Ahman Green, Former Green Bay Packers Running Back

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Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission. Ahman, how you been? I'm good, Zach, man. How you been doing? I've been fantastic.

Can't complain. Packers-Vikings, what we just saw, Vikings dominate the Packers. Is there a reason to be concerned or is it just week one and the Packers will figure it out? No, it's just week one.

Packers are going to figure it out. It's a long season now. We got an extra game. 16 games ago instead of 15 now. But yeah, it's game one. I mean, but for the panic button, for the fans, for us, the media. Yeah, we could talk about, oh my God, what happened?

What's going on? But it's basically, you know, I say my opinion to it all is the preseason. You know, I think teams are still adjusting to that last game of having four. You know, you used to have four games. So you had that time then to, you know, first game, your offense, your starters play a series. Second game, they play the first half. In the third game, they play the first half plus half of the third quarter. And then the fourth game, were all any players that were on the bubble, you know, that were questionable or were young players that needed to get more time to find out if they're going to be part of the roster, you know, offensively, defensively, or special team. So now that third game, you know, I think some teams are having it. It looks like for me, this, you know, outside looking in, looking like the Green Bay Packers, has that little trouble because I know Aaron does not play a whole lot of preseason, if not none at all. And so I think that's still something that has to happen. He has to play.

I know he, you know, in going into 18th, 19th year now, but it's something I think for important, getting those real-time reps with your players that you're going to be playing with for the season is vital. And especially coming into a rivalry game, a new team in terms of coaching staff for the Vikings came in there, you know, firing on cylinders, everything looked great on their end. So it's going to be an interesting season for the NFC North right now. And got another game coming heavy, with the Chicago Bills coming into Lambeau this week. So yeah, it's going, I think like I said, it's going to be more just, it's that first game and we got more games to come. With no Devante Adams there anymore, and now he has to build new relationships.

I know some guys return, but you got some new players on this roster. How long does it take to build that chemistry? It takes as long as they catch the ball. If and when a ball is thrown your way as a receiver, and your quarterback is Aaron Rodgers, just catch the ball. As soon as you catch the ball, the more catches you get from that point on, he's going to gain confidence in you.

And then obviously you're going to gain confidence in yourself to be able to do what you need to do. And I saw on film, and watching the game live, when Christian Watson, the second round pick out of North Dakota State, dropped that pass, that touchdown pass, the whole sideline just kind of went the other way. Momentum was going one way, they were excited about the season, and then boom, dropped that pass, it's like, oh my God, like what happened? And for me, I watched the whole sideline and everybody's head dropped to the ground, and it's like, oh man, this is going to be a tough game. And sure enough, it turned out to be like that, a tough game for four quarters. Minnesota looked like what the Packers usually look like, running the ball, moving the ball. Kirk Cousins only gets sacked one time. Aaron gets sacked four times and lost a guy in terms of JRJ. John Runyon Jr. potentially with a concussion. So that right there just showed where everything was at.

You know, that's your leader. You got a young bug that's trying to prove himself, and he had that opportunity and missed it. But the great thing is, there's going to be other opportunities down the road because you got a long football season and we're just getting this thing started. I'm on green here with us. Ever since Matt Leflore got there, I know we've seen Rogers win back-to-back MVPs, but they've placed an emphasis on running the football more. When you go into a 17-0 hole, it's tough to run the football. You got to throw the football more than you would like. How many carries ideally would you like to see Jones and Dillon both get on any given Sunday?

I'd say on any given Sunday, I'd say if things are ideal, any given Sunday where the team is in the game, they're going to win most likely, where they get about between 10 and 15 carries per player because that's 30 carries total. And I remember during my time, I was getting that by myself, but I know how that war on the defensive line, war on the linebackers, when they knew it doesn't matter, first quarter, second quarter, then third and fourth quarter, I was still coming downhill with myself and Will Henderson, and everybody's getting their blocks. Michael, Marco Rivera, Mark Tauscher, Mike Flanagan, Mike Wall, Kevin Berry, those guys are coming off the ball in one, stepping downhill, mixed in with the play-action pass out to Jevon Walker, Robert Ferguson, or Donald Driver. So when you had that in the defensive line that, oh man, these guys aren't running and pass, that creates a problem. And defense has to be honest.

They can't fill the box with eight or nine, maybe 10 guys. They can't have a light DB or defensive backfield because they do, then the one-on-one matches will get one, and that's where you can help these receivers by doing that because now Devontae's gone, so the attention is going to come, and it's going to be a little easier to stop these guys because they don't have the experience that Devontae had to get off routes, to get off press coverage, things like that, and read the zone and try to find the soft spot, try to find the window to get open. So right now, these guys are basically learning and playing at the same time, which is tough to do in the NFL or major league or any major sport, but sometimes you got to do it, and that's where the better player and that's going to come out of it.

And I think right now, one player that has an advantage is he played very well as a young player during preseason for the Green Bay Packers is Romeo Dobbs out of Nevada, so I like him, but Christian Watson is there. He just got to, you know, shake that. One mistake done, but you got a whole long season to make other mistakes to get better, pretty much. Here's what I also wonder, and you may understand the mental side of this. When you're a rookie, you know what it's like.

You don't understand the business there. You're so excited to play. You feel as if each and every play will define your career. How do you try to keep a level head when you're younger, when you have to overcome some of that adversity?

I'll tell you, you know, just ask questions. Ask questions to your coach, and just realize that you're human and you're going to make mistakes, and let that nervousness, anxiety put that behind you so it can push you forward, because you don't want that fear of making a mistake stop you, because it's going to stop you being the player that basically got noticed by that team to get you in the locker room to draft you. So don't let it get in front of you. Put it behind you. Put it as motivation.

You know what? I'm going to use it to get better. I'm going to watch film. I'm going to find a veteran, or a veteran might find me that could take me under his wing and help me through my first couple years. And then once you get past your one, you know, in any position, once you get past your one, then it kind of, that nervousness, the anxiety kind of lessens, and now you go out there and start becoming that player that you was at the college level and at the high school level.

I'm on green here with us. We know what type of football player Aaron Jones is. A.J. Dillon, now you're number three in the NFL. How do you view him as a running back? I like his development.

I mean, he's done a good job. LaFleur has done a good job of introducing him to different plays, different formations. This game was, like I said, what we both said, it was more forced to the pass, but he was catching balls out of the back door talking about A.J.

Dillon. And so that right there shows to me that he's developing. He's learning that as a running back, even though he's a big guy and he can be given the ball and just, you know what, I'm going to just be the mindset type runner, that I'm just worried about getting the ball handed to me. I'm just going to run downhill.

But oh, you know what? I can run this screenplay. I can run these routes. Coach can split me out in the slot or even on the outside wide receiver spot and run something with me.

Because why? Because I'll prove I can catch the ball and obviously, you know, make big plays in our field because of his size. And so I like that development. You know, we talk, we have a good conversation. I have us on a muscle week. Every now and then we chime in, you know, we talk to each other and I chime in and I just tell them, hey, with that size, use it to your advantage.

Keep it as one of your first go-tos. But no, but always think what I can do better, what I could do different to make that defender think more because he's always going to be worried about a pick trying to tackle number 28 because of how big he is, but give him something different every now and then when you decide to go engage with the guy trying to tackle you. I'm on green here with us. So Vikings beat the Packers 23 to 7 in week one. How do you view the Vikings this year? Because that was one heck of a performance and I think bringing in a new coach that's more offensive-oriented is going to help out that football team. Oh, man. Yeah, they're looking great right now.

And the question was where, you know, I do a few podcasts. I do one called On My Block with Mike Wall, one of my former teammates and we had the question in my podcast, in that podcast, talking about what is Kevin O'Donnell and that coaching staff going to bring to that team, you know, what Zadarius is going to bring to that, Zadarius Smith is going to bring to that team and we saw right away O'Donnell being part, basically now part of the McVay tree of coaching has come in and brought that creativity, new formations that look like run formation, but they're actually pass formation and it works both ways for that offense. So then like I said earlier, the Packers creating a problem for defense. That's what Minnesota created a problem with the Packers defense. With that play action, double tight end set, having Justin Jefferson running wide open, you know, because those formations was telling you run all day. So run personnel is in, big linebackers that can't keep up with certain players, certain receivers or even tight ends. But then also on the flip side, there's not enough defensive backs in the back row to cover the ground that we know Justin Jackson can cover and that's why some of them routes came wide open. So that's just something that O'Donnell and any coach that was with McVay, they have this tug, which also part of Shanahan too. They take simple formations and they craft them and they build them and move guys in certain areas like a chess game. Then they'll say, okay, now we're going to do this.

See if you can stock it and stop it. And that's what happened with the Packers defense. But the good thing is we got them again here. They'll be in Lambeau here.

I think it's in December or something like that. So it'll be, it'll be definitely time for them to get better at, you know, what they need to do to stop them coming on their later in the season. Do you think that the Packers still win this division or do you now have a little bit more respect for Minnesota?

No, I got definitely got a hundred percent more. I mean, I've always had respect for anything that competes in the NFL college level, whatever major league baseball sport that I watch. There's always respect because these guys are pros guys and girls are pros, but I still got my money right in on the Grammy Packers winning the division because they still other than one minstrel piece being Devante Adams. He's out in the West Coast now with a good friend and teammate David Carr, but you still got these young guys that's going to develop. They're going to get better. They gotta, they gotta get better if they want this team because I know a hundred percent that the main goal is when the NFC North first, when the NFC second and then get to the Super Bowl and get a victory. So I believe that's going to still be the case here for the Green Bay Packers. You still think Rodgers can win a Super Bowl because the last few years they've had some good teams back-to-back-to-back 13 win seasons and in the postseason, they just come up short.

Yeah. I mean, it's way to ball bounce. We don't, you know, it happens to every player. Sometimes players, you could say it's a curse or just or it's a thing that happens to them, but he still has a team around him that with the pieces and he learns to get those those pieces the ball, you know, he could throw to multiple receivers, which there's some that when he's on point, he can do he could do that. Then that's going to be the reason they get down to the Super Bowl this this year because you hit multiple receivers a defense can't just get used to you going to one guy and he kind of had that with the Vontae. So this is going to be a time for him to grow during this season now to figure out.

Okay. Now I got these young guys. I got to spread the ball around to everybody because obviously one I don't want nobody to adjust to me for real fast and no, I'm going to just go to Allen's are the host game when I need them when I got Alan when I got Christian.

I got Romeo. I got Tanyan back when I got four receivers and then AJ and Jones and Dylan out of the backstroke then you I got six receivers I could go to so now try to stop me now and so then that creates a bigger problem for defensive wrapping up with Amman Green getting to your alma mater. I know one of your college teammates just got fired in Scott Frost as the head football coach had to react to that man. I was just I was just little fat shaking my head because I'm just you know, just like him went in our program to get back where we were once were when we were there and we know it's a process.

We know it takes time. We know it takes years recruiting getting the right coaches in town in the building and then getting the right culture built and somewhere along the line since got down on campus. The culture did not go the way that he wanted or any other coaches are unfortunately to for the players. None of that went the way anybody planned because they were you know, the idea was coming there and get the team competitive enough to now compete for Big Ten championship and then on to the national title. So with that not happening, you know for me just like that I was I was in the backfill with Scott and we shared good times and bad times in our first year going through that that that process of learning how to run together the option together as a quarterback and a running back would do so we were having conversations back and forth and working together to get better. And so we did and then first year was tough. We had those two losses against Arizona State and then Texas in the Big 12 championship and then but then the next year that all those basically those two losses in the way we needed to get better. We adjusted and got ready for the 97th season and won a national title. You just unfortunate, you know for him and that coaching staff that we didn't get a chance to they didn't get a chance to do that bring that that same I say in the game the same winning culture a guy and then the guy who takes over Nikki Joseph somebody I know very well as well because he's a former Nebraska quarterback but way before my time, but somebody I was very aware of so hopefully him and the rest of the guys that still on staff and and bring the guys to bring the season to a respectable and formidable year for Nebraska football.

Yeah, it just came down to unfortunate for Scott the last four or five years. They lost way too many close games and when you continue to be on the wrong side of that then you're going to be out of a job if they assume and they do bring in someone else. Just what advice would you give to ever does become the new head football coach next year? Yeah, my advice to ever becomes a next Nebraska corner football coach is you know, make sure you start with the players and make sure you find the players that understand that it's a process that the at the bottom of the process is basically grinding out. You're going to get your kit.

You're going to get your butt kicked. You got to practice. You got to play games. You got to make you don't make mistakes, but it's all about getting better in the long run and it's going to be a role. It's going to be it's going to be it's not going to be a short road is going to be a long road. So for unfortunately for the seniors and the juniors, you know, the sophomores and freshmen those guys may not see that they might not see the success. So it's the incoming if the new recruits, you know, it might take that long again to rebuild what we had because for coach Osborne, he was in the helm for 30 almost 30 years pretty pretty much and he took all that time to then get his three national titles in the last four years of him coaching, you know college football. So it took time. So this is for the next coach have patience. Make sure your players get your buy-in and then make sure the coaching staff gets also that buy-in because then everybody needs to trust each other trust each other and work together. There's been a lot of names thrown out Mac Campbell Mark Stoops.

Is there one that resonates with you so far? Um, no, I'm still I still got to get to know them. I've seen them. I've seen them coaching. But for me, I'm just like I don't know who it is. I don't mind Mickey, you know, even though he's the interim I'm like, he's a guy that's been there before and it's been around the block. He's been at, you know colleges at like LSU.

So sometimes hiring in house is not a bad idea. I'm on green always appreciate the time. Thank you. Hey, no problem.

Zach. Thanks for having me. Great baseball is everywhere. You are this season with the MLB app. Enjoy the show from wherever you are when you download the free MLB app to your mobile device never miss a second of the action with coverage of in-game highlights pitch-by-pitch features select live broadcast coverage and more show support for your favorite team with customizable MLB club branded icons and tune into exclusive premium content for every team in the league that is out of the ballpark. The MLB app is your ticket to all things baseball all the time. You can even get live notifications sent to your phone watch and car.

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