouri linebacker, Tyrone Hopper, fourth round, safety Evan Williams out of Oregon, Duke offensive lineman Jacob Monk on the fifth round, Oregon State Safety Catano Ladaapbo out in the fifth round, and then sixth round, another tackle, Travis Glover out of Georgia State, seventh round, you go with, you mentioned Michael Pratt out of Tulane quarterback, and then Kaling King Penn State cornerback. Any of those guys have any projected role in 2024? Yeah, the two I'll pick out running back Marcia on Lloyd. I think, you know, Matt Lefler talked about, he brings a different element to the offense. And when you're on the practice field watching him, his burst, his acceleration is incredibly impressive. And Adam Stenovich, offensive coordinator, said that they want to get him involved. So I think he's going to have a role on this team. Obviously, Josh Jacobs is running back one. He's going to handle the workload, but not just with the Packers across the NFL. We all know important that second running back position is. And so it's what I'm curious to see this summer is how things work out between Marcia and Lloyd and AJ Dillon when it comes to those running back two reps. Wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the season Lloyd has more opportunities than AJ Dillon. In fact, that's kind of what I'm expecting right now. But AJ Dillon has still been a factor through off season programs. But Marcia and Lloyd absolutely expect to contribute this season. And then Evan Williams, I think he's going to be the third safety on this Packers team. And I think McKinney Bullard will handle the workload, but he's someone that the Packers view as someone who can play in the slot. So I think there's the opportunity for him to potentially see snaps in that regard. And again, it's early, it's off season programs. But, you know, there were some looks where the Packers had three safeties on the field. And it was him Bullard and McKinney. So I think he's going to have a role in some capacity. I'm still, you know, we still got to see a larger sample size to kind of figure out where that is. But he's someone that I could see, you know, having some decent opportunities as there's as a rookie. Coming to next on the Rise Up Series podcast, Mr. Cardinal's talk on the weather. So move on and look ahead to the 20, 24 season expectations for the Packers. Let's come to next on the recipe. Right? Buick Enclave is designed to make together your favorite place to be, with an abundance of thoughtful features like the hands-free power liftgate and with generous space for up to seven. Your family will agree. Time spent together inside this SUV is time well spent. Enclave gives connectivity a starring role. Your family will stay connected to the world even when you were on the move. Experience Buick Enclave today at Shortline Buick, 1301 South Havana Street. You do the driving, we'll do the rest. We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is helping meet rising demand and we're working to do it responsibly. Our next-gen, tankless facilities reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of our operations by more than 90% compared to our older designs. Working to provide Colorado with energy that's affordable, reliable, and ever cleaner. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's Energy in Progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. How dangerous is it to unwrap a burger at 40 miles per hour? More so than you think. In a little over two seconds, your car can travel slightly more than 117 feet, which is the same length as 20 bicycles. Anything that distracts you while driving is dangerous. That's why driving while texting can be deadly too. So put it down, it can wait. Don't drive distracted. Shifting is safe. A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation. We're back on the residence here at Podcasts. We're at our Cardinals Talk on the web. Packers looking to return to the playoffs. They play in a tough division where the lines are among the Super Bowl favorites, but you've got the lines, you've got the packers, you have an ascending, seemingly ascending bears team, and then you've got big question marks with the Vikings. What are expectations for the packers entering 2024? It's Super Bowl. That's the expectations for this team. After they lost to San Francisco in January, I think that was a Saturday game. We were in the locker room on Monday. Obviously, there was a mixture of emotions. They knew the opportunity that was in front of them to continue playing to be in the NFC Championship game, but there was a lot of optimism as well, because they saw the potential, the players in the locker room, saw the potential that this group has, and having a full-off season to continue to hone in on their craft. Another year of experience for so many young players. We hear about that all the time that year to leap. There's a lot of guys on this team who could make that year to leap for the packers, so expectations are high. The Fluor-Gouda-Kinsl will always say that expectations are high, but this is a team that expects to be in the mix for the Super Bowl. Do you see this team as Super Bowl? Do you think that that's a reasonable high-end expectation for this team? Yeah, absolutely. I think that, again, it takes a lot to get there. It's really hard to get there as packer fans have seen over the years. We talked about this elite level of quarterback play, but getting the Super Bowls, winning Super Bowls, that's a whole other level to get to and to accomplish. Obviously, it doesn't mean it's going to happen or guaranteed or anything like that, but yes, we look at how this offense finished last season. Again, I just talking about those leaps from the young players in their second year in the system, and if Jeff Halfley can help elevate this defense, if this offense reaches its potential and is a top five, top three unit in the NFL, the packers don't necessarily need, you don't need to prepare a number one defense with them. What they need is a top half defense, a top third defense, to help them get over the top just to provide more balance. I think the pieces of the puzzle are absolutely there, but as well, no, it's a long NFL season. Things happen all the time, the throw things off track. But you lose the season with four very winnable games, seemingly. If you're looking, it's a lighter load on the back end, which you hit December, because after you play the the coordinators, dolphins and lions, all teams with big expectations, you play Seattle, which is an unknown, you play the Saints, they're at best, you play the Vikings who we don't know what they're going to be exactly, and then you close the season with the Bears. I mean, rattling off four wins there at the end of the season wouldn't be unheard of, and the schedule doesn't look overly difficult for a team that has that sort of expectation. You do have some top teams, you've got Miami, you've got San Francisco, of course, you've got Detroit twice, you've got Houston, got the Rams, but overall, it doesn't look like overwhelming. And the league this year with their schedule did a lot of kind of unbalanced, like two and three, you know, games in a row at home or on the road, and Joe don't have that. You've only got two home games in a row at a time. You've got, oh, you're right, I'm sorry, you've got only once on the season, do you have two road games in a row? You do have a three and four game stretch at the end in December where you're on the road, and you also have a three in a four game stretch at home in October. What did you think about the way the schedule lined up? Yeah, I think for the most part, it came out fairly favorable. Like you said, there's not these long road stretches that the Packers have. Their bye week is in the middle portion of the season, which I know most NFL teams want. I think two years ago, it was like week five or week six last year is one of the last weeks, week 13, week 14. So there's a nice built in break in there for them as well. So I think as, you know, looking at on paper, there's opportunity for the Packers in that regard to capitalize, but so much of the playoffs is, are you playing your best football at that time? Because particularly during the last Rogers run with the Packers, we saw them go 13 and three of those few seasons in a row, but are you playing your best football at the end there? And in a couple of those instances, they weren't. So I think for Packers fans, what they'll want to see is just kind of a steady build. You know, you don't want to peek in the middle of the season, you know, even if your record ends up fine, even if you end up 12 and five, 13 and four, whatever it might be, how are you playing at the end of the year? And last year is a prime example of that there are nine and eight squeaked in the playoffs, but they're operating, you know, offensively is one of the best teams in football. And you see them going to Dallas, you see them have the 49ers on the ropes in San Francisco. So I think for Packers fans and really any NFL fan with your own team, that's what you want to see. Are they continuing to progress? And are they playing their best football at the end of the season? And to a degree, that takes wins and losses out of the equation a little bit. You know, are you playing at a high level? In terms of wins and losses, how like playoffs aside, how many wins do you think this team is capable of getting reasonably, like they're sealing in the regular season? You already said that Super Bowl is kind of the ceiling. What would you think is the floor for this team? Like if things go wrong, we're not talking like major injury, like Jordan Lubbard, like if things are disappointing, what do you think the floor for this team is? I, you know, because the expectations are high, feel like that's a high floor. You know, I, I, I think this is going to be a playoff team. And I guess a loaf, you know, if things don't go well in that regard, it'd be, you know, making the playoffs as a, as a wild card, and then getting bounced in that first round. You know, that's kind of where I see the, the floor being at this time, again, just basing off what we saw at the end of last season, where the expectations are, you know, the ceiling kind of sets where the floor is, you know what I'm saying? And so I think that the playoffs are, you know, that's the floor for this team, or that's what it should be, assuming health, all that stuff, and not making out of that first round, I think would be disappointing. And the car, they host the Cardinals. The, the Cardinals had the Lambo field in week six, in October 13th. How do the Packers, how do Packers fans view that game against the Cardinals? Is that a game they've already in their mind have penciled in a win? Is it a game that they keep their eye on just for the challenge or, or how, how is that game viewed on the schedule? I think it's a game that most Packer fans are going to believe that the Packers should win. I think, you know, it's since it's fairly early on in the season, roughly a month in, you know, there's still, I'm guessing, going to be some a learning curve, some figuring out for the defense in Jeff Halfley's new system. And when you get a mobile quarterback, like Kyler Murray, I think that that someone who could really stress that defense. And so I think that that's where, you know, some potential issues lie for the Packers in this matchup. But I would guess if we took a poll of Packers fans, most would think that that's a game they should win. And with that, we will end this edition of the rise of Sierra podcast. The best start of Cardinals talk on the web is we've previewed the Green Bay Packers with the Cardinals face in week six. We've been talking to Paul Bredle from, from Packers wire. He's a, Paul is not only on Packers wire. He also, he also actually runs the Colts wire side. And as we were talking, I was talking before the show, you know, Colts, the Colts coverage pays the bills. He, his wheelhouse is Packers. Is there anywhere else that that that you are getting your football riding on? Nope, you got that's all of it. All right. And Paul, is there any social media that that Cardinals fans if they want to bother you there? Obviously your Packers and Colts. So it's going to be a little bit different in terms of, like, I don't know how many, how many times like my listeners, but but are you, are you on social media at all? Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at Paul underscore Bredle. That's B-R-E-T-L. Excellent. Hey, Paul, thank you so much for your time. That are up at this edition of the show. We'll be back with another, well, with another opponent preview tomorrow. That's, that's Paul Bredle. I'm just root. Thanks for listening, as always. Buick Enclave is designed to make together your favorite place to be with an abundance of thoughtful features like the hands-free power liftgate and with generous space for up to seven. Your family will agree. Time spent together inside this SUV is time well spent. Enclave gives connectivity a starring role. Your family will stay connected to the world even when you were on the move. Experience Buick Enclave today. At Shortline Buick, 1301 South Havana Street. You do the drive-in. We'll do the rest. We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is helping meet rising demand and we're working to do it responsibly. Our next gen tankless facilities reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of our operations by more than 90 percent compared to our older designs. Working to provide Colorado with energy that's affordable, reliable, and ever cleaner. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's Energy in Progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. How dangerous is it to unwrap a burger at 40 miles per hour? More so than you think. In a little over two seconds, your car can travel slightly more than 117 feet, which is the same length as 20 bicycles. Anything that distracts you while driving is dangerous. That's why driving while texting can be deadly too. So put it down. It can wait. Don't drive distracted. Shift into safe. A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation. Thanks for listening to the latest edition of the Rise Up C-Red podcast. Listen to previous episodes and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Audio Boom, or many other podcast platforms so shows are delivered directly to your mobile device. Please give the show a five star rating and always support the sponsors who support the show. We'll be back soon for the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the web. Rise Up Red Sea, B-Red Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red. Rise Up Red Sea Red, B-Red Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red, B-Red Sea Red, B-Red Sea Red, B-Red Sea Red, B-Red Sea Red, B-Red Sea Red, B-Red Sea Red, The first ever Buick Encore GX Avenir is now in stock and shortline Buick. It's been said luxury is in the details and Avenir's exclusive embroidered leather seating with a quilted stitching pattern welcomes you to this luxury SUV. Avenir comes loaded with advanced technology, including a rear camera mirror, HD surround vision, and wireless charging, staying connected and safe on the road as possible. Now in shortline Buick, experience Buick Encore GX Avenir at 1301 South Havana Street. You do the drive-in, we'll do the rest. How dangerous is it to unwrap a burger at 40 miles per hour? More so than you think. In a little over two seconds, your car can travel slightly more than 117 feet, which is the same length as 20 bicycles. Anything that distracts you while driving is dangerous. That's why driving while texting can be deadly too. So put it down, it can wait. Don't drive distracted, shift into safe. A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation.