WEBVTT - #808 Packers Unscripted: At the bye 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.880 Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.040 Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.400 by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.960 hear from our studios at Lambeufield to talk Wes unfortunately 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.880 about the Packers heading into their bye week with a 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:35.839 home loss to the Detroit Lions. Twenty four to fourteen 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.080 was the final score at Lambeufield. But that score almost 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:42.360 doesn't even really mean anything in terms of how this 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.800 game was played. There was one team on Sunday that 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.280 made a bunch of mistakes, there was another team that didn't, 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.239 and who won and who lost was pretty obvious. 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.360 Yeah, I mean Detroit Lions. As Matt Lfuller talked about afterwards, 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.560 this football team is very, very good and as a 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:02.440 lot of the guys mentioned in the locker room, when 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.839 you play a very talented team, a very complete team, 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:06.720 you have to play your best game. Green Bay did 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.920 not do that. When when we were talking about final 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.480 thoughts last week and Packer's preview and Keys to Victory, 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.160 my biggest thing was talking about how, hey, you got it. 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.399 You have to win in the red zone Packers did 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.039 that all right. You know, Lions went two for four 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:24.800 in the red zone. They outyardaged them one fifty, you know, 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.480 by one hundred and fifty yards. But when you have 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:29.920 a swing and that's what I kind of isolated an 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:32.280 insider inbox like they had at the end of the 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.120 first half into the second half, Packers giving up a 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.920 pick six offensively, the defense giving up a touchdown out 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.480 of the break that ultimately was the deciding factor in 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:45.120 this game, and a menagerie of penalties and drop passes 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.160 and you know, kind of missed opportunities. This was the 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.960 final result. I thought green Bay battled. I thought there 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.080 were a lot of positives to draw from in terms 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.520 of if you're going to play see them again next month, 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:57.800 things you can build off of. But at the end 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.320 of the day, Michael, the Detroit Lions, especially their offense, 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.760 are just so freaking efficient that if you don't break 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.280 their rhythm and then don't find some heavy punches on 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.120 the other side of things, you're gonna have an outcome 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.120 like this. It was twenty four to fourteen, but realistically 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.760 it was more twenty four to six, twenty four to three. Yeah, 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.200 and Green Bay just could not find that momentum to 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.280 be able to knock off really the front runner right 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:21.200 now in this conference. 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.119 Yeah, absolutely, I think I think the Lions have established 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:25.920 themselves not only as the team to beat in the 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.160 NFC North, but really as the team to beat in 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.960 the entire NFC right now. And you mentioned sort of 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:39.440 having you know, throwing some punches to get back at them. 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.640 I thought the Packers did that in terms of getting 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.720 some explosive plays and generating some momentum at certain times. 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.400 But whether it was the penalties or the drop passes 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:57.520 or the other miscues, they just missed the opportunities that 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:02.280 they were creating for themselves. Because that the way that 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:06.679 first half in particular went, the explosive plays the Packers got, 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.800 and that was something I had talked about last week. 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.359 It was, you know, when the explosive play equation limit 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.840 the ones that Detroit got, which green Bay's defense I 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.600 thought did pretty well for Yeah, a juggernaut that was 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.480 averaging forty plus points a game over the past month, 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.880 and the Packers were getting their share, but then they 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.040 weren't cashing in on those and getting the points on 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:26.800 the board the way the first half went for the 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.679 Packers to only have three points, You're scratching your head, going, 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:31.520 how in the world are there are only three points 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.520 on the board with what the Packers were doing offensively, 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:39.720 And it was really frustrating in that regard. You said it. 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:45.280 The possessions that sandwiched halftime was really where this game swung. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:50.200 The Packers defense gets a key stop in the red 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.080 zone laid in the first half, the Packers are using 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.160 their timeouts to save time for one more possession before halftime. 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.240 The Lions have to kick a field goal, so the 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:03.440 game is ten to three. But then Jordan Love tries 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.600 to do a little bit too much and Kirby Joseph 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.280 makes a great play, gets the pick six, and then, 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.440 as you said, the Lions come out a halftime then 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.080 getting the ball, they marched down the field for the 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.760 second time in the game, get a touchdown on fourth 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.159 down where they went forward on fourth down in the 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.760 red zone, and suddenly that ten to three game with 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:24.440 a minute to go in the first half is a 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.839 twenty four to three game. The next time, Jordan Love 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.520 and the offense get the ball back. So and that's 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.839 where kind of the game plan gets thrown out the 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:37.520 window you've got a hurry to score because you don't 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.279 know if your defense is going to be able to 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.360 just hold them at twenty four the rest of the game, 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:44.960 which the Packers defense did. But you can't just sit 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.240 there and take, you know, seven eight minutes off the 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:49.680 clock to try to score points in the second half 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.480 when you're down by twenty one. So the game plan 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:55.120 was out the window and and things went from there. 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.919 I do think this was a commendable effort by Green 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.719 Bay's defense, actually missing two of your starters in the 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:07.000 secondary j R. Alexander Evan Williams did not play. If 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.120 you had told me before the game that the Detroit 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:10.960 Lions were going to have two hundred and sixty one 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.160 yards and seventeen points on offense, I would have said, 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.440 the Packers are going to have a tremendous opportunity to 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.120 win this game. And I think the Packers did have 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.880 a tremendous opportunity to win this game. They just they 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.240 couldn't get a get out of their own way with 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:26.159 their own miscues. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:28.599 No, it was in Josh Jacobs touched on this after 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:30.600 the game, and Xavier McKinney did as well. I mean, 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.000 there's been recurring habits, bad habits that green Bay has had, 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.480 and I felt like there's been times where they've gotten 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:39.880 away with it because they're the better football team. They 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.240 play better situationally, they make some clutch plays down the stretch, 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.560 the defense makes a stop, Brandon McManus makes a game 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.120 winning field goal. There's a reason why the Packers are 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.760 sitting on six wins heading into their bye week. But 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.760 at the same time, when you face a team like 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.200 Detroit who was also sitting on six wins entering this game, 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:02.720 there's so many things that the Lion do well. And defensively, 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:04.800 I still think there's a lot of holes. Certainly, you know, 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.880 they've reportedly added Zadarias Smith. That's going to help the 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.920 edge rush a little bit, but you know there's still 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.880 whatever the twentieth rank defense, they still there's yards to 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:15.440 be had out there. I thought green Bay ran the 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.680 ball really well against that front when they were able to, 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.720 when that's what the game was dictating, right. But the 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:25.640 challenge is is that Detroit. It almost felt like a 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.559 high school football game where Detroit really locked in once 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.760 you got farther down the field and they just were 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:34.839 not green Bay was not able to cash in those 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.880 opportunities you have. Brian Branch gets a huge penalty in 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.719 game ejection after you feel like, Okay, this is going 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:44.200 to be that moment where green Bay is going to 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:45.599 be able to put some points on the board. They're 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:47.719 gonna be able to get some touchdown swing momentum in their favor. 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.880 They didn't. They didn't do it. Josh Jacobs breaks a 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.680 thirty seven yard run on his first carry on a series, 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.679 green Bay can't turn it into a touchdown. Those type 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.560 of incidents are ultimately the lead in the yards on 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:02.599 the field, leaving the points on the field, and he 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:04.920 just can't do that against a team like the Detroit Lions. 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.920 And I'll say this too, and this is not any 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:10.760 disrespect at all that Jared Goff. They made the plays 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.040 they needed to make, They caught the football passes, the 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.000 footballs that they needed to do, the passes that they 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.480 needed to do. But the way they ran the ball 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.840 in how they avoid pre snap penalties and procedural penalties, 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.880 Goff's mo becomes very simple in terms of what they 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:28.760 want to accomplish and how they want to do it. 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:31.320 I gained an appreciation for that watching because you look 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:32.720 at a stat sheet. Mike and I don't get to 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:34.880 watch these teams every week. You're like, how is Jared 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.760 Goff completing twelve straight passes? How is he going these 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.240 games where there's two or three incompletions for an entire game. 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.160 And then you watch what they did in this game, 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:44.960 the way he's protected, in the way they're able to 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.360 set up their offense with favorable down and distance. I'm 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:50.800 telling you, man, this will be Ben Johnson's last year 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.480 with Jared Goff. That guy is going to be one 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:54.960 of the most highly sought after head coaching candidates I 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.160 can think of in the recent twenty first century at 0:07:58.200 --> 0:07:59.720 the end of the season because of just how a 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.080 fish they've been and how well they execute their offense. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.440 Yeah, and here's the thing. The way this game went 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:10.239 the Detroit Lions, I mean the fourth and goal after 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.520 the off side another big mistake by the Packers. The 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:15.120 off side puts the ball in the two and a 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.120 half yard line instead of on the five, so they 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.320 go for it on fourth and goal. That was a 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.720 heck of a throw and catch Jared Goff, Aman Ross 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:26.520 Saint Brown. That's what those guys do. Fourth and one 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.840 in the third quarter from the fifteen yard line, Jeff 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:35.080 Hafley goes aggressive calls for the blitz. Unfortunately, two blitzing guys, 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:39.040 Cooper and McKinney, both blitz the same gap. Jamior Gibbs 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.719 takes the handoff and cuts to the one gap that 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.319 there was no blitzer, and he basically waltz into the 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:50.160 end zone for a touchdown. But the Detroit because of 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.320 the mistakes the Packers were making. The Packers didn't make 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:57.000 the Lions make any great plays in order to win 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.400 this game. Right the way the game was going, the lineons, 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.000 you could feel it that the Lions were like, Okay, 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.360 these guys keep screwing up. They keep making mistakes. They're 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.640 they're you know, they're false starting, they're dropping passes, all 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.280 this kind of stuff. If we don't we don't have 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.760 to do anything great to win here today. We're going 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.320 to play our game. We're going to be mistake for you, 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.600 which they were, I mean, aside from aside from you know, 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:24.360 maybe the one, uh, the one mistake where Pinay Sewell 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.680 trips on his yeah, on his lineman's foot and so 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.920 Aaron Moseby gets a sack, and then I think they 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.560 had maybe one illegal shift on offense as far as 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.360 a pre snat penper right, but they were like, hey, 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:38.839 if we don't make any mistakes, uh, we're going to 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.080 win this game, because you know, the other guys are 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:42.920 the ones who are making the mistakes and the game 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.400 just the game unfolded that way. You have to make 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.719 when you come into a game like this against a 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:51.840 team that's been playing as well as the Lions, you 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.040 have to make that team make some great plays to 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.400 beat you. And uh and and the Packers didn't do that. 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:00.320 The Packers had to summon their best game of the 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.120 season to date in order to beat the best team 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:07.240 that they were playing to date, and quite frankly, they 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.040 didn't come close. And that's something they have to think 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.080 about now for two weeks over the bye. Maybe it's 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.120 a good thing. Maybe this one, you know, Matt Lafleuir 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.520 talked about, you know, a loss like this, as you know, 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.000 you sit and stew about it, and it's gonna stick 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.760 with you longer because of the bye week. Maybe that'll 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.400 be a good thing for this even the long run. 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.880 We'll see, you know, there's already discussion from lafleur about 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.160 maybe changing some things up in practice because the drop 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:34.559 passes and the pre snap penalties and stuff like that 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.480 is it's something that's it's been an ongoing thing. Yeah, 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:39.400 it goes away for maybe a game or game and 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.480 a half, but it's cropping up in every single game 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.959 that the Packers play. So it's got to it's got 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.280 to get corrected or at least get limited. Nobody's gonna 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.800 play perfect football, right, but it has to get limited 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.720 if you're going to beat these teams like the Lions 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.800 and the Vikings and the forty nine ers that are 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:57.959 on your second half schedule when you come back from 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.520 the buy, if you're gonna beat those teams, you've got 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:03.600 to play cleaner football. And that's what the Packers have 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:04.080 to aim. 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.240 Yeah, that's gonna be the challenge for them, and also 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:08.480 just owning these elements. I mean, this was a game 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.960 that you know, unfortunately it was rainy, it was cold. 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.720 Who is the indoor team in this game? I mean, yeah, 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:17.520 they turned the Lions to turn that on its head. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.640 Yeah, and Green Bay from their standpoint, this is where 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:22.560 it's going to be a challenge for them because as 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.439 I was saying, and I've written about it and we're 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.360 talking with guys about in the locker room afterwards. I mean, 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.160 the weather's only going to get worse, and there's gonna 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.000 be challenges with holding onto the football, snapping the football, 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.240 catching the football, running with the football, keeping your balance, 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.240 keeping your feet, and green Bay needs to be able 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.520 to handle all that. And then also the other aspect 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.160 of this that I'm just very interested to see when 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:44.760 we come out of the bye week is exactly where 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.200 Jordan Love is at. Because you know, we're nine weeks 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.640 into this, we still have not seen the best version 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.800 of Jordan Love. And if we can finally start to 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.160 see the penalties get correct, if you see Love, you know, 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.040 looking more like he did during the second half of 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.280 last season, and guys catching passes and lifting each other up, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:05.400 I still think the sky's the limit for this team 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.560 compared to where they were at last year at this time, 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.360 when Rasul Douglas gets traded and you're not sure which 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.200 direction this whole thing is going to go the second 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.000 half the season and the Packers just catch absolute fire. 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.840 Because the one difference between green Bay the way I 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:19.520 look at it and where Detroit is at is it's 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.520 almost like green Bay is a year behind Detroit in 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:26.280 terms of just how they've built their football team. Detroit 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.920 is on this third fourth year. Now if this reclamation 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.240 with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes and now you've got 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.880 guys that have come up together, have lost together, have 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.959 started to win together, made an NFC Championship game together, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.320 and now feel like, hey, we're trying to make that 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.599 last step. We're trying to make this thing, you know, 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.360 be it at the top level here, whereas green Bay 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.240 had to go through their own process here with the 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.640 transition to Jordan Love and going very young two straight seasons. 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.240 Kind of fighting those battles and learning from that adversity, 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.560 that's the challenge. Now, can green Bay close that gap? 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.840 You cannot worry about the Detroit Lions again. For another, 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:01.920 you have to worry about the Chicago Bears in front 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.320 of you. But they saw it was right in front 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.040 of him, it was on their home turf. Exactly what 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:08.760 the standard right now is in this conference. 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.800 I think that's an excellent, excellent analysis of the two 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.560 teams and where they are, and I like the way 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.080 you put that. I want to say this about Jordan 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.360 Love because there's obviously a lot of discussion out there. 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.760 Matt Lafleur has been taking the questions. Jordan himself's been 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.400 taking the questions about the interceptions. There's ten of them now. 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:28.920 Jordan Love has played six and a half games and 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:32.240 he's thrown ten interceptions. He leads the league in that category. 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.240 Everybody knows he needs to protect the ball better. You know. 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:39.440 It's finding that balance between the playmaking and protecting all 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.920 that kind of stuff. And there's plenty of truth in 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:44.760 all that. This is what I want to say about 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.960 Jordan Love. I'm hoping that after the bye week and 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.920 for the rest of the season, that Jordan Love gets 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.400 to focus on his game and less on his health. Yep, 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.480 because he dealt with the knee injury right at the 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:00.880 end of Week one. He missed. This is two games. 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.120 There was a process to come back and to be 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:05.600 able to play with the knee injury for a week 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:09.880 or two before he really started feeling and looking like 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.440 his old self again. And then all of a sudden 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:15.360 in Jacksonville, the groin injury hits, and so then you 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.640 come into the following week. I meant, Matt Lafleur told 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.920 everyone from the podium after the game on Sunday. Jordan 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.320 Love didn't take any eleven on eleven snaps Wednesday or 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:31.040 Thursday of last week. They were obviously focused on his 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.560 health to get him available and ready to play, and 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.800 I understand why they were why they were focused on that. 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.240 My point is, from Jordan Love's perspective and everybody talking 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:44.400 about his statistics and where things are at, he has 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.800 spent the better part of these nine games concerned about 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.520 his health and trying to just get his body ready 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.200 to be able to play football. If he can get 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.680 healthy and he can practice, take all the reps every 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.240 week and not have all the extra time I'm in 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.440 the training room and everything, and he can focus on 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.240 his game, I have every confidence in the world that 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.800 we can see the Jordan Love that we saw in 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:10.080 the second half of last year, and I think in 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.560 some respects that goes for the team in general. You 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:15.560 and I see it every week West the number of 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.680 guys who are on the injury report, and it's not 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.160 just it's not just the fact that yet JayR Alexander 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.880 has missed games this season and that's been tough. The 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.680 Packers have missed some key guys for some key games 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:30.720 throughout the course of this season so far. But when 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.120 you look at that list every week and so and 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.880 so is missing this practice or missing that practice or 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.280 limited practice reps, not being a full participant in practice, 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.080 that kind of stuff is going to add up over 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.160 time in terms of your sharpness, in terms of being 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:47.760 able to reach your peak level. And I think this 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:52.360 game against Detroit was an example of the Packers needing 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.720 to reach their peak level against a team like this, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.440 and they simply weren't able to do it. And I 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.520 think the overall health of the team and all limited 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.240 practice and the missed practice and whether it's Jordan Love 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.240 and other guys and everything else, my point is there's 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.840 a cumulative effect to that. And I think we saw 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:15.120 we saw the cumulative result in that performance when the 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.520 Packers couldn't summon their best against the best team that 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.960 they were playing. I think that's I think it's a 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.920 big it's it's a big picture look at things in 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.040 terms of Okay, now, where do you go from prior? 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.400 And I think it starts with using this bye week 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:31.680 to get healthy. Yes, maybe Matt Lafleur changes some things 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.440 with regard to practice and whatnot, but this is like, 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.400 this is a chance to take a deep breath and 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.320 reset and at the end of the day. Last year, 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.120 at this time of year three and six, this year, 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:46.040 you're six and three. Get healthy, get everybody practicing. This 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.200 is still a young team that needs to practice and 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.840 play together to reach its peak. So let's see if 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:53.400 they can do that over the last two months of 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:54.080 the regular season. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.240 It was nice to finally see that by fall in 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.240 the middle of the season for Green Bay because for 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.840 so long two years it was in December. Last year, 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.760 it was early. I think it was the earliest last 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.600 year if I remember correctly. This year finally falls in 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:08.680 week ten and you can kind of catch your breath here. 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:10.560 And obviously you will have to go eight games there 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.159 to make a playoff push. There's gonna be a lot 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:13.760 of football to be played there in the second half 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.280 of the season still, but I just feel like seeing 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.240 the names. Yeah, you're right about the injur report, the 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.600 length of it. A lot of teams deal with lengthy 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.879 injury reports though, and you but when you see Jordan 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.719 Love of jyr Alexander, Evan Williams, and Evan Williams doing 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.400 what he's doing right now, you know how he's looked 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.879 the first half of the season. You know, Josh Myers 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:36.280 is not able to play in this game because of 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.480 a wrist injury, so and Elton has to move to center. 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.040 Yeah, and Elton Jenkins has not actually practiced a full 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.760 week for several weeks now because of things that's that 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.240 he's dealing with. And I understand you want your players 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.640 to be in the best physical condition you know possible 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.199 to be able to play because this game is so 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:58.879 demanding and having your body right and being healthy to 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.520 be able to play the game is important. But there 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.720 is accumulative effect to missing practice, and not only for 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:07.800 that individual, but for the group. 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.000 As a whole. One hundred percent. 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:13.560 Yeah, I want to talk about I'll take care of 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.240 sponsor business here and then I want to talk a 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.160 little bit about where things are in the NFC. North 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.919 Serious XMNFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.760 the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need twenty 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.639 four to seven, three sixty five and ed cousin subs. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.240 We have something for everyone, like our Wisconsin cheese curds, 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.000 mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.080 with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl cousin 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:40.000 subs fifty plus years of better all Right, NFC North, 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.680 the Lions are seven and one, the Vikings are six 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:48.240 and two, the Packers are six and three. Certainly a 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.440 lot of football left to be played and nothing's been 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.440 decided yet. But when you look at things from as 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:56.560 far as how the schedule is laid out and who 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.880 has done what, the Detroit Lions have won games at 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.520 Minnesota and at Green Bay. So the rematch is that 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.440 both of those teams will get against the Lions will 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.720 both be at Ford Field. I don't like to jump 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:14.920 to too many conclusions, but I'm gonna say this right now. 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:21.240 If the Vikings and the Packers, I think the Vikings 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.840 and the Packers both have to go into Ford Field 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:30.399 and win for the Lions to not win the division. Yeah, 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:33.320 I think I I you know, I think it's going 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.280 to I think it's going to come down to that now. 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.960 I mean, anything can change from an injury perspective, this 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.800 and that, you know whatever. But but my point is 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.040 the Lions are absolutely in the catbird seat in the 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:50.359 NFC North right now with winning those two division road games, 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.200 and the Packers are in a tough spot having lost 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.720