WEBVTT - #509 Packers Unscripted: Handling the past 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:14.280 Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:18.680 I am Mike Spofford. He is my trusted colleague west Hodkuwitz. 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.280 We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:26.800 Field West. The Packers will be headed out to San Francisco, 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:30.560 as we know, for the NFC Championship game this coming Sunday. 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:34.320 It'll be a five forty pm Central Time kickoff, and 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:37.240 obviously it's a rematch. It's a rematch of the week 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.640 twelve Sunday Night Football game, a game that was flex 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.480 to Sunday Night Football for the implications. At that time, 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.400 the Niners were nine and one, the Packers were eight 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.680 and two. Many people thought, including Aaron Rodgers, who said, 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:52.440 you know, well, it looks like we're gonna have to 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.640 beat the forty Niners at their place. At some point, 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.120 he said that the week leading up to that, many 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.680 people thought it would determine home field advantage potentially in 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.280 a playoff game. It certainly has. San Francisco will be 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:10.360 hosting it. Matt Lafleur talked on Monday about the film 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:14.120 and what do you do with that thirty seven to 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:18.120 eight game, which obviously was the Packers low point of 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.280 the season. It was their worst game of the season. 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.039 Do you use it? Do you throw it in the garbage? 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:26.760 Do you just try? You know, how do you handle it? 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.000 And his approach, at least from the head coaches perspective, 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.520 and I think from the coaching perspective in general, as 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.039 they build the game plan for this rematch, is to 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.200 go through everything. You go over all of it. You 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.280 you have to swallow it all, try to digest it 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.319 all again, as as difficult as that might be to do. Now, 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.400 how much he ends up sharing that with the players, 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.240 how much he wants the players to be looking at 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:55.600 that film again, and all that we'll see and we 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.240 may not necessarily get any details in that regard, but 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.120 Matt Lafleur is definitely not taking that film and just 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.280 throwing it in the trash can. It's something that he's 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.600 going to use. He feels he, the coaches, the players, 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:12.359 everybody needs to learn from what happened and obviously use 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.440 it to put together a better performance. And it's it's 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.200 interesting because I will sit here and tell you these 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.919 are the two best teams in the NFC. I think 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.760 the season has beared that out. These are not, you know, 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.799 the one random team that kind of skirted its way 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:28.960 into the playoffs and then here they are, you know, 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.119 making a round to an NFC championship. Both these teams 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.440 have earned their wins, and they've earned the right to 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:36.239 get that first round by and now the chance to 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.399 compete for the opportunity to go to Miami and play 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.560 for Super Bowl. But more than anything, what I took 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.960 away from this week was Matt Lafleur and Kyle Shannon 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.079 both stepped to the podium on Monday, and in their 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:52.760 own way, I thought conveyed really important messages from the 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.200 floor's perspective. As you wrote about unpackers dot com, as 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.680 you just talked a little bit about now, it's looking 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.880 at everything they've done schedule wise, preparation wise, and making 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.320 sure that the coaching staff is doing everything it needs 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.280 to do to be prepared for this rematch in making 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.880 by proxy, getting their locker room ready and being able 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.200 to keep that twenty nine point loss kind of far 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.320 from memory. And just hearing some of the guys talking 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.560 to the locker room. You quoted Alan Lazard in your story, 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.240 you can just sense that that message already has been 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.040 sort of conveyed to these players. Yeah, I think that 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.680 that's what I took away from a couple of players 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:29.800 we were able to talk to in the locker room Monday, 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:34.200 and hearing from coach Fleur, they're already kind of finding 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.600 the right perspective in terms of in terms of where 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.520 where to put this game. You know, Alan Lazard was asked, 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:42.960 you know, well, thirty seven to eight, do you feel 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.440 like this is such a big hill to climb? And 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.600 he's like, well, we're not starting the game down twenty 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.800 nine points. And I think it's natural from a fan 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.600 perspective maybe in some ways to think, oh yeah, thirty 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.760 seven to eight, boy, you know it. It sort of 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.120 does feel like in some ways that you're that you're 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.320 behind the eight ball right from the start of the game, 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.560 that you know, but reality is, the game starts at 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.800 at zero zero. I think from a preparation standpoint, there's 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.640 a lot that the coaches are going to look at 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.760 in that film, put together the game plan, and then 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:16.480 they present it to the players on Wednesday morning before 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.719 the first practice of the week on Wednesday afternoon. But 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:21.760 I kind of get the sense that then once you 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.560 start prepared, once you hit the practice field on Wednesday, 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.040 you have your Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practices. Then it's everything 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.520 is forward, it's not it's not looking back anymore. I 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.880 think in some ways that's the line. That's the line 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.800 that you have to walk, because there is a line 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:41.240 between you know, using that film and learning from it, 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.920 but not being consumed by it and not dwelling on 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.400 it for too long. And maybe it is it's you know, 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.760 that moment you hit the practice field on Wednesday, that's 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.360 when the page turns and and all eyes are forward, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.240 not back, and back to the virginal point I was making. Two. 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.520 This is what I love about the way that La 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.440 Fleura and Shanahanna mess sagging because they're both saying the 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.360 same thing as teams. From green Bay's perspective, you lost 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.200 by twenty nine points. You want to flush it. You 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:09.280 want to move on and understand that. Okay, our defense 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.720 is playing better offensively, you've been galvanized here. I think 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.159 these last few weeks with Aaron Jones and Aaron Rodgers 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:17.960 kind of bringing this offense and and you know, pushing 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:23.479 them forward. But then San Francisco's standpoint, they can't look 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.839 past green Bay. There's a reason why the line for 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.800 the game is not minus twenty eight or twenty nine, 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.719 it's it's minus seven for this reason. And Shanahan talking reporters, 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:34.960 I'm gonna quote him on exactly what he said. He said, 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.320 we know it'll be different. We know that game got 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.160 away from them early, and that's definitely not the team 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.080 we're going to see this week. Everyone knows how good 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.760 Green Bay is, how good their coaching staff is, how 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.320 good their players are, how good their quarterback is. I 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.560 don't think they've lost a game since then, So I 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.640 think this game really holds zero relevance to what's going 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:01.440 to happen. That game irrelevance to what's going to happen 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.440 on Sunday, San Francisco. That the great part of this 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.359 story is they didn't just beat Green Bay and just 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.080 continue to beat down the doors on every single opponent 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:15.560 they faced after that. They lost to Atlanta, they nearly 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.040 lost to the Rams, a game that would have cost 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.920 them their first round, the first round seed and buy 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.360 and everything that went with it. And then they came 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.920 within a yard of losing to Seattle in that regular 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.800 season finale. Now they did put I thought their best 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:34.839 performance since Green Bay together against Minnesota, a suffocating outing 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.719 against that run game, and Kirk Cousins and I have 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.360 to feel that they're they're pretty confident here with having 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.480 Joe Staley back, d Ford Kwan, Alexander Matt Brita's is 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.680 available if they need him, and then certainly Robbie Gold 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.600 got healthy here over the last month. They're they're in 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.080 a good position right now. But at the same time, 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.320 they understand, much like Green Bay won't be thinking about 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.719 her treys trying not to think of that that matchup, 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.040 they also have to flush it and push forward in 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.280 their own way. Yeah, I think Shanahan also had a 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.719 line something about, you know, it would it would be 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.920 foolish too for the forty nine ers to read too 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.320 much into what happened in week twelve. As much as 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.120 Matt Lafleur talks about on a week to week basis, 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.080 it's about hitting the reset button and everything. You know, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.720 Kyle Shanahan's doing the same thing, and he's not going 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.040 to let He's not going to let his players look 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.400 at the way they frankly dominated the Packers in the 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.640 trenches back in Week twelve and look at the film 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:30.040 and just kind of go, oh yeah, well, we can 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:32.040 do that again, you know, I mean you can't. You 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.440 can't take it for granted. And I, in fact, I 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.200 saw a statistic, and I apologize for not writing it 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.320 down and getting an exact but I saw something with 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:46.560 regard to playoff rematches in NFL history where in the 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.160 regular season the two teams met and the game was 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.840 decided by twenty five plus points, so a blowout type 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.360 of game like the like Week twelve was in Santa Clara, 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.760 and the team the team that the blowout in the 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:05.360 regular season has definitely one more of the playoff rematches, 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.600 but it's about a sixty forty roughly split. So of 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:11.880 the time the team that got blown out in the 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.720 regular season has come back and turned the tables in 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.840 the playoffs. So not that that means anything in this 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.520 game as far as once that ball is kicked off 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.480 on on Sunday with the Packers and the forty enters, 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.440 but it is just something to keep in mind, and 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.120 it goes back. I think Alan Lazard's line might be 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.160 my favorite one of of the week so far, just well, 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.600 we're not starting the game down twenty nine points, and 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:35.800 I think that's what I think that's what the Packers. 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:38.640 I think that that's what the Packers fans can can 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.120 take into Sunday afternoon. Yeah, and you gotta keep in 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.040 mind too, this isn't you getting beat up by your 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.880 older brother and Madden and then just putting the Controllers 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:47.439 down and coming back a couple of weeks later and 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.840 then the same result happening again. These are two teams 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:57.400 that there's seven weeks of, you know, adaptation, evolution, improvement 0:08:57.640 --> 0:08:59.880 on both sides of this. We we had talked after 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.160 that game that it's like, Okay, the Packers lost to 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.520 the Niners there eight and three. You have five regular 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.160 season games left. You have five games to improve and 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.560 put yourself in a position to make a playoff run. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.360 That's exactly what the Packers did. They are playing much 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:18.200 better football offensively. They've improved on third downs considerably after 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.240 that horrible showing on third down in San Francisco. The 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:25.640 third down numbers are up. The um they put themselves 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:27.720 in position to score a lot more points. I know 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:29.520 we talked how at the end of the regular season 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.200 they let some of those opportunities get away, so the 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.120 point totals weren't as high as they could have been. 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:36.840 We saw the defense cut down on the explosive plays. 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.560 Forty Niners were hitting them, you know. For it felt 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.160 like big plays left and right in some respects in 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.880 that game in Week twelve. So the Packers have made 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.240 themselves a better team. They've done what they've needed to do. 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.760 We'll find out on Sunday whether they close the gap 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.880 enough to to take this well. And here's the other 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.280 great aspect of this matchup with the league wine narrative. 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.360 The national narrative seems to have been all season that, well, 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.280 maybe the Packers aren't a thirteen win team, maybe they're 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:05.920 not as good as their record shows, I mean, their 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.880 point differential, all these other little analytics things you can 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.880 point towards. The three May Packers win on San win 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.720 on Sunday against San Francisco in San in Santa Clara, 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.840 that argument goes out the window. That team has proven 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.440 at that point that they are the best team in 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.880 the NFC and have the right to compete for a 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.000 Super Bowl championship. I feel like this is a team 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:29.920 that every step of the way. If you want to 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:34.640 talk about the strengths of this organization, the structure from 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.960 top down with Brian goodicins, so the way he's managed 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.120 it to how Mats coach it, and how the leaders 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:41.920 in that locker room have pulled this locker room together. 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:47.040 They don't care. They will they will handle adversity the 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.559 way that they handle it. And I wrote it again 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.640 and Insider inbox this morning. If you want to beat 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.760 the Green Bay Packers, you have to do exactly what 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.360 the San Francisco forty Niners did the first time. You 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.560 have to jump on them early, and you have to 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.040 keep them down for four quarters because if that team 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.160 is either a in the fourth quarter behind more often 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.360 than not this year, they've clawed their way back, and 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.000 if you actually give them a lead, like Russell Wilson 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.280 found out on Sunday, it's just not easy with how 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.360 they manage the formative offense, with the fact that they 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:19.560 get the production that they need, even if the offense 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:25.480 isn't just you know, world beating everybody, and defensively when 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.760 they're cutting down on big plays, it's not easy to 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:31.360 score quickly against them. Those are all things that have 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.079 to be factored in this matchup. But it's the reason 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.240 why when Kyle Shannon said that in terms of you know, 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.679 they got down early, they kind of got away from 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.600 their game. If it's closer, it's an entirely different situation. Yeah, 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:44.480 no doubt about it. Well, I want to go back 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:48.240 to a couple of things from the playoff victory over 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:52.200 the Seattle Seahawks that we can discuss here, because it 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.120 wouldn't be a big game in the NFL in the 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:59.920 twenty nineteen season post season if not for some officiating questions. 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.599 And I know the fans are interested in our opinions 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.160 on what happened with the challenge on the fumble play 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.640 with Jacob Hollister and Chanted Sullivan in the first quarter. 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:14.200 And obviously there's still a lot of barking and crying 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.959 about the spot of the Jimmy Graham reception at the 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:18.959 end of the game that gave the Packers the first 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.800 down and then allowed Green Bay to run out the clock. 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.360 So starting with that play in the first quarter, I 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.040 think you and I are on the same page here. Um, 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:30.520 we're sitting next to each other in the press box, 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:32.600 much like we're sitting next to each other right now, 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.400 and we were somewhat in disbelief at the ruling that 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:39.000 came back from New York on that on that review, 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.560 Am I right, Yeah, I was, Yeah, it really was. 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.200 And before I dive into that, I just want to 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:49.120 make this quick statement, A and B are both true, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.599 then C has to also. By the I think is 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.839 that the transitive property. It also has to be all 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.600 the equals B and B equals see, then A equals see. 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:02.160 So if they couldn't see whether or not Channon Sullivan 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:09.839 recovered the fumble, and if there is no quantifiable evidence, 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.480 overarching evidence to overturn the spot of the ball on 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:16.520 the Jimmy Grant play because of video review, C has 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.360 to be true. You can't. You can't argue it both ways, 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.040 whether you're a Packer fan or whether or not you're 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.640 a Seahawks fan. You can perspective looking at the chan 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.200 and play. The biggest issue I took on this and 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:29.560 I said this an inbox, is that the lack of 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:34.040 urgency to officiate the play. Nobody, whether it was the 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.440 field judge side that nobody seemed to really be following 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.400 the action. They were just sort of waiting for the 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.200 play to end. So with that happening in in you 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.000 have to understand NFL officials, referees, they do tons of 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.400 research throughout the week with a review previous games of 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.240 the teams that are going to be officiating. They look 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.520 for tendencies. If you've watched the Green Bay Packers this year, 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.640 Gire Alexander is not a big guy. I know he'll 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:02.120 probably mad at me for saying that, but he's not. 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.960 He's not. He's not six two two twenty. He's about 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.520 five eleven. I think he goes like maybe his The 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.520 way he tackles a lot of times is lower and up. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.199 He actually ended up getting flagged for it a couple 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.160 of weeks ago, but that's the way he has to 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:17.800 get guys in the ground and he's pretty darn good 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:21.120 at it. If you see a tight end like Hollister 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.120 at two pounds or whatever he's doing, and Jire Alexander 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.320 is the one making the play, you have to understand 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.760 as an official, this is the way that this cornerback, 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.800 this defensive back attacks this play. He's gonna go up, 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:34.720 he's going to elevate, and he's gonna go for the 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:38.320 football the ball comes out. Yes, there were some bodies there, 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.560 but there weren't enough bodies. It wasn't like it was 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:43.640 that was the thing to me. Is it wasn't like 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:47.120 it was some major scrum, and it was pretty clear. 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.240 It looked pretty clear to me on the replay that 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:53.040 Sullivan got his hands on the ball pretty quickly there 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.320 and then just because some other guys like jumped on 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.360 the pile like you know. Okay, so they say, they 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.080 say it's not they say it's not a clear recovery. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.280 But man, oh man, I mean, he got his hands 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.880 on the ball and there was no there was He 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.200 got his hands on the ball before the scrum happened, 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.600 the mini scrum, I guess I'll call it. And there 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.440 was certainly no evidence anywhere in the video that anybody 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:20.280 ever took the ball away from him. So that's what 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.360 that's what I didn't That's why I didn't understand how 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.400 that ball doesn't end up in green base possession. So 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.480 west hod Kuwitz, little west Hodquitz, went in locker room. 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.160 He did the thing the officials didn't. He actually asked 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.880 Jannon Sullivan about the play. Sullivan didn't have any communication 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.800 with the referees. They didn't even give him an explanation afterwards. 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:43.040 What happened was that Sullivan he noticed that JayR had 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.240 dislodged the ball. He could see the way it was happening. 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.680 He anticipated it. He rolls down there. Now he said, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.880 I didn't have it immediately, but in the scrum he 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:53.800 got it. Like he's the only one that ever established 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.320 possession of this, and if you need evidence of that, 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.280 he hands it to the official. The officials kind of 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.080 just lally gag into the scrum. You know what happens 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.160 usually on a fumble play. They charge in there and 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.720 they're already trying to break things up. Yeah, but the yeah, 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:10.960 but the thing is the the officials were all relaxed 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:12.760 because the call in the field was that it was 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:14.800 was that it was no fumble. So when you talk 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.560 about the lack of urgency, it was because well they 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.120 had blown the whistle and the guy who was on 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.720 top of it said no, he was down, so nobody 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:26.080 else was really nobody else clicked in from a mental 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.600 standpoint to say, well, maybe we should see who who 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.160 ends up with this call. Anyway, they didn't take that 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:33.840 approach on the field, and then I think it cost 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.960 the packers because because of the review that came from 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.480 New York. I still I saw the little video that 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:43.040 Al Riveran put out in his explanation, which isn't really 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.120 an explanation. He's just reading the rule to you on camera, 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:48.880 and I just I just don't buy it. I just 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.320 I thought it was I thought it was weak. I 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:55.760 thought I thought there was pretty clear evidence that that 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.440 was the Packers football. Yeah. So I guess the question 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.720 ultimately comes down to if the ball comes out so 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:03.960 many times now, if even if the ground force of 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.680 the fumble they're throwing, you know, they're they're making sure 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.399 that everyone knows that it's still alive play. They didn't 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.359 do it in that occasion, So maybe you just get 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.040 stuck in this gray area whatever it may have you. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.120 But it obviously ended up going against the Packers. Yeah. 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:18.760 Here's the other question I want to throw at you 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.080 about this though. So the Packers challenge the play. It 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.000 is rule to fumble, but they say but they say 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.320 no clear recovery. Yet they take away the challenge and 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.560 the time out, which because it was the first half, 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.240 I wasn't too worked up about the time out necessarily, 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.399 But to me, as I said to you in the 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.040 press box at the time, I mean, the game is 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.160 only what five to seven minutes old or whatever at 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:45.240 that point, and the Packers don't get that challenge correct 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.320 in the in the complete sense, so it costs them 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.880 a challenge. Now you're looking at the last fifty plus 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.159 minutes of the game, You've only got one challenge the 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.440 rest of the game, whether you get it right or wrong, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.280 because you don't get a third one unless you get 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.920 the first two right. To me, that to me, that's 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.320 something that that was a really tough break for the Packers. Now, 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.000 it didn't turn out that Matt Lafleur didn't end up 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.840 with really any other situations where he was maybe being 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.919 pressed to challenge something and use that second challenge, but 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:15.440 he was in a position where he was going to 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:20.119 have to have to be very judicious with making a 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:22.720 second challenge because it was his only one for the 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.800 rest of the game, and because that play had happened 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.280 on on Seattle's first offensive play of the game. A 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.320 few years ago, my computer got fried. It was a 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:32.440 good computer, and I didn't have it backed up. Kids, 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.360 back up your computers, and so I had some old 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:37.359 stories and some stuff on there, and I brought it 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:41.879 to a local camera repair shop, video all that kind 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.280 of repair shop, and I brought in there and said, hey, 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.480 there's nothing we can do for you fair game. I 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:49.520 got the computer back and I went back in my 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.080 car and I drove home. I didn't have to pay 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.720 them anything for them to tell me that they couldn't 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:59.120 fix my computer. If you if they actually if they're 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.640 ruling on the field changes, because if I'm correct in this, 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.119 Jacob Holistair is then credited with a fumble, is he 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:09.840 not he's credited with He's credited with fumbling the ball statistically, 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:11.359 So if there is a change to the play, I 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:13.639 think that's one thing. Whether it's in the spring meetings 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:15.280 that the NFL is gonna have to look at it. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:16.800 We'll see if you know, Mark Murphy would end up 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:22.240 mentioning it, because you can't be in a situation where, yeah, 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.080 you know he did fumble, but there's not evidence that 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.200 it was a turnover. So we're taking away your time 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:30.040 out and your challenge. You're right, the time out, Who cares, 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:32.440 it's the first half, But that challenge if the challenge 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:34.199 rule is going to be that you need both to 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:36.080 get the third and if you don't get one, you 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:37.560 only get one more for the rest of the game. 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.840 That's that's a I thought I thought that was I 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.520 thought that was a tough break. I want to talk 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.399 about the Jimmy Graham play at the end too, because 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:47.359 I credit and I apologize for not writing down the 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.359 person's name. I credit an inbox reader who sent in 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.040 as I was working on Monday Mornings inbox in the 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:59.119 late hours of Sunday night, there was I was directed 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.520 by a reader to another website had some really good 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.639 pictures of the play at the end with Graham and 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:10.119 the catch and then and then the spot essentially pointing 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:15.159 out that Fox's yellow line in that particular moment was off, 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.040