Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by the one
Speaker 1: and only West Hodkowitz. Were coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studios at lambeau Field West. It is Wednesday, and
Speaker 1: that means turn the page day and coming up Monday
Speaker 1: night football at lambeau Field. Next week is the Packers
Speaker 1: hosting the San Francisco forty Niners. So let's break down
Speaker 1: this San Francisco team a little bit. I know, when
Speaker 1: the schedule came out in April, I was really looking
Speaker 1: forward to this game because I thought it would be
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers against Jimmy Garoppolo. Obviously that is not the case.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo out for the season with a knee injury unfortunately,
Speaker 1: and C. J. Bethard, the former Iowa quarterback, has stepped in.
Speaker 1: What are your impressions at this point as far as
Speaker 1: Bethard running that offense? Yeah, I mean he could throw
Speaker 1: the ball. I think that's the one thing he's really
Speaker 1: shown in three games, two starts this season. Last week
Speaker 1: and that lost to Arizona three nine yards through the air.
Speaker 1: Uh he I actually be honest with you, Mike Um.
Speaker 1: I thought he did some good things for them last season. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: especially after Garoppolo had been in the scheme for a
Speaker 1: little bit, You're like, it needs to be Garoppolo. You
Speaker 1: need to see what you have here before he becomes
Speaker 1: a free agent. But I actually thought it went okay.
Speaker 1: Six ft two fifteen pounds and he's not the biggest
Speaker 1: quarterback you've ever seen, not the most elusive in terms of,
Speaker 1: you know, what he can do outside the pocket. But
Speaker 1: that being said, I mean he has a live arm,
Speaker 1: and he can move the offense, and when you're dealing
Speaker 1: with a backup quarterback, I think those are ultimately the
Speaker 1: intangibles you're looking for, because really there there's a reason
Speaker 1: why those type of guys are not starters. So um,
Speaker 1: he knows Shanahan and the scheme that he runs, he's
Speaker 1: familiar with it, and they they're rolling with him right
Speaker 1: now at quarterback. The big thing is going to be
Speaker 1: that backfield and and if they're gonna have breed to
Speaker 1: available or not. Yeah, the the I was gonna say
Speaker 1: rookie is actually not a rookie. Second year running back
Speaker 1: Matt Brita, Georgia Southern. I believe where he came from.
Speaker 1: Undrafted player, really lively, dynamic looking running back, but sprained
Speaker 1: his ankle against Arizona last week, and the initial reports
Speaker 1: are the ankle sprain is not as bad maybe as
Speaker 1: they initially feared it would be, but his status for
Speaker 1: Monday night's game at lambeau Field very much in question.
Speaker 1: If he can't go, it looks like it would be
Speaker 1: Alfred Morris, the veteran who formerly of Washington, of Dallas,
Speaker 1: and I'm probably missing some other Yeah, you're missing a
Speaker 1: big one, Mike Florida Atlantic. Oh okay, I could do
Speaker 1: a whole show on Alfred Morris. I knew everything about him,
Speaker 1: followed him every single game he played at Florida Atlantic.
Speaker 1: Would ended up being I believe Howard Shellenberger's last season there.
Speaker 1: We don't talk much about. I forgot about that. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing. In all kidding aside, Alfred Morris is
Speaker 1: a guy that remember the first week of August being like,
Speaker 1: how is this guy still a free agent? And I
Speaker 1: get Dallas and there's certainly kind of a stigma attached
Speaker 1: to those running backs. Well, how much is at the
Speaker 1: running back? How much is at the offensive line? At
Speaker 1: least that's how it's been historically. I thought he was
Speaker 1: really effective last year. With all the issues that they
Speaker 1: had and and certainly the suspension and and you know,
Speaker 1: all the off the field stuff trying to swirling around
Speaker 1: with Zeke Elliott, he stepped in and did his job.
Speaker 1: And I when they lost um, I believe it was
Speaker 1: Jerick mckinning right at the beginning of the season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: McKinnon was kind of their big free agent signing coming
Speaker 1: from Minnesota. He was he was the running back receiver
Speaker 1: out of the backfield, all that that they wanted in
Speaker 1: the Shanahan offense. And then they lost him in the preseason.
Speaker 1: He goes down and they go and sign Alfred Morris.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a really smart signing for him.
Speaker 1: It's a good veteran that they can build that running
Speaker 1: back tandem off of. Actually they're leading Russia right now
Speaker 1: with sixty two attempts now. Doesn't have the explosiveness that
Speaker 1: Brida has, but is still a really down in distance
Speaker 1: type of guy that can help you move the chains.
Speaker 1: They have weapons there for me personally, I think in
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, their biggest weapon is George Kittle, a
Speaker 1: good solid tight end and I think people are finally
Speaker 1: starting to catch up with and understand that this guy
Speaker 1: not only was a guy that came on late last
Speaker 1: season with Jimmy Garoppolo, but he's had a rapport there
Speaker 1: with Bethre too. So U don't take the lightly. I
Speaker 1: know they lost to Arizona and it certainly raises some
Speaker 1: red flags there because of you know, the slow start
Speaker 1: that the Cardinals have been off too, But they have
Speaker 1: tools to be able to move the football in this offense. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've watched highlights of a few of their games this
Speaker 1: season against Minnesota, against Detroit, and then this past week
Speaker 1: against Arizona, and if there's one thing that has stood
Speaker 1: out about their offense, it's been that tight end George Kittle. Now,
Speaker 1: the interesting thing, he's not only a downfield threat, but
Speaker 1: he'll he'll take screen passes as well. Bethard Bethard, particularly
Speaker 1: against Arizona, the screen pass for him was really effective,
Speaker 1: throwing to the fullbacks and to the tight ends on screens.
Speaker 1: And Kittle and Bethard were a a pass throwing catching
Speaker 1: combination at Iowa together. They've played together a ton, so
Speaker 1: that's something that becomes He's not only a threat for
Speaker 1: Bethard in this offense, but a security blanket type of
Speaker 1: guy too for a backup quarterback. Now, the biggest problem
Speaker 1: with Bethard has been the turnovers. He's had ball security
Speaker 1: problems in the pocket, He's thrown some interceptions. If Shanahan
Speaker 1: can get him to clean things up in the turnover department,
Speaker 1: I think this offense starts to function a little bit
Speaker 1: more smoothly. But that being said, this Packers defense is
Speaker 1: looking for some turnovers. They've got to take advantage if
Speaker 1: Bethard gives them some opportunities. Monday night. Yeah, you look
Speaker 1: at him right now. Attempts, he has four interceptions. He
Speaker 1: also had two lost fumbles last week and three total
Speaker 1: fumbles on the season. That pairs with last season when
Speaker 1: six and five stars he had six interceptions and two
Speaker 1: fumbles lost. So protecting the football's paramount. We talked about
Speaker 1: it on yesterday's show with Mike McCarthy and the emphasis
Speaker 1: their play sing on it. The interesting thing is, though,
Speaker 1: going back to his connection with Kittle, Kittle was sort
Speaker 1: of a late riser at Iowa. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think people really caught onto him. He end up being
Speaker 1: a fifth round pick. I don't even think people from
Speaker 1: Wisconsin realized that this kid was actually born in Madison,
Speaker 1: spent most of his life, I believe in Iowa, but
Speaker 1: actually was born in Madison. Six ft four, two seven pounds.
Speaker 1: He has everything you look for. So as far as
Speaker 1: beth are getting back comfortable in the offense, that's been
Speaker 1: his security blanket. He also has pr Garzon. The Packers
Speaker 1: are familiar with him and what he brings to the
Speaker 1: table certainly, so yeah, he can move the football, but
Speaker 1: ultimately this is the I think the big thing for
Speaker 1: the Packers in this contest is going to be trying
Speaker 1: to take it away and get those momentum changing plays
Speaker 1: well the forts with or without Garoppolo. They've had their
Speaker 1: share of games this year where they've put up some points,
Speaker 1: but they've also given up a ton of points. Now,
Speaker 1: it's interesting West because from a yardage standpoint, their defensive
Speaker 1: rankings are not all that bad. They're kind of middle
Speaker 1: of the road. But as far as points allowed, I
Speaker 1: believe every opponent has scored at least twenty four points
Speaker 1: and and four of their five opponents have scored twenty
Speaker 1: seven or more. So they've had a problem keeping teams
Speaker 1: off the board. And I know, I think they've had
Speaker 1: some of the turnovers they've had offensively have led to
Speaker 1: either immediate scores or short fields and those kinds of
Speaker 1: things that that all teams deal with. But they did
Speaker 1: get Richard Sherman back at corner from his injury. He
Speaker 1: was back on the field against Arizona, and uh, I
Speaker 1: tell you what. By all accounts, Richard Sherman has come
Speaker 1: back from that achilles injury that many people last year
Speaker 1: thought that might be the end of Richard Sherman, and
Speaker 1: he's come back and proven to be a pretty darn
Speaker 1: effective cornerback at age thirties, and he's needed to be
Speaker 1: for the San Francisco secretary for the San Francisco defense.
Speaker 1: I mean, the one reality is and it's inescapable. This
Speaker 1: isn't the Vic Fangio defense from six five, six years ago.
Speaker 1: They don't have that kind of veteran sort of tilt
Speaker 1: to it. They don't have the the linebackers that they
Speaker 1: had at that time, more the pass rushers that they had,
Speaker 1: so they've had to kind of stitch things together. Fortner's
Speaker 1: only have one interception this year, and I think when
Speaker 1: you look at the the giveaways that they've had. That's
Speaker 1: where it's hurting them in terms of the takeaway margin.
Speaker 1: But Richard Sherman is still one of the best shutdown
Speaker 1: corners in this league. You have to be mindful of
Speaker 1: where he's at. Certainly him and Aaron Rodgers have had
Speaker 1: some really good battles over the year. Over the years,
Speaker 1: and and seeing exactly how they use him in this
Speaker 1: matchup with a really young secondary overall is going to
Speaker 1: be one of the big telltale signs of who comes
Speaker 1: up victorious. Yeah, one thing I haven't had a chance
Speaker 1: to really zone in on with regards to Sherman because
Speaker 1: he did miss some time already this year with an injury.
Speaker 1: Is he still playing one side of the field like
Speaker 1: he did in Seattle or is he flopping back or
Speaker 1: do you have any sense of how they're employing him. No,
Speaker 1: I don't, And I think that goes along with you know,
Speaker 1: my guess would be and this is just pure speculation.
Speaker 1: People watching this are probably like, I mean, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be kidding me, But I would probably still think his
Speaker 1: home is going to be on the left side. And
Speaker 1: I don't know at age thirty, and maybe he still
Speaker 1: can be that shutdown type corner that that you know,
Speaker 1: you could potentially move around. It seems like Seattle did
Speaker 1: a little bit more of that towards the end, or
Speaker 1: maybe out of necessity, but yeah, later later on. But
Speaker 1: when remember when that legion of Boom was in was
Speaker 1: in its heyday, he was he was lined up on
Speaker 1: that left side and that was that was his spot.
Speaker 1: And you remember that. I think it was what it
Speaker 1: was at the beginning of the fourteen season where the
Speaker 1: package they parked Jordy Nelson on one side, they've had
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman on the other, and it was kind of
Speaker 1: who was going to blink first. The Seahawks just ended
Speaker 1: up basically taking away that side of the field with
Speaker 1: Jared Boykan and obviously ultimately came out on the winning
Speaker 1: side of it. So uh, yeah, he's still is a
Speaker 1: guy that you're gonna to be mindful of. Personally. I'd
Speaker 1: love to see him get some snaps against Davante Adams.
Speaker 1: I think that would be a fun matchup with Adams
Speaker 1: sort of coming on in his career, uh and seeing
Speaker 1: exactly what happens with Sherman now at age thirty. As
Speaker 1: you said, but the biggest thing for this defense now
Speaker 1: Mike is going to be seeing exactly what they can
Speaker 1: offer in terms of the takeaway numbers. I was trying
Speaker 1: to look it up quickly and not having a lot
Speaker 1: of success with it at this time being in terms
Speaker 1: of what they've looked like in with their takeaways. But overall,
Speaker 1: I think ultimately that's what this thing comes down to,
Speaker 1: is who's going to take away the football, Who's gonna
Speaker 1: move the football and win that field position battle. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: certainly not not the stakes that people expected maybe in
Speaker 1: this game when it first came out on the schedule,
Speaker 1: but it is worth remembering a mid October Monday night
Speaker 1: game back in Packers forty niners at lambeau Field. I
Speaker 1: still remember watching it on TV at the time. Chris
Speaker 1: Jackie ends up winning the game for the Packers with
Speaker 1: a fifty three yard I believe it was fifty three
Speaker 1: yard field goal in overtime to pull out a huge
Speaker 1: Monday night win for Green Bay. Obviously, in ninety six,
Speaker 1: they were on their way to a Super Bowl championship
Speaker 1: that year. Some folks thought if this was gonna be
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Garoppolo and Monday Night in mid October,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not sure how much we'll we'll see
Speaker 1: the old highlights from that from that ninety six game,
Speaker 1: but it's an important game for the Packers West to
Speaker 1: two and one. You got the bye week coming up
Speaker 1: after that. You absolutely do not want to be below
Speaker 1: five HUD at the bye week. With having four road
Speaker 1: games in five weeks coming up after the bye, Packers
Speaker 1: have to get this one, get on the plus side
Speaker 1: of five as far as the win loss column goes,
Speaker 1: and go from there they do. I mean, it's huge.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a critical game because not only
Speaker 1: is it important to win your home games, we talked
Speaker 1: about that until we're blue in the face, but it's
Speaker 1: the bye week, so I mean, you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: lot of time to think about it, and you need
Speaker 1: to have some momentum going into that game against the Rams.
Speaker 1: You just do. That's just the reality of this league
Speaker 1: and a team like that what you could potentially do
Speaker 1: to kind of even leap frog yourself into those situations.
Speaker 1: Getting back to the point I was trying to make earlier,
Speaker 1: and I was I was trying to find the regular
Speaker 1: season standings are dead last right now and turn over
Speaker 1: margin minus eight on the season so yeah, trying to
Speaker 1: find a way to take advantage of that because they
Speaker 1: have moved the football their fifteenth and total offense their eleventh,
Speaker 1: and total defense their seventh against the run. They've done
Speaker 1: good things this year. But as we saw last week
Speaker 1: and against Detroit, you can have twice as many offensive
Speaker 1: yards as the other team, but if you don't take
Speaker 1: care of the football and you put them in advantageous situations,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be what changes the tide of the entire
Speaker 1: football game. That is the ultimate thing that you're trying
Speaker 1: to go for. And yeah, if they've been putting the
Speaker 1: ball on the ground, if they've been exposing the football,
Speaker 1: the Packers defense has to take advantage of it. It's imperative. Yeah, this, uh,
Speaker 1: this Packers team needs to get that turnover margin flipped
Speaker 1: the other way. And it's on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: It's about the offense protecting it better, special teams for
Speaker 1: that matter, protecting it better. After the the incident with
Speaker 1: the with the punt in Detroit and uh, the defense
Speaker 1: getting some more takeaways. We've seen how Clinton dis obviously
Speaker 1: has three interceptions, but you're always waiting for that moment
Speaker 1: when the turnovers start to come in bunches, because that's
Speaker 1: usually the way it happens in this league. And the
Speaker 1: Packers haven't hit one of those stretches defensively yet, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know they're going to need let's face it, West,
Speaker 1: I mean, with the schedule coming up after the by
Speaker 1: the road games, the opponents that are in those road games,
Speaker 1: the Packers are going to need to start winning the
Speaker 1: turnover battle consistently in order to be able to win
Speaker 1: these games because because quite frankly, the some of the
Speaker 1: expectations on the outside are going to be that the
Speaker 1: Packers are underdogs in some of these road And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask you this question, Mike. If I would have
Speaker 1: told you going into week six that the Packers are
Speaker 1: tenth and total offense their fourth and total defense in
Speaker 1: second against the past, you would think that that has
Speaker 1: them in the division lead, right where they want to
Speaker 1: be in the driver's seat, because it shows you that
Speaker 1: defensively you've been able to have some stops and offensively
Speaker 1: you're moving the ball. But the thing is they're tied
Speaker 1: for twenty three right now if minus two in the
Speaker 1: turnover margin. So again, I think this really does come back.
Speaker 1: This is the perfect week for Mike McCarthy to stress
Speaker 1: the fundamentals because it comes back to who's going to
Speaker 1: make less mistakes and you have to be able to
Speaker 1: take advantage of that. And you're back at lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: The Packers, other than maybe what the last fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: of that game against the Vikings, the first twenty of that,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, thirty minutes against Chicago, they've had
Speaker 1: really dominant stretches at home against opposition. So forty Niners
Speaker 1: are coming in there reeling. They lost to potentially the
Speaker 1: worst team in the league if you look at the
Speaker 1: NFL Power Kings, if you will, Packers need to take
Speaker 1: advantage of this. Yeah, well, as we as we move
Speaker 1: ahead here during the week, the Packers, because the Monday
Speaker 1: night game, they've shifted their on field preparation schedule. Normally
Speaker 1: the three practices during the week are Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Speaker 1: That's been shifted to Thursday, Friday and Sunday. If I
Speaker 1: get my days all straight there um. But what that
Speaker 1: means for us in terms of information is that when
Speaker 1: it comes to Jairo, Alexander Randall, Cobb, Geronimo Alice and
Speaker 1: these players who have been on the injury report and
Speaker 1: missing some time. We won't really know until very late
Speaker 1: in the week just what the status is because of
Speaker 1: everything with the preparation being pushed back. It's a good
Speaker 1: thing that Packers have an extra day here maybe to
Speaker 1: get some of these guys back. Aaron Rodgers, he took
Speaker 1: that that kind of ugly tackle on that scramble early
Speaker 1: in the first quarter against Detroit. Didn't look good. He
Speaker 1: came out of it okay, but he did say, you know,
Speaker 1: he's probably gonna have to continue to wear that knee brace,
Speaker 1: you know, not gonna be able to shake that. So
Speaker 1: an extra day here concern helped the Packers, and then
Speaker 1: you have the bye week afterward. But we'll find out
Speaker 1: as this week wraps up later on just just where
Speaker 1: the Packers are with their injury situation. And there's a
Speaker 1: lot to figure out. The biggest thing I took away
Speaker 1: from Mike McCarthy's uh you know what at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the week um was him mentioning that jayro Alexander
Speaker 1: uh probably does have a good chance to play in
Speaker 1: this game. It appears like Kevin King came out okay
Speaker 1: from the chin injury. There was no uh you know,
Speaker 1: setback with the growing It just strictly was him getting
Speaker 1: stepped on with the space, which is just devastating. I
Speaker 1: know you've had some pretty gnarly baseball injuries in the past.
Speaker 1: I haven't had in a situation where someone stepped on
Speaker 1: me with a cleat before, let alone my face, so
Speaker 1: you can only imagine how that felt. But Packers in
Speaker 1: that regard are getting healthier. The big question is going
Speaker 1: to be where they are they're at with their receiving corp.
Speaker 1: Can Randall Cobb potentially be back? Where's Geroni Wayles and
Speaker 1: the concussion protocol? They saw what their young receivers can do.
Speaker 1: But the Packers, I mean, where they want to go
Speaker 1: with this offense is those veterans that have been working
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers here for the last three or four
Speaker 1: or five six seasons. All right, well, we're real quickly
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Speaker 1: I think we'll call it a wrap on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team on Packers dot com on Twitter,
Speaker 1: He's at west Hot, I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers
Speaker 1: for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See
Speaker 1: you next time.