I Love Mondays-Ep102, July 22, 2026

One week from the start of Packers training camp...talk about WR depth and much more with Wes Hodkiewicz.  Also getting ready for the Brewers and Mets series finale at American Family Field

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I love Mondays with Mike Hell.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Broadcasting live from an undisclosed bunker in the Badger State. This is I Love Mondays with Mike Heller. Powered by determination and a little bit of duct tape. Here's your host, Mike Heller.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yeah, so here we go in on a Wednesday. It is a matinee day for the Milwaukee Brew. Just got a cough. Matinee day for the Brewers after just their fourth shutout loss at the hands of the Mets last night. And uh now they'll see if they can find a way to uh to win the series against a really bad Mets team. But last night uh it was a really well-pitched game for the Mets. And the Brewers just there was nothing there. There was uh there was no offensive continuity. There were really no opportunities. There was one base running mistake. There was a couple of really good plays by the Mets in the field, one of them on the warning track and left and a ball hit by Tarang. Uh, but all in all, the the Brewers didn't do a very good job. So uh see if they can wrap the series with a win today against uh the New York Mets, and then an off day tomorrow. There are only six of them the rest of the season. So tomorrow is an off day, and the Colorado Rockies will come in for the weekend. Back-to-back day games. Today 110, Friday, 310, and that will be followed by a Legends alumni game at American Family Field uh on Friday night after the conclusion of that. Mike and Merrill says, good morning, all. Uh he also adds, what an abysmal performance by the Brewers last night. Threw the ball around, uh, approach of the plate, base running, chalk it up to a bad game, hopefully regroup. Yeah, it's a single game. So, you know, sometimes it it's gonna happen. I thought, I thought their dude threw the ball exceptionally well. So, and I I didn't know much, I didn't know much about him. Uh fact I have to even look up who it is now. Zach Thornton. He he was really good. And the the top seven hitters in the Brewers lineup went one for 23. That's it. Put it away. The base running, not to get in the weeds, I did on Brew Daily uh later last night. By the way, I'm wearing the same shirt, but I mean, whatever. For those who judge, uh, when I did Brood Daily last night, the the base running mistake is made by Joey Ortiz. He's the one that can't go to second. However, Cooper Pratt has to get a better read. He's got to get a better secondary lead and go to third base on the ball that hops away from the catcher. When he didn't go, then it's all on Joey because Joey can't go. You can't put your head down and go if you don't look at the runner on second, who didn't go. And I'll give Cooper Pratt the benefit of the doubt that his angle might not have shown where the ball bounced to to the back and right of the catcher, and Pratt is leading from second on the on that secondary lead, he could have been completely blocked out from where the ball was. So hey, hey, regardless, they didn't do anything offensively. And the the issue, and I went through this yesterday, going into yesterday's game, when you talk about the top third of the Brewers lineup, then I talked the top uh, what I say, the top whatever went one for 23 last night. So, yeah, top seven hitters in the lineup. By the way, traditionally the top seven would be something along the lines of Yelich Churio, Tarang, Contreras, Mitchell, the outlier here, Vaughn, and Bowers. All right. So that's some semblance of that as your top six, other than Mitchell. This group going into yesterday's last night's game, and they didn't help themselves there. In the month of July, old gen stats, Yelich hitting 186, Churio hitting 219, Tarang, a bit of an outlier, hitting 270, Contreras hitting 167, Vaughn hitting 212, Bowers hitting 190. Old gen stats in the month of July, going into last night. And then that exasperated itself even more last night because the top seven hitters in the lineup had one hit. And I get it. Um, you know, to at a certain extent, to a certain extent, Zach Thornton was really good last night. He extended his scoreless straight to 18 innings. So he's no joke, but the Brewers offense just needs to be better. Um yeah, Churio didn't advance, uh, Mike says didn't advance to second on a deep foul ball catch in left field. Um, yeah, the the tag play going from two to second is is always gonna be a bit tricky. Um, so I think we're picking nits uh on some of that stuff. But uh James says good morning from EAA. Yeah, how about that? EAA going on now. Um, I always remember it like going up to uh training camp and fighting EAA traffic.

unknown 5:35

Whew.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Um and it only lasts for a little bit, but when you go in, if you go in on 26 from Rosendale and try to get on 41, that's an issue. So I always took the Fond du Lac route instead. But yeah, in and around Oskosh. Well, and great weather for it right now, right? I mean, this is really good. So I love that. Uh, it's all good stuff. Um, I shouldn't use that line. There's somebody that would say that a lot that I didn't love that line. Uh, all right. A couple of items to uh to touch on. Wes Hodquitz of the Green Bay Packers will join us here in a few minutes. Um, and he will talk about the start of training camp, which is one week from today. Uh, a little setup for uh tomorrow if you like Badger football recruiting or Badger recruiting in general. Nick Oson on the show tomorrow. Um, if you're a fan of the Brewers and of their history, Jeff Jenkins joins us on Friday on the show. Uh so all of that uh coming up with you as well. I want to uh spend a few minutes and uh before I jump into some topics, I want to talk about um what we've got going on on the show with our sponsors. One Community Bank is uh we're a proud partner sponsor with One Community Bank. You can keep cool this offseason and let One Community Bank help your everyday money go further with their feel good deposit rates from CD specials to savings accounts. There's something for everyone to help your savings grow. Enjoy your summer with Feel Good Banking. Onecommunity.bank is the website. One Community Bank member FDIC, an equal housing lender. Also brought to you by our friends at M3 Insurance. With M3, you get it all. Your independent and privately held insurance broker and risk management firm. They leverage world-class resources and a specialized team to protect and grow your business. Visit M3INS.com. We are also presented by our friends at Neuroscience Group up in the valley, neuroscience group.com. The work that they do is fantastic. If you've suffered from a concussion, headaches, dizziness, brain fog, whether that's after a car accident, a workplace injury, or a sports concussion, getting the right care matters. And their comprehensive concussion program brings together specialists focused on helping you heal and get back to what you love. Neuroscience Group, Wisconsin's leader in concussion care, neurosciencegroup.com. And always by Pottawatomies Sportsbook and Casino, right up the road from American Family Field to Shuttles, running here momentarily to get you over to the matinee today with the Brewers and New York Mets wrapping their series. And brought to you by Habish, Habish and Rotier, 13 locations to ensure you get a hometown attorney looking out for your interests. Also, I want to um, hey, camera too. Uh I want to say good morning to Brian, who threw a note in. Morning, Mike, morning, Brian, right back at you. Um, you know, I want to touch on something that uh that was said um on a radio show, um ESPN Wisconsin, uh, by Jim Rutledge earlier this week. And he caught a lot of flack for it. Uh Jim's pretty thick skinned. Um, but he could he talked about the walk-off home run being the least exciting of the walk-offs in our pro sports, right? So he essentially compared it to uh a game-winning shot in basketball. Um but you know, the thing is in a game-winning shot in basketball that you know when the shot is going up that it's either going to win or lose the game. You don't know on like William Contreras walk-off three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday, you don't know that the next pitch is going to decide the game. Baseball has that unknown because there's no clock. Right? In football, when you send out your field goal kicker to kick a game-winning field goal with four seconds left, you know, unless there's a penalty, this is the last play of the game. This decides the game. You know, when somebody comes up court down by a point, and they're, you know, there's eight seconds left in a game, you're pretty well assured that the game will be decided in what happens in the next eight seconds. So the clock lends itself a little bit to what Jim was talking about. However, when the ball is hit, to call that the hey, they won the game concept is silly. I think he probably even knows that that came off as silly and not not even hot takeish, just kind of dumb take ish. And I say that with a smile on my face, um, because we all have silly takes from time to time. But after the fact and thinking it through to call a walk-off home run the least of the dramatic moments, I mean, it's a sudden ending that you didn't see coming. In basketball, that sudden ending, it's gonna go one way or the other on that possession, and you know it in advance. When the ball's being inbounded or brought up court, you know the game's gonna end. In baseball, especially in that case, there was just one out. We don't I mean, if Contreras strikes out, the game's not over. Because there was only one out. But when that ball leaves the bat, that's one of the great moments. And I g one of Jim's other takes was it's one game of 162. Well, in basketball, if you're talking about the NBA, it's one of 82. I don't know that that makes it a whole lot more impactful. Football is different. Yes, I get it. And typically in football, that walk-off is gonna be a field goal, right? Typically, you know, unless a team is down by four and they've got a, you know, you're inside of 20 seconds in the game, you don't know what that that part is gonna be. Anyway, um, kind of a goofy take. Jim's thick skinned, he can handle it. He took a lot of crap for it. Um, yeah. I I I tweeted back at him, uh, not a whole lot of support for Jim on this one. He got it. He understood what I was getting at on that. Uh Mark says, good morning. Was an interesting day at the ballpark last night. Couple of those hits uh out of the park last night might have been a different game, and that solo shot by Rogers, uh a bomb. Yeah, they uh the Brewers didn't pitch poorly last night. Uh I I get it. Sproat didn't uh it took him too many pitches to get through. Uh typically, if you give up four runs, you you know, uh the the Brewers are the best example of that this year. When the Brewers score at least four runs, they're 51 and nine. When the Brewers score zero runs, they lose. In the history of baseball, the team that doesn't score has never won. So you get shut out and give Thornton credit, give the Mets pitchers credit last night, and take a shot at the Brewers hitters. It has not been a banner month for the top five or six hitters, and I'll give exceptions there to Bryce Durang and Garrett Mitchell. But yeah, it has not been a great month at the plate for the top of this lineup. It's just kind of that part is what it is. I want to spend a few minutes talking about the Packers too, before uh Weston Hodkowitz joins us on the program. And the Packers begin training camp one week from today. I think one of the key positions, and Wes wrote about this uh today, uh, retweeted it out a short while ago, is about the wide receivers in this look for what the what the Packers have when camp opens. So Rob Domowski has done a really interesting series of pieces on whether the Brewers are rather the Packers, I'm sorry, multitasking, whether the Packers are better at certain positions uh on the field entering camp than they were when they walked off the field in the playoff loss against the Bears. One of those is about wide receiver. Now, what I find really interesting is when you talk about wide receiver, and we'll do this with Wes in just a couple of minutes, gone is Romeo Dobbs, Dontavian Wicks, and Malik Heath. Those were depth pieces. Uh well, Dobbs isn't a depth piece. Much of last year, Dobbs was your number one option. Um, and and I don't have an issue with how they manage this, but when we talk about are they better, is the combination of Christian Watson, Jaden Reed, Matthew Golden, and Savian Williams, Bo Melton, and Sky Moore, that's your top six. Is that better than last year's top six? Well, Watson healthy is part of that. Uh and can he stay healthy? Because I I think, you know, on the extension there, Watson is he's a true number one. We we had this conversation. I was doing it yesterday with Treadmill uh on Super Fan Tuesday, talking about whether the Packers had a true number one wide receiver. It was a big conversation last year going into camp, in camp, and beginning the season. Do you need a true number one? Or could you do it by committee? Uh the Packers essentially did it by committee, but Watson is their one. And then when you look at this, Matthew Golden, he's got to emerge second year, first time the Packers spent a first-round draft choice on a wide receiver since 2002. Jaden Reed needs to stay on the field. Sometimes you don't control, I shouldn't say sometimes. Most of the time, you don't control whether you can stay on the field. If you break your collarbone, you're not gonna stay on the field. You don't do that. That's not a matter of conditioning or training. The the vagaries of the game, the violence of the game, the speed, the collisions of the game, injuries are gonna happen. And when they happen to a player consistently, that guy is injury prone. You know, the best ability is availability. But some of it you can't control. Now, hamstrings, yeah, you got to find that way. And it's on the training staff too, but the player and the training staff have to find a way about hamstrings. But broken bones, torn-up knees, stuff like that, that that is not a player issue. It is uh the the rub of the game, as they call it, the rub of the green in golf, they call it. Uh the ball can bounce funny. Well, so can injuries in pro sports. So that's part of the deal. But I look at that wide receiver group and go, huh. If Watson is healthy all year, if he can stay on the field, I think he can be extraordinary. I haven't seen Matthew Golden be that other than the Bears playoff game. Jaden Reed can be a mismatch, but I don't know about Savion Williams, Bo Melton, and Sky Moore. I mean, shoot a year ago, Bo Melton was such in the wide receiver group that he switched over and didn't play wide receiver. I don't know that any of those guys, Sky Moore is a return guy, uh, a depth piece. He'll do other things, but I think they'll miss Romeo Dobbs and Dontavian Wicks and Malik Heath. I think all those guys will be a little bit missed on their way out. So as the Packers get ready to go to camp, then one of the other things that I think of is running back depth because your running backs right now are Josh Jacobs, which, you know, there's an asterisk there. I don't think it's gonna be an issue, but you know, covering the courts is gonna always be a little bit different. But Jacobs, Chris Brooks, and Marshawn Lloyd to your running back room right now. So that that can be an interesting deal. And then I'm I'm always gonna, we're all gonna be curious, right, about uh the changeover at defensive coordinator with Jonathan Gannon, who was highly successful at Philadelphia as a DC um five and four years ago, five and six years ago, and then he didn't have success at Arizona as a head coach, but I think some of that is franchise-driven uh as much as it is about the guy himself. Uh so we've we got some ground to cover in advance, by the way, of the Brewers playing a matinee today at American Family Field. They'll wrap up the series with the uh New York Mets. Brewers lead in the division as we enter today is six over the Chicago Cubs. They lost a game on that last night. And Logan Henderson and Christian Scott go later today. So we continue to roll forward, lots of things to get to. And among the things we want to get to is I want to welcome in Wes Hodkowitz to the program. And this is good for me because I I don't haven't had a chance to visit with West much lately. It's been a while, Weston. How are you? It's it's been a minute, Michael.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Thank you for having me on here. I think uh I wish I would have remembered it to get the recycling bin out of the back of my office here. No, no, no, you're good. It's kind of all thrown together.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

That that color, the the G in the background, that's a different look.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

You like that? Well, it was either that or it's gonna be NFL networking it looked really distracting. So I'm like, I'll just throw that on there. So the power of uh moving into finally an office. I I don't have like for so long when I would do these, I would have to like go find a random like conference room to like jump in. Yeah, now I can just switch my monitor over, and here you are.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

There, there it is. Well, thanks for saying yes and and for doing this. And um, I was talking to David Legrand yesterday a little bit, and we get close to camp. Camp starts a week from today. Um, how does that make you feel? Um, there's excitement, right? Yeah, it's also a workload. You're you're not afraid to work, but this is a fun time, yes?

SPEAKER_03 20:02

It's a very fun time, Mike. Obviously, there is that, you know. I I was on vacation last week, so you you come back on Monday morning, it's like, all right, here we go. Here we go. The long run, I always joke that this is the fastest six months of the year. So, uh, but no, I mean it's it's super exciting because all the narratives and all the conversation we've been having for the last six months, uh, really since the game ended in Chicago, uh now it comes back. Now we finally get some action. So, and I'm very interested to see you were outlining some of the things a few moments ago about the changes on defense, uh the them distilling down their receiving court. Okay, these are gonna be the essential uh guys we're gonna roll with moving forward. I mean, there's so many different new special teams coordinator in Cam A court, so many different storylines to follow, and seeing if the totality of all those things, in addition to these guys coming back from injury, if that can be the magic formula to the Packers finally getting back to a Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Yeah, so in you wrote you had a piece that uh uh reposted earlier today about the wide receivers, and I was just talking about them and that group, and it's a pretty dramatic turnover. Um, when you you know essentially your number one production receiver um over the last couple of years been available a lot. Romeo Dobbs is gone, Dontavian Wicks and Malik Heath, as well as depth pieces and guys who certainly are talented. Um so much of this is predicated on injury availability. Christian Watson, uh, and I was mentioning this about the conversation that we were all having a year ago, going into camp, in camp, and even starting the season, is who's your true number one? Yeah. And it it wasn't, you know, that's some of that is semantics. But I think Christian Watson is in this year, that conversation, he's your true one. Is that a fair way to look at it?

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Yeah, I think so, just because the way I've always looked at a number one, uh, Mike, is it's it's can they do it all? Like Jordy Nelson to me was the quintessential number one. You could run him in the slot. He knew the entire route tree. When push came to shove on third down and you need to move the football, who are you turning to, right? And Devontae Adams then picked up that mantle when Jordy was gone. And having somebody that is the focal point of an offense when you need to get that extra yard, when you need to get that score, um, it's bigger than just, okay, well, he had 1200 yards and that's that's the guy, right? No, it's the the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when it's like, okay, it is crunch time. We need to win this football game. Who's gonna rise up? I I think what worked for the Packers the past few years was having a multitude of receivers. I think having guys like Romeo Dobbs was very important because at times Dobbs was that guy. He was the the dude that was catching the touchdowns within the five-yard line. Um, he was the guy that was gonna be, you know, coming up with those third down catches. But now, as you start to get more into the Jordan Love era, uh I feel like this is the right path forward for Green Bay. They made a big statement last year when they drafted Matthew Golden. They said, okay, for the first time in 20 plus years, we are going to invest a first-round pick into this young man. They need to get him on the field, they need to get him touches, they need to make him a part of this offense because that is the future of the Green Bay offense. At the same time, who are you gonna have out of that, you know, multitude of receivers? Who are you gonna be the ones that are gonna run with them? Who are gonna be the guys that are going to be the Nelson and Cobb and Adams for Jordan Love? And I think they made two really strong bets on Christian Watson, who was spectacular after he came back from the ACL. Part of that story I wrote in there. I mean, his 17.5 yards per catch during those final 11 weeks, that was the highest average in the National Football League. Yeah, he's learned to become a possession receiver, but he's still a home run threat. And Jaden Reed, before the collarbone, was their leading receiver the past two years. So I think there's a lot to like about that group, in addition to the fact that you still have some good guys that develop behind them.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Yeah, and uh it's it's kind of silly that when we talk about wide receiver and that room, that we don't include tight ends because essentially they're they're utilized in the receiving game uh just as much, uh, maybe in slightly different ways. But that room of Tucker Kraft coming back to be healthy and what Musgrave brings, I mean, that is a big additional key because they make the wide receivers better as the wide receivers make the tight ends better.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Yeah, and and one of the points I'm raised in that story, too. I mean, Tucker was off to such a great start uh that he still tied for the team lead in touchdowns. He was still third in receiving, he was still fourth in receptions, and he didn't play the last nine weeks of the regular season, in addition to having that injury in the midst of that game. So, yeah, this guy, you know, I know so much conversation is about okay, extensions and things like that. As I wrote in our little QA this week, that will come in due time. I there's no question in my mind that Tucker Kraft is gonna is gonna get a second contract in Green Bay. What's more exciting to me, the Packers have never had a tight end like this. Yeah, uh, they've had guys that have been very good. You know, Bubba Franks was, you know, he had some years there where inside the red zone, that was the guy, right? Dramichael Finley was more of a hybrid, um, had some big receiving years, but but wasn't so much that traditional inline tight end. I I think Tucker Kraft is the total package. Uh, he can give you everything you expect out of that position. And it's why the league has identified him as one of the top young players at that position and undoubtedly would have been a pro bowler if he would have stayed healthy last season, if the knee wouldn't have taken him down. So, yeah, the part I one of the things I wrote in that story this morning was it's a it's a very talented receiving room or skill position room that has been distilled down to its core, which will be made whole once we have number 85 back on the field.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Wes, how did you just leave Rich McGeorge off that uh little tight end conversation?

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Rich McGeorge, Paul Kaufman, some extremely talented tight ends. But in my lifetime, um I mean you you go back to Keith Jackson a couple years, you go back to Mark Chamura before you know the injury at the end. This Tucker Kraft thing, man, I mean, I'm sure you saw like that statistic last year about his yards after catch and his ability to run the row tree, but also take a two-yard pass and turn it into an explosive play. There's only so many humans on this planet, regardless of what position they play, that can do that type of, you know, have that kind of impact.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

It's um it one of the oddities of the schedule this year is the Packers won't play a regular season home game until the last weekend of September. I think it's September 24th, right? So there's a there's a gap, but there is a game there, uh both exhibition and uh the Batchers and Notre Dame opening there on that Sunday night. Well, what is the I'm I'm just gonna shift a little bit to that for a moment. There's excitement when that happens. It doesn't happen very often. LSU was there uh for that game a number of years ago and they were ranked, and Wisconsin pulled the upset win. Um there's some juice for this, right? In Green Bay, you live there.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

Yeah, I'll tell you what, Mike, I wish I could just like bring in my co-workers right now because I got like half of our department is gonna be going to that Wisconsin-Notre Dame game that they already got tickets for. So yeah, I I go back to Wisconsin LSU in 2016. Uh, I wasn't there, it was actually cut down day. So um I was I was working uh remotely, and uh it but I remember talking to co-workers that had gone and friends and family that had been there. That it, I mean, you know what it's like better than anybody. I mean, the Wisconsin Badger game, when you're in a consequential football game and in those types of environments, it's different, it's different than any other experience with sports. So uh I I think there is a palpable energy of it, you know, walking through the pro shop, seeing some of the merchandise that they already have out for it. Um, this has been a decade in the making. I remember when they signed the contract and it just been pushed back for one reason or another, and then COVID happens. But the fact that it's finally happening, and I think with some renewed hope there for the Badgers and that program, it's gonna be a very difficult game for them. But uh these are the type of things you want to do. And for the Packers' perspective in Lambeau Field, you want to get events like this here every once in a while. You you got to be careful, you got to protect, you know, protect the field. But you know, I was there at the Luke Combs concert too this summer. Um, being able to have large-scale events or you know, soccer games, or in this case, right, you know, a high-level college football game, that it that's that's when you see Lambeau Field at its finest.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Yeah. Well, Wes, you mentioned that cut down date when Wisconsin played LSU there. That was a pretty significant Packers day, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 28:45

It was. I uh surprise there was a lot that happened that day. I uh I'll never forget this. I had to pick up a suit. I was in the middle of getting fitted for a suit when the reports came out that Josh Sitton had been cut.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Um, and then like it was there, that was one of the weekends I think where I was probably most caught off guard by the the moves that had all happened. I think I want to say Sam Barrington might have been a part of that too.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Like, yeah, Sittin was the story in the in the press box. I mean, there were a lot of Packers reporters, those who covered multiple sports that were in that press box that day. Yeah, and they had to multitask because that wasn't expected, and that was a significant surprise cut. Um, that was a was a big time story. And I know I don't know if you were part of it, but um uh the Badgers came up and uh recently, what about um three weeks, three or four weeks ago, and got a chance to tour and see the facility. And it was a it's a big moment. You work there, which is such a privilege and a and a get-to concept. And I grew up not far, so being in the stadium and working on Packers Um Radio Network for a few years, it's pretty cool to go, but for these guys, most of them have never been, including Luke Fickle. It's a big deal, it's huge, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

And it's it's fun too because like I grew up here and I obviously I never took that for granted driving down Lombardi Avenue and seeing, oh yeah, there's only 30 of those things, and there's one plop right here in 100,000, you know, you know, person town. But what the coolest thing is, is when you get fans uh that are making like lifetime bucket list type trips, whether it's in this country or whether they're coming internationally, that grounds you when it's like, okay, well, I come in here because it's Wednesday and I have a job to do, and Mike wants me to hop on the pod, and there's these other things I gotta handle. Right. So you walk through the doors and you kind of go about your day, but then you do sometimes pause there. And I remember telling you this like during COVID was actually one of the things that really um brought me back because there were so many times after those games, especially during the 2020 season when there were no fans or you know, just employees here, where you'd walk around the stadium after an actual NFL football game, you see all the debris and everything. It's like, holy crap, like this is amazing to be a part of. So yeah, I that that is the coolest thing. It's in I joked on Twitter a couple days ago when you go and walk around Lambeau Fields parking lot. If you don't smell brats, if you don't see smoke in the air, you don't hear kids laughing, like it's not the same. So there's a part of me that's kind of you know jonesing for that as well, especially, you know, even that preseason game against Arizona.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Part of the conversation about this team uh this year is going to be centered upon players returning from injury. And we certainly know about Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft. But as I've talked to others, whether it's Pete or Bill Huber or others getting ready for this, one of the significant storylines will be about Zach Tom and Devontae Wyatt and the contract with Devontae Wyatt the other day. Um, those are also very significant moves and developments. And Zach Tom is it's not often that many who regard as your best offensive lineman is your right tackle, many times it's a left tackle. But Zach Tom's importance to what this team does offensively can't be understated.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

No, I can't, Mike. And it's just not even what he does at that right tackle position. And by the way, I mean, like he's gonna have to wake some people up because I the amount of disrespect that he's been shown this year when they're doing these right tackle rankings and some of these things. I mean, y'all must have forgot. I mean, Zach Tom, he made him the the whole thing when he got drafted out of Wake Forest was okay, well, you can play him anywhere, but he's probably a guard, he might be a center. Um, but then he started playing right tackle almost out of necessity, and everybody's like, Well, this this guy's pretty good over here. I mean, this this guy might be here for the next 10 years at this spot, and yeah, it's a series of unfortunate injuries kind of happened right after he signed that extension last year, and uh it it's it's disappointing from the standpoint. I know it it was super frustrating for Zach not to be out there, but also you got to remember having guys like that on the field that set the tone right for the offensive line. I think everybody, especially when Elton Jenkins went down, everybody acknowledged that Zach Tom, this is his room now. Like this is he's the guy. I think even Aaron Banks talked about it when he came in. I mean, you recognize that this is the guy that knows the standard, has been there with the very best in this organization, and now wants to be the leader of that room. So, yeah, the the unfortunate thing for the Packers, and and really you don't you never want to just make it about injuries, but yeah, I I can't think of a year in which Green Bay, in the totality and the quantitative, had the cumulative amount of injuries that they had to significant players was wild. They've had years where they've been more injured or they've had to deal with more different setbacks, but if you look at probably what their top 10 guys, yeah, they finished the season without like six of them. Yeah, and that is just that that's a tough hill to climb. So, yeah, for Wyatt, now obviously the reports out there with the extension for Tom coming back off of his extension. I mean, these are guys the Packers have identified as the the future of those positions, and and hopefully, especially in in Tom's case, he can get the train back on the tracks there.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Uh, talking to Wes Hotkowicz joining us uh uh as we roll through a Wednesday edition of Isle of Mondays. Um, I talk about the Bears, right? You've grown up there, you certainly understand the rivalry. When you were writing about it independent uh before you joined the Packers or now with the Packers, you know, it's pretty well chronicled. From I I just went through dates again. From January 1st, 2011 against the Bears. The Packers went 26-3 over the next 29 games. Since January of 2025, uh the Bears have won three of the last four. I don't know when I'm even when I've talked to Adam Hogue or some of the folks who cover from the Chicago side of it, if there's been a time that the rivalry is more significant than now. Both teams very good. And then you add in a Brewers Cubs equation, which isn't a direct correlation, but it does further the rivalry of I've been in those stadiums, Mike.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

It feels like a direct correlation.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yeah, right. I mean, this is good. I I don't I don't particularly like Ben Johnson, but I think he's great for the rivalry, and he's a really good head coach. I didn't know if he would be, but it seems after a year he's pretty good. This part of it is fun, that rivalry, and and it'll come to Green Bay in the middle of October uh for the game at Lambeau, but this is pretty good, right? You've been around it for a long time.

SPEAKER_03 35:22

Yeah, it felt really good too when the Brewers won game five there at uh American Family Field this year, and I was I was in attendance for that. Yeah, it it is, Mike. I mean, this is it's funny how you mention that because I think that's one of the really underrated things about the Bears Packers rivalry. There haven't been a lot of instances where both teams have been good at the same time, right? Um, it was fleeting, right? I mean, you had the Lambeau and Hallis era, but then even throughout the it's kind of like when the Bears were good, the Packers weren't, and vice versa. Uh obviously 2010, that that was the ultimate prize there. But even then, it kind of felt like the Bears are sort of catching lightning in a bottle where the Packers were really on the incline. But but I'm I'm with you. I mean, as far as the juice, as far as how the Bears fan base has been energized, um, when you take that many swings at trying to find a quarterback and it appears like you finally have, uh, I think there is a lot of pent-up frustration and and I think a little bit of ego management that comes along with that. Um, because Caleb Williams is supposed to be the man and and he's shown promising signs so far. Uh but at the end of the day, I think from the Packers' perspective, and and one of the other points I made in our QA today is when people ask about you know playoffs and Super Bowls and everything like that, Packers got to win the division again. Yep, like that that's the key. Start there. You you look at getting that home playoff game, especially with how competitive the NFC North has been the last three years. Uh, that's essential, dude. Uh, you you gotta at least get one of those at home because I was in Philly, uh, I was in Dallas. I mean, Dallas had a great vibe until Jordan Love just completely you know took the air out of that place, yeah. Um, Santa Clara in the second half against the 49ers, when you feel that momentum build, this is a momentum-driven game. And the one thing I the point I made going into that game against the Bears, and to be honest with you, I pretty much was wrong about it was if you get off to a fast start, you're gonna take the Bears fans out of it. Yeah, and for the most part, they did. But then obviously Caleb Williams works his magic and then they get back into it. But the the Packers need to get this game back at Lambeau Field, and the other thing they need to do, because we've seen it with the Lions, they they need to nip this in the butt with Chicago. They they need to get the pendulum back on their side, um, because otherwise, um, that just becomes a more and more difficult task trying to you know bring them back down to earth.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Yeah, and it's such an interesting division, highly competitive division. Uh, the Vikings were a lot better than people thought a year ago. They had a quarterback issue all season long, yet they were still pretty darn good much of the year, especially back half. Uh, Detroit is you know a year removed from being perhaps the best team in the NFC, but then they got beat in the playoffs in a shocking loss to Washington.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

And the Packers and Bears. So, I mean, you look at all four. I said it last year, and I I think maybe it's not exactly the same. Last year, I thought any of the four teams could win the division. For Minnesota, the caveat was could JJ JJ McCarthy play? And then their injuries, and we found out that they just didn't have that position settled. I I think it's sort of the same this year, three teams deep. I don't know if Minnesota's there, but a really interesting division, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Every team has something to prove. Uh, I think from Minnesota's sample, I think Kevin O'Connell is one of the best coaches in the National Football League. But then you look at what happened to their personnel department, and that has just been a complete turnover. Um, and it's always difficult when you have an entrenched head coach, and now you bring in a new GM. Uh, and ultimately the biggest thing of all, what is their quarterback situation? Because I know Dwayne Larvey's talked a lot about this, and and some folks have mentioned, I mean, you just wonder, and again, it's all hypothetical. You don't play games in hypothetical, but but if there was ever an example of a team that was like a quarterback away from being a real threat, it was Minnesota last year, but they just got absolutely neutralized by that position, whether McCarthy was playing or not. Um, but at the same time, you know, the Bears want to show that they're the real deal, the Lions have to show that their window hasn't closed. I I think sometimes, you know, and I love Dan Campbell. Like, I think I he's I love his energy, I love what he's all about. But that was a really dangerous thing he said when they lost two years ago. When it's like, hey, this might have been our shot. That's a tough line because the locker room hears that, the team hears it, and he not that it wasn't untrue, it's an older roster. It was a very older roster at that point, but you you have that self-doubt now, right? So, and then from Green Bay's standpoint, three years in a row, the youngest team in the National Football League, they've on they've been on the cusp. Can they make that next step? Can they finally get on a run here? So, yeah, I think it's uh the stakes have never been higher in the north for all four of those teams.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Yeah, it um okay, uh one offshoot, uh, just a sidebar question that just kind of hopped. I'm I've been watching the quarterback series on Netflix. Um, and then obviously hard knocks begins in uh a week and a half or so, and people love that too. The Green Bay, the Packers experience has never been on hard knocks. I think you know the the league used to have you know the criteria, but even from the quarterback position, you think those are in play in Green Bay at some point down the road, whether that's Jordan Love or whoever the quarterback might be, you know, five years from now.

SPEAKER_03 40:34

Yeah, well, hopefully still Jordan. Um but yeah, it's interesting, right? Because they've changed the rules. That it's all shifted now where it used to be that you know, if you make the playoffs in the last two years, you're you're not you're not eligible.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Right.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

The the league is gonna keep pushing this. It's it's good, uh, I think in terms of them trying to grow and trying to be where their fans are. You want to have a presence on Netflix, everybody's on Netflix, 18 to 108, right? So, like, I mean, well, even younger than that, right? But the fact of the matter is, from my perspective, I I'm not a big reality TV person.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

So I've always felt like if you and and I this kind of sounds hyperbolic or somewhat hypocritical because I, you know, I enjoyed Drive to Survive with Formula One. But it's it's the there's what makes the NFL brilliant is the amount of things that we don't see until Sunday. Whether it's the game planning, whether it's the injuries, who's available, who's not, what they're how many snaps are gonna be out there for. I I think it's hard to build, especially with where with where these series are now, yeah, to have compelling six-week, eight-week television. Like to me, again, one man's opinion, but like the hard knocks thing, it just you kind of know what you're gonna get every year. You're you're gonna get the you know, somebody that's a you know, under the radar player that you're gonna pull for, and then you'll see how they end up doing. You're gonna get maybe a guy that was a new signing, or maybe a player that's coming off an you kind of get a formula formula, yeah. Um, so to me, you you move teams in, you move teams out. It is what it is. I know obviously the past the Packers haven't been interested. That's probably a question more now for LaFleur and Co. If if that'd be something they want to do now. But um, in in many ways, I feel like the series has kind of run its course, but sure, yeah. Obviously, people still have an eye for that.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Yeah. Uh Jonathan Gannon, let me let me finish with this and I'll let you get on with your day. Um, obviously, a uh turnover uh at the defensive coordinator position, now head coach in Miami, Jonathan Gannon, former head coach at Arizona, uh uh defensive coordinator in Philadelphia. Uh, your impressions and what we might see from that group that would be uh available to the you know the naked eye. Like, what would we notice that Jonathan Gannon is gonna do different?

SPEAKER_03 42:56

I love it. I love the scheme. I love everything I saw during the offseason program. I think there's gonna be unpredictability. I think you're gonna take the simulated pressures in some of the things that Jeff Halfley was doing. I think you're gonna turn that to 10 now. Um, and I love what Hafley did too. I thought Hafley was a he did a tremendous job. He's the head coach in the National Football League for a reason, right? Yeah, uh, how he worked around injuries, how he made Edrin Cooper uh a viable defensive rookie of the year candid two years ago, all that stuff deserves to be give him a lot of credit for his adjustments. But Gannon is one of the most brilliant defensive minds in the National Football League. And I think what happened in Arizona, people kind of lost sight of that a little bit. Um, watching his scheme and where he sends guys from, and you could just see like he comes off of that Mike Zimmer tree where it's like, I'm gonna just give you so much to consider with this offensive front, and then when that ball gets snapped, you're not sure where the pressure's coming from. I think that's really exciting. You're gonna see it out of base, you're gonna see it out of nickel. I it it's all right there for him. Now, I always caution fans like. Aggression is not just, hey, engage eight every single play. It's not just like, hey, what play on Madden is it where all the arrows are going towards the quarterback? It's more complicated than that. There's more that goes into it. But I just think when you look at the plethora of talent that he has to work from, the Coopers, the hopefully eventually here Micah Parsons, where Lucas Van Esse was at before the foot injury. Um, Javon Bullard in the slot, I think, is gonna really get some more looks out of this too. I'm just really pumped for how all those pieces are gonna come into play. So, yeah, as far as positive and first impressions go, uh, I liked everything I saw in that defense this spring.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

All right. Two thoughts out the door. Ken sends in great conversation with Wes. Always appreciate his insights on the Packers. And I think we we see Ken uh I think he hops up in the the pregame show. I I think we've uh yeah, we've met Ken up there. And then I just leave with this. I miss working with Dennis on uh Packers Radio Network on the pregame show from the Miller Light end zone bar. But part of that, what I miss is your segments, which our numbers always jumped when you came in and so well dressed, and when your family would show up. I miss those pictures with you and the fam. And anyway, uh I miss seeing you there. I appreciate you doing this. Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking, and and I hope you'll do it again. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03 45:19

I dude, I I've always said out of everything I do here, and this is again, this job's a blessing. I never have more fun than when I'm doing the pregame show. Yeah, like if the Packers would take the pregame show away from me, I think I would legitimately cry. Um, and you were a big part of that too. I that was the best run, and I love Drew. Uh that it's been so much fun with those guys. But yeah, you and I, the tit for tat we had going there, and then throwing in James's thoughts and observations in between like football practice. Oh my god, we we had such a good time.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

It's all good stuff. Hey Wes, thank you. Uh enjoy the rest of the day. We'll do this again. Thank you, brother. Talk to you soon. Thank you. Well, Wes Hodquitz of the Green Bay Packers joining us on the program and uh fix that screen. Um, you know, he he's not listening anymore, so uh I don't want to, you know, just fill him up with the flowers of the moment, but he is such a good dude and he is such a great ambassador because he does work for the Packers. But he does it in such a way where there's still the honesty and the directness, yet he understands, you know, that he who uh who writes signs his paychecks, but he still does it in a way where you feel like I'm not getting the company line here, I'm getting the line, I'm getting what's real, and you know, beyond that, like I was saying earlier, he's just such a good guy, right? So, and you know, I'm gonna say that uh a lot about people that we end up working with, and and I I'm not gonna say it if I don't believe it. He is he is that guy. I appreciate him doing it, and we get here, there was always a mixed emotion for me. I'm gonna go camera two on this. There's always a mixed emotion for me at this time of year because I really covet and enjoy summertime, the weather, uh the golf course, just summer life, right? Sitting on a screened in porch, taking walks without having to grab uh a hat and all the gloves and bundle up and a scarf and a jacket and all that. I I like good weather. And I do enjoy the change of seasons, but I the the season I'm enjoy most is this. So when football starts, this kind of you you as a somebody that works in the sports media, I've always felt like okay, football starts, I know where this ends. Because when it ends, you're in the middle of the darkest, coldest time of the year. And and football makes it go so fast, right? The autumn and into the and through the holidays, everything happens in a hurry. So part of me never liked the start of training camp because it goes fast. Camp is slow, kind of drags. But when camp starts, you know that games start shortly thereafter, and when games start, then the regular season's gonna start, and it all goes in a hurry. All right, that's the end of camera too. I don't wasn't really didn't need to go over there, but I did. Um but I I get excited about it now. Talking to Wes, you know, we talked to Pete Doherty at some point next week and and Bill Huber and the whole like as I roll through this, there's it just it's there's a lot of juice and and the Packers bring it. And there's no team that we talk about. There's no team that brings more juice in a sports conversation here than talking about the Packers. You know how much I love the Milwaukee Brewers and how much I love and work with and for the Wisconsin Badgers. But I understand it. You understand it. The greatest juice here is that associated with the Green Bay Packers. So when they start training camp next Wednesday, it is a significant deal. It is the start of something special and uh can't wait for it. All right, uh a little run through as well as we talk about our partnerships here with M3 Insurance. Uh, please keep them in mind. m3ins.com, small business, medium, large business. If you're looking for risk management, benefit packages, all of that, it goes through m3ins.com. Please give them a look. When you're talking about your next banking decision, please give the opportunity for one community bank to earn your business. They've earned ours. They've earned it in the first place, and then they re-earned it over time. And uh I love that partnership, but I love who they are as a business. And for us, it's been important. So I hope you give them that same opportunity. Uh, I talk about neuroscience group, and we'll be up there at uh the stadium for the Timber Rattlers uh in a week and a half, and looking forward to that next Friday. And if you have suffered the impacts of brain fog from a concussion, a workplace injury, uh, a car accident, sports concussion, neuroscience group is your place. That they are the ones that will get you back to being how you feel you should be. It returns to normal uh if you get there, if you let them help you. Go to neurosciencegroup.com. Always a fan of our friends Luis and the folks at Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino. Shuttles running, starting here in a moment for the Brewers and Mets series finale 110 at American Family Field today. Great restaurants, beautiful hotel, great gaming. You know that from the table games to the sports book, but also the advantage of you don't have to worry about parking. Go from there to there. And I'm talking about from Pottawatomi to American Family Field and back. There's just nothing better than that concept. And then I want to talk about traditions lighting. Uh, and don't let me forget. When I say don't let me forget, I'm talking about myself, about Habish. I'll get to them in a moment. Traditions lighting. So they're gonna come out. We're doing, we work with Zach and the folks at Traditions Lighting to do our holiday lighting package, which I think this will be maybe the fifth year that we've had it. We've never once worried about whether a strand of lights works, whether a light went out, whether the wreath is faded, whether, you know, whatever that is, you get a bad weather situation during the month of December. And now you have, and we haven't had it, but if you had a a strand of lights that wasn't working, make the phone call. They come out and take care of it. I don't worry about storage. I don't worry about put up, takedown. Go to traditionslighting.com. Whether you're a homeowner looking to decorate for holidays, or a business owner looking to decorate for the holidays, or their permanent lighting packages that provide an extra layer of security and beauty to your home or business, go to traditionslighting.com. And as I said, don't forget about our friends at Habish, Habish, and Roter. 13 locations ensuring you get a hometown attorney working on your case. And it matters when you get a hometown attorney because they understand how your life works, where you are, what happens in your community. Habish.com is the website. Go to Habish, Habish, and Rowtier. So many cool things uh going on and uh a daytime game today for the Brewers. So let me give you a little update on what's going on there. Uh the notes are out for the game today. The Brewers lead the division over the Chicago Cubs by six. Uh they're four and one on the homestand. So if if they go ahead, even if they, you know, I want them to win today, but I was talking to uh one of my buddies, Jason, last night, and he said, You can you can't lose the series to the Mets. No, you can't. But if you did, or if you win it, you take two out of three when somebody says, Well, you should have swept the Mets. Well, if you take two out of three, if you win today, that'd be a five and one homestand with the Rockies coming in over the weekend. The goal is to be a 600 winning percentage baseball team. And the Brewers are better than that right now. But if you do the math for me, even if they lost today, they'd be four and two so far on the homestand. And four and two on the homestand, I think that's a 667 winning percentage. If you did that, you're winning about 110 games, 108, 109. Uh, the Brewers are winning at a 624 clip on the season. I think that's that projects out to 101, 102 win total for the year. They have been a remarkable team essentially all season. But this, since April 26th, when the Brewers were 13 and 13, they are 50 and 25. Again, not always great at math on the fly, but 50 and 25 equates to winning two out of every three games. You do that, you're you're gonna you're gonna be in the catbird seat when you begin October baseball. It's not sustainable, but the brewers have done it for 75 games to win two-thirds of your games. Most people would say that's not sustainable. Well, the Brewers have done it for 75 games. Sounds pretty sustainable over a not small sample set for this team so far this year. So keep doing what you're doing, find a way to win it today. Logan Henderson is on the mound. To me, Logan Henderson, one of the more important Brewers pitchers as we go through the second half. Because if he's this guy, the the who he has been in his last two starts, and who he was for much of last year, if he's this guy, your rotation in October, knocked on faux wood here, your rotation into October, even before you go get a guy, and I think they're gonna go get a guy. I don't know if they're gonna go get the guy, but if you go healthy Miz, healthy Harrison, healthy Henderson, okay. Three different pitchers, different styles. You know, Miz is a blow you away guy. Harrison can do some of that, but he's also just they nobody nobody seems to square him up. Henderson, very much that guy. Righty, lefty, righty. Go get somebody. And yeah, and I don't think you just go get somebody, you gotta go get the body, whether that's Terek Scuble or whoever that might be. Anyway, I I think it's it's all so much fun, and this team has been such a joy to watch. And I enjoy the journey. A lot of people are fixated on October, and yes, that's what you ultimately play for, but you play to get to October in the best position you can be. And the Brewers have been that. Right now, percentage points behind the Dodgers for the best record in all of baseball. Yesterday at this time, the Brewers had the best record in baseball. I don't know. Did you see how the Dodgers game ended last night against Philadelphia? The Phillies' base running to end the game was terrible silly. You know, I talked about Ortiz and Pratt uh and running into and out on the bases. The Phillies ended their game with a more egregious base running mistake yesterday. Anyway, the point is the Brewers uh continue to play at an incredibly high level. Let's find some bats today, especially in the top third, top two-thirds of the order. Stop relying only on Ortiz and Pratt and Mitchell and see what you can get done. Uh that game goes at 110. Tomorrow on the show, Nick Osin's gonna join me. Let's spend a little time talking about uh Badger recruiting both on the football and basketball front as they get ready to open their camp and Big Ten football media days are next week. So Nick Osin joins us tomorrow. Jeff Jenkins, uh, the former Brewer coming in for the Legends reunion game on Friday. He will join me on uh this Friday on the program as well. Spent much of last night with um with a group of uh really good guys, including uh Jeff Vilker, who we call Treadmill. Why don't you explain last night game Mallard's game dollars in a cup rules one more time? Um listen, we play, I'm gonna do this briefly. Where am I on the clock? I like to be at 60 minutes, so I got a minute and a half. Um we play a pass the cup game, and and you put an ante into start. There were eight of us last night. Every time the batter changes, the cup rotates to the next guy. When somebody goes to the plate, you go, I'm betting a dollar, or I'm betting double, triple, quadruple, up to five times. So if your guy gets a single and you bet a dollar, you get a dollar. If you bet double and your guy gets a single, you're just doubling your bet, not predicting double. You win two dollars. But then there are vagaries to the game. And you pay double on a called third strike. You get a buck if your guy steals a base. Uh, if he gets thrown out stealing a base, you give a dollar back. I mean, all of this. And then uh one of the guys who didn't need the cup at the end ended up with the cup at the end. But Vilker, treadmill, tried to manipulate the end of the game. He made a deal with another player. Hey, you have the cup. If you win it or if I win it, we'll just split the winnings. What the hell was that? Wow. And then Rank, yeah, my buddy Rankin. Mike was changing the rules all night. No, Mike was explaining the rules all night. Get out of here. I'm out of time. I don't have time to play this game at the end of the show. All right. Enjoy the rest of the day. Brew daily after the Brewers and Mets go final later this afternoon, right here on our YouTube channel, on Twitter, um, Facebook Live. Share that, those links with your sports-like-minded friends. Let's continue to grow what we do. I love doing it. I appreciate you guys being part of it. Uh, enjoy the rest of the day. Talk to you later after the brewers beat the Mets.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:08

I love Mondays with my hell.