Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 2: I am Mike Spofford, joined by the one and only
Speaker 2: Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 2: at lambeau Field to preview Week four lambeau Field Packers
Speaker 2: against the Vikings. It will be a noon Central Time
Speaker 2: kickoff and uh wes. Packers are two and one. As
Speaker 2: we know, Jordan Love is continuing to practice. He's feeling better,
Speaker 2: he's moving better, he's still limited. We don't know if
Speaker 2: he's going to play or not. So it could be
Speaker 2: Jordan Love, it could be Milik Willis. But what we
Speaker 2: do know is the Minnesota Vikings are three and oh
Speaker 2: and they are sitting on top of the NFC North
Speaker 2: And I'll let you decide where you want to start.
Speaker 2: Whether it's with Sam darm and his one seventeen passer
Speaker 2: rating in what appears to be the resurrection of a
Speaker 2: somewhat previously lost career, or this Vikings defense that leads
Speaker 2: the league with sixteen sacks and has only allowed thirty
Speaker 2: points in three games. The Vikings are are pretty formidable
Speaker 2: on both sides of the ball. Here This isn't This
Speaker 2: isn't just some kind of one trick pony club.
Speaker 3: I'm glad that you didn't open with the Aaron Jones thing,
Speaker 3: because I might just end up filling up the entire
Speaker 3: episode with I have.
Speaker 1: We'll get to it, this, we'll get to it.
Speaker 2: We'll get to Aaron Jones.
Speaker 3: I want to start with Donald. If I may and
Speaker 3: you wrote already about the defense, you can touch on that,
Speaker 3: and I maybe I can interject a little bit. But
Speaker 3: Sam Donald really impresses me for two reasons. One, I
Speaker 3: like this idea Baker Mayfield achieve this as well. I
Speaker 3: like this idea of guys who specifically are from that
Speaker 3: draft class that it didn't work out for them in.
Speaker 1: Their first stop.
Speaker 3: They had to find their way again, and it wasn't easy.
Speaker 3: Mayfield ended up making a spot start on five days
Speaker 3: notice with the Los Angeles Rams couple of years ago.
Speaker 3: After it didn't work out in Carolina, Donald goes to Carolina,
Speaker 3: it also doesn't work out. He goes to San Francisco,
Speaker 3: gets a few opportunities. I remember when the forty nine
Speaker 3: ers signed him. I'm kind of like, what are they doing?
Speaker 3: Why do they need him? And then he ends up
Speaker 3: being counted on. And then the Minnesota Vikings and tip
Speaker 3: your cap to them for this decision because they move
Speaker 3: on from Kirk Cousins. They draft JJ McCarthy, but Sam
Speaker 3: Donald is chosen as that kind of bridge gapping quarterback,
Speaker 3: and then of course this injury with the knee happens
Speaker 3: with McCarthy, So now Sam Donald is the starting quarterback.
Speaker 3: And when you get guys who are naturally talented, a
Speaker 3: first round pedigree, that learn from their mistakes and make
Speaker 3: the adjustments like Donald has, I think you got to
Speaker 3: tip your cap to him. And as I've told you
Speaker 3: several times this week already, I tip my cap to
Speaker 3: Kevin O'Connell because he's been in this position several times now.
Speaker 3: For him to have a winning record in his time
Speaker 3: as the Minnesota Vikings head coach with as many different
Speaker 3: quarterbacks as he's had to cycle through, I think speaks
Speaker 3: to his creativeness. And seeing these two sides match up,
Speaker 3: I think is just going to make for tremendous theater
Speaker 3: on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's going to be an incredible matchup.
Speaker 2: We've we've seen what Matt Lafleuur has done under the
Speaker 2: gun with Malik Willis not having been here very long
Speaker 2: devising these different types of game plans, getting Willis to
Speaker 2: execute the offense to the level that he has and
Speaker 2: the Packers get two wins without Jordan Love. Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 2: we saw him last year with Minnesota when Kirk Cousins
Speaker 2: first went down, which happened at lambeau Field actually in
Speaker 2: the middle of the season. When Cousins first went down,
Speaker 2: they threw Josh Dobbs in there at quarterback, and you know,
Speaker 2: Dobbs sort of I guess a journeyman, a guy trying
Speaker 2: to find his way, however you want to say it.
Speaker 2: And the Vikings won three games with Josh Dobbs. Kevin
Speaker 2: O'Connell was the guy devising the game plans and the
Speaker 2: stuff that Matt Lafleur has been doing this year. He
Speaker 2: was doing that. They got some wins with Josh Dobbs,
Speaker 2: three of them, and they were staying in the playoff
Speaker 2: hunt for a little while, and then the rest of
Speaker 2: the league kind of caught up to what going on
Speaker 2: with Josh Dobbs. Then the Vikings shifted gears to Nick Mullins.
Speaker 2: Mullins actually came very very close in two games to
Speaker 2: beating the Lions and the Bengals. He came up short
Speaker 2: in both of those games, but again it was a
Speaker 2: testament to Kevin O'Connell taking a new quarterback, figuring something
Speaker 2: out and keeping his team competitive and giving them a
Speaker 2: chance to win. I think the difference now that it's
Speaker 2: Sam Donald instead of Nick Bullen's or Josh Dobbs, the
Speaker 2: difference is that Sam Donald was drafted at the top
Speaker 2: of the first round for a reason. He's a first
Speaker 2: round talent. There is a ton to work with there.
Speaker 2: Kevin O'Connell just has that much more to work with
Speaker 2: in this change at quarterback than he had last year
Speaker 2: after the cousin's injury, and its showing both of these
Speaker 2: head coaches are incredibly creative and resourceful offensive minds in
Speaker 2: terms of figuring out how to compete, how to get
Speaker 2: their teams with different quarterbacks in a position to win games.
Speaker 2: You're not necessarily gonna win them all, No, that's not
Speaker 2: how it works in this league. But these two head
Speaker 2: coaches and what they've both been through here in the
Speaker 2: very recent past and that not so distant past, I
Speaker 2: think it makes for a whale of a matchup.
Speaker 1: It does.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure if you ask anybody on these Shanahan
Speaker 3: McVeigh coaching trees, nobody's gonna say, hey, I want to
Speaker 3: play without my quarterback, right But it's impressive to see
Speaker 3: how all these guys have managed it, whether it's Kyle Shannon,
Speaker 3: whether it is Sean McVay. To some extent, you look
Speaker 3: at it last year, what happened in Cincinnati. I mean,
Speaker 3: there are so many different With Zach Taylor, there's so
Speaker 3: many different situations that you get thrust into, and you
Speaker 3: can tell how these guys all embrace it. And beyond that,
Speaker 3: the Minnesota vikings last year kind of reminded me of
Speaker 3: a car that had some real bad issues underneath the engine,
Speaker 3: but they just had a pretty good mechanic that kept
Speaker 3: that thing going until ultimately, I think it did run
Speaker 3: out of gas and kind of fell to the side
Speaker 3: of the road.
Speaker 1: They had to reset.
Speaker 3: But the fact that this happened with McCarthy, you hate
Speaker 3: that he's not going to get that year of development
Speaker 3: now on the field. But it's almost like O'Connell and everybody,
Speaker 3: they were prepared and understood what the task was going
Speaker 3: to be. And much like what Green Bay did with
Speaker 3: Malik Willis. Donald has a bevy of weapons at his disposal.
Speaker 3: He has arguably the best receiver in the National Football
Speaker 3: League that he's throwing to. He has, independent of his
Speaker 3: connections to the Packers, one of the most consistently prolific
Speaker 3: running backs in the National Football League over the last
Speaker 3: five six years in Aaron Jones. I think the offensive
Speaker 3: line still has some issues. I've felt that way for
Speaker 3: several years now with the Vikings. But all that being said,
Speaker 3: they're playing winning football right now and it starts with
Speaker 3: what Donald is doing under center.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, let's get into where things are with Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2: Through three games with Minnesota, he has two hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty eight rushing yards ninety seven receiving yards, so well
Speaker 2: over three hundred yards from scrimmage in three games, a
Speaker 2: couple of touchdowns, one rush, one receiving. I think the
Speaker 2: number that jumps out the most is that he's averaging
Speaker 2: five point four yards per carry thus far for the Vikings.
Speaker 2: He's uh, he's been everything the Vikings could have hoped for,
Speaker 2: and certainly what he is doing for Minnesota is not
Speaker 2: a surprise to anybody in Green Bay who knows him.
Speaker 2: And he'll be uh, he'll be wearing a different uniform,
Speaker 2: but he'll be back in lambeau Field Sunday. It's going
Speaker 2: to be really interesting to watch him again.
Speaker 3: It will be Mike and and from an ex as
Speaker 3: and O's perspective at Isaam McDuffie had some interesting points
Speaker 3: and saying the challenge with Jones is even though he's
Speaker 3: as small as he is, it's that he still finds
Speaker 3: a way to drag you for three or five extra yards.
Speaker 3: He's he's almost he's kind of like a miniature Derrick
Speaker 3: Henry in a way where it's just like it's you
Speaker 3: look at him and you think, okay, it's a smaller
Speaker 3: type backscat back. Now Aaron Jones packs a punch and
Speaker 3: now the Packers, after having to try to just tag
Speaker 3: off on him for seven years, now have to bring
Speaker 3: him down to the ground. And that's going to be
Speaker 3: a challenging in and of itself from a humanistic standpoint.
Speaker 3: You heard it with Mattle talking at the podium this week.
Speaker 3: You heard it from the guys in the locker room.
Speaker 3: This is undisputed one of the most popular Green Bay
Speaker 3: Packer players in the modern time of this franchise. Yes,
Speaker 3: fan perspective, players perspective. I joked with Matt Steiman in
Speaker 3: the locker room on Wednesday, I think we're all doing
Speaker 3: these Aaron Jones stories, myself included. I think the more
Speaker 3: intriguing story would be to walk around trying to find
Speaker 3: one person who doesn't like Aaron Jones in Green Bay's
Speaker 3: locker room or anywhere in the world. I mean, this
Speaker 3: guy has such an incredible personality, has such incredible perspective,
Speaker 3: and comes from such an incredible family. And I was
Speaker 3: kind of marinating on that a little bit as I
Speaker 3: was finishing up the story that I wrote for our
Speaker 3: website on Thursday morning. It was about nine o'clock at night,
Speaker 3: and I'm kind of going through the story and going
Speaker 3: through his Player's Tribune article, which was fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll tell you if you haven't seen the Player's
Speaker 2: Tribune piece, by all means, please check it out. It's
Speaker 2: an absolutely wonderful tribute to Green Bay, the organization and
Speaker 2: the fans of this franchise and what and how Aaron
Speaker 2: Jones feels about hold it.
Speaker 3: Aaron Jones didn't just go, hey, look at all the
Speaker 3: great stuff that happened some crap happened to him. I mean,
Speaker 3: he mentioned getting busted, you know, getting pulled over what
Speaker 3: it was with marijuana in his system, and that costing
Speaker 3: him a game, and him feeling like that that was
Speaker 3: costing the team. And you know, obviously the sad stuff
Speaker 3: that happened with his father in twenty twenty one. And
Speaker 3: you know, I still have the text message on my
Speaker 3: phone from Elvin Senior when he congratulated me on the
Speaker 3: birth of my son, and you know, running into it.
Speaker 3: You know, his mom Virgus out in the verrgis out
Speaker 3: in the parking lot after Aaron had been released and
Speaker 3: had signed with the Vikings and her seeing me and
Speaker 3: immediately the first thing before I even get any words out,
Speaker 3: is her going, why are you so sad? I mean,
Speaker 3: just the perspective. This family has almost sixty years collectively
Speaker 3: between his parents in the US military, and it all
Speaker 3: trickled down to Aaron and his brother and his sister
Speaker 3: in that entire family and Aaron Junior. Now, I mean,
Speaker 3: this guy means so much to this football team. But
Speaker 3: as Matt Lafleur said, for three hours, you have to
Speaker 3: press pause on all that because they have to get
Speaker 3: and thirty three to the ground. And while Aaron Jones gives,
Speaker 3: you know, his departure leaves a lot in terms of
Speaker 3: a void of the Packers locker room. His presence here
Speaker 3: for those seven years left so much behind with the
Speaker 3: players that are there, with the coaches that are there.
Speaker 3: And as I said on my Instagram story earlier this week,
Speaker 3: I mean, you hate to see him in a number
Speaker 3: another color uniform, but it is going to be tremendous
Speaker 3: to see him back at Lambeufield on Sunday. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I can't even I can't even imagine for him, like emotionally,
Speaker 2: what it's going to be like. You know, we talked
Speaker 2: about a little bit with regard to you know, Malik
Speaker 2: Willis walking back into you know, Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Speaker 2: But this, this is, this is entirely different, you know,
Speaker 2: because this is not about this. This is about one
Speaker 2: of the franchise's all time greats, you know, the number
Speaker 2: three leading rusher in the one hundred plus years of
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers football. And and for everything that Aaron
Speaker 2: Jones accomplished on the field, he's remembered around here for
Speaker 2: the person, the man, you know, the son, the brother
Speaker 2: that he has always been off the field, and uh, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it'll it'll I think it'll be. I think it'll
Speaker 2: be mixed emotions for all of us watching from the
Speaker 2: press box. It's like, there's there's gonna be like, you know,
Speaker 2: when when uh, when that number thirty three gets the ball,
Speaker 2: it's like, all right, yeah the packers and Packers have
Speaker 2: to tackle him. But at the same time, if he
Speaker 2: breaks into the open field and has a big play,
Speaker 2: it'll be interesting. Just how how is the crowd at
Speaker 2: Lambo going to react to that, you know, because he's
Speaker 2: he is such a such a beloved player.
Speaker 1: Mike, you're gonna hear a pin drop, is what's gonna happen? Yeah,
Speaker 1: what happened? I may think, I think so, I mean yeah.
Speaker 3: And just to mention too, I mean a lot of
Speaker 3: people have been asking this. An insider inboxing, you've seen
Speaker 3: it too. We both answered the questions. Just how fans
Speaker 3: are supposed to feel, Well, here's the thing where the
Speaker 3: fans get kind of lucky. Yes, your your voice, it matters,
Speaker 3: your cheers matter, but ultimately you just have to watch
Speaker 3: what happens. The Packers' defense, they're the ones that have
Speaker 3: to deal with this.
Speaker 1: Problem.
Speaker 3: And as Kenny Clark said, you watch what he did
Speaker 3: in Texas. When you go back to Dallas, the way
Speaker 3: he played, He's going to be juiced up for this
Speaker 3: matchup against the Packers. But as Kenny said, we're going
Speaker 3: to be juiced up too. Isaiah McDuffie wasn't talking about
Speaker 3: this in terms of I mean, oh my goodness, we
Speaker 3: got a face Aaron Jones.
Speaker 1: He's like, no, I'm excited about This.
Speaker 3: Is gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: They are competitors at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But in terms of the Packers run defense and
Speaker 3: some of the things you and I talked about the
Speaker 3: last few weeks, this is a supreme test. This guy
Speaker 3: is going to test you in ways they haven't been
Speaker 3: tested that so far this season.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And oh, by the way, you also have to
Speaker 2: deal with Justin Jefferson, who San Francisco forty nine Ers
Speaker 2: found out. The answer is not as simple as okay,
Speaker 2: let's just blit, Sam Darnold, because turn on the tape,
Speaker 2: turn on the video from the Vikings win over the
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers in Week two. The Vikings are backed
Speaker 2: up inside their own five yard line and the forty
Speaker 2: nine Ers they send a five man rush. Right after
Speaker 2: the snap, a sixth guy is coming, and as Darnald
Speaker 2: sets up in the pocket, a seventh guy is coming
Speaker 2: after him a seven man pressure and what happens. Justin
Speaker 2: Jefferson catches a ninety seven yard touchdown pass absolutely burn
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers defense. And I mean in what
Speaker 2: obviously was the difference making play in a game that
Speaker 2: the Vikings won by seven points twenty four to seventeen
Speaker 2: over the forty nine Ers, in a game that almost
Speaker 2: nobody expected them to win, especially because they had upset
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers last year when nobody expected them
Speaker 2: to be able to win that game. So we'll see
Speaker 2: how the Packers go about it. I'm sure jy R.
Speaker 2: Alexander wants to wants to line up against Justin Jefferson
Speaker 2: and take that for all it's worth. But you know
Speaker 2: how this goes as well. It's not as easy as
Speaker 2: just doing that on every single snap for sixty five snaps.
Speaker 2: You know of the game, there's gonna be some mix
Speaker 2: and match that you have to change things up a
Speaker 2: little bit to not allow them to necessarily know exactly
Speaker 2: what you're doing on every single play. But I think
Speaker 2: we're going to see number twenty three for the Packers
Speaker 2: against Justin Jefferson plenty on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 3: And again my headline for Insider Inbox on Thursday was,
Speaker 3: this is what these matchups are, what football is all about.
Speaker 3: You want to see good on good, you want to
Speaker 3: see best on best. And we've seen it several times
Speaker 3: already with Jefferson and Alexander in the past, you know,
Speaker 3: and all Pro, two time All Pro cornerback going up
Speaker 3: against you know, a guy that has been rewarded as
Speaker 3: the NFL's top receiver and still has very much everything
Speaker 3: still ahead of him. And watching Jefferson be able to
Speaker 3: play as seamlessly and as explosively as he has throughout
Speaker 3: all these quarterback changes, I think speaks to the fact
Speaker 3: of how talented this guy is. In a way, it
Speaker 3: almost kind of reminds me of Calvin Johnson. Yeah, Kelvin
Speaker 3: Johnson's a Pro Football Hall of Famer, but it's not
Speaker 3: like he had Matthew Stafford there the entire time. He
Speaker 3: had to wade through an ohe to sixteen season to
Speaker 3: still be able to put up those numbers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the guy that comes to mind for me that
Speaker 2: and I agree with you on Calvin Johnson, But the
Speaker 2: one that comes to mind for me is Larry Fitzgerald
Speaker 2: with the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 1: And all the size wise for sure, and all.
Speaker 2: The different quarterbacks that he went through, and the guy
Speaker 2: played like a Hall of Famer and was a Hall
Speaker 2: of Famer no matter who was throwing the ball.
Speaker 3: And that is such a luxury for again, for Sam
Speaker 3: Darnold who's going into this thing. The weapons he has
Speaker 3: here are vastly different than the weapons he had available
Speaker 3: to him in New York and Carolina. San Francisco obviously
Speaker 3: saw him have some success last year. But it is again,
Speaker 3: it's all over the place. But to me, I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm sure we'll get to keys to Victi here in
Speaker 3: a little bit, but I mean, you have to be
Speaker 3: able to pressure him. I don't think you can send
Speaker 3: the house every time. But they have given up eight
Speaker 3: sacks this season. You have to find ways to generate
Speaker 3: those takeaways and generate those negative yardage plays because if
Speaker 3: you go back and look at when Green Bay has
Speaker 3: been successful this year, that's how they've done it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, switching gears to the Vikings defense, it's there
Speaker 2: are a couple of mainstays. Harrison Smith is still playing safety.
Speaker 2: Harrison Phillip on the interior the defensive line. He's I
Speaker 2: believe he just got a new contract. I did not
Speaker 2: that not that long ago. But there are all kinds
Speaker 2: of these other pieces that have been brought in from elsewhere.
Speaker 2: You know, Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel are the
Speaker 2: edge rushers. Those guys have combined for seven of the
Speaker 2: sixteen sacks, the league leading sixteen sacks that the Vikings
Speaker 2: have put up. They went through several injuries at cornerback
Speaker 2: during training camp, so they brought in Stefan Gilmour, the
Speaker 2: veteran he's now a starting corner for them. And Brian Flores,
Speaker 2: the defensive coordinator. This is his second year now with
Speaker 2: Kevin O'Connell and he has a scheme. He has a
Speaker 2: scheme that is predicated on confusion in a lot of ways. It's,
Speaker 2: you know, not letting the offense know what it is
Speaker 2: that you're doing and trying to create that hesitation, trying
Speaker 2: to create that confusion, the uncertainty on the offensive side
Speaker 2: that doesn't all allow you to execute cleanly, to execute efficiently,
Speaker 2: to move the ball. Through three games, they've caused all
Speaker 2: kinds of problems, and you know, Brian Flores seems to have,
Speaker 2: you know, he was just sort of feeling his way
Speaker 2: in some ways putting this type of defense together in
Speaker 2: Minnesota last year. It seems like with all these veterans
Speaker 2: that they brought in, they don't have a lot of
Speaker 2: inexperienced guys on that defense. With all these veterans that
Speaker 2: have been brought in, Brian Flores has kind of cranked
Speaker 2: it up a notch and his players are responding.
Speaker 3: It's a perfect analogy in terms of them cranking up
Speaker 3: a notch. And you know, and you give Flora's credit
Speaker 3: for everything he's doing. I think he's a brilliant defensive mind.
Speaker 3: But again, the only thing I and Matt Floora is
Speaker 3: right that they're the only ones doing this. But it's
Speaker 3: not like this is just completely newly invented football. This
Speaker 3: is Bill Belichick's defense. This is the way they tried
Speaker 3: to do things in the Patriots when things were going
Speaker 3: really well when Tom Brady was there. Different fronts, different looks,
Speaker 3: different personnel, matchup dependent schemes, which is, you know, we're
Speaker 3: gonna find what we do well and we're gonna emphasize that.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, if we think there's going
Speaker 3: to be an opening there to take advantage of, we're
Speaker 3: gonna jump all over that. And then the other aspect
Speaker 3: of it. I always draw this analogy. I call this
Speaker 3: a Madden situation, which is back when I was a
Speaker 3: kid and I'd get the Madden Game every year. You
Speaker 3: do the franchise mode, you get to free agency, and
Speaker 3: you just try to sign all the best free agents
Speaker 3: and then just put them in your defense. It doesn't
Speaker 3: really really matter what it is. That's what the Vikings did. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but I give them a lot of credit for as
Speaker 3: many new additions as they've made, some of them high priced,
Speaker 3: some of them more modest. They've made all this fit
Speaker 3: and in Flores he had a plan here. I mean,
Speaker 3: you look at guys like Van Ginkle coming in, had
Speaker 3: the history in Miami. I think Grenard has been in
Speaker 3: a sensation. Blake Cashman has been tremendous with what he's
Speaker 3: done so far, and that's been a big shift in
Speaker 3: the middle of that defense, which for so many years
Speaker 3: always had very familiar faces. By and large, they'd play
Speaker 3: really good team defense, and the defensive front is stout
Speaker 3: you're going up against a unit that's given up seventy
Speaker 3: one rushing yards a game. And it's also not just
Speaker 3: the fact that no one's running against them. Teams are
Speaker 3: trying and they're still only giving up the third fewest
Speaker 3: rushing yards per play. Where I see the opportunity lying
Speaker 3: for this Packers offense is I still have major questions
Speaker 3: about that secondary. Stefan Gilmore has been around for a
Speaker 3: long time, but I mean he came in late, and
Speaker 3: it's not like his previous few years have all been
Speaker 3: the same type of all pro level that it was
Speaker 3: six seven years ago. Harrison Smith is still one of
Speaker 3: the best to do it, but he's a little bit
Speaker 3: longer in the tooth. The secondary is where the unraveling
Speaker 3: started from Minnesota several years ago. I'm trying to figure
Speaker 3: out right now if they've caught back up to where
Speaker 3: it was kind of in the prime peak of that
Speaker 3: Mike Zimmer defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have Harrison Smith and Gambaying them are the safeties.
Speaker 2: Those are the guys who have been there. As we said,
Speaker 2: Gilmore has come in as a corner. Byron Murphy is
Speaker 2: the other starting corner and he's been there. He knows
Speaker 2: obviously Flores's system. I agree with you that that is
Speaker 2: the play. That is the place where you look at
Speaker 2: it and you think you should be able to attack
Speaker 2: that secondary. But they just they make it. They make
Speaker 2: it very difficult to get explosive plays, to get those
Speaker 2: you know, to get those big gainers that shift the momentum,
Speaker 2: and I mean, you know, and in this case, the
Speaker 2: numbers don't lie. I mean, you play three. I don't
Speaker 2: care who the opponents are, but I mean two of
Speaker 2: these opponents were the forty nine ers and the Texans.
Speaker 2: And yet through three games, these guys have only allowed
Speaker 2: thirty points. That is really really hard to do over
Speaker 2: any three game stretch in the NFL.
Speaker 3: And keep this in mind too. You'll look at the
Speaker 3: defense from Minnesota. You'll see twenty sixth against the pass
Speaker 3: so far this season, two hundred and thirty nine yards allowed.
Speaker 3: They are eleventh in yards per play. When you're talking
Speaker 3: about not giving up explosive plays, that's where it's reflected
Speaker 3: in chunk plays. They're making you go the whole span
Speaker 3: of the field. They're getting pressures, they're getting takeaways, they're
Speaker 3: getting in to the house.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll get to our keys to victory right after
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Speaker 2: All right, Keys to Victory. I'm gonna start on this
Speaker 2: one because I did a little bit of the research
Speaker 2: and the math here and what I find to be
Speaker 2: a rather alarming but impressive statistic with regard to the
Speaker 2: vikings they have in their three victories. They have trailed
Speaker 2: for all of three minutes and twenty six seconds. Against
Speaker 2: the New York Giants. They were down three to nothing
Speaker 2: for three and a half minutes before they took the lead.
Speaker 2: In that game, they have been tied for roughly twenty
Speaker 2: one minutes of play, and those ties being only at
Speaker 2: zero zero before the first score of the game. So
Speaker 2: for one hundred and fifty five and a half minutes
Speaker 2: out of one hundred and eighty they have been playing
Speaker 2: with a lead. Now. There is no better way to
Speaker 2: help a new quarterback, as the Packers have shown with
Speaker 2: Malik Willis, there is no better way to help a
Speaker 2: defense than to be playing from in front, and that
Speaker 2: is that has been the formula for the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 2: is to get on top and stay there. I think
Speaker 2: you know, a fast start never hurts you in football, right,
Speaker 2: But if you're going to make it a priority for
Speaker 2: any given game to start fast, it's this one. Because
Speaker 2: if you can flip that script on Minnesota, you get
Speaker 2: them maybe out of their comfort zone a little bit.
Speaker 2: They have to try to win a game in a
Speaker 2: way that they haven't won before, which is to come
Speaker 2: from behind. If you can start fast and jump on
Speaker 2: these guys early, I'll be curious to see. I'll be
Speaker 2: curious to see what happens. I think it's I think
Speaker 2: it's exactly what the Packers need to do someday.
Speaker 3: The Vikings are twenty ninth in average time of possession,
Speaker 3: Like that's wild that their defense has been this dominant,
Speaker 3: But yet they've been out there pretty much more than
Speaker 3: any other unit in the league in terms of at
Speaker 3: least the teams that are really playing winning football here
Speaker 3: early on. That part of it fascinates me, and I
Speaker 3: agree with you one hundred percent. I think when you
Speaker 3: and Xavier McKinny, that same statistic was brought to Zavier
Speaker 3: McKinney at his locker.
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, and he's like, wow.
Speaker 3: He's like, I didn't really even fully appreciate that that
Speaker 3: it was only three minutes in change, and he's like,
Speaker 3: that speaks to a lot of efficiency. It speaks to
Speaker 3: being able to jump on teams, and it also speaks
Speaker 3: to explosive gains in the fact that I think Sam
Speaker 3: Darnod's already thrown a ninety seven yard touchdown pass this
Speaker 3: season to Justin Jefferson, So being able to get points
Speaker 3: on the board is paramount, but seeing how their defense
Speaker 3: has also reacted to it as critical. I personally feel like,
Speaker 3: when I break down this matchup, green Bay has to
Speaker 3: be able to run the football. We'll see is it
Speaker 3: Jordan Love, is it Malik Willis. Time will tell, we'll
Speaker 3: know ninety minutes before the game.
Speaker 1: Likely yep.
Speaker 3: But Minnesota is a lot like Tennessee. Their bodies aren't
Speaker 3: as big, but they rally to the football and they
Speaker 3: get guys to the ground. Green Bay has to battle
Speaker 3: through that. They need to set that tone because I
Speaker 3: think if you do that, regardless of who's that quarterback,
Speaker 3: that's where the secondary really opens up to you. And
Speaker 3: the Packers have the horses to do it. Josh Jacobs,
Speaker 3: you know last week he had to earn every yard
Speaker 3: that he got, but we saw against Indianapolis how he
Speaker 3: can take over a football game, can take over a
Speaker 3: first half. Emmanuel Wilson eighty five total yards this past weekend,
Speaker 3: first NFL touchdown pass quickly is proving he can be
Speaker 3: a bona fide number two running back in this league,
Speaker 3: and he's still climbing. I think that the potential is
Speaker 3: there for Green Bay to really have success against this front,
Speaker 3: but you have to earn it and the blueprint is there.
Speaker 3: The schemes have been different, the game plans have varied,
Speaker 3: but protecting the football, establishing the run in feasting off
Speaker 3: explosive plays, that's been the prototype to the Packers having
Speaker 3: the fifth top offense in the NFL right now on
Speaker 3: the number one ranked run offense in the NFL, despite
Speaker 3: the fact that Jordan Love hasn't played eight quarters.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the when you look at when you look at
Speaker 2: what the Minnesota Vikings are trying to do defensively with
Speaker 2: regard to the confusion, all the different all the different
Speaker 2: pressure looks, and you know, are they blitzing, are they bluffing?
Speaker 2: Are they you know, who's coming, who's not? All that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. There's a big difference in the success
Speaker 2: rate of that kind of stuff on third and eight
Speaker 2: versus third and two. Right, I mean so, and that
Speaker 2: speaks to you got to be able to run the ball.
Speaker 2: You've got to be able to stay ahead of the chains,
Speaker 2: because when you get behind the chains, then it's all about, Okay,
Speaker 2: what what is Brian Flores and these guys, you know
Speaker 2: what are what are they dialing up in this situation
Speaker 2: to just to just be disruptive and cause all these
Speaker 2: questions as to exactly what's going on out there. So
Speaker 2: I agree with you entirely. And then, of course it
Speaker 2: almost goes without saying, but the Packers' success so far
Speaker 2: this season defensively has very much been predicated on turning
Speaker 2: the ball over, on getting the takeaways. I mean, to
Speaker 2: have three in a game for three straight games, that's
Speaker 2: a tough streak to continue. But man, if you can
Speaker 2: keep taking the ball away. Even if it's just one
Speaker 2: or two times against the Vikings here, that could go
Speaker 2: a long way toward a potential.
Speaker 1: Vick, especially if you do it early.
Speaker 3: I felt like for all those big plays they made,
Speaker 3: and I did my best to summarize all of them
Speaker 3: in the Key to the Game story after afterwards. But
Speaker 3: I really thought everything started with jy R. Alexander. And
Speaker 3: I'm not saying it has to be a pick six
Speaker 3: every time, sure, but when you have a play that
Speaker 3: takes the air out of the balloon of an offense,
Speaker 3: the momentum game never shifted. I mean, there were times
Speaker 3: that Tennessee still had success, but it didn't feel the
Speaker 3: same as it did before that moment where the game
Speaker 3: goes from ten to seven to seventeen to seven.
Speaker 1: You need that moment again in this game.
Speaker 3: If Sam Darnold does make a mistake, if he's trying
Speaker 3: to test you deep, you have to find ways to
Speaker 3: execute upon that. The most exciting thing to me, I
Speaker 3: didn't cover the twenty eleven defense like you did. Can't
Speaker 3: give you the blow by blowing exactly what happened there.
Speaker 3: With the amount of takeaways they had relative the amount
Speaker 3: of yards they conceded. But this unit, to me, at
Speaker 3: least in my time, they are the most apt to
Speaker 3: taking away the ball at every single level that I
Speaker 3: think I've covered. I think they have the safeties on
Speaker 3: the back end to make those plays. We saw with
Speaker 3: jyr Alexander what he can do outside. I think Eric
Speaker 3: Stokes's time is coming because he's going to continue to
Speaker 3: get targeted when Alexander's on the other side. It's only
Speaker 3: a matter of time if he stays healthy, that he's
Speaker 3: going to get his pick. There's athleticism inside linebacker Eric
Speaker 3: Eric Wilson excuse me, already has an interception and you're
Speaker 3: seeing right now at Devonte Why at the monster that
Speaker 3: this guy's becoming up front. The Packers can do it.
Speaker 3: They can take the ball away at every single level.
Speaker 3: How quickly can you do that and can you find
Speaker 3: that game changing play like they have in these last
Speaker 3: two wins.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's to me. I mean what I've seen
Speaker 2: so far of the of the Jeff Hafley defense, and
Speaker 2: the fans have asked me an insider inbox. They asked
Speaker 2: me in the live blog like okay, so what sort
Speaker 2: of like what's the identity of this defense, And it
Speaker 2: feels to me like it's the it's it's a defense
Speaker 2: that is hunting for the big game changing play. It's
Speaker 2: hard to play defense in this league. Offenses are good,
Speaker 2: the rules are geared against you. Defensively. You're going to
Speaker 2: give up first downs, you're going to give up plays,
Speaker 2: you're going to give up yards in a big spot.
Speaker 2: Can you can you make the play that changes things?
Speaker 2: And and I think that's what you know, with with
Speaker 2: all the vision based and you know, and with pressure
Speaker 2: to get after the quarterback and the emphasis. I mean,
Speaker 2: we heard we heard from Jeff Haffley after the Brazil
Speaker 2: game against the Eagles that when they went back and
Speaker 2: watched the film, they were showing the players, Hey, here
Speaker 2: was an opportunity where you could have swatted the ball
Speaker 2: out of Jalen Hurts his hands, right. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: what they are, that's what they are emphasizing. That's what
Speaker 2: they are pushing with these guys. When you have a
Speaker 2: chance to make a play on the ball, you've got
Speaker 2: to make it.
Speaker 1: And we'll see.
Speaker 2: The Vikings have been pretty good at protecting the ball.
Speaker 2: Darnold has put the ball on the ground a few times.
Speaker 2: They have not the Vikings haven't lost any of those fumbles.
Speaker 2: Aaron Jones has lost one fumble, I believe. Obviously, the
Speaker 2: Vikings aren't three and zero by turning the ball over
Speaker 2: a bunch. As you know the Tennessee Titans last week
Speaker 2: and we talked about how much they had been turning
Speaker 2: it over. So a completely different situation in that regard.
Speaker 2: But that's what this Packers defense is after. They are
Speaker 2: after the play that is going to shift the momentum
Speaker 2: of the game, the play that is going to change
Speaker 2: the landscape out there. So far, they've been able to
Speaker 2: do it. They weren't able to necessarily take advantage of
Speaker 2: it against the Eagles and that's why the Packers came
Speaker 2: up short there. But they've been able to make those
Speaker 2: plays in the last two games to chalk up two
Speaker 2: wins with a backup.
Speaker 1: Quarterback, and they did it against the Titans.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the turn turnovers and takeaways are reflected in one way,
Speaker 3: but you look at the fact that they stop Will
Speaker 3: Levis on that fourth and two attempted read. Yeah, early
Speaker 3: third quarter, that's what turned into it doesn't go down
Speaker 3: as a takeaway and ways off points, but that's what
Speaker 3: created the opportunity for Emanuel Wilson to get that thirty
Speaker 3: yard touchdown off the screen. You have to be able
Speaker 3: to convert that, especially when you get the ball in
Speaker 3: that part of the field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, quickly before we go, just looking around at the
Speaker 2: other games in Week four in the NFL. To me,
Speaker 2: other than Packers Vikings, which I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people at the top of the list watching it, it's
Speaker 2: a big time game. But to me, it's all it's
Speaker 2: the it's the primetime games. This week Sunday Night Football,
Speaker 2: Buffalo is at Baltimore. You have the Bills trying to
Speaker 2: get to four and ah while the Ravens are trying
Speaker 2: to avoid one and three. They're coming off of the
Speaker 2: big win over the Cowboys. And then on Monday Night Football,
Speaker 2: the three and oh Seattle Seahawks going into Ford Field
Speaker 2: in Detroit to face the two and one Detroit Lions.
Speaker 2: That's kind of a big early season game here in
Speaker 2: the NFC as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Seattle's doing what Seattle does. I mean, Kenneth Walker
Speaker 3: misses these two games, they make a change there at
Speaker 3: running back, they still keep the train on the tracks.
Speaker 3: Gino Smith throws two interceptions last week. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: They still are making plays. Just the fact it's like
Speaker 3: Pete Carroll's gone, but it still feels like the same
Speaker 3: team with how they're with what they're doing out there
Speaker 3: and how they're achieving this. Now you have them, you
Speaker 3: have the Lions. The Lions are coming back off some adversity.
Speaker 3: I mean, that is going to be a big, major matchup.
Speaker 3: It's funny now with Detroit playing the way they're playing,
Speaker 3: We're getting primetime games at ford Field now that we
Speaker 3: never got for like my first.
Speaker 1: Ten years on the beat. Absolutely, and you feel that shift.
Speaker 2: Be interesting to see how tough a place Ford Field
Speaker 2: becomes to play. Oh yeah, as they get these primetime
Speaker 2: games in the crowd gets jazzed up. And I mean,
Speaker 2: because they were talking last year in those two home
Speaker 2: playoff games, they hadn't there hadn't been that kind of
Speaker 2: intensity at Ford Field in a long long time, maybe
Speaker 2: ever since the stadium opened in the early two thousand.
Speaker 3: I would venture to guess because you and I were there.
Speaker 3: I wasn't working here at the time, but you and
Speaker 3: I were there for the Hail Mary game, and we
Speaker 3: were there for the winner take all game in sixteen. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I bet those two games are the closest they've come
Speaker 3: to that, probably like because there were not a lot
Speaker 3: of times when I watched those games on television, not
Speaker 3: that you hear everything, but that there was that type
Speaker 3: of fervor. But I remember specifically that sixteen game when
Speaker 3: it's like, Okay, they might have a chance here to
Speaker 3: work their way in, and the way the crowd responded
Speaker 3: and just that is a community that is a fan
Speaker 3: base that is just waiting for a reason to come
Speaker 3: on glued. Oh yeah, and Dan Campbell has fostered all
Speaker 3: of those emotions and it's led to some really exciting football.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that'll be interesting to see. Me personally, the
Speaker 3: game I'm most looking forward to, although we will not
Speaker 3: have any chance at watching it, I think at all,
Speaker 3: is Washington and Arizona. Okay, Cliff Kingsbury's bringing that offense
Speaker 3: back to Arizona, and we saw what happened last week
Speaker 3: with Jaden Daniels, Jade and Daniel and now Kyler Murray
Speaker 3: on the other side of things. Marvin Harrison Junior, I
Speaker 3: think that that's going to be sixty minutes of just
Speaker 3: absolute offense, especially if dan Quinn's defense doesn't stop anybody
Speaker 3: again like what happened against the Bengals, But I mean,
Speaker 3: I just think that is going to be a track meet. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and seeing Jaden Daniels Man we talked about on Tuesday,
Speaker 3: just how perfect he was.
Speaker 1: I give him all the credit in the world.
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you what, man, it didn't work all
Speaker 3: great for Kingsbury as a head coach, But when it
Speaker 3: comes to offensive football in that tree that he comes
Speaker 3: off of, it's an exciting brand and it seems to
Speaker 3: be something that young quarterbacks can really thrive in. I'm
Speaker 3: very excited to see how that game plays out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And two teams that haven't been in the mix
Speaker 2: for a while, and both of them Washington Arizona maybe
Speaker 2: you know, they're they're on the verge here, one or
Speaker 2: both of them might be, you know, a couple months
Speaker 2: from now, we might be talking about one or both
Speaker 2: of those teams being in the mix.
Speaker 3: In divisions that are entirely up for grabs right now. Yep,
Speaker 3: the NFC West, for as much as it always feels
Speaker 3: like it is, the forty nine Ers show, all those
Speaker 3: teams are constantly in play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the forty nine Ers have two losses early that
Speaker 2: that that hasn't that hasn't happened all that all that often,
Speaker 2: and and the uh and the Rams.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know, the Rams beat the forty nine ers last
Speaker 2: week in a big division matchup there to avoid dropping
Speaker 2: to zero to three. So and and the Packers are
Speaker 2: going to see the Rams heading out to LA next week.
Speaker 2: So so yeah, a lot of a lot of really
Speaker 2: intriguing stuff going on.
Speaker 3: And by the way, the NFC East, other than the Giants,
Speaker 3: it's all right there. Yeah, the Cowboys are struggling right now. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Washington's in a very interesting position. It was incredible after
Speaker 3: that game reading the mont of stories. I know, I
Speaker 3: told you that the day after, but reading the amount
Speaker 3: of stories of people in and people feeling like they
Speaker 3: were literally just a quarterback away from really being able
Speaker 3: to compete.
Speaker 1: Monday night proved it.
Speaker 2: And the Eagles, who are two and one, are going
Speaker 2: to Tampa for a playoff rematch from last year where
Speaker 2: their season ended. Last year, there's gonna be there's definitely
Speaker 2: gonna be a revenge kind of bounce back factor there
Speaker 2: for Philadelphia going up against a Buccaneers team that lost
Speaker 2: kind of a head scratcher last week when they were
Speaker 2: looking like they would end up three to zero based
Speaker 2: on their matchup, and they're sitting at two and one
Speaker 2: trying to figure out what happened a week ago.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to watching none of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know we have work to do.
Speaker 1: That's okay.
Speaker 2: We get to watch I think will be the best
Speaker 2: game absolutely entire week in Week four. With that, we'll
Speaker 2: call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 2: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 2: team and everything from Sunday's game at lambeau Field Packers
Speaker 2: Vikings Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, maybe it's Jordan Love, maybe
Speaker 2: it's Malik Willis. We will find out. We'll have it
Speaker 2: all for you on Packers dot com. For Wes, I'm Mike.
Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 3: Everybody.
Speaker 2: We will see you next time.