Indeed, it is the weekend, which means it's time for Make the Call here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Jimmy Cuska.
Sports director here at Civic Media and joined as always on the program by Parker vertical Olson Parker.
What's going on, man?
Hello, Jimmy.
I am trying to find my notes on my computer.
However, the light that I'm using is.
in front of my computer.
So I'm just going to keep struggling to find it.
That's how it's going
here.
We are going to wing it.
I love it.
We're just going to do it live.
And then we go to the Northwoods and Greg Gunderson, who is in charge of all things management as it relates to, well, I guess the world.
So what's up, Gray?
great start.
Everybody is make the call and we're here to talk about sports and maybe other things.
That's what we do here on the show.
Frank Gargano from Civic Media, who is covering the Badgers for us this season.
He'll join us here in about, oh, about 15 minutes.
We're going to talk about the Badgers game against Western Illinois last week.
and their matchup with Eastern Michigan this weekend, an 11-30 kick Saturday.
If you're listening to us in the future, beyond the Badgers game, just know that we are going to offer that in-depth analysis of the game.
So apart where you can listen and see if all of our predictions come true.
Otherwise, we'll talk about that.
We're going to talk Packers later in the show.
And of course, Mike Clemens will get us a sports week in review.
Also going to have a high school football recap later in the program.
Believe it or not, when we reach halftime or when we reached halftime,
of the games on thursday and friday depending on where you were in the state and how much weather you were having on either of those nights.
Half time was the halfway point of the regular season in high school football.
Now the actual halfway point doesn't come until after week seven because there are five weeks of playoffs but i digress.
We're going to talk a lot of high school football as we get to the midway point of the regular season coming up near the end of the program.
Right now though we take a look at some of the headlines in sports this week and guys you know i look at
just any any sports headline on a daily basis.
And when everything comes back to you this week, and it's very obvious and it's a positive thing is that the Brewers are very good.
They're clinching playoff spots there.
They're in line to get that by there.
They're looking at 100 wins this year.
They could have the best record in baseball when this is all said and done by the end of the year.
I just got to ask guys, I mean, I four conference titles or division titles in a row, just wild stuff from, from, you know, a franchise that's
Lower half of the of major league baseball and spending just incredible stuff happening with the Milwaukee Brewers
It really is and for risk of sounding like a broken record that we've had for
four years in a row now, it is just incredible that they're able to do it.
The front office is so good.
I think we talked about that last week and just the front facing people, i.e.
the players and the coaching staff, obviously all do so very well to be able to execute what the front office needs to win these games and be able to put themselves in a position to win the division, get into the postseason.
But it is all those people behind the scenes that make it so good.
And honestly,
I think for the most part, this is a true statement.
The Brewers feel like they've improved in each of those years.
Like I think last year kind of felt like they took it up a notch.
This year, to me, it feels like there's a little bit more of a notch up, especially with the pitching staff being better.
Grace, is there anything to you that stands out about this team versus possibly the other three, I suppose, that are in this run?
Well, in this case, I mean, it's the fact that I think it's not even quite arguable that the brewers are the smallest market team who's accomplishing what they've accomplished.
You know, when they're making history, that's one thing, but you've, as far as I'm concerned, it's like an exponential multiplier up there.
It's like, and they're the brewers, by the way.
Like it's the team that everybody talked about having an outsized level of success these last few years.
And so the question becomes sustainability and then post-season success.
So we're looking down the street that we wanted to be on
this time last year and hey, we've reset.
We've got some different talents that hopefully we can actually perform in the postseason.
I just look forward to them having the opportunity to dodge that wild card round.
That is, I mean, what happens off the back of the buy?
Honestly, I looked it up and statistically it's about 50-50.
You see a lot of teams lose in that first game back or that first series back.
So how much of a benefit is it?
You could argue about that all day long and we'll try to do that a little bit.
Watching the dodging the wild card round is invaluable and it's going to be the post-season or the off-season conversation.
The Brewers did it.
I think we can't undersell how impressive that is with the kind of money competition that's happening off the diamond.
The Rays are also in line to have the first round by it.
They have like the last place payroll, right?
I mean, they're not the Rays, the Indians.
Sorry, I'm thinking our guardians.
What do they call themselves these days?
Cleveland.
Cleveland, whatever the Cleveland, whatever they're calling them.
I watched Major League like three nights ago.
So I'm all messed up, but no, it's Cleveland.
They have like the 30th ranked payroll and they are in the very, very awful AL central where two games above 500 and you're looking at the first round by because they do it by division champion and not by overall record.
Because the three division champions in a row that means that there's one worse division.
That's the AL West So, you know, they've got some very bad divisions in the American League and that puts them in line and that is you just look at You know Baseball's a hole and you see these teams that don't have these massive payrolls having this kind of success and I would I would have to imagine if you're someone say the New York Mets that are spending just
tons of money, you know, billion dollars on a, you know, it's a happier, your defense.
I can't catch a fly ball, right?
You see what these other teams are doing and these other franchises are doing with, with far fewer resources and it's got to be frustrating when you have all this money to spend and you can't figure it out.
I would, if I was a Mets fan, I'd be embarrassed.
Honestly, with how much money you're pouring into that organization and you're not.
Doing anything.
I mean really there I can't think of a time where I've been like oh man the mess Yeah, they're a world series contender.
They've been in the postseason recently, but I've never thought yeah, they're gonna win it the the brewers
They can win it.
Simple as that.
And the Burrs have got a really good chance at getting that number one overall because they're so close to getting 100 wins.
I think they need five more wins right now, four more wins right now to be able to cross that mark for the first time in franchise history.
And I want to talk about really quickly how important.
home field is for the Brewers.
This year, they've won like 10 more games at home than they have on the road.
They're scoring a fairly significant amount more runs.
The ERA from the pitching staff is almost a full point lower.
It's like, I think it's 0.9 better in Milwaukee versus on the road.
They're also
They're also pitching more strikeouts, which I don't really understand how that works, but there's something about being in Milwaukee that this team has just got a little bit more moxie, I guess, that's letting them do so well in front of all their fans who love the team so much because it's also one of the cheaper places to get to because, you know, smart markets and, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're not the Mets.
As I watch more and more, especially in other leagues like the NFL, I think it was the commanders now playing in a stadium that's almost 30,000 seats smaller than the previous one.
And yet somehow they're charging almost double for the tickets at the time.
And I know inflation is a thing, but the cost per seat is becoming this thorn in the side metric for any fan.
Thank goodness there are at least that many games to kind of dilute that cost.
Otherwise, I don't know.
that I'd be able to see a quality team perform in a larger city.
I think it really underscores how lucky we are to have this kind of performance in a small market team.
That's the ratio that to me is going to dominate the headlines is, yeah, and it's the brewers and credit to the Guardians too for pulling off something similar.
But with the levels of competition, I really think that this, I mean,
I'd love for this season to go down in history in a good way and not the same way as the last last few, I must say.
Well, the Brewers have 37 wins over teams over 500 going into the weekend.
That's more than anybody in baseball.
They have won two out of every three games at home.
The only category you could say that they have a losing record at all this year is they are 0-1 in games in which I attend.
So, you know, if I don't go to games, Brewers are fine.
That's that's pretty much the bottom line.
But we're going to talk a lot more about the Brewers next week as they get ready for the playoff push.
We'll talk more about the pitching roof.
And just all things set up, we will know by then if they're a first round buy or not, and where they stand for best record in the, in baseball as well.
But it is make the call part of the civic media radio network coming up next.
We're going to talk to Frank Gargano about the Wisconsin Badgers football team.
We're also going to later in the program talk about the Packers matchup of the Jets.
We recapped already earlier this week in our special edition, a bit of the Packers opener.
And we'll talk a little bit more about that before diving into this week's matchup.
Got a lot more to come yet here on make the call.
all part of the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back.
It's time now to talk a little more football.
Talk some Badgers.
And we welcome aboard Frank Gargano to talk all about Wisconsin.
They got a win last week over Western Illinois.
They get ready this weekend.
They play Eastern Michigan with a kickoff set for 1130 Saturday.
So if you're listening to the show on one of the replays later on, this game has happened and you're in the future.
And I'm very envious of you.
I hope that you send back
the winning lottery ticket numbers and all that.
But we are recording this ahead of the Badgers game against Eastern Michigan.
Again, a kickoff of 1130 Saturday on the Badgers radio network, which includes several of the stations here at Civic Media.
And Frank, I'm going to start with this from last week.
Yeah, the Badgers got to win.
But I feel like when you look at the score and the way the game kind of went, people are
kind of left wanting more, like wanting to see more out of the Badgers in this game against Western Illinois.
We'll get to all of that.
You know, it's so funny.
We talked about that game against Notre Dame, highly ranked opponent, neutral site in Green Bay.
Transfer quarterback.
A lot of things going against him.
It's not the right environment.
You want to kind of breed a successful passing game with a new quarterback.
But we kind of looked at against Western Illinois and it's like, this is the chance to get things right.
And it just looked like he wasn't comfortable in the pocket whatsoever.
And you saw the first play of the game as a 72 yard touchdown.
by Abu Sama, and you're like, all right, here it is.
Gonna dominate in the trenches, run games gonna be working, set up some easy manageable passes for Colton Joseph, and it just didn't turn into that.
It actually looked like a pretty ugly win, and I think the most concerning part of that is there's a ton of questions on the offensive side of the ball, and I don't think one game's going to...
rectify any of that.
But I think the more concerning part is the defense didn't look dominant really at all against a scrambling quarterback and against a FCS directional school.
Yeah, Frank.
There seems to be a lot of red flags, frankly, right now, like in something that's really caught my eyes.
They're not really using Colton Joseph the way that you kind of thought that he would get used, right?
Like he was a thousand yard rusher last year and he's run a handful of times.
What are you seeing?
Do you think?
that they're gonna start moving into that more as he grows into this.
I don't think they want to risk.
And let's be honest, Wisconsin has not had the best.
Um, luck when it comes to injuries under center, I think we can all agree on that.
So I get why they're being a little bit more conservative with read option plays and RPOs and running Colton Joseph.
But on the few times that they did kind of run those plays, he looked a lot more comfortable and you can tell that's what he's used to and where he gets most of his success.
So I think when they do have homecoming against.
Michigan State and Pat Fitzgerald, I think you're going to see a lot more of that.
The offense is going to open up a lot more.
But against Western Illinois, I think that's where you're like, let's get guys up front, let's pound the rock, and let's just be dominant.
And 36 points just doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies for this offense.
The phrase that keeps coming to mind for me is,
roster cohesion.
When you've got as much of the roster made up from portal players right now, is this maybe some growing pains for a roster that doesn't know each other as well as teams that have spent some time together?
And if yes, is that something that you expect to look better against these teams we've been seeing last week in this coming game before the true Big Ten stretch starts?
Is that something we can hope is in tune by the end of this coming game?
You can
Here's, I understand that roster cohesion is a big thing with the transfer portal.
But just a reminder, Indiana has kind of ruined that excuse for every single program going forward.
Because everybody's going, well, Indiana can do that.
And they can turn around within one to two years.
Why can't Luke Fickle do that?
We're Wisconsin.
We're more of a football school.
Why can't we be that?
So I don't think they're going to get a pass, but I do think you're right, Gray.
I think, like I said, especially with a passing game, it's going to take some time to get this right.
And that's where you're playing an FCS school and I want my transfer quarterback making the easy passes, but he was just missing throws left and right.
I mean, easy first down plays to stretch a drive.
So they need to get it right against Eastern Michigan.
Eastern Michigan, an FBS school.
So a bit of a step up in competition, but definitely not one of the premier Mac football programs.
This is where you need to get it right or else I think there's some serious doubts.
of whether this team can go bowling, in which they should, because the schedule is not nearly as hard as it was last year.
Talking to Frank Gargano from here at Civic Media, covering the Badgers for us this year.
I want to go back real quick to what you said about the roster situation, because there was a report that came out this week from the athletic.
showing the cost of rosters in college football and Wisconsin was, I think, higher than I thought it would be.
They were kind
higher, maybe on the higher end of the median.
I thought that was a really interesting look at just kind of where college football is gone.
And I know that, you know, in the off season, we had athletic directors and all these different stakeholders talking about how they need to invest, and AK, give us your money to pay college student athletes.
But I was surprised to see Wisconsin so far up that list.
I know exactly which one you're talking about.
And I couldn't find it.
I was like, oh, well, this makes sense.
Wisconsin's really not investing.
And then I saw it around the 30 million mark estimated.
I went, oh, hold on a second.
This is a team, $30 million that's struggling at times against Western Illinois.
That quarterback for Western Illinois was averaging five yards a carry in the first half.
And this defense was struggling.
There were no sacks.
There were no turnovers.
There's a lot of cause for concern.
I'm not pressing the panic button again.
Week one.
Week two.
I'm about ready to press it if I'm a Wisconsin fan.
There's some serious concerns with this team.
And let's talk about the head coach real quick.
Because there was a decision, and I told Parker this and I was texting him during the game.
There was a decision.
at the end of the first half where he was letting the clock run out.
And then at the very last second decided to call a timeout, I think they were on their own 30 and decided to chuck a deep ball almost picked off to which I counted maybe five older men sitting around me in the press box saying what the, and then you can fill in the rest.
When you are spending that money and you see yourself kind of higher up on the graph of the amount of money you're putting into this roster and you're seeing decisions like that from the head coach, I think you have to question every single thing that's going on from here on out.
Well, so it's something that we've seen with these two the most too recent or excuse me this this game and what we expect to see in the upcoming game is Maybe more of an explosive lead early, but hopefully some sustainment into that Is it realistic to expect this team to eventually sustain that kind of explosiveness throughout the game?
Or do you expect to see calmer starts with a steadier presence throughout because the vanishing in the second half and Unforced errors may be conditioning related whatever the case may be we talked about conditioning last week
I still don't feel like we've seen an explanation for the drop-off.
So if we do figure out whatever that issue is, do you expect the team can still maintain the explosiveness they've shown in early quarters and maintain that throughout a game, or will it be a calmer experience throughout?
You're looking for explosiveness, really.
I mean, sure, 72-yard carry right from the rip.
That's awesome to have, again, an FCS directional school opponent.
I think what you want to see from this team are sustained drives and making the easy pass, especially on your check down for getting those first downs.
Because when you're going against these bigger schools and more evenly matched rosters, you're going to want to hang with them all four quarters.
So you don't.
I think what we're seeing from Wisconsin right now is flashes of brilliance.
And they've got they've gotten some chunk plays between the past two games, but you don't see that sustained success offensively.
going forward and the defense just looks all over the place.
They looked really good at times against Notre Dame and then fell off in the second half.
And then they just looked like they were struggling the entire game against Western Illinois.
And, you know, they bent they bent a lot.
They weren't breaking.
So you give them that.
But you have to think against some of these stronger opponents.
They're going to be breaking.
Talking to Frank Gargano from here at Civic Media.
I got a couple of thoughts to get to you on this.
And I'll I'll start with this.
I had this week, you know, hearing Colton Joseph talk about the pressure of being, you know, in the power five, being a quarterback for your program.
I think it was enlightening in a way because, you know, going
from from where he was at Old Dominion to hear you know you expect there to be a jump but you know the Badgers in their second game didn't really play a premium opponent they played a directional school so I was a little worried hearing that this week because you know there's still 10 games to go plus hopefully a ball game beyond that and you know I know that there's a lot of expectations when you bring in a guy who's you know had the success that he's had previously but you know hearing that I just wonder you know
Does that affect your view, maybe the ceiling for this team, this year, knowing that the quarterback in two games so far feels like, you know, hey, this is a little harder than I thought it might be going in.
Yeah, I think, like I said before, I think Indiana really changed everybody's minds on what transfers can really do for your program, because obviously they want it all.
But yeah, dude, you're coming into Wisconsin.
This is a big 10 team that expects to win.
You've got a coaching staff that is on the hot seat.
And if you're a coach coaching up your transfer quarterback and you're kind of like, this is, we're going to be as good as this kid takes us, right?
And if you're Luke Fickle, you're questioning where your future is, you're probably putting a ton of pressure on this kid that's transferring in from Old Dominion because that's, that's your hope of keeping this job.
You want to see excellent quarterback play out of Colton Joseph, string together some good wins and kind of bring this program back to life.
So.
Yeah, it's concerning how concerned he is with the amount of pressure that he's under, again, after two games.
Yeah.
The other day I saw a quote from him that he was, I might have been from Fickle, that Joseph was kind of dinged up after playing against Notre Dame.
And honestly, kind of like we're talking about right now, I don't want to hear.
about that.
I want to hear about how you're ready to be in the Big Ten.
This isn't Old Dominion anymore.
You're going to play the big boys now.
And you haven't, last week, you didn't play a big boy.
And this week, we've already talked a little bit about Eastern Michigan.
You're not exactly playing a big boy there against the Macoon.
Um, is not.
I was told to survive
I tell you what.
Uh, thank God they're playing at home, but I mean, and here, here's the real struggle.
If you want to go down the road, what was this was the, this was the worst opening game attendance since the nineties.
If I'm not mistaken, which is an even bigger cause for concern.
And I know we're not going to get into the economics of it all, but.
That's what this program's up against right now.
So yeah, there's a lot of pressure on this kid.
And you're kind of like Parker said, you're hoping for that quarterback that kind of goes, yeah, I love it.
I just love playing football and kind of give you that answer.
And instead, it's just kind of a cry for help in a way.
You're like, guys, I'm trying my best here.
Well, everybody is welcome to Big 10 football.
Well, and this will soon be Big 10 football because following this is when they get into Big 10 play, Penn State, Michigan State,
UCLA, USC, Iowa.
I mean, it's not like last year's schedule where they had that October gauntlet to run.
The schedule this year does come back a little bit, but, you know, they do get into big 10 play and, and, you know, Notre Dame obsessively was kind of the prep for that.
But then you have these two games in between.
It's kind of a get right game if Notre Dame doesn't go well.
And yeah, they got the win over Western Illinois last week.
But, you know, this week, like we've talked about, it just seems like there needs to be a little more before we're confident that the team is ready.
So are there any, anything, anything like any keys that you'd look for in a game against East Michigan?
Like what's the most important thing Wisconsin has to do in this next game to show that, Hey, we're ready to go here once we get the big 10 play in two weeks.
I think the gimmies, I think the check downs, the swings and the flats, I think those are the ones.
If he looks comfortable in the pocket making those completions and those decisions, I think you become a little bit more comfortable with where this team is headed.
As long as you see that and you see that jump forward and a little bit of confidence, I think that's where you're a little bit happier.
Obviously, I think the offensive line play can increase, but
I can't fault them because they did have flashes of brilliance moving people in the trenches.
So you want to see progression there, but I think Colton Joseph is the key.
Frank Gargano from here at Civic Media, covering the Badgers for us.
We'll talk to you again here in a couple of weeks as well.
The Badgers will be hitting the road next week, and we'll get a chance to hear from our other Badgers contributor, Koko Rouse, the Badger observer, and get his thoughts as well on the early part of the year.
Frank, appreciate you being up to games, and we'll talk to you again here real soon then.
And again, Frank Gargano.
We'll be back right after this.
Talk more football as we get ready for Packers versus Jets on Sunday.
And we'll do that next coming up here on Make the Call part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Halfway through, Make the Call on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Still got a lot to get to in the program.
Got to talk to Mike Clemens, a sports week in review.
He'll have that coming up for you next segment.
Going to be high school football recap as well.
So we will catch you up on all the sports from this week, and we'll do that coming up in about 15 minutes.
But right now, we have a chance now to talk some Packers.
We do this, by the way, if you were
Following us on civic media or just following our podcast page.
You can follow our green and gold recaps which we're gonna do after every Packers game this year and we will do those Typically on Mondays or the day following a Packers game except for you know Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the odd days they're playing this year Those days we're gonna reserve for family but the rest of them will be here to talk about it as we did this past week and I'm gonna launch from there because
Just to get a final word in on the opening week against the Vikings, I think a lot has been written, a lot has been said about where the Packers need to go from here.
And guys, I got to start with this.
This week against the Jets, the number one position that needs to see a vast improvement has got to be the offensive line, right?
I mean, there were some underperformers all over the place.
The defensive line didn't shine.
The running game was semi-existent at best with Marshawn Lloyd below three yards per carry, but one feeds into the other there with offensive line and the running game there.
I for one would like to see some tweaks in all three of these places, but
Man, the communication between the offensive, interior offensive line specifically.
The tackles have performed well historically speaking, although it's Zach Baco-Bowalei who needs to anchor that a little bit.
And I expect them to lean on him with some, well, with some offensive tendencies that will make them a little bit predictable.
But past a certain point, you've got to trade unpredictability for reliability.
And that means leaning on that right side, putting chips with tight ends on the right side, and maybe swinging.
Tucker Kraft from right to left fairly often, not just to gauge what kind of defense you're looking at and whether a man follows him, but to actually realistically split the threat of the offense a little bit.
You know what last week was?
Jimmy was a testament to how talented Jordan Love can be in the timing that he's got available to him, because he made it look like it was possible to sustain that offensive effort throughout the game.
Even though he took 18 hits over the course of that game, the sacks waited until I think the late third quarter into the fourth.
He wasn't sacked until that late, but the hits were happening the entire time.
So the incredible passing performance with Christian Watson and Tucker Kraft.
Well, Christian Watson is going to have to become that staple offensive player the whole time.
Tucker Kraft can't be a safety valve.
He's got to be there that entire time as a threat, but that's not even possible if those interior offensive linemen aren't communicating and watching his back.
when you've got every line and getting beat within two and a half seconds, it makes the whole offense shut down.
That is a level of horrifying that I just hadn't considered.
We talked about it in our post game recap earlier.
I believe it was Monday, but that said, that's
Completely inexcusable.
That is a non-feasible offensive model and it was pretty clear that there was lacking communication between the interior offensive line and even between them and the and the tackles, you know Zackbock of a way They can only do so much when the tight end who's supposed to put a chip up and then transfer the block to him Doesn't even touch the the pass rusher.
I mean boy the Vikings pass rush looked like what I wish the Packers did let me put it that way I think that was a pretty good a pretty good statement on the imbalance there
Parker, am I missing any major gaps there?
Or what can we be hopeful about here, man?
Help me,
help me.
Well, honestly, no, you haven't missed any gaps on like the defense, the Vikings defense.
They were filling them like nobody's business.
Yeah, I mean, this is something that I kind of noticed that I haven't heard really talk about that much.
When the Packers offensive linemen were making mistakes,
As far as I saw in the clips of the film that I saw, for the most part it looked like they were fully committing to the mistake rather than starting to go and then go, oh god wait no I was supposed to get that.
I'm not seeing any of that and I really don't know entirely what that should be telling me.
I don't know if that's telling me that you know what at least they're confident.
I think that's what I'm trying to take away.
I think I'm trying to take away that they're at least, they feel comfortable, but they're doing it wrong.
And I hope that that at least is a little easier of a pill to swallow than being on an NFL offensive starting line and not knowing what you're doing.
Gray, you kind of seem to have another thought here.
Well, there is kind of an outside chance, and some people might call it coping, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but I'm hoping that you're right.
Those missed assignments are at least a lesser negative than, say, going to the right block and just failing and losing to your man.
They're not even getting to that block.
I'm hoping that it might be a case of, hey, get you guys on the right page, communicate a little bit better, start by blocking the right person, and you've got the talent and skill to actually complete those blocks and buy Jordan Love more than two and a half seconds.
And leaning into that, Brian Flores is an absolute madman.
He demonstrated it all game.
Nobody blitzes as much as he does.
He was blitzing over 80% of the time, which is absurd.
If you look at the charts for who's blitzing and how often, the Vikings are just way up over here alone because
The whole Packers often demonstrated that they were going to get away with that.
And once Brian Flores started breaking through that wall, the Packers were never really able to reestablish the small successes they had early on.
And whether that's conditioning or communication breaking down even further, frankly, doesn't matter because they've just got to reestablish that.
So there is a non-zero chance that there's something to be hopeful about, but it would still be a massive turnaround to see the communication improve in the way it needs to.
And the Jets defensive line is not
going to reliably provide that opportunity.
They've got enough talent.
They've got enough skill.
They've got the coaching leadership, or at least they seem to have last week.
And I'm really worried we're about to have the opposite conversations we've had of previous matchups with the Jets.
The Jets have been that tune-up team for a few years now, but they're coming off a victory.
And they're sitting there thinking, hey, the Packers are vulnerable right now.
and it terrifies me because they're 100% correct.
So it's not impossible, but it is a more uphill than we've ever seen it with this inexperienced combo.
It's not that every lineman is so inexperienced.
Many of them are between Jacob Monk and Donovan Jennings specifically.
The big question then becomes, is Aaron Banks going to be able to play at the moment we're talking about this?
It's not 100% clear, and it's even less clear whether that will be enough to make the difference.
I'd like to offer a caveat, guys, and that is this, that week one is always weird in the NFL.
In any football level, it is weird because you're going from the preseason or practice, depending on what level you're playing to regular season, or in this case, preseason or regular season.
I would like to offer this caveat that week one has done some weird things in any year.
I'm wondering how much of this was week one and how much of this is actual long-term problems.
It is clear when you look at the offensive line, there were a lot of miscommunication things happening there where you've got your whole right side, the two-sided or three-two slide, and they're not picking up anybody.
Like there's some very clear communication things.
There's line calls maybe not happening, defensively just seeing gaps in places.
You just know that these are things that you work on throughout the week.
It is a much higher level than any of us have ever experienced in that regard.
So I just want to offer that.
Do you think that some of this can just be attributed to the fact that week one,
It tends to be kind of a weird week at any level of football.
And forgive me for leaving that off.
You're very correct to point that out.
And I'm hoping that is that communication issue is partially just that lack of time.
But there has been shakeups with injuries and things.
And so this version of the offensive line that we saw last week wasn't even necessarily settled until a few days before, as Adam Stenevich
Infamously put it.
Yeah, we don't know a hundred percent sure I think three days before that game So I think you're right and that they can do a lot better just with the same info and more time to practice on it And yeah, that was uh, well, let's let me put it this way Matt LaFleur is as highly regarded as ever There was a poll in the offseason about who's scary to go against if you're a defensive coordinator what offensive head coach or play caller are you worried about and
Matt LeFleur was right up there actually ranked higher than Andy Reid of all people I think Matt LeFleur was fourth in the NFL for hey the top guys We don't want to call a defense against and so that again with week one factoring and it's like okay It's more execution than it is play calling then again There's the culture of the coaching and that's a completely separate issue that I don't think will ever
ever escape until until the floor leads up.
I don't know a Super Bowl victory.
I don't know what he could possibly do at this point to shake the choke artist accusations or if there's even something that he can do in one season.
But if anything like this pass game happens again at any point in the season, people are going to be calling for his head again.
And it's a distraction.
The team just doesn't need.
Yeah.
Packers have any advantage now in this game that that make it by a Fitzpatrick is out, you know, one of their top safeties in the back end.
You know, Packers have
all their pass catching threats are back.
So, you know, that part of it, if they can protect Jordan Love, gives them some options and the Jets are going to be banged up in the secondary this week.
Yeah, I would expect the Packers to be able to find a pretty good amount of success against Jets and defense.
That's going to be a little bit more banged up, which is a fantastic sign because last week we saw Christian Watson get loose
Um, running free a pretty good amount.
I would, I called out before the game, uh, last week, I was hoping to see a lot of Matthew Golden.
We saw okay amount of him, uh, but not enough.
In my humble opinion, I would love to see more Matthew Golden.
And I think that this is a great opportunity for that gray.
Um, when you've got, uh, posing defense with the safety that's hurt, what are you looking for?
How much do you think they're going to lean into that pass game versus?
while we know that this offensive line has had its struggles, versus trying to establish a run that also could use some work.
They're still going to have to establish some level of running game.
And I wouldn't mind if we saw a way to incorporate more of Chris Brooks or even Caleb Johnson, because Marshawn Lloyd looked to have a little rough go of it.
But they might just try to keep working him again against hopefully less proficient run defense in New York.
But to answer your question, I expect them to attack where Micah would be standing at all times.
Christian Watson, Tucker Kraft, living where Micah Fitzpatrick might normally be.
Because you've got to you've got to
exploited any gap you possibly can with your play colors.
And to reiterate something I said earlier, Tucker Kraft can't be a safety valve this week.
He has to be steadily involved.
I want to see 15 targets between Kraft and Golden throughout this week.
I know that's wild to even pin a number on that, but that would speak to the kind of offensive philosophy I think the Packers will need to sustain success throughout the season.
Whether that's even possible in the first place with offensive line struggles and a lack of run game, well, that'll make or break the game and maybe the season two.
Well, I think the run game is important, too.
And they really tried to establish it, but boy, it's it's hard when the space you're going to, they seem like they kept going to the outside against a very fast defense.
And that was kind of weird to me.
Working the sidelines seemed to be something that Matt LeFleur thought he could pull off and for a while he did.
But yeah, when you're blowing up the quarterback every single play, what you try to do stops even mattering.
So I'm hoping they can do against the Jets what they try to do.
And
For a little while, succeeded in doing against Minnesota's incredible defense, cannot give Brian Flores enough credit.
Like I said, last week, give him 11 guys, he'll give you a defense, and boy, he had more than 11 guys with Cashman and Van Gogh.
Everybody was looking like an over performer last week.
Guys, this is where we'll say goodbye to you.
Parker Gray, thanks for being here for this weekend again for Make The Call, and enjoy the rest of your weekend, guys.
Thanks to me, too.
We'll be back with a segment from me recapping high school football, and then we'll have Mike Levin with the Sports Weekend Review.
Next year, I'll make the call part of the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back to Make the Call.
It's time now to take a look at high school football from around the state.
On the Civic Media Family of Stations on WFHR, it was my alma mater, Flambeau, defeating Port Edwards 42-8.
WRCO in southwestern Wisconsin had Lancaster Blanking Richland Center 35-0.
Also staying in the southwestern part of the state, Onalaska over Baraboo 42-6 on WRPQ.
On WRPN, it was Ripon defeating Wisconsin Dells 22-14.
Let's head north where on WJM,
it was Shell Lake getting by Hurley, 34 to 28.
On WCQM, Rib Lake took care of Shawamagen, 34 to 12.
And on WPFP, it was Leona Wabino, 47, Phillips, 16.
Defending state champions, defending eight player champion playing in D7 this year, McDonnell lost to Glenwood City, 40 to nothing, they're two and three on the year.
Kenosha St.
Joseph, no problems with Catholic Central, Kenosha Christian Life, 61 to nothing.
Darlington State unbeaten on the year, defeating Southwester,
Eastern Buick 49-7.
Mayville lost to Campbellsport 12-10, fell to 3-2 on the year.
Winniconny still undefeated, 48-0 winners over Wapaka.
Grafton over Kiewaskim 22-17.
They're 4-1 this year.
West Dupir, shout out Appleton West, 42-0.
They're 5-0.
Also 5-0 is Arrowhead as they beat Kettle Moraine, 47-0.
Top 10 Upsets, Abbotsford over Pichelli 20-19.
Arcadia, beating Luther 22-6.
Racine St.
Catherine's 28, Lake Country Lutheran 17.
And, cadot, my home
town taking care of boysville.
26 to 12 in top 10 matchups this week economy walk over Muskegoat 19 to 16 Holman shutting out Reedsburg 7 nothing Cochran Fountain City 21 pep and Alma 6 in a number one versus number two matchup Durand Arkansas 20 Regis 15 do Richmond over Hudson 46 21 Amherst 50 Coleman 12 assumption over Owen with a 32 14 Bayport 44 to pier 7 Appleton North 14 to con a nothing Iowa Grant over Potosi
Casper 34-6 and Belmont took care of Iola's Scandinavia 44-12.
Now it's time for a Mike Clemens Sports Week in review.
The Brewers did it again.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with the Wisconsin Sports Week in Review.
Baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers.
Incredible season continues this past week.
In Pittsburgh, they clinched the National League Division title for an unprecedented fourth time in a row and did it with one of the youngest teams in baseball.
Manager Pat Murphy.
Well, I'll tell you, the youth of the club is amazing.
When you look at the starting pitching and Lara and Pratt and Churio, you're just looking at youth.
Yeah, these guys got high hopes.
put limits on themselves and I'm not saying we're the greatest club out
there but we're pretty special.
Brewers general manager Matt Arnold named baseball executive of the year again the past two years.
Yeah there's youth in there but there's a lot of guys with a lot of experience too you know and and just been through a lot you know what I mean and that it's so important to have just a balance that we have guys that have done it you know a long time guys that are brand new here you know it's just a really good mix and I'm again I'm excited for what they're about to do.
Team owner Mark Antanasio was there and remember
When he first purchased the Brewers, he was ready to reward the team with a champagne party just for having a winning record.
We had to win one of the final two games.
We lost them both.
We had champagne just like this.
in 2005 just to get to 500 and now it's division title first time ever if you heard Murph say in the NL Central a team has won four times in a row and since 1994 pretty unbelievable.
So while the Brewers are bound for the postseason the week after next there are some concerns most notably on the mound.
Cal Harrison was slated to be the number two pitcher in rotation behind the Miz Jacob Mizorowski but Harrison struggled again
on Thursday, giving up five rounds in Pittsburgh in just one and two-thirds innings pitched before being pulled in a seven of four loss.
It was his fourth bad start in a row.
Harrison says he was trying something different with his grip.
We tried something with the hands today and the delivery just come and set being a little more cross fiery.
You know, would have loved to see the vert be a little better on the heater, but
I mean, feeling great, you know, fastball is feeling good coming out.
Just got it to my spot and got beaten in certain spots.
Pat Murphy says, look at the big picture, considering what Kyle Harrison has been going through this season.
and Henderson, that everybody'd be just talking about him.
On Friday, the Brewers kicked off a weekend series in Baltimore and battled back to win to a 6-5 victory over the Orioles in 10 innings at series continuing this weekend.
On Tuesday, the Brewers' road trip ends in Philadelphia against the Phillies before hosting the Cardinals next weekend at home at American Family Field in Milwaukee to wrap up the regular season.
Men's College basketball, we spotted the Badgers head coach Greg Gard taking his players out for their annual run on Bascom Hill in Madison.
What
College football, the Wisconsin Badgers have a non-conference game this weekend against Eastern Michigan before they head to Penn State next weekend at 4 p.m.
against the Nittany Lions.
Head coach Luke Fickle.
on the lessons learned going from the lost to Notre Dame to the win last weekend over Western Illinois.
Our ability to sustain emotionally is going to be really important.
If there's one thing that we I believe that we you know happened to us last week was emotionally the second half it took a toll on us the toll the first six minutes emotionally where you get so high and you aren't able to sustain that maybe took a toll on us too and all these things are where I think we just got to grow from.
NFL the Packers embarrassed by letting another game slip away.
as they lost the season opener to the Vikings.
In Minneapolis, the final 39-22, Green Bay had the lead, 22-10, midway through the third quarter.
I spoke to Christian Watson, who had two touchdown receptions in the game.
It may sound a little cliche, but it's almost like we just witnessed two different games.
Have you ever been in a game that slipped like that?
Um...
I mean, yeah, that's definitely a tough one.
I mean, it definitely seemed like it was the tail of two halves.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur on his decision to go for it on fourth and one rather than stick with the field goal that they converted, thus taking three points off the board.
I mean, obviously it had an effect, you know.
those place happened down there, but they called it this
weekend.
The Packers are in New York against the Jets.
Can Jordan love still have faith?
His offensive line can protect him after being hit 18 times by the Vikings defense.
No, I always got that faith.
You know, it's one of those things.
We all know what it is.
We got to be better.
That's the Packers quarterback Jordan love with the Wisconsin Sports Week in review.
I'm Mike Clemens.