Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you
Speaker 1: here from our studios at lambeau Field, unfortunately, to talk
Speaker 1: about the end of the Green Bay Packers season twenty
Speaker 1: to sixteen, a loss to the Detroit Lions. As we
Speaker 1: talked about all last week, West, the Packers were right
Speaker 1: where they wanted to be, the best position they could
Speaker 1: have been in all things considered, when to get into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and instead it's a loss to go home,
Speaker 1: and the season is over and the Packers will not
Speaker 1: be in the playoffs for the first time in Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur's four seasons as head coach. Yeah. And the other
Speaker 1: thing is too, We've found out hours before the game,
Speaker 1: minutes for the game, really that the Detroit Lions weren't
Speaker 1: going to be in the playoffs either, as by the
Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks winning that game. Again. The Los Angeles Rams
Speaker 1: a lot of mixed emotions with this. You know, there
Speaker 1: was a line and I'm not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: like repeat it verbatim, but it was something that Alan
Speaker 1: Lazard said in locker room that really hit home with
Speaker 1: me after the game, and that was basically there were
Speaker 1: a lot of parallels in his mind between that game
Speaker 1: against the Lions and what happened to the Packers a
Speaker 1: year ago against the San Francisco forty nine ers. It
Speaker 1: just offensively, there just wasn't a lot to push with,
Speaker 1: and I think the Packers for the most part, stuck
Speaker 1: to the game plan in the first half, the one
Speaker 1: that I was calling for, which was run it down
Speaker 1: the lion's throats. I mean, this is a team that
Speaker 1: again gave up more than three hundred rushing yards to
Speaker 1: Carolina and also both you know, I had two hundred
Speaker 1: yard backs in that game. Green Bay just could not
Speaker 1: run the ball well enough against that defensive front from Minnesota.
Speaker 1: They turned over the ball a couple times, and they
Speaker 1: just didn't have the moments where they need to execute
Speaker 1: in all three phases. A lot of good complimentary football
Speaker 1: during the four game win streak for Green Bay and
Speaker 1: unfortunately none of that was there for them when they
Speaker 1: needed it against the Lions. Yeah, I think the biggest
Speaker 1: thing that I lament as far as this opportunity getting
Speaker 1: away from the Packers boils down to the fact that
Speaker 1: there had been so much that went Green Bay's way
Speaker 1: over the previous month, not just winning the games obviously
Speaker 1: that they needed to win, but the Packers could have
Speaker 1: won those games and still headed into Week eighteen with
Speaker 1: nothing at stake, because other things could have happened that
Speaker 1: the playoff field could have filled up. There were a
Speaker 1: number of things that happened. It felt like a gift
Speaker 1: from the football gods that the Packers were in the
Speaker 1: position they were in because of all the other help
Speaker 1: that they had gotten along the way. And look what
Speaker 1: happened to the Lions right up to the very end.
Speaker 1: A crazy game between Seattle and the Rams, back and
Speaker 1: forth and goes to overtime, and their playoff hopes end
Speaker 1: with Seattle, you know, kicking an overtime field goal, and
Speaker 1: the Packers got an opportunity dropped into their lap by
Speaker 1: a lot of happenstance, quite frankly, and to let that
Speaker 1: get away is really the most disappointing thing because there
Speaker 1: could be some other years here coming up, whether it's
Speaker 1: next year or further down the road, where you might
Speaker 1: be fighting for a you know, a ten and seven record,
Speaker 1: maybe even an eleven and six record, and you need
Speaker 1: some help to get where you need to go, and
Speaker 1: you don't know if that help is going to come.
Speaker 1: And the Packers got all the help that they could
Speaker 1: have asked for, and yet the opportunity was squandered. That's
Speaker 1: the hardest part, I think for me to swallow, because
Speaker 1: you just don't know if the fates are going to
Speaker 1: smile on you that much when you're in that situation.
Speaker 1: Ever again, yeah, people forget when they talked about run
Speaker 1: the table. The Packers didn't run the table to get
Speaker 1: a wild card spot. They ran the table to win
Speaker 1: the division. Yeah, they actually that was a joint championship
Speaker 1: for you know, that title this one. For them to
Speaker 1: do it as the seventh seed with the wild card
Speaker 1: on the line was pretty remarkable for the For the
Speaker 1: table to be set the way it was for green
Speaker 1: Bay going into this one, and you know, and I
Speaker 1: don't mean to be flip it and I don't mean
Speaker 1: to be crashed, but it just it looked like green
Speaker 1: Bay just didn't quite have it together and the Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions were the team that was playing to get in
Speaker 1: the postseason. I mean, there was that quote after the
Speaker 1: game and people laughed about it, and they kind of
Speaker 1: you know, I think bar still put up is like
Speaker 1: the most epic postgame ever. But like look at that
Speaker 1: postgame interview with Jamal Williams where he's crying about his
Speaker 1: you know, losing his grandfather, dedicating the game to him,
Speaker 1: but then just completely being revved up, you know, saying
Speaker 1: that people counted us out. We weren't going to get
Speaker 1: counted out. You know. I think it just shows you
Speaker 1: the energy and the aggression and a team much like
Speaker 1: last year when the Packers played them in the finale,
Speaker 1: that isn't going to be told that they can't win
Speaker 1: or they can't make the playoffs. And I just thought
Speaker 1: Detroit played with that energy the entire time, and the Packers,
Speaker 1: while good and spurts just they didn't have enough big
Speaker 1: plays offensively. Defensively they had a few lapses and special
Speaker 1: teams they really weren't able to make anything happen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's the thing. For me. You mentioned the
Speaker 1: comparison that Lazard made and to me, to me, the
Speaker 1: comparison that I felt because of the way the offense
Speaker 1: was struggling, and really, for me, this game comes down
Speaker 1: to an offensive failure. Five of the first six possessions
Speaker 1: for the Packers they breached the Detroit thirty five yard line,
Speaker 1: and with five of six possessions breaching the Detroit thirty
Speaker 1: five yard line, the Packers had nine points on the board.
Speaker 1: Between the goal to ghost, stop getting stalled, kicking long
Speaker 1: field goals, the fumble by Aaron Jones late in the
Speaker 1: first half, there were just so many opportunities, and to me,
Speaker 1: the comparison was somewhat the Miami game on Christmas, where
Speaker 1: the Packers had all these chances to pile up a
Speaker 1: bunch of points. The difference was in Miami on Christmas,
Speaker 1: the defense started taking the football away. And we had
Speaker 1: talked about that all last week, how the Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: were not a team that turned the ball over only
Speaker 1: three turnovers, no interceptions from Jared Goff over their previous
Speaker 1: eight games coming into Green Bay on Sunday Night in
Speaker 1: Week eighteen, and the Packers defense. While I thought, and
Speaker 1: we'll talk about some of the problems in the second
Speaker 1: half later on, I thought, for the most part, green
Speaker 1: Bay's defense played a pretty solid game, but not getting
Speaker 1: the takeaways that wasn't then enough to be able to
Speaker 1: bail out an offense that was struggling and not getting
Speaker 1: the points on the board with the opportunities that it had.
Speaker 1: That's the way the game felt to me. Yeah, and dude,
Speaker 1: we said it all week long, the tarn Erment I
Speaker 1: wrote a story about it for Crying Out Load on Friday.
Speaker 1: I mean, the turnover battled green Bay's penchant for forcing
Speaker 1: takeaways the last month of the season versus the ability
Speaker 1: for Detroit to protect the football. I mean, Jared Goff
Speaker 1: is one thing. I mean, the run he got on
Speaker 1: to go ten straight weeks to end the season without
Speaker 1: a pick after being intercepted by JayR Alexander Detroit, that's exceptional.
Speaker 1: But you and I know better than anybody about what
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams is like. And Williams actually has a few
Speaker 1: fumbles this year, but during his four seasons in Green
Speaker 1: Bay didn't put it on the turf once. Yea once.
Speaker 1: It's like five hundred and sixty career touches. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're just very good at doing what they do. And
Speaker 1: I just thought the consistency of it, it wasn't going
Speaker 1: to be a blowout by any means. You know, there
Speaker 1: were some procedural issues for Detroit. There were some execution issues,
Speaker 1: but in a game where it's going to be twenty
Speaker 1: to sixteen, Mike, it stands to reason that two to
Speaker 1: zero and the turnovercolumn is going to make the difference.
Speaker 1: And for Detroit it did. Yeah, and it was that
Speaker 1: the Packers end up losing the turnover battle two to zero.
Speaker 1: The fumble by Aaron Jones late in the first half
Speaker 1: was significant because the Packers are up nine to three,
Speaker 1: looking like they're going to get more points, and even
Speaker 1: if the offense was going to stall out again, if
Speaker 1: you kick a field goal and go up twelve to three,
Speaker 1: that's still a two score lead at the half. Instead,
Speaker 1: the Lions recover the fumble, they go the other way,
Speaker 1: get a field goal before halftime, and suddenly, instead instead
Speaker 1: of twelve to three or maybe even sixteen to three,
Speaker 1: the game is nine to six. And for as much
Speaker 1: as the Packers had controlled the back and forth the
Speaker 1: you know, as far as moving the ball up and
Speaker 1: down the field, as much as the Packers had controlled
Speaker 1: the first half, to only be up by three points
Speaker 1: didn't feel good, certainly, didn't didn't feel right, and quite frankly,
Speaker 1: it almost becomes a three to zero loss in the
Speaker 1: turnover battle. When the failed fourth and one early in
Speaker 1: the game, when Green Bay's on its own thirty yard
Speaker 1: line that essentially functions as a turnover, it was three points.
Speaker 1: It handed the Lions three points because the failure there,
Speaker 1: Detroit is already in scoring range. The defense gets the stop,
Speaker 1: but Detroit gets the field goal to tie the game
Speaker 1: at three. At that point, I thought, defensively, really, through
Speaker 1: the first three quarters of the game, I thought the
Speaker 1: Packers played a pretty good defensive football game, only allowing
Speaker 1: you know, one really backbreaking type of play, which was
Speaker 1: the play action bootleg and throwback across the field to
Speaker 1: Khalif Raymond down to the one yard line, which then
Speaker 1: the Lions get their first touchdown off of that. But
Speaker 1: then in the fourth quarter you saw the Lions really
Speaker 1: establish the power running game with the play action off
Speaker 1: of it, and you could see the rhythm that Jared
Speaker 1: Goff and that offense got into where they where they
Speaker 1: drove for the touchdown that gave them the lead. And
Speaker 1: then also in the last three minutes three and a
Speaker 1: half minutes of the game, when they killed the clock
Speaker 1: and didn't give the Packers another chance, that the power
Speaker 1: running with the play action and the rhythm they were
Speaker 1: in there. The Packers just couldn't stop it. And you
Speaker 1: combine that, obviously with two egregious personal files by the Packers,
Speaker 1: the one on Russeul Douglas on the field goal at
Speaker 1: the end of the first half, and then the one
Speaker 1: by Kay Walker that changed a what was going to
Speaker 1: be a second and nine situation into first and goal
Speaker 1: on what became the go ahead touchdown drive in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. The Packers were not in a position to
Speaker 1: be able to overcome those kinds of mistakes, and those
Speaker 1: kinds of self inflicted wounds are what we saw many
Speaker 1: times earlier in the season from the Packers, and it
Speaker 1: bit them in the last game in the season and
Speaker 1: they couldn't overcome it. For all the names we talked
Speaker 1: about going into this game, certainly there were the connections
Speaker 1: with Matt Lafleur and Joe Barry with Jared Goff during
Speaker 1: their time in LA. We talked about aman Ross, Saint Brown,
Speaker 1: We certainly talked about Jamal Williams. I don't think you
Speaker 1: could have spent all week on it. You couldn't really
Speaker 1: do justice to what the Detroit Lions offensive line is now.
Speaker 1: They took so many years there, Mike, where they were
Speaker 1: trying to build that thing up. They've done it in
Speaker 1: Taylor Decker and Penny Seul, I thought were one of
Speaker 1: the biggest reasons why they won this game when you
Speaker 1: look at the fact of Packers edge rushers did not
Speaker 1: have a quarterback hit, the pressures were minimal, and Golf
Speaker 1: was able to operate the offense in which he wanted
Speaker 1: to operate. And then I think about after the Walker penalty.
Speaker 1: You know, Green Bay is in a position there that
Speaker 1: they were kind of in last week against Minnesota, right,
Speaker 1: but they held defensively. Yeah, different part of the game,
Speaker 1: but they weren't able to breach that defensive front in
Speaker 1: this game. You look at it, Seul is moving people,
Speaker 1: Decker's moving people. Frank reag now on a bad wheel
Speaker 1: is moving people. Detroit is set up so well to
Speaker 1: win in short yardage situations and I feel like that
Speaker 1: seeing it firsthand twice this year. As much credit goes
Speaker 1: to Jamal Williams for his seventeen touchdowns, that offensive line
Speaker 1: creating opportunities for him was fantastic. Like I've said an
Speaker 1: insider inbox, the fact that the Lions got off to
Speaker 1: such a slow start. The NFL got real lucky. The
Speaker 1: NFC got real lucky because I think this is a
Speaker 1: team that can give a lot of teams problems. Yes,
Speaker 1: they might not be as good on the road as
Speaker 1: they are at home, but I'll be honest with you, Mike,
Speaker 1: on Sunday night, they look pretty darn good. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: we had talked about we had talked about how last week,
Speaker 1: how this was going to be such a different matchup
Speaker 1: in the trenches from the game against Minnesota, and not
Speaker 1: just because Minnesota was banged up on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Even if Minnesota had all their preferred starters on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, this was going to be a different matchup
Speaker 1: in the trenches, and it played out that way. I
Speaker 1: agree with you totally with what you're saying about the
Speaker 1: guys on Detroit's offensive line. I went back and glanced
Speaker 1: at the film the Packers goal to ghost situation early
Speaker 1: on in the game. I can't remember his first name
Speaker 1: at the moment, but his last name is Bugs number
Speaker 1: ninety six, big defensive lineman. First down, first down, he
Speaker 1: whips Josh Myers and gets and gets the tackle. On
Speaker 1: the running play. Second down, he whips Elton Jenkins and
Speaker 1: gets the tackle on the running play, sets up the
Speaker 1: third down. The Packers can't score and you kick the
Speaker 1: field goal. This was a different matchup in the trenches,
Speaker 1: and the Packers didn't and it wasn't It wasn't just
Speaker 1: one guy, you know. And the Packers made the switch
Speaker 1: at right tackle, putting Zach Tom in for Josh and Iman.
Speaker 1: But the problems upfront for the Packers were not just
Speaker 1: because of Josh and Iman at right tackle. There were problems.
Speaker 1: There were problems across the board in this game. And
Speaker 1: uh and when the other team, when the other team
Speaker 1: has your number in the trenches, it becomes a very
Speaker 1: very difficult game to win, and the Packers just didn't
Speaker 1: have enough to win it. I don't know what happened
Speaker 1: with Detroit's defenses year with Aaron Glen, and obviously we
Speaker 1: heard about the mid season shuffling they had. I haven't
Speaker 1: watched a lot of lines football outside of preparing for
Speaker 1: these games and watching these two games. There must have
Speaker 1: just been something in the water for how Glenn attacked
Speaker 1: them and how they were able to have as much
Speaker 1: success as they did. I know they mixed their coverages.
Speaker 1: I know they did a lot of different things, but
Speaker 1: like green Bay had such a difficult time working sideline
Speaker 1: to sideline in this game. It's not about they just
Speaker 1: didn't weren't able to run the ball. They weren't. They
Speaker 1: were disrupting what green Bay typically does well with their motions,
Speaker 1: with their move stuff, their play action. I mean, they
Speaker 1: had some success with Christian Watson, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: Detroit did an exceptional job of neutralizing that and taking
Speaker 1: green Bay out of its rhythm. Yeah, I mean eight
Speaker 1: quarters against the Lions this year, the Packers only scored
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. Al Lazard had a touchdown in Detroit. He
Speaker 1: had the one in the second half on Sunday Night,
Speaker 1: and yardage wise, the Packers moved the ball in both
Speaker 1: games against Detroit, but anytime they got within scoring range,
Speaker 1: it became a huge struggle to do what you needed
Speaker 1: to do to get the points that you needed to
Speaker 1: get in those opportunities. And that's really how both of
Speaker 1: those games played out, where the Packers defense didn't play
Speaker 1: that poorly, but yet the offense wasn't able to take
Speaker 1: advantage of what it had. And two losses to the Lions,
Speaker 1: two very very agonizing and maddening and frustrating losses to
Speaker 1: the Lions is why the Packers are not continuing to
Speaker 1: play right now. Yeah, And it was, like you said, Mike,
Speaker 1: it's in a situation where so many things had to
Speaker 1: go their way, and they did, and green Bay took
Speaker 1: the field on Sunday at home in their place, and
Speaker 1: whether that was what twenty outside I mean, like you
Speaker 1: thought this was setting up in aligning to be the
Speaker 1: type of game green Bay needed it to be to
Speaker 1: be able to make that trip back to the postseason.
Speaker 1: But as we saw over the course of those sixty minutes,
Speaker 1: specifically the last fifteen just wasn't meant to be. Yeah, Well,
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Speaker 1: fifty years of better. All Right. On Monday, the day
Speaker 1: after the loss, we had the final open locker room
Speaker 1: session and then also heard or the final time as
Speaker 1: far as the season goes from head coach Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: I want to touch on some of the reactions and
Speaker 1: comments from that before we sign off for today. The
Speaker 1: locker room reaction there was, and I wrote about this
Speaker 1: on the website if for those who want to check
Speaker 1: out the piece I put together on the Packers processing
Speaker 1: their emotions and the uncertainty. And as always at this stage,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of uncertainty about the upcoming offseason, certainly
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers being at the top of the list, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to get into all the speculation in
Speaker 1: this and that Aaron Rodgers is going to make his
Speaker 1: decision at some point, he'll do it in a timely
Speaker 1: fashion and the Packers will make their plans for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three moving forward from there. The sense I got
Speaker 1: in the locker room west was that was that while
Speaker 1: there was there was a certain amount of pride that
Speaker 1: the players had in turning around a four and eight
Speaker 1: season that looked like it was going nowhere and being
Speaker 1: able to give themselves a chance, there was just there
Speaker 1: was a ton of regret that all of that effort
Speaker 1: to turn it around and generate something in a positive direction.
Speaker 1: Ended up going for naught because they didn't get their
Speaker 1: shot at the postseason, which which is what the players
Speaker 1: play for. That that's the sense that I got. I
Speaker 1: was in the locker room in Chicago and in Miami,
Speaker 1: a very spacious locker room in Miami, when the other
Speaker 1: media were not able to get to the game. I
Speaker 1: was in there after they beat the Rams, and I
Speaker 1: definitely was in there after they beat the Vikings as
Speaker 1: we do our postgame media responsibilities. And as I walked
Speaker 1: into the locker room on Sunday night, and guys, you
Speaker 1: know that we were all let in a little bit
Speaker 1: earlier than usual because you don't have to go over
Speaker 1: what to tomorrow's schedule is or anything like that. Most
Speaker 1: of the guys were in their lockers taking their clothes off.
Speaker 1: There was Tyler Davis. This image of Tyler Davis that
Speaker 1: I think is going to be burned on my brain
Speaker 1: until I leave this earth, still in his pads, with
Speaker 1: his hands up, with his jersey everything hands up. You're
Speaker 1: just staring right at the middle of the locker room,
Speaker 1: something I never really quite seen before. And I was
Speaker 1: in Seattle and fourteen. I've seen a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: over the years and what these locker rooms can be like.
Speaker 1: And I think it was that I'm not going to
Speaker 1: speak for Tyler. I always spoke with Jason Wilde about this,
Speaker 1: but it was that realization that not necessarily that everything
Speaker 1: you've done for was for not but more just the
Speaker 1: idea of you. The work they put in not only
Speaker 1: this season but specifically over this last month, the energy,
Speaker 1: the enthusiasm, the positivity, the ability to not cast stones
Speaker 1: at each other, the ability to look at each other
Speaker 1: and say we can still do this. How it all ends.
Speaker 1: Most seasons end this way for thirty one. Other teams,
Speaker 1: you're gonna end either with not being able to make
Speaker 1: the playoffs or losing when you get to said postseason.
Speaker 1: But I think the Packers really thought they did have
Speaker 1: something special brewing. Yeah, And it shows you when you
Speaker 1: dig yourself into a hole the way that Green Bay
Speaker 1: dug themselves into a hole. There is no margin for error.
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur mentioned the margin for error probably twenty times
Speaker 1: since the end of the game on Sunday. It is
Speaker 1: razor thin. There are things that need to change this offseason.
Speaker 1: It sounds from what Matt laflor said. It won't be
Speaker 1: on the coaching staff side of things. It's probably more
Speaker 1: in terms of philosophy in terms of what's emphasized. But
Speaker 1: the Packers do have a lot of work to do
Speaker 1: because they still have big goals and there are a
Speaker 1: lot there is a lot of talent on this football team,
Speaker 1: and this year, for whatever reason, everybody they had, the
Speaker 1: draft picks they made, the players they signed, the players
Speaker 1: they retained, it wasn't enough to get them back to
Speaker 1: that plate, that postseason dance. Yeah, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: touch on some of the comments from Lafleur as well,
Speaker 1: because because he said it, you know, towards the end
Speaker 1: of his thirty minute you know, Q and A with
Speaker 1: the media that when you have the expectations that you
Speaker 1: have in Green Bay and you have a season that
Speaker 1: ends like this, it's a complete failure. And and I
Speaker 1: think I think that's a that's an important message to
Speaker 1: the fans, just so that you know there aren't people
Speaker 1: out there who think, oh, so the Packers won four
Speaker 1: games in a row towards the end of the regular season,
Speaker 1: like they really, you know, they really feel like they
Speaker 1: have this figured out for twenty twenty three, or that
Speaker 1: they're going to hang their hat on that or something
Speaker 1: that is not absolutely not the message that Matt Lafleur
Speaker 1: was delivering on Monday. There is a lot to study,
Speaker 1: there is a lot to work on, a lot to
Speaker 1: go over. He did say, as you noted, he's not
Speaker 1: anticipating any changes to the coaching staff unless coaches get
Speaker 1: opportunities promotions potentially to go elsewhere, which we saw happen
Speaker 1: last year and one of those guys this wasn't going
Speaker 1: to be part of the show, but again this is
Speaker 1: this is Packers unscripted. Before we came in here to
Speaker 1: tape this, I was working on an answer for the
Speaker 1: Mornings Insider Inbox column because, um, a reader asked about
Speaker 1: Rich Bisaccia and and I think asked a very good question,
Speaker 1: how is this guy not being mentioned as a head
Speaker 1: coaching candidate? And look, I'm thrilled Rich bisacci came to
Speaker 1: Green Bay and he, you know, did a whale of
Speaker 1: a job with the Green Bay's special teams in one year,
Speaker 1: turning things around significantly. Matt Lafleur is very, very excited
Speaker 1: and appreciative of where that phase of the game is
Speaker 1: for the Packers right now. But when you talk about
Speaker 1: a coach that maybe could be looked at for a
Speaker 1: promotion somewhere, you would think Bisacci is that is a guy.
Speaker 1: But yet we're not hearing that. And and I honestly
Speaker 1: I don't know rich very well. He's only been here
Speaker 1: for one year. We say hi to him in the
Speaker 1: hallway sometimes if we pass, you know, walking by. But
Speaker 1: I honestly feel, I honestly feel bad for him that
Speaker 1: this is a guy that, to me I think should
Speaker 1: deserves a shot as a head coach in the NFL. Well,
Speaker 1: and just listen to these guys talk about him in
Speaker 1: the locker room. It's one thing for Matt Lafloord to mention,
Speaker 1: you know, this guy's has our special teams pointing up.
Speaker 1: But it's listening to what Mason Crosby, what Keyshawn Nixon,
Speaker 1: what Kenny Clark would all these guys have said about him.
Speaker 1: Whether you play for him or not on teams, there
Speaker 1: is an energy that is infectious with him. There is
Speaker 1: a it pushes guys to just want to play harder,
Speaker 1: play better, learn more. He has He has a leadership
Speaker 1: quality about him that is that is off the charts.
Speaker 1: And yet yet it's it's difficult to describe in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, but he just he exudes leadership. And
Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to turn this into finger
Speaker 1: pointing or he said, she said, But like the part
Speaker 1: I wonder you ask, hey, how is this guy not
Speaker 1: a head coach in the NFL? How is this guy
Speaker 1: not the head coach at the last Vegas Exactly? I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's where it starts. He never wants he took over.
Speaker 1: He took over an absolute dysfunctional mess as an interim
Speaker 1: head coach last year, led the Raiders to just their
Speaker 1: second postseason appearance since two thousand and two, and yet
Speaker 1: he doesn't really get serious consideration to take over that
Speaker 1: job full time to the Packers benefit, because then he
Speaker 1: came to Green Bay. But my goodness, like you know,
Speaker 1: the Raiders have been to the playoffs twice since two
Speaker 1: thousand and two. He led them there when the season
Speaker 1: was completely circling the drain. He led them to one
Speaker 1: of those two in the last two decades, and yet
Speaker 1: he's still not being considered a strong head coaching candidate
Speaker 1: in the searches that are going on out there for
Speaker 1: the Raiders. Last year or for anybody else this year,
Speaker 1: I don't get it. Yeah, and he had the ability
Speaker 1: to actually kind of have the internship to have the
Speaker 1: interim title there, and yeah, that wasn't the direction they went.
Speaker 1: But be that as it may. The fact that you
Speaker 1: listen to what Matt Lafloor says and what he's even
Speaker 1: learned from him from Besacia here during their one season together.
Speaker 1: If it works out that way, Bessaci is here, he's
Speaker 1: developing a heck of a special team's assistant. And Byron
Speaker 1: Storer and then also Michael Spurlock. I mean, the Packers
Speaker 1: have an identity on special teams and the fact that
Speaker 1: they've been able to do that in the span of
Speaker 1: under a year, considering where we were last year at
Speaker 1: this time when we were talking about things the band
Speaker 1: a year before, and yeah, I mean, but I mean
Speaker 1: it's just it's it's a credit to him and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the Packer's ability to identify some talent on
Speaker 1: teams and start developing some guys in that area as well. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on like a
Speaker 1: big tangent there, but it was it was it was
Speaker 1: on my mind. I wanted to get. I wanted to
Speaker 1: get your thoughts, uh um on it as well, because, um,
Speaker 1: you know, sub Man. Five different places he's been west,
Speaker 1: he's had either associate or assistant head coach as part
Speaker 1: of his title Mississippi and College and then four NFL
Speaker 1: teams before coming to Green Bay. He doesn't have that
Speaker 1: as part of his title in Green Bay. Matt Lafleur
Speaker 1: doesn't have that title necessarily on his staff. But um,
Speaker 1: but I mean it, yeah, it's it's it's a head scratcher.
Speaker 1: Can I be an assistant senior writer? Can I an
Speaker 1: assistant like it's like the office, like assistant to the
Speaker 1: regional manager, assisted to the senior writer. Maybe we'll work,
Speaker 1: will work on that. That's not even that's not even
Speaker 1: my call. You can go to ourt. You can go
Speaker 1: to our boss, assistant, the assistant senior writer. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: before we go, any other any other thoughts comments that
Speaker 1: we heard from the locker room or from Matt Lafleur
Speaker 1: on Monday, that that you want to mention here before
Speaker 1: we go. We didn't get a chance to talk about
Speaker 1: it because all the unfortunate minus negative things that happened
Speaker 1: to the game. But but Christian Watson, uh and the
Speaker 1: way which he came on this season was talking with
Speaker 1: Robert Tunyan and Alan Lazard a little bit this week,
Speaker 1: and you know those guys after the game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: everybody's kind of feeling it a little bit. They came
Speaker 1: up short. Christian Watson one hundred yard performance. We've seen
Speaker 1: it time and time again with him, the way he
Speaker 1: can spark an offense. In Lazard and Tony, you know,
Speaker 1: they went up to him afterwards and basically just told
Speaker 1: him like, good job, Like they didn't want to make
Speaker 1: it into this like oh, we're proud of you kind
Speaker 1: of thing, but like the way this guy composed himself
Speaker 1: overcame the knee injury, overcame two separate hamstring injuries, had
Speaker 1: a very scary concussion in Buffalo, and kind of willed
Speaker 1: the offense in the second half of the season. Tonyon
Speaker 1: even said it like he sort of is what made
Speaker 1: them go the second half of the year. Yeah, you did.
Speaker 1: Mattal Floor said it. I mean like they feel like
Speaker 1: they haven't even touched the surface with this kid's potential.
Speaker 1: And when you're looking at bright spots, when you're looking
Speaker 1: at things to hang your hat on for the future.
Speaker 1: The Packers had to make a huge move last March
Speaker 1: when they finally traded Davante Adams. I don't think when
Speaker 1: you and I were sitting here wrapping up the season
Speaker 1: and unscripted last year, we thought, under any circumstances, Davante
Speaker 1: Adams wouldn't be on this team in twenty twenty two. Correct.
Speaker 1: That's the way it all played out, though, and the
Speaker 1: Packers needed to get that pick right when they did
Speaker 1: acquire those extra picks to be able to go and
Speaker 1: get a guy like Christian Watson to come in that
Speaker 1: has the potential. Adams had a phenomenal year this year
Speaker 1: with the Raiders, but I think with Watson, you look
Speaker 1: at his numbers, you look at the separation, you look
Speaker 1: at all the things. Whether he builds up some more strength,
Speaker 1: whether he gets the route running down a little bit better,
Speaker 1: this guy's going to be the ultimate weapon here, and
Speaker 1: the Packers at least have him in the fold now
Speaker 1: for the foreseeable future. Yeah. Absolutely, the future is um
Speaker 1: tantalizing and exciting when it comes to when it comes
Speaker 1: to number nine, Christian Watson, his UH three one hundred
Speaker 1: yard receiving games as a rookie first Packers player to
Speaker 1: do that since with three one hundred yard games in
Speaker 1: a rookie Seasonsiving Sterling, Sharp, No, Greg Jennings, Billy Houghton,
Speaker 1: Billy nineteen fifty two, Bro Taylor and I Taylor Taylor
Speaker 1: Rodgers who produces and shows all the Packers daily segments
Speaker 1: that that you see on the website and on cable
Speaker 1: TV and whatnot. He and I double checked it. It
Speaker 1: was a It was a note that he had found
Speaker 1: Greg Jennings, Sterling, Sharp, James Lofton all had like two
Speaker 1: hundred yard games. Watson had three in the last one
Speaker 1: with at least three. Billy Houghton had five back in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty two. So just something to think about seventy
Speaker 1: years and Watson basically did that in half a season.
Speaker 1: Considering when he became a regular part of the offense.
Speaker 1: What a season. Sterling must have had an eighty seven though,
Speaker 1: because then he had like eight hundred yards. It was
Speaker 1: eight eighty eight, But yeah, he had he had he
Speaker 1: had about eight hundred yards. He had about eight hundred yards,
Speaker 1: but only only twice did he actually go over one
Speaker 1: hundred in a game. And that's why next season we
Speaker 1: have to get Spofford Stats and info. We gotta get
Speaker 1: sales to sell that. We gotta have that. I gotta give,
Speaker 1: I gotta give the the I give the uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Tom Fanning, Nate la Cassio, those guys upstairs that do
Speaker 1: a tremendous job on that. And then also Taylor Run
Speaker 1: don't give you don't want to give Taylor any crown
Speaker 1: he doesn't. Well, I'm giving him credit because he brought
Speaker 1: me that. He brought me that stat this morning when
Speaker 1: I shot Packers Daily, when I first walked into the office,
Speaker 1: and we double check just to make sure, because I
Speaker 1: wasn't convinced until I checked James Lofton and Greg Jennings
Speaker 1: and Sterling Sharp. But I'm excited for like nine o'clock
Speaker 1: tonight when I get a text from you being like, oh, gosh,
Speaker 1: darn it, James Jones did do it too. But we'll
Speaker 1: just say that you're right. Yeah, we'll call it even.
Speaker 1: All right. Well, we went on a couple of tangents
Speaker 1: here to end the show today, but we will wrap
Speaker 1: it up there. We will have another episode later this week,
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a season wrap up. We'll
Speaker 1: also look ahead to the big wild card weekend coming
Speaker 1: up in the NFL, the six playoff games, and we'll
Speaker 1: give some of our thoughts on the postseason that lies
Speaker 1: ahead for everybody else. But with that, I want to
Speaker 1: you don't want to, well, maybe I'll do the show
Speaker 1: by myself for Wes. I am Mike. Thank you for
Speaker 1: tuning in, everybody, and we will see you next time.