Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague West and Hot Koitz. We are
Speaker 1: coming to you old school. I guess you could say,
Speaker 1: little did I know? When I powered through last Thursday's
Speaker 1: episode with that terrible voice, it was just the start
Speaker 1: of something not good for me to come back into
Speaker 1: the office just yet. So we pulled out the technology
Speaker 1: that helped us out in the past and uh, and
Speaker 1: we're back on the air, West, and this time it's
Speaker 1: to talk about a Packers victory nineteen over the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears at Soldier Field. And when you start the discussion
Speaker 1: of this game, it all starts with the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: because through the first three quarters this game was not
Speaker 1: looking good for Green Bay. No, it wasn't, Mike, and
Speaker 1: I was sitting there, you know, especially when Chicago's driving again,
Speaker 1: and you're kind of thinking, like, man, even if the
Speaker 1: Packers get some answers here, are they going to be
Speaker 1: able to stop them defensively? But in al Lazar talked
Speaker 1: about in the postgame locker room, there were so many
Speaker 1: parallels between this game in the Dallas game last month
Speaker 1: where they actually had the first comeback in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter into me I mean between the special teams coming
Speaker 1: through with the block field goal, jyr Alexander getting an interception.
Speaker 1: You know, he got burned twice on those deep completions.
Speaker 1: He bounces back, responds the way you want to see
Speaker 1: him respond, gets a big pick and the Packers scoring
Speaker 1: points off of that pick, and certainly, you know Christian
Speaker 1: Watson once again doing his heroics late to really put
Speaker 1: this thing on ice for green Bay. All season long,
Speaker 1: like thirteen games, they've been trying to find a complimentary performance.
Speaker 1: I felt like in all three phases they found it
Speaker 1: at Soldier Field. Yeah, it finally came together there down
Speaker 1: the stretch, and as you said, the complimentary performance. When
Speaker 1: things started happening green Bay's way in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: they kept going that direction. I thought to a couple
Speaker 1: of key turning points in this one for the offense.
Speaker 1: I thought, when Christian Watson drew that past interference penalty
Speaker 1: thirty eight yards, Packers were down at at that point
Speaker 1: in the game nineteen to ten I believe was the score.
Speaker 1: That thirty eight yard pass interference penalty then set up
Speaker 1: the twenty one yard touchdown run by A. J. Dillon.
Speaker 1: Suddenly it felt like a brand new game at that point.
Speaker 1: And then on the defensive side, you mentioned Alexander had
Speaker 1: gotten burned for a couple of big plays. The Packers
Speaker 1: also early in the game got burned for a big
Speaker 1: play when Justin Fields ran for a fifty five yard touchdown. Packers,
Speaker 1: they they're giving up too many big plays still, But
Speaker 1: I thought the turning point was the response to the
Speaker 1: big catch by n Kiel Harry down the sideline, which
Speaker 1: was the second time that Alexander had gotten beat deep.
Speaker 1: The defense rose up three plays to force a field goal,
Speaker 1: and then on top of that, Dean Lowry blocks field
Speaker 1: goal to keep the score nineteen to seventeen. There, We've
Speaker 1: seen so many times over the course of the season,
Speaker 1: when the Packers defense has given up a big play,
Speaker 1: it hasn't responded to that well, to that very well,
Speaker 1: and it has almost always led to points and often
Speaker 1: touchdowns for the opponent. That sequence right there, I thought
Speaker 1: was was a big step forward in in winning this
Speaker 1: game and completing a comeback that was actually thirteen points
Speaker 1: in the first half when the Packers were down sixteen
Speaker 1: to three. Yeah, They've had some monumental comebacks here. When
Speaker 1: you look at I think last month with the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: that was the first time the Cowboys had lost the
Speaker 1: game in the fourth quarter where they've been up, I
Speaker 1: think they're like a hundred fifty and oh by fourteen
Speaker 1: points where they've had that type of lead. The Packers
Speaker 1: came back from it, same thing, and this one, I
Speaker 1: mean there never that's I think the largest comeback the
Speaker 1: Packers have had at Soldier Field against the Bears. So
Speaker 1: it speaks to the mental toughness of that team. But
Speaker 1: you wrote about it in your Monday Morning Insider inbox.
Speaker 1: You know, Dean Lowry is really the unsung hero of
Speaker 1: this game one. You know, we could talk about the
Speaker 1: block field goal here in a minute, but Kenny Clark
Speaker 1: was the one to point this out in the postgame
Speaker 1: locker room. I thought it was worth mentioning because so
Speaker 1: many eyes were on Equinomius st Brown catching that fifty
Speaker 1: six yard against Jerr Alexander. But on that play, seconds
Speaker 1: milliseconds before Fields throws a ball, Dean Lowry lays him out,
Speaker 1: gets a really nice hit on him. And after that
Speaker 1: first quarter where they gave up seventy one rushing yards
Speaker 1: to Justin Fields. Luke getsy Fields. They were not running
Speaker 1: him anymore after that. They asked him to be more
Speaker 1: of a pocket type quarterback. That allowed the Packers to
Speaker 1: hone in a little bit on David Montgomery and other
Speaker 1: than that explosive in the second half to Harry Really,
Speaker 1: I thought that for the most part, the defense played
Speaker 1: really well. Getting back to that field goal, though, my goodness,
Speaker 1: if the Bears get points there, if they go up
Speaker 1: by five at that point, Green Bay Packers, they're not
Speaker 1: in a position that in Mason Crosby thirty two yard
Speaker 1: or is gonna put down. Then you know, the Packers
Speaker 1: get into scoring territory, they're gonna go for it. You're
Speaker 1: not gonna kick a field goal at that stage if
Speaker 1: you're down by points. And in terms of the Packers
Speaker 1: needing to find some type of answer, needing a phase
Speaker 1: like special teams to really pick them up, uh, it
Speaker 1: was incredibly required. Because yes, you had the force fumble
Speaker 1: early on from Mussul Douglas, you had it recovered by
Speaker 1: Rudy Ford. The Packers weren't able to get points off
Speaker 1: of that drive. At the end of that game, Green
Speaker 1: Bay when I talked about complimentary football, not only did
Speaker 1: they create takeaways, not only did they make big plays
Speaker 1: and phases where you're not necessarily going into a game
Speaker 1: expecting a Dean Lowery block. It's what the Packers did
Speaker 1: after those plays. It has been the kind of rabbit
Speaker 1: they've been chasing all season, and from that regard, I
Speaker 1: thought that was probably the most encouraging thing about this performance.
Speaker 1: The Packers at four and eight going into this game,
Speaker 1: really looking up at a lot of different teams here.
Speaker 1: They could have packed it in going into that the
Speaker 1: end of that third quarter, and instead they came together. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well in a big moment obviously at the end of
Speaker 1: the first half as well, with the Packers getting into
Speaker 1: scoring position. Score is sixteen to three. It's fourth and
Speaker 1: four from Chicago's fourteen yard line. I'll be honest, West,
Speaker 1: and I said it in the live blog. I'm kicking
Speaker 1: the field goal there. It's still the first half, sixteen
Speaker 1: to six. Just go in at halftime down by ten.
Speaker 1: You got plenty of time to come back against this
Speaker 1: Bears defense. Matt Floor was having none of it. He's
Speaker 1: like he felt like the Packers are gonna have to
Speaker 1: score a lot of points to win this game. Settling
Speaker 1: for a field goal there, he didn't like it. He
Speaker 1: went for the touchdown. Gutsy bold call and a little
Speaker 1: bit of a scramble drill, and guests, who's on the
Speaker 1: same page with Aaron Rodgers on a scrambled drill there
Speaker 1: the rookie second round pick Christian Watson a fourteen yard touchdown.
Speaker 1: Huge risk there, because if you don't get the touchdown
Speaker 1: and you going at halftime down sixteen to three, you're
Speaker 1: really not feeling good about this game. But that was
Speaker 1: such a huge lift for the Packers. I know when
Speaker 1: we're at the games, you know, we don't get to
Speaker 1: go into the locker room at halftime, but I can
Speaker 1: only imagine there was a certain amount of energy in
Speaker 1: that locker room at halftime, even though the Packers were
Speaker 1: down by six. It it felt different even at that point. Well,
Speaker 1: and to add a little bit more context to to
Speaker 1: to your comment about kicking the field goal, why that
Speaker 1: also would have seemed possibly like a prudent decision. They
Speaker 1: just lost a yard with Aaron Jones the play before
Speaker 1: that when they tried to run it. My guess is
Speaker 1: when they ran the ball, they're thinking okay, well, we'll
Speaker 1: either get the first down or we'll get close to it.
Speaker 1: Then we're in another position. At fourth and four. You
Speaker 1: basically have to pass the football. And for Christian Watson,
Speaker 1: you know, we hear the term plaster you know, we
Speaker 1: talk about defensive backs extended plays. The counter to that
Speaker 1: is you have to plaster on your man. Christian Watson,
Speaker 1: with his size and his speed. That is not an
Speaker 1: easy assignment for anybody. And when the Packers are sending
Speaker 1: him on these deep crossers. I wrote about it last week, Mike,
Speaker 1: it is the ultimate weapon right now for this offense
Speaker 1: because it's not just your typical slam, it's not typically
Speaker 1: your drag round. It is him taking that thing up field.
Speaker 1: And once again, is he's catching those balls, getting more confidence,
Speaker 1: more and more dangerous. The rookie becomes yeah, well, and
Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier to Dean Lowry, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: the unsung hero with with the block field goal. Other
Speaker 1: unsung heroes in this game, Zach Tom the rookie steps
Speaker 1: in at left tackle for David Baktieri, who um had
Speaker 1: an emergency appendectomy on Friday. Um, I know a little
Speaker 1: something about that, by the way, Um, But um so
Speaker 1: Bat couldn't play this time, unlike the Washington game, which
Speaker 1: the Packers made the decision to go with Tom at
Speaker 1: left tackle right before the game because Bat's knee wasn't
Speaker 1: feeling well. At least Tom got one day of you know,
Speaker 1: full day of practice on Friday as the number one
Speaker 1: left tackle, was able to prepare mentally and everything else
Speaker 1: that goes into getting ready for the game. The Bears
Speaker 1: don't have the best pass rush. You know, Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: was traded, Rokuan Smith was traded, Jack Sandborn, you know,
Speaker 1: the the undrafted linebacker round Wisconsin. He's going to be
Speaker 1: a terrific player. He already is a player. But in
Speaker 1: terms of the front four for the Bears in the
Speaker 1: pass rush get after the quarterback, they weren't able to
Speaker 1: do a whole lot of it. Um Zach, Tom really
Speaker 1: really held up well. It was the type of performance
Speaker 1: from the offensive line that that the Packers certainly needed
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers dealing with the with the sore ribs
Speaker 1: and everything. So shout out to Tom there. We'll see
Speaker 1: you know exactly if for when David Bactieri might be
Speaker 1: able to come back. Um, you know, it's very uncertain
Speaker 1: at this point recovering from an emergency surgery like that.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing you have to point out
Speaker 1: to Sammy Watkins, things haven't gone as well as anybody
Speaker 1: would have hoped for. Watkins coming in as a free
Speaker 1: agent and you know, being a veteran presence and hoping
Speaker 1: to you know, ease this transition to the to the
Speaker 1: post Davante Adams receiving corps. But Sammy Watkins through two
Speaker 1: really really crucial blocks in this game. One on a J.
Speaker 1: Dillon's touchdown run which was off of faking the jet
Speaker 1: sweep and Dylan going the other way, and then on
Speaker 1: the forty six yard jet sweep run by Christian Watson
Speaker 1: to seal the game, Sammy Watkins throws really the only
Speaker 1: block that that Watson needed because nobody else for the
Speaker 1: Bears was anywhere close to him. The whole side of
Speaker 1: the field was wide open um and uh so wanted
Speaker 1: to wanted to shout out Sammy Watkins as well. It's
Speaker 1: pretty cool to see him throw the block and uh
Speaker 1: and put the number one the fist up in the
Speaker 1: air right away after that, because he knew as well
Speaker 1: as anybody else who was in that stadium that that
Speaker 1: was a touchdown as soon as that block was thrown. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my favorite takeaway is that that image of
Speaker 1: Christian Watson, you know, extending down the field and and
Speaker 1: you see you know, Watkins in the background there, uh, celebrating.
Speaker 1: I also got to give a shout out to Sammy
Speaker 1: Watkins because on Friday, Mike, you might have remembered this
Speaker 1: back when you were uh, you know, having some younger
Speaker 1: kids around the household. It was the Packers holiday family
Speaker 1: Christmas party and uh, my son, You've had a chance
Speaker 1: that I think meet him now a couple of times.
Speaker 1: He Uh, he's the most extroverted little four year old
Speaker 1: you've ever met. And uh we were at the crafts
Speaker 1: table while we were waiting to meet Santa Claus and
Speaker 1: Sammy and his family came up and his daughter's beautiful
Speaker 1: young family. You know, they were at the crafts table. Well,
Speaker 1: my son because again being the most extroverted probably person
Speaker 1: in the entire family, uh, quickly made friends with Sammy,
Speaker 1: was trying to share pens with him and everything. And
Speaker 1: kudos to Sammy, a true pro handled that very well,
Speaker 1: was very nice with my son, and to see him
Speaker 1: succeed in that way. I mean the Packers this season, Mike.
Speaker 1: They went into the year talking about when it comes
Speaker 1: to blocking receivers, Alan Lazard and Sammy Watkins are two
Speaker 1: of the best in the business. And to see that
Speaker 1: area of the game come through for them, because it
Speaker 1: wasn't just that play for Watson. Over in the other
Speaker 1: side of the locker room, A J. Dillon talked about
Speaker 1: his touchdown run. Watkins was blocking on that as well,
Speaker 1: helping kind of a crackback not crackback block, but sort
Speaker 1: of the seal block with Zach Tom to spring Dylan
Speaker 1: to the end zone. The Packers have been so good
Speaker 1: at that. When we talked earlier this season about running
Speaker 1: the football, it wasn't just well they can't throw it,
Speaker 1: they have to run it. It was how they built
Speaker 1: the offense to run the football. And this game, especially
Speaker 1: with Aaron Jones and my goodness that the next time
Speaker 1: the Packers play a Soldier field, I I might just
Speaker 1: have Aaron is a healthy scratch. It's just there's something
Speaker 1: about that field where he just always seems to have
Speaker 1: some type of thing that pops up. But when they
Speaker 1: when they went to A J. Dillon in this game,
Speaker 1: Dylan responded the right way, and I loved Aaron's quote
Speaker 1: afterwards about it, when he's asked about being you know,
Speaker 1: Dylan kind of taking the lead at the backfield, he said, Hey,
Speaker 1: when a dog is being a dog, you gotta let
Speaker 1: the dog be the dog. And and and certainly Dylan,
Speaker 1: you could tell how much that meant to him. This newly,
Speaker 1: as we found out expected father Um being able to
Speaker 1: do that little celebration as well with the rock and
Speaker 1: the baby, So positive signs all around. Unfortunately for the Packers,
Speaker 1: as we know, Mike, they've dug themselves into a little
Speaker 1: bit of this hole. But I thought the way that
Speaker 1: they back when they could have easily folded Um definitely
Speaker 1: spoke volumes about this football team. Yeah, and for those
Speaker 1: who like to dig into the film clips and stuff,
Speaker 1: a little bit of self promotion here the Christian Watson
Speaker 1: jet sweep forty six yard touchdown on the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: I went through the game film my what you might
Speaker 1: have missed. It's up on Packers dot com. You can
Speaker 1: go through all the clips. It was the eighth time
Speaker 1: in the game that the Packers ran Watson in motion
Speaker 1: all the way across the formation, and the first seven
Speaker 1: they ran all kinds of other plays. There were pitches
Speaker 1: this way, pitches that way, play action, passed, straight, drop
Speaker 1: back past, all kinds of stuff. Of course, the first
Speaker 1: seven times Watson did not get the ball. The eighth
Speaker 1: time he did. If you go and look at the
Speaker 1: plays six, I would say five of the first seven
Speaker 1: were very successful plays anyway, and then obviously the big
Speaker 1: the kill shot at the end with Watson. So it's
Speaker 1: fun film to go through. It's it's cool to look at,
Speaker 1: so be sure to check that out. And if I
Speaker 1: may be sure to check that out, it's great, great
Speaker 1: stuff from Michael. But you know the thing about Soldier
Speaker 1: Field is we are in a corner of the end
Speaker 1: zone over there, and there aren't always great imagery of
Speaker 1: the on field action that play and also the touchdown
Speaker 1: pass both actually where we had great vantage points on.
Speaker 1: What was so astonishing about that is you could see
Speaker 1: Chicago try to react to what Green Bay was doing
Speaker 1: and they bit hard on the run. But I also
Speaker 1: bit hard on the run. And it wasn't until Christian
Speaker 1: Watson is steps away from the sideline did I realize
Speaker 1: he had the football. And at that point, Mike, you
Speaker 1: watched the film you broke it down. There's a few
Speaker 1: people even standing close to him the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the interesting about him. There's nobody close
Speaker 1: to him when you when you watch it, it's when
Speaker 1: you watch it, it's pretty remarkable. And you see, you know,
Speaker 1: and the A J. Dillon touchdown round that we've been
Speaker 1: talking about, that was another one to where where Watson
Speaker 1: is on the jet sweeping that Uh. You know, that
Speaker 1: action pulls a couple of guys, you know, makes it
Speaker 1: just even if the guys don't move necessarily, but it
Speaker 1: can make them hesitate. It's to you know, to their
Speaker 1: reaction to where the ball is actually going. And and uh,
Speaker 1: that hesitation allowed A. J. Dillon to get through there
Speaker 1: with those good blocks by Tom and Watkins to to
Speaker 1: create that lane. So um, it's a it's really it's
Speaker 1: really fun film to watch. It was. It was a
Speaker 1: good one to go through packers now five and eight.
Speaker 1: Obviously the idea is to try to win out, to
Speaker 1: try to get above five hundred. You see where other
Speaker 1: things fall and uh, and we can talk about some
Speaker 1: of those other results here coming up in a minute. West,
Speaker 1: but uh, I will take care of the sponsor business
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Speaker 1: in Week thirteen, a lot of interesting things to touch on. Um.
Speaker 1: The Giants and the Commanders played to an overtime tie
Speaker 1: in the first of their two games this season. That
Speaker 1: could be very interesting here if the Packers do get
Speaker 1: on a run. I don't want to get into it
Speaker 1: too much yet, but if the Packers get on a run,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about that. That Giants and Commanders tie.
Speaker 1: The Vikings pull out another close one, holding off the
Speaker 1: Jets at the goal line a couple of times down
Speaker 1: the stretch. Minnesota gets a win. They're holding off a
Speaker 1: big Jets come back. A couple of questions I want
Speaker 1: to ask you. The forty Niners get a big win
Speaker 1: over the Miami Dolphins, but they lose Jimmy Garoppolo. They
Speaker 1: are now down to Brock Purty as a third string
Speaker 1: quarterback to try to lead what I think is a
Speaker 1: really really good forty Niners team. Um, where do you
Speaker 1: see things going for the forty Niners from year? And
Speaker 1: then my other question for you is do the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals somehow have the Kansas City Chiefs number? They've beating
Speaker 1: him three times in a row? Now, who's beating Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes three times in a row? Yeah? I don't know.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow has like right look out, I mean wow? Yeah.
Speaker 1: First and foremost, Um, brock Purty did everything he needed
Speaker 1: to do to manage that football game once he went in,
Speaker 1: and he's not going to get help. He's the man now. Uh.
Speaker 1: My biggest takeaway from that game, though, it isn't gonna
Speaker 1: be about brock Purty. I think San Francisco's playoff hopes
Speaker 1: is going to go back to the guy that they
Speaker 1: sort of wagered their season on, which is Christian McCaffrey.
Speaker 1: McCaffrey is a versatile, dynamic playmaker, but he hasn't been
Speaker 1: the same running back out of the backfield this season.
Speaker 1: They're gonna need more from him in that area and
Speaker 1: It's going to be key to their hopes because if
Speaker 1: you don't have your number two or number three quarterback,
Speaker 1: what did the Packers learn, you know back in two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen, you better have a really good running back
Speaker 1: and you better have a really good offensive line. That's
Speaker 1: where San Francisco's hopes and fortunes are going to lie.
Speaker 1: As far as the rest of this week kind of
Speaker 1: shuffled out, um, I thought New York and Washington tying
Speaker 1: was just the perfect sort of um culmination of just
Speaker 1: what that division has been this year and just the
Speaker 1: the insanity of it all, I mean, um, and from
Speaker 1: Washington's perspective, that tie really hurt them and that they
Speaker 1: fell behind Seattle. Now because of Seattle's come back over
Speaker 1: the Rams. Seattle now is that number seven seed in
Speaker 1: this playoffs hunt. So I really tying it into where
Speaker 1: the Packers are at if I may really quickly Brian
Speaker 1: Goodkin's talk to the media on Monday, as did Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: and Packers have four games to go and the only
Speaker 1: thing they can worry about is winning, but seeing how
Speaker 1: the East shuffles out, seeing about whether or not San
Speaker 1: Francisco can weather Garoppolo's you know absence and you know
Speaker 1: can seattle rally for all of its flaws around Gino Smith. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is such an intriguingly high stakes here in the NFC, Mike,
Speaker 1: because I I've said it once, I've said it a
Speaker 1: million times. I think any of these seven teams that
Speaker 1: make the playoffs have a chance. The Detroit Lions this week, Mike,
Speaker 1: going into this upcoming week, are actually favored right now
Speaker 1: over the Minnesota Vikings, the number two seed um as
Speaker 1: that game will be played at at Ford Field, so
Speaker 1: they're obviously getting the home advantage. But the fact that
Speaker 1: that's even our consideration right now, with the Lions being
Speaker 1: on the outside looking in with Green Bay, I think
Speaker 1: speaks volumes about how this this conference and and things
Speaker 1: have shuffled out. Yeah, well this weekend, that that Lions
Speaker 1: game at Ford Field in Detroit against Minnesota. I mean,
Speaker 1: for right now, you call that the biggest game of
Speaker 1: the Dan Campbell era to this point, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: because really for the for the Lions, it's it's are
Speaker 1: they going to stay in the playoff race down the
Speaker 1: stretch and give themselves a chance and put people on
Speaker 1: notice potentially by beating a two lost Minnesota team that
Speaker 1: has that's won so many clothe schemes here along the way,
Speaker 1: or are the Lions not quite there yet? And uh
Speaker 1: and and they're going to They're going to fade down
Speaker 1: the stretch. There's a lot of a lot of excitement.
Speaker 1: They were fired up in Detroit for that Thanksgiving game
Speaker 1: against Buffalo and they took a really good Buffalo Bills
Speaker 1: team all the way to the wire before losing. I
Speaker 1: think that game on I think that game on Sunday
Speaker 1: against the Vikings is gonna be a full sixty minute
Speaker 1: battle against against Dan Campbell's boys there. And oh, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, and for all the random games
Speaker 1: that the Vikings have won this season, this would be
Speaker 1: a good time for Minnesota to finally, you know, pull
Speaker 1: a rabbit out of its hat that actually benefits the Packers.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be the other thing too. I mean their
Speaker 1: ten and two and they've won all these one score games,
Speaker 1: They've had all these type of weird comebacks, and it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: well now this week, go into Ford Field and actually
Speaker 1: take care of business. Yeah, one other thing I want
Speaker 1: to ask you before we go, Um, the Las Vegas Raiders.
Speaker 1: They have suddenly gone from two and seven to five
Speaker 1: and seven with two overtime victories and then another down
Speaker 1: to the wire victory over a division rival in the Chargers.
Speaker 1: Davante Adams is absolutely going off statistically. His numbers are
Speaker 1: are are going off the charts. Are the Raiders just
Speaker 1: maybe put you know, putting some teams on notice in
Speaker 1: the a f C that that just like last year
Speaker 1: when Rich Pisaccio was their interim coach down the stretch
Speaker 1: and they made a run for a playoffs s part.
Speaker 1: Are the Raiders doing this again? Yeah? I don't know
Speaker 1: if this one is about the win one for the McDaniels,
Speaker 1: but it was that line that came out during the
Speaker 1: heart of their their dull drums about you know, potentially
Speaker 1: could Derek Carr be cut at the end of the season.
Speaker 1: Are there, you know, considerations are gonna have to make.
Speaker 1: Davontae Adams knows what he's saying, and he knows how
Speaker 1: to play football, And I really thought, you know, him
Speaker 1: reiterating again that I'm here because of Derek Carr, speaks
Speaker 1: volumes about you know, the motivation and the feelings that
Speaker 1: those two guys you know, have for each other in
Speaker 1: mutual respect. There. Um, they don't want this to be
Speaker 1: a one and done type arrangement. They wanted this to
Speaker 1: be something that propels you know, Davante do a potentially
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame career and hopefully, in the Raider's sake,
Speaker 1: a super Bowl type run. That has not happened this season,
Speaker 1: but they did pull themselves back into it. The challenge
Speaker 1: for the Raiders, though, is going to be I honestly
Speaker 1: believe the talent element of this. They have some good
Speaker 1: offensive skill position players. They have you know, Max Crosby
Speaker 1: on defense, but Chandler Jones, you know, largely underperformed this
Speaker 1: season and there's been a dearth of depth at other positions.
Speaker 1: So um, but in the game of you know, looking
Speaker 1: at the a f C, you know, the Jets right
Speaker 1: now are sitting at seven and there seven and five,
Speaker 1: the Raiders are five and seven. Um, there's plenty of
Speaker 1: teams still looking to get through the back door in
Speaker 1: that conference. Yeah, I think it's uh, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: fascinating down the stretch and uh in both conferences. And hey,
Speaker 1: if the Packers can can keep winning and winning and
Speaker 1: uh and stringing some some victories together. It could get
Speaker 1: even more interesting here in Green Bay. Hey, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put you on the spot too, how old old Tom
Speaker 1: Brady b when he retires? Uh? Is there a five?
Speaker 1: Does it start with a five? Yeah? No, I don't
Speaker 1: think it starts with a five? But I mean how
Speaker 1: how long? I mean, was it wasn't George Blanda still
Speaker 1: kicking field goals at like something like yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: who knows, right? I mean, boy, um, pretty pretty remarkable though.
Speaker 1: I actually didn't realize until seeing the statistics after the
Speaker 1: game that the only time in his career previously that
Speaker 1: Tom Brady had come back from thirteen or more down
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter was the Super Bowl against the
Speaker 1: Falcons when they had when they had that really big deficit.
Speaker 1: So um, He's obviously pulled up plenty of comebacks that
Speaker 1: were fewer than thirteen points, but um, but that one,
Speaker 1: and boy, what a um what a kick in the
Speaker 1: gut of the New Orleans Saints to play the way
Speaker 1: they did on the road, you know, prime time added
Speaker 1: division rival for fifty five minutes and then and then
Speaker 1: to have it to have it just unraveled like that
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball. Um just a just
Speaker 1: a tough one there. Um. And and I think I
Speaker 1: think Dennis Allen after the game said, you know, it stinks,
Speaker 1: it sucks. It's this, it's that. I mean, what else
Speaker 1: is he gonna say? Right? I mean that was that
Speaker 1: was a gut punch because as much of a train
Speaker 1: wreck as this, you know, see the Saints offense has
Speaker 1: been this year, and the litany of injuries they've had defensively,
Speaker 1: that's been their calling card into to lose that game,
Speaker 1: uh five minutes to go and to see that kind
Speaker 1: of comeback, that's that's incredibly demoralizing in a division where
Speaker 1: if you win that thing, you're a half game, your
Speaker 1: game out or whatever it is. I mean, if if
Speaker 1: the Saint the Saints are looking like, hey, they're gonna
Speaker 1: win a big division game on the road, and they'll
Speaker 1: they'll be they'll be five and eight and right in
Speaker 1: the thick of the division hunt because of because of
Speaker 1: what they would have just done to the Buck in years.
Speaker 1: I mean that that the way that game flipped in
Speaker 1: the last five minutes um huge implications for that, for that,
Speaker 1: for that entire division, the Saints. The Saints could have,
Speaker 1: The Saints could have kept that whole division in the
Speaker 1: division race essentially if they had, if they had hung
Speaker 1: onto that one. But um, but yeah, the Buccaneers, the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers pull it out. It certainly looks like Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: will be back in the playoffs and they will get
Speaker 1: a home game as a as a division champ against uh,
Speaker 1: you know, most likely the whoever the number five seed is,
Speaker 1: which would be the top wild card. So we could
Speaker 1: end up you know, I mean, if you looked at
Speaker 1: it right now, the top wild card would be the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, right, so you'd have Tom Brady against Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy in the first round of the playoffs. But um,
Speaker 1: but anyway, we could spend the rest of the day
Speaker 1: talking about all of those scenarios, but we will let
Speaker 1: our producers go so they can put the final cut
Speaker 1: on this show and UH and get it get it
Speaker 1: out to the masses. So with that, we'll call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscript. You'd be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
Speaker 1: through the bye week into next week leading up to
Speaker 1: Monday Night football against the Rams. We will have it
Speaker 1: all for you on Packers dot Com for wes I
Speaker 1: am Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time.