Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is the one and only
Speaker 1: West Hotko Hits for coming to you here from our
Speaker 1: studios at lambeau Field West. It's the middle of the
Speaker 1: week and that means we take a closer look at
Speaker 1: the Packers upcoming opponent, and that is surprise, surprise, it's
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings Monday Night Football. It'll be at us
Speaker 1: Bank Stadium in Minneapolis this coming Monday on December. The
Speaker 1: Vikings are ten and four. We all know what the
Speaker 1: Packers playoffs scenarios are. When the NFC North with one
Speaker 1: more victory clinch of first round by with two more victories.
Speaker 1: The Vikings playoffs situation is this, they are in the
Speaker 1: playoffs with one more win or a loss by the Rams,
Speaker 1: and if they win their last two games and and
Speaker 1: the Packers would also lose to Detroit, then the Vikings
Speaker 1: would be the NFC North champs. So that's where it
Speaker 1: stands for them. And really, the one thing when I
Speaker 1: my first glance at the Vikings statistical sheet before we
Speaker 1: sat down here, there's one thing that jumped out at
Speaker 1: me the most. It's that they are undefeated at home,
Speaker 1: they are five hundred on the road. That old adage
Speaker 1: of whin all your home games, split your road games
Speaker 1: will be twelve and four, that's exactly from their perspective
Speaker 1: what they're on track to do. They have two home
Speaker 1: games to finish up there, six and oh at US
Speaker 1: Bank Stadium this year, including an awfully big comeback victory
Speaker 1: over the Broncos. And I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers or Matt Lafleur who talked about it, but
Speaker 1: sometimes that strategy isn't even good enough now with the
Speaker 1: way that the NFL plays out that also certainly in
Speaker 1: the in the NFC this year, twelve and four does
Speaker 1: not get you what it has gotten you in a
Speaker 1: lot of other years. But be that as it made.
Speaker 1: This has been a really difficult environment for the Packers
Speaker 1: to play in. You and I were in there in
Speaker 1: two thousand, was at sixteen, the year that they opened
Speaker 1: it up, and I also covered games in the Metrodome,
Speaker 1: and I can tell you for as much as the
Speaker 1: Metrodome was praised and lauded for its volume and boisterous atmosphere,
Speaker 1: the U. S Bank Stadium is its own different animal
Speaker 1: because yeah, you're still getting a relatively loud environment. You
Speaker 1: can debate how much of that is natural and how
Speaker 1: much of that is synthesized. But they have you know,
Speaker 1: they did the whole skull thing, they brought in the
Speaker 1: mountain from Game of Thrones. You know, they've They've done
Speaker 1: a lot of different things to kind of ramp up
Speaker 1: their their action. But let's be honest, Mike, the biggest
Speaker 1: thing is the on field product has been pretty darn
Speaker 1: good here the last few seasons. They've had some ups,
Speaker 1: they've had some downs, but every time they've had a
Speaker 1: setback or a disappointment, I give Mike Zimmer a lot
Speaker 1: of credit for rallying his team back. That's where they
Speaker 1: sit right now, trying to make a run at this
Speaker 1: thing in the postseason to come. Yeah, well, the Vikings
Speaker 1: are in the uh. Their season has gone pretty much
Speaker 1: to pattern. And what I mean by that is with
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer, the Vikings have been on this alternating years
Speaker 1: of being a playoff contender. In the odd numbered years fifth,
Speaker 1: teen seventeen, and nineteen eighteen, they stumble a little bit
Speaker 1: and they don't get back to the postseason. So they've
Speaker 1: been on this kind of one one year up, one
Speaker 1: year down. This is definitely an up year for them,
Speaker 1: I think for all of the talk about Dalvin Cook,
Speaker 1: and we'll certainly talk about him as the week goes along,
Speaker 1: because he left last week's game when they were playing
Speaker 1: the Chargers. He left with a shoulder injury. But the
Speaker 1: reports out of Minnesota are that it's going to be
Speaker 1: okay and they are expecting him to play on Monday night.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what shakes out there. But I have
Speaker 1: to give a lot of credit to Kirk Cousins because
Speaker 1: you look at his numbers this year. He obviously signed
Speaker 1: that big contract with Minnesota. Last year came with all
Speaker 1: kinds of pressure, all kinds of expectations, didn't live up
Speaker 1: to them. The Vikings missed the playoffs one year after
Speaker 1: being in the NFC Championship Game. But then this year
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins has come back and he without question is
Speaker 1: having the best season of his career. Is passer rating
Speaker 1: is one hund eleven, which is ten points higher than
Speaker 1: any passer rating that he's ever had for a single
Speaker 1: season in his career to this point. And I think
Speaker 1: the most important thing that stands out about that is
Speaker 1: that he's only thrown five interceptions this season with two
Speaker 1: regular season games to go, and he has been in
Speaker 1: double digit interceptions the last four years running. So kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins has definitely taken his game to another level here.
Speaker 1: And yes, he's got Stefon Diggs, he's got Adam Feeling,
Speaker 1: he's got Dalvin Cook, and he's got that defense. But
Speaker 1: they pretty much had all of that last year two
Speaker 1: and kirk Cousins wasn't quite getting the job done he
Speaker 1: is this year. So Marvin right now can put up
Speaker 1: the video of me talking about kirk Cousins early in
Speaker 1: the season when they had some of the issues they did,
Speaker 1: and in me mentioning that, you know, this guy still
Speaker 1: a pretty good quarterback. Mark, we can go, Marvin, we
Speaker 1: can go to the tape right now if you want
Speaker 1: to bring that up. There were so many fans that
Speaker 1: wanted to throw him on the dosh. Yeah, they wanted
Speaker 1: to kick him to the curve. And I get it
Speaker 1: because you're a fan and you're super into it, but man,
Speaker 1: you just got to pull yourself back. Can look at
Speaker 1: this thing from like ten thousand feet up and there
Speaker 1: aren't a lot of quarterbacks like Kirk Cousins in this league.
Speaker 1: And then, by the way, that giant contract that he
Speaker 1: had got a couple of years ago, that's set the
Speaker 1: tone for all the other contracts to come. It's not
Speaker 1: like you're just paying him tens of millions of dollars
Speaker 1: more than what every other quarterbacks making. I mean, here
Speaker 1: he is in year two of that contract, and his
Speaker 1: salary does not look at that exhortable compared to what
Speaker 1: other you know, other top level, elite level quarterbacks are
Speaker 1: making in this Kirk Cousins is a dang fine quarterback
Speaker 1: and he's helped them have a lot of success in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer the quote I always go back to, you know,
Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks to keep bringing up
Speaker 1: over and over again about the two thousand and sixteen
Speaker 1: NFC Championship game and and Rogers and his comments about
Speaker 1: when to play games at home. I thought the biggest
Speaker 1: comment that Mike Zimmers made during his entire time as
Speaker 1: a head coach right now with the Minnesota Vikings goes
Speaker 1: back two years ago when he said, going into the
Speaker 1: off season before they signed Kirk Cousins, they had all
Speaker 1: these other quarterbacks they had to make a decision on
Speaker 1: He said, we have to make the right choice because
Speaker 1: I probably won't be able to survive it. Like they
Speaker 1: have to get the right quarterback or the Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: era might have ended. They did that, Mike, and not
Speaker 1: only that, they went and found the best quarterback available
Speaker 1: and it happened to be a pretty darn good year
Speaker 1: to do it. There are so many quarterbacks in this
Speaker 1: league right now that have one good year, a couple
Speaker 1: of good games as a backup, and they get paid
Speaker 1: monstrous amount of money. Mike Glennon is the one that
Speaker 1: probably jumps up more than any in this point in time.
Speaker 1: They paid Kirk Cousins, and Kirk Cousins has produced for them,
Speaker 1: and he has been the consistent presence that they have
Speaker 1: needed for years in Minnesota. And you're right, during the
Speaker 1: times where they haven't had Adam feeling, or they haven't
Speaker 1: had Dalvin Cook or guys have been banged up, he's
Speaker 1: been the galvanizing force that has pushed them forward and
Speaker 1: allowed them to be here playing meaningful football into middle December. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: a couple of those offensive weapons for the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook and Stefon Diggs, having quite frankly monster seasons.
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook over rushing yards, Stefon Diggs is over a
Speaker 1: thousand yards receiving, both of them with two regular season
Speaker 1: games left to add to those totals. Adam Feeling not
Speaker 1: having as big year, been dealing with a bunch of injuries,
Speaker 1: but he actually still leads them in touchdown with six.
Speaker 1: He's only caught thirty passes all season long, but six
Speaker 1: for touchdowns, So one out of every five times Adam
Speaker 1: Theland catching the game, it's in the end zone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's missed a third of the season essentially, So um,
Speaker 1: he's got Cousins, has a lot around him to work with.
Speaker 1: And uh and this Vikings offense has been uh boy,
Speaker 1: I mean they when when they get rolling, and especially
Speaker 1: when they've been playing at home, I think, but even
Speaker 1: we saw that Monday night game in Seattle when they
Speaker 1: got down and then they got kind of got things
Speaker 1: cranked up again. This is a this is a dangerous offense.
Speaker 1: And uh and playing at their place, you know, the
Speaker 1: fast track all of that kind of stuff. Packers are
Speaker 1: gonna have their hands full here. Six and points right now,
Speaker 1: twenty seven points per game, tenth and total yards twelfth
Speaker 1: and passing fourth and rushing. Now, we do have to
Speaker 1: actually see how things shake out with Cook this week.
Speaker 1: Summer did express optimism, but I know there were some
Speaker 1: ESPN reports out there questioning whether not Cook would play.
Speaker 1: All this seems to be a thing where he keeps
Speaker 1: leaving games and not being able to finish the game.
Speaker 1: But then the next week he's back up again. And
Speaker 1: so it's been happen with the ankle last week. It's
Speaker 1: it's it's been this in and out thing with with
Speaker 1: the injuries with him. So hard to say, but there
Speaker 1: is an extra day here in terms of recovery with
Speaker 1: the game being on a Monday night and all that.
Speaker 1: So well, we will see how it plays out over
Speaker 1: the weekend. And there's just no way to replace him.
Speaker 1: I mean, he is he is the guy in that offense,
Speaker 1: and you and I have had a chance to watch
Speaker 1: him for a couple of seasons now when he's been healthy. Man,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is one of the top two or
Speaker 1: three running backs in the league at this point. And
Speaker 1: Stefon Diggs to mention him, you know, this could be
Speaker 1: a week we've seen Jaire Alexander really graduate. I think
Speaker 1: over this last month to being a shutdown corner. I mean,
Speaker 1: it seems like they're more comfortable putting them in that
Speaker 1: role now having him travel with guys. Now Adam Feeling
Speaker 1: is a big task himself, but I'm this will be
Speaker 1: an interesting one for how they want to defend him
Speaker 1: because it's not just about the Vikings and Diggs. It's
Speaker 1: about Kenny Gallady the following week too. And although Matt
Speaker 1: Staff for now is on in reserve and his season
Speaker 1: is over, Galay is a guy that can still really
Speaker 1: hurt you. So seeing exactly how they deploy Jr. Alexander
Speaker 1: and these games to come is gonna be really interesting
Speaker 1: because I think it's going to set the tone for
Speaker 1: how they use them in the playoffs. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: so too. Here's an interesting thing West, As I said,
Speaker 1: I kind of glanced through the Minnesota Vikings stat sheet
Speaker 1: before we sat down here and turn the camera on.
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook thirteen rushing touchdowns this year, Aaron Jones fourteen
Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns this year. The Minnesota Vikings defensively have sixteen interceptions.
Speaker 1: The Packers have fifteen interceptions. Zadarius and Preston Smith have
Speaker 1: combined for twenty one and a half sacks. Daniel Hunter
Speaker 1: and Everson Griffin have combined for twenty one and a
Speaker 1: half sacks. There's just some statistics with these two teams
Speaker 1: that are really interesting and how they correspond and how
Speaker 1: they match up in uh, some key areas here. And
Speaker 1: I for one, and we'll talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about the Vikings defense in a minute, but I for
Speaker 1: one think that this game, if if there is, if
Speaker 1: there is a game that you're that you want to say, boy,
Speaker 1: would be great for the Packers to win the turnover battle.
Speaker 1: I think it's this one. I mean, in that environment
Speaker 1: with what the Packers offensively are going to be dealing with,
Speaker 1: with Minnesota's pass Russian, all of the noise and all
Speaker 1: of the challenges that come with protecting the football in
Speaker 1: that environment, if the Packers can successfully do that and
Speaker 1: they might be able to get a takeaway or two
Speaker 1: from Minnesota's offense, I just I just think any turnovers
Speaker 1: in this game are going to potentially be huge, huge momentums. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there's only a handful of teams that rank in
Speaker 1: the top ten in the league right now, and both
Speaker 1: giveaways and takeaways in terms of limiting the number of
Speaker 1: giveaways and the Packers and Vikings are in that category too.
Speaker 1: So when you're playing Kirk Cousins and he plays as
Speaker 1: high percentage of football as he does, which again I
Speaker 1: understand for some Bikings fans that can be maddening at times,
Speaker 1: but he plays really high percentage. You don't get a
Speaker 1: seventy percent completion percentage just by winging it. He's very
Speaker 1: methodical about how he approaches things. Yeah, that path, I mean.
Speaker 1: I bet I bet Kirk Cousins if he's asked this
Speaker 1: week leading up to this game about his season and
Speaker 1: about the first game against Green Bay back in Week two,
Speaker 1: I bet he would rank that interception he threw to
Speaker 1: Kevin King in the end zone in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field might be he might call that his
Speaker 1: worst pass of the season. And I think he knows
Speaker 1: he knows that, and to his credit, you know, I
Speaker 1: it's not like he's gone on some interception binge as
Speaker 1: I said. He's only had five interceptions all season long,
Speaker 1: when he's been in double digits for the last four
Speaker 1: years in a row. So, um, he he learned a
Speaker 1: lesson a little bit from that first game here at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field, and uh, the Packers are going to have
Speaker 1: to force him into that kind of a mistake. I
Speaker 1: think on Monday Night, he's not just going to make
Speaker 1: it on his own as he did in that instance
Speaker 1: when it was a basically a first and goal play
Speaker 1: with the game on the line. Well, something else to
Speaker 1: keep in mind too, there's a lot of times you'll
Speaker 1: see quarterbacks in this league. I think Daniel Jones is
Speaker 1: a good example of this, where Daniel Jones hasn't thrown
Speaker 1: an exorbitant amount of interceptions this year, but he hadn't
Speaker 1: exorbitant amount of fumbles that he lost. Kirk Cousins doesn't
Speaker 1: hurt you either way. It's not his fumbles. He only
Speaker 1: has three loss on the season, and it's not his interceptions.
Speaker 1: But if you go back and roll back the film,
Speaker 1: in their four losses, three of them he has turned
Speaker 1: over the football. I mean, it's just it's been that
Speaker 1: kind of slight margin for Era that has been really
Speaker 1: the difference between between victory and defeat for them this season.
Speaker 1: And when Kirk Cousins is playing consistently, can work the
Speaker 1: ball down field. Everybody always talks about that with him, right,
Speaker 1: It's about developing a rhythm early and as the game
Speaker 1: wears on, that's when the explosive play start to show
Speaker 1: themselves a little bit more. That's gonna be the big
Speaker 1: key for him, especially if Delvin Cook ends up being
Speaker 1: limited or depending on what happens there with the shoulder
Speaker 1: injury and it lies more on his hands. They're gonna
Speaker 1: have to be something to watch. But I think if
Speaker 1: nothing else has proven this season is that for the
Speaker 1: first time you could make an argument that they now
Speaker 1: have an offense that is right up there with their
Speaker 1: defense when everything is firing the way it's supposed to be,
Speaker 1: that they aren't playing catch up there in that stratusy, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would agree. I want to ask you one thing
Speaker 1: about their defense, and there's certainly a lot of things
Speaker 1: that jump out. As I said, they have sixteen interceptions
Speaker 1: as a team. I believe it's Anthony Harris as safety
Speaker 1: leads them with five. But Daniel Hunter thirteen and a
Speaker 1: half sacks this year, I forget now if he I
Speaker 1: think he's on a run of double digit sacks seasons.
Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure how many he's at now. But
Speaker 1: where did this guy come from? West? Because because when
Speaker 1: he first came into the league, nobody was talking about
Speaker 1: this guy, and he's He's now one of the premier
Speaker 1: pass rushing defensive ends, not just in the NFC North,
Speaker 1: not just in the NFC, the entire league. This guy,
Speaker 1: this guy is is one who really really recks offensive
Speaker 1: game plans. So Packers get a lot of flak for
Speaker 1: their two thousand fifteen NFL draft. Uh And And the
Speaker 1: thing that I think people don't really realize when you
Speaker 1: go back and look at it, the fifteen draft wasn't
Speaker 1: an overly fruitful draft for really the entire league. It
Speaker 1: was a down year for the most part. The Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: much like I always paired like the two thousand eleven
Speaker 1: draft wasn't a great year for teams in general, but
Speaker 1: Seattle ended up building a Super Bowl contender out of
Speaker 1: that draft. I look at the two thousand fifteen group
Speaker 1: much similar for the Vikings. That was a transformative UH
Speaker 1: year for them coming off a fourteen and getting bar
Speaker 1: And you look at their fifteen draft. Here you've got
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter. Daniel Hunter in the third round of that draft.
Speaker 1: You got Eric Kendricks in the second, you got Trey
Speaker 1: Wayne's in the first. Oh and then by the way,
Speaker 1: Anthony Harris was a college free agent that year. You
Speaker 1: mentioned him with the five picks this year. The thing
Speaker 1: that strikes me the most about Hunter is so often
Speaker 1: with defensive ends or outside linebackers, it takes time for
Speaker 1: them to really find their footing. His weakest year, his
Speaker 1: least you know, statistically, you know, best year with six
Speaker 1: sacks his rookie season. He went to twelve year after
Speaker 1: that and it was seven and a half. And now
Speaker 1: he's been going up and up and up. He's a problem.
Speaker 1: He's a problem for defensive lines. And the reason why
Speaker 1: Minnesota has been able to sustain their success with their
Speaker 1: defense is because it's had other players emerged. It was
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin for a while and he's still very formidable
Speaker 1: with eight sacks this season. But Hunter has kind of
Speaker 1: grabbed that role now and he's become one of the
Speaker 1: faces of this defense. And seeing his maturation over the
Speaker 1: last four years and how he's turned himself into a
Speaker 1: complete player and not just a pass rusher, it's been
Speaker 1: one of the most impressive things about Mike Zimmers unit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think that's what we've seen with this
Speaker 1: with this Zimmer defense over the years. I mean, a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, I remember feeling like in the
Speaker 1: teen game at US Bank Stadium. I know that was
Speaker 1: the game Aaron Rodgers got hurt, but I felt like
Speaker 1: walking out of the building that day, it was like, boy,
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith was the best player on the field today.
Speaker 1: You know. Then there are times I've watched Packers Vikings
Speaker 1: games and got boy Xavier Rhodes looked like the best
Speaker 1: player on the field today. Now it's it's as though,
Speaker 1: as you say, the guy who has who has grabbed
Speaker 1: onto that is Daniel Hunter, and he's the guy who
Speaker 1: really makes this defense go. Not to not to take
Speaker 1: anything away from those other guys who are still very
Speaker 1: solid professional football players who really know what they're doing,
Speaker 1: and these guys have played together for a long time,
Speaker 1: but it seems the Vikings continue to have these guys
Speaker 1: that rise up to that level as uh as just
Speaker 1: the guys in the spotlight, and uh they take advantage
Speaker 1: of it, and everybody kind of gravitates towards that and
Speaker 1: and and that's where they go. It seems like Hunter
Speaker 1: is that guy this year. Yeah, he definitely is. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting too because you and I will go here
Speaker 1: will preview these teams every single week. These defenses every
Speaker 1: single week on the show, and everybody else does it too, right,
Speaker 1: and every once in a while it's like, Okay, you
Speaker 1: know who the big hitters are. Those are the guys
Speaker 1: you hit on. When you talk about Minnesota, you can
Speaker 1: go nine ten deep talking about their stars. They just
Speaker 1: have so many different guys and actually, I think they
Speaker 1: have some really good reserves too. They brought back Andrews
Speaker 1: in Dajo, he's been the primary backup now as safety.
Speaker 1: He already has two picks and he's got a couple
Speaker 1: of picks right after he came back. So I mean,
Speaker 1: they're just so diverse with their talent and where it
Speaker 1: comes from, and when they have a spot open up,
Speaker 1: they have guys who fill it. And it's allowed them
Speaker 1: to be able to sustain this because for so often, Mike,
Speaker 1: when a def it's reaches its pinnacle, when it's one
Speaker 1: that considered one of the top defense is the league,
Speaker 1: it's so hard to hold onto that because a lot
Speaker 1: of times you have a lot of veteran players who
Speaker 1: sometimes start to be on the downside of their career.
Speaker 1: Minnesota has bucked that trend and they continue to be
Speaker 1: one of the league's best. Now, are they as dominant
Speaker 1: statistically as they've been in previous years. Probably not, But
Speaker 1: with the way that the offense is playing, in the
Speaker 1: fact that special teams is kind of picking them up
Speaker 1: too at points this season, they haven't really needed to be. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: before we go on today's show, we do want to
Speaker 1: talk about the Pro Bowl announcement which was made on
Speaker 1: Tuesday night. The Packers with two Pro Bowl selections, quarterback
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers left tackle David Baktiari. For Rogers, it's his
Speaker 1: eighth Pro Bowl selection, so he is now only one
Speaker 1: behind Brett Farvan Forced Greg for the most in by
Speaker 1: a single player in Packers history. Far and Greg both
Speaker 1: were chosen nine times. Bok TR congratulations to David an
Speaker 1: overdue honor. I think he would even admit, while this
Speaker 1: has been a very very solid season for him, and
Speaker 1: I think box Tr has played better in the second
Speaker 1: half of the season this year than he did in
Speaker 1: the first half, he would not say this is his
Speaker 1: best season, but this is the year that he gets
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl recognition after three straight years of getting
Speaker 1: either second or first team All Pro. Yeah, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: And for that very reason, I want to just go
Speaker 1: out there right now and congratulates to Darius and Preston
Speaker 1: Smith on their Pro Bowls in two thousand twenty, because
Speaker 1: that's typically how this process ends up working, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't even want don't get me started on one
Speaker 1: of the Smiths. Okay, both of the Smith's not making it.
Speaker 1: Come on, bro, come on, um, but Box tr this
Speaker 1: it's funny. I mean, he was a three time All Pro,
Speaker 1: a first team All Pro last year, and he couldn't
Speaker 1: get he couldn't get the Pro Bowl nod. Um, So
Speaker 1: it's it's it's good for him. He finally did it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, the litany of times that he's been named
Speaker 1: to that team, give a quick shout out to Mason Crosby.
Speaker 1: That's a difficult thing to be a first alternate a kicker.
Speaker 1: They only pick one, uh, and you know Mason is
Speaker 1: is right there now. The Packers hope that he won't
Speaker 1: be able to do it and he won't be able
Speaker 1: to fill in, but you know, obviously that's something too
Speaker 1: that for him at this juncture's career, everything he went
Speaker 1: through this year, that's really special for him to get
Speaker 1: that acknowledgment. Yeah, and I know a lot of fans,
Speaker 1: a lot of fans are up in arms about the
Speaker 1: Smiths and about Aaron Jones with the you know, being
Speaker 1: second to the league. I get because I do. I
Speaker 1: do to what I was going to show what I
Speaker 1: was going to say. Though as much as I would
Speaker 1: I would like to have seen Crosby make it. I'm
Speaker 1: glad he got first alternate, so if if the Packers
Speaker 1: aren't in the super Bowl, he does have a chance
Speaker 1: maybe to get that call and and to have that honor.
Speaker 1: To me, the biggest snub, if you're looking for the
Speaker 1: snub storyline for the Packers, the biggest snub of the
Speaker 1: whole thing to me is that Brian Bulaga did not
Speaker 1: even make an alternate list out of this thing. With
Speaker 1: the season that he's having, Are you kidding me? Look
Speaker 1: at the rushers, look at the edge rushers that he's
Speaker 1: gone up against, especially in the first half of the season,
Speaker 1: And I know there's a recency thing to all this.
Speaker 1: The the opponents the Packers have played later in the
Speaker 1: season are not some of the ones that they had
Speaker 1: earlier in the year. He was going up against a
Speaker 1: murderers row of edge rushers throughout the first half of
Speaker 1: the season, he was putting together a tremendous year, and
Speaker 1: for him just not even to be on an alternate
Speaker 1: list anywhere, I think is I think it's it says
Speaker 1: all you need to know about the process, which is
Speaker 1: why I try not to get too worked up. Well,
Speaker 1: the tough thing is is I have so much respect
Speaker 1: for the AP because they made a modification a few
Speaker 1: years ago that finally allowed right tackles to get their due, yes,
Speaker 1: instead of just picking two tackles, and we're usually both
Speaker 1: blindside you know, left tack because here's a spoiler alert,
Speaker 1: there are two different positions. Cancers do the same thing
Speaker 1: at either one of them. And Brian Blaga, I think,
Speaker 1: and hopefully here we'll we'll figure out all pros here
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping he gets that
Speaker 1: acknowledgement because his career definitely deserves it. Basically, if you're
Speaker 1: not Lane Johnson, it's gonna be tough to be a
Speaker 1: right tackle that makes an a Pro Bowl and unfortunate
Speaker 1: for Brian Blagg I think he is the best performing
Speaker 1: right tackle in the game right now. For the reasons
Speaker 1: that you mention and the answers to the test are there.
Speaker 1: You've seen his work this whole season, what he's played through, that,
Speaker 1: what he's put himself into. And I really I realized
Speaker 1: there can be all kinds of nuances between who gets
Speaker 1: it and who gets alternates and stuff. Right, the Smiths
Speaker 1: are dealing with that. Crosby to a certain extent dealing
Speaker 1: with that. But when I saw the full list last
Speaker 1: night and I was working, you know, and posting a
Speaker 1: story on our website, that the fact that I listed
Speaker 1: all of these guys for the Packers who are alternates, um,
Speaker 1: and that I did not type Brian Bulaga's name into
Speaker 1: that story, I was just I was just in disbelief
Speaker 1: that he didn't at least get on some kind of
Speaker 1: an alternate list. I didn't get it. We were at
Speaker 1: a point where the I was thinking about this last night, Um,
Speaker 1: should the Pro Bowl teams be expanded? And the reason
Speaker 1: I mentioned that is, Okay, so they pick three quarterbacks, right,
Speaker 1: they pick three offensive tackles. Uh. The the outside linebackers
Speaker 1: and edge rushes are basically the same position. If you're
Speaker 1: a four or three outside linebacker, good luck making a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl team. It's just it's very interesting with the
Speaker 1: with the way it's it's it's it's a it's an
Speaker 1: imperfect science with the variance that there's been now with
Speaker 1: that um that that one confuses me because it's just
Speaker 1: it's one of these things where, hey, the running backs,
Speaker 1: I get it man Delvin Cook, McCaffrey and Zeke Elliott.
Speaker 1: They don't get much better than that in the entire
Speaker 1: football league. But some of these positions, it's like, really,
Speaker 1: that's the best way to we're gonna do this, That's
Speaker 1: how we're gonna pick it. I don't know, that's something
Speaker 1: I think we should be looking for. By the way,
Speaker 1: I just want to do a quick shout out for
Speaker 1: Rick Lovado making the Pro Bowl team of Philadelphia. A
Speaker 1: gentleman and a scholar, a total professional during his time
Speaker 1: in Green Bay. Glad to see him being able to
Speaker 1: get that acknowledgement. Yeah, it's always that's always cool, I
Speaker 1: think for the specialist. And I think that's why I,
Speaker 1: you know, you and I had talked about it throughout
Speaker 1: the year. We're kind of holding out hope for Crosby
Speaker 1: a little bit. And I know it's not a career
Speaker 1: achievement award, but for a guy who's played as long
Speaker 1: as he have, and he as long as he has,
Speaker 1: and he really is on the top of his game
Speaker 1: right now with with what he's doing. Um, I was,
Speaker 1: I was sad to see the he didn't get it.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that he got first alternate because we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens from there. But but it's for those specialist guys.
Speaker 1: I always think it's kind of a cool deal. This
Speaker 1: is a tough one because, you know, pulling myself back
Speaker 1: a little, Will Lutz has had a phenomenal season and
Speaker 1: if you go, if you know anything about the same
Speaker 1: storylines that kicks that that guy's had to make this
Speaker 1: year to win them ballgames, he's definitely a pro bowler.
Speaker 1: But well, we'll see all the rest of the shakes out.
Speaker 1: Hopefully for the Packer's sake. They're in the Pro they're
Speaker 1: in the super Bowl. It's like a Jordy Nelson type
Speaker 1: thing where he had yard season but didn't make the
Speaker 1: you know, because there's other things going on. Hopefully it
Speaker 1: works out, you know that in that regard. Yeah, alright, Well,
Speaker 1: with that, we will sign off on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team on packers dot com. You can subscribe
Speaker 1: to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services,
Speaker 1: and be sure to check out the Packers YouTube channel
Speaker 1: for all kinds of great video content For Wes, I'm Mike.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in everybody, We'll see you next time.