#902 Packers Unscripted: State of the team

But anyway, first topic, okay? Over the last month, through the month of August, what did you feel was the most important development with regard to the 2026 packers what did you see that was most important

can i go pound for pound here like i'm allowed because it's like i mean maybe not the thing that you know you and carson denley are going to pull for the headline of the episode but something that i think really does have a huge impact on the season special teams i I was very impressed by what I saw from Cam Acord's special teams during the preseason and training camp.

Now, Matt LaFleur was asked about this.

I thought it was a good, well-constructed question.

The way that Matt said it is, well, you know, you need to do it in the regular season now.

You've got to take it kind of with a grain of salt.

I'll say this.

If Acord had the second and third team units playing the way that he did throughout training camp and in those preseason games, it gives me confidence that the first team unit is going to be where it needs to be.

And a real interesting conversation that happened during the press conference was centered around this idea of what the Packers special teams and their performance last year.

Punt return was poor.

Field goal operation poor.

Field goal block, you know, didn't really have any huge moments there.

But the coverage teams played really well last season.

We talked about in kickoff coverage, they didn't really allow a bust all season.

Punt coverage up until when Bo Melton, as we talked about in our last show, Bo Melton, Zane Anderson got hurt.

They were solid in that regard.

But now can you pull it all together? Like, I think there was a lot of positives that did happen in the Rich Passaccia era.

I felt like they had to really build this thing back up from nothing in 2022.

And the foundation that Cam Aykroyd has to work with, it's just the ground is so much more fertile now.

And you're seeing guys like Brenton Cox Jr. playing teams that for two, three years hasn't really played on special teams, but he's made a jump.

You know, we heard Matt LaFleur compliment J. Michael Sturbedin.

One of the reasons that he got that sixth receiver job is because he's done better on special teams.

They have a core there, Nick Neiman, Isaiah McDuffie, guys that have been around here that they know, okay, they have something they can offer on defense, but they're going to major in the special teams area too.

I just feel like it's set up for Green Bay to have the base there for the special teams to be impactful, and now you add in Sky Moore.

Now, hopefully, a lot of the things we've seen in these preseason games with Trey Smack can carry over.