Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag is a podcast/radio show aiming at bringing you Wisconsin sports news and opinions! Find the show Wednesdays from 5-7 pm on Sports radio 92.3 WOSQ or here next day!
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
November 12 Hour 1: Packers in trouble? Amar from Coast to Coast Packers Joins
We break down why the Packers’ offense keeps tripping over the same mistakes while the defense carries its weight, then pivot to the brighter Wisconsin stories from Badgers football and hoops to WIAA playoff drama and Brewers recognition. Urgency, identity, and discipline tie it all together.
• Packers’ slow starts and scripted inefficiency
• LaFleur’s play design versus situational play calling
• Illegal formations, spacing issues, and route discipline
• Jordan Love’s pressure response and decision-making
• Offensive line instability and protection plans
• Defense standouts and in-drive adjustments
• Badgers football bounce-back and hoops progress
• WIAA playoff surprises and powerhouse programs
• Brewers’ awards, development pipeline, and leadership
Catch us next day across all podcast platforms
This is Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. Your place for all things Wisconsin Sports. Now, your host, Trage.
SPEAKER_03:How are we doing, everybody? And welcome into Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. I'm your host, Trade, as we come back here on this Wednesday, November 12th, the November 12th edition of the show here. I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday so far. I hope you guys enjoyed your weekend. It was a fantastic weekend for myself. Spent it there with the family. Watched some wow. Some good. I mean, some good games. Some and then, well, Monday night came around. We're going to talk about that. But I mean, some good games in total there over the weekend. The Badgers finally got a win. We are talking about that today. Christian might stop by. He's uncertain. He's got a lot going on. So we'll see. Maybe Christian will stop by here later on. Talk a little Badgers, talk a little Badger hoops, talk a little Badger football. We're going to get into that because that was the coming off the weekend there. Wow. They got to win. Was not expecting the Badgers, the football team, to make my weekend. But there you go. They got to win against Washington. So we're going to talk about that game today because we finally have something good to talk about. So we're going to get into that. Like I said, some badger hoops. We're going to talk some men's hoops and women's. The women's team has looked. They've looked good. They've looked a lot better. I mean, from what we've seen in years past to now, has looked a lot better. So I want to talk about that a little bit today here on the show. We're going to get into that. We have the WIA football. I was watching uh a little football over the week or on Friday there on Zeleski and some good games across the board. And now we got some good games coming up here with a chance to go to state. We see in the level four of the playoffs here a surprise in D3, Whitefish Bay, the eight-seed. That's impressive. You don't see many eight-seeds work their way to level four. We see the eight-seed going up against a four-seed in Reedsburg. So a couple of high-digit, uh, high-digit uh seeds there going at it. So that's cool to see there in uh division three. In D5, we're gonna see Stratford taking on Northwestern with a chance to go to state, should be a good game there. And then also in division six, we see Edgar taking on Mondovi. Edgar got the big win, not the big win, but eight to seven win over Bonduel. And now we're gonna see him take on Mondovi with a chance to go to state there. So some good games, some good games. That Edgar game was if you like defense, wow, that's a good game. Edgar's got a very good defense. Can't wait to watch that and see if they can get down to state again, see if Trafford can make it state again. That's gonna be two exciting and great programs that just continuously get there every single year, it seems like. And I I played Edgar a couple times, and I I've they that's a darn good team. That's a well-coached team. Been well coached for I can't even how many years now. Um, they've but they've just been fantastic. So some great stuff there coming out of the WIA football playoffs, uh, the volleyball playoffs in full swing right now, too. So some good stuff happening there. Pat Murphy, we got that exciting news yesterday. Pat Murphy, back-to-back manager of the year awards. That that's just awesome. That's just awesome. I mean, well deserved. I said it right when they announced the finalist. I said this should not even take long. This shouldn't be a contest, shouldn't it really be a contest at all? It's Pat Murphy. At this point, what he's done a lot, a lot with a little, having the best record in baseball, getting the overall number one seed, even though it didn't end the way that you would wish it would have. Still a fantastic season all the way around. And Pat Murphy, again, continuously proves what he can do as a manager to get his guys ready and what a manager can do. I mean, a manager, some people don't realize that it isn't just always about the talent on the field. Yes, being able to spend all the money in the world and having a lot of talent. That definitely, I mean, that's gonna help. But having a manager to put it all together and to rally the troops, keep the morale, whatever, when you're in a losing streak, different things like that, especially when guys aren't hitting the ball, right? I mean, we see even guys like Dave Roberts with Mookie Betts and guys like that who are struggling when it comes to postseason stuff like that. I mean, you gotta have a manager who can help. I mean, just help the players in the everyday life that they go through. So, I mean, Matt Pat Murphy, fantastic, been fantastic. So love to see him getting that back-to-back manager of the year award there. Rookie of the year, we saw that uh award go out there. Caleb Durbin came in in third, and then we saw Isaac Collins come in fourth. I believe uh Chad Patrick was like seventh on that list, and then Mizarowski ended up like 11th. If Chad Patrick wouldn't have been replaced because you know everybody came back, maybe we would have seen Chad Patrick climb up that list a little bit. So, but still pretty cool to see a lot of Brewers ending up on those lists there. Last but not least. Oh, before we well, yeah, let's just let's just get to it. Let's just get to it. The Packers. Let's just start there. I mean, we're gonna have Almer's gonna stop by next, right? Right off the bat here. I mean, we're gonna talk a little Packers here, and then Almer's gonna stop by after the commercial break, and we'll continue this talk about the Packers. But man, oh man, that was that was ugly. That that was ugly. Offensively, that was about as bad as you could have hoped it. Not even hoped. That was about as bad as it could have been. Ah, maybe worse. Maybe worse. I don't know. What do you guys think? 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. What do you guys think were your thoughts coming off that uh off that Packer game? I I honestly watching that game, I have I usually sit there, I take notes. I mean, I got pages on top of pages of notes right now from this game, and none of them seem to be really good at all, to be honest. But there's a couple. There's a couple of plays that I saw that I liked, uh, or plays from guys mostly on the defense in this game. I had to get up and walk away from the TV for a little while and just walk back. I I I like I got up, I walked out of the room, and I came back and I sat back down. And I know it's like you're watching on TV, you're not there, whatever. I don't care. It just I had to walk away from what I was watching. Because you honestly couldn't believe it at times. How poorly ran it it's it's a combo of things, okay? I'm not gonna sit here. I know a lot of people today, yesterday, for the remainder of this week until they win five games in a row, are going to say that Matt LaFleur should be fired. I mean, that's that's the consensus right now. There's a majority of people out there who just say Matt LaFleur is not a good play caller. He needs to go, you know, yada yada yada down the laundry list. I'm not gonna say that I don't have a problem with Matt LaFleur's play calling because coming off of that game, I have a huge problem with what I saw in Matt LaFleur's play calling. I've had a problem. I mean, there's been there's been, I mean, we've talked about it. We've talked about too much shotgun, we've talked about lack of play action, we've talked about, you know, lack of usage of the run game or over usage of the run game at times. We've talked about, I mean, everything in between. It seems like every single week there has not been a week where we came off of it and said, wow, Matt LaFleur's team looked, and this is the problem, this is the biggest problem. We have not had a week where we said, wow, Matt LaFleur's team came into a game, lit it up, looked like they were the better team for four quarters. We have not had a game like that. The Packers have not, we have not seen a game where the Packers went in and we came out of it saying, wow, for four quarters, the Green Bay Packers were the better team on that night. I haven't, I I we can look through this the list here. We we we can look through it. For four quarters, I don't know if we've seen a we have not seen a complete game out of this Green Bay Packer team in a very long time. They they come into games, they look slow. It's been since Dallas that they had a touchdown in on the opening drive, I believe. That was in Dallas that they had the last one there. Otherwise, slow out of the gates, constantly slow out of the gates. Even in Dallas there, they started out hot out of the gates, and then all of a sudden, Dallas was able to hop on them there. In Pittsburgh, what a great second half that it was. A lot of it on the back of Tucker Kraft. He was fantastic in that game, especially in yards after the catch in that game for the Packers. Packers in that one, fourth quarter is where they really took off. Outside of that, I mean, it wasn't huge. So we could go through the the list of games here and say that there has been moments where this team has looked good, but how many games can we say that the Packers came into it? They look prepared, they didn't it. It's like, how do the Packers come into games and you're supposed to have the first how many plays scripted? Right? And those scripted plays aren't working, so you're coming in this game zero, you're not prepared at all. And then you see Matt LaFleur over on the sideline, and he's got the Microsoft Edge little lap, he's got the little tablet out there, and he's sitting alone and he's studying. And I truthfully believe Matt LaFleur knows what he's looking at, he knows 100% what he's looking at. I don't know what he's doing. I could be honest with you, with his play calling, anything like that. I don't know what he's doing. He's Matt LaFleur is a very smart guy. A very smart guy. His play calling, everything like that. Matt LaFleur can draw up a play. I know that he can. I've seen it, we've watched it. We've seen the masterful play calling that is from Matt LaFleur, but we've also seen the terrible. And right now, the problem is that we're seeing more of the inconsistency than we are the other way around. But this game, this last game, is not all on Matt LaFleur. I know we're gonna want to sit here and we're gonna want to blame the main guy because that's the easiest thing, right? It's the easiest thing to do is to blame Matt LaFleur. Throw it all on him, fire him, right? That's the easiest thing to do. It's not. It's not. There's a lot, there's a lot more that went into the offense, it's not just Matt LaFleur. There are so many things going wrong within the offense. It's it's baffling, honestly. To be this far into the season, and this is what we're seeing. The offensive line is terrible. Now Elton Jenkins is on the IR. That's not any better. But the offensive line is terrible right now. The Aaron Banks uh ad in the offseason looks terrible. So the offensive line across the board, not playing well. Then you lose your tight end. I'm not gonna say that Luke Musgrave isn't a solid tight end. He's solid tight end. But there was a catch he had, it was like a third, it wasn't a third down there. It's like a third and ten. And they dropped it off to Musgrave, and he I think it was on that play that they ended up doing this. We're not even gonna get me started on the fourth and one call yet. I'm gonna wait for Ummer to get here. But I think it was uh right before that, and Musgrave couldn't get there. Now, I think Tucker Kraft does, and that's where I think the difference comes between those two guys. So you lose your tight end in Tucker Kraft, you lose some weapons there in the wide receiver room along the way, but the wide receiver room, the route running looks like crap right now. I mean, they there is nothing, honestly, that I came out of that Eagles game with the offense that I came out of that game and said, Wow, that looked good. Spurts moments. Actually, one of the best plays in the night was called back for an illegal formation. Two illegal formations on the night. That's the undisciplined play. They're unprepared, they're undisciplined, the offensive line is bad, the play calling, the decision making is horrible, terrible route running. Jordan Love makes terrible decisions. That's another one. You want to talk about worrisome right now. I'm worried that Jordan Love, I think he's got a boatload of talent. I really like him, but he's inconsistent. And if you can't find consistent play, because here's the issue if you if Jordan Love can't play like a star, and he can't be a guy. I don't know, I don't know if Jordan Love's a guy who can elevate all 11 guys or all 10 other guys if they aren't playing well. Everybody has to play well for Jordan Love to be able to elevate them. They all have to be playing well. I don't think I from what I've seen so far, from what I've watched, we've seen moments of brilliance, but we've seen the the terrible decisions. And the terrible decisions just seem to be outweighing everything else. I mean, that fumble, that fumble is terrible. That was terrible. You're talking about a guy, I mean, I like I said, I I love I I I love Jordan Love. I do, I do, but there is a lot wrong within this offense, and you cannot just blame it on Matt LaFleur. There is you cannot just put it on him. Love's gotta be better. The offensive line, I don't know what they're gonna do, but that definitely has to be better. The wide receiver room right now, I don't know if it's be you we can't say because Tucker Kraft is out that everything just goes or just all goes haywire and all at once. You gotta be able to find an answer. And that that I will agree comes back to Matt LaFleur. That comes back to Matt LaFleur to find that answer. The question is now, will he find it? And in that Eagles game, it wasn't there. There was nothing pretty, that was ugly, that was an ugly offensive performance, and your defense for two weeks now has given you your Super Bowl caliber defense has given you nothing but great performances. And this is what you give them offensively 20 points, 20 against the Panthers and Eagles. That's yeah, yeah. That's where we're at. That's where we're at on this Wednesday. That is where we're at. It is ugly. We're gonna talk about it. Umer's gonna be here next. We're gonna hit a commercial break. We're gonna come back. Umer's gonna stop by, we're gonna continue this Packer talk because there, I have seven pages of notes here, and maybe one page has got good stuff on it. Everything else is some bad stuff that we got to talk about, we got to discuss, we have to work through because a lot of people are upset with the direction of this team, and I don't blame you whatsoever. I don't blame you at all. You should be upset because this, what we've watched for the past couple weeks, even before, it's inconsistent and it's not getting better. And that's where we're at on this Wednesday. So if you want to hit up the show, make sure you're doing it. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Packers, badgers, brewers, anything you want to talk about, hit me up. But if you want to talk some Packers, hit us up there on that text line, 715-990-4914. We'll be back here after a quick commercial break. Umr's gonna stop by. We're gonna continue this Packer Talk on the backside of the ad break. We'll be right back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. All right, we're back. We're back here, Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. I got a little bit off my chest there to start out the show. Now I'm relaxed. We're back. And this next segment here, we're gonna talk about Packers. We're gonna do some Packer Talk. I'm gonna stay calm. I promise. I'm gonna stay calm throughout the entire Packer Talk. And this next segment is brought to you by 1891 Winery. They celebrate history with flavors. Sip on artisan wines, craft it on location, or grab a cold beer and pair it with a giant pretzel or pizza. You can catch the Packers, Badgers, Badger Hoops. You can catch it all on the big TVs down there. Catch, like I said, grab some wine, grab a cold beer, grab a pizza. What else could you want? Get down to 1891 Winery there in Greenwood, Wisconsin. They're open Fridays from four to seven, Saturdays from 11 to 6, and Sundays from 11 to 5. Follow them on Facebook for upcoming events. You can check them out there. And if you're planning something private, they book those two. Check them out there. 1891 Winery. So Ummer is here. Like I said, we're gonna continue with the Packer talk here because this is just something that we just need to we just need to get it out of the way to start the show. Because the pack the badgers won. So, like, that's some good. And I just want to get to the good later. Let's talk, Packers. Umr's here. Ummer, how are we doing? Wednesday. Enough of let's not talk about the Packers. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_02:I'm tired, man. I think I'm just tired. I think it's been a crazy few months. I think uh, all in all, it's been a crazy, crazy year to say the least. And yeah, middle of the week. Um, got my birthday coming up tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that. And uh, yeah, man. Other than that, though, I'm just uh still recovering from Monday night. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_03:Well, first off, happy pre-birth. It's not like belated because that's after, so like happy pre-birthday. Like, yes, happy pre-birthday from everybody here on the show. There you go. There you go. Doing good. We're doing good over here. Like it. I mean, I just I had my moment there in the intro. I was just a little ticked off. I mean, I'm still ticked off after watching that game coming off the weekend because I mean, let's just let's just dive right into that Packer game because it was it was a game where we watched what happened the week prior with the Panthers, and it was a trap game we felt. We didn't think they could be trapped twice. They had the Brown trap game already. We didn't think it could happen again. It happened again against the Panthers. And we said, well, there's no way, there is no way that you could come out flat against the uh the defending Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles, in Lambeau, a team that you knew was gonna be gunning for you. You were trying to ban the Tush push, all that kind of jazz, all that talk, all this going into it, the Philly fans, blah, blah, blah, whatever. We didn't think they could come into a flat. And once again, once again, Matt LaFleur, he baffled me again. He did. Umer, I get let's just start there. How, how, how can a guy, how can a guy who we believe, I mean, I believe he's a good play caller. I believe he, I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say that. I believe he's a good play designer. I believe he's a good play designer. I don't believe he's a good play caller at times. How does a guy who we want to put all of our faith into and seems like he's the guy at times, how does he come into another game ill-prepared with an undisciplined team who just they come out flat, they don't look right. Your star quarterback in a lot of eyes right now in quotations because a lot of people are worried about him right now. Your quarterback looks like he's lost out there at times. Your offensive line is terrible. I don't know. You know what? I'm gonna be honest with you, Josh Myers leaving might have been the worst thing in the world. Might have been at this point. I mean, I'm gonna coming off that game. How do you come into another game like this?
SPEAKER_02:I think we kept having these hopes where like, oh man, like LaFleur's gonna have this team ready. They're gonna, you know, they can't beat underdogs, but if they are if they're underdogs, then they you know play at a whole narrow level. Because last, you know, last those two games against Cleveland and Carolina, they're a heavy favorite. I I really can't tell you. I really don't know what the fleur is doing right now. I feel like he's coming into this game, he has a game plan. He has you know how they say you script the first 25 plays? I feel like he scripted the first 60 plays, and he just goes literally down that script. And it's like his tendencies. Ben Solak did like a great breakdown where his tendencies are now showing up on every single game. And the innovation, the the creativity, the the ability to play off other plays and other formations, none of that is there. Maybe it is, and we're just seeing poor execution by a very young team and undisciplined team. But it's one of those things where that's what your coach staff gets paid to do, to nail in these facts. I'm like, the things that we're seeing now, like it just reminds you of a team playing in a preseason where they just don't know what's going on and they're trying to figure things out. And we're at a point where we're at a week 11 and we're still dealing with the same things we're dealing with, not just this year, but last year. I mean, it's pretty bad that that fourth and one call inside zone was a call that they've done multiple times in the games this year. And I think you and me have talked about it where it seems like instead of him going into his bag and like getting different plays, he's like repeating stuff. And I just don't know it's because he has no confidence in Jordan, which I doubt that is, but it feels like it. No confidence is offensive line because they can't Aaron Banks is just terrible. Or the receivers have, I think if you notice, some of the receivers are like I've watched Jordan having to tell people no, go here, go here, go there, go here, right? And again, as a quarterback, you shouldn't have to be not only worrying about your job, but also worrying about what the where the receivers are lined up and telling them where to go, right? It just seems like there's it's so disjointed, and it just feels like we're like in preseason still, and here we are in mid-November. And I don't know, man. I'm with you. I know for a long time I was defending the floor, I'm slowly turning on him, and I hate that. Uh, but it it's tough. It was that was a rough game. Like, I know Eagles didn't look that great either, but they have looked, they haven't looked great all year, but they still they're now you know six and two. Yep, and it's like yeah, like we're third in the division, we're the seventh seed, none of that matters right now, matters where we end up, but I'm telling you, it just it just looks really bad. And I I don't know if there's any answers that we can come up with. I was kind of hoping the floor would talk tonight, and you know, I guess he's gonna talk tomorrow, but yeah, I just I'm I'll tell you, I'm over it to a certain degree.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, I right like you just mentioned it, third in the div, they're third right now, and they're deservedly third. Like right now, if you put the Packers on the field with the Bears, I I don't think they beat the Bears. I like and that's gonna say because Caleb Williams is and Ben Johnson have figured it out, and that's okay, that's my biggest worry right now. Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love have had six years to figure it out, and it still seems like there's this distance, like there's like this confusion between the two of them, what they want, what the other one's doing. It just feels like there's this confusion. Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams figured it out in what nine weeks? Like, where are we at right now? Like, that's my worry. And Matt LaFleur, you mentioned it great there with the consistent play calling, right? The fourth and one. We've seen it many times this year. You said it, the inside zone. They've ran it a lot. And I was just thinking to myself, okay, well, the second downs. We look at the second downs, they kept trying to run it with Josh Jacobs on second down. And how many times did we see the Eagles stuff it and then it set up a third and long? And then the Packers were constantly playing from deep behind the sticks. You want to know what the Eagles make it so they I I absolutely despise the tush push, and I don't even want to talk about it because it's just gonna give the Eagle fans and everything what they want out of a show, is to have people talking about that thing. So I'm not even gonna talk about it. I don't even care. But what the Eagles do is they set themselves up with those short yardage situations, they get themselves into that third and short where they can utilize then two plays to try and get a first down. Whereas the Packers, we saw it there. It's I mean, at one point, they were having an average of 12 yards at one point on third downs, 12 yards. And they were, I mean, I I don't have the stats up in front of me here, but third down conversions, they came into the game as the best, one of the best, if not the best, in the NFL on third down conversions, like 49%. And at one point they were like, oh, for the century. Yeah, and that's where you it's getting third and manageables, and that's where Matt LaFleur is not even getting them to that point. So now Jordan loves trying to push the sticks, right? And there was one he had to Luke Musgrave, and I think, like I said before, if Tucker Kraft was out there, I think he busts it and he gets it. But Luke Musgrave was short, he just doesn't have that sustainability that Kraft does to get it. Yeah, but you're also trying to rely on your guys to have to go and get it for you because you're setting yourself up in terrible situations, because you're playing conservative, because you're playing scared, because you're playing in this certain way, and that's the way that you're coaching this team. And you want to know what the best part about Dan Campbell is, and I'm gonna praise Dan Campbell for a second. You want to know what the best part about him is. His players are an encapsulation of him. They they are him. They're they're feisty, they get after you, they're tough, they go after, they do all those things, and they're just hard-nosed football players. You want to know why this team's undisciplined, you want to know why they're unprepared, you want to know why all these things continuously go wrong. Sometimes you don't gotta look very far. Sometimes you don't. It needs to start with Matt LaFleur, he needs to get his guys ready. I don't believe he's a terrible coach. I don't. I don't, I don't hate Matt LaFleur, but the way that he's coaching this team right now, the conservative stuff, the I mean, he's just he's like a sometimes a whiner. I'm gonna be honest with you. He's a whiner at times. And I hate to say that because I want to like the guy. But when I watch him on the sideline and all I see is the oh, hands on ahead, sticking his head down. He's upset. Oh, it didn't work. Oh no, I got Bo Melton out there playing wide receiver again for some reason. I'm trying to run a pitch play to my backup running back out of shotgun and seeing if that works. You want to know why it's not working, Matt? Because you're playing with more stuff behind the line of scrimmage than anything else. Two illegal formation calls. Two. One of them would have been a the best play of the night was called back for an illegal formation call that would have set you up with a great chance to score. And it got called all the way back because your team once again came in on discipline, because I believe it starts right there. It starts with him, and that's my worry. And I know that I want somebody to talk me out. So, Ummer, I mean, is that an overreaction to say that Matt LaFleur and the way that he coaches this team is actually showing up in the way his players are playing on the field. The way that he's coaching is an exact replica. Like it's just like together. Like it just seems like to me, that's what I'm seeing is the way he's coaching is the way they're playing.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think if anything, you're seeing how tightly wound he is right now. He is now literally coaching for his job. I think the fact that policy didn't extend him and that they're they have that in the back of their head is probably there. You you know, the team is a reflection of their coach, right? And you see like Campbell, you see Nick Seriani, you see like even like Dan Canales, you see the players having fun. If they're up, they're down, they're still having fun. Our guys aren't having any fun. I ain't seeing no seeing nothing on the sidelines. I see a little bit on the field. It just seems like it's all performative, if anything. And the truth is, is yeah, they're all completely undisciplined because the mistakes is what killing them. And I think when you see him get pissed off at players from making those mistakes, it doesn't help because it's like, okay, well, you're jumping on him, but then what do you do as a play caller? Are you putting these guys in the best position to be successful? You're not. And on top of that, too, you're you're staying to your script. Like you you run almost at a pretty high clip on first down, but you it is proven now this year that he runs no matter what it is on second down every single time. Doesn't matter if it's second and short, second and long, doesn't matter, it's always a run. And your team is not a good run blocking team. These guys cannot run block to save their lives. And you're scared to give, I don't know if you're scared to give Jordan the ball and just let him run with it, but it comes down to a point where it's like, okay, you have, like you said, Bo Melton out there, who is a who is a cornerback now, who has been practicing now with the offense, who hasn't played any defensive snaps. You're you're going to him in critical downs, and he's dropping the ball. Last year or two years ago, that guy was catching everything. Now I guess he's doing two ones, so he can't. And the fact that we he's always complained about you guys always want to talk, talk about targets, talk about targets. How does Christian Watson have four targets? How does how does it musgrave like have like what two targets? Like, what do we? I just it just he's playing. I don't know why he's being so conservative, but does I understand the offensive line is not great, but you as an offensive coordinator slash head coach as play caller, you should be the one to find ways to move the pocket. Do boot. I mean, when I watch Sean McVeigh and the Rams play, and I just see them like spam plays over and over and over again. I'm like, they they run bootleg almost every other play. Play action, bootleg, play action, bootleg. You tell me Jordan can't do that? Stafford's out there with a bad back, freaking. In his mid 30s, trying to hold on, and Jordan's pretty spry, he's healthy. I don't know. I'm telling you, there's not a true answer, but it's getting to the point now where we are literally in the definition of insanity every single week doing the same thing, expecting a different result. And I am actually terrified about I know the Giants suck, they got so much dysfunction, their team is all over the place. I'm terrified to see that what's gonna happen. We went to the Giants last year when their team was all garbage and they beat us. I I don't I had their offense, their defensive line is disgusting. They have talent up and down the line, and their backups are good too. So yeah, I'm telling you right now, like people have said that if he keeps continuing this way, he may get fired by the end of the year. And that's sad because he is a good coach, but I agree with you. Year seven, he's still making some kind of like very, very like first-year coach mistakes. I don't know, man. It's not looking promising right now.
SPEAKER_03:He worries me because it seems like he's coaching like a guy who feels like he's not gonna lose his job. That's how I feel he coaches. He feels like weird, right? He coaches like a guy who's not worried, right? Because when you're like like a Brian Dable, I was when he he got fired, but he was coaching like a guy, he was letting Jackson Dart run with it. He knew what he had to do to try to get it. He was gonna let it all go balls to the walls to see what happens. Well, Matt LaFleur is playing conservative, like he doesn't want to be, he doesn't want to be in the spotlight of why it went wrong, yet he's putting himself in the spotlight by not letting it just run with it.
SPEAKER_02:And it's still going wrong.
SPEAKER_03:And it's still going wrong. That's my I guess biggest worry. That's my my biggest problem with him. It's like it seems like he's coaching like a guy who doesn't feel like he's gonna be fired, yet he might be on the hottest of seats of any of the coaches that you don't expect. So, I mean, yeah, and you mentioned the schedule. That was the easy part of the schedule that they just went through. Yeah, I mean, this part coming up here, the Giants, after the Giants, you have Vikings twice, you have the Ravens, you have the Bears twice, you have the Broncos who are stingy, and you have the Lions at Ford Field. And I'm gonna guess Dan Campbell isn't too happy that you embarrassed him to start the season and starting this season off on a bad note. So I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and tell you that this stretch of games that you got coming up here, if you don't start it out right with the Giants, yeah, it's gonna go bad fast. And it could go really bad, really fast. So, I mean, yeah, this right now, it it's just like you said, with the play calling, why not switch things up? Why not try like more up tempo? Late in the game there, they ran up tempo, they were keeping it. Yeah, but they were successful, they were no huddle, they were urgent. That's another thing that I was gonna say. This team, and that's where I work like with Matt LaFleur, and like what I'm saying, this team is like a like an exact copy of him. There's no urgency, and it just seems like there isn't an urgency with Matt LaFleur at times. He seems so relaxed, like, oh, we got this, we'll be fine, right? We can just play conservative football all game and we'll just make it work at the end. That that's not how it works in the National Football League. That's not how look at what Siriani made the dumbest play that he's ever done in the fourth and six when he chucked it down the field to AJ Brown, Jalen Hurts chucked it down the field, it was incomplete. Packers ended up getting the ball, that was in the fourth there late. I mean, it was the dumbest thing in the world. Yeah, but at the same time, why not? Why not? I mean, whatever. If he kicks a field goal and he makes the six, okay, right? If he gets it, if he gets down there, kicks a field goal, makes a six, whatever. But he just he went for it. And sometimes that's what you want out of a coach. You just go for it. It ended up working. If it ended up screwing up, Sirianni would look like the worst thing that's ever happened today, but it ended up being fine. But that's a coach who just said, All right, let's do it, let's see what we can do. I trust my guys, go and get it. They didn't get it, but anyways, it's just that kind of stuff, the urgency to just say, I don't want Matt LaFleur and uh because he, I mean, Sirianni respects Matt LaFleur and he respects Jordan Love. He says, I don't want to give him the ball back, so I want to keep it in my hands. I want to just end this thing right now.
SPEAKER_01:And it was a good throw. It was actually a good throw. Like Adrian just didn't see it, like, yeah, like it hit him in the hands.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Balance made a fantastic play. I mean, it was a fantastic play. It was unlike when Christian Watson played defense and should have been playing offense and just caught the ball down the field. I mean, they didn't say the caught him. He didn't say he should have caught him. Oh, yeah, that was hilarious. But he uh he reposted it on Twitter and he's like somebody said, like, should Christian Watson have caught it?
SPEAKER_02:And he's like, Yeah, yes, he's like, Yeah, and he he he saw the ball coming, he thought if he just put his hands out, it'll come into his hands. I was like, Christian, what are you doing, bro? That's man. That was he did play defense, I'll take it.
SPEAKER_03:But oh my god, it was at least he played defense, but it's like, dude, remember, you're on offense. Like, if you want to go melting and play corner, but you're kind of getting hurt a lot, so I don't want you to play defense either. So, anyways, when we come back from the break, when we come back from the break, we're gonna hit a commercial break, we're gonna come back. We're gonna talk about the little bit of good we saw, and then how they can move forward from this into the Giants game and maybe get back on track. So, we're gonna talk about that when we come back from the break here. Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade with Zach of the Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we come back here on this Wednesday. And hey, this next segment, Ummer's sticking around here. We're gonna talk a little bit more packers. This next segment is brought to you by Badger Tree Care, the tree removal, tree trimming, pruning, full uh full cleanup, small lot clearing, storm cleanup. They do it all. Call Trevor Barth there, 715-937-3276. That is 715-9369-3276. Call them up there. Trevor Barth. He does fantastic work there. Check them out on Facebook. Just see the pictures of what they do. It is absolutely stunning what they can do. A tree's there, gone. And it looks like it was never there. I mean, they are just fantastic at what they do there. If you want to be involved in the show, make sure you're doing it. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. Make sure you follow us across the social medias. And if you miss any portion of the show here tonight, make sure you check us out next day across all podcast platforms. So I'm gonna went to the break. We were talking about what went wrong, Matt LaFleur, the problems that we're seeing with Matt LaFleur right now. Let's get into the good, right? Let's let's talk a little bit of good off of the game. Okay, the defense was fantastic in this game. Once again, I mean we're talking about two straight weeks. The Panthers held them to 16 points there, and then we look at this game against the Eagles, held them down to 10. They forced a fumble there early on Jalen Hurts. That was a fantastic play by Edrin Cooper. I thought Evan Williams, I thought Evan Williams really looked good in the run game.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, he looked amazing. I agree.
SPEAKER_03:He was blowing up Saquon Barkley. There was a play I would have to go back and watch the film.
SPEAKER_02:I know exactly what you talk about.
SPEAKER_03:It was a play. I mean, Saquon Barkley, he just came straight through the line, blew up in the backfield, like right on the head of the flam.
SPEAKER_02:He came from deep, dog.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, Yes, yeah, and I was mightily impressed off that play. I was like, wow, okay, okay. Here's Evan Williams. He's playing great. He looks fantastic. I thought the secondary did a pretty darn good job on AJ Brown. They did a pretty good job on uh uh Devontae Smith got open one time there over the top. It was a good throw by Jalen Hurts, great catch by Devontae. People forget, and I love what Jalen Hurts said that he's like, people forget that Devontae Smith won a Heisman. Like he's uh pretty darn good football player, and a lot of people just forget about that. So I mean, he was fantastic. I mean, he he's a fantastic wide receiver. Dallas Goddard got open a couple times. My biggest, I guess the only thing I could say where I had a I guess a problem with the defense was they still seemed to lose guys in the flats. That's where I guess my my concern is because it's the third and shorts when they just drop it off in a flats to like Dallas Goddard and he just gets a first down on a little just boom route there. It just those are the ones where I don't it worries you that they had they didn't add at the cornerback position because they can't play a press, any kind of press coverage because they get worried about getting burnt off the edges, especially against teams like the Eagles with good wide receivers out there, or you're gonna have that against the Vikings there. Uh the Bears got some good talent out there at the wide receiver position. So you're gonna even the I mean, we can I just keep going through laundry list. There's gonna be a lot of teams that you're gonna face there where the Packers just don't feel comfortable playing a press coverage, which worries you because it's like they're going to play a bend but don't break death by a thousand cuts defense and just hope that you screw up along the way. And I guess that's that would be my only worry, I guess, with the defense. What did you like coming off this game from the defense? Maybe if you had some worries or dislikes about the defense in this game.
SPEAKER_02:My biggest concern was again, you mean you're nailed on the head playing off and very much like playing beyond the sticks when it's the third and long. Um, again, having Saquon out way in the flat, and then Carrington Valentine having one of the better games I've seen him have all season, missed the tackle, but not a lot of people are hitting Saquon in that kind of space, right? I think Michael Parsons had an amazing game. I think he was on his horse many a times and he was just right there for multiple sacks. Him losing contain is a little frustrating. It reminds me a lot of Rashawn Gary when he'd make his pass rush off the side, right? Where he's pulling for the for the sack and he's going so wide that he gives up a lane for them to run out and get a first down. It happened against Carolina, it happened against Jalen. Um, I think one of the biggest concerns I have on defense is when you have Isaiah McDuffie out there, and he's an amazing one-stopper. He definitely could play, you know, within, like I want to say within a very short zone, but he gets exposed a lot when they put a you know put a tight end on him. Um, I feel like McKinney had a pretty good game, but again, like I wish that he was more like close to a line, make him be more disruptive. Again, we held the Philadelphia Eagles to 10 points, right? What I thought was kind of funny was they ran the touch push, what, like maybe once or twice?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And truth be told, the Eagles could have probably ran the touch push like at least 15 times that game. There were multiple times. They were in third and short, like third and two, third and three. And I thought they were gonna run the touch push. They purposely didn't run it. I feel like I feel like they're like, you know what, this is a team that wanted to get it banned. We're gonna use it a couple times, and that's it, and we're gonna basically play it straight. Because there were times where I'm like, there were times in that fourth quarter where I'm like, they could run the touch push and they could just basically just run the clock out. And they decide not to, and of course they didn't get their completions. But man, I was very surprised by the fact that the lack of utilization when it came to the touch push. And you know, again, 10-7 game. So your defense has lost. No, your defense is now held teams within you know, those double digits. We have what a total of 39 points and three losses. And you're telling me the offense just couldn't get it done. Yeah, I'm sorry. Like the defense is doing his job. Jeff Hafley is not only adjusting at halftime, he's adjusting in in drives.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Like you're watching him make adjustments when it comes to how they're actually playing on the front, if they're gonna add more weight, how they're actually playing off, and they're sending blitzes and they're being very timed. Like, he's making these adjustments. And I'm thinking, like, you know, LaFleur used to be that way, and we're not seeing that. So, all in all, the defense is doing its job, it's getting paid for, and the Packers went all in this year by getting Parsons. And I hate to say it, like, if this continues, it's gonna be a failed season, it's gonna be a lost season. And the window is open for like two and a half years. But what do you do? Like, if your offense can't get out of this funk, they're in. I just don't know.
SPEAKER_03:You can't, you're you're basically the Cleveland Browns.
SPEAKER_01:Like that's but they look good, they still they were still touchdowns.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, get Joe Flacco, get Joe Flacco in there, he'll start throwing touchdowns for you.
SPEAKER_02:I heard Joe Burrow might be available, so maybe get Joe Burrow.
SPEAKER_03:Maybe, maybe, I don't know. Um, yeah, I would completely agree. The the Tush push was interesting, and he brought up an interesting point. Maybe they didn't run it because they wanted to say, well, look what we can do without it. Exactly. No, maybe they just wanted to prove that they could do it without the touch push. So that's that's an interesting one there.
SPEAKER_02:We ran it one time, they ran it one time. I think that I think that was the only maybe once or twice.
SPEAKER_03:I don't think they they didn't run it a lot. No, they didn't run it a lot at all, but they did have a lot of chances to utilize it, and they didn't. So very interesting there. Yeah, I would agree. Uh Barron Sorrell, I thought he played great. I thought Baron Sorrell did some really good things, limited snaps, didn't play a lot. I total, I mean, I I would have to I can't even see the total snaps are out of the top of my head there. But oh, right there, seven. He had total snaps, total seven snaps in total, but two tackles, some good plays out there. I mean, he was great in the run, I thought, and in this one here at least. He was great in the run for him. He actually was their top uh PFF grade, but he only played seven snaps. So I don't I don't know. It's like PFF's always got that skewed thing there where they don't put into account that they only play so many snaps to kind of organize that one out there. Like we talked about Carrington Valentine. I thought he played fantastic. Javian Bullard has developed into a really good guy along with the run. I thought, you know, that's been the big step up in his game is his ability to get downhill on that run game. That's been impressive. So Javian Bullard has been great for him. There was a lot of guys that we saw in this game who played meaningful snaps and played really well. I mean, Eggembare, he played well. Kobe Wooden, Carl Brooks played well. I thought Devontae Wyatt. That was the one. That was what I missed.
SPEAKER_02:Devontae Wyatt had an amazing game.
SPEAKER_03:He did, he did, and he didn't get graded well. He got graded like crap because, and I think it was just because of the run game. The run game hurt him. And I just because he wasn't he wasn't a force in the run game, and I think that was a lot of the Jalen Hurts stepping up in the pocket and being able to get out. I think that's where maybe they knocked him on the run with his run defense. Because when you look at his grade, he got graded like crap when it came to the run game. His actually overall defense was 33. The run, he graded him in at a 40. So, I mean, he just it's just that run game that really got to him in the grading system, I would say. But I thought all in all, Devontae Wyatt played really well up the middle for the Packers in this one. It's like you said though, the rush went wide. They brought forward, the rush went wide. Uh Jalen Hurts was just able to step up, and that's all it was. He found the lanes to step up in, and he's very good at that. And then Jalen Hurts has got the ability to not just run, he can throw it out of that, he can do a lot of different things, which gives him that multi-weapon look there. So that that was definitely something that hurt the Packers in this one was him being able to extend plays, and it's been a thing that's hurt the Packers in the past. Yeah. With, like you said, with mobile quarterbacks being able to get out and run there. So, I mean, all in all, though, the defense, you can't like we're not gonna sit here and harp on the defense. There, there is not a whole lot of bad that you want to bring out of this defense here. Uh, but the offensive side of it, I think the big thing that I'm getting is the offensive line is I don't know what they have to do. I don't. I I am I'm at a loss because I really didn't think. I mean, we talked about in the offseason where like Josh Myers wasn't the greatest thing in the world. Um, moving Elton Jenkins over, that seemed like a solid move at the time, moving Elton over, and then you add in Aaron Banks. We're like, okay, you know, they're they're you don't they're they're addressing problems, right? Because when they went into last offseason, you look at what happened in the playoff game, right? They got bullied, they got bullied up front by the Eagles. This team right here. This is what they prepared for. This is why they got Aaron Banks was for this team. Yeah, and he just got he got manhandled, and then I mean, outside of that, I mean, Zach Tom, I thought played well. Rasheed Walker didn't play bad. I thought, I thought actually on the outside, those two didn't play bad. Zach Tom didn't look bad. I thought Rasheed Walker actually looked good. Pass blocking-wise, Rasheed Walker actually graded at 86. He was fantastic, if you want to look at that. I mean, those two actually played well, and Rasheed Walker's been a guy of question, but he played well, Zach Tom played well. But you look at these other guys, Jordan Morgan, the inconsistent play of Jordan Morgan. I don't know what Anthony Belton is at this point here. And then I mean, we could just go through a laundry list of guys. Sean Ryan ended up having to play center, he's gonna end up playing bad at the center spot for coming in, and we kind of talked about it there. We said that at one point. We're like, maybe shift Sean Ryan over to center and kick Elton Jenkins back out. Well, now Elton Jenkins is gonna be on the pine for a little bit there with that uh fracture. But the offensive line is where it's gotta start. Yeah, because it's everything, it's not just, I mean, we talked about the run game, it's not just the run game, though. It's Jordan Love. When Jordan Love is not pressured, he's like one of the best quarterbacks in football.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but you're gonna get pressured, right? Yeah, like you got to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_03:The book is out on love. The book is out on love. When you can put pressure on Jordan Love, it's it's night and day difference. He can be the best quarterback in the world without it, and when he's got pressure on him, he makes silly mistakes, he tries to force things, he doesn't, he doesn't do well with pressure, and we saw it in this game. He rushes things, right? He doesn't like we're talking about Jalen Hurts, right? He sees the open lane, he steps up into that lane. Jordan Love, not in that same, I don't want to say in that same category, but I just he he questions himself, and then the routes that LaFleur is trying to set up are open. How many times did you watch a replay and they're like, oh, Dobbs was coming open across the field? Or there's Watson coming open, but Jordan Love didn't see him. He didn't have time, he wasn't able to get it there. That's the problem. You do you have these crossers that are supposed to open this thing up because you're playing that too high safety look. You have these crossers that are supposed to open it up, but you they're not opening it up because Jordan Love doesn't have time to even step up and look. That's where I guess my worry is with this offensive line is that Jordan Love doesn't have the time, which is making Jordan Love look even worse. I think Jordan Love is making some silly mistakes. I will say that. I think Jordan Love, the immaturity is still there, which is worrisome at times because that fumble. That's something that can't happen. No, you got to eat that. You have to go down and eat that because that's three points. I know McManus missed the one late, but that's three points. That's a tie ball game. Now, things can go different, right? But hindsight being 2020, that's a tie ball game. So that's a problem that you right there.
SPEAKER_02:That's you kind of like volleyball hit it to Jacobs, man.
SPEAKER_03:That was I don't know what that was. That was just what like that and the fourth and one call are two terrible things that happened that I just I just have replays in my mind watching over and over again. And it's just it's that immaturity play by Jordan Love where it's just we've seen it before, and that's where I guess I come back to the Matt LaFleur thing and saying to him, Okay, the immaturity of Jordan Love, why hasn't Jordan Love this was supposed to be the breakout year? Why does it not seem like a breakout year? And it just comes back to the same narrative that it just never is consistent, it's never all there, and Jordan Love, it's like he needs all other 10 guys to be playing at a certain level, and right now you have who's playing at an actual good level, Christian Watson. Yeah, I mean Rasheed Walker, maybe you got three guys on that entire offense, right? I mean, I can't blame Luke Musgrave, I don't think he really did anything terrible in that game. So maybe Luke Musgrave, but he's still not Tucker Kraft. Who's playing at that level that can elevate the offense right now? Maybe three guys that you can say that played well in this game to elevate the offense, Zach Tom, Rasheed Walker, and Christian Watson. Outside of that, Dobbs Dobbs played well. Jacob's to degree, but yeah, and then I mean Wicks.
SPEAKER_02:I've had some drops. There was like five drops that could turn the game around. And I think what you're saying about the pressure thing, I agree. But Jordan's been the kind of guy who's taken pressure to the face and still been able to deliver the ball pretty accurately. And we saw that in the beginning of the year, and it's like I'm watching him, he's skittish. He's skiddish, and he's scared. Like it's like he's looking down at the pass rush. I mean, I watch Aaron Banks get beat time and time and time again. It was embarrassing. And then Jordan Morgan playing right guard doesn't make any sense to me. You just need to put him on left guard and call it a day because what Yachi was better at. I think like Jordan has no confidence in that line, and he's trying to lose confidence as receivers. I feel like they're not their spacing's off, their routes are off, something's going on. But he too are not, he's not making like he's not letting things develop enough to where you can make better decisions. And this double clutching stuff is like I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_03:It's exactly like this head coach. That's good. Like that is it. That's 100% it. I'm coming back to the head coach with all this. These guys are questioning themselves. The route run, like you said, the route running's all off, the formations are off. You can't even set up, you can't even set up where you gotta go, even on when it's i mean, you have time, you have all the time in the world, and you have nobody who's yelling in, call timeout, whatever, get this thing fixed up, but you you don't, you don't notice it, right? It's those little things. You have no, it's I don't want to say you don't have a leadership on the field right now, but it just seems like there's nobody out there who's like taking that urgent charge to say, Okay, we got to fix this right now. Well, you hear it behind the scenes, right? Josh Jacobs will tell you in a press conference, but what's he doing out on the field?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what what's what you guys like? He says he doesn't know the answer, but they're gonna figure it out. I'm thinking like you got Michael Parsons saying, Don't worry, we're gonna win a lot of games. I'm thinking, like, all right, dog, you got like eight games left. What are you talking about? Like, apart me's kind of like you can keep telling us these things, but there's no changes happening, and like LaFleur needs like a come to his lord moment and just really figure out what he's gonna do because I'm sorry, like you what you're doing isn't working, and you need to change it up. Like, Dan Campbell took over the play column because he wanted to change things up. LaFleur might need to give it up. I'm not saying that's the right move, but it's something different and see if it makes a difference. That's where it comes down to.
SPEAKER_03:What could Stenovich do worse at this point?
SPEAKER_02:At this point, honestly, get more Vrable, yeah, right, or Getsey. Getsy's called plays or Nathaniel Hackett, he's called plays. There's a lot of guys.
SPEAKER_03:Any of them you could have Jeff Hafley call it at this point. I mean, honestly, do worse.
SPEAKER_02:I'm telling you, it is it is just one of those things where we have guys there that can give you different, like an infusion on the offense, yeah, and you allows you to be. And the thing is, maybe he doesn't know what to do then. If he's not calling plays, maybe he's confused as a head coach just like McCarthy was in 2015. Yeah, he gave a play calling for like five like what, like seven, eight weeks. He was doing his thing, but after a while, he had to take it back because he just didn't like the way things were going. They weren't they weren't bad, but still, though, right?
SPEAKER_03:Right. I'm gonna let you go on this one. I'm gonna let you go on this one. I don't know if he wants to let it up because if somebody does come in there and do it better, Matt LaFleur doesn't really have a reason to be there anymore. Maybe so that would be still design the play. He's designing it, but you could just be like, Oh, you got the playbook already. Why do we need Matt LaFleur around anymore? He's just a random guy, like it's it's one of those kind of things, too. I don't know. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:That's I can see that actually.
SPEAKER_03:It's it's Matt LaFleur. Who knows? Packers, they gotta figure it out here. Umer, I gotta run. Let the people know where to find you out there across social media.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, man. So as always on AMAR3455 on Twitter X. Uh Coast to Coast Packers is everywhere. We're probably gonna go again Thursday or Friday. Oh, actually, Thursday's my birthday, so we're probably gonna go Friday. And yeah, just uh catch us on any of those things. We'll go live. We'd love to have you guys there, have comments. We put those on there, we try to talk to everybody, talk about what happened this past week, what to expect for the next week, as well as just probably just complain because that's what we're gonna be doing. It's probably a lot of complaining and saying a lot of things we probably can't say on here.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, right, right, exactly. We save it for there. So make sure you guys are checking that out there coming up on Friday, their Coast to Coast backers. Make sure you check out Ummer across social media. So thank you, Ummer. As always, we'll be back here. We're gonna wrap up our number one. Look ahead, hour number two, when we come back here for Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we wrap up hour number one. This next segment 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 Kobe or Medford, Wisconsin. Tell them I sent you, tell them Trade sent you, get 5% off right now. Grab the three-pack of seasoning they got down there at your favorite Foreman's, whether it's in Loyal Kobe or Medford, get down there, grab up that three-pack there, and you can help them win their little contest they have between the stores. So make sure you check them out there. Foreman's hardware. So in hour number two, coming up next year, in hour number two, Christian's gonna stop by. He's on. Don't you guys worry. He's on tonight here. I told you he might not be able to make it. He's gonna make it. Don't you guys worry. We're gonna talk some badgers. We got badger football to talk about, we got badger hoops to talk about. We're gonna have all of that here. Hour number two of Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trades is coming at you after this quick commercial break.