Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my
Speaker 1: partner in crime Weston Hotkowits were coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field West. Week four, the
Speaker 1: Packers will be hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a three
Speaker 1: pm Central Time kickoff at lambeau Field. And look at
Speaker 1: the Steelers here, a little bit on up and down
Speaker 1: start to their season. They are one and two after
Speaker 1: three games. A very impressive road victory in Week one
Speaker 1: over the Buffalo Bills, the a f C runner up
Speaker 1: from a year ago, but then back to back home
Speaker 1: losses to the Raiders and the a f C North
Speaker 1: Division rival Bengals, the one against Cincinnati kind of being
Speaker 1: a clunker of a performance for Pittsburgh, especially in front
Speaker 1: of their home crowd. What do you make of this
Speaker 1: Steelers team so far? Well, I think the big thing
Speaker 1: is is that's gonna be a really competitive division, was
Speaker 1: my main takeaway. I look at we talked so much
Speaker 1: about green Bay start to this season and how difficult
Speaker 1: this gauntlet is going to be for green Bay, and
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the season, Obviously our eyes have
Speaker 1: been turned in November as well, understanding what's gonna be
Speaker 1: coming down the pipe. But this has been a really
Speaker 1: difficult start for Pittsburgh. I mean, to be able to
Speaker 1: get that win against Buffalo, I'm guessing they would have
Speaker 1: thought that that's gonna be their most problematic game in
Speaker 1: that first month of the season. Ye, playing it on
Speaker 1: the road. Yeah, So then you come right back and
Speaker 1: you've got a very game Joe Burrows team obviously the Ravens,
Speaker 1: and and now you're coming into Green Bay and you're
Speaker 1: gonna take on Aaron Rodgers in this offense coming off
Speaker 1: of two really nice back to back performances here. So
Speaker 1: it's a big challenge for them. And realistically, I think
Speaker 1: this is gonna come down to Ben Roethlisberger and what
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger are we gonna see? Is it going to
Speaker 1: be the big Ben of older? Is it going to
Speaker 1: be this guy that's been under a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: here this early part of the season, has had a
Speaker 1: couple of turnovers as well. Yeah. The biggest thing that
Speaker 1: surprises me not that we watch a lot of Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Steelers football all but to look at the statistics through
Speaker 1: through three games, and yes it's a small sample size,
Speaker 1: but Pittsburgh has not been able to run the football.
Speaker 1: But you know they invested that high draft pick and
Speaker 1: naj Harris, yet as a team they have just a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three rushing yards through three games, which
Speaker 1: is surprising. You mentioned the pressure the turnovers with Roethlisberger.
Speaker 1: He's got three interceptions with just three touchdown passes so far,
Speaker 1: and he's been sacked eight times. That's not the kind
Speaker 1: of thing you're accustomed to seeing from a Pittsburgh Steelers offense.
Speaker 1: So this is the other thing that really stood out
Speaker 1: to me though, and I bring it up because of
Speaker 1: what we talked a lot about last week with regard
Speaker 1: to the Packers. The Pittsburgh Steelers through three games have
Speaker 1: yet to score a point in the first quarter. So
Speaker 1: I think the Packers need to be prepared for a
Speaker 1: team that is going to be hell bent, if I'm
Speaker 1: allowed to say that on our show here, to to
Speaker 1: get off to a fast start, like we were talking
Speaker 1: about with the Packers, to to get things going early offensively,
Speaker 1: because they're scored by quarters right now, west none in
Speaker 1: the first quarter. They have scored fifty total points in
Speaker 1: three games. Thirty of those fifty have been in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. This is a team that has not been
Speaker 1: able to find an offensive rhythm until late in ball
Speaker 1: games based on the statistics, and the Packers have to
Speaker 1: be ready for an early Haymaker in coming out of
Speaker 1: the gate to right. I mean zero points in the
Speaker 1: first quarter, six in the third. It's not like they're
Speaker 1: getting off to these fast starts of the third quarter either.
Speaker 1: The point I made an insider in boxes that the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers are down right now. The Packers can't let
Speaker 1: them get back up. They need to be able to
Speaker 1: assert their will, especially being at home. You're gonna have
Speaker 1: an energized crowd. It's gonna be a mid afternoon game.
Speaker 1: I mean, that is pretty much picture perfect in terms
Speaker 1: of weather, in terms of conditions for the groom a.
Speaker 1: Packers really to have a nice home field advantage. But
Speaker 1: the thing that surprises me the most with Harris is
Speaker 1: that he is a prototypical bell cow back six ft pounds.
Speaker 1: He's been a factor in the past the game. He
Speaker 1: actually has more receiving first downs right now than rushing
Speaker 1: first downs. But they've just not been able to get
Speaker 1: those wheels turning for him in this run game. And
Speaker 1: I feel like green Bay coming off the performance they
Speaker 1: had last week. Now, that was a beaten up unit
Speaker 1: against San Francisco, but Mike, we've seen them use a
Speaker 1: multitude of running backs against green Bay over the years.
Speaker 1: The fact that they were able to stop Trey Sherman
Speaker 1: get San Francisco out of their rhythm, I'll say a
Speaker 1: time and time again. I feel like the blueprint is
Speaker 1: very much the same going into this game against Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Not allowing Harris to get that confidence early on, making
Speaker 1: sure you clog up those holes. That was a telling
Speaker 1: performance by the Packers defensive front last week, one of
Speaker 1: the better games we've seen out of Kenny Clark. I
Speaker 1: feel like that's really the focal point going into this game,
Speaker 1: is asserting your will and not allowing them to catch
Speaker 1: their feet. Yeah. Absolutely. And on the injury front, the
Speaker 1: Steelers dealing with some missues. Ben Roethlisberger did not practice
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. We'll see what happens with that as the
Speaker 1: week goes along. T J. Watt, their star pass rusher,
Speaker 1: he missed last week's game. I believe he was a
Speaker 1: limited participant in practice on Wednesday for them. You look
Speaker 1: at them again, statistically, they have five sacks as a
Speaker 1: defense through three weeks. T J. Watt has three of
Speaker 1: those five. They're not getting a whole lot of pressure
Speaker 1: from anybody other than t J. Watt. So they need
Speaker 1: him back. They're hoping to get him back this week. Again,
Speaker 1: We'll just have to have to wait and see there.
Speaker 1: I think you mentioned the blueprint for the Packers being
Speaker 1: being similar defensively. I think there's a lot of similarities
Speaker 1: offensively in terms of with the way these games have
Speaker 1: gone for the Steelers so far. If the Packers can
Speaker 1: get off to another fast start offensively, I think you can.
Speaker 1: I think you can really, you know, put some pressure
Speaker 1: on Roethlisberger if he gets down a couple of scores,
Speaker 1: that that this Packer defense can turn itself loose a
Speaker 1: little bit. Now, this guy is a Hall of Fame quarterback,
Speaker 1: and he's brought teams, he's brought his Pittsburgh Steelers back
Speaker 1: from big deficits before home away. All that he's done
Speaker 1: at all. But this, as I said, I think Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: is gonna come out and try to punch the Packers
Speaker 1: in the mouth like early in this game. I think
Speaker 1: that's gonna be Mike Tomlin's message to his team based
Speaker 1: on how they've started the first three weeks. The Packers
Speaker 1: have to be ready to take that punch and response. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I mean they have really good weapons. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know throughout. I mean, these are guys, are players
Speaker 1: that can hurt you. And obviously the investment to Harris
Speaker 1: Benny Snell has been there for a number of years now.
Speaker 1: They are going to try to challenge green Bay early
Speaker 1: on in this game. And and as you said, Roethlisberger,
Speaker 1: there is a good track record there for him against
Speaker 1: green Bay and heck, I think Mason Rudolph won a
Speaker 1: game against green Bay two. If that's the way this
Speaker 1: thing has to go, There's so many different things. When
Speaker 1: you look at Pittsburgh, it is it's a weird deal,
Speaker 1: right because the sample size is small, three games is small.
Speaker 1: It is enough to change up the waiver wire order though,
Speaker 1: I mean it is enough that you start to take
Speaker 1: stock as some of these things. That's why I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see a Steelers team that's really hungry in
Speaker 1: this one and trying to show that okay, we still are.
Speaker 1: There's a reason I Ben Roethlisberger came back. They wanted
Speaker 1: to make one more run at this thing. They feel
Speaker 1: like they did have the tools and while they did
Speaker 1: lose some pieces, they were able to draft the highest
Speaker 1: top ranked running back in this year's draft, So that
Speaker 1: that part's gonna be interesting. We'll get into it more
Speaker 1: with the defense, but the injuries are probably the biggest
Speaker 1: question mark I have with where the Steelers are going
Speaker 1: to be at who's available, who's not. The The bench
Speaker 1: is really short at outside linebacker, probably shorter than I've
Speaker 1: ever seen with the Steelers team, at least in this
Speaker 1: modern three four era. Uh So, Yeah, questions are gonna
Speaker 1: have to be answered by Green baby man. They got
Speaker 1: the momentum on their side. They're riding it into this matchup.
Speaker 1: You've been able to put points up back to back weeks.
Speaker 1: You have to find a way to keep that stretch going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Pittsburgh really really wants to avoid a one and
Speaker 1: three starters you talked about in that division. With what
Speaker 1: the Ravens are doing, with what the Browns are doing,
Speaker 1: the Bengals look like an up and coming team, getting
Speaker 1: their young quarterback back and getting some things going there.
Speaker 1: So um one and three in that division could be
Speaker 1: a a big hole for the Steelers to have to
Speaker 1: climb out of if the Packers can put them there.
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Speaker 1: Cousin Subs, we believe in better injury update for the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers you want to give the fans where
Speaker 1: things stand, We found out that Kevin King, who missed
Speaker 1: last Sunday's game with an illness, he actually was diagnosed
Speaker 1: with a concussion. The reason it wasn't labeled a concussion
Speaker 1: for missing the game against San Francisco is because it
Speaker 1: wasn't medically confirmed yet. He wasn't feeling well on Sunday
Speaker 1: morning later was diagnosed with the concussion, so he is
Speaker 1: in the protocol, has not did not practice on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and the Packers also have um inside linebacker Chris Barnes
Speaker 1: in the concussion protocol as well. Yeah, and I want
Speaker 1: to tip my cap to Kevin King. I don't Kevin's
Speaker 1: probably not an avid viewer of Packers Unscripted, but I
Speaker 1: have a lot of respect for him in what he
Speaker 1: did on Sunday. I know there's things people are wondering,
Speaker 1: what is that game day, guys dropping out listen. I
Speaker 1: think if anything we've learned about head injuries over the
Speaker 1: last fifteen twenty years, is not every well. First off,
Speaker 1: not every situation is the same. You know, people handle
Speaker 1: these things differently. Aaron Rodgers even touched on that after
Speaker 1: the game when he was talking about Davante Adams. But
Speaker 1: the other thing is too, if you're not feeling well,
Speaker 1: it doesn't do anybody any good to put yourself through it.
Speaker 1: He did the right thing, going and telling the trainers
Speaker 1: and the team doctors, yeah, something isn't quite right here.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately they're out in San Francisco. They don't have
Speaker 1: all the resources they have here in terms of being
Speaker 1: able to diagnose him and treat them and things like that.
Speaker 1: But they knew something was off. Hats off to everybody
Speaker 1: involved by allowing the young man just to Okay, let's
Speaker 1: get back to Green Bay let's see what's going on
Speaker 1: and hopefully he progresses through concussion protocol. No long term
Speaker 1: issues there. I know in the past he's had a
Speaker 1: couple of the concussions too. In terms of the game though,
Speaker 1: the way the Packers responded to the pieces they were missing.
Speaker 1: First off, Eric Stokes going in making his first NFL start,
Speaker 1: playing pretty darn good for a guy that is seventy
Speaker 1: defensive snaps fourteen days earlier, he's playing eight. I mean,
Speaker 1: just the seeing that, the revving that up and being
Speaker 1: able to push those those you know, those buttons when
Speaker 1: you lose Chan and Solivan for a little bit, when
Speaker 1: you have some other injuries. He was something you did
Speaker 1: not have to worry about out there inside backer. As
Speaker 1: you mentioned Chris Barnes, pretty scary little incident there, coming
Speaker 1: on the slant pattern, he stops the receiver. I forget
Speaker 1: who that was exactly. He's down for a minute. So
Speaker 1: one you bring in Tye Summers playing in the base packages.
Speaker 1: You bring in Rain Burks, who I I wrote this
Speaker 1: an inbox Mike, I'm gonna keep saying it. I think
Speaker 1: this is the perfect utilization for Burkes. He is your
Speaker 1: traditional will type linebacker in a nickel package, and the
Speaker 1: Packers are playing a lot more of it this season.
Speaker 1: I liked what I saw on the half sack. I
Speaker 1: like what I saw with his aggression. We've seen a
Speaker 1: different Oren Burks in that way this season. But more
Speaker 1: than anything, Devandre Campbell. You can see him every single week.
Speaker 1: He's a six year player, but he's getting more comfortable
Speaker 1: with this defense. He's the guy now responsible for relaying
Speaker 1: the play calls from Joe Barry. This is a guy, people,
Speaker 1: that wasn't here a hundred days ago. He came in
Speaker 1: the last week of the off season program, and now
Speaker 1: he's responsible to be your signal caller. I love the
Speaker 1: way he plays the position. He got another takeaway Again,
Speaker 1: despite losing Barnes, who was such a pivotal piece for
Speaker 1: them a year ago, they were able to keep the
Speaker 1: ship afloat, and a lot of that credit goes to
Speaker 1: Devandre Campbell. Yeah. Absolutely, the I think what we've seen
Speaker 1: from Campbell, the way he has settled in for a guy,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, he didn't show up until the last
Speaker 1: week of the off season program, a guy who was
Speaker 1: a victim frankly, of of the salary cap punch around
Speaker 1: the league. This is the guy who would have gotten
Speaker 1: a much nicer contract in normal circumstances. I sure he
Speaker 1: was disappointed at the offers that were out there, whatever,
Speaker 1: but at some point, you just have to take the
Speaker 1: best one available, right, and that was the Packers. And
Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's happy with his choice
Speaker 1: at this point because he's playing a major role in
Speaker 1: this defense and he's producing. Um, he's a he's a
Speaker 1: key piece now and as you said, wearing the communication
Speaker 1: helmet as well. So this is a this is a
Speaker 1: veteran player now in the middle of the defense the
Speaker 1: Packers are really relying on. Yeah, And he said it
Speaker 1: back in June two. He wanted to sign before the
Speaker 1: offseason program. He wanted to make sure he got his
Speaker 1: hands on a playbook, to have those six you know,
Speaker 1: sit five six weeks to understand the defensive system that
Speaker 1: he was moving into and that game more than anything, Mike,
Speaker 1: whether it's it's those guys, whether it's Al Lazard stepping
Speaker 1: up on special teams or you know, yash Naiman, you know,
Speaker 1: becoming their left tackle when when you know they didn't
Speaker 1: know that they well they didn't know, but they didn't
Speaker 1: have Elton Jenkins available to hit an offensive line playing
Speaker 1: with four guys that didn't even start an NFL game
Speaker 1: up until the open or three weeks ago. Right, the
Speaker 1: hats off to the team and being able to actually
Speaker 1: make those adjustments. And realistically, we've learned it time and
Speaker 1: time again, Mike, You're gonna have amazing years where nobody
Speaker 1: gets hurt. You keep your starting five offensive line in
Speaker 1: the whole year, you keep your core defensive unit, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna have years where you need guys to step up.
Speaker 1: And through the first three games, Packers haven't had a
Speaker 1: lot of injuries, but where they have been missing people,
Speaker 1: guys have responded. Yeah. As of Wednesday afternoon, Elton Jenkins
Speaker 1: not back at practice yet. We will see again how
Speaker 1: that UM evolves or progressive throughout the rest of this week.
Speaker 1: And Marcos Velde Scantling not at practice Wednesday due to
Speaker 1: the hamstring injury that he sustained in the second half
Speaker 1: at San Francisco. So again, UM one of those things
Speaker 1: that that will probably take the whole week. We may
Speaker 1: not know for sure until Sunday afternoon exactly what's going
Speaker 1: on there. And that goes both ways, because while I
Speaker 1: expect you know t J. Watt coming back to Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: the Pewaukee, you would imagine t J. Watt's going to
Speaker 1: be out there on Sunday, regardless of all the groin
Speaker 1: is feeling. But dude, I mean he also got all
Speaker 1: it's high Smith. He was limited dealing with a groin
Speaker 1: as well. I mean they had issues. Uh, And Melvin Gordon,
Speaker 1: Melvin mcgordon, Melvin Gordon, Melvin Melvin Melvin Ingram the third
Speaker 1: is the only other outside backer on their depth chat
Speaker 1: right now. Now, they have a lot of versatility, kind
Speaker 1: of like the old school Don Caper's defenses. You can
Speaker 1: move those inside backers around too. But this is a
Speaker 1: really interesting matchup for both Green Bay in Pittsburgh because
Speaker 1: I think there's gonna be a lot of eyes on
Speaker 1: what that injury report with the designations looks like on Friday,
Speaker 1: in exactly ninety minutes before the game on Sunday, who's
Speaker 1: all going to be available? Yeah? All right, well let's
Speaker 1: get down to it here, keys to victory here for
Speaker 1: the Packers on Sunday. What's the first thing that comes
Speaker 1: to mind for you? Four sacks they had last week, Mike,
Speaker 1: and I actually was the guy that was sitting there
Speaker 1: trumpeting that San Francisco is not the type of team
Speaker 1: that you're gonna be able to get a lot of
Speaker 1: sacks against. But why did that happen? Because they stopped
Speaker 1: the run and they were able to start pinning their
Speaker 1: ears back more. Preston Smith played out of this world
Speaker 1: in that game, as Arenie mentioned, with Kenny Clark continually
Speaker 1: pushing the pocket. Got credit this week for that sack
Speaker 1: that ended up resulting in the fumble that Devandre Campbell
Speaker 1: did recover. Nice play there for the nose tackle. Packers
Speaker 1: need to put pressure on Ben Roethlisberger. God bless him.
Speaker 1: He's been doing this thing for a long time, but
Speaker 1: he's a thirty eight year old quarterback. This is the
Speaker 1: type of game in which you need to apply that pressure.
Speaker 1: You need to stop the run first, get after the quarterback.
Speaker 1: He's gonna throw three interceptions the first three games. Make
Speaker 1: sure you turn that into the fourth and fourth. That
Speaker 1: is going to be the primary objective if you can
Speaker 1: get him off his spot. Green Bay Packers. Again, assuming
Speaker 1: it's Roethlisberger, I guess we can see if it's Rudolph,
Speaker 1: But whoever's back there that the Packers got to get
Speaker 1: after that individual. Yeah, And for me, aside from what
Speaker 1: I already said, which is to be to be ready
Speaker 1: for ready for a big punch from the Steelers early
Speaker 1: based on how they have struggled struggled early in games,
Speaker 1: and how this Packers offense wants to continue to start fast.
Speaker 1: This is the blueprint for this game based on how
Speaker 1: the Packers a play, how the Steelers have played. Is
Speaker 1: for the Packers to start fast, to get up early
Speaker 1: and let that defense, the Green Bay defense, play with
Speaker 1: the lead and and do the things that you're talking about.
Speaker 1: The other thing I will say though, for the Packers
Speaker 1: offensively is to stay balanced because for some of the
Speaker 1: struggles that Pittsburgh has had defensively, it's it's not quite.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen quite the Steelers defense that maybe we're
Speaker 1: accustomed to, but they're not giving up a whole heck
Speaker 1: of a lot on the ground. It it has been
Speaker 1: difficult for teams to run the ball against the Steelers,
Speaker 1: and the Packers can't lose sight of being balanced on
Speaker 1: offense because if it just becomes you know, if if
Speaker 1: you give up on the run and you just try
Speaker 1: to go drop back pass and T. J. Watt is
Speaker 1: coming after you on every play, even if his groin
Speaker 1: isn't fully healthy. T J Watt. T J Watt can
Speaker 1: wreck things, and and and the Packers have to. I
Speaker 1: think staying balanced on offense is how you neutralize a
Speaker 1: guy like t J Watt. No question, huge assignment coming
Speaker 1: up for Billy Turner and all those guys in terms
Speaker 1: of when you're gonna see what. But for me again,
Speaker 1: it goes back to the fact that at the Greenbay
Speaker 1: Packers last week, they ran the ball times for a
Speaker 1: hundred yards with Dylan and Jones. None of those carries
Speaker 1: went for more than twelve, but they were consistent with
Speaker 1: it against a darn good defensive front, agassive front. It's
Speaker 1: gonna happen at some point. You can mark this down,
Speaker 1: put it in your you know, crop it. Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: is gonna have a major, big time carry at some point.
Speaker 1: We have an ad R game breaker at some point.
Speaker 1: But the more that they're able to have those games
Speaker 1: where they don't have the big explosive play but they
Speaker 1: still surpass a hundred yards, just keep churning them, that's
Speaker 1: the ticket. And I thought they did that really well
Speaker 1: against San Francis. Yeah, absolutely well before we go a
Speaker 1: quick look around the league because there are some other
Speaker 1: interesting matchups. I want to start with the NFC North
Speaker 1: because we're seeing another division game, which is Detroit against
Speaker 1: Chicago that will be at Soldier Field. And then Minnesota
Speaker 1: coming off of that big victory against Seattle, the Vikings
Speaker 1: now hosting the Cleveland Browns, obviously a team that everyone
Speaker 1: you know, the Bears have already seen them. Everyone else
Speaker 1: in the NFC North going to see the Browns this year. Um,
Speaker 1: those are a couple interesting matchup the Bear The Bears
Speaker 1: are figuring out exactly what's going on at quarterback with
Speaker 1: their injury situation, and Detroit fighting hard every week for
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell, looking for that first win for their new
Speaker 1: head coach. Yeah, and this is really going to test
Speaker 1: their moxie, you know, going to this one if you
Speaker 1: can bounce back after some really tough, gut breaking kind
Speaker 1: of games, trying to be the Chicago Bears team that
Speaker 1: is also reeling that at this point in time, doesn't
Speaker 1: really know who their quarterback is gonna be, doesn't know
Speaker 1: where fields is going to be at health wise. So
Speaker 1: that's a marquee game. It's kind of gonna be the
Speaker 1: one that Okay, who's gonna still be in this race here?
Speaker 1: Who's gonna be one of the front runners in this
Speaker 1: division to be able to actually compete? Uh this season?
Speaker 1: Cleveland Minnesota is a fascinating game because they're getting Kevin
Speaker 1: Stefanski going up against Mike Zimmer, the former offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: against the long time defensive mind. That's gonna be a
Speaker 1: great game to watch and for for Minnesota. Kind of
Speaker 1: like what I was just saying about Pittsburgh, this gauntlet
Speaker 1: doesn't get any easier for them either. This isn't the
Speaker 1: Cleveland brown from four years ago. This is a game
Speaker 1: offensively driven football team and Stefanski is one of the
Speaker 1: smarter guys in this league when it comes to play calling.
Speaker 1: I think he's been a perfect fit for what the
Speaker 1: Browns are doing. Yeah, really interesting matchup there in terms
Speaker 1: of that history with Stefanski. A big Sunday West in
Speaker 1: the n f C West, and we we've talked about
Speaker 1: how tough this division is. Well there playing two division
Speaker 1: games there. Arizona is at the Rams with the Rams
Speaker 1: coming off of that big impressive victory over the Buccaneers,
Speaker 1: and then Seattle having lost to the Vikings, traveling to
Speaker 1: San Francisco, the Niners coming off the loss to the Packers.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a really interesting week in the NFC
Speaker 1: West with all these with all four of those teams
Speaker 1: going a head to head now and in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of early season, that's about as big as
Speaker 1: it gets for a division. With all due respect Arizona,
Speaker 1: they've been the little brother of that division for six years. Now,
Speaker 1: can they find a way to really, you know, put
Speaker 1: their flag in the ground and say we're we're coming
Speaker 1: for this thing. They're gonna do it against the hottest
Speaker 1: team in football. The Rams have figured this thing out.
Speaker 1: There were questions, you wonder what happens if cam Akers
Speaker 1: is available, but Matthew Stafford has just taken the reins
Speaker 1: of the thing said all right, follow me. We're gonna go.
Speaker 1: Uh Kyler Murray's exciting. It's gonna be fun to see
Speaker 1: him in that offense against that defense. And then for
Speaker 1: San Francisco and Seattle, man, that's gonna be a really
Speaker 1: we're talking about the gut kind of check games. That's
Speaker 1: it is. San Francisco gonna get this thing back on
Speaker 1: the tracks despite the injuries, or Seattle gonna bounce back
Speaker 1: after a tough loss against Minnesota. Yeah. One other one
Speaker 1: I want to mention because regardless of who wins, there's
Speaker 1: going to be there's going to be a new I guess,
Speaker 1: maybe a new Darling of the NFC because Carolina at
Speaker 1: three and oh is at Dallas, Dallas being two and one.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why the league would schedule two teams
Speaker 1: where Carolina is coming off a Thursday night game and
Speaker 1: Dallas is coming off a Monday night game. That seems
Speaker 1: a little unfair. But that aside, whoever wins this game,
Speaker 1: if Carolina goes to four and oh or if Dallas
Speaker 1: gets to three and one, suddenly there's going to be
Speaker 1: a lot of attention on the winner of that football game.
Speaker 1: I think, well, and for two different reasons right because Dallas,
Speaker 1: it's just about you know, competency in that division right now.
Speaker 1: If Dallas can just win nine games, they have a
Speaker 1: real shot at this thing. Caroline is in a really
Speaker 1: tough division. Every team, every single win is gonna matter
Speaker 1: here when you're looking at teams like New Orleans and
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay. Uh. I think Matt rules team has called
Speaker 1: a lot of people by surprise. You're not gonna have
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey. That's gonna be a big question mark. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think defensively, they've shown that they can
Speaker 1: compete and they're gonna be a team that is gonna
Speaker 1: be uh kind of keeping their nose in this thing
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the season. All right, Well, with that,
Speaker 1: we will call it a rap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team and of Sunday's Packers Steelers game at
Speaker 1: lambau Field. Will have it all for you on Packers
Speaker 1: dot com. For West, I'm Mike, Thank you for tuning,
Speaker 1: and everybody, we'll see you next time.