Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my trusted colleague
Speaker 1: West Hodkowitz. Were coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field West. It's Friday, our final show of
Speaker 1: the week leading up to Packers Raiders Sunday noon Central
Speaker 1: time kickoff at lambeau Field. So it's Keys to Victory Day.
Speaker 1: Packers only play the Raiders once every four years. These
Speaker 1: uncommon opponents, sometimes it's hard to really gauge what exactly
Speaker 1: it's going to take. And certainly with the injuries that
Speaker 1: are going on with the Packers this week, and some
Speaker 1: for the Raiders too for that matter, but certainly with
Speaker 1: Green Bay on the offensive side of the ball, where
Speaker 1: do you start with this one? As far as what
Speaker 1: will be the key to coming out victorious here, it's
Speaker 1: really simple to me, Mike. This might be my simplest
Speaker 1: one of the entire season. I just feel like, if
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers takes control of this game, the Packers win.
Speaker 1: I honestly feel like it's that I don't want to
Speaker 1: say easy. Nothing's ever easy in this league, but I
Speaker 1: think there's a very direct line between where the Packers
Speaker 1: stand today and where they want to get to by
Speaker 1: Sunday night, and it comes down to how Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: manages this offense and whatever weapons he's going to have
Speaker 1: around him. At the time with which we're taping this,
Speaker 1: we don't have the injury report yet. We're not exactly
Speaker 1: sure what the Packers are going to decide to do
Speaker 1: with those top three receivers. But even if one or
Speaker 1: two of them go, you imagine they're going to be
Speaker 1: dealing with some significant, not significant, but some hindrances. So
Speaker 1: when you look at Alan Lazard and Jake Kumero, Darius Shephard,
Speaker 1: Ryan Grant coming in the building on Wednesday, those could
Speaker 1: very easily be your top four wide receivers in this matchup,
Speaker 1: So making sure you get the most out of them,
Speaker 1: but also utilizing your running backs, your tight ends. That's
Speaker 1: what I think Aaron Rodgers has been such a brilliant
Speaker 1: maestro the last two weeks, is making all of these
Speaker 1: pieces fit together. There this Oakland Raiders defense. I don't
Speaker 1: want to diminish him. We certainly talked about him in
Speaker 1: our preview. They just don't do a lot of things
Speaker 1: that jump off the page. The way that they're winning
Speaker 1: right now is controlling the game, game management situations, time
Speaker 1: of the clock, and a lot of that relies on
Speaker 1: the offense. So I think if the Packers take care
Speaker 1: of business with Aaron Rodgers against Oakland's defense, they come
Speaker 1: out victorious. Well, a couple of statistics for that Oakland
Speaker 1: defense that stand out are where the Raiders rank in
Speaker 1: third down defense and in red zone defense, and it's
Speaker 1: not good. They're in the bottom quarter of the league.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure of the exact rankings, but they're in
Speaker 1: the bottom quarter of the league in both of those categories.
Speaker 1: And those are two categories frankly where the Packers need
Speaker 1: to get well on offense. They need to start converting
Speaker 1: more third downs and they need to be more efficient
Speaker 1: in the red zone. Obviously, the one red zone possession
Speaker 1: that they didn't get a touchdown, they were only trying
Speaker 1: to kick a field goal last week. So I don't
Speaker 1: want to lay everything on the statistics, but the Packers
Speaker 1: do need to to perform better on third down and
Speaker 1: in the red zone generally speaking, and this might be
Speaker 1: a game where you can start to turn that around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think you've started to seeing it a little
Speaker 1: bit too. I Mean, there was a real big narrative
Speaker 1: the first two weeks of this season where Packers just
Speaker 1: really weren't able to finish drives off, they were having
Speaker 1: problems scoring points in the red zone. In the last
Speaker 1: few weeks, I think you've really seen them get into
Speaker 1: their rhythm now. A big part of that, I think
Speaker 1: is really the production of both Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams.
Speaker 1: I think you've seen them sort of you know, sees
Speaker 1: the game in the moments and you know, be able.
Speaker 1: And that's a credit to the offensive line to making
Speaker 1: things work. But when the ball has been in their
Speaker 1: hands inside the twenty, they've more often than not found
Speaker 1: a way to score the football. And this is a
Speaker 1: game that while Oakland has a top ten run defense
Speaker 1: right now statistically, I still think there's gonna be opportunities
Speaker 1: for both of those two guys to get going and then,
Speaker 1: to be quite honest with you, getting back to the
Speaker 1: receiver's really quick. You know, you get one big play
Speaker 1: here from Alan Lazard, you maybe make another one here
Speaker 1: there with another player. You know, Mercedes Lewis came out
Speaker 1: of relatively nowhere last week to have two twenty five
Speaker 1: yard catches. In those two catches alone had more receiving
Speaker 1: yards than he had throughout the entire two thousand eighteen seasons.
Speaker 1: So when guys respond in that way and Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: finds them and plays in rhythm, which I thought he
Speaker 1: did really well in that last game, Uh, good things
Speaker 1: are going to happen for this offense. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones has to be one
Speaker 1: of the big starting points for everything. Well, my question
Speaker 1: to you with regards to those two running backs. We've
Speaker 1: seen Matt Lafleur with the tendency to ride the hot
Speaker 1: hand the last couple of weeks, and now obviously two
Speaker 1: weeks ago, Jamal Williams wasn't on the field, but the
Speaker 1: Packers did have Trey Carson was made for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but they did have Tray Carson backing up Aaron Jones.
Speaker 1: But once Aaron Jones got going, it was his show
Speaker 1: in Dallas. You fast forward a week later, Jones has
Speaker 1: a fumble early in the game. He drops a touchdown
Speaker 1: pass down the seam. Jamal Williams seems to be the
Speaker 1: more reliable productive guy with some of those four and
Speaker 1: five yard runs on first down, and he's the guy
Speaker 1: who ends up with over a hundred yards and I
Speaker 1: believe over a hundred and thirty yards from scrimmage when
Speaker 1: you factor in the receiving yards. What's your sent Do
Speaker 1: you have any sense going into this game of maybe
Speaker 1: which is the guy or do you just have to
Speaker 1: see what happens? A great question because coming off of
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia game, you know, it looked like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna be the you know Jamal or
Speaker 1: I should say Aaron Jones, and then Aaron Jones goes
Speaker 1: back to his home state, looks really good. And now
Speaker 1: here we are with Jamal Williams stepping back to the forefront.
Speaker 1: It's a really good position for the Packers to be
Speaker 1: in because I think a lot of times what happens
Speaker 1: with running back by committees or whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call those type of things, it's because you really don't
Speaker 1: have a guy who grabs the brass ring. I feel
Speaker 1: like both of these guys have done it when they've
Speaker 1: been given the opportunity. Now, I'm not going to try
Speaker 1: to get in the XS and o's and tell you,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure what Matt Laflour and his coaches
Speaker 1: are trying to figure out which is okay, which one
Speaker 1: of these thunder and lightning matches up better with what
Speaker 1: Oakland does. Sometimes you just got to get into a
Speaker 1: game situation, a game flow to figure that out. But
Speaker 1: one thing I do want to say, though, to Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams credit is he is incredibly consistent. And I think
Speaker 1: some people in the past few season has took that
Speaker 1: as a you know, a detriment or a slight. It's
Speaker 1: really not. I mean, he's gone some odd touches now
Speaker 1: without a fumble in his NFL career. He catches the ball,
Speaker 1: he's sturdy and pass protection, he runs through the tackles,
Speaker 1: and I think he finally showed his downfield explosiveness last week.
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams is a really good running back man. I mean,
Speaker 1: in a lot of cases where teams who don't have
Speaker 1: an Aaron Jones on the roster, they'd be running Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams every single play. I do honestly believe, and I
Speaker 1: don't know how these guys feel about it, but you
Speaker 1: know they have another year on their contracts when they
Speaker 1: get to the end of these things. Neither one of
Speaker 1: these guys are gonna be broken down and worn down
Speaker 1: and have a thousand touches on their bodies for four seasons.
Speaker 1: There's they This is I think, going to really make
Speaker 1: both of their careers last a heck of a lot longer.
Speaker 1: Kind of getting away from the original point, but I
Speaker 1: guess you just gotta get in. You gotta wait and see,
Speaker 1: and it's got to see how things developed. The one
Speaker 1: thing I will say that is kind of interesting about
Speaker 1: this particular combination. They do seem to get into more
Speaker 1: rhythm when one is featured. This, doesn't you know they
Speaker 1: when they do the tend carries ten carries, fifteen touches,
Speaker 1: fifteen touches. It never really seems like both of them,
Speaker 1: you know, have a big game or have big explosive play.
Speaker 1: So I don't know how the Packers consider that. I
Speaker 1: don't know how you weigh it, but that's certainly something
Speaker 1: they have to, you know, keeping take into account because
Speaker 1: both of these guys, when they get twenty five touches
Speaker 1: in a game, can really make, you know, defense hurt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And in the area of ball security, it's worth pointing
Speaker 1: out that fumbled by Aaron Jones last week was only
Speaker 1: the second symbol of his career, So even though Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams obviously has had none, it's not like this has
Speaker 1: been a problem for Aaron Jones. He had the one
Speaker 1: against New England last year on Sunday Night football, and
Speaker 1: then the second one of his career was last Monday Night,
Speaker 1: and that broke a really long streak for him too.
Speaker 1: I think that dated back to even you tep of
Speaker 1: how many consecutive touches he had without coughing up the football.
Speaker 1: So certainly Aaron Jones gonna look to turn things around,
Speaker 1: but even you go back and look at the performances
Speaker 1: they had before that, he was having a hard time
Speaker 1: getting traction and then he just kind of broke out.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just the way this game is. It's
Speaker 1: it's humbling and you just gotta stick with it. Well,
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball for the Packers,
Speaker 1: a couple of statistics kind of catch my eye with
Speaker 1: regards to the Oakland Raiders offense, and specifically I'm talking
Speaker 1: about quarterback Derek Carr in that through five games, he's
Speaker 1: thrown just three interceptions, not an overly large total, and
Speaker 1: he's only been sacked eight times This Packers defense obviously
Speaker 1: has thrived off of Saxon turnovers. That's been the name
Speaker 1: of the game when this defense is at its best,
Speaker 1: So it will be interesting to see just what the
Speaker 1: Packers can generate against this particular quarterback. What I will
Speaker 1: say though, is that the last time this Packers defense
Speaker 1: did not have a takeaway, which was against the Philadelphia Eagles,
Speaker 1: they came back the following week with three interceptions of
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott and very easily could have had five interceptions
Speaker 1: of Dak Prescott in that game. Zero takeaways against the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions on Monday night, So we'll see how the
Speaker 1: unit responds. It's funny, Mike, because the takeaway battle is
Speaker 1: certainly one that you always have to take into account,
Speaker 1: and I think we saw up until last week how
Speaker 1: much it really does dictate who comes out victorious in
Speaker 1: a particular matchup. The one thing that really strikes me
Speaker 1: though about the Oakland Raiders. I said this to John
Speaker 1: Coon when we're in the locker room on Thursday. They
Speaker 1: are very high percentage with how they attack offensively. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Derek her doesn't have a lot of interceptions here.
Speaker 1: They just don't take a lot of chances they are
Speaker 1: in some ways. I think it's their simplicity is their brilliance. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're not going to try to just throw up fifty
Speaker 1: yard passes every single time. This isn't your old Al
Speaker 1: Davis Raiders with just speedsters on the outside and send
Speaker 1: them down and throw it along by all means, get
Speaker 1: that ball to Darius Heyward Bay we're getting to the
Speaker 1: end zone. Right. No, it's not like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: they the reason, you know, Josh Jacobs I think made
Speaker 1: so much sense for them is because he is I mean,
Speaker 1: they have road graders up front, and he's a guy
Speaker 1: that can dictate the temple of a football game, and
Speaker 1: they can move the chains. Waller, They're they're tight end
Speaker 1: that's blossom the last few you know, this last few
Speaker 1: weeks and then adition to him getting that extension, he's
Speaker 1: just a guy that moves the chains continuously. He's only
Speaker 1: averaging nine points six yards you know per catch. He
Speaker 1: doesn't have a touchdown yet. So, like it's just I
Speaker 1: think the way that they're structured is they want to
Speaker 1: be able to win the time of possession. You look
Speaker 1: at how they did it against Chicago thirty four or
Speaker 1: thirty five minutes time possession. When they beat the Colts
Speaker 1: thirty three and a half minutes a time of possession,
Speaker 1: they were able to just take the ball out of
Speaker 1: the other quarterbacks hands and find ways to win. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: takeaways is going to be huge in this game. The
Speaker 1: Packers turning that around. When they get an opportunity to
Speaker 1: make a play on a Derek Carr ball, take advantage
Speaker 1: of it. If you can punch a ball out, great,
Speaker 1: But ultimately, I think it's really gonna come down to
Speaker 1: who makes the most of however many possessions they are,
Speaker 1: because if you're the Oakland Raiders, they're trying to have
Speaker 1: his few as possible in this game. Yeah, well, when
Speaker 1: you talk about the time of possession, obviously for the Raiders,
Speaker 1: a lot of that is going to hinge on their
Speaker 1: rookie running back Josh Jacobs from Alabama. The Packers seem
Speaker 1: to get their run defense back on track against the
Speaker 1: Detroit lines after a few questionable weeks as far as
Speaker 1: the way things were going, do you have a number
Speaker 1: in mind at all as far as what the Packers
Speaker 1: need to hold Jacobs two, so to speak, or some
Speaker 1: kind of a range where you'd feel comfortable with how
Speaker 1: this defense is performing in this matchup. Yeah, because the
Speaker 1: thing is he's gonna get touches. That that's you know,
Speaker 1: he kind of like the Zeke Elliott problem a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago. If he gets touches, you know, he's gonna
Speaker 1: get yards. I just want to see it be manageable.
Speaker 1: I want to see be at a three point four
Speaker 1: or three point yards per carry clip where he's not
Speaker 1: burning you for a big number down field, because I
Speaker 1: think you know, if you follow them close enough of
Speaker 1: this year, Mike, I mean, Okay, so they lost to
Speaker 1: Kansas City. He had twelve carries for yards. The one
Speaker 1: team that kind of neutralized him was Minnesota ten carries
Speaker 1: for forty four yards. And if you as you we
Speaker 1: both already talked about Oakland played themselves out of that
Speaker 1: game in US Bank Stadium, so well, just that he
Speaker 1: only had ten carries his game and he's your feature
Speaker 1: running back. But now these last couple of weeks, you
Speaker 1: look at this twenty six for one, twenty three, seventeen
Speaker 1: for seventy nine, he has a fifty one yard carry.
Speaker 1: So it's not like he's not an explosive type player,
Speaker 1: but a lot of his damage is done with a
Speaker 1: high of sixteen with an eye high of eighteen, just
Speaker 1: because of the way he carries people in the way
Speaker 1: that those interior alignment blocked. Now, again getting back to
Speaker 1: the injuryports situation, we don't know how this is going
Speaker 1: to pan out here with Trent Brown and who's gonna
Speaker 1: all be available for them at tackle, But inside that
Speaker 1: is going to be an area where John Gruden and
Speaker 1: this offense is going to look to go to work.
Speaker 1: So if you're the defensive front, they had a tremendous
Speaker 1: performance last week against Detroit. I think they got some
Speaker 1: confidence back, got some of that that swagger and mojo
Speaker 1: they were looking to get. Okay, now you're gonna see
Speaker 1: a type of athlete here in Jacobs that's really going
Speaker 1: to test that. And a big offensive line. This is
Speaker 1: a different This is a different style size of offensive
Speaker 1: line than what the Packers faced against Detroit. The Raiders
Speaker 1: have built themselves big upfront, as you say, to control
Speaker 1: time of possession, to try to pound the ball when
Speaker 1: John Gruden when he wants to run the ball or
Speaker 1: when he feels his team needs to run the ball,
Speaker 1: he wants to be able to execute it that way.
Speaker 1: Just line up and say Okay, here we come. And
Speaker 1: that's what they built this offensive line to do. This
Speaker 1: is where they kind of get a bad rap because
Speaker 1: when you trade away Khalil Mack and you trade away
Speaker 1: at Marie Cooper and you trade away these superstar type
Speaker 1: players and people that you know are casual fans but
Speaker 1: have Cooper on their fantasy football team are going to
Speaker 1: raise an eyebrow about. Nobody really talked about the fact
Speaker 1: that they invested heavily into the offensive line, to the
Speaker 1: point that that is honestly one of their strongest positional
Speaker 1: groups on this entire roster. Because so frequently Mike people
Speaker 1: think of the quarterback, they think of the running back,
Speaker 1: they don't really think about who's playing right guard. Raiders
Speaker 1: didn't go that direction. I mean, they got Richie Incognito
Speaker 1: out of retirement. They signed Rodney Hudson last year from
Speaker 1: Kansas City. They have real legitimate guys in the trenches
Speaker 1: that can move the football, and I think that is
Speaker 1: what it's sort of allowed them to play the way
Speaker 1: that they have this first half of the season into
Speaker 1: their credit have three and two going into this game
Speaker 1: at Lambeau. Yeah, well, looking at what else is on
Speaker 1: the slate in the NFL in Week seven, there's a
Speaker 1: big game in the NFC North and that is I
Speaker 1: believe it's at Ford Field. I'm gonna look here for you. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Vikings are traveling to Detroit, so Minnesota at four
Speaker 1: and to Detroit at two, two and one. The Lions
Speaker 1: obviously on the short week coming off of very frustrating
Speaker 1: loss and the billboards of the referees in Michigan and
Speaker 1: everything else that's been going on with that. But it's
Speaker 1: a big game in the division because, um, both of
Speaker 1: these teams looking at it from the standpoint of they
Speaker 1: need to try to keep pace with the Packers who
Speaker 1: only have one loss at this point, and the Packers
Speaker 1: looking to go six and one if they can beat
Speaker 1: the Raiders. So a key game in the division here
Speaker 1: in Minnesota versus Detroit. I am sure you're gonna want
Speaker 1: to talk about all these matchups, but I mean, I
Speaker 1: think more than any other week on the schedule, this
Speaker 1: is the biggest gut check for divisional matchups in the
Speaker 1: NFL this week. Uh, just in terms of yes, you
Speaker 1: have Minnesota in Detroit. I'll be happy to talk about
Speaker 1: that in a second. You have the Bears having to
Speaker 1: make a really big change here going up against a
Speaker 1: team like New Orleans who have just been rolling through
Speaker 1: people right now with Teddy Bridgewater as their quarterback and
Speaker 1: that defense and that defense. So NFC northwise, there are
Speaker 1: huge stakes this week. I think it's one reason why
Speaker 1: the Packers look at this. You're at least gonna get
Speaker 1: one loss. Conceivably, this is a chance to really create
Speaker 1: some breathing room in the division. But you have Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and you have Dallas. You have Baltimore going into Century
Speaker 1: Link against Seattle. That's a really interesting one as far
Speaker 1: as an a f C NFC matchup. The Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 1: going into Seattle really really intriguing ball game. And here's
Speaker 1: the other thing, Mike, the New England Patriots are going
Speaker 1: up against the New York Jets this week. I know
Speaker 1: everybody's gonna say, all right, we'll see on Monday morning
Speaker 1: at seven, And oh yeah, you were. You were laughing
Speaker 1: about the Cowboys Jets being the prime not prime time,
Speaker 1: But the three like National game turned out to be
Speaker 1: a whale of a game because Sam Donald suddenly the
Speaker 1: New York Jets look like a different team with their
Speaker 1: quarterback if Sam Donald's down the field and everything's cool
Speaker 1: with his spleen, I mean, that guy can play some football,
Speaker 1: and that just shows you again how quarterbacks can change things.
Speaker 1: I just want to get all that out there because
Speaker 1: I think the whole steaks for this week in the
Speaker 1: NFL are huge, the Minnesota Vikings going into Detroit. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing where the Lions really gotta dig down deep
Speaker 1: in this matchup, because I'm not blaming it all on
Speaker 1: that loss last year against the Vikings, but I did
Speaker 1: feel like Packers got that bad taste in their mouth
Speaker 1: after the officiating against in that game, and it never
Speaker 1: really seemed like they were able to wash it. Can
Speaker 1: Detroit come out and get a victory at home against
Speaker 1: the team and the Vikings that two weeks ago wasn't
Speaker 1: looking so hot and just you know, get back on
Speaker 1: the tracks, so to speak. This is gonna be a
Speaker 1: real interesting matchup to watch from that aspect, and also
Speaker 1: seeing you know, we saw the way that Detroit played
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers for better or for worse, they were not
Speaker 1: able to really get the past and game going down field.
Speaker 1: How do they handle Stefon Diggs Adam feeling in what
Speaker 1: appears to be a very rejuvenated Vikings passing attack. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the thing. And now we we talked before about
Speaker 1: the Vikings took their show on the road and got
Speaker 1: a road win against the New York Giants. But this
Speaker 1: is a whole different type of road trip from Minnesota
Speaker 1: here because quite frankly, their offense didn't look that good
Speaker 1: when they came to lambeau Field in week two. Now
Speaker 1: they're going on the road to face another division opponents,
Speaker 1: so a big test there. But you also mentioned, obviously
Speaker 1: the Bears against the Saints, really really interesting game. The
Speaker 1: Bears still waiting to find out or at least haven't
Speaker 1: announced yet whether Mitchell Traubisky will be back at quarterback
Speaker 1: or if they're still going to go with Chase Daniel.
Speaker 1: Big blow to the Bears though, that Achem Hicks. They're
Speaker 1: big defensive lineman in the middle of that defense, the
Speaker 1: guy who I thought really made that defense quite good
Speaker 1: before Khalil Mack arrived. Achem Hicks has gone on injured
Speaker 1: reserve and is out for at least two months. They're
Speaker 1: thinking maybe he could still come back um towards the
Speaker 1: end of the year, which maybe he'd be back. When
Speaker 1: I was gonna say Week seven right now, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: if he if he, if he comes back, his first
Speaker 1: game eligible would be when the Bears play at lambau
Speaker 1: Field in the middle of December. But that's a big
Speaker 1: loss for Chicago's defense to to not have Hicks and
Speaker 1: the Saints now taking their show on the road with
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater and that defense that has uh really clamped
Speaker 1: down on pretty much every team it has played against.
Speaker 1: Really really interesting NFC showdown that So the question was
Speaker 1: asked an insider inbox. I don't know if you saw
Speaker 1: basically who should Packer fans root for? And that yeah,
Speaker 1: I saw. I answered that question as well. What is
Speaker 1: your thought on that? Can you explain your rationale? My
Speaker 1: my rationale? My rationale is that I just think this
Speaker 1: NFC North, with all the teams involved, because all four
Speaker 1: of them, I think are are still very much in
Speaker 1: this thing and could be in this thing for a while,
Speaker 1: that I think you just have to root to for
Speaker 1: what helps you in the division first. And if the
Speaker 1: Bears pick up another lass here would be their third loss.
Speaker 1: I think that's good for the Packers, even if it
Speaker 1: does mean the Saints are are six and one and
Speaker 1: still sitting, you know, on top of the conference or
Speaker 1: near the top of the conference. It's still just too early.
Speaker 1: And your best path to making any kind of a
Speaker 1: playoff run, whether you get a first round by or not,
Speaker 1: your best path to a playoff run is to win
Speaker 1: your division, because then you know, you get at least
Speaker 1: one home game in the playoffs. And so I just
Speaker 1: think for right now, the focus has to be on
Speaker 1: the division, and uh, any team in the NFC North
Speaker 1: playing outside the NFC North, you got to hope for
Speaker 1: that division team to lose. If you're a Packer face yeah,
Speaker 1: because the thing is you're gonna have plenty of weeks
Speaker 1: that you can root against the New Orleans Saints, you know,
Speaker 1: for the next two and a half months, just trying
Speaker 1: to hope that, you know, the Packers, if they end
Speaker 1: up being in a position to make the playoffs, win
Speaker 1: a division to have a buy you know that they
Speaker 1: would come through for them. There the divisional matchups though,
Speaker 1: is we've seen Mike. I mean, these things can fluctuate
Speaker 1: so quickly. And the other thing is too, is that
Speaker 1: if the Bears would happen to beat the Saints, well,
Speaker 1: then you have a Chicago team at four and two,
Speaker 1: that's feeling pretty good about him. So yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: there's a big difference right now between four and two
Speaker 1: and potentially three and three, right with what Chicago has
Speaker 1: been dealing with question and the Bears are coming off
Speaker 1: of by and obviously they came back from London, a
Speaker 1: tough loss in London to the Raiders, but had a
Speaker 1: week off now to reset, still figuring out what's exactly
Speaker 1: is going on at quarterback. But this is a big
Speaker 1: game for Chicago, all right, I want to pivot very quickly,
Speaker 1: just talk about Philadelphia and Dallas. How quickly the tables
Speaker 1: turned though one of these you're talking about, how the
Speaker 1: difference between four and two and three and three fields Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: whose again come out of the gate slow, in Dallas,
Speaker 1: who came out of the gate as fast as any
Speaker 1: team could. One of those teams is gonna be three
Speaker 1: and four. I know, who would have thought after seven
Speaker 1: games that either the Eagles or the Cowboys would be
Speaker 1: below five hundred. But that's the reality, because one of
Speaker 1: these teams is going to be three and four after Sunday. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's funny me because from Dallas's perspective, they had
Speaker 1: some quote unquote jobbers early in their you know their season,
Speaker 1: you know the job squad ww reference You probably don't
Speaker 1: know what that is, but uh, you know, just they
Speaker 1: had some Brooklyn brawler types that they were able to
Speaker 1: beat up on get some wins earlier in the season.
Speaker 1: Some Barry Horowitz is uh. And I think these last
Speaker 1: three weeks. I don't want to say it's exposed them,
Speaker 1: because I still think there's a lot of really talented
Speaker 1: players on that team, but it's changed the narrative with
Speaker 1: them a little bit now. The questions about Jason Garrett's
Speaker 1: job security, You've come up a lot of things to
Speaker 1: figure out there. I still Philadelphia is confusing me now
Speaker 1: because I did think when they beat the Packers, and
Speaker 1: that was a team that was much better than the
Speaker 1: record suggested. But they are so inconsistent week to week
Speaker 1: that when a team is talented but inconsistent, what does
Speaker 1: that usually end up being? Like eight and eight, right,
Speaker 1: maybe nine and seven as spart Stars Packers in the
Speaker 1: early eighties, And that's that's where it lies. Philadelphia's defense
Speaker 1: just is not good. It's just it is not good.
Speaker 1: And offense, they have not been able to be consistent
Speaker 1: enough the Eagles just got torched last week by the
Speaker 1: Vikings and the deep passes to Stefon Diggs, and that
Speaker 1: just makes you wonder, Okay, well, what are they going
Speaker 1: to do against a Mari Cooper because of Marie Cooper
Speaker 1: went crazy against the Packers with the double digit catches
Speaker 1: and two hundred plus yards and all of that. So,
Speaker 1: but the bottom line is first place is what's on
Speaker 1: the line in the NFC East, because nobody in that
Speaker 1: division as of this moment is above five hundre. The
Speaker 1: best part is the New York New York Giants are
Speaker 1: sitting there all right, Come on, Arizona Cardinals, you know,
Speaker 1: coming to East Rutherford. We get this win. We're suddenly
Speaker 1: a game out from the division. NFL is crazy, man,
Speaker 1: quick thought. Ravens at Seahawks, who do you think wins out?
Speaker 1: I really like Seattle right now. I just Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: has playing at an m VP level as he's playing
Speaker 1: really well. He has some really interesting weapons there. Defensively,
Speaker 1: I think they've held up. It's gonna be a real
Speaker 1: big test for Lamar Jackson. I just think they're not
Speaker 1: as invincible is maybe we thought earlier this season. And
Speaker 1: I just think right now, Seattle, Green Bay, New Orleans,
Speaker 1: and San Francisco are sort of setting the standard here
Speaker 1: early on and how to win team football. The thing
Speaker 1: that impresses me the most about the Seahawks so far,
Speaker 1: and I know we have to go, is that they
Speaker 1: keep finding ways to pull out games right at the end.
Speaker 1: They're in these close games, fourth quarter, they're down by
Speaker 1: a score, maybe just up by a couple of points.
Speaker 1: They keep finding ways to win, whether they're home or
Speaker 1: on the road. You know, the home one against the Rams,
Speaker 1: the road one at Cleveland, all of these tight games
Speaker 1: and they keep coming out on top. And their five
Speaker 1: and one. They've got another, a big home game against
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson will be an interesting test for that Seattle defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think I look at Baltimore's defense too, and
Speaker 1: historically they've been really good. I just don't I have
Speaker 1: real big questions about whether or not they're going to
Speaker 1: be able to stand up to the threat that Wilson's
Speaker 1: going to throw it. Yeah. All right, it should be
Speaker 1: a fun weekend of football, and with that we will
Speaker 1: call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: Team on packers dot com, Subscribe to us, like us
Speaker 1: on iTunes and other podcast services. On Twitter, you can
Speaker 1: find him at west HoTT I'm at Mike Spofford at
Speaker 1: Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.