Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Jordan Love's Contract Breakdown, Brewers' Clutch Win, Badgers' Season Outlook – Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trag
Ever wondered what a Bears fan and a Packers fan could possibly agree on? In today's episode of "Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage," we kick things off with an unexpected encounter that leads to a spirited debate about Jordan Love's contract situation. We'll clear up common misconceptions about Love's deal, breaking down the cap hit and how the payments are spread out over time. Plus, hear why even a die-hard Bears fan found common ground on this hot topic!
Switching gears, we recap a sketchy yet pivotal game one win for the Milwaukee Brewers against the St. Louis Cardinals. With standout performances from Frankie Montes on the mound and clutch plays from Contreras and Frelick, this game had it all. We also provide roster updates and look ahead to future matchups that could shape the Brewers' season. And if you're a Wisconsin Badgers football fan, stick around as we dissect their challenging schedule, highlighting key games that could bring them back into the national spotlight.
Our deep dive into the Green Bay Packers covers everything from Jordan Love's contract extension to the unresolved kicker competition that has everyone talking. We'll spotlight players who've made an impact, like Hopper and Christian Welch, and discuss Coach LaFleur's call for maximum effort as the team gears up for their final preseason game against the Ravens. Don't miss our call to action at the end—your feedback is invaluable, and we want to hear from you! Join us for an episode brimming with insights, analysis, and engaging sports discussions.
Ever wondered what a Bears fan and a Packers fan could possibly agree on? In today's episode of "Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage," we kick things off with an unexpected encounter that leads to a spirited debate about Jordan Love's contract situation. We'll clear up common misconceptions about Love's deal, breaking down the cap hit and how the payments are spread out over time. Plus, hear why even a die-hard Bears fan found common ground on this hot topic!
Switching gears, we recap a sketchy yet pivotal game one win for the Milwaukee Brewers against the St. Louis Cardinals. With standout performances from Frankie Montes on the mound and clutch plays from Contreras and Frelick, this game had it all. We also provide roster updates and look ahead to future matchups that could shape the Brewers' season. And if you're a Wisconsin Badgers football fan, stick around as we dissect their challenging schedule, highlighting key games that could bring them back into the national spotlight.
Our deep dive into the Green Bay Packers covers everything from Jordan Love's contract extension to the unresolved kicker competition that has everyone talking. We'll spotlight players who've made an impact, like Hopper and Christian Welch, and discuss Coach LaFleur's call for maximum effort as the team gears up for their final preseason game against the Ravens. Don't miss our call to action at the end—your feedback is invaluable, and we want to hear from you! Join us for an episode brimming with insights, analysis, and engaging sports discussions.
Thank you how we doing everybody and welcome in to wisconsin sports on the go with trage. I'm your host, trage, we're sitting here. It's wednesday, it's a a fantastic Wednesday here in the great state of Wisconsin, or, hopefully, like I always say, it's a great day wherever you are tuning in. I'm hoping you got no rain. I'm hoping the sun is shining. It's a nice, warm day, not hot, not muggy, just warm. Right, just warm. I'm good with warm. I don't want it to get too hot, right, can't handle, can't handle heat, don't want the cold. I want the in-between 60s 60s into the close to 70. I can let. I like that. I like that. That would be awesome. All year long, sun shining, 60s to 70s. That would be awesome. But hey, we come, it comes and go, right, it comes. We're getting closer and closer to the fall, so we know it's going to get a little bit cooler out there. But hey, it is a great day. You want to know why it's a great day? I had a Bears fan last night and I want to talk about this today. I want to talk about the Jordan Love contract and um, simply because there's a lot of people out there who don't understand the Jordan Love contract and I want to't understand the Jordan Love contract. And I want to talk about the Jordan Love contract because I got into an argument last night with a Bears fan Right he was. It is, honestly, it's this big group on Facebook over there and two of these guys are going back and forth about Jordan Love contract and I was like you know, both these guys are doorknobs Like I'm listening to this, I'm like I don't know what's going on right now. So I quick, I jumped in and I was like, hey, this is how the contract actually breaks down due to the cap hit, everything like that. And at the end of the day I couldn't even believe it, I couldn't believe myself. The Bears fan actually said, oh, like you're right, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I thought he was going to just take that thing as far as he could. I didn't understand how right, because you can look all over. That's how it breaks down. But I mean, man, oh man, but at the end of the day I got a Bears fan to agree with me. So that was wild. That was a crazy, crazy moment in my day yesterday there. So I want to get into that today. I want to talk about the Jordan Love contract. Just break it down, because there are still people out there who don't fully understand that it's not $55 million per year, it's a little bit of spread out. So I want to talk about that today.
Speaker 1:Brewers pick up a big sketchy game. One win over the St Louis Cardinals last night there. I want to talk about that game a little bit. I want to look at that Packers we didn't get into the Packers Broncos matchup a lot yesterday. I had the two fellows on there from Bruliana Sports and Chomping on the Bet podcast. There are Kyle Edwards and Aaron Riley there, so I didn't get much into that game. I want to talk about that game today.
Speaker 1:Also, I have something to talk about with the Badgers today. So I want to start there today. So I want to start there. I want to start there with the Badgers and I want to look at in every season I truthfully sit here and I say to myself in every season there's that one game, that there's multiple games, but there's those games throughout a season when you kind of it's like it could be a turning point of the season, it could set you up for something great, it could start a win streak, it can get morale high before you travel and play somebody else. I see some of those games with the Wisconsin Badgers and I want to talk about it. I want to talk about that schedule today and I want to talk about it.
Speaker 1:I want to talk about that schedule today and I want to talk about some of the tipping points that I see in this season for Wisconsin. So two of the big ones, two of the big ones. For me these two games shouldn't really be games, but I look at the game against Western Michigan, opening night at Camp Randall eight o'clock under the lights. I look at that game and I say to myself okay, first game of the year, I want to see Wisconsin show me something different. Right, because last season, you know, we watched early on there and they had that matchup with Buffalo. Buffalo hung around with them. They had that matchup with Washington State. They, I mean, ended up losing that game to Washington State and then Georgia Southern. That game was a little bit more of a blowout, but I thought Georgia Southern played close for a little bit of that game. It was close for that first half of that game and then the Badgers turned it on second half.
Speaker 1:I want to see in these first couple games and it's not do or die, right that the Badgers do this to fully say to myself like hey, they're going to be okay this season. But I want to see the Badgers come out and just guns a-blazing one time, one time against an inferior opponent. I'm going to go with that inferior Because I mean Western Michigan, south Dakota, those two teams. They might be solid programs. I'm not a big know-it-all about Western Michigan. I'm not a big know-it-all about South Dakota. What I do know is the Big Ten is going to be tougher than that. I think they're going to have tougher games against Northwestern Rutgers, purdue than they will see in those three teams. Right, there are tougher than the matchup they'll have should be tougher than the matchup they'll have with South Dakota or Western Michigan.
Speaker 1:So, right away, right off the bat, I want to see the Badgers start out hot. I want to see them take these first two games. I want to see them take these first two games handily, right. I don't want to see them just win them. I don't want to see it be close, right? Yes, sometimes you do have to survive close games against bad teams, right? I mean, it happens all the time, all the time, in college football. You know that's what the craziness is. Right, you can be this I mean just average Joe Blow team that walks into an opposing stadium. They're not ready for him. You gut punch them. They aren't ready for that and they can't bounce back. You end up winning that ball game. We've seen those in the past. We've seen it happen. So I'm just for me, those two games will set the tone and set the table for what they have coming up next, because after that we will see Alabama coming to Camp Randall. Now, this isn't the Nick Saban Alabama. This is a different Alabama team, but it's still Alabama. This is still a good program in Alabama. Jalen Milrow is coming back. They have a good roster around them there. They still have good recruits in that room, good transfers. Alabama is still a solid team.
Speaker 1:So that Western Michigan game, that South Dakota game getting yourself right, getting yourself physically right, playing up to game speed, not messing around I hate seeing mess around against bad teams. Right, I hope Western Michigan, south Dakota starters are in there. We're able to mix and match guys late in that game because it's over right. That's the point you want to get to. You don't want to have Tyler Van Dyke having to play that game late.
Speaker 1:Those two games are where I want to see, like Braden Locke, I want to see Locke get in there. I want to see some second string wide receivers in there. I want to see Locke get in there. I want to see some second string wide receivers in there. I want to see, you know, maybe some of the backup tackles, whatever it is, you know, trying to mix and match pieces in there because those guys might play influential parts in the offense or defense. Right, I'm not going to exclude the defense here, because you want to see linebackers everything they're going to be interchanging throughout the game anyways but you want to see some of them guys get extended snaps because, I mean, what tells you that we don't lose the tackle against South Dakota? Well, you know, linemen get hurt. Right, we see it all the time linemen get hurt. So you want to see some of these second stringers in there because you got to know, hey, when I get to Alabama, I can trust this guy in there. You know it allows you to see them in a game against real not you know you're practicing, you're facing real defenses but facing an opposing player who all he wants to do is get by you and hurt your quarterback, right it's. It's a different mindset almost when you get into a regular season regular paced game versus a practice or even a scrimmage, anything like that. So those two games for me are huge for the Badgers to get out front and be able to handily win those games. So we can see some of the Badgers second stringers, some of the reserve guys get in there and get some experience before we get to the big meat of the schedule. Because the Badgers hit the meat of the schedule and it doesn't really slow down.
Speaker 1:According to a lot of analysts out there, this Badgers schedule might be way more daunting than what we think, because I saw ESPN gave the percentage chance the Badgers had the win probabilities for each game this season. So you look at the first two 90% chance against Western Michigan, 94% against South Dakota. But then you look at the rest of the schedule. Here, alabama, they're giving Wisconsin a 19% chance to pull that one off Against USC. They're giving them a 29% chance to win that game. Purdue they're giving them a 67% chance.
Speaker 1:But then, traveling to Rutgers 44%, northwestern at Northwestern 56%, 19% against Penn State, 42% chance to win the game at Iowa 17% at home against Oregon, 46% at Nebraska and 60% against Minnesota. There, I mean, if you're looking at what the analysts are thinking right now, this Badgers schedule is actually very daunting because I was looking. You know, alabama, usc, iowa, penn State, oregon those are going to be your big matchups, according to ESPN and the analysts out there. We got to be watching the Rutgers game close. We got to be really watching that Iowa game close and I mean even the other games in there. You look at the game at Northwestern a 56% chance.
Speaker 1:Now these are all probabilities made up by analysts, so they really don't mean Jack Dilley squad right. I mean I could say right now I'm giving the Badgers a 21% chance to beat Alabama at home. It doesn't really mean anything. It doesn't mean anything at all. So the first two games for me are huge tone setters and get some game reps in for these guys. Get some game reps not just for the first string guys but for the second string guys, because I believe at some point in the year you're going to need somebody in that second string room and it's going to be a matter of are they ready to go in a game against Alabama in the first half or second half, are they going to be ready to go in that game? Because, like I said, you got Alabama USC two tough games in a row.
Speaker 1:I think the Alabama game for me is going to determine a lot of what's going to happen when the Badgers travel to USC. Because if Alabama comes into Camp Randall and they just knock Wisconsin, I mean they just it's gut punch after gut punch after gut punch and the Badgers can't even figure anything out. It's almost like watching that game when the Badgers went to the horseshoe and they played. Or was it when they played at Ohio State? That's what it was? Yes, and they played at Ohio State, graham Mertz playing quarterback, and that game was over within the first couple minutes of the first quarter. Like it was pick Ohio State's got the ball touchdown, turnover, ohio State's got the ball touchdown. It was like boom, boom, boom done, like there was no breathing room for Wisconsin.
Speaker 1:You can't have that in that game against Alabama, because then I believe when you travel to USC that makes that game it's that much more pressure on that game, right? Because if you lose that game to Alabama now, you go to USC. Going to USC is already going to be tough. Now you're doing it after getting gut punched 45 times by Alabama at home the week after. I believe they're going to have a little bit of a buy there. Yeah, they're going to have a little bit of buy between Alabama and USC. So that's definitely going to help to get you right.
Speaker 1:But if you can pick up I mean if you I'm not saying that they have to win the game against Alabama Now would that be fantastic. Sure, sure enough, it would be fantastic. But if they play that game close, like I'm talking end of the game, we're looking at a Badger loss. But they lost by. Let's just say the final score is like 35 to 24. I, you know, if that, if that was not 24 points getting added up there during garbage time, if that was 24 points against Alabama's number one defense, that gives you a lot of I mean the morale, everything in that locker room will be good heading to USC. If you get just the doors knocked off you against Alabama and it's like a 56 to3 route at home against Alabama, I mean that's tough. That's a tough game to bounce back from, especially traveling to a solid team in USC. I mean I don't think USC is as good as Alabama, right. So if I think you beat Alabama, that sets a tone for the season, right. That puts you on the map. Alabama. That sets a tone for the season right. That puts you on the map.
Speaker 1:Wisconsin. Right now it's like the first time they haven't been in the preseason top 25 since like 2016. That's pretty good years of success right there. But right now the Badgers are kind of flying underneath the radar. Not a lot of people are talking about them. A lot of analysts have them in the. We don't even think they could probably get close to the top of the Big Ten this season. We think Rutgers is going to be better than them. This is the moment against Alabama where win or lose. You lose a close game to Alabama or you win a close game against Alabama. Like I said, I don't know if that's going to happen, but if you play close or somehow win that game, get away, find a way to win that game, you set a tone for the rest of the season. You let everybody know hey, wisconsin football is not to be messed with. We're still here, we're still here, we still got a solid program, so that Alabama game is a big one for him.
Speaker 1:Then you travel to USC. Then you got Purdue at home, rutgers on the road and Northwestern on the road. Those are going to be two big matchups for the Badgers. That Rutgers game the way that people are talking about Rutgers they got a couple of good players in there. Now I mean that Rutgers game could set up a lot, because if you drop a game at Rutgers, now that Northwestern game gets amplified at Northwestern, now you're pressured heading into Northwestern.
Speaker 1:And then after that you got number eight, preseason number eight, penn State. We don't know what they're going to be at that point, but you have number eight Penn State coming to Camp Randall. After that you can't. I mean in that stretch it is going to be daunting if you lose those two games or one of those games. It will be daunting then to play Penn State, because you know right after that because it's, I mean, everybody knows, it's in the back of your head you have to travel to Iowa City to take on Iowa. That's always a tough barn burner game between Wisconsin and Iowa.
Speaker 1:And then you have Oregon right after that, followed up by Nebraska, who I mean Nebraska is in some people's books going to be a good team this year. I got to see it first. I got to see Rutgers be good first. These are two teams in Rutgers and Nebraska. I got to see it before I'm going to believe it. I have a better feeling about Purdue or Northwestern pulling off a win than I do against Rutgers and Nebraska, but two solid teams in total there. The Alabama game is definitely a turning point game for me in the season. That could set the tone for a lot of different things.
Speaker 1:And then I also look at that Rutgers game at Rutgers, setting up that big daunting schedule that the Badgers have in the middle there with Penn State, iowa and Oregon back-to-back-to-back and then traveling to Nebraska after that. This Badgers schedule is tough. I don't think a lot of people, a lot of people are talking about how tough the Badgers schedule is this season here. And if they end up I mean if I'm talking about at the end of the season if you're talking about I mean 8-4, if you're talking about an 8-4 team or a 9-3 Wisconsin team if you go 9-3 with this schedule, hats off to you. That's a solid season. That's a solid season. That is hard not to.
Speaker 1:If you go 9-3, you're up near the top of the Big Ten right now. That means you won one of these games against a very good opponent and you're going to be talked about nationally. Now I don't know, it's going to depend on how everything else shakes out. You've still got Ohio State, michigan, penn State, Oregon to mess around with there in the top of the Big Ten there. I don't know about Washington. I don't know about Washington. I don't know what Washington is going to be able to deliver this year just because they lost so much.
Speaker 1:But good programs find a way. So if Wisconsin finds their way to 9-3, I mean heck. If they make it 10-2, that would be craziness right there. If they made it 10-2. But 9-3 season for Wisconsin in this one, that would be downright just I mean, brush it off, take it to the bank, get ready for next season. I'm all good with that, I am seriously all good with that.
Speaker 1:But I mean honestly, looking at the schedule, alabama, rutgers and I would say to me that Iowa game are going to be some of those turning point morale, those games that I feel like could set up a lot of things for Wisconsin down the stretch. Because after Iowa playing Oregon, if you lose to Iowa, you play Oregon after that. That's a bad combination right there. And then you have Nebraska after that and then you look Rutgers. You have Northwestern after that on the road and the Badgers always seem to struggle at Northwestern. And then you have Penn State after that. I mean this they got some sandwich games in here where it is going to be tough. It is going to be tough on the Wisconsin Badgers there. So with that I mean that's about all I got for Badger Talk, just wanted to quick jump into that there. But I want to mention the great sponsors of the show that make this thing happen here.
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Speaker 1:So with that, let's jump into the Packers. Let's jump into a little bit of Packer talk for the day here. And I want to start with my original talking point to start this one out, and that was the Jordan Love contract situation. So, like I said, got into an argument with the Bears fan. You know how that goes right Packer fan Bear fan never really get along, and I mean they were just. These two were just arguing back and forth about this contract and I'm not going to lie, when I first saw the contract I was like my immediate thought was 220 million. Divide that over four years, $55 million a year. Okay, right, that's your immediate thought. That's not how it breaks down, right? So let's break it down. Okay, let's break it down here.
Speaker 1:So that contract, if you actually look at it, that contract was actually added on to the backend of the contract that the Packers already had with them. They signed an extension off of the extension that they already given him. After his fourth year he had the fifth year extension and then they added this extension on the back end. So for the 2024 season he's actually at a base salary of $3,500,000. His signing bonus there is $16,757,731. Remember that because I'm not going to go through that big number every single time, but that will be the signing bonus every single year. That's a signing proration. That'll be for that season. His workout bonus 500,000.
Speaker 1:You look at the cap hit. This is the big thing that Packer fans and everything, and if you're a Bears fan, whatever you need to look at, you need to understand the cap hit is 20 million for the first year. That ain't bad at all. That ain't bad at all. Now we look at the second year. This is where the money, this is where the cap hit, starts to increase a little bit. It doesn't get crazy until we get towards the end, but this is where the cap hit starts to really take its toll.
Speaker 1:So in year two, 2025, next season 11, he's about 12 million, 11 million, 900,000. There he's going to get that signing bonus I told you of just about 17 mil, 16 757. He's going to have a roster game bonus of 600,000 and then he's going to have a workout bonus of 500,000. So that, so that cap hit is going to be about $29,000, just over $29,750. He's going to be just over that there in the cap hit in 2025. In 2026, that's where the cap. Okay.
Speaker 1:Now the cap hit starts. It really starts to hit the Packers In 2026,. His base salary is going to be $10 million. Signing bonus is the same. He's going to have a roster bonus there of $600,000 there and option proration of $7,900,000 there, and then the workout bonus is going to be $500,000. So the cap hit there is going to be $36,157,731. There's your cap hit, right, okay? So now it gets a little bit worse and now we're going to see this get a little bit worse for Green Bay. So now we get into the 2027 and then 2028 season.
Speaker 1:So the Packers made this thing work. Jordan Love and the Packers worked this thing out. So that way the Packers basically have a four-year window. They opened up this window. We have four years where we're going to hope it all goes right, and then we're going to reevaluate on the backside of it and say, did it go right? Did it go wrong? What are we going to do now? What are we going to do now? Are we going to potentially sign another extension? Because now, if they sign another extension out of that, now this money can all get pushed back right, and then you're going to have dead cap hits through the roof when it comes back on the backside of this. But you get there when you get there, right, that's something that you got to deal with on the end of it, because right now, if you actually look at the dead cap hits that the Packers would have so in.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's look at this first. In 2027, base salary stays the same as in 2026, $10,400,000. The signing bonus is the same, roster bonus $600,000. The option turns into $14,200,000. There. The workout bonus there is going to be $500,000. That all adds up. Now we're at $42,457,731. Million 457 thousand 731 dollars, that is going to be the cap hit for the green bay packers in 2027. Now we roll it into 2028. Now we're into 2028, we see it at 43 million. 900 000 will be the base salary. The signing bonus drops a little bit, I guess, down million. So it makes you look a little bit better there. In that 2028 season, the option turns into the same $14,200,000. Workout bonus same at $500,000. So there you go, the cap hits up to $74,200,000.
Speaker 1:Now we get into the rest of the contract. This is where it's all going to slowly add up right and it's actually going to end up. I believe it ends up like 237 million is actually what the contract could be worth when it's all said and done. Because now we get into the 2029 season and this is where the dead cap hit's gonna hit. Okay, this is where the dead cap is 34 million on the cap hit in 2029. This is when he's in a free agent right, supposedly a free agent at the packers don't resign. This is when he's in a free agent right, supposedly a free agent at the Packers don't resign. This is where he would become a free agent 2030, 14 million and then in 2031, 6 million, right, and that's like I said, barring that the Packers don't go into that 2027 season. And they say, okay, jordan Love hypotheticals here, it's a hope as a Packer fan, right, but hypotheticals. Jordan Love has won two MVPs, he took us to a Super Bowl, it's been all fantastic on this side of the NFC North.
Speaker 1:Let's make a new deal, right? So now this all gets pushed back, that the base salary is going to drop, everything's going to drop. The cap hit's going to drop, everything's going to drop itself down. There's a potential out in 2027. That'll be the potential out for Green Bay the three-year $163 million. That'll be the contract. Basically, there, the dead cap will be at 51 mil after that's all said and done.
Speaker 1:The Packers do have that potential out in 2027. But if they do decide to extend it on, so they decide to extend it on now. They push that cap hit off. Now they can expand themselves a little bit. Right, they can expand themselves a little bit there. So that is about cut and dry, as simplified I guess as I can make make it. That is simplified as I can make it. There the contract details of Jordan Love. So it's not this, it's a big number when you look at it. But when you actually look at the breakdown, year by year, of what Jordan Love is going to be on a cap hit to Green Bay, the four-year window is there for Green Bay. The four-year window is there for Green Bay. The four-year window is there between this season and 2027. That'll be that four-year window.
Speaker 1:Then after that it's the re-evaluation time. It's the. Do we have what we thought we had in Jordan Love? Do we have somebody better? I don't know if Michael Pratt's going to develop into that guy or Sean Clifford. I don't think Sean Clifford's ever going to be that guy.
Speaker 1:But if they bring in another guy, right, they draft a rookie, just like they love to do. They draft a rookie, they tool them behind them. Okay, now do we think that this guy can be that guy in Green Bay? Well, now we have a big dead cap hit. Right, the dead cap is going to be the thing that kills the Packers. After that they're going to be kind of in that situation not you know, kind of like when Aaron Rodgers, david Bakhtiari, you know that kind of deal, right, it's going to be a dead cap hit that the Packers have to deal with. But you just hope you really do.
Speaker 1:End of the day, jordan Love pans out and the Packers can just roll with this thing for 10 years or so, right, and then we ship him off to the Jets, then he goes to the Vikings, then he retires. That's where Rodgers has got to go. Yet you know what the best part is If the Vikings don't have what they think they have in JJ McCarthy and the Jets are done with Aaron Rodgers, it might happen. It might still happen. It is like football just wants it to happen. They want this trend to continue. Everybody does.
Speaker 1:I want to see him go to the Vikings now. I want to see him do something crazy with the Vikings and then retire. Maybe not go to an NFC championship game, unless if it's against Green Bay, then we could live with it. That'd be a heck of a matchup Jordan Love, aaron Rodgers, green Bay versus the Vikings. Nfc championship winner goes to the Super Bowl. That'd be crazy. Can Rodgers get to his second? Can Jordan Love, wherever he's at in his career at that point, can he get to his first second? Whatever it is, I mean that would be that's storybook. I mean that would be that storybook. That storybook just like it'd be storybook if the Jets and Packers played this season or if they found themselves somehow both in the Super Bowl. That'd be storybook.
Speaker 1:Ending to Aaron Rodgers career like, if you want it, he's leaving, he's done, he's retiring. There's no way he tries to come back if he wins the Super Bowl. I just can't see it. If he wins the Super Bowl, I just truthfully, I really do believe Aaron Rodgers will end his career right. Then He'll be like all right, I'm out, I'm out. Darkness retreat something, I'm out, I'm out of here. So I mean those are all hypotheticals. Would it be awesome? Probably, probably. It'd be pretty cool to see there.
Speaker 1:But I want to talk a little bit of Packers. I want to talk about that game against the Broncos. Did we really learn anything? So some of the, I guess, takeaways, the big takeaways from this one here they didn't have a very good joint practice against the Broncos. From everything I saw and everything that I heard and listening to Matt LaFleur, he said that was a long night Certainly I was hoping our guys would come out with a little more strain, effort and grit after kind of getting humbled the other day at practice. To have it happen again not where we want to be, I think is a good lesson for our guys. It's a little different, I would say, in terms of how you have to judge it. It's great to see a lot of young guys go up against NFL starters.
Speaker 1:I thought we showed more resiliency, more fight in the second half, especially defensively. There were some good moments. So defensively, yes, there were some good moments. Offensively, few and far between. I thought Emmanuel Wilson's one catch. He had the one-handed grab, he had the 22-yard run. That was about it on the offensive side. That was about it on the offensive side for things to talk about. The tight end room was terrible. The tight end room was, I mean, I thought was actually terrible in that game. I'm thinking of the guys there.
Speaker 1:Davis did not look good for Green Bay. I thought Davis looked very bad. I think it was the tight ends as a whole Davis, sims, joel Wilson, every single one of them. I mean you look at wilson, he was I mean that interception that they had. Could you blame it on wilson maybe? Like, like lafleur said, I think we've got to flatten that road out a little bit and a little bit more, try to show up in the window quicker. That's what lafleur had to say there. Sim, I mean he missed a block on a punt and he I mean there was pass protection problems with him there Clifford got clocked because of it. There. Davis, he had offensive holding, that's all he did in the entire game. So there was not a whole lot happening in the tight end room.
Speaker 1:Grant DuBose did absolutely nothing in this one. He had three targets, didn't catch anything, nothing really to talk about. I was hoping he would find it in this game. Sean Clifford, michael Pratt did not look solid in this game here, but I'm also going to say it was a lot to do because the number two offensive line, the tight ends nothing was going right for Green Bay offensively. Let's just look at that as a ends. Nothing was going right for Green Bay offensively. Let's just look at that as a whole. Nothing was going right offensively for Green Bay.
Speaker 1:Now, if you go into week three, into this last one against the Ravens, and they somehow find a way to lay a stinker egg like this again, okay, now we have to reevaluate that backup quarterback position because you need a solid backup quarterback, something that you can throw out there for a game or two. If you have to reevaluate that backup quarterback position because you need a good, a solid backup quarterback, something that you can throw out there and for a game or two if you have to, and just hope right, just hope that he can figure it out. I don't know if these two are those guys yet. I really don't. I don't think Sean Clifford is that guy. Michael Pratt's young yet. He could maybe develop into that guy, but he's young. So I don't think you give up on Michael Pratt yet, but Sean Clifford's giving you the time Now, like we talked about yesterday. I mean Ryan Tannehill's out there. There's a couple other guys out there on the free agent market. Do you just bring them in and just say lighting the world on fire for a little while. But you don't want to end up in that situation, you don't. You don't want to call one of these guys as they're dropping their kids off at school and saying like, hey, do you want to come down and potentially be our starting quarterback? You don't want to do that. You need a solid backup in the room and I don't know if Green Bay truthfully has that where you can trust him to go out there for a game or two or whatever it has to be to get the job done for you. I don't know if Green Bay has that in the room right now.
Speaker 1:Some of the I mean good performances I thought seeing Hopper out there for an entire game, that was huge. Hopper has been, you know, he was injured, hasn't been able to get out there a lot. Seeing him, he's physical, he's fast getting up at the ball and he hits guys. I mean he's a hard hitter. I think seeing Hopper out there was huge and he's learning a lot. He's learning a lot from Quay Walker in there At middle linebacker. I think those are big things there. Christian Welch, he had the one I mean big play in the entire game with that interception. Outside of that I mean not a whole lot happening. And thennton cox I mean brenton cox, he did, he had. I mean he I thought he had a solid, a solid performance. I thought brenton cox was solid. Outside of that, I mean there there just wasn't a lot of good that came out of that game. There just wasn't a lot of good that came out of that game there. And I mean the best two moments were the interception and safety. Outside of that, you could have forgot about that game before it even started.
Speaker 1:Looking at some of the things that didn't work out for Green Bay, greg Joseph missed the only kick attempt of the entire game. So the Packers' kicking competition doesn't get anywhere near settled after that, which is still a problem. I competition doesn't get anywhere near settled after that, which is still a problem. I really don't get. We can't be having a competition for the kicking spot this late. I mean I get if you're trying to figure out who's going to be the number two corner, I get that. I get if you're trying to figure out who's going to be the number two safety alongside McKinney and alongside Jair there in the cornerback room, I get those. We're talking about kickers right now. We I mean sitting here and we're still questioning if Anders Carlson can be that guy, if Greg Joseph can be that guy. You got problems right. That's something that needs to be solved. That is something that needs to be solved. That is something that needs to be solved.
Speaker 1:You can't go into the first regular season game with all these questions about oh my, is he going to be able to hit this, is he going to be able to kick a 40-yarder and put her through the uprights, or is he going to be four for eight from that spot? You can't have those big ifs, because three points points is a lot. We noticed that in football games. Right, those three points against the san francisco 49ers that andrews carlson missed out on, that could have been huge down the stretch. That changes the game, changes the mentality of the opposing team how they're gonna defend you, how what's gonna happen, how they're, how fast they're gonna work the ball down the field, how much clock they're gonna to leave you, everything like that. It changes the game being in a one possession versus a two possession, putting yourself up three points late in the game versus missing the field goal. And now we're playing defense, now we're trying to defend it.
Speaker 1:There's just, I mean there's things that you are okay with. There's still being a battle for One thing that I'm not okay with kicker. I'm not Offensive line. Sure you have a battle at the offensive line position between two valuable candidates for it. I'm in for it, I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:I want the best guy right. Defensive line, same thing, linebacker room, everything when he gets to the kicker. I want a guy that's just going to walk through that door Harrison Bunker, right, I want that guy. I want that guy who walks in. He walks in and start a training camp. I know he's that dude. I know he can get the job done. I don't need a guy like Justin Tucker who's going to knock it in from 60, you know. Whatever he, what was it like? 63 or 64? I mean something crazy he was. I mean he could probably kick further than that, but I don't need that. I don't need that guy. I want a guy who's going to be consistent from 50 in. I want that consistency. I don't think the Packers have that consistency yet. So I am definitely looking at that kicker room and I'm saying I think the Packers are still in trouble with that. I think they're still in trouble with that right now. I think the Packers are still in trouble with that. I think they're still in trouble with that right now.
Speaker 1:This last preseason game for Green Bay for a lot of these players is going to be a gut check for them heading into the regular season, because there's a lot of guys looking to make the roster. Yet there's a lot of guys looking to make the roster and looking at what LaFleur said, he said he's not sure how he's going to handle playing time for the starters against the Ravens, but his message to the rest of the roster was very clear. The thing I challenge our team on is you've got to check yourself every play. Are you giving your max effort? Are you straining the way you want to strain, and is the style of play what we want to see? It'll be a good opportunity for all of us to evaluate and see the guys that really want to put it all out there, not only for themselves but for the team.
Speaker 1:You're looking at second string guys right now and you're saying I mean Kalen King, all them guys in the cornerback room. You're looking at this wide receiver room between Heath, torre DeBuz. You're looking at every one of them guys and you're saying how much do you want it? How much do you want it? You want to see it here in this game three. That is what LaFleur is saying. You want to see it in this game three. The kicking competition you want to see throughout this week in training camp against the Ravens in the joint practice and then getting into that preseason game. You want to see them go out there and you want to see them focus, laser focus, putting her through from 40 yards right.
Speaker 1:Greg Joseph missed that one from 47 and it was wide right like not even close, and it's like this is the competition we got going on. If there's still a competition. I just watched him miss this. What's the flip side look like? So there is a lot, a lot of things that the Packers are definitely concerned about right now. They're definitely concerned about right now there.
Speaker 1:But I got to get to the poll. We had a poll of the day, so I want to look getting to my poll here. Set up a poll If you were rebuilding the Packers wide receiver room. Now I'm not saying you want to rebuild right now because they technically are rebuilding and I like what they got, but you're starting from scratch. You're starting from scratch. You got your options between Donald Driver, devontae Adams, sterling Sharp, antonio Freeman, jordy Nelson, and I had to add this guy because one guy on the page said I need to add Christian Watson. So Christian Watson's on there too. So I asked it out.
Speaker 1:There had a good amount of actually people that voted in on it and these are the results here. So Devontae Adams 40% of the votes went towards Devontae Adams. We saw Hayden Health win for Devontae there. Scott Savage, wisconsinite Podcast Hunter Ringel, stevie Kamare, tim DeGiro, cody Lawrence Torres, maria Chris Russell, lola Mueller, todd Pawlowski and Kyle Edwards. They all went to Bonte Adams there In second place and by a close margin. We see Donald Driver. Donald Driver there six votes, 20% there. Solid on that one. Bridget Pickett, mike Spedley, my grandma, my grandma, so I'm going to call her Pam Meyer votes Donald Driver, big Donald Driver fan there. Click it or ticket right, click it or ticket there. Chris Russell and Jim Gain there said Donald Driver. Dave Olson, chad R Draper, paul Rothenbach, rick Homaker and Mike George all voted. 16% of the votes went towards Sterling Sharp. I thought Sterling Sharp would be a little bit higher on there. Jordy Nelson, bridget Pickett she voted for a couple there. Aiden Health voted for a couple Mike Spedley, chris Russell and Ryan Larson. They all went with Jordy Nelson and then Cody Peters went for Christian Watson. He's the guy he wanted Christian Watson on there. That's the guy he's starting with, so he was on there.
Speaker 1:I can't believe antonio freeman. I was, uh, I I like antonio freeman, you know, just look at all time. I just want to look. Receiving leaders all time for the green bay packers. Let's check it out here. Donald driver leads them a metric boatload of yards there. Then we have James Lofton, sterling, sharp, devontae Adams. Antonio Freeman is eighth on the list there in total yards. Let's see Catch percentage there. Oh, that doesn't even count because I got guys on here who have three catches and three targets their entire career. We can't count that there. We can't count that there. We can't count that there. Let's see here Games played. Well, we gave one to Brett Favre. Brett Favre gets to crack off the top of this.
Speaker 1:Games played in the receiving department for Green Bay. He gets to crack it off. One target, one reception, negative seven yards. That a baby, baby. Gotta love you. Some bread for there.
Speaker 1:Donald driver in receptions. He leads them in receptions. I mean, donald driver is unreal. I, I don't know. I the antonio freeman. I did like antonio freeman, I'm not gonna say how to vote it from. Sterling sharp is very, very underrated. I think he is very underrated, very underappreciated is Sterling Sharp 112 games and 595 receptions for 8,000 yards, that's impressive, that's impressive. So Sterling Sharp was downright impressive there. But Donald Driver, I mean, those are two guys Hall of Fame. Like they got to be, they got to be. Those are you? Look at the numbers? It's like come on, come on, fan. Like they gotta be, they gotta be. Those are you? Look at the numbers? It's like come on, come on, they're ridiculous stuff.
Speaker 1:So let's get out of the Packers, let's jump to the Brewers here quick to wrap up the show just quickly. The Brewers did get that game one win last night there against the Cardinals, a big one. I thought that was a huge game the Brewers needed to get and it was on the back of Frankie Montes. Oh, my goodness, this was a battle between two. Huge game the Brewers needed to get and it was on the back of Frankie Montes. Oh, my goodness, this was a battle between two guys at the Brewers. One guy, a lot of guys, one guy. A lot of people wanted the Brewers to get in Eric Fetty there, and one guy that the Brewers did get, that a lot of people weren't high on in, frankie Montes. So this was the battle of those two guys. Cardinals got Fetty at the trade deadline, brewers got Montes.
Speaker 1:Montes was spectacular in this game Seven innings, one hit, three strikeouts, one walk. Not huge strikeout numbers, but he got outs. That's what matters, right. End of the day. I heard Tim Dillard say it and it's all that matters. Right, getting outs is what matters. You made a pitch that got an out. That's all that matters. Even if it's a ground ball, fly out to the wall, whatever it is, you got out of there.
Speaker 1:Frankie Montes was spectacular for the Brewers. Nick Mears tried to blow it. Tried to blow it there. Two thirds of an inning, three hits and two earned runs in this one. Jared Koenig then came in and he mopped it up for him there. Third of an inning with that strikeout. And thenvin Williams comes in in the ninth, gets a little sketchy, like Devin Williams loves to do to us. Two hits in that inning, one walk, ends up with three strikeouts in his appearance, locks down the save, his fifth of the season so far.
Speaker 1:Great stuff there we saw RBIs out of Contreras Frelick with a good game. He had a hit, he had a triple in this one, he had a base hit in this one that drove in a run. He's got that RBI and that Joey Ortiz, freilich triples, ortiz singles him in. Nothing better than that. A little bit of speed on the base pass there with Freilich. So great stuff there. Three runs.
Speaker 1:That last run the Brewers got there by Contreras driving in that run. That was huge. That was huge because without that I mean Matt Carpenter goes deep in the bottom of the eighth, makes it a three to two game. Without that You're talking two to two, heading into the ninth inning there Instead. That insurance run was massive because the Brewers end up winning that game. Three to two. Eight hits for the Brewers, six for the Cardinals in that one there that's going to set up game two of this series. Tobias Myers will go for the Brewers. He'll take on Kyle Gibson for the Cardinals in that one. That'll be a 645. Start there on Valley Sports Wisconsin. I believe it's also on FS1 there, so you can check it out Valley Sports Wisconsin. If you don't have Valley Sports, you can check it out on FS1. So you get a little bit of a double dip there on your well.
Speaker 1:Tonight here, tonight here, big game, big game coming up here. Also some good news. Some good news and some interesting news. Trevor McGill is activated from the 15-day IL. So Trevor McGill is back with the ball club here. Looking at what he had to say, he said I just think the team does a good job of making sure guys are ready to go out there. The respect on both ends was there and they gave me time to get healthy and on top of that, to get healthy but to feel like I'm in a spot where I'm immediately helping out when I come back. That's big stuff. That's big stuff there.
Speaker 1:But we look at what happened in that move and that is Elvis Paguero was optioned to AAA Nashville and it's look. Looking at what Pat Murphy had to say. He said it's tough having to option Peggy because Peggy's been great, uh, in so many ways. Nickname Peggy. I guess it's always a sad day when you have to option a player, but that's part of it. Peggy's going to be a big part of our future. I think Murphy added there. So I mean, paguero gets optioned. I didn't think he was doing that poorly, but he had to make room somehow. Right, he had to make room somehow. Bryce Wilson's your long relief guy as of right now. I mean you look at it, end of the day, poguero had options, so Poguero's the guy who gets sent down. Blake Perkins he's looking at potentially coming back.
Speaker 1:August 22nd is his potential return from the injured list there. But he took batting practice on the field before the opener against the Cardinals and Murphy said we'll see how he feels over the next two days here. Rob Zastrinsky still nothing to know about him yet, but we do have good news on the front of Enoli Paredes, who threw a scoreless inning for Wisconsin on August 18th. He was actually back to back there with McGill there in that game. They were two key cogs in the bullpen there in a win for the high-A Timber Rathers there Looking like he was hitting 95 miles per hour in that scoreless first inning that he played in there. I mean it did include a diving catch by Hedbert Perez, so that was a big I mean a great catch by Perez there. That saved a little bit, but Paredes did throw that scoreless inning, so great stuff there.
Speaker 1:Hopefully get Paredes back into this bullpen too, because if they slowly, slowly start adding pieces, bits and pieces back into this bullpen. It only strengthens it, right. And you still have, like I mean, we talked about Pereira getting sent down you still have, like I mean, we talked about Pereira getting sent down, you still have an arm like that sitting down there in AAA, so you still have the ability to move guys. I mean there's a lot of good arms down in AAA. I want to get into that tomorrow here on the show. I was talking about some of the arms that they do have down in AAA and some of the young guys that we could potentially see at some point when the rosters expand for the Brewers coming up this season here, coming up late in the fall right Roster expand, love to see the Brewers potentially bring up some of these rookies. So with that, that's about all I got for today.
Speaker 1:Like I always say, like, subscribe, leave a review. Definitely send us some fan mail. Go down in the bio, click, send us a text message on there. Send us a text message, let us know, I mean, what you like, what you didn't like, what you want to hear more about, anything like that. But with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Wednesday, but until I talk to you guys again tomorrow, deuces, yeah, oh, my Lord, watch me sway. Darkness falls and we all pray, hoping for the light of day. Down to the river, I have held the devil's hand, felt the weight of my own sin, buried by the heart of man Down to the river, down to the river, oh oh, bury me, carry me, oh oh, far beneath, oh oh, fire and water me Going down to the river.