Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am like Spofford, he is West Hodkowitz.
Speaker 1: Were coming to you hear from our studios at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field West. The Packers coming off of another down to
Speaker 1: the wire victory, this one thirty one to thirty over
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore on Sunday afternoon. We'll start
Speaker 1: with what the game came down to, which was a
Speaker 1: two point conversion. John Harbaugh for the Ravens making a
Speaker 1: call I think everybody expected him to make, which is
Speaker 1: you score that touchdown with forty two seconds left on
Speaker 1: the clock. He was going to go for the lead.
Speaker 1: He wasn't just going to kick and play for the
Speaker 1: tie and hope for the overtime. Packers managed to stop
Speaker 1: the two point conversion, recover the onside kick, and they
Speaker 1: escape Baltimore with a victory. There's one scenario in my
Speaker 1: mind where I would have been in favor of them
Speaker 1: going for two, and that would have been if Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur would have used the time out when there's only
Speaker 1: ten defenders on the field and allowed them to have,
Speaker 1: you know, basically no time outs left in forty two
Speaker 1: seconds left on the clock. The Packers didn't go that
Speaker 1: direction for them to score, still have one time out,
Speaker 1: forty two seconds on the clock and Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.
Speaker 1: I didn't understand it. I don't think I'm going to.
Speaker 1: But as I said to some of our insider inbox readers,
Speaker 1: I guess I really don't care. This was the decision
Speaker 1: that John Harbaugh wanted to make. It was very aggressive,
Speaker 1: and this is why it's called aggression because it ultimately
Speaker 1: didn't work out for them. You'll go into this probably
Speaker 1: in a little bit with um what imagine it'll be
Speaker 1: a big part of your you know what you might
Speaker 1: have missed column this week. But you know you're in
Speaker 1: a position where you have Tyler Huntley there as your
Speaker 1: backup quarterback. Young man has played really well. Former undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent. This guy's got a lot of talent. You're
Speaker 1: putting him in a winning time situation. Though, I guess
Speaker 1: if that was Lamar Jackson, maybe I understand it a
Speaker 1: little bit more. But it's just what he had done
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago against Pittsburgh with Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: that quarterback, he went for two in very similar circumstances.
Speaker 1: So a young guy in that situation as well as
Speaker 1: he played. Of course he's going from Mark Andrews. That's
Speaker 1: what he's done this entire game. So for Hollywood Brown
Speaker 1: to be open in the back of the end zone
Speaker 1: as inexcusables, that seems like when you look at it
Speaker 1: on film, you understand what he's thinking with the basically
Speaker 1: a half second, second and a half to make that decision.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: held onto this victory. They get to number eleven, they
Speaker 1: clinched their third consecutive NFC North title. But for the
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens, this is just something they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: deal with. It's the way the the you know, the
Speaker 1: dice sort of rolled for them, and you know for
Speaker 1: the Packers that it turned out favorably. Yeah. Well, on
Speaker 1: the two point play, we saw Darnell Savage from his
Speaker 1: safety spot. As soon as Tyler Huntly started a roll
Speaker 1: to the right, Mark Andrews was lined up, was not
Speaker 1: lined up as the tight end was lined up split
Speaker 1: out to the right with Eric Stokes on him. Darnell
Speaker 1: says just sold out to uh to get over there
Speaker 1: to Andrews, and after Andrews had had obviously a big
Speaker 1: day against Savage against other guys, Savage was able to
Speaker 1: get the slight deflection on that ball as he cut
Speaker 1: across the field. The ball then bounced off of Eric
Speaker 1: stokes shoulder and the past was incomplete. As you said, Hollywood,
Speaker 1: Brown was was open in the back of the end
Speaker 1: zone because of the area that Savage had vacated. But
Speaker 1: Huntley never looked at him. He was going to Andrews
Speaker 1: all the way there. And for a guy who had
Speaker 1: such a huge day, the Packers were finally able to
Speaker 1: uh to stop him. When it mattered the aggression of
Speaker 1: the of the Baltimore Ravens, it was. It was evident
Speaker 1: right from the opening series of the game, right, I
Speaker 1: mean the they go fourteen plays, or they had gone
Speaker 1: thirteen plays. The fourteenth play is fourth and goal from
Speaker 1: the three yard line, and instead of just making sure
Speaker 1: you get some points after that long drive that takes
Speaker 1: half of the first quarter, um John Harbor decides to
Speaker 1: go for the touchdown. Devandre Campbell makes a great play
Speaker 1: chasing Huntley on the scramble, gets him for the sack,
Speaker 1: and the Packers keep the Ravens off the board on
Speaker 1: that possession. So the way the game started the way
Speaker 1: the game ended, John Harball was was going for broke
Speaker 1: no matter what. Um with the team that he had
Speaker 1: against the Aaron Rodgers lead Packers. And yeah, he'll I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, he'll be second guest about it for for
Speaker 1: a long time, for for several decisions. But um, but
Speaker 1: the Packers made for all the struggles they did have
Speaker 1: at different moments. Defensively, the Packers made a few key
Speaker 1: plays in this ball. Yeah, and Hardball was in that
Speaker 1: seat for the last thirteen years for a reason. Obviously
Speaker 1: he's won a Super Bowl there, He's had a lot
Speaker 1: of success. But you know, I I understood going for
Speaker 1: it early in the game. The only reason for that
Speaker 1: is because field position. We're starting to see what the
Speaker 1: benefit of that can be if you not only can
Speaker 1: just go for it and then you know, if you
Speaker 1: don't get it, you're still pinning them back at their
Speaker 1: own five. In this case, I think it ended up
Speaker 1: being the six after this s act and Green Bay
Speaker 1: punted the ball back punt really doesn't work out. The
Speaker 1: Ravens are able to get some points after that. The
Speaker 1: part of it that I think is getting more confusing
Speaker 1: for me is what you saw with the first and
Speaker 1: five situation, which would have been in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: I believe, where they get the full start and then
Speaker 1: they end up going for it because it becomes fourth
Speaker 1: and six or whatever on their own twenty eight or
Speaker 1: twenty nine, and then green Bay gets the ball there.
Speaker 1: Coaches are getting pretty risky with this. We saw it
Speaker 1: with Sean McVeigh a number of weeks ago as well.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot to be said for putting
Speaker 1: your foot down on the gas pedal and showing that
Speaker 1: you have faith in your offense. But you also have
Speaker 1: to see the big picture with this thing too. You
Speaker 1: don't want to have a game where it's just okay,
Speaker 1: you've got six field goals and out of you know,
Speaker 1: potentially being able to get maybe you know, three touchdowns
Speaker 1: out of that, you end up with eighteen points. I
Speaker 1: I understand that aspect of it, but it is this
Speaker 1: fine line that teams have to walk in for Green
Speaker 1: Bay's perspective, four for five in the red zone, being
Speaker 1: able to punch the ball in that really is what
Speaker 1: came down to being the biggest difference in this game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just want to go back one more thing and
Speaker 1: then we'll move on. But see, it's interesting you and
Speaker 1: I have different perspectives on this because to me, the
Speaker 1: the decision for me that was harder to understand was
Speaker 1: the one at the beginning of the game, the fourth
Speaker 1: and goal from the three yard line. And I was
Speaker 1: having this discussion with my son Robbie, whom you know,
Speaker 1: he's uh, he's home for the holidays from graduate school,
Speaker 1: so we've been talking a lot of football, and he
Speaker 1: he fed me a great line which I'm gonna use
Speaker 1: here on the show because you mentioned, you know that
Speaker 1: fourth and goal from the three, and you're talking field position.
Speaker 1: Points are permanent, field position is temporary. How does that
Speaker 1: decision by hardball look if on the very first third
Speaker 1: down of Aaron Rodgers with Davante Adams wide open, if
Speaker 1: he hits that pass, then what does that decision look like? Right?
Speaker 1: The field position is a completely temporary thing and early
Speaker 1: in the game. To me, and you know, maybe I'm
Speaker 1: just conservative and thought in in this type of this
Speaker 1: type of decision making, I just I want to get
Speaker 1: points on the board early in the game. Now, to me,
Speaker 1: a fourth and one situation, fourth and one I'll almost
Speaker 1: never fall to coach for wanting to go for it
Speaker 1: because your whole playbook is open. You can run, you
Speaker 1: can throw, you can do whatever you want with your quarterback.
Speaker 1: Anything more than fourth and one, to me, is a
Speaker 1: lot harder to convert than than than than people realize.
Speaker 1: So um but I but I totally expected. As we
Speaker 1: were watching that game with the Ravens driving for what
Speaker 1: was looking like the tying touchdown, and we were talking
Speaker 1: about it as was happening, we knew, like the Ravens score,
Speaker 1: Harball was going for two, He's going for the lead
Speaker 1: here and uh and unfortunately the Packers were able to
Speaker 1: stop that, that that biggest play that mattered and escape
Speaker 1: with a win. Yeah, fourteen play drive. That's the other
Speaker 1: side of this. As you get down seventy yards, you
Speaker 1: do want to get some points out of that. So
Speaker 1: it's the decision every coach is going to have to make.
Speaker 1: I just feel like with having a young quarterback in
Speaker 1: there as well as Hunley played, there are opportunities for
Speaker 1: them to take points and they didn't do it. I
Speaker 1: think that's probably the aspect of it. Because you talk
Speaker 1: about fourth and one in the Playboo being opened Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson's on the field former NFL and yeah, they I
Speaker 1: totally agree if Lamar Jackson's the quarterback, to me that
Speaker 1: the decisions are potentially different to it's. It's just a
Speaker 1: different mindset in terms of in terms of what you
Speaker 1: have to work with. Their on the offensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. UM, this Packers offense now west despite Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers basically not practicing over a month, this Packers offense
Speaker 1: has put up thirty plus points in four straight games. UM,
Speaker 1: it's pretty remarkable what's going on. Rogers has thrust himself
Speaker 1: right into the thick of the m v P conversation.
Speaker 1: The Baltimore Ravens did everything in their power and this
Speaker 1: is what my what you might have missed video clips
Speaker 1: are focused on. They did everything in their power to
Speaker 1: take Davante Adams out of this game with with bracket coverage,
Speaker 1: double teams, UM, even a triple team in a sense
Speaker 1: on one play. If you want to go to the
Speaker 1: website and check out that clip that's in my piece
Speaker 1: the UM. But the Packers responded. They ran the ball
Speaker 1: not with big numbers, but with efficient numbers against the
Speaker 1: top ranked run defense in the league. And Marquez Velde
Speaker 1: Scantling had um. In my opinion, it was Marquis's best
Speaker 1: game of the season. I know, statistically, I think he
Speaker 1: had more yards in Minnesota with seventy plus yard touchdown.
Speaker 1: But the plays that the plays that MVS made in
Speaker 1: this game. He was a big time performer in a
Speaker 1: big time game when the Packers needed him. And that's
Speaker 1: really good to see because it was the route tree, right.
Speaker 1: I wrote about this after the game. It's the fact
Speaker 1: that he's showing you his growth as a receiver, not
Speaker 1: just being a guy that runs four three whatever and
Speaker 1: can get over the top of a defense and really
Speaker 1: make teams pay. He was making, you know, these slant
Speaker 1: routes that the leven yard touchdown pass was a thing
Speaker 1: of beauty. He's extending for the end zone. Great, great
Speaker 1: play by him. There was a huge reason why Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers was so excited about it. Yes it was number
Speaker 1: four forty two when you could just see, you know,
Speaker 1: wanting to get that confidence back an MVS that he
Speaker 1: felt like that was a pivotal moment and honestly it
Speaker 1: didn't produce points. But that twenty four yard catch that
Speaker 1: he had on kind of that post that is one
Speaker 1: of the more beautiful pass and catches you're gonna see
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. Everybody has showed the skycam
Speaker 1: view of Rogers throw on that. I don't know how
Speaker 1: he throws that. Yeah, the one, the one right before half,
Speaker 1: right before halftime. There's there's a triangle of Baltimore defensive
Speaker 1: backs there and there is just a sliver of a
Speaker 1: green helmet in white uniform and Rogers puts it through
Speaker 1: three defenders where only his receiver can catch it, and
Speaker 1: mark Quisvelda Scanty makes a nice play on the ball.
Speaker 1: It was a thing of beauty. Yeah, the I took
Speaker 1: a closer look at that one on film and what
Speaker 1: I noticed because I was like you, I'm like, how
Speaker 1: does Rogers even try to throw that ball? Right? Well,
Speaker 1: what happened on that play is actually that was another
Speaker 1: play where Davante Adams is getting double teamed from the slot.
Speaker 1: The guy who was lined up across from mvs UM
Speaker 1: on that play actually drops off to double atoms and
Speaker 1: it's a linebacker who's dropping into coverage to pick up
Speaker 1: MVS going down the seam. In my mind, Roger sees
Speaker 1: MVS against a linebacker. I'm given my guy a shot
Speaker 1: to make a play that was just it was. It
Speaker 1: was like a split second thing, like boom linebacker on
Speaker 1: eighty three, that's where the ball is going. But the
Speaker 1: throw was absolutely perfect because the coverage by the linebacker,
Speaker 1: who was pretty darn good, Rogers snuck that one in there. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the Packers weren't able to get any points out of
Speaker 1: that drive, but it's certainly an example of where Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers is the level that he is playing at right now.
Speaker 1: I know it seems like every game we see early
Speaker 1: on first quarter, first drive, maybe second drive, we see
Speaker 1: a throw that a thrower two that are off here
Speaker 1: there mentioned the one to Adams on the very first
Speaker 1: third down of the game. Right, of course he'd like
Speaker 1: to have that throwback. He's not practicing. It seems to
Speaker 1: just take a couple of throws something to get him
Speaker 1: into a rhythm. But once he gets into that rhythm.
Speaker 1: The Packers scored four touchdowns in a span of five drives.
Speaker 1: The only one they didn't was the two minute drive
Speaker 1: at the end of the first half in that span.
Speaker 1: When you can when you can put up suddenly four
Speaker 1: touchdowns through that middle stretch of a game like that,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be in position to win a lot of
Speaker 1: football games. And and Aaron Rodgers is just he He's
Speaker 1: at a in a different world right now. Rogers is
Speaker 1: so good at this, Mike, And I've noticed this more
Speaker 1: this year because there hasn't been the practices. He's like
Speaker 1: a great championship boxer fighter where he uses that first
Speaker 1: round and he really finds his range against the defense.
Speaker 1: And yes, he would have loved to have had that
Speaker 1: Adams you know pass, certainly he talked about that that
Speaker 1: floater he just missed Allen Lazard on late in the game.
Speaker 1: But once he starts to diagnose what the defense is
Speaker 1: giving you, the way he's able to lock in. I
Speaker 1: think about that Tyler Davis passed in the scene that
Speaker 1: Matt Laflour was talking about. You know, he sped up
Speaker 1: that route and sped up his throw and how he
Speaker 1: unleashed that thing based on how the safeties were basically
Speaker 1: playing Davis to be able to sneak that one in
Speaker 1: there for twenty two yards. There's no one like him
Speaker 1: in the NFL, and there hasn't been anyone like him
Speaker 1: in that regard and how he's able to manipulate what
Speaker 1: he's seeing Defensively, I thought that was the one issue
Speaker 1: that the Ravens had. I really like what they did
Speaker 1: defensively in this game. I understand why they defended Davante
Speaker 1: Adams the way they defended him. I think I would
Speaker 1: have come off that a little bit though in the
Speaker 1: second quarter into the third quarter, or at least tried
Speaker 1: to mix it up, because once Rogers was pretty much
Speaker 1: dialed into the fact that Okay, we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: scheme Adams up here, he was able to start getting
Speaker 1: going with foul, the Scantling and some of these other receivers.
Speaker 1: It isn't just that Aaron Rodgers is putting out other
Speaker 1: worldly numbers right now. It's the fact that the last
Speaker 1: two weeks he's done it by passing to like eight
Speaker 1: different receivers. The Packers offense is finding its rhythm again
Speaker 1: and quickly. Just to close on this, the running game,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna wow you in terms of the statistics.
Speaker 1: That was one of the best rushing performances Green Bay
Speaker 1: has had this season. Because they're going up against the
Speaker 1: top rank run defense in the National Football League and
Speaker 1: they ran north and south against that thing, and especially
Speaker 1: in the third quarter. I felt like that's what really
Speaker 1: allowed them to establish their rhythm. That what that Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones was able to do out there. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: had posted a story Monday on our website if fans
Speaker 1: want to check that out. I took a closer look
Speaker 1: at the at the rushing and look not not including
Speaker 1: Rogers rushing yards, which was you know, a kneel down,
Speaker 1: scramble or broken play. You know, you take that out
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones, A J. Dillon, the one jet sweep to
Speaker 1: Alan Lizard, twenty one designed handoff runs. Those twenty one
Speaker 1: runs produced eighty five rushing yards. Well, that's that's what
Speaker 1: the Ravens have been allowing, was eighty five rushing yards.
Speaker 1: That's why they're their number one in the league against
Speaker 1: the run. But you take a closer look at that,
Speaker 1: and the Packers got those eighty five yards on twenty
Speaker 1: one carries without an explosive run. They didn't have any
Speaker 1: twenty like a twenty or thirty yard run. That excuse
Speaker 1: the average. The longest of those rushes was eleven yards,
Speaker 1: and based on the Packers system of measuring the efficiency
Speaker 1: of the run. Matt Lafleurd explained to us earlier in
Speaker 1: the season. On first down, if you get four yards
Speaker 1: or more, that's considered an efficient run. On second down
Speaker 1: if you get at least half of the yards that
Speaker 1: are needed for the first down. So if it's second
Speaker 1: and six, if you get at least three, that's that's
Speaker 1: considered an efficient run. And then on third down, it's
Speaker 1: a matter of obviously converting for the run to be
Speaker 1: considered efficient. Those twenty one designed hand us I was
Speaker 1: talking about, the Packers got an efficient run fourteen out
Speaker 1: of twenty one times, and they were actually at fourteen
Speaker 1: out of nineteen until the very last two when they
Speaker 1: were trying to to uh to chew up some clock
Speaker 1: later in the game. So um to have that level
Speaker 1: of efficiency even though there weren't big numbers running the
Speaker 1: ball against the top ranked run defense, I thought that
Speaker 1: said something about where this Packers run game is considering
Speaker 1: all the issues on the offensive line that we've talked
Speaker 1: about all season long, I think it's a good sign
Speaker 1: going into the playoffs. Can I make one last comment too,
Speaker 1: on the the structure of this offense right now where
Speaker 1: it's at, because this is something that really stood out
Speaker 1: to me. By the time the game ended, Packers have
Speaker 1: just been besieged by injuries this year on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball, but specifically offensively. When you look at
Speaker 1: all the knicks that the offensive line has taken, the
Speaker 1: fact that you've lost Robert Tonyan, Randall Cop has his
Speaker 1: best quarter of the season, then he goes out with
Speaker 1: the growing injury and ends up or the core injury
Speaker 1: and ends up on I R. What really stands out
Speaker 1: to me the most is this team kind of like, ah,
Speaker 1: how would huh? I say this, like a butterfly sort
Speaker 1: of shedding its cocoon a little bit. Every single time
Speaker 1: they've had an injury, it's hurt them, but it hasn't
Speaker 1: really all come at the same time. They lost Billy Turner,
Speaker 1: here comes Dennis Kelly, they lost you know, Josh Myers. Well,
Speaker 1: there was Lucas Patrick. They lose Randall Cop. Well, now
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard's back from the shoulder injury. It's very interesting
Speaker 1: to me that while they have had injuries and it's
Speaker 1: been pretty consistent, it hasn't been at one exact moment,
Speaker 1: And I feel like that's allowed this offense to kind
Speaker 1: of evolve a little bit. So, yeah, it ends up
Speaker 1: being MVS in this game. It was Lazard last week.
Speaker 1: You've seen these different offensive linemen step up. They've been
Speaker 1: able to actually develop some chemistry with each other amidst
Speaker 1: the chaos. Yeah. And and to me, I think that's
Speaker 1: one thing that down the stretch here, with the versatility
Speaker 1: and mallability of this offense, I think it's really gonna
Speaker 1: end up helping them. That's another line. I'm gonna steal
Speaker 1: chemistry amidst the chaos. I like that. That's that's a
Speaker 1: good one. You got it. One. A little bit of
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Speaker 1: Cousin Subs we believe in better. Okay, two other topics
Speaker 1: I want to get to here before we talk about
Speaker 1: the big picture in the NFC. One is Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 1: I thought had some very interesting words in terms of
Speaker 1: his analysis of the defensive struggles at the end of
Speaker 1: the game. On Sunday with the Packers on four Sunately,
Speaker 1: after the defense got the fourth down stop in Baltimore territory,
Speaker 1: the offense was not able to get the touchdown that
Speaker 1: would have made it a three score game. Field goal
Speaker 1: kept at a fourteen point game, so just two scores,
Speaker 1: and the Ravens were able to get those two scores
Speaker 1: on their final two possessions. Matt Lafleur was he was
Speaker 1: pretty frustrated, Um, you know, for a for a victory
Speaker 1: Monday press conference. He was a little grumpy, and that
Speaker 1: that's and that's okay. I when I think when he
Speaker 1: looked at the film and he saw he commented on
Speaker 1: what he felt like the defense not being always ready
Speaker 1: at the snap, guys not guys not getting into Sometimes
Speaker 1: it was the call not getting in. Times sometimes it
Speaker 1: was guys just not showing the urgency playing with playing
Speaker 1: with the urgency and aggressiveness that he was hoping for
Speaker 1: in some of those situations, particularly third down, particularly the
Speaker 1: fourth down conversion on the past to Mark Andrews. You know,
Speaker 1: a fourth down stop there in that situation would have
Speaker 1: essentially sealed the ball game. UM, Packers are for for
Speaker 1: as as much as this defense They made three key
Speaker 1: plays in this game, the fourth and goal stop early on,
Speaker 1: the fourth down stop in Baltimore territory in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and then the two point conversion stop. Joe Berry's got
Speaker 1: Joe Berry's got some work to do here with his guys,
Speaker 1: because on balance, this was not a performance that they
Speaker 1: would be happy with. No, it was a tough one,
Speaker 1: especially that second half. You know, one of the things
Speaker 1: that kind of keep an eye on two is they
Speaker 1: played more personnel packages in this game than they probably
Speaker 1: have all season. They deployed all of them. They had bass,
Speaker 1: penny nickel, and they played dime quite a bit. I
Speaker 1: think Kevin King took like thirteen snaps of dime. That's
Speaker 1: Packers typically haven't really played that much. They've stayed a
Speaker 1: lot in their nickel packages. Yeah, and King kind of
Speaker 1: replacing Henry Black as the diet as the six defensive back,
Speaker 1: going with an extra corner as opposed to an extra safety.
Speaker 1: Just throw that out. You know. The one thing I thought,
Speaker 1: and this is what they're gonna have to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on, because they're gonna end up you could see
Speaker 1: you know, Kyler Murray again here. You could end up
Speaker 1: seeing Taysom Hill. Certainly we know what happened with with
Speaker 1: Taylor Heinekey when the Packers played Washington. These scrambling quarterbacks
Speaker 1: Man green Bay did a really good job against them
Speaker 1: during the first half of the season, the last two
Speaker 1: games against obviously now Hunley and then before that with
Speaker 1: Justin Fields, those guys being able to get outside the
Speaker 1: pocket and creating plays. Yeah, as you said, the Packers,
Speaker 1: they seemed to after the Heineke game against Washington. The
Speaker 1: Packers really seemed to buckle down against Russell Wilson, against
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, against Patrick Mahomes to a certain extent in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. But then now that now that containing the
Speaker 1: running quarterback has has gotten away from them. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's really about being disciplined and staying within yourself because
Speaker 1: the problem is if you go speed to power and
Speaker 1: you try to, you know, get these tackles off the edges, well,
Speaker 1: now you're opening up the entire canvas for the quarterback
Speaker 1: to be able to step up and make a play.
Speaker 1: That's what Hunley did and that was obviously the big
Speaker 1: offensive adjustment for Baltimore in the second half. You know, overall,
Speaker 1: I actually thought they did a pretty decent job in
Speaker 1: terms of limiting the explosive plays. When they hit them,
Speaker 1: they hit them. But for the most part, you know,
Speaker 1: you look at Hollywood, Brown had ten catches for forty
Speaker 1: three yards, and the explosive players where Mark Andrews, and
Speaker 1: it was the first one very early in the game
Speaker 1: of forty plus yard or otherwise. It was especially on
Speaker 1: those last two drives. It was essentially dink and dunk
Speaker 1: and then Huntley with scrambling. Huntley had seventy three rushing
Speaker 1: yards in the game, but forty five of the seventy
Speaker 1: three were on the last two drives. You'd only run
Speaker 1: for twenty eight yards until the fourth quarters. So they
Speaker 1: were doing the job and then they weren't. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: just had to figure out the adjustment there. So now
Speaker 1: you look at the next upcoming games here, you know,
Speaker 1: depending on what they end up seeing, if ends up
Speaker 1: being Nick Mullins or if they are able to get
Speaker 1: um you know, Baker Mayfield back on Saturday. Obviously Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: We know what the game is kind of there, and
Speaker 1: then certainly you know Jared Goff. So I mean, they're
Speaker 1: not going to be really tested in terms of the
Speaker 1: feet here. These next few weeks. Right, It's something you
Speaker 1: have to keep in the back of your mind. Green
Speaker 1: Bays defense. I know there's a lot of people in
Speaker 1: the inbox already asking about, Hey, is this a concern
Speaker 1: that they've given up this In many points, I'm not concerned,
Speaker 1: mostly because they didn't have Kenny Clark in this thing.
Speaker 1: They still had to find themselves to offensively with the
Speaker 1: way they had to change some stuff in the secondary.
Speaker 1: I think the bigger thing is is just understanding what
Speaker 1: this kind of gone against them here in some of
Speaker 1: these situational type games the last few weeks, and making
Speaker 1: those corrections here as you get ready for the postseason. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I felt I felt the way that game was going
Speaker 1: if they had made Tyler Huntley you have to pass
Speaker 1: the ball from the pocket on those last two drives,
Speaker 1: I don't think he can drive the Ravens twice down
Speaker 1: the field for touchdowns. I think the fact that not
Speaker 1: only could he scramble to run, but get out of
Speaker 1: the pocket and and have the clearer view of things
Speaker 1: and be able to make throws on the run, make
Speaker 1: throws near the boundary, that was the kind of that
Speaker 1: was the kind of thing that made things a lot
Speaker 1: easier on the Ravens, and I think that's what Matt
Speaker 1: Laflu was upset about. You can't rush him like every
Speaker 1: other quarterback because the problem is, even if you beat
Speaker 1: your man, uh you know, we saw it like with
Speaker 1: Tipa's spin move. I mean, even if you get past
Speaker 1: the Honley so elusive, much like Jackson would have been.
Speaker 1: These guys, even if you get up in their face,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean you're sacking them. So that's the one
Speaker 1: thing Green Bay is gonna have to keep in mind
Speaker 1: and certainly have to figure out, you know that the
Speaker 1: ten man on the field deals. You know, they got
Speaker 1: they got some stuff to clean up here. But but certainly,
Speaker 1: as we always say, and as Adrian Amos has talked
Speaker 1: about a couple of times the past few weeks, it's
Speaker 1: easier to learn from these things than a win than
Speaker 1: you know, having a loss. Yeah, no question about it.
Speaker 1: Another thing I want to ask you too, Okay, Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers at four forty two, right, he's tied Brett Farve.
Speaker 1: Congratulations to Rogers, tying far for the most touchdown passes
Speaker 1: in Packers history. No small feat by any stretch of
Speaker 1: the imagination. Who's getting four forty three. It's coming on
Speaker 1: Saturday against the Browns. David Bocking tackle eligible play with
Speaker 1: box tr playing his first game of the season, playing
Speaker 1: really well left tackle. Give the big draft a big
Speaker 1: tight end package. I'll tell you what I thought for
Speaker 1: two seconds on that game on Saturday. On Sunday, I
Speaker 1: was like, you know, if Mercedes Lewis can break another tackle?
Speaker 1: Sure it sure looked like he was. Yeah, um, uh,
Speaker 1: you know what. Let's uh, let's just I'm to play
Speaker 1: the odds here. I'll go with Davante Adams as much
Speaker 1: as I want to say Louis, I just feel like
Speaker 1: maybe DeVante is up for a big play. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is this is kind of funny because I asked you
Speaker 1: this when we were watching the game. We were talking, Okay,
Speaker 1: is it gonna be Adams, is gonna be Lewis? Is
Speaker 1: it gonna be Lazard? Mvs? What happens? If Free is
Speaker 1: Juwann Winfrey, that'd be his first NFL touchdown? Right, So
Speaker 1: then like who gets the who gets the I mean,
Speaker 1: if I'm Juwann Winfrey and Aaron Rodgers is going to
Speaker 1: keep my first touchdown past forever as the record breaker,
Speaker 1: I think I'd be okay with that think so, you know,
Speaker 1: but it's just I just throw it out there because
Speaker 1: it's it's it could happen. I I don't put it
Speaker 1: past I don't put it past anybody getting number four
Speaker 1: or forty three because Rodgers is gonna, Rogers is gonna
Speaker 1: throw to whoever's open. I really respect Rogers for giving
Speaker 1: DeVante number two hundred. Um, I really respect James Jones
Speaker 1: for giving some lucky fan in roight at the Georgia.
Speaker 1: I would I do I think that ball has to
Speaker 1: go to Aaron Rodgers. Oh yeah, I mean I'm saying
Speaker 1: I'm saying that kind of tongue in cheek. You know,
Speaker 1: what if it's what if it's juwann winfree? But I
Speaker 1: do think, I mean if I if I'm if I'm
Speaker 1: win free and my touch, my first NFL touchdown, is
Speaker 1: the record breaker, and it's on Aaron Rodgers mantle for
Speaker 1: the rest of time. That's that's all right, that's all right.
Speaker 1: Quickly before we go, Um, the Packers are eleven and
Speaker 1: three and lo and behold the Arizona Cardinals and the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to fall to ten and four.
Speaker 1: They are in a tie now with this for the
Speaker 1: second best record in the NFC with the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Suddenly the Cowboys are the team that is the most
Speaker 1: dangerous to the Packers in terms of potentially stealing that
Speaker 1: number one seed because the Cowboys would have the tie
Speaker 1: break around the Packers if they would manage to even
Speaker 1: up their record with Green Bay. Because Dallas has only
Speaker 1: lost one game to an NFC opponent that was actually
Speaker 1: in Week one against against Tampa Bay. So um three
Speaker 1: teams that ten and for the Rams going for ten
Speaker 1: and four tonight in their rescheduled game against Seattle. The
Speaker 1: Packers still very much in control of things, but the
Speaker 1: one team that they don't have a tie, don't have
Speaker 1: the tiebreaker on, would be the Dallas Cowboys. And give
Speaker 1: that a couple of weeks. Uh not because I'm saying, oh,
Speaker 1: the Dallas is gonna trip and fall here. But Dallas
Speaker 1: has some tough matchups. They've got two division games against
Speaker 1: Washington and Philadelphia sandwiched around a game with Arizona and
Speaker 1: Arizona team that will be looking to right the ship
Speaker 1: heading into the post. And Arizona is gonna be playing
Speaker 1: at home. I mean, they're gonna want to that's a
Speaker 1: huge game for them. That's about as big as any
Speaker 1: of these matchups are going to get down the stretch
Speaker 1: in terms of buys, in terms of seeding. It's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a critical one, honestly, Mike. The biggest thing
Speaker 1: was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers kind of falling on their face. Uh.
Speaker 1: Talked about it. Stunning final score, not so not so
Speaker 1: much the result. I mean the st the Saint speed
Speaker 1: him earlier in the season. I'm surprised the same it's
Speaker 1: won the game, but I'm more surprised that the final
Speaker 1: score was nine to zero. It wasn't pretty. And then
Speaker 1: they lose Chris Godwin here. Antonio Brown is gonna be
Speaker 1: coming back for them. But I'll tell you what, Mike, Uh,
Speaker 1: this schedule lined up really favorably for Tampa Bay. They're
Speaker 1: they're getting We had talked about it. I didn't expect.
Speaker 1: I didn't expect the Buccaneers to lose again Carolina two
Speaker 1: of the last three weeks with the Jets Sandwich in between.
Speaker 1: That's favorable. So for Green Bay to actually be able
Speaker 1: to get out one game ahead of them right now,
Speaker 1: I think it's really key. We'll see how all this
Speaker 1: shuffles out, but ultimately I have to imagine if you're
Speaker 1: down in the locker room with Matt the floor of
Speaker 1: the messages, we control this. We run the North. Now,
Speaker 1: let's run the conference. And if you can get this
Speaker 1: thing back, you can get that number one seed again. Mike.
Speaker 1: I keep saying it time and time again. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna have an unsaved and unseasonably warm day in the
Speaker 1: NFC Championship game again. You're not gonna be playing in
Speaker 1: front of nine thousand fans again. If you can win
Speaker 1: out and get to home games at lambeau Field in
Speaker 1: the month of January. I really do like the way
Speaker 1: that this line's up for green Back. Yeah. Absolutely, it's
Speaker 1: all out there. It's all out there in front of
Speaker 1: the Packers. It's there for the taking, there in control.
Speaker 1: So so stay in control and take care of business.
Speaker 1: Christmas is almost here, folks, only a few more days
Speaker 1: to shop for holiday gifts. But a great idea for
Speaker 1: you would be Team History and Cliff Crystal's book, The
Speaker 1: Greatest Story in Sports. It's now available at the Packers
Speaker 1: Pro Shop. It's a four volume hardcover book set that
Speaker 1: tells the true complete story of the Packers first Century,
Speaker 1: from humble beginnings to heartbreaks and triumphs. Buy your copy
Speaker 1: online or in store today. The greatest story in sports
Speaker 1: is a girl is a great headline. It's one of
Speaker 1: big you know, Cliffs big lines. I really wish it
Speaker 1: would have been called the Cliff Crystal Manifesto. I really do,
Speaker 1: I really do. But I'm thankful to Cliff. He actually
Speaker 1: signed my book yesterday. Um yeah, just an incredible, incredible project.
Speaker 1: I was thumbing through a getting a chance to read
Speaker 1: just a little bit of it. I'll probably get to
Speaker 1: dive into it after the season ends. It. They did
Speaker 1: a great job with the pictures, the layout, the info boxes.
Speaker 1: It's an amazing production. Check that question about it. With that,
Speaker 1: we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team on Packers dot com for WESTI Mike, Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time. Yeah,