Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by the one,
Speaker 1: the only Weston hod Kuitz. We're coming to you hear
Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field. Hope everyone had a
Speaker 1: wonderful Merry Christmas, and the Packers certainly did west going
Speaker 1: down to Miami on a chilly South Florida degree Sunday
Speaker 1: and knocking off the Dolphins to twenty. And I'll just
Speaker 1: start by saying this. When we were sitting in these
Speaker 1: seats last week, analyzing and previewing this game from all
Speaker 1: different angles, if you had told me, Mike, the Dolphins
Speaker 1: are going to have twenty points at halftime and the
Speaker 1: Packers are going to score only two touchdowns all day,
Speaker 1: what do you think of green based chances here? That's
Speaker 1: how this game unfolded. And yet the Hackers pulled out
Speaker 1: a victory with a tremendous defensive turnaround, a second half shutout,
Speaker 1: three interceptions in the fourth quarter, and the offense converting
Speaker 1: um a couple of those into field goals that broke
Speaker 1: a twenty to twenty tie, and the Packers hang on
Speaker 1: for a victory that has changed the playoff fortunes significantly
Speaker 1: of both teams here, both Green Bay and Miami. Yeah
Speaker 1: Miami and now four straight losses for them at all
Speaker 1: competitive games. But it just shows you the narrow margin
Speaker 1: of victory right for the Green Bay Packers. It was
Speaker 1: funny one of our insider inbox writers readers actually wrote
Speaker 1: into us saying, you know, your keys, the victory couldn't
Speaker 1: really have been more wrong, and and how you guys
Speaker 1: laid this out? You know, yeah, we pretty much missed
Speaker 1: the dartboard with the with those last week containing Jalen
Speaker 1: Waddle and Tyreek Hille. The Packers obviously did a much
Speaker 1: better job that the second half, but the first half,
Speaker 1: both of those guys were going off like gangbusters with
Speaker 1: some coverage breakdowns. I look at this game, Mike, as
Speaker 1: there was a tipping point. It was Jared Reid's takeaway.
Speaker 1: It was him generating that force fumble in concert with
Speaker 1: Devandre Campbell. Then read actually recovers it himself that allowed
Speaker 1: the Packers weren't able to generate a lot of points
Speaker 1: off of their takeaways, but they did get three pivotal
Speaker 1: field goals. The first one was at forty six yard
Speaker 1: by Mason Crosby for before halftime. Then the Packers come
Speaker 1: back after the break and actually are able to go
Speaker 1: down the field made some of their biggest plays in
Speaker 1: the afternoon. The third and nine pass to Patrick Taylor.
Speaker 1: Mercedes Lewis makes one maybe arguably his best grab as
Speaker 1: a member of the green Bay Packers, that thirty one
Speaker 1: yard ball down the sideline over Eric Row and then
Speaker 1: it gets culminated with that that touchdown run by A. J.
Speaker 1: Dillon that tied the game up for Green Bay, and
Speaker 1: they really took it from there. And as you said, Mike,
Speaker 1: you tip your cap to the defense. They took it
Speaker 1: on the chin in the first half. They made some adjustments.
Speaker 1: Jerry Gray had a few choice words for his secondary
Speaker 1: and they came out shut them out in the second
Speaker 1: half and finished with three consecutive interceptions. I know that
Speaker 1: the storyline this week afterwards we found out, you know
Speaker 1: two was actually in the concussion protocol. You hope for
Speaker 1: the best for him, yeah, no question, you know, in
Speaker 1: his long term health. But the green Bay Packers need
Speaker 1: to do what they needed to do to win that game,
Speaker 1: and they did it. Yeah. Oh, to be a fly
Speaker 1: on the wall for that. What must have been a
Speaker 1: rather impassioned halftime talk from from Jerry Gray with his
Speaker 1: with his defensive backs. The way chances are it was
Speaker 1: very similar to when I don't do the subject verb
Speaker 1: agreement correctly. Spot needs to pull me over. Hey, we've
Speaker 1: talked about this, Wes No. I mean he got his
Speaker 1: guys going. Yeah he did. He got he got his
Speaker 1: guys going. They clamped down. I mean, the the what
Speaker 1: were the yardage first half was like to seventy one
Speaker 1: and second half was was one oh five and and
Speaker 1: and it really was. It was cutting down. It was
Speaker 1: cutting down on the explosives. Um. The long touchdown to
Speaker 1: Jail and Waddle early in the game was exactly what
Speaker 1: you feared from this team, and then the one to
Speaker 1: Tyree killed out on the one yard line again exactly
Speaker 1: what you fear when you when you play a team
Speaker 1: like this as far as those explosive players are concerned.
Speaker 1: The Packers caught one huge break in the second half
Speaker 1: when Jalen Waddle had had had caught one of those
Speaker 1: in breakers, slants, crossers, whatever you wanna call it, taking
Speaker 1: it all the way down into the red zone, but
Speaker 1: then was called for illegal formation because he lined up
Speaker 1: off of the offensive line. The right tackle was not
Speaker 1: covered up, so the Packers caught a break there, and
Speaker 1: then on the very next play, Deveandre Campbell gets his interception,
Speaker 1: the second of the of the three interceptions in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. And I guess that's what I was gonna
Speaker 1: say where I don't disagree with you with regard to
Speaker 1: the jarn Reid fumble and recovery late in the first
Speaker 1: half being a turning point, because the score is twenty
Speaker 1: to ten at that point. The Dolphins are at midfield
Speaker 1: late in the first half, they're looking like they're going
Speaker 1: to get a field goal minimum to go up twenty
Speaker 1: three to ten, maybe a touchdown to go up twenty
Speaker 1: seven to ten, and then you are playing uphill big
Speaker 1: time in the second half. But I thought that this
Speaker 1: this was the kind of game where where they were
Speaker 1: just multiple turning points, where the game kept swinging back
Speaker 1: and forth. Because the game is tied twenty to twenty.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers tries a deep shot to Alan Lazard in
Speaker 1: the end zone. Apparently, when it's less than fifty degrees
Speaker 1: on Christmas Day in Miami, there's no such thing as
Speaker 1: pass interference. Because Alan Lazard gets knocked away from the
Speaker 1: ball and it gets picked off. And but the very
Speaker 1: next play I hear Alexander gets the interception. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean another turning point there, and I just mentioned
Speaker 1: the illegal formation on Jalen Waddle and then Deveandre Campbell
Speaker 1: gets an interception right after that. The Dolphins go from
Speaker 1: thinking they've got first down, maybe first goal in the ten,
Speaker 1: whatever's going to be too Suddenly the Packers have the
Speaker 1: ball and are going the other way with a lead
Speaker 1: and only six minutes on the clock. And uhum, and
Speaker 1: you know the Dolphins are looking at trying to get
Speaker 1: that stop and get the ball back, which they do.
Speaker 1: Rasul Douglas gets the third interception and um um, and
Speaker 1: the Packers leave Miami with with a huge victory. Just um.
Speaker 1: A game that swung back and forth so many times,
Speaker 1: felt like there were so many turning points. But the
Speaker 1: you know, sort of the epitome in some ways of
Speaker 1: this Packers season where you know, even when the Packers
Speaker 1: lost in Buffalo, they didn't quit in that game. When
Speaker 1: they lost at Philadelphia. You know, teams that are you
Speaker 1: know you're playing those teams on the road. You know
Speaker 1: they're going to the playoffs. And and all that. Packers
Speaker 1: didn't quit in the game in Philly either, and they
Speaker 1: got that to a one score game late when a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff was going against him. The Packers haven't
Speaker 1: quit on their season at four and eight, when they
Speaker 1: were flying back from Philadelphia a month ago, would have
Speaker 1: been easy to quit on the season at that point.
Speaker 1: They haven't quit on the season there seven and eight
Speaker 1: now with a three game winning streak, they're very much
Speaker 1: alive with two home games here coming up. Um the
Speaker 1: For as much as there's been the inconsistencies, the up
Speaker 1: and downs and everything, the defining characteristic of the tooth
Speaker 1: Packers as they do not quit. They don't. And I
Speaker 1: also look at this game to Mike to touch on
Speaker 1: one more thing with the jar and Reid fumble that
Speaker 1: play after that, really the Dolphins got away from Raheem Mostard.
Speaker 1: And when you think about playmakers, guys that could potentially
Speaker 1: hurt you, what's the number one way to take them
Speaker 1: out of a game generate turnovers? Not only did most
Speaker 1: Are really not touch the ball much after that fumble,
Speaker 1: they kind of got away from their running game altogether.
Speaker 1: The more this thing was into his hands, the more interceptions,
Speaker 1: the more takeaways. Green Bay was able to generate and
Speaker 1: watching those clips of Jire Alexander's interception and obviously everybody's
Speaker 1: seen the interview now at Pam Oliver afterwards and just
Speaker 1: how funny that was in the thirty second bit. But
Speaker 1: what is interesting to me about that that I don't
Speaker 1: think enough people are talking about is the first thing
Speaker 1: Jire says there when waddle, when these guys are coming
Speaker 1: in motion, just how flipping fast they are. You can
Speaker 1: see it. It's not just a straight line speed. It's
Speaker 1: their ability to turn on a dime. That is a
Speaker 1: challenge that is ever present when you're facing the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: It's the reason why no team wants to see them
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, because those guys are game records. Green
Speaker 1: Bay in the second half, whether it was in its
Speaker 1: gains having to step in for Keyshaw Nixon being out,
Speaker 1: whether it was Reid having to play important snaps at
Speaker 1: the five tech with Dean Lowery being unavailable due to
Speaker 1: the calf injury, Darniell Savage coming back in and playing
Speaker 1: on the top of that thing. Packers needed to keep
Speaker 1: those playmakers in front of them, and they needed to tackle.
Speaker 1: They did that in the second half. And when you
Speaker 1: do that enough, Mike, it generates turnovers, it generates takeaways.
Speaker 1: When you're asking a young quarterback like to a young
Speaker 1: team like the Dolphins, to be able to extend to
Speaker 1: to grind for points. The Green Bay Packers defense got
Speaker 1: back to doing what it did well at Spurts last season,
Speaker 1: and I thought that was a big key to victory
Speaker 1: in this Yeah, it absolutely was. And and there was
Speaker 1: so much about this game that was that was characteristic
Speaker 1: of this Packers season in general. All and what I
Speaker 1: mean by that is up and down, positives, negatives on
Speaker 1: in all three phases you look at, you look at
Speaker 1: special teams. Keyshawn Nixon has a ninety three yard kickoff
Speaker 1: return right on on Miami's first kickoff after the opening
Speaker 1: field goal, but the special teams also botched a fake
Speaker 1: punt and gave Miami the ball in great field position. Offensively,
Speaker 1: that drive to start the second half had to have
Speaker 1: it down by seven. You can you can wipe out
Speaker 1: everything that's happened in the first two and a half
Speaker 1: quarters if you can drive down and tie the game
Speaker 1: at that moment, because you say, okay, it's game on.
Speaker 1: Nothing up to this point has mattered and let's go,
Speaker 1: and the Packers were able to do that. Took seven
Speaker 1: minutes off the clock, eleven plays. I think it was
Speaker 1: seventy eight yards. Tremendous offensive drive when you had to
Speaker 1: have it. But two failures in goal to go that
Speaker 1: led to field goals, another failure in the red zone
Speaker 1: that led to a field goal. Packers not offensively not
Speaker 1: able to capitalize on all their opportunities. So there were
Speaker 1: as the positives and negatives, and then defensively, as we
Speaker 1: talked about getting burned by the explosives early on, but
Speaker 1: then suddenly over the last thirty two minutes of the game,
Speaker 1: you generate four takeaways, will completely change the complexion of
Speaker 1: the game. So the Packers are still kind of riding this,
Speaker 1: you know, this roller coaster of of up and down play.
Speaker 1: They know what they're capable of, they know what they
Speaker 1: need to fix. If they can take if they can
Speaker 1: take care of the ladder in these last two games,
Speaker 1: they might still be playing in January. You set me
Speaker 1: up perfectly here, John Stockton, my Carl Malone, all right,
Speaker 1: because that is the thing I really wanted to delve
Speaker 1: into here, Because yes, the Packers did not generate enough
Speaker 1: points off of those takeaways. Yes, if you kick too
Speaker 1: many field goals, it is probably a recipe to lose
Speaker 1: those games. But you know what Green Bay did in
Speaker 1: this game that they've struggled with at times. It's not
Speaker 1: just the complimentary football, it's how well they excelled in
Speaker 1: situational football in this game. The Keyshawn Nixon kickoff return awesome.
Speaker 1: He was lamenting afterwards not getting a touchdown. Rasil Douglas
Speaker 1: made a little bit of a funny about that as well.
Speaker 1: They aren't able to get the touchdown. You have the
Speaker 1: Dahl and Lovett fake punt doesn't go their way, but
Speaker 1: the defense keeps Miami out of the end zone. Mike,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you this too. You've covered this team five
Speaker 1: years longer than I have, but this is the best
Speaker 1: the Packers kickoff coverage units have looked in my time
Speaker 1: on the beat. When they kick, these guys get down,
Speaker 1: they stay in their lane, and they attack the football.
Speaker 1: In that game, with Whereee Moostred only averaging nineteen yards
Speaker 1: per kicking, where most is a weapon speedy kickoff return.
Speaker 1: You talk about using starters on special teams, Miami does that,
Speaker 1: and then some in his gains Tyreek Carpenter. You know,
Speaker 1: I go back to the beginning of the season and
Speaker 1: mettal Floor was asked about this on Monday in his post,
Speaker 1: you know, day after press conference. You know, we talked
Speaker 1: about down love, it about Keishaw Nixon, Ruby for Eric Wilson,
Speaker 1: these veterans that have done this in the league before.
Speaker 1: But what was the thing you and I discussed back
Speaker 1: in training camp. It was the idea of, Okay, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have some guys that maybe aren't your traditional starters,
Speaker 1: but our core special teamers that you're gonna build your
Speaker 1: units around. But once you get to December, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have hungry guys like in his games emerge. You're gonna
Speaker 1: have guys like Isaiah McDuffie emerge. You're gonna have somebody
Speaker 1: making tackles like Trek Carpenter is right now, Patrick Taylor
Speaker 1: throwing blocks on on kick return for Keshan Nixon. King's
Speaker 1: leanning Bari. You know, the Carpenter one's the best example,
Speaker 1: because here's a raw guy that Green Bay draft six
Speaker 1: ft three two or thirty pounds, almost looks like a linebacker.
Speaker 1: Everybody's asking about linebacker. What did I say to you
Speaker 1: after they took him. I'm like, this is Sean Richardson
Speaker 1: with more speed. This is a guy that has the
Speaker 1: type of body type you look for on coverage teams.
Speaker 1: And the Packers are able to win the field position battle.
Speaker 1: They didn't play like the best team in every second
Speaker 1: of that game, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it was the takeaways, it was winning field position, it
Speaker 1: was winning time of possession, and it was being the
Speaker 1: team that responded better to adversity. And that's how you
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. Yeah. Absolutely, and and and that's why
Speaker 1: I said, that's why I talked about how how important
Speaker 1: that drive opening the third quarter was because there are
Speaker 1: a lot of things that had gone wrong in the
Speaker 1: first half of the Packers, yet they got to the
Speaker 1: locker room down seven, they were getting the ball coming
Speaker 1: out of halftime. And now after going after their first
Speaker 1: nine tries this season when they were fielding the second
Speaker 1: half kickoff, they only got one touchdown in their first
Speaker 1: nine tries. They've now done it back to back weeks
Speaker 1: against the Rams and the Dolphins taking that second half kickoff,
Speaker 1: and this one was crucial because you get that game
Speaker 1: tied up and then It's sort of like from then on,
Speaker 1: the rest of the game is kind of crunch time, right,
Speaker 1: It's like you forget about everything else. It's twenty to twenty.
Speaker 1: You play ball. You got a quarter and a half
Speaker 1: with your season on the line, and from the time
Speaker 1: that game was twenty to twenty, there was absolutely no
Speaker 1: question who the better team was on the field. And
Speaker 1: no matter what happens up to that point, when you
Speaker 1: get to whatever moment a game reaches crunch time, there
Speaker 1: is no better formula in this league for winning than
Speaker 1: being the better team with the game on the line,
Speaker 1: because because it allows it allows you to cover up
Speaker 1: the mistakes you make in an in in an inevitably
Speaker 1: imperfect game, because nobody goes out there and and plays
Speaker 1: a perfect game. So think about this too. Just with
Speaker 1: the Packers having to settle for those field goals in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, they don't win that game if their
Speaker 1: defense isn't playing the way they played late. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I've ever felt more comfortable, at least during
Speaker 1: the Mount Flora. I don't want to get too hyperbolic
Speaker 1: about this, but about just needing to get the points
Speaker 1: to make sure that if you give up some field position,
Speaker 1: Miami can either tie it or win it with field goals.
Speaker 1: That's what the Packers did in this game. It wasn't
Speaker 1: just about the takeaways. It's about the fact that by
Speaker 1: the time you got to the fourth quarter, midway through
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, you felt good about how green Bay
Speaker 1: was going to be able to defend them. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And while a lot of things, really everything green Bay
Speaker 1: needed to go its way on Saturday on Christmas Eve
Speaker 1: did and we'll get to some of that in a minute.
Speaker 1: And as as we go over the playoffs scenarios, it
Speaker 1: wasn't all sunshine and roses for the Packers because they
Speaker 1: did come back from Miami with a handful of injuries.
Speaker 1: Christian Watson left the game with a hip injury. Keishaan
Speaker 1: Nixon um obviously with the big kickoff return, and he'd been,
Speaker 1: you know, been working his way and developing into a
Speaker 1: mainstay defensively as that nickel corner. He left the game
Speaker 1: with a groin injury. Yash Naiman at right tackle left
Speaker 1: the game with a shoulder injury. Royce Newman replaced him,
Speaker 1: and Dean Lowry on the defensive line left the game
Speaker 1: with a calf injury, which led to uh, some shifting
Speaker 1: around with Jaron Reid, but then also more playing time
Speaker 1: for rookie Vonte Wyatt. Matt Lafleur has put all four
Speaker 1: of those players in sort of the day to day
Speaker 1: category as we head into this week and the preparations
Speaker 1: for the vikings on the field will begin on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and we will just see what the what the availability
Speaker 1: is for these guys. The Packers would love to get
Speaker 1: them all back obviously, Um, but that's a that's a
Speaker 1: wait and see thing. And as as healthy overall, aside
Speaker 1: from you know, not having or Shawn Gary and Eric
Speaker 1: Stokes and you know, a couple of key guys like
Speaker 1: that on defense, David Bakery on offense. We had talked
Speaker 1: about how the Packers are coming into this game about
Speaker 1: as healthy as you could ask for. Now the healthy equation, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, turning against them a little bit. We'll have
Speaker 1: to see what happens as the week unfold. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: to get back to that really quickly. To close on
Speaker 1: this with that point about you know, the Packers and
Speaker 1: not being able to convert at the end and getting
Speaker 1: the end zone. It got to the fourth quarter there
Speaker 1: where I started looking at them I'm like, man, who
Speaker 1: are there available personnel at this point in time? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, because Aaron Jones tweet the ankle, you're not
Speaker 1: really able to use him. That's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why Patrick Taylor played in the situations He did a
Speaker 1: third and nine, Um, where he potentially might have been
Speaker 1: responsible for past protection. Even he's good in that area,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying, like you, and then he and
Speaker 1: then he did pick up the blitz on the very
Speaker 1: display after the third and nine, which was the thirty
Speaker 1: one yard passed down the down the sideline to Lewis.
Speaker 1: So Patrick Taylor was in there in some in some
Speaker 1: crucial situations, and it even triggered in my mind in
Speaker 1: those instances where it's like, you just gotta win this game.
Speaker 1: You gotta figure out the injury report afterwards. You gotta
Speaker 1: write the hip isn't too bad, the groin isn't too bad.
Speaker 1: Now we will see what it's like. Matt Lafore said
Speaker 1: on Monday, it looks like all these guys are day
Speaker 1: to day. Um, you know, Nixon had already been dealing
Speaker 1: with the groin. That's the somewhat precarious one. But this
Speaker 1: is what you gotta do, Mike, You gotta win these
Speaker 1: football games. You gotta win with the guys you have,
Speaker 1: and when you have ins gains out there a guy
Speaker 1: that never had played defensive snaps I can't remember in
Speaker 1: the regular season before, you know, and being lining up
Speaker 1: across from Jalen Waddle. That's how you win football games
Speaker 1: this time in the year. And the Packers did that. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: we do need to get to the playoff scenarios and implications,
Speaker 1: and we will do that momentarily. Here Serious x M
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Speaker 1: All right. I mentioned all the things that went Green
Speaker 1: Bay's way on Christmas eve Day, which was the Lions losing,
Speaker 1: the Seahawks losing, the Giants losing, and the Commander's losing.
Speaker 1: So that couldn't have gone any better. The Packers get
Speaker 1: the win that they need in Miami. So now Green
Speaker 1: Bay comes back. You've got two home games here Minnesota
Speaker 1: and Detroit division opponents, indoor teams coming hopefully to what
Speaker 1: will be the cold of lambeau Field. Although it's not
Speaker 1: supposed to be super cold on New Year's Day for
Speaker 1: the Vikings. But um, but it's chillier than US Bank
Speaker 1: Stadium certainly maybe not chillier than the press box in Miami,
Speaker 1: the way you and I were freezing sitting underneath an
Speaker 1: air conditioning event that nobody could figure out how to
Speaker 1: shut off. But sorry, I digress. Um, So the Packers
Speaker 1: are coming back home. Here's here's the scenario. I'll lay
Speaker 1: it out for you as as simply as I plase,
Speaker 1: and and it will be. And Path the Playoffs is
Speaker 1: coming back on packers dot com. I promised it would
Speaker 1: be if the Packers got to seven and eight on
Speaker 1: Christmas that at McDonald's. There anything more jovial than I
Speaker 1: tell you. People People are, people are fired up for
Speaker 1: the return of Path to the Playoffs. It's sort of
Speaker 1: generate generating all this excitement because I held off until
Speaker 1: until the Packers got to this point. Packers are seven
Speaker 1: and eight if they can win out and finish nine
Speaker 1: and eight. They need either a loss by Washington or
Speaker 1: two losses by the New York Giants, and the Packers
Speaker 1: will have a playoff spot. Now, I don't even want
Speaker 1: to get into the scenarios. You might as well go
Speaker 1: buy a powerball ticket if you're trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how the Packers can get into the playoffs at eight
Speaker 1: and nine if they split their last games as opposed
Speaker 1: to winning them. Both Packers are in a position now
Speaker 1: where if they can win them both get to nine
Speaker 1: and eight. It's all about what happens with the Giants
Speaker 1: and the Commanders and uh and we'll just have to
Speaker 1: We'll just have to see what unfolds um. This week,
Speaker 1: both the Giants and the Commanders are playing teams with
Speaker 1: lesser records. They're playing the Colts and the Browns respectively.
Speaker 1: Last week, all the matchups kind of lined up in
Speaker 1: Green Bays favor right. The teams that the Packers needed
Speaker 1: to lose, they were, you know, the Giants were playing
Speaker 1: the Vikings on the road. The Commanders are playing the
Speaker 1: forty Niners on their own division champs in their own place.
Speaker 1: Things went the way you would hope and expect um
Speaker 1: Packers are gonna be, you know, crossing their fingers a
Speaker 1: little bit here with with the matchups that the Giants
Speaker 1: and the Commanders have this week. But that being said, um,
Speaker 1: the Commanders in particular not playing well of late and
Speaker 1: have a quarterback uh situation here with Ron Rivera trying
Speaker 1: to decide essentially whether to go with Taylor Heineke or
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz down the stretch here to try to get
Speaker 1: a playoff spot for Washington. Yeah, first off, if I
Speaker 1: may start with this, the Packers, when you look at
Speaker 1: how this weekend shaped out, You ever see Forget Paris,
Speaker 1: the movie Forget Paris with Billy Crystal Billy Crystal vehicle.
Speaker 1: There's a great line in it where I think it
Speaker 1: was his dad or whatever just sits there and keeps going,
Speaker 1: you want it, you got it. It was an old
Speaker 1: Toyota commercial, but he's like that, that's and he just
Speaker 1: keeps reiterating that over and over again. As Saturday was
Speaker 1: playing out, That's what was going off in my head,
Speaker 1: like Packer fans, you want it, You've got it. Now,
Speaker 1: we gotta win on Sunday. But like it, really, these
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks have been this, You're going to
Speaker 1: get everything you want. You're gonna take advantage of it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna jump on the opportunity because you and I
Speaker 1: said it, Mike, we said it at the beginning of
Speaker 1: December when you looked at how the Giants schedule lined
Speaker 1: up in the Commander schedule. Both of those teams could
Speaker 1: be playing their best football right now. It was still
Speaker 1: going to be difficult. They hadn't seen the Dallas yet.
Speaker 1: Really they had into one of them. I don't even
Speaker 1: think had played Philly yet. And here we are now
Speaker 1: in Week seventeen Washington. I understand a hundred percent what
Speaker 1: Ron Rivera was doing. You're probably losing that game. You
Speaker 1: want to see what Carson Wentz has. You've got to
Speaker 1: figure out if he's going to be a guy that
Speaker 1: could potentially lead you on a playoff run. Here the
Speaker 1: difficult thing about this is your offense might be more
Speaker 1: effective with Wentz, You might move the ball better with Wentz.
Speaker 1: He certainly is a better quote unquote athlete in terms
Speaker 1: of the measurables than Taylor Heineke. But most of their
Speaker 1: wins this year have come when Taylor Heineke has been
Speaker 1: the quarterback and he's had to do it in unconventional ways. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I even made that remark. Sort he's sort
Speaker 1: of a he's sort of a spiritual leader as much
Speaker 1: as he is as much as he is an on
Speaker 1: field you know leader that the quarterback needs to be,
Speaker 1: but he's there. There's sort of a there's sort of
Speaker 1: a heart and soul element to Taylor Heineck when he's
Speaker 1: the guy that's leading that team. And as much as
Speaker 1: and I understand where Rivera is coming from because in
Speaker 1: terms of in terms of you know, really pondering this decision,
Speaker 1: because um, for as much as I I respect Heineck,
Speaker 1: and I give him a ton of credit for the
Speaker 1: way the way the guy battles and he plays. He
Speaker 1: plays fearlessly. He will he will absolutely fight you tooth
Speaker 1: and nail to the end. What's always bitten Taylor Heineke,
Speaker 1: and it's biting the Washington Commanders right now, is that
Speaker 1: he gets careless with the football. And that's really that
Speaker 1: is why the Commanders now the forty Niners are gonna
Speaker 1: be a tough team to beat regardless, but certainly that
Speaker 1: loss against the Giants in the Sunday night game the
Speaker 1: previous week, that loss was on Taylor Heineke turning the
Speaker 1: football where he was careless with the ball, the Giants
Speaker 1: took advantage and then we're able to hang on for
Speaker 1: a win. And that carelessness with the ball showed up
Speaker 1: against a really, really good forty Niners defense as well.
Speaker 1: So Rivera's Rivera is in a tough spot because because
Speaker 1: Heineck is that is that spiritual guy. But yet you're
Speaker 1: not gonna win if he's going to turn the ball
Speaker 1: over like that. And see this is where I get.
Speaker 1: This is where I want to spin it into this
Speaker 1: week seventeen situation because I actually think Heinek is the
Speaker 1: quarterback that should be starting against Cleveland. I think he's
Speaker 1: the guy that gives them the best chance of winning
Speaker 1: the game. However they're gonna do it. I mean, Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong here. I believe they were
Speaker 1: two and four with him as as the starting quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Five of their wins have come in this Heineke era.
Speaker 1: More often than not, they've won with Heineke. If you
Speaker 1: go with wins, I'm very curious to see how this
Speaker 1: works out. Because you have Deshaun Watson on one side.
Speaker 1: A lot of noise, don't want to get into that
Speaker 1: aspect of it. But a guy that legitimately has just
Speaker 1: been playing again for the last three weeks and then
Speaker 1: you got Wentz on the other one that's been out
Speaker 1: here for two months. Very curious to see how that
Speaker 1: matchup of play out. As far as the Packers are concerned,
Speaker 1: you have to win these last two. But Washington, you
Speaker 1: look at this game against Cleveland and you look at
Speaker 1: next week, regardless of who would be playing in that game.
Speaker 1: You gotta hope. But Washington needs to find some wins
Speaker 1: here and they got to try to find something that's
Speaker 1: gonna get him that number seven spot. Yeah, there are
Speaker 1: implications here, of course that hopefully we'll be discussing next
Speaker 1: week if the Packers can beat the Vikings and they
Speaker 1: stay in this thing, and then and and say, you know,
Speaker 1: if if you are hoping for you know, either the
Speaker 1: Giants or the Commanders to lose and they're playing you know,
Speaker 1: the Eagles and the Cowboys respectively, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: reason to rout this week for the Eagles to lose
Speaker 1: in the Cowboys to win, so that the NFC East
Speaker 1: and essentially the number one seed in the NFC is
Speaker 1: not decided because if the Eagles take another loss and
Speaker 1: the Cowboys get another win, both of those teams are
Speaker 1: still playing for a heck of a lot in Week
Speaker 1: eighteen against their division rivals teams that the Packers may
Speaker 1: need to lose. That being said, if the Giants get
Speaker 1: a win this week against the Colts, they are in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. If they the way everything had fallen on Saturday,
Speaker 1: if the Giants had managed to beat the Vikings Um
Speaker 1: if if they had gotten that game to overtime, for example,
Speaker 1: without Greg Joseph hitting the sixty one yard walk off
Speaker 1: field goal, if they get that to overtime and win it,
Speaker 1: the Giants would have gotten in already. They just need
Speaker 1: one win to get in. So from the Packers perspective,
Speaker 1: you're looking at the Commanders. You just need them to lose.
Speaker 1: Once Packers win both of their games and you get in.
Speaker 1: Here's here's what I think is is the is the
Speaker 1: interesting the interesting scenario, so to speak, is if if
Speaker 1: the Packers, if the Packers win. Trying I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think all this through, I've lost my train of thought now,
Speaker 1: so I apologize. I had come up. I had come
Speaker 1: up with what I thought was maybe a scenario, and
Speaker 1: I hadn't confirmed at a but a scenario of games
Speaker 1: if everything fell a certain way, that Green Bay in
Speaker 1: Detroit in week eight teen could be like a wind,
Speaker 1: winner gets in and loser goes home, like the Facto
Speaker 1: playoff game, which then means hello Sunday night football primetime
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field. Right. I don't know. I'm still not
Speaker 1: a hundred percent sure if that can actually happen. Maybe
Speaker 1: there's a lottery ticket out there that somebody could punch
Speaker 1: and figure out a way for that to take place.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this time is going to be
Speaker 1: enough for you to recombobulate and think about that, staff.
Speaker 1: But I want to say this, because we focus so
Speaker 1: much on the Green Bay Packers. Everything worked out perfectly
Speaker 1: for them last weekend. It also lined up very well
Speaker 1: for them this week because think about it, Tennessee, there
Speaker 1: isn't a lot for them to play for it this week.
Speaker 1: Everything is coming down to that Jacksonville game next week.
Speaker 1: So you would hope regardless of who the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: you know, play, don't play whatever, that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: winnable game for them on Thursday night. Think about this too, Mike,
Speaker 1: I was talking with Tom Fanning, r PR Assistant Director
Speaker 1: PR about this in the press box on Sunday. If
Speaker 1: Detroit doesn't kind of choke on its marbles there a
Speaker 1: little bit against Carolina, there was a scenario where the
Speaker 1: Packers could have played Detroit, you know, gotten to that
Speaker 1: game and beat in Detroit, and Detroit still would have
Speaker 1: been the team that advanced based on strength of schedule.
Speaker 1: It worked perfect strength figure. It worked out perfectly that
Speaker 1: Carolina with a playoff put completely ran them out of
Speaker 1: the building. And get this too, Philadelphia. Jalen hurts shoulder entry.
Speaker 1: They're going up now against New Orleans. New Orleans at
Speaker 1: six and nine. People upset about Dennis Allen everything. They're
Speaker 1: still kind of in this thing in the South. The
Speaker 1: teams that need to play for something benefit the Packers.
Speaker 1: The teams that necessarily don't need to play anything for
Speaker 1: this week also benefits the Packers. Yeah, I think the
Speaker 1: I think the scenario I was trying to put together
Speaker 1: is this Giants win, Commanders lose, Packers win, Seahawks lose,
Speaker 1: and Lions win. If all of that happens in Week seventeen,
Speaker 1: I think I think the Week eight teen, Green Bay
Speaker 1: detroite game is the winner gets the last playoff spot,
Speaker 1: the number seven seed, and the loser is out. It
Speaker 1: becomes a de facto playoff game, and I would bet
Speaker 1: that Dan Campbell will probably coach that game shirtless and
Speaker 1: maybe even barefoot on the sideline at lambeau Field to
Speaker 1: try to spire his team to a playoff spot. I kid,
Speaker 1: of course, but that being said, I think that's the
Speaker 1: scenario that would potentially set up a Green Bay Detroit
Speaker 1: winner go home game in Week eighteen at lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: But as of now, all that matters is beat the Vikings,
Speaker 1: and the Packers are still in it. Heading into week eighteen,
Speaker 1: We'll see how the other chips fall. Let's make it
Speaker 1: even more exciting. We'll talk about this on Thursday. Matt Eberflus.
Speaker 1: Justin Fields going to Ford Field and just run, just
Speaker 1: run away with the entire game. Don't don't even yeah,
Speaker 1: Luke Luke Luke gets the offensive coordinator, a good friend
Speaker 1: of ours, former Packers assistant coach. Don't even call a
Speaker 1: pass play, just just run it. Just run it with
Speaker 1: all of the running backs, receivers, your quarterback, everybody. Just
Speaker 1: run against the Lions and if I see it rushing yards.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Jam? This is his game. I've
Speaker 1: I've digressed far too much of this show. Any other
Speaker 1: points you would like to make before I sign up?
Speaker 1: All I gotta say is just keep it going, keep
Speaker 1: all of it going. The Packers so much has kind
Speaker 1: of fallen the way they needed to fall the last
Speaker 1: two weeks, and after everything they went through the middle
Speaker 1: season stretch of the season, this is what you're hoping for.
Speaker 1: Two more games here to make it happen. All right?
Speaker 1: With that, we will call it a wrap on this
Speaker 1: edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of the team. We have it all for
Speaker 1: you all week long on Packers dot Com leading up
Speaker 1: to Sunday's January first New Year's Day game against the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings for West I Am Mike. Thank you for
Speaker 1: tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.