Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to a new and improved edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford,
Speaker 1: joined in the same room for the first time in
Speaker 1: the season by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz West. Welcome
Speaker 1: to our new studio here at Well. What's cool, Mike,
Speaker 1: because you've been a part of this now for a while.
Speaker 1: You've been doing our own scripts here I think the
Speaker 1: last what seventeen eighteen of them in our grand new
Speaker 1: studio here at lambeau Field when I've been stuck in
Speaker 1: my boss Barber's office. So I'm happy to join you. Finally.
Speaker 1: We are managing this the best that we can. But
Speaker 1: I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel to
Speaker 1: have just a small bit of normalcy seeing your beautiful
Speaker 1: face here on this wonderful Tuesday. Well, the feeling is mutual,
Speaker 1: my friend. So before we get going here, I do
Speaker 1: want to throw out a little bit of sponsor business
Speaker 1: to our good friends at Sirius XM. NFL radio channel
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Speaker 1: the National Football League seven days a week, three hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty five days a year. All right West. The
Speaker 1: Packers bye week has concluded and they are getting ready
Speaker 1: for a trip to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: The Packers are four and oh. The offense is ranked
Speaker 1: among the best in the league. The defense is ranked
Speaker 1: middle of the pack in various important categories. I want
Speaker 1: to just get your thoughts here. Offensively, this has been
Speaker 1: the story that's dominating the Green Bay Packers in how efficient,
Speaker 1: how productive the offense has been. But we always hear
Speaker 1: from Matt Lafleur. You look at the film, Yes, there
Speaker 1: are always ways to improve. So on the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball. As the Packers are coming out of
Speaker 1: the bye week here, what do you see as a
Speaker 1: potential area of improvement. Well, I think the one thing
Speaker 1: I would like to see, especially now, is you see
Speaker 1: the offensive line. They finally have a set five. It
Speaker 1: appears to be with Lucas Patrick at right guard and
Speaker 1: Billy Turner right tackle. I think they have a good
Speaker 1: feeling for what they have in the backfield. I basically
Speaker 1: isolated in those red zone situations where I think they
Speaker 1: can take that next step. Now, it's interesting they've actually
Speaker 1: been pretty productive when they're kind of between that five
Speaker 1: and twenty yard line. I mean, you look at the
Speaker 1: passes to Robert Tanian against the Falcons, some of the
Speaker 1: plays that they've generated there. But when you get more
Speaker 1: towards those golden goal situations, that's where it's been kind
Speaker 1: of hit or miss for them at this point. They've
Speaker 1: had some great triumphs there and they've gotten stopped twice
Speaker 1: in fourth and goal from the only one. Obviously Jay
Speaker 1: Alexander sort of bailed them out of that last one,
Speaker 1: and then certainly it happened again there against the Falcons.
Speaker 1: But I think if they can find the right remedy there,
Speaker 1: and that was one thing that after that game, Matt
Speaker 1: la Flour kind of you know, lamented the call and
Speaker 1: in some of the things he wished he could have
Speaker 1: changed because I'll tell you what, Mike, in the eighty
Speaker 1: yards in the middle of that field, the Packers have
Speaker 1: been really difficult to stop. It's just a question of, okay,
Speaker 1: when the defense is then able to condense a little
Speaker 1: bit more still winning those downs. I think if the
Speaker 1: Packers really you know, harness that area this game, uh,
Speaker 1: they're going to be really a force here in the
Speaker 1: second I guess technically second quarter of the season I
Speaker 1: almost had second half of the season. Sure, I'm with
Speaker 1: you there. I mean, this is definitely nitpicking with the
Speaker 1: way the offense is rolling and the points that it
Speaker 1: has been putting up. But if I were to point
Speaker 1: to one area, I would say short yardage. And it
Speaker 1: goes along with what you said. You mentioned the two
Speaker 1: fourth and goals at the one against the Vikings and
Speaker 1: the Falcons where the Packers were stopped. They were also
Speaker 1: stopped on a key fourth and one at midfield in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. Now, as it turned out, none of those
Speaker 1: stops damaged the Packers as much as they potentially could have.
Speaker 1: But when you look at the fact that if you
Speaker 1: take out the uh the kneel downs at the end
Speaker 1: of the half or the end of the game, you
Speaker 1: take those possessions out, the Packers have scored on twenty
Speaker 1: seven out of thirty five possessions so far in four games.
Speaker 1: And when you look at three of those stops we're
Speaker 1: due to the fourth and ones, the two at the
Speaker 1: goal line and the one at midfield. This offense is
Speaker 1: like super super close to almost literally being unstoppable. So
Speaker 1: you know, the Packers have options in the backfield. Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones he obviously converted. I believe it was on a
Speaker 1: fourth and goal at the one. In one of the
Speaker 1: other games he did score at the goal line there.
Speaker 1: I think that was against New Orleans. You have Jamal Williams,
Speaker 1: you have a J. Dillon as another option as a
Speaker 1: power back. Obviously Aaron Rodgers has run plenty of play
Speaker 1: action passes out of short yardage. But I think if
Speaker 1: if the Packers shore up that we heard from Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur all last season about wanting to be in those
Speaker 1: manageable down and distances on third down, you get into
Speaker 1: third and short and fourth and short, the Packers, the
Speaker 1: Packers can convert those at a better rate, and if
Speaker 1: they do, they're going to be that much more dangerous.
Speaker 1: And one thing that you know, we talked about that,
Speaker 1: but I actually really do like the aggressiveness that Matt
Speaker 1: Laflour has shown in those situations. That think absolutely I agree.
Speaker 1: If you go back about ten years, Mike, there was
Speaker 1: always like this pressure, Okay, this is where you maybe
Speaker 1: want to, you know, look to have a field goal
Speaker 1: or something like that. But as much as as great
Speaker 1: as it is to have three points on the board,
Speaker 1: there is something about that field position advantage that a
Speaker 1: team puts themselves in and being able to manage that
Speaker 1: throughout the game. And I think that that's one of
Speaker 1: probably the hallmarks of this year's team time of possession
Speaker 1: and field position. The opposition hasn't had a lot of
Speaker 1: great opportunities in terms of where they've started from, and
Speaker 1: even in those situations, whether it was the JayR Alexander
Speaker 1: sack or the Packers making the Falcons go the long
Speaker 1: way and then ultimately I believe getting stopped when they
Speaker 1: tried to move the ball down after the fourth and
Speaker 1: goal stop uh at lambeau Field last week, so that
Speaker 1: the defense, I thought they have really been put into
Speaker 1: an advantageous situation in that regard. And you know, you
Speaker 1: want to be able to floor always says that you
Speaker 1: want to do, you know, all gas, no break, you
Speaker 1: want to keep your foot on the pedal, and they've
Speaker 1: definitely done that. Again, it's just about taking that next
Speaker 1: step up and really putting themselves in an area where
Speaker 1: I mean, you look offensively, whether it's total yards, points production,
Speaker 1: few in the league right now have done what Green
Speaker 1: Bay has done. Yeah, absolutely well. On the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball, What would you pinpoint as the most
Speaker 1: important area of improvement for Mike Petton and his career. Well,
Speaker 1: we saw it in the Atlanta game. It's the run defense.
Speaker 1: And that's the one benefit that I think we've seen.
Speaker 1: As many injuries as the Packers have had to deal
Speaker 1: with here in the first half of the season, how
Speaker 1: guys have responded. They didn't have Kenny Clark for the
Speaker 1: last three and a half games, So what does that mean.
Speaker 1: That means that Tyler Lancaster has to step up at
Speaker 1: nose tackle. It means Kingsley Kiki has to become a
Speaker 1: force there in that dime defensive line role, and both
Speaker 1: of those guys did that. They lost Kamal Martin at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the season. So here's Chris Barnes out
Speaker 1: of nowhere. He has to be the rundown linebacker. Christian
Speaker 1: Kirksey goes down with an injury, then it's up to
Speaker 1: Barnes and Tye Summers to fill in. And I think
Speaker 1: what ultimately happened. The Packers did take some bumps and
Speaker 1: bruises here early on, but that Atlanta game, to me
Speaker 1: showed that yet even if they don't have Clark out there,
Speaker 1: even if they don't have Kerksy out there, they can
Speaker 1: be a good run defense, and I thought the defensive
Speaker 1: front put together their best performance. Now can they stack
Speaker 1: it against Ronald Jones in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this
Speaker 1: upcoming weekend, because they probably you know, we'll see what
Speaker 1: happens with practice, but it appears likely that they'll be
Speaker 1: getting Kenny Clark here back sooner than later. We'll have
Speaker 1: to see what happens with Kirksy. Kamal Martin returned to
Speaker 1: practice as well this week, so maybe he'll be in
Speaker 1: the fold here soon. But the lessons that the Barnes,
Speaker 1: the key Keys, the Lancasters learned over these first four weeks,
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna pay dividends for the Packers in
Speaker 1: the long run. Yeah, I agree with you. I think
Speaker 1: the the way Mike Petton has been forced to UH
Speaker 1: to reach into his depth a little bit and getting
Speaker 1: some of these guys, especially a young guy like Barnes
Speaker 1: and undrafted rookie UH certainly falls into that category. We'll see,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned Kamal Martin getting back to practice if
Speaker 1: within the next few weeks, maybe he's able to get
Speaker 1: on the field. Though, getting that experience early in a
Speaker 1: rookie season can can really pay off down the road.
Speaker 1: I agree with you there. If I were to point
Speaker 1: to two areas I wrote this in in inbox over
Speaker 1: the bye week, tackling and takeaways. I think those are
Speaker 1: the two areas that Mike Patton's defense can improve upon.
Speaker 1: I thought the first two games of the season, the
Speaker 1: tackling was solid and we weren't talking about miss tackles.
Speaker 1: But the last two games the Saints and the Falcons,
Speaker 1: we all know what happened in New Orleans with the
Speaker 1: miss tackles on Alvin Kamara. Against the Falcons, there were
Speaker 1: several miss tackles again, but it was it was different
Speaker 1: in the sense that the the miss tackles actually prevented
Speaker 1: the defense from putting themselves in really good situations. They
Speaker 1: were missing tackles for loss, where then the ball carrier
Speaker 1: was getting back to the line of scrimmage or getting
Speaker 1: a two or three yard gain. And I guess in
Speaker 1: some ways this goes hand in hand because if you
Speaker 1: get a get an offense in second and fourteen as
Speaker 1: opposed to second and nine, well that's when the takeaways
Speaker 1: might start to happen. And the Packers, you know, they
Speaker 1: hurt themselves and didn't give themselves those opportunities against the
Speaker 1: Falcons because of the mistackles. Over All, the Packers are
Speaker 1: plus three in the turnover margin through four games. That's
Speaker 1: a good spot to be in because you're on pace
Speaker 1: to get into plus double digits by the end of
Speaker 1: the season, and that is where you want to be.
Speaker 1: But they're plus three mostly because the offense has zero
Speaker 1: turnovers the defense only has three takeaways, and three takeaways
Speaker 1: through four games, there have been opportunities for more. I
Speaker 1: think if the Packers start to capitalize defensively on those opportunities,
Speaker 1: we will start to see a different look to this
Speaker 1: unit as the season goes along. Yeah, and and it's
Speaker 1: funny you bring that up, because this defense is different
Speaker 1: when they're in second and third and long just the
Speaker 1: way they can use the Darius Smith changes. And as
Speaker 1: I mentioned with Kingsley Kiki, you know, with Kenny Clark
Speaker 1: coming back here, the number of ways that Mike Patton
Speaker 1: is going to be able to use him. This guy
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be in eighty five percent defensive, you know,
Speaker 1: snap player, you can be more strategic in terms of
Speaker 1: the dime defense or if you want to use them
Speaker 1: on rundowns given the situation. That's what they needed to
Speaker 1: see from that defensive line group. And you know, a
Speaker 1: real big positive for green Bay was Rashawn Gary being
Speaker 1: back at practice two on Monday. If he's able to play,
Speaker 1: You've seen the way that they can move all those
Speaker 1: pieces around. There's just a swagger to that group. There's
Speaker 1: just a momentum shift that you feel in a lot
Speaker 1: of times that ends up leading to take aways. It
Speaker 1: leads to the force fumbles, which was a huge emphasis
Speaker 1: going to this season. It leans, it leads into timely
Speaker 1: turnovers like the the interception that Chandon Sullivan had a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago for the pick six, and certainly
Speaker 1: Jaire Alexander that's just the one thing left for him,
Speaker 1: I think, to becoming an elite cornerback in this league.
Speaker 1: He talked about that interception he almost had two weeks ago.
Speaker 1: He's looking to the end zone. He needs to look
Speaker 1: that ball in. He does that, he becomes a five
Speaker 1: interception player in this league per season. That's when you
Speaker 1: start to realize exactly what his upside is going to be.
Speaker 1: In addition to being a lockdown, shutdown cornerback, yeah, you
Speaker 1: look at the takeaway opportunities. The last couple of games.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Alexander with a possible pick six against New Orleans,
Speaker 1: but he wasn't quite able to bring the ball in.
Speaker 1: There were two other times the Saints put the ball
Speaker 1: on the ground, once on a kickoff return, once on
Speaker 1: a sack by Kiki of Drew Brees, but the Packers
Speaker 1: weren't able to come up with those fumbles. Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: threw a terrible pass quite frankly on a on a
Speaker 1: slant and the Packers had two defenders. I believe it
Speaker 1: was Barnes and Savage, both essentially taking the ball away
Speaker 1: from each other in a sense, because they each had
Speaker 1: a chance to to get that one, and unfortunately the
Speaker 1: Packers didn't come up with it. But those are the
Speaker 1: opportunities that you have to you have two seize on
Speaker 1: it because Drew Brees is only gonna fumble on a
Speaker 1: sack maybe once a game, right, Matt Ryan is only
Speaker 1: going to throw that bad pass into traffic once a game.
Speaker 1: The Packers didn't capitalize on those opportunities. You start capitalizing
Speaker 1: on those down the road. I think the picture changes
Speaker 1: for the defense um quickly. Here was a little more
Speaker 1: sponsored business. Gear up for game day, folks, Open a
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Speaker 1: bank dot com. Backslash Packers. All right, well, give me
Speaker 1: your thumbnail sketch here of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the
Speaker 1: Packers opponent for this Sunday. They lost Week one on
Speaker 1: the road NFC South rival in New Orleans there oh
Speaker 1: and one to start the Tom Brady Era. Then they
Speaker 1: win three straight and they've got a thirteen nothing lead
Speaker 1: last Thursday night in Chicago, looking like they were going
Speaker 1: to make it a four game winning streak. Suddenly everything turns.
Speaker 1: The offense can't get anything going. They only kicked two
Speaker 1: more field goals at Soldier Field the rest of that ballgame.
Speaker 1: The Buccaneers come out on the short end, and suddenly
Speaker 1: they're sitting at three and two and looking to avoid
Speaker 1: three and three after six games with an undefeated Packers
Speaker 1: team coming to Tampa. Yeah, it's funny too, Mike, because
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay I think is gonna be a headache for
Speaker 1: everyone this year that you're never gonna be able to
Speaker 1: sleep on them. But you're also not sure what you're
Speaker 1: gonna get in the Buccaneers, and that game was a
Speaker 1: perfect example of that. You know, for them to get
Speaker 1: a hundred yard game out of Ronald Jones, who looks
Speaker 1: like he's going to be an exceptional running back in
Speaker 1: this league. You know Tom Brady, we know what he's
Speaker 1: kind of become at age forty three. I mean, he
Speaker 1: can still win you a ballgame, but it's very high percentage.
Speaker 1: It's allowing guys to create plays. Mike Evans leading the
Speaker 1: league in touchdowns right now. That defense, for as up
Speaker 1: and down as they were last year, if you didn't
Speaker 1: pay enough attention to the Buccaneers, their defense was terrific
Speaker 1: last season, and a lot of those same playmakers are back,
Speaker 1: though now they've lost Vita Villa, So from that regard,
Speaker 1: you can't sleep on them. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: way too many penalties against the Bears came back to
Speaker 1: haunt them. An inability to finish drives in the second half,
Speaker 1: an inability to establish a four minute offense at the
Speaker 1: end of that Bears game that could have shut the
Speaker 1: door on it, and overall just not enough execution. And
Speaker 1: I think in some regards that's probably a product of
Speaker 1: a team that has just had to come together this season.
Speaker 1: New quarterback, new coach, new philosophies. There's been a lot
Speaker 1: of upheaval in Tampa Bay with their personnel. Not to mention,
Speaker 1: you know, you have Gronk there now is their tight end.
Speaker 1: So in that regard, it doesn't necessarily surprise me. There's
Speaker 1: been some up and down roller coaster ebb and flow
Speaker 1: here in the early part of the season. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, you can't look at that and be like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, the Packers, this is an automatic win. They
Speaker 1: need to play more disciplined, They need to be efficient,
Speaker 1: especially early on, to set the tone in that game,
Speaker 1: and they need to be able to close it out
Speaker 1: because if you look at the winds and losses for
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers so far this season, when they've closed things out,
Speaker 1: they've won. When they have been able to get a
Speaker 1: result like they did against Chicago. Yeah, Tom Brady, it
Speaker 1: looked like he had things going there for a while,
Speaker 1: but you look at his overall season so far, and
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, new head coach, he's coming into a
Speaker 1: whole new offense, he's learning a whole bunch of stuff.
Speaker 1: But Tom Brede, he's made his share of mistakes. So far,
Speaker 1: He's thrown two pick six is this year, if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken, one against New Orleans, one against the Chargers.
Speaker 1: He was able to come back from a seven teen
Speaker 1: point deficit against the Chargers and and pull out that
Speaker 1: victory a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure Thursday night
Speaker 1: it can't be fun for a quarterback in his early
Speaker 1: forties to have to play a game on a short week.
Speaker 1: With the travel up from Tampa to Chicago. That was
Speaker 1: you know, the circumstances were not in the Buccaneers favor there.
Speaker 1: But again, they started out the game with a thirteen
Speaker 1: nothing lead. It looked like they were going to cruise
Speaker 1: to another victory, and then everything turned for them. This
Speaker 1: this is a this is an interesting one West because
Speaker 1: with the way things are in the NFC right now,
Speaker 1: Seattle is five and oh, the Packers are four and oh,
Speaker 1: the Rams are four and one, the Bears are four
Speaker 1: and one. I mentioned Tampa Bay here. They they're trying
Speaker 1: to avoid a three and three start. They really after
Speaker 1: that loss last week on Thursday Night, they really want
Speaker 1: to get to four and two and keep themselves in
Speaker 1: that conversation amongst the content or is at the top
Speaker 1: of the NFC, especially with this year, there's only one
Speaker 1: first round by in the playoffs, you get the number
Speaker 1: two seed, you're still playing in a wild card game.
Speaker 1: So the fight for the top of the conference and
Speaker 1: to try to get that first round by it's going
Speaker 1: to be pretty heated all the way along. And Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay wants wants to keep themselves in that mix. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you and I could have a two hour roundscripted
Speaker 1: where I continue to just be beside myself about these
Speaker 1: seven teams making it at each conference, but we won't
Speaker 1: go there. We'll save that discussion for January. Perhaps I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to that. Yeah. What I do think though,
Speaker 1: is the one whether you're viewed as a benefit or
Speaker 1: a detractor. The one thing that this change has made
Speaker 1: is it's given a kind of more of a college
Speaker 1: football field now where it's like, Okay, you gotta play
Speaker 1: well from week one if you want to be the
Speaker 1: number one seed in your conference, you have to be
Speaker 1: able to keep that going to play for the national championship,
Speaker 1: so to speak. So that that's what's at stake here.
Speaker 1: That's why it actually really did matter that the Vikings
Speaker 1: weren't able to pull off that win over Seattle because
Speaker 1: now Seattle's five and oh and the Packers are trying
Speaker 1: to get to catch up and stay stay at that pace,
Speaker 1: especially in an NFC that appears to have just incredible
Speaker 1: parody this year when you look at the issues that
Speaker 1: San Francisco has had and some of these other teams
Speaker 1: already taking two losses to begin the season. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's why this game is pivotal. And it's pivotal from
Speaker 1: the Tampa based perspective too, because here they are in
Speaker 1: a position where they can try to get some distance
Speaker 1: in the South if they get this win. So I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a great matchup. Seeing the chess
Speaker 1: match between Mike Petton and Tom Brady and then obviously
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers going against the pressure packages in the front
Speaker 1: that the Buccaneers have. It's gonna be great theater. The
Speaker 1: only question I have is you're going down to Tampa.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be eighty five degrees or whatever it's going
Speaker 1: to be. Uh, we haven't seen those type of conditions
Speaker 1: in a while. Um, you know, I go back to
Speaker 1: I think it was when they played Tampa and fourteen.
Speaker 1: It was a pretty toasty day in December, if I
Speaker 1: remember right. But the guy's gotta get acclimated to that,
Speaker 1: and they've got to be able to a rise of
Speaker 1: the occasion they did in New Orleans, they did in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: they have to do it again. Well, you mentioned the
Speaker 1: Packers trying to keep pace with the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle
Speaker 1: is five and oh, the Packers are going to try
Speaker 1: to get to five and oh you've also got the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears at four and one is if the Packers
Speaker 1: were to stumble, suddenly there's a tie a top the
Speaker 1: NFC North. So Green Bay trying to trying to keep
Speaker 1: themselves there. Really interesting though. Before we go here, I
Speaker 1: just have to get your opinion on what's going on
Speaker 1: in Seattle, because Cam Newton for the Patriots is one
Speaker 1: yard away on the goal line from beating the Seahawks
Speaker 1: on the last play of the game. Can't do it.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Vikings have multiple fourth downs, both on offense
Speaker 1: and on defense to try to put the Seahawks away,
Speaker 1: and they can't do it. And the Seattle Seahawks. The
Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks have the worst defense in the league statistically
Speaker 1: in terms of yards allowed, which which when you think
Speaker 1: about it, is is a mind boggling. They have the
Speaker 1: last ranked defense in the league in terms of yards allowed,
Speaker 1: yet they're five and oh and uh, this this race
Speaker 1: in the NFC for playoff spots, playoff positioning, everything else,
Speaker 1: It's going to really really be entertaining here as we
Speaker 1: go along. You had to edit my insider inbox for Tuesday.
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this too,
Speaker 1: because I know a lot of people always asking. It
Speaker 1: came up a lot last season about green Bay and
Speaker 1: in thirteen and three, what does that mean? What does
Speaker 1: it mean when you're five and oh? But you know
Speaker 1: right now they've they've kind of struggled to win with
Speaker 1: style points this Seattle Seahawks have. And my contention is
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter now in a sixteen game season, that
Speaker 1: separates the cream from the rest of the crop here
Speaker 1: and it is going to ultimately be ken Seattle continue
Speaker 1: to do this and be a fourteen and twelve, thirteen
Speaker 1: and three, twelve and four type ball club. Can they
Speaker 1: actually accomplish that or are you going to see them
Speaker 1: come back a little bit sort of like how green
Speaker 1: Bay sort of came back down to earth and fifteen
Speaker 1: before run the table. So that's where I'm kind of
Speaker 1: stuck in terms of exactly where this all goes. Sixteen,
Speaker 1: by the way, from the table, that's right, make sure
Speaker 1: I correct my off. That's what it all comes down to,
Speaker 1: because right now, you can't dog them for being five
Speaker 1: and oh. They found a way, regardless of how they
Speaker 1: did it, to win five games. It is way too
Speaker 1: difficult to do that in the National Football League. This
Speaker 1: is not college football. You're not playing you know, these
Speaker 1: these FBS lows, you know, mid major schools to get
Speaker 1: to five and oh to start a conference season. No,
Speaker 1: this is the NFL. And they've had to play real
Speaker 1: competition week in a week out, and they got the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings best game and they still found a way
Speaker 1: to win it. I think you have to tip your
Speaker 1: cap to them for that. Yeah, absolutely, I mean we
Speaker 1: talked about it last year with the Packers. Yes, they
Speaker 1: were winning close games, pulling games out in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: You always deserve credit for that. You look at it
Speaker 1: as hey, they probably haven't played their best game yet.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we actually saw the Packers best
Speaker 1: game in twenty nineteen, even in going thirteen and three,
Speaker 1: winning a playoff game, making it to the NFC Championship.
Speaker 1: We're starting to see maybe the Packer, the Packers best
Speaker 1: game that we thought we might see last year, We're
Speaker 1: starting to see that here at the beginning of With
Speaker 1: regard to the Seahawks, that is a team that has
Speaker 1: played really, really good defense for a long time. With
Speaker 1: where their defense is ranked right now, I will just
Speaker 1: say the Seattle Seahawks aren't playing their best football, but
Speaker 1: they're winning. They still they have things that they can
Speaker 1: improve on and get better. So to me, it's like
Speaker 1: some people look at it as well, they're right on
Speaker 1: the edge and they're gonna fall off the cliff. I
Speaker 1: look at it as watch out because this team has
Speaker 1: areas where it can play better, and I think and
Speaker 1: I think it will. And Seattle right now is is
Speaker 1: obviously in the catbird seed at five, and oh they're
Speaker 1: fortunate to be there, but I think it's a position
Speaker 1: they're going to take advantage well. And the reality is
Speaker 1: too they have a future Hall of Fame quarterback. I
Speaker 1: I don't think there's any you know, wrong reason to
Speaker 1: say that that that's where the trajectory is pointing for
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, and now he has a weapon in DK
Speaker 1: Metcalf that has averaging two yards per catch. Right now,
Speaker 1: when you have that type of explosivity to your offense,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what your defense does. Ask the two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven Packers. I mean, that's just the way it goes.
Speaker 1: So you have to score the opposition in Through the
Speaker 1: first five games this season, Seattle has done just that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Well with that, we will call it a
Speaker 1: wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team, all the
Speaker 1: preview coverage leading up to Packers Buccaneers on Sunday on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.