Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted Social
Speaker 1: Distancing Style from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford,
Speaker 1: joined as always by the one and only Western hod
Speaker 1: Kuits West. Week four in the NFL, here will be
Speaker 1: the Packers against the Falcons on Monday Night Football at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field. The Packers are three and oh the offenses
Speaker 1: ride and high. The Atlanta Falcons though two blown fourth
Speaker 1: quarter leads the last two weeks. We started talking about
Speaker 1: that a little bit on our last show, So I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna start with this question. Are the Atlanta Falcons
Speaker 1: coming into lambeau Field a demoralized team or are they
Speaker 1: coming in an angry, dangerous team. I mean, there's definitely
Speaker 1: dangerous when you look at the tools that they have
Speaker 1: offensively and the players that could potentially hurt them, There's
Speaker 1: no question that they're dangerous. But I don't think there's
Speaker 1: any way you could potentially not be demoralized coming off
Speaker 1: of two really deflating losses like they had. You know,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be something where I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a real challenge for dan Quinn and his guys
Speaker 1: to come in here because it's not like they won
Speaker 1: the opener and then they had to demoralizing losses. They
Speaker 1: haven't won a game yet this year, and when you
Speaker 1: compound that with the season that they went through a
Speaker 1: year ago, a lot of consternation about whether or not
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn would be back to begin with. Uh, this
Speaker 1: is a really difficult spot for them to be in.
Speaker 1: And they've, you know, as we've seen the last couple
Speaker 1: of days, been getting hit by the injury bug a
Speaker 1: little bit now too. Yeah, we've found out dark quiz
Speaker 1: if I'm saying that correctly. Denard, one of their top cornerbacks,
Speaker 1: has gone on injured reserve and he will not be available.
Speaker 1: And we'll be waiting to hear, i think, on Julio Jones,
Speaker 1: just as we are waiting to hear on Davante Adams
Speaker 1: again for the Green Bay Packers. We will see if
Speaker 1: those top whiteouts are back from their injuries. But the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons do have one of the best wide receiver
Speaker 1: statistically in the league right now, and that is Calvin Ridley,
Speaker 1: the former Alabama product. Through three games, he has twenty
Speaker 1: one catches for three forty nine yards with four touchdowns.
Speaker 1: That yardage total is second in the league to DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: the touchdown the receiving touchdowns is tied for first in
Speaker 1: the league. So even with Julio Jones not being at
Speaker 1: full strength and missing some time, Calvin Ridley is proving
Speaker 1: to be a pretty pretty big weapon for Matt Ryan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this is where it factors into the danger component
Speaker 1: again when you look at what they could do on
Speaker 1: any given week with their passing weapons and certainly now
Speaker 1: with Todd Gurley being in their backfield trying to be
Speaker 1: the guy that that gets their run game going again,
Speaker 1: there's guys that can't hurt you. Ridley has been a
Speaker 1: guy have been excited about for a number of years now.
Speaker 1: When they drafted him, I think at some point some
Speaker 1: people thought that was sort of an embarrassment of riches
Speaker 1: sort of move, but it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: They wanted to give Matt Ryan weapons. They want to
Speaker 1: be able to build upon the this offensive explosion that
Speaker 1: they had three or four years ago. It's just been
Speaker 1: difficult finding the well rounded, you know, sort of structure
Speaker 1: to to win games consistently. But certainly Matt Ryan, Ridley,
Speaker 1: and then Julio Jones if he's out there, all three
Speaker 1: of those guys can really hurt you if you're not
Speaker 1: paying attention to it. Yeah, we'll quickly hear. What's a
Speaker 1: little bit of sponsor business serious x M NFL Radio
Speaker 1: Channel eight is the only radio outlet dedicated to the
Speaker 1: National Football League seven days a week, three and sixty
Speaker 1: five days a year. Well, Matt Ryan also has what
Speaker 1: I think the Falcons are trying to develop into sort
Speaker 1: of a one to punch, a thunder and lightning type
Speaker 1: of combination in the backfield with Todd Gurley as the
Speaker 1: main guy. And I'm drawing a blank on his first
Speaker 1: name at the moment, but Hill is his last name.
Speaker 1: He is sort of the smaller scat back who scored
Speaker 1: a big touchdown against the Chicago Bears last week. They're
Speaker 1: trying to, uh, you know, trying to develop this this
Speaker 1: two headed monster in the backfield to support Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: and and Hey West. The bottom line is this is
Speaker 1: the Falcons team that scored ninety points in three games.
Speaker 1: The only issues they've had on offense is that they
Speaker 1: can't score in the fourth quarter. Right, I had a
Speaker 1: chance to either extend the lead or when the Cowboys
Speaker 1: and the Bears both caught up and and you know
Speaker 1: they had they had an opportunity, certainly against the Bears.
Speaker 1: They had one last shot to go down the field
Speaker 1: and still try to win that game, and Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: threw an interception. So in the first three quarters of games,
Speaker 1: this Falcons team has moved the ball up and down
Speaker 1: the field and scored a bunch of points. Yeah, Brian
Speaker 1: Hill is the running back that you're there too, Packers.
Speaker 1: I think I've actually seen him a little bit too
Speaker 1: in the past. I mean, yeah, he's more of a
Speaker 1: bowling ball type back. I mean, strong, powerful, and you know,
Speaker 1: be able to compliment girly in that fashion. Gurley was
Speaker 1: a big sort of risk I thought. I mean, his
Speaker 1: last two years with the Rams, there's a lot of injuries,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of inconsistency, a lot of questions about
Speaker 1: what his knees were doing, why they weren't playing him more.
Speaker 1: And here he is now with the Falcons. I think
Speaker 1: if you get back to what he does well, it
Speaker 1: meshes well with what the Falcons want to do as well.
Speaker 1: And again it goes back to you know, this group
Speaker 1: can put up a lot of points at any given moment.
Speaker 1: The question that I have though, is that you know,
Speaker 1: when the Packers were playing them in two thousand and sixteen,
Speaker 1: you saw the offensive weapons there. I mean that's when
Speaker 1: obviously DeVante Freeman was in his prime. They still had
Speaker 1: Tevin Coleman, but defensively it looked like they were building
Speaker 1: towards something. They basically had to press a reset there.
Speaker 1: So if they give dan Quinn the whole season, I'm
Speaker 1: very curious to see what this year is going to
Speaker 1: look like for the Falcons, where they're going to be
Speaker 1: able to pick up their wins, and how they're going
Speaker 1: to be about going to establishing their identity because at
Speaker 1: this point, as you said, this is a group that
Speaker 1: does put up points, but when it comes down to
Speaker 1: crunch time, they've not been able to close it out.
Speaker 1: We've said it so many times, Mike, It's something that
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people overlook, but there is
Speaker 1: something about knowing and learning how to win, and it
Speaker 1: just seems like, as weird as that sounds for a
Speaker 1: team that was minutes away from a Super Bowl victory
Speaker 1: three or four years ago, the Falcons have to get
Speaker 1: back to learning, you know, how to win again. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And they're their biggest issues around the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. Statistically, they rank near the bottom of the
Speaker 1: league in past defense, in scoring defense. They they've really
Speaker 1: had their struggles there. As I mentioned earlier, Denard, one
Speaker 1: of their top corners now on I R won't be available.
Speaker 1: I think they're their toughest customers, so to speak, as
Speaker 1: far as defensively so far, has been Grady Jarrett in
Speaker 1: the middle of that defensive line. He's been a really,
Speaker 1: really good run stuffer in this league for a while
Speaker 1: and teams haven't run the ball all that well against
Speaker 1: the Falcons, though, I still wonder about their run defense,
Speaker 1: just because they've had leads and in the second halves
Speaker 1: of games opponents have been doing nothing but throw to
Speaker 1: try to catch up, which they've been successful doing. But
Speaker 1: also on top of that, Grady jarreted isn't as an
Speaker 1: interior rusher. He has two and a half sacks and
Speaker 1: three games he's their leading sacker. They're not getting a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure from the edge. This is the This
Speaker 1: is the guy that the that the Packers are going
Speaker 1: to have to account for um because he's he's trouble
Speaker 1: in the middle of that d line. Yeah, he's been
Speaker 1: there for a number of years to be one of
Speaker 1: the things when the Falcons were making their run that
Speaker 1: I really liked, and some of those pieces are still there,
Speaker 1: is how they built the interior of their defense. Everybody
Speaker 1: at that point in time was always looking at outside
Speaker 1: rushers and edge rushers and pressure and boundary corners, and
Speaker 1: the Falcons are one of the teams that actually were
Speaker 1: one of the first that really invested resources between the hashes,
Speaker 1: and you still see that with Dion Jones was off
Speaker 1: to a pretty decent start, though he's had some injuries.
Speaker 1: Kean O'Neill, who has dealt with some injuries as well,
Speaker 1: but Gary has been sort of that centerpiece, that focal
Speaker 1: point of that scheme for them so far. And dan Quinn,
Speaker 1: who by trade is a defensive coach, so a lot
Speaker 1: of things for them to be able to figure out.
Speaker 1: And again, it's so difficult when you're talking about a
Speaker 1: team that did have as many act The reason dan
Speaker 1: Quinn came back and says they had high expectations. They
Speaker 1: felt like they could quickly turn this thing around, and
Speaker 1: as they these past few weeks have proven, it's very
Speaker 1: difficult to win in the National Football League, and the
Speaker 1: Falcons are still trying to get on the other side
Speaker 1: of that. Yeah, well, we know the message from Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur to the Green May Packers is this is not
Speaker 1: an oh and three Falcons team that the film shows that.
Speaker 1: This team is, you know, a whisker away from being
Speaker 1: two and one and being considered a major contender in
Speaker 1: the NFC. So that's how, certainly how the Packers are
Speaker 1: looking at things. I'm gonna put you on the spot
Speaker 1: here quickly, West, Okay, I looked it up right before
Speaker 1: we turned on the cameras. Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: have gone head to head, including playoff games, nine times.
Speaker 1: What's your what's your guests as to the win loss
Speaker 1: between the two quarterbacks when they've gone head to head.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna goes six and three Rodgers. No, it's actually
Speaker 1: five and four in favor of Matt Ryan. I guess
Speaker 1: Rogers has just had some more memorable ones. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: they've and they've split the two playoff meetings, the Packers
Speaker 1: obviously winning the divisional round down in Atlanta, but then
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan taking the two thousand sixteen NFC championship um
Speaker 1: also down there in Atlanta. It's kind of weird, you
Speaker 1: sort of forget that they've basically been starting quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: the for the same amount of time. Rogers obviously had
Speaker 1: the three more years on Ryan, but I mean Ryan
Speaker 1: from pretty much go was thrown in there. I think
Speaker 1: he might have set out a couple of games his
Speaker 1: rookie year. But yeah, they've kind of followed the same
Speaker 1: path in terms of their NFL careers. And here we
Speaker 1: are now with both of them now and what you're
Speaker 1: thirteen and starting quarterbacks. Yeah, it's it's it's real. It's
Speaker 1: really something. Um. I want to get to some of
Speaker 1: the other games that will be going on around the
Speaker 1: league in Week four that we want to look at.
Speaker 1: But first, some more sponsor business gear up for game day, folks.
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Speaker 1: with the Packers playing on Monday night, obviously, lots of
Speaker 1: Packer fans can spend their Sunday checking out what else
Speaker 1: is going on in the NFC North as of right now, obviously,
Speaker 1: the Packers are three and oh, the Chicago Bears are three,
Speaker 1: and oh, the Detroit Lions are one and two, the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings are oh and three, And it's going to
Speaker 1: be an interesting weekend in the division because the Indianapolis
Speaker 1: Colts we'll be taking on the Chicago Bears. And the
Speaker 1: Colts they ran all up and down the field against
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings a couple of weeks ago, and now
Speaker 1: they are going to and obviously that's a team the
Speaker 1: Packers will face later on this season. Now they get
Speaker 1: their shot at the Chicago Bears. With the Bears at
Speaker 1: three and oh and looking to move to four no
Speaker 1: and jump in front of the Packers in the division
Speaker 1: standings before Monday night's game. Yeah, I mean, one of
Speaker 1: two things is gonna happen, most likely, assuming there isn't
Speaker 1: another tie this week, and that's either the Bears are
Speaker 1: gonna be four and no or the Colts are gonna
Speaker 1: be off to a three and one start to the
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers era and Frank Reich getting that going um
Speaker 1: and they've dealt with some adversity themselves here in the
Speaker 1: early part of the season's Jonathan Taylor's had to become
Speaker 1: their bell cow back. But let's talk about the Bears
Speaker 1: a little bit. I mean, so many times and I
Speaker 1: can't even tell you, Mike, the last time I can
Speaker 1: ever recall an NFL history where a team has made
Speaker 1: a quarterback change and started the season three and oh.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't happen that often. But Mattnege saw something
Speaker 1: that he wanted to make the change. And as they've
Speaker 1: always said, if you make a change, that's your quarterback.
Speaker 1: Now you're not you can't be playing this game where
Speaker 1: you go back to, you know, Mitchell Dubiski in the
Speaker 1: second half against the Colts. You've got to give Nick
Speaker 1: Foles a chance now to take this offense and run
Speaker 1: with it. The Bears, this is a big year for them,
Speaker 1: and the fact that they are off to three and
Speaker 1: o now, however they got there, you can't take that
Speaker 1: for granted. Yeah, absolutely, the Bears. The Bears have been
Speaker 1: a team that has won games in the clutch. I
Speaker 1: mean that, that's the bottom line. They should have lost
Speaker 1: in Week one at Detroit. We all know that the
Speaker 1: winning touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford was in DeAndre Swift's
Speaker 1: hands in the end zone with six seconds left, and
Speaker 1: he dropped it. So the Bears escaped with a win.
Speaker 1: The New York Giants come trying to come back from
Speaker 1: seventeen to nothing. They get it all the way to
Speaker 1: seventeen to thirteen there in the red zone on the
Speaker 1: final possession, Bears hold them out of the end zone,
Speaker 1: get the victory there to go to two and oh.
Speaker 1: And then as you mentioned the quarterback change, Nick Foles
Speaker 1: comes off the bench leads them back from sixteen points
Speaker 1: down in the fourth quarter. They come back and beat
Speaker 1: Atlanta on the road, and as I mentioned before, also
Speaker 1: getting the interception of Matt Ryan on Atlanta's last ditch
Speaker 1: effort going the other way. So the Chicago Bears. The
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears are three and oh. I honest, I personally
Speaker 1: think they now have a better quarterback in place. With
Speaker 1: making the switch to Folds, I think they become a
Speaker 1: much more dangerous team. And but this is going to
Speaker 1: be an interesting test for them against the Colts. Another
Speaker 1: interesting one in the North, New Orleans at Detroit. Now,
Speaker 1: both of these teams are one and two, New Orleans
Speaker 1: having obviously just lost to the Packers. The um Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions were oh and two, but got a huge boost
Speaker 1: last week going out to Arizona, beating the previously two
Speaker 1: and oh Arizona Cardinals with a last second field goal
Speaker 1: in a bit of a surprise the Detroit Lions here West,
Speaker 1: this is this is a game. This is a game
Speaker 1: the Lions can say, you know, to the Bears and
Speaker 1: the Packers on top of the division right now, Hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be right there with you. Yeah. And I
Speaker 1: don't want to get too far ahead of myself because
Speaker 1: I'm guessing you're gonna ask me about the vikings to
Speaker 1: trying to you know, get their first win against the
Speaker 1: own three Houston Texans. But this is why Week three
Speaker 1: is always so compelling to me, because this is where
Speaker 1: the narratives really get to be told for how this
Speaker 1: season is going to go. New Orleans Saints. Man, this
Speaker 1: is a critical game for them at this point. Again,
Speaker 1: we're talking about high expectations just a second ago with
Speaker 1: you know, the Bears and some of the things that
Speaker 1: they're dealing with. Right now. The Saints feel like they're
Speaker 1: a super Bowl contender. So now you're having to go back,
Speaker 1: you know, on the road here against the Detroit team
Speaker 1: that's coming off a huge moral victory, uh in beating
Speaker 1: a really stout, offensively driven you know how I've talked
Speaker 1: about the Cardinals so far, uh team and winning that game.
Speaker 1: It's a pivotal contest, not only for the division ramifications
Speaker 1: for the Packers, but seeing how this NFC is going
Speaker 1: to shuffle out as a whole as a conference. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Matthew Stafford, I mean, Joe Lombardi knows him
Speaker 1: over on the Packer here on the same side of things.
Speaker 1: I mean, they know how dangerous this guy can be.
Speaker 1: And certainly Adrian Peterson appears to be the guy. They've
Speaker 1: put all these resources into running back. But they're going
Speaker 1: with Peterson quite a bit and seeing if they can
Speaker 1: ride him to a second victory. Now, isn't that something
Speaker 1: For all of the turnover that the Lions have had
Speaker 1: in their backfield over the last seven eight years? They
Speaker 1: draft guys, you know, all going back to job at best,
Speaker 1: and he has the concussions, and then more recently carry
Speaker 1: On Johnson. You think he's gonna be the guy? And
Speaker 1: now who is the guy in the backfield behind Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 1: It's Adrian Peterson. As you said, I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: They're gonna ride him to be that balance with Matthew
Speaker 1: Stafford's passing game, and see where it takes him. Well,
Speaker 1: you brought it up west, the other one in the
Speaker 1: NFC North to oh and three teams. I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody would have thought either team would be oh and three.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Vikings in the Houston Texans. Houston has had
Speaker 1: an absolutely brutal schedule to start the season, so I
Speaker 1: cut them a little bit of slack there, but still
Speaker 1: that's a playoff team from a year ago that nobody,
Speaker 1: nobody really would think they're oh and three. And the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings, I've I've never seen a Mike Zimmer defense
Speaker 1: strong goal like the Minnesota Vikings are struggling on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball right now. Both of these
Speaker 1: teams desperately need a victory. Yeah, desperately. I mean there's
Speaker 1: no other way to put it. Bill O'Brien's guys, As
Speaker 1: you said, I mean, yeah, they've had a tough schedule,
Speaker 1: But the problem is if you lose those games and
Speaker 1: you're already three games in the whole, it's difficult to
Speaker 1: pull yourself out of that, not only in the win
Speaker 1: lost column, but just trying to convince yourself that you know,
Speaker 1: you are a good football team. So this is gonna
Speaker 1: be a big challenge for them, especially with the contract
Speaker 1: that they gave to Shaun Watson and the moves that
Speaker 1: they made. They didn't make those moves thinking that they
Speaker 1: were going to start the season oh and three. Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien felt like those are the moves they need to
Speaker 1: kind of push them forward to being more than just
Speaker 1: a playoff team, to be a real legitimate contender. As
Speaker 1: far as the Vikings are concerned, Mike, it's just really
Speaker 1: difficult to put your finger on exactly what has gone
Speaker 1: wrong there. I mean, certainly the defense has been an issue,
Speaker 1: but defense has been an issue in a lot of
Speaker 1: places here the first three weeks this season offensive football,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's gonna be so many records set right now.
Speaker 1: If they're gonna keep this trajectory, and if officials are gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, officiate the games that they have so far, uh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be very bizarre. But I mean when
Speaker 1: you go back and you look at the last seven years,
Speaker 1: however long now Zimmer has been in Minnesota, I think
Speaker 1: their worrist ranked defense finished maybe overall. I mean, they
Speaker 1: they've just been so consistent. But the young secondary that
Speaker 1: we talked about before Week one that's been an issue
Speaker 1: for them so far in in some ways, I think
Speaker 1: that's to be expected. Yeah, and last week was a
Speaker 1: real gut punch, frankly for the Minnesota Vikings. They were
Speaker 1: playing at home, They had a two score lead in
Speaker 1: the second half on the Tennessee Titans. Dalvin Cook was
Speaker 1: having a big game, their rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: was having a big game. Things were really looking up.
Speaker 1: And then that defense just couldn't hold hold off the Titans.
Speaker 1: And uh, and Stephen Gustkowski drills a couple of monstrously
Speaker 1: long field goals and Tennessee escapes Minneapolis with a with
Speaker 1: a thirty one to thirty victory to drop the Vikings
Speaker 1: to oh and three. This is uh, this is a
Speaker 1: gut chet game for Minnesota, no question about it, you know,
Speaker 1: with with the way they lost last week and what
Speaker 1: they're facing trying to avoid oh and four. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: to roll it forward though, Mike, I mean, this is
Speaker 1: why this game Monday night is so pivotal for the Packers.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is an opportunity to start the season
Speaker 1: four and o and then go into your bye week.
Speaker 1: I think it's a pretty early bye week. I think
Speaker 1: the Packers probably still, if they were being honest, probably
Speaker 1: would like it a few more weeks down the line.
Speaker 1: But it's what's in front of you, and you have
Speaker 1: Davante Adams banged up and Kenny Clark, you have to
Speaker 1: make the most of it. We'll see what happens here.
Speaker 1: But I mean the Bears, Lions, and Vikings are all
Speaker 1: in for some ball games this weekend. If the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers can pull another game out, they're sitting okay,
Speaker 1: going as you always say, the end of the first
Speaker 1: quarter pole of the season. Yes, the quarter We will
Speaker 1: hit the quarter pole at at the end of Monday
Speaker 1: Nights game. Well, it should be a fun spectator Sunday
Speaker 1: for NFC North football fans. And with that we will
Speaker 1: call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on
Speaker 1: Script and be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team leading up to the big Monday night
Speaker 1: showdown on Packers dot com. For Wes, I am Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning, and everybody, see you next time.