Speaker 1: Hi everyone. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted
Speaker 1: colleague West Hotgwitz. We're coming to here from our studios
Speaker 1: at Lambolefield and West we are back from the bye weekend,
Speaker 1: So welcome back to the office. My friend, I went
Speaker 1: by quick, it did? It went by went by awfully.
Speaker 1: So I'm sitting on my coach on Sunday evening. We're
Speaker 1: taping this on Monday morning, and I'm just sitting there.
Speaker 1: I'm laying there, I'm watching television and I'm just like,
Speaker 1: where has the past week gone? Now that is insider inbox,
Speaker 1: but the rest of it, and I'm like, it just
Speaker 1: blew by? And uh, here we are in a week
Speaker 1: twelve already, How quickly the NFL season goes by? And
Speaker 1: unfortunately the bye week even quicker. Yeah, well, we need
Speaker 1: to discuss what happened been in the NFL while the
Speaker 1: Packers were not playing, because there were a couple of
Speaker 1: moments on Sunday, the way things were unfolding, it was
Speaker 1: looking like Green Bay was going to get some much
Speaker 1: desired results with the Broncos ahead of the Vikings twenty
Speaker 1: to nothing at halftime. The Arizona Cardinals were leading the
Speaker 1: San Francisco forty Niners sixteen to nothing. In the second quarter,
Speaker 1: I believe it was before the forty Niners got on
Speaker 1: the board. Both of those the home teams, the better
Speaker 1: teams came back and took care of business and got
Speaker 1: the victories. But but a lot of drama there that
Speaker 1: that certainly had an opportunity to go Green Bay's way. Well,
Speaker 1: the forty Niners game specifically is one we have to
Speaker 1: talk about because a week ago I was sitting here
Speaker 1: telling you, you know, they're fundamental, they do everything right,
Speaker 1: they're good running the football, and then here's this random
Speaker 1: occurrence where the past heavy aerial offense air raid that
Speaker 1: Arizona employees, Well, Kyler Murray has a hundred fifty passing yards.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile they're running game dominates San Francisco, which I think
Speaker 1: might have had what forty rushing yards and Jimmy Garoppolo
Speaker 1: throws for four four. I mean, just again, it seems
Speaker 1: like it's becoming a recurring theme on the show this year,
Speaker 1: But like every single week is just a reminder how
Speaker 1: everything can change. And you got to give the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty nine is credit because they came off of
Speaker 1: a demoralizing situation a week ago. And I said to
Speaker 1: you before we went on hiatus last week, the Arizona
Speaker 1: Cardinals cannot be taken lightly. They played him tough the
Speaker 1: first time, they played him tough again. But San Francisco,
Speaker 1: as good teams do, as you said, found a way
Speaker 1: to get that win in the second half. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: as I said it insider inbox this morning in the column,
Speaker 1: I give the San Francisco forty and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of credit for pulling that out because they were on
Speaker 1: a short week, having played an overtime game over that
Speaker 1: went the full overtime the whole ten minutes, a frustrating loss,
Speaker 1: their first loss of the season. They had to bounce back. Now.
Speaker 1: They didn't have travel involved, which helped them because they
Speaker 1: around this stretch of home games right now. But on
Speaker 1: a short week, you know a pesky improving division rival
Speaker 1: in the Arizona Cardinals coming in a team that had
Speaker 1: already played them tough as you mentioned the first time
Speaker 1: they met, and the forty niners found uh, they found
Speaker 1: a way to get it done. And then the Vegas
Speaker 1: thing kind of all blew up with the last play
Speaker 1: of the game. But that's a discussion, discussion for another day.
Speaker 1: But um, but no, you're right, and and the forty
Speaker 1: Niners there could be for them. And this is what
Speaker 1: will be interesting now leading into the game with the
Speaker 1: Packers this week, because you said it. The forty Niners
Speaker 1: did not follow they're tried and true formula what they
Speaker 1: did for the first two months of the season to
Speaker 1: win this game. They couldn't run the ball. They turned
Speaker 1: they turned the game over to Garoppolo and uh and
Speaker 1: he passed past them. With the statistics, the numbers he
Speaker 1: put up to a to a big victory to keep
Speaker 1: them on top of the NFC at nine and on
Speaker 1: where you have the Packers, the Seahawks, the Saints are
Speaker 1: all eaten two, and now you have the Vikings at
Speaker 1: eight and three. Well, this is a great performance by
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo for that reason, because I think so many
Speaker 1: times people are like, Okay, how good is Jimmy Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: And he's not without fault. I mean, he's gonna end
Speaker 1: up turning over the football, you know, passing wise interceptions
Speaker 1: probably over a dozen times this season is what he's
Speaker 1: on pace for but yet he finds a way to win.
Speaker 1: And this was a game where the passing game needed
Speaker 1: to carry them. Oh and then, by the way, you
Speaker 1: don't have George Kittle. Emmanuel Sanders plays, but he's dealing
Speaker 1: with the rib injury, so Deebo Samuel becomes a big
Speaker 1: part of this offense. Um you see differently, you know,
Speaker 1: Kyle use Check. This was a reminder of what that
Speaker 1: position can do, if you know, in terms of being
Speaker 1: able to move the chains. In this game, seven catches
Speaker 1: for sixty three yards. They didn't have Matt Brita as well,
Speaker 1: So just for them to find a way. That's great
Speaker 1: for them to be sitting where they are number one
Speaker 1: seed right now in the NFC playoff chase. But I
Speaker 1: think this was a reminder for the second straight week, Mike,
Speaker 1: and again we're gonna be a the you know, go
Speaker 1: play this thing out on Sunday night. But forty Niners
Speaker 1: are not without fault, They're not infallible. The Packers have
Speaker 1: a realistic chance of going in there. I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna end up being a couple of point underdogs right
Speaker 1: now is the way it's looking. But a lot of
Speaker 1: that is gonna be the home field advantage. Yeah, no
Speaker 1: question about it. And certainly there there are some things
Speaker 1: that have been put on film the last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks by the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals that
Speaker 1: that show a little bit of vulnerability with the forty Niners,
Speaker 1: and that's to be expected. As we talked about, it's
Speaker 1: a sixteen game season. Yes, the Niners were eight no
Speaker 1: at the halfway point. They get all the credit in
Speaker 1: the world for doing that. But sixteen games is a
Speaker 1: long season and eventually they're gonna be some some chinks
Speaker 1: in the armor, you know, some cracks in the foundation
Speaker 1: and uh, and good teams are going to have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to take advantage of that. The Seahawks did and
Speaker 1: got a big victory on the road. The Cardinals almost did,
Speaker 1: couldn't quite hold on. The forty Inners kept coming back
Speaker 1: there down sixteen nothing, then they were trailing again in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. They came back a couple of times
Speaker 1: in order to get that. I do want to talk also,
Speaker 1: though about the Minnesota Vikings down twenty to nothing to
Speaker 1: the Denver Broncos. This was the game I probably watched.
Speaker 1: I spent more time watching this one than any other
Speaker 1: um on Sunday. And I'll say this, I'll just repeat
Speaker 1: what I said in Insider Inbox. When the Broncos blew
Speaker 1: the chance at the end of the first half to
Speaker 1: add to the twenty to nothing lead, when Brandon and
Speaker 1: Allen tried to force a pass, you know, to the
Speaker 1: goal line over the middle, it got picked off. They
Speaker 1: were easily going to add another field goal and at
Speaker 1: least get to twenty three to nothing, and that didn't happen.
Speaker 1: And then when when Denver's defense, which had played such
Speaker 1: great football in the first stef just allowed the Vikings
Speaker 1: to march right down the field and score to open
Speaker 1: the second half, it just felt to me like the
Speaker 1: outcome was inevitable that Minnesota was going to come back
Speaker 1: and win this game, and they did. Well. Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's a lot of Minnesota Vikings fans that
Speaker 1: watch a show called Packers Unscripted, but my message to
Speaker 1: all of them would be, this is why you need
Speaker 1: to at least appreciate Kirk Cousins and why they made
Speaker 1: the investment that they did. I get it. He's not
Speaker 1: the second coming of Joe Montana. Nobody really is right,
Speaker 1: But they were chasing a solution at quarterback. They wanted
Speaker 1: a firm foundation at quarterback like they're not. Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: gives you that in the league where it's very difficult
Speaker 1: to establish and find those players. For Kirk Cousins to
Speaker 1: have the performance he did against a Vic Fangio defense
Speaker 1: that had a lot of success against Dalvin Cook in
Speaker 1: the run and was able to, you know, do a
Speaker 1: lot of things schematically to challenge them in the first half.
Speaker 1: For them to battle back from that shows you why
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings are still contenders and as you and
Speaker 1: I've been discussing for the last few weeks, why they've
Speaker 1: been able to sort of rise from the ashes to
Speaker 1: make this type of run that they're at. Conversely, Denver
Speaker 1: Broncos have a lot of problems right now. That was
Speaker 1: just that was just a defensive meltdown in the second half.
Speaker 1: I mean, for them to pitch that first half shutout
Speaker 1: yardage wise, they're ranked fourth in the league with that
Speaker 1: defense coming into the game, and then in the second half,
Speaker 1: with a with a three score lead, four possessions, four
Speaker 1: touchdowns by the Minnesota Vikings, the Broncos could not get
Speaker 1: a stop to save their lives when really one stop
Speaker 1: might have been all they needed in the second half
Speaker 1: to win that game. Yeah. And the thing I really
Speaker 1: didn't like, to be honest with you after the game,
Speaker 1: vic Fangio saying his big quote, I think it's leading
Speaker 1: off NFL dot Com right now is will eventually get
Speaker 1: it done. That's not going to cut it. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: need to get it done. I could say I'm I'm
Speaker 1: four and seven right now in my fantasy football league.
Speaker 1: I can stay there every Tuesday morning and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna eventually get it done. The results are what
Speaker 1: they are. You can point towards the quarterback situation, but
Speaker 1: that's been a thing for a few years now for
Speaker 1: the Broncos. You can point towards the running game, but
Speaker 1: you know, you haven't really been able to find and
Speaker 1: recreate the magic that they had last year. Your bread
Speaker 1: and butter has to be the defense, and they put
Speaker 1: themselves in a position to win that game early, and
Speaker 1: they fell apart late. And that's why you're sitting where
Speaker 1: you are right now in Week twelve. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's you know, give the Vikings credit. They certainly storm
Speaker 1: back from what was looking like a true clunker of
Speaker 1: a performance. And and it was happening at home the
Speaker 1: fans at US Bank Stadium or obvious letting them hear it,
Speaker 1: you know, walking off the field at twenty to nothing. Um.
Speaker 1: And it's as I mentioned, it should have been worse
Speaker 1: than twenty to nothing because after the fumble on the kickoff,
Speaker 1: the Broncos were in position to add even more points
Speaker 1: before halftime, and they blew that opportunity. Um. Did you
Speaker 1: see the end of the game, the final sequence by
Speaker 1: the by the goal line. Um. Again, a discussion for
Speaker 1: another day with regards to the whole past interference rule,
Speaker 1: But all three of those plays there were some interesting
Speaker 1: things going on. I think the one that stands out
Speaker 1: the most to people is the receiver getting his face
Speaker 1: mask grabbed as the ball is coming. Which Gene Sterator,
Speaker 1: the rules expert and former NFL official who was um,
Speaker 1: you know, doing the usual broadcasting on Sunday, he actually
Speaker 1: put out there on Twitter that hey, like, face mask
Speaker 1: is not a reviewable penalty, but because the ball was
Speaker 1: in the air, you could construe that as past interference
Speaker 1: with the guy grabbing the face mask. They didn't even
Speaker 1: stop the game to take a look at it. You
Speaker 1: know nothing like that, and uh and the Vikings escape
Speaker 1: with the victory. It's almost kind of like an ignorance
Speaker 1: bless a little bit because those plays happen now and
Speaker 1: I'm not even disappointed, not even I don't even think
Speaker 1: twice about it now. The first couple of weeks of
Speaker 1: this season, it's like, come on, what are you thinking?
Speaker 1: But when you start to understand, it's just like you
Speaker 1: know your your regular standard recess basketball game. When you
Speaker 1: start to understand the rules of how we're gonna play
Speaker 1: this thing, you're no longer disappointed when a certain thing
Speaker 1: doesn't go all the way. I again, a discussion for
Speaker 1: another day. As long and as drawn out as that
Speaker 1: process was last year, trying to figure out how they're
Speaker 1: gonna change your fish any rules, they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: sit in that room twice as long this offseason. And
Speaker 1: my hope is and I called it last year, Mike,
Speaker 1: not Barry horror with saying myself here, but I called
Speaker 1: it last year. You saw all these things mounting leading
Speaker 1: up to the NFC Championship game. There was call after call,
Speaker 1: and it's like, that's not just going to magically stop.
Speaker 1: There's going to be a critical moment one of these
Speaker 1: playoff games where they're going to have to make a decision.
Speaker 1: In that decision is really going to have some big implications.
Speaker 1: It's they don't disappear, they only compound, and that's something
Speaker 1: that Lead's gonna have to deal with. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it certainly feels like this year is headed that way
Speaker 1: as far as the postseason as well, with with whether
Speaker 1: these p I reviews, I mean the streak and I know,
Speaker 1: I guess there were a couple of p I reviews
Speaker 1: yesterday that actually got changed. But when you look at
Speaker 1: the fact that the one in the Minnesota game wasn't
Speaker 1: even really looked at the one in the Houston Baltimore
Speaker 1: game that was that was challenged and the call on
Speaker 1: the field was not overturned. This this is this is
Speaker 1: headed for another potential postseason disaster. That is that is
Speaker 1: going to knock somebody out of the playoffs in potentially
Speaker 1: a very unjust manner and uh, figure out the owners meetings. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess. So, Well, what is interesting those
Speaker 1: the Packers were benefits of that that uh you know,
Speaker 1: screen type call. I think that was against the Bears
Speaker 1: game right where it ended up being the receiver pickplay
Speaker 1: that was Minnesota. I thought that was going to set
Speaker 1: a precedent for the season. It didn't know and that
Speaker 1: that it Actually I think what that did be because
Speaker 1: because that was essentially an offensive past interference flag that
Speaker 1: was dropped from New York so to speak, when they
Speaker 1: looked at the touchdown play. I think that's the play
Speaker 1: that changed everything because there there started to be a
Speaker 1: message that was sent like, hey, that's not what this
Speaker 1: rule was put in for is to to be looking
Speaker 1: at touchdowns and then dropping flags from New York. So
Speaker 1: then the whole thing has gone the other way to
Speaker 1: where the percentages of the calls that are being upheld
Speaker 1: on the field regardless of what the replay looks like
Speaker 1: on these p I reviews and coaches who are still
Speaker 1: trying to challenge things even though it's feudal because they're
Speaker 1: not going to get the call to go their way.
Speaker 1: I think that. I think the call at lambeau Field
Speaker 1: in Week two on that offensive past interference against the Vikings,
Speaker 1: I think that's the one that changed everything because it
Speaker 1: was really weird. I remember just being kind of flabber
Speaker 1: gas that sitting in my seat that they actually it
Speaker 1: was the right call, more vantage point, but it was
Speaker 1: it was stunt. It was stunning that that that basically
Speaker 1: New York took a touchdown away on a score play.
Speaker 1: It was automatically reviewed and they said, oh, there's offensive
Speaker 1: past interference right there, that's no touchdown, and uh it
Speaker 1: costs the Vikings four points because they ended up kicking
Speaker 1: a field goal on that drive. So it's fascinating the
Speaker 1: way that these things get interpreted. Again, I wrote it
Speaker 1: an Insider in box last week. I don't want to
Speaker 1: be an NFL official. I have no interest in doing it,
Speaker 1: but man, the way that this game is right now,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's one thing to not want to
Speaker 1: do the job. I don't want to be a high
Speaker 1: school basketball rep. But it's another thing for the way
Speaker 1: that's being interpreted. It's there is an element of kind
Speaker 1: of I don't want to get all into it, but
Speaker 1: it's almost a superiority. It's it's come off as well.
Speaker 1: You you know, you know my take, which is that
Speaker 1: I think we've reached the point, and again, discussion for
Speaker 1: another day, we've reached the point where the call on
Speaker 1: the field can't matter anymore. They just have if something
Speaker 1: goes to replay, you look at the replay and you
Speaker 1: call what you see and to heck with whatever the
Speaker 1: call is on the field. But nobody, nobody seems to
Speaker 1: really want to go in that direction, even though I
Speaker 1: think the technology dictates that the hall in the field
Speaker 1: really just shouldn't carry the weight that it carries in.
Speaker 1: And that's a quincidental kind of aspect of this is
Speaker 1: that originally the whole thing was the league office is
Speaker 1: going to make the call. The referees, they'll be on
Speaker 1: the headset, they'll be there to give their input, but
Speaker 1: that it really doesn't And ultimately that's what it came down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the call and the call in the field is still
Speaker 1: carrying the day. We gotta get to your Darren College
Speaker 1: store because I want to discuss that. But before we
Speaker 1: get to that Thursday night football, I'd be remiss if
Speaker 1: I didn't ask you about it, the whole fiasco with
Speaker 1: my goodness, Do you have a quick take on that
Speaker 1: at all, because I have several, but I'm curious. My
Speaker 1: my quick take is I can't believe all the people
Speaker 1: who are screaming for Mason Rudolph to get suspended out
Speaker 1: of this thing. Now, Look, if Mason Rudolph gets a fine,
Speaker 1: I'm totally cool that he overreacted to the situation. But
Speaker 1: if if Myles Garrett, even if Myles Garrett yanks the
Speaker 1: helmet off and just drops it and throws it aside,
Speaker 1: nobody's talking about suspensions here for anybody at all. Miles
Speaker 1: Garrett is the one who escalate aided this thing to
Speaker 1: the level that it is. He and then and and
Speaker 1: I don't disagree with the suspension for Marquise Pouncy because
Speaker 1: you start throwing punches, you're gonna get suspended. And I
Speaker 1: think he escalated from a one game suspension to a
Speaker 1: three game suspension with the kicking when Garrett was on
Speaker 1: the ground. So I think, from what I've heard so far,
Speaker 1: I think this has been adjudicated properly by the NFL.
Speaker 1: But man, I have never just going back to the
Speaker 1: incident itself, I have never seen anything quite so barbaric
Speaker 1: on an NFL. And it's two thousand nineteen and I
Speaker 1: wrote about this an inbox. You edited it last week
Speaker 1: with everything we know about head and neck. In goodness,
Speaker 1: this is unacceptable because someone mentioned, you know the whole thing,
Speaker 1: you know, you go back to the you know, Jim
Speaker 1: McMann incident with the Packers back in the late eighties. Agree,
Speaker 1: justus terrible. It was a different time. Unfortunately, those things happen,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't a nitty or grittier and in some
Speaker 1: cases dumber way to play the game. We understand what
Speaker 1: we're dealing with now. I mean in terms of the
Speaker 1: gravity of some of these things. To be chucking a
Speaker 1: helmet like that, if you hit him on the temple,
Speaker 1: if that thing hits him with the crown of the helmet,
Speaker 1: we're talking about significant implications beyond the game. You're talking
Speaker 1: about possibly a fractured skull. So you and I have
Speaker 1: held NFL helmets. I don't know how many viewers have.
Speaker 1: But I mean the way that these things have been
Speaker 1: developed now and the way I mean these aren't they're
Speaker 1: not throwing around the you know, no, the ones, the
Speaker 1: ones that we got under the Christmas trees and we
Speaker 1: were kids, those those have about twenty of the mass
Speaker 1: and weight of an actual NFL helmet. I mean, these
Speaker 1: things are these things are dangerous when they're getting swung
Speaker 1: around like that. And uh and and to see that,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I know, Myles Garrett is going
Speaker 1: to appeal his suspension. I think this is really interesting
Speaker 1: issue as far as how much does the union stand
Speaker 1: behind a guy when one of its members just flat
Speaker 1: out assaulted and attacked and another another union member with
Speaker 1: with a weapon like a helmet. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: this is to me is unprecedented at least in my lifetime.
Speaker 1: In following the NFL, I expect the union in the
Speaker 1: PA to to do that is their job is to
Speaker 1: protect Myles Garrett, that you know, and defend him. That
Speaker 1: they are the defense attorney in that way. I do
Speaker 1: appreciate though that were now a couple of days removed this,
Speaker 1: that they didn't just come out and like Levy down
Speaker 1: on the NFL for the suspensions. Whatever has to happen
Speaker 1: the a Pillies process and that will be up to
Speaker 1: Derrick Brooks and in James Thrash. But that that I
Speaker 1: thought sent an important message that this is the Demerius
Speaker 1: Randall thing. I thought that was an egregious hit, unnecessary.
Speaker 1: It was in the realm of football play, yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: but but that's what that's that's the that's the football
Speaker 1: play they're trying to legislate out of the game. They
Speaker 1: put in the remedies. Now when they see it, they're
Speaker 1: gonna they're gonna kick a guy out and and that's
Speaker 1: that's where things are headed. But yes, it was it
Speaker 1: was a football play. It was done wrongly and and
Speaker 1: uh and the punishment was properly. And the one thing
Speaker 1: I will say that people are they're wanting punishment for
Speaker 1: Rudolph that I I really like that the NFL stepped in.
Speaker 1: They find both organizations, because to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: it's just unacceptable on so many counts. There's eight seconds
Speaker 1: left in the game. Whether or not Myles Garrett took
Speaker 1: down Rudolph when he shouldn't have, I think that's what
Speaker 1: escalated for Rudolf. That's what that's what that's what started
Speaker 1: it for the quarterback. And then, as I say, he overreacted,
Speaker 1: then the other guy overreacted, and then the benches get bees. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no there's there's no place for that. There's no
Speaker 1: place for that, there's no need for that. And uh
Speaker 1: and yeah, I mean it's it's just a it's an
Speaker 1: ugly it's an ugly black mark on a league that
Speaker 1: was that that has been trying with a lot of
Speaker 1: safety rules and everything else to clean up the game.
Speaker 1: And uh, and this one, this one sent the league
Speaker 1: back a few steps. And last thing, and I really
Speaker 1: want to discuss college. It was a great story. This
Speaker 1: is why you want to talk about wins and losses,
Speaker 1: beyond suspensions, beyond finds, all these things. Look at why
Speaker 1: the New England Patriots just one their nineteenth straight winning season,
Speaker 1: like they just clean Belichick, The Patriots, the teams that
Speaker 1: do it right, play disciplined football. They do it in
Speaker 1: quarter one, they do it in quarter four. And I
Speaker 1: just think when you look at where Cleveland seasons at
Speaker 1: right now and how things are going, that's the difference.
Speaker 1: You want to win football games. Play disciplined, don't do
Speaker 1: agregious stuff. Best be fundamental. Yeah is what it is.
Speaker 1: I went, like I said on Twitter after the game,
Speaker 1: I wish I wouldn't even watched it. Yeah, there's there's
Speaker 1: a part of me that wishes I hadn't seen it live. Either.
Speaker 1: But um, that being said, we did want to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about that. It is November, it is
Speaker 1: Salute to Service month in the NFL. You and I
Speaker 1: have both been have worked on a couple of stories.
Speaker 1: You had the piece on Danny vitally earlier. I had
Speaker 1: one that posted last week, um during the bye on
Speaker 1: Darren College. For those who remember him, he was a
Speaker 1: second round draft pick for the Packers in two thousand six.
Speaker 1: He played five years in Green Bay, was a starter
Speaker 1: that entire time, was a starting guard on the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl forty five championship team. And he is now in
Speaker 1: the Idaho National Guard. And earlier this year he returned
Speaker 1: from a ten month deployment to Afghanistan. Uh some married man,
Speaker 1: father of two young girls to uh elementary school age girls,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know it was it was really really
Speaker 1: neat to catch up with him. He's one of the
Speaker 1: guys that his five years in Green Bay. Two thousand
Speaker 1: and six was the year I got to the Packers
Speaker 1: and Packers dot com. He was part of that first
Speaker 1: rookie class that came in. I really enjoyed getting know
Speaker 1: him over the five years that he played here. I
Speaker 1: even actually bumped into him when he finished his final
Speaker 1: year in the NFL. He was with the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: and the Packers had beaten the Dolphins down in Miami
Speaker 1: on that last second fake spike, you know, whole sequence,
Speaker 1: and um, I actually crossed paths with him as he
Speaker 1: was coming off the field and I was making my
Speaker 1: way down towards the Packer locker room for postgame interviews.
Speaker 1: And he's the kind of guy like he sees me,
Speaker 1: he stops and says hello, it's just really quickly like, hey,
Speaker 1: good to see you know, take it easy. That was
Speaker 1: the last time I had seen him until he came
Speaker 1: back and I talked to him about this, uh, this
Speaker 1: deployment to Afghanistan, and uh, boy, you talk about somebody
Speaker 1: who who is really dedicated to the service element of
Speaker 1: a post football career. Um, it's it's really remarkable what
Speaker 1: he's doing. I think it takes a special breed of
Speaker 1: person to to do what Darren College is doing. And
Speaker 1: uh and you know, to go over to Afghanistan and
Speaker 1: to be in some of those danger zones. I you know,
Speaker 1: I certainly pray for him, just as I do for
Speaker 1: for all the servicemen and women over there. But as
Speaker 1: you know, when it's somebody that you know and you
Speaker 1: start to think about those kinds of things, that it
Speaker 1: feels a little different. Well, and it's incredible. It's an
Speaker 1: incredible story. I really encourage you to check it out
Speaker 1: on Packers Dot com still up there now called a
Speaker 1: duty uh and Darren College journey. The one quote though,
Speaker 1: and I when I tweeted your story out, this is
Speaker 1: the quote I pulled. It was from Jason Spitz, who
Speaker 1: has been a longtime friend of College. They obviously operate
Speaker 1: the winery together. Yeah, they they were. They were in
Speaker 1: the same draft class back to background, second and third
Speaker 1: round in two thousand and six. They were great friends
Speaker 1: from the day they arrived in Green Bay. And it
Speaker 1: was amazing to read that quote when it's like, you
Speaker 1: know so many you know, he just gets done with
Speaker 1: a nine year tenure NFL career and then here he
Speaker 1: is jumping into this and and there's a certain aspect
Speaker 1: from spitz perspective, I mean, are you just are you crazy?
Speaker 1: Like what are you doing? But then when you understand
Speaker 1: him and you understand what motivates him and where he
Speaker 1: comes from, and you know, one thing I learned from
Speaker 1: the story, I didn't realize that North Pole, Alaska was
Speaker 1: actually a big military area. Um, yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 1: There's there's various military bases up there in Alaska. And
Speaker 1: he grew up kind of surrounded by that. He had
Speaker 1: a both a great grandfather, and a grandfather who served
Speaker 1: in the military. Um. And his his brother is also
Speaker 1: currently in the military, is involved in some in special forces. Um.
Speaker 1: So uh, yeah, he got done. He got done with
Speaker 1: a nine year NFL career. Certainly has plenty of money
Speaker 1: to set up, you know, his family, generations of his
Speaker 1: family for a long time to come. And uh and
Speaker 1: was having a conversation with Jason Spitz and some other
Speaker 1: friends and feeling like he just he was wasting his life.
Speaker 1: He needed to needed to do something. And he's, uh,
Speaker 1: he's slimmed down about fifty pounds, he's about a three
Speaker 1: pound offensive guard. He weighs about to sixty now just
Speaker 1: looks you know, he's he's in great shape. And uh. Um,
Speaker 1: personality wise, he's just he's he's still the same guy.
Speaker 1: He's he's a he's a fast talker who will strike
Speaker 1: up a conversation with anybody. And uh and just a
Speaker 1: really a really really neat guy. And uh and I
Speaker 1: hope that you know, those who want to reminisce a
Speaker 1: little bit and get to know what he's doing now
Speaker 1: that he has been out of football for five years. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, check out the story. I really did enjoy
Speaker 1: the conversation with Yeah, and like I said, it's a
Speaker 1: phenomenal tale. It's incredible to hear what his motivations are,
Speaker 1: what that experience was like for him, and just where
Speaker 1: where he's at right now in his life. But certainly,
Speaker 1: you know, the slip to service month number of members
Speaker 1: of the military. I know my grandfather served an incredible
Speaker 1: opportunity to it. To really recognize and appreciate the men
Speaker 1: and women that that put so much on the line
Speaker 1: for that for you know, our country. And then to
Speaker 1: see a guy like Darren College who when you say
Speaker 1: like he felt like he wasn't he could literally sit
Speaker 1: on a couch the rest of his life and be
Speaker 1: fine and be set and nobody and nobody would question
Speaker 1: it when he when he you know, put his body
Speaker 1: through what football players have to put their bodies through
Speaker 1: to play this game for nine years, and and I
Speaker 1: forget what his total number of games was, but he
Speaker 1: he didn't basically didn't miss a game in Green Bay. Um.
Speaker 1: He uh, he started eight plus games over the course
Speaker 1: of his five years, including playoffs, and just just a durable,
Speaker 1: you know, the the warrior football mentality type. And he's
Speaker 1: he's sort of taken that that same mentality into his
Speaker 1: post football career. What a saint his wife is to
Speaker 1: going through an NFL career where you know, he's gone
Speaker 1: as much as he is, you're dedicated to the cause
Speaker 1: as much he is, and then to turn around and
Speaker 1: decide he wants to do something like that that includes
Speaker 1: that type of deployment. His white his wife, Megan, as
Speaker 1: I said, two young daughters. They were five and seven
Speaker 1: when he left to go to Afghanistan. Then they both
Speaker 1: turned six and eight by the time he came back.
Speaker 1: And his wife, Megan is he called her a military bratch.
Speaker 1: She grew up in a military family that moved around
Speaker 1: and and so you know, she was familiar with the deal.
Speaker 1: And as he said, I couldn't do it without her,
Speaker 1: but she knew everything that was involved when I signed
Speaker 1: up for it. And uh um, just my head, My
Speaker 1: hat's off to the guy, and uh um, I really
Speaker 1: did appreciate getting to catch up with him. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: if you definitely get a chance to check that out,
Speaker 1: Packers dot com still up there now? Really nice read?
Speaker 1: All right, with that, we will call it a wrap
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers on Scripted. We sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers
Speaker 1: dot com. On Twitter, He's at west Hot I'm at
Speaker 1: Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in, everybody, See you next time.