Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is the one and only
Speaker 1: wes Hodkuitz. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field West. It is Friday, our final show
Speaker 1: of the week before we take off for Big D tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and as we finish up the week, like always, we'll
Speaker 1: talk Keys to Victory. So I think I have a
Speaker 1: pretty good idea where you want to start with this one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: j R. Ewing, I'm gonna have the cowboy hat on,
Speaker 1: I have the suit ready already. I'm gonna go out there.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna set the tone for everybody, and that's gonna
Speaker 1: be the biggest key to victory of all. Uh No,
Speaker 1: I mean it obviously is Ezekiel Elliott. And the reason
Speaker 1: I say this, we we know every single week we
Speaker 1: do our Keys of vic dream. But you want any
Speaker 1: reason for why this New Orleans Saints were able to
Speaker 1: come out with victorious in that game against the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: That was the key to victory. The fact that Zeke
Speaker 1: Elliott didn't get going, the fact that they were not
Speaker 1: able to establish the ground game and they were able
Speaker 1: to win a low scoring contest. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't see that scenario playing out again. I think that
Speaker 1: the over is going to be more than twenty two
Speaker 1: points in this game. I think the Packers are going
Speaker 1: to have to score a couple of touchdowns. I don't
Speaker 1: think you're gonna be able to beat the Cowboys on
Speaker 1: the road, no matter what you do against Elliott by
Speaker 1: only kicking field. So but that was the starting point
Speaker 1: for the Saints, no question. I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things. You know, Mike Petton has been asked about it.
Speaker 1: The Packers defensive tackles have been asked about it, the linebackers,
Speaker 1: everybody really on the defense has been, you know, really
Speaker 1: been trying to put a finger on what's going on
Speaker 1: with the run defense and what they need to do.
Speaker 1: But as we've talked about a number of times, Mike,
Speaker 1: for the Saints, it wasn't that they just sold out
Speaker 1: and they were doing five man defensive jumbo fronts or
Speaker 1: anything like that. They just executed their system well. They
Speaker 1: had eyes fill gaps, and they just didn't allow those
Speaker 1: holes to open up. That Elliott can burn you. With
Speaker 1: the Packers, it's gonna be very difficult to hold them
Speaker 1: to eighteen carries for thirty five yards again in a fumble.
Speaker 1: But if you can contain that quiet storm that that
Speaker 1: Elliott presents, that's going to be your key to victory
Speaker 1: in this one. It's so interesting how this matchup sets
Speaker 1: up in that respect as far as the Packers run
Speaker 1: defense against Elliott, because Elliott weeks two and three was
Speaker 1: well over a hundred yards and both of those games
Speaker 1: high yards per carry, all that really productive. Then suddenly
Speaker 1: week four he gets completely shut down by the Saints.
Speaker 1: You look at the Packers run defense, only forty six
Speaker 1: yards rushing by the Chicago Bears in week one, look
Speaker 1: like the Packers are off to a great start in
Speaker 1: that area. Then Dalvin Cook breaks the seventy five yard
Speaker 1: or in week two, you kind of go oh a
Speaker 1: little bit. And then weeks three and four, the Denver
Speaker 1: Broncos and the Philadelphia Eagles didn't have any of those big,
Speaker 1: monster explosive runs, but they just kept pounding away on
Speaker 1: the ground against the Packers defensive front and they were
Speaker 1: having success doing it. So it's as though Ezekiel Elliott
Speaker 1: and the Packers run defense are both coming into this
Speaker 1: game knowing what they can do, but yet feeling like
Speaker 1: they have something to prove. Yeah, mortal. I mean the
Speaker 1: fact that it's just and that's the realization you have
Speaker 1: to have with this league. You're just not going to
Speaker 1: dominate every single week. The guys who do are the
Speaker 1: ones that are the m v P candidates that you
Speaker 1: know they have that season where they're just impenetrable. Uh.
Speaker 1: That that's just is so rare to accomplish that though
Speaker 1: in the best and the most elite all pros and
Speaker 1: the league don't always just play sixteen straight clean games.
Speaker 1: The big challenge here, I think though, for Dallas is
Speaker 1: seeing what this offensive line is gonna look like. Now,
Speaker 1: certainly Travis Frederick Zack Martin two of the best that
Speaker 1: do it in the game, and the interior line, but
Speaker 1: if you don't have Ron Smith in depend depending on
Speaker 1: exactly how this all works out with Loell Collins, that's
Speaker 1: a big change, because as good as Elliott is, and
Speaker 1: he's exceptional, he could probably still pick up a hundred
Speaker 1: yards with West hotqwits blocking form at left guard. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing that's oppressive about it is that they've
Speaker 1: been able to marry for so many years even going
Speaker 1: back to the DeMarco Murray era mary their offensive line
Speaker 1: and that being a strength of their entire team with
Speaker 1: having a good every down back. If you throw a
Speaker 1: few little wrenches into the equation like that, with those
Speaker 1: questions at tackle, that's you know, a potential area where
Speaker 1: the Packers could capitalize. Yeah, the reports that have been
Speaker 1: out from Dallas are that to Ron Smith, the all
Speaker 1: pro left tackle, is going to miss this game. Lyle
Speaker 1: Collins at right tackle, even though he hasn't practiced Wednesday
Speaker 1: or Thursday leading into the game, reports are that he
Speaker 1: is still going to play. But again, you know, these
Speaker 1: are these are the kinds of things that you don't
Speaker 1: really necessarily know for sure until game day and until
Speaker 1: that inactive list is officially turned in. But I'm with you,
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see, depending on, you know, how
Speaker 1: this works out with the Pack the Cowboys, excuse me,
Speaker 1: and their offensive tackles, what that does to u to
Speaker 1: their offense and potentially their game plan. I mean, the
Speaker 1: reports out of Dallas also that Amari Cooper, their number
Speaker 1: one wide receiver, going to play, but not necessarily at
Speaker 1: um you know, dealing with I think it's an ankle
Speaker 1: injury if I'm not what's on the injury report. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot of a lot of uncertainty. Yeah, ankle, Okay,
Speaker 1: So there there's there is a lot of uncertainty with
Speaker 1: with what's going on with some of the big name
Speaker 1: players in this game, not only for the Packers, but
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys as well. Yeah, I mean the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: One thing we probably haven't talked enough about this week
Speaker 1: is that the Cowboys injury report is pretty extensive as well,
Speaker 1: because even with you know, Michael Gallup potentially being back.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the issues that Amari Cooper is playing with
Speaker 1: now again Cooper was a full participant on Thursday, But
Speaker 1: these are the type of injuries might that when you
Speaker 1: get those lower body extremity, that's gonna affect you. It's
Speaker 1: gonna affect your outes, it's gonna affect how you cut it,
Speaker 1: you know, in your roads or it doesn't take much
Speaker 1: to reaggravate something. That's the That's the other thing too,
Speaker 1: And the thing about Gallup is looking at him in
Speaker 1: particular for the Cowboys, they don't really have I think
Speaker 1: another guy that's sort of does what he does in
Speaker 1: that offense. So the tight end position you know, Jason
Speaker 1: Witten is going to be there, but Jason Witten is
Speaker 1: in Jason Witten from seven years ago. So you need
Speaker 1: those young guns to sort of carry you and to
Speaker 1: be able to marry the past game with what Zeke
Speaker 1: Elliott does. Those are all things that we're gonna have
Speaker 1: to answer. But more than anything else, Mike, seeing how
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott can handle this whole situation. Off to a
Speaker 1: great start to his season, certainly, I know the contract
Speaker 1: questions have been out there for him. But you know,
Speaker 1: if the Packers do you know, sell out to you know,
Speaker 1: put an extra guy in the box, putting another inside
Speaker 1: linebacker on the field, if they do all those things
Speaker 1: to attack Zeke Elliott, well, then how is Prescott going
Speaker 1: to handle those things as well? All the different factors
Speaker 1: that you've got to take into account of game like this. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: on the other side of the ball, for the Packers
Speaker 1: keys to victory on the offensive side, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: what you think, West, but to me, it all starts
Speaker 1: with Aaron Jones, And I say that for a few
Speaker 1: different reasons. Yes, the Packers they didn't run the ball
Speaker 1: very well against Philadelphia, but they put up all kinds
Speaker 1: of yards, four twenty two passing yards, almost five d
Speaker 1: total yards in the game. You know, yes, they missed
Speaker 1: on you know, some red zone opportunities. Matt Lafleur made
Speaker 1: the comment the other day that if you can run
Speaker 1: the ball in the red zone, you usually end up
Speaker 1: being more efficient down there in terms of scoring points.
Speaker 1: That's something the Packers need to do. But in a
Speaker 1: more general sense, at the time we're taping this, we
Speaker 1: don't have a final word on Davantae Adams or Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams and their injury status for this game. But I
Speaker 1: think a lot of this offensively for the Packers is
Speaker 1: going to come down to Aaron Jones, because if you
Speaker 1: don't have Davante Adams, you're losing that number one guy,
Speaker 1: your Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl receiver. And I've said this
Speaker 1: inn Insider in Box, I said it on our Final
Speaker 1: Thoughts video. You need to be able to get a
Speaker 1: play action game going. And the way to get a
Speaker 1: play action game going obviously is to run the ball effectively.
Speaker 1: But the reason play action is so important, at least
Speaker 1: in my mind, and this is not to disparage Marquez,
Speaker 1: Velda Scantling, Geronimo Alice and Jake Kumar, any of those guys.
Speaker 1: But the facts are none of those guys are pro bowlers.
Speaker 1: They aren't at Davante Adams level. And to me, play
Speaker 1: action passing is your equal opportunity passing game. If it's working,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter who the receiver is. You don't
Speaker 1: need a pro bowler to get open in a play
Speaker 1: action game. If your play action game is effective, the
Speaker 1: running game is effective to set that up, any receiver,
Speaker 1: any tight end, can get open in that scenario when
Speaker 1: everything is working together. And that's why I think this
Speaker 1: game starts if Davanta Adams cannot play. I think this
Speaker 1: game starts with Aaron Jones. Yeah. And and to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, Mike, even if Davanta Adams does go,
Speaker 1: I think Aaron Jones is going to be the primary
Speaker 1: objective with the Packers because he is your biggest playmaker,
Speaker 1: your biggest healthy playmaker that's available to you. And the
Speaker 1: other thing about Aaron Jones too, And he's not going
Speaker 1: to say this, but you know, I know him the
Speaker 1: way that he's wired. You know, he's very polite, he's
Speaker 1: very nice, but he's also credibly competitive. In the last
Speaker 1: two weeks it's been difficult for him trying to get
Speaker 1: going on the ground. He wants to be able to
Speaker 1: be in every down back. I think we saw in
Speaker 1: that those matchups earlier this month. I mean the game
Speaker 1: against Chicago. I mean, he's a guy that feels like
Speaker 1: he can carry the ball and be effective when he's
Speaker 1: given the opportunity and can can handle that three down
Speaker 1: go out there and get him kind of roll. But
Speaker 1: the other aspect to this that I look at when
Speaker 1: you say your key to victory for the Packers, it's
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. We don't know what Davante Adam status is
Speaker 1: going to be. We don't know what he's gonna be
Speaker 1: like if he does play. We don't know what Brian
Speaker 1: Bulaga is going to be dealing with if he's out
Speaker 1: there with the shoulder. Aaron Rodgers is the two time
Speaker 1: m v P. He's the guy that has a sterling
Speaker 1: track record inside AT and T Stadium and knows rod
Speaker 1: Marinelli's defense probably as well as any quarterback in the
Speaker 1: NFL with how much he's seen it. Aaron Rodgers needs
Speaker 1: to be spectacular. It's a road game, it's a three
Speaker 1: and one ball club. You need him to be at
Speaker 1: his absolute best because last week, Mike, they weren't able
Speaker 1: to get the running game going for most of the game.
Speaker 1: He didn't have Davante Adams at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: but he spread the ball around. They moved the ball
Speaker 1: effectively four and two passing yards and they he put
Speaker 1: that team, while they did not come out with the win,
Speaker 1: he put them in a position to win that football game.
Speaker 1: They need another performance again like that against a Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys defense that honestly, I would say is even a
Speaker 1: step up from what they saw against the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned obviously the track record record of success.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers has an a T and T stadium. He's
Speaker 1: put up some phenomenal numbers. There had some great dramatic moments.
Speaker 1: We talked about some of those on yesterday's show. Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones game in Dallas his rookie year, that was kind
Speaker 1: of his coming out party, so to speak. To to
Speaker 1: use an overused phrase, but the you know, Packers, Packers
Speaker 1: fans didn't necessarily know exactly what they had in Aaron Jones.
Speaker 1: And then that game in Dallas in October of that year,
Speaker 1: he went over a hundred yards. He made a couple
Speaker 1: of key plays on the final drive to to get
Speaker 1: the Packers in position for the winning touchdown. He really
Speaker 1: was the star of the game offensively for Green Bay there.
Speaker 1: And uh, and you know he's from Texas. You know,
Speaker 1: the Texas l passos where he went to college and everything.
Speaker 1: He feels at home when he plays there, So you know,
Speaker 1: you know his his eyes are going to be bright.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be really excited for this one storytime with
Speaker 1: west Hodkowitz here. Okay, I don't know if you recall this, Mike,
Speaker 1: but in two thousand seventeen, the regular season opener, Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones was a healthy scratch. Davante Mays was the third
Speaker 1: running back behind Time Montgomery and Jamal Williams. There was
Speaker 1: a real question. This is one of the reasons why
Speaker 1: I wrote the Dexter Williams story this week. There was
Speaker 1: a real question about whether or not Jones could be
Speaker 1: an every down guy or if he was just a
Speaker 1: guy you would be able to run the ball with.
Speaker 1: And at that time, I thought that game against Dallas
Speaker 1: showed that this guy was more. He was a complete
Speaker 1: running back and he had what it takes to actually
Speaker 1: round out his game to be featured in that role.
Speaker 1: This is the season I think everybody's expecting Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: to really blossom because he has the experience in his
Speaker 1: back pocket. He's only twenty four, he's athletic as heck.
Speaker 1: In a game like this, if you can get going
Speaker 1: again on the road against the Dallas Cowboys, what a
Speaker 1: statement that would be, especially when you don't have that
Speaker 1: that check, that counter that you typically have in your
Speaker 1: back pocket. With Jamal Williams another guy too, Danny Vitally
Speaker 1: is going to be interesting to watch in this game.
Speaker 1: I was talking to John Coon about him yesterday and
Speaker 1: this game definitely seems tailored because even if it is
Speaker 1: Dexter Williams or whoever the backup is going to be
Speaker 1: if Jamal Williams doesn't go, Danny Vitali is the most
Speaker 1: experienced guy in that room right now in terms of
Speaker 1: NFL years. He got his first carry last week, would
Speaker 1: not surprise me if you see him get a couple more.
Speaker 1: And also being able to integrate the passing game three
Speaker 1: catches over the last two games. That's another aspect to
Speaker 1: this that if you can put those plays out there,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to account for. Yeah, well, one thing
Speaker 1: that has definitely been a trademark. I guess if you
Speaker 1: want to say, of these recent Packers Cowboys games at
Speaker 1: a T and T stage, um there have been major
Speaker 1: momentum shifts teams. Either team can get on a run.
Speaker 1: You look at the ten playoff game down there, the
Speaker 1: Packers jumped out, you know, built the big lead, and
Speaker 1: then it was the Cowboys coming back from two touchdowns
Speaker 1: down in the fourth quarter. The regular season game in
Speaker 1: seventeen almost the reverse in the sense the Cowboys were
Speaker 1: the ones who were in the lead. The Packers were
Speaker 1: coming from behind in the fourth quarter and end up
Speaker 1: scoring the winning touchdown at the end. There's something to
Speaker 1: these games where you you have to be able to
Speaker 1: handle the momentum shifts and just always know, hey, it's
Speaker 1: a four quarter game, it's a sixty minute game. Something
Speaker 1: goes wrong and the crowd for Dallas starts going crazy
Speaker 1: and whatever, you just have to weather. You've got to
Speaker 1: weather the storm, you limit the damage, and you live to,
Speaker 1: you know, to play another play. The Packers have done
Speaker 1: that really well in this stadium, and I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to do it again because these these games,
Speaker 1: just these games can swing wildly back and forth for
Speaker 1: some reason when these two teams get together very much so,
Speaker 1: especially in that particular stadium. It's very interesting though, too,
Speaker 1: because while there are a couple of veterans on the
Speaker 1: team that have good memories of coming up here and
Speaker 1: to Green Bay and playing the party spoiler a few
Speaker 1: seasons ago, there are we talked about the Packers and
Speaker 1: in their experience down there, there's a lot of guys
Speaker 1: on Dallas's roster still that very bitter aftertaste from some
Speaker 1: of those games. The sixteen game was interesting because I
Speaker 1: still feel like even though the Dallas did score late,
Speaker 1: that was the most complete performance they had had the
Speaker 1: Packers they did just being able to get off to
Speaker 1: the fast start. They really didn't leave any doubt. They're
Speaker 1: they were flying high after that win against the Giants,
Speaker 1: and they made a statement at first half those other
Speaker 1: two games, Mike, if you really boil it down, the
Speaker 1: Packers probably had no business waiting either of them at halftime.
Speaker 1: We're honestly three. You had Matt Flynn and there that
Speaker 1: shouldn't happen. Everybody thought that game was you know, Eddie
Speaker 1: Lacey was dealing with some ankle issues that you know,
Speaker 1: I think people didn't really understand what he was playing
Speaker 1: through and they still did it. They willed themselves to
Speaker 1: those victories. That's the part of it that if I'm
Speaker 1: the Packers and I want to be leary of going
Speaker 1: into this, you you got to start fast. You do
Speaker 1: not want to be in that position again, because there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a handful of really significant players on that
Speaker 1: Dallas defense that if they get a lead, they're not
Speaker 1: gonna want to give it back. They're gonna want to
Speaker 1: make sure that they stay up on themselves for sixty
Speaker 1: minutes and be able to come up with a much
Speaker 1: needed victory after kind of a reality check in New Orleans. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: what we also like to do before we wrap up
Speaker 1: for the week is take a look at what else
Speaker 1: is going on in the NFL. And I'm gonna jump
Speaker 1: over Thursday night football. I want I got to talk
Speaker 1: about this, talk about it happened to claim Matthews again.
Speaker 1: It actually happened to claim Matthews again. How does this happen?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just I don't mean to jump over it,
Speaker 1: but like I'm watching this game right, I'm I'm laying
Speaker 1: down on my college and eating some popcorn and just
Speaker 1: kind of checking this thing out. I just don't get it.
Speaker 1: Like maybe it's Russell Wilson, and if it would have
Speaker 1: been Andy Dalton, no one would have cared. But like
Speaker 1: the fact that Matthews again makes a football play. He
Speaker 1: didn't lead with this hel, many didn't hit him with
Speaker 1: this hel Maty throws his shoulder and to him and
Speaker 1: they throw the flag. Clay Matthews, dude, Like when this
Speaker 1: thing is all said and done, he's gonna be like
Speaker 1: the poster child for like the real sensitive quarterback era
Speaker 1: at the NFL. And it all started because of some
Speaker 1: play that happened to be committed against Aaron Rodgers. It's yeah,
Speaker 1: the rest of the game was great. It was very entertaining.
Speaker 1: I have to admit I missed the game. I only
Speaker 1: watched the highlights. I did not see the highlight of
Speaker 1: the Clay Matthews place. So now you're gonna have me
Speaker 1: going back and searching to have two kids. Right your
Speaker 1: kid ever like fall off the like swing or like
Speaker 1: accedentally run into a door or something like that. Did
Speaker 1: you take the door down? I mean, like, it's just
Speaker 1: it's incredible to me that it's like to to reiterate
Speaker 1: the play for people who didn't see it. I mean,
Speaker 1: Wilson is out of the pocket. There are certain protections
Speaker 1: that are there or not there when you're out of
Speaker 1: the pocket. Throws the past, does Matthews Should Matthews have
Speaker 1: held up? Sure, but he threw his shoulder into him
Speaker 1: and on the very ex play, Matthews seemed to indicate, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you did some nice acting on that to be able
Speaker 1: to actually draw that flag out of it. Well, Wilson's
Speaker 1: been doing that his whole career. We know that they
Speaker 1: were able to continue to the drive from there, they
Speaker 1: end up pulling off. I guess you could call it
Speaker 1: a come back. It was a back and forth game,
Speaker 1: but that was the game deciding drive and unfortunately, again
Speaker 1: affected by what I felt like, I think Twitter felt
Speaker 1: like it was a very unnecessary penalty. Yeah, well there
Speaker 1: that game circumstance wise, very similar to Packers Cowboys because
Speaker 1: that was to three and one teams and now the
Speaker 1: Seattle Sea X Now that's a division game, so it
Speaker 1: has even bigger implications as far as the NFC West
Speaker 1: is concerned. But now the Seattle Seahawks four and one,
Speaker 1: the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams at three and two,
Speaker 1: and they're on a two game losing streak because they
Speaker 1: gave up a whole bunch of points to the Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers a week ago. So so the three and
Speaker 1: oh start for the Rams kind of been undone a
Speaker 1: little bit. And that's exactly what the Packers and Cowboys
Speaker 1: are hoping to avoid, is to not feel like you're
Speaker 1: three and o jump out the gate. Great start gets
Speaker 1: completely turned around on you in two weeks. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: incredible how that stuff happens. Russell Wilson is off to
Speaker 1: an m v P type season right now. He's been exceptional.
Speaker 1: Uh that penalty notwithstanding, it was really difficult that touchdown
Speaker 1: pass early in the game. The highlight I saw the
Speaker 1: one Tyler Lockett caught in the back corner. I mean,
Speaker 1: are you are you kidding me? That was that was phenomenal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And to be honest, to be fair to Jared Goff,
Speaker 1: he made a couple of great throws in this game.
Speaker 1: To him and Cooper Cup they're on a different level
Speaker 1: right now. But unfortunately they lost Brandon Cooks midway through
Speaker 1: and they just weren't able to make the play when
Speaker 1: they needed too late. In Russell Wilson man, when you
Speaker 1: go into that stadium, you have to be able to
Speaker 1: play percent. You have to make sure everything goes correct
Speaker 1: for you, and it didn't quite work out for them well.
Speaker 1: In the NFC North in week five, the games to
Speaker 1: take a look at really intriguing one going on out
Speaker 1: in the meadow lands, as they say, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Vikings taking their show on the road to
Speaker 1: the New York Giants. Now they are all these questions
Speaker 1: as to whether Sae Kwon Barkley is going to be
Speaker 1: able to play or not for the Giants with his
Speaker 1: I believe it's an ankle injury. And the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: are at two and two. They've looked like world beaters
Speaker 1: at home, they've looked extremely mortal on the road, and
Speaker 1: they're going on the road now for a second straight week,
Speaker 1: and all kinds of questions going on with Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: and where he's at, and Stefon Diggs and him raising
Speaker 1: all kinds of questions about how much he even wants
Speaker 1: to be there and be part of this offense, and
Speaker 1: how much it's focused on Dalvin Cook and everything, and
Speaker 1: the Giants have turned around a slow start by by
Speaker 1: turning things over to their rookie first round draft pick
Speaker 1: at quarterback in Daniel Jones. This is a really intriguing
Speaker 1: Week five, Game two in my mind, between a couple
Speaker 1: of two and two teams. Intriguing on a number of levels.
Speaker 1: First and foremost, Daniel Jones has just injected just enough
Speaker 1: of just enough chaos into that offense that you know
Speaker 1: you it's a different dimension than what they had with
Speaker 1: Eli Manning. And with all due respect to Elis had
Speaker 1: a remarkable career, it was pretty boiler plate near the
Speaker 1: end in terms of what you were getting, what you
Speaker 1: need to scheme for or Jones turns all of that
Speaker 1: on its head right now. And also credit to Wayne Gelman.
Speaker 1: I mean, so much is based on Barkley, but Gelman
Speaker 1: came in and did a lot of the same things
Speaker 1: they asked Barkley to do. Now, he's not as explosive,
Speaker 1: but he can catch the ball and he was effective
Speaker 1: enough with the run. Had a nice little performance. We'll
Speaker 1: have to see how things shake out with his neck.
Speaker 1: The biggest storyline though of this matchup is Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: needs to get going against this new New York Giants.
Speaker 1: Defense Giants right now, I mean they Daniel Jones is
Speaker 1: scoring a lot of points, are doing a lot of
Speaker 1: nice things offensively. Their defense has been a sieve at
Speaker 1: this point. If Kirk Cousins in this offense can't get
Speaker 1: going against the Giants, that's gonna be a major red
Speaker 1: flag from Minnesota going forward. All right. And the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: who are tied with the Packers at three and one
Speaker 1: at the moment, they are on the road in London
Speaker 1: against the Oakland Raiders. The Bears have still having some
Speaker 1: some injury issues. You know, you don't know for sure
Speaker 1: what's going on with quarterback and a chem Hicks on
Speaker 1: their defensive line dealing with some stuff. And then there's
Speaker 1: all whatever has been going on with ro Quan Smith
Speaker 1: and and his personal issues. But the Bears heading to
Speaker 1: London to play a Raiders team that's that's found some
Speaker 1: life recently as well, another really interesting matchup. I always
Speaker 1: feel like you never really know what's going to happen
Speaker 1: in London, and these teams dealing with the travel and
Speaker 1: everything else. Obviously, the Bears are gonna have their bye week,
Speaker 1: I believe after the London trips so um, they're looking
Speaker 1: to get to their bye week at four and one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be you're basically wondering what form of
Speaker 1: the Raiders you're gonna get. They've been very on different
Speaker 1: sides of the spectrum here so far. Early on. I
Speaker 1: really like their young running back, but offensively there are
Speaker 1: question marks, and defensively certainly gonna have to be adjustments
Speaker 1: without Vontes perfect, you know, in the middle of that defense.
Speaker 1: I really liked what I saw from the Bears last week.
Speaker 1: Though Mike I've always been a big Chase Daniel fan.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's a highly For as much money
Speaker 1: as I think he's made in this league, I still
Speaker 1: feel like he's a highly underrated quarterback. He's never really
Speaker 1: had that true chance to be a starter. The two
Speaker 1: times that it was allegedly there, the stack was already
Speaker 1: kind of against him because you know, Carson Wentz and
Speaker 1: different things of that nature. We'll see if what happens
Speaker 1: with Rabisky, but I really do think if the Bears
Speaker 1: need to win some games here, Chase Daniels the quarterback
Speaker 1: to help them get that done. And yeah, if you
Speaker 1: go in there and you get that win in London
Speaker 1: over Raiders and go in your bye week. I think
Speaker 1: you're feeling pretty good about where you're at it. Four
Speaker 1: and one in four consecutive victories. Yeah, real quickly. Another
Speaker 1: one I want to ask you about because Washington in
Speaker 1: New England. No, because we talked all week about what
Speaker 1: the Saints did against the Dallas Cowboys and completely shutting
Speaker 1: them down. And in the NFC South now the Saints
Speaker 1: will be hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who put up
Speaker 1: fifty five points against the defending NFC champion l A
Speaker 1: Rams last week. Is Jamis Winston and Bruce Arians Is
Speaker 1: this is this working? Is what we saw last week
Speaker 1: a sign of things to come? Or was it a
Speaker 1: one off? In the New Orleans Saints will just get
Speaker 1: down to business here at home in a division Game's
Speaker 1: a good question because I think early on. I don't
Speaker 1: know the last time I would have said this, but
Speaker 1: I honestly think New Orleans defense is probably a step
Speaker 1: ahead of where Los Angeles is right now. They just
Speaker 1: they have more playmakers there, They don't break down as much,
Speaker 1: and it's just so hard for me to believe that
Speaker 1: any defense with Aaron Donald would give up fifty five points, like,
Speaker 1: I just don't I just don't know. Granted, I think
Speaker 1: there was a defensive score in there, maybe even two.
Speaker 1: But even if you, I mean, that's still forty plus
Speaker 1: points um against the Los Angeles Rams defense that was
Speaker 1: pretty darn good and helped get them to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Last up front, I think there's still really solid. I
Speaker 1: just think there's big questions with that secondary right now,
Speaker 1: and and who the go two guys are gonna be
Speaker 1: and who's gonna step up. As far as Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: is concern, I think Tom Moore is there too right now.
Speaker 1: I think like the seventy eight year old quarterback guru
Speaker 1: that worked with Peyton Manning. I think so there's just
Speaker 1: so many resources that they've brought in. I thought we
Speaker 1: just that was the first game where it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the Bruce Aaron's imprint on this team. It's
Speaker 1: a new day, so to speak. Yeah, that's what it
Speaker 1: felt like. The question is is we've seen these moments
Speaker 1: from Jameis Winston and there was I mean, you go
Speaker 1: back to the Knox here, there was a lot of
Speaker 1: thought that this could be a playoff contending team. Can
Speaker 1: you do it consistently can you keep bringing it in
Speaker 1: a lot of same ways. It's the same question that
Speaker 1: Marcus Mariota is going to have to answer in Tennessee
Speaker 1: after you start he's off to Absolutely. This is a
Speaker 1: great litmus test though, especially coming off of that performance
Speaker 1: that the Saints had against Um Elliott and Deak Prescott. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's that's definitely some interesting games, some some
Speaker 1: key division, a key division matchup there in the NFC
Speaker 1: really didn't want to talk about New England and Washington
Speaker 1: break down that excess and OS not really not really
Speaker 1: sleeping it out there. Okay, we're going to call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script. Would
Speaker 1: be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team on Packers dot com. A quick programming note, our
Speaker 1: producer Marvin will not be available to us on Monday,
Speaker 1: so our show wrapping up the Dallas game will not
Speaker 1: be taped until Tuesday, So we have to take a
Speaker 1: day off next week and we'll get things started with
Speaker 1: our series of shows next week on Tuesday. Just so
Speaker 1: everybody is aware. But with that, you can still subscribe
Speaker 1: to us and like us on iTunes and other podcast
Speaker 1: services and find him on Twitter at west hot I'm
Speaker 1: at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks
Speaker 1: for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.