Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trust in colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you hear from our studios at Lambeufield to talk about Wes.
Speaker 1: A very uplifting victory by the Packers in Week two
Speaker 1: in the home opener, sixteen to ten was the final
Speaker 1: score over the Indianapolis Colts. And I'll just start by
Speaker 1: saying this. When you're taking the field with a backup
Speaker 1: quarterback and you're talking about a victory, and one of
Speaker 1: the first things that comes to mind is the game
Speaker 1: was actually kind of closer than it should have been.
Speaker 1: A team that won the game really did something right.
Speaker 2: They sure did, and this was one of the I
Speaker 2: think finest coaching jobs at Laflor and his staff have done.
Speaker 2: I agree, this was one of the most well executed
Speaker 2: game plans that I think I've witnessed during my time
Speaker 2: on the beat. And while there were some mistakes, it
Speaker 2: was not completely a clean football game. This Green Bay
Speaker 2: Packers team played well enough that those didn't even factor
Speaker 2: into the overall outcome of the game. They took the
Speaker 2: ball away, They dominated time of possession. They ran the
Speaker 2: ball at an historic rate, more than they have in
Speaker 2: the last forty six years in a game. Oh and then,
Speaker 2: by the way, Malik Willis, who has been a Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packer now for all of three weeks, comes in
Speaker 2: manages the game plan, and then in the second half,
Speaker 2: when the Indianapolis Colts make some adjustments, he makes some
Speaker 2: big time throws on his own to be able to
Speaker 2: continue to push this pace for the Packers. This was
Speaker 2: one of the most complete overall victories that I think
Speaker 2: I've witnessed during my time on the beat, and the
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers did it without Jordan Love on the field.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The level of set satisfaction. I mentioned this an
Speaker 1: insider inbox. The level of satisfaction, the thrill that a
Speaker 1: coaching staff and the players for that matter, must feel
Speaker 1: when when a game plan is executed so well right
Speaker 1: out of the gate and is so successful for such
Speaker 1: a large part of the game that you never have
Speaker 1: to deviate from it, You never really have to turn
Speaker 1: the page to play and b or anything. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Packers came into this game wanting to run the ball.
Speaker 1: They ended up running it fifty three times for two
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty one yards. As you said, historic in
Speaker 1: the sense of the fifty three carries the most since
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, I believe in a game, and the
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty one yards the most in about
Speaker 1: twenty years or so. But they never they never had to,
Speaker 1: they never had to really go to an alternative game
Speaker 1: plan because it was working so well and it created
Speaker 1: that massive time of possession advantage, more than twenty minutes,
Speaker 1: almost twenty and a half minutes advantage in time of possession.
Speaker 1: And quite frankly I mentioned this in the column as well.
Speaker 1: The only thing that kept the Indianapolis Colts in the
Speaker 1: game was when Josh Jacobs fumbled at the goal line
Speaker 1: as the Packers are headed in to go up seventeen
Speaker 1: to nothing on their third offensive possession. That doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: It stays ten to nothing, and you know, the game
Speaker 1: the Packers never really put.
Speaker 2: The game away.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was that was really the one most
Speaker 1: regrettable mistake. But hats off to Josh Jacobs man, I
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, the fumble is unfortunate. He knows it
Speaker 1: can't happen, but eighty five degrees out there at lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: He toted that rock thirty two times for one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty one yards. You talk about call it belcow,
Speaker 1: call it workhorse, you know, whatever phrase you want to use.
Speaker 1: As far as what Josh Jacobs meant to this offense
Speaker 1: on Sunday, the fumble is really too bad because otherwise
Speaker 1: we'd be talking about an all time great performance by
Speaker 1: a Green Bay Packers running back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I would actually be thinking too, a man,
Speaker 2: if they do end up punching that ball in there
Speaker 2: and go up seventeen to nothing, where that game could
Speaker 2: have potentially oh on at that point, because that might
Speaker 2: have actually been the backbreaker for the Colts. I think
Speaker 2: that actually gave them back a little bit of momentum,
Speaker 2: and obviously they put up some points after that. All
Speaker 2: that being said, Mike, the fact that Josh Jacobs, and
Speaker 2: he's proven it several times, this wasn't even his career high.
Speaker 2: He had a thirty three carry game during his time
Speaker 2: with the Raiders in twenty twenty two. But the fact
Speaker 2: that he put himself physically in a position to be
Speaker 2: able to do that after there were a couple injury
Speaker 2: things during camp. There was another injury thing at the
Speaker 2: start of the season, but was able to manage himself
Speaker 2: and stay out there and be as explosive as he
Speaker 2: was in that game plan. Again, it reminded me of
Speaker 2: my days covering high school football in that a lot
Speaker 2: of times there wasn't a lot of throwing going on
Speaker 2: in the Northeastern Wisconsin football So what you would do
Speaker 2: is you have to get creative with your schemes. You
Speaker 2: have to give them different looks. The Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: built multiple looks off of all of their runs, whether
Speaker 2: it was getting Jaden Reid involved now in that pony package,
Speaker 2: he's back there alongside Josh Shacops. Read even said that
Speaker 2: was probably the most running back he's played since high school.
Speaker 2: In that game, you had Bo Melton using his speed
Speaker 2: on a reverse. You had so many different things that
Speaker 2: were built off of what Josh Shacops did. But at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, if you don't block the
Speaker 2: way the Packers blocked, and Jacobs doesn't have the vision
Speaker 2: that he has where he could take a two yard
Speaker 2: run and turn it into a thirty four yard bust.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was incredible to watch seeing his jump
Speaker 2: style and some of the things that he does well,
Speaker 2: it was a premium performance out of him, and when
Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers went out there and they invested
Speaker 2: that money into him, this is exactly what they were
Speaker 2: thinking about a game where it needed to be on
Speaker 2: his shoulders.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jacob's vision and footwork are impressive to watch, especially
Speaker 1: watching from up in the press box where we get
Speaker 1: a wider view. We get a broader view of the
Speaker 1: field than the folks watching on TV. He always sees
Speaker 1: where the space is and then it's a matter of
Speaker 1: it's a matter of some really really nifty quick footwork
Speaker 1: to be able to get himself to get his body
Speaker 1: in position to hit that space, and then he's able
Speaker 1: to hit it with some force because because of the acceleration.
Speaker 1: It was really it was really fun to watch and
Speaker 1: hopefully thirty two carries on an eighty five degree day
Speaker 1: in week two didn't wear them out too much, because
Speaker 1: the Packers are certainly going to would love to see
Speaker 1: more performances like that. But you hinted at it as
Speaker 1: well talking about some of the other guys the Packers.
Speaker 1: What turned out to be the Packers only touchdown drive
Speaker 1: of this game. Six different people, including quarterback Malik Willis,
Speaker 1: had rushing attempts on one touchdown drive six different guys.
Speaker 1: There was a mentality that the Packers were going to
Speaker 1: come in and run it, and you know the old
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson saying, everybody's got a plan until they get
Speaker 1: punched in the mouth right. Well, quite frankly, the Indianapolis
Speaker 1: Colts never threw a punch because the Packers defense then
Speaker 1: kept the Colts out of the kept him off the
Speaker 1: scoreboard for the first forty minutes of the game, kept
Speaker 1: him out of the end zone for the first fifty
Speaker 1: eight minutes of the game. Unfortunately, it did come down
Speaker 1: to a hail mary. The Colts got a shot at
Speaker 1: a hail mary after scoring a touchdown, getting the ball
Speaker 1: back one last time and then actually making their way
Speaker 1: out close to midfield where they had a shot of
Speaker 1: the hail mary, and then Evan Williams gets the interception
Speaker 1: for the third takeaway to seal the game. But other
Speaker 1: than you know, nitpicking here and there, you couldn't have
Speaker 1: asked for this game to go any better for the
Speaker 1: Packers with it being not only Malik Willis's first start
Speaker 1: in place of Jordan Loven. We'll see if that has
Speaker 1: to happen again. But the fact that that Willis had
Speaker 1: just walked into the building less than three weeks ago
Speaker 1: and has been you know, I mean, call it, you know,
Speaker 1: cram session, crash course, whatever you want to say, in
Speaker 1: terms of trying to learn what he can of the
Speaker 1: basics of the offense and then digest a game plan,
Speaker 1: you know, to get ready to take on somebody for
Speaker 1: real right away in week two with Jordan Love being injured.
Speaker 1: There was a lot that went into this victory. And
Speaker 1: the Packers don't get to celebrated anymore. It's onto the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans right after twenty four hours. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot to be proud of what they accomplished on Sunday well.
Speaker 2: And you can even hear it in Matt Lafleur's voice
Speaker 2: and in his words after the game. You know, he
Speaker 2: talked for eighteen minutes or whatever it was, and just
Speaker 2: the excitement and just the effusive praise that he showered
Speaker 2: on Willis. To be able to handle everything the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers were throwing at him and to be able
Speaker 2: to manage that out on the field. It's one thing
Speaker 2: to be able to sit in the classroom and to
Speaker 2: learn the playbook and understand what the checks and the
Speaker 2: motions and everything are going to be. It's another thing
Speaker 2: when you're out there and all that stuff has to happen.
Speaker 2: You need to have that, you know, that's energy between
Speaker 2: all the positions. And I can't say enough about Wilson.
Speaker 2: I thought the cool thing about it was after he
Speaker 2: only had twenty five passing yards in the first half,
Speaker 2: the second half, he was able to flash the arm
Speaker 2: a little bit. He was able to put the ball
Speaker 2: out there to allow his receivers to make plays. And
Speaker 2: that's the exciting thing. I think this young man showed
Speaker 2: in this matchup that there's still a lot of potential here.
Speaker 2: Whatever happened in Tennessee happened. Now he's a Green Bay Packer.
Speaker 2: Now he's the backup quarterback. In his disposition, it mirrors
Speaker 2: so closely to Jordan Love and that he's a leader.
Speaker 2: People rally to him. But he's not a bombastic personality.
Speaker 2: He's very straightforward and he said it himself at his
Speaker 2: postgame press conference. It was going to be everybody pulling
Speaker 2: together to find a way to win this game. They
Speaker 2: did exactly that. I thought. Adam Stenovich, Matt Lafleur, Tom clements,
Speaker 2: the whole group being able to build this thing around
Speaker 2: him and allow him to get comfortable. If it is
Speaker 2: Malik willis going up against his former team this upcoming weekend,
Speaker 2: he is going to be a better quarterback in that
Speaker 2: game because everything that happened in that matchup against the Titans,
Speaker 2: and the last thing I will just quickly say here,
Speaker 2: this thing does not happen the way it happened. If
Speaker 2: two things don't happen, the Packers stay in positive down
Speaker 2: in distance, no negative yardage plays, you are not going
Speaker 2: to be able to implement a run heavy game plan
Speaker 2: if you're going to be pushed back. It happened once
Speaker 2: in that game, a holding penalty brought it back to
Speaker 2: first and twenty and Josh Jacobs broke a thirty four
Speaker 2: yard game to get it right back. Yep, it does
Speaker 2: not work that way in the National Football League, but
Speaker 2: it happened there. The right breaks happen. But conversely, Mike, defensively,
Speaker 2: there is so much selflessness that happened on that side
Speaker 2: of the ball. Understanding, after everything that happened against Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 2: they weren't able to pin their ears back like we
Speaker 2: were talking about. They had to implement a very similar
Speaker 2: pass rush plan. The guys did that. And while you
Speaker 2: still have some stuff to clean up with the run
Speaker 2: defense and some of the explosive plays, that was a
Speaker 2: very dangerous live opponent you were facing. And Anthony Richardson
Speaker 2: can go off at any time, just ask the Houston Texans.
Speaker 2: The Green Bay Packers defense didn't allow him to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one last quick note on Willis. He was only
Speaker 1: asked to throw the ball fourteen times, twelve completions, only
Speaker 1: two incompletions, never put a ball in harm's way by
Speaker 1: any stretch. All the all of the fakes and the
Speaker 1: handoffs and the motions and all that, he handled all
Speaker 1: of it with a blomb. And as you said, some
Speaker 1: key third down throws the you know third and five
Speaker 1: I believe it was, and he gets the one on
Speaker 1: one coverage outside with Romeo Dobbs puts it up there,
Speaker 1: gives eighty seven a chance to make the play and
Speaker 1: Dobbs makes a fantastic catch, another clutch. Third down, he
Speaker 1: hits Tucker Kraft where Craft is you know, blocking his
Speaker 1: butt off all game long, and then he finally gets
Speaker 1: that opportunity to you know, fake the block, get out
Speaker 1: there in the route and then boom, Willis puts it
Speaker 1: right on him converts a big third down that leads
Speaker 1: to some points there. So Willis did everything he had
Speaker 1: to do with regard to the defense, as you said
Speaker 1: it was they had to they had to approach the
Speaker 1: quarterback the same way or a very similar way that
Speaker 1: they did against Philly with Anthony Richardson in his running ability.
Speaker 1: The bottom line is, yes, the Packers only have what
Speaker 1: is it, three sacks defensively through the first two games,
Speaker 1: but two dual threat quarterbacks in Jalen Hurts and Anthony
Speaker 1: Richardson have combined for I believe seventy rushing yards in
Speaker 1: those two games.
Speaker 2: If you're the.
Speaker 1: Packers' defense, you take that because those guys didn't hurt
Speaker 1: you with their legs, and quite frankly, it wasn't until
Speaker 1: that last on the final final drive, the scramble up
Speaker 1: the sideline where Richardson got you know, twenty twenty yards
Speaker 1: or twenty one yards whatever it was, that he even
Speaker 1: got over twenty yards rushing in the game because the
Speaker 1: Packers stayed disciplined enough up front where they weren't worried
Speaker 1: about getting the sacks They're running a lot of stunts,
Speaker 1: you know, the ends and the defensive tackles. They're running
Speaker 1: a lot of stunts play after but it's running stunts
Speaker 1: and staying in the rushing lanes, not running stunts to go,
Speaker 1: you know, with total abandon after the quarterback. And it
Speaker 1: takes a lot of discipline to be able to play
Speaker 1: that way, and they and they did that. The other
Speaker 1: guy that we have to talk about on defense, and
Speaker 1: we talked about him in training camp, but I want
Speaker 1: to make reference to something that we had talked about
Speaker 1: back then, but veteran linebacker Eric Wilson man eight snaps.
Speaker 1: The guy got eight defensive snaps in this game. And
Speaker 1: he forces a fumble over by the sideline, which unfortunately
Speaker 1: then was knocked out of bounds and the Packers didn't
Speaker 1: really have a shot to recover it. He is in
Speaker 1: there for a third and one, a key third and one.
Speaker 1: It's actually the first play of the fourth quarter, and
Speaker 1: the Colts kind of get tricky with a little option
Speaker 1: look that they hadn't shown all game long. It wasn't
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor was trace sermon in the back field. Eric
Speaker 1: Wilson plays it absolutely perfectly, plays it expertly, and helps
Speaker 1: to string out that option play and the other teammates
Speaker 1: kind of rally there and the Packers get a big
Speaker 1: stop which which actually becomes a tackle for loss by
Speaker 1: Xavier McKinney, and then the missfield goal and then lo
Speaker 1: and behold. Eric Wilson also gets an interception on a
Speaker 1: slanter and in cut whatever you want to call it,
Speaker 1: you can't do much more on defense in eight snaps
Speaker 1: than what Eric Wilson did in this game on.
Speaker 2: Some and that interception was one of the very few,
Speaker 2: maybe the ten plays where Greevey was actually playing base
Speaker 2: defense and he gets matched up with Michael Pittman Junior,
Speaker 2: and he even said, I've asked him about that in
Speaker 2: the locker room afterwards, and he said, you know, you
Speaker 2: know you're up against skill, and you know you got
Speaker 2: to hang in there and being able to keep the
Speaker 2: inside leverage. It was a bad mistake by Richardson. It's
Speaker 2: a bad decision by Richardson.
Speaker 1: He probably, I think when I looked at it on
Speaker 1: the film, I think he thought Wilson was going to
Speaker 1: peel off into the flat yep and then that that
Speaker 1: you know, slant or the seam there with Pittman was
Speaker 1: going to be open, but Wilson stuck with Pittman and
Speaker 1: Richardson had already decided that's where he was going with
Speaker 1: the ball, and he threw a pass that he never
Speaker 1: should have thrown.
Speaker 2: And the part that impressed me was Eric caught that ball. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there is nothing about Anthony Richardson. When he throws the ball.
Speaker 2: He gets every ounce of velocity out of that football.
Speaker 2: I mean, he throws it hard, and you can see
Speaker 2: why this guy is going to be a real dangerous threat,
Speaker 2: I think in no short time here in the National
Speaker 2: Football League because his arm talent mixed with the fact
Speaker 2: he's a six foot three, two hundred and forty four
Speaker 2: pound athlete, I get it. But the thing is that
Speaker 2: why I really like the pass rush plan going back
Speaker 2: to that, he does not have Jalen Hurts his accuracy.
Speaker 2: He is a bit more scattershot in that. The Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers had the right plan to approach both Hurts
Speaker 2: and Richardson. The only difference was it was more about
Speaker 2: managing risk in plays with Hurts as opposed to Richardson.
Speaker 2: That was the way you need to attack him because
Speaker 2: you need to make sure that he can't escape the pocket.
Speaker 2: To create big plays. That's where Houston really came up
Speaker 2: short when they ruptured for those five or excuse me,
Speaker 2: those three fifty yard connections that almost won the Colts
Speaker 2: the game in the opener.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Bringing it all back around, though, Michael, to Wilson, he
Speaker 2: is the type of player that you need on your
Speaker 2: team to win championships because it can't all be ten
Speaker 2: million dollars fifteen million dollar linebackers and guys that are
Speaker 2: gonna be You need role players, Guys that are leaders
Speaker 2: on special teams, Guys that know the system and are
Speaker 2: smart enough to be put themselves in a position to
Speaker 2: make those plays, even if it is only eight snaps.
Speaker 2: There's no warm up, there's no tune up. And I
Speaker 2: had asked Wilson in the locker room about that Reid
Speaker 2: option play, and what shows you his experience as an
Speaker 2: eighth year player is that he said he was caught
Speaker 2: off guard by he was surprised by it. He wasn't
Speaker 2: expecting that when Richardson did it, but the base fundamentals
Speaker 2: and the instincts in his head didn't allow him to
Speaker 2: panic or sell out one particular way.
Speaker 1: He looked like he was absolutely one hundred percent prepared
Speaker 1: that that was the play that was coming at him.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's somewhat stunning to actually hear him say
Speaker 1: he was kind of caught off guard. But as you said,
Speaker 1: it's about it's about fundamentals, it's about sticking to your rules.
Speaker 1: It's about trusting what you know because you've played this
Speaker 1: game for so long and played it at this level
Speaker 1: in the NFL as long as he has. I'm reminded.
Speaker 1: And this is why I remember bringing this up when
Speaker 1: Eric Wilson was having such a good training camp this summer.
Speaker 1: We're watching this guy going, he's going to be playing
Speaker 1: snaps on defense. This isn't just going to be a
Speaker 1: special teams guy this year. And I was reminded back
Speaker 1: then and I am again now. The Giants game on
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football last year, Eric Wilson played one snap
Speaker 1: on defense. It was a fourth and short by the
Speaker 1: New York Giants, and he blew up the play. That
Speaker 1: was the only snap, the only snap on defense he's
Speaker 1: in the game, and he gets the fourth down stop.
Speaker 1: There are very there, I mean count on less than
Speaker 1: one hand guys in the league who can pull that off.
Speaker 1: The Packers have one of them in their locker room,
Speaker 1: and it's pretty special to watch.
Speaker 2: And the fact that it all happened after he forced
Speaker 2: a fumble to start everything, like the Packers don't recover it,
Speaker 2: ball goes out of bound, right, But like Eric Wilson
Speaker 2: was just he was making plays the entire time. They
Speaker 2: played basically nickel this entire game. I think Isaiah McDuffie
Speaker 2: played fifty to fifty six snaps. Obviously, Kaiy Walker was
Speaker 2: out there for all of them. Both Wilson and Edgerrin
Speaker 2: Cooper just got a handful of snaps and much like
Speaker 2: Cooper did the week earlier, Wilson made each one of
Speaker 2: them count.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, if there's one one thing I would say
Speaker 1: that pops up as a as a concern, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: the biggest concern with the Packers defense through two games.
Speaker 1: I know all the fans are talking about where the sacks,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. We already explained that the issue that
Speaker 1: the Packers defense really has to take a good hard
Speaker 1: look at here moving forward is where they are against
Speaker 1: the run. Because Saquon Barkley hunter nine yards, but we
Speaker 1: had talked last week. One of those he busted off
Speaker 1: a thirty four yarder. Other than that one play, they
Speaker 1: let Barkley out of the gate. You know, they didn't
Speaker 1: let Barkley dominate them. I mean, yes, the Eagles fed
Speaker 1: him the ball quite a bit, but the Packers also
Speaker 1: had quite a few really good stops on Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 1: There was some back and forth, there's some give and
Speaker 1: take there with Barkley, and then he had the one
Speaker 1: big play that put him over one hundred yards. Jonathan
Speaker 1: Taylor only got the ball twelve times as far as
Speaker 1: handoffs in this game. Five of those west he ran
Speaker 1: for sixteen plus out of twelve carries. So moving forward here,
Speaker 1: the Packers have to look at where they are on
Speaker 1: run defense, and Matt Lafleur he talked about it a
Speaker 1: little bit at his Monday press conference where he felt
Speaker 1: schematically position wise, on a few of those explosive runs
Speaker 1: by Taylor, the Packers were right where they needed to be.
Speaker 1: But then because somebody got over ancient and just you know,
Speaker 1: peeked into the wrong gap or kind of took themselves
Speaker 1: out of position rather than just be patient and to
Speaker 1: hold the point and do your job, then that's how
Speaker 1: Taylor is able to sneak through there. And credit to
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor. He's one of the best out there. He
Speaker 1: does that to a lot of teams. But it is
Speaker 1: something I think the Packers have to look at here
Speaker 1: because through two games there are definitely some questions, what's
Speaker 1: going on against the.
Speaker 2: Wrong Yeah, and I was under no disillusion that Jonathan
Speaker 2: Taylor was going to have the same performance he had
Speaker 2: against the Texans when I think he had maybe a
Speaker 2: long carry of like seventy yards. Yeah, I mean, he
Speaker 2: didn't really get going at all. I figured he'd break
Speaker 2: a couple. He broke too many, is what the issue
Speaker 2: was in this game. Now, Thankfully for the Packer's sake,
Speaker 2: it wasn't like there was a sixty yard touchdown run
Speaker 2: every single time they responded to it. Big reason why
Speaker 2: they shut them out in the first half was not
Speaker 2: allowing Taylor to continue to string those up against them.
Speaker 2: You and I were mentioning it in the press box.
Speaker 2: I mean, for him to be as successful as he was,
Speaker 2: but then only to rush at twelve times tells you
Speaker 2: two things. One, Green Bay did get some stops in
Speaker 2: there that made him feel not as good about running
Speaker 2: it on second and long or third and long. In
Speaker 2: two they were able to knock them out of their
Speaker 2: rhythm because you want to also get Anthony Richardson going,
Speaker 2: and they didn't allow them to do that a passing
Speaker 2: game or even with Richardson scrambling. But the challenge is
Speaker 2: still there, and they're going to take on a Tennessee
Speaker 2: offense here that has not done a lot right so far.
Speaker 2: But they've ran the ball okay to this point, even
Speaker 2: though they're making this transition without Derrick Henry.
Speaker 1: So yeah, they're making a goal of it with Pollard.
Speaker 1: They are getting picking up Tony Pollard from the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: It's a different style of running game than Tennessee's had
Speaker 1: compared to Derrick Henry obviously, but you know, the way
Speaker 1: things are going. We'll talk more about it on our
Speaker 1: next show with the Titans, But the way things are
Speaker 1: going with Will Levis at quarterback, I think the Titans
Speaker 1: are going to start leaning on their running game even more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the Packers are probably gonna have to show
Speaker 2: a little bit more of their base in this one too,
Speaker 2: But again that's neither here nor there at the moment
Speaker 2: as far as this game was concerned. It's tough, Michael,
Speaker 2: because I think it just goes back to show you
Speaker 2: when you establish the run and you set up intention.
Speaker 2: I Dreenbay Packers rush for I believe it was one
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty four yards in the first quarter, which
Speaker 2: was the most that they've generated in any quarter since
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty five against the Saint Louis Cardinals. They came
Speaker 2: out hard, fast and often, whereas Indianapolis they had some
Speaker 2: really nice runs with Taylor, but just didn't push the
Speaker 2: button on it up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they could, they couldn't sustain it. I mean that's
Speaker 1: to the Packers credit.
Speaker 2: I thought.
Speaker 1: Defensively, for the explosives the Packers gave up, I thought
Speaker 1: they responded to giving up those explosives and they stemmed
Speaker 1: the tide, which is, you know, the big plays are
Speaker 1: going to happen. I mean, it's an offense oriented league.
Speaker 1: Nobody just you can't just go out and shut anybody
Speaker 1: down if you can, you don't want to give up
Speaker 1: the big plays, But then when you do, can you
Speaker 1: respond to them. That was the biggest positive in this one,
Speaker 1: other than takeaways, of course, the biggest positive in this one,
Speaker 1: I thought for the Packers defense was the way they
Speaker 1: responded to the explosive plays. Because it kept that point
Speaker 1: total for the Colts down.
Speaker 2: And what I'll bring it back to at the end
Speaker 2: of the day was, if you had to eliminate one
Speaker 2: explosive threat from this game, I still would argue that
Speaker 2: Richardson was the one you needed to do. The problem
Speaker 2: is is that when you had the issues you had
Speaker 2: in the second half against Barclay and you gave up
Speaker 2: as many as explosives on the ground as you did
Speaker 2: to Jonathan Taylor, you put that on film, teams are
Speaker 2: going to look to exploit it, and that's where Green
Speaker 2: Bay needs to find the response.
Speaker 1: Well, and that's what the Colts are going to be
Speaker 1: facing too. But we're not doing Colts unscripted here, man.
Speaker 1: They don't. They've given up four hundred and seventy some
Speaker 1: rushing yards in two games, and absolutely every team they
Speaker 1: face is going to try to run the ball down
Speaker 1: their throat until they can stop it.
Speaker 2: It was wild. I tweeted this out and the game
Speaker 2: moved so fast, so you go past it. But at
Speaker 2: one point in the second quarter, I believe it was
Speaker 2: with eight minutes ago, the Packers already had as many
Speaker 2: rushing yards with eight minutes left in the first half
Speaker 2: two hundred and thirteen as the Colts had allowed in
Speaker 2: Week one, and that was the most that was allowed
Speaker 2: in Week one in an entire game. Yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 2: as far as the statistics go, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: football left to be played. But the Colts in terms
Speaker 2: of where it's gonna be tough to be ranked number
Speaker 2: one and run defense this year after those two games. Yeh.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. A couple quick thoughts on special teams before we
Speaker 1: shift gears. Daniel wheel and the Packers punter. What a
Speaker 1: weapon he is turning into. He only had to punt
Speaker 1: the ball three times in this game, but those three
Speaker 1: punts he averaged a forty six yard net no return
Speaker 1: yards whatsoever for the Colts on the three punts, and
Speaker 1: those three punts pinned the Colts at their own sixteen,
Speaker 1: eight and five yard lines. You almost can't have a
Speaker 1: better day as a punter than that. And when the
Speaker 1: Packers do have to punt, this young man, Daniel Wheelan
Speaker 1: is putting the Packers defense yep, good position. He is
Speaker 1: really helping the field position situation with regard to with
Speaker 1: regard to what Jeff Hafley's crew gets to start with.
Speaker 2: And if I remember right from my story that I
Speaker 2: wrote on our website forty eight hours ago. I believe
Speaker 2: the Colts did not generate any points off of anything
Speaker 2: that came off the foot of Daniel Wheelan.
Speaker 1: They did not those three drives that started at the sixteen,
Speaker 1: the eight, and the five. There were no points scored
Speaker 1: at the end of any of those three drives.
Speaker 2: And there was not one more important than him pinning
Speaker 2: them back at their own five at the end of
Speaker 2: that game. Because Packers did the right thing, they forced
Speaker 2: them to burn their timeouts, they were able to drain
Speaker 2: the clock down. I believe it was forty eight seconds.
Speaker 2: But Indianapolis had a chance, and with that arm, you
Speaker 2: basically just need to get to midfield and you're going
Speaker 2: to get an opportunity. He put them back at the five.
Speaker 2: That's what allowed for a little bit of a rupture
Speaker 2: there with the twenty one yard scamper by Richardson did
Speaker 2: not really hurt you that much. They still had to
Speaker 2: throw again after that to try to get a little
Speaker 2: bit closer for a hail. Mary. Be that as it may. Again,
Speaker 2: bringing back to that conversation I had with Eric Wilson
Speaker 2: talking to him about Daniel Wheelan, the kid has a long,
Speaker 2: powerful leg, and he's learned how to use it. It's
Speaker 2: not just about the gross yardage on it. It's about
Speaker 2: being able to do the Aussie style kicks and directionally
Speaker 2: kick it when you're trying to pin him back inside
Speaker 2: the twenty. The one that bounced out at the seven,
Speaker 2: that was done strictly by him. That was it bouncing
Speaker 2: inbounds and then going out of bounce without a return
Speaker 2: on it. Daniel Wheelan has shown a lot of to
Speaker 2: nests too for as much power as he has. And
Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers have been looking for a punter
Speaker 2: for a long time. Mike. It's been throughout my entire
Speaker 2: time covering this team. They've been trying to settle on
Speaker 2: a guy. Daniel Whelan looks like somebod who can hitch
Speaker 2: the wagon to here for a decade.
Speaker 1: And we'd be talking about an absolute textbook way to
Speaker 1: close out a game with your other two phases with
Speaker 1: the punt to the five. If Kuay Walker catches the
Speaker 1: interception that Richardson throws right basically right at his face
Speaker 1: mask on the first play of that drive from the
Speaker 1: five yard line, and not only did Walker miss it,
Speaker 1: but it got deflected and the Colts caught it and
Speaker 1: then set up to scramble in up getting the hail
Speaker 1: Mary shot and quay walker. As Matt Lafleur said, he's
Speaker 1: kind of sick about not being able to put the
Speaker 1: game away there because that should have been takeaway number
Speaker 1: three that moment. It ended up happening on the hail Mary.
Speaker 1: Braden Narvis and the rookie kicker. Second game in a row,
Speaker 1: he goes three for four on field goals. Miss is
Speaker 1: one that that was kind of important. It would have
Speaker 1: given the Packers a sixteen point lead. If he makes
Speaker 1: that and you're up by sixteen at that stage of
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, absolute worst case scenario, you're looking at overtime.
Speaker 1: If the other team's two touchdowns and gets two two
Speaker 1: point conversions by the end of regulation, worst case scenario,
Speaker 1: you're looking at overtime. And unfortunately he wasn't able to
Speaker 1: make that one. Matt Leffuur said, Hey, you know, you
Speaker 1: can ask Brian Gudokunst about, you know, the patience thing
Speaker 1: from the personnel side of things, From the coaching side
Speaker 1: of things, They're willing to be patient. They like what
Speaker 1: they have in Narvis, and we'll see what happens. I
Speaker 1: think it's important to remind people. I'm going to remind
Speaker 1: them again. An Insider inbox later this week, Andras Carlson
Speaker 1: started his NFL career not missing a single kick for
Speaker 1: five straight games, and everybody thought, oh, Packers are all set,
Speaker 1: they found their kicker. This is great. Well, my point
Speaker 1: is just don't rush to judgment on Braden Narvison. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's missed two kicks forty five yards an inn that
Speaker 1: he should make, that he knows he should make through
Speaker 1: the first two games. But you know, let's let's just
Speaker 1: see what happens here because because things didn't work out
Speaker 1: with Carlson when everything started great, so let's see how
Speaker 1: Narvison works through some of these things to hopefully get
Speaker 1: where he wants to be in where the Packers want him.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, you got to remember the green bit
Speaker 2: Packers went through, Mike. I want to say it was
Speaker 2: six or seven kickers throughout camp when you talk about
Speaker 2: all those number three guys they brought in, and obviously
Speaker 2: Alex Hale is still with them now on the practice
Speaker 2: squad under the international exemption, they re shuffled the deck
Speaker 2: on that position. Enough training camp ended they placed the
Speaker 2: waiver claim on Narvisen. He's the guy. He's the guy
Speaker 2: they went with, and I think, barring a disaster, which
Speaker 2: is what you have to curb against, not missing one
Speaker 2: but missing several, I feel like you got to let
Speaker 2: this young guy develop and you do have to have
Speaker 2: that patience. I go back to what Brian Goodigun said.
Speaker 2: I still wish he would have given himself a little
Speaker 2: bit more grace on that because he talked about JK
Speaker 2: Scott and j K Scott's an NFL punter and he's fine.
Speaker 2: But Daniel Wheeland, in my estimation, is a better punter
Speaker 2: than JK Scott. I think Corey Bjorquez is a better
Speaker 2: punter than JK Scott. His issue was was more of
Speaker 2: the holding side of things, where it was kind of
Speaker 2: disrupting stuff right. I think he got to where they
Speaker 2: needed to get to.
Speaker 1: I agree that Goody needs to cut himself some slack
Speaker 1: when he criticized himself about the lack of patients with
Speaker 1: special he gave JK Scott three seasons here. It's not
Speaker 1: it's not like you know. I mean, let's let's be
Speaker 1: let's be real about it. There are things about the
Speaker 1: climate you know there are there are difficulties when you're
Speaker 1: kicking in Lambeau Field, in Soldier Field, in uh you know,
Speaker 1: at certain times of the year. And and credit to JK. Scott,
Speaker 1: he is he's gotten his career back on a better track.
Speaker 1: He's also kicking out in LA. He doesn't he doesn't
Speaker 1: have he doesn't have the same some of the same
Speaker 1: circumstances that specialists have to deal with. Here in Green Bay.
Speaker 2: There was probably and it didn't even affect it wasn't
Speaker 2: even a part of Brian Goudakun's tenure, I don't believe.
Speaker 2: But the only time I ever really took an issue
Speaker 2: with anything the Packers did was when they went with
Speaker 2: Rick Levado throughout the playoffs, had him throughout training camp,
Speaker 2: and then cut him at the end of camp and
Speaker 2: brought back Brett good after he was injured. I think
Speaker 2: if you to take the more long term approach at
Speaker 2: that point, because Gooda ended up only playing I think
Speaker 2: one more year after that, it probably would have been
Speaker 2: a more salient thing to just stick with Levado, who's
Speaker 2: been now the Eagles long snapper for the last seven years.
Speaker 2: That's the one I kind of would go back and
Speaker 2: say Okay, I understand that, but again, that didn't even
Speaker 2: have anything to do with Brian, so be that as
Speaker 2: it made. The Packers seemed to have found a kicker.
Speaker 2: Because I'll say this too, and will be my last
Speaker 2: point on this, Andres Carlson made his first every kick
Speaker 2: in his first five games. The ball did not come
Speaker 2: off Anders Carlson's foot the way it comes off of
Speaker 2: Brandon Narvous.
Speaker 1: I totally agree with you, totally. That's just the eye test.
Speaker 2: That's the eye test. His forty six yarder that he made, Michael,
Speaker 2: that would have been good from you and I were
Speaker 2: watching it in the game.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: It's just about now the coaching standpoint of it, and
Speaker 2: that's where Byron Storer and Richard Pasacchi, they'll they'll work
Speaker 2: with the guy on that. But in terms of the
Speaker 2: leg talent here, this guy's not missing a forty five
Speaker 2: or forty three yard field goal because he doesn't have
Speaker 2: the leg for it. He's got to get the trajectory
Speaker 2: figured out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a little late here to get Yeah, get
Speaker 1: us paid. It wasn't a so let's do this quickly.
Speaker 1: Serious XMNFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to
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Speaker 1: fifty plus years of better. All right, real quickly, west
Speaker 1: before we go, taking a look around the league after
Speaker 1: two weeks, Just as we all predicted, the Vikings, Steelers, Saints, Buccaneers,
Speaker 1: and Seahawks are all two and zero and the Bengals, Jaguars, Rams,
Speaker 1: and Ravens are all zero to two. Welcome to the NFL,
Speaker 1: and like, hold on because here we go.
Speaker 2: Never apologize for a victory in this league. Never do it,
Speaker 2: because the Baltimore Ravens could just as easily be two
Speaker 2: and oh right now as a hundred. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's the thing. You got to win the game that's
Speaker 2: in front of you. They almost beat the reigning Super
Speaker 2: Bowl champions in Week one, and then they lost to
Speaker 2: the Las Vegas Raiders the following week.
Speaker 1: Hey, the Philadelphia Eagles had had Scott van Pelt on
Speaker 1: Monday night football teas and Sports Center talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: going into the winning Eagles locker room and the two
Speaker 1: and oh Philadelphia Eagles, and moments later, the Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 1: are one and one. They've coughed one up at home
Speaker 1: in prime time in the last minute and a half.
Speaker 1: I just you can never rest. There is no peace
Speaker 1: whatsoever in this league. You play the game in front
Speaker 1: of you, you pack up your stuff, and you get
Speaker 1: ready to play again. That's all that this is.
Speaker 2: And that was the other thing too, some of the
Speaker 2: stories that were coming out of New York after the
Speaker 2: game against Tennessee and that it wasn't a convincing enough
Speaker 2: win and things like that. It's like, dude, Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 2: just got back from the Achilles injury. He didn't play
Speaker 2: for a year, right, and he just beat he got
Speaker 2: a win.
Speaker 1: Like, well, it's a win, and every and everybody's everybody's
Speaker 1: dumping on Kirk Cousins in Atlanta after the loss to
Speaker 1: the Steelers in Week one. Kirk Cousins is coming off
Speaker 1: of an achilles and he's with a new team and
Speaker 1: a whole brand new offense and everything. So I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like, let's you know, but the instant judgment and
Speaker 1: the instant analysis. It's it's like, yes, there are things
Speaker 1: that there are things that you judge in the moment,
Speaker 1: and you analyze those things in the moment, but you
Speaker 1: don't have to draw conclusions with every single thing that
Speaker 1: happens every week. The Cincinnati Bengals just took the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champs to the wire, and yes, I know there
Speaker 1: are some questions about officiating this and that whatever, but
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals just gave the Champs everything they could handle.
Speaker 1: But now the Bengals are sitting there at zero and
Speaker 1: two and they've got some stuff figure out, so you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just that's the that's the way this
Speaker 1: league goes.
Speaker 2: And it was funny too the you and I talked
Speaker 2: last week about Detroit in Tampa Bay and just the
Speaker 2: ramifications of that matchup and end up being a good game,
Speaker 2: competitive game. But now you're seeing with what it looks
Speaker 2: like that the Buccaneers are going to be up against
Speaker 2: against the New Orleans Saints in that division. That's why
Speaker 2: games like that really matter. And I thought, bring it
Speaker 2: back really quickly Aaron Rodgers. Again in his postgame press conference,
Speaker 2: he made a really salient point, which is these are
Speaker 2: the games, These are the type of wins you need
Speaker 2: to have, because if you're going to be in the
Speaker 2: run at the end of the season, obviously you need
Speaker 2: to pick up wins throughout the course of the season.
Speaker 2: But it's sometimes the difference between ten and seven in
Speaker 2: nine and eight or nine and eight and eight nine,
Speaker 2: it comes down to one of those down to the wire,
Speaker 2: tight matchups in week two and to pick off as
Speaker 2: many of those. I mean, the Packers were the number
Speaker 2: one seed and got to thirteen wins in twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: basically with that script. So the division bringing it back
Speaker 2: quickly to the NFC North, looks like it will be competitive.
Speaker 2: I think the Minnesota Vikings are feeling I think Kevin O'Connell,
Speaker 2: you can just continually give him credit for how he's
Speaker 2: rallied that team. And as you said last week, they're
Speaker 2: gonna have to continue to get innovative with what they're
Speaker 2: doing with Sam Darnold. They're gonna have to try to
Speaker 2: stay ahead of that curve. But man, people believe, and
Speaker 2: that team believes, and to be able to be in
Speaker 2: a position to be two and ohero and I I
Speaker 2: personally had them written and just kind of in sharpie
Speaker 2: written down as the fourth team in this division this year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the Vikings are showing again. They're nobody's underdog.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you can hit a if you can hit
Speaker 1: a ninety seven yard touchdown pass against one of the
Speaker 1: best defenses in the league, that'll play, you know. And
Speaker 1: and the Vikings are the Vikings are not gonna go
Speaker 1: away anytime soon.
Speaker 2: And here's a big secret. Just give Justin Jefferson a
Speaker 2: chance and you're probably gonna have good things happening. By
Speaker 2: the way, too. Last thing I'll close on this, Uh,
Speaker 2: Marvin Harrison Jr. Green Miit Packers four weeks we're gonna
Speaker 2: be talking about that matchup with the Cardinals. Marvin Nison
Speaker 2: Harrison Junr. Is going to be a handful for the
Speaker 2: National Football League this year.
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely he is. He is already proving that his
Speaker 1: draft status was no joke for sure. So with that
Speaker 1: we'll call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team on Packers dot com for wes I am Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We will see you
Speaker 1: next time.