Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. That gentleman over
Speaker 1: there is wes Hodkuwitz. We're coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studios at lambeau Field West. It's week fourteen. We
Speaker 1: have plenty of Packers bears to talk about, but I
Speaker 1: actually want to start this show talking about a specific
Speaker 1: individual on this Green Bay Packers team, and that is
Speaker 1: running back Aaron Jones, who we have found out in
Speaker 1: the last couple of days is both the Packers nominee
Speaker 1: for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award as
Speaker 1: well as the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award. Now, these are
Speaker 1: both awards that every team nominates one player and then
Speaker 1: from those thirty two nominees, one league wide winner is
Speaker 1: selected at the end of the season. The Walter Payton
Speaker 1: Man of the Year Award is really the big one, though,
Speaker 1: um this one is con It are very prestigious. It's
Speaker 1: the it's the most prestigious award that the NFL gives
Speaker 1: out related to any sort of off the field endeavors
Speaker 1: for players and anybody who has spoken about Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: this week, whether it's Matt Lafleur, whether it's Davante Adams
Speaker 1: any of his other teammates. No one can pick a
Speaker 1: more deserving nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the
Speaker 1: Year from the Green Bay Packers than Aaron Jones. I
Speaker 1: can't say it any better than Davante Adams, so I
Speaker 1: won't even try to. But DeVante's line yesterday was this
Speaker 1: award was truly made for a guy like him, in
Speaker 1: addition to another number of other eloquent things that Davante said.
Speaker 1: I felt like that was so true, because there's been
Speaker 1: some incredible Man of the Year nominees the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers have had. Aaron Rodgers was a finalist in two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen. I think back to you know, j Rone Elliott,
Speaker 1: you know uh Corey Lindsley, Kenny Clark. You're talking about
Speaker 1: the creme de la creme of human being that have
Speaker 1: walked into Bill Packers locker room. And since the day
Speaker 1: that Aaron Jones got drafted, the day that they pulled
Speaker 1: us all together, and they back in the day when
Speaker 1: they used to walk in all the draft picks into
Speaker 1: the locker room. The week afterwards for rookie minicamp and
Speaker 1: we would talk to guys. You just got to feel
Speaker 1: of what this young man is like, who he is,
Speaker 1: and what he represents. I've written a number of things
Speaker 1: on Aeron this week, mostly because we found out they
Speaker 1: end up being this bevy awards that all got dropped
Speaker 1: on us and in this timeframe. But you know, you
Speaker 1: understand how difficult two thousand twenty one has been for him.
Speaker 1: You know, he signs the contract that he's basically worked
Speaker 1: his six years for a life changing deal with the
Speaker 1: Packers that secured his family's financial future, and before he
Speaker 1: can even have an opportunity to really savor that, he
Speaker 1: loses his father, Elvin Sr. After that battle with COVID.
Speaker 1: So in a those moments, and I don't know what
Speaker 1: it's like to lose a parent. I can't even imagine
Speaker 1: what he was going through. I think that tests your will,
Speaker 1: it tests your your makeup and constitution as a person.
Speaker 1: But in the Jones family's case, it's short. It's sort
Speaker 1: of just refocused them on what their their goals were.
Speaker 1: And Aaron talked this week about how him and his
Speaker 1: dad when they went to the NFL Honors in two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen, they talked about Calias Campbell and his speech
Speaker 1: in what that represented him getting that award, and he
Speaker 1: felt like at that time, yeah, they were finding ways
Speaker 1: to give back, but they wanted to create a foundation,
Speaker 1: and he he made that foundation with his twin brother,
Speaker 1: Elvin Jr. And just seeing how this family has persevered
Speaker 1: through everything. As much as words can say that this
Speaker 1: guy is selfless and he is a good person. I
Speaker 1: think it's in those moments of adversity that your true
Speaker 1: character gets revealed. And in Aaron Jones case, I think
Speaker 1: we've learned a lot about him this year. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: absolutely have, and and it's been everything from and none
Speaker 1: of this that he necessarily wants a lot of attention for. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he wants attention on his foundation, the foundation with his
Speaker 1: brother and the charitable work that they're doing. But when
Speaker 1: you look at the things that have been in the media,
Speaker 1: whether it's giving you know, the scooters to Brian Flee
Speaker 1: Engels family because Flee went out and found the locket
Speaker 1: in the in the grass at Um after it had
Speaker 1: come off him on the touchdown run and Fleet was
Speaker 1: out there in the middle of the night and found it,
Speaker 1: and so Aaron Jones wanted to do something for for
Speaker 1: Flees family. So there's that. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: there's there is the foundation that he and his brother started.
Speaker 1: There's the free football camp in their hometown of El Paso,
Speaker 1: where all these kids can come for uh, you know,
Speaker 1: to to learn football, learn some skills, have some fun,
Speaker 1: to hang out with an NFL player, and yet they
Speaker 1: don't have to pay anything in order to do that.
Speaker 1: It's it's a it's a free football clinic for the community.
Speaker 1: It was so cool hearing because I had heard that
Speaker 1: this is the fourth year they've done it. But it
Speaker 1: was in that press conference on Wednesday that Aaron actually
Speaker 1: mentioned the impetus for that was going back to his
Speaker 1: own childhood when Alvin Sr. Paid out of pocket so
Speaker 1: him and Elvin could go to a football camp. Yeah,
Speaker 1: where they came from, there wasn't an option for a
Speaker 1: free football camp, not to mention having one where it's
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl running back like him and Jamal Williams
Speaker 1: and all these guys with this amount of experience that
Speaker 1: were contributing. I thought that was a really interesting little
Speaker 1: add on to that story of of why it was
Speaker 1: so important to have a free football camp as opposed
Speaker 1: to just putting one on. Yeah. Absolutely. So it's all
Speaker 1: these different things that that we've seen and heard about
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones over the course of this year, and and
Speaker 1: obviously there's been so much more about this year, in
Speaker 1: particular because of his father's passing. But that's not to
Speaker 1: say that Aaron Jones is suddenly this different guy this
Speaker 1: year because of what his family has gone through. This
Speaker 1: is this is Aaron Jones. This is who he's always been.
Speaker 1: It's just been that much more in the spotlight now
Speaker 1: with him becoming a Pro Bowl running back. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: as you said, getting the new contract and and all
Speaker 1: of the financial security that that goes with that. All
Speaker 1: I'm really pulling for. And I normally don't invest a
Speaker 1: whole lot of emotion in this because I don't know
Speaker 1: a lot about the other thirty one guys around the league.
Speaker 1: I'm really pulling for Aaron Jones too, at least maybe
Speaker 1: make the finalist stage of this like Aaron Rodgers did
Speaker 1: seven years ago. As you said, we've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of really really great Packers players getting nominated for this.
Speaker 1: Corey Linsley was last year's nominee, and he's the Chargers
Speaker 1: nominee here in one, so that that that speaks to
Speaker 1: his work in the community as well. I'd like to
Speaker 1: see Aaron Jones make his way through this process a
Speaker 1: little bit and and perhaps draw that much more attention
Speaker 1: to his efforts to his foundation and the impact that
Speaker 1: he's making on other people. Yeah, and as you talked
Speaker 1: about earlier, the fact that he doesn't want the attention
Speaker 1: all shining directly on him, and Davante Adams mentioned that
Speaker 1: his presser as well. And as much as he loves
Speaker 1: Alvin Jr. Everybody understands, you know, Aaron was the draft pick, right,
Speaker 1: he was the game changer at you tip. I don't
Speaker 1: think a lot of people would have blamed Aaron if
Speaker 1: he started a foundation and just wanted to be the
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones Foundation. He wanted to do it with his
Speaker 1: brother though, he because from day one, quite literally, that's
Speaker 1: been the guy right alongside him. And I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting he goes home on Tuesday after he gets
Speaker 1: this award and they give him the little the little
Speaker 1: trophy to signify that he was the Packers nominee, and
Speaker 1: you know, his mom's there and Virgas, you know, goes
Speaker 1: and puts the trophy up right next to where Alvin's
Speaker 1: ashes are at Aaron's home. And after that, Aeron's tells her,
Speaker 1: you know, thank you, to which she replied, well, what
Speaker 1: what are you thanking me for? And it it shows
Speaker 1: you kind of the humility of that family, because what
Speaker 1: he was thinking her for was a woman that served
Speaker 1: valiantly for her country for twenty eight years or whatever
Speaker 1: it was you know, was away from them, was in Iraq,
Speaker 1: all these different things, but still always wanted to bring
Speaker 1: it back to the family, always wanted to support their family.
Speaker 1: And I think when you look back to how difficult
Speaker 1: this year has been, the only way you can really
Speaker 1: get through something like this is to hold closely together.
Speaker 1: And again, I thought that that set a lot about
Speaker 1: not only their family connection, but the ties that bind
Speaker 1: them that you know that for everything that's happened in
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty one, they're going to get through this
Speaker 1: thing and the end of it, while not with Alvin SR,
Speaker 1: you know, as close as they've ever been as a family. Yeah. Absolutely, Well,
Speaker 1: hats off to Aaron Jones for a well deserved honor
Speaker 1: and hopefully not the last we are hearing about, uh,
Speaker 1: this honor for him in West. Serious x M NFL
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Speaker 1: Packers Bears Sunday Night football at lambeau Field, Week fourteen.
Speaker 1: The health situation for both teams. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you've got a sect to call up the injury report, um,
Speaker 1: because for both of the spots you're coming into this,
Speaker 1: this is interesting. The Packers are coming off their bye
Speaker 1: week and they're a little bit healthier than they have been.
Speaker 1: And we did also see um on Wednesday, the return
Speaker 1: to practice of Jayra Alexander, so his window to potentially
Speaker 1: be activated to the fifty three man roster is now
Speaker 1: open since he has returned to practice. But there are
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of health questions here, UM,
Speaker 1: with this game looming on sun Day night, I think
Speaker 1: particularly with the Bears. So can you give us an
Speaker 1: update on where some of that well, it starts with
Speaker 1: David Montgomery, because I just got done on two Isay's
Speaker 1: episode talking about all this guy's treavilous for the offense.
Speaker 1: You know, he's going to be the guy that really
Speaker 1: stirs the drink for them. And as it turns out,
Speaker 1: he's dealing with a shoulder growing and glute injury or
Speaker 1: injuries coming out of that game last week against Arizona.
Speaker 1: That's a huge thing because, as I mentioned, one of
Speaker 1: my big qualifiers were was that when David Montgomery is
Speaker 1: healthy and he's right, I mean this is this offense
Speaker 1: looks different. Apparently he's not healthy right now again, so
Speaker 1: we'll see what the week looks like. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of times sometimes teams just want to sit guys down,
Speaker 1: give them a day or two to rest, and then
Speaker 1: they'll ramp him up at the end of the week.
Speaker 1: And Montgomery did miss the first first Packers Bears teame
Speaker 1: this season. He was not the feature back for the Bears.
Speaker 1: We also did hear from Matt Naggy, Bears head coach
Speaker 1: this week announcing that Justin Fields will start. He has
Speaker 1: been cleared from the ribbon jury and he will start
Speaker 1: against the Packers for the second time this year, so
Speaker 1: they're so the Packers will not be seeing Andy Dalton. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Juice Herbert is the guy in
Speaker 1: the backfield when Montgomery's been down. Obviously Terrif Cohen has
Speaker 1: been out for most of the year. But the last
Speaker 1: point I was going to make on Montgomery is and
Speaker 1: he may be he may be fine, we don't know yet.
Speaker 1: But when it's three injuries, and especially two very different
Speaker 1: parts of the body, that is a little bit of
Speaker 1: a concern. But but looking at the overall picture, you know,
Speaker 1: you also had some guys dealing with illnesses. Kiem Hicks
Speaker 1: has been banged up with the ankle, you know, Marquis
Speaker 1: Goodwe has the foot. Allen Robinson obviously returned coming off
Speaker 1: the hamstring. So they are beat up right now. And
Speaker 1: I think this is the difference between what you see
Speaker 1: and just like how Green Bay's injury report was vastly
Speaker 1: different from the Rams when the Rams were coming off
Speaker 1: the by it's the attrition, it's the way the season goes.
Speaker 1: But if there is an issue there with Montgomery where
Speaker 1: he either can't go or he's limited, I think there
Speaker 1: is a big effect that that will have as far
Speaker 1: as the trick down domino on this offense, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: the Packers are continuing to proceed with at this point anyway,
Speaker 1: as of Wednesday afternoon, holding Aaron Rodgers out of practice,
Speaker 1: continuing to let that broken pinky toe hell. But Rogers
Speaker 1: making it clear in in the comments he made to
Speaker 1: the media that this is not a case of even
Speaker 1: though he's not practicing, that there's some sort of a
Speaker 1: scale down game plan or whatever that Aaron Rodgers wants
Speaker 1: the you know, the full gamut of everything. Hey, you know, Matt,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to dial up. Hey, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: Let's figure out what we like and and and let's
Speaker 1: go with it. This is not about even though he's
Speaker 1: restricted in terms of his practice, reps and his availability
Speaker 1: at practice, he doesn't go into the games feeling restricted.
Speaker 1: He's gonna he's gonna leave it all out there, both
Speaker 1: in terms of in terms of the schematics and his play.
Speaker 1: As we've seen, he's not afraid to take off and run,
Speaker 1: even with even with that toe bothering him. So we'll
Speaker 1: see now week to week. Rogers did say getting the
Speaker 1: entire getting an entire week off was extremely helpful for
Speaker 1: his toe. Um, he does hope that it's going to
Speaker 1: continue to get better and that maybe, just maybe he
Speaker 1: will start getting back into a regular practice routine at something.
Speaker 1: But what this all reminded me of was, I don't know,
Speaker 1: if you've ever been in a position you've had to
Speaker 1: throw the donut on your car because you're tired, you know,
Speaker 1: blew out. That's the way this kind of feels with
Speaker 1: Roger's in the toe, Like they have the tiger ordered.
Speaker 1: They know that it's gonna be there. You just got
Speaker 1: to hope that you that the doughnuts stays, you know,
Speaker 1: intact here, and you can just get to the finish line.
Speaker 1: Because as Rogers said, I mean, the problem with the
Speaker 1: surgery option is that he mobilizes the toe. They basically
Speaker 1: throw a pin in there, and then it's he's not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to move that toe the rest of
Speaker 1: the year. It would reduce the chances of it getting
Speaker 1: any further fractured. But then there's the mobility side of it, right.
Speaker 1: His hope is and Doc mackenzie and everybody else just say,
Speaker 1: do Bob Anderson, everybody that has looked at this thing,
Speaker 1: Their hope is that, Okay, well, if you can just
Speaker 1: keep it healthy, maybe not get stepped on anymore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that would be good, not to get stepped on, like
Speaker 1: he has a couple of times already. But this thing
Speaker 1: can heal up a little bit. But it's just the
Speaker 1: challenge of it. And as Rogers I think told Pat McAfee,
Speaker 1: if if he gets through this weekend healthy, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe next week is where it could potentially start to
Speaker 1: to really start to feel the way he needs it
Speaker 1: to feel. Yeah. Well, as we had talked about on
Speaker 1: our last show, the Packers potentially could be taking the
Speaker 1: field on Sunday Night with a chance to clinch the
Speaker 1: NFC North if the Vikings lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 1: on Thursday Night Football. There is also a scenario if
Speaker 1: the Vikings do win and stay alive in the division race.
Speaker 1: There is also a scenario where the Packers can clinch
Speaker 1: a playoff spot if both the Saints and the forty
Speaker 1: Niners were to lose prior to the Packers taking the
Speaker 1: field Sunday night. But all that being said, I want
Speaker 1: to get to the keys to victory here. This is
Speaker 1: a Packers Bears game. It's a big it's a big
Speaker 1: rivalry game. Aaron Rodgers throughout the whole I own you
Speaker 1: thing it's Soldier Field, which he said was directed at
Speaker 1: the fans. But you know how things can get taken
Speaker 1: in different ways. What do you think is the most
Speaker 1: important thing, what's at the top of your list for
Speaker 1: the Packers to win this game? Sunday night. I let
Speaker 1: Insider in box on Thursday. You had to edit it
Speaker 1: with the statement that I don't care if it's Justin Fields.
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's Andy Dalton, I don't care
Speaker 1: if it's Jim Miller, Shane Matthews, Shane Falco, whoever. The
Speaker 1: Packers need to turn over the football defensively, and they
Speaker 1: need to stop the run. If David Montgomery is not
Speaker 1: playing in this probably gets a little bit easier. Although
Speaker 1: Juice Herbert had some decent games himself. I think really
Speaker 1: it comes down to if if it is Justin Fields,
Speaker 1: to basically have that same game plan with some modifications
Speaker 1: of what they did earlier this season, you have to
Speaker 1: be able to limit him, you know, and make sure
Speaker 1: he doesn't scramble, make sure all that stuff, but just
Speaker 1: finding ways to keep the pressure on enforce him into
Speaker 1: a few errors. I think if you achieve that you
Speaker 1: keep this game in third and manageible. This game plays
Speaker 1: out the way it needs to play out if a
Speaker 1: third distance, If it gets to be third and manageable,
Speaker 1: that's where it starts to get more interesting than it
Speaker 1: probably needs to be. I feel like if Green Bay
Speaker 1: stops the run, forces them into third and longs, those
Speaker 1: opportunities are going to be there to take the ball
Speaker 1: away and really control the tempo of this game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And for me, quite honestly, West, the whole key for
Speaker 1: me in this game is for the Packers just to
Speaker 1: not turn the football over on offense. While certainly some
Speaker 1: turnovers on defense could could go a long way here,
Speaker 1: to me, this isn't a game the Packers necessarily have
Speaker 1: to win the turnover battle, but you just can't lose it.
Speaker 1: And if you don't turn the ball over on offense,
Speaker 1: you won't lose the turnover battle, right. I know. I
Speaker 1: spoke on our last show and we were talking about
Speaker 1: the Vikings, and I brought up, you know, these two
Speaker 1: games for the Vikings, the types that you just can't lose.
Speaker 1: When they lost to the Cowboys and they lost this
Speaker 1: past week to the Lions, I know this is Packers Bears.
Speaker 1: I know it's a big rivalry, but with where the
Speaker 1: Bears are in their season, there injury report, with where
Speaker 1: the Packers are in their season, and what's at stake,
Speaker 1: and the fact that this is at home, under the
Speaker 1: lights at Lambeau Field, this is one of those, quite frankly,
Speaker 1: that qualifies for me as a game if you're the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers, you can't lose this game. Now, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying the Packers are gonna win by thirty. SPA thinks,
Speaker 1: you know, this is just something that's not what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But I'm saying this is a game that if you're
Speaker 1: the Packers, you can't lose it. And I don't care
Speaker 1: if you win it by three or win it by thirty.
Speaker 1: You just can't lose it. And to me, the quickest
Speaker 1: path to losing this game and to giving the Bears
Speaker 1: the shot at the upset is if you're turning the
Speaker 1: ball over on offense. If the Packers don't do that,
Speaker 1: I think they win this football. I agree, And just
Speaker 1: come out and control the tempo, you know, whether you
Speaker 1: win the opening coin toss or not. If if if
Speaker 1: it's the Bears taking the field first, defensively shutting them down.
Speaker 1: If it's Green Bay, find a way to get those
Speaker 1: ten place seventy five yard drives and get into the
Speaker 1: end zone. This is such a great opportunity, Mike. And
Speaker 1: we've we've expelled so much breath here, uh, the last
Speaker 1: few weeks talking about the late by finishing three or
Speaker 1: five at home, the amount of division games they have,
Speaker 1: with where everything stands in the North right now, the
Speaker 1: two game magic number, all that stuff. As Davante Adam said,
Speaker 1: there's an element of run the table to this. Now.
Speaker 1: They're not running the table like two thousand sixteen where
Speaker 1: it was to make sure you at least make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But they have a realistic shot at this number one seed.
Speaker 1: And if you look at the way Arizona schedule lays out,
Speaker 1: it's a little daunting for the Cardinals. So you have
Speaker 1: to take advantage of that. And it starts on Sunday
Speaker 1: against the Bears. Yeah. And I want to talk about
Speaker 1: some of those other games on the slate this weekend
Speaker 1: in the NFL that that will impact the Packers. But
Speaker 1: I do want to throw out another plug for Cliff
Speaker 1: Crystal's history book. Packers fans, if you are looking for
Speaker 1: holiday gift ideas. Team historian Cliff crystals book The Greatest
Speaker 1: Story in Sports is now available at the Packers Pro Shop.
Speaker 1: The four volume of hardcover books set tells the true
Speaker 1: complete story of the Packers first century, from humble beginnings
Speaker 1: to heartbreaks and triumphs. Buy your copy online or in
Speaker 1: store today. I gave I gave Cliffs so much well
Speaker 1: to do credit for everything on Tuesday's episode. Forgot to
Speaker 1: mention Aaron Popke, Katie Hermson, Tom Fanning, everybody else that
Speaker 1: was involved in this. The publisher of the book don't
Speaker 1: can't remember what the name of the publishers right now,
Speaker 1: but they did a fantastic job with it. And I've
Speaker 1: already gotten multiple requests from family members to get this
Speaker 1: signed by Cliff Crystal, to get his John Hancock on
Speaker 1: that book. They want to have that forever and uh
Speaker 1: And actually, for those who are in the area or
Speaker 1: are coming to the game, Cliff is doing a book
Speaker 1: signing at the Packers Pro Shop on Saturday afternoon this weekend,
Speaker 1: So for a couple of hours in the afternoon, stop
Speaker 1: by and get a copy of the book and get
Speaker 1: it signed by the author. Just books, though no babies. No, no,
Speaker 1: no babies, no memorabilia. I think it's just just just
Speaker 1: for the just for the book. Um. Other games to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on. Already mentioned the Steelers Vikings game
Speaker 1: on Thursday Night Football and the implications that will have
Speaker 1: as far as the NFC North race. But other ones
Speaker 1: to watch your west are really interesting, I think, really
Speaker 1: interesting game in the NFC East, Dallas is at Washington.
Speaker 1: Washington is coming on strong. The Cowboys obviously still leading
Speaker 1: that division. I believe they have a two game lead
Speaker 1: in the division. Yeah, two game lead, two game lead
Speaker 1: over Washington. So Washington looking to cut that deficit in
Speaker 1: the NFC East to one game. Another one to watch
Speaker 1: it will be on I believe it's essentially the National
Speaker 1: late afternoon game prior to the Packers Bears in primetime.
Speaker 1: Buffalo is at Tampa Bay. The Bills coming off of
Speaker 1: the short week, the tough loss to division rival New
Speaker 1: England when the Patriots just ran and ran and ran
Speaker 1: the ball in the bad weather. But Tampa Bay a
Speaker 1: nine and three team looking to stay with just the
Speaker 1: three losses as both the Packers and the Buccaneers trying
Speaker 1: to keep the pressure on the Cardinals and then Monday
Speaker 1: Night football in the NFC West, you have the Rams
Speaker 1: are at Arizona. Now, the Cardinals won the first matchup
Speaker 1: between these two teams in Los Angeles, so this is
Speaker 1: the rematch. It's in Arizona Monday Night football. Obviously, Packers
Speaker 1: fans will be looking to see if the Arizona Cardinals
Speaker 1: take a third loss. They are the team sitting in
Speaker 1: the catbird see right now at ten and two, Arizona
Speaker 1: is gonna take a third loss. So the Rams are
Speaker 1: gonna take a fifth loss kind of out of nowhere
Speaker 1: with the way that their season is headed. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we know we've talked about, said Nawzy. In the NFC West,
Speaker 1: there's it's gonna be right down to the wire. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of competition there, not only for the division title,
Speaker 1: not only for the conference uh you know, being able
Speaker 1: to get a buy or anything like that. There's also
Speaker 1: a factive number of these teams are trying to make
Speaker 1: the postseason. The game I am most infatuated with, though,
Speaker 1: is that Dallas Washington matchup, because Washington they hung their
Speaker 1: hat on their defense a lot last year. Well, you
Speaker 1: don't have Chase Young now, Monte Sweat is gonna miss
Speaker 1: at least two games. That that big, bad offense, defensive
Speaker 1: front we were talking about with all those first rounders,
Speaker 1: it's been chipped into a little bit and Dallas, you know,
Speaker 1: it looks like Tony Pollard now dealing with a foot injury.
Speaker 1: Ezekiel Elliott has been up and down, but he may
Speaker 1: be the guy that has to go. He was a
Speaker 1: full participant in practice on Wednesday. That they got to
Speaker 1: get Zeke going again. That's gonna be the big key
Speaker 1: for them down the stretch. Can they do it against
Speaker 1: a really formidable Washington defense that is also kind of
Speaker 1: struggling a little bit on the injury front. Buffalo has
Speaker 1: got to get a win. They just gotta do it.
Speaker 1: They're trending in the wrong direction right now. Yes, I know,
Speaker 1: Monday Night was a weird, weird game and anomaly something
Speaker 1: game you're only gonna play on once every ten years,
Speaker 1: but it was. It was a costly loss for them
Speaker 1: against their division rival against New England when they had
Speaker 1: him at home. Those are the types of games that
Speaker 1: that are that are tough, and we talked about the
Speaker 1: Packers building a cushion so that as disappointing as that
Speaker 1: game was against Minnesota. They had some leeway there to
Speaker 1: make a mistake. Buffalo is they've lost too many of
Speaker 1: those games. They don't have that right. And as you
Speaker 1: mentioned with regard with regard to the Cardinals, they do
Speaker 1: have a pretty tough schedule here down the stretch because
Speaker 1: they also have a him against the Cowboys. And I'm
Speaker 1: trying to remember that they have an Indianapolis. Yes, they
Speaker 1: have the Colts. It was a cross conference. Yeah, Indianapolis
Speaker 1: besides that loss to Tampa Bay has won like five
Speaker 1: or six and they found out that they have Jonathan Taylor.
Speaker 1: It's not just West that doesn't know that Jonathan Taylor
Speaker 1: is a good running back. The Indianapolis Colts are starting
Speaker 1: to figure it out too. Yeah. No, that so the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals definitely have a tough schedule. To me, the
Speaker 1: opposite is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because if the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: don't take a fourth loss against the Buffalo Bills this week,
Speaker 1: I think that is going to be the signal to
Speaker 1: the Packers that you have to run the table to
Speaker 1: have a shot at the one seed. Because based on
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers schedule, I believe it's two games against the Panthers,
Speaker 1: one against the Saints, and one against the Jets. I
Speaker 1: don't see the Buccaneers losing any games in those last four.
Speaker 1: So this one against Buffalo, if the Buccaneers are going
Speaker 1: to take a fourth loss and give the Packers a
Speaker 1: little bit of leeway if you want to look at
Speaker 1: it that way, which is, you know, dicey, But if
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers are going to take a fourth loss, it's
Speaker 1: going to be here. And if they beat Buffalo, I
Speaker 1: think the Buccaneers are running, which means the Packers have
Speaker 1: to run the table and at least stay even with
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers because the tiebreaker between those two would be
Speaker 1: conference record, and the Packers have the edge there because
Speaker 1: one of Green Bay's losses was to Kansas City in
Speaker 1: the a f C. Just throwing that out there if
Speaker 1: you've been following all this. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the
Speaker 1: thing that kind of stinks about this whole deal too,
Speaker 1: is that, like you sort of forget that the cross conference,
Speaker 1: interconference battle for green Bay this year was the a
Speaker 1: f C North because of the game against Kansas City
Speaker 1: and these different things that have happened. Now, so Packers
Speaker 1: still got two good games coming up against a decent
Speaker 1: you know, Brown's team in a Baltimore team that I
Speaker 1: think has shown that they can play with anybody. So
Speaker 1: you can't let up. You have to take care of
Speaker 1: business the division. You have to take care of business
Speaker 1: and the other the other North Division as well. And
Speaker 1: and hope that maybe you know Tampa Bay slipped up
Speaker 1: once against New Orleans, could they potentially do it again
Speaker 1: to in addition to whatever happens again it's the Bills. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Well with that, we will call it a
Speaker 1: wrap on this edition of Packers on Script and you
Speaker 1: should have follow all of our coverage of the team,
Speaker 1: all of the coverage of Sunday's big Packers Bears game
Speaker 1: from lambeau Field. Will have it all for you on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.