Speaker 1: Hi everyone. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my partner in crime,
Speaker 1: Wes Hodkuits. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambou Field and sorry for not being with you
Speaker 1: yesterday after the Packers victory over the Dallas Cowboys. But
Speaker 1: we are back today to recap west what was a
Speaker 1: very thrilling win thirty four to twenty four at a
Speaker 1: T and T Stadium over the Cowboys. The Packers get
Speaker 1: to four and one, they take over sole possession of
Speaker 1: first place in the NFC North because the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: lost to the Oakland Raiders over in London. And uh,
Speaker 1: a typical crazy NFL game, I guess, from thirty one
Speaker 1: to three to almost a one score game with les
Speaker 1: than two minutes to go. But the Packers did what
Speaker 1: was required and that was get the W. So first off,
Speaker 1: I apologize for nothing. It was Marvin's fault that we
Speaker 1: didn't shoot the show on. I'm kidding Matt trying to
Speaker 1: share the blame. Now, It's okay. I don't shoulder any blame.
Speaker 1: That's a good side of a leadership, right, is that
Speaker 1: you actually just go and do your own thing now,
Speaker 1: I mean, all kidding aside. The thing I really liked
Speaker 1: about this matchup because when Marv wasn't here, I was
Speaker 1: sitting there and I was looking at my schedule yesterday,
Speaker 1: right and I put down all the wins and losses
Speaker 1: for the Packers on the schedule, And what really stood
Speaker 1: out to me, Mike is that there four and one
Speaker 1: right now through five games, They've played every one of
Speaker 1: these teams tough, every one of them tight. There was
Speaker 1: something Tremont Williams said early last season when the Packers
Speaker 1: were kind of going through there, you know, some difficult times,
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, close games like this that
Speaker 1: will make us better in the long run. It didn't
Speaker 1: come together for the Packers in two thousand and eighteen,
Speaker 1: but these type of matchups might. Going into Dallas and
Speaker 1: playing the way they played and having to grind it
Speaker 1: out late, those things are going to really benefit Green
Speaker 1: Bay in the long run. That is how you become better,
Speaker 1: that's how you galvanize as a unit. Brian Balagas said
Speaker 1: it among many things that he mentioned the locker room
Speaker 1: when the game was thirty one to three, there was
Speaker 1: no thought that that's the way it was gonna end.
Speaker 1: Dallas was playing at home. They had ninety people in there.
Speaker 1: They're too talented to go down. Just like that. They
Speaker 1: threw a lot of punches. The thing about throwing a
Speaker 1: lot of punch as though as you leave yourself open.
Speaker 1: There was another takeaway there. And at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, Mike, there's been one tried and true trend
Speaker 1: since week one, and it's been when the Packers take
Speaker 1: the ball away and protect the ball, they win football games.
Speaker 1: And that's how they got to be four in one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: three and o in The turnover margin was definitely the
Speaker 1: difference in this game, all three of the takeaways coming
Speaker 1: via interceptions, and quite frankly, Wes, it could have very
Speaker 1: easily been five interceptions when you look at one that
Speaker 1: Kevin King had go right through his hands early in
Speaker 1: the game before he got the one in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and then another one in the end zone that was
Speaker 1: going to wipe out a scoring opportunity for the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: but an illegal hands to the face penalty at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage wiped that one out for the Packers, unfortunately.
Speaker 1: So yes, the takeaway machine was back at it for
Speaker 1: for Green Bay with Mike Patton's defense and on the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball. Of course, the star of
Speaker 1: the show, the unquestioned star of the show, was Aaron Jones.
Speaker 1: Hundred and seven rushing yards plus seventy five receiving yards
Speaker 1: out gained Ezekiel Elliott in all categories and then the
Speaker 1: four rushing touchdowns, with which tied a franchise record, and
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones got to do it in a T and
Speaker 1: T Stadium, the Palace in his home state of Texas. Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1: He had thirty friends and family. They're including his twin brother,
Speaker 1: Alvin Jr. After one of his touchdowns, he actually went
Speaker 1: and gave that football to Elvin. He understands who probably
Speaker 1: get fined from the league. But this is one of
Speaker 1: those moments where it's like, that's so special for two
Speaker 1: brothers that have been through if you know their story,
Speaker 1: everything they've been through. They were moved around the country
Speaker 1: when their parents were in the military. They lived in Germany.
Speaker 1: Together in here they are at a T and T
Speaker 1: Stadium and Aaron's living out his dreams and going is
Speaker 1: he said all week long. You know, Aaron Jones is
Speaker 1: very careful with what he says he's not trying to
Speaker 1: create any type of newspaper clippings or that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But he's confident, Mike, and he said it leading into
Speaker 1: this game, he felt like he could go toe to
Speaker 1: toe with Zeke Elliott. And for good reason, he's done
Speaker 1: it already in that same stadium in a victory for
Speaker 1: Green Bay. I thought he played his butt off hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty two total yards of offense, first time since
Speaker 1: two thousand, scoring four rushing touchdowns in a game. I
Speaker 1: believe only the third time or fourth time it's been
Speaker 1: done in franchise history, and only the fourth player to
Speaker 1: do fourth player, fourth player to do it Jim Taylor, Turdell, Middleton,
Speaker 1: and Dorsey Levin's. First time in almost twenty years, because
Speaker 1: Levin's did it in the regular season finale, so it
Speaker 1: would have been a long time since someone had accomplished
Speaker 1: this with the Pack. Yeah, and you know you're in
Speaker 1: a game without Chamal Williams and Davonte Adams, and as
Speaker 1: you know, Aaron said in the locker room, Aaron Jones,
Speaker 1: that is they didn't make it about Okay, we have
Speaker 1: to feed the ball to Aaron Jones. We have to
Speaker 1: get Aaron going in order to win this game. Their
Speaker 1: whole philosophy all week was that we're gonna let this
Speaker 1: game come to us and we need guys to make plays. Well,
Speaker 1: as it turns out, that eighteen yard touchdown run right
Speaker 1: off the bat. The first quarter, they start running some
Speaker 1: of that inside zone action, working between Elton Jenkins, Billy
Speaker 1: Turner and then eventually Lucas Patrick when he had to
Speaker 1: come in for Corey Linsley. Those plays were working for
Speaker 1: this for this Packers team. Aaron Jones was executing, the
Speaker 1: offensive line was blocking, and I you know, I've written
Speaker 1: about it a couple of times now. A tip of
Speaker 1: the captain Matt la Floora for understanding what it was
Speaker 1: going to take to win this game. Even though they
Speaker 1: preached outside zone the entire off season, when they needed
Speaker 1: to go inside and run right at those linebackers, they
Speaker 1: did it and they won the football game. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the most encouraging thing here when you look at these
Speaker 1: last two games for the Packers, even though they went
Speaker 1: one on one against the two teams that are clearly
Speaker 1: going to be fighting for the NFC East title throughout
Speaker 1: the rest of this season, but they found some rhythm
Speaker 1: with the passing game against the Philadelphia Eagles for the
Speaker 1: first time this season, and then they found a running
Speaker 1: game that they could really rely on for four quarters
Speaker 1: and pound away at a team with what Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: was able to do against the Dallas Cowboys. Now, I
Speaker 1: know two games prior, Jamal Williams had a nice game
Speaker 1: against the Denver Broncos, but Aaron Jones had only had
Speaker 1: a combined forty rushing yards in the previous two games.
Speaker 1: But this was the breakout, and it was the shift
Speaker 1: to the inside zone as opposed to focusing as much
Speaker 1: on the outside zone, and uh really west, the combination
Speaker 1: of the blocks on the second level and the fact
Speaker 1: that Aaron Jones was breaking tackles whether it was running
Speaker 1: with the ball or catching the short passes. He really
Speaker 1: just played a phenomenal game for him. For him to
Speaker 1: go into a game where you've got Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott,
Speaker 1: Amari Cooper, Zeke Elliott all those guys for him, and
Speaker 1: I know Cooper had a tremendous game, and we can
Speaker 1: talk about that as well, but for Aaron Jones to
Speaker 1: be the difference maker on the field for the winning
Speaker 1: team with all with that collection of talent that was
Speaker 1: on the field. That's impressed. I talked to Danny Vitali
Speaker 1: about it after the game. He's like, that was without
Speaker 1: a shadow of a doubt. I mean, he was our
Speaker 1: game ball winner. He was the m v P of
Speaker 1: that game for us. We needed him to play the
Speaker 1: way he did to come out of their victorious and
Speaker 1: he tried to give the game ball away after this
Speaker 1: to his offensive line, but his offensive line wouldn't take it.
Speaker 1: They're like, hey, you're playing in your backyard, this one's
Speaker 1: for you. That It was interesting too. Aaron said that
Speaker 1: was his first game ball he's ever received. I had
Speaker 1: a hard time believing that. But be that as it may.
Speaker 1: A phenomenal performance by him. But it wasn't just the
Speaker 1: running Mike. It was him as a pass catcher. In
Speaker 1: all my years covering the team, I would venture to guess,
Speaker 1: and maybe you'll disagree with me on this, the maturation
Speaker 1: and the steps he's made over the last three years.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to compare him to I'm on green
Speaker 1: that and you know I hate comparisons, but I think
Speaker 1: you've seen a guy take his game steadily to another
Speaker 1: level every single year. He was a runner. The first
Speaker 1: year he became a pass blocker, he became a pass catcher.
Speaker 1: Seven catches seventy five yards, both career highs for him.
Speaker 1: And this matchup the slant that he ran across the middle.
Speaker 1: I know he said he wanted to catch that one
Speaker 1: in stride, but still being able to pick up that
Speaker 1: first down there and take the hit and and hang
Speaker 1: onto the ball when he was when he was juggling
Speaker 1: to try to grab it and move the chains the
Speaker 1: way he did. It was a complete four quarter performance.
Speaker 1: And as I was talking with Jones about after the game,
Speaker 1: I mean, you put that kind of stuff up on film. Now,
Speaker 1: those are the things that defenses are gonna have to
Speaker 1: scheme for when Davante Adams is back, when you do
Speaker 1: get some other of these elements going offensively. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of promise in this Packers offense and a big
Speaker 1: reason for that is Aaron Jones well and just the
Speaker 1: plays that he was making in this game when nothing
Speaker 1: was there. There were a couple of runs where the
Speaker 1: middle was completely plugged up as soon as he got
Speaker 1: the ball, and with his speed and quickness and just
Speaker 1: fast reactions, the way he bounced to the outside and
Speaker 1: then he's getting around the corner for ten even fifteen
Speaker 1: yards on one of the plays going where the play
Speaker 1: was not even designed to go. The one play, Rogers
Speaker 1: is just avoiding a sack and whipping it out to
Speaker 1: the sideline to him as the checkdown receiver. He catches
Speaker 1: it at his ankles, an extremely difficult catch, not only
Speaker 1: to avoid the sack and get something positive, but then
Speaker 1: he makes a guy miss, gets a block from Jimmy Graham,
Speaker 1: and it's twenty two yards and the Packers are across
Speaker 1: midfield and moving into scoring territory. I mean to be
Speaker 1: able to make plays like that when there's nothing there,
Speaker 1: That's what I mean by being the difference maker on
Speaker 1: the field. And um um, this is uh, you know,
Speaker 1: a great sign obviously for the Packers that they have
Speaker 1: him at this level and then hopefully sooner than later,
Speaker 1: getting Jamal Williams back as his number two. Yeah. It's
Speaker 1: funny how this game works because everything is a new day,
Speaker 1: it's a new game, it's a new play. But yet
Speaker 1: there are those moments that happened that just tell you
Speaker 1: this is going to be your day. I thought the
Speaker 1: yard catch was one of them. I thought the two
Speaker 1: direct accidental direct snaps to Aaron Jones kind of showed
Speaker 1: that with this offense, he was just clicking a lot
Speaker 1: of times. Those can be I don't e want to
Speaker 1: call him disaster place. He could have easily just taken
Speaker 1: that for a yard or two and here he is
Speaker 1: breaking it for eight nine yards whatever they ended up
Speaker 1: getting off of those, Those are the type of things
Speaker 1: that when you get that stuff happening, that's and you
Speaker 1: know that it's just meant to be. Yeah. Well, on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball, it was a tale
Speaker 1: of two halves for the Green Bay Packers because in
Speaker 1: the first half the Dallas Cowboys did not score. It
Speaker 1: was a seventeen to nothing score at halftime. The Packers
Speaker 1: got two of their three interceptions in the first half,
Speaker 1: and even in the early portion of the third quarter,
Speaker 1: they got a red zone stop made him kick a
Speaker 1: field goal when the score was twenty four or nothing.
Speaker 1: So the Cowboys only got to twenty four to three
Speaker 1: at that point. But then over the last a little
Speaker 1: more than a quarter, I guess the last eighteen twenty
Speaker 1: minutes of the ballgame, the Cowboys started to hit big plays,
Speaker 1: and the one thing you can't do when you've got
Speaker 1: a big lead is to give up the big plays
Speaker 1: because you're gonna allow touchdowns too. Good offenses, but you
Speaker 1: just can't allow those touchdowns to happen so quickly that
Speaker 1: no time comes off the clock. And the Cowboys started
Speaker 1: to score so quickly that suddenly they were back within
Speaker 1: two scores and there was still plenty of time on
Speaker 1: the clock in the fourth quarter for them to make
Speaker 1: this a ball game, and they did. Then Kevin King
Speaker 1: gets the third interception, the Packers get a field goal
Speaker 1: out of it, restore the three score lead, and there's
Speaker 1: at least a little bit more breathing room there. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the ultimate chess beat, the piece the queen on
Speaker 1: the board is the takeaways for defenses. You you make
Speaker 1: those moves, That's how you're gonna win football games. Ji
Speaker 1: Alexander very opportunistic. I actually really like the interception that
Speaker 1: Alexander had because I know some people are like, well,
Speaker 1: he was behind it, the past was thrown to him.
Speaker 1: But see, that's how that game works. When you're playing cornerback.
Speaker 1: There's times where gire Alexander's has made a phenomenal play
Speaker 1: and he doesn't get credit for it. If you're in
Speaker 1: the same vicinity. It's a lot of times it is
Speaker 1: about the quarterback making a mistake and making the play.
Speaker 1: That's what they did so well in this game, right
Speaker 1: the throw the throw there, I mean, Cooper is open.
Speaker 1: If it's a good throw, it's probably a touchdown. But
Speaker 1: it wasn't a good throw. And when the ball got deflected,
Speaker 1: Alexander was was there with the hands to make the play.
Speaker 1: And that's what you have to do when the ball
Speaker 1: comes your way, however it comes your way, make the play.
Speaker 1: And that's what he did. And Shannon Sullivan, he's sitting
Speaker 1: there in the slot, his first real in game action
Speaker 1: that he's had with Packers, true in game action in
Speaker 1: a meaningful situation. Dak Prescott decides to throw the ball
Speaker 1: across the hashes, trying to hit Randall Cobb in there's
Speaker 1: Channon Sullivan jumping up and making a play. And then finally,
Speaker 1: I just I got to talk about Kevin King here
Speaker 1: for a minute. This is a guy that was questionable
Speaker 1: on Saturday, he was doubtful on Friday. In over those
Speaker 1: seventy two hours, not only does he end up making
Speaker 1: himself to be in a position to play place thirty
Speaker 1: seven snaps and gives a Packer some really important plays there,
Speaker 1: especially when you consider the injuries they sustained in this game.
Speaker 1: Darnell Savage has to leave, b J Goodson has to leave. Um,
Speaker 1: they're already dealing with some other guys that are banged
Speaker 1: up on those positions and in and out, Shawn Gary
Speaker 1: leaves for a minute, here's Kevin King. You know, he
Speaker 1: just kind of worked through the week, felt good on
Speaker 1: Saturday morning, mentioned the trainers. They upgrade him to questionable,
Speaker 1: and then he plays in this game. He does drop
Speaker 1: the interception early and that would have been a key
Speaker 1: one for them if they're able to get it. That
Speaker 1: was stopped a pretty lengthy drive for the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: in their tracks. But then he comes back and is
Speaker 1: he said the way that that play was unfolding, Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott was glued uh to Michael Gallup. I believe it
Speaker 1: was on this play he was going with them there.
Speaker 1: King was showing him coverage the way he was playing
Speaker 1: him that it was like that would be an ill
Speaker 1: advice throw Prescott tested anyway. King makes a phenomenal play.
Speaker 1: He does have to leave with the knee injury, but Mike,
Speaker 1: you and I have wasted so much breath I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say wasted expense so much breath over the last six
Speaker 1: months telling people how different this defense is. When Kevin
Speaker 1: King plays, My goodness, did that performance show it well?
Speaker 1: And you couldn't have asked for better timing for Absolute
Speaker 1: to make that play, because the Cowboys had come back
Speaker 1: from thirty one to three, it was thirty one to seventeen.
Speaker 1: They'd gotten another stop of the Packers had the ball back,
Speaker 1: and as I said before, there was still plenty of
Speaker 1: time on the clock for a fourteen point deficit. They
Speaker 1: had all the momentum going. The Packers weren't doing anything
Speaker 1: on offense. The Cowboys were hitting everything on offense on
Speaker 1: their side of the ball. And it was the first
Speaker 1: play of that drive. It was it was all of
Speaker 1: a sudden boom. Whatever air was going to continue to
Speaker 1: go into that balloon with one first down or another
Speaker 1: first down by the Cowboys, it never got there, and
Speaker 1: King makes the play. The Packers restore the three score lead.
Speaker 1: Now they did hit another big pass to Cooper for
Speaker 1: Um the touchdown that got it to thirty four to
Speaker 1: twenty four. Then but uh um, but yeah, you. You
Speaker 1: can't overstate how big a play that was by Kevin
Speaker 1: King with just the way the game was going at
Speaker 1: that point, and to give the Packers offense the field
Speaker 1: position where they didn't need to do much to get
Speaker 1: it back to seventeen points and a three score lead,
Speaker 1: that was just that was just huge. And Kevin King
Speaker 1: now with two big interceptions on the season and two
Speaker 1: others that he knows he should have had. I mean,
Speaker 1: he really close to having four interceptions through the first
Speaker 1: five games. He's a playmaker and it's gonna be fun
Speaker 1: to watch him develop. Hopefully everything checks out okay with
Speaker 1: this knee injury. Yeah, it looked like it was. When
Speaker 1: he got tackled on the sideline off of the interception return,
Speaker 1: he took a helmet right to the knee. We'll see
Speaker 1: as the week goes along with the report. Is there
Speaker 1: something I took exception to at the Insider in Box
Speaker 1: Colum this week And it was fine that they made
Speaker 1: the comment, But somebody had made the comment of the
Speaker 1: Cowboys lost this game. If that's your perception of it,
Speaker 1: that's fine. But here's the thing. The team that was
Speaker 1: more consistent all three phases won this game. The Packers
Speaker 1: made their field goals, the Cowboys didn't. Ye, the Packers
Speaker 1: got the takeaways, the Cowboys didn't, and that is ultimately
Speaker 1: what's going to allow you to win this game. They
Speaker 1: got off to a fast start, seventeen to nothing. You
Speaker 1: don't shake your head at that kind of lead. And
Speaker 1: then they were able to sustain that momentum because even
Speaker 1: though they did give up those twenty four points in
Speaker 1: second half, they scored seventeen as well. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: the the explosive plays obviously was that was what got
Speaker 1: the Cowboys back into the game. And as I had said,
Speaker 1: because you know, the fans are struggling with this because
Speaker 1: thirty one to three late in the third quarter, you
Speaker 1: want to breathe easy, but it's like, hey, Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: are a good team. They're most likely is very good
Speaker 1: chance they're going to be in the playoffs when this
Speaker 1: is all said and done. They may even win the
Speaker 1: NFC East, though I think the Philadelphia Eagles are a
Speaker 1: little bit better right now. But you know they're going
Speaker 1: to do something. You know they're going to mount some
Speaker 1: kind of a rally. This was not the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: out there, you know, with a thirty one to three deficit.
Speaker 1: This was the Dallas Cowboys playing at home, and uh,
Speaker 1: the Packers weathered the storm. You knew they had to
Speaker 1: weather a storm at some point in this game. They
Speaker 1: did it. They got the win in their four and one.
Speaker 1: That's all you can look for. I mean, and you
Speaker 1: look at this going forward. Now, these games are gonna
Speaker 1: be so critical down the stretch because you get a
Speaker 1: win like this over Dallas, a team that you said
Speaker 1: will probably be in playoff contention. You have three teams
Speaker 1: out in the NFC West right now who all look
Speaker 1: like playoff teams. You got the Bears playing the way
Speaker 1: that they're playing, although this was obviously some let up
Speaker 1: in London, and then you know they're going to see
Speaker 1: Detroit now on Monday night, and that's the Detroit team
Speaker 1: that is going to be hungry to stand a top
Speaker 1: division alone as well. It's gonna be really competitive to watch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this is just getting started when it comes
Speaker 1: to the overall picture in the NFC. But for now,
Speaker 1: we gotta go. So that's a wrap on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers on Scripted. Be sure to follow all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of the team on Packers dot com. Subscribed
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Speaker 1: On Twitter, he's at West hot im at Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: See you next time. Yeah h