Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
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Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
The Packers Offseason Drama and Brewers' Struggles
this is wisconsin sports on the go with trade, your place for all things. Wisconsin sports, now your host trade. How we doing everybody and welcome into wisconsin sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host, trage. We're coming back on this May 14th. Holy crap, it's the middle of May. It's hot, it is just it's hot, that's all I got to say. It's hot.
Speaker 1:They're talking severe weather coming in on Thursday here. So hopefully, hopefully that they said you know it's lately with the weather, it's going to get nasty if it does and it's like okay, what does that mean? Like it's going to, but it might not, but it might, but it might not. So like go in your basement, but you probably don't have to. It's just sometimes drives me nuts with the weather. But hey, better be safe than sorry, right, better be safe than sorry. Glad to see it's that. Hopefully it stays out one more time. We could use a little rain, but not a lot. So hopefully we're in that area. But hey, I hope everybody is enjoying their night already here and is ready for two hours of Wisconsin Sports on the go Talk with Trage here.
Speaker 1:So tonight we're going to hit the ground running. I figured what the heck, what the heck. Usually we start the show with what's grinding my gears off the weekend. We'll hit that in a little bit here. I want to get right away and umber here. He's going to join us tonight.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk packers because there has been a lot of and not the schedule release. I know you guys know I'm pre-recorded so, like we, we don't have the schedule release yet. We know two games right, they're going to play the eagles week 10 and we know they're going to play the bears december 20th. So we know those two games. After that, we really don't know. We know the opponents, we don't know when they're going to play them, so we're going to wait with that. We'll talk about that next week. So make sure you're tuning in next week. But I got Omar here tonight. I want to talk about some of the other, I would say more of the disgruntled stuff around the Packers. So first off, before I ask the first question here, omar, how are we doing tonight? How are we doing on this Wednesday?
Speaker 3:Man, happy hump day, man.
Speaker 3:It's been great man, I can't complain.
Speaker 3:Mother's Day went off without a hitch, wife is pretty happy, kids had fun and I'm just really like trying to digest all the things that have been coming through the Packersphere when it comes to coaching, when it comes to the pressers, as well as maybe a little bit of drama at 1265, a little bit more than we're used to, and kind of feeling out what we're thinking when it comes to things that are happening, as Jason Wolde said, that are non quarterback driven controversy, and maybe things that normally don't come out in the public when it workouts, certain players making comments about position status and rankings, as well as like abilities to get touches, because we all know that the nfl is a very much a process driven and a performance-based business, so everybody wants to make sure that they're getting their snaps.
Speaker 3:We just saw that sean ryan missed his two million dollar uh bonus based on two snaps over three years that he missed. He needed two more snaps and so I know that a lot of these players, you know they really bank on getting their touches, getting their snaps, and you know when you have an influx of younger talent coming in, there could be an impact on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and let's just start right there, because you took the words right out of mouth no-transcript to talk about. So the packers use two draft picks. They go and grab savion williams. They go and grab matthew golden. Right, they got two good top. Now, well, we don't know really much savion, but matthew golden fantastic wide receiver savion gonna be a a kind of Swiss army knife of the offense. So they grabbed these two guys. Well, goody had to go and meet with Jaden Reed's agent and say hey, just so you know we're good right.
Speaker 1:You're still our wide receiver, you're still our wide receiver. One Like let's just you know you're fine, so we have that. What is up like this is this is the big question. What is up with this wide receiver core? First off, so in the offseason you mentioned earlier, right, we have josh jacobs.
Speaker 1:Goes on um, I can't remember what show it was there, but he mentions on basically twitter and everywhere every it gets out there that he says we need a new white, we need wide receiver one, we need a bona fide guy. Okay, packer fans are fine with that. And if you listen to him, he said I'm not saying that the guys in the room are bad, I'm just saying we need a guy, we need the guy. Nobody stepped up to be the guy. We need a guy. Josh Jacobs wasn't wrong. We need a guy. And if nobody was going to step up and be that guy which we saw Well, then the Packers had to make a move. So we have that situation.
Speaker 1:So Wicks gets upset with that, so did Reid. They both got upset with that, right? Dobbs last season gets upset with lack of attention, not getting the ball enough, not getting enough targets. Okay, now there is a whole other thing going on with that. We hope that Dobbs is okay with everything that's been going on Either way Now whole you know other things going on with that. We hope that dobbs is okay with everything that's been going on either way right now. We have reed getting upset that we just you know packers go in draft golden and williams, right.
Speaker 1:I don't get it and this is why I'm gonna say I don't get it right, because out of all the quarterbacks the packers have had, well I shouldn't say, oh, breath, fire, throw the ball around. He didn't know who he's throwing it to. Half the time Rodgers picked a favorite and that's where he threw the football and he wouldn't throw it to you if he didn't trust you. Christian Watson, first pass of the season against the Vikings, threw it to him. He dropped it. He didn't get the ball after that. That was Aaron Rodgers, jordan Love's the exact opposite, jordan at any time, any place, doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:We had Fitzpatrick or that random tight end that showed up. We had him getting targets out there. He doesn't care who you are, if you're open, he's throwing you the football. It's not a whole trusting, he trusts all his wide receivers. So this whole mess, I don't get it.
Speaker 1:Why, if you were Jaden Reed, you just watched your team last season go to Philly and just you fell short again you fell your team last season go to philly and just you fell short again you fell short in san fran. Why would you not want more weapons? Yeah, why would you not want matthew golden? You can't. If you look at it realistically and I know christian watson's dad would tell you that christian watson is the greatest thing alive and that everything in between, because if people haven't seen him on twitter, he is wild over there. I just saw yesterday he told grant bill shout out to grant bills. He told grant bills that he shoots his show from the basement of his parents house and that he has no right to say what he's saying. Basically, blah, blah. And grant did kind of take a grant told him maybe you should think about what you say. Put the phone down, take a walk instead of talking on social media. It was a whole thing.
Speaker 1:It was hilarious it was absolutely hilarious yeah is a producer of bill michaels show like. This isn't a guy who just sits in the basement and just didn't know it all day long. This is a guy who works with bill michaels, one of the most successful wisconsin radio shows out there, so I either way way off topic with that one.
Speaker 1:But I just want to say, I just want to say I'm with you, grant, I'm with you. This, you, this guy's wild and out there. But this wide receiver core man, like you were saying, I don't think anybody should be safe, because these are a bunch of like and I want to say this as lightly as possible they're head cases. That's what they are. I mean, you don't know, they get upset if they don't get the ball enough. And shouldn't that be a good thing? If you don't get the ball, it means you're covered, which means you're respectable. Right Now, find a way to get yourself open. If you can't, then either go talk to Matt LaFleur and say, hey, guy, hey, you got to find a way to get me open, or talk to your other receivers and say, hey, guys, you got to run me open Something, do your job better. But we just hear complaining, we just hear sitting out, we just hear well, I got to send Goody to their house to say it's okay, buddy, it's okay, you're going to be fine. What is up Like? Grow up. That's where I'm at. Okay, I want to hear what you got to say about this whole thing, but this is what I got to say All this talk about a young team that everybody says I'm over it.
Speaker 1:I'm over this young team crap. All right, there's no more. This is the youngest team in football. They have had two plus seasons now of playing football. Grow up. They need to grow up over this summer and they need to grow up as a team and play ball.
Speaker 1:That's it. Shut up and play ball. That's enough. It is enough of the bull crap. Enough of the bull crap, enough of the petty crap.
Speaker 1:This is what we wanted to avoid. This is why we listen to Matt LaFleur say we avoid players like this. We listen to Goody say we avoid players like this. We don't want the petty bull crapping inside of 1265. Guess what, you have it, deal with it or get rid of it. And I agree with you Nobody should be safe in there because, guess what, at the end of the day, I don't care. You want to build this football team up. You want to build it as a young team. Guess what? You can't have this crap in the room because this crap spreads, and it spreads like wildfire. And one guy gets mad because he's not getting enough targets. The next guy gets mad, the next guy gets mad, and then you have a whole locker room that's not getting the ball enough, and then you got to blow it up. So ummer to you now. I've been hot about this since I saw this. I'll move to you now and hear what you got to say.
Speaker 3:Trey man, tell me how you're really feeling, man.
Speaker 1:I don't start a show hot and heavy today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can see it. I can see it. I think, when it comes down to you kind of want play, I feel like the word diva gets thrown out a lot, right, and when it comes down to it is there's maybe a thin line between diva and you know a person that is a contender or performer, right, and I feel like if you're not a player that wants to get the ball, then you're probably in the wrong profession. And I feel the rookie years for guys like wicks, for reed, they really kind of blew, they set the bar really high, and so for them to come in their second year, which is normally a regression year for a lot of receivers, you saw that and you know there's a lot of drops, a lot of concentration drops because, as you said, the one thing with Jordan is that he goes back there and he's going to get the ball to the guy that's open, or he's going to throw him open to a certain degree and he's going to get the ball, he's gonna hit him in the hands and it's up to them to catch it.
Speaker 3:And there's a lot of drops that we saw throughout the year, last year, with Jordan on a bad knee with protection being kind of suspect, still delivering the ball pretty accurately and, unfortunately, a lot of passes. His completion percentage was down by maybe 6% just on drop passes alone, and so I do feel that in this room, I feel like Watson, minus his injuries and missing some time. I know his dad is, you know, I think, everyone that has a dad like Mr Tazeem OG Tazeem you want a dad that supports you no matter what. In his defense, though, watson did probably have one of his better years as a wide receiver.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no, no, no.
Speaker 3:He has points sometimes.
Speaker 1:When he was going at Grant Bills I was like okay.
Speaker 3:That's him not knowing Bill's resume right, and then, on top of that too, him not knowing Grant's resume, and I know Grant resume, right. And then, like, on top of that too, he's not knowing grant's resume. And I know grant. I followed him on twitter for a while so I kind of seen his works. I know he's not just he's not some bum, right, um, and zeeb is, you know, former player, has his own podcast, he's doing his own thing with his other son, trey, and you know he's a pretty intelligent dude. I just think, like you know he's, he definitely shoots from the hip when it comes to the famous family. So I respect it. Uh, maybe goes a little, gets a little bit in that area of like okay, a little too far, but I get it. Um, I do agree with you, though, like last year, if you notice the way the coaching staff talked, this year they added talent in the receiver room, knowing that maybe, a they know guys are going to be leaving, b that their performance last year wasn't up to snuff, right. And then we then we're wondering, hey, where's the pass rushers, where's the guys that help, you know, kind of help dictate on defense, to where we're not being so passive, aggressive right, and what happened was the coaching staff talked about how, basically, jeff was talking about how, like you know, halfley felt that the coaching is what was off, not the talent. So, you see, when it comes to receivers, maybe because the fact that they didn't perform well and we're not seeing a lot of things that maybe are going on in the locker room that they're like, hey, maybe we need some new talent here, we need some guys in here who aren't only going to be valuable from when it comes to, like an iron sharpens, iron kind of thing, but they're also going to perform and maybe push these other guys, because I do feel like a great example of this is Jordan Love getting drafted in 2020.
Speaker 3:We saw Rodgers have a little bit of a decent year his 2019 year. When he saw that quarterback, what did it do? It woke him up, got him having two MVP, back-to-back MVP seasons, two seasons where we both we basically had Super Bowl teams that just didn't cross the finish line. And I truly believe Golden and Savion, especially Golden. I feel like Golden's the kind of talent like if you listen to some of the beat writers just on height, weight, speed alone, he's looking like Greg Jennings and let's be real, greg Jennings, his career in Green Bay was pretty freaking good, like he probably could have been a Hall of Famer in Green Bay if he never left.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean truly Like his numbers. He was killing it at Favre, he was killing it at Rodgers and so, yeah, I definitely think that maybe these guys are feeling the heat a little bit, and Dontavian Wicks is a great example of like hey, you can get open all day, but if you can't catch the ball, then your whole purpose as a receiver, half of the reason why your receiver is gone, right, and Jaden Reed needed some reassurances because of the new talent coming in. I feel if you read like through like maybe a little bit of breadcrumbs and maybe just a little bit of like between the lines, it kind of felt like that basically, there is maybe the agents was reaching out to Gutekunst and Gutek good accounts was doing his due diligence, not like Jaden Reed was complaining, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's like, hey, I know we've got these guys in here, but you're still our WR one, which is fine. But you know what happens in training camp and preseason and those first couple of weeks of the season. You start seeing that death chart move around a lot Right this season. You start seeing that def chart move around a lot right and you start to see where your guy who used to be wr1, he might become wr2 because someone like golden's gonna step or save you on steps up or maybe. So they're always saying watson's running, who knows what. If he's back week one, I don't think that's gonna happen, but you never know, if I, agent pearson did it in five months, right, so crazier things have happened. Um, I get you, though Like I have to admit that part of me does feel like, hey, your job is as a receiver, is to catch the ball and make plays and the quarterback makes you look good and you make the quarterback look good.
Speaker 3:If you guys are complaining about what is going on based on the team, that you need to be the one to dictate that by, not by complaining, by showing it on the field, because if you're keeping butt on the field, you're doing your thing, you are pushing the envelope and saying like, hey, this is my team, this is my position, I'm the receiver, I'm the vr1, whatever you want to say, like you want to say, like you know, the guy in captain phillips, hey, I'm the captain now, right, like you want to be that guy, right. And then you gotta show it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, put up or shut up I think the thing with it is that bothers me is I talk about confidence with this wide receiver core.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes. Lacking Because this is the plain and simple and you said it perfectly. If you're confident in yourself, if you are Jaden Reed and you're confident in your skills, goody doesn't have to go to your house, he don't. You just walk into training camp and you're like I'm still that guy, I'm still that guy, I'm still the guy here, until you come in and take my spot, until you prove to these coaches that you are better than me, I am still that guy. Yeah, plain and simple, but that's what bothers me.
Speaker 3:That's what bothers me the jobs thing rubbed me the wrong way. I'll be honest. I understand, I'm all about mental health. I'm all about mental health, I'm all about people looking out for mental health. But I have to admit, just because if you hear what being said, like he wasn't about the game plan, so he kind of took his ball and went home and didn't talk to anybody and like good, because I had to literally come to your house and tell you, hey, man, what's going on. I just rubbed me the wrong way.
Speaker 1:But when your GM has to go out of his way. Yeah to go to your houses to tell you guys, it's okay.
Speaker 1:It's all right, you're still going to be involved. We're still going to play with you. We're still going to let you play with the toys. That's a problem. That's the problem with the Packers is they can't focus on getting better as a team. We have to focus on getting this guy targets. We have to focus on this guy. We have to focus on this guy. They can't get better as one because they're so worried about themselves. I feel like that.
Speaker 3:last year, I completely agree, like the 2023 year. Well, we noticed what there was a very selfless perspective by the players. It wasn't just one person, right? It didn't matter who got the touchdowns and touches that game, because, guess what? You're winning games, you were playing well and I think winning does cure a lot of things and the fact that the Packers were so disjointed on offense, in particular last year, I think that also played into some of the frustrations. Okay, I'm not getting the ball, fine as long as we're winning, but now we're losing by two, we're losing by five, we're losing by three. So, well then, what the hell? Then? Maybe if I got the ball more often, we wouldn't be losing. And it's like you know, I mean, like it's one of those things where it's like you know what I mean Like it's one of those things where it's like all right, well then, you got. Everyone needs to do their part. I'm sorry. When it comes to NFL, it's the pure definition of a team sport, right?
Speaker 1:That's the thing. Yep, I agree 100% and that's I. I just it rubs me with all these guys the wrong way because it doesn't show confidence. It doesn't show confidence in my skills. You said it's guys who want reassurance and they're worried. If you think that you're that dog, if you think that you can be the guy, yeah, you shouldn't be worried. You should be like I'm gonna walk in there and I'm gonna beat out savion williams because, guess what, he's got bad hands. I got better hands. Right, you should have faith in yourself. Don tavian wick should have faith in himself. So should a guy like jayden reed. So should a guy like romeo. So should a guy like Romeo Dobbs. But they don't. That's what rubs me the wrong way and that's why we have this drop problem. It's a confidence issue, it's a focus, it's a lack of focus, preparation, all those things. Bill Belichick always said it it's not about what happens on Sunday, it's about what happens on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Speaker 2:That's what matters.
Speaker 1:Those are the times that matter. And yet we sit here and we harp on the Sunday and it's like, what are they doing on those days? Well, from what we've seen, complaining, complaining, more than they're doing anything else. So that's where I'm at. I'm like get some confidence, find that little confidence in there.
Speaker 1:And that's where you got to have leaders step up in that locker room, like Jordan Love, and say all right, guys, this is what it is, this is how it is. You want to be a part of this. The same with Matt LaFleur this is where I want him to have a Dan Campbell side of him. Walk into that locker room and say who's with it? Right, who's with it? Who wants to be a part of the program? You don't want to be a part of the program? Well, the bus will let you go. We got more than enough wide receivers now. We can let you go. You don't want to be a part of this. You're going to complain about touches, whatever it is. See you, you don't want to have to deal with that at this point. You want to be building up towards something Correct. This offense and I want to talk about this when we come back here from the break could be a top in the division and could be a top in the nfc.
Speaker 3:I really believe easily with the weapons they have.
Speaker 1:Yes, will they get out of their own way, that's it got out of their own way.
Speaker 1:That's what I want to talk about when we come back here. So make sure, if you have your own opinion on that, I want to hear what you got to say. 715-990-4914 hit us up. We want to hear what you got to say about that whole thing. What do you think the Packers offense is going to look like, and can they be one of the top in the division slash NFC? We're going to talk about that. We come back here from the break. Um, we're going to be back. We're going to talk a little more. Packers here on the backside here. We'll be right back on this Wednesday.
Speaker 1:And hey, this next segment with Umar here is brought to you by a special sponsor of the show here Sport and Spine Clinic of Greenwood, wisconsin. They're expert traditional physical therapy and structural integration programming. Call for flexible scheduling and evaluations. Just call Chad down there at Sport and Spine Clinic of Greenwood If you were injured, whatever it was. Maybe you were playing men's league softball, you had too much to drink, you tore something, I don't know what happened. Maybe you're out golfing there's bad things happen right on the golf course. See Chad down there at Sporting Spine. He'll get you right and he'll get you back to doing whatever you're doing, feeling better than ever.
Speaker 1:So we went to the break and question because I said, with all this drama, right, with all this drama and there's drama with elton jenkins right now because he wants more money if they're going to move him over to center, he wants to be set up for his next contract because technically, going to center does affect his contracts of the future, so he wants more money. We have the wide receiver issues we got. I mean, we just got issues right. Sean ryan's probably upset because he missed out on two mil, because he missed two plays. It's, I mean, a lot of drama right now.
Speaker 1:We're hearing about this packers offense. I feel, with the weapons they have coming back, jordan love healthy with scrambling ability right, he's got to have scrambling ability. With the weapons they have, with matt laflore and head coach with an offensive line. That only got better. I know people are like, oh, I could not. It got better. Trust me, if you move Ellen Jenkins to center over Josh Myers and you still have the rest of the cast characters, you got better. Plus the depth got better. So I feel like this offense got way better. You got a great play caller, matt LaFleur, who's going to be able to utilize those weapons now, and you know, fingers crossed, knock on wood, they stay healthy. I feel like this offense is primed to be tops in the division and near the top in the nfc. I really do with jordan love at quarterback with the weapons they have. And I forgot to mention the man in the backfield, josh jacobs. I forgot about him. I can't believe it. I forgot about him.
Speaker 1:I gotta be honest, though, if I'm going to say it's going to hinge on two things. One, it's going to be the Packers getting out of their own way. Right, I think it's going to be the Packers getting out of their own way. Maybe three things. Okay, I'll give you three things. It's going to be the Packers getting out of their own, included the pre-snap penalties have got to be cut. They've got to be cut down because pre-snap penalties have killed this team. All that crap has got to just wash away. It's not going to go away. I know pre-snap penalties are still going to happen. Right, you can't just get rid of them, but at the alarming rate that they're happening this Green Bay Packers team, especially in crucial moments, that's where it worries you. The red zone offense has definitely got to get better. So I'm kind of leaning in there. And the red zone offense for me, and the big plays Matt LaFleur. I think this offense taking off is going to be on three things Packers getting out of the way on themselves, matt LaFleur not being so conservative at times, just be it, be you right.
Speaker 1:Two years ago, 2023, I can't tell you how many plays I watched where you would see a random wide receiver, tucker craft, just wide open down the sideline by himself because the play went the other way and they confused the ever-living crap out of that defense. And tucker craft's wide open, or jayden reed's wide open, or romeo it was everybody. It was everybody getting involved in it. It was wild. And I'm not saying he didn't coach great good last year, right, malik looks like a star underneath the metal floor. So I'm not saying he didn't coach good. I just think metal floor has got to be his best. Right, show me your best.
Speaker 1:And then it comes down to jordan love, because we talked about this. I feel like last week or two weeks ago. He has left a lot to be desired. He has left a lot of bites on that apple where it's like it's either his where is he right Right now? He's kind of stagnant in the middle. He's a good quarterback right, sometimes flirting with great, but a good quarterback. Can he be a great quarterback? Can he be the X factor? Can he be the guy that takes the Packers over the top?
Speaker 1:It's going to be a collective effort. You're going to need the offensive line to play well, keep them up right. Josh Jacobs to play well and the wide receiver core to step up and be them guys right. And Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave, those guys being great in the tight end room. But you need Jordan Love to be the best Jordan Love that you've seen so far to progress to that next level. Progress to that next level. So, umar, I mean right now everything that I'm saying this Packers team, does this offense really have that shot to be one of the best in the division, if not the best in the division, because we see the rest of these teams kind of dismantling on the offensive side this offense. To me they could be one of the best in the division. They could be one of the best in the NFC. What are you thinking right now?
Speaker 3:I think that last year, for them to be as disjointed as they were, to get into the seventh seed and for them to, you know, minus, you know Saquon sliding on that one run, but for the most part keeping up with the Philadelphia Eagles, up until that very end, that was with three of the receivers, for the receivers down to offense alignment down. I think that if their offense can take the next step, yeah, they are not only one of the best teams in the nfc north, they're probably one of the best teams in the nfc. Because people want to keep talking about our division, which is always a good division for the most part. You have a lot of question marks in minnesota with jj mccarthy and that offense now, yeah, they got great weapons, but quarterback kind of runs, that thing, so you don't know how, which way they're gonna go. Of course, the defense took a lot of hits, but Flores is a great coordinator, I think, um, again, the Bears make all these offseason moves and they're like oh, you know they're gonna win the Super Bowl every year. Like you know, they're the offseason, you know Super Bowl champs basically, and they could probably improve upon their record, but I don't see them going. I personally don't see them having a winning record this season. Detroit has a lot of changes on their offensive and defensive schemes, so who knows what they're going to do there.
Speaker 3:I really do believe there has to be consistency across the board. I think you said it best when Packers were literally getting in their own way False starts, all these different holding penalties, you have drop passes, you have injuries, you have inconsistent play at the center and also offensive line. The only person that was probably the most consistent on offense was Josh Jacobs. I mean, hands down, josh Jacobs was pretty relentless with the way he ran the ball, caught the ball, blocked all nine yards. I mean, tucker Kraft had more good than bad, but even he had a couple of drops. It just seems like we just didn't see a consistent week in and week out play on offense, like we did on defense, like we did on special teams.
Speaker 3:I think there's something that you mentioned when it came to our offensive line, because we have some changes right. We've added some new talent in Belton, we've added some you know, with also having, hopefully, jordan Morgan back this year. And then, of course, you have Elton going into center and, honestly, like he's not at the workouts, he's not really. He's holding out for a better contract because he will be turning 31 at the end of this year. His contract, on average, I think, is like $16 million and it's way below market value for a guard or a center. And if I'm him, I do believe that if anyone's going to get a third contract, it should be Elton Jenkins, primarily because of the fact that that guy can play anywhere on the offensive line. You can plug him in on any single position and he will excel there. He's better at some than others, but he's pretty much above average across the board, and having a Swiss Army knife like him and Zach Tom on our starting offensive line, you can't beat that.
Speaker 3:I mean, we're just being real and I agree with you. I just think that the Packers have everything that's right in front of them and, if we're honest with ourselves, in that 2023 season we literally were a field goal away from winning an NFC championship game and we had just beat Detroit in Detroit on Thanksgiving and I'm kind of happy that. You know it sucks that what happened, but then you know that was the demise of Joe Barry as our defensive coordinator. So I'm all for that. But if we're being real, kyle currently went to Detroit in the NFC championship game and who knows what would have happened.
Speaker 3:I mean, could you imagine if Jordan Love would have been a team, would have been a quarterback who, first year starting, had taken the Packers to the NFC championship game or the Super Bowl in his first year and possibly playing the Chiefs. It's just, it's a lot of what ifs, don't get me wrong. But again, why were we out of that game? Because again, we shot ourselves in the foot, we couldn't make a field goal, we had injuries, you know, and on top of that too, we really made mistakes, we had interceptions, we just made some bad mistakes and I just really want to see them just have a complete game. That's it. You know, like I feel like it's been so long since the packers have a complete game on all three phases offense, defense and special teams god, yes, we'll almost go back to 2023.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because dallas probably I don't even you could say san fran. Actually I would say complete game san San Fran, because outside of the last Jordan Love Intercept, that was a darn good San Francisco 49 yeah like it's different than the one they got. That was a darn good team defensively, offensively, and the Packers were right there. I mean they had a drive at the end to win it yes, that was the middle goal, without the middle goal from um. Uh, what's his?
Speaker 3:name Anders Anders Carlson.
Speaker 1:Anders Carlson right. Without that Miss Fugle in that game, that's a whole different ball game, because the 49ers have to score. It changes the entire complexity of the game. So I mean yes, 100%. I would say probably. Sam Fran was the last honest, complete, complete game that was like this is a darn good-looking team. They had moments last season there. I'm not saying they didn't, but I just never felt after the San Fran game two years ago, I never felt the same of the Packers.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:I never felt the same. The Elton Jenkins thing it's basically like you were talking, but longevity, he wants to know that you're going to sign him long-term because he knows that he's taking a cut to go over there. Give him that long-term deal. Let him know hey, we love you, buddy, it's okay. Back end the deal, like the Packers love to do, and then release him for whatever. Get the dead cap in, that's fine. That's the way the Packers love to roll contracts. So I'm guessing that's the way it'll work out. Going to get something worked out, hopefully sooner rather than later. I I absolutely hate guys holding out. It always drives me nuts because it's like um, you, you, it, just. It absolutely irritates me because you make millions of dollars and you hold out because you want more. It's yeah, I would take five mil and you could run me over at center all day long and that'd be cool. I just make an injury and go out like it's just. Sometimes these guys, it's like I get what you're doing yeah, market value.
Speaker 1:At the same time, I'm like man, there's guys who would give way less. They give way less and they would play that spot for you right now. So I don't know. Sometimes they're just like oh irritates me. Major league baseball does the same thing when the players union gets together and they want to sit out again. It just drives me nuts just. Oh, anyways, anyways, I want to get out with the packer talk here. Umber's got to get out of here. He's got way. He's got a lot of things to do tonight all right.
Speaker 1:So we got, we got to get out of here. But we saw the coordinators talk. Yes, I mean, what were some of the the quick when we were going to talk more about the coordinators in a little bit here on the show. But what were some of the quick hitters you got out of there? We listened to passaccia talk, we listened to stanovich talk, we listened to jeff halfley talk. What were some of the quick hitters you got? You're like, I like what you know, what you had to say here, or maybe I didn't really agree with what this guy had to say and it kind of made me concerned. Is there anything that you got? Some quick tidbits you got off of those press conferences?
Speaker 3:I think it's something more than what a lot of people heard. I think Rich Bizzaccio being accountable for the fact that he felt he failed the floor in multiple games last year. He did.
Speaker 1:Multiple years, not multiple games. Multiple years Right.
Speaker 3:And so you're the assistant head coach. You need to be able to guide him in certain directions when it comes to the time that's left. When it comes to game situations, uh, keyshawn Nixon probably gonna still be on kick returns. He said a lot of people are pissed off after the game, so a lot of emotions are running high, so people are saying a lot of crazy things, but we do have a lot of talent that can play into different special team positions.
Speaker 3:When it comes to returns, jeff Halfley, for as great as his defense did last year, he has a lot of respect and appreciation for. Coming to the new defensive coordinator that came from new england, he said that he that guy has played in so many different types of defensive schemes that he's expecting a big jump from our defensive line, our pass rushers. He also thinks that he could have done better as a coach and that he failed at certain points and he wants to improve on that, which is a pretty good thing. To say that, considering the fact that he had a top 10 defense last year Stenevich offensively he knew that there's a lot of things that are going on with Jordan Love that kind of impacted the way they called some of their offense. With the insurgence of talent with Golden he goes.
Speaker 3:Golden looks pretty fast, savion looks like a guy that he's going to have a lot of fun with trying to scheme things up, as well as knowing that Elton Jenkins is open to playing center. And, just honestly, as a whole, they all had not only positive things to say, but they also seem to have a lot of self-evaluation, self-scout and being very accountable for things they came short up on. And I feel like you can't. I feel like as a coach and as a player, you have to know where you did good and you also don't have to where you did bad, cause if you can't get better unless you kind of get an understanding of where you can improve.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I would agree there was a lot of quick errors. I had one question for you off of the off of the uh ones that, oh, I guess what I saw there. Uh, I loved what Halfley had to say yeah, yeah in all of his press conferences and you know him saying that he wanted to know, like he thought he had to be better, holding accountability on himself. I love to hear that, saying that his defense had to be better and that's why they got rid of the old defensive line coach there I love that.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love that because he's holding accountability for himself. Something that absolutely drives me nuts with matt lafortur, yeah, is that. Sometimes I don't think he's accountable. I don't think he wants to hold himself accountable. He doesn't say it. He doesn't tell me like I sucked, like I saw.
Speaker 1:That's what I want out of coaches sometimes. I just want to hear them come onto a stage and say I sucked, I sucked. This is what I got to do to be better. Right, I put my guys in this bad spot. I didn didn't do this right, everything like that. And that's what Halfley did. He basically said like I trust the guys in the room, the pass rushers, everything like that. I trust these guys, I know they have it. It's just can I get the right guy in the room to make them better? And I did a bad job by putting this other guy there. Now I got Covington. I feel great. So I kind of liked what Halfley had to say in his presser there and talking about you know, can the strong finish they had, can that carry over Halfley putting up great numbers? I mean, what did you think about what Jeff Halfley had to say in that kind of press conference?
Speaker 3:It's funny what you said about LeFleur. I felt like it's the opposite of LeFleur. I feel like he just takes too much accountability.
Speaker 1:Well, he does but he does it the right way, because he says this has the same darn thing every time, every time, and it's like fix it like he's, like that's on me, that's on me, that's on me and I'm like all right, dog, that's great, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3:But I need you now to make a decision as to why that is the way it is and make sure it doesn't keep happening week in and week out. Because, like you said, as a coach, if you keep making the same mistake over and over again when it comes to game-in decisions, when it comes to challenging plays, when it comes to short and distance, and then going and doing certain things and doing like sweep run-arounds and stuff like that, I'm with you. So, but Halfley is the kind of coordinator from the day he was hired to today. I can re-listen to his press conferences over and over and over and never get sick of it.
Speaker 3:Just the way he talks, talks, the way he motivates. It's scary to think that he'd probably be out of here in a year as a head coach somewhere, because that's just the way. He just has that demeanor, um, yeah, and I was very much like, yeah, I was very much like why are we hiring this dude out of boston college? Like who the heck is he right? And I listened to all his interviews at Boston college. I listened to all his stuff when he first came in and I just been completely enamored by him. He just the way he speaks. It's just a breath of fresh air and it's a guy who's not only knowledgeable, but he doesn't try to fit a square peg in a round hole when it comes to like okay, this is my scheme, you need to learn it. No, this is my scheme and we're going to find a way not only for you to adapt to my scheme, but me to adapt to you yeah and then try to get the best out of both of us.
Speaker 3:I mean that's how you build winning, successful teams, because you you got to have a little give and take and sometimes these coaches come in and like it's my way or the highway, and that can only get you so far yep, no, I, if I was goody, I'd I'd take them into closed doors and I'd be like, hey, just so you know. I'll keep paying you to stay If.
Speaker 1:Matt LaFleur, don't cut it in a couple years here like job's, yours man, Job's yours, don't go anywhere, don't go anywhere. I'll give you extra money. Just stick around, just in case it goes south. We got you, you're going to be our guy. Like I listen to his, like I listen to Bill Michaels' show and he'll play the press conferences on the radio and everything like that and I'm listening to it and it's like am I listening to Matt LaFleur or am I listening to Jeff Halfley?
Speaker 1:Like they're similar, they're very similar in voice demeanor, everything that they're saying. And even like Halfley now, like he wasn't as much of a joker the last season, he's joking around with the media telling him he's got a sweatshirt for him to start, like he's just he's settling in and I think that is the best thing, because once he settles in, I think the scheme maybe comes easier than two. Right, because he's starting to think about changing up. Right, he's talking about running more three, four instead of four, three he's little bit. I saw that he was talking about that olive colin albert and he said, oh, he's gonna play a little bit of what I can't remember what spot he said there, but, um, he's talking about yeah, you know he's gonna play this different spot and everything like that. It's only used to a three, four.
Speaker 3:It's like, oh, okay, okay he's going to make those adjustments. I feel like it's an absolutely amazing nope yeah, no, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love the adjustment as halfley's making. So umber's got to get out of here. We got to hit a commercial break, so we will catch you guys after the commercial break. We're gonna talk maybe a little more packers. We got brewer talk to get to. We got all kinds of stuff to hit tonight here. Kyle's gonna join us and talk bucks, so we'll be right back here after this quick commercial break.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to wisconsin sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host, trage coming back on this Wednesday. And hey, if you missed that last segment with Ummer there, we talked Packers right off the jump today here on the show. If you missed any part of the show, or if you missed any part of the show or you just want to check us out next day, you can. Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage Find us across all podcast platforms YouTube, spotify, itunes, apple Podcasts, whatever it's called out there. Make sure you are checking us out there. If you want to find us across social media, make sure you do it Subscribe, follow, wherever you can see us out there. We love to post stuff. Get up to date on everything. Wisconsin sports Find us on Facebook, twitter, tiktok, youtube and Twitch Any combo of Wisco Sports on the go with Trage Wisco Sports on the go. You can find us across all social media platforms. You can also text into the show. You want to let us know what you're thinking. You want to get your comments in on the show here. You want to get questions answered? Make sure you're texting in there 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. You can also hit us up at our emails wiscosportsonthegoatgmailcom. That is Wisco Sports On the go at gmailcom, if you have any. I mean even sponsorships too. We always are taking on new sponsors every single week when we can, right. So if you have anybody out there, any businesses out there, who want to get your name out there on the radio, make sure you're contacting us, contact the station, get a hold of us here on the show. We'd love to talk with you about anything like that.
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Speaker 1:So we were talking Packers here. So great stuff there from them where we're talking about. You know what we've seen as of late here some of the controversy going on with the group at Packers. We listened to Jeff Halfley and I kind of keyed in on his press conference that he had. So last season the Packers they made impressive strides in their first season with Jeff Halfley Finished sixth in scoring defense 19.9, and also finished sixth in total defense and seventh against the runs. They only lost really one guy TJ Slate, the only guy out the door run stopper in his own right but really only lost one guy. So the Packers believe they can be better on that side of the ball in 2025.
Speaker 1:So Halfley met with media on Monday there and he was talking about some of these things. So the big thing he was asked can the strong allowing just 16 points per game in the final four regular season contests. In their playoff loss they held Philadelphia to the fewest points that they had in the whole postseason Impressive numbers. Halfway's optimistic about his unit there, he said probably the biggest thing is I thought we were playing really hard at the end of the year, like we were really physical, we were really running to the ball, guys were playing confident, guys were communicating. It just felt like it came alive. And that's probably the thing to throw out the numbers, the statistics and where we are. I think we played harder than our opponents at the end of the year and we were more physical. That's what you love to hear, because there's one thing that a lot of people like to say about Matt LaFleur teams Physicality is not there. They don't show that physicality. Well, jeff Affleck, he has that feeling. He's like we can get better at this, we can carry this over into this season, we can become more physical and I thought they did. I was impressed by the physicality of this defense and the improvement of the defense throughout the year and what we saw.
Speaker 1:The numbers, the eye test versus the numbers were two different things. Right, and it was because in crucial moments, the defense it was like they were a bend but don't break. At times they would bend but they wouldn't break. They'd give up big chunk plays, they'd give up a lot of yards but they wouldn't break. And that's where you look at that Philadelphia game. They were set up in some bad situations right off the bat. Right, they set up in a terrible situation right off the bat. But you look at the flip side of it and you look at the first time the Packers saw Philly in Brazil. They were set up. The Packers offense was set up very good multiple times by the defense. Just the Packers offense couldn't capitalize.
Speaker 1:So I love what Halfley had to say there. He believes this defense can take that next step. So love that there. He also was talking about Nate Hobbs. He said he loves what Nate Hobbs can do. He's had a lot of success inside and I thought his tape outside was equally as good. He is competitive, he's tough, he's physical, he plays the game fast. You can tell he loves it. He just jumps off the tape. He's been a great addition and he just does give you that versatility where you can move him around and again, I'm a big fan of that. That's huge having the versatility of a guy like Nate Hobbs Excuse me there A guy like Nate Hobbs being able to work him inside and out. So I love that there from Halfley Talking about the pass rush.
Speaker 1:So this was the big part that we wanted to key in on was talking about that pass rush. There they were very I mean to say mediocre would be a nice way of putting it they stunk in 2024. The pass rush was terrible. They didn't do much to address it in the draft. They grabbed baron sorrell in the fourth round and also grabbed colin oliver in the fifth. They call him and understand, they basically call him a pass rush specialist, colin oliver. So the packers, they're looking at rashad gary, they're looking at lucas van ness and they're saying you guys are our main guys.
Speaker 1:So what halfley had to say? I need to be better, our coaches need to coach better, our players need to play better. That's what he had to say on that. There. We just don't want to stay the same. We, we want to be better. We lost in the playoffs. That wasn't good enough. We got to figure it out as we go, but I think we'll be able to do better. I'm confident there. So Jeff Affleck's showing the confidence in these guys. He's showing the confidence of Lucas Van Ness and some of these young guys to step up in that pass rush room. So we'll see what kind of transpires there. But Jeff Affleck seems to be speaking confidently on those.
Speaker 1:He spoke on Edgerin Cooper and what he's going to be able to do this next season. And the big thing that I took away from what he had to say about Edgerin Cooper was, you know, the injuries last season. He was banged up. We didn't get a full season out of Edgerin Cooper. We got moments and in those moments he was spectacular. Now, put what he did Finished the season with 77 tackles, 13 for a loss, three and a half sacks, seven quarterback hits, four passes defended, an interception, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in 14 games, four starts. Take what he was able to do. Put it all together into a complete season. If you can do that, wow, right, wow. And the big thing for cooper, and what halfley had to say he's taking a next step physically to win from 229 now he's up to 240. But we're I mean halfley's expecting a big year two. We're hoping for a big year two. I'm looking at this and I'm saying I'm excited. I'm excited to see what edgar and cooper can do for this packers defense there.
Speaker 1:And then Affleck was asked about, I mean Jair Alexander and basically whatever, whatever. On that one. We're not even going to talk about Jair Alexander because I'm so sick of hearing everything that has to do with Jair and everything in between. I'm going to wait until that thing is finished and either he's traded or he's not. Whatever happens happens, and that's basically what Affleck said. We're going to find out. We happens happens. And that's basically what athlete said. We're gonna find out, we're gonna find out what happens. Either he's gonna be here, he's not. He's a part of the. He's not there but he's part of the meeting. So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1:Which I hear alexander there, uh, listening to basaccia talk. There we talked a little bit about what basaccia had to say. He said that keishon nixon is still gonna be in the mix for the kick return job. He said he didn't want it, but he still gave him in the mix. Apparently he must have had better talks than what we heard about there. So he wasn't really happy after the Eagles game. He wanted to just be at the cornerback position. We'll see what kind of happens there. He got Hardman in the room so we'll see kind of what he decides there and if Nixon will want to be a part of that job there.
Speaker 1:I did and I mentioned it earlier and I looked it up at the break there I did talk about with Ummer. There I was talking about Halfley hinting on that 3-4 base Instead of that 4-3, he was going to switch over to that 3-4. Interesting right Kind of getting not really more advanced but being versatile in his defensive alignments, and that's something that Jeff Halfley kind of praised DeMarcus Cummington for was his ability to be versatile with his number of techniques and fronts. It was very interesting to have and he loved that about him, especially, you know, working underneath the Bill Belichick and he's because and this is what I was the phrase I was looking for before that I missed out on I had it in my notes and I just missed it. They talked to him about, you know, the rookie defender there, colin Oliver, and he stated that Oliver could be an on the ball linebacker, a role that is seldom played in the four three. So switching to that three, four, it's, it's hinting at we might see a little bit of different there in the front which could be that three, four, which is interesting, which is interesting development there with this defense. So I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1:You know know, bringing in new defensive line coach who's very versatile, a guy who you know has been a part of different techniques, different fronts, different trying different things. You bring him in. You also bring in some pass rush specialists, as they call them in column oliver, and then you're talking about a 3-4 base and being able to switch between that and a 4-3. I. I like the versatility that defense is going to be able to show. So a lot is going to go into that.
Speaker 1:A lot was made of the package transition to the four three last year. I mean, where are you kind of at with that? I like the versatility. I I like the versatility being able to throw something else in there if the four three is not working. I mean you are at this point at the mercy of if your pass rush, if your guys, are going to be able to step up and be the guys you think they can be, and if they're not, then you have to find other ways to get the quarterback right. You got to find ways to get the quarterback and if you can't do it through a four three. Maybe you got to switch things up. And that is where having that versatility and having a guy like demarcus coming to come in as defensive line coach, having Halfley so willing to try different things, I'm good with it.
Speaker 1:I really think it's good for the Packers to be more versatile on the defense. Try different schemes, see what works, see what works, see what doesn't, find different ways to get to the quarterback. They have to find ways to get the quarterback and if that takes switching up the whole front, it takes switching up the front, switching up the whole front, it takes switching up the front. I mean, that's just plain and simple. You have to find ways to get the quarterback and if the fourth three ain't doing it, the fourth three ain't doing it, plain and simple. You can't just go all by players at this point because you just can't. So what are you going to do, right? So you have to adjust as a coaching staff, you have to adjust as defense coordinator, you have to adjust the defensive line coach, head coach, whatever it is. You have to adjust to try and make your guys' jobs easier there.
Speaker 1:One last question I had. I was asked this question across social media there when do you stand kind of on Quay Walker, because they declined that option or the option for that fifth year, and basically signaling, hinting at they're going to work on an extension. I'm good with the extension. I think Quay Walker I was talking about Jordan Love leaving a lot to be desired. I don't want to compare Jordan Love to Quay Walker, because I think Jordan Love has a ton. He's a boatload of upside, right. I don't want to say that Quay Walker doesn't have a boatload of upside, but Quay Walker is hit or miss at this point. Could he be a? Could he be a guy? I really do think he could be. I think he could be fantastic. Could it go the other way, though? I really think it could. I think he gets it.
Speaker 1:We talked about the Packers team getting in their own way. I think Quay Walker gets in his own way when he can just be off the ball, just himself, go play it and pass coverage, just work downhill, rush the quarterback, not have any real responsibility, like terribly. You know not green dot, right. I think he's better. I think he struggles getting off blocks at times. I I see that he's got a lot of issues. He's got a lot of problems. I, looking at him, I he's, he's got a lot of, he's got a lot of potential. It's just, will Matt will half halfly, and this defense, will they be able to get it out? And will, will this coaching staff be able to get it out of them and find that potential and try to, you know, put it out there like Luke's Van Ness, basically right, so if they have confidence in them, okay, let's see it, see it, let's see it now.
Speaker 1:So we got a lot more to get to tonight here. I want to talk Bucs here. We got Bucs tonight. We got a lot of Brewer talk to get to tonight here. So make sure you're coming back. We're going to come back here. We're going to wrap it up for this hour and then we're going to hit the next hour of the show. We're going to talk Bucs. We're going to talk sports on the go with trej. Welcome back to wisconsin. Sports on the go with trej. I'm your host, trej, coming back on this wednesday. And hey, this next segment well, not really much of a segment, right? We're just kind of wrapping up the hour, getting this into the next hour here. But this last portion of the hour is brought to you by a sponsor of the show here, and that is marshfield motor speedway.
Speaker 1:The half mile paved track drew us three miles west of marshfield on county road h. Find upcoming events and races at marshfield speedwaycom. That is marshfield speedwaycom. Make sure you're getting down to the track. All kinds of fun down there. Spring is here, summer is going to be coming, falls right around the corner. There's gonna be tons of racing all summer and fall long. So make sure you're getting down to the track there. Marshfield Motor Speedway. Check out the schedule at marshfieldspeedwaycom.
Speaker 1:So went into the break. We've been talking Packers today because there's a lot that's been going on, a lot of stuff in the news, a lot of controversial talk, everything like that, and press conferences oh my goodness Right. And press conferences oh my goodness right. Football we're getting close, right. Schedule release is happening today. It happened today, right, but you guys know I'm prerecorded so I can't talk about the schedule release because I don't know.
Speaker 1:I know they play Philadelphia. I know who they play, right. I know who they play at this point here. I just don't really know when. Right. I know Philadelphia and I know the Bears Bears. I know those two games Outside of that. I know they play the Lions, bears, vikings, ravens, bengals, eagles, commanders, panthers, and then they play the Lions, bears, vikings, cowboys, giants, browns, steelers, broncos, cardinals. I know it's going to be a tough schedule. Any way you shape it up for the Green Bay Packers this next season, it's going to be a tough schedule. I don't even have the schedule. I can't see the schedule right Because I'm telling you I'm talking to you on a Tuesday, it's Wednesday. So I know that it's going to be a tough schedule.
Speaker 1:No matter how they shake it up, they could probably, you know, hose them by giving them the Eagles and the Commanders right, or something crazy like that. They could hose them definitely. But honestly, any way that you shape this, it could be a gauntlet. Bears could be good. Lions, yeah, vikings, they're going to have a solid defense. I don't know about the offense with JJ McCarthy, but we'll find out. They've got playmakers. Bengals juggernaut of an offense. You never know about the defense. Ravens, right, darn good team. Cowboys yeah, who knows. Giants, I am in. Uh, browns, I, they could be up in the air. Steelers could be I mean, that could be fun if Aaron Rodgers right, that could be fun. Broncos they're a good team again. Cardinals played solid last season. Their Panthers could be getting better.
Speaker 1:I mean, this schedule for the Green Bay Packers, whatever way it's shaked out, is going to be tough. If the Packers come out of this as a wildcard team, that's a darn good wildcard team. I'd be ultimately impressed. If they won the division with this schedule, I'd be even more impressed. But if they got a wildcard out of this, I would be okay like I'm.
Speaker 1:I'm not sitting here saying that a wild card next season is completely a bust of a season for the packers, simply because I look at this schedule and I say lions twice, bears twice, vikings twice ravens, bangles, eagles, commanders you're talking about some of the best teams in football right there, with the Ravens, eagles and Commanders. You're talking about a Broncos team on the up and up. You're talking about a Steelers team who's always consistent. You're talking about a Browns team with who even knows, right, who's going to be a quarterback there. You got four of them. Who's going to be a quarterback? Cardinals have been playing better.
Speaker 1:Be a very interesting, interesting year, interesting season, right I have. You come out of this with an 11 and 7 record or whatever, and you end up as a playoff team, maybe with six losses. You end up as a wildcard team in the playoffs. I think you take that as a win, you take to the bank and you say, yes, sir, nice. So yeah, that's kind of where we're going to be talking about schedule release next week here on the show. So we'll be talking about that. We'll talk about a lot of other Packer stuff next week on the show.
Speaker 1:So hey we're at the top of the hour we're going to talk. We got a whole other hour of the show here, so make sure you're coming back. We're going to talk Bucs. Yet we're going to talk Brewers, because I don't about both of them. We come back here. We got kyle coming. I talk bucks. We got a lot of brewer's talk, so make sure you are coming back here. On wisconsin sports time to go with trade, we'll be right back. Welcome back to the second hour of wisconsin sports time to go with trade. I'm your host, trade. We're back on this wednesday.
Speaker 1:And hey, this next segment of the show here is brought to you by foreman's hardware. They offer you everything from home essentials to farm supplies, house to farm, grills to drills. Foreman's hardware has got you covered. Visit today in loyal colby or medford, wisconsin there. Tell them trade sent you get five percent off. Tell them trade sent you get five percent off on top of their already great deals. Nothing better, nothing better, especially with spring here, summer right around the corner, landscaping projects, everything. If you're like me and you spent mother's day weekend you were were helping out the wife, maybe you were out in the backyard getting sunburned to be on repair you go to Foreman's Hardware. Get all your stuff right, treat yourself, get all your stuff down there bird seat, whatever you need, get it at Foreman's Hardware there. Tell them I sent you, get 5% off.
Speaker 1:So we're talking Packers in the first hour of the show tonight here, great Packer talk, umber was on. We were talking Packers. Now we got to get to the not so great that's going on in Wisconsin right now and that is the Brewers. And well, the Bucs. Their season's over technically right, but that was not so good to begin with. So we got Kyle coming on later. We're going to talk Bucs here, but I want to talk talk brewers. But before we get there we got to go to what was grinding my gears right. I usually I start to show with it. Umber was on early tonight here, so I wasn't able to get well, what was grinding my gears coming off the weekend.
Speaker 1:The number one thing was it was why does so? And I know a lot of people have this. They they have to have the same comment or whatever. So I got my car loan right and every time that I go to pay my car loan I have to verify that it's me Every time. Why do I have to verify that I'm paying my own loan off. If anybody out there would like to pay off my loan, you could be my guest, you can pay it, and I won't even tell them to have you verify that it's you, that's not me. It baffles me. It's like every time that you pay a bill, you have to verify that you're the one paying your own bill. Who's trying to steal your bill? Who's trying to pay your bill for you? It's wild. It's absolutely wild.
Speaker 1:Almost as bad as my next thing that's grinding my gears, and that is the DMV. I know a lot of people have terrible times with the DMV. Well, long story short, so I sold a truck to a guy and there was a whole mess with it and they needed the title and everything like that. Well, it had to be released from the bank, basically, and the bank released it in July of 2023. The DMV that this guy went to told him that the bank hadn't done it yet, and then I called big dogs down there in Madison and they're like no, it was released in July of 2023. And I'm like what is going on?
Speaker 1:And this is, after you sit on hold and you have, they give you the options of what you're calling for, right, you know cause. You always get your options one, two or three and it's like oh, you're calling to have your title, you're calling for this, whatever. So you click two and then, after it gives you the options, you get more options on top of the options, and then you get more options on top of the options, and then you get sent to a person and then when they finally answer so after 15 minutes, they finally answer Then, after I talk to him, he says oh well, I'm going to send you to an advanced person. And I gave him the VIN number of the vehicle, everything like that, and he's like oh, I'll give you to an advanced person because I'm showing that it's in here, but this advanced person will be able to help you. Oh, okay, so they send you to the advanced person. Well, then the advanced person comes on and they're like well, I'm going to need the VIN number of this vehicle and everything like that.
Speaker 1:And who are you and everything? Didn't this guy who just sent you over? Did he tell you who I was? Didn't he send you my info? Why do I have to re-give it to you? Oh, the DMV man. Oh, drives me bonkers. So, yeah, the DMV is grinding my gears. Between the DMV and me having to authorize this, me doing any kind of bill paying is just ridiculous. In my own way it's just ridiculous. So those two things are grinding my gears Not quite like the angle parking at Menards, but those two things are grinding my gears.
Speaker 1:Another thing, and this is going to lead into my brewer talk the I told you so, people, I don't know what, if it brings major joy to some people, I could go right now I could say, hey, jordan love is going to suck this year. I got one right? I hope not. He's just gonna stink. Yeah, plain and simple, he's just gonna stink. And then jordan love stinks. And then I can go on social media. But I told all you guys. I told all you guys, it's the same thing. I got going out. It's the same thing with the brewers right now, all across social media. Well, I told you guys, going into the season with oliver dunn and vinnie capra was not a good idea.
Speaker 1:Well, no way really going into the season with a guy who last year struggled in oliver dunn and with a guy in vinnieapra who was very unproven, just had a hot spring, wow, really, oh, you told me so, really, wow, wow. And then, when the whole pitching staff said, well, I told you they should have signed more guys, really, oh well, they should have Hindsight being 20-20. They should have hindsight being 2020. They should have the. I told you so. People are absolutely positively ridiculous, just for it's in everything, every sport, everything, and it's people are just these people just exhaust, exhausting with that stuff. So, anyways, anyways, off the I told you so people, off of the DMV, off of that Everything in between. Let's talk about the Brewers, because this is and I saw the best and this tweet sums up the whole thing. And Grant Bills I talked about him earlier on the show Because him and Christian Watson's dad were going at it. Well, not really. Grant Bills just said basically like hey, before you start freaking out on Twitter, why don't you put the phone down and take a walk? And then he went absolutely ballistic on Grant Bills. Well, grant Bills goes on Twitter and he says remember, torpedo Bats, you could arm this clubhouse with a lockhead, martin, bgm 109, tomahawk, lamb attack, land attack missile and they still struggle to hit a ball out of the infield. That is absolutely. I laughed. I laughed so hard when I saw that. I laughed so hard when I saw that. There it is, 100 of the truth. Right now, this team can't hit, they can't, they can't hit, they can't find a way to get on, they can't find a way to get on, they can't find a way to score runs, plain and simple. Am I worried about the Brewers right now? Yes, yes, I am. I am a thousand percent worried about the Brewers. Yeah, and it's not to the fact of, and everybody's going to say, oh well, they can't hit. And everybody's going to say, oh well, this guy can't pitch or this, that ain't Pions is pitching well, so nobody can yell at y'all Pions right now because that run that he gave up against the Indians or the Guardians sorry, the Guardians there Jackson Shurio dove again in center field and missed and the ball rolled to the wall. Am I worried about him? Yeah, I'm worried about the fundamental side of the Milwaukee Brewers. I'm not even. I am absolutely not even worried.
Speaker 1:Like I'm sitting here saying to you this team lacks the simple things of baseball. They're committing errors left and right, mental blunders. They can't even put a ball in play, they can't get a ball out of the infield. And we're sitting here, we're like, oh, they just, they suck at at this, they suck at that. Yeah, they do, they do, 100, they do. But at the same time, we're sitting here, we're, we're screaming, hooting and hollering about all the wrong things. We're hollering about this guy. We're how about that? Let's put it all together as a team.
Speaker 1:Fundamentally, they stink, absolutely, stink, absolutely. Stink Defensively, stink Offensively, just finding ways to put the ball in play, stink. Yes, I'm worried about this team and I look to a guy and this is where I'm going to look and everybody's going to defend this guy every single day and I am going to. Finally, everybody's going to defend this guy every single day and I am going to, finally, I'm going to be the guy to rip it. I'm going to be the guy to rip them, because everybody else is trying to defend this guy. I'm going to rip them. There's some people that are probably ripping them, I guarantee it.
Speaker 1:But Christian Yelich. I don't care that he has seven home runs, I don't care, I really don't. I don't care that he has seven home runs. I don't care that he leads the team in RBIs, I don't. He has seven home runs and 26 RBIs. Good, great, he's batting 205. 49 strikeouts on the season 49 strikeouts, 31 hits, four doubles, seven home runs, 26 RBIs. Not saying that he's not putting, he's hitting home runs, he's hitting bombs, right, he's hitting RBIs, sure, great. What I look at Christian Yelich and I say right now is he's got to step up and be the guy. Right, you paid him all this money. He's your big contract guy. It's not Contreras, not Hoskins, definitely not Frelick, it ain't Ortiz.
Speaker 1:Who's the guy in that clubhouse who makes the money, the guy who, when you look at him, he's supposed to be the leader of this team, christian Jelic. That's plain and simple. He is supposed to be the guy in the clubhouse who's supposed to rally this thing. Rally the troops, right, everybody's going to everybody. Rally this thing, rally the troops right. When Willie, everybody's going to everybody they sit there and they say well, you know, this is what happens when you trade, willie Adamas, this is what happens when you trade. Okay, yeah, but what were you going to do when he retired? Just say, screw it, you needed to have another guy. Step up, step up and be that guy, be the leader in that locker room, be the voice, be the guy to say hey, jackson, out in center field, figure it out. Right? This is what you're doing wrong. Let's get to the ballpark earlier. Let's do this. That's a team leader. A guy to rally the troops let's do this. Let's do that's a team leader. A guy to rally the troops Yellow Chain ain't that guy. He's not being that guy. They need those guys to step up and be the leaders of this team.
Speaker 1:Right now, this team, this I don't know how else to say it, but at times it's embarrassing. Baseball it is. It's embarrassing. This is a team and defensively, offensively pitching, at times, right now, it's just lack of execution, lack of fundamentals, lack of leadership, lack of ownership, lack of everything with this ball club. Right now. It starts at I'm going to do this right it starts at Marc Ananasio. It goes all the way down. You want to blame Mark Ananasio for the offseason? Be my guest, I'm okay with that. He did not. I seriously wonder and this is an honest question and I don't know if anybody's got the answer and if you got the answer for me or if you have a comment on this? I'd love to hear it. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. 990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. Do you just believe that this was?
Speaker 1:I am under the impression and this is where I'm at the Brewers weren't supposed to be good last year. They weren't. That was like a gap year. This season was a gap year too. It's just last year. They won baseball games. They found ways to win baseball games. This year they're just not finding ways.
Speaker 1:Look at their record in games where they don't score first, right, where the opposing team scores first, they are 0-13, I believe, or something like that. I mean just a terrible number. But it's the opposite, right? You want to talk about polar opposites? Last season they were good in close games. Cardiac crew, they were good in close games and at comebacks. This season they're terrible. Once they're losing in a game, they suck. When they go up four runs, they're great, but getting four runs is a problem. Getting hits right now is a problem. I don't know At this point.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of blame that can go around. There's a lot of blame, and I mean Pat Murphy. You look at what he's doing here and he's I don't want to say benching guys, but he's pulling guys, he's holding them accountable. And you can only do that so many times, right? Because the rest of your offense is struggling, the rest of your team is struggling. So how can you keep pulling guys? And you have to pull guys to try and prove a point and to show the focus why aren't the guys in the clubhouse and the locker room and everything like that, holding those guys accountable, telling them hey, let's figure it out.
Speaker 1:I, I man, I love, I, I. I thought, I really thought, going into this year, this team had a lot of upside and they had a lot of young guys that I was excited to see lead this team and take them to the next level. Now I'm sitting here like, okay, now it's like a prove it year for guys and we're to see who wants a contract and who wants to be extended. That's kind of where it's at, kind of where it's heading, because and we're going to talk more Brewers when we come back here for the break we had a break coming up here. But you look at the NL Central. Everybody's like, oh, the Cubs are this darn good baseball team and they're going to run away with this division and everything else and they're 24-18. They're not even playing that good a ball Cardinals 23-19. Reds 20-22. Brewers 20-23.
Speaker 1:Like there's four and a half games as bad as the Brewers have been. They are four and a half games as bad as the brewers have been. They are four and a half games back of the chicago cubs, four and a half games back of the chicago cubs. That's let that sink in for a second. They're right there. They're there. It's not like they're completely out of this race. Does it feel like they're out of this race? Yeah, yeah, right now.
Speaker 1:Right now, you want to ask me my honest opinion and we're in an overreaction moment right now. We're going to settle it back in when we come back from the break. Here we're going to talk what this team needs to do, right, but right now, does it feel like the Brewers are farther away from the top or closer to the top? I'm going to let that ponder. I want to hear you guys' opinion on that. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Do you believe the Brewers are closer to the top or are they closer to middle of the pack bottom? Where do you see the Brewers fitting in right now? In the MLB, in the NL, in the MLB? Wherever you want to put them? Even in the NL Central, where do you see this team In the middle of the pack? Where are they? I'll answer that question when we come back from the break here.
Speaker 1:We're going to have a lot more Brewer talk to get to tonight here. We got Bucks talk. Later on we got NBA talk. We got all kinds of stuff with Kyle later on in the show. So make sure you're coming back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. We'll be right back here after this quick commercial break. Welcome back to Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, trage coming back on this Wednesday. And hey, this next segment of Brewer Talk here is brought to you by a fantastic sponsor of the show and that is Sport and spine clinic of greenwood, wisconsin. Their expert traditional physical therapy and structural integration programming call for flexible scheduling and evaluations. Just call 715-267-4583. That is 715 267-4583. Call chad down there at Sport and Spine Clinic. Don't trust anyone else with your physical therapy needs.
Speaker 1:So we were talking Brewers when we went to the break and I asked the question and I hope that you guys had an answer to that and I hope maybe it was a good one or maybe it was terrible. I'm expecting a lot of both. Is this Brewers team closer to the top or closer to the bottom? How big is the gap between the Brewers and the top teams? You look around the MLB right now. Even if we were to narrow it and just look at the NL, I don't believe the Brewers are closer to the Dodgers Padres Giants no Mets, no Giants, no Mets, no Phillies, no Cubs. I wouldn't say so, not right now. Cardinals no. Where are the Brewers? Middle of the pack at best.
Speaker 1:I saw the Yahoo I don't even know if Yahoo Sports is, they have Yahoo Sports and I saw their power rankings where they had the Brewers 20th, 20th, 21st. Sorry my mistake. They're below the Rays Should be Rays. Just beat them in a series. They're below the rays should be raised. Just beat him in a series. They're below the race, just ahead of the reds, which I can't last for that much longer because they're technically behind the reds and standings and the way that this guardian series is going and if, if all held true today, they probably got swept. They got Oakland, they got Baltimoretimore has struggled. So I mean, at least you got that. You can feel good about yourself. That baltimore is struggling too. Okay, yay, I, right now, this birth team has got a lot, a lot of problems, a lot of problems and the.
Speaker 1:The question I, I don't want to say we're getting to that point because I always say memorial day, right, that's a moment that you got to check in where we at, I know, the brewers are still, they're still trying to get healthy. Right, you still have guys out. You have gary mitchell out now. You have perkins out now you have Perkins out. It's not helping your center field situation. Maybe if those guys came back you can move Sal the third.
Speaker 1:I don't know Caleb Durbin. I love Caleb Durbin, I do, but he is not your everyday third baseman, he's not. He's not an everyday third baseman, he's a utility player player. He's a super utility player. He's great a utility player. He's not your everyday guy. Nope, not at all. So the question comes in that, like, what do you do? Right, because you're at this, you're in this crossroads right now where your team's struggling. You don't have I, I wouldn't even say there's a lot of bats when you look down in triple a right now, I don't think there's a lot of bats where you can just call down there and you can say, oh, send this guy up because he's hot right, I don't think they have that in the minors right now. You have it in, maybe like the AA, but you don't have it right now in the bigs, so it's a big.
Speaker 1:There's big problems right now for the Milwaukee Brewers. Let's get I see Kyle is on early tonight here. He's on a little bit earlier than what we were going, so we're not going to talk, we're not talking Bucs yet, but I want to bring Kyle in here. He's already on, so we're going to get him in here and we're going to talk a little bit of Brewers with Kyle tonight here. Kyle, he's all NBA-ed out right, talk a little baseball, because baseball is hot and heavy right now too.
Speaker 1:Kyle, this brewers team, right now, kyle, it's a lot of problems, a lot of problems with the brewers and I mean we go back to. I was talking leadership with christian yelich. Everybody is talking about his average and everything like that. I said I don't care as much about that right now. I need this guy to be a leader in the locker room because, as of right now, jackson cheerios making misplays we have guys making misplays all over the field right now. There's problems all over the field defensively. Fundamentally, this team looks off and you're getting to the point where I don't.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna ask this wild question, kyle, where do you see the brewers right now? I asked this question going to the break and I want to hear your opinion where do you see them? Where's the gap? Right, because you got your top teams in baseball, the dodgers, you got the yankees, you got the mets phillies, all those teams and then you have your basement dwellers in the white socks and the rockies and those teams. Where do the brewers realistically fit in? Because for me right now, I saw the yahoo sports rankings, power rankings. They had them at 21. I'm probably at 21 with milwaukee brewers right now. I don't see him as much higher than that. Where do you got him right now? Also, how you doing tonight. How you doing tonight on this on this wednesday?
Speaker 2:no, I'm good, definitely good. Uh, I mean, man, looking at the brewers team, I feel like first and foremost you look at them as kind of underperforming. But the good thing with them is one they're still like a third. Well, they're only like a third of the season in and actually like a quarter of the season. Let me be more realistic there. They're hovering around 500. I think with some of these teams that have gotten off a little slow, hang around 500. Maybe you catch a little run of like two, three weeks. When the season gets a little hotter, warming up some of these ballparks, the ball will start flying out of Some of these guys might break out of their slump. So, as bad as it looks right now, they're only four and a half out in the division.
Speaker 1:The Cubs are sucking. As much as people want to tell me that the Cubs are like this juggernaut team and they're going to run away with it. I haven't seen it.
Speaker 2:They're keeping everybody in it. Yep, If you're a Brewers fan, that's kind of what you're hoping for. Like you're not playing your best baseball and the division isn't running away from you before. Like you're not playing your best baseball and the division isn't running away from you, I'm gonna throw optimistic.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna throw a crazy hypothetical at you because I got you on. I'm gonna throw a crazy hypothetical because I saw a lot of experts. They're like, oh, the brewers should trade freddie peralta and you know hoskins is on that option year, this year. So he's probably gonna be on that job block in some way, shape or form. If the Brewers do look to trade. The Red Sox are having an issue right now. Devers does not want to play first base. The Red Sox need a first baseman. Hoskins is hitting the ball pretty well. I mean, I think Devers, what is he? He's got a pretty big deal right now. So I don't know if the Brewers would be able to even absorb that contract. What kind of contract is he on right now? Goodness, it's got to be loaded up right. 313. It's mill guaranteed. Holy crap, brewers probably can't afford that. But regardless, could you see Okay, so we're not going to say probably Devers, but could you see the Brewers maybe striking a deal with your Red Sox? Maybe a Hoskins for prospects out there from the Red Sox?
Speaker 2:I mean, could you see a deal like for that for the Red Sox? Right now I could. The only reason why I might say not is because what's going to happen over the next couple of weeks? The Red Sox are going to continue to talk to Devers to at least get him to try to play first. The same way he said he wasn't coming off a third. He came off a third became the DH.
Speaker 2:I think for Devers it's, he's finally becoming comfortable being a DH and now they're asking him to go play first and then let's say he goes to place first, they go get somebody and then they move him off of there. He just doesn't want to move around anymore. I get that. I kind of think for first base they're more willing to either get some guy off the street I know people are talking about, like Anthony Rizzo, who's going to probably give you nothing with a bat, but at least he'll feel the position and that's what they want.
Speaker 2:Or if they're going to strike a deal with the Brewers, I feel like they would try to get Peralta, because the pitching staff when you have Tanner Houck, who's completely looked horrible this season Bueller is dealing with an injury, you know. You have Crochet, who's pitching really well. Baio is now is just coming back from an injury. He's kind of up and down. He's had a couple of good starts and then have a couple of bad starts. You have G Alito, who kind of the same thing. First start looked really good. Second one not so much. Third one looked pretty good. I think there's so many question marks there that if they were to contact the Brewers, it'd be. Can we get Peralta from you?
Speaker 1:I wouldn't hate it. Okay, I wouldn't hate it. I don't want to see Freddie go. That's the thing I don't want to see Freddie go. But I think there does come a point in this season where and I just talked about before, I said this Brewers. It almost feels like last season for the Brew thing, except for now they're losing now. Now they're finding ways to lose because you didn't make moves in the offseason, right, zero marquette and asia wasn't making moves.
Speaker 1:He got jose cantana great like that was a cheap deal. Outside of that didn't do nothing. Poskins came back and that was his player option. Outside of that, nothing done by the brewers, except for trade letting guys go or trading guys away. Right, you know devin williams out the door and the devin williams trade. Have you really won that? I don't know. You got caleb durbin. He's a super utility. I hope he's gonna be good. And then you got nester cortez and well, he got lit up by the yankees. So that was fun. But I mean, you did get a guy, and this is a guy you know a little bit about. Bobby Dahlbeck is currently with the Brewers. Hasn't really stuck ever right. He hasn't really stuck with any ball club for long. He's been bounced around. He was a pretty good prospect at one point, but just hasn't really transpired. So, bobby, does he play third base at all? Does he have a little? Yes, he can play both corner positions there you go.
Speaker 1:So I, I really would not hate, because he's got a little bit of pop in that bat. Maybe playing in a hitter friendly ballpark like american family field, that strikes him. I, you never know. I just you can't expect caleb durbin to play third base consistently for you. He doesn't have the arm, he doesn't have that defensive prowess and he can play second but he doesn't have that arm over there. I just I think if you get terang, if you figure out his shoulder, he can play shortstop.
Speaker 1:Joey ortiz can go to the bench because that's where he needs to go, or he needs to go down to triple a because right now I love joey ortiz. I I want to make that known to people like I I don't hate the guy, I just he stinks right now. He absolutely stinks. There is no if ands ways about it. Right now joey ortiz is about as I I don't I don't even know what the words are even say, but he's batting 173. I that stinks. Yeah, you can't. You can't have 173. Your left side of the infield right now, between caleb durbin and him, caleb durbin's batting a whopping. What two 194 and joy ortiz bat 173. Your left side of the infield sucks, as plain and simple they suck. Willie adames at least gave you bombs. This ain't nothing. This is terrible. And then you add on top of that christian yelich batting 205, and then you add on top of that Christian Yelich batting 205, and then you add on top of that William Kutras and his fractured finger batting 224 for you. And I mean you could just we could go down the laundry list of guys right now who are struggling mightily and you put that all together and what do you get? Crap, that's all it is. You get what you get. Right now. You get zero runs.
Speaker 1:Quinn Priester everybody wants to shoot on that guy and that whole trade. He pitched a gem against the Guardians. Two runs. They gave up two runs in total in that entire game. One of them was unearned because that was the craptastic play by Jackson Churrio out in center field. Outside of that, quinn Priester gave up one run and you lost. You lost that game. Oh, you can say, oh well, the Guardians pitched well, sure, but your entire offense outside Jackson Turio went two for four and Terang had a hit. Outside of that, it was an 0 for day for the rest of them.
Speaker 1:You want to talk about how to get yourself out of a slump. Christian Yelich, maybe don't strike out three times and try to contribute to the ball club here, maybe, just maybe. Jackson shurio doubled to lead off an inning and it was boom, boom, boom right down the line. Out, out, out. And here we are staring in the face of a 20 and 23 record. Another loss to the guardians, another series loss. Oh well, we can salvage game three of the series. Great, great. That makes me feel better. That absolutely makes me feel better. So a lot of brewer fans, as kyle said, and kyle kind of made me feel better. There we're about a. We're not even a quarter of the way through. Right, the nl central Cubs not playing great Cardinals are in second place. That tells you how bad the NL Central is right now.
Speaker 1:The Reds are in third and the Brewers are in fourth. They're four and a half games back. They're not out of it by any means. Now does it look pretty? No, if it were up to me, would we make some moves and trade some guys away? Yes, yeah, because as of right now and this is where I'm at I feel like the Brewers are farther away from being a contender as they are from being a pretender. And as much as we love to play with the term, let's take bites at the apple, right, as many bites as the apple as we can. I don't care anymore, I'm out on that.
Speaker 1:If this is a transition year, if that's what this is meant to be, let's make it. Let's make it a transition year. Let's trade some pieces. You know, not anything stupid. Sal Frelick, stay. Garrett Mitchell, stay. Everybody like that, stay. Let's test the talent. Let's see what you got with the young guys. Right? If they can take you to this, then sure, that's fine, right? You're not going to move on to Randall Woodruff. Tobias Myers is going to stay. You're going to keep all the young guys. You're going to keep most of the bullpen arms. But Reese Hoskins, I would explore it. I would explore moving on from these guys. Why Build for the guys coming up? Because you do have guys coming up through the minor league system right now where you're one to two years away from those guys being at the big league level and you hope, fingers crossed, they can be something for you, those guys being at the big league level and you hope, you know, fingers crossed, right, they can be something for you. So that's what we're waiting on.
Speaker 1:So, in my personal opinion, I would, if somebody calls, if the Red Sox call and they say, hey, what do you want for Freddie? I'm asking for a high price. I'm asking for right now, before Memorial Day, I'm asking for a haul for Freddie Because Freddie's pitched like an ace, so I'm asking for a haul for freddie because freddie's pitched like an ace, so I'm I'm asking for a haul if the red sox are willing to give up a haul for freddie, some top prospects or whatever. I'm sorry, freddie, I love you. Bye-bye. Reese hoskins. If some team calls about reese hoskins, they say, hey, you want this and this for him. All right, see you later.
Speaker 1:Like I think that's my mindset right now. I'm not, I don't want to give up on the season. I hate. I hate being the guy, because I, I don't. I don't give up on seasons and I'm not.
Speaker 1:But I'm also like at this point where do the brewers actually realistically have enough to be to beat the dodgers, to beat the mets, to beat the phillies? I don't think so. I don't. I don't think they have enough, I don't think their bullpen's enough, I don't think their pitching's been enough. The pitching hasn't been terrible. The offense is the problem, pitching's not terrible, but I just don't think the pitching's good enough to compensate for zero runs. So what do you do with that at this point? So I mean, yeah, like Kyle said, and maybe it's an overreaction Wednesday here, Maybe that's what it is. Let's all just take a breath, right, relax, maybe it'll be all right. Maybe next week we're coming back, we're talking good things with the Brewers, or maybe we come back next week and well, we're talking about two series losses and I'm blowing up at Kyle about this and that and everything. Who knows, we'll see, but Halston's waiting until Memorial Day. We'll wait until Memorial Day.
Speaker 1:So, we got Kyle on already. We're going to come back from the break here. We got Bucs talk. I want to talk some Bucs. I want to talk some NBA. We got all kinds of stuff to get into yet here tonight. So make sure you're coming back here on Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. Welcome back to Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host, trage, coming back on this Wednesday.
Speaker 1:And hey, this next segment of the show, this Bucks Talk, is brought to you by a fantastic sponsor of the show and that is Marshfield Motor Speedway, the half-mile paved track just three miles west of Marshfield on County Road H. Find upcoming events and races at marshfieldspeedwaycom. That is marshfieldspeedwaycom. We're just getting into the spring events. We're going to have summer fall. It is going to be a great summer down there at the track. We're going to have summer fall. It is going to be a great summer down there at the track. So make sure you are getting down there with the family and enjoying some great summer days and nights down at the track there.
Speaker 1:So, as always, kyle comes on and Kyle is always a part of the Mellow Yellow Minute. So if you're new to the show, haven't heard the show before. We always have this segment. We do trivia in honor of my grandpa who passed away. We always do trivia here on the show and if you have your favorite beverage, he's. His was mellow yellow. I got diet moan do. I usually have a mellow yellow? I'm out of mellow yellow tonight. I'm sorry, but I got a diet moan do here, so I'm gonna crack it here. I'm gonna crack it. Make sure you're cracking your favorite beverage sports teams. So, kyle, I gave him kind. I didn't give him the teams, I gave him hints. I said I got an nfl team on there, I got a college team and I got an mlb team. Kyle, what do you got for me? What is one of trage's favorite team outside of wisconsin?
Speaker 2:I think I'm going to attack the MLB first. Okay, I have two teams in mind, so I will tell you like I'm thinking Royals or Athletics.
Speaker 1:I don't hate either one of those teams, but it is in the Royals division, okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay. So now you're looking at it, let's see Tigers, white Sox, royals, guardians Twins. It can't be the Twins Right. So as soon as you said it was in the division, I thought Tigers, tigers.
Speaker 1:Yep, I've just always had a thing for Tigers. I don't hate the Tigers Like the Tigers don't do anything to me. And I loved when it was the Bash Bros with Miggy and Prince Fielder, because I never hated Prince Fielder, so that was awesome. So, yes, the Tigers are my MLB team outside of Wisconsin. What do you got for me? You want NFL or college. What do you got?
Speaker 2:got let's go nfl, nfl. Here we go. So nfl, I'm gonna think. Let me try to think of a division. I don't think it's gonna be in the east go for the south, give me the south yes, I was about to say I don't think it's the west, so I was thinking either north or the south. So south I to say so we've got Jags, Texans, Titans.
Speaker 1:Colts. There's only one team in there that anybody could realistically like.
Speaker 2:I mean, for me I'd probably say the Titans, not the Titans. So then my second choice is probably the jacks. No, no, no really, oh wait. So then okay, I mean, I'm assuming it's not the colts, it's gotta be the texans houston texans, jj watt came from wisconsin, went down there.
Speaker 1:I didn't like for the shortest time in my youth I disliked the packers because my uncle disliked the packers because of brett farb and the aaron rogers thing and everything else. And brett farb was they say yeah. So I ended up with jj watt like on a plane going down to houston and then I was a texans fan for a little while and I've just always had a nice little thing for the texans backer fan, but kind of a thing for the texans now that I respect that now I gave kyle a hint.
Speaker 1:I said if you get the first letter of one of these, you have the first letter of the rest of them so kyle.
Speaker 2:It is an sec team so I'm thinking, and we'll be with the tigers, I'm thinking, sec, auburn tigers, auburn Tigers.
Speaker 1:No, no, come on now. Okay, new SEC, new SEC. Okay, new SEC.
Speaker 2:Oh Texas.
Speaker 1:Bam. Yeah, I don't know why. I've just Ever since I was little. I just had a thing for Texas, texans, texas, I don't know, it's just a, a weird thing, I don't know they were effective. I've always liked the helmets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, see the helmets are cool.
Speaker 1:The Texans got a cool helmet too. It's like it's just cool. So I'm all in for it. I'm all in for it Right now. What's not cool, kyle? What's not cool is all these people around social media telling me that Giannis is like I'm willing to explore options elsewhere. I'm willing to explore options elsewhere. And it's like every time I go to quit trip in the morning and I look at the soda section and I'm like I'm going to explore another option today, and then I get a diet moan do? It's like I'm going to get the same thing. I'm just exploring options.
Speaker 1:Of course he's like, yeah, if the Bucs trade me, because what would you be if the Bucs did decide to move you? And then you're like, oh, I'll only play if I play in Milwaukee. And then all of a sudden, the Bucs are like, oh, we're going to send you to LA. Oh, okay, now I got to pretend like I didn't just say that I don't want to go to LA. So of course you're always exploring options. You always want what's best for you.
Speaker 1:But, kyle, I gotta be honest with you. If I'm the bucks and this is a, uh, just my opinion, and people can be hateful at it and everything. But if I'm the bucks, I'm like, call me, I'm not calling you, I'm not calling nico down there in Dallas, I'm not calling any of these guys, right? But if Nico calls me and says, hey, I got the first overall pick in this year's draft, how are you feeling? And I mean you're like, okay, I'll listen, I'm not going to make the move, but I'm going to listen. I'm going to see what you've got to offer. If you give me seven years of first round picks plus some players, I mean that's, that's a lot of talent, that's a lot of talent. So I got a question off this, but I want to get your take on that first one. I mean, are you? You're listening to offers, right? You're at least sitting there on the phone. You're like, yeah, I'll listen to you, but in all reality you're probably not making this move, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you're not doing your job if you're not listening, and I agree with you. Like Giannis saying he's open to options just means if the Bucs came to him and said, look, we're going to move you here, he'd be like he would think about it. Dallas has come out and said they're keeping the pick, they're taking Cooper Flagg, then that's well within their prerogative. I think the team to watch if they were to get a, if they go in the office tomorrow and they see a San Antonio area code, I think they entertain it Because San Antonio has this number two pick, obviously not a Cooper flag, but you could get yourself a really good prospect at number two. They have a lot of young pieces, you could probably get a couple and they also have a lot of future picks.
Speaker 2:So if you're going to move, giannis, you're telling Bucs fans we're tearing it down. If you're going to tear it down, tear it down the right way. A lot of teams, when they get in trouble, they try to play both sides of the fence. You can't do that in the NBA. You either need to be really good like top four in your conference or you need to be outside the playing, even though Mavericks are a playing team that won the lottery, but that's not necessarily how it normally goes. I think Giannis is putting pressure on the front office to do something.
Speaker 2:And that's okay, yeah, and that's for him delivering them a title. He should want them to want to be back at that level and they're going to have to decide. Can they do that with Giannis or not? If they can't call Oklahoma City, call San Antonio Teens, with young players and a bunch of picks?
Speaker 1:Yep, no, I agree, and this is going to be my next point, and this is where I'm going to say why would you trade Giannis, right? The Celtics are going to be in this weird spot next year where they're going to have to move on from some guys and they're kind of going to not strip it down completely, but they're going to strip it down right. So who, realistically, is still there in the East? Right, the Cavs will probably still have, you know cast of characters the Pacers. As we saw last night there, the Pacers take down the Cavs. So we see the Pacers.
Speaker 1:How far are the Bucs off? They put up one win against the Cavs, right? Or against the Pacers. How far are they off? Because they put up just as good of a fight as Cavs did. So how far are this Bucs team off? Reallyicks? Right, the Knicks are going to be fine. They're going to have money to spend. They're going to get guys, whatever the Cavs are going to be around.
Speaker 1:Celtics, bucs, 76ers, I mean the Pistons, those teams are, they're like there. They're not true contenders, but they're there. How far? I mean honestly, realistically, how far are the Bucs off? They're not really that far off. Are they far off of the top in the NBA. Yes, because you look at the West and you're like, okay, nuggets, okay C, you know you got all these teams. But the Eastern Conference, once the Celtics kind of got to tear it down, you're going to have this running lane where, if you add guys because we about you're gonna have, you know, sign and trade guys you're gonna have both 30 mil to 40 mil somewhere in there to spend on sign and trade guys. So you're gonna have money to move, move around. I guess right, how far are you real, realistically off? I mean kyle, I mean at this point you're probably gonna be. I I don't want to say they're gonna be even steven with the celtics, but both having to strip it down, both losing players, both having you know kind of the star power gone, they're going to be right there in that three to probably six range of teams again where they sat this year, but with less money on the books.
Speaker 1:Look, brooke lopez is gone. He's good. I don't think they're going to bring him back and if they do, it's going to be way less of a contract to deal with. So if you do bring him back, whatever right you're going to have, don't have to deal with torian prince. You maybe get sims back, you maybe get track, but you're going to have less money on the books you're going to be able to build for that future dame hopefully comes back healthy and if he comes back, I feel like he's going to have that kind of vengeance to him, right?
Speaker 1:And then you got Giannis back. Who's feeling it in that year? You have another year of AJ Green and those guys. Maybe you get Kevin Porter back, but I like where this team is at, where they're third to fifth to sixth. Again, they're not.
Speaker 1:Why tear it down when you're technically still there? Right, because I feel like once the Giannis days are over, it's over. It's like start over, ground up, baby, let's rebuild. Right? So, as of right now, why not maximize the years as much as not not go overboard? Right, because you try that. You fail. But you went into an off season like this once before, before the 2020 season, and you ended up walking away with the championship. Maybe you could pull off some crazy stuff like that. I'm not saying it's gonna happen like that again, but maybe you pull off some crazy stuff like that. I mean, we've seen crazier stuff happen. So, kyle, I mean, where are you at right now? Because I'm looking at this, I'm like they're. They're there with the three to six right now in the east, just because the rest of these teams have to throw it down too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, like you said, that's where the Bucs are in a weird spot where they kind of can play this one of two ways. They could convince themselves that they brought back most of this year's team. With a couple of tweaks here or there, they could be better off. With a couple of tweaks here or there they could be better off. They could also look at it as how close were we really this year? Maybe we've been fooling ourselves and we're actually further away than we thought Because, like you said, the Knicks seem like they will be kind of in the conversation. I still have some questions about the Knicks, whether or not they can actually win a title. I think the Knicks are kind of in a weird spot too. Still have some questions about the Knicks, whether or not they can actually win a title. I think the Knicks are kind of in a weird spot too.
Speaker 2:I know you mentioned the Cavs. I think the Cavs have serious questions to ask themselves. I don't think Donovan Mitchell can be your number one and win a title, but unfortunately the Cavs have kind of gone down the road with him that they're probably just going to run back the same team. They'll have a really good regular season and they'll probably run into the same problems in the playoffs that they have this year. Yep, the celtics will. They'll change what they look like. They're not tearing it down because because the second apron, they can get out of that just by moving Drew Holiday. I think if they do more than that, it'll probably be Porzingis along with him. But I think the core of that team well, tatum obviously is going to miss next season with the injury. Brown, like Derek White, peyton, pritchard guys like that will be around. Horford you have to see if he retires or not. Pritchard guys like that will be around. Horford, you have to see if he retires or not. But I think, with Brad Stevens and his ability to roster build, if they lost all three of them Holiday, porzingis and Horford you feel like they'll make way with it. They have Bailey Shireman who they'll open up minutes for. I like him.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, after that you're like, do you trust in the pistons taking a leap next year? Do you trust, uh, this being more than a fluke for the pacers? I mean, it would be back-to-back seasons of them possibly being in the east of conference finals. So, yeah, you kind of have to kind of put them in that group of teams. The bucks have to monitor for where they are. Once you get past that, it it's like the heat the heat are going to fall off. The Hawks still don't scare you, the Raptors aren't ready. So the Bucs should be a top six team, no matter what they do next season. Yep it's. Can they make that one move to take them from six to maybe four?
Speaker 1:That's what they're looking at uh, I, I take drew holiday back. That'd be fun. Get the band back together. I don't know, that'd be fun, that'd be fun to see. Could you pair a guy like drew holiday with damian? Oh, maybe, maybe have that double guard tandem in the backcourt. I wouldn't hate that. It'd be like be like a Dame and a CJ McCollum, except for not as good of a shooter as CJ McCollum was, more of a defender, he could compensate for Dame's lack of defense. There you go, maybe, just maybe, I don't know. I don't know, just speculate.
Speaker 2:It didn't work in Portland. I have this thing about smaller guards, how they really work once you get into postseason, Although you're not asking Holliday to be a scorer.
Speaker 1:Plus that guy can guard just about anybody, Right.
Speaker 2:That's where he does work. He's one of those guards who could guard somebody in the post and you don't need a double team because he's strong enough to do that. So that's a little bit different. Mccollum wasn't that, and they needed lewis and mccollum to be their two best players. You're not asking holiday to be one of your best players, you just needed to fill a role. I think, if holiday is available, milwaukee should try to figure out a way to get him. I don't know what they would offer, but I don't know if there's bad blood there.
Speaker 1:I don't know. It would be a question for Drew. I guess It'd be a question for him is, if there's bad blood, I don't know. I wouldn't want to go play for Doc right now and Giannis loves Doc. So I feel like we're going to be stuck with Doc again because Giannis won't get rid of Giannis at the same time. So until that happens, it's just going to be more of the same from what we've seen. So unless if we just completely, if horse just loads up the box like the Celtics were when he took them to the finals, then like we'd be fine, right, that wasn't that. Like Paul Pierce, ray Allen, garnett, I mean Rondo, like who couldn't have won a championship with that. I mean we, using me, could have walked out there and coached that team to a championship. So, anyways, we got a little bit more to wrap us up here. We're gonna quiz kyle as the playoffs. We're gonna talk a little more nba playoffs when we come back here.
Speaker 1:So we got a quick commercial break. We're gonna come back. We're gonna wrap up the show for the day. So we'll be right back here on wisconsin sports on the go with trage. Welcome back to wisconsin sports on the go with trage. I'm your host trades coming back on this wednesday as we wrap it up here for the day, and if you missed any portion of the show today, make sure you check us out next day, tomorrow, the podcast will be available. This show podcast platforms all over youtube, spotify, itunes or apple podcast, whatever it is wherever you get podcasts you can find the show.
Speaker 1:If you want to find us across social media, make sure you do it Facebook, twitter, tiktok, youtube, twitch, wherever you get. I mean basically all social media platforms there. Just search Wisco Sports on the Go With Trades, any sort of combination there. You'll find us out there. You can also text into the show 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. So we got a quick little. We got to wrap it up real fast here. So we're going to go. Kyle, you got to hit it fast. Nba playoffs reactions. What are we seeing so far? Who do we like? Do you think the Celtics can force game six? Do you think so? Or do you think, now that Tatum's out, this is kind of the Knicks to walk away with? They will find a way to win it ultimately, what do you got?
Speaker 2:for me, the Celtics will have to ride the emotions game five to win that one. Knicks will have to close it in six. If it goes to seven, the Celtics will win that series. I truly believe, even minus Tatum.
Speaker 2:The Pacers have exposed the Cavs for a great regular season. But you saw the flaws in their team. Jared Allen is a matchup nightmare when you're dealing with Miles Turner and top end guys who live on the perimeter. Dominic Mitchell, as I spoke about a little earlier, he can't be your best player if you want to win in the playoffs because defensivelyly he struggles on that end of the floor. So if he's not scoring like 30, 40 on offense for you, he's almost a negative out there. So I think the Cavs will have some reshaping that they'll have to do their roster. I think the paces are proven to a lot of people that they might be better than we all thought and it's okay to accept that. Out out west I feel like you're getting almost a change of the guard moment where the young guys, like the wolves with anthony edwards, are pulling through uh shea and the young guys in oklahoma city probably pull through uh denver, for, for all the excitement they had winning the title a couple of years ago. They almost seem like old news because they've let too many guys go from that rotation and they're depleted at this point. Joker has to be Superman every night for them to win the Warriors. I feel like this is kind of the last stand for them.
Speaker 2:It's unfortunate that Steph Curry got hurt, but Steph Curry was carrying so much of the offensive load because Draymond Green is not an offensive player. This was the worry when they got Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler is like when he wants to he can give you something offensively, but like the game they just had, he pretty much kind of quit on that game. He only took nine shots with Steph Curry being out. That's a problem and if the Warriors don't make it to the finals, they have real questions to ask about their team and you got to wonder how much longer do you do the Curry-Draymond? I guess you have to throw Butler into that at this point. What's really going to change with that next season? Unless curry's healthy and I think we're at a point where we might I keep leaning towards the wolves might come out of the west. It seems like that kind of year in the nba and I actually think the pacers might come out of the east.
Speaker 1:the wolves just don't seem like they're that good, so it kind of it hurts to see that that might be the team to come out of there, but I would agree the Warriors. I always think of the James Weissman pick and that was their downfall.
Speaker 1:Right when they picked James Weissman. It went downhill from there because they were like this is our big guy, he can do it all. And then it was nope, he can't do it all. So I mean it's exciting, but we'll see what happens here. We were hoping the Pacers would lose. They didn't. So I mean, yeah, whatever here. So Brewers they got the Twins this weekend. Hopefully we're talking about a series win against the Twins coming back here next week. So the Brewers that'll be first pitch coming up on Friday. There will be 7-10. They got an off day coming up tomorrow after this Guardian series. So I mean, brewer fans, let's take a breath, it's going to be okay. Packer fans we're excited for the season here. Buck fans we're just waiting for Giannis to stop shopping elsewhere and start to build his team up here. So that's where we're kind of at right now here.
Speaker 1:So, thank you to Kyle, as always, for coming on here. You can find him shopping at the bit across all social media platforms. Check out his podcast. They're always great stuff. So with that, well, that's about all we got. That's about all we got for tonight. So I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your night, the rest of your week. We'll catch you guys back here Wednesday, but until then, see you.