Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague Weston Hodkowitz, were coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studio at lambeau Field and West. The Packers coming
Speaker 1: off of a thirty five to twenty road victory down
Speaker 1: in Houston over the Texans. I kind of call this
Speaker 1: a taking care of business type of victory because you
Speaker 1: knew the Packers were the better team, but yet you
Speaker 1: knew Houston they had played a lot of really good teams.
Speaker 1: You weren't really quite sure what you're going to get
Speaker 1: out of the Texans. But the Packers got on the
Speaker 1: board early, took control of this game and really never
Speaker 1: let up. Well, and it's the thing that you point
Speaker 1: out there too, it's the national football. Yeah, you never
Speaker 1: know what can happen in a given week. Just look
Speaker 1: at the Seattle Arizona game. Every these games have to
Speaker 1: be won and lost, have to go out there and
Speaker 1: actually do it on the field, and Green Bay did that.
Speaker 1: I know it wasn't the picture perfect performance I'm sure
Speaker 1: Matt Mflour and his guys wanted, but offensively, they came
Speaker 1: out and set the tone right away, which is what
Speaker 1: they needed to do after how things ended last week. Defensively,
Speaker 1: they're still trying to get those turnovers going. They did
Speaker 1: get one late, but they started the game with three stops.
Speaker 1: You know, some three and outs to begin to begin with.
Speaker 1: You're leading twenty one to nothing at halftime. It just
Speaker 1: felt like at at every interval after green Bay scored
Speaker 1: for the sixth straight series to begin the game, it
Speaker 1: just felt like green Bay was in control and the
Speaker 1: Packers stayed there. Yeah quickly. Here wes serious x M.
Speaker 1: NFL Radio Channel eight is the only radio outlet dedicated
Speaker 1: to the National Football League seven days a week, three
Speaker 1: sixty five days a year. On the offensive side, here
Speaker 1: west a few takeaways for the Packers from this game.
Speaker 1: Number One Davante Adams has his second monster game of
Speaker 1: the season in his second full or sorry, third full
Speaker 1: game of the season. Thirteen catches a hundred ninety six
Speaker 1: yards two touchdowns. He comes up four yards shy of
Speaker 1: the first two hundred yard receiving game for the Packers
Speaker 1: since that was Jordie Nelson. Of course. Jamal Williams steps
Speaker 1: in for Aaron Jones. Jones misses the game with a
Speaker 1: caff injury. Williams just goes out and does his thing.
Speaker 1: A hundred and fourteen yards from scrimmage, seventy seven on
Speaker 1: the ground, thirty seven receiving punches in the clinching touchdown
Speaker 1: late in the fourth quarter. And then the other thing,
Speaker 1: also injury related. On the offensive line, Billy Turner flips
Speaker 1: over from right tackle the left tackle to fill in
Speaker 1: for David Baktieri. Rick Wagner comes off the bench to
Speaker 1: take turner spot at right tackle, and the offensive line
Speaker 1: frankly doesn't miss a beat. Lots of really good developments.
Speaker 1: As you said, not entirely clean, there were. There was
Speaker 1: the stretch of three and ounce there in the second
Speaker 1: half where things were stalling and sputtering and you weren't
Speaker 1: sure what was going on. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, missing a couple of really really big time
Speaker 1: offensive players, Packers put thirty five points on the board.
Speaker 1: They did, Mike, And the thing I love the most
Speaker 1: about this performance from Green Bay as you go into Friday,
Speaker 1: you and I we we were doing unscripted last Thursday.
Speaker 1: We thought we had an idea of what this game
Speaker 1: was gonna look like. Heck, we did final thoughts on Friday,
Speaker 1: thinking we had an idea of what this game was
Speaker 1: gonna look like. I thought this was a game where
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones really had to have a big day, and
Speaker 1: lo and behold, because of a calf tweak there, Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones doesn't even end up playing in this So on
Speaker 1: basically forty eight hours, notice you gotta run with Jamal Williams,
Speaker 1: and boy did he run. I mean this, I thought
Speaker 1: really epitomized his value to this team and exactly why
Speaker 1: I've always been so high on him as a player.
Speaker 1: Was there a seventy five yard run that ended up
Speaker 1: on Sports Center? No, But the thing is is that
Speaker 1: he's so darn consistent. Nineteen carries seventy seven yards, four
Speaker 1: catches thirty seven yards. He gets that touchdown at the
Speaker 1: end of the game that you asked him about on Monday,
Speaker 1: what it felt like to get back in there. And
Speaker 1: he's a good pass protector, He's reliable this game. Once
Speaker 1: it was known that Jamal excuse me that Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna play, it had Jamal Williams written all over it.
Speaker 1: In your right, Davante Adams had a magnificent performance, but
Speaker 1: I just thought it was another good reminder for a
Speaker 1: guy that has really been underrated through his entire career
Speaker 1: in Green Bay of what that player presents and what
Speaker 1: he provides to this offense. Yeah, no question about it.
Speaker 1: And after, you know, admittedly a rough week on offense
Speaker 1: down in Tampa, the Packers got things back into gear
Speaker 1: and really it's it started with Davante Adams right from
Speaker 1: the right from the opening drive, a couple of short
Speaker 1: passes to Adams, one of those being for the touchdown.
Speaker 1: But then late in the first quarter, I guess you'd
Speaker 1: call it a go route back shoulder type of throw
Speaker 1: down the sideline that Adams admitted he didn't even see
Speaker 1: the ball until it was right on top of him
Speaker 1: because of the the lights, uh, you know, in the
Speaker 1: the indoor stadium down there in Houston. But he makes
Speaker 1: a twenty eight yard catch on a third down to
Speaker 1: uh to move the chains, and that was really the
Speaker 1: one that's that sort of started this big explosive a
Speaker 1: for Davante Adams. He follows it up with a thirty
Speaker 1: six yard catch I believe, later on that drive. Then
Speaker 1: he gets the forty five yard touchdown early in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. The Houston Texans decided to try to play
Speaker 1: single high safety and they didn't always shade that safety
Speaker 1: over to Davante adams side. And when that was happening,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers was going to call the route and call
Speaker 1: the play to let Davanta Adams make a play. And
Speaker 1: they made the Texans pay every single time. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: that was the part of it that really was the
Speaker 1: most quizzical to me is that the Texans really were
Speaker 1: pretty committed to that. And when you don't have Aaron Jones,
Speaker 1: I actually expected that we might start seeing more too
Speaker 1: high safety looks and more shading over to Davante's coverage.
Speaker 1: They didn't do that. Now, maybe that sometimes if you're
Speaker 1: a boxer, right, you got your punches, you have your strengths,
Speaker 1: and that's what you roll with in a in a fight.
Speaker 1: You're not going to try to become somebody or not.
Speaker 1: But I was kind of blown away. I mean, three
Speaker 1: catches on the first original series, he had to touchdown
Speaker 1: to end the first series, and then he gets the
Speaker 1: twenty eight yarder on the sideline, which was a magnificent
Speaker 1: pass and catch, and Vernon Hargreaves had phenomenal coverage on
Speaker 1: that play, and then two plays later you got Adam
Speaker 1: streaking across the middle for thirty six. They just had
Speaker 1: no answer for him. And as I wrote an insider
Speaker 1: inbox for Tuesday, Mike, we're witnessing greatness now with Davante Adams.
Speaker 1: This isn't just a Pro Bowl receiver. This guy should
Speaker 1: be an All Pro I mean he's he's arguably and
Speaker 1: I think very quickly making you know, the best receiver
Speaker 1: that I've covered on this beat. Uh. He has athleticism,
Speaker 1: he knows how to run the entire rout tree. He
Speaker 1: has you know, unwavering confidence with in in you know,
Speaker 1: being on that same page with Aaron Rodgers, he just
Speaker 1: brings it all. And then, by the way, with the
Speaker 1: Packers dealing with the injuries that they're dealing with right
Speaker 1: now at the skilled positions, everybody knew Davante Adams was
Speaker 1: going to get the ball in this game and the
Speaker 1: Texans couldn't do anything about it. Uh. Aaron Rodgers has
Speaker 1: said many times, he said it publicly, he said it
Speaker 1: to me in interviews I've done with him for the
Speaker 1: Packers year book and and other settings. No disrespect to
Speaker 1: any of the great receivers that he has played with
Speaker 1: Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb. The list
Speaker 1: goes on, But Davante Adams has the most raw, pure
Speaker 1: athletic talent of any of those guys. All those guys
Speaker 1: have produced is you know not You're not gonna It's
Speaker 1: not about comparing the stats. Aaron Rodgers says, when it
Speaker 1: comes to pure talent on the football field, Davantae Adams
Speaker 1: is the best guy he's played with. And I know
Speaker 1: a lot of fans they worry sometimes of all, well,
Speaker 1: Rodgers is trying to force the ball to Adams, and
Speaker 1: you know that was the big question with the pick
Speaker 1: six down in Tampa on the third down and all that. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a reason you're you're maybe you're gonna take some
Speaker 1: good with some bad there. But there's a reason that
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is going to feed the ball to Davanta
Speaker 1: Adams because when he's out there, he's the best guy
Speaker 1: on the field, playing and simple. There's no one that
Speaker 1: compares to him. And yes, the Packers have solid running
Speaker 1: backs and Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams, but this passing
Speaker 1: game is about number seventeen and if he stays healthy
Speaker 1: and can avoid You know, he's had these injuries the
Speaker 1: last couple of years that have kept him out for
Speaker 1: two three games here there. If he can avoid that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, this offense can still find another gear.
Speaker 1: I really believe that. Well. And it's funny too. You
Speaker 1: bring up the whole thing about Rogers saying that this
Speaker 1: is the most physically talented guy he's had. He's told
Speaker 1: his old receivers this. I mean, James Jones is recounting
Speaker 1: this story to me and some of the other guys
Speaker 1: on the Packers pregame show a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I mean, he sat down in the off season for
Speaker 1: lunch with Rodgers, and Rogers said, yeah, this is the
Speaker 1: best receiver I've ever played with. He told James Jones this,
Speaker 1: and I don't think you can deny it. I mean,
Speaker 1: the way in which he plays the position is exceptional
Speaker 1: to begin with. He has all the tools and all
Speaker 1: the mental capacity to handle that and play at a
Speaker 1: high level. But for how many people dogged him for
Speaker 1: his athletic says him coming out of Fresno State and
Speaker 1: just weren't really sure what this guy was gonna be
Speaker 1: because he wasn't at like one of these big SEC
Speaker 1: type programs. Well, and people wonder to coming out of college.
Speaker 1: He put up these huge numbers with with car as
Speaker 1: his quarterback. But people wondered was that was this just
Speaker 1: a product of the system this you know, the spread,
Speaker 1: the spread offense, Fresno State chuck it all over the place. Well,
Speaker 1: Davante Adams prew when he got into you know, his
Speaker 1: his third fourth seasons here in the NFL. He proved
Speaker 1: he is a big, big time player. And I hate
Speaker 1: that analogy because you're absolutely right, that's something that gets
Speaker 1: thrown out time and time again. What are they a
Speaker 1: product of the system? I got to work today, It's
Speaker 1: a product of my car getting me here. It just
Speaker 1: happens that way, right, But you have to be able
Speaker 1: to catch the ball. You have to be able to
Speaker 1: make the most of those opportunities. And he had an
Speaker 1: historic run at Fresno State and basically two years and
Speaker 1: he was able to be the player that he became.
Speaker 1: So yeah, for Davante Adams, I wrote about it again
Speaker 1: an inbox where I think right now, despite missing these
Speaker 1: first these last two games because of that hamstring, he's
Speaker 1: still on pace for over a hundred catches fifth, hundred yards,
Speaker 1: fourteen touchdowns. He's he's in a different planet right now,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be fun if he could stay healthy here,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fun to see what the season can become.
Speaker 1: Gotta give a quick hat tip to Tom Fanning to
Speaker 1: I know he gave credit to Elias because they actually
Speaker 1: are the ones that confirm the stat But three core
Speaker 1: three receivers in NFL history have had two games in
Speaker 1: a season where they had at least thirteen catches, at
Speaker 1: least a hundred fifty receiving yards, and two touchdowns. Davante
Speaker 1: Adams is among them. And the Packers still have eleven
Speaker 1: more games to play this season, ten more games that
Speaker 1: played the season. Well, we need to shift gears to
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball. I want to do
Speaker 1: that quickly here, but gear up for game day. Packers
Speaker 1: fans open a Packers checking account from Associated Bank and
Speaker 1: score a fifty dollar Packers Pro Shop gift card. Learn
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Speaker 1: defensively for Green Bay in this game, West, you mentioned
Speaker 1: it was twenty one nothing at halftime. Packers are pitching
Speaker 1: a shutout. At the midway point, the Texans end up
Speaker 1: scoring twenty points, the last touchdown kind of in garbage time,
Speaker 1: you could say, because the Packers were up by three
Speaker 1: scores with you know, less than three minutes to go.
Speaker 1: Three things defensively that I took away from this game. One,
Speaker 1: we saw Preston Smith have his most impactful game of
Speaker 1: the season. And I'm not just talking about the fourth
Speaker 1: and one stop, which was a big play and a
Speaker 1: really really strong individual play by him. With the Shawn
Speaker 1: Watson running kind of an option there on fourth and
Speaker 1: one at midfield, Preston Smith held his ground, got ahold
Speaker 1: of Watson, made the tackle. But there were other plays
Speaker 1: where Preston Smith is in the backfield getting pressure, creating
Speaker 1: some potential tackle tackles for loss in the running game.
Speaker 1: I really thought his Uh, we're seeing his game get
Speaker 1: back to where it was a year ago. The second
Speaker 1: point was the red zone stops on defense, And because
Speaker 1: I had I had meant and that late last week
Speaker 1: both on this show the Final Thoughts video, Packers haven't
Speaker 1: been where they were last year in terms of red
Speaker 1: zone stops on defense, and they got two of them
Speaker 1: in the second half when there were some moments there
Speaker 1: where the Houston Texans were potentially generating momentum for a
Speaker 1: big comeback. They got a block punt in there. The
Speaker 1: Packers offense was stalling out everything else, but the Packers
Speaker 1: hold them to two field goals into red zone possessions
Speaker 1: and that kept things as a as a multi score
Speaker 1: lead for Green Bay. And then the other thing I'll
Speaker 1: say is that this defense, they continue to find guys
Speaker 1: here and there too chip in that you just wonder, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's their role, what's their potential role going to be
Speaker 1: down the road. We see Darnell Savage missed this game,
Speaker 1: Raven Green ended up going out of the game. We
Speaker 1: see late in the game, Vernon Scott and Henry Black,
Speaker 1: a couple of rookies, a seventh round pick, an undrafted rookie.
Speaker 1: They're making plays on the defensive side. Kamal Martin makes
Speaker 1: his NFL debut, the rookie, fifth round draft pick linebacker
Speaker 1: out of Minnesota. He sure looks like he's earning going
Speaker 1: to earn more snaps here as time goes on. My
Speaker 1: point is this Green Bay Packers defense is far from
Speaker 1: a finished product. In we're seeing, we're seeing different faces
Speaker 1: jumping in and yes, Kevin King has missed the last
Speaker 1: couple of games. They certainly want him back. You certainly
Speaker 1: want Darnell Savage back. But we're seeing an evolution here
Speaker 1: with what's going on with this Packers defense. And I
Speaker 1: thought there were some really positive signs on Sunday, so
Speaker 1: many things that you pointed out there, and I agree
Speaker 1: with all of them. I mean, first starters. Just to
Speaker 1: do a quick hat tip to to Preston Smith, this
Speaker 1: is this game is more than sacks. It's more than pressures.
Speaker 1: There's still going to be a game this season where
Speaker 1: he has two and a half sacks and and it
Speaker 1: really shows up and he ends up being in the
Speaker 1: NFC Defensive Player of the Week thing that those things happen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, But you also need games like this because
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, yeah, it was the fourth and one stop,
Speaker 1: but it was also how he was able to flush
Speaker 1: DeShawn Watson earlier in that game and then that led
Speaker 1: to Chris Barnes's first career sack. Uh. You you have
Speaker 1: to be able to to play throughout a full game
Speaker 1: and not just be all about Okay, did I get
Speaker 1: a sack and I get a quarterback hit. There's other
Speaker 1: ways to impact the game. But the bigger issue that
Speaker 1: you brought up there, and it happened with with Kamal
Speaker 1: Martin in particular. You talk about building towards something. I
Speaker 1: feel like this defensive front and with having Kamal Martin
Speaker 1: back now, is building towards something. Certainly, Deshaun Watson leaked
Speaker 1: out and kind of changed the some of the stats
Speaker 1: on the rushing yards, but David Johnson only had forty
Speaker 1: two rushing yards. Duke Johnson wasn't able to do anything
Speaker 1: and from the backfield as a runner either, and that
Speaker 1: was a testament too. I think Kenny Clark getting back
Speaker 1: and he's still working his way back from the groin.
Speaker 1: I thought Dean Lowery played better. I thought Kingsley Kiki
Speaker 1: has been a really nice addition concerning they didn't have
Speaker 1: Tyler Lancaster. I thought the front stepped up in this game,
Speaker 1: and you saw a young guy and Kamal Martin who
Speaker 1: started this game as the run linebacker, the number two
Speaker 1: linebacker that was basically just going to be in the base. Well,
Speaker 1: then you have Chris Barnes leaving with the shoulder injury.
Speaker 1: Barnes leaves on the first play of the second half.
Speaker 1: He already had eight tackles and then a couple, you know,
Speaker 1: a series or two later. Kamal Martin is now the
Speaker 1: solo linebacker, the key communicator of the defense, and he
Speaker 1: was up for it. I think he has a lot
Speaker 1: of explosiveness to his game. He made some big thumping
Speaker 1: plays in this game. The defensive front, in the inside
Speaker 1: linebacker position is such a pivotal role in NFL defenses
Speaker 1: and there has to be a marriage between the two
Speaker 1: of them. And I thought for Kamal Martin coming out
Speaker 1: and it being his NFL debut, his first football game
Speaker 1: in eleven months, if you go back to his injury
Speaker 1: at Minnesota, was a really encouraging start for him. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: We've we've seen we've seen over the course of the
Speaker 1: season so far, as brief as it's been. You know,
Speaker 1: we see Chris Barnes, an undrafted guy out of U
Speaker 1: c l A, come in and hopefully he can, you know,
Speaker 1: get some of his injury issues straightened out and beyond
Speaker 1: the field more. Camal Martin now is is back from
Speaker 1: the knee injury that knocked him out during training camp.
Speaker 1: Came back, got a couple of weeks of practice in
Speaker 1: got himself out there on the field and this defensive backfield. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you I mean to be missing quite Frankly, West, I
Speaker 1: mean to be missing two of your four starters in
Speaker 1: the secondary in King and Savage, and to have this
Speaker 1: receiving core of Will Fuller, Brandon Cooks, Randall Cobb. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: they made some catches and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson ended up with over three d yards. As
Speaker 1: they said, there were a chunk of those that were,
Speaker 1: you know, really in garbage time after the game was decided.
Speaker 1: But um, but this Packers secondary held up just fine
Speaker 1: against a pretty decent receiving corps and a pretty decent quarterback.
Speaker 1: They're proving they've got some depth on this defensive roster
Speaker 1: and I think it's going to pay dividends down the road. Well,
Speaker 1: and Mike, what is Mike Patton's favorite defensive package. It's
Speaker 1: really that hybrid six defensive back nickel that they run
Speaker 1: so often now with an extra safety as kind of
Speaker 1: playing an inside line. So the first quarter of this game,
Speaker 1: that spot is Raven green in it's Chris Barnes. They
Speaker 1: finished this game without either player, so that meant it
Speaker 1: required you know, you saw Vernon Scott come off the bench.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you something right now, folks, I watched him
Speaker 1: during training camp. I'm not a scout. Brian Goodkin say,
Speaker 1: isn't asking for my opinion on any of these guys.
Speaker 1: Vernon Scott can play. He has some speed to him,
Speaker 1: he has great size for safety. He's going to factor
Speaker 1: into this thing here sooner than later. I think they
Speaker 1: found something in this TCU safety. And then he got
Speaker 1: Henry Black practice squad elevation on Saturday, basically because they
Speaker 1: were going to be down Darnell Savage, They're gonna have
Speaker 1: some other injuries. He plays late, has two solo tackles
Speaker 1: and six snaps and then he forces the fumble at
Speaker 1: the end, pops the thing up like it was almost
Speaker 1: like one of those pops like the second ace, the
Speaker 1: fielder's choice. That was like a carnival game, the way
Speaker 1: that if that happens in mad and you're like, well,
Speaker 1: what a glitch, But in then age your names comes
Speaker 1: down with it. It's it was garbage time, but it
Speaker 1: also came after an onside recovery. The Packers needed to
Speaker 1: seal this thing. They need to put the final nail
Speaker 1: on the coffin and he did that. I just was
Speaker 1: really impressed, and I'll say it to Josh Jackson. I
Speaker 1: thought had a much better performance in this game. He
Speaker 1: played well in the first half the previous week against
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay. Some things win against him, and he came
Speaker 1: back and played well in that boundary spot opposite Jaire Alexander.
Speaker 1: And just to close the point on this, JR. Alexander's
Speaker 1: turning into a special player, Mike. He's twenty three years old.
Speaker 1: He still has a lot ahead of him. But as
Speaker 1: I wrote an inbox on Tuesday, he's kind of turning
Speaker 1: into sort of one of those Durell Rivas types where
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, you're not going to see him have
Speaker 1: five six interceptions, but a game like this, Deshaun Watson
Speaker 1: barely ever even looked over at him when Will Fuller
Speaker 1: was covering up. Yeah, he had Deshaun wats and had
Speaker 1: no interest in looking at Gire Alexander's side of the field.
Speaker 1: I went through the defensive film yesterday, coming back coming
Speaker 1: back into work after after all of the game coverage
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and yeah, I mean there's there's a mixture
Speaker 1: of Alexander playing press, playing off he's actually playing more
Speaker 1: off coverage than press in this particular game. But there's
Speaker 1: no there's no one static way that you know that
Speaker 1: that Petton makes the calls and that Alexander goes about
Speaker 1: it as as the number one corner. Watson just had
Speaker 1: no interest in even and even looking there and even
Speaker 1: wanting to challenge him. Then when he did late in
Speaker 1: the game on the ball over the middle and the
Speaker 1: back of the end zone, Alexander gets his arm in
Speaker 1: there and rips it out, So you know, Fuller ends
Speaker 1: up getting the touchdown on the next play against a
Speaker 1: different type of coverage. But those are the types when
Speaker 1: when when the play is there, Alexander is making him
Speaker 1: making them and he's not getting challenged all that much
Speaker 1: by quarterbacks because they're they're just not interested in taking
Speaker 1: that chance. And he's a different type of corner though too,
Speaker 1: because for so many years it really was that press
Speaker 1: man style. Jerry Alexander's is a darn good zone cornerback
Speaker 1: and he's dangerous because of how quickly he can collapse
Speaker 1: when the balls go in his direction. That's what kind
Speaker 1: of puts the fear of God a little bit into
Speaker 1: these quarterbacks of Okay, is he am I going to
Speaker 1: be able to deliver this ball to the target before
Speaker 1: he gets to it. Uh, he needs to catch those passes.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the next step for him in his game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Alexander's vision is is phenomenal's closing speed in his awareness,
Speaker 1: it's off the charts. Yeah. Absolutely. Well quickly here, big
Speaker 1: picture wise, West, the Packers are back in first place
Speaker 1: by themselves in the NFC North at five and one
Speaker 1: because the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football lost to
Speaker 1: the l A Rams. So the Bears are five and two,
Speaker 1: a half game back Detroit Lions at three and three.
Speaker 1: The Packers opponent this week, the Minnesota Vikings, are at
Speaker 1: one and five. They'll be coming off their bye week
Speaker 1: and coming to lambeau Field. But I have to I
Speaker 1: just I just have to say this, And there were
Speaker 1: a lot of there were a lot of statement type games,
Speaker 1: maybe you call it in the NFL, even though I
Speaker 1: think that's a little bit overused, But what Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: did to the Raiders, what the San Francisco forty Niners
Speaker 1: did to the New England Patriots, We're seeing, we're seeing
Speaker 1: some of these power teams in the NFC start to
Speaker 1: assert themselves. But I just have to say this West,
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford did it again, Like how does this guy
Speaker 1: pull these games out for the Lions? And look, and
Speaker 1: I know I keep saying this, and mostly I've been
Speaker 1: saying it in reference to the Bears and the fact
Speaker 1: that you know, they've got the five wins and they're
Speaker 1: they're really challenging for the division championship right now. But
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford through the perfect past to DeAndre Swift in
Speaker 1: Week one for the touchdown to beat the Bears. And
Speaker 1: if Swift catches that ball, the Detroit Lions are four
Speaker 1: and two right now, you know, I mean one play
Speaker 1: is the difference between the Lions being three and three
Speaker 1: and being four and two. And uh. And I'm telling
Speaker 1: you what, don't sleep on Matthew Stafford now and and
Speaker 1: he's he's fantastic and you and I have said here
Speaker 1: for all you know, for almost five years doing this
Speaker 1: show now and I always say this is one of
Speaker 1: the top ten quarterbacks in the league, and depending on
Speaker 1: the Sunday you can make an argument of top five.
Speaker 1: And he never gets the credit he deserves. Now, mind you,
Speaker 1: Todd Gurley had an assist in that performance, but for
Speaker 1: him to be able to again lead them back and Mike,
Speaker 1: he's done this for a decade now without a consistent
Speaker 1: running game. Do you understand how difficult it is to
Speaker 1: win in this league? And I know they've had their
Speaker 1: ups and downs, but to play successful offensive football with
Speaker 1: not having a complimentary back a lot of times it
Speaker 1: has to be on his shoulders. And he has routinely
Speaker 1: stepped up to that. It's a credit to him. It's
Speaker 1: a credit for them to be able to pull to win.
Speaker 1: I know what their Falcons record is, but that didn't
Speaker 1: matter a week earlier to the Vikings, Right, they have
Speaker 1: to win the games that are in front of them.
Speaker 1: And I'll say this too, as you mentioned with the
Speaker 1: forty Niners, the NFC West has a real opportunity here
Speaker 1: depending on how they play their cards. That with the
Speaker 1: seven playoff teams, this could be the year where all
Speaker 1: four of them end up getting into the playoffs. It's
Speaker 1: it's trending in that direction. Sanford Cisco really finds themselves. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's entirely possible. Sunday Sunday Night Football an incredible game
Speaker 1: Arizona in Seattle. Arizona comes back from ten points down
Speaker 1: in the last five minutes to get it to overtime.
Speaker 1: Some crazy happenings in overtime, Arizona eventually pulls it out,
Speaker 1: so Seattle takes its first loss of the season. Nobody
Speaker 1: in the NFCAS is undefeated any longer. The only undefeated
Speaker 1: team in the NFL is the Pittsburgh Steelers, who knocked
Speaker 1: off Tennessee and handed Tennessee it's first Yeah. This, uh,
Speaker 1: this is shaping up to be a wild ride. My
Speaker 1: friend's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a fun year
Speaker 1: and even and we'll talk about the preview of this
Speaker 1: upcoming weekend, but some really intriguing matchups this weekend too.
Speaker 1: I will close on this Seattle Russell Wilson phenomenal playing
Speaker 1: at m VP level this year. I want nothing to
Speaker 1: do with the Arizona Cardinals. I've said it since basically
Speaker 1: Week two. You've had to hear me keep saying this.
Speaker 1: I was, I was. I brought it up back in
Speaker 1: training camp that you know when they get DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: you have Kyler Murray and his second year as a quarterback.
Speaker 1: You know, they've got some players on the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball, and even they're missing, you know, they're
Speaker 1: their top pastors. Chandler Jones is out now. But that uh,
Speaker 1: that's that's a tough, tough division. But if you hold
Speaker 1: serve at home when your division games at home, which
Speaker 1: is what they did pulling off that overtime game against Seattle,
Speaker 1: you're gonna keep yourself right in the mix in in
Speaker 1: the in that tough NFC West. Yeah, and Kenyan Drake
Speaker 1: also end up getting injured. But Kyler Murray Man. Uh again,
Speaker 1: if the guy has the athletic talent, we're at the
Speaker 1: point where we need to start throwing the rulers out.
Speaker 1: These guys can just go. And he's been He's ushered
Speaker 1: in a big turnaround now in Arizona. Yeah, no question
Speaker 1: about it. Well, we've gone a little overtime, but that's okay.
Speaker 1: With that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team all week long on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com for Wes I Am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: See you next time.