Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joined by the
Speaker 1: one and only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you Hear
Speaker 1: from our studios at Landbouwfield to preview Sunday's Week three matchup.
Speaker 1: It will be a noon Central Time kickoff in Nashville,
Speaker 1: Tennessee between the Packers and the Tennessee Titans, and we
Speaker 1: will talk about the Titans at length here in a
Speaker 1: bit West. But unless you have been living under a rock,
Speaker 1: which is maybe I'll try that someday, live under a rock.
Speaker 1: You are aware that Jordan Love has returned to practice
Speaker 1: for the Green Bay Packers. He was on the practice
Speaker 1: field Wednesday on a limited basis. There was absolutely no
Speaker 1: clarification given whatsoever as to what limited meant. What did
Speaker 1: he actually do at practice? Nobody knows except Jordan Love
Speaker 1: and the players on the but it certainly lends itself
Speaker 1: to belief that there is a legitimate chance Jordan Love
Speaker 1: could get medical clearance by the end of this week
Speaker 1: in order to play against the Titans. Maybe that happens,
Speaker 1: maybe it doesn't. But regardless the fact that this early
Speaker 1: after that knee injury in Brazil. Jordan Love is actually
Speaker 1: back on the practice field doing something within those workouts
Speaker 1: with his teammates, a huge positive sign for Green Bay.
Speaker 2: You and I boarding the buses and saw pollo are
Speaker 2: feeling all over the place of just as much as
Speaker 2: it hurt to lose the opener, please don't let this
Speaker 2: be the end of the Jordan Love story in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four. How the injury looked you saw the replays
Speaker 2: of it. How demoralizing that felt, that hopelessness feeling with
Speaker 2: fifteen seconds ago, that maybe something significant and happening with
Speaker 2: Jordan Love. Love said it as locker. It's still one
Speaker 2: of the most painful things he's ever experienced on a
Speaker 2: football field. But the fact that he's able to get
Speaker 2: on the practice field look as spry as he did.
Speaker 2: I had a video that kind of so quote unquote
Speaker 2: went viral, like all videos do in these day and age,
Speaker 2: but a lot of engagement with it, you know, with
Speaker 2: Jordan bouncing around, dancing around, looking like he's having a
Speaker 2: good time out there, all those things are just so
Speaker 2: welcomed considering how things look less than you know, two
Speaker 2: weeks ago. So we'll see what this all means for Sunday.
Speaker 2: And you know, Malik Willis talked to his locker as
Speaker 2: well on Wednesday, and they're gonna be ready for whatever
Speaker 2: scenario unfolds with this situation. But Jordan Love limited and
Speaker 2: that's all we learned about what he did in practice
Speaker 2: on Wednesday. He was limited, team limited limited. But the
Speaker 2: fact is is that the sire relief and the the
Speaker 2: the bullet that the Packers appear to have dodged with Love.
Speaker 2: You just can't talk enough about just the sire relief
Speaker 2: that comes with that. And then along along those lines,
Speaker 2: it was something I wrote about earlier this week, the
Speaker 2: fact that the Packers were able to create a game
Speaker 2: plan to win without him. It just only adds to
Speaker 2: the excitement of what this team could look like with him.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And so when it comes to Sunday against Tennessee,
Speaker 1: Packers might have the return of Jordan Love or it
Speaker 1: might be the so called revenge tour for Malik Willis
Speaker 1: going up against his former team, a notion that he
Speaker 1: as expected downplayed it said, Hey, he's got nothing against
Speaker 1: you know how things went in Tennessee. You know it's
Speaker 1: an organization that drafted him took a chance on him,
Speaker 1: and Malik Willis is just is thankful for whatever opportunity
Speaker 1: comes his way. So we will see what happens there.
Speaker 1: What we do know is the opponent will be the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans, and they are zero to two after a
Speaker 1: couple of very frustrating losses actually by the identical score
Speaker 1: of twenty four to seventeen, first to the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: then to the New York Jets. And if there's one
Speaker 1: unit that can't really shoulder a heck of a lot
Speaker 1: of blame for the Titans starting zero to two, it's
Speaker 1: that defense. They have allowed just four hundred and thirteen
Speaker 1: yards total in two games, which leads the league. That
Speaker 1: is the fewest yards allowed by any defense in the
Speaker 1: NFL through the first two weeks of the season. This
Speaker 1: is going to be whether it is Love or Willis
Speaker 1: under center, this is going to be a very different
Speaker 1: kind of challenge for the Packers offensively.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the impressive thing about what Tennessee has done
Speaker 2: is they've done this without an interception so far. They've
Speaker 2: achieved this without having like a big sack sort of thing.
Speaker 2: I mean, Harold Landry has three sacks, but It's not
Speaker 2: like it's these name sort of guys that have been
Speaker 2: accomplishing all this. They've been doing it with the sum
Speaker 2: of the whole and Denard Wilson going in there, I
Speaker 2: think it's been such a breadth of fresh air for
Speaker 2: them not to say what Mike Vrabel did all those
Speaker 2: years didn't work. They had a lot of success there too,
Speaker 2: but it just it seems like the direction that this
Speaker 2: thing headed with Brian Calahan taken over as the head
Speaker 2: coach and in giving the reins to Wilson after everything
Speaker 2: that that Baltimore Ravens did last year. Mike, you and
Speaker 2: I have talked about it numerous times. I've never seen
Speaker 2: a coaching staff a particular side of the ball get
Speaker 2: gutted the way that the Ravens did. And we're talking
Speaker 2: head coaches, we're talking defensive coordinators, We're talking about guys
Speaker 2: moving up in the in the scheme of things with
Speaker 2: how dominant Baltimore was during stretches last season. So now
Speaker 2: Wilson comes here, he puts on his own swerve out
Speaker 2: of this thing. As we were talking about with Matt
Speaker 2: Lafleur on Wednesday, guy that kind of comes out of that.
Speaker 2: Greg Williams sort of tree that aggression, you know, wanting
Speaker 2: to get after it, but also very calculated and what
Speaker 2: they've been able to accomplish. So the first two weeks
Speaker 2: and I watched basically all of that Bears game. If
Speaker 2: the Titans could have just played defense the entire time
Speaker 2: and not had to worry about the other two phases,
Speaker 2: they come out of there with a victor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they would have beaten the Bear and might have
Speaker 1: beaten him handily they had. I mean, was that game
Speaker 1: was seventeen nothing?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, you know, I mean the Bears scored twenty
Speaker 2: four on answer to win it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they let that one get away, I mean, bottom line.
Speaker 1: And you know the first two games, both of these
Speaker 1: games the Titans have lost. They have gotten off to
Speaker 1: fast starts. They have built double digit leads. I believe
Speaker 1: in both contests. They have outscored their opponents twenty seven
Speaker 1: to ten in the first half. Yeah, first halves of
Speaker 1: these first two games. You mentioned Landry has the three sacks.
Speaker 1: You have, you have Jeffrey Simmons in the middle of
Speaker 1: that defensive line. He's now paired with is it Tovandre?
Speaker 1: And I get the first name correctly to and Andre Sweat.
Speaker 1: So this is, as Larry Mccaerroan likes to say, this
Speaker 1: is a salty group up front. But where the Titans
Speaker 1: have had trouble is the mistakes on offense and the
Speaker 1: mistakes on special teams. They've had a punt blocked in
Speaker 1: each of their first two games. One of those was
Speaker 1: returned for a touchdown by the Bears by former packer
Speaker 1: Jonathan Owens. Actually, yeah, the other one I can't remember
Speaker 1: for sure if it's set up a field goal or
Speaker 1: a touchdown for the Jets, but led to points for
Speaker 1: the Jets. So two block punts in the first two weeks,
Speaker 1: and then on the offensive side with quarterback will Levis,
Speaker 1: it's just it's been the turnovers. He's turned the ball
Speaker 1: over five times himself, multiple interceptions, multiple lost fumbles, and
Speaker 1: really the plays that have been the killers and that
Speaker 1: have generated so much attention is where Willis has turned
Speaker 1: the ball. I'm sorry, Levis has turned the ball over
Speaker 1: trying to be a superhero.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's under.
Speaker 1: Pressure and instead of instead of just taking a sack
Speaker 1: and you know, living to play another play, he's trying
Speaker 1: to do something miraculous. And against the Bears, it led
Speaker 1: to a wacky shovel pass out toward the sideline that
Speaker 1: was returned for a pick six by Tiger Stevenson against
Speaker 1: the Jets. They were in the red zone, you know,
Speaker 1: in position to score points, and he tries a you know,
Speaker 1: a shovel thing to a running back off to the
Speaker 1: side while he's getting sacked, and the ball ends up
Speaker 1: kind of rolling and bouncing on the ground and the
Speaker 1: Jets recover and the Titans don't get any points out
Speaker 1: of that drive. And you know, Brian Callahan has not
Speaker 1: minced any words in terms of how he feels about
Speaker 1: his quarterback's lack of protection of the football. So that's
Speaker 1: that's the area that the Titans are really focused on here,
Speaker 1: is is getting Levis to play more within himself, you know,
Speaker 1: let the offense do the work. He has been sacked
Speaker 1: seven times. They have issues up front, and that's certainly
Speaker 1: something I'm sure the Packers are looking at here going
Speaker 1: into this game. But but Tony Pollard, Calvin Ridley, these
Speaker 1: guys have weapons. You know, Levis has weapons around him,
Speaker 1: and it's one of those things that you figure it's
Speaker 1: probably just a matter of time before they can start
Speaker 1: to put it together. A little bit more consistently. Hopefully
Speaker 1: the Packers can keep them on that you know, up
Speaker 1: and down inconsistent level for at least another week here.
Speaker 2: The Titans, especially, and I watched the game. As I
Speaker 2: mentioned too, they remind me so much of the Bears offensively,
Speaker 2: where it's like they got all these weapons and a
Speaker 2: young quarterback in an offensive line that's really struggling so far.
Speaker 2: So when you look at the amount of pressure, the
Speaker 2: amount of hits that he's taken, in the amount of takeaways,
Speaker 2: it seems to lend itself very well to what the
Speaker 2: Packers have been doing well defensively through the first two
Speaker 2: weeks of the season. But as Xavier McKinney was discussing
Speaker 2: at his locker on Wednesday, there are so many things
Speaker 2: that give you pause as far as the threats in
Speaker 2: which the Titans can hurt you. Kelvin Ridley has gotten
Speaker 2: his career back on track and he got rewarded for
Speaker 2: it this past offseason. I thought last week against the
Speaker 2: Jets really showed that he is still every bit of
Speaker 2: a dynamic receiver that he was earlier in his career.
Speaker 2: They have Tyler Boyd who's been a consistent performer for years.
Speaker 2: DeAndre Hopkins. You know a guy in Treylon Berk said,
Speaker 2: you and I were talking, what was a potential Packers
Speaker 2: pick three years ago?
Speaker 1: He was ended up being a mid a mid first
Speaker 1: round pick if I correct.
Speaker 2: And then Tony Pollard goes there and while there are
Speaker 2: these questions about ty J. Spears and whether or not
Speaker 2: he's going to be available for this one, not practicing
Speaker 2: due to an ankle on Wednesday, Pollard showed last year
Speaker 2: with Dallas, I mean he is a bellcow back if
Speaker 2: you allow him to be, and they've been feeding him,
Speaker 2: so the number one thing they have to clean up.
Speaker 2: And it was another thing that McKinney touched on for
Speaker 2: everything that's gone wrong for the Titans the first two weeks,
Speaker 2: much like the Packers are doing, they're doing their own research,
Speaker 2: they're doing their own review, They're trying to make their
Speaker 2: own corrections to make sure that you can avoid that
Speaker 2: going into this matchup with Green Bay. From the Packers' perspective,
Speaker 2: it is about generating pressure though, and if Lovice does
Speaker 2: give you an opportunity taking the football away. Five interceptions
Speaker 2: through the first two games of the season, seven all
Speaker 2: of last year combined. The Packers are feeling themselves a
Speaker 2: little bit in that regard the confidence, the swagger is
Speaker 2: there that if the ball is in the air, the
Speaker 2: secondary is going to make a play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I want to get to our keys to
Speaker 1: victory for this game for Green Band just a minute,
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Speaker 2: Can I break in for one second? There? I was
Speaker 2: talking to my dad, my dad, Pahad Avid, listener of
Speaker 2: Packers on scripted. We appreciate your patronage and everything else
Speaker 2: you do to support me. Father.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: He was actually on the fence about whether or not
Speaker 2: you were going to remember the read with how long
Speaker 2: our show went on Tuesday, because I think from what
Speaker 2: Pahad Stats and Info said, we got to the twenty
Speaker 2: six minute mark. Before we got the read in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and usually the show's over by that, so yeah,
Speaker 1: we did. We went pretty long on Tuesday. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about there was there was from
Speaker 1: that game, but yes, I did remember, and we ended
Speaker 1: up having kind of an extra long show on Tuesday there. Well,
Speaker 1: you just brought it up, Wes. With regard to pressure
Speaker 1: defensively for the Packers, I think we both would agree
Speaker 1: that that will be one of the keys to victory here.
Speaker 1: And you know that Packers defensive front is waiting for
Speaker 1: an opportunity like this to get in a little bit
Speaker 1: more of that pin your ears back mode, or at
Speaker 1: least when it gets to say third and seven or
Speaker 1: third nine or something like that, right, because the plan
Speaker 1: has been, you know, to rush to contain Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: and Anthony Richardson, not necessarily rush to sack them. As
Speaker 1: a result, the Packers have just three sacks through the
Speaker 1: first two games of the season, which ranks toward the
Speaker 1: bottom of the league. But that's been partly the result
Speaker 1: of the plan, and I would say plan wise, that
Speaker 1: has worked pretty well when you look at the fact
Speaker 1: that those two quarterbacks, as I said on our last show,
Speaker 1: they combined for only seventy rushing yards through the first
Speaker 1: two games. In at fifty of those seventy rushing yards
Speaker 1: were in the fourth quarter, So in the first three
Speaker 1: quarters of those of the first two games, the Packers
Speaker 1: pass rush plan worked very very well. This will be
Speaker 1: a little bit different. Will Levis does have eight carries
Speaker 1: for seventy four yards on the season, most of those
Speaker 1: being of the scramble variety, so he will take off
Speaker 1: and run. He can take off and run. What I
Speaker 1: caution against in this game is because of everything we
Speaker 1: just previously talked about with will Levis, where the message
Speaker 1: is trying to be pounded into him, don't force the ball,
Speaker 1: don't try to be a hero, only take what's there.
Speaker 1: He may be more inclined than he's ever been before
Speaker 1: to take off and run with the ball if he's
Speaker 1: not seeing what he wants to see when he's in
Speaker 1: the pocket. I think the Packers need to be cognizant
Speaker 1: of that as much as they want to get after
Speaker 1: him and employ a more traditional pass rush plan against
Speaker 1: a quarterback as opposed to the first two weeks. You
Speaker 1: have to kind of be aware of just the situation
Speaker 1: and will Levis is in and how these first couple
Speaker 1: of games have gone for him, because if he thinks
Speaker 1: he has a chance to get the first down with
Speaker 1: his legs, he's gonna take it instead of putting the
Speaker 1: ball in harm's way.
Speaker 2: The consequences are not as drastic for the Green Bay
Speaker 2: Packers if will Levis gets out into the open field,
Speaker 2: as let's say, Jalen Hurts, we saw that ourselves with
Speaker 2: our own eyes in Philadelphia two years ago. Absolutely, but
Speaker 2: the danger is still omnipresent. And I think the big
Speaker 2: lesson that if I'm Jason Rebervich and Jeff Hafflin I'm
Speaker 2: talking to these guys this week is hey, listen, we
Speaker 2: achieved our goals in the first two games of the season,
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of selflessness that went along
Speaker 2: with that. A lot of team mindset played into that.
Speaker 2: But that doesn't mean now is the time to forsake
Speaker 2: your rush lanes or to let your gaps go. You
Speaker 2: still have to rush with a plan. It can't just
Speaker 2: all be going back with your ears here thinking you're
Speaker 2: just gonna be going after a statue. That's not the case.
Speaker 2: So what my message would be, as well as we've
Speaker 2: performed the last two weeks. This is the plan we're implementing.
Speaker 2: This is how we want to go about doing it.
Speaker 2: Stick to that in the rest will work itself out.
Speaker 2: Because here's the thing, Michael, You're right, Will Levis is
Speaker 2: going to be thinking at the beginning of this game,
Speaker 2: all right, clean slight, no turnovers, let's play good football.
Speaker 2: But as the punches and the kicks and everything happens
Speaker 2: throughout the course of the first half and into the
Speaker 2: third quarter and you get into winning time if it
Speaker 2: comes down to it, that's where you start going back
Speaker 2: on what your preset function is. That's where the things
Speaker 2: can lapse a little bit, and that's where the Packers
Speaker 2: have to get to. So, yeah, the first quarter has
Speaker 2: worked out great for so far for the Packers this season.
Speaker 2: They've gotten takeaways, they've gotten stops. If you have the opportunities,
Speaker 2: get them but don't chase them. Is going to be
Speaker 2: the biggest thing here, because on paper, I think the
Speaker 2: way the Packers have performed on scale, this would be
Speaker 2: a game I would expect the Packers to go in
Speaker 2: and win, regardless of who is starting at quarterback. But
Speaker 2: you have to earn it. You have to play smart
Speaker 2: in order to achieve it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you want to be able to keep that turnover
Speaker 1: train going, not just the Packers' defensive turnover train, but
Speaker 1: that offensive turnover train of the Titans, because if you
Speaker 1: can get another takeaway early in this game, yea, you
Speaker 1: put an opponent like the Titans into like, oh here
Speaker 1: we go again mood, Like you know, we haven't gotten
Speaker 1: these things fixed, you know, and this is just gonna
Speaker 1: be just like these other games with the mistakes. And
Speaker 1: if you can force that kind of a mistake early on,
Speaker 1: I think it could go a long way offensively, whether
Speaker 1: it's Love or Willis at quarterback for the Packers. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you'd like to be able. You'd like to be able
Speaker 1: to run the ball like the Packers did against the
Speaker 1: Colts every single week in this league. You'd be a
Speaker 1: very very difficult team to beat. That's not realistic, you know,
Speaker 1: fifty plus carries, you know, two hundred and sixty plus
Speaker 1: rushing yards is not realistic. But if you can get
Speaker 1: enough going on the ground and that really gets your
Speaker 1: play action game going. I mean, I've said it many times,
Speaker 1: Jordan Love was at the peak of his powers in
Speaker 1: the second half of last season. It was when Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones was running the ball really well and the play
Speaker 1: action pass was just open. Stuff was open for Jordan Love.
Speaker 1: So whether it's Love or Willis at quarterback, I think
Speaker 1: the play action game, the play action game is huge
Speaker 1: here against a defense that has had a lot of
Speaker 1: success shutting teams down in the first couple of weeks. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you have to protect the ball. The Packers have done
Speaker 1: a pretty decent job of that. Josh Jacobs has put
Speaker 1: the ball on the ground once in each of the
Speaker 1: first two games, so the the you know, ball security,
Speaker 1: the attention to the ball security there is necessary for him.
Speaker 1: But I think offensively this comes down to the play
Speaker 1: action game for Green Bay.
Speaker 2: Really quickly before and I agree with you on that.
Speaker 2: I love listening to Ben Sermons. We talked to him
Speaker 2: on Wednesday night. I mentioned this here as soon as
Speaker 2: I came back. He always learned something those Brent Ben Simmons,
Speaker 2: the Packers running back his news conferences. Absolutely, because we
Speaker 2: got into the discussion towards the end of his presser,
Speaker 2: remout just exactly what's going on with Jacobs and the
Speaker 2: analogy he used, and maybe he's spit that it's at
Speaker 2: us before and I haven't thought much about it, but
Speaker 2: it was the jaguar analogy, where if jaguar, when he's
Speaker 2: running as fast as they are, they use their tail
Speaker 2: basically to keep their balance when they're cutting fast. With
Speaker 2: running backs, when a guy is moving quickly, that's where
Speaker 2: the arms go up because naturally, without thinking about it,
Speaker 2: that's how your body is responding to make sure that
Speaker 2: you stay balanced. The job of the NFL running backs
Speaker 2: coach and the NFL runner is to still keep that
Speaker 2: ball in tight when those things happen. What you're seeing
Speaker 2: with the Josh Jacobs fumble so far, both of them
Speaker 2: pretty much have been when he's trying to change direction
Speaker 2: and allowing the ball to get away from his body.
Speaker 2: Sermons feels like that's correctable. It's something they want to
Speaker 2: work on with him. But again, it's just something very
Speaker 2: unique to the way he runs. It's also what makes
Speaker 2: him a brilliant running back. It got the Packers so
Speaker 2: many yards over expectation in that game against the Colts,
Speaker 2: and so you tip your half to him on that regard.
Speaker 2: I think this game has won in two different capacities.
Speaker 2: I think it's one on the ground. I think what
Speaker 2: Josh Jacob's dealing with a back injury. Yet, we'll have
Speaker 2: to see where he's at. Emmanuel Wilson Sermons says he
Speaker 2: feels like he's ready for a bigger role, if that's
Speaker 2: what's called upon now that Marshawn Lloyd has gone to
Speaker 2: injured reserve with the ankle. But conversely, Tony Pollard is
Speaker 2: the kind of guy that could give you a lot
Speaker 2: of headaches, especially with the way the Packers and the
Speaker 2: yards that they're giving up per carry right now, because
Speaker 2: he's a plotting kind of back. He's up to one
Speaker 2: hundred and forty four rushing yards on the year, but
Speaker 2: only along right now of twenty six. He's a guy
Speaker 2: that's going to continually try to wear you down. The
Speaker 2: Packers have to curb against that. The other thing where
Speaker 2: Green Bay needs to come through here is protecting the football.
Speaker 2: Tennessee's defense has done so many things well here so
Speaker 2: far except taking away the football. They have one takeaway
Speaker 2: so far this season, tied for twenty fourth in the league.
Speaker 2: Only two other teams have zero so far this year.
Speaker 2: They have one interception. I believe it is no one
Speaker 2: fumble recovery is what it is. No interception So whether
Speaker 2: it's Love, whether it's Malik Willis, regardless of who's carrying
Speaker 2: the football, the Packers need to make sure that thing
Speaker 2: does not get over to the Tennessee Titans because both
Speaker 2: of these games the first two weeks for Tennessee have
Speaker 2: been lost by the turnover margin and the points have
Speaker 2: been generated off them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree with you there. And the other
Speaker 1: thing I will add is I mentioned the block punts
Speaker 1: that Tennessee has has struggled with on special teams. This
Speaker 1: is the kind of game where you have to win
Speaker 1: the special team's battle in some form or fashion. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying the Packers need to get need to
Speaker 1: block another punt by Tennessee, but when a special team's
Speaker 1: unit is struggling the way tennessees is, you can't let
Speaker 1: them get the upper hand on you. In a matchup
Speaker 1: like this, the Packers need to win the special team's battle,
Speaker 1: whether that's Brayden Narvis and having you know, a perfect
Speaker 1: day kicking instead of having the one miss that he's had,
Speaker 1: Daniel Wheelan continuing to do what he's done with with
Speaker 1: pinning opponents inside the twenty yard line with his punts.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe it's it's Keyshawn Nixon or Jaden Reid,
Speaker 1: you know, kickoff return, punt return, you know, making something happen.
Speaker 1: The Packers need to win that phase because they are
Speaker 1: going up against a unit that is struggling and trying
Speaker 1: to fix a bunch of things. So so you got
Speaker 1: to come out ahead there in the in the field
Speaker 1: position battle.
Speaker 2: We know there's no gambling in Bushwood, So let's just
Speaker 2: you know, handshake on this. Yeah, NFL, no gambling happening here.
Speaker 2: What week do you think Keishaw Nixon's finally gonna have
Speaker 2: a real returnable, Like he might return one, but at
Speaker 2: what point, let's say, within three yards of the goal line,
Speaker 2: into the into the end zone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe maybe Thanksgiving Night against Miami or something like that.
Speaker 1: Like I mean yeah, I mean, he's not gonna get.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna get He's not gonna get the opportunities
Speaker 1: unless the kicker just completely mishits.
Speaker 2: I can't wait for the Packers unscripted when we break
Speaker 2: down this new kickoff at the end of the season.
Speaker 2: We made all these changes, all these structural changes. It's like, Hey,
Speaker 2: I'm going to completely renovate my house and I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna live in it. I am gonna redo the cabinets
Speaker 2: and all the appliances and everything like that, and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go lay, I'm gonna go sit in the garage
Speaker 2: for six months.
Speaker 1: Like yeah, this is what though, right, Yeah, they tried,
Speaker 1: they tried something. They tried something that essentially it isn't
Speaker 1: it had. It's not any worse than all the touchbacks
Speaker 1: watching for the last couple of years. Just now the
Speaker 1: touchbacks are you know, the ball is on the thirty yard.
Speaker 1: The one thing, the one thing I'll say where you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, those five yards can make a difference at
Speaker 1: any point, the one thing I'll say. And it sort
Speaker 1: of hit me watching the Monday Night game this past
Speaker 1: Monday night, after the Eagles kicked the field goal against
Speaker 1: the Falcons to go up six, and then they kicked
Speaker 1: the ball off into the end zone, and you know,
Speaker 1: and the Falcons had plenty of time because of the
Speaker 1: drop third down pass and all that. But when you're
Speaker 1: you know, you've you've got a last ditch two minute
Speaker 1: drive and you're starting on the thirty matters and instead
Speaker 1: of the twenty five, it's sort of it's sort of like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, and Obviously, as Matt Lafleur had said in Brazil,
Speaker 1: it wasn't communicated to Nixon to not take that last
Speaker 1: kickoff out of the end zone. He lost about five
Speaker 1: five seconds and about fifteen yards where the Packers could
Speaker 1: have been able to start that final drive on the
Speaker 1: thirty yard line where they were just trying to get
Speaker 1: into hail Mary position, you know. And and conversely, you know,
Speaker 1: Daniel Wheelan pinning the Colts on the five yard line
Speaker 1: on that final drive last week, where they did get
Speaker 1: out into, you know, very close to the hail Mary position.
Speaker 1: If they're if that punt is a touchback on the
Speaker 1: twenty instead of on the five, that final drive perhaps looks,
Speaker 1: you know, looks different there as well. But before we go,
Speaker 1: a quick glance at some other key games that we'll
Speaker 1: be keeping our eyes on in Week three. I think
Speaker 1: the biggest one is a pair of two and oh teams.
Speaker 1: Houston is at Minnesota. Minnesota the only two and oh
Speaker 1: team in the NFC North so far. Houston c J. Stroud,
Speaker 1: the second year quarterback, that offense well, and that defense
Speaker 1: quite frankly, they're you know, they've other than those long
Speaker 1: passes they gave up to Anthony Richardson in Week one,
Speaker 1: Houston's defense has you know, been been pretty tough. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears, you know, their offensive line, as you know,
Speaker 1: has had its struggles and the Texans took advantage of that.
Speaker 1: But a really interesting one at US Bank with two
Speaker 1: two and zero teams in Week three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again Minnesota the way they've been performing so far,
Speaker 2: and you can see the locker room videos how excited
Speaker 2: they are, and I credited Kevin O'Connell a lot of
Speaker 2: that earlier this week, seeing the adjustment is going to
Speaker 2: be important. There was a lot of fervor and there
Speaker 2: was a lot of hype behind Josh Dobbs last year too,
Speaker 2: and they started to turn things around, seeing if they
Speaker 2: can maintain this. It sounds like from what I understood
Speaker 2: that Aaron Jones might already be a little banged up
Speaker 2: already with a hip. I don't think it's anything that's
Speaker 2: going to keep him out, but I mean again, he's
Speaker 2: he's the guy in that backfield and they need weapons
Speaker 2: right now. So the thing I'm most interested to see though,
Speaker 2: is how the Vikings offense just excuse me, that Vikings
Speaker 2: defense handles the CJ Strout effect, because there's something about
Speaker 2: that offense right now, man, where I just think it's
Speaker 2: one of the more exciting units in football. It looks
Speaker 2: like the Joe Mixon thing has been a tremendous signing
Speaker 2: for them. I questioned that at first. I just wondered,
Speaker 2: if you know where Mixing was going with his career,
Speaker 2: if maybe this was getting towards the end. But they
Speaker 2: got everything they need to put points up against you,
Speaker 2: and it'll be a good little track meet over at Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too. Philadelphia is at New Orleans
Speaker 1: interesting there because can the Saints playing at home get
Speaker 1: to three and zero and attract even more attention? Whereas
Speaker 1: Ken the Philadelphia Eagles on a short week going on
Speaker 1: the road, bounce back from coughing that one up at
Speaker 1: home to the Falcons on Monday night, with that with
Speaker 1: that last minute drive by Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2: Did you see that stat on Derek Carr as far
Speaker 2: as the number of scoring drives he started the season with, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's like fifteen straight spots.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it's something crazy.
Speaker 2: Like the next closest is like eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Lynn Kubiak, the the new offensive coordinator for the
Speaker 1: new Orleans Saints. He's already been talked about as a
Speaker 1: head coaching candidate after after two weeks of the Saints
Speaker 1: putting up whatever forty plus into their first two games
Speaker 1: this season.
Speaker 2: Tomara looking like a be still a laves there. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's yeah, there's a lot to like. But yeah, that's
Speaker 2: a huge turnaround for Philly because they're coming off a
Speaker 2: demoralizing loss.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's it's a short week and then they
Speaker 1: have they play on Monday night at home, they have
Speaker 1: to jump on a plane on Saturday go on the road.
Speaker 1: Those are those are challenging situations. Baltimore, the Ravens trying
Speaker 1: to avoid zero to three going into Dallas to play
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. And it's interesting West because when we were
Speaker 1: talking last year, the Packers were in the wild Card
Speaker 1: round going down to Dallas and everything was, you know,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys had, however long of a home winning streak,
Speaker 1: it was et cetera, et cetera. Well, now, combining the
Speaker 1: wild Card game last January with the Cowboys home opener
Speaker 1: last week, they not only have lost their last two
Speaker 1: home games, they have gotten blown out at home in
Speaker 1: their last two games in Dallas, and they are at
Speaker 1: home again facing a Ravens team that that's kind of
Speaker 1: up against it because I know there's a seventh playoff spot.
Speaker 1: I know there's there's the seventeen games now instead of sixteen.
Speaker 1: But zero to three, man, that's a big that's a
Speaker 1: big hole that John Harbaugh and company are trying to
Speaker 1: avoid absolutely.
Speaker 2: And again, as I talked about on Tuesday, show the
Speaker 2: margin for victory in this league and the margin for
Speaker 2: error is so small and narrow. And just look at
Speaker 2: Baltimore to see a good example that people are going
Speaker 2: to make this out to be about Mike McCarthy. To
Speaker 2: some extent, it will because he's the guy that ultimately
Speaker 2: hires as coaches, but the Mike Zimmer defense here. This
Speaker 2: is a huge, huge test for Yeah, big time because
Speaker 2: of what they accomplished last year, you know, for them
Speaker 2: to be able to make this transition this year with
Speaker 2: the expectations that they have and having their their top
Speaker 2: cornerbacks back at least in theory we're going to have
Speaker 2: them back, they they have to be able to respond
Speaker 2: here against Lamar Jackson in this Baltimore offense, very very
Speaker 2: intriguing matchup to see exactly how that plays out.
Speaker 1: Last one to get a quick thought on. Much like
Speaker 1: Houston and Minnesota, where that's an NFC North rival playing
Speaker 1: a team the Packers are going to see later in
Speaker 1: the season, the Detroit Lions are going on the road
Speaker 1: to play Arizona. Yep, that is a team that the
Speaker 1: Packers will face later this season as well. The Lions
Speaker 1: trying to bounce back from the home loss to the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals they fell in Week one, looked awfully good
Speaker 1: in Week two, and the Cardinals seeing if they can
Speaker 1: really get something going with Kyler Murray. And as you
Speaker 1: mentioned on our last show, Marvin Harrison Junior.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect for Kyler Murray, so
Speaker 2: I don't want this to come off as a diss
Speaker 2: but I love all this conversation right now about him
Speaker 2: and how he's playing and what the difference has been
Speaker 2: with him. And I keep telling people over and over again,
Speaker 2: I mean, he was really good his first two years when.
Speaker 1: Tom Clemons was his position, going yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Just want to throw that out there, but he is
Speaker 2: a supernaturally talented guy. It seems like he has some
Speaker 2: great synergy already with Marvin Harrison Junior. Exciting offense again
Speaker 2: another exciting offense in the situation the game they play.
Speaker 2: Seeing this class between the way the Lions like to
Speaker 2: do things and what potentially is there for the Cardinals.
Speaker 2: I think that's gonna be something that'll be uh. We
Speaker 2: won't be able to watch it, but they'll be fun
Speaker 2: for a lot of people to check out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll be uh, I guess trying to would By
Speaker 1: the time we get on the plane, I suppose we'll
Speaker 1: be checking, uh, checking the score, see if we can
Speaker 1: catch some highlights maybe on between Detroit and Arizona.
Speaker 2: But I got one more thing. I love the other
Speaker 2: thing about the Nasprobolack. I did not want to see
Speaker 2: TWOA get hurt. But you know, we all including myself,
Speaker 2: kind of wrote the the you know, the obituary here
Speaker 2: on the Buffalo Bills. And now they are in a
Speaker 2: position to go three and oh here going up against
Speaker 2: the O and two Jacksonville Jaguars amidst all their changes,
Speaker 2: amidst all the questions about Josh Allen and if he's
Speaker 2: overrated or whatever else. Death taxes Buffalo Bills in the
Speaker 2: the AFC East. Now, I just feel like that team
Speaker 2: and what they've built. There's been some guys that have
Speaker 2: come and gone. But in this post, Tom Brady era,
Speaker 2: I think you got to give a lot of respect
Speaker 2: to Sean McDermott for what they've built there.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I'll throw this out as well because we
Speaker 1: were just talking about the Cardinals Week one. The Cardinals
Speaker 1: had a seventeen to three lead in Buffalo US over
Speaker 1: the Bills. They let that get away, and the Bills
Speaker 1: have shown that, you know, they're looking like a team
Speaker 1: that remains a contender. But the Arizona Cardinals, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's about as long a flight as it gets, you know,
Speaker 1: in this league if you're not playing internationally, to go
Speaker 1: from Phoenix all the way to Buffalo and they jumped
Speaker 1: all over those guys and Arizona let that one get away.
Speaker 1: I'm really interested to see what Arizona does at home against.
Speaker 2: The fun Weekend Is games. Absolutely, it's gonna be cool
Speaker 2: to watch.
Speaker 1: With that, we'll call it a rap on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team and everything from Sunday's game in Nashville.
Speaker 1: West and I will both be there. We will have
Speaker 1: it all for you on Packers dot com for Westside Mike,
Speaker 1: thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We will see you
Speaker 1: next time.