Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Was the Packers' offseason as bad as we think? ESPN Wisconsin's Jason Wilde breaks it down

Episode Date: August 7, 2020

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What is up, Jason? I'm just honored to have gotten the invitation to be on with you. This is awesome. Yeah, well, you're welcome. I mean, this is not like back in the day. This is podcast. We can do whatever the hell we want, Jason. So you know what we're going to do?

Pretty much the same thing that we used to do before, which is talk about the Green Bay Packers. I just want to ask you first, as a guy doing a sports talk radio show in Wisconsin, how have you been? Is this going okay, this regular old offseason that hasn't had any weird controversies or drafts that made everybody go crazy or anything? You know, so I obviously, I do a show with an 11-year NFL veteran, Mark Tauscher, who is fantastic. And I covered his entire career. Judd, our old friend Judd Zolgat covered part of his career and he's been he's given me a hard time dating all the way back to March by telling me basically that my life did not change very much during the coronavirus because I did the show from home I have a makeshift radio studio in my basement

uh it was the off season so I wouldn't have been going to Lambeau Field to cover the team anyway. And I really don't have any hobbies. So other than my kids being home and me having to be a third and fourth grade teacher and their sports being canceled, he was right. Like, my life was essentially the same. But that also goes to show how the NFL was largely unaffected by this, right? I mean, they had the good fortune, if you can call it that, of the timing of the coronavirus hitting as their offseason was really just beginning. So, yes, they had to do the drafts virtually,

and they had to cancel their big soiree in Las Vegas. And, yes, free agent visits weren't the same and the off-season program was virtual so they did miss a bunch of work on the field but that's all 32 teams it's not like the packers were able to get together and the vikings weren't so what i think is fascinating as as someone who does a show that is very Packers-centric and NFL-centric, is that we kind of had it, for lack of a better term, easy. We were really fortunate because, you know, we don't spend a ton of time on the Bucs, even though they're not only a playoff contender,

but obviously they're the number one seed in the East, and we don't spend a ton of time on baseball. That's just not our our area of expertise so i can't complain about that part of it but now you know i'll invoke what the packers team president and ceo mark murphy said a couple of weeks ago you know they had all this great advantage of time being on their side and now here we are training camp or whatever this is that we're calling it has begun and time is no longer on their side. And they're trying to figure out exactly how they can function without a bubble and play probably the least socially distanced sports in all of America.

I also have thought the same thing about myself with a social distancer before it was popular. I would already, if someone was in an aisle where I wanted to get something in the grocery store, I would already wait for them to leave before going down that aisle anyway. And I hated crowded places for the most part. So aside from going to baseball games all summer in Minnesota, it's not been that much different for me. And my golf game hasn't gotten any better either during this time. But, you know, it is interesting what you say, because I had the same feeling and I wrote a similar column about the NFL. You had all this time to get something else together,

to figure out how to bubble divisions or change your schedule. And it just felt like, Jason, that they believe this would be gone by now. And I guess to some extent, I don't blame them for some of the information we had back in March or so. But at some point, you could look around and say, you know what? It doesn't look like this is going to disappear anytime soon. So now I see the video of the Broncos being sprayed with hand sanitizer in their eyeballs or something as they walk out to the field. Like, I don't know, man. I'm really hoping that it works.

But how optimistic are you that this is going to go off? Well, I'm a generally optimistic person. But I think, you know, without turning this into a political podcast, I do think that my faith in humanity has been shaken when we can't even care enough about each other to wear masks. So my confidence is not as high as I would like it to be. I think they had a reasonable expectation. I don't think they were being unrealistic to think that this could potentially be under control by the time or at least certainly not as bad as it is right now uh by the time their training camps were supposed to start because had we you know kind of done things right we'd all have football i just saw the uh the governor of mississippi who came out and said that they were having a mask mandate

in the state of Mississippi, Republican governor, because he wants football. That was one of the things he said, and I said, amen. I just wish we were in a better place than we are because it makes it much harder for me to have confidence. Packers made the announcement on Thursday that their first two home games will not have any fans in it. I don't think that comes as a surprise, but when it becomes official, it still is kind of jarring.

And so, you know, they have not yet set foot on the field in Green Bay. I don't know what the Vikings have done to this point, but Matt LaFleur told us the first practice for the Packers on the field will be Saturday the 15th, and I'm eager to see what that looks like. And, you know, we kind of joked about it with Corey Lindsley, the Packers center, when we had a Zoom call with him the other day. You know, they've got plexiglass everywhere and hand sanitizer everywhere. Well, here's one place where they don't have plexiglass and don't have hand sanitizer. The line of scrimmage.

There's not going to be plexiglass between the defensive players and the offensive players. And so, you know, I'm hopeful, but I'm not brimming with optimism. And I will say this, too. I hate to ramble, but, you know, there was there was somebody at the NFL Network who made the comment that he thought so many in the media are rooting for the football season to be ruined. First of all, I mean, that's preposterous because, as you well know, more than many, you know, what we do also is what pays our bills. And the NFL is a pretty important component of that. And so I wouldn't root against my own interests. I think there's a difference between rooting against something and just trying to be realistic about it.

And I hope that they figure this out. But you look at the sports that have done it with the bubble, and then you look at the things that baseball has encountered and maybe baseball had those problems early and now they put themselves in a better position not to screw it up and the nfl can take lessons from it but you know the bubble the bubble sports seem to be handling things pretty well and obviously the nfl that was probably not a realistic course of action so we've got to do the best we can. So what you said about the Mississippi governor there, whatever gets the message across, then just go. If that's what the terms that you need to put it in, I've thought the same thing about getting through to football players. There are a lot of football players who have differing political opinions and things like that who get their news from different places but if your message to

football players is look if you don't do what we tell you to do here with the masks inside we're gonna find you and we're also probably gonna lose more games than other teams so maybe you should just do what we say and we will you know stay healthy and play football and you'll get paid no matter whether you think this is a hoax or not, we'll play football more if you keep your darn mask on. And if that works for America, then that works for America. On the Packers side, it always feels weird with these things, Jason, because we're like, hey, we're terrified for people's lives and hope it works out okay.

But what is the deal with Aaron Rodgers and Danica Patrick? I won't ask you about that. It's over. I know. You you about that. It's over. I know. You hate to see it, I guess. Relationships are tough to make work. I know. Yeah, it's tough.

I was not that invested in it, but I feel bad for him that it didn't work out, I guess. I liked Danica Patrick as a racer. Some people didn't. I think it's amazing that she did as good as she did, but that is not what this podcast is about. But what has been the feeling, though, since the draft? Like, even Aaron Rodgers the other day kind of makes mention that he wanted other receivers in the first round and couldn't wait for them, and then he gets a pile of backup quarterback and running back. I mean, I still see this team, Jason, as being very good and very talented, but it has to be uncomfortable when you know that the quarterback

really hates what you did in the draft. Yeah, and I think he's not alone. I think Devontae Adams kind of hinted at it. Some other players have made mention of it as well. Like this was, you know, I think to quote Devontae, it's no secret we all expected a wide receiver. Oh, no, you're right. It's not a secret, but thanks for saying it out loud.

I mean, look, the reality is this. There is almost this feeling as you look at what they have done this offseason that not only are they setting the table to move on from aaron rogers but with the acquisitions they've made or failed to make they feel like they're hastening it which you know talk to vikings fans talk to bears fans Bears fans who have for large swaths of their time as fans not had great quarterback play and ask them what it was like because the odds are against Jordan Love you know the odds were against Aaron Rodgers frankly you know there are not other than Montana Young there aren't a lot of examples of back-to-back Hall of Fame quarterbacks,

and I know there's no examples of back-to-back Hall of Fame quarterbacks, but maybe the Packers believe that they can win in another way with Matt LaFleur and a strong running game, and at some point, Jordan Love is the starter and not counting as much against the cap. But, look, it doesn't make sense to me. Even if you see slippage in Aaron Rodgers' play, he is still better than most quarterbacks in the league, and you were within a win of the Super Bowl a year ago to not only draft the quarterback as your heir apparent, but to trade up to select him ruins any narrative that oh it's just like i mean it's 15

years to the day after the packers drafted rogers that they drafted jordan love but the situations could not be more dissimilar rogers not talking about retirement talking about playing into his 40s farm of course talking about retirement all the time the packers had lost a first round playoff game in 2004 the randy moss fake moon game the packers in 2019 played for a trip to the super bowl so there's just there's just not that many similarities and oh by the way aaron rogers was in the conversation to be the number one overall pick and fell into their laps at 24 this time they traded up to take a guy who was certainly not in the discussion to be the number one overall pick so the similarities are very few and far between and it just feels like it could be one and done from here for rogers i don't know how this season is going to go

if it actually happens but remember just because they have a large cap hit that they would be taking if they were to move on from him after the 2020 season the fact of the matter is is that they would still have a cap space created if they moved on from them. They'd get about $4.8 million in salary cap space if they moved on from them. Obviously, financially, it would be even better if they held off until after the 2021 season. But, you know, I had a few people say, oh, come on, they're not going to do it after one year. I don't think they are, but they certainly could,

and that would be quite the story here. Get back to the conversation in just a minute, but first I have to tell you about something very cool from our friends at SodaStick. You probably know them for Minnesota sports-inspired hats and shirts and hoodies that are screen-printed in Minnesota, but SodaStick also has artwork as well. You're going to want to check out their Man Cave prints, 20 by 24 prints representing everything Minnesota sports, from awesome throwback logos to legendary plays at first base

to famous disgusting acts in Green Bay. They are on sale now for just $35. You can't go out to games at the moment, but you can liven up where you're watching them from. You want to get SodaStick's very cool prints. Go to SodaStick.com. That's S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com and use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. There are so many elements of this that really I am like the gif of the guy who is sort of his mind blown or whatever. When it comes to the drafting of love trading up to do it

which is also different from what you were talking about before with the aaron rogers situation for someone that a lot of really good and reliable draft analysts said look this guy has a lot of issues uh jordan love i mean when you struggle with consistency with accuracy when you don't put up great numbers at utah state i mean these are all sort of red flag things that would make someone a second round draft pick which looked like where he was trending and then we see this all the time in the nfl that somebody gets really high on a quarterback and they've got to have them and they're going to take him no matter what daniel jones for the giants gotta have him gotta take him i think dave gettleman said he saw one series and then i'm taking this guy and it's like is that is that really the way to go about it here and and if rogers had been

garbage last year if he had been like late dan marino or something that just couldn't play anymore then you would totally understand it but aaron rogers last year, I mean, it depends on what number you look at, but I just pulled up PFF grades where they had him. They had him just behind Patrick Mahomes and just ahead of Deshaun Watson in terms of his grade. I mean, yeah, he was not throwing for 5,000 yards. He was not making some of the plays that he's made in the past athletically. But as you said, still a great quarterback who won 13 games and

you would think you would want to do everything like it's never talked about how far have had a really good team around him in 2009 when he came to minnesota like we see it more than ever that the team around a quarterback is making the difference especially in the nfc where there's a lot of quarterbacks who are good not great and to do that to him it's just it i i'm not over it and then he loses devin funches to an opt-out like right away so if you're rogers i think that you could totally understand this is going to be hard for vikings fans jason but you could totally understand how he feels yeah and and you know i don't think anybody expects vikings fans to feel sorry for the Packers. They've had more than their fair share of heartbreak, too. But here's the one thing that I think even Vikings fans,

especially ones that get frustrated with their Packers fan friends, can identify with. There was a story a few years ago in Sports Illustrated that my friend Austin Murphy did on Mike McCarthy, and he coined the term entitled town with how some fans who, God bless them, I love Packers fans because they make what I do relevant, but there are some fans that really do think that there is a birthright here and that things are always going to be like they have been since 1992

when Ron Wolfe turned around this moribund franchise but the fact of the matter is is that Brian Gutekunst's first draft right now in 2018 doesn't look very good looks like there's a lot of misses there and there's nothing to say that Brian Gutekunst is going to be like Ted Thompson and Ron Wolfe just because he worked for both of them and build a Super Bowl champion the way they did. Now, he very well could, but it's also possible that he is Ryan Pace and that he made a big splash on defense and got a great pass rusher. In Ryan Pace's case, obviously, Khalil Mack. In the Packers' case, Zedarius Smith was transformative last year on that defense

but Ryan Pace blew the quarterback position I mean Mitch Trubisky is bad it's possible that Jordan Love will be a Mitch Trubisky it's probably more likely that he's Mitch Trubisky than that he's Patrick Mahomes and so we will see but his legacy and this team's immediate future is predicated on how much can they win while they still have Rodgers how soon are they going to move on from Rodgers and then how good is their scheme and this quarterback going to be moving forward because it looks like based on the draft based on the fact that it was the best wide receiver draft in the history of the draft according to draft experts and they not only didn't take one in the first round they didn't take one at all and they added a quarterback

of the future a bruising running back and a h-back tight end fullback do-it-all guy in josiah deguara in the third round that tells me that matt lafleur and brian gutekens are setting this team up to play a different style of football that is not reliant on a two-time mvp quarterback and we could find out as soon as 2021 as to whether or not that was a good approach or not maybe this is a hot take here but the more ludicrous picks could possibly be those second and third rounders even more than jordan love because you could argue at least i don't like jordan love as a prospect uh you know i don't like guys who don't produce at a lower level just like josh allen still not sold on Josh Allen.

If you can't dominate Wyoming, then why are we drafting you in the first round? That seems like a later round pick. But anyway, quarterback with an older quarterback you could justify. You'd say, sorry, Aaron, about your feelings. Now, a running back, though, in the second round, when running backs are coming out of anywhere, they're walking off of the streets of Green Bay into Lambeau and running. Aaron Jones is a sixth-round draft pick, and he's freaking amazing. It's like what compelled you to think that you had to take one so high

when there still were lots of other potential weapons on the board? I think that that is the one that you could just simply not justify. It's almost like you were going out of your way to say, no, we're going to do the worst thing that you could possibly do with this draft pick. Yeah, and let's be honest, too. Remember, they traded up to take Jordan Love. They used their fourth-round pick to acquire that move of four spots up from 30 to 26. That fourth round pick would have been useful for them if they had wanted

to go up in the second round and get any of the wide receivers that were left that didn't go in the first round that they may have liked. And so, again, not only did they pick Jordan Love, but they also decided to use any capital they could have used. And so, again, not only did they pick Jordan Love, but they also decided to use any capital they could have used to go up in the second round to go get Jordan Love in first. And to completely belabor the point, if you look at the top receivers over the last couple of years out of the draft, a lot of them have come in the second and third round. Cortland Sutton, A.J. Brown, Terry McLaurin. Like, you can, Debo Samuel, you can find these guys, DK Metcalf even, in the second round, and yet they decide to go toward the position that is easily, by far, the most in the NFL

replaceable. Again, mind-blowing stuff. But at the same time, Jason, there's still a good case that this team is good. It's like the same team from last year with no new receivers, but they didn't have receivers last year. And maybe you have a tight end in Sternberger who can take a step forward after being, what, injured last year. A defense that is very good and certainly whooped the Minnesota Vikings twice

with their defense for the most part. So are we still looking at the Packers and saying despite all of this that we just talked about for 15 minutes still could easily win the division they certainly are capable of that but if if I may play devil's advocate and give your Vikings fan listeners, since most of them, I assume, are Vikings fans, some hope. There's a couple things. First of all, let's think back to that game at US Bank Stadium and who didn't play in that game. I believe the Vikings were not only without Dalvin Cook, but without both of their top running backs. Correct. The Pack packers run defense as you saw in the nfc championship game uh a bit of a paper tiger and so it certainly helped them especially after what alvin cook did in the meeting at lambeau field to not have to face him uh and obviously raheem mostar put up

some big numbers you mentioned jace sternberger their apparent tight end number one. Look, no one thinks Jimmy Graham of 2019 was anything like Jimmy Graham of 2011 or 12. But Jace Sternberger basically has one year of college production, was not even all that productive at a JUCO in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma. Had one year where he was on campus for like six months at Texas A&M. Had some production there, but he did not catch a regular season pass. Had a concussion early in camp. Had an ankle injury at the end of preseason. Taught three passes for 15 yards in two playoff games.

And now you have elevated him essentially to be your number one tight end that is a lot of faith and we all know faith is the belief in things unseen and they have not seen anything that tells you that jay sternberger should be an nfl number one tight end uh the wide receiver position davante ad is elite. But if you're realistic about Alan Lazard, who was one of the better stories of last season, he is a three. He is not even a two in most people's eyes. And so you lose Devin Funchess to the opt-out decision, and now not only do you have essentially the same cast of characters,

but actually it's one fewer because Funchess was replacing Geronimo Allison, who they decided not to bring back. Geronimo Allison, over the last four years, had some plays for this offense, some important plays, and he went to Detroit, ended up opting out there, oddly enough. But they're not just treading water at wide receiver. They're actually worse off than they were a year ago at this time. So, you you know you take

all that together they've got a really strong running back group aaron jones was terrific last year jamal williams was underrated they spent the second round pick on a.j dillon uh they they lost their right tackle they have not uh signed anyone to be a reliable backup like they had last year in Jared Veldheer. They signed ex-University of Wisconsin tackle Ricky Wagner, who was cut by the Lions, to take over for Brian Belaga. You know, he was available for a reason. So on the offensive side of the ball, there are question marks, and to me the biggest question mark is can they stay anywhere close to as healthy as they did a year ago?

Offensively, they played four games without Adams. They somehow went 4-0 in those games. But they cannot afford to lose him again. I don't think the results will be the same. On defense, they were supremely healthy, other than Darnell Savage having some ankle problems that slowed his development. I mean, Kevin King, who had not stayed healthy at all for his first two seasons, not only stayed healthy, but was like fourth in the NFL in interceptions. So the odds of that defense playing well and everyone staying healthy,

also not good. So I think there's a lot of reason to be bearish or or bull i always get this wrong i don't that's why i don't invest i think it's bearish yeah you should have your doubts about the packers i think you're well founded on that they were 13 and 3 last year but they had a lot of things go their way they were fortunate in a lot of ways and when that happened i mean they they beat the chiefs in kansas city but they didn't have to face patrick mahomes so you know they were not only fortunate with their own health but with their opponent's health being core at the time that they played them so yes they're capable but i don't think they'll

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They were extremely healthy last year. They had almost everybody go into the playoff game healthy. I think Mackenzie Alexander had a late injury, and maybe Mike Hughes did too. But aside from that, you're talking about a very, very healthy season for the Vikings last year. You're talking about losing Stephon Diggs and now relying on one wide receiver and a bunch of other people to try and support Adam Thielen and looking at regression of the schedule as well. I mean, the Packers played, if not the same,

a very similar schedule to the Vikings, and you know how easy it was for these teams last year in terms of schedule. The Vikings played 11 teams that didn't make the playoffs, which was tied for the most in the NFL. Are we looking at, Jason, and this is a serious question, are we looking at saying, wow, Detroit really snuck up on everybody here? Because I think that what I'm hearing from you is a lot of the same concerns that the

Vikings have, even though both of these teams have a shot at still winning the division, Detroit is kind of like the sneaky intriguing one now well and don't forget the Packers were that sneaky intriguing team last year right I mean they were coming off a six nine and one finish they fired their head coach with four games left in the season they had a first year head coach who'd never been a head coach at any level. They were a team that was coming off a bad year, but they at least had a great quarterback.

I know that Kirk Cousins frustrates some folks, but he's still a pretty darn good quarterback. Probably doesn't get as much credit as he deserves, gets plenty of criticism, that's for sure. But from afar, he looks like a guy guy that if he's surrounded by quality players and he plays with a good defense he's got a chance to do enough for you and so when i look at the packers they're treating aaron rogers kind of like he's kirk cousins but also saying yeah but we're not going to give you any weapons so just figure it out and hopefully we can run the ball really well.

So, yeah, I could see the Lions. I don't know enough about them. I do know this, that regime is basically on its last year. It's win or they're done, and so Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn really need to get it done this year. We'll see. But, look, I've always said this. It's funny because whatever team you cover or whatever team you are a fan of,

they always look worse to you than other teams. And yet there are people covering those other teams or fans that are following those other teams that are looking at their team going, God, this guy's terrible. We're not good enough here or there. I mean, it's the same thing. And your point is a really good one, that both of these teams feel like they're kind of in a similar position.

I feel better about the Vikings tight ends group than I feel about Jace Sternberger. But I do think that this could be a really interesting year for both the Packers and the Vikings, and really for what they can do not only this season and what's going to be an oddball season, but kind of where they go from here. Because as I look at the Packers, you know, look, everyone was, almost everyone, was stunned that they were 13-3 and reached the nfc championship game well they did it with a first year head coach uh a second year general manager and those guys got a lot of love

i'm not quite sure that they were as good as they were advertised to be last year so now if they have a regression and it's not just covid 19 related. Then you start to think, okay, I wonder where they're headed with this team. And the next few years, the Packers have David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark, Corey Linsley, Aaron Jones, and Kevin King all in the last year of their deal. And they're going to have, what, $23 million less of salary cap space across the league next year because of COVID-19. I mean, that's going to be hard to sign some of your best players. So this could be a fulcrum year for the Packers.

And maybe they backslide significantly. There's always a team that made the playoffs. Then the next year doesn't make them. And I do wonder if it might be them if we play all the games boy that sounds so much like 2017 to 2018 for the minnesota vikings you make the nfc championship game you get your face beat in you never really recover from that some things change a new offensive coordinator a new quarterback and all of a sudden you underachieve the next year and then you're looking at in a way a semi-rebuild after that because players get old and they get expensive and then you have to make changes so I mean yeah if you were betting you probably would

say that that's going to be the trajectory for the next couple years the difference is Aaron Rodgers is still Aaron Rodgers and you know Kirk Cins is good, and I agree with you that some of the criticism is hysterical to listen to when it's on the national level, but also he's not Aaron Rodgers. So, you know, there is that capability of him raising the level of everyone. Last thing I wanted to ask you, Jason, was about week one, and if there's no fans in Minnesota, there hasn't been an announcement yet, but I just can't imagine that there will be at U.S. Bank Stadium.

A, how freaking weird is that going to be? But B, I think that that impacts the game. In previous years, Aaron Rodgers has been much better at Lambeau against the Vikings than he has been at U.S. Bank Stadium. And I think part of it is the noise with the Vikings defensive line is a major problem for every quarterback who goes in there. Now, if he can hear himself, like, is that a big advantage? Do you think it matters?

I've been trying to kind of figure this out because we've never seen anything like it. Yeah, I think the first thing we need to get clarification on is what is the NFL's crowd noise plan? I am not, you know? I'm not Judd. I don't have all sports on all the time at my house, although he and I both watch Law & Order reruns. I don't know how he's fitting those in now that sports are back. Nothing better. You're exactly right because here's what's amazing for the Packers,

and again, doing a daily three-hour show with Mark Tauscher, I get to experience what he would say is his genius or brilliance. He's not bad. I don't want to be praising him. But he said immediately when the schedule came out that if they don't have fans the packers may have benefited from coven 19 more than any other team on their schedule because the first game is at u.s bank then they're supposed to play at home against the lions which we found out this week there will be no fans at lambeau field for the first two regular season games but then in in week three, they're supposed to go to New Orleans.

So they could go to two of the loudest stadiums in all of the NFL in the first three weeks, and there could be no fans in it. So Aaron Rodgers was already talking about how maybe it'll be so quiet that he'll be able to get more free plays and bark and get defensive linemen to jump off sides where he wouldn't normally be able to do that on a road surface. We'll see. I don't know what they're going to do. I've watched some baseball games.

You correct me if I'm wrong. It sounds like they have the sound going on in the stadium and not just on the broadcast. I don't know about the fake fans, but I mean, I know that they have like the game production. They're still doing the same stuff. Yeah. So I, again, I don't know. Will it be dead silence in U.S.

Bank Stadium? Will you be able to hear, you know, me if I'm in the press box? I don't even know if we'll be allowed in at this point. I know we're going to get to go to practice, but I really am curious to see if the Packers could benefit in a huge way. Even whatever home field advantage they're losing at Lambeau, they certainly are gaining it and then some with those games against the Saints and the Vikings in the first three weeks.

Am I wrong? Aaron Rodgers hasn't won at U.S. Bank Stadium, has he? No, he won last year. Oh last year oh of course yeah last year aside from aside from that and that was really the defense aaron didn't play very well in that game um he got picked off i handed up handed off a lot right yeah that's right um so he a glimpse of this offense in the future yeah that's right with three running backs uh he'll he can run the option and just pitch to one of the three running backs um aj dylan in the second is going to go down and packer lore so uh jason this was super fun getting together it will be fascinating as reporters to cover this thing

and talk about it because i very much hope we never see anything like it ever again in our lives after this year and uh and we'll go from there so we'll connect again at some point here man we've got uh only a few weeks till football i hope well my understanding is these only come around every 100 years or so so other than sid none of us has really seen anything like this. So hopefully we don't see another one in our lifetimes. Yeah, no, I certainly hope so. All right, well, Jason, you do great work there in Wisconsin, and people can follow you if they dare to see Packers content at JasonJWilde, W-I-L-D-E, on Twitter.

And we'll talk again soon, man. Well, I will hopefully either see you on September 13th or at least virtually see you. And maybe on November 1st when the Vikings are scheduled to come to Lambeau Field. Do you have problems recognizing people anyway? Like, I now have an excuse with masks because a lot of times I'm like, I think that's someone that I know, but I'm not 100 percent sure. I definitely have that with other beat reporters around the league. Like, we met before, didn't we? I think we did.

But now, you're in a mask. Oh, I didn't recognize you. You're in a mask. Yeah, so I was at TJ Maxx. If they're smart, they would start advertising on this podcast. So, you know, I'm a thrifty guy. And I was looking for, I donifty guy and i was looking for i don't remember what i was looking for but i look across the picture frame aisle and there's darnell savage

the packers starting safety first round pick last year and i recognized him right away my uncomfortability was i didn't i i didn't want to assume that he recognized me because we're both wearing masks. And so I kind of was like, do I say hello, do I not? Because what I didn't want him to think was I was just some regular Green Bay Joe who recognized him and, hey, go, Pat, go. And fortunately, he said hello to me first, so that relieved that stress. But I think I'm getting better at recognizing people in masks. I would like to see more of some of our mutual friends in the Twin Cities media.

I want to see if we can put together like a lineup, like on Law & Order, and see if we can identify all the stars of the Playtone galaxy in the media in uh in the twin cities but i i will recognize you my friend mask no mask uh judd zolgad uh of course head face whatever mike zolgad's head is only partially very small covered by the mask um well and and if anybody takes theirs off we'll hold them in contempt like Jack McCoy. So great, great stuff. We'll do it again soon, Jason. I look forward to it, buddy.

Thanks for having me on. Yep.