Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted social
Speaker 1: distancing style for Packers dot Com. I and Mike Spofford,
Speaker 1: joined as always by my trusted colleague Wes Hankou. It's
Speaker 1: who has now removed his mask and is ready to
Speaker 1: chat with us today Western it is the bye week
Speaker 1: for the Green Bay Packers. They enter this by at
Speaker 1: four and oh sitting on top of the NFC North.
Speaker 1: I know we talked a lot in our last episode
Speaker 1: about how the offense has been rolling the defense seems
Speaker 1: to be showing some signs of progress. So here at
Speaker 1: the break, I want to get your thoughts on what
Speaker 1: we might refer to as the unsung heroes on this team.
Speaker 1: Let's start on the offensive side. Is there somebody that
Speaker 1: maybe we haven't talked about a whole heck of a
Speaker 1: lot on this show, on the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: that you would consider an unsung hero in this four
Speaker 1: no start, Yeah, Mike, I'm gonna go with Lucas Patrick
Speaker 1: as the answer to that question. Now. For for a
Speaker 1: number of reasons. One, Lucas started this season. I remember,
Speaker 1: if you go back to August, we were having a
Speaker 1: conversation with him about how he was making sure that
Speaker 1: he was staying ready. He was wearing a COVID type
Speaker 1: I think oakally face mask to make sure that you know,
Speaker 1: he stayed healthy and was accountable in case they ended
Speaker 1: up needing him as a sort of that inside backup
Speaker 1: at the top three interior positions. Well, then, as it
Speaker 1: turns out, because of the injuries at right tackle, he
Speaker 1: starts the opener against Minnesota and then unfortunately the injury
Speaker 1: to Lane Taylor and Lucas Patrick has become a starting
Speaker 1: offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers. And what I
Speaker 1: really like about him is is he has a lot
Speaker 1: of the same intangibles I think as t J. Lang
Speaker 1: had during his running Green Bay. He's a very nice guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can sit down and have a really intelligent,
Speaker 1: thoughtful conversation with Lucas Patrick. Obviously not right now, but
Speaker 1: in general you can do that. And but once he's
Speaker 1: on the field, man, there is just a mean streak
Speaker 1: in him. And there's a couple of offensive line I
Speaker 1: think Corey Lindsley was the one who mentioned it last week,
Speaker 1: the way that he finishes plays. Uh, some defensive lineman
Speaker 1: don't necessarily like it. It's caused him pushing and shoving
Speaker 1: and practices the past few years of training camp, even
Speaker 1: in Green Bay. But I think it just shows you
Speaker 1: the type of approach that Lucas has and where he's
Speaker 1: come from. He's a very humbled beginnings kind of kid.
Speaker 1: He's self made through and through, whether it was his
Speaker 1: education or now being in the National Football League, and
Speaker 1: he plays with that edge to him. Uh, nobody is
Speaker 1: his friend on the opposite side of the field. He
Speaker 1: needs to, you know, continue to show that he deserves
Speaker 1: this opportunity, and very quietly, Mike, in the first month,
Speaker 1: this first month of the season, Lucas has become a
Speaker 1: starting offensive lineman and that isn't gonna be changing anytime soon.
Speaker 1: He looks like he's the starting right guard. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I am totally with you here. In terms of the
Speaker 1: unsung heroes, I guess it's natural to look at the
Speaker 1: offensive line, and I'm gonna go there as well. First,
Speaker 1: I want to say, definitely a shout out to Addam Stenovich,
Speaker 1: the offensive line coach, for all of the injuries that
Speaker 1: the Packers have dealt with on the offensive line, the
Speaker 1: shuffling around and everything that you mentioned, this unit has
Speaker 1: held together. It is it has executed, it hasn't been
Speaker 1: noticed who's playing in what spot, and that's a credit
Speaker 1: to Stenovich and to assistant offensive line coach Luke Butkus.
Speaker 1: So I definitely want to get that out there. But
Speaker 1: I am with you as far as the offensive line.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to mention the name of Corey Linsley,
Speaker 1: and I know we have talked about him a little
Speaker 1: bit on the show, so I'm probably breaking my own
Speaker 1: rule a little bit in that respect, but I'll say this,
Speaker 1: If Corey Lindsley is going to get to a Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl at some point here in his career, man, you
Speaker 1: would think it would be this year. The way this
Speaker 1: has started, the way the Packers, the way the Packers
Speaker 1: offense has gotten off to this start. It's ranked at
Speaker 1: the top of the league, and so many categories. Corey
Speaker 1: Linsley and Aaron Rodgers have been completely on the same page,
Speaker 1: and Rogers has talked about it. With regards to the
Speaker 1: protection calls, the adjustments that are made up front, all
Speaker 1: of that communication falls on Corey Lindsley, and you know,
Speaker 1: Rogers has talked about it. He's only been sacked three
Speaker 1: times in four games, and he blames himself for for
Speaker 1: two of those. So um, I think you know number
Speaker 1: sixty three in the middle of it all here for
Speaker 1: the Packers on the offensive line, and I totally agree
Speaker 1: with you going with number sixty two. Lucas Patrick is
Speaker 1: another guy in this discussion. What the Packers have done
Speaker 1: up front, especially on the the interior, that offensive line
Speaker 1: has been pretty impressive. Yeah, and and just a touch
Speaker 1: on your your pick of Lindsley as well. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: a starter. Yeah, he's been entrenched, and certainly we have
Speaker 1: talked about him. But I think this is a guy
Speaker 1: that over the course of his six seven years has
Speaker 1: really gone unappreciated, underappreciate, I should say in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: You know, I go back to two thousand and fourteen, Mike,
Speaker 1: and I kind of wrote about this last week in
Speaker 1: the feature I did on him. You know, I remember
Speaker 1: being at the Prescazette and this was the guy the
Speaker 1: very modest expectations as a fifth round pick. JC Treder suffered.
Speaker 1: I believe it was that knee injury right before the
Speaker 1: start of the season, and and Corey had to start
Speaker 1: that first game against Seattle without having taken any preseason
Speaker 1: snaps with Aaron Rodgers very minimal, uh snaps with him
Speaker 1: in practice during training camp, and here he is low
Speaker 1: and behold as the starting week one center for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: And he got a lot of praise those first two years,
Speaker 1: and there was a lot of you know, pushing for
Speaker 1: him to be and make a Pro Bowl and then
Speaker 1: for whatever reason in sixteen seventeen eighteen, it got quiet again.
Speaker 1: Now he has been a Pro Bowl alternate the past
Speaker 1: two years. But I do think when you talk about
Speaker 1: a guy that has really shown his stripes as a
Speaker 1: leader and also just a really darn good offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: a guy like Corey Lindsley, I don't think you can
Speaker 1: really say enough about him. Yeah, I totally agree. Alright,
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, who's your unsung hero through
Speaker 1: this four game winning streak? West, Yeah, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of guys you could say here. Um, I'm gonna actually
Speaker 1: kind of split this award a little bit. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give it to Tyler Lancaster and Kingsley Kikey and and
Speaker 1: the reason I want to do that is because on
Speaker 1: the other side of this, and obviously you were a
Speaker 1: part of Kenny Clark's conference call on Saturday, and I
Speaker 1: had asked Kenny about this. One thing the Packers needed
Speaker 1: to learn here earlier in the year is who are
Speaker 1: they going to be able to count to make sure
Speaker 1: that Kenny doesn't have to play of the snaps this year,
Speaker 1: in this last three weeks. It is not the way
Speaker 1: you want to do it. You do want to not
Speaker 1: have you know, Kenny Clark available for you know, it
Speaker 1: would be the last what fourteen quarters now he needs
Speaker 1: to be on the field. He's a pro bowler and
Speaker 1: he's a He's a guy that really does make that
Speaker 1: defensive front work. He makes everybody's life easier. But the
Speaker 1: one thing that this challenge the Green Bay Packers to
Speaker 1: do was to find other guys on the defensive line
Speaker 1: that are gonna be able to take some of the
Speaker 1: pressure off Kenny when he does return. I think Lancaster
Speaker 1: and Kiki have done that in entirely different ways. Lancaster
Speaker 1: has basically been the nose tackle that one technique right
Speaker 1: over the center here in the base packages, and he's
Speaker 1: gotten better every single week. It hasn't always been perfect,
Speaker 1: but I thought he's really put together two of his
Speaker 1: better performances, maybe the best performances he's had in two
Speaker 1: plus seasons with Green Bay. In back to back weeks here,
Speaker 1: certainly the way he stood, he showed out and really
Speaker 1: clogged up the middle of the field there for Todd
Speaker 1: Gurley in that game against Atlanta. But then you look
Speaker 1: at Kiki too. You know, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: years here the last few seasons since Mike Daniels has
Speaker 1: been gone, where it has to be Kenny Clark is
Speaker 1: that one defensive lineman in the dime package. I think
Speaker 1: Key has shown that he's up for that duty as well.
Speaker 1: He obviously had a sack there two weeks ago and
Speaker 1: then also contributed another out of the base package. He's
Speaker 1: made a big jump this year in year two, and
Speaker 1: he has sort of some of those Mike Daniels type qualities.
Speaker 1: He's not the biggest defensive lineman in the world, but
Speaker 1: he's powerful and he's playing with more power this year.
Speaker 1: I think Kiki and Lancaster two unsung guys that are
Speaker 1: gonna make the packer's job a lot easier here as
Speaker 1: a season wears on on the d line. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: couldn't agree more. And in fact, you stole my thunder
Speaker 1: a little bit with regards to Tyler Lancaster. But you
Speaker 1: knew your western I should have anticipated that you knew
Speaker 1: you were doing that. Anyway, I'll say this though, too,
Speaker 1: just to follow up on that, Mike Petton. It wasn't.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a big blown up comment by any means.
Speaker 1: But last week after the New Orleans game, when Mike
Speaker 1: Petton met with the media, he slipped a line into
Speaker 1: one of his answers about the defensive line and he said,
Speaker 1: Tyler Lancaster did like right around a hundred percent when
Speaker 1: they when they graded the snaps from the Saints game.
Speaker 1: So that prompted me like, huh, I wonder what that's
Speaker 1: all about. So now after the Falcons game, I've taken
Speaker 1: a look at the the defensive film. After I did
Speaker 1: my what you might have Missed on za Darius Smith,
Speaker 1: which is posted on Packers dot Com, I went back
Speaker 1: and looked at everything from Tyler Lancaster in the Falcons game.
Speaker 1: So I'm actually gonna put together another What you Might
Speaker 1: Have Missed next week since we don't have a new
Speaker 1: game to look at. But I'm telling you, Tyler Lancaster's
Speaker 1: film from the Atlanta game really really is impressive and
Speaker 1: uh and I'm excited to put that together, So keep
Speaker 1: an eye out for that early next week to throw
Speaker 1: another name out there West in this unsung hero category.
Speaker 1: On the defensive side, I'm going to say Adrian Amos
Speaker 1: and I know on our last show I talked about
Speaker 1: that great play he made coming over knocking the ball
Speaker 1: out of Calvin Ridley's hands, you know, at the goal
Speaker 1: line when the Falcons are trying to score on that
Speaker 1: fourth and tent play. But here's the here's the thing
Speaker 1: with with Amos, It's it's not so much the splash
Speaker 1: plays like that that that really get noticed. How often
Speaker 1: have you seen in these four games, even with the
Speaker 1: times the defense has had its struggles, how often have
Speaker 1: you seen a miscommunication on an assignment on who's covering
Speaker 1: who and who's supposed to be where. That hasn't really
Speaker 1: happened on defense thus far. And I credit Adrian Amos
Speaker 1: a lot for that. He's the communicator in the back end.
Speaker 1: He's the one who's you know, relaying the checks and
Speaker 1: calls to the corners and and the other defensive backs
Speaker 1: who are out there. I think Amos has done a
Speaker 1: really really solid job now that he's in his second
Speaker 1: year of of Mike Patton's defense, and I know, hey,
Speaker 1: everybody on this defense has missed a tackle here and there.
Speaker 1: I know we saw Amos took a bad angle on
Speaker 1: the one run by Kamara in New Orleans that got
Speaker 1: out of the gate, you know, Okay, so that happens.
Speaker 1: From a communication standpoint, I really think Adrian Amos has
Speaker 1: been a very, very valuable player in Patton's defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to throw one more out there too, Mike, almost as
Speaker 1: an honorable mentioned And I probably should have done this,
Speaker 1: gentleman instead, So you could have still had Tyler Lancaster upted.
Speaker 1: It's unscripted. There's no preproduction meeting anymore, especially during the
Speaker 1: COVID era, So right, we don't we can't get together
Speaker 1: and do that kind of You can always text, I guess,
Speaker 1: but I mean you know that that is no. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's throw this one out there to Chris Barnes. Now, Now,
Speaker 1: Barnes did suffer a shoulder injury. You hope for his
Speaker 1: sake he's gonna be okay coming out of this. But
Speaker 1: you know, Barnes is a guy, Mike. You know, for
Speaker 1: a number of years here, the Packers have really struggled
Speaker 1: to fill that rung linebacker spot. It was a spot
Speaker 1: that you know, really Jake Ryan held down pretty well
Speaker 1: for the better part of four seasons, and Ryan was
Speaker 1: kind of an underrated player in that regard. People's you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes there isn't that appreciation if you're not a three
Speaker 1: down linebacker. There's not that appreciation for what those guys
Speaker 1: do on the early downs. I think Chris Barnes is
Speaker 1: reminding everyone so far with what he's done through the
Speaker 1: first month of the season exactly how effective that position
Speaker 1: can be when played properly. And he came relatively out
Speaker 1: of nowhere. This is a guy that I wrote a
Speaker 1: story on him during the offseason program, and and certainly
Speaker 1: he had his credentials he played at u c l A.
Speaker 1: But I'd be lying if I told you that one
Speaker 1: of the main reasons I pursued it was because he
Speaker 1: was Jordan's Love's teammate in high school. And here he comes.
Speaker 1: He was a credential four star athlete when he went
Speaker 1: to U c l A. For whatever reason, kind of
Speaker 1: flew under the radar in the draft process, hurt by
Speaker 1: the fact he didn't have a pro day. The Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers snatch him up, and here he is Week
Speaker 1: one ends up playing with the defense this past week
Speaker 1: ends up sharing the communication helmet duties with Ty Summers
Speaker 1: when Christian Kirksey now is on injured reserve. This is
Speaker 1: a guy, Mike, that he isn't just a thumper. He's
Speaker 1: not just a guy that's gonna get down the ball here.
Speaker 1: He can make open field tackles. He's showing some stuff
Speaker 1: in coverage Green Bay Packers, Mike. Over the years, obviously
Speaker 1: you and I have talked at nauseum about the undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent process and the college free agency and how
Speaker 1: important that is to building a fifty three man roster.
Speaker 1: Chris Barnes, very quietly, for a guy that did start
Speaker 1: the season on the practice squad, has been a really
Speaker 1: sharp addition for this defense here in the early going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we've actually heard from a few of our insider
Speaker 1: inbox readers out on the West Coast to have mentioned
Speaker 1: that Barnes wasn't necessarily a totally healthy linebacker as he
Speaker 1: finished up his career at U c l A. And
Speaker 1: that may have been part of the reason he did
Speaker 1: fly under the radar and go undrafted, not just because
Speaker 1: you know, he didn't have a Pro day and whatnot.
Speaker 1: He might not have had, you know, all that the
Speaker 1: best of his film might not have been what um,
Speaker 1: you know, scouts and and and other folks were looking at.
Speaker 1: So the Packers look like they um, you know, they
Speaker 1: scored another undrafted gem there with regard to Barnes um quickly,
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Speaker 1: Backslash Packers. All right, we was before we take a
Speaker 1: break here for the bye weekend. The Packers will not
Speaker 1: be playing in Week five obviously in the NFL, but
Speaker 1: there are some other interesting games to keep an eye on.
Speaker 1: First and foremost Thursday Night Football, the Chicago Bears against
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So here you're talking about the team.
Speaker 1: The Packers are going to play Tampa Bay coming right
Speaker 1: out of the by and the team that as of
Speaker 1: now looks like the Packers biggest challenger for the NFC
Speaker 1: North title in the three and one Chicago Bears. How
Speaker 1: do you see this one shaping up on Thursday Night football? Yeah,
Speaker 1: if the Packers had their druthers here, I think they'd
Speaker 1: be hoping for a tie, really demoralizing, depressing, uh tie
Speaker 1: in which neither team plays particularly well. Uh No, I
Speaker 1: mean this is gonna be a good little battle, and
Speaker 1: really seeing how the Bears bounce back is going to
Speaker 1: be the biggest really indicator I think of where their
Speaker 1: season is heading Tampa Bay. It's really funny, Mike, for
Speaker 1: as many issues as they had a year ago, and
Speaker 1: certainly Jay Ms Winston's interception streak at the end of
Speaker 1: the year got a lot of attention, kind of overshadowed
Speaker 1: the fact they had a pretty darn good defense and
Speaker 1: a lot of playmakers on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: How exactly does Nick Foles bounce back from kind of
Speaker 1: a downtrodden performance. That's gonna be huge. And then also, Mike,
Speaker 1: father time still cannot locate Tom Brady, and there were
Speaker 1: some you know, ups and downs early on and people
Speaker 1: are wondering what he's gonna look like at age forty three. Well,
Speaker 1: last week he looked like Tom Brady and he looked
Speaker 1: like he's having a lot of fun doing it. So
Speaker 1: I'm I've said it from the beginning, Mike. If you
Speaker 1: go back and play back, the unscripted is that you
Speaker 1: and I did. I think in early August the Packers
Speaker 1: Buccaneers game, that's the one I had circled on my
Speaker 1: schedule all along, just because you don't get these type
Speaker 1: of matchups very often. And and it added a new
Speaker 1: layer with seeing Tom Brady once again for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: But Bears started off, they won the games they're supposed
Speaker 1: to win. Now they're seeing some real tough competition. Are
Speaker 1: they the team that they felt they were? Well, what
Speaker 1: you said about Brady is really interesting because after Week one,
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers have a big NFC South matchup against the
Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints. That's how they start their season. The
Speaker 1: Saints get to win. Not that anybody was super surprised
Speaker 1: by that, but in this age of the instant analysis
Speaker 1: and the snap judgment, everybody wants to write off Tom Brady. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna work in Tampa Bay. You know Brady
Speaker 1: is on the decline. Well, then what's he doing Less
Speaker 1: than a month later, Yes, he throws a pick six
Speaker 1: against the Chargers. That helps put his team in a
Speaker 1: to seven hole. But he brings his team back from
Speaker 1: that to seven hole with a vengeance against a pretty
Speaker 1: darn good Chargers team that looks like they've got a
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback who's gonna be their guy of the future.
Speaker 1: And uh and the Buccaneers end up winning that winning
Speaker 1: that game against the Chargers, coming back from a seven
Speaker 1: team point deficit. They're sitting at three and one, and
Speaker 1: guess what, They're in first place in the NFC South
Speaker 1: despite losing Week one to their division rival, the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints. So and you said it with regard to
Speaker 1: the Bears, this is all about Nick Foles and how
Speaker 1: does he bounce back. He comes off the bench, leads
Speaker 1: the big comeback against the Atlanta Falcons. Everybody in Chicago
Speaker 1: is all fired up, all right, now they've got their quarterback.
Speaker 1: And then the Indianapolis Colts completely shut down that Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears offense and they lose at home. They're sitting at
Speaker 1: three and one, and now they've they've got a big
Speaker 1: game here with with Tampa Bay on a national stage
Speaker 1: heading into Sunday. We talked on our last show about
Speaker 1: Sunday Night football will be the Vikings and the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: and that's obviously going to be a big game that
Speaker 1: a lot of Packers fans will have their eye on.
Speaker 1: So with the Bears playing on Thursday night, with the
Speaker 1: Vikings playing on Sunday night, and with the Lions being
Speaker 1: on the bye week along with the Packers, what do
Speaker 1: you watch on Sunday afternoon? West Let's see something. Well,
Speaker 1: depending on where exactly you are right now in our country,
Speaker 1: the two big matchups. I have my eye on one
Speaker 1: just because of following what has been going on in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: How do they do against Carolina? Uh, you know these
Speaker 1: things doesn't really have huge playoff implication Asians right now,
Speaker 1: but this is probably the game where they have to
Speaker 1: be able to find a way to win it, and
Speaker 1: or there could be you know, maybe you're looking at
Speaker 1: the type of changes that that Houston went through, but
Speaker 1: also the Oakland Oh man, I caught myself there the
Speaker 1: veas Mike my goodness against Kansas City, and obviously there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of stuff in the media here about
Speaker 1: Kansas City. We'll see how the week plays out, but
Speaker 1: you know, the Raiders are a team that they've done
Speaker 1: good things, and they've had moments. Are they able to
Speaker 1: sustain them? Because this is the biggest test for a
Speaker 1: lot of time, a lot of years. They talked about
Speaker 1: the rebuild, they talked about all these things. The moves
Speaker 1: that they made this offseason weren't the type of moves
Speaker 1: of rebuilding team makes. They were making a push here
Speaker 1: two and two. They've had some eyes, they've had some lows,
Speaker 1: and then Kansas City's Kansas City. This is a measuring
Speaker 1: stick game, and especially in that division, these are the
Speaker 1: type of matchups that you have to win if you're
Speaker 1: really gonna compete for a playoff spot. Yeah, that will
Speaker 1: be a big game out there in the f C West.
Speaker 1: I will throw another one at you, and it is
Speaker 1: the Giants against the Cowboy Ways. And I bring that
Speaker 1: one up for a couple of reasons, not only because
Speaker 1: it's just interesting to follow what's going to be happening
Speaker 1: here in Dallas with Mike McCarthy taking over there being
Speaker 1: in his first season as head coach of the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, West, if the Giants beat the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: and if the Steelers beat the Eagles, which they would
Speaker 1: be favored to do. And if the Rams beat Washington,
Speaker 1: which they should be favored to do, through five weeks,
Speaker 1: there will be every team in the NFC East will
Speaker 1: only have one victory apiece. Like it's actually it's it's
Speaker 1: not just possible, it's it's you know, there's there's a
Speaker 1: legitimate chance of this happening here that after five weeks
Speaker 1: every team, no, no, team in the NFC East will
Speaker 1: have two victories. Now the Cowboys are the Cowboys have
Speaker 1: the best chance to uh to change that narrative, get
Speaker 1: their second victory against the Giants team that is struggling,
Speaker 1: dealing with injuries and all that. But this, this story
Speaker 1: with regard to the NFC East is not going away. Well.
Speaker 1: And let's be honest about something here. I mean, for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, I don't watch the Eagles enough week to
Speaker 1: week to tell you exactly what has sort of hampered
Speaker 1: them since they're Super Bowl win and why they've been
Speaker 1: kind of hovering near that mark for so long now.
Speaker 1: But Dallas was built to compete this year. They were
Speaker 1: built to contend for a championship and and this is
Speaker 1: gonna be the type of game that I think, well,
Speaker 1: one obviously the division ramifications of it are huge, but
Speaker 1: you gotta start picking some of these up, and you
Speaker 1: can't just be because realistically, Mike, they're one on side
Speaker 1: kick away from potentially being at own four at this point.
Speaker 1: So that's gonna be that's gonna be absolutely critical. And
Speaker 1: in looking at that division as a whole, they've already
Speaker 1: made the announcement Dwayne Haskins not gonna be starting for Washington.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting that the reports are right now that
Speaker 1: Haskins won't even be active, So that means, for the
Speaker 1: first time since his gruesome leg injury, Alex Smith will
Speaker 1: be active in this game. So if things don't really
Speaker 1: go well early on, could you be looking at Alex
Speaker 1: Smith retaking the reins there in Washington. So many things
Speaker 1: to figure out with that division, and unfortunately Mike, for
Speaker 1: the better part now of what four years, basically since
Speaker 1: almost Tom Coughlin was with the Giants, Uh, there's just
Speaker 1: been this weird thing going on in that division where
Speaker 1: nobody's really ever been a clear front runner and everybody's
Speaker 1: kind of within striking distance of the lead. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be an interesting division to follow, regardless of regardless
Speaker 1: of who ultimately emerges, because the way it works West
Speaker 1: is whoever wins that division, however many wins it is,
Speaker 1: they're not only in the playoffs, but they get the
Speaker 1: host of playoff game. That's that that that is how
Speaker 1: it works here. So so it'll be it'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to follow that as the season goes along. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: and just looking back to the Packers very quickly will
Speaker 1: close on this. I mean, this is kind of a
Speaker 1: huge week when you look at the way that this
Speaker 1: shuffles out. You have Houston, who's gonna be coming up
Speaker 1: on the schedule there oh and four going up against Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: They just made their coaching change. We already talked about
Speaker 1: the vikings and and them trying to get the you know,
Speaker 1: their situation straightened out, going and facing a tough Seahawks
Speaker 1: team on the road. And honestly, might keep an eye
Speaker 1: too on that matchup between the San France score forty
Speaker 1: Niners in Miami. That's almost kind of like the old
Speaker 1: boxing match right where the contender, the champion, loses a
Speaker 1: couple and then they get a tune up fight. It's
Speaker 1: kind of a tune up fight here for the forty Niners.
Speaker 1: Can they still prove in a division that appears to
Speaker 1: be pretty jam packed and Seattle is not allowing them
Speaker 1: to stay within the race right now. Can they pick
Speaker 1: up a win that they most definitely need with them
Speaker 1: now within the radars for the Packers in the next
Speaker 1: month or so, Yeah, no question about it. Well, with
Speaker 1: that we will sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: We should have follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team this week through the bye weekend. Lots of content
Speaker 1: available on Packers dot com for Wes. I am Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.