Welcome to a new, regular series called That’s What Cheese Said, where each week after the game I break down locker room interviews and press conferences to give you all of the insights from 1265 Lombardi Ave. 

Let’s kick things off with our very first preseason game against the Houston Texans! We’ll start with the players, who shared similar thoughts regarding performance as a team. 

The night’s starting quarterback, DeShone Kizer, displayed his faith in the new system.

“I thought the process went well. The system was proven, the way it’s been proven all training camp,” he said. “I think after the game today, it really solidified the confidence this whole quarterback room really has in the system.”

Kizer went 8-of-13 for 102 yards and 1 touchdown in his first game, giving him a quarterback rating of 111.7. His lone touchdown was to undrafted rookie Darrius Shepherd, who skied a ball and came down in the end zone. 

When Kizer was asked about Shepherd, he had nothing but praise for the North Dakota State player. 

“I think he was probably the first guy in this locker room to learn the playbook, before any quarterback learned it,” said Kizer. 

Shepherd finished the night with one reception for 14 yards (and a touchdown), and one Lambeau Leap. Having your first NFL reception go for a touchdown is a great way to get the attention of teammates, coaches, and fans alike. 

The evening’s second quarterback, Tim Boyle, acknowledged there’s still plenty for the team to learn, but also took the time to praise a young wide receiver. 

Second-year receiver J’Mon Moore had a rocky start to his night before catching a touchdown on a fourth down play from Boyle. 

When asked what it meant for him to come back to Moore after a drop, Boyle said, “Especially with young receivers. It’s just confidence. 

“When you go out there it’s, alright, maybe he had a drop, I honestly haven’t seen the play yet, but he had a drop the play before that and we go back to him and he catches it, and that’s kind of the whole point. That’s football. It’s bouncing back from adversity and playing the next play.”

Boyle finished his own night going 3-of-5 for 40 yards and 2 touchdowns, which he joked meant that 40 percent of his passes that evening went for touchdowns. 

Second-year receiver Allen Lazard caught Boyle’s second touchdown of the night, and when he was asked about the wide receivers room, he only had one word to say. “Deep.”

“We’re very talented obviously, Davante being the star guy and whatnot, but we’re a very young and hungry room.” 

On the defensive side of the ball, it was a big night for the 2019 Draft Class. Sixth-round cornerback Ka’dar Hollman snagged one of the team’s two interceptions.

“This is going to be a defensive-driven team, because defenses win championships,” he said at his locker. “That’s going to be our identity throughout the whole season.”

How refreshing is it to hear defensive players talk about an emphasis on turnovers? Yes, it’s only the first game of the preseason, but maybe having defensive coordinator Mike Pettine coaching from the sideline this year instead of the booth is already paying off. 

Seventh-round inside linebacker Ty Summers played a whopping 66 defensive snaps for the Packers with 13 snaps on special teams. 

When he was asked whether or not he expected that kind of workload his first week, Summers laughed it off. 

“It was kind of expected. They told me ‘hey get ready to be gassed after this one.’ And I was like ‘alright, hey man, I need all the reps I can get. If i’m gassed, if anything, I’m working on my cardio.’”

Unofficially, Summers had 10 tackles on the night. But to him, that wasn’t good enough. He said, “I look at it, yeah it seems like a good night, but when I know that I should’ve had probably about four more, that’s frustrating.”

His workload also increased with the loss of Oren Burks early in the first quarter. Summers was in charge of managing the defense in Burks’ absence. That wasn’t entirely new to Summers, however, given that he’s worn the mic in practice before. He said he enjoyed it as it reminded him of his days playing quarterback. 

Fifth-round defensive lineman Kingsley Keke was also all over the field on Thursday night, emphasizing a lesson preached to them by both Head Coach Matt LaFleur and Pettine. 

“Coach Pettine preaches that every day. Get to the ball. Coach LaFleur as well. Get to the ball. Try to strip it out every time we get a chance.”

The defense did just that when safety Raven Greene forced a Texans fumble that cornerback Will Redmond recovered. 

Redmond even went as far as to hand his turnover ball to Pettine once he got to the sideline. When asked about it, he smiled. “Oh yeah, I had to get it to him. He told me to bring it to him. I brought it to him.”

Now let’s make our way out of the locker room and catch up on LaFleur’s post-game press conference. 

He started by simply acknowledging how good it feels to win, regardless of the game being played. “Whether it’s preseason or regular season, you always want to win.”

The fact that it was his first win as a head coach didn’t hurt, either. 

“There was just a brief period of time where I look up and you just see all the greats written in Lambeau and I just, I mean, it is a pretty cool moment and something I’ll never forget.”

When LaFleur was asked about Lane Taylor being the lone starting offensive lineman to play Thursday night, he simply emphasized the team’s desire for competition at every position. 

“As long as that’s going to be a competition, we want to see those guys go at it. I thought Lane did an excellent job and handled himself the right way. It’s always going to be about competition.” 

LaFleur also praised the defense and their ability to turn the ball over four times on the night. 

“That’s what we talk about all the time. We’re going to be about the ball,” he said. “That was the difference in the game. When you win the turnover battle...when you’re +2 in the turnover ratio, you have a great opportunity to win the game.”

Finally, for fans frustrated by the foghorn noise being pumped through Lambeau Field on third down, LaFleur isn’t backing down. “I just want anything that’s going to get fans out of their seats and make it a true home-field advantage.”

Do you accept the challenge, Packers fans? If you want to get rid of the foghorn, you have to become the foghorn. I kid, but remember when “Get Loud Lambeau” was a marketing campaign? Get loud and stay loud if you’re going to come to a game. Your new head coach is counting on you, and so is your defense. 

Finally, LaFleur did say that the starters will see some snaps against the Baltimore Ravens during the team’s second preseason game on August 15, but the number of snaps is yet to be determined.