Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague West Honkoitz. We're coming to you
Speaker 1: Hear from our studios at Lambeaufield to review last Thursday's
Speaker 1: trip to Detroit and unfortunately WES had ended in a
Speaker 1: disappointing thirty four to thirty one loss to the Lions
Speaker 1: at Ford Field, a walkoff loss field goal thirty five
Speaker 1: yardfield goal on the last play of the game. I
Speaker 1: would characterize this as a disappointing loss, but by no
Speaker 1: means a discouraging loss. When I look at where the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers are, would you agree with that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I and any other year Packers went up against
Speaker 2: the best team in the NFC and maybe they'd still
Speaker 2: be their division, maybe they'd be second their division. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: we know what the North is this year. So that
Speaker 2: was the hard part about it. When you realize that
Speaker 2: the Packers now are nine to four and they've lost
Speaker 2: to statistically in the standings the three top teams in
Speaker 2: this conference in Philly, Minnesota and now Detroit twice. Green
Speaker 2: Bay played a lot better in this game than they
Speaker 2: did the game at Lambeufield a month ago. I thought
Speaker 2: you saw some of the corrections that they needed to make.
Speaker 2: They made those. The problem was, though, as we've seen
Speaker 2: time and time again, Detroit is one of the most
Speaker 2: consistent teams in the National Football League in terms of
Speaker 2: executing what they are looking to do on the field.
Speaker 2: They run the ball efficiently, they don't take negative yardage plays.
Speaker 2: The more comfortable that Jared Goff gets, the less that
Speaker 2: it's on his shoulders to kind of play hero ball.
Speaker 2: The better that this team plays indefensively, I absolutely tip
Speaker 2: my cap to them because for as a defensive front
Speaker 2: that was as beat up as they were going into
Speaker 2: this thing. The Lions, I thought, really brought it to
Speaker 2: Green Bay and the trenches in this game. So there
Speaker 2: were a lot of positives, there were some areas for improvements,
Speaker 2: some negatives. But at the end of the day, and
Speaker 2: we'll talk about this later in the week with Seattle
Speaker 2: and what's coming at this loss to the Lions. As
Speaker 2: long as Green Bay channels did it appropriately against Seattle,
Speaker 2: against New Orleans, against Minnesota and then Chicago, I mean,
Speaker 2: this could be something that really helps propel you into
Speaker 2: the playoffs. They just need to make sure it doesn't
Speaker 2: snowball the opposite way because green Bay played them really tough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought so too, And I want to do
Speaker 1: the I'm gonna call it the reverse dom Capers here.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Pepers always used to go to Let's start
Speaker 1: with the negatives, start with the positives. Okay, there are
Speaker 1: positives to talk about from this game, and I want
Speaker 1: to get to those, but I want to do those
Speaker 1: later because I want to start with the regrets, because
Speaker 1: there are a lot of regrets for the Packers. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Detroit's banged up defense and how they kind of
Speaker 1: took it to green Bay, especially in the game. The
Speaker 1: slow start on offense in a game that turned out
Speaker 1: to be turned into a shootout, right frankly offensively, the
Speaker 1: slow start going punt punt fumble on the first three possessions,
Speaker 1: especially when that second possession was starting near midfield, when
Speaker 1: the defense for Green Bay had gotten a stop of
Speaker 1: the Lions deep in their territory. So you get good
Speaker 1: field position on your second drive of the game, down
Speaker 1: seven to nothing, but you don't do anything with it.
Speaker 1: Then you punt, and then the fumble occurs at the
Speaker 1: end of an explosive catch and run by Christian Watson,
Speaker 1: a gain of twenty yards. You're across midfield, but he
Speaker 1: doesn't protect the football. It comes out and the Lions
Speaker 1: get it back. They turn that into a field goal,
Speaker 1: so you've gone punt punt fumble and you're down ten
Speaker 1: to nothing. So the slow start there a very big regret. Obviously,
Speaker 1: fourth downs another regret in this game. The Lions end
Speaker 1: up converting four out of five on fourth downs. Two
Speaker 1: of those are fourth and goals that turn into touchdowns,
Speaker 1: and then obviously the fourth and one call at the end,
Speaker 1: which allows them to then run the clock out before
Speaker 1: they kicked the field goal, so the Packers don't get
Speaker 1: the ball back, and really that was kind of the
Speaker 1: culmination the biggest regret for me defensively in this game
Speaker 1: for Green Bay. You know, you're not going to just
Speaker 1: shut down the Lions. They're too good, right, They're going
Speaker 1: to make plays, They're going to get points. What was
Speaker 1: really the regret defensively in this game for Green Bay
Speaker 1: was the last two drives. Because the defense had gotten
Speaker 1: an interception and a fourth down stop back to back
Speaker 1: in the second half. The Packers offensively turned both of
Speaker 1: those into touchdowns, which really kind of you know, changed
Speaker 1: the whole complexion of the game. But then Detroit's last
Speaker 1: two drives they were just slowly methodically grinding the clock.
Speaker 1: They get a touchdown, and then they kill the last
Speaker 1: three and a half minutes to kick a field goal.
Speaker 1: Those are the regrets that stay out to me. And
Speaker 1: then of course you have the the offensive pass interference
Speaker 1: in the red zone, which the Packers only end up
Speaker 1: getting the field goal that ties the game instead of
Speaker 1: a touchdown to take the lead. All of those fall
Speaker 1: in the regret category. I'll let you expound on any
Speaker 1: or all of them if you wish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I kind of feel like Aaron Rodgers here is
Speaker 2: like okay, like you're asking them them like I'm I
Speaker 2: threw a whole lot at you. No, No, it's not
Speaker 2: even that. It's just when you say, expounded what I want,
Speaker 2: there's so much to expond upon. You touched on a
Speaker 2: lot of it there. Let me just start off with
Speaker 2: this what happened on those last two series. Green Bay
Speaker 2: needs to get stops, no question about it. You can't
Speaker 2: let them leak down the field the way they did. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: But that is this is what Detroit does seventy six
Speaker 2: offensive plays thirty six minutes a time of possession. They
Speaker 2: wear on you, they lean on you, they play physically,
Speaker 2: and then they just try to sort of push you
Speaker 2: over over the course of a sixty minute game. Not
Speaker 2: to say that that's what they did at the end.
Speaker 2: I think green Bay was competitive from beginning, middle and end.
Speaker 2: But it just shows you when you apply that type
Speaker 2: of pressure what the Lions are able to achieve. And
Speaker 2: this was one game, Mike. For as many regrettable moments
Speaker 2: as there were for green Bay, Detroit had a fair
Speaker 2: amount of them. The interception that Jared Goff has that
Speaker 2: turns into a Keishawn Nixon pick, his first pick of
Speaker 2: the year, that leads to points them deciding to go
Speaker 2: for it on fourth and one. I believe it was,
Speaker 2: or maybe fourth to two at their own thirty one
Speaker 2: yard line while they're leading twenty four to twenty one.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a controversial decision in the third quarter,
Speaker 2: and all the other ones, the fourth downs, I agreed
Speaker 2: with all of them. And you had to read this
Speaker 2: when I wrote this an inbox, I'd be curious to
Speaker 2: see your thoughts on it. Matt Lafleur's point about a
Speaker 2: week or two ago about the red zone and when
Speaker 2: you're passing deep in the red zone, either the play
Speaker 2: is there or it's not. You're going off schedule. The
Speaker 2: bang Bank nature of it is what ended up happening
Speaker 2: at the end of the first half, and then obviously
Speaker 2: the one that they converted late, and credit Jared Goff.
Speaker 2: He was decisive, they were effective in what they were
Speaker 2: trying to run, and to me, in addition to the
Speaker 2: final two defensive stands, that was the difference. If Green
Speaker 2: Bay keeps them out of the end zone and one
Speaker 2: or two of those instances, yeah, this thing maybe goes
Speaker 2: a different direction. It certainly would have had a different
Speaker 2: flavor going into halftime.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you talk about those fourth and goal plays,
Speaker 1: the passes, those passes being there right away, I totally
Speaker 1: agree with you there. One of the keys to that though,
Speaker 1: is the balls on the two yard line or three
Speaker 1: yard line in both of those instances, where when you
Speaker 1: have Jamior Gibbs and David Montgomery defensively, you have to
Speaker 1: be prepared for anything they might do. They might run it,
Speaker 1: they might throw it. You know, it can be anything
Speaker 1: which does make and the Lions know that you know,
Speaker 1: obviously fourth and goal from the seven, if they decide
Speaker 1: to go for that, you're going, okay, they're probably gonna
Speaker 1: throw the ball here right well, fourth and goal from
Speaker 1: the two, you don't know. And and the Lions use
Speaker 1: that to their advantage because because those running backs are
Speaker 1: so tough and are capable of of pounding those balls
Speaker 1: in from the goal line. The Packers actually did a
Speaker 1: really good job stopping the other than the very first
Speaker 1: one at the beginning of the game, stopping those guys
Speaker 1: from getting the rushing guests. They made Jared Goff throw
Speaker 1: the ball into the end zone. But unfortunately they unfortunately
Speaker 1: they weren't able to stop those It was really it
Speaker 1: was really disappointing to see on the second fourth and
Speaker 1: goal where they scored in the second half, that the
Speaker 1: Lions came out of the huddle and kind of quick
Speaker 1: snapped on the Packers and the defense wasn't set and
Speaker 1: wasn't ready right. That's the kind of thing that can't
Speaker 1: happen in a crucial situation like that. And and you know,
Speaker 1: it's not like the Lions been do and hurry up
Speaker 1: stuff and this and that throughout the game. It's like boom,
Speaker 1: they just you know, they came out of the huddle
Speaker 1: and they're like they rush up to the line and
Speaker 1: snapped the ball, and you know they caught the Packers
Speaker 1: to you have to give them credit. And if you're
Speaker 1: the Packers, you have to say that that can't happen.
Speaker 1: You have to be ready for the Lions to try
Speaker 1: something different at any moment, and and they just they
Speaker 1: That's how Detroit stays a step ahead of opponents most
Speaker 1: of the time.
Speaker 2: And kudos to Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson on this too,
Speaker 2: because green Bay, if you look at the film this year,
Speaker 2: Mic and all these teams do when they're playing them,
Speaker 2: green Bay has been extraordinary in goal to go against
Speaker 2: the run this season. How many times has it been
Speaker 2: where the Packers have actually gotten off the field there
Speaker 2: or they found a way to turn over the football.
Speaker 2: It happened again in this thing, and it happened primarily
Speaker 2: because teams are trying to run against them and they're
Speaker 2: not having success. Detroit made the right correction. They tried
Speaker 2: to sneak it, they tried to run it, they tried everything,
Speaker 2: and then finally they go back to the pass. They
Speaker 2: trust their quarterback to make the right lead and he
Speaker 2: achieves that. The disappointing thing for me is that Detroit
Speaker 2: finishes this game, Michael, even with an a'man Ross Saint
Speaker 2: Brown ten yard run, thirty four carries for one hundred
Speaker 2: and eleven yards three point three yards per carry. Jamiir
Speaker 2: Gibbs had forty three yards on fifteen carries. That's the
Speaker 2: number three in the fan voting for the Pro Bowl
Speaker 2: right now. Forty three yards on fifteen carries, and one
Speaker 2: of those went for twenty yards. Green Bay helped them
Speaker 2: in check a lot of the ways you have to
Speaker 2: hold them in check. But the difficult thing about facing
Speaker 2: the Detroit Lions is even if you keep them in
Speaker 2: third and moderate, there's a chance they're still going to
Speaker 2: go for it on fourth down. And when you stretch
Speaker 2: out four plays like that while trying to get ten yards,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's an aggressive mentality. We'll see whether or
Speaker 2: not it's good enough to win a Super Bowl, yeah,
Speaker 2: but certainly it's something that keeps you on edge the
Speaker 2: entire time. And in this case, you know, obviously it
Speaker 2: was probably the difference in the game. It was my
Speaker 2: key to key to the game.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I agree, and that's where I wanted to
Speaker 1: start with the positives in this game for Green Bay
Speaker 1: because as much as you look at thirty four points
Speaker 1: on the scoreboard, that's not what you're looking for defensively, obviously,
Speaker 1: But I thought the Packers run defense, by and large,
Speaker 1: was pretty darn good against maybe the best one to
Speaker 1: two punch at running back in the league, certainly the
Speaker 1: best one to two punch at running back the Packers
Speaker 1: have faced. Yeah, this season in Montgomery and Gibbs, you
Speaker 1: were throwing out some of the numbers. I went through
Speaker 1: a few other numbers looking at specifically Montgomery and Gibbs.
Speaker 1: Twenty nine carries between those two guys, and they didn't
Speaker 1: have one hundred yards ninety four twenty nine for ninety four.
Speaker 1: You will take that. I mean, credit to the Lions.
Speaker 1: They stick with the run because they make you honor it.
Speaker 1: And that is what helps out Jared Goff so much,
Speaker 1: is because you do have to invest so much in
Speaker 1: stopping the run. But those twenty nine carries between those
Speaker 1: two backs, only five of them, Only five of those
Speaker 1: twenty nine went for more than four yards. I mean,
Speaker 1: twenty four out of twenty nine rushes by those two
Speaker 1: running backs, the Packers held them to four yards or less.
Speaker 1: That I think has been the most positive sign for
Speaker 1: this defense moving forward. And as the Packers hit the
Speaker 1: stretch run here and we're going to and again on
Speaker 1: our next show, we'll talk about Seattle and what they're
Speaker 1: doing with their running game, But the Packers' run defense
Speaker 1: has been pretty darn good, and I think, I think
Speaker 1: if that's something, and you know, Packers are banged up
Speaker 1: now in the secondary, the injuries to Evan Williams and
Speaker 1: Javon Bullered, and we'll see how this all shakes out
Speaker 1: here the final month of the regular season, But if
Speaker 1: the Packers can hang their hat on some solid run defense,
Speaker 1: then you kind of you make the adjustments the rest
Speaker 1: of the way, right with everything else that you have
Speaker 1: to do. I thought, I thought green Bay's run defense
Speaker 1: was darn good in this game.
Speaker 2: So it's a catch twenty two kind of situation here
Speaker 2: because I thought green Bay almost sort of pushed Detroit
Speaker 2: out of the run, but it forced them to sort
Speaker 2: of synthesize that production with their screen game, which they
Speaker 2: did do eleven catches for the two running backs between them,
Speaker 2: So in one way, you look at that as almost
Speaker 2: a little bit of a feather in the cap that
Speaker 2: it's like, Okay, they had to find a different way
Speaker 2: to generate early down yardage. But you still when you
Speaker 2: look at what green Bay did the two games going
Speaker 2: into this, and I don't remember the exact stats, but
Speaker 2: I think it was thirty carries for eighty three yards.
Speaker 2: In the two previous games, Packers hadn't had a stretch
Speaker 2: like that. I think only two stretches like that since
Speaker 2: like nineteen fifty where they had back to back games
Speaker 2: where they held teams in check that much. Yeah, without
Speaker 2: allowing a rushing touchdown. Sure, so that's that is a
Speaker 2: positive and I draw a lot from that. I think conversely,
Speaker 2: green Bay had their own struggles trying to get the
Speaker 2: run game going, but this game again proved that even
Speaker 2: if things aren't blocked up perfectly, Josh Jacobs is gonna
Speaker 2: make you right. My key to victory for this game, Mike,
Speaker 2: was the Packers need to run the ball better than
Speaker 2: Detroit did. They didn't technically do that when you look
Speaker 2: at the total yardage when you look at some of
Speaker 2: those things, But again, I will look at Josh Jacobs
Speaker 2: and what he has done and the way he has
Speaker 2: been able to really make that running game and own
Speaker 2: it and make that his own goes over a thousand
Speaker 2: yards for the season. Now has eight rushing touchdowns in
Speaker 2: his last four games, a streak that we have not
Speaker 2: seen outside of Aaron Jones. This guy is legitimate, and
Speaker 2: I just think when Green Bay is gonna be if
Speaker 2: you can keep him healthy, get to the postseason with him.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think number eight is going to do
Speaker 2: some real damage. So run defense, run offense. Things did
Speaker 2: you can correct on both sides of those things. But
Speaker 2: the more and more I watched Josh Jacobs Mike and
Speaker 2: I know I went on kind of my own little
Speaker 2: tangent there. I just green Bay struggled for so long.
Speaker 2: And this goes back to McCarthy era. It's not even
Speaker 2: just on Matt Lafleurke. Sure, they struggled so long on
Speaker 2: goal to go situations and what do you do when
Speaker 2: you're at the two or three yard line. You know,
Speaker 2: John Cohn used to take some of those handoffs, and
Speaker 2: they tried to, you know, other running backs that aren't
Speaker 2: always successful with it.
Speaker 1: And we saw for a few years it just became
Speaker 1: the DeVante Adams show that Aaron Rodgers to DeVante Adams.
Speaker 1: That's how when the Packers got inside the five, that
Speaker 1: was you know, other than the one year, the one
Speaker 1: year Aaron Jones had the sixteen rushing touchdowns, which I
Speaker 1: believe was Matt Lafleur's first season. Jones had sixteen rushing
Speaker 1: touchdowns that year. Other than that, it always felt like
Speaker 1: it was just it was like either Adams was gonna
Speaker 1: Adams was going to get the ball in goal to go,
Speaker 1: or the Packers might be kicking a field goal. So
Speaker 1: I totally get where you're coming from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I mean him having so Jacob's having a
Speaker 2: three touchdown game, you know, and that's the hard part too.
Speaker 2: You have you have Christian Watson where he has the
Speaker 2: early fumble, but kind of like his game last year
Speaker 2: against the Lions, I thought Christian Watson was really critical
Speaker 2: of what green Bay did and if at the very least,
Speaker 2: I mean we could talk about the OPI if you
Speaker 2: want to, but the forty six yarder to start the
Speaker 2: second half, I mean that was huge to be for
Speaker 2: green Bay to get that play early on, get that score,
Speaker 2: that response to how the first half ended, and it
Speaker 2: nearly was enough to pull out this win.
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say with regard to Watson,
Speaker 1: I wanted to point out that, you know, he did
Speaker 1: everything he could to make up for at that early fit.
Speaker 1: The four receptions for one hundred and fourteen yards, the
Speaker 1: big one down the sideline early in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: all of that, you know, Watson, Watson was the explosive play,
Speaker 1: was the explosive play guy. We saw don Tavian Wicks
Speaker 1: get involved again. Four catches forty nine yards. Romeo Dobbs
Speaker 1: missed this game, he was still in the was still
Speaker 1: on the concussion protocol. So what Don Tavianooks was able
Speaker 1: to contribute. We saw Tucker Craft again. He was doing
Speaker 1: his Tucker Craft things. Three catches forty one yards, gets
Speaker 1: the touchdown, the twenty one yard reception where he kind
Speaker 1: of gets labeled there near the goal line, but does
Speaker 1: the kip up and now he becomes, you know, a
Speaker 1: social media hero and everything with Sean michaels I Love
Speaker 1: West has a story on that on packers dot com.
Speaker 1: By the way, for those who are interested in what
Speaker 1: Tucker Craft had to say about all the attention that
Speaker 1: that play has gotten.
Speaker 2: This guy, man, I'm telling you, dude, like they're gonna
Speaker 2: build statues for him if he plays long enough. I mean,
Speaker 2: touchdowns are great. He has seven of them, leads the team.
Speaker 2: He's over five hundred receiving yards on the year. But
Speaker 2: those type of plays his mentality. He said it to
Speaker 2: Bill Hubert after the game, and then he was talking
Speaker 2: with us in the locker room on Monday about it.
Speaker 2: He did not want to let Jack Campbell, Kirby Joseph,
Speaker 2: any of those guys get any type of jew any
Speaker 2: type of momentum off that play for laying him out.
Speaker 2: He wanted to do something that was going to tell
Speaker 2: them I'm still here. And he got to his feet
Speaker 2: quicker than Jack Campbell did. Those are the type of
Speaker 2: ball players you want to have on your team. It's
Speaker 2: not about what you say. It's not about throwing your
Speaker 2: helmet at someone's kneecap. It is about how you respond
Speaker 2: in moments in which physicality are warranted. Tucker Craft did that,
Speaker 2: and this dude, man, I'm telling you, when you're talking
Speaker 2: about heartbeat players, heart and soul players, guys that you
Speaker 2: want to ride with you want to have your identity
Speaker 2: built around. It's Tucker Craft because he does it the
Speaker 2: right way. He's not looking to go out there and
Speaker 2: injure people. He's not going out there to try to
Speaker 2: be somebody that is going to become this big quote afterwards.
Speaker 2: He wants to go play football. He did it that
Speaker 2: way in South Dakota. He's doing it that way in
Speaker 2: Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is going to play the game
Speaker 2: the right way. And I can't tell you how much
Speaker 2: respect I had for him. And I got to say
Speaker 2: this too before you we go is a different direction.
Speaker 2: The way we handle our things. People that are frequent
Speaker 2: watches of our shows, read our content, you're at the
Speaker 2: postgame press conferences. I'm in the locker room. I need
Speaker 2: to say this once. Christian Watson again proved why again
Speaker 2: while you have a heart and soul player like Tucker Kraft,
Speaker 2: the way Christian Watson handles himself and the emotions that
Speaker 2: were felt after that game, the fumble, the OPI, he
Speaker 2: stood at his locker, his visiting room locker, and talked
Speaker 2: about how it's on him. It's not about the officials,
Speaker 2: it's not about what happened in the game. It's up
Speaker 2: to him. If Kirby Joseph steps up and stops and
Speaker 2: basically sets a screen, He's got to find a way
Speaker 2: around it. If there's a fumble after a twenty yard catch,
Speaker 2: he has to find a way to protect the ball better.
Speaker 2: Christian Watson, Man, when you're building the culture of team,
Speaker 2: and I've said a newnumerous times this season, when you
Speaker 2: been in diversity hits, that really shows the true character
Speaker 2: of an individual. I wish my character was stronger. It's not,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be honest with you, but I think Christian
Speaker 2: Watson embodies everything you wanted a professional football player, and
Speaker 2: that Mike is the end of my diet trip.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, he is a true pro. I want
Speaker 1: to make a couple more points on this.
Speaker 2: Game, please do I just made twelve.
Speaker 1: Move on, No, that's okay. Because I realized this as
Speaker 1: I was kind of jotting down some notes that I
Speaker 1: know we call this Packers unscripted, but I was jotting
Speaker 1: down some notes for the show and I didn't realize
Speaker 1: it until this moment be talking about the Packers defense
Speaker 1: and how I started that whole discussion by saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: the Lions are going to get their yards, They're going
Speaker 1: to get their points. Right. The Packers' defense in this
Speaker 1: game had back to back stops in the first half
Speaker 1: and had back to back stops in the second half.
Speaker 1: The difference in the game, quite frankly, was what the
Speaker 1: Packers offense did in those moments. The back to back
Speaker 1: stops in the second half, the interception and the fourth
Speaker 1: downstop were turned into two touchdowns. The back to back
Speaker 1: stops in the first half a punt from midfield and
Speaker 1: then a fumble, and you get no points off of those.
Speaker 1: So in a game where you know your defense is
Speaker 1: going to be taxed because the Lions are explosive and
Speaker 1: dangerous and efficient and they will grind you into the
Speaker 1: earth offensively, the times that the Packers defense had the
Speaker 1: upper hand, the offense only cashed in on that sort
Speaker 1: of in sort of half the time instead of all
Speaker 1: the time, which is what you need to do when
Speaker 1: your defense does get those stops. And then before we
Speaker 1: move on, I'm going to make one comment about the officiating.
Speaker 1: Oh good, because I thought and I've thought this one
Speaker 1: through and I'm not even going to talk about other
Speaker 1: than to say it right now. The OPI on Watson
Speaker 1: and the Kirby Joseph collision and all that, I'm leaving
Speaker 1: that one aside because what bothered me when I looked
Speaker 1: at this game as a whole, and a lot of
Speaker 1: people talking about the missed calls in this call and
Speaker 1: the non call here and what ever, what bothered me
Speaker 1: the most about the officiating in this game are two
Speaker 1: calls that were about as inconsistent as you can get
Speaker 1: in this league. And what I'm talking about are the
Speaker 1: opening possession for the for Detroit, they have third and
Speaker 1: goal in the seven yard line and Keishawn Nixon gets
Speaker 1: called for illegal contact in the end zone when the
Speaker 1: receiver runs into him. So the incomplete pass doesn't count.
Speaker 2: It's just a call.
Speaker 1: The incomplete pass doesn't count. The So instead of kicking,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming the Lions wouldn't have gone forward on fourth
Speaker 1: and goal from the seven. Maybe that's a poor assumption,
Speaker 1: but I'm thinking they would kick the field goal there
Speaker 1: on the opening drive of the game. But instead they
Speaker 1: get a first and goal inside the five and they
Speaker 1: punch it in. I don't think the illegal contact had
Speaker 1: a whole lot of impact on the play, but by
Speaker 1: the letter of the law, if you say that's illegal contact, okay. Five.
Speaker 1: But then on the last possession of the game, the Packers,
Speaker 1: after a holding penalty on Detroit have the Lions in
Speaker 1: second and seventeen and i'man ross. Saint Brown runs a
Speaker 1: deep end cut, shoves Keishaw Nixon out of the way,
Speaker 1: and catches a sixteen yard pass to make it third
Speaker 1: and one. What bothers me the most about NFL officiating
Speaker 1: is Kishawn Nixon getting called for that illegal contact on
Speaker 1: the opening drive of the game, which is a four
Speaker 1: point call. And then they don't call the push off
Speaker 1: by the offensive player on the last possession of the game,
Speaker 1: which instead of they call that it's second in twenty
Speaker 1: seven from near midfield and instead it's third and one. Yep,
Speaker 1: it's a twenty six yard swing. So one call is
Speaker 1: a four point swing, the other call is a twenty
Speaker 1: six yard swing. And there is zero consistency whatsoever with
Speaker 1: how those how those two calls are made. So I'll
Speaker 1: let you comment if you want to. I'm gonna leave
Speaker 1: it at that. That is what is the most frustrating
Speaker 1: thing about officiating in the NFL and how it imps
Speaker 1: these very important games.
Speaker 2: My Grandma Mary used to always uh save her coffee
Speaker 2: and the next morning would re brew it, rewarm it up.
Speaker 2: And I feel like that's what you've just done to
Speaker 2: me with this officiating topic. As I had cooled off
Speaker 2: and now going through that, which was a very good,
Speaker 2: very convincing, very well articulated.
Speaker 1: All I'm all I'm saying. All I'm saying is if
Speaker 1: if both of those if both of those calls are
Speaker 1: if both of those are called in a consistent manner,
Speaker 1: either the Lions have four fewer points on the board
Speaker 1: or the Packers are probably getting the ball back at
Speaker 1: least at the end of the ball game. So that's
Speaker 1: that's that's my point.
Speaker 2: Let me So you know, Christian Watson was talking about
Speaker 2: how he had to do things differently. I can tell
Speaker 2: you one thing that Keishaw Nixon needed to do differently
Speaker 2: after the shove from mom Andree Saint Brown is he
Speaker 2: needed to act like he got hit by a mac
Speaker 2: truck and bounce down the field for about five or
Speaker 2: ten yards because that's the only way John halse and
Speaker 2: his crew are catching stuff. I'm gonna say this once
Speaker 2: and we'll move on from it. If I don't see
Speaker 2: a John Hussey officiated game the rest of the season,
Speaker 2: I'll be totally fine with that.
Speaker 1: I will second that motion.
Speaker 2: This in my opinion was the worst officiated game the
Speaker 2: Packers have been a part of since the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1: In Michael, I would agree with that.
Speaker 2: Why am I saying that because of the consistency of
Speaker 2: the calls. One of the reasons why I always praise
Speaker 2: Bill Venovich, why I always praise some of these crews
Speaker 2: across the league is one, you call the stuff that
Speaker 2: matters in the moments that it mattered. Otherwise, it's football.
Speaker 2: You can you can throw a flag on every play
Speaker 2: if you want to at the critical times calling those
Speaker 2: calling those types of penalties in two though, the overarching
Speaker 2: thing to all this is just like teams have their
Speaker 2: own game plans, just like they have their own adjustments,
Speaker 2: officials need to be understanding of how they are calling
Speaker 2: a game and stick to that standard. That's six seven,
Speaker 2: eight people all working together, understanding the way in which
Speaker 2: they're going to go through this thing. I deleted this
Speaker 2: from Insider Inbox on Saturday, but I'm going to say
Speaker 2: it now. There was not a single call made in
Speaker 2: that game amongst professional officials that I don't think A
Speaker 2: four man crew in the WIA and Wisconsin high school
Speaker 2: football couldn't have made There was nothing I saw in
Speaker 2: that game. Everything that they called was either a deliberate reaction.
Speaker 2: You know, we talk about the Dan Skipper incident there
Speaker 2: with kway Walker, and I'm telling you this right now,
Speaker 2: Packer fans layoff kowy Walker. It's going to get corrected.
Speaker 2: The issues that whatever the coaching staff wants to do
Speaker 2: with kay Walker, they're going to handle that. What happened
Speaker 2: in that incident, that could have been any linebacker. I
Speaker 2: understand Quay shoved him back. I understand that there's a
Speaker 2: history there. I get that. Don't tell me that Dan
Speaker 2: Skipper didn't know that, especially the way that he was
Speaker 2: handling himself throughout the course of that game, the way
Speaker 2: that this thing went down. You move past it, You
Speaker 2: move on. Players aren't going to talk about it. Coaches
Speaker 2: aren't going to talk about it. Don't want to get fined.
Speaker 2: I don't think I can get fined. We'll see. But
Speaker 2: this game, Buy and Large Detroit was a better team.
Speaker 2: Matt Laflor says it all the time. Yep, you have
Speaker 2: to play above the officials. Green Bay didn't. But my god, man,
Speaker 2: like this was one of those games where I got
Speaker 2: done with it. I'm just like, this is what the
Speaker 2: NFL wants, this is this is how they want their
Speaker 2: game officiated, and yeah that's how it goes.
Speaker 1: Yeah it's too bad, but we will move on and
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Speaker 2: Hey, I want to close on one. Well, we'll get
Speaker 2: to all the other games quick, but I want to
Speaker 2: close this discussion on the lines. Though, I will say this,
Speaker 2: I'm a huge pro wrestling Mark kind of mention it
Speaker 2: there with the whole Tucker Craft thing. I love the
Speaker 2: rivalry of this thing, though, I do. Oh yeah, the
Speaker 2: packers and lines. And I said this with a couple
Speaker 2: of my comments on Twitter and on inbox the last
Speaker 2: few days, like this is as cool and as real
Speaker 2: and as true of a rivalry as I've felt during
Speaker 2: my time you were there NFC Championship game in twenty ten,
Speaker 2: I was, and I don't know what that felt like
Speaker 2: with you know, Jay Cutler and all that. By the
Speaker 2: time I started coming the team, Jay was sort of
Speaker 2: already on the other end of that. But I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was competitive with the Vikings for a few years,
Speaker 2: and there's these moments there, But in terms of just
Speaker 2: the perennialness of this, it feels like this is something
Speaker 2: that's going to go on for years. And I love
Speaker 2: that because I think that's when football's at its best.
Speaker 2: Pro wrestling sells its storylines based on the feelings that
Speaker 2: it is evoking, and I feel like, especially in my
Speaker 2: own personality, there's plenty of feelings that I feel right
Speaker 2: now between the Scream Band Detroit thing. So we'll see
Speaker 2: whether or not they see him again this season, but
Speaker 2: if they do, it's gonna be a boat look fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I hope, and we're not going to get
Speaker 1: ahead of ourselves, but I hope. We're doing a show
Speaker 1: previewing Round three of Packers Lions in the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four slash twenty five season. Where things stand right now
Speaker 1: in the NFC North Detroit is twelve and one, Minnesota
Speaker 1: is eleven and two. Green Bay is nine and four.
Speaker 1: As we talked about last week, losing this game takes
Speaker 1: the division out of the picture. For green Bay, it
Speaker 1: is now wildcard or bust. The good news is the
Speaker 1: Packers are in very good position to get a wild card.
Speaker 1: It would appear that if they were at nine and
Speaker 1: four right now, if they can get to eleven wins,
Speaker 1: they will almost one hundred percent assuredly be in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and they may be able to get there depending on
Speaker 1: how some other things fall. They may be able to
Speaker 1: get there with ten wins, and they will be going
Speaker 1: for their tenth win this weekend out in Seattle, yet
Speaker 1: another primetime game Sunday Night Football, and Seattle was certainly
Speaker 1: involved in one of the more significant results in the NFL.
Speaker 1: From Week fourteen. They went on the road. Two weeks
Speaker 1: after beating Arizona in Seattle, they went on the road
Speaker 1: to Arizona for the rematch against their division rival and
Speaker 1: they beat them again. So that is now four straight
Speaker 1: wins for the Seattle Seahawks. They are sitting atop the
Speaker 1: NFC West, a division that was kind of a big
Speaker 1: muddled mess there for a while. Now has a clear
Speaker 1: front runner, and it is the Seattle Seahawks, and that
Speaker 1: is the Packer's opponent. We'll get into them a little
Speaker 1: bit more on our next show. But the way things
Speaker 1: are shaping up, you know, the Packers are in tremendously
Speaker 1: good position to get a wild card spot and to
Speaker 1: try to make another run at this thing like they
Speaker 1: did last season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very much so. In a win over the Seattle
Speaker 2: Seahawks on Sunday Night football go a long way into
Speaker 2: achieving that. What I found interesting about the game that
Speaker 2: the Seahawks played against the Cardinals, because it was their
Speaker 2: second time facing Theme in three weeks, it was a
Speaker 2: different recipe for how they won this thing. They don't
Speaker 2: have Kenneth Walker the third, so Zach Charbonnet has to
Speaker 2: go in there. He's played a little bit this season.
Speaker 2: Balls out probably their best rushing performance this season. This
Speaker 2: is not a great running football team. One of the
Speaker 2: things the points I'm making an insider inbox for Wednesday
Speaker 2: is that in this shift to Gino Smith and obviously
Speaker 2: Pete Carroll's no longer there, but they've changed the complete
Speaker 2: chemistry of their offense. It went from a very run heavy.
Speaker 2: This team's every year with Russell Wilson is gonna be
Speaker 2: a top five rushing offense to like their twenty seventh
Speaker 2: or twenty eighth in the NFL. And they are passing
Speaker 2: at nauseum. Now, some of that's because of the games
Speaker 2: in which they're playing, but that's also kind of the
Speaker 2: way that Geno Smith plays this game though illustrated one
Speaker 2: what happens when Gino doesn't throw an interception. They won
Speaker 2: the takeaways and they were able to establish the run.
Speaker 2: A lot of lessons Green Bay is going to be
Speaker 2: able to learn from that going into this matchup. But
Speaker 2: four game winning streak Now for Seattle, a division where
Speaker 2: they were looking for somebody to sort of claw up
Speaker 2: to the top of this heap, it's them and it
Speaker 2: looks like the Rams are right behind him. Now, So yeah,
Speaker 2: I have an impressive win. And I mean talk about
Speaker 2: a tone setter within your division to be able to
Speaker 2: knock back Arizona, knock them out of the lead, and
Speaker 2: then have them, you know, really push them down a
Speaker 2: little bit in a matter of three weeks. Yeah, that
Speaker 2: was a big momentum changer here for the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kyler Murray a few weeks ago in Seattle, was
Speaker 1: only able to put six points on the board and
Speaker 1: threw a killer pick six in that game that allowed
Speaker 1: Seattle to win the first one, and then he threw
Speaker 1: two just terrible interceptions in the first quarter of the
Speaker 1: rematch that the Seahawks turned both of those into touchdowns,
Speaker 1: built a multi score lead, and pretty much kept it
Speaker 1: there the rest of the way. So you look at
Speaker 1: just how the Seahawks have have beaten the Cardinals twice
Speaker 1: in the last three weeks, it's because of it's because
Speaker 1: of the turnovers, the opposing quarter back, and certainly Jordan
Speaker 1: Love has done a much better job taking care of
Speaker 1: the football lately. The fumble we talked about with Christian
Speaker 1: Wattson was that's the Packers only giveaway only turnover offensively
Speaker 1: in the last three games, really three and a half games.
Speaker 1: Going back, you go back to the first half in Chicago,
Speaker 1: the interception down by the goal line. The Packers had
Speaker 1: gone a long stretch without turning the ball over, so
Speaker 1: that will matter as well. Before we go, just your
Speaker 1: thoughts quickly. You mentioned the Rams forty four to forty two,
Speaker 1: highest scoring game in the NFL this year. They pull
Speaker 1: it out over the Buffalo Bills to keep the Rams
Speaker 1: very much in the playoff hunt at this point. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw the end of that game,
Speaker 1: I don't know what in the world Buffalo is thinking
Speaker 1: when you're on the one yard line and you have
Speaker 1: all three of your timeouts to potentially take on defense
Speaker 1: with you, and you call a quarterback sneak, which then
Speaker 1: fails and you have to burn your one time out,
Speaker 1: which then puts the game entirely on the on sidekick
Speaker 1: instead of giving your defense a chance to actually give
Speaker 1: you one more shot. I don't even know what, because
Speaker 1: what would possess anybody in that situation to call a
Speaker 1: quarterback sneak or even yeah, or even just burning the
Speaker 1: first time out because the quarterback sneak feels you're better
Speaker 1: off hurrying up, spiking the ball and be having third
Speaker 1: and goal on the one rather than burning the timeout
Speaker 1: that you burn. It was such a it was such
Speaker 1: a complete cluster of how they managed the clock at
Speaker 1: the end of that game to they just they they
Speaker 1: had a chance to pull off an amazing comeback and
Speaker 1: they blew it because of clock management. It was it
Speaker 1: was it was disappointing. I I enjoy watching the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: I enjoy watching Josh Allen, and I was really hoping
Speaker 1: they might be able to pull that one out.
Speaker 2: One the Bills are dead to me now. I was
Speaker 2: kind of pulling for them for a while, and then
Speaker 2: they go and muddle this up against the Rams, which
Speaker 2: could have really helped out with green Bays playoff chance.
Speaker 2: I think it was this game alone that actually made
Speaker 2: Bay's wild card chances go from ninety nine to ninety
Speaker 2: eight percent. Hey, listen, two things Buffalo forgot how they
Speaker 2: beat the forty nine ers in this game. Like it's
Speaker 2: like they go completely away from the run, they fall
Speaker 2: behind early, they're passing, and then at that very minute,
Speaker 2: it seems like they always fall into this trap where
Speaker 2: they forget that Josh Allen. Yes he can run, and
Speaker 2: yes he can score touchdowns with his feet, but he
Speaker 2: is a quarterback and he's probably one of the top
Speaker 2: three guys in the NFL, and they just resort to
Speaker 2: these type of things. Well, he's you know, to under
Speaker 2: and however many pounds he's going to get himself in,
Speaker 2: he doesn't. And you know, they I thought they, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe it's the wake up call they needed kind of
Speaker 2: like I felt like in some ways, you know, Kansas
Speaker 2: City a couple of weeks ago had a wake up
Speaker 2: call they needed. But the fact of the matter is
Speaker 2: is that the Rams and what they did in this game.
Speaker 2: I thought, Matthew Stafford, this is probably his best game
Speaker 2: of the season. Poka Nakua. They're using him in different ways.
Speaker 1: Now, that was a monster game by Nikua.
Speaker 2: Yeah he was, he was.
Speaker 1: When he's right, the guy is just said an egamic
Speaker 1: football playeres. He completely changes the complexion of that Rams offense,
Speaker 1: which of course the Packers did not see that when
Speaker 1: Green Bay played La because both Nikoua and Cup were
Speaker 1: out of the game, were injured and not playing in
Speaker 1: that game. But but yeah, it'd be interesting to see
Speaker 1: now what the Rams do with this, because everybody is saying, now,
Speaker 1: you know, they put up forty four points, like, oh,
Speaker 1: the Rams are danger. Nobody seems to be talking about
Speaker 1: the fact that the Rams just gave up forty two. Yes,
Speaker 1: for sure, So how much does that make you a
Speaker 1: legitimate playoff.
Speaker 2: Because I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think the worst Defasius Stafford has been there and
Speaker 1: done that. They have a lot of weapons on offense,
Speaker 1: can their defense actually put together the run that they
Speaker 1: need to get a playoff spot here we'll see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean, at very least it's going to
Speaker 2: keep things interesting in the NFC West. A lot of
Speaker 2: those matchups are in the balance, hovering in the balance.
Speaker 1: Rams are just trying to get to the final game
Speaker 1: of the season, one game back of the Seahawks because
Speaker 1: then they play Seattle in Week eighteen and they essentially
Speaker 1: steal the division there by by beating them to sweep
Speaker 1: them and get the tie and then they would win
Speaker 1: the tie breaker based on the sweep. So the Rams
Speaker 1: are trying to stay one game back of the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: So Rams fans are big Packers fans this week, quite frankly,
Speaker 1: because they'd like to see the Packers knock off the Seahawks.
Speaker 2: Last two things really quick. Yeah. San Francisco ran the
Speaker 2: Bears out of the building Bears head.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Total yards of offense in the first.
Speaker 1: Half, Yeah, first half total yards I believe was three
Speaker 1: hundred and nineteen to four.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Another reminder, I just want to say this. I
Speaker 2: was talking to some people in the locker room about
Speaker 2: this on Monday. I get the people were not high
Speaker 2: on Matt Eberflus. I understand what happened, but putting your
Speaker 2: passive game coordinator in making him the interim offensive coordinator
Speaker 2: and then making him the interim head coach might not
Speaker 2: be the best recipe for having success. That's a tough
Speaker 2: echelon to climb in like four weeks. But then I
Speaker 2: want to close on this. Kansas City is the final boss.
Speaker 2: No matter what, Kansas City is the final boss. You
Speaker 2: think you got him, you don't got them. You don't
Speaker 2: got them.
Speaker 1: They are They are somehow, some way going to win
Speaker 1: the game, including their third kicker of the season clanking
Speaker 1: a chip shot off the upright but bank shot, bank
Speaker 1: shot with the correct angle and it goes in, and
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs win yet another game, and which
Speaker 1: was huge because they now have it because of the
Speaker 1: Buffalo loss. Yeah, Kansas City now has a two game
Speaker 1: cushion with four games to go to get the number
Speaker 1: one seed and the buy in the AFC of position
Speaker 1: that the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers were hoping
Speaker 1: to push for. But now both of those clubs are
Speaker 1: two games back with four to go because of the
Speaker 1: bank shot.
Speaker 2: I love to the fact that you're talking about teams
Speaker 2: being two big games behind. Denver now holds a two
Speaker 2: game advantage over Indianapolis and Miami for this number seven
Speaker 2: seed in the playoffs. Yeah, with a month left to play,
Speaker 2: things can still change. But there are six teams that
Speaker 2: have been eliminated from playoff contention in the AFC. What
Speaker 2: is there two in the or there's yeah, there's there's one.
Speaker 2: The Giants are eliminated in the NFC. That's it.
Speaker 1: Well, and you talk about you talk about Miami. They
Speaker 1: they basically barely stayed alive by by winning in overtime
Speaker 1: against the Jets, a big field goal at the end
Speaker 1: of regulation and then they drive, They get the opening
Speaker 1: drive of the overtime, go down and get a touchdown,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers doesn't get the ball back and and Miami
Speaker 1: State Miami stays within shouting distance of that final wildcard
Speaker 1: spot in the AFC.
Speaker 2: Everyone chasing bo Nix.
Speaker 1: Buckle up, folks, these last what a week that was?
Speaker 1: That are going to be fun. We've gone way overtime
Speaker 1: today and apologies to our producer Zach, but we know
Speaker 1: if he'll deal with it.
Speaker 2: Only did one show last week. We had a lot
Speaker 2: to get off our chest.
Speaker 1: That's true, but I do also have to say that,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I'm of The twenty twenty five NFL Draft
Speaker 1: is right here in Green Bay April twenty four through
Speaker 1: April twenty six of twenty twenty five. Visit green Bay
Speaker 1: dot com slash Draft twenty five for more information, and
Speaker 1: with that we'll call it a rap on this edition
Speaker 1: a Packers Unscripted. I'm sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team on Packers dot com for Westside Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in, everybody, and we will see
Speaker 1: you next time.