Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my
Speaker 1: traveling companion across the pond weston Hodkowits. We're getting ready
Speaker 1: to head over to London for this Sunday morning showdown.
Speaker 1: At least morning in Wisconsin. It will be the Packers
Speaker 1: and the Giants Tottenham Otspur Stadium, eight thirty am Central
Speaker 1: Time kick off. It will be two thirty pm in
Speaker 1: London for US West. And when you look at this
Speaker 1: Giants team, there's still some uncertainty as far as the
Speaker 1: quarterback injury situation. I think the Packers just prepare for
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones and adjust if if for whatever reason, he's
Speaker 1: not able to go. But the preparation really for this
Speaker 1: Giants team starts with sa Kwan Barkley, it does Mike.
Speaker 1: In the past few years, I think a lot of people,
Speaker 1: including myself, we all sort of forgot about, say Kwan
Speaker 1: a little bit because of the injuries, because of some
Speaker 1: of the issues that the Giants have had. Um you know,
Speaker 1: just not a lot of success. And I thought, if anything,
Speaker 1: the month of September showed one this young man still
Speaker 1: has a lot of good football ahead of them into
Speaker 1: how much his impact affects the ability for the Giants
Speaker 1: to win football games. I mean, when you look at
Speaker 1: all three of their victories so far, Mike, they weren't
Speaker 1: blowing anybody out of the water. A lot of it
Speaker 1: came down to controlling the tempo, minimizing the turnovers, and
Speaker 1: honestly just converting first downs. And when you have a
Speaker 1: running back that's you know, running for five and a
Speaker 1: half yards per carry foreigner and fifty rushing yards and
Speaker 1: four games you saw what he did against the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears and really just sort of running right through Chicago's
Speaker 1: defensive front. That's where this is all going to start
Speaker 1: for them. So it doesn't matter. It does look promising
Speaker 1: at the time in which we're taping this, it kind
Speaker 1: of looks good for Daniel Jones to be out there. Um,
Speaker 1: if he's not available for any reason that I guess
Speaker 1: it would probably fall the Davis Webb, who it feels like,
Speaker 1: I'll no, this is a second stint there, but it
Speaker 1: feels like he's been in New York for eighteen years.
Speaker 1: But regardless of who the quarterback is, Mike, there's a
Speaker 1: lot that holds true from last week's game against the Patriots.
Speaker 1: You have to be able to stop say Kwon Barklay,
Speaker 1: otherwise you're in for a very long morning. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: with regard to this Packers run defense, we've seen, as
Speaker 1: I talked about on on our last episode, we've seen
Speaker 1: the swings, the roller coaster, the ups and downs. The Packers.
Speaker 1: Go back to Week two against the Bears, the Packers
Speaker 1: seem to be doing a pretty solid job defensively for
Speaker 1: the most part, and then all of a sudden, two
Speaker 1: possessions in the second half, the Packers couldn't stop the run,
Speaker 1: and the run game dictated the tempo with the Bears
Speaker 1: put together a couple of scoring drives um and and
Speaker 1: you know, it felt like the game kind of flipped
Speaker 1: in that regard. Then the Packers bounce back from a
Speaker 1: run defense standpoint against Tampa Bay. And we had talked
Speaker 1: all week about you have to be ready for Leonard Fournette.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady's going to be relying on this guy's power back.
Speaker 1: He'll take the punishment. And it turned out the Packers
Speaker 1: defense put together the type of effort that Fournett only
Speaker 1: got a dozen carries in that game, which was surprising.
Speaker 1: Now the Packers ball control on the offensive side in
Speaker 1: the first half certainly played in that as well. But
Speaker 1: Fournett only had what was a two point nine yards
Speaker 1: per carry or something like that against the Packers, So
Speaker 1: they shored up, you know, the problems from the Bears game.
Speaker 1: Then you fast forward to the New England game and
Speaker 1: again for the first half, and and you know, even
Speaker 1: into the second half, the Packers defense was in a
Speaker 1: really good spot. Then all of a sudden, similar to
Speaker 1: the Bears game, to possessions back to back possessions in
Speaker 1: the second half where suddenly the Packers couldn't stop the run.
Speaker 1: The New England Patriots were marching down the field, dictating
Speaker 1: the tempo of the game. They get a couple of
Speaker 1: touchdowns and suddenly that you know, the game feels a
Speaker 1: little differently than it did you know for a while there. So, um,
Speaker 1: the Packers want to iron out obviously the ups and
Speaker 1: downs and iron out the inconsistencies. But you know, as
Speaker 1: I had said after the Bears game heading into the
Speaker 1: matchup with for Net and the Buccaneers, sometimes when sometimes
Speaker 1: problems can get exposed at the right time, right And
Speaker 1: and I think in a lot of ways. The fact
Speaker 1: that the Packers are coming off of what happened to
Speaker 1: the run defense on those two drives against the Patriots
Speaker 1: is probably a good thing because of how important Sae
Speaker 1: Kwon Barkley is going to be to the Giants and
Speaker 1: the Giants trying to knock off the Packers here. Because
Speaker 1: it's no secret that was the thing about the Patriots game.
Speaker 1: I think that's why there was a lot of Packer
Speaker 1: fans out there that were sort of incredulous after it,
Speaker 1: because everybody knew the Patriots were gonna have to run
Speaker 1: the ball. What I really was impressed by with Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick and the scheme that they ran was they were
Speaker 1: able to not be predictable with their run game, if
Speaker 1: that even makes and so I mean they you know,
Speaker 1: throw a lot of things at them, and when you
Speaker 1: get the wide zone going, there's a lot of different
Speaker 1: ways you can attack a defense. When you get them
Speaker 1: moving horizontally, se Kwan is going to hit you in
Speaker 1: a lot of different spots, and you have to be
Speaker 1: aware not only of him dragging the pile a little
Speaker 1: bit for you know, four or five yards when maybe
Speaker 1: there was only two or three that it looked to
Speaker 1: be there. But also what happens if you do let
Speaker 1: him get into space, you do get him matched up
Speaker 1: against one of your dbs. You have to give your
Speaker 1: defense a chance to succeed. Right now, the Giants have
Speaker 1: the number one ranked rushing offense in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: That is not by accident, but as I said in
Speaker 1: my intro, the fact that you look at the Giants
Speaker 1: and where they're at it so far this season three
Speaker 1: and one, they are the only team in the National
Speaker 1: Football League that has not forced an interception yet. They
Speaker 1: don't have any picks, but yet they lead the NFL
Speaker 1: in forced fumble recoveries. They have four. They've only given
Speaker 1: the ball away I think it was I should say
Speaker 1: six times. They have six fumbles and they only have
Speaker 1: five giveaways. So they still despite not even have an interception,
Speaker 1: there's still plus one in the different that's turning darn
Speaker 1: and pressed. It tells you they're playing with discipline. But
Speaker 1: the one thing I noticed watching that game last week
Speaker 1: and and seeing that the Giants play a little bit
Speaker 1: leading up to this, it's gonna come down to that
Speaker 1: offensive line quite a bit. Because if you are able
Speaker 1: to stop Barkley or at least contain them on first
Speaker 1: and second down. This Giant's offense is not built to pass.
Speaker 1: They just aren't good at it. I mean, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: had huge, had huge pressure on Daniel Jones from beginning,
Speaker 1: middle and end of that ball game. The Packers need
Speaker 1: to be able to dictate the pace because if you don't,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a really tough assignment allowing their
Speaker 1: offense to get going from there. Yeah. Well, you mentioned
Speaker 1: the turnovers, and I think that's you flip this around
Speaker 1: and start looking at the Packers offense to me, you know, yes,
Speaker 1: we we've talked about the transition and bringing the rookie
Speaker 1: receivers along and working through the running backs and all
Speaker 1: those things, and the Packers getting their offensive line sorted
Speaker 1: out up front, and we'll see if if there are
Speaker 1: any changes made or what the evolution might be. They're
Speaker 1: moving forward in still these these early stages of the season.
Speaker 1: But to me, the most important thing that the Packers
Speaker 1: have to shore up offensively is protecting the football. This
Speaker 1: under Matt Lafleur, you look, you look at the numbers.
Speaker 1: Three three full seasons twenty and twenty one, the Packers
Speaker 1: did not have a streak of having a turnover in
Speaker 1: a game more than two consecutive games. For three straight years,
Speaker 1: Packers have had a turnover at least one turnover in
Speaker 1: every game this season. The streak is now at four.
Speaker 1: The highest turnover number for the Packers in a regular
Speaker 1: season under the flour is thirteen. They already have seven
Speaker 1: this season through four games. They're already halfway to what
Speaker 1: has been their worst turnover season under Matt Lafleur. Just
Speaker 1: here in early October. If the Packers offensively can protect
Speaker 1: the football like they traditionally do in this offense, I
Speaker 1: think we start to see more efficiency and more consistency.
Speaker 1: To me, it starts there. It does because it's a
Speaker 1: possession based offense. It's an idea. Basically, what when Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur's offense is clicking and we've seen it at its best,
Speaker 1: it takes the old Dom Capers sort of defensive formula
Speaker 1: and it flips it on its head, which Dom's theory
Speaker 1: was the more plays, the fewer explosives you give up,
Speaker 1: the more plays you make the offense run, the higher
Speaker 1: percentage chance there's going to be a turnover. Well, the
Speaker 1: offense looks at it under the floor of We're not
Speaker 1: going to turn over the football. We are going to
Speaker 1: hit you with some some small, little victories and then
Speaker 1: eventually hit some explosives off of that. Green Bay has
Speaker 1: some big explosives this year. I think they were second
Speaker 1: in the league depending on what you define. They've been
Speaker 1: able to create big plays, and they've done them at timely,
Speaker 1: you know times. If you're going to be down in
Speaker 1: the turnover differential, you have to win on third downs,
Speaker 1: you have to win the time of possession. Green Bay
Speaker 1: has actually managed to do that for the most part.
Speaker 1: But again, you can only ride that so long. So
Speaker 1: that's where you really think, not only with Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: but with some of these rookies. As guys start to
Speaker 1: get more settled into this offense, I would anticipate that
Speaker 1: you're going to be able to control that a little
Speaker 1: bit better than green Bay has for the first month
Speaker 1: of the season, because, honestly, Mike, you look at that
Speaker 1: past play that Rogers had to Jones a week ago,
Speaker 1: and Jones fumbles right on the goal line. Those things
Speaker 1: just typically don't happen. One you don't see Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: fumble like that, to being put in that position for
Speaker 1: a bang bang play. I think those edges are going
Speaker 1: to get smoothed out over time. But it's one of
Speaker 1: those things that you are going to have to deal
Speaker 1: with in the first month of the season when you
Speaker 1: have an offense still finding itself. Yeah, And with regard
Speaker 1: to with regard to the Packers, and I mentioned this
Speaker 1: in our Insider Inbox column this week, there are eleven
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL right now with a minus turnover margin.
Speaker 1: The Packers are the only one of those eleven that
Speaker 1: has three wins. You know, And when you think back
Speaker 1: to Aaron Rodgers postgame press conference after the win over
Speaker 1: the Patriots and he was asked about the sustainability of
Speaker 1: winning this way, to me, that's the that's the biggest
Speaker 1: thing that sticks out is what's not sustainable is to
Speaker 1: is to stay in the minus turnover margin and to
Speaker 1: keep winning games. You know, over the course of four
Speaker 1: months in the NFL. That's not a sustainable way to
Speaker 1: to stack up victory. So but I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think it's I think there are some of the
Speaker 1: rough edges here that are going that are going to
Speaker 1: get um, They're going to get worked out. And hey, look,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers doesn't throw a lot of interceptions. He's already
Speaker 1: thrown three in the first four games of the season.
Speaker 1: That's also something that I don't think is going to
Speaker 1: is going to continue, um, because it's just not in
Speaker 1: It's it's not Rogers track record to you know, to
Speaker 1: you know that for him to be on pace for
Speaker 1: you know, double digit interceptions, you know, on a season.
Speaker 1: So I think these things are going to sort themselves out.
Speaker 1: But again, this is a game. I just I feel
Speaker 1: like the Packers are the better team. I feel like
Speaker 1: the Packers have the better roster, but the Giants have that.
Speaker 1: The Giants have that one superstar player in Sae Kwon
Speaker 1: Barkley you have to deal with. And the Packers have
Speaker 1: this turnover issue that they need that they need to
Speaker 1: clean up. Or you're going to find yourself in a
Speaker 1: game just like you had against the Patriots last week,
Speaker 1: where it comes right down to the end and you're
Speaker 1: kind of wondering, Okay, how are these guys with a
Speaker 1: third string quarterback taking the Packers all the way to
Speaker 1: the wire and and and uh, I think the Packers
Speaker 1: need to you know, work their way out of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And to be honest with you, with you as well.
Speaker 1: The other factor that weighs heavily into the giants favors.
Speaker 1: They are playing with house money, a new head coach.
Speaker 1: They need one more win to tie their total from
Speaker 1: last ye. They just only had four wins last season.
Speaker 1: They've already got three under Brian Dable. I think for
Speaker 1: the veterans that are there, and I know there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of turn over with that roster the last
Speaker 1: two years, but the veterans are there, they're seeing Sa
Speaker 1: Kwan do what he's doing. They're going, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: where we thought we were in two thousand eighteen, was
Speaker 1: where we thought we were in two thousand nineteen. We
Speaker 1: have a future something to point towards, because that's what
Speaker 1: a running back can do. You look at what Derrick
Speaker 1: Henry did for the Tennessee Titans. It goes on and
Speaker 1: on and on. Nick Chubb and uh, the way he's
Speaker 1: been able to control ball games right now for for
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns, that's Barkley and he's a guy that if
Speaker 1: he's healthy, they're going to be able to ride him.
Speaker 1: So Green Bay standpoint mattain Floor said it. We talked
Speaker 1: about in our last show. You've got to be more
Speaker 1: physical You've got to close the gaps and you can't
Speaker 1: be chasing down guys to catch them. You have to
Speaker 1: be able to meet them at the point of attack
Speaker 1: and bring down the ball carry. Which, by the way,
Speaker 1: when you talk about that run they got at the
Speaker 1: end of the game on Sunday, that's what ultimately they
Speaker 1: finally did. Yeah, yeah, they got they got things scored
Speaker 1: away in that regard when they had to have it
Speaker 1: in the clutch moments. Here's the other part of this
Speaker 1: matchup that I think is really interesting. West From a
Speaker 1: statistical standpoint, the Green Bay Packers are the number one
Speaker 1: defense in the league on third down in terms of
Speaker 1: the opponent's conversion percentage. Number two in the league. The
Speaker 1: New York Giants, so first and second in the league defensively,
Speaker 1: going head to head in terms of in terms of
Speaker 1: third down defense. So the money down, um it, it
Speaker 1: doesn't get any more important than than when the matchup is.
Speaker 1: Is this as far as what the statistics are saying
Speaker 1: about these two defense Yeah, I need to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, there's very little about the Giants that I
Speaker 1: understand in terms of how they're doing this. Because when
Speaker 1: you bring up stats like that, and it's incredible the
Speaker 1: fact that that, and then also the fact their second
Speaker 1: in red zone defense right now. But at the same so,
Speaker 1: if you hear that stat that they are second in
Speaker 1: National Football League on third downs, what do you naturally think, Oh,
Speaker 1: they must be doing a good job against the run.
Speaker 1: They're really not, right, I mean there against the runs.
Speaker 1: So it tells you that this is a unit that
Speaker 1: is being very opportunistic. They are sticking with plays and honestly,
Speaker 1: probably a lot of weird little things happening in there
Speaker 1: that has led to this point. But the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is, I think this is definitely a game
Speaker 1: where the third downs will be something that contributes to
Speaker 1: who wins this game. Because as much as we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about se Kwon Barkley, and for the right reasons,
Speaker 1: with what that young man is doing right now, the
Speaker 1: New York Giants are looking at a J. Dillon and
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones as a potential problem as well. And I
Speaker 1: thought last week Mike one screen base started mixing the
Speaker 1: run with the pass a little bit better. We saw
Speaker 1: glimpses of it in the first half, certainly the Christian
Speaker 1: Watson touchdown driver. All they did was run the ball.
Speaker 1: When those two things are married up, that's when this
Speaker 1: offense is in its most rhythmic sink. And that's going
Speaker 1: to be a huge challenge against a New York Giants
Speaker 1: defense that I think, by a lot of measurables, has
Speaker 1: outperformed itself. Yeah, all right, Well, we've talked about containing Barkley,
Speaker 1: dealing with the turnover margin, um, the importance of third downs,
Speaker 1: anything thing else that stands out to you in terms
Speaker 1: of a key to victory here as the Packers head
Speaker 1: over the ocean, the Packers have the better quarterback. And
Speaker 1: that's not any disrespect to to Daniel Jones. I know
Speaker 1: he's taken a lot of hits. I've been impressed by
Speaker 1: some of the throws frankly he's made this season playing
Speaker 1: behind that offensive line. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you have a Green Bay Packers team quarterback by Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: probably playing in front of an extremely friendly crowd at
Speaker 1: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I think that's going to be an
Speaker 1: interesting story here. Not to interrupt, but just what is
Speaker 1: the atmosphere going to be like in Tottenham Hotspur. I
Speaker 1: have a feeling that the Green and Gold Packer nation,
Speaker 1: the Packer fans are going to take over the place,
Speaker 1: and um, I'm excited and and anxious and eager and
Speaker 1: all that to just see what it's going to feel
Speaker 1: like and sound like in that in that stadium when
Speaker 1: the ball kicks off on Sunday. Yeah. And one thing
Speaker 1: that's going to be critical too, is Matt flour telling
Speaker 1: his guys. I mean, yes, you probably will have a
Speaker 1: lot of fans there, but don't necessarily look at this
Speaker 1: as a straight home game. Because as much as I
Speaker 1: think the New York Giants are gonna have to probably
Speaker 1: be on a silent count, are gonna have a lot
Speaker 1: of things working against him. Green Day may still have
Speaker 1: some of that too, because you have an international fan base,
Speaker 1: people that have wait their entire lives to watch Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers play that are probably gonna be pretty jacked up too.
Speaker 1: Is this gonna be the typical Hey, everybody be quiet,
Speaker 1: it's time for the Packers to play offensive football. It
Speaker 1: could be sixty minutes of just roaring, you know so.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, Matt Lafleur said it all
Speaker 1: week long, Paddle Donald, some of these other people we've
Speaker 1: talked to, you have to be able. Whoever prepares the
Speaker 1: best going into this thing, just in their preparation on
Speaker 1: the field, the game plan, how the bodies are reset
Speaker 1: once you get over into England. That's probably gonna go
Speaker 1: along way. And who wins this game, because when we
Speaker 1: talk about Sae Kwon Barkley, he is a dynamic football player.
Speaker 1: But how is the Packers defensive line feeling at that time?
Speaker 1: How how are their linebackers feeling? Where are the people
Speaker 1: these players bodies at it at that juncture, it's going
Speaker 1: to be critical. It almost feels like the physical preparation
Speaker 1: in terms of the players bodies is paramount in a
Speaker 1: week like this over the game planning and the excess
Speaker 1: and nose and stuff. Not to say that you that
Speaker 1: you you know, ignore the game plan part of it,
Speaker 1: but whatever game plan is put together feels like it's
Speaker 1: not necessarily going to be repped as much in practice
Speaker 1: as uh, certainly not at full speed as in a
Speaker 1: normal week because because there's so much focus on making
Speaker 1: sure these players bodies are going to be in shape
Speaker 1: and ready to go for a you know, for a
Speaker 1: full sixty minute contest comes Sunday. So that's um, that's
Speaker 1: certainly another factor here, and and Uh, and something that
Speaker 1: you know, as we've talked about before, the bulk of
Speaker 1: the players on this Packers roster have not been through
Speaker 1: this international. I don't I don't know what the ratio
Speaker 1: is in terms of the Giants, but the bulk of
Speaker 1: the Packers roster has not been through this before. I
Speaker 1: think get a chance to look it up before the show.
Speaker 1: I want to do this before locker room though. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's going to talk this week,
Speaker 1: but Mercedes Lewis had I think his fabled game out
Speaker 1: in London where he had the three touches three touchdown
Speaker 1: number of years ago. I'm trying to remember whether or
Speaker 1: not that's the last time he actually did play in London.
Speaker 1: But basically, you had to be on a different team
Speaker 1: if you're going to play over their almazard. Like I
Speaker 1: mentioned before, you know he was with Jacksonville on their
Speaker 1: practice when they went over Eric Wilson. If we get
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to them the locker room this week, Uh,
Speaker 1: I'd be very interested to hear if he went last
Speaker 1: week with the Saints because he's a member of their
Speaker 1: practice squad. He was on their practice. If he's doing
Speaker 1: four trips across the Atlantic Uh to to earn his
Speaker 1: NFL paycheck. That'll be that'll be a pretty interesting little story.
Speaker 1: But yeah, for a lot of guys, I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be these coaches instilling into him because the
Speaker 1: Packers coaching staff has the most experience of anyone. The
Speaker 1: besacci is the little fleurs. They're the guys that are
Speaker 1: gonna have to go back to these players and telling
Speaker 1: them what to expect and what this plan is going
Speaker 1: to be and why the plan is structured that way. Yeah. Absolutely, Well,
Speaker 1: a little bit of sponsored business here West and then
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Speaker 1: Cousin Subs fifty years of better. All right Elsewhere Week
Speaker 1: five in the NFL, as far as the NFC North
Speaker 1: is concerned, pretty big matchup. Chicago is at Minnesota the
Speaker 1: two and two Bears, the three and one Vikings an
Speaker 1: interesting one there with UH with UM regard to the
Speaker 1: division implications, and then Detroit has to go to New
Speaker 1: England now and the Lions. UM. The Lions looking to
Speaker 1: avoid dropping to one and four. They have the highest
Speaker 1: scoring offense in the league right now, UM, but Detroit's
Speaker 1: defense has not been able to to get the job
Speaker 1: done and UH. And so the Lions are sitting at
Speaker 1: one and three when they've piled up a ton of
Speaker 1: points through the first month of the season. And this
Speaker 1: is gonna be very interesting because it's probably gonna come
Speaker 1: down to which phase performs better for Detroit UH and
Speaker 1: how they win this game. I mean because as many
Speaker 1: issues as as Detroit has had stopping teams, they're going
Speaker 1: up against the New England team that could very likely
Speaker 1: be starting a rookie quarterback going into it while trying
Speaker 1: to replicate kind of what they did against Green Bay
Speaker 1: this past week. But I am interested to see where
Speaker 1: Detroit heads from here. Amand Ross st Brown? What is
Speaker 1: his status? They were missing him last week? T J.
Speaker 1: Hawkinson went freaking off in the inner room there had
Speaker 1: one of his big career defining days you know, same
Speaker 1: thing with you know, DeAndre Swift, what is he what
Speaker 1: is things looking like for him? Detroit hasn't. Man, I've
Speaker 1: said it time and time again. I like the way
Speaker 1: they've built this roster. I feel like they're taking steps
Speaker 1: in the right direction. But when you look at too
Speaker 1: one win teams like this and in the Patriots and Lions,
Speaker 1: it is that reminder that I said on our last
Speaker 1: show that it is difficult to win in this league,
Speaker 1: and one of those teams is gonna, you know, walk
Speaker 1: out of there with one win still, uh, five weeks
Speaker 1: into the season, Chicago going to Minnesota. I think that's
Speaker 1: a gut check game for the Bears. Absolutely. Offensively, they
Speaker 1: need to start finding themselves if they're going to be
Speaker 1: a real legitimate, viable playoff team this season. Maybe they
Speaker 1: won't be, but I feel like with Justin fields, man,
Speaker 1: you need to start making some steps here. You need
Speaker 1: to start making some progress because right now, through the
Speaker 1: first month in the season, it's been wildly inconsistent. In
Speaker 1: the passing game has just been non existent. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: it's interesting because the vikings at three and one in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, people people are talking a lot
Speaker 1: about the Vikings the same way they are about the
Speaker 1: Packers in terms of yes, winning games, but but they're
Speaker 1: all kinds of flaws right and and games that are
Speaker 1: coming down to the wire. I mean the way the
Speaker 1: Vikings came back and beat the Lions. That Vikings look
Speaker 1: dead in the water for three and a half quarters
Speaker 1: against Detroit, then they end up pulling it out at
Speaker 1: the end. They go to London and the Saints have
Speaker 1: a bunch of injuries like we talked about on our
Speaker 1: last on our last show, but then they have to
Speaker 1: survive a potential game tying field goal to to get
Speaker 1: out of London with with a victory over the Saints.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is there three and one and
Speaker 1: they're playing at home with a heck of a chance
Speaker 1: to get to foreign one. So so the Packers will
Speaker 1: need to win in London, um to uh to keep
Speaker 1: pace if the if the Vikings do get to four
Speaker 1: and one. A couple other games that just jumped out
Speaker 1: at me in terms of NFC matchups, The Cowboys are
Speaker 1: at the Rams, the Eagles the only undefeated team in
Speaker 1: the league. At the Cardinals, Cowboys have been getting wins
Speaker 1: with Cooper Rush filling in for Dak Prescott, the Rams
Speaker 1: we plan at home coming off of a really rough
Speaker 1: offensive performance against the San Francisco forty Niners on Monday
Speaker 1: Night Football. And then the you know, the Cardinals. You
Speaker 1: know they've they've been, they've been an up and down team.
Speaker 1: Are they going to be you know, the team that
Speaker 1: you know, Will the Cardinals team that that everybody knows
Speaker 1: plays the way they're capable of playing potentially knock off
Speaker 1: an undefeated Eagles team, or are the Cardinals going to
Speaker 1: continue to you know, kind of ride ride this roller
Speaker 1: coaster and the Eagles get to potentially five. And the
Speaker 1: thing that concerns me about the Cardinals, I wouldn't even
Speaker 1: call it a roller coaster. I just think it's been
Speaker 1: a d escalation. I Mean, they started so hot last
Speaker 1: year in this beginning of this season feels like how
Speaker 1: they ended last year, where it's just a lot of
Speaker 1: five football, it's a lot of you know, losing close games.
Speaker 1: And you know, from the other standpoint of it, Philadelphia
Speaker 1: has been impressive. The one thing, you know, Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: is phenomenal. They have one of the best defense is in
Speaker 1: in the league. They lead the league and turnover differential,
Speaker 1: but the commitment that the Eagles have shown to the
Speaker 1: run game and too Miles Sanders to being able to
Speaker 1: get that aspect of things down. That was where the
Speaker 1: train kind of got off the tracks a little bit
Speaker 1: with Doug Peterson. The running game just it had had
Speaker 1: a number of different faces. It didn't really have an identity,
Speaker 1: and they weren't really consistently dedicating themselves to it. With
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts and the way that they're building this offense
Speaker 1: around him, that emphasis is in place and you're seeing
Speaker 1: more and more how this young man can create explosive
Speaker 1: plays based on establishing a running game. And that's what
Speaker 1: makes to me, uh, you know, the Eagles one of
Speaker 1: the scariest teams in the National Football League right now
Speaker 1: because they can beat you in so many different ways. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Eagles sort of they got to establishing that that
Speaker 1: running game last year and they were able to get
Speaker 1: enough wins, put enough together to get into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and yes, they got knocked out in the first round,
Speaker 1: but you could see the foundation that they were building
Speaker 1: last year under under coach Nick Sirianni, and now it's
Speaker 1: carried over to where that that foundation offensively is shifted
Speaker 1: to this year. Jalen Hurts obviously has more experience, learned
Speaker 1: a heck of a lot from all from everything that
Speaker 1: he did last year, and uh, and they're they're they're
Speaker 1: stacking up wins and doing so in in pretty impressive fashion.
Speaker 1: Any thoughts on the Cowboys playing at the Rams, assuming
Speaker 1: you know it sounds like Cooper Rush is still going
Speaker 1: to be the quarterback for the Cowboys, This would be
Speaker 1: au This would be a big one for the Cowboys
Speaker 1: to get. By the same token, the Rams defending Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champs, um looking to avoid dropping to two and
Speaker 1: three and being under five potentially starting to wonder more
Speaker 1: and more if the Cowboys have something in Cooper Rush
Speaker 1: the more I watch him, and I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: put him in the Hall of Fame, definitely not doing
Speaker 1: the quarterback controversy thing. But Jason Garrett was such a
Speaker 1: huge fan of his and he kind of gives sort
Speaker 1: of those not Tony Romo either, because but he like
Speaker 1: in that way where Romo took three years to develop
Speaker 1: after coming out of a small school, Rush coming out
Speaker 1: of a max school. I just Mike, when you watch
Speaker 1: him play, he's so darned poise back there. He just
Speaker 1: doesn't get Yeah, he doesn't get rattled at all. No,
Speaker 1: and and for them to be three and one when
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of people wondering, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: dad goes down. What does this mean for McCarthy. You
Speaker 1: give Mike credit. I mean, they've they've rallied the troops there.
Speaker 1: The Rams are such a jackal and hide team right now. Man,
Speaker 1: because again, like I was just saying about the Eagles
Speaker 1: with their run game, it's non existent right now for
Speaker 1: l a Um. Whatever that reason is, whether it's the
Speaker 1: cam Akers coming back from the injury or you know,
Speaker 1: Henderson not dedicating themselves to it. A lot of this
Speaker 1: has kind of shifted onto the shoulders of Matthew Stafford,
Speaker 1: and Stafford has been up and down. They have been
Speaker 1: able to get Allen Robinson going yet so far this season. Uh,
Speaker 1: Cooper cup is sensational. My god. I mean they're using
Speaker 1: him the way that the Packers used Davante Adams backfield
Speaker 1: outside slot. He is. He's sensational. But that's their go
Speaker 1: to right now, and they haven't really had a lot
Speaker 1: of things that they can shift back towards in the
Speaker 1: red area. In some of the other aspects, of this
Speaker 1: game that you're gonna need to to win. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: pretty soon here, we have to catch a flight and
Speaker 1: it's going to be a long one, so we'll get
Speaker 1: we'll get prepared for that and we will call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team. Wes
Speaker 1: and I both will be in London to cover Sunday's
Speaker 1: big game at Tottenham Hotspur against the Giants. We will
Speaker 1: have it all for you on Packers dot com. For
Speaker 1: West I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next time.