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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.

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Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is my trusted colleague West

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Speaker 1: Hodkowits were coming to you here from our studios at

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Speaker 1: lambeau Field, West. We are one day closer to the

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Speaker 1: interim head coaching debut of Joe Philbin. It'll be Packers

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Speaker 1: Falcons at noon Central Time Sunday kick off at lambeau Field.

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Speaker 1: And um, we heard from Joe Philbin for a second

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Speaker 1: time since the decision was made on Wednesday, and I

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Speaker 1: think if there was one really key thing I took

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Speaker 1: out of his address to the media is something that

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Speaker 1: he actually reiterated from his initial chat with the media

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Speaker 1: on Monday, and that is that just because you're changing

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Speaker 1: coaches and maybe you're changing up a few thoughts in

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Speaker 1: the game plan, it doesn't mean there are some magic

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Speaker 1: plays that somebody's going to take a magic pill and

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden things are going to turn around

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Speaker 1: and everything's gonna look different. It still comes down to

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Speaker 1: playing the game the right way, playing it hard, executing,

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Speaker 1: doing things in the crucial situations, and you're one on

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Speaker 1: one matchup, whatever that is, that's what's going to turn

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Speaker 1: this thing around. And that's the message that Joe Philbin

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Speaker 1: has for his football team. Yeah, Mike, and I was

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Speaker 1: handling insider inbox for what would be Thursday, and one

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Speaker 1: thing I wrote in there was, I I look at

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Speaker 1: it no matter if you are the Patriots or the Browns.

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Speaker 1: Every season starts off as a baseline. You're at an

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Speaker 1: average point. The winds you start to move up, the

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Speaker 1: losses you start to move down. When you're looking at

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Speaker 1: just momentum. And as you get more of those wins,

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Speaker 1: it pulls you higher, and as you get more of

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Speaker 1: those losses, it pulls you lower. So as as you made,

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Speaker 1: you know your point there, And as Joe Wit or

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Speaker 1: Joe Philbin said, excuse me, you're not gonna be able

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Speaker 1: to just do something that's just gonna turn everything on

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Speaker 1: its head. But the one thing I think potentially Joe

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Speaker 1: Philbin coming into that head seat now does for this

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Speaker 1: team is allows them to reset a little bit, allows

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Speaker 1: them to potentially change not necessarily the culture, but maybe

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Speaker 1: just some of the momentum, just some of the feel

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Speaker 1: around this team. I don't want to call it a

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Speaker 1: superstition or anything like that, but just doing something a

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Speaker 1: little bit differently to maybe just give you that type

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Speaker 1: of spark. But to your original point, what Joe Philbin

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Speaker 1: was saying, when you're at this point of the season,

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Speaker 1: you're in week fourteen, there's four more weeks left here,

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Speaker 1: You're not going to be able to just do things

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Speaker 1: completely different. You're not gonna be able to just go

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Speaker 1: and change everything about the playbook or the overall scheme

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Speaker 1: because you've spent the last six seven months perfecting it

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Speaker 1: one way. So while they're gonna be some things they're

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Speaker 1: gonna look to streamline, there's gonna be some things they're

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to potentially change up, but maybe some

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Speaker 1: personnel combinations, the overall scheme is going to remain the same.

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Speaker 1: It's just about being effective in a fiship within that

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Speaker 1: same Yeah, another thing that I was interesting that Philbin

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Speaker 1: talked about. He actually talked about it, maybe more so

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Speaker 1: on Monday than he did on Wednesday, but it was

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Speaker 1: in terms of on both sides of the ball, even

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Speaker 1: special teams for that matter, but finding focusing in on

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Speaker 1: those three or four things that I like to call

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Speaker 1: him the hanger hat, on things, the things that everybody's

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Speaker 1: confident in that you can run on either side of

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Speaker 1: the ball in certain situations. And you know, when you

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Speaker 1: apply that to the Packers struggles on third down, which

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Speaker 1: has lasted all season long, it really comes down to

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Speaker 1: the fact that they never found those hang your hat

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Speaker 1: on type of things that, Okay, when it's third and four,

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Speaker 1: this is the concept we're gonna run. Now, nothing's gonna

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Speaker 1: be a hundred percent. But the Packers never found that

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Speaker 1: thing on third down in certain very manageable third down

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Speaker 1: situations that they felt they could rely on for a

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Speaker 1: high probability of success. And and it's easier said than done, obviously,

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Speaker 1: but Rogers I asked him about it at his locker

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Speaker 1: as well, not specifically about third down, but just about

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Speaker 1: Philbin's comment there, and he said, yeah, it's it's a

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Speaker 1: process to find those. We're gonna be working on that

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Speaker 1: this week. And he suggested that it's it's going to

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Speaker 1: take a couple of weeks to, you know, to try

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Speaker 1: to find those. It was almost as though the Packers

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Speaker 1: third down situation was a monster that fed on itself

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Speaker 1: because they just never they never found anything they could

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Speaker 1: sink their teeth into. Yeah, it's a microcosm of everything,

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Speaker 1: to be sure, and and you I don't ever, I

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Speaker 1: don't recall you never played Madden, right like going back

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Speaker 1: to the nineties, never busted out the PlayStation. Okay, but

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Speaker 1: I will say this, and this is completely simplifying everything

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Speaker 1: and dumbing it down and not making myself an NFL

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Speaker 1: head coach, But if you ever played your buddy in Madden,

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Speaker 1: you know that if it was third and four, there's

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Speaker 1: that one play, maybe two plays in the playbook that

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Speaker 1: you could run and you know you're gonna get five

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Speaker 1: yards out of it. And historically the Packers have had

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Speaker 1: some of those that you know, you know, if you

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Speaker 1: need to be able to move the chains the stop

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Speaker 1: wrote with James Jones, like those kind of places where

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Speaker 1: you could run in a hundred times, you know ninety

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Speaker 1: times you're gonna be able to be able to actually

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Speaker 1: convert on it. That's what's lacked this year. Just I

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Speaker 1: don't think they've had to your original point to hang

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Speaker 1: your hat on type plays, the plays that you just

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Speaker 1: know that if you're closing your eyes and throwing the

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Speaker 1: ball out there, that you're gonna be able to complete

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Speaker 1: the pass or you're gonna be able to move the

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Speaker 1: pile to get the first down. That's what's haunted this team.

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Speaker 1: And it's interesting listening to dan Quinn. Dan Quinn, by

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Speaker 1: the way, when it comes to conference calls with the

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Speaker 1: posing head coaches, and I remember this from the past

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Speaker 1: few years because the Packers have played Atlanta a lot,

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Speaker 1: dan Quinn is as good as it gets on conference calls,

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Speaker 1: and and just his honesty, his openness and just looking

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Speaker 1: at the big picture of things. Yeah, you kind of

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Speaker 1: feel like when you're talking to dan Quinn that you're

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Speaker 1: you're like sitting at a ball the beverage or something.

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Speaker 1: When when he's on those conference calls, I totally get

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Speaker 1: what he has a coold Miller light, I have a

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Speaker 1: nice sparkling water and we're just talking ball. And but

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Speaker 1: it was interesting hearing him talk about how maddening was

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Speaker 1: the word that he used. You know, when you look

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Speaker 1: at the sea the season that Matt Ryan has had

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Speaker 1: a hundred and ten passer rating, Julio Jones receiving yards,

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Speaker 1: Austin Hooper is breaking out. You have playmakers on both

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Speaker 1: sides of the ball, but they haven't executed enough. Their

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Speaker 1: run offense is thirty second in the league. The defense

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Speaker 1: didn't respond well enough to losing Dion Jones and Keyan O'Neill.

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Speaker 1: This is the situation they find themselves in. So I

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Speaker 1: think this is a big crossroads for both of these teams. Certainly,

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Speaker 1: you look at Uh, you know, Quinn has already gotten

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Speaker 1: the the go ahead. He's gonna be the coach of

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Speaker 1: the future there uh in Atlanta. They've given him that

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Speaker 1: vote of confidence. But at the same time, both of

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Speaker 1: these teams desperately need to put a win together, not

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Speaker 1: only for their you know, own success, but just to

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Speaker 1: change that momentum because with the Falcons coming in on

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Speaker 1: a four game losing streak, the Packers making a change,

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Speaker 1: only one team can win theoretically, and it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: big for that team going into this final stretch of

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Speaker 1: the season. Yeah, alright, I totally agree with you. There

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Speaker 1: the official headphones of the Green Bay Packers, and at

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Speaker 1: home or here in the stands, we all know that

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Speaker 1: Green Bay fans give it their all and that takes

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Speaker 1: one of the things that we will definitely be keeping

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Speaker 1: an eye on this year as the rest of this

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Speaker 1: season plays out, and certainly the Packers personnel department g M.

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Speaker 1: Brian Gouda Kunts will be watching. As we mentioned on

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Speaker 1: previous shows this week is Okay, who are some of

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Speaker 1: these guys who are going to be part of the future.

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Speaker 1: There are gonna be a lot of personnel decisions made

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Speaker 1: in the offseason here coming up, whether you're talking about

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Speaker 1: free agency, whether you're talking about players to target in

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Speaker 1: the draft, all that kind of stuff. And there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of young players here for the Packers who have

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Speaker 1: an opportunity in front of them over these final four games.

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Speaker 1: And it's not quite the same as the opportunities we

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Speaker 1: talk about in August in preseason games, because yes, those

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Speaker 1: are those are situations you're trying to make an impression,

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Speaker 1: You're trying to make the roster, the fight for roster

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Speaker 1: spots at the end of the summer, all that kind

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Speaker 1: of stuff. But those preseason performance has always come with

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Speaker 1: the caveat of, well, yeah, that's against second string guys

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Speaker 1: and third string guys and these other guys who got

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Speaker 1: cut from those teams, and so what can they really

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Speaker 1: do well this last month of the regular season. This

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Speaker 1: is against full fledged NFL frontline players, and whether you're

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Speaker 1: talking about fullback Danny Vitally, whether you're talking about a

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Speaker 1: young defensive lineman and Tyler Lancaster, a seventh round pick

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Speaker 1: from Southeast Missouri, Kendall Donnerson, who spent the first three

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Speaker 1: quarters of the season on the practice squad. He's now

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Speaker 1: on the active roster for the final four games of

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Speaker 1: this season. Maybe he gets a chance either as an

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Speaker 1: edge rusher and or to do some things on special

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Speaker 1: teams over these last four games. The personnel department is

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Speaker 1: going to have their eye on these guys because you're

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Speaker 1: not going to get a better evaluation of them then

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Speaker 1: you will in these next four weeks. Well, and the

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Speaker 1: thing I really appreciate. I wrote about this an Insider

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Speaker 1: in Box talking to Tyler Lancaster on on Wednesday about

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Speaker 1: you know, this is incredibly important for him. It's almost

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Speaker 1: like a second preseason. Not necessarily, you know, the winds

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Speaker 1: certainly matter here, but it's a chance to ramp everything

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Speaker 1: up against teams and NFL starters and and you know,

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Speaker 1: next week a Bears team that's looking to you know,

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Speaker 1: position itself for the playoffs. Here in the stakes don't

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Speaker 1: get any higher for young players like that. The reality is, Mike,

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Speaker 1: there's fifty three players on this active roster right now.

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Speaker 1: There's seventies six guys that have some type of contract

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Speaker 1: though with the Packers when you factor in the practice

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Speaker 1: squad and injured reserve. So the reason why a lot

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Speaker 1: of these guys have gotten their opportunities has been because

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Speaker 1: of injury. It's been because of how the season has

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Speaker 1: played out. And you're gonna have to go back into

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Speaker 1: training camp next year in jockey for that same position

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Speaker 1: once again. The thing that's tough for the Packers at

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Speaker 1: this point in time you lose Kevin King, he goes

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Speaker 1: on i R for the year with the hamstring injury

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Speaker 1: that he was dealing with Trey Carson goes on I R.

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Speaker 1: So now you're claiming, guys, you have Natrelle Jamerson coming

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Speaker 1: in here, who was a safety for Wisconsin playing cornerback

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Speaker 1: now with the Packers. A guy like that is coming

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Speaker 1: in one to show what he can do and offer

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Speaker 1: the rest of the season. And getting back to the

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Speaker 1: first player you named, Danny Vitally, this is a great

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Speaker 1: opportunity for him. This is a young man that Caiman is,

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Speaker 1: a sixth round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The

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Speaker 1: super back coming out of Northwestern, did everything for the

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Speaker 1: Wildcats and now he's trying to make his way as

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Speaker 1: an NFL fullback. It looked like his place was going

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Speaker 1: to be in Cleveland. Played twenty four games, started nine

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Speaker 1: of them, lead them in special teams tackles last year.

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Speaker 1: While calf injury results in him going on I R.

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Speaker 1: He gets cut in mid October, and here's the Green

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Speaker 1: Bay Packers. The first year since maybe ever, they haven't

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Speaker 1: had a fullback on the roster. They signed to the

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Speaker 1: practice squad. Now he's up played in his first game

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Speaker 1: last week. Tell a guy like Danny Vitally that this

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Speaker 1: is not an important time for him. This is critical

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Speaker 1: because there's only nine of those positions right now in

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Speaker 1: the NFL, and he has one of them. He wants

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Speaker 1: to show the Packers that they had made the right move. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be really curious to see just how

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Speaker 1: this unfolds with the young players. And as I said,

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Speaker 1: the Packers are not going to go into full preseason

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Speaker 1: mode here in terms of in terms of resting the

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Speaker 1: frontline players and resting starters. They're going to work in

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Speaker 1: some of these younger guys to give them opportunities. But

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Speaker 1: this isn't about sitting Aaron Rodgers for three quarters of

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Speaker 1: the games, or or sitting Davante Adams so that he

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Speaker 1: doesn't get hurt. That's not what this is about. So

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Speaker 1: it's a it's it's a balancing act. But you know, my, my,

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Speaker 1: my personal opinion, four or five snaps for a guy

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Speaker 1: like Danny Vitally in a December regular season nf L

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Speaker 1: game is worth twenty five preseason snaps in terms of

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Speaker 1: the evaluation you get because of the competition he's going. Yes,

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Speaker 1: he's going against other guys who made NFL rosters. This

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Speaker 1: isn't the preseason where you don't even know if those

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Speaker 1: guys are ever going to make it in the NFL.

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Speaker 1: Right and look at Lancaster. Tyler Lancaster's very suddenly the

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Speaker 1: Packers starting nose tackle. He started the year on the

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Speaker 1: practice squad. Yeah, when they're in their base. Look now

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Speaker 1: he's he's he's officially a start. He's one of the guys.

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Speaker 1: Kendall Donnerson who you talked to this week. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is a guy that was a seventh round pick

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Speaker 1: for the Packers, had all the intangibles in the world

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Speaker 1: you look for, but was raw and now and making

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Speaker 1: kind of a position transition, being a defensive end from

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Speaker 1: you know, a smaller Division one school, but at two

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Speaker 1: fifty pounds, that's an outside linebacker in the NFL. Exactly. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, Reggie Gilbert made the same transition. Right now,

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Speaker 1: Nick Perry's on I R. Clay Matthews is dealing with

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Speaker 1: an ankle injury. Kendall Donnerson's probably going to be in

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Speaker 1: that rotation Sunday against the Falcons. What can he do

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Speaker 1: with those what can he do with those snaps? And

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Speaker 1: then getting back to original point about fatality, was talking

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Speaker 1: to him about this as well. Listen, it's the NFC North,

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Speaker 1: the guys from the Chicago Land area. He he knows

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Speaker 1: what December football is like. He's been a part of

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Speaker 1: it his entire life, whether it was high school or

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Speaker 1: at Northwestern, So he gets what this is gonna be

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Speaker 1: like here and what the importance is of having a

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Speaker 1: more traditional type fullback in that role in having them

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Speaker 1: available in the NFC North. So he's definitely looking forward

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Speaker 1: to that. And then you look across the board, as

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Speaker 1: you said, it's not about guys that are gonna be sitting,

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Speaker 1: but Jake Kumro is gonna get opportunities now because of

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Speaker 1: the attrition at that position. You know, you're going to

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Speaker 1: get guys like Robert Tanyan that probably are gonna get

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Speaker 1: more looks. You've already seen how you know, Justin mccraize

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Speaker 1: suddenly finds himself back in the starting lineup again after

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Speaker 1: injuries to Lane Taylor and Byron Bell. So, yeah, the

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Speaker 1: way that this season works and the way the NFL

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Speaker 1: and December works for teams that maybe aren't necessarily in

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Speaker 1: the front of the playoff competition, there's still a lot

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Speaker 1: on the line there for the young guys in the

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Speaker 1: roster trying to prove to Brian good at Constant in

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Speaker 1: the front office that come January, come February, come March,

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Speaker 1: I deserve to be in this team's plans. Yeah. If

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Speaker 1: there's one thing I've learned in my thirteen seasons in

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Speaker 1: this chair, so to speak from you know, working for

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Speaker 1: Packers dot Com and and seeing things from the inside

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Speaker 1: and just being around it every day, the the competitive

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Speaker 1: nature of not only these guys as individuals and as athletes,

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Speaker 1: but the competitive nature of the business in general, in

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Speaker 1: terms of what it takes to make a roster or

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Speaker 1: even just get that opportunity to be on the practice squad,

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Speaker 1: and then not that you're hoping for anybody to get hurt,

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Speaker 1: but you're on the practice squad hoping that by the

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Speaker 1: end of the season you're going to get a shot

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Speaker 1: on the fifty three and then from the fifty three

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Speaker 1: get on the game day forty six to get a

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Speaker 1: chance to get into games. This is this, This stuff

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Speaker 1: is not not to be taken lightly. Now, obviously the

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Speaker 1: Packers are you know, the playoffs and all the dominoes

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Speaker 1: that have to fall for that is a complete pipe dream.

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Speaker 1: This is about. This is about these guys proving that

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Speaker 1: they have a future in this league and they want

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Speaker 1: their here right now. So you know what, they want

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Speaker 1: to be here. They want to stay here, and they

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Speaker 1: don't they don't want to be the guy that's you know,

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Speaker 1: being discussed upstairs as to well should we move on

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Speaker 1: and should we look in the draft and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: This is serious business. Well and how many times, Mike,

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Speaker 1: especially during your time covering this team, have you seen

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Speaker 1: a young player, undrafted, practice squad, draft pick, it doesn't matter,

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Speaker 1: in that December stretch really start to turn some heads.

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Speaker 1: Kenny Clark did it last year. Dean Lowry has done

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Speaker 1: it the past two decembers. Now has really come on

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Speaker 1: strong late. You've seen over the years different receivers running back,

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Speaker 1: even think of like Dewan Harris in two thousand twelve,

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Speaker 1: go from the practice squad and he's starting playoff games

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Speaker 1: for the Packers and then went into the following year,

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Speaker 1: is their quote unquote starting running back. Those type of

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Speaker 1: things happen, and they happen on the back of what

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Speaker 1: you're able to accomplish in that final slate of games.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to speak for Joe Philbin. He's his

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Speaker 1: own man. He knows what he's looking for from this roster,

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Speaker 1: but just reading between the lines of his words, the

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Speaker 1: number one thing he wants to see in this stretch

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Speaker 1: here as effort. It wants to see guys laying it

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Speaker 1: on the line. Wants to see who it matters to

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Speaker 1: the most, because that is really where you finally start

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Speaker 1: to learn the character of a team and what it

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Speaker 1: means to them, you know, depending on what happens he's

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Speaker 1: next few weeks and what exactly you're playing for at

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Speaker 1: that point, it is it's a matter of pride. It's

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Speaker 1: a matter of going out there and doing your job

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Speaker 1: and showing that you know you have what it takes

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Speaker 1: to play at this level in meaningful situations and have

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Speaker 1: a future in this league. Yeah. Well, we'll get to

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Speaker 1: the keys to victory and how this how the Packers

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Speaker 1: exactly match up with this Atlanta Falcons team on our

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Speaker 1: final show of the week tomorrow, but for now we're

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Speaker 1: going to call it a rap on this edition of

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Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage

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Speaker 1: of the team on Packers dot com, on Twitter, at

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Speaker 1: west hod at, Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in everybody see you next time. Don't