Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford sitting alongside my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague West Hodkowitz. Were coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studio at lambeau Field and West. The Packers post
Speaker 1: a twenty four to twenty victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars
Speaker 1: this past Sunday at lambeau Field. Much more difficult than
Speaker 1: anyone had hoped or expected, but the Packers got the w.
Speaker 1: They are seven and two and they are still sitting
Speaker 1: in first place in the NFC North. So this has
Speaker 1: been my big message this week, Mike. I know it
Speaker 1: wasn't the dominating victory everybody projected. I'm sure that person
Speaker 1: that had thrown down a hundred thousand dollars on a
Speaker 1: Packer straight up. Victory was kind of sweat and bullets
Speaker 1: there into the fourth quarter. But what I come back
Speaker 1: to is this game I thought showed a step for
Speaker 1: Green Bay. I know that's a weird take to have
Speaker 1: when you only beat a one win team by four points,
Speaker 1: but I felt like they did what they needed to
Speaker 1: do in this game against the Jaguars that they didn't
Speaker 1: accomplish against the Vikings, who have now since gone on
Speaker 1: a huge run here, and and that was in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter when the Chips were down. They needed a
Speaker 1: response offensively, defensively, and even to a certain extent special teams.
Speaker 1: They were able to at least muster enough to get
Speaker 1: that win. What are you going to get a lot
Speaker 1: of style points out of that victory? No? Is this
Speaker 1: now the sixth game that the Packers have played with
Speaker 1: the Jaguars all time and which has been decided by
Speaker 1: under you know, in single digits. Yes, But I just
Speaker 1: felt like this game showed one again just how brilliant
Speaker 1: Davante Adams is into that. The defense, even though it's
Speaker 1: been kind of hidden underneath a lot of things this year,
Speaker 1: when it needs to find that gritty performance late the
Speaker 1: pass rush getting into Jake Luton's face, they were able
Speaker 1: to do it, and they were able of the seal
Speaker 1: of victory. Yeah, the down the stretch, crunch time performance
Speaker 1: of the defense was very reminiscent of last year, frankly,
Speaker 1: with the Packers won because the offense wasn't always clicking
Speaker 1: all that great in twenty nineteen. The defense needed to
Speaker 1: make some of these fourth quarters stands and Sunday's game
Speaker 1: reminded me of that. I will say this though, because
Speaker 1: it wasn't the Packers best performance, it's not a performance
Speaker 1: to be very proud of. Frankly, and yes, the weather
Speaker 1: is a bit of an equalizer for an underdog and
Speaker 1: all that, I get it. But an Insider Inbox reader,
Speaker 1: as I got done with my game recap and the editorial,
Speaker 1: we had that stuff posted on the website, and as
Speaker 1: you know, I stay late after our game coverage because
Speaker 1: I like to just get the Insider Inbox column from
Speaker 1: Monday morning written and out of the way so I
Speaker 1: don't have to get up at the crack of dawn
Speaker 1: on Monday morning to get it done in time. An
Speaker 1: Insider Inbox reader sent in what I thought was was
Speaker 1: almost the perfect line that what occurred in that game
Speaker 1: was the recipe for are an upset. You had a
Speaker 1: special teams touched down by the Jaguars. You had two
Speaker 1: uncharacteristic turnovers by the Packers, a fumbled by Davante Adams
Speaker 1: that leads to a touchdown, an interception by Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: that leads to a field goal. That's seventeen of Jacksonville's
Speaker 1: twenty points in essentially those three instances right there, and
Speaker 1: yet it really was the recipe for an upset. But
Speaker 1: as you said, the Packers needed a response on offense
Speaker 1: when they fell behind twenty seventeen. They put together the
Speaker 1: seventy five yard drive and got the job done. And
Speaker 1: then the defense not once but twice has to make
Speaker 1: stops there at crunch time in the fourth quarter. And
Speaker 1: if there is anything you can hang your hat on
Speaker 1: from this game, it's that in bad weather, in bad conditions,
Speaker 1: you were able to do that in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: And quite frankly, the Packers, except for maybe the New
Speaker 1: Orleans game back in Week three, the Packers hadn't really
Speaker 1: been put in that situation to pull something out late
Speaker 1: in the game in the fourth quarter. And yes it
Speaker 1: was the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they did the job. There
Speaker 1: are a totality of their experiences, though, and that's where
Speaker 1: this team as they go into Indianapolis this week, in
Speaker 1: Chicago the next week, and in Philadelphia as they marched
Speaker 1: into into December, the all of these things lead up
Speaker 1: to a playoff team. What makes you who you are?
Speaker 1: It's almost like it it sort of builds your your resume.
Speaker 1: And this is Okay, once we get to the postseason.
Speaker 1: These are the things that, as you said, we hang
Speaker 1: our hat on, and yeah, this isn't gonna be a
Speaker 1: game I think five years from now where you are
Speaker 1: gonna you and I are gonna be talking about. Remember
Speaker 1: that Jaguars game back in two thousand twenty. Probably not um,
Speaker 1: but I just feel like these can be the launching pads.
Speaker 1: This game really wasn't pretty in any shape or fashion.
Speaker 1: James Robinson had over a hundred yards rushing kick punt
Speaker 1: return for a touchdown. But then there's little moments of
Speaker 1: brilliance that were interspersed throughout it. The seventy yard touchdown
Speaker 1: past to Marquis about this scandling the longest touchdown past,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even believe this. For Aaron Rodgers in in
Speaker 1: six years, Uh, their ability, you know late where Jacksonville
Speaker 1: had been stifling the run, Aaron Jones breaks one for
Speaker 1: twenty yards. It's just those type of place And again,
Speaker 1: Davonte Ada is playing on a bad wheel with the
Speaker 1: ankle injury in which he left for a moment. He
Speaker 1: comes back, skies up obviously didn't affect his vertical and
Speaker 1: catches in the air to pull down that winning touchdown,
Speaker 1: the go ahead touchdown Preston Smith. Everyone's wondering where the
Speaker 1: sacks are with him. He comes up with a sack
Speaker 1: on third down, fourth and the pass rush just converges
Speaker 1: on Luton. They don't let him get comfortable in a
Speaker 1: situation where I think a lot of times people are
Speaker 1: thinking three man rush. So there's just so many different
Speaker 1: factors that I felt played into this game that, while
Speaker 1: it's not gonna be one that we're gonna remember, so
Speaker 1: to speak, if the Packers can get on a run
Speaker 1: here and put that to good use now against a
Speaker 1: much better Indianapolis Colts team on the road this Sunday,
Speaker 1: it could be the type the performance that that fits
Speaker 1: into a winning streak where maybe it's not the headliner. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Aside from the two defensive stands at the end of
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, which obviously were important, there are two
Speaker 1: other things that I take out of this game if
Speaker 1: I'm the Packers in terms of trying to build on something.
Speaker 1: One is actually the defense against the run. And I
Speaker 1: say that, yes, James Robinson solid performance. Twenty three carries
Speaker 1: a hundred and nine yards, but Robinson had Robinson average
Speaker 1: six point eight yards per carrying the first half. In
Speaker 1: the second half, the Packers cut that in half three
Speaker 1: point four yards per carry in the second half. You
Speaker 1: could see the defense against the run was much better. Now,
Speaker 1: that comes with one caveat, as Matt Lafleur had pointed out,
Speaker 1: and as I wrote about Monday evening on our website,
Speaker 1: right after the Davante Adams fumble, the Jaguars get called
Speaker 1: for holding there in first and twenty, just outside the
Speaker 1: red zone. Okay, that's where the defense needs to get
Speaker 1: the stop force the field goal. So the turnover only
Speaker 1: produces three points. But Robinson busts off on eleven yard
Speaker 1: run and instead of second and really long there in
Speaker 1: second and nine and a couple of plays later there
Speaker 1: in the end zone, and you didn't take advantage of
Speaker 1: the holding penalty. But even with that one eleven yard
Speaker 1: run in the second half, Robinson only average three point
Speaker 1: four on his thirteen carries in the second half. So
Speaker 1: I thought the Packers run defense, they got their act
Speaker 1: together down the stretch in this game. The other thing
Speaker 1: that I think you take away if you're the Packers
Speaker 1: was the performance of Marquis Velde Scantling And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say this, not because the hundred and forty nine yards
Speaker 1: was his career high and because the seventy eight yard
Speaker 1: bomb was, you know, his career long touchdown pass. But
Speaker 1: this was the best game of his career in my opinion,
Speaker 1: because of the variety of plays that he made just
Speaker 1: on four receptions, but the one the one was the
Speaker 1: long bomb, but we saw him make a big play
Speaker 1: on a shallow cross off the off the play action boot,
Speaker 1: which is a pass that he has dropped a couple
Speaker 1: of times this year and it's been a staple of
Speaker 1: this offense. Right, we saw him. We saw him stay
Speaker 1: alive and convert a third down in a scrambled mode
Speaker 1: for Aaron Rodgers, which also he got a touchdown against
Speaker 1: San Francisco the previous week in a scramble mode situation,
Speaker 1: so that's another good sign. And then he took a
Speaker 1: receiver screen one of those quick outs, bounced off a
Speaker 1: couple of tacklers, moved the chains and got some significant yardage.
Speaker 1: The variety of plays that Mark quis Velde Scantling made
Speaker 1: on just four receptions, that's something that I think the
Speaker 1: Packers would like to build on and to see more
Speaker 1: of here. Down the road and when if you're hoping
Speaker 1: as you're hoping to get Alan Lazard back off of
Speaker 1: injured reserve, this is something that could really be a
Speaker 1: positive sign for this Packers receiving corps. And you just
Speaker 1: see the swagger that he got after that seventy eight
Speaker 1: yard touchdown passed. You know they've been able to connect
Speaker 1: on some of these d balls lately. And what was
Speaker 1: the issue last year when he fell into his dul drums.
Speaker 1: They just weren't on the same page with those and
Speaker 1: some of the quieter moments this season is not on
Speaker 1: the same page, but those are game breaking moments in
Speaker 1: when the Jaguars are going to defend green Bay the
Speaker 1: way they were going to defend him a lot of
Speaker 1: eight man boxes. They talk about the cover three on
Speaker 1: the back end, sort of three different guys covering their
Speaker 1: part of the field. You have to be able to
Speaker 1: create those big deep ball opportunities to really keep a
Speaker 1: defense honest. Because I tip my cap to to Walsh
Speaker 1: and everything that that the Jaguars did, it was a
Speaker 1: good solid game plan, but Green Bay was able to
Speaker 1: crack open those explosive games when they needed to. That's
Speaker 1: the dimension Marcus Valdes Scantling ads and we're gonna have
Speaker 1: to see what this week holds for Alan Lazard. He'd
Speaker 1: practiced for basically two straight weeks and then last Friday
Speaker 1: did not. It does sound like he's still going to
Speaker 1: be activated on Wednesday, which is the end of his
Speaker 1: twenty one day period to do so. But man, if
Speaker 1: they can get a healthy Alan Lazard on the field,
Speaker 1: the ways in which Green Bay can you who's Marquez
Speaker 1: Velde Scantling and be able to keep defenses and secondaries
Speaker 1: you know, a little bit nervous, a little bit of
Speaker 1: you know, turning in their bellies about where this guy
Speaker 1: is going to be. My goodness, does that set up
Speaker 1: well for them, especially with some of these Dome teams
Speaker 1: coming up. Well, one thing we hadn't seen obviously, we've
Speaker 1: seen Valda Scantling catch those deep balls and take the
Speaker 1: top off the defense. But as I mentioned, those shallow crosses.
Speaker 1: He dropped a couple of those this year. But his
Speaker 1: speed is dangerous in those situations. And finally, you know,
Speaker 1: in the worst of conditions, ironically, where it would be
Speaker 1: the most difficult to actually execute that play, they do
Speaker 1: get it executed, and it turns into a thirty one
Speaker 1: yard game. You start, you start using his speed horizontally
Speaker 1: like that, and you start to scare a defense a
Speaker 1: little bit too, because because it is difficult to defend
Speaker 1: sideline to sideline with a guy like that. So I
Speaker 1: just I think that's a really positive sign here for
Speaker 1: the Packers. And I will just say this as well,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, the twenty one day window for Alan
Speaker 1: Lazard to practice with the roster exemption is expiring this week.
Speaker 1: If the Packers do indeed put him on the active roster,
Speaker 1: just so everybody knows, that doesn't necessarily mean he's going
Speaker 1: to play right away on Sunday against Indianapolis. But if
Speaker 1: the Packers don't want him on injured reserve for the
Speaker 1: rest of the season, they have to activate and they
Speaker 1: have to put him on the fifty three this week
Speaker 1: to have him available at any point the rest of
Speaker 1: the way. So I just we'll see. I think Alan Lazard,
Speaker 1: from what we're hearing, is close to coming back. I
Speaker 1: just don't want everybody to think that as soon as
Speaker 1: he's on the three, oh, that means he's playing. We
Speaker 1: don't know that for sure. Yeah. And the thing is
Speaker 1: too is there's so much added flexibility this year with
Speaker 1: the practice one. I mean you saw it. It's Saturday
Speaker 1: and Sunday. The Packers elevated four players between the two
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen replacements and the other two that they're allowed.
Speaker 1: Jowan Winfrey was up from the practice squad in that
Speaker 1: game actually played seven offensive snaps for green Day at receiver.
Speaker 1: So yeah, again, in the past it's almost been a
Speaker 1: situation where you got your fifty three. That's the way
Speaker 1: it's got to be. This year, with all the different
Speaker 1: changes in maneuvering that teams have been allowed to do,
Speaker 1: it gives the Packers a little bit more buffer. They're
Speaker 1: depending on exactly when al Lazard is going to be
Speaker 1: clear to play. Yeah, alrighty, Well, before I forget here,
Speaker 1: West will take care of some sponsored business. Serious x
Speaker 1: M NFL Radio channel is the only radio outlet dedicated
Speaker 1: to the National Football League seven days a week, three
Speaker 1: hundred sixty five days a year and year up. Four
Speaker 1: game day folks open a Packers checking account from Associated
Speaker 1: Bank and score a fifty dollar Packers Pro Shop gift card.
Speaker 1: Lauren Moore at Associated bank dot com backslash Packers all right,
Speaker 1: well as I mentioned at the top of the show,
Speaker 1: the Packers are seven and two. They actually now have
Speaker 1: a three game lead in the lost column on the
Speaker 1: rest of the NFC North because Minnesota went into Soldier
Speaker 1: Field in Chicago and beat the Bears on Monday Night football,
Speaker 1: so Green Bay is seven into The Bears are five
Speaker 1: and five. They now have their bye week. The Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings and Detroit Lions are both four and five, so
Speaker 1: the Packers have two losses. Everyone else in the division
Speaker 1: has five. And I don't like to talk about this
Speaker 1: too much because there are seven games to go, but yes,
Speaker 1: if you like to get into the entire NFC playoff picture,
Speaker 1: if the season ended today, the Packers would be the
Speaker 1: number one seed in the NFC. Because of the Seattle
Speaker 1: Seahawks losing and falling to six and three, Packers are
Speaker 1: tied with New Orleans right now, seven and two top
Speaker 1: the NFC. But first, your thoughts on the NFC North
Speaker 1: and the Monday Night football game, which it sounds like
Speaker 1: you got bored and gave up and decided to play
Speaker 1: some video games. And it was I admit I watched
Speaker 1: the whole I watched the whole game, but it was
Speaker 1: not the most exciting Monday Night football. I mean, come on, man,
Speaker 1: the Bears. The Bears had one first down in the
Speaker 1: second half until the last twenty seconds of the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: I mean, the the ineptitude of the offense. I just honestly,
Speaker 1: I you know, it's hard for me to say this
Speaker 1: in some respects because I know Bears fans can be obnoxious,
Speaker 1: but I honestly feel bad for Bears fan. One of
Speaker 1: my best friends is a tried and true Bears fan.
Speaker 1: We were texting during the game on Monday night. I
Speaker 1: honestly feel bad for Bears fans having to watch that
Speaker 1: offense that is that is just it's absolutely it just
Speaker 1: makes you makes you ill watching a team struggle that
Speaker 1: much to just move the football. Yeah. My my brother
Speaker 1: in law, Mike, actually is a huge Bears fan. Grew
Speaker 1: up in that area and his you know, his family's
Speaker 1: from that area. He he sent me a meme which was,
Speaker 1: I don't Jason Momoa. Do you know him at all?
Speaker 1: And I think I think he's Aquaman. He was also
Speaker 1: engaged thrones. Okay, guy, okay. He was one of the
Speaker 1: I believe it was the Super Bowl commercials this past year.
Speaker 1: One of the big popular ones. He's a big, hulking guy,
Speaker 1: and then they also did this one where he's walking
Speaker 1: through his house and he's taking all of his muscles
Speaker 1: off and he ends up being like the slender dude.
Speaker 1: He had sent me a meme which is the version
Speaker 1: of Jason Momo where he's like really like, you know,
Speaker 1: pulked out. That's the Bears defense, and then the other
Speaker 1: version was the Bears offense. So Mike, that made me smile.
Speaker 1: But the thing I can't get over, Mike, you can
Speaker 1: you can talk about the quarterback until you're blue in
Speaker 1: the face, and it sounds like Mitchell Robinski very well
Speaker 1: might end up being the guy again. But think about
Speaker 1: all the years where the Bears are really strong contenders,
Speaker 1: what do they have? They had a ground game critical
Speaker 1: Patterson was their leading rush during this game. He rushed
Speaker 1: for thirty yards. Now, I understand David Montgomery not playing
Speaker 1: and everything, and Tera Cohen's hurt as well, but it's
Speaker 1: just it's so unlike them, and I just feel like
Speaker 1: when you don't actually establish the running game and you
Speaker 1: are making life so difficult on your quarterback, I don't
Speaker 1: care if it's fulls. I don't care if it's Jim Miller,
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's Shane Matthews, I don't care
Speaker 1: who it is. You're you're you're making life difficult. And
Speaker 1: the reason why this game ended up kind of being
Speaker 1: sort of a dud on my end is defensively, the
Speaker 1: Bears are great. They have a really strong defense. Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook carry the ball thirty times, didn't get a hundred
Speaker 1: yards as long as carry was fifteen yards fourteen yards.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Bears defense can compete that. That's a
Speaker 1: defense that they could win, you know, win some games with.
Speaker 1: But offensively that that defense, that defense can clamp down
Speaker 1: on anybody, there's no doubt about. But offensively, they're just
Speaker 1: not getting it right now. And it led to uh
Speaker 1: a really long night in which I finally decided, you
Speaker 1: know what that Nintendo switches calling me yeah, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have a little bit of fun. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: the Packers found out. The Packers found out a couple
Speaker 1: of things similar to the Bears in terms of facing
Speaker 1: that Vikings defense, where if Mike zimmer is going to
Speaker 1: play his two safeties back, if he's going to play
Speaker 1: cover two, if you can't run the ball against that
Speaker 1: you're you're dead in the water against Minnesota, and the
Speaker 1: Packers were struggling to run the ball. The Bears flat
Speaker 1: out could not run the ball at all. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: Packers were missing Aaron Jones in that game at Lamborfield
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. But then compounding that for
Speaker 1: the Bears, they couldn't run the football against the two
Speaker 1: high safety look and they had absolutely no answers for
Speaker 1: the Vikings blitz. Anytime that Zimmer dialed up a blitz.
Speaker 1: Nick Foles was completely helpless back there he had. They
Speaker 1: had no answers whatsoever. And Cordorrell Patterson running the second
Speaker 1: half kickoff back for a touchdown gave the Bears the
Speaker 1: lead and gave them a chance to win this game
Speaker 1: and actually kept them in it all the way to
Speaker 1: the end because the offense. The offense did absolutely nothing
Speaker 1: and they couldn't even get in position for a Hail
Speaker 1: Mary triad at at the end of the game. But
Speaker 1: that being said, so the Packers have a three game
Speaker 1: lead in the lost column. On the rest of the division,
Speaker 1: the other really interesting developed well, a couple of interesting
Speaker 1: developments here. As I mentioned, the New Orleans Saints also
Speaker 1: seven and two along with the Packers, but they're now
Speaker 1: dealing with a significant injury situation with quarterbacks degrees and
Speaker 1: my goodness, you hope that breeze is okay. It sounds
Speaker 1: like now it's been the last couple of games combined
Speaker 1: that have created the ribs. The lungs was last week.
Speaker 1: I mean, so um, when you say punctured lung, Mike,
Speaker 1: I just I just immediately start grabbing my side. I get,
Speaker 1: I get. You can't. I can't even I can't even imagine.
Speaker 1: So the Saints dealing with significant injury at quarterback, and
Speaker 1: then at the same time in the NFC West, you
Speaker 1: have the Rams having beaten the Seahawks, and the Cardinals
Speaker 1: went out a Hail Mary against the Buffalo Bills, a
Speaker 1: great matchup between Kyler Murray and Josh Allen. Like we
Speaker 1: had talked about last week. You knew that was going
Speaker 1: to be a great game, and it turned out to
Speaker 1: be the best finish of any game in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But now you have the Cardinals, the Seahawks, the Rams
Speaker 1: all tied at six and three atop the NFC West,
Speaker 1: and the Cardinals and Seahawks get their rematch on Thursday
Speaker 1: Night Football here in just a couple of days. So
Speaker 1: a lot of really interesting things happening here in the
Speaker 1: NFC as the second half of the schedule gets underway.
Speaker 1: You mentioned to me when we were discussing, you know,
Speaker 1: and we can get into this a different time, but
Speaker 1: you know, like the m v P type candidacy for
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and the fact that these next few weeks
Speaker 1: we're gonna learn a lot about him and this Packers
Speaker 1: offense with Indianapolis, Chicago and honestly even Philadelphia has no
Speaker 1: slouch either after that, and certainly those are gonna be
Speaker 1: big markers for him. But I feel like right now
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson is in the middle of that. The fact
Speaker 1: that he already has ten interceptions right now. I understand
Speaker 1: he's been carrying them a lot of ways through this season.
Speaker 1: Running game has been just a carouself for them with
Speaker 1: all their injuries there, But uh, that's very uncharacteristic of him,
Speaker 1: and I think that's probably more of an indication of
Speaker 1: the situations he's been put in and trying to make
Speaker 1: some things happen that might not be there. The Cardinals, man,
Speaker 1: I'll say it every single week on the show. There
Speaker 1: for real Uh, they took some big hits to their defense,
Speaker 1: but offensively, with Kyler Murray running those controls, they're a
Speaker 1: legit threat and they're going to give every single team
Speaker 1: in the West problems. And if they get into the postseason,
Speaker 1: it's going to give NFC offensive and defensive coaches a
Speaker 1: lot to think about. Yeah, I'll say this about the
Speaker 1: NFC West because a lot of attention on Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: and Kyler Murray and what those guys are doing, and
Speaker 1: rightfully so, But that Los Angeles Rams deef ense that is,
Speaker 1: you know, and I know the San Francisco forty Niners
Speaker 1: have had their injury issues on defense, that Rams defense
Speaker 1: is by far the best defense in the NFC West.
Speaker 1: And the fact that they got the win over Seattle,
Speaker 1: they still have one more game with the Seahawks, they
Speaker 1: have both games with the Cardinals. The Rams keep playing
Speaker 1: defense like that and then you know, stay efficient enough
Speaker 1: on offense. Yeah, I mean, I I wouldn't put it.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't put it past the Los Angeles Rams to
Speaker 1: end up emerging as the division champion there. I think
Speaker 1: it's just going to be really interesting how that how
Speaker 1: that division unfolds, and uh, and obviously the Packers. Packers
Speaker 1: are going to have have their eye on both the
Speaker 1: Vikings and the Bears. Here, the Bears schedule gets a
Speaker 1: little bit easier. The Viking schedule also gets a little
Speaker 1: bit easier in terms of the opponents records. For for
Speaker 1: the next few weeks, they're gonna be trying to keep
Speaker 1: pace while you know, scoreboard watching on Sunday to see
Speaker 1: if to see if the Indianapolis Colts, who beat I've
Speaker 1: leave both the Bears and the Vikings. If I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: If you hold on two seconds, I can get you
Speaker 1: an answer there. Mike, Yeah, I think. I think the
Speaker 1: Colts beat both Minnesota and till eleven over Minnesota and
Speaker 1: week two, and then they beat Detroit twenty one, and
Speaker 1: they also beat Chicago nineteen to eleven. So elevens were
Speaker 1: popular with what they were giving up against the NFC North.
Speaker 1: My point being a team that knocked off those other
Speaker 1: teams in the NFC North. Now they'll be watching to
Speaker 1: see if the Colts can do the same thing to
Speaker 1: the Packers this week. There's there are gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of people in the Upper Midwest
Speaker 1: rooting for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday against green Bay.
Speaker 1: No for sure, and it's gonna be a really good battle.
Speaker 1: I think as much as last week I thought was
Speaker 1: sort of a mundane week leading up to Jacksonville, given
Speaker 1: that they've been on a seven game losing streak. In
Speaker 1: green Bay, everybody just expected them to roll through them,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be the inverse of that with the Colts.
Speaker 1: I think we're wrapping up. I do have something I
Speaker 1: want to say here, because you know this is unscripted.
Speaker 1: We didn't really discuss this beforehand. I had a whole
Speaker 1: uh soliloquy maybe or just a promo I wanted to
Speaker 1: cut about David bok tr monologue. Thank you, David Baktr.
Speaker 1: He signed a contact contract extension on Sunday evening, Actually
Speaker 1: it would be Saturday evening. We found out about it.
Speaker 1: Found Sunday evening, his second extension. I gotta go back
Speaker 1: and look, the last time the Packers have actually re
Speaker 1: upped a play or an offensive lineman for another four
Speaker 1: year deal, and I gotta remember the last time that's happened.
Speaker 1: It's been a minute. Brian Bulag had a five year deal,
Speaker 1: but that was coming off of his rookie contract, David
Speaker 1: bak Try and it's gonna be something I'm gonna want
Speaker 1: to look into a little bit more this week. But
Speaker 1: fourth round pick. I think it was the tenth offensive
Speaker 1: linemen take in that year, in two thousand thirteen, Family Night,
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen. I will remember it the air. I
Speaker 1: can smell it. Everything is just ingrained in me because
Speaker 1: I remember that seemed like the game where bok tr
Speaker 1: was going to make his big move to start it
Speaker 1: right tackle. Yeah, there was some, there's some, you know,
Speaker 1: the situation was unfolding. You could see the guy did
Speaker 1: have some ability and they were finally going to start
Speaker 1: giving him some reps with the starting lineup at right tackle. Well,
Speaker 1: and this is when in in the off season, the
Speaker 1: Packers had made the decision that Brian Bulaga, who had
Speaker 1: been the right tackle, was going to flip over with
Speaker 1: Justin and play and play left tackle for the first
Speaker 1: time in his in his NFL career. So go ahead, sorry,
Speaker 1: I interrupted you, Mike McCarthy. That was his big statement.
Speaker 1: He wanted to have his best guys on the left
Speaker 1: side of the line protecting Aaron Rodgers blind side. Well,
Speaker 1: then lo and behold in that same game. I don't
Speaker 1: even know how many snaps box he was able to
Speaker 1: take Bulaga, we find out afterwards tears his a c L.
Speaker 1: And now you suddenly have a rookie fourth round pick
Speaker 1: protecting the blind side of a one time at that time,
Speaker 1: one time MVP quarterback, a guy at the peak of
Speaker 1: his powers and Aaron Rodgers and I wrote about this
Speaker 1: Mike an Insider Inbox on Monday for Tuesday. This guy
Speaker 1: made that look so seamless, and he's become an All
Speaker 1: World All Pro, may be potential Hall of Fame offensive
Speaker 1: lineman left tackle over the course of his seven year career.
Speaker 1: But when you go back and look at two thousand thirteen,
Speaker 1: what he accomplished that season with some of the horses
Speaker 1: that he was going up against in the NFC North,
Speaker 1: specifically the Jared Allens of the world. You talk about
Speaker 1: baptism by fire in the NFL, and this is a
Speaker 1: guy that was on a one win Colorado team. What
Speaker 1: point I want to make with this as we close
Speaker 1: is that we make so much every year out of
Speaker 1: the draft and first round picks, and you know this,
Speaker 1: that and the other thing. I think Luke Joco was
Speaker 1: the second overall pick that season, and I think looks
Speaker 1: out of the league now. Eric Fisher is still starting
Speaker 1: for Kansas City. But it's it's always good to have
Speaker 1: reminders of this because it shows the human side of
Speaker 1: this game and how he may not have been the
Speaker 1: most talented recruit coming out of high school. Heck, he
Speaker 1: might not have been the most coveted offensive lineman coming
Speaker 1: out of Colorado. But every once in a while you
Speaker 1: get those guys that are just the liars, right, And
Speaker 1: David Baxtr, for all intensive purpose, is going to be
Speaker 1: a Green Bay Packer for a really long time, will
Speaker 1: probably end up in this Hall of Fame, maybe even
Speaker 1: another one in Canton. There are a few better stories
Speaker 1: of the in football than David Baktr, and I think
Speaker 1: that's a story that probably hasn't been told enough. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know we're going overtime here, but I want to know.
Speaker 1: I want Yeah, we'll apologize to our producer, but I
Speaker 1: want to I want to come back at you with this.
Speaker 1: There's there's no putting a price or a value on
Speaker 1: a franchise quarterback. And Ted Thompson drafted Aaron Rodgers with
Speaker 1: the overall pick, his actually his very first draft selection
Speaker 1: back in two thousand and five. But is there anybody
Speaker 1: from a you know, scouts, GMS, they always talk about
Speaker 1: wanting to get the best value out of every draft selection, trade,
Speaker 1: whatever moves they make in the draft, it's all about value.
Speaker 1: Other than Aaron Rodgers, is there any value pick in
Speaker 1: the draft in Ted Thompson's career rear that is better
Speaker 1: than a franchise left tackle in the fourth round. I
Speaker 1: I don't think there is. And that's taking nothing away
Speaker 1: from all the receivers that Ted Thompson drafted in the
Speaker 1: second round and even finding the franchises all time leading
Speaker 1: scorer in the sixth round in Mason Crosby. But boy
Speaker 1: to find David Botry in the fourth round. And and
Speaker 1: Bat will be the first to say when we talk
Speaker 1: about the baptism by fire his rookie year in thirteen,
Speaker 1: I remember him saying a few years ago he looked
Speaker 1: back at some of his film from thirteen and fourteen.
Speaker 1: He thinks he was just a god awful player. You know,
Speaker 1: he he hated the way his film look but but
Speaker 1: that but that's the thing, like he just he he
Speaker 1: always just took it upon himself to make the strides
Speaker 1: that needed to be made and and to not just
Speaker 1: become a franchise left tackle, but as you said, now
Speaker 1: a multiple All Pro selection, possibly headed to a career
Speaker 1: that ends up in Canton in the Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. UM the value pick there by by Ted
Speaker 1: Tom in two thousand thirteen, I think it's I think
Speaker 1: it's unmatched other than the franchise quarterback he found in
Speaker 1: two thousands exactly and for a lot of years, you know.
Speaker 1: And and it depends on what metric you want to use.
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews and b J. Raji obviously helped them win
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl, uh, those selections in two thousand nine.
Speaker 1: But I think when this thing is all said and done,
Speaker 1: you can probably make a good case that he's gonna
Speaker 1: end up being the second best draft pick that Thompson
Speaker 1: ever made. And that that's considering Nick Collins and and
Speaker 1: Matthews and some of these other guys in two back
Speaker 1: drs credit to I know he doesn't take a lot
Speaker 1: pride isn't the right word, but I'm sure he cringes
Speaker 1: a little bit when he thinks of thirteen. But as
Speaker 1: I wrote about inbox, I still to this day cannot
Speaker 1: remember a game in which it was just a nightmare.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are some games where he felt like
Speaker 1: he was off, but he never was a turnstyle from
Speaker 1: day one, and now for the foreseeable future, going to
Speaker 1: be blocking the blindside of Aaron Rodgers, a man that
Speaker 1: he called his best friend and Rogers called his best friend.
Speaker 1: But yet they couldn't agree on whether or not they
Speaker 1: were each other's but they were. They were sure what
Speaker 1: there's an inside joke. They weren't sure what the other
Speaker 1: guy was going to say. But yeah, well, hats off
Speaker 1: to David Botier and congratulations on on his historic contract
Speaker 1: and uh and yeah, he'll be around in Green Bay
Speaker 1: for quite a while. Now. We've gone way over time,
Speaker 1: but that's okay because this is Packers Unscripted and we
Speaker 1: will call it a wrap on this edition. To be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
Speaker 1: on Packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.