Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston hod Kowitz. It's the bye week.
Speaker 1: We thought we would revisit life on zoom here with
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted, hopefully just for one episode. Um, we'll get
Speaker 1: through this one and uh and hopefully things will be
Speaker 1: back to normal next week. But western the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers have gotten to that bye week at nine and
Speaker 1: three with a very impressive thirty six home victory over
Speaker 1: the l A Ramp. So I was getting ready for
Speaker 1: work this morning, Michael, as of a lot of Americans do,
Speaker 1: and I was thinking about, Hey, how am I going
Speaker 1: to start Packers Unscripted? Where we're gonna do one shot
Speaker 1: here this week and then you and I are both
Speaker 1: going to go off into the distance for a few days.
Speaker 1: What is the number one point that I want to
Speaker 1: make as we jump into another edition of Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: and this bye week spe actual week thirteen. Addition, you
Speaker 1: know what I came up with, Mike? What was that
Speaker 1: I'm going to use this moment before we talk about
Speaker 1: the game, before we talk about those other things. To
Speaker 1: just mention Matt Lafleur as the NFL Coach of the Year.
Speaker 1: I almost said defensive coach of the year. The guy
Speaker 1: has not gotten the credit he deserves now. The first thing,
Speaker 1: if you ever would mention this to matth flor, you
Speaker 1: tried to ask him about, you know, being the first
Speaker 1: to forty victories or whatever that was, and that didn't
Speaker 1: go that great. He's not gonna about don't want to
Speaker 1: talk about it. But the thing is is they've moved
Speaker 1: the hashes on him so much. Right, I felt like
Speaker 1: in two thousand nineteen he deserved to be the NFL
Speaker 1: Coach of the Year. It was it was the biggest
Speaker 1: turnaround Enfranchise history year over year in terms of wins
Speaker 1: and losses. So they gave it to John Harbor whatever
Speaker 1: this year, Mike, What what this team has done to
Speaker 1: be nine and three, to not have anybody's four straight
Speaker 1: months exactly four straight months when they started the first
Speaker 1: practice of training camp to when they played the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Rams on on Sunday, Mike, they went without any
Speaker 1: real breaks in between. They've had injuries, they've had adversity,
Speaker 1: they've had distractions, and Matt Lafleur has kept this team
Speaker 1: focused on what's in front of them. He's going to
Speaker 1: talk about his assistance, He's going to talk about the players,
Speaker 1: and they all deserve a lot of credit. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about them here in the moment. But I just
Speaker 1: wanted to use this beginning segment of Packers on scripted
Speaker 1: to talk about the fact that Matt Lafleur is pretty
Speaker 1: darn good at what he does. Yeah. Absolutely, And I'll
Speaker 1: go back to what I wrote about in my postgame
Speaker 1: editorial after the game on Sunday night. Matt Lafleur has
Speaker 1: coached forty four regular season NFL football games as a
Speaker 1: head coach in this league, and he still has yet
Speaker 1: to have a losing streak. And the reason I bring
Speaker 1: this up again now, if there were if there were
Speaker 1: any moment in these three seasons that two and a half,
Speaker 1: two and two thirds, whatever it is right now where
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur has been the head coach of the package,
Speaker 1: if there were any moment where one loss was going
Speaker 1: to turn into two, it was potentially this one. Because
Speaker 1: you lose a heartbreaker, obviously in Minnesota, you come back
Speaker 1: from two touchdowns down, it's not quite enough. Minnesota wins
Speaker 1: on a walk off. Okay, you you you swallow that.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a kick in the gut, but your
Speaker 1: quarterback is playing on a fractured pinky toe. You have
Speaker 1: to replace your left tackle again. You never really know
Speaker 1: week to week who's going to be out there on defense. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: the Packers did get Rashawn Gary back to help with
Speaker 1: the edge rush, and he was a big factor in
Speaker 1: this game against the Rams. But then also you're facing
Speaker 1: a Rams team that came into your building last January
Speaker 1: and saw its season end, so there's that bad taste
Speaker 1: in their mouth. They were coming off of two straight
Speaker 1: losses and had their bye week to rest and regroup
Speaker 1: and be as healthy as possible to come in here
Speaker 1: and take on a Packers team somewhat limping from a
Speaker 1: health perspective into its long waited bye week. Yet where
Speaker 1: were we at the end of three quarters? West A
Speaker 1: sack fumble that sets up a touchdown, a couple of
Speaker 1: big plays to Davante Adams and Randall Cobb, and a
Speaker 1: pick six by Russeul Douglas, and the Packers are up
Speaker 1: by nineteen points on the Rams with one quarter to go,
Speaker 1: and then you let a J. Dillon grind out some yards,
Speaker 1: good old cold weather power running style to to kill
Speaker 1: some clock in the fourth quarter, and you're walking away
Speaker 1: with another victory and get into this bye week at
Speaker 1: nine and three. So I know, Coach of the Year
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be a single thing, single season thing,
Speaker 1: and I get that, but you look at this whole
Speaker 1: package with Matt Lafleur and where he is heading into
Speaker 1: the stretch run of his third NFL season, there's no
Speaker 1: question that he has not gotten the credit that he deserves.
Speaker 1: Well in the big reason we do this is because yes,
Speaker 1: there's five games left to the regular season. But Mike,
Speaker 1: you've been doing this a long time. You know how
Speaker 1: this process works. They don't pick the coach the year
Speaker 1: after the Super Bowl. They pick it as soon as
Speaker 1: the season's over, like when it ends, like in four
Speaker 1: or five weeks. And the fact that he just doesn't
Speaker 1: it's funny you see profoitball focusing some of these places.
Speaker 1: They throw up, Hey, who should you? The coach is
Speaker 1: best coaches in the game. The guy just never gets
Speaker 1: enough credit for it. And and I don't as I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, the moving the sticks here on him, whether
Speaker 1: it's oh, you have Aaron Rodgers. Well, but Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: everyone was saying he was past it when they got
Speaker 1: it in two thousand nineteen, and here they are having
Speaker 1: a success. They are he has an m v P
Speaker 1: season in Lafleur's offense in two thousand twenty. Well that's
Speaker 1: because Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers again, and it was.
Speaker 1: But I mean, the fact is is that look for
Speaker 1: it's all a marriage. So I just want to make
Speaker 1: that point. There's a lot of great things to talk about,
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, this first half of the
Speaker 1: season offensively, defensively, what they've been able to accomplish to
Speaker 1: get to nine and three, But you have to give
Speaker 1: credit to the shepherd in the field here with these guys,
Speaker 1: and and that has Ben Matt Lafleur. Yeah. Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: if there's and not to say that there aren't other
Speaker 1: assistant coaches that deserve a lot of praise, but there
Speaker 1: are two that I want to talk about in particular
Speaker 1: on this show. First we'll start on the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball and Adam Stanovich and what he has
Speaker 1: done with this offensive line. Aaron Rodgers said it after
Speaker 1: the game. Okay, you're facing a defensive front that has
Speaker 1: two future Hall of famers in Von Miller and Aaron Donald,
Speaker 1: and then Pro Bowl slash all Pro caliber edge rushier
Speaker 1: in addition in Leonard Floyd. And you're going up against
Speaker 1: that group without three of your preferred starters, if you
Speaker 1: want to call at that on the offensive line, with
Speaker 1: David Baktiari, Elton Jenkins, and Josh Meyers all on the shelf.
Speaker 1: And yet Aaron Rodgers drops back times, gets sacked only once,
Speaker 1: almost escaped that sack um as well, and the Packers
Speaker 1: were able to grind out enough yards on the ground,
Speaker 1: staying committed to the running game, pounding away a J.
Speaker 1: Dillon laying out some punishment with those runs. What what
Speaker 1: this offensive line has done under the tutelage of Adam
Speaker 1: Stanovich and Luke butkus Is is really phenomenal because it
Speaker 1: just you you cringe at the thought of these injuries.
Speaker 1: And we all saw Elton Jenkins go down in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and we we feared the worst and it was the worst.
Speaker 1: And he's out for this reason and potentially a very
Speaker 1: long time. And yet this offense still doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: miss a beat that you know, yosh Naiman steps in.
Speaker 1: You know, Lucas Patrick is filled in at center. We've
Speaker 1: talked about, you know, John runyon Um, you know, taking
Speaker 1: over at at left guard while Jenkins had to play
Speaker 1: left tackle. All that. Whoever the Packers line up with
Speaker 1: up front, they get the job done. They do Mike
Speaker 1: and everybody. Their heart hurt for Elton Jenkins because of
Speaker 1: what he did for this team, how selfless he was
Speaker 1: and how he went about it. In the fact, he's
Speaker 1: just a pretty darned good human being. But it wasn't
Speaker 1: a panic in terms of losing him at left tackle
Speaker 1: because over those first three games, those first three starts
Speaker 1: with yosh Nijman, they felt like this guy he can go.
Speaker 1: And seeing him get comfortable has been the thing that's
Speaker 1: been the most, uh, the coolest part of this whole situation,
Speaker 1: because he had to deal with Bosa in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: and then you see him and he comes out and
Speaker 1: he has Von Miller, he has you know, Aaron Donald sometimes.
Speaker 1: I mean the fact that there's Leonard Floyd, who has
Speaker 1: been off to one of the best starts, maybe the
Speaker 1: best start of his career. He has to contest with
Speaker 1: all that, and he was up for the game. And
Speaker 1: just seeing his athleticism and his size. I don't scout.
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about scouting. Certainly the Packers did
Speaker 1: their whole work on this young man coming out of
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech. But I just don't know how you don't
Speaker 1: look at him at six ft seven three and fourteen
Speaker 1: pounds and don't see a draft pick. I I don't
Speaker 1: see how this guy went undrafted. But that being said,
Speaker 1: they got him, and they got Elton Jenkins in two
Speaker 1: thousand nine. They handed both of those players to Adam Stenovitch,
Speaker 1: to Luke Buckus, and they said, okay, start developing this talent.
Speaker 1: In seeing where both of those guys have come. Jenkins
Speaker 1: already a Pro Bowl player, Niagement becoming a guy that
Speaker 1: can be reliable at the most important position on the
Speaker 1: offensive line. It's it's a testament to everything they've put
Speaker 1: in and the fact that Green Bay is I've wrote
Speaker 1: an insider inbox on Tuesday. They've gone twelve games without
Speaker 1: a five time All Pro left tackle, a guy that
Speaker 1: very easily could end up in the Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, and Jenkins and Niger made it look at
Speaker 1: as easy as they did. That isn't how it works.
Speaker 1: In the NFL. But fortunately for Green Bay it's worked
Speaker 1: out here. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean how many games have
Speaker 1: we seen where other teams have had big time offensive
Speaker 1: lineman go down and and it's it's part of life
Speaker 1: in this league. But then suddenly teams are adjusting their offense,
Speaker 1: their jail breaks with regard to the pass rush. The
Speaker 1: Packers between the plan, the execution, the players and their development. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the patients with Josh Nijaman has has paid off here
Speaker 1: because the Packers invested a lot, a lot of time,
Speaker 1: a lot of resources in developing him, whether it was
Speaker 1: practice squad, an active roster spot, even if he wasn't
Speaker 1: playing much. But then when when the call came, he
Speaker 1: has answered that call. I want to shift to the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, but I'll take care of
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Speaker 1: the defensive side, I don't know what more you can
Speaker 1: say about defensive coordinator Joe Berry and what he has
Speaker 1: done with this unit. I mean, I realized fans are
Speaker 1: going to react the way fans are going to react.
Speaker 1: But there were even some in the media West who
Speaker 1: after week one, we're questioning, what in the world are
Speaker 1: the Packers doing on defense? Right, it was one game.
Speaker 1: Joe Berry stayed the course this defense. I know all
Speaker 1: I know they I know all plays count. You don't
Speaker 1: get to remove things. But two big plays by the Rams,
Speaker 1: the two long touchdown passes to Van Jefferson and Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham Jr. You take those two out. We're talking about
Speaker 1: a shutdown performance of one of the best offenses in
Speaker 1: the league. The Packers let two big plays get behind him.
Speaker 1: Those are the things they're gonna look at. They're gonna
Speaker 1: work on in there, trying to make sure that doesn't
Speaker 1: happen again. But the Rams, other than those two plays,
Speaker 1: the Rams look completely flummixed and flustered on offense. To me,
Speaker 1: in this game, and I and and the pit the
Speaker 1: pick six by Russell Douglas obviously was a big highlight.
Speaker 1: Rashaan Gary with the sack fumble. Preston Smith recovers inside
Speaker 1: the ten yard line. The Packers cash that in for
Speaker 1: a touchdown. The defense, I know, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day there were whatever the twenty um six points
Speaker 1: on the board, twenty eight points on the board, twenty
Speaker 1: eight points on the board at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: but that was not really a reflection in my opinion
Speaker 1: of how this defense played against one of the most
Speaker 1: explosive offenses in the league and the most important thing
Speaker 1: of all, Mike. The defense gave the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: a chance to win this football game. When you look
Speaker 1: at the pick six with Resul Douglas, that the fact
Speaker 1: that they were able to get the force fumble from
Speaker 1: MS Shawn Gary turned that into points the fourth down
Speaker 1: stop when l A decides to go for it early
Speaker 1: on from their own twenty nine, you had Kenny Clark
Speaker 1: penetrating into the backfield, redirecting Darryl Henderson that led to
Speaker 1: Adrian name Is being able to tackle him a yard
Speaker 1: shy the first or the first down. The next play,
Speaker 1: Amos up ends Henderson, whose head then falls short and
Speaker 1: down of the first down is the first body part
Speaker 1: to reach the ground. Those type of plays, mike short
Speaker 1: yardage situations, keeping them in third and manageables also have
Speaker 1: been so important for them because I know what people
Speaker 1: keep saying about, you know, the red zone defense and
Speaker 1: the scoring defense and in that part of the area,
Speaker 1: the third But the fact is they're making them go
Speaker 1: the long way and they're making opportunities for themselves. And
Speaker 1: if you listen to them, they probably would tell you
Speaker 1: there was two or three more takeaway opportunities in that
Speaker 1: game that they weren't able to execute on. But what
Speaker 1: I want to talk about though, as you mentioned with
Speaker 1: with Joe Barry, I really loved the game plan he
Speaker 1: came up for with this game because this is a
Speaker 1: guy that was with Sean McVeigh for a number of years.
Speaker 1: He was in l A when they were building that defense,
Speaker 1: and seeing how he wanted to attack the Rams offense
Speaker 1: with Matthew Stafford in there was really fascinating to watch.
Speaker 1: I don't know the exact statistics. You're more of a
Speaker 1: savant with the stuff, you might actually have them at
Speaker 1: the top of your head, but how infrequently they blitzed
Speaker 1: in this game. They were very comfortable with their four
Speaker 1: man rush against Stafford and they trusted that rush with
Speaker 1: Rashaan Gary to be able to apply pressure. All of
Speaker 1: that's great, but playing able to play coverage a little
Speaker 1: bit more. There were a couple of breaks. They have
Speaker 1: to be able to clean those things up. But considering
Speaker 1: Kevin King wasn't available, you know, Jaire Alexander wasn't available,
Speaker 1: they had to do this with you know, some of
Speaker 1: these makeshift parts in the secondary, they still were dominant.
Speaker 1: And what I stand out and when I look at
Speaker 1: this season that the storyline that I don't know if
Speaker 1: anybody was talking about going into this year, was what
Speaker 1: Joe Barry's defense was going to be able to do
Speaker 1: for Kenny Clark because I think it's made him reach
Speaker 1: the next level in his game. I've said it for
Speaker 1: a long time, Mike, I feel like Clark is that
Speaker 1: one of the best, if not the best. And that's
Speaker 1: all I know Donald is in that conversation. But as
Speaker 1: a two way defensive lineman, he gives you it all.
Speaker 1: He can pressure the quarterback, he can be used on
Speaker 1: those third down situations, but he is affecting the football
Speaker 1: game against the run. L A couldn't do it. I
Speaker 1: think their longest carry with seven yards, and with the
Speaker 1: inability from McVeigh to get the running offense going, that
Speaker 1: is what allowed Green Bay to control this gamett in
Speaker 1: terms of times of possession. Kenny Clark Man, I hope
Speaker 1: he's a pro bowler. I think he should have be
Speaker 1: an all pro consideration. This guy has reached the next
Speaker 1: level in this Joe Barry defense. Yeah. I when I
Speaker 1: came in on Monday after the game, I sat down
Speaker 1: and went through the defensive film and now my weekly
Speaker 1: what you Might have Missed segment is up on the website,
Speaker 1: and I focused entirely on those two defensive tackles in
Speaker 1: the middle, Kenny Clark and Dean Lowry because what we've
Speaker 1: heard and it it bore itself out again in this
Speaker 1: game him is that one of the keys to this
Speaker 1: Joe Barry defense is being able to stop the run.
Speaker 1: And we're not talking about stopping every play for zero
Speaker 1: or one yard, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: only allowing about anywhere from three to three point five
Speaker 1: yards per carry for the other team without having to
Speaker 1: commit those extra players to the run. Now, obviously the
Speaker 1: fourth and short Adrian Amos is up in the box
Speaker 1: and he's ready to shoot the gap. Right. That's a
Speaker 1: different type of thing. But if you want to look
Speaker 1: at the video clips of how the Packers stopped the
Speaker 1: run with a light blox, they're a light box. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: they're in the What you might have missed and what
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark and Dean Lowry were able to do in
Speaker 1: this game to be to be so disruptive, and whether
Speaker 1: it was taking on double teams and holding the point
Speaker 1: or sometimes beating the double team, and as you said
Speaker 1: on the third and two early on, Kenny Clark leverages
Speaker 1: a double team but gets into the backfield and redirects
Speaker 1: Darrell Henderson so that Adrian Amos, who actually is playing
Speaker 1: a deep safety at the snap, is able to come
Speaker 1: all the way up from deep safety and make that
Speaker 1: tackle for a one yard game because he's the unblocked guy.
Speaker 1: These are the kinds of things that the Packers are
Speaker 1: able to do in this defense, and we talked about
Speaker 1: it West last week. The defense didn't have a good
Speaker 1: day in Minnesota, and yes there there were injuries. They
Speaker 1: missed Rashawn Gary probably more than more than anybody else
Speaker 1: the way that game unfolded. But we talked about how
Speaker 1: is this defense going to respond? Same thing with the
Speaker 1: offense after you know, Jordan's Love had a rough day
Speaker 1: in Kansas City, and those first three quarters against Seattle
Speaker 1: when Aaron Rodgers first came back weren't very good on offense.
Speaker 1: How is the offense going to respond? Well, we've seen
Speaker 1: the response now on both sides of the ball. The
Speaker 1: offense has been pretty darn good the last couple of games,
Speaker 1: and the defense bounced back from that, from that game
Speaker 1: in Minnesota with a with a real high quality performance
Speaker 1: against a good offense. The Packers have gotten to their
Speaker 1: bye week, there where they need to be, there where
Speaker 1: they want to be. Now it's about getting rested, getting recharged,
Speaker 1: hopefully getting healthy and seeing over these last five I
Speaker 1: have regular season games now after the Packers come back,
Speaker 1: who can they get back in the lineup amongst these
Speaker 1: guys like bok tr and Alexander Maybe he's a Darius Smith,
Speaker 1: Josh Meyers. These guys who's going to come back and win?
Speaker 1: That's what we're waiting to see. Well, and the beautiful
Speaker 1: thing about the way this season is working out for
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers is I mean, this is gonna
Speaker 1: sound so messed up, but there are seventeen games now
Speaker 1: in Green Bay is three and a half games up
Speaker 1: in the division. They're a half game out of the
Speaker 1: lead right now at the Arizona Cardinals. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of opportunity not only to win some more football games
Speaker 1: and rise in those type of standings, but also to
Speaker 1: get guys back, whether it would be Zadarius Smith or JR.
Speaker 1: Alexander here at some point, David bok Tr, you hope
Speaker 1: that that works out. You hope that you know everything
Speaker 1: that he's been through, we get through on the other
Speaker 1: side of this thing and get back into a rhythm again,
Speaker 1: feel like himself because they're gonna need him. And I've
Speaker 1: mentioned this number of times now, but especially with the
Speaker 1: rushing offense, I just feel like box Tr really gives
Speaker 1: you the entire package there. As much as we focus
Speaker 1: on his past protection, he brings a lot to that
Speaker 1: outside zone scheme, and I feel like they do need
Speaker 1: him back out there. But with Zadarius, you think about
Speaker 1: the way that Rashaan Garry's playing right now, Mike, to
Speaker 1: see him kind of coming into his own man. What
Speaker 1: that would look like during the postseason run if the
Speaker 1: Smith Bros. Are out there with him, jire Alexander the
Speaker 1: level in which he was playing at over the last
Speaker 1: twenty some games, and all pro shutdown type cornerback. What
Speaker 1: that could bring to this offense. Maybe pie in the
Speaker 1: sky we have to see. But the Packers are giving
Speaker 1: themselves time to get those guys back in the fact
Speaker 1: that they've been able to win these games and put
Speaker 1: themselves in that position with Rasul Douglas coming off of
Speaker 1: Arizona's practice squad, with Whitney Merciless coming in for a
Speaker 1: few games before unfortunately he has his biceps injury. Yash Nijman,
Speaker 1: I mean, all these guys might the fact that they've
Speaker 1: been able to get to nine and three that it's
Speaker 1: it's more than I think anyone could have ever hoped. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well you said it. Let's take a look at the
Speaker 1: big picture here. As you said, the Packers have a
Speaker 1: three and a half game lead in the NFC North
Speaker 1: thanks to the San Francisco forty is knocking off the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings at the same time that the Packers are
Speaker 1: playing the Rams, So it's a three and a half
Speaker 1: game lead in the division. The Vikings have six games left,
Speaker 1: the Packers have five. If I'm doing my math right.
Speaker 1: If you want to go with the whole baseball like
Speaker 1: magic number thing, I think the Packers magic number to
Speaker 1: clinch the division is three. That is, any combination of
Speaker 1: three Vikings losses and or Packers victory. Um would yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you have a magic number of three. And
Speaker 1: we we just got past Thanksgiving weekend here, right, so, um,
Speaker 1: the Packers completely in command of the NFC North and
Speaker 1: then as far as the conference as a whole, Arizona
Speaker 1: at nine into a half game ahead of the Packers
Speaker 1: at nine and three. Obviously the Packers, no, they have
Speaker 1: the head to head tie breaker there, so if they
Speaker 1: can match Arizona for the top record in the conference,
Speaker 1: Green Bay gets the nod there. But by the same token,
Speaker 1: you still have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right in this
Speaker 1: hunt as well with only three losses, and then the
Speaker 1: Rams and the Cowboys, both of whom now lost games
Speaker 1: this past week, but they just have four and there's
Speaker 1: still plenty of time, uh left in this season for
Speaker 1: those teams to potentially put it together and make a run.
Speaker 1: So coming up this weekend, or I should say this week,
Speaker 1: since this is our only show this week, we'll already
Speaker 1: look ahead to the games that are coming up. Big
Speaker 1: game for Dallas on Thursday night, playing at New Orleans,
Speaker 1: trying to shake off that loss on Thanksgiving Day, and
Speaker 1: then on Sunday, Arizona is at Chicago and Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: is that Atlanta. Those are the games for the most part,
Speaker 1: that Packers fans are going to have their eyes on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and first and foremost, I just want to, you know,
Speaker 1: mention obviously the reports out of of you know, Dallas
Speaker 1: right now with Mike McCarthy. You hope everything turns out
Speaker 1: well for Mike. I know they put him on the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen protocol. He will not coach in this game, right,
Speaker 1: you know. Tremendous human being, a guy that I have
Speaker 1: a lot of respect for. I really hope he can
Speaker 1: pull through all that, okay, and and get on there
Speaker 1: with the team, because you know, Dallas has had a
Speaker 1: few ups and downs, but I have really had the
Speaker 1: bounce back season I think everybody was looking for after
Speaker 1: a rough year. One the craziest thing is Mike. I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of green, big Packer fans out there.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be cheering for the Chicago Bears this weekend.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a huge game and in Arizona's look,
Speaker 1: you know, human, I think if you look at it
Speaker 1: pound for pound, the Cardinals and the Packers still are
Speaker 1: the best two teams in the NFC right now. They've
Speaker 1: certainly been the most consistent and the fact is, like
Speaker 1: you know, they've had some up like some some bad
Speaker 1: performances here. They aren't just the team that's running through
Speaker 1: everybody the way they were during that seven and all starts.
Speaker 1: So Chicago Bears, man, it's it's been up, it's been
Speaker 1: mostly down. But man, oh man, that that could be
Speaker 1: a huge thing, especially with you know, the Bears kind
Speaker 1: of being a little bit out of the NFC Division
Speaker 1: North Division race right now. Yeah, it's it's early in
Speaker 1: the week at this point, but we'll see where things
Speaker 1: are at the quarterback position with both these teams, right
Speaker 1: I think everybody would like to see justin fields against
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, you know, sort of those two young guys,
Speaker 1: the the new age quarterback so to speak, whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call it, see those two guys go ahead
Speaker 1: to head. But we'll just have to see how the
Speaker 1: week unfolds there. And uh, and I know prior to
Speaker 1: the Packers Ramps kick off. A lot of Packers fans
Speaker 1: were watching that Tampa Bay game against the Indianapolis Colts,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately, the Colts had had a lead, seemed to
Speaker 1: have commanded that game early in the third quarter. Then
Speaker 1: the turnover started happening. They kind of forgot about the
Speaker 1: best running back in football who's healthy right now and
Speaker 1: uh and didn't give him the ball and UH So
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay was able to get a big road win
Speaker 1: um at Indianapolis to stay at three losses and to
Speaker 1: stay basically right on the heels of both the Packers
Speaker 1: and the Cardinals here in the NFC playoff chase. But
Speaker 1: they have a division game on the road at Atlanta.
Speaker 1: The Falcons, you talk about a team that you can't
Speaker 1: really figure out up and down. You never know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna get necessarily. But in the NFC right now,
Speaker 1: there are a bunch of teams that are that are
Speaker 1: five and six right six and five, five and six,
Speaker 1: right in that range, and they are absolutely still alive
Speaker 1: for a playoff spot with uh with this expanded playoff
Speaker 1: system in the seven teams from each conference. So the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons have everything in the world to play for
Speaker 1: hosting their division rival on Sunday. Yeah, tam Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting, Mike, very kind of looking like last year.
Speaker 1: They're not winning, you know, on style points right now.
Speaker 1: It's it's been a lot of knockdown, grinding, moot type games.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for them last year they got really hot at
Speaker 1: the end of the season. We'll have to see if
Speaker 1: the Burners can kind of ignite their for them heading
Speaker 1: into this postseason hunt. Certainly Carolina cooled off. New Orleans
Speaker 1: is just a mess right now, and in Atlanta, as
Speaker 1: you said, you don't really know what you're gonna get,
Speaker 1: so um that that's gonna be an interesting one to
Speaker 1: watch it and really just seeing who can play the
Speaker 1: most consistent football in the month of December. Like, I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people have used this excuse, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call it an excuse, but a lot of
Speaker 1: folks have been talking about, well, last year the Packers
Speaker 1: were the number one seed, and I mean all the
Speaker 1: good it did them. Unfortunately for Green Bay the year
Speaker 1: in which they finally get that number one seed, they're
Speaker 1: playing inside a stadium with nine thousand people, like they
Speaker 1: played most of the year in front of no one.
Speaker 1: So when people ask that about oh, you know, if
Speaker 1: you want the but you want to buy and you
Speaker 1: want to be able to get that same scenario to
Speaker 1: play out with seventy eight thousand fans inside those stands.
Speaker 1: So I think that goal is very tangible for green
Speaker 1: Bay right now. I think you look at this this,
Speaker 1: you know, really both conferences, trying to think of a
Speaker 1: year in which you went into the month of December
Speaker 1: where there were this many teams sort of log jammed
Speaker 1: right at the top, with all with really decent shots
Speaker 1: with a good run here at at that by in
Speaker 1: that in the number one season their respective conference. So uh,
Speaker 1: like I mentioned, it's all about consistency, and to this point,
Speaker 1: green Bay has been one of, if not the most
Speaker 1: consistent team in the National Football League, and it's given
Speaker 1: them an opportunity now to really put this thing into
Speaker 1: overdrive with three of the last five at home, and
Speaker 1: certainly with this bye week giving them a little bit
Speaker 1: of a chance to get healthier here before that stretch run. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question about it. And usually you get past Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: and as you said, maybe things look a little bit
Speaker 1: clearer in terms of the playoff picture. But with the
Speaker 1: extra game he's seventeen regular season games now, there's just
Speaker 1: there's just that much more season left to go, that
Speaker 1: much more jockeying for position. That's UH. That's going to
Speaker 1: happen here down the stretch and will be worth watching.
Speaker 1: I'll have the path of the playoffs. We're gonna debut you.
Speaker 1: Good luck with that this week on the on the
Speaker 1: bye we'll get that. We'll get that posted here at
Speaker 1: the end of the week and make that a weekly
Speaker 1: feature here the rest of the way. But with that,
Speaker 1: we're gonna call it a rap on this Zoom edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team. We've still got plenty of content
Speaker 1: for you during the bye week. Don't tune us out, folks.
Speaker 1: Lots of stuff going up on the website and uh
Speaker 1: and then again next week when we come back with
Speaker 1: more of this show. So for West, I am Mike,
Speaker 1: thank you for tuning in. Everybody. We will see you
Speaker 1: next done and dat anything