Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston hod Kit's coming to you
Speaker 1: here from socially distant locations at lambeau Field and West
Speaker 1: The Packers took care of business in the NFC Divisional
Speaker 1: Playoffs thirty two to eight teen, a victory over the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams to get back to the NFC Championship
Speaker 1: Game for the second straight year. And I'll just start
Speaker 1: with this. We talked last week about the number one
Speaker 1: scoring offense against the number one scoring defense at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field on Saturday afternoon. The Packers scored points the first
Speaker 1: five times they touched the ball against that number one
Speaker 1: scoring defense. That absolutely set the table. Was was a
Speaker 1: tremendous formula for victory for Green Bay. You and I
Speaker 1: are in a street fight. Mike. You are a fantastic
Speaker 1: street fighter. You are very good at defense. I'm a
Speaker 1: fantastic street fighter. I'm very good at offense. If if
Speaker 1: we're gonna meet in that dark alley, lights down low,
Speaker 1: how are you gonna win that fight? You're not gonna
Speaker 1: win it by being passive, aggressive, you gotta go for it.
Speaker 1: That's what I liked about this offensive game plan for
Speaker 1: green Bay. You knew what you were facing, you knew
Speaker 1: how good this Los Angeles Rams defense was. They had
Speaker 1: to just press forward, they had to go north and south,
Speaker 1: and they did that. To me, Mike, this game really
Speaker 1: came down to two things. It came down to Matt
Speaker 1: la Floor looking at that backfield, understanding that you have
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones, Jamal Williams, and a J. Dillon, they're all healthy,
Speaker 1: they're all established, getting them involved early, and really punching
Speaker 1: the Rams in the mouth. In the second thing, the
Speaker 1: Packers offensive line this season, all the adversity that they've faced,
Speaker 1: all the different versions that we've seen of this offensive line,
Speaker 1: they had to come out and set the tone early
Speaker 1: and they did that and everything else was built off
Speaker 1: of that. Devantie Adams had some big moments, Al Lazard
Speaker 1: had a huge catch, Aaron Rodgers played again like a
Speaker 1: National Football League Most Valuable Player. But if Green Bay
Speaker 1: didn't come out and assert their dominance in that first quarter,
Speaker 1: we know the book on Sean mcveigh's team. If they're
Speaker 1: leading after halftime, undefeated underneath McVeigh. If they're up on
Speaker 1: time of possession, extremely difficult to beat. The Packers were
Speaker 1: not intimidated, and because of that reason, I felt like
Speaker 1: they came out and set the tone on their own field. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: The running game really set up everything else that the
Speaker 1: Packers wanted to do on on offense before the kneel downs.
Speaker 1: At the end of the game. The Packers had a
Speaker 1: hundred rushing yards in this game, which was about double
Speaker 1: what the Rams had averaged allowing coming into the game.
Speaker 1: And let's face it, the Rams didn't have their great disruptor,
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald. He was not at a percent, not even close.
Speaker 1: Quite frankly, he only played about half the snaps when
Speaker 1: he was in there. Elton Jns handled him in the
Speaker 1: run game, and various double teams and whatnot took care
Speaker 1: of him in the passing game. The Packers rendered essentially
Speaker 1: combined with the injury, rendered the best defensive player in
Speaker 1: the National Football League a complete non factor. And the
Speaker 1: Rams defense simply was not the same, and Green Bay
Speaker 1: took advantage of that even and and Aaron Rodgers didn't
Speaker 1: exactly shy away from throwing the ball at Jalen Ramsey
Speaker 1: here and there as well, whether it was Davantae Adams
Speaker 1: on a slant on the double motion for the touchdown.
Speaker 1: He even hit mvs and Lazard on different plays where
Speaker 1: they were lined up against Jalen Ramsey. So you said it.
Speaker 1: The the aggressiveness of this game plan really really set
Speaker 1: the tone for Green Bay. And it all started. It's
Speaker 1: all started with the run game to set everything else up,
Speaker 1: leading to the play action touchdown past the backbreaker in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter to Alan Lazard where he slips behind
Speaker 1: the defense on a on a hard cell of a
Speaker 1: play fake by Aaron Rodgers. The Packers go up to
Speaker 1: touchdown halfway through the fourth quarter. And that was all
Speaker 1: she wrote. One time, one time Aaron Rodgers was hit
Speaker 1: in this game. That's it. You mentioned Aaron Donald. You
Speaker 1: gotta play with the game and the players that are
Speaker 1: out there. I'm sure Green Bay would have loved to
Speaker 1: have David Batr and Lane Taylor available as well, but
Speaker 1: that's not the world we're living in right now. You
Speaker 1: have to adjust, you have to adapt. They were able
Speaker 1: to do that. And the other thing is you look
Speaker 1: at Billy Turner neutralizing Leonard Floyd, a guy that had
Speaker 1: ten and a half sacks this season. That's where this
Speaker 1: thing started. And as Rogers got comfortable, Mike, you make
Speaker 1: that big pass to Lazard. You think of that other
Speaker 1: one he had standing in his own end zone, inside
Speaker 1: the pocket, motion all around him. He steps up and
Speaker 1: makes a huge throw. Now it ended up being a
Speaker 1: series in which Green Bay had to punt, but being
Speaker 1: able to get out of that backed up position twenty
Speaker 1: one yards downfield to Lazard. Lazard ends up having the
Speaker 1: drop pass. After that, everybody kind of questioning, Okay, what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen here? The Rams get within seven, you need
Speaker 1: a response. The defense provided it, and Aaron Rodgers in
Speaker 1: that play after building up that offensive look, being able
Speaker 1: to run the offense the way they did in the
Speaker 1: first half help kind of lead to that play to Lazard.
Speaker 1: I was trying to say proceed, but I didn't feel
Speaker 1: like that was gonna be the right word. But be
Speaker 1: that as it may, Mike that we talk all the time,
Speaker 1: and fans probably have heard it, maybe even it's it's
Speaker 1: noise over their head, but marrying the run with the past,
Speaker 1: that play was the example of why the Packers want
Speaker 1: to have everything streamlined together. Because you had the safety's
Speaker 1: cheating up now because now they're thinking, Hey, are they
Speaker 1: gonna run it here? Are we gonna have another eight
Speaker 1: nine yard game here? You need to be able to
Speaker 1: compensate for that. Rogers spots that, and it was funny.
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to watch the TV copy
Speaker 1: before I wrote Insider Inbox on Monday, and a fan
Speaker 1: mentioned that, did you hear Rogers shouting over to Alan Lazart. Hey,
Speaker 1: Alan kind of motioning to him, has a smirk on
Speaker 1: his face, and Lazard knew exactly what he wanted coming
Speaker 1: out of the slot, goes down the seam fifty eight
Speaker 1: yards and obviously the biggest play of the game to
Speaker 1: be for the Packers to be able to get the
Speaker 1: response they needed and and hold onto that victory. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: On on the defensive side of the ball too, It
Speaker 1: was interesting the way this game unfolded because if you
Speaker 1: look at the rams first six possessions on offense, it
Speaker 1: was sort of feast or famine, right. I mean, three
Speaker 1: of the six possessions the Packers defense got a three
Speaker 1: and out Rams did nothing. The other three the Rams
Speaker 1: got points, So it was it was an all or
Speaker 1: nothing scenario with what the Packers were doing on offense.
Speaker 1: That was a trade that they were willing to make. Certainly,
Speaker 1: the three three and outs by the Packers defense really
Speaker 1: helped Green Bay get the lead, build the lead. And
Speaker 1: here's the two other things I really really liked about
Speaker 1: the Packers defensive performance in this game. One, the only
Speaker 1: time they gave up touchdowns West. They only gave up
Speaker 1: two touchdowns in this game, and when they did, the
Speaker 1: Packers were ahead by two touchdowns. When they gave up
Speaker 1: a touchdown, that's a pretty good formula right there. And
Speaker 1: then the other thing in the fourth quarter, the Rams
Speaker 1: never threatened the goal line. The two big possession is
Speaker 1: one of them, with the Packers only leading by one score,
Speaker 1: and then again afterwards when after the Lizard touchdown, when
Speaker 1: the Packers were up by two scores, the Rams never
Speaker 1: really threatened to score. The Packers defense stood tall. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: on one uh, the Rams had started on their own
Speaker 1: six yard line after a good punt, so even when
Speaker 1: they got a couple of first downs, they still weren't
Speaker 1: even really that close to midfield. Packers defense rises up
Speaker 1: and get the stop. The fourth quarter. The Packers really
Speaker 1: owned it in this game. All the back and forth
Speaker 1: through the first three quarters spelled out as a victory
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter when when the Packers were able
Speaker 1: to control that final stands up. Yeah, and to do
Speaker 1: my old Dom Capers impersonation. Impersonation, let's start with the
Speaker 1: positives here. I mean, the way that they finished this
Speaker 1: game is exactly the way they needed to. You saw
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark, I felt I I said it last week.
Speaker 1: Your guy for this game was Al Nazard. My guy
Speaker 1: was Kenny Clark. Now, I thought it was gonna be
Speaker 1: more based on trying to stop Acres. As it turned out,
Speaker 1: the Rams just said to heck with it, We're just
Speaker 1: gonna pass. But it ended up being Kenny Clark in
Speaker 1: Rish John Gary, the second year linebacker, the twelfth overall
Speaker 1: pick in the two thousand nineteen NFL Draft, him being
Speaker 1: able to make the strides that we've seen all season
Speaker 1: and then have one of his best games, if not
Speaker 1: the best game, in the biggest moment so far for
Speaker 1: green Bay. I thought those two guys really contributed heavily
Speaker 1: to Green Bay being able to slam that door the
Speaker 1: pass rush. And you've seen it time and time again, Mike,
Speaker 1: when the Packers can get teams into third and long
Speaker 1: third and plus six. They are a different unit. They
Speaker 1: just have that swagger, they have that confidence, and with
Speaker 1: them not allowing explosive plays from basically beginning to end
Speaker 1: of this season, it has allowed them to be in
Speaker 1: a position of power in those moments. The one area
Speaker 1: I think Green Bay is probably gonna need to look
Speaker 1: at this week, and Kenny Clark mentioned it as soon
Speaker 1: as the game was over in his postgame news conference,
Speaker 1: you have to figure out this this quick curry up
Speaker 1: offense look that the Rams win too, because you're gonna
Speaker 1: see stuff like that against the Buccaneers. The Rams they decided,
Speaker 1: you know, my whole thought process going in, Mike was
Speaker 1: they're gonna run to set up everything that they do
Speaker 1: with off at some point with getting as many base
Speaker 1: looks as they got, they said, you know what, We're
Speaker 1: just gonna go hurry up. We're gonna spread them out,
Speaker 1: and they had success with that in the first half.
Speaker 1: Green Bay ultimately was able to get some stops, was
Speaker 1: able to do some more stuff offensively that it took
Speaker 1: the Rams out of that. But that's gonna be one
Speaker 1: look that green Bay is gonna have to compensate for
Speaker 1: because this week, and we'll talk about the matchup with
Speaker 1: the Bucks later. But the way that Bruce arians and
Speaker 1: in Byron left which draw up this offense. They will
Speaker 1: throw to get going with the run. And when you
Speaker 1: put the ball in Tom Brady's hands in those circumstances,
Speaker 1: that that's gonna be a difficult formula to solve. As
Speaker 1: it related to this game, though, defense hit all the
Speaker 1: notes you wanted them to hit down the stretch for
Speaker 1: the Packers to win this game. Yeah, defensively, the Packers
Speaker 1: allowed ninety rushing yards from acres, but nothing that was
Speaker 1: that was a backing or a tone setting type of run.
Speaker 1: You got four sacks on Jared Goff, Preston Smith, batted
Speaker 1: down a couple of passes that the line of scrim
Speaker 1: is just a lot of plays that that the Green
Speaker 1: Bay defense made in this game. And certainly, as as
Speaker 1: we mentioned, down down the stretch, the Packers defense did
Speaker 1: not let the Ramps threaten to uh, you know, to
Speaker 1: score there before I forget West Sirius x M NFL
Speaker 1: radio Channel eight is the only radio outlet dedicated to
Speaker 1: the National Football League seven days a week, three d
Speaker 1: sixty five days a year. All Right, Well, this victory
Speaker 1: by the Packers, combined with Tampa Bay's victory at New
Speaker 1: Orleans on Sunday, sets up an NFC Championship showdown Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, Packers, Buccaneers. It will be Sunday two oh
Speaker 1: five Central time, kick off at lambeau Field. And you
Speaker 1: know we're gonna be talking about this all week West.
Speaker 1: But you look at you look at what happened in
Speaker 1: week sixty eight to ten Tampa Bay victory over Green Bay,
Speaker 1: uh down in Florida. You look at how the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: were able to beat the Saints after losing to them
Speaker 1: twice in the regular season, that the most recent of
Speaker 1: those being a thirty eight to three shellacking on National
Speaker 1: Tell Vision. It comes down to turnovers. The New Orleans.
Speaker 1: The New Orleans Saints were I thought they were in
Speaker 1: They were really in control of that game against the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: It looked like they were headed for a two score
Speaker 1: lead in the second half. Jared Cook catches the slant
Speaker 1: pass for a first down to convert a third down,
Speaker 1: and then boom, the ball gets punched out and instead
Speaker 1: of the Rams possibly are the Saints, excuse me, possibly
Speaker 1: going up two scores, the Buccaneers from that moment on
Speaker 1: outscored the Saints seven team to zero the rest of
Speaker 1: the game, getting a couple of more turnovers along the way.
Speaker 1: Packers were the best team in the NFL at protecting
Speaker 1: the football, and that is absolutely positively job number one.
Speaker 1: Priority number one comes Sunday afternoon, and honestly, Mike if
Speaker 1: I was standing in front of the room in Matt
Speaker 1: with floor even had to address this because it came
Speaker 1: up several times during his Monday news conference. My whole
Speaker 1: thought would be the one takeaway, the one thing I
Speaker 1: want you to remember about Week six is protect the
Speaker 1: football and take the football away. That was the difference
Speaker 1: in the game. Green Bay came out and posed their will.
Speaker 1: That first quarter picture perfect, exactly what Green Bay was
Speaker 1: looking for. Get up by two scores, you're off and rolling.
Speaker 1: But it was what happened after that's that sort of
Speaker 1: turned the tide of where things went for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: So now you look at this matchup, you go and
Speaker 1: look at what Tampa Bay did, As Matt Lafleur said,
Speaker 1: watching the game with his wife at home, sitting back
Speaker 1: just seeing the lay of the land, of the way
Speaker 1: things are going to shape out. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of respect for Mickey Loomis. I love the way that
Speaker 1: the Saints were built this season. They understood, they made
Speaker 1: a transition about five years ago that you have an
Speaker 1: aging quarterback, one of the very best, a future Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, but you need to be able to develop
Speaker 1: your defense and you need to be able to find
Speaker 1: ways to help him offensively. So it's just not big
Speaker 1: air raid, downfield passing game. And they've done that, Elvin Kamara,
Speaker 1: all the different weapons that you just talked about. But
Speaker 1: what happened here and it's the lesson that Green Bay
Speaker 1: needs to learn going into this matchup now against the
Speaker 1: Bucks is the Saints came out fast and furious offensively.
Speaker 1: Buccaneers weren't able to do much the first quarter for
Speaker 1: most of the first quarter, but there was something about
Speaker 1: that Tom Brady sneak and he's done it so many
Speaker 1: times over the last twenty one years that when Bruce
Speaker 1: arians shows the confidence, we're backed up, we're inside our
Speaker 1: own thirty five six, we're gonna sneak it because Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is arguably the best in NFL history at it.
Speaker 1: And after that moment, man, they just got rolling in.
Speaker 1: The Saints couldn't stop them. Conversely, when you don't have
Speaker 1: the big arm, you know, and you don't have the
Speaker 1: explosiveness that the Saints have had in the past, you
Speaker 1: have to take more chances underneath. And I thought that's
Speaker 1: what happened with Breese. They just after as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: with that that Cook turnover, they just weren't able to
Speaker 1: play catch up after that. So now here you are.
Speaker 1: This is what the National Football League is all about.
Speaker 1: This is what the NFC is all about. These are
Speaker 1: the two best teams and they're gonna see each other
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon, and I am really
Speaker 1: interested to see the chess match that happens now that
Speaker 1: this game is here as opposed to down in South
Speaker 1: Florida and now being able to see exactly what the
Speaker 1: adjustments are going to be made that Matt Laflour and
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers are going to do. Matt Lafloor, he still
Speaker 1: hasn't lost back to back games as the head coach,
Speaker 1: but now he has the rematch here right against Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay in the same season. That's going to be tremendous theater. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's what everybody is going to be
Speaker 1: fired up to watch one last thought on the Saints
Speaker 1: before we move on. If indeed we did see Drew
Speaker 1: brees last football game in the NFL, hats off to
Speaker 1: an absolutely tremendous career. And if you want to have
Speaker 1: any understanding of just how difficult it can be to
Speaker 1: get to a super Bowl, the last four years, the
Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints won forty nine football games in four years,
Speaker 1: and they did not get to the Super Bowl any
Speaker 1: one of those times, and in fact, only made it
Speaker 1: to the Conference championship once in those four years. And
Speaker 1: they should have gone to the super Bowl last year.
Speaker 1: They certainly were robbed in my opinion. But anyway, hats
Speaker 1: off to Drew Brees. And if he is going to retire, um,
Speaker 1: I hope he sticks around the game in some fashion.
Speaker 1: It sounds like that is potentially in the works. But
Speaker 1: Tom Brady against Aaron Rodgers, it's a it's a matchup
Speaker 1: for the ages. That will be Aaron Rodgers fifth conference
Speaker 1: championship game, but first at lambeau Field. As we have
Speaker 1: talked about, he won his first one obviously against the
Speaker 1: Bears on the road. Three straight losses on the road
Speaker 1: at this stage. But now Rogers gets a conference championship
Speaker 1: at home. For Tom Brady, it will be the fourteen
Speaker 1: conference championship game of his career, the first thirteen obviously
Speaker 1: as the quarterback of the New England Patriots. Brady nine
Speaker 1: and four in UM nine and four in conference championship
Speaker 1: games in his career, but three of those four losses
Speaker 1: on the road. He's been a five quarterback in road
Speaker 1: games in those a f C title games with the Patriots.
Speaker 1: So you just you, you, you can't ask for anything
Speaker 1: better here, These these two quarterbacks going to head to
Speaker 1: head with so much on the line, two guys who
Speaker 1: are going to be in the Hall of Fame one day,
Speaker 1: and a matchup frankly that you know, until the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, well yeah, prior to two thousand and eighteen,
Speaker 1: Rogers and Brady had gone head to head exactly once
Speaker 1: as starting quarterbacks. Now and then a second time here
Speaker 1: in the postseason. So, uh, Rogers and Brady, it's a
Speaker 1: musty TV. A few lessons to be learned here, Mike,
Speaker 1: before we signed off for the day. The first thing,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a segment of the fans that are
Speaker 1: gonna be nervous about that first matchup, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about it all this week. You and I are
Speaker 1: going to see it an inbox. As I keep saying
Speaker 1: over and over again, whether I've tweeted it or whether
Speaker 1: I wrote it. Tampa Bay Buccaneers did not care about
Speaker 1: the regular season when they went into the Super Dome
Speaker 1: last weekend and um pasted the Saints after the Saints
Speaker 1: beat them twice in the last of which was a
Speaker 1: thirty eight to three victory. Not concerned at all. Second thing,
Speaker 1: this is the great moment, right because when Tom Brady
Speaker 1: signed with Tampa Bay, there were some executives at Fox
Speaker 1: or somewhere around the country where they started salivating at
Speaker 1: the thought of Brady and Breeze, Brady and Rogers, and
Speaker 1: they're getting it all in the same postseason run. Uh.
Speaker 1: For Brady and Rodgers. This wasn't the way I wanted
Speaker 1: it to go down. I I really wanted to see
Speaker 1: how I thought we were getting in fourteen. I wanted
Speaker 1: to see a Brady Rogers Super Bowl. This is the
Speaker 1: next best thing, though, to see these two warriors, as
Speaker 1: you said, future Hall of Famers, first ballot gold jackets
Speaker 1: facing off Mano a Mano is going to be a fantastic,
Speaker 1: fantastic game. And also we have to say it, Mike
Speaker 1: because honestly, as many headlines as Brady versus Breeze is
Speaker 1: gonna draw, my Brady versus Rogers excuse me, Nadam, the
Speaker 1: can sue in this long storied history against the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers, that again gets brought to the forefront, that
Speaker 1: rivalry that you know, the the history with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: There's so many things about this that you love. And then, honestly,
Speaker 1: the final thing I want to make either Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: going back to the Super Bowl for the first time
Speaker 1: in ten years, or Tom Brady in his first season
Speaker 1: with a new team making the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the
Speaker 1: first team to play a Super Bowl on their home field.
Speaker 1: One of the two things is going to happen, assuming
Speaker 1: that they just don't play forever to avoid a time,
Speaker 1: those two are the scenarios, and it's just it is fantastic.
Speaker 1: It's what the National Football League is all about. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts on one other thing
Speaker 1: because we may not have enough time in Thursday show
Speaker 1: to get to it, because a lot of fans are
Speaker 1: asking about this and the Packers just faced as we
Speaker 1: talked about, the number one defense in the league in
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Rams, and had their way with them.
Speaker 1: For the most part. This Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense is
Speaker 1: no slouch, obviously, But I think the other thing too,
Speaker 1: is this Tampa Bay defense is built very differently because
Speaker 1: the stars of the defense, yes they have they have
Speaker 1: tremendous pass rushers up front, just like the Rams had,
Speaker 1: But the stars of the defense are the inside linebackers,
Speaker 1: Lavonte David and particularly Devin White. Packers had a hard
Speaker 1: time with those guys back in Week six, and though
Speaker 1: that type of caliber linebacker in the middle of field
Speaker 1: is not what the Rams had, the Rams defense was
Speaker 1: was built differently. So just what your thoughts initially here
Speaker 1: early in the week and how the Packers go about
Speaker 1: trying to do what they need to do against a
Speaker 1: defense that is extremely talented but very different from the
Speaker 1: one that they just faced. Devin White was going to
Speaker 1: be a star. You and I didn't have to be
Speaker 1: in the package scouting department to understand that. I remember
Speaker 1: you and I salivating over what the type of player
Speaker 1: this guy is gonna be going at the combine and
Speaker 1: through all that process that's not a surprise. Um, although
Speaker 1: the way that they're using them is really innovative. I
Speaker 1: think that's very exciting. The thing I actually like as
Speaker 1: a football fan is that Lavonte David's finally starting to
Speaker 1: get his his his do I mean, you you talk
Speaker 1: here all the time about people wasting primes. We missed
Speaker 1: Lavante David's. I mean, he's still in his prime. Is
Speaker 1: thirty two years old, thirty one years old. But people
Speaker 1: are finally catching up to the fact that this guy
Speaker 1: has been a pretty darn good linebacker for eight years.
Speaker 1: And it's just that the Buccaneers had a lot of
Speaker 1: bad seasons. They had a lot of years where their
Speaker 1: offense didn't do a lot in their defense was disjointedt
Speaker 1: Lavonte David isn't just that he's some late bloomer. He
Speaker 1: was this guy all along and now people realize it
Speaker 1: and being able to pair those two guys together. The
Speaker 1: reason you mentioned that it's different than the Rams, it's
Speaker 1: different than a lot of teams. A lot of teams
Speaker 1: now it's become about one linebacker and then you find
Speaker 1: a compliment to them, and then you run your sub packages.
Speaker 1: That's not the way that Tampa Bay does things. So
Speaker 1: the key for Green Bay is coming out running the
Speaker 1: football and protecting the football and getting those linebackers moving,
Speaker 1: being able to wear them down over the course of
Speaker 1: four quarters in this environment, thirty degree weather. That's going
Speaker 1: to be the key because lambeau Field, this is going
Speaker 1: to take away some of the speed, right, This is
Speaker 1: going to even the playing field somewhat. Sorry, Kurt Warner,
Speaker 1: it's a reality. The game gets played outdoors sometimes. But
Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is that if you don't
Speaker 1: do that early on, and you allow them to start
Speaker 1: pinning their ears back because you can't run the ball
Speaker 1: against that front, that's when that defense is at its best.
Speaker 1: And the very last thing Todd Bowls needs another opportunity
Speaker 1: to be a head coach in this league. The guy
Speaker 1: is fantastic. His scheme is fantastic and when he has
Speaker 1: the right players, Man, Packers have seen it before they
Speaker 1: saw it in Arizona. I mean, this guy knows how
Speaker 1: to coach. Yeah, well, Matt la Fleur said, and I
Speaker 1: wrote about it on our website Monday night. The Packers
Speaker 1: are not going to dwell on anything that happened from
Speaker 1: Week six, but they are gonna learn some things from
Speaker 1: and Matt Lafleur admitted he didn't feel like he really
Speaker 1: had his team prepared for that game as well as
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers were prepared, and he felt like he got
Speaker 1: away from the running game when the game was still
Speaker 1: within reach before things really got out of hand. The
Speaker 1: Packers did bust a couple of runs in that game,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure Matt Lafleur, Nathaniel Hackett, the rest of
Speaker 1: those offensive coaches are going to try to figure out
Speaker 1: how to get back to that and then stick with
Speaker 1: the run, as you said, because the way to attack
Speaker 1: this the way to attack this defense is to try
Speaker 1: to wear out those those linebackers because they control so
Speaker 1: much in the middle of the field. If they're getting
Speaker 1: three notes and getting off the field and being able
Speaker 1: to get their breath, that's not that's not the right recipe.
Speaker 1: And then secondly, just to give him quick kudos, I
Speaker 1: mean you look at their secondary. They're a ball hawking secondary.
Speaker 1: I think Antoine Winfield Jr. Is going to be a
Speaker 1: fantastic Pro Bowl player for years to come. They have
Speaker 1: a lot of weapons. Might you can't deny it. They're
Speaker 1: in the NFC's igl game for a reason, but Green
Speaker 1: Bay top scoring defense, top scoring offense in the league,
Speaker 1: just doing what they did against the top scoring defense.
Speaker 1: They gotta be who they are and they gotta protect
Speaker 1: the football. Yeah. Absolutely Well. We will talk a lot
Speaker 1: more about this matchup on our next episode, but for now,
Speaker 1: we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers
Speaker 1: on Script and be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: preview coverage during NFC Championship Week. It's all for you
Speaker 1: on Packers dot com for West, I am Mike. Thank
Speaker 1: you for tuning in, everybody. See you next time.