Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, sitting next to my partner in crime,
Speaker 1: was Hodpots. Are coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field and West. The Packers are fresh off
Speaker 1: a fifteen victory Sunday at lambeau Field over the Washington Redskins.
Speaker 1: A lot of implications with this one. Green Bay gets
Speaker 1: to ten wins, ten and three, now remaining one game
Speaker 1: ahead of the Minnesota Vikings in the race for the
Speaker 1: NFC North, the Vikings knocking off the Detroit Lions to
Speaker 1: get to nine and four. The Packers also getting a
Speaker 1: little bit of help that they needed, primarily from the
Speaker 1: San Francisco forty nine ers, who win a shootout in
Speaker 1: the super domin New Orleans forty six. The implications there
Speaker 1: being while San Francisco is now in the top spot
Speaker 1: in the NFC at eleven and two, New Orleans is
Speaker 1: ten and three, tied with the Packers, the Packers actually
Speaker 1: have one fewer conference loss than New Orleans, so if
Speaker 1: Green Bay can win its final three games, it will
Speaker 1: get a first round by regardless of what happens in
Speaker 1: the NFC West. But here's the thing. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of questions right now because of how the Packers
Speaker 1: beat Washington, if they are really capable of running the
Speaker 1: table against the three NFC North opponents coming up, because
Speaker 1: there was a lot of dissatisfaction. I guess maybe is
Speaker 1: the word with the victory over Washington. How did you
Speaker 1: see it? Okay? So, first and foremost, it was a
Speaker 1: difficult game to analyze because the Packers played that The
Speaker 1: first quarter was picture perfect, exactly what you wanted to
Speaker 1: see from them. Defensively, they forced three straight three and
Speaker 1: ounce to start the game, three and ounce one after another.
Speaker 1: They didn't get a first down until they actually, I
Speaker 1: think it was a penalty that converted it for them
Speaker 1: in the second quarterback jumping off side, and then you
Speaker 1: know that would be until then they had just been
Speaker 1: you know, offensively, we're not able to accomplish anything offensively
Speaker 1: for Green Bay. They get good field position after Tyler
Speaker 1: Irvin's first punt return, defense keeping Washington back, and they
Speaker 1: score points right away. They end up scoring two touchdowns
Speaker 1: the fifth time this season they've scored fourteen points in
Speaker 1: the opening quarter. Looks great, and then they just fall
Speaker 1: into this lull. The one phase that kind of stood
Speaker 1: up the entire time I thought was special teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's one of the probably the better outing special teams
Speaker 1: has had. J K. Scott was not quite where he
Speaker 1: was at the week before, but Mason Crosby made two
Speaker 1: important field goals. Tyler Irvin has four returns for fifty
Speaker 1: one yards and no penalties for Seawan Menega's unit a
Speaker 1: sterling job for sixty minutes offense and defensively, though there
Speaker 1: were lulls. Defensively, I thought for the most part they
Speaker 1: kept him off the board. They gave up some garbage
Speaker 1: points late, but Darius Guys started to get going. He
Speaker 1: had a big explosive play. They were able to dictate
Speaker 1: tempo a little bit more with the running game, which
Speaker 1: we were anticipating Washington was going to religiously do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we knew Washington even at fourteen to nothing, just like
Speaker 1: the previous week in Carolina, Washington was not going to
Speaker 1: abandon the run. They were going to continue to pound
Speaker 1: the run. Packers caught a little bit of a break
Speaker 1: with Darius Guys going out with an injury, so then
Speaker 1: it all fell really on Adrian Peterson. But but yes,
Speaker 1: Washington came into lambo to run the ball just as
Speaker 1: we anticipated. So it's tough. The tough part of this
Speaker 1: for me to break down is the offensive performance because
Speaker 1: you know I said this going into this thing, Washington's
Speaker 1: defense is not an embarrassment by any means. They're a
Speaker 1: good defense. Those weren't just hollow words. They have playmakers there.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for them, Ryan Krarigan gets injured again after he
Speaker 1: comes back and he leaves with a calf injury. They
Speaker 1: their two cornerbacks were banged up, but they were able
Speaker 1: to get Green Bay out of its offensive rhythm and
Speaker 1: with the exception of Aaron Jones, who goes off for
Speaker 1: a d total yards, they really were unable to recapture that.
Speaker 1: So that's the question they're gonna face now all week
Speaker 1: long going against is Chicago Bears d fence that's always
Speaker 1: been good and is now going to look to be
Speaker 1: back at the peak of their powers in this matchup
Speaker 1: on Sunday. But all those things aside, it was the
Speaker 1: tenth win of the season. The Packers did exactly what
Speaker 1: you and I said they need to do. They need
Speaker 1: to beat a statistically poor Giants team, and they need
Speaker 1: to beat a three and nine Washington team. They did that.
Speaker 1: You can't ask for much more. You could have beaten
Speaker 1: them forty nine to nothing, you only still get one victory.
Speaker 1: So in a very tight and highly contest at NFC
Speaker 1: right now, with seven teams really duking it out, I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously somebody has to get in from the NFC East.
Speaker 1: This is this is a scenario that you're in. You
Speaker 1: need to win the ball games, and the Packers accomplished
Speaker 1: that goal on Sunday. Yeah. I think the frustrating thing
Speaker 1: on the offensive side of the ball for the Packers
Speaker 1: is the opportunities they had, the field position they had,
Speaker 1: There were so many chances to score more points and
Speaker 1: to get yourself some separation here from Washington. I thought
Speaker 1: the key sequence, quite frankly west was at the end
Speaker 1: of the first half, because the Packers had they'd blown
Speaker 1: a couple of opportunities when they had crossed midfield but
Speaker 1: then stalled out weren't able to get into field goal range.
Speaker 1: Late in the first half, about a minute left and
Speaker 1: a half, the Packers are inside the thirty yard line,
Speaker 1: they have first down at the Washington twenty seven. You
Speaker 1: have a fourteen to six lead. At that point, you're
Speaker 1: looking at and the Packers are getting the ball coming
Speaker 1: out of halftime, so you're looking at your feeling like,
Speaker 1: at a minimum, the Packers are going to double up
Speaker 1: here and get either a field goal in a field
Speaker 1: goal or a touchdown on a field goal, or maybe
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. You're looking at anywhere from six to ten
Speaker 1: to fourteen points potentially before Washington gets the ball back
Speaker 1: in the third quarter. But Aaron Rodgers gets hit with
Speaker 1: a strip sack loses the ball, Washington recovers, and then
Speaker 1: coming out of halftime, the Packers do put a drive together,
Speaker 1: but they stall out and kick a field goal, so
Speaker 1: instead of getting six or ten or fourteen, you get
Speaker 1: three out of those two possessions. Washington gets the ball
Speaker 1: back only down seventeen to six. When they respond in
Speaker 1: the third quarter at one point with a field goal,
Speaker 1: it's seventeen to nine, and you're still in a one
Speaker 1: score game going into the fourth quarter. When you had
Speaker 1: these opportunities to to stretch things out, it was it
Speaker 1: was a maddening frustrating game to watch offensively because of
Speaker 1: the position the Packers were in and the opportunities they
Speaker 1: were presented with. Personally, I guess it's one of those things.
Speaker 1: I just look at it as you know, the NFL,
Speaker 1: this is a week to week thing. If the Packers
Speaker 1: would run up forty five points on Washington, yeah everybody
Speaker 1: would be feeling better about themselves. But if they do
Speaker 1: that against Washington, that still doesn't that doesn't say anything
Speaker 1: about what you're going to do in January. I just
Speaker 1: don't believe that. I just believe every game in the
Speaker 1: NFL is its own single entity. And yes, the Packers
Speaker 1: didn't do everything they should have offensively to win this
Speaker 1: game against Washington, but they did enough because then they
Speaker 1: were able to put together a long seven and a
Speaker 1: half minute, fourteen play drive in the fourth quarter that
Speaker 1: finally tacked on some some more points and got that
Speaker 1: two score lead restored. Yeah. I mean, well, first and
Speaker 1: foremost this, there's thirty two teams in the league. There's
Speaker 1: sixteen games right now a week, and very few times
Speaker 1: are you're just going to have the team that's supposed
Speaker 1: to win just completely dominate. You look at New England
Speaker 1: right now, they have a lot of questions after losing
Speaker 1: to Kansas City. Seattle lays an absolute egg in l
Speaker 1: A and you know New Orleans ends up being outstruck
Speaker 1: out shot by San Francisco. So that's why the Packers
Speaker 1: are the number two seed right now if the playoffs
Speaker 1: started today, and it's because they won their game and
Speaker 1: those other teams didn't. And and and that's kind of an
Speaker 1: easy answer to that, but it's the truth. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have to win what's in front of you. That's
Speaker 1: why the green Bery Packers are in an interesting spot
Speaker 1: here with three games to go all against the division.
Speaker 1: Now that being said, the one thing that I did
Speaker 1: take away from this game was something that you and
Speaker 1: I have been talking about for weeks now, and that's
Speaker 1: that it isn't always just one particular player in this game,
Speaker 1: the Packers after the first quarter had a difficult time
Speaker 1: getting its pass game going. So then Aaron Jones re emerges.
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones re emerges as a pass catcher. His five
Speaker 1: yard catch down the sideline ended up keying that four
Speaker 1: team play drive. That was the play of the game.
Speaker 1: I thought, you're you're you're facing third and fourteen from
Speaker 1: your own seven yard line with about eight minutes left
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. It's a one score game and
Speaker 1: the uh seventeen to nine at that point. If you
Speaker 1: don't convert. There you're looking at J K. Scott punning
Speaker 1: the ball off the goal line and Washington being down
Speaker 1: just eight points getting the ball back with plenty of time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And in this maturation of Aaron Jones is a pass catcher.
Speaker 1: You've seen it throughout the season. And even though he
Speaker 1: hadn't been a firm part of that game plan for
Speaker 1: a month now, or at least hadn't been able to
Speaker 1: get the ball in that capacity in a month, Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers had the confidence to go to him in a
Speaker 1: critical situation and even rewarded him for it. It It was
Speaker 1: a picture perfect pass. But he needs to catch it,
Speaker 1: he needs to fall backwards, he needs to not drop
Speaker 1: it him, he needs to make sure he doesn't double
Speaker 1: clutch it. And he did that. And the one thing,
Speaker 1: and I tweeted this during the game. There's been highs
Speaker 1: and there have been lows this year for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers offense. The one thing that has been con
Speaker 1: instant and has been a constant since the beginning, and
Speaker 1: they are doing as well as I've ever seen during
Speaker 1: my eight years covering this thing. Their foreman an offense
Speaker 1: is really effective when they know when defense is no Okay,
Speaker 1: they're gonna need to run the ball here. The Packers
Speaker 1: can do it. They weren't even always able to do
Speaker 1: that with Eddie Lacey when he was there running back,
Speaker 1: but they can accomplish it, and they can do it
Speaker 1: with both Aaron Jones and Jemal Williams. In this particular game,
Speaker 1: it was Aaron Jones time and he he came through
Speaker 1: in spades. I mean, this is a guy now that
Speaker 1: has reset every major statistical single season record in his
Speaker 1: career and there's still three games to go. Yeah, um,
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Speaker 1: as you mentioned, Aaron Jones ended up with a hundred
Speaker 1: nine yards from scrimmage, a hundred and thirty four on
Speaker 1: the ground, fifty eight through the air. Defensively, though, I
Speaker 1: wanted to revisit one thing also with regards to this
Speaker 1: game for the Packers, it was it was interesting because
Speaker 1: because there were a couple of moments when the defense
Speaker 1: got some key stops right around midfield when it looked
Speaker 1: like Washington was potentially pushing into scoring range. They got
Speaker 1: Adrian Amos gets an interception right at the end of
Speaker 1: the first half. There's an early fourth quarter drive or
Speaker 1: Washington's right at midfield and the defense rises up and
Speaker 1: gets the stop. The funny thing is until the final
Speaker 1: drive of the game, Um that made this went the score. Sorry,
Speaker 1: the score went from twenty to fifteen. Prior to that,
Speaker 1: The only touchdown drive the Packers gave up was when
Speaker 1: they were put in the best possible field position. They
Speaker 1: had them backed up on the five yard line. The
Speaker 1: Washington comes running out with with Peterson and Guice pounding away.
Speaker 1: They hit one big pass down the field once they
Speaker 1: got across midfield. They end up scoring that but scoring
Speaker 1: on that one. But defensive the Packers gave up one
Speaker 1: drive of significance, that being that yard touched on drive.
Speaker 1: One drive of significance in the first seven possessions for Washington.
Speaker 1: Considering everything we've been talking about what the Packers defense
Speaker 1: and the explosive plays it's given up and and all
Speaker 1: of that, this was this. This was a pretty solid
Speaker 1: defensive effort. I thought Um and yes, at the end
Speaker 1: of the game. You don't like giving up a touchdown there,
Speaker 1: but you know, the Packers were in sort of that
Speaker 1: keep everything in front of you, tackle them, make the
Speaker 1: clock run, all that kind of stuff. I thought the
Speaker 1: Packers defensively played a really, really solid game, and frankly,
Speaker 1: if the offense had taken advantage of more of the situations,
Speaker 1: we would have been talking about this being a very
Speaker 1: complete victory from Packers. Yeah, they largely did what they
Speaker 1: were supposed to do in Tremont Williams. Some of the
Speaker 1: guys lamented afterwards the fact that Washington was able to
Speaker 1: march down they add some more points, actually add some
Speaker 1: more you know, they did add more points, but they
Speaker 1: added some more yards to otherwise would have looked like
Speaker 1: a very dominant defensive day. Yeah, and certainly that past
Speaker 1: that Dwayne Askins made to Terry mclauren, I mean, that
Speaker 1: is a picture perfect there's no way better in terms
Speaker 1: of a throw and a catch. Tremendous catch, going to
Speaker 1: make a lot of highlight reels. Tremendous catch by mclauren
Speaker 1: there at the end of the game. The thing that
Speaker 1: that stinks from a football purist perspective, it would have
Speaker 1: been nice if Darius Guys is still out there, because
Speaker 1: I just he's such an exciting young player, and I
Speaker 1: thought you started to see what he brings in this
Speaker 1: offense because one of the reasons why as good as
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson still is at thirty four, you know what
Speaker 1: you're getting when he's in there. I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: going to be north and south running, just smashing the mouth,
Speaker 1: and they're hoping to get enough yards on first and
Speaker 1: second down to create third and manageables and to be
Speaker 1: able to keep the ball moving. When Geiss was out there, though,
Speaker 1: there just wasn't that home run threat. And for the Packers,
Speaker 1: to their credit, I thought there was some really good
Speaker 1: alterations and adjustments that Mike Petton made going into this game.
Speaker 1: One of them was the big base package where they
Speaker 1: brought in Rashaan Gary. He was actually a third outside
Speaker 1: linebacker along with the three defensive linemen. They played with
Speaker 1: only one true cornerback. That was to match their six
Speaker 1: offensive line personnel from Washington and guys tackle. The guys
Speaker 1: stayed in the trenches. Kenny Clark had his best game,
Speaker 1: uh statistically speaking, since Week two with the one and
Speaker 1: a half sacks. Adrian Amos I thought played a whale
Speaker 1: of a ball game in interception a sack, Blake Martinez
Speaker 1: was a few penalties and a few reverses away from
Speaker 1: having like two sacks and a forced fumble, but it
Speaker 1: didn't quite go his way. I thought, Yeah, overall, defensively,
Speaker 1: it was a solid performance. It just from that first quarter.
Speaker 1: I mean, it looked like this could have been a
Speaker 1: historic performance. They just you know, Washington eventually did start
Speaker 1: to move the ball a little bit. Yeah, and uh,
Speaker 1: it felt like for the most part, the Packers stayed
Speaker 1: in control of this game. As I said, the offense
Speaker 1: not taking advantage of the opportunities that would have given
Speaker 1: the Packers more breathing room. But getting back to what
Speaker 1: you had said off the top, the special teams finding
Speaker 1: a punt return game, I tell you what I know.
Speaker 1: There was all this stuff, you know, minus eight punt
Speaker 1: return yards for the season through the first twelve games
Speaker 1: and all that. It was an ugly season statistic for
Speaker 1: the Packers, and Tyler Irvin wiped it out in one
Speaker 1: game four returns fifty one yards. He was a big
Speaker 1: reason that the Packers were starting a lot of drives
Speaker 1: at midfield. Um. You know, even if they're in between
Speaker 1: say the thirty five and forty, that's still pretty good
Speaker 1: field position. But at midfield you get a ten twelve
Speaker 1: yard return um that's even better. And what I thought,
Speaker 1: we talked about how the blocking needed to improve, and
Speaker 1: it definitely did improve, because I know on at least one,
Speaker 1: if not two of those returns, the Packers were just
Speaker 1: single blocking the gunners on the outside for Washington, and
Speaker 1: we've seen in the past where even double teaming the gunners,
Speaker 1: the Packers weren't able to get the job done, and
Speaker 1: every punt was being fair caught. Even with the single blocking.
Speaker 1: The space was there for Irvin to get up field
Speaker 1: right away, then try to make the first guy miss
Speaker 1: after the first few yards, and for him to put
Speaker 1: up fifty one punt return yards in four attempts a
Speaker 1: huge change in how the Packers return game looks here
Speaker 1: now heading heading through December. I mean, if the Packers
Speaker 1: actually can get their punt return game on a little
Speaker 1: bit of a you know streak here and get some
Speaker 1: momentum built up, they're gonna need to send a nice,
Speaker 1: you know, fruit broquet to trust Way for being willing
Speaker 1: to punt him in the middle of the field, because
Speaker 1: I thought that was critical to ye. Bill Hubert from
Speaker 1: s I may even brought up a great point all
Speaker 1: week and I didn't realize. I mean, this really goes
Speaker 1: to his scouting at this game. I mean, trust Way
Speaker 1: punts to the middle of the field. He doesn't do
Speaker 1: any directional punting, and I think he s he swings away.
Speaker 1: He leads the league in gross punting average. It's all
Speaker 1: it's all about booming him and kicking him as far
Speaker 1: as you can. And Irvin was able to get some
Speaker 1: returns off. Yeah, and it's funny too because he's still
Speaker 1: up there in net yards too. It's just that if
Speaker 1: he gives up eight or nine yards, it's punted so
Speaker 1: far that it doesn't really throw that off. So that
Speaker 1: being said, this was a game where I thought a
Speaker 1: couple of times Way out punted his coverage, and especially
Speaker 1: when they had only the single blockers, and you look
Speaker 1: at it, Irvin was able to make plays. I mean
Speaker 1: the other thing that just stands out to me, and
Speaker 1: it's no one's really going to talk about it because
Speaker 1: they don't need to, but punt return is a really
Speaker 1: difficult job and it's not glamorous. I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: reason why. You see the fact that the guys that
Speaker 1: are really good at this league get rewarded financially with
Speaker 1: accolades all that stuff, because it's just it's not an
Speaker 1: easy gig. The thing I like the most from Irvin
Speaker 1: it didn't have anything to do with the fifty one yards.
Speaker 1: It's just that he catches the ball really clean. He
Speaker 1: said he could still do it better, but I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just catching a ball cleanly on a punt return
Speaker 1: is so critical because you have to be able to
Speaker 1: hit that first step right away. And you see that
Speaker 1: with Irvin. So you understand why the Packers took a
Speaker 1: liking to this guy. Now he needs to keep it going.
Speaker 1: It was just one game, but the fact that both
Speaker 1: of the Packers touchdowns came off of returns from Irvin
Speaker 1: afterwards or beforehand, that they went and scored, uh, that's
Speaker 1: that's a real testament to him, and he shows you, Michael,
Speaker 1: why it's so important to manage the field position in
Speaker 1: these games, especially late in these seasons, when a lot
Speaker 1: of it as much as made of points and yardage
Speaker 1: and production and takeaways, it's those hidden yards on the
Speaker 1: actual field position that sometimes can turn a game one
Speaker 1: way or another, especially when it gets close in the postseason. Well,
Speaker 1: I think what I like the most about Irvin is
Speaker 1: that his first step every time he caught the punt
Speaker 1: was forward. So he was he was just he was
Speaker 1: he was taking what was there immediately, and you could
Speaker 1: see as he caught the ball there was all he had,
Speaker 1: all the confidence in the world and how he was
Speaker 1: catching and securing the ball. He's just getting up field
Speaker 1: immediately and getting what is there. And yeah, a ten
Speaker 1: yard punt return, and you know, and we're you know,
Speaker 1: we're obviously talking it up because the Packers just hadn't
Speaker 1: done anything like that all season long. But when you
Speaker 1: do it three or four times in a game, yeah,
Speaker 1: that adds up to some of those hidden yards. And
Speaker 1: just the fact that he's taking what was there, not
Speaker 1: trying to, you know, dodge three or four guys at
Speaker 1: the spot of the punt and then try to make
Speaker 1: something happen. Well, by then everybody else is down there
Speaker 1: and you're pretty much a dead duck. So um, I
Speaker 1: just like the way he approached it. He got the
Speaker 1: yards that was there. He helped out the Packers field
Speaker 1: position game, and and I think this is going to
Speaker 1: be an important player here for the Packers down and
Speaker 1: the Packers blocked to clean too. There were no there
Speaker 1: were no blocks in the back, there was no holding
Speaker 1: off the line of scrimmage. They just I think they
Speaker 1: haven't been rewarded with the big returns yet. But I
Speaker 1: thought over the last month, you've seen them cut down
Speaker 1: on the mistakes and the mental errors and the things
Speaker 1: that really hurt you because you saw it happen to
Speaker 1: Washington in this game. The Washington had some kickoff returns
Speaker 1: brought back some yards because they just you know, they
Speaker 1: had those penalties that just kind of really, you know,
Speaker 1: shoot you in the foot. So if they can get
Speaker 1: Irvan going here, and we didn't get to see him
Speaker 1: on kickoff returns because they all got they all were
Speaker 1: touchbacks well into the end zone. But Mason Crosby and J. K.
Speaker 1: Scott have had their moments this here at Crosby has
Speaker 1: been playing at a Pro Bowl level, but it's just
Speaker 1: the return unit has been the one that has just
Speaker 1: been lacking. If you can bring that up here down
Speaker 1: the stretch that is, I think that's really something that
Speaker 1: can give you some energy and something boost you know,
Speaker 1: on some of these offensive possessions. Yeah. Well, we will
Speaker 1: continue to review this game on tomorrow's show, but for
Speaker 1: now we do have to go. That's a wrap on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers Unscript. Would be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com,
Speaker 1: subscribed to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services,
Speaker 1: and be sure to check out the Packers YouTube channel
Speaker 1: for Wes I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in everybody. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next time.