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We hope you like starting your day with us as much as we like starting our day with you here on the Locked On Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. It is a Friday news dump everybody. And so, we're going to be talking about the best podcast network in the world. It is a Friday news dump everybody. And so, we are going to be taking your questions and we've got a lot of good ones. I am excited to get to all of them as we move through today. The first is about Micah Parsons. And this is from Mr. Miggs. What are the bullet points to piece together? How Green Bay can handle teams defensively until Micah gets back? What should fans be watching for so we have faith that we don't have a repeat of the last five games of last season? I wish I could give you some better advice on that because they don't have proven names right now. That's just the reality. They don't like, Lucas Van Ness is a really nice theoretical option here. We've never seen him have to carry a pass rush much less a run defense too. We've just never seen that. And so, I don't know how you can have a lot of faith in his ability to do that. I think one of the reasons why they felt they needed to go get Javon Hargrave is for exactly this reason. That they did not think that this room as currently constituted was definitely going to be good enough. Now, that's where I think you can start here. Devonte Wyatt is a really good interior pass rusher. Javon Hargrave is a really good interior pass rusher and Carl Brooks is a really good interior pass rusher. None of them are particularly strong run defenders. But I think the Packers can get by for a couple weeks without Micah Parsons. That being said, I think what this also signals to us is if you go back and look at the defensive line and the Packers have drafted over the years with high picks, they have all had serious pass rush upside. Even going back to Justin Harrell, one of the things that was so appealing about him was he was a potential run stuffer and pass rusher. Yes, BJ Raji was 330 pounds, but he was for his size as good a pass rusher as you will ever see a 330 pounder beat. He was a dynamic player for his size as a pass rusher, as an interior disruptor, as a splash run defender. Kenny Clark had major pass rush upside. I thought he was a no doubt first round player because of his ability to rush the passer. When they've needed run stuffers, they've looked on day three, TJ Slaton. That's the most recent successful example. And so if that's all they wanted, and I don't think that's all they wanted, they could get that on day three. But if you want a first round player, you're not going to get one in this draft because there aren't any. What if Caleb Banks falls to the Packers? I understand he's hurt. Caleb Banks, we haven't talked that much about it and maybe we need to do a Goody's guys on Caleb Banks. But I'm telling you the pass rush upside there. I know he's 24 years old, but at 6'6", 330 pounds. He jumped out of the gym for a defensive tackle with a broken foot. Like he is a freak. You go back to this 2024 game against LSU and you go, oh my God, what am I watching? This is incredible. I think they're going to want pass rush along the interior because I don't know if you can really afford to take a pass rusher again on the edge. Like you've invested with Lucas Vannes. You've clearly invested with Micah Parsons. You can't draft a player on the edge because of four weeks, even if it's going to be six weeks. You can't do that. You already need a defensive tackle draft one that has pass rush upside, which means, you know, sorry, Caden McDonald, like that's not you. I like Caden McDonald. I don't know that the Packers are going to like him as much as I do. I still think Kristen Miller is kind of the platonic ideal for the Packers there, even without the profile, because he's just a cleaner eval than someone like Banks, even if I think Banks has like some pass rush games where you're just like, oh my goodness. But that's what I think is going to be a priority here for the Packers, not just can they stop the run, but can they rush the passer? All right, let's get to our everyday or question of the week. And this one is from Carson. And the reason I love it is because it is a perfect encapsulation of what it is to be a locked on Packers every day. And it's, I'm not going to read the whole question, but it is essentially Bobby Babbage as the cornerback whisperer. And Carson makes the case that he thinks Benjamin St. Juiced is going to start over Carrington Valentine and that Babbage has elevated these corners in the past. What we saw last year in Buffalo, a top 10 passing defense for a team that I bet you couldn't name three starters on that defense. And that's not even like, I'm not dragging you for it. It was not a star laden defense. And some of the more recognizable names on that defense have either aged out or are no longer with the team. And, you know, at Oliver was hurt last year. Tremaine Edmonds is not there anymore. Micah Hyde's not there anymore. Now, it's even a bigger issue now, I think, frankly, I don't know what's going on defensively over there with that, with that cornerback room. They traded Taran Johnson, who I thought was a really good football player. But what Bobby Babbage did, I think went really under the radar because it was such a weird season overall. And they never found the pass rushers that they needed to make that defense work. And they tried. I mean, Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, Nick Bosa, Von Miller, they added it with premium draft capital. They added with big name free agents and it just never worked. And yet last year, it was supposed to be a gap year. Like they kind of knew, okay, you know, you move on from Stefan Diggs and you're trying to reset this thing. And it was, you know, you're trying to reset the cap and getting rid of some of these older guys. And you just, you can't really have a gap year with Josh Allen, but defensively they were so much better with Bobby Babbage, then it seemed like they should be given their talent level. They did not have three playable NFL corners. And so you look at this Packers roster and you go, well, what's the situation with the cornerbacks? And I think the answer is Bobby Babbage will figure it out. You add Benjamin St. Chewst, who is a capable NFL player. I think you have three capable NFL players. I don't know that any of them are good players. I think Carrington Valentine could be a good player if he would, if he would tackle, if he would wrap up at a replacement level, like if he tackled legitimately, if he tackled at a replacement level, he would be a quality starter, but he doesn't. And that has to change and he's, he's going to be getting a deal. Like if he wants a contract anywhere, forget Green Bay, anywhere, he's got to start tackling. But I think that's why you add St. Chewst. You already have Javon Bullard in the slot. You know what Keyshawn Nixon is and isn't. And I'm interested to see how changing the staff affects the hierarchy of these guys because nothing is promised. You don't have a job just because the old coaching staff is there anymore because the old coaching staff is not there. Some of the same guys, but enough turnover that you've got a new D.C. And a new passing game coordinator. So you're going to have to prove yourself all over again. Are we got more of your questions, including what it looks like to actually go back to your one to tear down this offense? We'll talk about it next. The tournament is here. Just four teams left. Just three games left to decide a champion. We've got buzzer beaters still to come potentially upsets its nonstop action from tip to final cut down. And right now Fandal is giving new customers a way to stay in the action all tournament long. Here's the best part. You can get $300 in bonus bets every day for 10 days. That means 10 chances to stay involved throughout the entire tournament. You can mix it up however you want. Game picks, futures, even same game parlays for bigger potential payouts. It's perfect for the tournament because every day there's something new, different matchups, new storylines and more ways to stay involved as the bracket unfolds. Visit Fandal.com to sign up today. That's Fandal.com to get in on the action. Oh, I've been looking forward to this burger all day. Tell me about it. So tasty. Oh, where's Harry? Who's Harry? Our child. At Burger King, kids eat free between the 27th of March and 20th of April only on the BK app. So you can enjoy a moments piece this school holiday. Just don't forget them. Get one free King Junior meal with one selected adult burger meal only available on the BK app at selected restaurants. Can't be used with other promotions. Full TNCs at BurgerKing.co.uk forward slash kids dash offer. Most CRMs are clunky and slow down your team. It's time to switch to a new one. That's where Pipedrive comes in. A simple CRM for growing sales teams. See all your deals and customer info in one pipeline. It's powerful enough to grow with your business. It's simple enough for your team to love using it. Switch to Pipedrive and join over 100,000 companies. Visit Pipedrive.com forward slash audio to get started with a 30 day free trial. Before we get to this year one tear down question, we got a question from Mr. Minecraft. If we get a defensive tackle, what do we need at the position character trait wise? He also asked about the back of quarterback situation, which we talked a little bit about on yesterday's show. And I know that we I mentioned that I think they need to be a pass rusher. But I think for the Packers, they need someone who can play anywhere on the defensive front. Because if you pigeonhole a guy based on, oh, this is an odd front versus an even front, you're going to have a problem. And we saw this in Tennessee. They draft to Vandre Sweat, who is a very specific kind of defensive tackle. And then suddenly he doesn't fit what Robert Sallow wants to do. And you end up trading him. Now you end up trading him and you get good value in return, Jermaine Johnson and all that stuff. But like, there's no guarantees you're going to get that because if someone is a very specific fit for you, they're not going to have the same value elsewhere. So I'm not saying draft based on what the trade value of your player is going to be, but the mentality of find someone who is just a good football player. That to me is more important than anything. And that's what the Packers generally do. They are not worried about, you know, okay, does he fit exactly when you play in one shade here on early towns and then on. No, they evaluate the best players like Brian Gidekins has never really cared about skiing. What he has done is say, okay, you think we need a nose tackle. Let me get you one. That doesn't mean they're going to prioritize it. They're still going to look and say, okay, we want a nose tackle who can do X, Y, Z. And if we can't find that guy, we're going to wait and find where the best value is. And believe me, teams are doing this the same way that you do a fantasy football draft and you look ahead of time. Okay, I can wait until I get my running back in the third round because I like the receivers in this range. Like they are gaming this out. They are doing this math. And I'm not speculating like general managers have said this on the record. Dan Morgan, who runs the personnel department for the Panthers said they use mock drafts to do this exact thing. Okay, where are these guys expected to come off the board? Okay, where do we have these guys? Where can we find value? And so we don't know what the Packers want because we haven't heard from the coaches. It used to be we could talk to coaches at the combine. It used to be we could talk to the coaches at, you know, they would have actual press conferences before the draft so we could talk to them about what they're looking for, what the team needs. And so position coaches spoke. Just don't have that anymore. They don't have that access anymore for whatever reason the Packers have decided they don't think it's useful anymore. I don't know why. And this is a, by the way, thanks to everyone who mentioned that the camera mic, my mic changed for whatever reason, not sure why. But it did. And so now we're back. Hopefully we're back. Sorry about the quality of the audio there for a minute. That's what live streaming is all about. This straight question though on defensive tackles. It has to be that they're versatile. Like they have to be able to rush the passer and stop the run or you wait. And that's usually just like the quality of a player reflects that. Like if they can only stop the run or only rush the passer, that is reflected in their grade. And then that affects where they are able to be taken based on the way they stack up on the board. All right, let's get to this question about tearing down the offense, which is one that I really like from Dominguito 47. I simply want to hear Peter speculate at length about Matla floor tearing everything down and starting from scratch or whatever the hell he said. I don't think what Matla floor is talking about is that they want to literally tear not okay, metaphorically even tear down from scratch. I don't think they want to start from scratch in the way that we normally think of like, okay, what do we now want the base offensive concepts to be. I think what Matla floor is saying is they need to treat install and their playbook with the care that you would if you were installing it for the first time, that maybe some of the details had been overlooked, and that maybe the coaching staff had overlooked some of the issues at practice with some core concepts because they're core concepts. And everyone just knows them they've they've run them 100 times you run inside zone 100 times in a season, you should know inside zone. But remember, new group of offensive linemen, or maybe the receiver is now at the Z when normally they're at the X. This stuff was not at the level of detail that it needed to be for a Super Bowl team. And that's what I think Matla floor is talking about. He can design a fancy offense, he can design cute plays, he can design schemed up opportunities for receivers and running backs and do single wing on a week's notice and grab, you know, University of Oklahoma High School, high school, Oklahoma concepts and and run an offense to win two games with Malik wills, he can do that. We know Matla floor is capable of doing that not many coaches are capable of doing that. I think Matla floor, maybe one of like three or four coaches, where if you said I'll give you a week with Malik wills figure out an offense that maximizes his skill set, not only install 10 new concepts, but then have your guys ready to run it on a week's notice. That is insane that he was able to do that. But you can only do the complicated stuff if you have the basic stuff down. Now, I think part of this is Matla floor leaned into some quote unquote core stuff that they just weren't very good at. Like they just were never a good inside zone team. And they continued to call it and bang their head against the wall. Matla floor needs to have better answers for stuff like that. But also maybe they would be better at inside zone. If they spent more time in training camp in, in at, you know, mandatory mini camps, working the fundamentals of these things. What did Mike McCarthy say every week when they had the, when they had issues, we've got to get back to the fundamentals. And yeah, that's a cliche, but it's a cliche because it's freaking true, man. Like Evan Williams said on this very program, that finishing that closer mentality is really just about being on your details. It's really just execution. We ascribe, and we talked about this on the squad show the other day, we ascribe post facto all sorts of nebulous and, you know, pop psychologist nonsense to these teams. Oh, the Minnesota Vikings had that killer instinct in 2022. No, they didn't. They got lucky 15 times. Oh, the bears, they had that killer instinct. No, they didn't. They got lucky and they executed down the stretch and that is a credit to them, but not for the course and then executing in the fourth quarter is not some special formula. It's mostly fluky. So if you execute for three quarters and don't execute in the fourth quarter, that is a problem, of course. But I think what Matt LaFleur landed on as the reason they could enclose these games is because the team was too volatile. They were not consistent enough with the execution of core concepts and that's what you want to run in the fourth quarter. When you have a lead, like the Packers did against the Chicago Bears, there has to be certain concepts that you can lean on where you go, I know as a play caller, if I call one of these five plays, we're going to get a positive play out of it. Now you may or you may not, but you have to have high confidence that you can do that. And I'll ask you, what were those five plays? Now I would argue that maybe some more play action in there, maybe, you know, some quick game in there. I think Jordan Love is really good at that. Romeo Dobbs was winning quickly that whole game. Matthew Golden was getting open that whole game, but they need to have better answers for those situations too. They also need to execute better. And I'll repeat something I said on the squad show because I actually think it's vital to this question. Javon Bullard mentioned needing that killer mentality, that closer, you know, killer instinct. If the team believing that they need a killer instinct causes them to be a little bit more detail oriented, to be more focused in fourth quarters and to have that level of attention to detail in the moments that matter, that's ultimately what killer instinct is. And if you close, if you execute late in games, there's nothing special about that. It's just execution. And football is the ultimate team game. This is not like college basketball where you go, okay, I know if that guy gets a shot like Shay Gildeson Alexander, if he gets a shot in the last two minutes, you expect it to go in every time when he misses. It is a crazy thing. You expect Nikola Jokic to get a good look in the last minute of the game. And that's not the way football works because you need 11 guys. Killer instinct, quote unquote, is really just focus and execution. Can you stay focused and execute? And unfortunately the Packers have had problems doing that. And if getting back to the details is something that gets you there. I don't think this is, I don't think this is, is it factor? Like Andy Reed doesn't have it factor. In fact, Andy Reed failed over and over and over again in Philadelphia before coming to Kansas City. And guess what? All of a sudden his teams in Kansas City have Patrick Mahomes and they have that it factor. Like I just, I don't buy that kind of stuff. I think that is just pop psychology nonsense. I think Matt LaFleur is a really good coach. I don't think he coached the Bears game to lose. I think the team did not execute well enough and they lost the football game and we don't need to make it any deeper than that. But they better win next year or these same questions are going to come up. We're going to come at you Sunday OT. We've got a, we've got a, um, goodies guys coming on Saturday. We've already had two shows today, so we don't need, we don't need an extra one. We got a goodies guys that we'll record and then have you for, um, Saturday plus a lot more as we get you closer to the draft. Follow me on the social medias all the times, everywhere's, uh, subscribe to the podcast wherever you get podcasts. Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, wherever you find podcasts, you'll find locked on Packers. And if you're not in the everyday air club, we program this show around the everyday airs, your questions. We're here for you. So locked on Packers dot supercast.com is the website or click the link in the show notes. And as always, stay locked on Packers. Oh, I've been looking forward to this burger all day. Tell me about it. So tasty. Oh, where's Harry? Who's Harry? Our child. Oh, yeah. At Burger King, kids eat free between the 27th of March and 20th of April only on the BK app. So you can enjoy a moment's peace this school holiday. Just don't forget them. Get one freaking junior meal with one selected adult burger meal only available on the BK app at selected restaurants. Can't be used with other promotions. Full TNCs at Burger King dot code at UK forward slash kids dash offer. Most CRMs are clunky and slow down your team. It's time to switch to a new one. That's where pipe drive comes in. A simple CRM for growing sales teams. See all your deals and customer info in one pipeline. It's powerful enough to grow with your business. It's simple enough for your team to love using it. Switch to pipe drive and join over 100,000 companies. Visit pipe drive dot com forward slash audio to get started with a 30 day free trial.
