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 Hadkowitz. Were coming to you
Speaker 1: from socially distant locations at lambeau Field and West You
Speaker 1: take a look back at last Sunday. You really couldn't
Speaker 1: draw it up any better as far as the way
Speaker 1: the results fell for the Green Bay Packers. In the
Speaker 1: early part of the day, the Minnesota Vikings lost to
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which gave the Packers the opportunity
Speaker 1: to clinch the NFC North Championship with a victory over
Speaker 1: the Lions, which Green Bay did with a thirty one victory.
Speaker 1: And as the Packers were kneeling that out, the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles were kneeling out an upset victory over the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints that now has the Packers technically in the
Speaker 1: number one spot in the NFC. With that tiebreaker over
Speaker 1: New Orleans, it was a pretty good Sunday all all
Speaker 1: around for Green Bay. Yeah, it was like the opposite
Speaker 1: of my fantasy football team, Mike, where in that particular case,
Speaker 1: nothing went right for me. The last few weeks for
Speaker 1: the green Bay Packers. Everything went right for them on Sunday,
Speaker 1: but namely their performance against the Detroit Lions. Now, I
Speaker 1: warned people, if you go back to Insider in box
Speaker 1: last week, anytime you crossed Lake Michigan, you have to
Speaker 1: throw out the records, especially when Matthew Stafford is the quarterback,
Speaker 1: and that held true. I mean, this is a matchup
Speaker 1: where going into Ford Field, there's just something about it, Mike,
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what it is, but you can
Speaker 1: never just take that game for granted at any juncture
Speaker 1: of the season. And even though they have an interim coach,
Speaker 1: even though they had a bunch of injuries on both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball, Detroit was game in this contest.
Speaker 1: But what I like that green Bay did. They started
Speaker 1: off fast, they started out efficient, and that first play,
Speaker 1: third play of the game for green Bay, first series
Speaker 1: of the game, being able to hit Davante Adams on
Speaker 1: the sixty five yard. They were testing the Lions secondary
Speaker 1: that was without Jeff Acuta and all so a Desmond
Speaker 1: Truffont and I are they tested those young cornerbacks early on.
Speaker 1: It worked to the Packers benefit and we're able to
Speaker 1: kind of control the tempo throughout those four quarters. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we saw Davantae Adams make that bit of history
Speaker 1: that we had talked about last week where he got
Speaker 1: a touchdown reception in his eighth consecutive game, which snapped
Speaker 1: that franchise record tie with Don Hudson, and also just
Speaker 1: a touchdown rushing or receiving an eight consecutive games, broke
Speaker 1: a tie with Paul Hornig Anamon Green. So Davante Adams
Speaker 1: sitting alone in the record book there with that streak,
Speaker 1: which hopefully for his sake, he'll continue against the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers this weekend. But you said it west offensively for
Speaker 1: the Packers. It was a fast start, first two possessions,
Speaker 1: two touchdowns, but then the Packers really took control of
Speaker 1: this game at the start of the second half. It
Speaker 1: was a fourteen all tie at halftime, but the Packers
Speaker 1: got the ball to start the second half, put together
Speaker 1: two methodical drives, one that was almost nine minutes on
Speaker 1: the clock, the next one almost eight minutes on the clock.
Speaker 1: Both of those resulted in touchdowns, and sandwiched in between
Speaker 1: was a three and out by the defense, So suddenly
Speaker 1: twelve minutes remained in the ballgame. The Lions had run
Speaker 1: only three plays on offense and the Packers had a
Speaker 1: fourteen point lead. That was that worked out absolutely as
Speaker 1: perfectly as the Packers could have asked for to get
Speaker 1: command of that football game. Eight minutes and forty nine
Speaker 1: seconds to drive that far and as Rogers even said afterwards,
Speaker 1: a real grinding out kind of series for green Bay,
Speaker 1: And it was at an important time, Mike, because it
Speaker 1: sort of flipped the Packers typical game plan on its access,
Speaker 1: where they've had some really strong second quarters and then
Speaker 1: the third quarters have been times when they just haven't
Speaker 1: really gotten the start they wanted. In this particular case,
Speaker 1: the Lions kind of, you know, grab some momentum at
Speaker 1: the end of the first half. Green Bay needs a
Speaker 1: response after a three and out to close the second quarter,
Speaker 1: and they get it that series in particular, trying to
Speaker 1: remember if it was three or four third down conversions
Speaker 1: they were able to make. The biggest one, of course,
Speaker 1: being probably one of the prettiest plays of green Bay season.
Speaker 1: Marci was abled is scantling yards on third and fourteen,
Speaker 1: a play that started, mind you, Mike, with Robert Tunyan
Speaker 1: on the right side coming off the quick chip block
Speaker 1: ends up bowling over three Lions defenders. Aaron Rodgers could
Speaker 1: have had all week to throw that ball, and with
Speaker 1: that type of protection, with that type of time, Marquis
Speaker 1: Valdes Scantling making a big play. Six targets for Scantling
Speaker 1: in this game, six receptions, eight five yards. Rogers was
Speaker 1: just emphatic in his praise of the third year receiver afterwards,
Speaker 1: talking about not only the strong hands, not only the
Speaker 1: way he stepped up when he was called upon, but
Speaker 1: the way in which he responded the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: You gotta remember, before that game against the Lions, his
Speaker 1: last catch was the fumble in Indianapolis. At the end
Speaker 1: of that game, he kept his shoulder, his head on
Speaker 1: his shoulders and was able to bounce back, and he said,
Speaker 1: that's the reason. Rogers said, that's the reason why he's
Speaker 1: learning the respect this locker room and more importantly, earned
Speaker 1: his trust in this offense. But what was interesting with
Speaker 1: regard to the way the game developed for MVS is
Speaker 1: afterwards everybody was wondering, well, where were the deep balls
Speaker 1: to MVS. What's forgotten is that that third quarter drive
Speaker 1: started with a third down and a deep shot to
Speaker 1: mvs but he draws a defensive holding penalty who's actually
Speaker 1: held up about ten yards from the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: The flag was thrown very early. Then the deep shot
Speaker 1: was overthrown as a result of that holding, so they
Speaker 1: did still try to go deep to him, but it
Speaker 1: was it was the way he was incorporated into the
Speaker 1: offense and all the other ways, the back shoulder throw
Speaker 1: for the touchdown with the strong hands. You mentioned the
Speaker 1: comeback round on third and fourteen. Really interesting on that
Speaker 1: that drive for the Packers to open the third quarter.
Speaker 1: They had to overcome two holding penalties on that drive
Speaker 1: in order to get that touch and one of those
Speaker 1: was by Velde Scantling and then he makes up for
Speaker 1: it by converting on the third and fourteen to keep
Speaker 1: that drive going. So a lot of things the Packers
Speaker 1: were able to work through and and really get things
Speaker 1: going there at the start of the second half. And
Speaker 1: I'll say this too, I think we saw and we'll
Speaker 1: be talking about this, I think in the coming weeks here,
Speaker 1: but I think we saw Aaron Rodgers make a legitimate
Speaker 1: move here toward a potential third m v P with
Speaker 1: him putting up another hundred and thirty plus passer rating game,
Speaker 1: three touchdowns, no interceptions. He's done that now, I believe
Speaker 1: is it nine or ten times in his career where
Speaker 1: he's had a three touchdown game without any interceptions. He
Speaker 1: extended his lead in the passer rating category over Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: He's Rogers now at one nineteen plus as far as
Speaker 1: his passer rating, and with Mahomes throwing three interceptions, Rogers
Speaker 1: has four. Mahomes has five on the year. So Rogers
Speaker 1: is and isn't gonna catch Mahomes In terms of the
Speaker 1: passing yards, Mahomes is already well over four thousand yards.
Speaker 1: Rogers is more than five hundred yards behind him with
Speaker 1: three games to go. But all those other major categories
Speaker 1: for quarterbacks, Rodgers is in the lead right now, and
Speaker 1: I think he's got a legitimate shot at that third
Speaker 1: m v P. He really does. And I thought a
Speaker 1: performance like this, the fact that Mike the Packers have
Speaker 1: played now thirteen games this season. In one of those
Speaker 1: games Tampa Bay, Aaron Rodgers pass raining has been under
Speaker 1: a hundred and eight. Uh. He's been north of that
Speaker 1: in twelve different games. That is a remarkable stat. Tom
Speaker 1: Fanning Packers Communications rep that they have here was just
Speaker 1: churning out the stats. Uh in in the career milestones
Speaker 1: that Rodgers has reached. Heck, he even surpassed the incomparable
Speaker 1: Tobin wrote for the all time franchise record for rushing
Speaker 1: touchdowns by a quarterback. When this thing is all said
Speaker 1: and done, maybe absent, you know, the iron Man record
Speaker 1: that Brett five has, Rogers is gonna make a run
Speaker 1: at all these here in Green Bay. But more importantly, Mike,
Speaker 1: I think this thing that stands out to me when
Speaker 1: I was looking at his stats and sort of digesting
Speaker 1: everything after the game on Sunday two thousand and fourteen,
Speaker 1: He's exceeding those numbers right now. He's he's kind of
Speaker 1: outpacing that. While the yardage isn't what it was in
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, he's kind of closing in on a
Speaker 1: lot of those different stats as well. Thirty nine touchdown
Speaker 1: passes through thirteen games. Just a remarkable season that he's
Speaker 1: put together. You can see the comfort in the offense.
Speaker 1: He's utilizing all of his perimeter weapons, He's getting Robert
Speaker 1: Tounyon involved the way he has with nine touchdown passes.
Speaker 1: He's making those running backs better Mike for a guy
Speaker 1: that allegedly didn't have any weapons to begin the season.
Speaker 1: I think the people that are going to be voting
Speaker 1: the national narrative that has been construed, they have to
Speaker 1: make a decision here. Okay, was it that Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: didn't have any weapons like a lot of them said,
Speaker 1: he didn't at the beginning of the season, so naturally,
Speaker 1: I mean, my goodness, he should be the m v P.
Speaker 1: Right he's doing this with a bunch of guys from
Speaker 1: down the block at Bayport High School. Or is it
Speaker 1: the fact that maybe they underrated what the Packers had
Speaker 1: offensively and maybe Aaron Rodgers has just taking those different
Speaker 1: levels to the next step. Uh, that's what's gonna be
Speaker 1: the big decisions they're gonna have to make. Because we
Speaker 1: all knew what Patrick Mahomes had coming back coming off
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl Aaron Rodgers, everybody's questioning thirteen and three?
Speaker 1: Is that a legitimate thirteen and three? Is it a
Speaker 1: fake thirteen and three? Because you know, it's just so
Speaker 1: easy to win thirteen regular season games in the NFL. No,
Speaker 1: this is a guy that is very much in the
Speaker 1: thick of this thing. And if this pace holds Mike
Speaker 1: with three regular season games to go, I don't know
Speaker 1: how you can deny Aaron Rodgers a third m v P. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's going to be difficult
Speaker 1: to do that. But there are still three regular season
Speaker 1: games left that is a legitimate chunk of the season,
Speaker 1: and both Mahomes and Rogers with some big games here
Speaker 1: left to play. But since I was absent minded last
Speaker 1: week with regard to the sponsor business, I'm going to
Speaker 1: get to it a little bit earlier and my son
Speaker 1: gets to eat this week. It's awesome, Thank you, So
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Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball for the Packers in
Speaker 1: this game against the Lions, I think it was and
Speaker 1: I wrote about this Monday night after Matt Lafleur addressed
Speaker 1: the media. It just seemed to be another one of
Speaker 1: those games with with a lot of ups and downs
Speaker 1: on on the defensive side of the ball. There were
Speaker 1: some really good moments after you know, the Lions had
Speaker 1: had scored a touchdown early, then the Packers defense got
Speaker 1: a couple of stops and the Packers took a fourteen
Speaker 1: to seven lead. The three and out at the start
Speaker 1: of the second half that we talked about that was
Speaker 1: also big. But then you look at the negatives and
Speaker 1: you know that drive in the fourth quarter when the
Speaker 1: Packers are up by two touchdowns and the penalty flags
Speaker 1: are just flying all over the place, you're giving the Lions.
Speaker 1: I believe it was four free first downs on that
Speaker 1: drive alone, five and all in the game. Because the
Speaker 1: defensive penalties, those kinds of things are frustrating. And if
Speaker 1: there's a trend on the defensive side of the ball
Speaker 1: that you get concerned about here, it is that the
Speaker 1: Lions took the opening kickoff and went right down and
Speaker 1: scored a touchdown. The Packers have now allowed points on
Speaker 1: the opponent's opening drive in four of the last five
Speaker 1: games now, the Lions getting a touchdown, that's the only
Speaker 1: time that that opponent has put it in the end
Speaker 1: zone in this current street. The other ones were all
Speaker 1: field goals. But the Packers defense is not coming out
Speaker 1: of the box, out of the gate, you know, right
Speaker 1: away in the first quarter, playing the kind of defense
Speaker 1: that they want to play. It's it's it's been this
Speaker 1: kind of roller coaster thing game to game series two series.
Speaker 1: That's just kind of what the Packers defense is right now.
Speaker 1: And and uh, hopefully you know you can get the
Speaker 1: key turnover, get the key stop. That's the kind of
Speaker 1: thing that this this Packers team is going to is
Speaker 1: going to count on from the defense. But quite honestly,
Speaker 1: this Packers offense is going to have to continue its
Speaker 1: trend of of putting up thirty plus points, which it
Speaker 1: has done the vast majority of the season, to give
Speaker 1: themselves the best chance to win. Right now. Let's let's
Speaker 1: start this by quoting one of my all time favorite
Speaker 1: coaches in the nashvill Football League, Dom Capers. Let's start
Speaker 1: with the positives the Green Bay Packers defensively, there are
Speaker 1: there have been a lot of upticks here. I think
Speaker 1: Dean Lowry is playing his best football the season right now.
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark looks healthy again, but unfortunately they lost mon
Speaker 1: Trevias Adams, so they got to figure out a rotation
Speaker 1: here and how they want to go about handling this
Speaker 1: thing moving forward. But Lowry and Clark have really impressed
Speaker 1: me as of late. Kenny Clark also getting his second
Speaker 1: sack of the season at the end of the first half,
Speaker 1: an important time for green Bay after a jumping off
Speaker 1: sides penalty had just given the lines and on timed
Speaker 1: down uh Jaire Alexander playing an elite level the thing,
Speaker 1: and also with Shawn Gary, we have to see exactly
Speaker 1: where he's at health wise, but he got his fifth
Speaker 1: sack as well. The thing that that is the most
Speaker 1: concerning to me at this point um on the other
Speaker 1: side of the spectrum for green Bay's defense is one
Speaker 1: they're making teams go the distance, especially on those opening
Speaker 1: series where it hasn't been one big breakdown. It's not
Speaker 1: a seventy yard catch that they're getting down the field
Speaker 1: and and then you know, putting points on the board,
Speaker 1: but there hasn't been a lot of I keep trying
Speaker 1: to think the right word in terms of like it's
Speaker 1: it's too easy. Matthew Stafford completes six and seven on
Speaker 1: that opening drive. The only incompletion was a pretty obvious T. J.
Speaker 1: Hockinson drop. Uh, they aren't able to get the stops
Speaker 1: on third and long, which typically Green Bay actually has
Speaker 1: done a pretty good job of this year. That hurt
Speaker 1: them in this game. They they've stopped the run the
Speaker 1: last two weeks money, I mean, they only have a
Speaker 1: given up a hundred and fifteen rushing yards to running
Speaker 1: backs in the last two games. But it also in
Speaker 1: those third and short situations. They just haven't been able
Speaker 1: to really hold their line and stop teams there. You've
Speaker 1: got to have one of these things sort of happened
Speaker 1: in order to win consistently on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. This team is talented enough, they're going to
Speaker 1: get takeaways. Those things are going to happen. But you
Speaker 1: also don't want to be like that eleven team that
Speaker 1: just had to live and die off the takeaways and
Speaker 1: then sort of hold on for dear life when those
Speaker 1: things don't happen. They're deep enough, they're talented enough to
Speaker 1: do it. Unfortunately, they had lost Raven Green that caused
Speaker 1: a domino effect and they lose Channon Sullivan. But honestly,
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, Vernon Scott played well in a
Speaker 1: small basis. So it's just figuring out the right rhythm
Speaker 1: and tempo for this defense and being able to maintain it, because, Mike,
Speaker 1: the reality is we're gonna be talking about a lot
Speaker 1: on Thursday. But if Christian McCaffrey plays this week and
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry plays next week, the Green Bay Packers are
Speaker 1: entering a very very difficult part of their schedule defensively
Speaker 1: making sure that they stopped two of the NFL's elite
Speaker 1: running backs. Yeah, and that's what I wanted to get
Speaker 1: to next, is that you mentioned the Packers run defense
Speaker 1: has been on the upswing here and I actually looked
Speaker 1: at it statistically. You go back these last three games.
Speaker 1: The start of the Bears game, the very first hand
Speaker 1: off David Montgomery goes fifty seven yards. Since that opening
Speaker 1: handoff of the Chica Ago Bears game, in the last
Speaker 1: three games, the Packers run defense has allowed only three
Speaker 1: point nine yards per carry to the running backs of
Speaker 1: the opponents. So that's taking out the quarterback scrambles and
Speaker 1: these other things that get thrown into rushing yards. That
Speaker 1: really isn't a reflection of your run defense. Running backs.
Speaker 1: After the fifty seven yard run by Montgomery. Running backs
Speaker 1: only have about a hundred and forty rushing yards over
Speaker 1: the last three games. But here comes potentially Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: on Saturday night at lambeau Field. Then the following week
Speaker 1: the NFL's not only reigning rushing king from twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: but league leading rusher in trying to go back to
Speaker 1: back in that category in Derrick Henry. So this uptick
Speaker 1: in the Packers run defense is going to get tested.
Speaker 1: They're going to it's you know here it is prove
Speaker 1: that your run defense really is, you know, making the
Speaker 1: strides that you wanted to make heading into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: You can't ask for too bigger tests back to back
Speaker 1: Now again, McCaffrey will see where things are injury why
Speaker 1: is But the reports that we're hearing is that he's
Speaker 1: potentially returning to practice this week. He was held out
Speaker 1: last week when some people thought he would play UM
Speaker 1: and UH and McCaffrey and Henry back to back. UM.
Speaker 1: The challenge doesn't get too much tougher than that. It
Speaker 1: really doesn't like And it's funny too, because they're completely
Speaker 1: different running backs to UH. Christian McCaffrey is just an
Speaker 1: all around weapon. Now, we've got to see exactly where
Speaker 1: he's at healthwise. He's only played in what three games
Speaker 1: this season? If he does go or if he's limited,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to see exactly how how much you
Speaker 1: know he's going to be available to them. And then
Speaker 1: the other thing the Panthers have to start thinking about
Speaker 1: is not necessarily shutting him down, but do you really
Speaker 1: want to put more tread or take more tread off
Speaker 1: of his tires here in a year that has, you know,
Speaker 1: ultimately basically been lost for them now sitting at four
Speaker 1: and nine. But if he does play, he can hurt
Speaker 1: you in a number of different ways. The one game
Speaker 1: he played on when he came back, I think he
Speaker 1: ended up putting up however many total yards and whatnot.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's a definite playmaker, one of the
Speaker 1: best in this NFL. And Derrick Henry Man. I mean,
Speaker 1: the thing about Derrick Henry is he's a monster truck.
Speaker 1: And you don't want to just go tackle monster truck
Speaker 1: with my Grand Prix out there. You need several automobiles
Speaker 1: in order to stop that guy. And that's where this
Speaker 1: it's on the defensive front, it's on the outside linebackers
Speaker 1: holding their edges. It's on the inside linebackers being able
Speaker 1: to be stout, and even the guys when he does
Speaker 1: trickle in the secondary with the defensive backs making sure
Speaker 1: that they gang tackle. Grimy did an interesting thing in
Speaker 1: this game, like looking back at Sunday, they rotated all
Speaker 1: three their inside backers. I don't know the last time
Speaker 1: I've seen that. Typically you always go with one every
Speaker 1: down guy, the the mic that is their first second
Speaker 1: and the usually the only inside lane back around the
Speaker 1: field on third down, that Blake Martinez type. This game,
Speaker 1: they use Kamal Martin, they use Chris Barnes, and they
Speaker 1: use Christian uh uh curtsy. I maybe you know this.
Speaker 1: I didn't really see a big parallel and where they
Speaker 1: use specific personnel. It just seemed like they rolled all
Speaker 1: of them. So figuring out what that combination is going
Speaker 1: to be is gonna be critical, because not only are
Speaker 1: they going to it matched against potentially McCaffrey as a
Speaker 1: pass catcher, but there's gonna be those instances to where
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to take that guy on head on,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna have a big impact on whether or
Speaker 1: not the defense is going to be able to get
Speaker 1: off the field. Yeah. I mean one way to look
Speaker 1: at this is, you know, if McCaffrey does play on
Speaker 1: Saturday Night, he's sort of like you're you know, almost
Speaker 1: like your rematch with Alvin Kamara and the potential preview
Speaker 1: of the playoffs in terms of how you're going to
Speaker 1: handle a guy like Kamara if the Packers were to
Speaker 1: face the Saints in the postseason. We all know what
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook did to the Packers. Well, Derrick Henry and
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook. It's not totally apples to apples, but those
Speaker 1: guys are pretty you know, similar in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: And you look at a running back like Cam Akers
Speaker 1: and what he's doing for Rams, you know, a team
Speaker 1: like that that looks like it's headed to the postseason. So, um,
Speaker 1: these are you know, the these are the tests that
Speaker 1: are going to that are going to get the Packers
Speaker 1: ready for the postseason. In really, what is in my opinion,
Speaker 1: their most vulnerable defensive area. Um, even though it's been
Speaker 1: trending better of late, but their most vulnerable defensive areas,
Speaker 1: certainly considering what happened last January, is the defense against
Speaker 1: the run. Yeah, And the other thing to keep in
Speaker 1: mind too at this Panthers game, and again we'll talk
Speaker 1: more about it on Thursday, But even if McCaffrey is limited,
Speaker 1: or even if he doesn't play, we'll see how the
Speaker 1: week shuffles out. Mike Davis has had kind of a
Speaker 1: resurgence this year for Carolina and he actually fits what
Speaker 1: Matt role and that offense wants to do pretty dang well.
Speaker 1: He's been a good fill in piece. He can catch
Speaker 1: the ball, he can run. He's not as dynamic as McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: but he's been a definite one B to what McCaffrey
Speaker 1: has done. And keep in mind, this is the guy
Speaker 1: that barely ever played when McCaffrey was healthy. McCaffrey's in
Speaker 1: every down back. They don't they don't have a Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams that's coming off the bench to spell him. I mean,
Speaker 1: he just goes and for Mike Davis to step up
Speaker 1: the way he has, He's actually performed pretty admimably uh
Speaker 1: in the last few months when McCaffrey has been down well.
Speaker 1: As we mentioned at the top of the show, the
Speaker 1: Packers ten and three tied with the New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: now for the top record in the NFC. The Packers
Speaker 1: technically in the number one seed with the head to
Speaker 1: head victory over New Orleans, so the table is set
Speaker 1: for Green Bay. If the Packers can run the table
Speaker 1: from here three straight victories, they will be the number
Speaker 1: one seed. They will get the first round by in
Speaker 1: the NFC um elsewhere. As far as the the NFC
Speaker 1: playoff picture, you've got the Rams and the Seahawks are
Speaker 1: going toe to toe here. I think they're going to
Speaker 1: meet in week sixteen for a head to head matchup
Speaker 1: that could decide the NFC West title. Um. The NFC
Speaker 1: East is, you know, still a bit of a mess um,
Speaker 1: but Washington is the team that is definitely coming on
Speaker 1: strong there with with Alex Smith at quarterback and now
Speaker 1: it's Dwayne Haskins again. So it's just like it's been
Speaker 1: a mess we'll see. I mean, fortunately for Alex Smith,
Speaker 1: they're saying it's just a calf injury, so it isn't
Speaker 1: anything serious with regard to his his previous leg injury
Speaker 1: that had kept him out obviously for a couple of years.
Speaker 1: But then this this NFC wild card picture, rus, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, the Bears and the Vikings are
Speaker 1: gonna play each other this week. They're both six and seven.
Speaker 1: The winner kind of stays alive in the hunt. The
Speaker 1: loser is probably out of it. The Arizona Cardinals they
Speaker 1: kind of you know, they they snapped their losing streak.
Speaker 1: They beat the Giants, so they're in the in the
Speaker 1: thick of this wild card thing. Obviously, the team that
Speaker 1: doesn't win the NFC West between the Seahawks and the
Speaker 1: Rams is most likely going to get a wild card spot.
Speaker 1: But still a lot of stuff to be determined. And
Speaker 1: certainly the Packers winning all three games here and finishing
Speaker 1: thirteen and three to get the number one seed, that's
Speaker 1: not a given with the schedule. Uh, with the schedule
Speaker 1: the Packers have. If McCaffrey comes back, obviously Derrick Henry,
Speaker 1: and if the Bears are playing for something in week
Speaker 1: seventeen at Soldier Field, that's a that's a lookout type
Speaker 1: of game too. Yeah. I made that point an inbox
Speaker 1: to Mike. I know everybody they want to talk about. Okay,
Speaker 1: Packers have issues on the defense. They gave up the
Speaker 1: seventy one yard return to Jamal egg knew there's things
Speaker 1: that they have to shuffle out. No question, everybody has
Speaker 1: answers as questions they have to answer though right now,
Speaker 1: and I think this past week was good proof of it, Mike.
Speaker 1: When you look at New Orleans, the fact that they
Speaker 1: have the best defense in the NFL statistically, well, that
Speaker 1: didn't help him much against Miles Sanders when he's screaming
Speaker 1: down the field from an ad two yard touchdown. It
Speaker 1: didn't help him much when Jalen Hurts ends up going
Speaker 1: off and being able to use his legs to extend plays.
Speaker 1: This is the type of thing where remember when I
Speaker 1: was saying in in October and the end of September
Speaker 1: that that last three weeks is probably is going to
Speaker 1: be what separates that number one seed from the rest
Speaker 1: of the group. The Green Bay Packers are sitting in
Speaker 1: a very nice advantageous position right now. They have good
Speaker 1: competition coming up. None of these three games are gonna
Speaker 1: be pushovers. But to be here in week fifteen now
Speaker 1: and have your schedule in they always use the control
Speaker 1: your own destiny thing. But to be able to be
Speaker 1: playing in front instead of how many years were you
Speaker 1: and I have covered this thing, Mike, and they've been
Speaker 1: trying to play catch up, that is an incredible position
Speaker 1: for Green Bay to be in and it shows you
Speaker 1: that the team that's most consistent, there's gonna be highs
Speaker 1: and lows, but the team that's most consistent is the
Speaker 1: one that's going to be there in the end. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the other one I should mention when we talk
Speaker 1: about the NFC playoff picture, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. They got a big win over the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: which obviously helped the Packers in clinching the NFC North.
Speaker 1: But now suddenly with the Saints taking a loss and
Speaker 1: they're not sure if Drew Brees is coming back yet
Speaker 1: and they have to play the Chiefs, and the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: are are two games back of the Saints with three
Speaker 1: games to go. Now, the Saints swept them um in
Speaker 1: the regular season, so they have the they have the
Speaker 1: two oh tiebreaker advantage there. But that division, the NFC South,
Speaker 1: isn't actually decided. No, no, it isn't. And one of
Speaker 1: the big reasons for that is again getting back to
Speaker 1: the consistency side of things. And I think everybody just
Speaker 1: anticipated and just assumed that New Orleans was just gonna
Speaker 1: run through Philadelphia, and the Eagles figured a couple of
Speaker 1: things out in that game. Yes there were moments of adversity,
Speaker 1: Yes there was times where it looked like the Saints
Speaker 1: might in fact pull themselves back into it. But sometimes, Mike,
Speaker 1: you know the way the ebbs and flows of a
Speaker 1: game go. If you just have enough wind in your
Speaker 1: sales and you can get to that fourth quarter, no
Speaker 1: matter what your record is, no matter how good or
Speaker 1: bad they say you are, you're going to find a
Speaker 1: way to pull it out. And and for green Bay
Speaker 1: that ended up being a blessing because here they are
Speaker 1: now with three to go and sitting atop the NFC
Speaker 1: with that tiebreaker over New Orleans. All right, well, with that,
Speaker 1: we will call it a wrap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers on Scripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team all week long on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.