Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague West Hodkowitz. Were coming to you
Speaker 1: here from different rooms in lambeau Field and West. The
Speaker 1: Packers reached the nine and three mark of their season
Speaker 1: with a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, And
Speaker 1: just when you thought, maybe, just maybe the Packers would
Speaker 1: cruise and sort of have an easy one on their hands,
Speaker 1: it didn't work out that way, did it. No. I
Speaker 1: think there's basically one game this year where I've been
Speaker 1: able to write, like start writing parts of my story.
Speaker 1: I think it was Week two against Detroit. Other than that,
Speaker 1: it seems like every single game there's always been something
Speaker 1: to it that makes you, you know, kind of have
Speaker 1: some pause. They're late. But the one thing that was
Speaker 1: positive though about this game for Green Bay is that
Speaker 1: they played pretty well for three and a half quarters.
Speaker 1: It was just that little bit of a let up
Speaker 1: there at the beginning of the fourth, but when they
Speaker 1: needed a response, they got it. Uh. Aaron Jones the
Speaker 1: seventy seven yard touchdown run, his longest touchdown run as
Speaker 1: a professional football player, and it came at a time
Speaker 1: right after the defense got a big stop and after that,
Speaker 1: you know, the punt return for a touchdown. So you
Speaker 1: saw the three different phases picking each other up throughout
Speaker 1: the course of this game. And the I wrote about
Speaker 1: it as our sidebar. I know you and I have
Speaker 1: had some discussions about it, but that run by Jones itself,
Speaker 1: I just feel like those are one of them. It
Speaker 1: was one of those plays that's that if this turns
Speaker 1: into a very special season for the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: you're gonna you're gonna hearken back to that. You're gonna
Speaker 1: think back to that moment where it was all eleven guys,
Speaker 1: multiple position players blocking David baktr running stride for stride
Speaker 1: with them down to the end zone. I just felt
Speaker 1: like it was one of those galvanizing moments that you
Speaker 1: look for in a season and it allowed the green
Speaker 1: Bay Packer US to get that ninth win, the sixteenth
Speaker 1: time Mike since the turn of the century, since y
Speaker 1: two k that the green Bay Packers have etched a
Speaker 1: winning season here in Green Bay. Yeah. Well, you talk
Speaker 1: about the importance of that long run. Not only was
Speaker 1: it obviously big for the end of the game to
Speaker 1: get the Packers back to a two score lead and
Speaker 1: to put this one away against Philadelphia. But statistically West
Speaker 1: the Packers had not had a rushing play of longer
Speaker 1: than twenty yards since Week six, since back in in
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay, the first quarter in Tampa Bay at that.
Speaker 1: So this uh, this run game. As much as we
Speaker 1: saw that it was coming against Chicago, you could see
Speaker 1: there were a handful of ten plus runs and it
Speaker 1: just felt like that that big one was eventually going
Speaker 1: to come, and it came late in the fourth quarter here,
Speaker 1: and as you said, it was it was frustrating, certainly
Speaker 1: to see the Packers up twenty three to three. You
Speaker 1: think they're going to cruise to a victory. Then the
Speaker 1: game starts to go sideways. A fourth and eighteen touchdown
Speaker 1: path us by Jalen Hurts, the rookie quarterback who stepped
Speaker 1: in for Carson Wentz. Then the offense goes three and out,
Speaker 1: Then the punt coverage team allows a seventy three yard
Speaker 1: touched on return. Suddenly it's twenty three to sixteen. It's
Speaker 1: a seven point game. But unlike a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: prior in Indianapolis, where when the game started to go sideways,
Speaker 1: it got very, very difficult for the Packers to get
Speaker 1: things back on the right track. The defense took the
Speaker 1: field at twenty three to sixteen, gotta stop. I believe
Speaker 1: recorded the seventh sack of of the night on that series,
Speaker 1: and then the offense responds with the seventy seven yard
Speaker 1: touchdown run, breaking the big ones. So you got the
Speaker 1: answer you needed in order to close this one out,
Speaker 1: and now the Packers are are right on the verge
Speaker 1: of clinching a playoff spot and possibly the NFC North Championship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad you brought that up, Mike, because there's
Speaker 1: a couple different things that we're gonna be talking about
Speaker 1: later in this show when we recap the weekends, some
Speaker 1: very strange things that happened to the National Football League.
Speaker 1: The Seattle Seahawks, you know, kind of just you know,
Speaker 1: laying an egg again, the New York Giants, who now
Speaker 1: suddenly have command of the NFC East. You saw the
Speaker 1: situation unfold with Washington being the team out of all
Speaker 1: the teams to knock off Pittsburgh. This is a strange season.
Speaker 1: And there was a remark made on I believe it
Speaker 1: was my story or your story. I saw on Twitter
Speaker 1: basically somebody saying that, well, it's great win, but can
Speaker 1: you just imagine if they would have if they would
Speaker 1: have found a way to beat Indianapolis and Minnesota games
Speaker 1: they should have won, they'd be eleven and one right now.
Speaker 1: They could be, but they're nine and three, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of teams in the National Football League that
Speaker 1: are having very similar type moments to that, where you
Speaker 1: might either lose late in a competitive football game or
Speaker 1: you might just not show up against a team that
Speaker 1: you should easily beat. Even the Minnesota Vikings having a
Speaker 1: tough time with the Jacksonville Jaguar. So performances like this,
Speaker 1: I think go a long way, because these are the
Speaker 1: type of games that could get away from you special teams, Mike,
Speaker 1: you go back and you look over the history of
Speaker 1: the National Football League. When there's a special teams touchdown
Speaker 1: that you allow, or a pick six, those type of plays,
Speaker 1: it's sometimes difficult to win those matchups. The Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers did that. They shut the door in the biggest
Speaker 1: story of all the fact that they started the game
Speaker 1: that they the way that they did. They wanted energy
Speaker 1: on the first drive, they wanted to be able to
Speaker 1: take command of this game. They did it cerebral. Ye,
Speaker 1: it wasn't perfect, but the Philadelphia Eagles had a lot
Speaker 1: of questions to answer in this game. A year ago,
Speaker 1: Miles when you look at Miles Sanders, when you look
Speaker 1: at um Jordan Howard, they ran for a what was
Speaker 1: it a hundred sixty yards against the Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1: This game, they didn't get past fifty. Jalen Hurts comes
Speaker 1: into the game. He had some success, but the Packers
Speaker 1: were able to counter back. That was the tale of
Speaker 1: this The better team won in the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: when it came down a crunch time made sure that
Speaker 1: they put an exclamation point on that. Yeah, when you
Speaker 1: talk about the special teams, it's it's kind of a
Speaker 1: double edged sword in a way, because we've seen the Packers.
Speaker 1: They've been able to overcome allowing two punt returns for
Speaker 1: touchdowns in two separate games and still get victories. As
Speaker 1: you said, that's pretty rare. Just as we've seen the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks with the Minnesota Vikings. They've allowed
Speaker 1: their opponents to score are three defensive touchdowns in the
Speaker 1: last two weeks. But yet the Vikings have managed to
Speaker 1: prevail in both of those games. That's rare. You don't
Speaker 1: see that. Obviously. The flip side of it for the
Speaker 1: Packers is that if you don't get this short up,
Speaker 1: if you don't get this fixed, a special team's breakdown
Speaker 1: is potentially going to cost you big time, whether it's
Speaker 1: say against Tennessee in Week sixteen when you have that
Speaker 1: big matchup at lambeau Field, or obviously in the playoffs
Speaker 1: where a play like that on special teams could really
Speaker 1: swing things. So the Packers are overcoming their mistakes. But
Speaker 1: as Matt Lafleur said on Monday, there's plenty to clean
Speaker 1: up here. There's still plenty of things for us to
Speaker 1: coach and for the players to work on. There's no
Speaker 1: shortage of things for this Packers coaching staff to keep
Speaker 1: the players attention here as the as the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: of the season starts, to uh to roll on here
Speaker 1: these last four regular season games. Yeah, in that moment,
Speaker 1: Mike is only as good as the Packers make out
Speaker 1: of it. I mean, and this can be a real
Speaker 1: teaching moment. It probably should have been the first time.
Speaker 1: At Secondly, this is something that they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: go back and look at Jalen Reagor is one of
Speaker 1: the top returners, one of the top young talents in
Speaker 1: this league. There was a reason why the Eagles drafted
Speaker 1: him where they did. They feel like he can be
Speaker 1: a guy that can help them in two different phases.
Speaker 1: So if you punt the ball to him in the
Speaker 1: middle of the field, that's a danger to begin with.
Speaker 1: But then, as Matt Lafleur pointed out, the gunner then
Speaker 1: gets washed inside, opening up the sideline for Reagor, and
Speaker 1: from there the coverage team is not able to to
Speaker 1: do anything with it seventy three yards to the house.
Speaker 1: So these are moments that I'm sure with Shawn Meneinge
Speaker 1: when he sits down with his special teams units this week,
Speaker 1: they got to clean these things up. They have to
Speaker 1: find a way to do it. Now. They've had injuries,
Speaker 1: they've had some turnover there, but you still need to
Speaker 1: be able to hold down the fort because, as we
Speaker 1: were just saying, special teams can really open things up. Now,
Speaker 1: all that being said, the Packers are sitting at nine
Speaker 1: and three. It's a lot easier to learn from these
Speaker 1: things when you're looking at winning game film in the
Speaker 1: Packers because the defense got a late stop and because
Speaker 1: obviously the success of Aaron Jones on that last run,
Speaker 1: they were able to pick each other up and get
Speaker 1: that win. Yeah. Well, there were a lot of milestones.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of history being made here by by
Speaker 1: some spectacular Green Bay Packers players here in I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give a rundown on the milestones from this last game,
Speaker 1: and then I'll let you talk about the ones that
Speaker 1: you want to First and foremost, Aaron Rodgers gets his
Speaker 1: four dred career touchdown pass and he becomes the fastest
Speaker 1: player in NFL history to do that one regular season
Speaker 1: games to get to four hundred, and he's also the
Speaker 1: first one to get to four hundred with less than
Speaker 1: a hundred interceptions in his career. He only has eight
Speaker 1: thus far. He also became the first quarterback in league
Speaker 1: history to to have thirty five or more touchdown passes
Speaker 1: in five different seasons. He even he admitted that one
Speaker 1: probably won't last long because there are some other guys
Speaker 1: coming along who are who are going to uh going
Speaker 1: to surpass that sooner than later. But he's the first
Speaker 1: guy to do it and currently the only one in
Speaker 1: league history and then Davante Adams. He catches the four
Speaker 1: hundred touchdown pass for Aaron Rodgers and presents him the
Speaker 1: football in the end zone. But Adams gets over a
Speaker 1: thousand yards for the season for the second time in
Speaker 1: his career, and more importantly, from a historical perspective, a
Speaker 1: touchdown reception in seven straight games, which nobody in Packer's
Speaker 1: history has done since Don Hudson back in the ninetties.
Speaker 1: So there are some special moments going on here in
Speaker 1: this crazy different and odd season, and every once in
Speaker 1: a while you just have to sit back and win
Speaker 1: or lose or however this ends up in January for
Speaker 1: the Packers, you have to kind of sit back and
Speaker 1: relish it at least a little. Well, you definitely do,
Speaker 1: because these type of moments don't happen. I mean you
Speaker 1: you know, after every game we get the stat print out,
Speaker 1: the notes print out that are terrific public relations staff
Speaker 1: puts together. And just how expansive that's been this season, Mike.
Speaker 1: There's times in the past that there might be one
Speaker 1: or two notes of of something. Hey, you know, Richard
Speaker 1: Rodgers became the first tight end to have eight touchdowns
Speaker 1: since Bubba Franks. You know few years ago those type
Speaker 1: of things work their way in there. This past week
Speaker 1: looked like a dope sheet. By the time that they
Speaker 1: got done, it looked like the weekly game notes in
Speaker 1: terms of how many different things had happened. Even Robert
Speaker 1: Tony and I think became the first tight end in
Speaker 1: team history to have a touchdown catch of more than
Speaker 1: twenty five yards UH in three straight games at first,
Speaker 1: to do that in the NFL since seven, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just ridiculous, um, the amount of things that this
Speaker 1: offense is accomplishing specifically, And we're not even talking about
Speaker 1: what they've done defensively with Zadarius Smith back to back
Speaker 1: ten secs seasons, first time that's been done in a decade.
Speaker 1: But the stat obviously that you have to talk about
Speaker 1: is Aaron Rodgers four hundred touchdown past is Mike four hundred,
Speaker 1: and he has yet to throw a hundred interceptions. I
Speaker 1: joked during the game after a second one that he
Speaker 1: would have to throw twelve consecutive interceptions before his next touchdown. Mike,
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna have to go back to maybe
Speaker 1: two thousand eight for the last time that he threw
Speaker 1: more than twelve in an entire season for him not
Speaker 1: to be able to be the first quarterback to do that.
Speaker 1: And he made a remark that I know you ran
Speaker 1: with with your editorial as well, that you know his
Speaker 1: goals now to get to five hundred without getting to
Speaker 1: a hundred. I mean, that's the level he's playing at.
Speaker 1: And more importantly, because I know in the past everything
Speaker 1: was about well he protects the ball, he holds onto
Speaker 1: it too long, he doesn't want to make a mistake.
Speaker 1: He's playing in rhythm with this offense, and I that
Speaker 1: that's the story here. It's the story for two thousand twenty,
Speaker 1: and it's the story for beyond. You have seen a
Speaker 1: synergy this year. Uh you know, two sides of an
Speaker 1: offensive theory meeting an m v P quarterback, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of fit in parallel this season. And I feel
Speaker 1: like as the Packers get down this stretch here, yes
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about Aaron Rodgers in the m
Speaker 1: v P conversation. Arguably should be in that already in
Speaker 1: terms of you know, I know what Patrick Mahomes has done.
Speaker 1: But as I wrote an insider inbox on Tuesday, if
Speaker 1: you believe everything everybody said at the begining of the
Speaker 1: AAR Aaron Rodgers has no weapons. So it's incredible what
Speaker 1: he's been able to accomplish without any weapons. Uh, this
Speaker 1: season he should be an m v P. But all
Speaker 1: that being said, this stretch that he's been on, you
Speaker 1: have to step back. You have to appreciate it because
Speaker 1: the game is not that easy and he's making it
Speaker 1: look that way. Yeah, that that's the thing West. I
Speaker 1: mean you you you look at you look at what
Speaker 1: he's done. And even if I'm not mistaken, you know,
Speaker 1: his four interceptions this season, I want to say two
Speaker 1: of the four have been deflected, you know, or two
Speaker 1: or tipped passes in some regards. So I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: the fact that that he had the guts to to
Speaker 1: tell the media like, yeah, I'm gonna go for five
Speaker 1: hundred touchdowns before I get to a hundred. So of course,
Speaker 1: when I sat down after the game to write that editorial,
Speaker 1: I wanted to go back and do the math and
Speaker 1: just see, Okay, how real? I like, is is this
Speaker 1: a pipe dream or is this actually realistic? Well? I
Speaker 1: counted it up between touchdown past number three hundred and
Speaker 1: four hundred. Over his last hundred touchdowns he threw fourteen interceptions.
Speaker 1: So the fact that he is twelve interceptions away from
Speaker 1: a hundred uh, and he's talking about getting another hundred
Speaker 1: touchdown passes before those twelve interceptions. It's not like out
Speaker 1: of the realm of possibility by any stretch. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is this is right in his wheelhouse. This, this
Speaker 1: is now. It would be a tremendous accomplishment. But it's
Speaker 1: it's not something that's uh, it's not something that's that's
Speaker 1: an absolute pipe dream by any stretch. He could actually
Speaker 1: pull this off. No, And some of it is is
Speaker 1: you just said it is sometimes dumb luck. I mean
Speaker 1: you mentioned that the deflected passes and those type of
Speaker 1: things this year that happened in the past two, last
Speaker 1: two or three seasons where it's been a deflected pass
Speaker 1: here there that has turned in to an interception that
Speaker 1: has led to that. So here, this is the way
Speaker 1: I look at it. Aaron Rodgers, the way he's performed
Speaker 1: this season, he's reminding the National Football League that you
Speaker 1: guys can come up with every single type of narrative
Speaker 1: that you want. He's been the same player, he continues
Speaker 1: to be the same player, and he's having a heck
Speaker 1: of a lot of fun right now. Matt Lafleur's offense.
Speaker 1: La Fleur is not going to give himself any credit.
Speaker 1: He always deflects it, and sometimes I think that actually
Speaker 1: works against him when you get these Coach of the
Speaker 1: Year conversations and things of that nature. He's not a
Speaker 1: big personality, right But Matt Lafleur the job he's done,
Speaker 1: not only implementing his system. Because they caught a lot
Speaker 1: of people off guard last year by winning thirteen games
Speaker 1: and making an NFC Championship game, there were a lot
Speaker 1: of questions about the legitimate, city of legitimacy of that
Speaker 1: going into this season. From the outside, that's all been
Speaker 1: put to rest. The guy has, you know, already won
Speaker 1: more games than any other head coach and team history
Speaker 1: through the amount of time he's been here, and for
Speaker 1: him and Rodgers to kind of find themselves, get that
Speaker 1: get on the same page. This season, You've seen the
Speaker 1: offense explode, You've seen Davante Adams become an All Pro receiver,
Speaker 1: You've seen the emergence of Robert Toanian, even the offensive
Speaker 1: line Mike They've played out of their mind this season.
Speaker 1: And because they're blocking for a guy like Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: They're starting to get more notoriety because you and I
Speaker 1: have seen Corey Linsley at this level. We saw last
Speaker 1: year Elton Jenkins as I. As I mentioned in one
Speaker 1: of my right ups last week too, this team has
Speaker 1: more than one Pro bowler on that offensive line, whether
Speaker 1: or not outsiders want to acknowledge that, So finally seeing
Speaker 1: the fruits of that labor be found. Obviously, the super
Speaker 1: Bowl is the goal. They want to win a division title.
Speaker 1: They want to get that by in the first round
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. But taking a step back every once
Speaker 1: in a while is okay to sort of appreciate what
Speaker 1: this team has done through the first twelve games of
Speaker 1: this season. Yeah. Absolutely, And I wanted to get back
Speaker 1: to one other point too. You mentioned the m v
Speaker 1: P discussion. I think the m v P in the
Speaker 1: NFL and is between Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. I
Speaker 1: don't see anybody else really, and it's the conversation at
Speaker 1: this point. But there are four regular season games left.
Speaker 1: We're only three quarters of the way through the regular season,
Speaker 1: so with of the regular season to go, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's I don't think it's worth arguing right now
Speaker 1: who it should be quite frankly, there's there's a lot
Speaker 1: of football left to be played here. Let's see how
Speaker 1: this plays out, and and we'll see. But I do
Speaker 1: think it's basically down to two guys already. One other
Speaker 1: thing that that I want to get to before we
Speaker 1: move on to some of that that recap of of
Speaker 1: last weekend's games. What we're seeing here that I think
Speaker 1: is potentially a really good sign for the Packers going forward.
Speaker 1: Not just that you know, Aaron Rodgers doing what he's doing,
Speaker 1: and Davante Adams and Aaron Jones finally busted a big
Speaker 1: run and you know everything you're saying about the offensive line,
Speaker 1: but we're seeing on the defensive side of the ball
Speaker 1: west some young players for the Packers who are starting
Speaker 1: to come into their own a little bit. We've talked
Speaker 1: about Rashan Gary and what he's done. He had I believe,
Speaker 1: one and a half sacks out of those UH seven
Speaker 1: against the Eagles. Kingsley Kiki, a second year defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: He has his second two sack game of the season.
Speaker 1: Darnell Savage, the second year safety, a first round pick
Speaker 1: just like Rashan Gary, he gets an interception laid in
Speaker 1: the game when the defense rose up. He now has
Speaker 1: three interceptions in the last two games. A young player
Speaker 1: maybe starting to hit his stride here down the stretch.
Speaker 1: The young players here that the Packers, as we've talked
Speaker 1: about and as a lot of people know, the Packers
Speaker 1: have invested a lot of resources in the draft, in
Speaker 1: the defense, and some of these guys they might just
Speaker 1: be hitting their stride at the right time here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was funny. I was doing the Packers pregame radio
Speaker 1: show at James Jones, you know, Packers longtime receiver now
Speaker 1: works for NFL Network, one of my all time favorites,
Speaker 1: j J. Just for a lot of folks, right, very
Speaker 1: professional guy handled himself the right way throughout his two
Speaker 1: stints in Green Bay, and he actually drew the parallels.
Speaker 1: It's funny because some of us have done this over
Speaker 1: the here and I'm guilty of it too, for comparing
Speaker 1: every every core, every safety that shows a glimpse of promise,
Speaker 1: comparing them to Nick Collins. But he really made a
Speaker 1: strong comparison to not necessarily just totally as a player,
Speaker 1: but the development of a Nick Collins in putting that
Speaker 1: in line with what Darnell Savage has done over the
Speaker 1: last two seasons. A lot of raw ability, a lot
Speaker 1: of speed, and just really the understanding of the defense
Speaker 1: when that comes to him and he can play more
Speaker 1: off his instincts and his football. I Q that's when
Speaker 1: you see a real playmaker, a Pro Bowl type safety
Speaker 1: emerge and he feels like that's kind of what you've
Speaker 1: seen with Darnell Savage. Into James's credit, this was before
Speaker 1: he had the interception on Sunday. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: something that he had been kind of making note of
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the year, and now you're starting
Speaker 1: to see it. It kind of happened more and more
Speaker 1: last week. I asked Adrian Amos about that during his
Speaker 1: Zoom call and the fact that when a young guy
Speaker 1: gets gets picks like that, when he makes plays, it
Speaker 1: isn't that necessarily you want to be chasing them, because
Speaker 1: that isn't the be all end all, but it does
Speaker 1: sort of remind a safety of what they're capable of,
Speaker 1: gives them that confidence that, you know what, I got those.
Speaker 1: There shouldn't be any pressure on interceptions. I got some,
Speaker 1: let's get some more. So from that regard, I think
Speaker 1: you're seeing a real step that that Savage has taken
Speaker 1: here in the last couple of weeks. I'd be remiss, though, Mike,
Speaker 1: if I didn't talk about the fact that Kingsley Kiki
Speaker 1: has come on four sacks now on the season. This
Speaker 1: is a guy that I know some people have drawn
Speaker 1: some comparisons with, you know, Mike Daniels and being able
Speaker 1: to maybe get that guy that isn't the typical six
Speaker 1: foot three, six ft four three and fifteen pound defensive tackle,
Speaker 1: a guy that's more around that to ninety range, that
Speaker 1: can win with leverage, win with getting underneath the shoulder
Speaker 1: pads of guards. Kiki has done that. And you have
Speaker 1: to talk about Rashaan Garrett. Four sacks now on the season,
Speaker 1: and if you look at the way they've used his snaps,
Speaker 1: this is a guy that has been allowed to develop
Speaker 1: at a more comfortable pace. They didn't ask him to
Speaker 1: walk in the door and beat Clay Matthews. They asked
Speaker 1: him to come in the door and learn from Zadarius
Speaker 1: Smith and Preston Smith. And now you're seeing him rise
Speaker 1: up to this two thousand nineteen draft class. There's still
Speaker 1: a long way to go. There's still a lot of
Speaker 1: production that needs to be proven, but from where they
Speaker 1: were a year ago at this time to what you're
Speaker 1: seeing down this final stretch, this is what's propelling Green
Speaker 1: Bay into this final quarter of the regular season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question about it. Well, as the fourth quarter of
Speaker 1: the regular season is upon us, the Packers are nine
Speaker 1: and three and heading into Week fourteen here, there are
Speaker 1: a couple of clinch scenarios for the Packers that all
Speaker 1: through out here for you, Wes, the Packers can possibly
Speaker 1: clinch the NFC nor this week, and what that would
Speaker 1: take is a victory over the Detroit Lions coupled with
Speaker 1: a loss by the Minnesota Vikings. Now, the other clinch
Speaker 1: scenario for the Packers involves clinching just a playoff spot
Speaker 1: even if say the Vikings were to win, So the
Speaker 1: NFC North is still in play. But the Packers can
Speaker 1: clinch a playoff spot if they win against Detroit and
Speaker 1: if the Arizona Cardinals take one more loss. So we're
Speaker 1: getting into that that time of the season where you know,
Speaker 1: you you look at the different scenarios and see where
Speaker 1: you are in the bigger picture. As we know, the
Speaker 1: Packers are in the number two spot in the NFC
Speaker 1: right now at nine and three, one game behind the
Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints, who are ten and two, one game
Speaker 1: ahead of the Seattle Seahawks, who are eight and four
Speaker 1: after that surprising loss to the New York Giants. So
Speaker 1: um a lot to play for here over these last
Speaker 1: four regular season games, and particularly with the number one seed,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about, the only one now that gets
Speaker 1: a first run by. So the chase for that top
Speaker 1: spot in the NFC is going to be watched very
Speaker 1: very close. Yeah, and knock on wood, that's the way
Speaker 1: it stays. I keep saying that every time someone says
Speaker 1: something about the first round by, I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: all with hope that that's how it works out. I
Speaker 1: don't want to see a sixteen team playoff. But you're
Speaker 1: you're everybody, Mike, when you lay out a season, when
Speaker 1: you lay out a schedule, and fans are still doing
Speaker 1: it now, and it's okay. It's the excitement factor of it.
Speaker 1: They go, okay, well that the Packers will win all
Speaker 1: their other games and then they just got the Titans.
Speaker 1: They just gotta beat the Titans. It's not that simple.
Speaker 1: Asked the Seattle Seahawks about that. I mean, you can't
Speaker 1: look past any of these opponents, because that's ultimately where
Speaker 1: teams are getting tripped up, especially in the NFC this year.
Speaker 1: It's why the NFC races as wide open as it
Speaker 1: has been. The New Orleans Saints have been to fend
Speaker 1: off a challenge last week. That's where the scenarios get
Speaker 1: really interesting, and you do a fantastic job of laying
Speaker 1: that all out in path to the playoffs. Be sure
Speaker 1: to check that out on Packers dot com every weekend now.
Speaker 1: But it really is knowing that eight the Detroit Lions,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna look at more of them throughout the
Speaker 1: course of this week. This is a team now that
Speaker 1: showed a lot more life under Daryl Bevel than they
Speaker 1: did the last couple of weeks. And sometimes, as we've
Speaker 1: seen time and time again, we talked about it with
Speaker 1: Raheem Morris taken over the Atlanta Falcons, it's sometimes that
Speaker 1: jolt that a team needs. Are they gonna instantly become
Speaker 1: playoff teams now? Are they gonna become contenders? No? But
Speaker 1: they get a lot more live in terms of their
Speaker 1: dog status. And that's why you can't take these matchups
Speaker 1: for granted. The Green Bay Packers, they need one more
Speaker 1: win to get to ten. After that, then they look
Speaker 1: at eleven and if that all lines up and those
Speaker 1: stars are there for them to be a playoff team
Speaker 1: and a bye and have a bye through the first round,
Speaker 1: you take it as it comes, but you can't look
Speaker 1: past any of these teams. Thinking about the Titans. Yeah, absolutely, well,
Speaker 1: a couple of more points before we go. A lot
Speaker 1: of people have been laughing at the NFC East this year.
Speaker 1: We've even done a little bit of chuckling at the
Speaker 1: NFC East. But okay, hold on a second, because the
Speaker 1: New York Giants just beat the Seattle Seahawks and Washington
Speaker 1: just beat the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers. So that just goes
Speaker 1: to your point. You cannot sleep on anybody right now.
Speaker 1: And yes, the winner of the NFC East is probably
Speaker 1: going to be like eight and eight at best, and
Speaker 1: maybe even seven and nine or six and ten will
Speaker 1: still win that division. But the team's the team that
Speaker 1: does emerge to win that division is still going to
Speaker 1: be a threat in the playoffs regardless of of what
Speaker 1: its record is. And the other thing too, with regard
Speaker 1: to the Packers facing the Detroit Lions, Daryl Bevil has
Speaker 1: taken over as the interim coach. Bevil is now the
Speaker 1: third interim coach in to win his first game taking
Speaker 1: over the team, because the Falcons did it with Raheem Morris,
Speaker 1: the Texans did it with Romeo Cornell, and now this
Speaker 1: Lions team West. They were down by ten points with
Speaker 1: four minutes to go and they had the ball in
Speaker 1: their own four yard line at Soldier Field against the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bear. Their win probability for the statistical geeks out
Speaker 1: there was like almost off the chart the wrong way.
Speaker 1: They went ninety six yards and got a touchdown, got
Speaker 1: to turn over on defense, punched in another touchdown, then
Speaker 1: held off the Bears in the red zone on the
Speaker 1: final possession. And Daryl Bevel gets his first win. And
Speaker 1: guess what the Detroit Lions are going. We're five and seven.
Speaker 1: If we can run the table and get to nine
Speaker 1: and seven with all this craziness in the NFC and
Speaker 1: the extra playoffs spot, that's said, that's seven seed. The
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions are gonna be welcoming the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: into Ford Fields saying we're still a contender like they
Speaker 1: you know, everything has been revived now because of that
Speaker 1: come back in Chicago. So the Packers are gonna have
Speaker 1: their hands full, there's no question about it. And the
Speaker 1: other thing too, with Matthew Stafford for in passing yards
Speaker 1: last week, Mike, that's the way that this thing can
Speaker 1: go for Detroit. They're only one solid Matthew Stafford game
Speaker 1: away from playing with anybody in the NFL. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, as much as we've made out of the
Speaker 1: Barry Sanders era and some of these other times in
Speaker 1: which they've had missed opportunities, the fact that they've had
Speaker 1: a franchise quarterback for ten years and they've struggled to
Speaker 1: win consistently, uh that that's been a huge thing for
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers to be able to survive. Because
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford on a lot of teams with the right
Speaker 1: defenses would be a perennial contender with the way he
Speaker 1: plays the game and if you can get him a
Speaker 1: running attack. So that type of matchup is gonna be
Speaker 1: interesting to watch. And as far as the NFC East,
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of scrappers in that division right now.
Speaker 1: The Giants won that game in a very unconventional way.
Speaker 1: UM Washington won their game over Pittsburgh in an extremely
Speaker 1: unconventional way, although I think they have a defense that
Speaker 1: can keep them in a lot of matchups and now
Speaker 1: more of a game managing mentality with Alex Smith at quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: So yeah, again, this matchup on Sunday for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: We're gonna look more into it throughout the course of
Speaker 1: the week, but uh, this is definitely an opponent that
Speaker 1: Green Bay can't look past as they try to get
Speaker 1: down this final stretch of the season. Yeah, it'll be
Speaker 1: an interesting NFC North battle for sure, but with that
Speaker 1: we will call it a wrap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers on Script. Would be sure to follow all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of the team all week long on Packers
Speaker 1: dot com. Oh you know what, before we go, West,
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Speaker 1: I'm Mike thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time.