Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting alongside my trusted colleague Wes
Speaker 1: Hodkoits were coming to you here from our studios at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field and West. It is Wednesday, and that means
Speaker 1: we are looking ahead to the Packers next opponent, and
Speaker 1: it is the Minnesota Vikings Sunday noon kickoff at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field here in week two. And normally when we talk
Speaker 1: about the Minnesota Vikings, we would start with talking about
Speaker 1: their defense. But this year, in particular, I think we
Speaker 1: have to start on the offensive side because they made
Speaker 1: a big investment at the quarterback position, bringing in Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: who was considered the prize of the free agent field
Speaker 1: out there in the off season, the Vikings looking for
Speaker 1: the former Redskins quarterback to take him to the promise line.
Speaker 1: It's actually funny because I'm gonna one up, you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna take it even to a different level
Speaker 1: beyond the defense. Beyond Kirk Cousins. I'm actually gonna talk
Speaker 1: about Mike Zimmer because I think one thing about Mike
Speaker 1: Zimmer and his time now whatever it's been, what has
Speaker 1: it been now five six years he's been with the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. He might be one of the most self
Speaker 1: aware coaches in NFL history, especially with given the air
Speaker 1: in which he's coaching. His comment this offseason, to me
Speaker 1: was the comment of the off season about how whatever situation,
Speaker 1: whatever direction they went in at quarterback, it probably has
Speaker 1: a direct tie into really his job security, he felt.
Speaker 1: And that's why I know they threw a lot of
Speaker 1: money at Kirk Cousins, but it's also why I didn't
Speaker 1: blame the Vikings for doing this, because out of all
Speaker 1: three quarterbacks, they already at a house. Kirk Cousins was
Speaker 1: really the surest thing you had. Teddy Bridgewater coming off
Speaker 1: a devastating knee injury, despite the promise that he showed
Speaker 1: early on, you don't know if you want to hit
Speaker 1: your way again too. That player Sam Bradford has had
Speaker 1: issues he's had with injuries in the past years. And
Speaker 1: then case Keenum was sort of this overnight sensation do
Speaker 1: you want to make him your quarterback in the future.
Speaker 1: So with all those chips on the table, he talked,
Speaker 1: you know, and he also had Rick Spielman, they're going
Speaker 1: out and those conversations. Really the biggest storyline of those
Speaker 1: opening days of free agencies what was going to happen
Speaker 1: with Kirk Cousins. How much was he gonna make? Was
Speaker 1: it gonna be the first fully guaranteed contract in NFL history?
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, the Vikings got
Speaker 1: their guy. I still believe, as I said earlier this week,
Speaker 1: this team will go as far as its defense takes them.
Speaker 1: But having Cousins now, and especially with how productive he's
Speaker 1: been in the NFL, it does give them a bigger
Speaker 1: margin forrer than I think they've had before underneath Zimmer. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: one of the narratives in the off season with regards
Speaker 1: to this as well, how can the Vikings you know,
Speaker 1: throw all that money at Cousins and expect him to
Speaker 1: play better than Case Keenum did last year because Keenum
Speaker 1: played so well and was so productive for them. And
Speaker 1: really what it came down to, at least the way
Speaker 1: I look data is if the Vikings get out of
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins the same type of season they got out
Speaker 1: of Case Keenum last year, they would be perfectly happy
Speaker 1: with that. That's what they're after. They were just they
Speaker 1: were just betting that Cousins is more likely to give
Speaker 1: that to them than Keenum doing it again. And uh,
Speaker 1: and that was really what the decision came down to.
Speaker 1: We'll see their one game in there, want to know. Uh.
Speaker 1: They beat the San Francisco forty niners at home last week,
Speaker 1: their first road trip now coming to lambeau Field this weekend.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins no stranger to the Packers, certainly um this
Speaker 1: particular defense. Obviously, the Packers have some different things going
Speaker 1: on this year, but but the Packers have faced this
Speaker 1: quarterback before a handful of times with the red skin
Speaker 1: that in all these years, Michael, we've been doing this.
Speaker 1: That might be one of your best points. I think
Speaker 1: you've ever made it. You've made some good ones. But Yeah,
Speaker 1: basically they expected Cousins to be more It would be
Speaker 1: more achievable for him to have a case Keenum type
Speaker 1: season then to double down on a Keenam doing it
Speaker 1: right again. I think that's I think that's what they decided.
Speaker 1: He might end up having a phenomenal year with Denver.
Speaker 1: He did enough to win that game through three interceptions
Speaker 1: last week, but they still did top Seattle. But as
Speaker 1: far as the vikings with where you know how these
Speaker 1: defenses are built, Mike. You saw it with Seattle. That
Speaker 1: window only stays open for so long. The Vikings had
Speaker 1: to dart through it. They're getting Delvin Cooked back. They've
Speaker 1: added to those weapons outside over the years, they've they've
Speaker 1: found a diamond, the rough and Stefon Diggs. You need
Speaker 1: to be able to get some titles out of this.
Speaker 1: So that's the way they view it. That's how they're
Speaker 1: approaching it. But it will be interesting to see now
Speaker 1: because even though Cousins hasn't played in this division, he
Speaker 1: has kind of a storied history here with the Packers.
Speaker 1: He's seen a lot of them in the last few seasons,
Speaker 1: and he'll see a new defense with Mike Petton on Sunday. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: with regards to the Minnesota Vikings weapons and what they
Speaker 1: have around Kirk Cousins, the Packers obviously, they've you know,
Speaker 1: seen their share of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thieland and
Speaker 1: Kyle Rudolph, and the Packers will have a whole different
Speaker 1: secondary group to match up against them compared to past years.
Speaker 1: But the one guy that the Packers have not faced
Speaker 1: is Dalvin Cook. He was injured and out for the season.
Speaker 1: By the time the first Packers Vikings game rolled around
Speaker 1: last year. And I don't know how much of the
Speaker 1: Week one game against the forty Niners that you watched West,
Speaker 1: but I tell you what sure didn't look like. Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook was a running back coming off of a c
Speaker 1: L surgery. He looks, he looks good, he looks he
Speaker 1: looks kind of scary, frankly, And I say that from
Speaker 1: the standpoint of he can he can run the ball
Speaker 1: and be a pass catching weapon out of the backfield.
Speaker 1: This is this is a big, powerful guy who can
Speaker 1: do a lot of things. I do not care who
Speaker 1: your quarterback is. I do not care what exactly your
Speaker 1: receivers look like. In the NFC North, you have to
Speaker 1: have a running back. You have to have a guy
Speaker 1: that's going to be able to weather November and December.
Speaker 1: And by all accounts, Cook was looking like that player
Speaker 1: last year up until when he has the knee injury. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was one of the top two or three rushers
Speaker 1: in the league. I don't remember exactly. Yeah, yeah, coming
Speaker 1: through four through four games. Yeah, So they were very
Speaker 1: fortunate in having Latavious Murray. Murray stepped up. He's a
Speaker 1: vet he's been through this thing before. He's done it
Speaker 1: in rows that occasion, but ultimately everybody knows the home
Speaker 1: run for them is cooked. So to get him back
Speaker 1: and to continue building that offensive line, I had to
Speaker 1: be honest with you. I don't know how the NFL
Speaker 1: executive the year thing went last year, but I think
Speaker 1: Spielman has to be up in that conversation because of
Speaker 1: getting case Keenum, despite having, you know, all the other
Speaker 1: things going on at the quarterback position, signing Latavious Murray,
Speaker 1: getting Riley Reef, so many things that they did ultimately
Speaker 1: ended up helping them get to where they got to
Speaker 1: because they were sort of fortifying their reserves and not
Speaker 1: saying that. Brian Goodakuins took a page out of that,
Speaker 1: but I think there's something to be said for it.
Speaker 1: You talked about it in the lead up to the
Speaker 1: start of the regular season, having some veteran options behind
Speaker 1: you to potentially lean on if an injury happens. But
Speaker 1: getting back to the original point, I think cook where
Speaker 1: he's at, how quickly he came back from that injury.
Speaker 1: You tip your cap to Brian Blaga in something. You know,
Speaker 1: these linemen that come back in ten nine ten months.
Speaker 1: But it's a different ball game for running backs. It's
Speaker 1: a different ballgame for skill position players or cornerbacks because
Speaker 1: you have to cut on it so often. And as
Speaker 1: of right now, it looks like Cook's gonna be okay. Yeah,
Speaker 1: watching that game, watching cousins first game with the Vikings
Speaker 1: last week, the portions of it that I saw, what
Speaker 1: I saw was not a spectacular performance. What I saw
Speaker 1: were two I thought spectacular touchdown passes, one two digs
Speaker 1: and one to Rudolph, absolutely pinpoint passes against tight coverage
Speaker 1: in the end zone. Big plays there for the Vikings.
Speaker 1: So he made he threw the two touchdown passes he
Speaker 1: needed to throw, and he just didn't make any mistakes.
Speaker 1: And that way you flip the flip side of that
Speaker 1: was Garoppolo. The forty Niners made mistakes all over the place,
Speaker 1: and that's why they were playing from behind. They weren't
Speaker 1: able to catch up Cousins. He had his tendency to
Speaker 1: throw some interceptions with Washington, that's what you want to
Speaker 1: try to put pressure on him, affect him, see if
Speaker 1: he makes one of those errand throws. He did not
Speaker 1: make any of those errant throws last week. He didn't
Speaker 1: Washington with all. It was also asking to throw for
Speaker 1: about four six yards proceeding. So when you're exposing the
Speaker 1: football that much, I think that naturally is gonna happen.
Speaker 1: That's not to say you can't protect the football better.
Speaker 1: You can. We've seen it with Drew Brees and and
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady the year that I
Speaker 1: think he threw for fifty touchdowns, had what four interceptions
Speaker 1: that season. So it's not like it isn't achievable, but
Speaker 1: you are exposing the ball more. And and really Washington's
Speaker 1: offense the last two or three seasons ran through cousins.
Speaker 1: He's not probably gonna have that same problem in Minnesota
Speaker 1: because he has a reliable option in the backfield, he
Speaker 1: has playmakers around him. Even you have you know, Kyle
Speaker 1: Rudolph is as steady as they come at that tight end.
Speaker 1: I know of some people in the Green Bay area
Speaker 1: that just so happened to draft Kyle Rudolph as their
Speaker 1: number one overall pick this year simply out of mistake.
Speaker 1: Not not putting anybody out there, Kim Hartwig, but that
Speaker 1: being said, uh, they do. They They're very solid across
Speaker 1: the line. There's there's not a lot of holes there.
Speaker 1: So I'm just very interested to see how this plays
Speaker 1: out for them because we know what they've had for
Speaker 1: so long on defense. You and I have done so
Speaker 1: many unscripteds over the year, Mike, where we're talking about
Speaker 1: the defense, We're talking about those corners, we're talking about
Speaker 1: the pass rush, the linebackers that they have. The offense
Speaker 1: has always been the thing trying to catch up in
Speaker 1: the Vikings if they're going to get to where they
Speaker 1: want to go this this year, and the Packers are
Speaker 1: obviously trying to stand in front of that. They're gonna need,
Speaker 1: you know, Kirk Cousins Delvin Cooking Company to hold up
Speaker 1: there under the bargain. Yeah all right, Well, I do
Speaker 1: want to start talking about that Vikings defense. But before that,
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Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball here for the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: the number one defense in the league last year, hands down,
Speaker 1: and then pretty much starting with the second half of
Speaker 1: the playoff game against New Orleans all the way through
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship game, they didn't look like the same
Speaker 1: unit out there. Um Me, personally, my opinion is that
Speaker 1: things started to unravel when Xavier Rhodes, their stars shut
Speaker 1: down cornerback, was not healthy, was either trying to play
Speaker 1: through injury, or was on the sideline. It seemed like
Speaker 1: that through everything out of whack. And one thing about
Speaker 1: the Vikings defense last year is they stayed remarkably healthy
Speaker 1: all season long. Those that unit was playing together, all
Speaker 1: the key pieces on the field every week, and it
Speaker 1: showed throughout the course of the year the way they played.
Speaker 1: But boy, the value of Xavier Rhodes to me, shot
Speaker 1: up astronomically after what we saw happen in the postseason
Speaker 1: and the fact that they had Xavier Roads and Trey
Speaker 1: Waynes and they still use their first round draft pick
Speaker 1: on another cornerback in Mike Hughes from UCF shows you
Speaker 1: how important that position is in their defense and in
Speaker 1: the defense in general. That's not to say that they're
Speaker 1: trying to replace Roads, but I mean just having more
Speaker 1: oaks in the fire. To me, it was very interesting.
Speaker 1: This is no disrespect to Terrence Knew when he had
Speaker 1: a tremendous career, but for a guy that was thirty nine,
Speaker 1: that was playing the snaps, he played down the stretch,
Speaker 1: that sometimes isn't the best formula for success. And I
Speaker 1: think in some ways, and they obviously we're kind of
Speaker 1: worn down there by the end of the season. But
Speaker 1: don't make no mistake. I mean, Xavier Rhodes is as
Speaker 1: good as they come in terms of cornerbacks. This division
Speaker 1: in general has really developed some fine corners these past
Speaker 1: few years. Some good Darius Slay and in Detroit and
Speaker 1: and certainly Xavier Rhodes living up to being the first
Speaker 1: round pick that he was in two thousand thirteen, and
Speaker 1: it gives them a lot of things to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: to work with. Me personally, I think the fun part
Speaker 1: of this game is going to be seeing how all
Speaker 1: these pieces match up. Yeah, you've seen Randall coverse this
Speaker 1: defense before and in Davante Adams but now you have
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham involved. Now you have a guy like Geronimo
Speaker 1: Alison more established. Uh, seeing how those what the Packers
Speaker 1: are doing offensively matches up with the Vikings. Assuming we'll
Speaker 1: see how everything plays out thereon Rodgers, that that's gonna
Speaker 1: be one of the big I think, one of the
Speaker 1: big push for this game. That's gonna make a really
Speaker 1: compelling Yeah. Well, the guy that, the guy that I
Speaker 1: always have my eye on when I'm watching Minnesota's defense
Speaker 1: is number twenty two, Harrison Smith. I think he's the
Speaker 1: He's kind of the glue guy that that really makes
Speaker 1: everything work because he's he's so versatile, he's such an
Speaker 1: aggressive player, he's such a smart player. They scheme things
Speaker 1: up blitz wise for him to get free runs at
Speaker 1: the quarterback to try to wreck havoc that way. We
Speaker 1: saw last year the game in Minneapolis after Rogers went down.
Speaker 1: You know how I have when I watched games normally,
Speaker 1: I always look at Aaron Rodgers is probably the best
Speaker 1: football player on the field. When Aaron Rodgers left that
Speaker 1: game against Minnesota last year, there was no doubt that
Speaker 1: the best player on the field that day was Harrison Smith.
Speaker 1: He absolutely controlled and dominated that game. The sacks, he
Speaker 1: had a diving one handed interception, He's breaking up passes,
Speaker 1: he's a sure tackler, a hard hitter. This guy, this
Speaker 1: guy does it all. And when we talk about that
Speaker 1: big play the Packers made against the Bears on Sunday
Speaker 1: night where Jamal Williams picked up the blitzing linebacker and
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers was able to find Davante Adams for a
Speaker 1: big fifty yard pass play, Jamal Williams, He's got to
Speaker 1: find where Harrison Smith is coming from, because it seems
Speaker 1: like every time the Packers and the Vikings play, and
Speaker 1: not just against the Packers, almost any Vikings game you watch,
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith at least once a game, gets a completely
Speaker 1: free run at the quarterback where somehow nobody picks him up,
Speaker 1: nobody blocks him, and and he just levels your your QB.
Speaker 1: Packers can't let that happen on Sunday. I think they
Speaker 1: call that stealthy stealthiness. That's good whatever, But yeah, he's
Speaker 1: that's the type of players he's been. He's been that
Speaker 1: way since two thousand and twelve, and honestly since he
Speaker 1: came into this league. He he matured quickly. He made
Speaker 1: an impact in his defense quickly, and you mentioned him
Speaker 1: sort of being the glue guy. I mean, the thing
Speaker 1: is Mike is that really Let's see here, he's the
Speaker 1: other than Andrewsondo. He's what the longest tenured member of
Speaker 1: that defense now as far as the starting unit. Everson
Speaker 1: Griffith in there too from the two thousand ten draft,
Speaker 1: but yeah, he he is. He knows we talk about
Speaker 1: all the time. Morgan Burnett was that player too for
Speaker 1: the Packers defense all those years. He just makes communication
Speaker 1: easier in the safety position. Even though historically it's not
Speaker 1: gotten a lot of respect in this league, it gets
Speaker 1: more and more importance by the year because of how
Speaker 1: much those players now in this era are a lot
Speaker 1: of times the primary communicator. Yeah, you can find a
Speaker 1: Blake Martinez that plays every down, but if something happens
Speaker 1: to that inside linebacker, it's usually on the safety is
Speaker 1: to step up. Harris Smith. Harrison Smith has been that guy,
Speaker 1: has been steady, he's been consistent, and he also makes plays.
Speaker 1: So yeah, as you mentioned, whether it's Jamal Williams, whether
Speaker 1: it's these safeties, or whether it's these receivers, you got
Speaker 1: to know where he is on the field at all times. Yeah.
Speaker 1: With this entire Vikings defense, it's really pretty much the
Speaker 1: same group you mentioned. Mike Hughes obviously being added to
Speaker 1: the mix as what looks like they're nickel cornerback right now,
Speaker 1: but pretty much the same unit that the Packers face
Speaker 1: last year that the whole league had trouble dealing with.
Speaker 1: Up front. You know that pass rush. Everson Griffin and
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter are the guys who really make that go,
Speaker 1: and they don't require Zimmer to call whole heck of
Speaker 1: a lot of blitz is. But Zimmer will pick his
Speaker 1: spots when he wants to be aggressive and force the issue.
Speaker 1: Uh Sometimes with him, you just never know when those
Speaker 1: extra rushers are coming. Yeah, and they also got Sheldon
Speaker 1: richardson this year too, so's so you have him and
Speaker 1: Linville Joseph. Now is your nose tackles, your defensive tackles
Speaker 1: very solid up front there. It's gonna make life difficult
Speaker 1: not only on the Packers but every team that they're
Speaker 1: gonna be facing this year if those starting four can
Speaker 1: stay together. To me, Everson Griffin is still the key guy,
Speaker 1: I mean in Monday's locker room, even though uh, most
Speaker 1: of the media was still pretty much looking back on
Speaker 1: that Bears game. Brian Dave Bactieri was already being asked
Speaker 1: about Griffin because of the wars that those two have
Speaker 1: had over the years. Now and in seeing him in
Speaker 1: the player that really both of those guys have become,
Speaker 1: you know, Bot becoming an All Pro, Griffin becoming one
Speaker 1: of the league's top two edge rushers after originally appearing
Speaker 1: to be more of, you know, a complimentary piece, and
Speaker 1: his first couple of seasons there has really broke out.
Speaker 1: So Yeah, I've always been a huge Linville Joseph fan,
Speaker 1: going back to his days with the Giants. I thought
Speaker 1: that was a great pick up for them a few
Speaker 1: years ago when they signed him as a uf are
Speaker 1: unrestricted free agent out of New York and bringing in
Speaker 1: Sheldon Richardson. To Richardson was kind of quiet last year
Speaker 1: in Seattle, but you still know what you're getting with him,
Speaker 1: So to see how he compliments the rest of that front,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be exciting to watch. Yeah, as far as
Speaker 1: the matchups go, I'm not sure how the Packers in
Speaker 1: their secondary you are going to match up with these
Speaker 1: with these receivers when we're talking digs and theeeling and
Speaker 1: I still haven't figure out up last week's game, so
Speaker 1: King and Williams and Alexander and Jackson and how how
Speaker 1: exactly those matchups are going to go. But if you're
Speaker 1: going to pick one particular one on one matchup that
Speaker 1: we can anticipate and that I think we'll have a
Speaker 1: lot to say about how this game goes. I'm guessing
Speaker 1: you start with box tr against Griffin. It does yes
Speaker 1: in terms of just like the matchup, like just to
Speaker 1: watch it for just elite NFL football, play another one
Speaker 1: to depending on how it works out how they want
Speaker 1: to handle that nickel corner spot is whoever lines up
Speaker 1: against Adam Feeling? Yeah, and Feeling is a versa little guy.
Speaker 1: You can use them in a multiple multipout of ways.
Speaker 1: But I'd have to imagine Joy, Alexander and or Josh
Speaker 1: Jackson is gonna be seeing some of his coverage. So
Speaker 1: seeing how those young rookies with all their athleticism and
Speaker 1: how good they've looked early on match up with him
Speaker 1: is going to be important because theeeling is that we've
Speaker 1: seen it and he's had good games against Green Day.
Speaker 1: He is a supreme football player. I remember talking to
Speaker 1: Davante Adams during the offseason program for his yearbook story
Speaker 1: and getting to know feeling a little bit at the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl and seeing how he works and everything he
Speaker 1: puts into it. The world slept out of him coming
Speaker 1: out of the D two ranks in Minnesota, but he's
Speaker 1: found a spot in this offense and he's becoming one
Speaker 1: of the league's top really most devastating threats in the
Speaker 1: middle of the field. Yeah, you said it. I mean
Speaker 1: that he's not just a homegrown product and a fan favorite.
Speaker 1: He's an elite player. He's he's a self made elite
Speaker 1: player in a lot of ways because of where he
Speaker 1: came from. He didn't play at a at a big school.
Speaker 1: He didn't play at a Power five conference type school.
Speaker 1: But something I don't even know. But he's he's proven
Speaker 1: himself over time. No, he has. And uh, you look
Speaker 1: at the complimentary pieces there. They obviously Diggs has been
Speaker 1: a guy that's you know, bawled out at times, and
Speaker 1: they're still trying to see what they have in la
Speaker 1: Kwan Treadwell, their first round pick from a few seasons ago.
Speaker 1: So hey, listen, Kirk Cousins has a ton of weapons
Speaker 1: to use in this offense, so the Packers trying to
Speaker 1: quiet him. It's going to start on the perimeter to
Speaker 1: and making sure that those those guys don't get loose. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Mankato might be the Northern Sun coming like that.
Speaker 1: But three yeah, Well, we'll figure it out when we're
Speaker 1: off camera, but for now, we gotta call it a
Speaker 1: wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Would be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage previewing Sundays Packers Vikings
Speaker 1: game on Packers dot com. On Twitter, you can find
Speaker 1: him at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers
Speaker 1: for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See
Speaker 1: you next time.