Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is the
Speaker 1: one and only Weston Hotkoits. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field time for a bit
Speaker 1: of a season wrap up show. Wes and Uh. I've
Speaker 1: got a list of questions here, and as this show
Speaker 1: is truly unscripted, I did not share them with you
Speaker 1: before we turned on the cameras. Here. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: start with this, and this is a This is a
Speaker 1: wide open You can take this any direction you want to.
Speaker 1: I will give my thoughts as well. What will you
Speaker 1: remember most about the Green Bay Packers season? Man, there's
Speaker 1: so many different ways you can go with this. Um,
Speaker 1: I'll do the old down capers here. Let's start with
Speaker 1: the positives. Uh, this team did not quit. Uh. They
Speaker 1: could have easily pitched the tent, been done with the
Speaker 1: season right after Philadelphia. You know, at that point they
Speaker 1: lost and what was at six of seven, Mike, things
Speaker 1: were not going well. It was not looking promising to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs, and these guys kept themselves in it.
Speaker 1: They went and had a very gutsy performance down in Miami. Uh,
Speaker 1: they imposed their will on the Minnesota Vikings here at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field. The ability to overcome some of the injuries,
Speaker 1: to overcome some of the inconsistency and still stay together,
Speaker 1: I think is one of the big hallmarks this team
Speaker 1: and a testament to the job you know that locker
Speaker 1: room did, and also the coaching staff, and then on
Speaker 1: the other side of it, certainly the the you know
Speaker 1: inability to to meet the expectations for this season. It's
Speaker 1: probably the lasting image, just because I don't think you
Speaker 1: and I I'm not saying I never take anything for granted, Mike.
Speaker 1: We've seen these seasons can go any sort of different ways.
Speaker 1: Look at the l A. Rams I didn't think. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing they did figure that this is how their year
Speaker 1: was going to go. But I definitely thought that was
Speaker 1: for sure a playoff team. Yeah, me too. I thought
Speaker 1: this was a team that was going to contend in
Speaker 1: a wide open NFC race, and the Packers couldn't get
Speaker 1: themselves into that dance. Early in the season, the offensive
Speaker 1: game just wasn't there. The passing games struggled. I I
Speaker 1: the running game wasn't as domineering as I thought it
Speaker 1: was going to be, and then defensively as well as
Speaker 1: I thought the Packers played in the first half of
Speaker 1: the season, there was sort of that midseason laps and
Speaker 1: and kind of picked it back up at the end
Speaker 1: of the year. Uh, they're they're just when you look
Speaker 1: at the record at eight and nine, I think it
Speaker 1: is a good reflection of the fact that Green Bay
Speaker 1: just was too inconsistent this year and and they kind
Speaker 1: of ended up being. It was reflected in that in
Speaker 1: the winning last column. Yeah, I echo those thoughts in
Speaker 1: terms of I will remember that this team certainly did
Speaker 1: not quit, but but that it also just it fell
Speaker 1: so far short of expectations based on where everyone including us,
Speaker 1: thought the season was going to go. A couple of
Speaker 1: things that I will remember most about this season, more
Speaker 1: more so specific moments than than overarching that I'll share.
Speaker 1: One is that I will always remember the last play
Speaker 1: of the game in London, because I'm always going to
Speaker 1: wonder what might have happened had Aaron Rodgers not broken
Speaker 1: his thumb and he you know, he got that broken
Speaker 1: thumb on the hail Mary attempt. When that whole second
Speaker 1: half in London went sideways for the Packers and and
Speaker 1: U if that game doesn't come down to a Hail
Speaker 1: Mary attempting that thumb is not broken, I'll always wonder
Speaker 1: where this season might have gone. The other thing I'll
Speaker 1: I will remember is the win in Christmas. Win on
Speaker 1: Christmas in Miami for a couple of reasons. One, you
Speaker 1: coming back to the press box after doing pregame radio
Speaker 1: and telling me the story about making your way through
Speaker 1: the hard rock nightclub or whatever that's buried somewhere in
Speaker 1: hard rock stadium and uh, and the fact that you
Speaker 1: came to the press box and didn't spend the game
Speaker 1: in the nightclub. Appreciate it because we did have we
Speaker 1: did have, we did have some work to do. Um.
Speaker 1: But also just walking out of that stadium, walking out
Speaker 1: of that press box in Miami on Christmas, after that
Speaker 1: big victory and sort of going okay, like the playoffs
Speaker 1: are actually a realistic possibility, Like that was the moment
Speaker 1: for me. You know, I didn't I didn't really want
Speaker 1: to to buy into everything with so much that had
Speaker 1: to go right and so much that had to happen,
Speaker 1: um and UH, and that weekend is kind of when
Speaker 1: it came together and and the playoffs went from you know,
Speaker 1: for for a team that had been four and eight,
Speaker 1: went from being a total pipe dream to a very
Speaker 1: realistic possibility, and the Packers ended up putting themselves in
Speaker 1: that position. So that the feeling, the feeling of walking
Speaker 1: out of that press box in in Miami on Christmas
Speaker 1: is something I'll remember because that was that was the
Speaker 1: first really truly uplifting feeling after a game that we
Speaker 1: had had really quite some time, going way back to
Speaker 1: to the Bero. Probably it's the walking out of the
Speaker 1: press box in Tampa Bay after the after the two
Speaker 1: point victory, when the two point conversion was stopped and
Speaker 1: you felt, Okay, Packers got a big road win here.
Speaker 1: You know this, this is a good one. This will
Speaker 1: mean something as the season goes along. And that feeling
Speaker 1: didn't really come back, and at least for me, until
Speaker 1: the win on Christmas. No, because until that day everything
Speaker 1: was kind of by the skin of their teeth. I
Speaker 1: mean you kind of forget that, you know, you got
Speaker 1: out of Chicago after being down nine points going into
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter against the Bears team that ultimately won
Speaker 1: three games. The Dallas game went right down to the
Speaker 1: wire like it was such a tight season. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was thinking about that in the fourth quarter of
Speaker 1: the Detroit game. I'm like, well, of course, this is
Speaker 1: how this is gonna go, maybe not necessarily from the
Speaker 1: losing standpoint, but that it was gonna come right down
Speaker 1: to those last fifteen minutes because that's the way it
Speaker 1: was absent basically one game the entire season for green Bay. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it is funny you go back and you
Speaker 1: think about that game in Christmas. You hope everything ends
Speaker 1: up being okay for Tua, But those the three interceptions
Speaker 1: back to back to back, the way that the tide
Speaker 1: had finally shifted for Green Bay. You don't wish that
Speaker 1: for Tongua Bloya at all in terms of the injury
Speaker 1: and the long term implications of that. But it was
Speaker 1: the first time for Green Bay it felt like, Okay,
Speaker 1: the floodgates had finally opened in their favor, as opposed
Speaker 1: to a lot of these games where they had a
Speaker 1: hard time taking the ball away early, then when they did,
Speaker 1: they weren't scoring points off of it. That was the
Speaker 1: game where it was like, Okay, maybe green Bay can
Speaker 1: do something with h Yeah. Alright, My next question, do
Speaker 1: you have a favorite play or favorite moment from this season,
Speaker 1: the Christian Watson end around in Chicago, because that was
Speaker 1: the one where it was like got him right. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like a really good catch, it wasn't like a
Speaker 1: really good throw. It wasn't this big interception, It was
Speaker 1: a It was one of those plays where they just
Speaker 1: caught the Bears with their pants down, I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately for Green Bay they were on the receiving
Speaker 1: end of that a couple of times this season, but
Speaker 1: in that specific instance, it went back in their aver.
Speaker 1: And as I was just talking about, when you lose
Speaker 1: seven of eight, you come back in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: to win that game and score you know, however, what
Speaker 1: was zero eight zero in the fourth quarter in Chicago? Yeah,
Speaker 1: those were the Those are the turning point games. I
Speaker 1: think it also was another reminder of this is what
Speaker 1: this young man can really bring to this offense. I
Speaker 1: think when you're talking about us getting back for the
Speaker 1: off season program in April and then in o t
Speaker 1: as a minicamp, Christian Watson is going to be the
Speaker 1: big name because that is the brightest star right now
Speaker 1: in this orbit for Green Bay. Yeah. Absolutely for me,
Speaker 1: and that one certainly ranks up there for me. Although
Speaker 1: it doesn't because I was actually sick and covering that
Speaker 1: game from home. I was not in the press box
Speaker 1: with you in uh in Chicago for that one. The
Speaker 1: one for me is is Keshawn Nixon's hunter and five
Speaker 1: yard kickoff return for a touchdown, because then I had
Speaker 1: talked about this after the Vikings game, just that the
Speaker 1: crescendo that was building with the crowd where you had,
Speaker 1: you know, first and goal in the one second, and
Speaker 1: goal in the one third, and goal in the one
Speaker 1: and the defense gets makes that goal line stand, gets
Speaker 1: to stop, and the Vikings kicked the field goal. The
Speaker 1: crowd was really into it with the way the defense
Speaker 1: had risen up in a difficult situation. And then Nixon
Speaker 1: takes the ensuing kickoff, huge hole up the middle of
Speaker 1: the field. We could see it from the press box.
Speaker 1: It was sort of a by the time he got
Speaker 1: to like the thirty yard line, it was like, oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, like there's nobody going to stop him. And uh,
Speaker 1: the fact, obviously that broke a really long streak, you know,
Speaker 1: going back to Randall Cobb as far as a Packers
Speaker 1: player taking a kickoff return, the distance and and all
Speaker 1: that and what it meant, and you know, setting really
Speaker 1: setting the stage for what became a big, a big
Speaker 1: blowout win, and and setting things up for weekends. And
Speaker 1: how much grief all the DBS and everybody we're giving
Speaker 1: Nixon for being tackled at the seven the weeker, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the week before, the week before in Miami's very I mean,
Speaker 1: Devin Hester did it all the time, but it's very
Speaker 1: rarely in the NFL do you see a guy have
Speaker 1: a ninety three yard return or whatever it was and
Speaker 1: then come back the next week. It was like, So
Speaker 1: it's a lot of times those kids off returns, they
Speaker 1: surprise you, right, you're not expecting them. And in this instance,
Speaker 1: it was almost when he got that return at the
Speaker 1: beginning of it, even before the whole opened, you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: Keishaw Nicks and the ways returning the ball, are we
Speaker 1: getting close here? Is this going to be it? And
Speaker 1: obviously he punched it in. Yeah. All right. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask you for some various m vps in different categories. Here.
Speaker 1: You get to pick first, and then I will have
Speaker 1: to pick somebody else. Um, your offensive m v P
Speaker 1: for Aaron Jones. He was the most consistent player for
Speaker 1: them and Mike there when when Aaron Jones produced, the
Speaker 1: Packers won football games. It's just the way this season went.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't have the exact stats in front
Speaker 1: of me right now, but show me the games where
Speaker 1: he had over a hundred total yards, show me the
Speaker 1: games where he scored multiple touchdowns. He was the ultimate
Speaker 1: reflection of what this offense was doing. He finished the
Speaker 1: season with a career high one thousand, one hundred and
Speaker 1: twelve receiving rushing yards. I would have liked to have
Speaker 1: seen the passing game work out a little bit more
Speaker 1: for Green Bay in the backfield. They weren't as dynamic
Speaker 1: in that area as I thought they were going to
Speaker 1: be with the you know, the Poe only and some
Speaker 1: of the stuff going into the season. But but certainly
Speaker 1: keep this in mind too, Mike. He averaged five point
Speaker 1: three yards per carry. Aaron Jones didn't have a carry
Speaker 1: individually over thirty six yards on the season. His ability
Speaker 1: just to run eight nine ten yards at a clip. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was really a huge impact. I felt like in
Speaker 1: this offense again, and he was a guy that was
Speaker 1: there for them every week. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly with
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones offensive m VP. That would be my choice
Speaker 1: as well. In order to pick somebody different, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say Christian Watson just because and I know he really
Speaker 1: was only a big part of things for half the
Speaker 1: season because of the injuries and and other things he
Speaker 1: dealt with early on. But he changed Green Bay's offense
Speaker 1: when the season was clearly going south, not going anywhere.
Speaker 1: He changed things. He changed the way most defenses had
Speaker 1: to defend green Bay. I mean that that stretch of
Speaker 1: you know, eight touchdowns over a span of four games.
Speaker 1: And I know the Packers even lost a couple of
Speaker 1: those games. You know, Tennessee and Philadelphia were a couple
Speaker 1: of games in in that mix there, but eight touchdowns
Speaker 1: over four games from a rookie, I mean it was
Speaker 1: absolutely unprecedented, and he completely changed the tenor and the
Speaker 1: tone of how people felt about the Packers offense. So
Speaker 1: he so he would be my pick. That line Tony
Speaker 1: and Robert Tonyan told me to after the game against Detroit,
Speaker 1: how he's like, you know, our offense kind of got
Speaker 1: going when Christian got back. Yeah. I think it's it's
Speaker 1: one sentence, but it really encapsulates how things went for
Speaker 1: them this season. Yeah, wholeheartedly defensive m v P. I
Speaker 1: mean it's Jayre. It has to be. I mean, he
Speaker 1: he's a shutdown cornerback in every uh sense of the word.
Speaker 1: For him to have five picks this year was big too.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a guy that doesn't typically get thrown
Speaker 1: out a lot um. He had to create some opportunities
Speaker 1: for himself throughout the course here. I thought he really
Speaker 1: improved his hands. There weren't as many drop picks as
Speaker 1: there were his first few seasons. I mean, he had
Speaker 1: five picks this year, the same amount as what he
Speaker 1: had his first four seasons, which I guess was more
Speaker 1: like three and a half. But still, you get the point. Uh,
Speaker 1: A guy that got a big contract in the offseason,
Speaker 1: a guy that welcomed the bright lights. You know, he
Speaker 1: put down the challenge there to Justin Jefferson and the Vikings.
Speaker 1: He met that challenge. I think the thing for green
Speaker 1: Bay moving forward is finding even more ways to to
Speaker 1: incorporate him into this defense. You know, I he's to
Speaker 1: the point now, Mike, the way I look at him
Speaker 1: where it's like, you know how we talk about you
Speaker 1: build your offense around like your skill position players. It's
Speaker 1: almost getting to the point where it's like, you want
Speaker 1: to build your defense around what Alexander does best, And uh,
Speaker 1: I think that's something Green Bay is really gonna have
Speaker 1: to consider this offseason. Yeah, that's a valid point. Um.
Speaker 1: Absolutely For me, my pick for defensive m VP is
Speaker 1: Preston Smith. And I say that, Um, you know, no,
Speaker 1: he didn't have the you know, dozen sacks that he
Speaker 1: had you know earlier with you know, with the other
Speaker 1: Smith bro previously in his time in Green Bay and
Speaker 1: all that, and you know, I think he ended up
Speaker 1: missing what is that a million dollar bonus in his
Speaker 1: contract by like one and a half sacks or like
Speaker 1: you did with one and a half. Story short, he
Speaker 1: did pay and he didn't didn't quite didn't quite get there. Um.
Speaker 1: But the reason I say Preston Smith is because this defense,
Speaker 1: this defense was wildly inconsistent throughout the vast majority of
Speaker 1: the season. It had even when the Packers were losing games,
Speaker 1: It had stretches in those games where it looked really
Speaker 1: really good and then suddenly things would turn and the
Speaker 1: defense would look like it was really really struggling. I
Speaker 1: thought Preston Smith was the most consistent, most reliable, most
Speaker 1: dependable player on the defensive side of the ball. I
Speaker 1: remember watching from the press box in Philadelphia one time
Speaker 1: he got out of his rushing lane and Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: took off running. And that's one of the only times
Speaker 1: I can remember watching a play, either from the press
Speaker 1: box or looking on film where I just went, Wow,
Speaker 1: Preston got like way out, way outside of himself there
Speaker 1: and the defense got hurt. Right. You saw that with
Speaker 1: a lot of other players throughout the course of the season,
Speaker 1: and that one play in Philadelphia might be the only
Speaker 1: really glaring negative mistake I saw Preston Smith make all season.
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, he's become a leader on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball. Maybe not as as vocal
Speaker 1: as some other guys, but a leader on the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball and just a rock solid, dependable
Speaker 1: guy who I think is going to be a big
Speaker 1: part of the foundation for this defense still moving forward. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he also remember what was asked of him after
Speaker 1: Week nine, Right, Uh, that was the biggest travesty This
Speaker 1: whole thing is we didn't get to see what him
Speaker 1: and Rashaan Gary could do, right, Yeah, we only got
Speaker 1: a half season of that. But when Gary goes down
Speaker 1: it with all due respect to Kingsley, Nigbari, Jonathan Garvin
Speaker 1: and eventually Justin Hollins coming it was Preston like everybody
Speaker 1: is going to look at their pass rush uh challenges
Speaker 1: on a week to week basis and planned for that
Speaker 1: being the top edge rusher. Uh. And if you think
Speaker 1: about it, for so long, he was always the compliment nary,
Speaker 1: consistent guy that's playing off another pass rusher. Well, this
Speaker 1: year the Packicks didn't have that benefit, and I thought
Speaker 1: he actually brought his game up to another level, was
Speaker 1: more impactful during the second half of the season when
Speaker 1: Gary wasn't available. So uh, certainly an accountable player that
Speaker 1: is going to be a part of this thing for
Speaker 1: years to come. Down Green Band, All right, now, you
Speaker 1: can't pick the obvious, which is Keishaan Nixon. But who's
Speaker 1: your special team's m v P aside from Nixon? Who
Speaker 1: is you know, clearly the obvious choice here. But so
Speaker 1: this is like picking you know, m v P number
Speaker 1: two on special team And what's funny? Can I just
Speaker 1: make one little comment about Nixon before we do that?
Speaker 1: It's if we were really picking one Kishan Nixon's obviously
Speaker 1: yet But everybody's going to talk about the kickoff returner thing.
Speaker 1: Keishaan Nixon, what him and Ruby Ford brought his flyers
Speaker 1: the first two months of the season that changed the
Speaker 1: tenor of Packers punt coverage. There were a lot of
Speaker 1: years there where if the punter is not placing the
Speaker 1: ball correctly, there's a big opportunity for a return there.
Speaker 1: I thought both of those guys, they gave them no
Speaker 1: room to operate within All that being said that that
Speaker 1: was that those two guys in that in those positions
Speaker 1: and what they were doing was was a big part
Speaker 1: of the culture change on special teams. I think is
Speaker 1: what you're getting my guy is going to actually be
Speaker 1: down Levitt though the other guy they brought in last year. Now,
Speaker 1: Levitt was not without flaw as a player this season,
Speaker 1: but it was that conversation I had with Kenny Clark
Speaker 1: mentioning how him and Nixon they changed the culture of
Speaker 1: special teams. You saw it so many times this year, Mike,
Speaker 1: the way that Levitt approached coverage teams, the way he
Speaker 1: approached some of those grittier aspects of this thing. Guys
Speaker 1: like he he approached that phase of the game like
Speaker 1: it was the offense at the twenty yard line with
Speaker 1: two minutes to go, and you gotta punch this thing.
Speaker 1: And he approached it like a defense on the goal line.
Speaker 1: He had an energy level at that position that I
Speaker 1: thought helped bring along your your Turek Carpenters. You're in
Speaker 1: it gains your Isaiah McDuffie's who ended up leading the
Speaker 1: Packers and coverage tackles this year. You bring in I got,
Speaker 1: you know, so many different players throughout the course of
Speaker 1: this year that that ended up making an impact. And
Speaker 1: I thought it really started with them bringing in Lovette
Speaker 1: right before the beginning of training camp. Yeah, my pick,
Speaker 1: my pick in this category obviously not being able to
Speaker 1: pic NICs, and I certainly like Levitt as a choice
Speaker 1: as well. This is going to be kind of an
Speaker 1: odd pick, but I'm gonna pick Pat o'donnaldco. No, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pick Pat o'donald. And it's not because he had,
Speaker 1: you know, a Pro Bowl season as a punter. Um
Speaker 1: you know, he was certainly solid. There weren't any you know,
Speaker 1: major issues in the punning game by any means, But
Speaker 1: I felt like Pat O'Donnell was the guy, maybe more
Speaker 1: than anybody else between the white lines who settled everything
Speaker 1: down with the field goal operation and how everything had
Speaker 1: gone so wrong with the field goal operation in one.
Speaker 1: There weren't those issues in two, And it seemed almost
Speaker 1: from the very beginning of the season with O'Donnell as
Speaker 1: the holder, experienced guy done it for eight years and
Speaker 1: Cargo or whatever it was, and he pat O'Donnell helped
Speaker 1: get Mason Crosby back to being Mason Crosby and not
Speaker 1: the guy we saw in two that you could tell
Speaker 1: was was rattled and bothered by all of the issues
Speaker 1: that were going on with with the operation as a whole.
Speaker 1: So um again, you know the I thought, I thought,
Speaker 1: what I thought. What O'Donnell did just as a just
Speaker 1: as a calming presence in in that area was was
Speaker 1: really impactful. And twenty four punts inside the twenty this
Speaker 1: year too. For him, there weren't the typical kind of
Speaker 1: shanks that have been sort of plagued in Green Band.
Speaker 1: I mean, they were able to win the field position
Speaker 1: battle a lot of times because of what him and
Speaker 1: the Flyers were doing. Yeah, yeah, I agree, all right,
Speaker 1: last one of this type for you, And again this
Speaker 1: is where you don't get to pick Christian Watson because
Speaker 1: he's the obvious choice rookie of the year. It's probably
Speaker 1: the quietest that's ever gotten on Packers unscripted. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I didn't, I didn't. I didn't give it because it's
Speaker 1: easy to say kuway Walker. It's very easy to say
Speaker 1: kway Walker. But I want to give a special acknowledgement
Speaker 1: to Romeo Dobbs in this opera, in this chance, because
Speaker 1: while Dobbs coming back from the ankle in Drew was
Speaker 1: tough that first month of the season, Romeo Dobbs had
Speaker 1: to be a lot more veteran of a player than
Speaker 1: what Green Bay really had ever asked from a rookie.
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard was dealing with the ankle and even you
Speaker 1: know he had you had, you know, Sammy Watkinson's a
Speaker 1: pull in the hamstring. They really leaned on Romeo Dobbs
Speaker 1: the first two months of the year and that that
Speaker 1: performance he had in Tampa Bay, Michael Agreement. If he
Speaker 1: doesn't have three catches for seventy three yards in that
Speaker 1: touchdown early, Packers probably don't win that game. He I
Speaker 1: think it is just his consistency level. I think there
Speaker 1: was probably that rookie wall a little bit he hit
Speaker 1: the ankle did not help in in Detroit. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean he ended up missing a solid month of and
Speaker 1: and and that's the thing when you're talking about rookies too,
Speaker 1: it's not just missing a month of games, it's missing
Speaker 1: all those practice reps along the way as well. Romeo Dobbs,
Speaker 1: to me, did not look like the same player when
Speaker 1: he came back from the ankle injury is the one
Speaker 1: we saw before. Because what I will remember most about
Speaker 1: dobbs rookie season where those two catches in Buffalo, and
Speaker 1: I know that that game ended up in a loss.
Speaker 1: Those two catches, the one in the end zone, which
Speaker 1: was actually right below us where the press box was
Speaker 1: in Buffalo. We had a tremendous view of that touchdown catch,
Speaker 1: and then the other one that was along the far sideline.
Speaker 1: Those are the types of players that you just kind
Speaker 1: of go, wow, this is this is a rookie playing
Speaker 1: on the road in a primetime game and he's able
Speaker 1: to do something like that. And again, unfortunately, he wasn't
Speaker 1: really the same guy after the ankle injury when he
Speaker 1: came back. But I still think there's a lot of
Speaker 1: promise there with with Romeo totally and and also in
Speaker 1: credit goes again and you might talk about it, but
Speaker 1: you know quay Walker, the way he came out and
Speaker 1: played as a first round pick. The thing was, though,
Speaker 1: is he did have deve Andre with him there at
Speaker 1: the beginning. There was a lot of stretches for Romeo Dobbs,
Speaker 1: I mean it was him and Smart to rate like
Speaker 1: these young guys had to play a lot more than
Speaker 1: what I thought they were going to. I thought it
Speaker 1: was going to be Lazard, Watkins and Cobb for the
Speaker 1: first you know, two months of the year, and then
Speaker 1: you start bringing along the rookies. The rookies had to play,
Speaker 1: and I was impressed by the fact that Dobbs didn't
Speaker 1: turn away from that. Yeah, and I'm going to take
Speaker 1: this opportunity as far as picking a Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year to to give a shout out to another young man,
Speaker 1: and that's Zach tom On the you know, the fourth
Speaker 1: round pick, fourth round pick out of Wake Forest. The
Speaker 1: Packers asked him to The Packers asked him to play
Speaker 1: pretty much anywhere on the offensive line except center. I
Speaker 1: think you know, he didn't play, Yeah, he didn't play.
Speaker 1: He didn't play that in a game. But but he
Speaker 1: did have to be the backup to Josh Meyers there
Speaker 1: and and just so many times, and we talked about
Speaker 1: it on this show at different times during the year
Speaker 1: that he that he was thrown in kind of on
Speaker 1: a now because of an injury or because of you know,
Speaker 1: the example of of David Bactieri being a late you know,
Speaker 1: late game scratch or you know, last minute scratch for
Speaker 1: the game out in out in Washington. Um Zach Tom.
Speaker 1: Zach versatility is a big buzzword that you hear, especially
Speaker 1: at draft time, and it was and and it surrounds
Speaker 1: a lot of offensive lineman that the Packers draft, and
Speaker 1: this young man lived up to it in his rookie year,
Speaker 1: doing everything that the Packers asked him to do. And
Speaker 1: I think he can. He's potentially wherever they decided to
Speaker 1: play him, wherever he settles in, you know, as as
Speaker 1: more of a full time player somewhere down the road.
Speaker 1: I think Zach Tom has a chance to be a really,
Speaker 1: really big part of the foundation of this offensive line
Speaker 1: going forward. He's a young man who's already proven a
Speaker 1: lot um in a in a rookie season in which
Speaker 1: he wasn't really a full time starter. I just love
Speaker 1: his footwork, I love his balance, I love his poise.
Speaker 1: The only thing, as Aaron Rodgers said mid season, and
Speaker 1: it's just he just needs to get on a little
Speaker 1: bit more weight, yeah, which knowing the end, and he
Speaker 1: certainly looks like he has the body to be able
Speaker 1: to he's a tall kid. Yeah, but it just it
Speaker 1: was the playing left tackle after they planned the whole
Speaker 1: week of Okay, Yosh is finally going to be a
Speaker 1: right tackle in Washington, and then you don't have Dave,
Speaker 1: so he has to play left tackle. You look, even
Speaker 1: last week he goes in at right tackle these last
Speaker 1: couple of games because of the stinger that Josh Naiman
Speaker 1: was dealing with. He never blinked in any of those instances,
Speaker 1: and I think that boards really well for that young
Speaker 1: man's upside. Yeah. Well, I want to shift gears here
Speaker 1: in a minute, but before that, some sponsored business here.
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Speaker 1: subs fifty years of better. Can I do one last
Speaker 1: stat really fast? I was just looking over the staff pages.
Speaker 1: Keishaw Nixon had eleven punt returns this year. He didn't
Speaker 1: fair catch one, well, of course, not with with no
Speaker 1: with no fair catches, not a not a one of them.
Speaker 1: That that that that statistic probably more than the kickoff
Speaker 1: return yards and the fifty plus returns on kickoffs all
Speaker 1: those that he had. That statistic probably tells you more
Speaker 1: about Keisha Nixon than that anything else. Eleven put returns,
Speaker 1: not a single fair catch. That's a good one. I
Speaker 1: like that. I'm glad you brought that up. Um before
Speaker 1: we go, I do want to get your thoughts on
Speaker 1: wild Card weekend in the NFL. Who cares? Come on
Speaker 1: with no? I'm kidding, yeah, let's talk about Smith. Well,
Speaker 1: that that was That was where I was going to
Speaker 1: start the two games on Saturday, Seattle at San Francisco,
Speaker 1: Chargers at Jaguars. The second one far more compelling to me.
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert against Trevor Lawrence in the playoff game, both
Speaker 1: of these young quarterbacks making their playoff debut. Who's if
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, Herbert's hasn't been in the playoffs yet,
Speaker 1: has he? Because they got because they lost the one
Speaker 1: to the Raiders at at the end of the season
Speaker 1: last year, So that that young quarterback matchup is uhum
Speaker 1: is as good as it gets. As far as Seattle
Speaker 1: at San Francisco, you know, I think I said this
Speaker 1: on our last show. The way things turned out, um,
Speaker 1: I really wish the Detroit Lions were going to San
Speaker 1: Francisco because I'd be just interested to see what a
Speaker 1: Lions team that finished the season eight and two in
Speaker 1: their last ten games might be able to do against
Speaker 1: a Niners team that's one ten straight. And it's absolutely
Speaker 1: on a roll here heading into the post. I am
Speaker 1: with you on that, but I actually take the opposite
Speaker 1: of you on this with Seattle. I'm really excited Seattle
Speaker 1: made it because while they kind of faded late where
Speaker 1: the Lions got on this big resurgence, the Seahawks were
Speaker 1: the better team throughout the course of the year, from
Speaker 1: Week one to Week seventeen. And and it's not just that,
Speaker 1: it's the fact that Kenneth Walker you know, as an
Speaker 1: Offensive Player of the Year or a Rookie Year candidate.
Speaker 1: And the fact that Geno Smith threw for four thousand
Speaker 1: yards at a hundred passer rating. You and I, Mike,
Speaker 1: if you go back. I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: the bye week episode or when we talked about it,
Speaker 1: but we were asking, you know, is he gonna be
Speaker 1: able to stay on this track here? Is he gonna
Speaker 1: be able to keep this up? He did. He put
Speaker 1: it together for an entire season. And I love these
Speaker 1: stories because this is what makes the NFL great. There
Speaker 1: are so many times where you you'll see a veteran
Speaker 1: quarterback or you'll see a veteran player he kind of
Speaker 1: sticks around and sticks around. You're like, how is this
Speaker 1: guy still here? How is he still doing this? Mike?
Speaker 1: Do you remember some of the narratives around Gino Smith
Speaker 1: when he'd have to go away? When Russell Wilson was down,
Speaker 1: a lot of people said some pretty nasty things about him.
Speaker 1: When they made the decision to trade him, a lot
Speaker 1: of people are like, seriously, you're going to the season
Speaker 1: with Drew Lock and Geno Smith? Are you guys crazy?
Speaker 1: And he proved them wrong. And the fact that it's
Speaker 1: Seattle who was the front runner in the NFC West
Speaker 1: to start this year versus the San Francisco forty Niners
Speaker 1: that finished the way they did. I'm actually really excited
Speaker 1: for that matchup. And and again, I don't know what
Speaker 1: the ratings are going to be Saturday night. I don't
Speaker 1: know how many people are paying attention to Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 1: They were a fun football team to watch a little bit.
Speaker 1: I got to see him, Christian Kirk. I will keep
Speaker 1: saying it over and over again. I was a hud
Speaker 1: wrong on him in their decision to sign him and
Speaker 1: give him the money they did. Uh, Doug, Doug Peterson,
Speaker 1: Dude Again, anytime you think that the head coach doesn't
Speaker 1: matter the National Football League, look at what the Jacksonville
Speaker 1: Jaguars did this year. It was a big, big reminder
Speaker 1: of what head coaches can do. Yeah. The little bit
Speaker 1: that I got to watch the Jacksonville Jaguars this year,
Speaker 1: I was really really impressed with Uh, Trevor Lawrence's arm
Speaker 1: and his fearlessness. Like this, I mean this kid, lets
Speaker 1: it rip as as the old saying goes, and and
Speaker 1: quite frankly is reminiscent to me of what I started
Speaker 1: to see with Justin Herbert in the Chargers last year.
Speaker 1: A young quarterback with a really good arm who was
Speaker 1: not afraid to let it fly, I mean, and that
Speaker 1: that's uh. I think that's a really really intriguing young
Speaker 1: quarterback matchup for opening round of the postseason. And credit
Speaker 1: to Peterson man the thing that I think was one
Speaker 1: of his undoings in Philadelphia, he corrected it. In Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: They have Travis e t N. They fed Travis e
Speaker 1: t N y James Robinson was traded. They didn't screw
Speaker 1: around with it. They said, this is our running back.
Speaker 1: And you're seeing how those two guys, those two clumps
Speaker 1: and dudes have really played off of each other. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Three games on Sunday, Miami at Buffalo, Giants at Vikings,
Speaker 1: Baltimore at Cincinnati. UM, it's hard for me to picture
Speaker 1: Miami since TWA is not back and they have to
Speaker 1: go with Skyler Thompson. It's hard for me to picture
Speaker 1: Miami giving Buffalo much of a game. Shout out though.
Speaker 1: Hearing the news that Micah Hyde was back at practice, UM,
Speaker 1: they've opened the window for him to potentially be activated
Speaker 1: off of injured reserve. That that either maybe divisional round
Speaker 1: or if the if the Buffalo Bills can advance to
Speaker 1: the a f C Championship, there's a chance that Micah
Speaker 1: Hyde could actually return this season. That kind of I
Speaker 1: mean it, you know, fills my heart with some joy.
Speaker 1: We both we both have our affinity for Micah and
Speaker 1: his time here. Um. But just just incredible news out
Speaker 1: of Buffalo, along with the course that Damar Hamlin has
Speaker 1: been released from the hospital and now gets to continue
Speaker 1: his rehab at home. Yeah, and DeMar Hamlin, certainly, we
Speaker 1: continue to think about him and send positive vibes his way,
Speaker 1: but you kind of forget that. I mean, Mica had
Speaker 1: a pretty bad neck injury too earlier this year. That
Speaker 1: was kind of the original wake up called. The Bills
Speaker 1: have taken so many hits at the safety position. Player
Speaker 1: has been playing through some stuff too, so we'll see
Speaker 1: if he plays or not. I don't know how that's
Speaker 1: gonna work out. But but the fact that I was
Speaker 1: worried when that injury happened Mica was gonna be done done.
Speaker 1: So I mean to even have them potentially come back
Speaker 1: my season, that's pretty incredible. Well, the Giants and the Vikings,
Speaker 1: they played a back and forth down to the wire
Speaker 1: game on Christmas Eve one that we were watching on
Speaker 1: our little TV screens on the flight to uh on
Speaker 1: the flight to Miami came down to that sixty one
Speaker 1: yard yield goal by Greg Joseph at the wire for
Speaker 1: the Vikings to win it. Yeah, it's it's hard to
Speaker 1: it's hard to think of this, you know, rematch and
Speaker 1: being so soon after after the first matchup, um being
Speaker 1: really much different this This just feels to me like
Speaker 1: a back and forth game that's that's probably gonna come
Speaker 1: down to the last possession. And I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: come down to Daniel Jones too. If he protects the football,
Speaker 1: I think the Giants have a really good shot in
Speaker 1: this one. If he doesn't, if if Minnesota's defense makes plays,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a tough, tough afternoon. Um. Here, the
Speaker 1: thing that this kind of dovetailing is something I don't
Speaker 1: want to talk about because we don't have the time
Speaker 1: to talk about it. But probably one of my main
Speaker 1: criticisms with the seventeen games schedule now, um is the
Speaker 1: fact that we're getting a lot of these rematches and
Speaker 1: some of them were just played right and then and
Speaker 1: the next one. Baltimore and Cincinnati just played last week
Speaker 1: their division rivals. Um division rivals, and of course you
Speaker 1: know Week eighteen or you know, regular season finales for
Speaker 1: a long time now have been division games. And so
Speaker 1: then if the playoff seating works out where you have
Speaker 1: a division champ in a wild card and you know
Speaker 1: they end up meeting again right away. Yeah, and and
Speaker 1: like Dallas and Tampa, even though they're not the same division,
Speaker 1: it feels like they've played each other forty eight times
Speaker 1: the last two seasons. Uh. Again, I don't want to
Speaker 1: turn into that kind of debate, but that that is
Speaker 1: my only thing. I remember when you know, when you
Speaker 1: had the twelve team won, you'd get some really interesting matchups.
Speaker 1: You'd get the Packers in Philadelphia that you didn't see
Speaker 1: every day, You'd get Packers in Atlanta. So that's the
Speaker 1: one downside of this. But um, all that being said, Uh,
Speaker 1: certainly for the Minnesota Vikings feeling a little bit better
Speaker 1: about themselves after the Bears win, I got to see
Speaker 1: what they can do against the Giants. Yeah, Baltimore and Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: it's hard. I mean, the news is not sounding good
Speaker 1: for Lamar Jackson being able to come back. And while
Speaker 1: Tyler Huntley is is probably one of the better, if
Speaker 1: not the best, backup quarterback, especially with the scheme in yeah,
Speaker 1: in you know, in the league, he's you know, Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Baltimore is going to be in this game. But but
Speaker 1: for all the attention that's been on Buffalo and Kansas
Speaker 1: City and the f C, and rightfully so, Cincinnati has
Speaker 1: been playing some pretty darn good football down the stretch.
Speaker 1: And I think the Bengals are going to be a
Speaker 1: really really tough out in the a f C. And
Speaker 1: and if the if the Ravens don't have Lamar Jackson, um,
Speaker 1: I think, uh, it's hard for me to see the
Speaker 1: Bengals losing that game. Ravens got to stop the run.
Speaker 1: If they stopped the run, uh and not and not
Speaker 1: allow them to kind of just get into their type
Speaker 1: of offense, they have a chance. If you see Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon going off a little bit here, that's when then
Speaker 1: you know, Chase stuff starts to happen. That's when the
Speaker 1: higg And stuff starts to happen. Yeah, Monday Night, Dallas
Speaker 1: at Tampa Bay. Um, you know, a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: this is what was looking like was going to be
Speaker 1: you know, the five, the five versus four matchup, and
Speaker 1: and it looked like, you know, Dallas would be, um,
Speaker 1: you know, would would be everybody's picked to win. I'm
Speaker 1: not so sure anymore. I mean, I still think the
Speaker 1: Cowboys are going to win this game, but but that
Speaker 1: that Dallas defense didn't look so good against Gardner Minshew
Speaker 1: when he took over for Jalen Hurts. And you know
Speaker 1: that the game against Philly a few weeks ago. And
Speaker 1: then I don't know what to make of Dallas's performance
Speaker 1: last week. I mean, were they really trying to win
Speaker 1: that game? They were playing their guys, but yet you
Speaker 1: look at you look at how that game went, and
Speaker 1: Washington was playing Sam Howell at quarterback. I don't know
Speaker 1: what to make of the Cowboys right now. I just don't.
Speaker 1: And and and maybe, um, maybe you know, maybe I
Speaker 1: should just say, you know what, it's the postseason. Everybody's
Speaker 1: zero and zero move forward. But um, you know what's
Speaker 1: your saying is valid. You can't go half measuring these things.
Speaker 1: I think I learned that last year with Detroit and
Speaker 1: Green Bay. Either you're playing or you're not playing. Just
Speaker 1: figure that part of it out. To me, that looked
Speaker 1: like a Cowboys team that knew they had nothing to
Speaker 1: play for in that game, didn't want to maybe get hurt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they kind of knew that Philly was gonna win and
Speaker 1: win the division because the Giants were resting their guys
Speaker 1: because the Giants were locked into the sixth seeds, so
Speaker 1: they it was like, yeah, they assumed, they assumed that
Speaker 1: Philly was going to win, so they were going to
Speaker 1: be the five seed. But yet they were still playing
Speaker 1: their guys, and like you say, either either you play
Speaker 1: or you don't play right, and and that whole that
Speaker 1: whole situation was just strange. The problem for Tampa's I
Speaker 1: think it's a really difficult matchup to for them, just
Speaker 1: with you know, the fact that they can't run the
Speaker 1: ball at all. Tom Brady had the quietest yard passing
Speaker 1: year I think maybe the match Shobby or in Houston.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't remember a year like this. Word wait,
Speaker 1: he threw for almost yards. But I just feel like,
Speaker 1: if you neutralize those weapons outside, even as bad as
Speaker 1: Dallas played last week, you should still win this game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would think. So. I'm not saying they will, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying they should last thing before we go. Who
Speaker 1: do you think? What's your Super Bowl matchup? Who? Against whom?
Speaker 1: There you got? All right? I've gone back and forth
Speaker 1: on Buffalo, but I really feel like the Hamlin thing
Speaker 1: is going to push them forward. I feel like they've
Speaker 1: learned some stuff offensively. I'm gonna I'm gonna go with
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the Eagles and the and the Bills.
Speaker 1: I think the Eagles are best team in a a
Speaker 1: imperfect NFC. And if Jalen Hurts puts the shoulder behind him,
Speaker 1: if he really is okay in that regard, I just
Speaker 1: think that they have enough weapons to kind of there's
Speaker 1: like a lot of gnats right in the NFC just
Speaker 1: kind of kind of swapped them all away. If you
Speaker 1: do that, you'll be fine. Um. I think that's probably
Speaker 1: the matchup. My matchup is gonna be is Buffalo and
Speaker 1: San Francisco. I said weeks ago that I thought the
Speaker 1: forty Niners were were the best team in the NFC.
Speaker 1: They're playing like it, and it doesn't seem like a
Speaker 1: whole lot has changed, even with brock Party taking over
Speaker 1: at quarterback. The Eagles getting jail and Hurts back certainly
Speaker 1: makes me pause. But I'm just not sold on I'm
Speaker 1: just not sold on Philadelphia's defense based on what I
Speaker 1: saw against the Packers, based on what I saw against
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. So I'm gonna go with San Francisco, even
Speaker 1: with the rookie seventh round pick, the whole Mr. Irrelevant thing.
Speaker 1: At quarterback, I think the Niners. I think it's a
Speaker 1: Niners and Bills in the Super Bowl. If you are
Speaker 1: picking the Niners to make the Super Bowl, I'm going
Speaker 1: to throw you with an extra question. They make the
Speaker 1: super Bowl, maybe even they win the Super Bowl, as
Speaker 1: Brock pretty then you're starting quarterback moving forward. Probably not. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a Nick Foles, it's a Jeff Hostetler. I
Speaker 1: know that's probably too young. You weren't able to watch
Speaker 1: that Super Bowl? Were you? Weren't You weren't. No, but
Speaker 1: I had processed trading cards. Okay, But yes, I think
Speaker 1: I to answer to answer your question, I think I
Speaker 1: think it becomes one of those types of situations. I
Speaker 1: don't think they just turn the keys over to Brock Porter.
Speaker 1: How long that Leasha is next year for Trey Lanswering? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it that that's that's a valid question. Very valid question.
Speaker 1: All right, it has been fun. With that, we will
Speaker 1: sign off on this edition of Packers unscripted, and actually
Speaker 1: we will be signing off somewhat indefinitely. We're calling this
Speaker 1: our our season wrap up here, and just as the
Speaker 1: show is unscripted, our return will be somewhat unscheduled. It
Speaker 1: may happen because of breaking news, It may happen because
Speaker 1: of other events going on. We will just have to see.
Speaker 1: We're like your in laws. We just so to pop up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: may during the during the off season, and we may
Speaker 1: just we may just pop into your computer screens or
Speaker 1: into your earbuds at random times. But I want to
Speaker 1: say thank you to everyone for for watching, for listening
Speaker 1: all season long. We really appreciate the audience that we
Speaker 1: have for Wes. I am Mike. Thanks to all of you,
Speaker 1: and we will see you next time.