Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting next to the one and
Speaker 1: only West Hot Cooits were coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studios at landbeau Field. This show truly is unscripted.
Speaker 1: I did not see that coming. All right, Wes, We're
Speaker 1: a couple of days removed now from the Packers victory
Speaker 1: at Arrowhead Stadium over the Kansas City Chiefs, and Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: as usual, the day after a game, has his press conference.
Speaker 1: He actually gave the players what's called a victory Monday,
Speaker 1: where they weren't totally totally off on Monday leading into
Speaker 1: their regular day off on Tuesday, but the responsibilities very minimal.
Speaker 1: A lot of meetings got pushed back to Wednesday morning,
Speaker 1: so the players getting a bit of a break. One
Speaker 1: of the topics at la Fleur's press conference was his mentality,
Speaker 1: his approach with the team, the whole going one to
Speaker 1: know every week, staying focused on you know that game
Speaker 1: right in front of you. It's an it's an old adage,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a worn out cliche. But I wrote
Speaker 1: about this on our website and looking at this Packers team,
Speaker 1: the two thousand nineteen Green Bay Packers. It's this approach
Speaker 1: is working, and it's interesting to me that it's working,
Speaker 1: because this is not a team with a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of NFL veterans who have chalked up all kinds of
Speaker 1: playoff victories and winning seasons. And it's not a roster
Speaker 1: of fifty three guys that necessarily knows what it takes
Speaker 1: to do that in the NFL, to to deal with
Speaker 1: the long haul and the grind and the week after
Speaker 1: week and staying focused on what's in front of you. Yet, Um,
Speaker 1: that's what these guys have done. And they're at the
Speaker 1: midway point and their seven and one and uh whatever.
Speaker 1: The message that Lafleur is delivering is definitely sinking in. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really interesting thing that you
Speaker 1: brought up in your story today or last night on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com. You know, forty two of the fifty
Speaker 1: three guys on this roster right now weren't even on
Speaker 1: the two thousand and sixteen NFC Championship game team. Um
Speaker 1: that shows you, I mean that. You know, there's been
Speaker 1: nine draft classes since the Packers won the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: in two thousand ten. So, yeah, the mentality needs to shift.
Speaker 1: There needs to be sort of a rejuvenation of this roster.
Speaker 1: And you know, I was thinking about this too, and
Speaker 1: it might even be something that leads to a story
Speaker 1: here in the next couple of days or weeks. Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones didn't win a lot in college and then he had,
Speaker 1: you know, to below five seasons to start his NFL career.
Speaker 1: Suddenly he's seven and one for what I imagine might
Speaker 1: be the first time since high school, even if they
Speaker 1: had that much success back then when him and Elvin Jr.
Speaker 1: Were playing for Burgess High School and El Paso Texas
Speaker 1: al Paso. But you know, I think if you would
Speaker 1: have come out if Matt Lafour's message, not that he
Speaker 1: would have ever done this or any coach would really
Speaker 1: do this, but if his message going into the Chicago
Speaker 1: game to start the season hundred season of the NFL
Speaker 1: is I want to be seven and one at the
Speaker 1: midway point in the season, everybody would be kind of like, oh, shoot, man,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a big lofty goal. You could have
Speaker 1: a team coming off of a Super Bowl and not
Speaker 1: you know, be able to attain such a goal. But
Speaker 1: when you look at it. You're taken in bits and pieces.
Speaker 1: There's an old phrase that a good friend of mine,
Speaker 1: Jody Van Landen as Schwabon wrestling coach, always used to
Speaker 1: use when I was covering preps. You know, basically seeing
Speaker 1: you know, you're you're you're eating the elephant, and you
Speaker 1: know it's one bite at a time. You can't take
Speaker 1: the whole thing, and right at the beginning. And I
Speaker 1: look at that in this situation and that perspective and
Speaker 1: that vision is that you're seven and one and you've
Speaker 1: earned every single one of those victories, and you've done
Speaker 1: it in a week to week capacity, and when you
Speaker 1: have a roster of a lot of young guys that
Speaker 1: haven't been to this level before, haven't seen this amount
Speaker 1: of success in this league, you know, I think that's
Speaker 1: the right approach. And it's for my money, one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why I think Matt la Floor, like I
Speaker 1: said at the end of yesterday's show, deserves to be
Speaker 1: in that conversation right now for NFL Coach of the Year. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think I took a look at the roster construction
Speaker 1: and putting that story together because I thought it was
Speaker 1: really interesting. I mean, you and I have been here
Speaker 1: a long time. You get used to a lot of
Speaker 1: people around here got used to the Packers being in
Speaker 1: the playoffs every year. It was a great run. Nine
Speaker 1: straight playoff appearances, nine or eight again eight sorry, eight
Speaker 1: straight playoff appearances. Yeah, well we'll see um. But then
Speaker 1: you know, you have two losing seasons back to back,
Speaker 1: and obviously a lot of different reasons, A lot went
Speaker 1: into that. But you look at the roster. Thirty one
Speaker 1: thirty one of the fifty three players were not even
Speaker 1: in the NFL when the Packers went to the NFC
Speaker 1: championship game in two thousands sixteen. Then eleven additional players,
Speaker 1: veteran players who are here, we're not on that particular
Speaker 1: Packers two thousand sixteen team. And I think, I think
Speaker 1: the dynamic, and this is a little bit of assumption
Speaker 1: on my part, but I think part of the dynamic
Speaker 1: that's making this work is you have a first year
Speaker 1: coach whose message is sinking in, certainly sinking in to
Speaker 1: that bevy of young players on this roster, But you
Speaker 1: also have the veterans. Yes, you have your Mason Crosby's
Speaker 1: and you'r Aaron Rodgers who have been a part of
Speaker 1: a lot of success in Green Bay. But you also
Speaker 1: those other veterans who are not here for the successful
Speaker 1: season that that ended in Atlanta. You have your Marcedes Lewis,
Speaker 1: you have your Za Darius Smith's, you have your Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham's um even Tremont Williams who was in Green Bay
Speaker 1: and left and came back. Those are guys who have
Speaker 1: been a part of successful postseason runs either elsewhere earlier
Speaker 1: in their careers, however you want to phrase it. And
Speaker 1: their message in the locker room is backing up what
Speaker 1: Matt what Matt Lafleur is preaching to his team about
Speaker 1: going want to know every week and staying focused on
Speaker 1: that game that's right in front of you and preparing
Speaker 1: every putting everything you have preparation wise into that one game.
Speaker 1: Because Frankly, West, that's how you That's how you answer
Speaker 1: the bell when the Detroit Lions come into lambeau Field
Speaker 1: on a Monday night and jump on you tend to nothing.
Speaker 1: That's how you answer the bell when your fourteen nothing
Speaker 1: lead at Arrowhead Stadium is wiped out almost in a flash,
Speaker 1: and you're down fourteen to start the second half. This
Speaker 1: team has shown an ability to respond. And I don't
Speaker 1: think a team can respond in those situations like that
Speaker 1: if it's worried about the big picture, if it's worried
Speaker 1: about anything other than that game that is right in
Speaker 1: front of it, either from a preparation standpoint or in
Speaker 1: the moment. And it's working for this group, it really is.
Speaker 1: And it's funny. If you ever want to have an
Speaker 1: interest in conversation is what I've had, I think once
Speaker 1: or twice this year. It was with Tremont Williams. Truman
Speaker 1: Williams hasn't been to the playoffs since the NFC Championship
Speaker 1: game in two thousand fourteen, and I think there was
Speaker 1: a certain part of him that was wondering. You know,
Speaker 1: he obviously when he resigned with Green Bay, that was
Speaker 1: one of his motivating factors. You want to have one
Speaker 1: more chance to make a run into Super Bowl Ring.
Speaker 1: But when the season goes like it did last year
Speaker 1: and then suddenly you're thirty six, I mean you're starting
Speaker 1: to see the horizon there a little bit, and then
Speaker 1: suddenly here we are at seven and one at this
Speaker 1: juncture of the season, and and you know, as much
Speaker 1: momentum and you know, feelings as the packers have right
Speaker 1: now what this potentially could become for this roster. But
Speaker 1: as you said, I mean, I think that's one thing
Speaker 1: that really stands out to me the most. When you know,
Speaker 1: you look at this entire roster, piece by piece, brick
Speaker 1: by brick. You know, there's a lot of guys that
Speaker 1: are hungry, and they all have their different reasons. You
Speaker 1: think about Jimmy Graham and in his continued search for
Speaker 1: a you know, a Super Bowl ring. You think about,
Speaker 1: you know, the young guys in this roster like Jyry
Speaker 1: Alexander that you know, they want to play winning football.
Speaker 1: They want to be a part of that. And you know,
Speaker 1: even you know, like at the receiver position, Davante Adams
Speaker 1: has seen this offense, has seen this roster at its
Speaker 1: best um two thousand, fourteen and sixteen. That's the stuff
Speaker 1: that I think when you look at the entire it's
Speaker 1: what makes football special. Because in the n b A
Speaker 1: certainly you can go and sign a guy and bring
Speaker 1: them in and you know, maybe it was Jason Terry
Speaker 1: with the Bucks a few years ago that you know,
Speaker 1: had some pelts on the wall and had a you know,
Speaker 1: an NBA ring tattoo on his shoulder. But you know
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys, unless you experience it, you
Speaker 1: don't know what it's like. But with football, there's so
Speaker 1: many guys in those locker rooms that somebody has a story,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody you know has had their heart ripped out,
Speaker 1: some somebody has triumphed. And I think it was about
Speaker 1: two or three weeks ago Aaron Rodgers talked about it
Speaker 1: as locker I mean, there's probably on one hand right
Speaker 1: now guys that have a Super Bowl ring in that
Speaker 1: locker room. And for Matt Lafleur, now he's also a
Speaker 1: guy that has been at the pinnacle of his coaching
Speaker 1: profession and seen, you know, what those big games are
Speaker 1: like as a coordinator and as a position coach. So yeah,
Speaker 1: he was. He was a coach who was in a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and on the verge of winning a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl just three years ago with Atlanta in sen when
Speaker 1: obviously the last time the Packers also had a successful season.
Speaker 1: So I think when you go into a year like this,
Speaker 1: when I think there's as many doubters as they had,
Speaker 1: whether it was Aaron Rodgers, whether it was the Fleur,
Speaker 1: whether it was just this entire makeup of this roster.
Speaker 1: If this was all gonna work, Um, you know, Kevin King,
Speaker 1: can he be a starting cornerback for this team. There's
Speaker 1: just so many different things that people wanted to throw
Speaker 1: on this football team. And the reason why, I mean,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that they're sitting here
Speaker 1: at seven and one is because of their faith in
Speaker 1: that locker room. Now, certainly they've had it, you know,
Speaker 1: they haven't been challenged a lot with adversity. There's been
Speaker 1: a couple instances and the you know, those roadblocks will
Speaker 1: eventually come and you have to deal with them then.
Speaker 1: But it's a lot easier to deal with Mike when
Speaker 1: you're five six, seven games above five hundred, and that's
Speaker 1: the position the Packers have put themselves in. At the
Speaker 1: mid quarter pole? Would you say that? Is that right?
Speaker 1: The mid quarter pole the season? The second quarter poll
Speaker 1: the season? No, I just called I just called the
Speaker 1: midway point. You always use that, you always, like, I know,
Speaker 1: I always I always would say quarter pole, But I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get it. Once you get past that, you
Speaker 1: can't use that anymore. Sorry, I should have warned I
Speaker 1: liked my mid quarter pole phrase. I might work that
Speaker 1: one into inbox here you have the freedom to do that.
Speaker 1: But you're halfway through the regular season. Now it goes
Speaker 1: just like that, and you know, you look at Atlanta
Speaker 1: and some of these teams that are struggling. You have
Speaker 1: to be grateful for what you have today. Packers going
Speaker 1: to l A now with a chance to pick up
Speaker 1: their eighth win. YEA. One other point I want to
Speaker 1: make too, there's some interesting dynamics with the new players
Speaker 1: that were brought in here. A couple of them that
Speaker 1: I didn't mention when you talk about their history in
Speaker 1: the NFL, their pedigree, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1: You know, Preston Smith, he makes the playoffs as a rookie.
Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken in Washington, he hasn't been back.
Speaker 1: Got bounced by the Packers. Yeah, bounced by the Packers
Speaker 1: as a rookie, but didn't make it back to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Now he's in year five trying to get that that
Speaker 1: haste of the postseason and make a run. Adrian Amos
Speaker 1: finally makes it to the playoffs in his fourth year
Speaker 1: with the Chicago Bears. They win the NFC North, They
Speaker 1: get bounced right away in the first round. He decides
Speaker 1: to obviously go go another way with free agency. He
Speaker 1: comes to Green Bay, but he just got a taste
Speaker 1: of it and wants to keep it going. To me,
Speaker 1: it's as you say, every guy has a story, and
Speaker 1: I think I think a lot of those stories in
Speaker 1: in the packers locker room are are adding up to
Speaker 1: just a really interesting mix as to what's going on.
Speaker 1: I smell an inbox headline too, by the way. Okay,
Speaker 1: I think either whether it's you or me, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you want to take that one, feel free. But
Speaker 1: I think that can definitely work for an inbox headline. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's absolutely true. And you know, one
Speaker 1: more thing I just want to touch on before we
Speaker 1: move on. It was another aspect of your story that
Speaker 1: I was reading that I think is really critical when
Speaker 1: you look at how this team is constructed, specifically on
Speaker 1: the offensive side the ball. Matt Lafleur was asked about, Okay,
Speaker 1: you had these emerging weapons. Now when you look at
Speaker 1: what Aaron Jones and went Jamal Williams have done, what
Speaker 1: are you gonna do with all these pieces? Once Stavante
Speaker 1: Adams is back in the fold. He said, it's a
Speaker 1: good problem to have. It is a you know, it
Speaker 1: is an issue they're gonna have to figure out. But
Speaker 1: what I really like about the maturation process of both
Speaker 1: Jones and Williams they also know how to operate when
Speaker 1: they don't get the touches. I'm not saying they won't
Speaker 1: get touches, but it's not like, Okay, you're going to
Speaker 1: a game plan. You know, I gotta feed Aaron Jones.
Speaker 1: He has to touch the ball twenty times. Jamal has
Speaker 1: to get the ball fifteen times. It's just the way
Speaker 1: it has to be. It's the only way we're gonna
Speaker 1: make this thing work. Those guys are just incredibly flexible
Speaker 1: with how they use them and they don't get pushy
Speaker 1: about it. That's I think, ultimately what can make this
Speaker 1: offense it's most dangerous. There's a lot of unselfish ball players,
Speaker 1: and it's led by that number seventeen in that room
Speaker 1: and the receivers, and I think at the same time,
Speaker 1: the other the other perimeter weapons the Packers have. We'll
Speaker 1: see if Davante Adams is back this week or whenever
Speaker 1: he does come back, but I think part of the
Speaker 1: message at that point is going to be not for
Speaker 1: the rest of these guys to you know, take a
Speaker 1: deep breath and go, Okay, you know Davante's back. It's like, no,
Speaker 1: stay as hungry as you've been for getting the ball
Speaker 1: and for the touches. Yes, you have to be you
Speaker 1: have to be a team player, but you have to
Speaker 1: maintain that hunger and that awareness and that alertness as
Speaker 1: to when your opportunity is going to come, because they're
Speaker 1: still going to be more opportunities down the road. And
Speaker 1: what has happened the last four weeks and getting all
Speaker 1: these other guys involved as we talked about the Packers
Speaker 1: want to make that payoff down the road when those
Speaker 1: guys individually need to answer the bell in the future. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I guarantee you right now, Mike, the Packers are
Speaker 1: not going to have an empty injury report in week
Speaker 1: sixteen or seventeen. Question, there's gonna be players you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to persevere on without. It's just the way that
Speaker 1: you know this game is played, the way the league
Speaker 1: is constructed. But the nice thing for the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers is there now, two weeks away from their bye week,
Speaker 1: they're at seven and one and for the most part,
Speaker 1: despite a few nixs and bruises, have had most of
Speaker 1: their complementary pieces, and when you didn't have that big
Speaker 1: one in Davante Adams, they've still found a way to win. Yeh,
Speaker 1: keep keep on winning. Well, let's review a little bit
Speaker 1: of what happened in Week eight in the nf fell.
Speaker 1: I think the place to start is the game I
Speaker 1: think that's most interesting to Packers fans because it involved
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears and Green Bay's upcoming opponent to Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Chargers, seventeen to sixteen at Soldier Field. The Chargers
Speaker 1: squeak out of victory, the Bears dropped below five hundred
Speaker 1: at three and four. You want to know how quickly
Speaker 1: things can turn in the NFL, just look at the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. They've gone in half a season. They've gone
Speaker 1: from the defending NFC North champions to last place in
Speaker 1: the division, just like that. I mean, and I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that the season is over for the Bears by
Speaker 1: any means. They're still They only have seven games and
Speaker 1: they've still got nine left to go. They have plenty
Speaker 1: of time to figure this out. But the Bears lose
Speaker 1: on a last second missed field goal by Eddie Pinero.
Speaker 1: Really strange games when you take a look at the
Speaker 1: highlights of this one. Both these teams. The kickers were
Speaker 1: missing field goals. Both teams were getting the ball inside
Speaker 1: the ten, inside the five goal to go situations and
Speaker 1: nobody could punch it in. They kept having to settle
Speaker 1: for those chip shot field goals. That's why the score
Speaker 1: ended up seventeen to sixteen. Both of these teams were
Speaker 1: absolutely desperate for a victory in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: and the Chargers for everything that's gone wrong late in
Speaker 1: games for them multiple times this year. They finally caught
Speaker 1: a break and the missed field goal gives Los Angeles
Speaker 1: a three and five record now heading into the matchup
Speaker 1: with Green Bay. You know, the one thing, uh, you
Speaker 1: mentioned the fact that obviously they've had some issues with
Speaker 1: kickers in this game. You know, the Chargers, they've kind
Speaker 1: of been thrown in a bad spot because of Michael
Speaker 1: Bagley and his injury. I mean, he was one of
Speaker 1: the top kickers in the league last year. I did
Speaker 1: talk to him at the combine two years ago. I
Speaker 1: just want to put that out there, um, and they've
Speaker 1: kind of had to throw their cards up in the air,
Speaker 1: and you know, makes sense of all this. The Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears is nothing new. This has been a storyline that
Speaker 1: has followed them for a better part of you know what,
Speaker 1: two years now, two and a half years at this
Speaker 1: juncture of it, and whenever they decided to move on
Speaker 1: from Robbie Gold, which obviously looks like an extremely poor
Speaker 1: decision on their part because they haven't they haven't been
Speaker 1: able to make it work. Yeah, and I've said since
Speaker 1: the beginning, especially when there was this kicking competition, I
Speaker 1: wish Sham ficking well in the Jets, But once you
Speaker 1: know what you have, you don't want to start making
Speaker 1: questions at that position. And credit to both Ted Thompson
Speaker 1: with Mason Crosby in two thousand twelve, in thirteen and
Speaker 1: now Brian Gudun said they've stayed true to their kicker.
Speaker 1: Stand by your kicker. But here's the other thing. As
Speaker 1: far as the Chicago Bears are concerned, a lot was
Speaker 1: made out of the decision at the end of that game.
Speaker 1: I understand why Matt Negie did what he did. Would
Speaker 1: I have run the ball? I think I would have. Um. Now,
Speaker 1: if you have Adam Venytari in his prime, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's just like get him the ball at the
Speaker 1: right hash mark from forty one yards out. You have
Speaker 1: the confidence absolutely that's not the deck they're playing with
Speaker 1: though right now. And I think even if it was
Speaker 1: an extra yard or two, as it showed with with
Speaker 1: Pinero doinking it off, was it the right, upright, left,
Speaker 1: up right? Yeah, his his first field goal attempt the
Speaker 1: day early in the game, he clanked it off the
Speaker 1: upright from basically extra point distance. Now you're another eight
Speaker 1: yards back from that. You're relying on him to make
Speaker 1: a forty one yard or I think the question to
Speaker 1: to take a knee there was. It was a highly
Speaker 1: questionable decision because again, let's be real here, this has
Speaker 1: Soldier Field there there, you're right on the lake, there's
Speaker 1: there are winds. This is not an easy place to
Speaker 1: kick if any time you are outside of extra point
Speaker 1: distance in a stadium like that and you're not smacked out,
Speaker 1: even if you are in the middle of the field
Speaker 1: from forty yards anything anything thirty five plus that Soldier
Speaker 1: field can be an adventure at any given moment, And
Speaker 1: certainly with the position the Bears are in and the
Speaker 1: fact that Pinero had already missed one earlier in the game,
Speaker 1: I just think you have to you have to try
Speaker 1: to get as close as possible and not just concede
Speaker 1: that you're going to kick a forty plus yard or there.
Speaker 1: And and uh Naggie obviously has has gone on the
Speaker 1: defensive with it. Certainly his his prerogative, He's going to
Speaker 1: defend his decision, but I think perfectly within anyone's rights
Speaker 1: to question it. Well. And the way this is gonna
Speaker 1: play out now for the Bears is they have one
Speaker 1: of the hardest schedules in the second half of the
Speaker 1: season really of any team in the NFL. They get
Speaker 1: that divisional uh you know, reward or whatever you wanna
Speaker 1: call it, where you gotta take on the top those
Speaker 1: those first place teams, first place teams from a year ago.
Speaker 1: So they're gonna have the Philadelphia Eagles here coming up.
Speaker 1: There's there's a lot of questions there the Bears are
Speaker 1: gonna have to answer, and it doesn't get any easier,
Speaker 1: especially with the Eagles coming off of a pretty big
Speaker 1: win against the Buffalo Bills. Um, I'll look at this
Speaker 1: whole thing, Mike, and it's just interesting to me and
Speaker 1: that the way this season is playing out, you have
Speaker 1: undefeated teams, you have winless teams, we could very well
Speaker 1: have the first season, you know, since maybe ever that
Speaker 1: you're gonna end up having two winless teams. That's potential
Speaker 1: the way that this plan out with Cincinnati right now,
Speaker 1: and then obviously the issue that Miami's working through. But
Speaker 1: the I mean, you look at this Cincinnati in Miami
Speaker 1: play each they let me look. But as I'm looking
Speaker 1: at that, the fact of the matter is this NFC
Speaker 1: race is just incredible to watch. I mean San Francisco, uh,
Speaker 1: just walloping Carolina and then you look at you know,
Speaker 1: the way that New Orleans was able to stem the
Speaker 1: tide to get back to Drew Brees, and Drew Brees
Speaker 1: looks like he never left in that game. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's incredible how that works out. They do play
Speaker 1: each other in Week sixteen. There you go. I got
Speaker 1: ahead of myself there. Sorry, but the NFC race is compelling,
Speaker 1: and I think a couple of guys talked about in
Speaker 1: the locker room after the game. I mean, with Minnesota
Speaker 1: winning again, the Packers have to keep winning, and you know,
Speaker 1: the more wins you stack up, obviously you're trying to
Speaker 1: win your division, but that's also going to keep you
Speaker 1: at the head of that wild card race and trying
Speaker 1: to keep you within arms reach out the first round
Speaker 1: by So a lot on line for for all these teams,
Speaker 1: but certainly a lot of very talented teams in the
Speaker 1: NFC that are contending for spots right now. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and we and we saw the Detroit Lions get back
Speaker 1: on track in the NFC North Matthew Stafford with another
Speaker 1: big game. I mean, there's some things out there you
Speaker 1: look at you look at what Stafford is doing at quarterback.
Speaker 1: The Lions are right in this thing at three three
Speaker 1: and one. They've already had their by but they have
Speaker 1: nine games left and they're going to have opportunities to
Speaker 1: uh to state their case and uh and to be
Speaker 1: talked about amongst the the NFC playoff contenders. They're they're,
Speaker 1: you know, as as a five hundred team right now.
Speaker 1: They're they're on the fringe. But you look at what
Speaker 1: Stafford is doing on a weekly basis, west and and
Speaker 1: you know, we all know what a hot quarterback can
Speaker 1: do for any team. And yes, they still they can't
Speaker 1: find a running game and their best running back is
Speaker 1: now injured. Carry On Johnson is is on the injured list.
Speaker 1: But um, the Detroit Lions that it's a team to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on. Yeah, and I really I think
Speaker 1: you got to tip your cab to Matthew Stafford too,
Speaker 1: because if you don't have a running game, all eyes
Speaker 1: are on you. And he's dealt with it a lot
Speaker 1: over the years, over the last decade and trait Carson
Speaker 1: started this game for Detroit and he was on the
Speaker 1: Packers practice squad two weeks ago, So I mean, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of pressures on him, but he's finding
Speaker 1: a way to make it work. I've talked about a
Speaker 1: numerous times, Kenny Golladay looks like a really talented player.
Speaker 1: At the time we're taping this, there's still a lot
Speaker 1: to happen with the NFL trade deadline. Yes, there's some
Speaker 1: overtures out there, some rumors in induendo that you know,
Speaker 1: maybe they had potentially be willing to move Darius Slay.
Speaker 1: I think that would be a mistake. That would be
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean that's one of your biggest pieces, uh,
Speaker 1: in terms of they make a big enough mistake last
Speaker 1: year when they moved on from Golden Tate, I mean
Speaker 1: they took Matthew Matthew Stafford's most comfortable target based on
Speaker 1: the eighteen season, and they just moved on from him
Speaker 1: and and then their season went nowhere. So if they're
Speaker 1: if maybe they're just looking for the King's ransom or whatever.
Speaker 1: But even you're you're still in this thing and you've
Speaker 1: got a quarterback in his prime. I'm just I'm just
Speaker 1: not understanding the idea of moving on from quality pieces.
Speaker 1: So do I have a do you have a minute
Speaker 1: to ask you a question here? What do you think
Speaker 1: of the fact that two of the best teams in
Speaker 1: the league right now, San Francisco and Baltimore have basically
Speaker 1: turned the clock all the way back to nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: with these rushing, heavy offenses. I think, what do you
Speaker 1: make of it? I think it's great. I think it's
Speaker 1: I think it's forcing. I think it's forcing teams in
Speaker 1: a one week preparation scenario. And the Packers are going
Speaker 1: to be dealing with this. The Packers will have their
Speaker 1: bye week before the San Francisco game, but in a
Speaker 1: one week preparation scenario to get ready for something that
Speaker 1: you don't see on a regular basis. It's like what
Speaker 1: goes on in college football when you have that one
Speaker 1: game where you have to face like the triple option
Speaker 1: offense and you you're not going to see that at
Speaker 1: any other time. I mean, that's a little bit of
Speaker 1: an extreme example. But what these teams, what these teams
Speaker 1: are doing, the way they're the way they're pounding the football,
Speaker 1: using quarterbacks in different ways, um obviously playing playing stout defense.
Speaker 1: The it's a preparation challenge and uh and those teams
Speaker 1: are taking advantage of the fact that they are they
Speaker 1: are making themselves difficult to prepare for. Can you win
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl that way? I don't know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it is It is a big It is a big
Speaker 1: question because because in January, and you know, in the
Speaker 1: playoffs it comes down to making big plays and making
Speaker 1: a lot of big plays at crunch time in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter of making things happen. You can't. It's really
Speaker 1: difficult in this league when you're facing the elite teams,
Speaker 1: with the elite quarterbacks and with where you know offenses
Speaker 1: have been heading for the last ten to fifteen years,
Speaker 1: it's very difficult to sort of just grind a team
Speaker 1: to dust, so to speak. When it comes to January.
Speaker 1: You can win a lot of games in the regular season,
Speaker 1: as I say, being a preparation challenge, but then how
Speaker 1: that carries over to the postseason is sort of the
Speaker 1: let's wait and see mode, at least for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've seen more of San Francisco than Baltimore this year,
Speaker 1: but San Francisco has been incredibly disciplined and that helps
Speaker 1: them and how they're able to succeed. The reason why
Speaker 1: I think it's a fascinating way to play football though,
Speaker 1: because if you look at this past week, I mean
Speaker 1: they think they had three different guys that had ten
Speaker 1: carries or something like that. It's great when you're ahead.
Speaker 1: If you fall behind, that's a challenging way to play
Speaker 1: the game, and then when you get to the end
Speaker 1: of the season, you're playing the best teams. I'm fascinated
Speaker 1: by San Francisco. I love what Kyle Shanahan's doing. Really
Speaker 1: curious and we're gonna be able to see it up
Speaker 1: close and personally here in a month. But very curious
Speaker 1: to see where that train takes them, because it's an
Speaker 1: intriguing different look at this league that we haven't seen
Speaker 1: in a number of years. Yeah, well, we'll have an
Speaker 1: interesting discussion on tomorrow's show. Looking a little bit more
Speaker 1: closely at the Chargers because they've decided to move on
Speaker 1: from their offensive coordinator, Ken wizzen Hunt has been fired,
Speaker 1: so some changes in the coaching structure there, but we
Speaker 1: will get to that on tomorrow's show. For now, it's
Speaker 1: a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. You should
Speaker 1: have follow all of our coverage of the team on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com. You can subscribe to us, like us
Speaker 1: on iTunes and other podcast services. On Twitter, He's at
Speaker 1: west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the
Speaker 1: team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.
Speaker 1: H