Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
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Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Evaluating Packers PFF Grades, Packers' Defensive Struggles, Brewers' Performance Woes – Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trag
Curious about whether Jalen Carter's hit on Jordan Love was truly dirty? Get ready for a detailed breakdown as we kick off this episode of Wisconsin Sports Time to Go with Trage. We'll explore the standout performances by Zach Tom and Elton Jenkins in their recent matchup against the Eagles, and discuss the rising stars Jayden Reed, Emmanuel Wilson, and Jordan Morgan, who are making waves early this season. You'll also hear my take on Jalen Carter's controversial hit and why it might not be as sinister as some are making it out to be.
As we switch gears to the defensive side, the spotlight is on the Green Bay Packers' urgent need for physicality upfront. With Jordan Love sidelined and Malik Willis stepping into the QB1 role, the defense has to elevate its game. We’ll analyze the struggles of players like Jair Alexander and preview the challenges the Packers will face against the Colts’ dynamic duo, Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor. This segment promises a deep dive into what the defense must do to stand strong in upcoming games.
Finally, we'll wrap things up by shifting our focus to the Milwaukee Brewers and their recent performance woes. From offensive slumps to pitching issues, we'll cover it all and stress the importance of veteran players like Gary Sanchez and Reese Hoskins stepping up to lead. Reflecting on the broader Wisconsin sports scene, we’ll provide some hopeful thoughts for brighter days ahead. Don't miss this packed episode filled with analysis, critical insights, and a touch of optimism for all Wisconsin sports fans.
Thank you. How are we doing everybody? And welcome in to wisconsin sports on the go with trage. I'm your host, trage. It is tuesday, a, a fantastic Tuesday, september 10th. Why, it's my birthday today. Right, it's my birthday. I can be excited. I can be excited. You know it's your birthday. You get to be excited a little bit. I'm at work. You know that's what I do. I'm at work. So way to spend your birthday, right? Great day. Great day today, though. Wisconsin sports that's what we're really here for.
Speaker 1:We're here to talk about Wisconsin sports, packers. We got into a little bit of everything yesterday Packers, brewers not as much with the Brewers, but Badgers there. I want to get a little bit more into the Brewers today, but we got some Packer talk to go into A little bit of some of the things I said yesterday I just want to talk about again today, because I did receive some comments on what I was talking about yesterday. I want to get back into that today here on the show. So right away I want to look at the Packers because coming out of that game against the Eagles there there was the PFF grades. So the PFF grades essentially are the pro football focus, player grades and basically participation data develop a wins above replacement model for the national football league. So essentially just telling you how good that player performed based on their stats and that kind of stuff there, their participation in the game. So, looking at the packers, there was, I mean, an article put out there by the packers wire and they did the packers pff grades best to worst players from the loss in first Eagles week one. So I just want to dissect that because I mean that list is out there for anybody to go and look at. If you find the full list on Pro Football Focus there you can find this full list they just categorized. It makes it easier for me to read right.
Speaker 1:So going off of what they had there for their top five on the offensive side of the ball. So number one was Zach Tom. Zach Tom didn't give up a single pressure over 43 pass-blocking snaps and earned an elite run-blocking grade. I mean Zach Tom performed well for the Packers. There was two bright spots and two maybe you could say three in that offensive line and yeah, definitely Zach Tom was one of them. The other one in there was Elton Jenkins. Did not allow a pressure in the passing game and was solid in the run game. Just the only difference between him and Zach Tom from what we saw in that game and what pro football focus you know dissected for their grading in there was that Elton Jenkins was not good in there as good in the run as he was in the past. Zach Tom was good in both. So there's your difference maker in there. Elton Jenkins has, I mean, always been a good pass blocker. Right, and it's been like that over the years. I mean last season was the same way at Elton Jenkins. When he's, when he's been healthy, he has been solid in pass blocking. So that's great to see those two guys getting on there.
Speaker 1:Looking at some of the other guys, jayden reed had an 89. So just so everybody knows the scoring on this, your good score, as you would say, would be 100 to 9, 100 down to 90. Our elite level 89 to 85 are pro bowler and 84 to 70 are starters basically is how they the pff grade system works. So that is where they're grading these in. So if you actually look at like zach tom, he graded in at a 92. Jayden reed was at an 89 in his. He did have a drop but he also averaged 4.93 yards per route ran, picked up 54 yards after the catch and had a 33 yard rushing touchdown. So that all contributed into that higher score for him there.
Speaker 1:And we already talked about Elton Jenkins he had a 78.4. Emmanuel Wilson had two runs over 10 yards, a tough catch for a first down and a solid block on Reed's touchdown run. So, like I said, mean pro football focus puts everything that they do. I mean it dissects everything throughout the game. It'll dissect everything throughout this game and really put into focus. You know, just like that. Emmanuel Wilson yes, he had two runs for over 10 yards. He had a tough catch for a first down, but also the block on Reed's touchdown run. That also contributed to that grading for him there. So that was Emmanuel Wilson and then actually Jordan Morgan. He played right guard in this game. He graded in at a 67.7, allowed a single quarterback, hit over 19 pass blocking snaps and was solid in the run game. So I mean, all in all, a good day, a good first game out for Jordan Morgan, like I mean, he was matched up against Jalen Carter and you know I I wanted to get this out there too.
Speaker 1:I've seen a lot of, a lot of posts and people talking about Jalen Carter's hit and that it was dirty and everything like that. And you guys know me, I'm the first to you know. You know, talk about, uh, get upset about something like that or anything like that. But I did not believe that Jalen Carter's hit it wasn't even a hit right. He was laying on the ground. He was laying on the ground, he had his leg wrapped up and then I can't remember who it was over the top ended up hitting Jordan Love over the top there. So they stood him up and then hit him. I mean, I don't blame Jalen Carter for that. The checkered past of Jalen Carter might have influenced this. I think it did. And I just want to be the one to you know for me to say that I did not feel like it was a dirty play. I did not see it as a dirty play. If it was, they baffled me. I just didn't see it as a dirty play in that sense. So Jordan Morgan has a solid day all the way around. So there are your top five on the offensive side of the ball, top five on the defensive side of the ball. So this was a surprise.
Speaker 1:Not a lot of guys really graded high on the defensive side of the ball for the Packers, edgerin Cooper. I mean he only had 11 snaps but he had a batted pass, three total tackles and he had a run stop in those plays there. So he graded in an 85.9. That's a great day, I believe, watching Edrin Cooper out there. I would not be surprised if we see a lot more out of Edrin Cooper moving forward. I am going to be honest, those 11 snaps right there showed me a lot of the fire and the fight and the physicality that Cooper plays with. And, truth be told, I don't think this defense has a lot of physicality. There's some right, I'm not going to just completely shoot them all down, but I believe that there is a lack of physicality at times. Edger and Cooper brings that. He plays like a rookie with, I mean with his head, with his hair on fire and he's running. I mean rookie with, I mean with his head, with his hair on fire and he's running. I mean it is watching him play in that game against the Eagles. I loved what I saw in hindsight there in long story short, loved what I saw. So Edgerton Cooper grades in an 85.9.
Speaker 1:He actually ranked highest on the defense. Xavier McKinney graded in at a 76, intercepted a pass, gave up only one completion into his primary coverage and made four tackles without a mess. So a solid day out of Xavier McKinney. There, uh, eric Stokes had a missed tackle but ended up giving up only two catches into his pass coverage. He graded in at a 66 there. Uh, outside of that, keyshawn Nixon he graded in at 65 had a sack of jail and hurts a pass break up in two stops. He did give up four catches and missed two tackles on the day there. So that's what dropped Keyshawn Nixon. And then Lucas Van Ness. He had a 65.3. He had one hurry and one run stop over 19 snaps. Not a lot of snaps, just like Edgerin Cooper, but did do a little bit in that little bit of time there. So Lucas Van Ness doing good things out there, same with Cooper. I expect both those guys to get a little more time here.
Speaker 1:If the defense continues to struggle in the run, if they struggle in the run because that's where I think the Packers struggle the most it's slowing down the run. It's like looking at Quay Walker. You know, I have heard all over, you know, know different podcasts and radio stations and everything like that, everybody talking about Quay Walker and how he stinks and how they should just give up on Quay Walker and everything like that. And you know, quay Walker did struggle in this game. I'm not going to be the one to sit here and try to tell you that he did not struggle. He struggled in this game. He is a better pass coverage linebacker than he is a run-stopping linebacker. He needs to develop that side of his game if he's going to be a mainstay in the Packers linebacker core.
Speaker 1:Otherwise they got to find somebody else. They got to find somebody else to man that middle because right now the Eagles opened up the door and showed a lot of teams what they can do against the Green Bay Packers. Try and exploit them, which is to get that run game going. Now it doesn't help. The Packers' defensive line was manhandled at times by this Eagles' offensive line. The Eagles' offensive line at times was just dominant in this game. I didn't think that they were going to take this huge step backwards the Eagles' offensive line. But I did not think they were going to manhandle the Packers' defensive line like they did at times. That was bully ball. At moments in there they were opening up holes in that Packers D line that a truck could have drove through. I mean, man, oh man. So that's where I would be at right now is with Quay Walker. He's got to get better in that. He's got to get better in that run defense. He has to. Moving forward here.
Speaker 1:Looking down at the offense there, the bottom five, so these are the five worst performers on the Packers offense. So Luke Musgrave he came in at a 43.8. Musgrave ran eight routes but didn't catch either target and he was the target on Jordan Love's interception. Dontavian Wicks had a drop and was 0-3 catching targets. He hit a 44, so both those guys not great days, not great first games. Out. Josh Myers, the center this is where you know this is my part of the offensive line that worries me as that center position with Josh Myers Gave up two pressures and was penalized once and received average run blocking grade. So Josh Myers was not great at the center position there.
Speaker 1:Tucker Kraft this one kind of surprises me 55 on his grade, solid as a run blocker, but his 30 routes ran resulted in only two targets. That's the big reason is he only had two targets on the game. But I thought Tucker Kraft played a pretty good game outside of that there. And then also Christian Watson he had a 59 in the grading department. There. He had a touchdown but he turned 28 routes and five targets into only 13 yards. So that I mean that's your kicker, that's your kicker right. There is that in those. In that amount of time, 13 yards on five targets. Not a great day, but it's hard to really say that many Packers had great days. I mentioned a couple there, but it's hard to say that many had great days on this day.
Speaker 1:So looking at the bottom five of the defense, real quick here. Isaiah McDuffie he graded in at 35.7, missed two tackles and gave up a touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts to Saquon Barkley. Mcduffie should not have been in pass coverage on Saquon Barkley. That was just not going to end well in that sense. Defensive lineman Kenny Clark he came in at a 39.4, had four hurries but earned terrible grades against the run. This is I mean you could look across the defensive line and say that they had terrible stats against the run. This is I mean. You could look across the defensive line and say that they had terrible stats against the run. Engenbar didn't have a pressure or a tackle over 30 total snaps there. So, kingsley Engenbar. I had high praise for him coming into the season First game. Out a little bit of a struggle there. Carl Brooks delivered a pressure in two stops but earned the team's lowest run defensive grade. This is, I mean, like I said, these are a lot of defensive linemen right now that we're talking about Because, last but not least, tj Slayton had three assisted stops in a hurry but also poor against the run. So I mean you look at the grades, you look at the descriptions. Why did they get those grades? They were bad against the run.
Speaker 1:This defensive front for Green Bay needs to come out more physical. They need to get off of blocks and they need to be able to stop the run. Uh, tremendously better. Because if this continues, I mean you're gonna look and you're gonna look at this and say, okay, you know we have Jordan Love's out, okay, so now Malik Willis is your QB1 as of now. I know they reached out to Ryan Tannehill. I know Sean Clifford is still. He's on the practice squad, he's around the team. Excuse me there, but right now this Packers team needs the defense more than ever.
Speaker 1:Right, last season we said it. Then too, we said the defense needs to be great because the offense is going to take a little bit to get going right. It's right now. The offense is, and I hope I'm wrong. I hope Malik Willis steps in and I hope everything is right with the world and everything's good. In that sense I really do. I hope Malik Willis can fill in and do a fantastic job.
Speaker 1:I think Malik Willis, he's got some talent. He's got some talent. I'm not going to I think Malik Willis, he's got some talent, he's got some talent. I'm not going to say that Malik Willis is just this pushover guy that we're going to put in here and it's just going to be a complete crap storm. I'm not going to say that. But what I can say is that they are going to take a little bit of a step back when Malik Willis gets under center.
Speaker 1:So when I'm saying that it's like, okay, the defense has got to be better, but where has it got to start? It's got to start. It has to start with the defensive line. They have got to be able to put pressure. They have got to be good in the run. They have to. They have to get a push up front there.
Speaker 1:Right, we can sit here and we can blame all day long on Clay Walker. We can blame all day long on Isaiah McDuffie or Jair Alexander, because yes, he did. I mean Jair Alexander definitely did struggle in the uh in the past game. I mean you look at him, he had an interception but he also allowed four catches for 108 yards and was penalized, I believe once in this game here. So, yes, jair struggled and there's a lot of different variables. There's a lot of variables you can go with.
Speaker 1:This Packers defense did not play up to snuff at all. Right, you can blame that on first game out for Jeff or for Halfley there. You can blame that on his first game out there. That could have been part of the play calling issues. There's lots of things, lots of I mean you could blame it on lack of physicality.
Speaker 1:I thought there was lack of physicality at times. There's lots of things you could say about this Green Bay Packer team heading out of the Eagle game into the Colts game. That needs to improve, right. But my biggest thing, like I said, is physicality. And with that front four, they got to be more physical. They have to be quicker, they have to get off the blocks faster. They got to be able to slow down the run right, and they got to be able to contain, because we know this Anthony Richardson for the Indianapolis Colts. There, anthony Richardson can run. I mean, we watch he can throw the football too.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Anthony Richardson is just this guy who all he's going to do is run, run, run, run, run. But he's a guy who he's going to. I mean, you look at him. Over his he played 56 yards on the ground, but in that first game there that he had against the Texans, he also had 212 yards through the air. So it's a little bit of both with them, right? It's a little bit of both with them. So I really am.
Speaker 1:I want to see the Packers defensive line linebackers be able to contain Richardson be able to. It's going to be tough, right. It's going to be tough for them to just sit there and control everybody in that run game. Because you got to deal with Richardson, you got to deal with Jonathan Taylor, you got to deal with them both in this game. And Jonathan Taylor, we know it as Badger fans, we know it as seeing him out in the NFL. This guy can run the ball. We know he as seeing him out in the NFL. This guy can run the ball. We know he can, right.
Speaker 1:So now you're in this game against two very good runners right in Richardson and Taylor, with a guy in Richardson who can air it out too. I watched him. I believe it was like a 70-yard bomb he threw. I just I'm thinking of I was trying to remember that play he had against Houston, but I believe it was like a 70 yard or 60 yard bomb, maybe as a 60 yard bomb, you know, 70 60, that's a big difference, right, I think it was a 60 yard bomb that he had, but it was just a dot, I mean, it was beautiful and this guy could throw the football.
Speaker 1:So the Packers are gonna have to find a way slow down the run. They got to be able to contain him because you have to take away something of his game. You got to take away something. If it's the air, well then. You're gonna have to take away something of his game. You've got to take away something. If it's the air, well then you're going to have to be able to semi-slow down the run game. If it's the run game, okay. Now it makes it a little bit easier. Now it makes it a little bit easier, because now not everybody on the field has to worry about Richardson breaking through the front seven and getting out into that secondary and trying to make a tackle in the open field against him. Now it's like, okay, now we can do our jobs, you do your job, we can do our job. So definitely physicality in this next game. We got to see it out of that defensive line for Green Bay because, as the stats are showing us, as the PFF is showing us there, the Packers defensive line definitely needs to play a lot better moving forward here.
Speaker 1:But I mean, as we know, the Eagles game. There was a lot that went wrong in that game. Jordan Love didn't play his best game, the receivers were dropping passes, the offensive line didn't have their best day out. I mean it was rusty, the offense looked rusty for the Packers and it's something that I honestly didn't expect. Just because you brought everybody back right, just because you brought everybody back right, nothing changed from last season to this season. There was no big change, nobody changed right.
Speaker 1:So when it walked, when it was going to start up there, I was, like you know, out of all the teams out there who had a lot of moving pieces right, eagles, even, right, they lose Jason Kelsey. There's a lot of moving pieces around and I was sitting there thinking, you know, green bay is bringing by, bringing back just about everybody. Right, they're bringing back everybody on the offensive side. I don't expect the rust to be there, I expect them to come out. Everybody knows each other, everybody's feeling it with each other. They're gonna come out. Guns, a blazing, it was the opposite. That was rusty as can get out like that was you need to spray some wd-40 on and wait three hours and maybe spray another coat on it after the fact. Right, you can't get that nut off. I mean, that's what I watched there. So that was an issue for me was how much rust was on there.
Speaker 1:Now, you know, matt lafleur loves to use the joint practices in the preseason as like the warm-up right. That's his starter's time in the preseason. As like the warmup right, that's his starter's time in the preseason to get the reps in and that's all fine and dandy. But what I've always said and maybe it's just me, but what I've always said is it's the preseason games, you know and I had this talk with a couple of the other guys, one guy from down in Georgia there that we do the Bases Loaded podcast show with, and I had this talk with him and we were talking about, you know, joint practices and everything like that and I believe it was on an episode of Wisconsin Sports on the Go and he, you know we were having this conversation about it and all fine points.
Speaker 1:Right, you don't want to risk injury getting in a preseason game and everything like that, but you can't replace the speed of the game. You can't replace the getting hit by somebody in a game. It changes things, right. You're not wearing that red jersey in a preseason game, like you are in a joint practice. You have guys breathing down your neck. They're coming after you. The offensive linemen know that they have to be better out there. They have time to mesh with each other. It's those little things, right?
Speaker 1:We saw the Packers starting offense for a drive For a drive. It wasn't even really a full drive because it was just a straight bomb to Wicks and the drive was over, right. So my thing is Matt LaFleur tells us he learned from I can't remember what season he said he learned from, but he didn't play any of the starters and he said he learned from that. Okay, so now we play them for a drive. Did we really learn or did we just we threw them out there for a drive, like I?
Speaker 1:What I'm saying is like yes, I get joint practices, do something for you. They get your offense together. You can run through things, you can get through cadences, you can run through sets, everything like that. I get that right. But you also have to be able to simulate what it's going to be like in game action too. Because yes, I know, in preseason guys, you know you're not going to maybe face a starting defense, maybe you're going to face some second stringers. But guess what? Those second stringers are flying around like they got their chickens with their head cut off and they don't know what's going on and they're just trying to make plays because they're trying to earn a spot. That's the game I want to be in, that's the game I want my starters to be up against, because in those games they're going to be simulating game speed to its fullest because those guys are trying to earn a spot yet. So I understand everybody's reasoning for starters not playing a lot in preseason. But also I like the flip side argument of I want my starters to knock the rust off in the preseason. So when week one rolls around, they're ready to rock and roll. They're primed, they're oiled right, the engine's just firing up and they're ready to rock and roll. They're primed, they're oiled right, the engine's just firing up and they're ready to rock and roll for the season.
Speaker 1:Because what I saw was like this team didn't know each other. They just all showed up in the locker room, they laced it up, they walked out there and they were trying to figure it out on the fly. It was like a pickup football game. Now, it wasn't that bad, right, it wasn't, it wasn't that bad, but there was a lot of rust, a lot of rust on this offense. Right, you don't have that many red zone. The thing with it was is they had three times, three times where they should have put it in the end zone or should have had a shot to put in the end zone, and three times they failed at that. That's where my problem comes in. That's where my problem comes in. That's the rust that I'm talking. That's the rust that I'm talking about when you get down there. You got to be able to score.
Speaker 1:The Eagles gift-wrapped this game for the Packers, like they basically said like here it's yours, we don't want it, it's yours. And the Packers. It's like they kept saying we don't want it, we don't want it either. Right, and I to enough shows. You've heard Aaron on here coming on from Brutally Honest Sports there and hopefully I get him on this week because I want to get his take on that, some of the college football games, everything like that. But we were talking in the pregame show and everything like that and actually during the game we were talking about it and we both kept saying it's like the Eagles don't want to win this game. He'd say, and then all of a sudden I'd be like the Packers don't want to win it either. It's like who wants to win this game? It was like that kind of game, right, it was like nobody was truthfully given it, like they wanted to win that game.
Speaker 1:So the Packers this week, the preach that I would be at is we need to come out with more physicality. We need to come out with more fire. We need to fly around like we are all trying to still earn our jobs yet and there's a possibility we lose them if we don't. I mean it's exactly like xavier mckinney said there. He said they need to come out with more urgency and that's 100 the truth. They need to come out with urgency in this game against the colts, because you are playing with a backup quarterback now. You need to be better on the defensive side.
Speaker 1:How do the browns make it with with Joe Flacco coming in and running the offense? Not like it was that much worse than Deshaun Watson, because Watson wasn't good either, but with Flacco in there? Flacco didn't play that great. He was solid but he wasn't great. He was still turning the football over and everything. What made him even better the defense was, I mean, the Browns defense last year was great. It was great In this stretch.
Speaker 1:The Packers desperately need their defense to figure it out and get stops right, and it's not just on third down. Actually, I believe I was just. I heard this stat today and I didn't really believe it at first because it was actually baffling to me. But the Packers weren't bad on third down. They weren't bad at all on third down. The thing that killed them in this game was first and second down. Third down efficiency for the Eagles in this game four for 14. They were four for 14. Now it doesn't help. The Packers were three for 11 on third down efficiency, but you're looking at four for 14. That's-11 on third down efficiency, but you're looking at 4-for-14. That's not bad. On third down, right, that's getting your offense back on the field. But it was on first down, it was on second down. It was those plays that put them in the blender that hurt this Packers team. It wasn't the third down defense, it was the first and second down defense that ultimately led to the Packers defense struggling in this game mightily down the stretch. So that's where I mean I'm kind of at with this whole Packer thing right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I did mention I commented on Keyshawn Nixon yesterday and about Keyshawn Nixon bringing that ball out of the end zone, and you know I got a couple people were commenting at me and they're saying you know, well, it wasn't. You know I will pull up the comments because I don't want to get him wrong here. I don't want to get him wrong here. I will pull up the comments here. So the comments one guy said we didn't pay him, nixon, big money for plays like these. I wouldn't knock him off so quickly. Jair's interception is definitely bad, though for plays like these I wouldn't knock him off so quickly. Jair's interception is definitely bad, though it was mixed between him and Jair's. I understand what we paid Keyshawn Nixon for.
Speaker 1:What I'm saying is in that situation and I gave me and my random statistic yesterday. But 99% of the time it's a dumb decision. 1% of the time he houses the kickoff it's great, right, he got it out to the 16 yard line or whatever it was. That was the problem with it right At that point. When you look at it in hindsight, you should have just let it go by taking out to the 30. In that spot, I believe to me, in my opinion and I get your opinion, I understand that opinion on it what I'm saying. In my opinion, the risk wasn't as high as what the reward could have been if you would have let that ball go through the back of the end zone because you didn't end up at the 30, right. So in hindsight didn't work out. Now play back that situation 10 times maybe ends up out at 30 in that situation. I don't know. I understand because another guy he came out and said the whole point of the new kickoff rule, which I think is stupid, but anyways, that's beyond the point. That's beyond the point is to create big plays exactly for these moments. We had no timeouts.
Speaker 1:If we could have gotten the ball past the 30, that would have been huge. Nixon is built to return and his stats show why he's one of the most explosive returners in the league. I guarantee LeFleur and Basaccia gave him the green light. Okay, that's fine If LeFleur and Basaccia gave him the green light. Okay, that's fine If LaFleur and Basaccia gave him the green light. Sure, fantastic. I understand that they gave him the green light. That's good. I mean, then he did what his coaches wanted him to do, but then, in my opinion, I don't like his decision to do that. I don't Because, yes, if he would have gotten the ball past the 30, it would have been great.
Speaker 1:But what if he would have gotten the ball at the 30? Right. What if he would have just got the ball at the 30? That would have been great too, right? We're playing in this hypothetical world, we're all playing in this hypothetical world right now.
Speaker 1:Right, where I'm saying that if he would have let the ball go through, it wouldn't have changed things. I think so, I really do. But I think in that sense, it's hard to sit here and say that well, maybe, just maybe, if he would have found a seam, he would have got past the 30. Then we're talking about a different light. So, yes, I understand both those comments there. I get both those comments and I'm not saying either one of them comments is wrong. I'm not saying either one of them comments is wrong. What I'm saying is, in my opinion would have been a better deal if he would have just let it go through, taking it at the 30.
Speaker 1:The offense gets it at the 30 yard line instead of the 16. Now you have more room. You're way out. Now, right, you're at the 16 versus the 30, right, that's a difference of 14 yards. That's a big difference, right? Because then we went through the numbers yesterday of what the Jaden Reed pass. If that would have ended up the same way, where that would have ended up, even the Josh Jacobs play, you were already on the Eagles side of the field. Now, easier shot for the end zone. Changes things, right, changes things. So that's where I'm at on that whole situation. I just wanted to comment on that because I was getting a lot of comments yesterday from that there. So let's get real quick. I want to mention the sponsors of the show here quick. It's been a hectic couple of days here for the show. We've been I mean so busy talking about everything I haven't got to the great sponsors of the show here in a couple episodes here, so I just want to mention them out here because they are fantastic.
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Speaker 1:So with that, let's get to the Brewers. Let's get to the Brewers for the day here. Not a whole lot happening with the Badgers today here. Right, we talked a lot of Badgers yesterday. I want to get more into the Badgers tomorrow here on the show, but we haven't talked about our beloved brew crew in a hot minute.
Speaker 1:So let's look at the Brewers.
Speaker 1:Last 10 games five and five in those 10 games. So you know a lot of people, man, oh go. You go on social media and it's like the Brewers lose two in a row and it's everybody's freaking out, right, everybody's freaking out, and I get it. I get it right Because and I've seen a lot of posts that say this exact thing the Brewers offense is going cold at the same time as they went cold last year. I am a thousand percent right on that number with you. I get that right Because last season the Brewers offense got hot. August was great, september, start of September was eh, and then middle of September, end of September, it cooled off and we sat guys, we went into the playoffs against the Diamondbacks and we the offense. I mean, there was a game, I believe, against the Diamondbacks. If I can remember the number right, it was like 16 guys were left on base or in runners in scoring position. There was six. It was some just monstrosity of a number there. I believe maybe it was 16 guys left on base, something like that in that game, but it was huge. So you have that number. You have the Brewers struggling down the stretch last season. Now they start to struggle here.
Speaker 1:So what's the panic level? Right, 0-10. Before this last series against the Rockies, I would realistically say I was sitting around maybe like a 2 or a three, right, I wasn't really paying attention to it. A lot of whole other things happening Packers, badgers, lots of stuff happening. I was still keeping up with the Brewers. I'm just saying panic level, two or three, right, I wasn't really. If the panic level was high, I was in tune, right, the panic level was not that high. I would say I'm probably at a five. I would say I'm probably at a five. I would say I'm probably sitting at a five right now. Panic level because of all the variables I just said, excuse me there.
Speaker 1:The Brewers offense last season down the stretch went into this little cold spell where just couldn't they just couldn't drive in runs anymore and everything seemed to be falling off the rails. The pitching was still solid, but everything was falling off the rails. Now this Brewers team is kind of doing the same thing, but the pitching has been giving up home runs, right, that's always been the Achilles heel of this pitching staff is they love to give up home runs. They love to walk guys, they love to give up home runs. That is the two things that kill this Brewers pitching staff the most.
Speaker 1:So the Rockies series put a little bit of an alarm in me because it was like, okay, the offense is kind of scuffling. Now they're scuffling through this. They're five and five. In their last 10 they just went, uh, two and six, two and yeah, no, two and four on the homestand. They just went two and four on the homestand there, not a great homestand. So now what? Right now, what? Okay, the bats weren't hot, right.
Speaker 1:So, number one thing, you're sitting there thinking yourself okay, the bats need to get going. Where's it got to start? Well, in every lineup and this is what I always say you cannot rely on the rookies to get your spark going again. Right, and that's just me. Maybe that's just me, but I've always been. When you have veterans in the lineup and I know Hoskins has struggled, right, I know he has but when you have veterans in the lineup who have been there done that a little bit right, you have to. Those guys have got to be the ones to lead the way. Right, willie Adamas I mean you can even put William Contreras in that same boat. But Gary Sanchez and Reese Hoskins, those guys are your guys right now who need to step up in a big way and be able to and you know, you listen to Pat Murphy and he came out with a quote and he said the Labor Day crowd juicediced them up and since then it's been a little lackluster.
Speaker 1:I think they feed off of it. I think this team needs the fans. I really do. I get that right, because I mean, if, if anybody out there has played sports or anything like that, the, the atmosphere, the crowd definitely does fuel you and it definitely does hurt you. In opposing places, right, I mean you go to to an opposing basketball game or something like that, and you're constantly listening to yelling, screaming in your ears. It definitely doesn't help, right, it definitely doesn't help. And same in baseball, same in football, right, the opposing. I mean you look at Penn State with their whiteout, right, that definitely is like a. It's hard to win here. When it's a whiteout, it's night, I mean it's tough. Right. The horseshoe when it's a black, when they have a blackout down at the horseshoe, right, you can't see nothing out in that crowd, right, it's all I mean they. It's like they dim the lights and it's like when the Bad they played in that theater and the only lighting in the room is exactly down on the court, like that is what watching in the horseshoe was like at night. So I mean, yes, I get it, you got to have those variables in there. It does help.
Speaker 1:But this brewers team needs to find it internally right now to be able to juice themselves up right, because I mean, you get a crowd there, but if you're not giving them nothing to cheer about, it's hard. It's hard. I got to say for myself it's hard to cheer for a team when they're down 4-1, when it just seems like it's a struggle. Now I'll still get up and cheer for the home run that makes it 4-2, but it's definitely a struggle For me.
Speaker 1:It relies on those veterans then Willie Adamas, gary Sanchez, those guys the track the train back on the tracks right. It's derailed right now. It's a little bit. It's wobbling on a wheel right now. They got to get that thing flipped back up right and they got to get it going again. That's where I think it starts right and then you come back to. Okay, now it's the rookies, now it's jackson churro, now it's Bryce Durant finding his bat again. Maybe it's Sal Frelick in there, garrett Mitchell creating a spark it's those guys. Then Maybe Eric I mean we saw Eric Hayes come off the bench and hit a big home run in that Cardinals series right, sometimes it's those little things like those moments that juice up your team.
Speaker 1:So it's got to be those veterans that step up and try to get these guys out of that funk. And then it's in the bullpen those guys filling in their roles and the starters doing what they were doing. A couple weeks ago right, it's kind of been a little bit rougher as of late. The starters doing their thing again, right. Freddy Peralta pitching like Freddy Peralta that we know he can be right. The dominant guy that we know he can be that guy at times. We need Freddy Peralta to be that guy down the stretch, right, you can't be carried by Tobias Myers and only Tobias Myers. The other guys need to step up and be a dominant on the mound here. So the Brewers need some variables to fill themselves out here. But the big thing starts with me in the lineup, starts with the veterans being able to juice these guys up and get them back on the right track there. So that's a big thing I'm watching for there.
Speaker 1:So the brewers are setting up a series right now, starting tonight here, gonna be taking on the san francisco giants. That game's gonna start at 8 45. Of course it's an 8 45 game. Gotta love it, it 845 game. It's going to be Aaron Savallee and he's going to be taking. We don't know. We don't know who will be starting for the Giants as of now. Let's see if they have. I don't know if they have anything for a game two starter yet no, so they have nothing figured out for their starting rotation for this series. So it's a wait and see who's going to start versus the Brewers tonight. But as of right now, we see Aarons Valley going for the Brewers.
Speaker 1:Tonight's a big night for me. It's honestly a big night for me for the Brewers, right, because you're coming off of a series loss to the Rockies. Now you're playing another West Coast team, but this time on the road in the San Francisco Giants. You got to find a way, any way that you can, to be able to win game one of this series, because winning game one of this series, getting off that schneid of that homestand that you just had where you lost four games on that six-game homestand. You got to come out in this series here and just relax, play that fun style of baseball that everybody loved about you a couple weeks ago. Right, you got to come out and do that because right now it just seems like I don't know if it's the pressure of it right now or what it is. There shouldn't be a lot of pressure. You have a nine game lead in the NL Central. Like, just carry out these final couple series here. Right, get some wins, do what you got to do, end the season on right note, heading into the playoffs. That's all you got to do in this moment.
Speaker 1:For me, this series here I said it about the Rockies series, I'll say it here Brewer fans, you want to settle down. Game one of this series is going to be a big one. This game right here, because it can set the tone. You need to set the tone for the road trip, because you go from San Francisco to Arizona. You got to set the tone for the road trip right. You got to set it right tonight here. 845 start for that one. That'll be on Valley Sports Wisconsin. Let's see. I believe it's on Valley Sports, wisconsin. As far as I know, it's going to be on Valley Sports and it'll also be on WTMJ on the radio. So wherever you're at, whatever radio station you got for the Brewers, it'll be on there too. So definitely be checking that out there. So, with that, that's about all I got for today there.
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Speaker 1:So with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports Time to Go with Trage. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Tuesday, but until we talk to you guys again tomorrow. Deuces, deuces is 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, burdened by the heart of man. Down to the river, down to the river.