Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joined by the
Speaker 1: one and only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at Lambeaufield to preview Sunday Night Football West.
Speaker 1: It'll be the Packers and the Vikings in primetime at
Speaker 1: US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Obviously the second meeting between
Speaker 1: the Packers and Vikings this year. And when you look
Speaker 1: at this Minnesota Viking season, it's really strange how it
Speaker 1: breaks down because I know they've changed quarterbacks multiple times
Speaker 1: and they may be making another change at that spot
Speaker 1: this week, which we can talk about. But the Vikings
Speaker 1: started the season zero to three, correct, then they won
Speaker 1: six out of seven games, with the only loss in
Speaker 1: that stretch coming to the Kansas City Chiefs. But now
Speaker 1: since then they have lost four out of five games,
Speaker 1: with the only win in this most recent stretch coming
Speaker 1: by a score of three to zero against the Las
Speaker 1: Vegas Raiders, one of the oddest games of the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three season across the board. So they've lost four
Speaker 1: out of five, including two in a row. Their playoff
Speaker 1: hopes are just as much on the line as the
Speaker 1: Packers are, and this is a team that's still trying
Speaker 1: to figure out exactly what they want to do at
Speaker 1: quarterback to try to get themselves into the postseason.
Speaker 2: There's a lot going on there right now Minnesota, and
Speaker 2: first and foremost the big part of this and I
Speaker 2: wrote about it, and you talked a lot about how
Speaker 2: this matchup is gonna be different from the first time,
Speaker 2: but just the way that this season has turned for Minnesota.
Speaker 3: After that game at lambeau.
Speaker 2: Field, there was a lot of people I remember covering
Speaker 2: that game afterwards it was almost like that both teams
Speaker 2: had lost when you went into the locker rooms afterwards,
Speaker 2: because Minnesota thought whatever hopes they had and maybe building
Speaker 2: upon what they did the previous year in a thirteen
Speaker 2: win season under Kevin O'Connell could probably be thrown down
Speaker 2: the toilet with losing Kirk Cousins for the remainder of
Speaker 2: the season. Josh Dobbs sprinkled a little bit of you know,
Speaker 2: magic fairy dust on them for a minute, he did.
Speaker 2: Then he came back down to earth. Nick Mullins, who
Speaker 2: was the one that was originally kind of signed to
Speaker 2: be the backup to Kirk Cousins. Well, then he has
Speaker 2: a four interception game against Detroit. Jaren Hall, the fifth
Speaker 2: round pick that originally was going to be the backup
Speaker 2: and the replacement for Cousins when Mullins was still on
Speaker 2: IR he got a concussion, only placed ten snaps.
Speaker 3: So it's just been this.
Speaker 2: Whirling dervish right now in that state, trying to figure
Speaker 2: out what their you know, focal point of their offense
Speaker 2: is going to be. But it's funny. It's not just
Speaker 2: that though, right. I mean, they've had questions in the
Speaker 2: backfield in terms of who their lead back is.
Speaker 3: TJ.
Speaker 2: Howkinson tears his ACL justin Jefferson misses the middles part
Speaker 2: of the season with the hamstring injury. There's just been
Speaker 2: all these different things that have kind of crept up
Speaker 2: on Minnesota and ultimately here they are, And in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways, I think it's poetic Week seven, just
Speaker 2: like last year in Week seventeen, the greemd Packers trying
Speaker 2: to keep their playoff hopes alive, except this time Minnesota
Speaker 2: sitting in the exact same seat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly last year at this time, the Packers were,
Speaker 1: as you say, fighting to stay in the playoff chase
Speaker 1: in Minnesota was you know, had already clinched the NFC
Speaker 1: North title at that point and they were looking ahead
Speaker 1: to what they were going to do in the postseason. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of changes. The loss of TJ. Hockinson is
Speaker 1: a big one for this Minnesota offense because with Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson missing nine games with a very troublesome hamstring injury,
Speaker 1: Hawkinson had been the leading pass catcher both receptions and
Speaker 1: yards for this Minnesota offense. He now goes down. Jefferson
Speaker 1: has been back in the lineup for the last three weeks,
Speaker 1: with his production steadily climbing to where in the lost
Speaker 1: to the Lions last week, he had six catches for
Speaker 1: I believe it was one hundred and forty one yards.
Speaker 1: Big game, had a touchdown there. So that's a that's
Speaker 1: a big weapon for Minnesota to get back, and it
Speaker 1: seems like Justin Jefferson is sort of back to his
Speaker 1: old self. And then you have Jordan Addison who is
Speaker 1: on the injury report. They're saying he's day to day
Speaker 1: with an ankle injury. He had a big game against
Speaker 1: the Packers back in week eight in late October at
Speaker 1: Lambo and then kJ Osborne, who's sort of been this
Speaker 1: you know, steady guy who produces when they need him to,
Speaker 1: and he's he's always there and he had one of
Speaker 1: his better games against the Packers back when Jefferson was
Speaker 1: not playing a couple of months ago. So obviously on
Speaker 1: the defensive side for the Packers. The matchup, the matchup
Speaker 1: here is going to be interesting just how the Packers
Speaker 1: play this out because jay r Alexander has been suspended
Speaker 1: by the team for one game, so he will not
Speaker 1: be matched up with with Justin Jefferson as as he
Speaker 1: has the last couple of times these two teams have
Speaker 1: met up. And Darnell Savage might be coming back at safety.
Speaker 1: He's back at practice now after missing some time. And
Speaker 1: you've got you know, Carrington Valentine, Corey Ballentine, Keishawn Nixon
Speaker 1: is there as the nickel. Not quite sure how the
Speaker 1: Packers are going to are going to match up against
Speaker 1: this Minnesota offense, but we may not know until later
Speaker 1: today or Friday exactly who's going to be quarterbacking for
Speaker 1: Minnesota with all all of this going on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's one of those things too where publicly
Speaker 2: that is what the Vikings are saying privately, obviously you're
Speaker 2: building a plan around somebody. To me, again, if I
Speaker 2: was a betting man, and as you said on yesterday's show,
Speaker 2: there is no gambling in Bushwood, sir, But I would
Speaker 2: think Hall gets the call because he is the one
Speaker 2: guy that is under contract for next year for Minnesota.
Speaker 2: They did invest the draft pick into him, and he
Speaker 2: was the guy they were going to turn to in
Speaker 2: the first place when Cousins went down.
Speaker 3: Right, and they did.
Speaker 1: He started the game at Atlanta, but then, as you said,
Speaker 1: he got a concussion early on in that game. That
Speaker 1: turned things over to Josh Dobbs, who would literally been
Speaker 1: signed just days before that, hardly knew any of the playbook,
Speaker 1: and suddenly there was this magic going on with Josh
Speaker 1: Dobbs that helped the Vikings get to seven wins, which
Speaker 1: is which is where they are right now.
Speaker 2: But this is where it gets tricky for them because
Speaker 2: you look at that game against Detroit and you had
Speaker 2: Nick Mullins throw for over four hundred yards. They had
Speaker 2: no running game whatsoever. I think Chandler might have been
Speaker 2: their leading rusher with like twenty one yards or seventeen
Speaker 2: yards something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he only carried the ball like eight times. Then
Speaker 1: they turned over. Sorry to interrupt, but they had turned
Speaker 1: over their running game to Chandler from Alexander Madison, and
Speaker 1: Chandler had had like one hundred and thirty some yards
Speaker 1: in the overtime loss to the Bengals the previous week. Then,
Speaker 1: but suddenly the running game disappears and it's all on Mullins.
Speaker 1: He throws for four hundred plus yards but throws four
Speaker 1: picks and Kevin O'Connell's thinking about changing quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the way that Minnesota built this thing out
Speaker 2: this year, I mean, it wasn't necessarily surprised that that's
Speaker 2: the way they were trying to construct the offense. Because
Speaker 2: you know, Josh Oliver gets signed, he's considered one of
Speaker 2: the top blocking tight ends of the National Football League.
Speaker 2: You want to be able to establish yourself in that
Speaker 2: way to compliment what you're getting from Justin Jefferson and
Speaker 2: obviously the huge investment with Addison. You want to be
Speaker 2: able to play it both ways. And you see why
Speaker 2: it's necessary in a game against Detroit where Vikings lose
Speaker 2: that game by six points, but they throw for that
Speaker 2: many yards all because of the turnover differential margins. So
Speaker 2: that's why Green Bay it's going to be very interesting
Speaker 2: to see how they match up with them defensively losing
Speaker 2: Jire Alexander. There's no circumstance that you can explain to
Speaker 2: me a scenario in which the Packers are better on
Speaker 2: the field with Jiry Alexander not there.
Speaker 3: But things happen behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: Obviously, there was a lot of consternation about how the
Speaker 2: beginning of the game started in Carolina, and this is
Speaker 2: where we are with the one game suspension here for
Speaker 2: joh So that means Krington Valentine likely will be thrown
Speaker 2: back in there. Eric Stokes more is going to be
Speaker 2: expected from him with two games now underneath his belt
Speaker 2: because the Vikings are going to hit you. They're not
Speaker 2: the deepest coren the National FOOTBA League. I think there's
Speaker 2: only five guys on their active roster at that position,
Speaker 2: but Jefferson, Addison and Osbourne. And Osbourne is the one
Speaker 2: I in my eye on because I think he does
Speaker 2: not get as much respect as he deserves. I think
Speaker 2: he could be a solid number two, number one receiver
Speaker 2: for a lot of teams in the NFL. But when
Speaker 2: you have someone that's as dynamic as Addison and honestly
Speaker 2: the best receiver in the game right now in Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 2: You're not going to be able to get as many opportunities.
Speaker 2: But whoever the quarterback is out there for the Vikings
Speaker 2: on Sunday Night, does have three really solid guys to
Speaker 2: turn to.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and when you look at this Viking season,
Speaker 1: as up and down as it's been, as as kind
Speaker 1: of crazy as it's been, it's really come down to
Speaker 1: the turnovers, wes. And that's why Kevin O'Connell continues to
Speaker 1: try to figure out what to do at quarterback. He
Speaker 1: knows he has offensive weapons. Even with TJ. Hawkinson being injured.
Speaker 1: As we've rattled off all these guys, O'Connell knows he
Speaker 1: has offensive weapons. He wants a quarterback that's going to
Speaker 1: protect the football and give his team the best chance
Speaker 1: and not put his defense in bad situation with the turnovers.
Speaker 1: Minnesota has turned the ball over thirty times this season,
Speaker 1: which is tied for the second highest total in the league.
Speaker 1: And here's how it breaks down. They're a seven and
Speaker 1: eight football team that in itself is somewhat remarkable. They
Speaker 1: have thirty turnovers and to still be in the playoff
Speaker 1: front here with two games to go. But they have
Speaker 1: turned the ball over seven times in their seven victories.
Speaker 1: They have turned the ball over twenty three times in
Speaker 1: their eight losses. It, you know, we say it all
Speaker 1: the time. Obviously, the turnover margin, the turnover differential is
Speaker 1: always going to play a big factor in this league.
Speaker 1: And you know, when you look at it from the
Speaker 1: Packers side of things, green Bay's green Bay defensively has
Speaker 1: struggled to get takeaways. They haven't you know, they haven't
Speaker 1: hit that stretch yet this year where you know where
Speaker 1: they come in bunches, where you get on a run
Speaker 1: where suddenly you know the ball is always finding their hands.
Speaker 1: Packers need that to happen on Sunday night at US
Speaker 1: Bank Stadium. They need, they need, they need something like
Speaker 1: that to go their way because that's been the formula
Speaker 1: to beat Minnesota is to get them to turn the
Speaker 1: ball over, no matter who's playing quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was, as I said, it was the difference
Speaker 2: in that game against the Lions. Detroit does not win
Speaker 2: that football game without being plus three in the turnover
Speaker 2: margin in that contest. Here's what I find that's the
Speaker 2: most funny though, Mike, because there's years where you and
Speaker 2: I have sat down here and we've talked about plus
Speaker 2: and minus with turnover differential and how that affects wins
Speaker 2: and losses. This year, it makes no sense at all.
Speaker 2: I mean, here are your bottom basically nine teams in
Speaker 2: terms of turnover differential this season, starting with minus six
Speaker 2: at Carolina and Tennessee. The results are what they are,
Speaker 2: But then you got ten. Then you have Philadelphia in
Speaker 2: Cleveland in New England at minus seven, completely different seasons
Speaker 2: that they've been through, the New York Jets minus eight,
Speaker 2: Minnesota in the playoff hunt at minus nine, Washington minus ten,
Speaker 2: and we've obviously seen how things have gone for the Commanders,
Speaker 2: but they're tied for last in the league with Kansas
Speaker 2: City at minus ten and Kansas City currently sitting in
Speaker 2: a wild card positioning. None of these teams, I would
Speaker 2: you know, even now with the issues that Phillies had,
Speaker 2: I don't think you'd say, Okay, they're in the Baltimore, Miami,
Speaker 2: San Francisco category right now. But there's good football teams
Speaker 2: in there that just have not been able to win
Speaker 2: that differential. Yeah, Green Bay is smack dab in the
Speaker 2: middle right at zero in terms of their nept differential.
Speaker 2: They've actually done an acceplent exceptional job in the second
Speaker 2: half the season protecting the football. But again, as you
Speaker 2: outline trying to find ways to get the ball to
Speaker 2: take away, it's always going to be a point of
Speaker 2: emphasis in a football game that you need to be
Speaker 2: able to generate turnovers. But Michael, if there was ever
Speaker 2: a game where you're going to put down that exclamation point,
Speaker 2: it's this one because it really probably is going to
Speaker 2: be the difference between a winning a loss.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you need the Packers need the defensive effort that
Speaker 1: they brought to Detroit on Thanksgiving where you were disrupting
Speaker 1: Jared Goff, you were getting you know, the strip sacks
Speaker 1: and obviously the defense scored a touchdown in that game
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving, and there's you know, that's of immeasurable value
Speaker 1: in these types of games. Since then, we saw Keishaw
Speaker 1: Nixon get the big interception of Patrick Mahomes in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter in the victory over the Cheese but that
Speaker 1: was the that was the Packers only takeaway in that game.
Speaker 1: And yes, the Packers technically statistically they got two takeaways
Speaker 1: against the Giants, but they were those were literally giveaways
Speaker 1: by the Giants. The Packers didn't do anything to get
Speaker 1: the ball. One was the punt that hit the unsuspecting
Speaker 1: guy and created a live ball situation and the Packers
Speaker 1: fell on the other one is Saquon Barkley just fumbling
Speaker 1: the ball completely on his own when he when he
Speaker 1: trips and and and goes to the ground. So those
Speaker 1: takeaways almost don't even count. I mean, I know they
Speaker 1: count statistically, but they don't really count. And then other
Speaker 1: than that, you had the the early strip sack of
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which then ended
Speaker 1: up not having as big an impact on the games
Speaker 1: as you would want that one to. So the Packers
Speaker 1: have to take the football away in this game because
Speaker 1: because that has been the bugaboo for Minnesota. And you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, we'll we'll be in the press box, and
Speaker 1: at us Bank Stadium, it's an open air press box,
Speaker 1: so we get a little bit more of you know,
Speaker 1: the stadium atmosphere than when we're behind the glass. But
Speaker 1: what I was going to say is that when when
Speaker 1: there are issues that impact a team throughout the course
Speaker 1: of a season, and it can be it can be whatever.
Speaker 1: It can be missing field goals, it can be penalties.
Speaker 1: In this case for Minnesota, it's turnovers. You know it.
Speaker 1: As soon as Minnesota turns the ball over once fumble
Speaker 1: or interception on Sunday night and the Packers get the football,
Speaker 1: You're going to feel it in the stadium, in the
Speaker 1: attitude of the fans there, you know there, their shoulders
Speaker 1: are going to slump like, oh, here we go again,
Speaker 1: and there's going to be somewhat of you know, that
Speaker 1: feeling on the sideline for the Minnesota vikings. The Packers
Speaker 1: can't let Minnesota just have one of these games where
Speaker 1: they get to protect the football, because because it can,
Speaker 1: it'll play a huge factor on Sunday night. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about a little bit about Minnesota's defense as well,
Speaker 1: because when we were discussing the first meeting between these
Speaker 1: teams this year, there was a lot of talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, Brian Flores and the blitz happy defense and everything,
Speaker 1: and you know, Minnesota's blitz percentages being at the top
Speaker 1: of the league, and then in that game at lambeau Field,
Speaker 1: Flora's hardly blitzed at all a relative to what their
Speaker 1: tendencies have been I really don't know what to expect
Speaker 1: in that regard comes Sunday night.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: It's obviously I always think it's easier. It's easier to
Speaker 1: dial up the blitzes when you're playing at home because
Speaker 1: you have that advantage of the opposing offense being on
Speaker 1: the silent count and you can time things up a
Speaker 1: little bit better than when you're on the road and
Speaker 1: you don't have that advantage in terms of dialing up
Speaker 1: pressure looks. But that aside, really, I think it's going
Speaker 1: to be very interesting to see how Minnesota approaches things
Speaker 1: because they just lost Dj Wantam, their number two sack
Speaker 1: leader on the team. They've lost him now to an injury.
Speaker 1: You have Daniel Hunter who's got fifteen and a half
Speaker 1: sacks this year with two games left to go. He's
Speaker 1: having a tremendous year, and you know, the Vikings have
Speaker 1: just been very unpredictable. I think in that sense, in
Speaker 1: terms of how Flora's is going to go about things
Speaker 1: weak to week.
Speaker 2: Well, one of the big reasons I think I don't
Speaker 2: know what Flores's operation of philosophy was going to be
Speaker 2: in week one, but I think sometimes I honestly think
Speaker 2: that all the injuries probably did affect how much they
Speaker 2: blitzed this season, because I don't want to say it's
Speaker 2: quantity over quality, but it is really jarring how much
Speaker 2: this team has blitzed over the course of the year.
Speaker 2: In respect to where they rank in sacks, they're pretty
Speaker 2: much middle of the pack. Yeah, it comes to sex,
Speaker 2: but they generate pressure and they try to do it consistently. Now,
Speaker 2: what's interesting is you mentioned Wanham. They already lost Marcus
Speaker 2: Davenport earlier this season. Davenport was seen as sort of
Speaker 2: the replacement for, you know, Zadarius. When Zadarius leaves and
Speaker 2: goes to Cleveland, he was going to be the running
Speaker 2: partner with Hunter. I've been so freaking and pressed by
Speaker 2: Danil Hunter this year because again, every time you hear
Speaker 2: neck injury, Mike, every time you hear fusion and that
Speaker 2: type of stuff, and knowing that he wasn't able to
Speaker 2: play through it for that amount of time, your mind
Speaker 2: always goes to bad places. We've seen it in Green Bay.
Speaker 2: How sometimes guys just don't get back from that. Hunter's
Speaker 2: done that and he's actually gotten better now. I don't
Speaker 2: know if that's just his skill set meshing well with
Speaker 2: floras a scheme or exactly what the philosophy's been there.
Speaker 2: But Daniel Hunter is a problem and Green Bay's gonna
Speaker 2: have to account for him in this matchup. But overall,
Speaker 2: just being able to kind of wear down Minnesota is
Speaker 2: going to be vital in this game. The Green Bay Packers'
Speaker 2: offense that the Vikings are going to be seeing is
Speaker 2: vastly different than the one that they saw in Week seven.
Speaker 2: The quarterback's different, the offensive line is playing much differently.
Speaker 2: We saw this pass Sunday for the first time since
Speaker 2: man I don't even know how long Rashid Walker took
Speaker 2: every snap at left tackle rather than that rotation, and
Speaker 2: then obviously over at right guard, you've had almost a
Speaker 2: steady rotation now between John Runyon and Sean Ryan at
Speaker 2: that spot. The Packers, I think you're seeing more continuity.
Speaker 2: I think you're seeing more consistency, and obviously just more
Speaker 2: swagger amongst that receiving court. One of the better safety
Speaker 2: could takes that you're going to see in the National
Speaker 2: Football League with what the Vikings deploy and how they
Speaker 2: use those guys. But overall, I'm expecting a totally different
Speaker 2: game from week week seven. I just I feel like
Speaker 2: these two teams good bad or in between are much
Speaker 2: different and much chance, you know, in terms of how
Speaker 2: they've laid out and where they're.
Speaker 3: At in this part of the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and handling Daniel Hunter, whether Flores decides to blitz
Speaker 1: or not, or blitz a lot or not. Handling Daniel
Speaker 1: Hunter will be key here because you look back at
Speaker 1: the last handful of games West and and the guys
Speaker 1: that the the top notch pass rushers the Packers have
Speaker 1: gone up against, whether you're talking about into your an
Speaker 1: interior guy like Aaron Donald for the Rams or t J.
Speaker 1: Watt on the edge for the Steelers, or Aiden Hutchinson
Speaker 1: Brian Burns. Last week we didn't hear boo out of
Speaker 1: him for for Carolina. The only edge guy, the only
Speaker 1: the only top notch pass rusher who in my opinion,
Speaker 1: had a had an outsize impact on a game over
Speaker 1: the last couple of months Yere against the Packers was
Speaker 1: Caveon Thibodeau for the Giants. That's really the only the
Speaker 1: only guy the Packers didn't didn't handle quite right, But
Speaker 1: otherwise all of the top pass rushers from these opposing
Speaker 1: teams over the last six or seven games, the Packers
Speaker 1: have done a really really good job. Can they do
Speaker 1: that against Hunter as well? And then if they are,
Speaker 1: what does Flores dial up in terms of pressure looks
Speaker 1: to try to just get Hunter one on one where
Speaker 1: the Packers can't you know, chip with a tight end
Speaker 1: and help out or help out with a running back
Speaker 1: because the running back has to have his eye on,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody blitzing from somewhere else. All that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. That's the that's the x's and o'sh chess
Speaker 1: match that that goes into this.
Speaker 2: And it is funny now without uh, with where they're
Speaker 2: at right now with these injuries behind Hunter, in terms
Speaker 2: of active players, you're leading sack sack artists I guess
Speaker 2: you could say from Minnesota are Harrison Smith with three
Speaker 2: and Harrison Phillips with three. And Phillips is basically a
Speaker 2: run stuffing nose tackle And that's just it's just kind
Speaker 2: of the way it's.
Speaker 3: Been for them so far.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I want I should have mentioned Chris Jones
Speaker 1: for the Chiefs as well. We didn't hear much out
Speaker 1: of him. When you know, another top notch guy you
Speaker 1: know on the defensive front for the other team that
Speaker 1: the Packers handled well, So hopefully that continues. Well, we've
Speaker 1: touched on we've touched obviously on the on the turnover
Speaker 1: issue already. What else do you see as a key
Speaker 1: to victory for green Bay in this game?
Speaker 3: Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2: I was doing some research with the story that I
Speaker 2: wrote on Thursday morning, and if you go back and
Speaker 2: you look at Aaron Jones and some of his best
Speaker 2: performances of his career, in addition to them just coming
Speaker 2: against the Minnesota Viking, several of them actually come at
Speaker 2: us Bank Stadium. And last week, despite all the things
Speaker 2: that was working against green Bay going into that game,
Speaker 2: Aaron Jones was the guy that got everything going offensively.
Speaker 2: He had twenty one carries, one hundred and twenty seven
Speaker 2: rushing yards. He looked like, I don't want to say
Speaker 2: the old Aaron Jones, but he looked like the healthy
Speaker 2: Aaron Jones. Yeah, and it has been so long since
Speaker 2: we've seen that. And when you get that type of
Speaker 2: production again, he has more rushing yards than any other
Speaker 2: team in.
Speaker 3: The National Football League.
Speaker 2: And obviously they play they play the Vikings a lot,
Speaker 2: but if you look at his production against the Vikings
Speaker 2: compared to the Lions and the Bears. I mean, this
Speaker 2: guy's done a lot of damage against them over the years.
Speaker 2: We don't know what this is going to be like yet.
Speaker 2: In terms of the skill position players for green Bay,
Speaker 2: Luke Musgrave is back, but he's still on injured reserve
Speaker 2: with the designation to return from the last rated kidney.
Speaker 2: Jaden Reid practicing again with the toe. But you have
Speaker 2: Dontavian Wicks now dealing with a chest injury in addition
Speaker 2: to his ankle injury, and Christian Watson is still working
Speaker 2: his way back from the hamstring.
Speaker 3: Mike.
Speaker 2: Those are the top of the line players for green Bay.
Speaker 2: Those are your studs, so to speak. And the fact
Speaker 2: that Aaron Jones was able to give Green Bay what
Speaker 2: he gave them, and the fact that he's starting to
Speaker 2: finally get healthy at the right time, I look at
Speaker 2: him as being the catalyst for what could potentially be
Speaker 2: a playoff push here. I think he's fresh in the
Speaker 2: hamstring injuries behind him. As long as that knee is
Speaker 2: in a good spot, he can get his condition as football,
Speaker 2: you know, speed and everything back. I just think the
Speaker 2: skuy's the limit for Aaron Jones right now. He's definitely
Speaker 2: motivated for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the other thing I would say too, I'll
Speaker 1: go back to what we talked about on our last
Speaker 1: show and reviewing the Carolina game is whoever is that
Speaker 1: quarterback for the Vikings? The the Packers can't can't let
Speaker 1: the guy develop this you know, boost of confidence that's
Speaker 1: going to suddenly, you know, morph him from you know,
Speaker 1: from your average everyday quarterback into some kind of a
Speaker 1: of a superman. Because because we've we've seen, we've seen
Speaker 1: what that mental edge, what that edge of confidence can
Speaker 1: can do for quarterbacks that that have been struggling and
Speaker 1: then they get things rolling and then it's just too
Speaker 1: hard to flip the switch the other way. And obviously
Speaker 1: turnovers turnovers would play into that. But whether or not
Speaker 1: you get turnovers, you also just don't want to don't
Speaker 1: want that opposing quarterback to settle in and feel like
Speaker 1: he's feel like he's in command of the game. That's
Speaker 1: where that's where the Packers defense has has lost control
Speaker 1: of things, is when the opposing quarterback is in command,
Speaker 1: not your defensive front in terms of disrupting things.
Speaker 2: It's a great point. And the other aspect I look
Speaker 2: at that is. Conversely, take away green May. I know
Speaker 2: Green Bay has been through a lot this season, obviously
Speaker 2: trying to work through some stuff right now defensively, but
Speaker 2: just keep this in mind too. If you could generate
Speaker 2: a turnover early in this game, you have Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 2: on the bench with two other quarterbacks behind him, two
Speaker 2: other clipboards sitting there, and now you start doing the
Speaker 2: mental math and okay, do we pick the right guy
Speaker 2: to be out there?
Speaker 3: Is this?
Speaker 2: Then you start thinking, then you start questioning. I think
Speaker 2: that's another really important piece of this is that if
Speaker 2: you do if you get that pick, whoever starts, it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter who it is. If you get a pick early,
Speaker 2: if you force a fumbler early, if you generate in
Speaker 2: a takeaway and get points off of it, the questions
Speaker 2: immediately start from Minnesota. It's not just them, it's any
Speaker 2: team that would be in that situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I totally agree with you. There a little
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Speaker 3: All right, the.
Speaker 1: Playoff picture and the other games that Packers fans will
Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on on Sunday leading up to
Speaker 1: the Sunday night football kickoff. I'll just rattle them off here, Wes,
Speaker 1: and I'll let you comment on what you want to
Speaker 1: you have. Atlanta is at Chicago, The Los Angeles Rams
Speaker 1: are at the New York Giants, who have now gone
Speaker 1: back to Tyrod Taylor at quarterback instead of Tommy DeVito.
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh sticking with Mason Rudolph after his big game at
Speaker 1: quarterback against the Bengals. Pittsburgh is at Seattle, and then
Speaker 1: New Orleans is at Tampa Bay, and not that that
Speaker 1: one has. I can't figure out necessarily what's going on
Speaker 1: in the NFC South and how things would affect the Packers,
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers clinch
Speaker 1: the NFC South with a victory over the Saints this weekend,
Speaker 1: and if you're the Packers, that is exactly what you
Speaker 1: want because you lost to the Buccaneers. You don't want
Speaker 1: to get involved in some kind of a tiebreaker with
Speaker 1: them in the wildcard chase. So if the Buccaneers win
Speaker 1: the South and their division champion, they get themselves the
Speaker 1: four seed or whatever the case might be, then that's
Speaker 1: a good thing. And then you're just you're looking at
Speaker 1: the rest of the picture.
Speaker 2: My big dad joke this week has been the Packers
Speaker 2: have been eliminated from winning the NFC South Championship. They
Speaker 2: are not eligible for it. So that being said, it
Speaker 2: comes down to this race to nine wins. The Buccaneers
Speaker 2: already at eight wins. If they win eight, if they
Speaker 2: win ten, as long as they win the NFC South,
Speaker 2: it is what it is. The thing you're more concerned
Speaker 2: about as a Packer fan is making sure that Atlanta
Speaker 2: in New Orleans don't get those don't get to nine. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I look at the Bears game this week. Sure,
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's momentum that could be extracted for Chicago
Speaker 2: if they would happen to beat Atlanta, But the Packers
Speaker 2: don't have that tie breaker. The farther away that Atlanta
Speaker 2: is from the playoff conversation, the better for green Bay
Speaker 2: simple as that Seattle Rams, That's where my eyes are
Speaker 2: and just seeing exactly how green Bay is going to
Speaker 2: be able to shuffle through all that. Pittsburgh is great matchup.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be difficult going into that field and trying
Speaker 2: to get a victory. But Steelers are hungry. They're on
Speaker 2: the cusp of this thing too. You have Mike Tomlin
Speaker 2: trying to keep his record going of here of you know,
Speaker 2: having whatever it is, sixteen consecutive non.
Speaker 1: Losing yes, not having a losing season.
Speaker 2: You know that there's a lot on the line there
Speaker 2: for them, and a lot of pride that they're trying
Speaker 2: to get. And also a team when we're talking about
Speaker 2: the turnover differential margin currently tied for the league lead
Speaker 2: right now I think at plus ten on the season,
Speaker 2: which is kind of incredible considering some of the issues
Speaker 2: they've had at quarterback this year. And then the Rams
Speaker 2: are the team that I think I am going to
Speaker 2: be most closely following, not only because green Bay has
Speaker 2: the actual tiebreaker against them, but just because this is
Speaker 2: one of those teams that is peaking and you can
Speaker 2: feel them peaking if they come crashing down to earth
Speaker 2: a little bit against the Giants, that would be wonderful,
Speaker 2: but ultimately even though it would be more of a
Speaker 2: nail bier seeing what could happen the last week of
Speaker 2: the season when they got a square off against the
Speaker 2: forty nine ers. And for that reason, if the Washington
Speaker 2: Commanders want to beat the forty nine ers and keep
Speaker 2: this thing close to and give the forty nine ers
Speaker 2: plenty to play for in week eighteen, Hey, who am
Speaker 2: I argue with you? Let's go Jacoby Brissette.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there we go. That is the other thing to
Speaker 1: look at is if you're if you're a Packers fan,
Speaker 1: you want you want the Philadelphia Eagles to keep pace
Speaker 1: with the San Francisco forty nine ers for that one seed,
Speaker 1: or even the Detroit Lions for the Lions, Yeah, because
Speaker 1: you want the Niners to not have the one seed
Speaker 1: wrapped up, so that the Niners are still trying to
Speaker 1: clinch the one seed and that first round by when
Speaker 1: they face the Rams in week eighteen. Hopefully the Packers
Speaker 1: can get the win over the Vikings, and then we
Speaker 1: are looking at those scenarios. But I agree with you
Speaker 1: with regard to the Rams. You look at you look
Speaker 1: at all these teams. You look at all these teams
Speaker 1: in the NFC Wildcard picture, and I know I mentioned
Speaker 1: Seattle on our last show with them getting you know,
Speaker 1: back to back last minute touchdown drives, you know, to
Speaker 1: get to get two wins, you know, to to turn
Speaker 1: the tide of their season after they'd been on a
Speaker 1: rough losing streak there. But I would say, of all
Speaker 1: of these teams in the wildcard hunt, the Rams are
Speaker 1: the team that is surging the most. We talked a
Speaker 1: lot about the Ravens at the end of our last show, Well,
Speaker 1: the Rams were in Baltimore and took those guys to overtime.
Speaker 1: As as as dominant as the Ravens have been lately,
Speaker 1: they almost lost to the Rams in their own yard.
Speaker 1: Because that's how tough the Rams are right now. So
Speaker 1: I agree with you, if, if, if, somehow the Giants
Speaker 1: can you know, bring the Rams back down to earth
Speaker 1: a little bit, that start that starts to kind of
Speaker 1: change the whole wild card picture as well, because I
Speaker 1: do think, I do think that team. Matthew Stafford's got
Speaker 1: that team playing pretty well. And Sean McVeigh knows all
Speaker 1: about playoff chases and how to make a run.
Speaker 2: Healthy Stafford, healthy Pooka, healthy Cup, healthy Williams. It's been
Speaker 2: a problem for the National Football League, and they are
Speaker 2: a team that can definitely get on a run, and
Speaker 2: as you're trying to kind of claw your way into
Speaker 2: this playoff picture, I think they're a team that you
Speaker 2: definitely have to keep in the consideration.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, if you're a Packers fan, you are fans
Speaker 1: this weekend of the Bears, the Giants, the Steelers, and
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers. Quite frankly, those are the ones to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on, but probably more so than any rooting
Speaker 1: for the Giants and the Steelers to hopefully give the
Speaker 1: Rams and the Seahawks respectively some trouble.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in Detroit and Dallas is gonna be a fun
Speaker 2: football game. On top of that, you know, I mean
Speaker 2: there are some really interesting matchups, obviously the Miami Baltimore
Speaker 2: matchup for Week seventeen, for the time in which at
Speaker 2: one point there was a lot of like, Okay, let's
Speaker 2: see what happens here down the stretch. No, I mean,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of compelling action, and certainly it's going
Speaker 2: to help kind of weave together this final story as
Speaker 2: we get ready for the postseason.
Speaker 1: I think what's interesting that Saturday, that Saturday night matchup
Speaker 1: Dallas against Detroit. Have there ever been two teams throughout
Speaker 1: the course of one season who have been labeled for
Speaker 1: real and then a fraud and then they're for real again,
Speaker 1: and then they're a fraud again, like the Lions and
Speaker 1: the Lions and the Cowboys that you know, not the
Speaker 1: national narrative around those two teams has been rather humorous
Speaker 1: when you follow it. It's just like everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: you supposedly, you know, you're supposed to, you know, get hot,
Speaker 1: and you know, yeah, everybody wants to do that, but
Speaker 1: the league just doesn't work that way. The bottom line
Speaker 1: is those are two teams that are headed to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: They both played fairly tough schedules when you when you
Speaker 1: look at how things have shaken out, and it's all
Speaker 1: gonna come down to how they're playing in January and
Speaker 1: how healthy they are and all of those kinds of things.
Speaker 1: You know, the fact that the Cowboys lost last week
Speaker 1: to the Miami Dolphins, that's not gonna matter one bit
Speaker 1: with regard to the play aside from the seating and stuff,
Speaker 1: of course, but the fact that they lost that game
Speaker 1: is not gonna matter one bit in terms of whether
Speaker 1: or not they're going to win a game in January
Speaker 1: with their season on the line. Sometimes we make a
Speaker 1: little bit too much of that.
Speaker 2: It was funny how you said Detroit and Dallas. You
Speaker 2: kind of took what was me my punchline away from
Speaker 2: me there, Detroit and Dallas.
Speaker 3: You're absolutely right about that, by the way, in terms
Speaker 3: of the for real or fraud.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when the Packers beat the Lions on Thanksgiving, everybody
Speaker 1: wanted to start writing off the Lions as a fraud,
Speaker 1: and you and I were both like, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: that was a big win for the Packers, but you know,
Speaker 1: don't write off the Lions just yet. And look, they've
Speaker 1: straightened things out. They've gotten things going in the right
Speaker 1: direction again.
Speaker 2: But it's funny with Detroit and Dallas. W You're like,
Speaker 2: is there any other teams that been like I was
Speaker 2: gonna say, Miami's like, hold my clipboard. Yeah, they've kind
Speaker 2: of on the AFC been that team very much so.
Speaker 2: But again, peaking at the right time. I will close
Speaker 2: the show with this because it was a one point
Speaker 2: I was going to make about the Rams Giants game
Speaker 2: that did not get a chance to make Mason Crosby. Yes,
Speaker 2: the fact that he has now.
Speaker 1: Forgot to bring him up earlier this week.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, we had a lot going on. Yeah, but
Speaker 2: Mason Crosby the fact he now he's now kicking against
Speaker 2: his former team, the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 1: The team he was with for one week. For one week,
Speaker 1: did not play in the game.
Speaker 2: But but hey, you know, Mason wants to go and
Speaker 2: hit a game winning kick for the New York Giants.
Speaker 3: Have to make with fifty two yarder last.
Speaker 1: Week, wouldn't that be? Wouldn't that be something if the
Speaker 1: if the Packers playoff picture somehow you know hinges on
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon on Mason Crosby lining up to try to
Speaker 1: knock off the Los Angeles Rams, that would be. That
Speaker 1: would be, that would be.
Speaker 3: Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Congratulations to Mason Crosby getting back in
Speaker 1: the scoring column with those kicks he made for the
Speaker 1: Giants last week, and hopefully he makes some more. So
Speaker 1: with that, we'll call it a rap on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team and all of our coverage of
Speaker 1: Sunday Nights Big Game from US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: We will have it all for you on packers dot
Speaker 1: com for WES, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 3: Everybody.
Speaker 1: We will see you next time.