Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime, West Hodkowits were coming to
Speaker 1: you from socially distant locations at lambeau Field West. As
Speaker 1: we head into Super Bowl weekend, we are going to
Speaker 1: find out on Saturday night. I'm assuming we are going
Speaker 1: to find out on Saturday night that Packers quarterback Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers will be a three time NFL Most Valuable Player
Speaker 1: Award winner two thousand eleven, two thousand fourteen, and certainly
Speaker 1: all all signs are pointing to him winning it again
Speaker 1: in I'm just gonna throw an open ended question out
Speaker 1: your way with regard to Rogers Place, specifically, when you
Speaker 1: look back at the season, what will you remember most?
Speaker 1: What stands out to you about it? Him playing on
Speaker 1: time again is the number one thing. There were so
Speaker 1: many years where between, and I think there was a
Speaker 1: couple of different things in play. One he's talked it
Speaker 1: a lot about is the the you know, him breaking
Speaker 1: his leg and in eighteen and you know, the knee
Speaker 1: injuries and everything else that he was dealing with. He
Speaker 1: just he was still Aaron Rodgers. But it was kind
Speaker 1: of like the wounded you know, Wolf, a little bit
Speaker 1: like he just wasn't able to be what he always
Speaker 1: has been because of some of the limitations that were
Speaker 1: holding him back. But then I think there were also
Speaker 1: certain things that he had to work his way out
Speaker 1: of and he had to regain a comfort level, uh,
Speaker 1: in the offense and being able to make this transition
Speaker 1: from Matt Lafleur's scheme, from Mike McCarthy scheme to Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur's scheme and in the trend, the switch and the
Speaker 1: maturation process you saw from nineteen to twenty. Uh, this
Speaker 1: is the best player in the National Football League. And
Speaker 1: for him to not only get the forty eight touchdown
Speaker 1: passes and have a one passer rating point five, the
Speaker 1: second best of his career. But Mike, that seventy point
Speaker 1: seven completion percentage for a guy that was for so
Speaker 1: long kind of aligned for throwing the ball away to
Speaker 1: too much and you know, extending the plays when you know,
Speaker 1: not being quick triggered. He played on time, as he
Speaker 1: said in his appearance with Pat McAfee, he regained you know,
Speaker 1: the confidence in his knee and his hitch, you know,
Speaker 1: being able to to sink into it better. And and
Speaker 1: as he mentioned, because you think about the game of
Speaker 1: football and it's just, oh, just go back and throw
Speaker 1: the ball. But every single movement that's part of his dropback,
Speaker 1: it all lines up with where the receivers are in
Speaker 1: their routs, the timing of the play, and that's why
Speaker 1: he felt like the timing was better, and that's why
Speaker 1: he felt the accuracy was better. For Aaron Rodgers to
Speaker 1: go seventy points seven completion percentage when you asked me
Speaker 1: about two thousand and twenty, that will be the first
Speaker 1: thing that always comes to mind. Yeah, it's pretty remarkable
Speaker 1: that a quarterback in his thirteenth year as a starter
Speaker 1: would set both personal bests and franchise records in the
Speaker 1: categories of touchdown passes and completion percentage t s. And
Speaker 1: the seventy point at seven. As you mentioned, I think
Speaker 1: what stands out to me the most. It goes along
Speaker 1: with what you said about playing on time. But the
Speaker 1: way I would phrase it, or the way I'll remember
Speaker 1: it is his command of the game. And I say
Speaker 1: that not because Aaron Rodgers hasn't played like this before.
Speaker 1: And you know, the command that he showed at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage with making the checks and just looking
Speaker 1: like he was always in control of what was going
Speaker 1: on out there. We've seen that before. He's one m
Speaker 1: v p S before the run the table in we
Speaker 1: saw Aaron Rodgers playing like that with that sort of
Speaker 1: command at the line of scrimmage. But what stood out
Speaker 1: to me about it this year is that he achieved
Speaker 1: that level of command in just his second year in
Speaker 1: a brand new offense. We didn't see it in nine
Speaker 1: when he and all the other players on offense we're
Speaker 1: learning Matt Lafleur system and we're trying to get accustomed
Speaker 1: to it, and Rogers command of the offense and of
Speaker 1: everything that was going on in the field went to
Speaker 1: another level in just his second year in the offense,
Speaker 1: and and the um the progress, the maturation of everything.
Speaker 1: His mastery of this offense just in a second season,
Speaker 1: I think speaks volumes of the kind of player he is,
Speaker 1: both both mentally and then obviously physically. With the things
Speaker 1: that that you talked about, the way he the way
Speaker 1: he got his game physically back to where we had
Speaker 1: seen it in the past. He reminds me almost like
Speaker 1: of a professor right where you know, there's certain you know,
Speaker 1: men and women out there, they're gonna be incredibly intelligent,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have high i q s. They're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to research and see things and you know, go
Speaker 1: through their doctor program. But the more knowledge that you
Speaker 1: gain over the years, the stronger that makes you. From
Speaker 1: whether it's a critical thinking aspect or an argumentation or
Speaker 1: just being able to present facts to a classroom. That's
Speaker 1: where I saw Rogers this year. He's seen it all,
Speaker 1: he's done it all. And because of that knowledge base
Speaker 1: that he has, everything that he's looked at on the field,
Speaker 1: he's seen it for the most part in some shape
Speaker 1: or form before and being able to get his physical
Speaker 1: aspect of that back, you know, being able to be confident,
Speaker 1: to stand tall in the pocket. And and also Mike
Speaker 1: give credit to this, to the scheme. How many times
Speaker 1: this year did he go out of his way to
Speaker 1: mention you know what Nathaniel Hackett, Matt Lafleur and Luke
Speaker 1: Getsie what these coaches had come up with. Uh, it
Speaker 1: was innovative, it was creative, and he wasn't you know,
Speaker 1: he was obviously embracing what what that change was the
Speaker 1: last two seasons. And when somebody asked me this, you know,
Speaker 1: in year three, now, what do you expect in Matt
Speaker 1: lafleur scheme? You know, I expect him to take it
Speaker 1: to another level because there's still things they can work on. Certainly,
Speaker 1: we've got to figure out what this backfield looks like.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's gonna be a couple of new offensive
Speaker 1: weapons that will be added this offseason three that the
Speaker 1: draft of free agency, but seeing where they take this
Speaker 1: now when okay, now you've established Robert Tonyan, you have
Speaker 1: Davante Adams, considered one of the best in the game,
Speaker 1: and this multitude of you know that the illusion of
Speaker 1: complexity that we always talk about. I think you're gonna
Speaker 1: see la fleur and hack it go back into the
Speaker 1: you know, the lab this offseason and find some more
Speaker 1: stuff to to bring this offense back and and and
Speaker 1: make them even more potent. And and obviously, as we
Speaker 1: heard earlier this week, Aaron Rodgers is a massive part
Speaker 1: of that plan. Yeah, no question about it. And the
Speaker 1: historical significance of this being a third m v P
Speaker 1: for Rogers again assuming that he is named that m
Speaker 1: v P on Saturday Night, which is what we all expect.
Speaker 1: The significance of this is is pretty astounding because only
Speaker 1: five other players in the history of the Associated Press
Speaker 1: NFL Most Valuable Player Award, which dates back to seven,
Speaker 1: only five other players have ever won it three times,
Speaker 1: and that list is Peyton Manning, who tops the list
Speaker 1: with five m vps. But then the other three time
Speaker 1: winners are Tom Brady, Brett Farve, Johnny Unitis and Jim
Speaker 1: Brown and Aaron Rodgers adding his name to that list.
Speaker 1: He mentioned it um during the season when the question
Speaker 1: was posed to him, what would it mean to you
Speaker 1: to to join a list of players like that? And
Speaker 1: of course he said it would be incredibly special. Um.
Speaker 1: He would always trade the m v p s for
Speaker 1: another Super Bowl, of course, but um, but he's well
Speaker 1: aware of the of the legacy that that he's establishing.
Speaker 1: And when you think about, as we've been talking about
Speaker 1: what he did in his second year in the Flour's
Speaker 1: offense and maybe where this is headed in year three,
Speaker 1: year four for him in La Fleur's offense, three m vps,
Speaker 1: he he might not be done now. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: lots of other really good quarterbacks. Tom Brady's not done
Speaker 1: playing yet either. But um, but to say, you know, you,
Speaker 1: you can't even say that this is by any means
Speaker 1: the last hurrah for Aaron Rodgers being in an m
Speaker 1: v P race based on how he played in Yeah,
Speaker 1: and when you look at Brady now to Mike, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, certainly he has to stay healthy. You gotta
Speaker 1: avoid disaster in the pocket and and those things that
Speaker 1: can change, you know, in an instant. But for him
Speaker 1: to be able to play at this level at forty three,
Speaker 1: I have to imagine Aaron Rodgers looks at that and
Speaker 1: is inspired to to what he could potentially do. Was talking.
Speaker 1: I was talking with James Jones a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: ago for a story I was trying to write on
Speaker 1: Davante Adams that we will right at some point. Uh.
Speaker 1: Also is asking him about Aaron Rodgers and his candidacy
Speaker 1: for this, and he said there's two things that really
Speaker 1: stood out to him and why he thinks he can
Speaker 1: play into his forties. And it's one he has natural
Speaker 1: arm talent. Uh, not the kind of stuff that you're
Speaker 1: just gonna go walk into a weight room and just
Speaker 1: you know, build up your arm strength or just make
Speaker 1: yourself into something that you maybe naturally aren't. Uh. He
Speaker 1: throws the ball hard and far, and he doesn't have
Speaker 1: to do like put a lot into it to be
Speaker 1: able to accomplish that. It's just god given ability that
Speaker 1: he's been able to cultivate over the years with his mechanics.
Speaker 1: And for that reason, James thinks he's gonna be able
Speaker 1: to play well into his forties. And then when you
Speaker 1: look at the fact that he has taken care of
Speaker 1: himself the way that he has, I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's on the TV twelve type diet that that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady's on that I don't think I could survive more
Speaker 1: than six hours if it was up to me. But
Speaker 1: he obviously years ago whether it was his, you know,
Speaker 1: looking into the gluten and lactose in those type of things.
Speaker 1: Rogers made a commitment in his early thirties. Now he's
Speaker 1: sitting at thirty seven these early thirties, that he wanted
Speaker 1: to play into his forties. He wanted to be able
Speaker 1: to How many times we heard about the back nine
Speaker 1: analogy that he used, and it wasn't just the weight room,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just squatting. It was his diet, and Rogers
Speaker 1: is an incredibly disciplined human being and for that reason, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's at thirty seven. We're gonna see what the future holds.
Speaker 1: I personally am really embracing this whole beautiful mystery thing
Speaker 1: that he brought up a couple of weeks ago. We
Speaker 1: can't predict what is going to happen. You don't know
Speaker 1: when the last time is ultimately that you're gonna step
Speaker 1: on a field. So yeah, just let it play out
Speaker 1: and see where it takes us. But certainly at thirty seven,
Speaker 1: Brady at forty three really showing no signs of slowing down.
Speaker 1: It looks like he wants to even maybe take it
Speaker 1: past forty five now or whatever he was saying in
Speaker 1: the media this past week. Yeah, I think we gotta
Speaker 1: stop trying to put timelines on everybody. Yeah. Absolutely. Well.
Speaker 1: One other m v P note to put this in
Speaker 1: perspective for Packers fans. With Rogers winning his third m
Speaker 1: v P since the advent of the Associated Press Award
Speaker 1: in nine seven, this will now be the ninth m
Speaker 1: v P that the Green Bay Packers of one Paul Hornick,
Speaker 1: Jim Taylor, bart Starr each one one m v P
Speaker 1: in the Lombardi era in the sixties five one three
Speaker 1: Rogers won three. That is nine. And if you look
Speaker 1: at West, you look at the Packers current NFC North
Speaker 1: rivals Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit, those three franchises have won
Speaker 1: a combined five m v p s in the time
Speaker 1: that the Packers have won nine. So Green Bay has
Speaker 1: almost doubled up on its competitors. For those who are
Speaker 1: wondering the five m vps, Adrian Peterson, fran Tarkenton, Alan
Speaker 1: Page for the Minnesota Vikings, Bear, Barry Sanders, who taught
Speaker 1: who out, shared one with Brett far Brett Farst. Third
Speaker 1: one was shared with Sanders and then Walter Payton of
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears in nineteen seventy seven. Yeah, Alan Page
Speaker 1: on me, I would have gotten seventy one. As you
Speaker 1: can tell, I was doing some research for what we're
Speaker 1: going to be posting over the over the weekend here
Speaker 1: on the website. But Alan Page one of the few
Speaker 1: defensive players to win the NFL's Most Valuable Player award
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one. The last defensive player to win
Speaker 1: it actually Nighties six Lawrence Taylor. It's been all quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and running backs since nine eight six to U to
Speaker 1: win the award. Wide receivers never won it. I thought
Speaker 1: that was interesting, Yeah, that never that is true. Um
Speaker 1: Don Hucker having back before the Associated Press, as I say,
Speaker 1: I referenced the nineteen fifty seven the birth of the
Speaker 1: Associated Press Award. There was a league MVP back in
Speaker 1: the forties and Don Hudson for the Packers won that
Speaker 1: a couple of times, but it's not recognized in the
Speaker 1: same way that the Associated Press won as far as
Speaker 1: the the history books dating back to fifty seven when
Speaker 1: Jim Brown won the first two in in fifty seven
Speaker 1: and fifty eight. So sirius x M NFL radio Channel
Speaker 1: eighty eight West is the only radio outlet dedicated to
Speaker 1: the National Football League seven days a week, three hundred
Speaker 1: sixty five days a year. The other news that will
Speaker 1: be coming out this weekend prior to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: will be the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of
Speaker 1: one and again another assumption. Another expectation that we have
Speaker 1: for this weekend is that former Packers defensive back Charles
Speaker 1: Woodson will become a first ballot Hall of Famer. This
Speaker 1: is his first year of eligibility. I can't imagine that
Speaker 1: he's not going to get in um and uh, here's
Speaker 1: here's a couple of things, a couple of statistics to
Speaker 1: throw your way with regard to this West. Charles Woodson
Speaker 1: played eighteen seasons in the National Football League as a
Speaker 1: defensive back, which is remarkable. He played only seven of
Speaker 1: those eighteen in green Bay. He played the other eleven
Speaker 1: in Oakland. On both the front and the back end
Speaker 1: of his stint in green Bay. But you could really
Speaker 1: make the argument that the seven years in Green Bay
Speaker 1: is what took Charles Woodson from you know, the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl caliber player to a Hall of Famer. When you
Speaker 1: look at what he did, and I'll throw a couple
Speaker 1: of numbers your way. Woods And finished his career with
Speaker 1: sixty five interceptions. Thirty eight of those sixty five came
Speaker 1: in seven years in Green Bay. And he scored fourteen
Speaker 1: defensive touchdowns in his career, ten of those fourteen as
Speaker 1: a member of the Packers. Those ten defensive touchdowns nine
Speaker 1: interception returns. Both of those are green Bay Packers defensive
Speaker 1: franchise records. So what he did, what he did in
Speaker 1: seven years in Green Bay, it it's it's in the
Speaker 1: history books. It's not going anywhere west and uh this
Speaker 1: will be uh yet. I mean, the Packers have had
Speaker 1: a pretty good run. I believe he'll be the sixth
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer that the Packers lay claimed to over
Speaker 1: the last you know, about eight years, at eight or
Speaker 1: nine years um and uh um, Yeah, Charles Woodson certainly
Speaker 1: deserving of that gold jacket. It's funny because everybody always
Speaker 1: people like to put the MLB like metric on all
Speaker 1: this stuff. Like and even my father, God bless him,
Speaker 1: said to me when I when I stopped over at
Speaker 1: their house a couple of nights ago, mentioned, uh, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: is he gonna go in as a as a packer
Speaker 1: or a raider? This is how you know how great
Speaker 1: Charles Woodson is. It isn't about claiming Charles Woodson. It's
Speaker 1: the fact that he had incredible careers in both places.
Speaker 1: As you says, I think you could actually you could
Speaker 1: take his seven years in Green Bay, maybe tack on
Speaker 1: an extra two or something on either side of that
Speaker 1: was a Hall of Fame career in itself, what he
Speaker 1: did in Green Bay and for him to then make
Speaker 1: the transition to safety his last season the National Football League,
Speaker 1: I think he was second team All Pro at safety.
Speaker 1: Um he went in uh, you know when you go
Speaker 1: him back to think about the all the juice behind
Speaker 1: him when he came into the league, the Heisman everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, he had these incredible expectations and that's not
Speaker 1: always easy to live up to for any player, let
Speaker 1: alone a defensive back, because there are certain things that
Speaker 1: have to happen in order for you to make plays.
Speaker 1: And and what I loved about Charles woodson story is
Speaker 1: you talk about Ted Thompson and in the building of
Speaker 1: a football team and a championship Super Bowl forty five
Speaker 1: team in in two thousand, you know, six to two
Speaker 1: thousand and ten. In that window, Woodson was the reluctant
Speaker 1: hero in that he was the guy that necessarily didn't
Speaker 1: want to come to Green Bay at first, maybe even
Speaker 1: waited a little extra longer on the free agent market
Speaker 1: to see if something else would come along. It didn't,
Speaker 1: and he had to work through some rough spots early
Speaker 1: in his career. You've heard some of the stories about
Speaker 1: practices and things like that, but man, when he it's
Speaker 1: like it's almost like the like the the teenager analogy, right,
Speaker 1: Like they get kind of rambunctious, and then they settle in,
Speaker 1: they learned from their mistakes, and they become a galvanizing force. Uh.
Speaker 1: He became that on this football team. And when you
Speaker 1: think back to that Super Bowl championship, him being able
Speaker 1: to win Defensive Player of the Year in two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: what a remarkable run he was on in p Bowl.
Speaker 1: Just were magnetized to him, to his energy, to his leadership.
Speaker 1: I will never forget I was not on the I
Speaker 1: was all I only covered him seven games, really when
Speaker 1: the seven games before he got injured in two thousand twelve.
Speaker 1: But the thing that always will stand out to me
Speaker 1: is that Charles Woodson being able to go into a
Speaker 1: locker room after those games. He only talked usually once
Speaker 1: a week, and he'd always have a custom made suit
Speaker 1: for every single home game, probably road game too. I
Speaker 1: didn't cover those. He would be at his locker, everything
Speaker 1: would be cleared out basically a lot of times by
Speaker 1: the time he finally turned around to address the media,
Speaker 1: and he just sit there and he would talk, and
Speaker 1: he would talk whatever the topic of discussion was. He'd
Speaker 1: be there until basically media was done with him, and
Speaker 1: then he'd go about his way and in all these
Speaker 1: years I've covered the National Football League, doesn't matter if
Speaker 1: I'm in the Packers locker room an opposing team locker room.
Speaker 1: I to this day, I've never seen anyone like Charles Woodson.
Speaker 1: He just he was a brand into himself. He was
Speaker 1: there was just a weird type of kinetic energy that
Speaker 1: you just just felt every time you were in his
Speaker 1: his presence and and now obviously getting the highest honorable Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's what it was for me. And I covered
Speaker 1: his entire career in Green Bay. His arrival in Green
Speaker 1: Bay was actually the same year, two thousand six that
Speaker 1: I got hired for this job at Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: So I covered his entire time in Green Bay, and uh,
Speaker 1: and he just, Yeah, the best way I can put
Speaker 1: it is he he had a presence about him that
Speaker 1: was just that was just different. That was, as you say, magnetizing.
Speaker 1: And we hear that with a lot of players around
Speaker 1: the league, not just a guy like Aaron Rodgers, who
Speaker 1: certainly has a presence too. We heard about that and
Speaker 1: felt it with Julius Peppers and Marcedes Lewis, who's been
Speaker 1: in the locker room now for the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: but even Charles Woodson. There there was there was a
Speaker 1: presence of a presence about him that was just different
Speaker 1: from anybody any other NFL player that that I've been around.
Speaker 1: And here's here's another thing again, statistic to put things
Speaker 1: in perspective. Your good friend west Leroy Butler, who let
Speaker 1: the cat out of the bag apparently a week or
Speaker 1: two ago on Twitter that as a as a finalist
Speaker 1: for the Hall of Fame, he did not get selected
Speaker 1: this year, um and will certainly be UM rooting for
Speaker 1: him in the coming years to to finally get over
Speaker 1: this hump, so to speak, because you and I both
Speaker 1: believe Lroy Butler deserves to be in Cannon as a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. Leroy Butler played twelve years with the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers and intercepted thirty eight passes. Charles Woodson
Speaker 1: played seven years with the Green Bay Packers and intercepted
Speaker 1: thirty eight passes. They are tied for fourth. These are
Speaker 1: regular season statistics. They are tied for fourth on the
Speaker 1: Packers all time list for interceptions and uh and Woodson
Speaker 1: played five fewer seasons in Green Bay than Butler did.
Speaker 1: I mean what what Charles Woodson did, It wasn't you
Speaker 1: can't even say it was just like a rebirth of
Speaker 1: his career. It's like what you said, it was almost
Speaker 1: his time in green Bay was almost a Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame career in and of itself. And um, I I
Speaker 1: don't know what the summer holds as far as how
Speaker 1: the induction is going to take place. I've been to
Speaker 1: Canton for the inductions of Brett Farven Jerry Kramer. I
Speaker 1: would love to go there for Charles Woodson Woodson's as
Speaker 1: well and reconnect with him and get to talk with
Speaker 1: him and provide some stuff on packers dot Com. I
Speaker 1: don't know what next summer holds. We'll just have to
Speaker 1: We'll just have to wait and see. But uh um,
Speaker 1: but whenever that time comes to get to chat with him,
Speaker 1: I will definitely look forward to it. One other thing,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up about. You know how
Speaker 1: he sort of reinvented himself in Green Bay. It's something
Speaker 1: that has become more prevalent now in the NFL. You
Speaker 1: see these defensive backs, these boundary cornerbacks, making switches the
Speaker 1: safety or the nickel. That's what was beautiful about Charles
Speaker 1: Woodson is that he was an exceptional shutdown cornerback for
Speaker 1: so much of his career, but then he ends up
Speaker 1: going into the slot. He ends up making finally the
Speaker 1: transition to the back end. I remember that was a
Speaker 1: huge Remember how big that story was in two thousand twelve,
Speaker 1: and I was like, hey, is Charles Woodson gonna play safety?
Speaker 1: And he just made plays no matter where he was
Speaker 1: and he adapted his style. I still do this day.
Speaker 1: I know Rex Ryan did not like the fact that
Speaker 1: that Woodson got Defensive Player of the Year over Durrell
Speaker 1: Reevas in two thousand nine, But man, that season that
Speaker 1: Woodson had was so special. And when when at the
Speaker 1: time you realize, oh, you guy gets seven eight interceptions,
Speaker 1: that's a big deal. But then when you cover the
Speaker 1: league for as long as I have now almost a
Speaker 1: decade of covering the league, and obviously you you even longer,
Speaker 1: you start to realize when you get moments like that
Speaker 1: on the front end of your journalism career, you realize
Speaker 1: how rare they are. When that stuff doesn't happen anymore afterwards,
Speaker 1: you get I think, what was it. Darnell Savage had
Speaker 1: four picks this year, and I thought that was a
Speaker 1: really good year for him. Some guys just can go
Speaker 1: find the football and make a play on the football.
Speaker 1: And as you said, ten return for a touchdown, he's
Speaker 1: he was a Hall of Famer. He was. And when
Speaker 1: you talk about the aura that he had in locker room,
Speaker 1: that was a part of the aura. When you were
Speaker 1: talking to Charles Woodson, you understood that this guy is
Speaker 1: going to Canton. This guy is going to is one
Speaker 1: of the very best to ever play his position. And
Speaker 1: as I said, from the get go, the expectations he
Speaker 1: had never shied away from him. And those type of
Speaker 1: individuals are just built differently. They just have something in
Speaker 1: them that is different than most human beings. Yeah, no
Speaker 1: question about it. Well, one last thing before we go here, West,
Speaker 1: just get your thoughts quickly on Super Bowl fifty five
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Any
Speaker 1: thoughts on how you see this one shaking out? So
Speaker 1: I like to go all in on these things, right everyone,
Speaker 1: that's a big topic right now and in boxes all in. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't like to parse my words. I think Kansas
Speaker 1: City wins this handily. If they don't. Fortunately, you and
Speaker 1: I aren't shooting any of these for a while. So well,
Speaker 1: I won't even have to answer for it, but I'll
Speaker 1: be honest with you, Mike. I don't want to say
Speaker 1: I'm getting like Denver Seattle vibes from this game, but
Speaker 1: I I'm wondering. I don't know how competitive it's going
Speaker 1: to be. We're gonna see. I just feel like Kansas
Speaker 1: City has found something again, and I think Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: has played in that environment. I saw some of these
Speaker 1: sentiments about well, Mahomes has played Brady and he's lost
Speaker 1: to Brady a lot, and I'm like, okay, but I mean,
Speaker 1: like like Holmes is, Mahomes is the one. He's on
Speaker 1: the throne right now, right like Brady is in here
Speaker 1: with a new team. I just feel like the Kansas
Speaker 1: City brought back a lot of guys from that ball
Speaker 1: club last year. They've been there, they know what it's like. Technically,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a road game for them that they'll
Speaker 1: be traveling over the weekend. But all things considered, I
Speaker 1: just I expect Kansas City to win this thing by
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. I'm with you. I think I think Kansas
Speaker 1: City is the better team, and I do think Kansas
Speaker 1: City is going to have an opportunity to win this
Speaker 1: game handily. The one thing. The two things I will say,
Speaker 1: one is that Kansas City is going to be without
Speaker 1: a starting offensive tackle and Eric Fisher, and we saw
Speaker 1: obviously the Packers the the absence of David back Are
Speaker 1: finally did catch up with the Packers there in the
Speaker 1: NFC Championship game. That defensive front of the Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: Buccaneers is no joke, um. But Patrick Mahomes as far
Speaker 1: as the scrambling around, improvising, doing things on the run, whatever,
Speaker 1: he's as good as there is, as good as anybody
Speaker 1: in the game right now. So I don't know if
Speaker 1: that has as big an impact. The other thing I
Speaker 1: will say, not to state the obvious, but it's the
Speaker 1: turnover thing, wes I. As I had said leading up
Speaker 1: to a NFC Championship game, the Buccaneers don't beat the
Speaker 1: Saints if the Saints don't turn the ball over. And
Speaker 1: even in the NFC title game, I know the Packers
Speaker 1: ultimately won the turnover battle three to two, but when
Speaker 1: the turnover started two to zero, and it was fourteen
Speaker 1: to zero in points off turnovers at that stage, that
Speaker 1: was too big of a hole for the Packers to
Speaker 1: climb out. Of and I don't think if if the
Speaker 1: Packers don't turn the ball over, I don't think they
Speaker 1: lose the NFC title game. So I'm gonna say the
Speaker 1: same thing if if Patrick Mahomes, if the Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 1: if that offense doesn't turn the football over, I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be able to put up plenty of points
Speaker 1: to to to win this game by multiple scores. That's
Speaker 1: just that, That's just how I see it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree with And that is one thing I'm glad you
Speaker 1: mentioned that because when I was if you go back
Speaker 1: to all of our stuff the week before the Buccaneers game,
Speaker 1: I wasn't at least the best of my knowledge. I
Speaker 1: don't think I was saying, hey, they got to win
Speaker 1: the turnover differential. No, the Packers needed to not turn
Speaker 1: over the football. That's what I was saying to I
Speaker 1: would have taken zero zero in the NFC Championship game,
Speaker 1: just like the Rams game. Right, if the turnovers are
Speaker 1: zero zero, I think the Packers would have had the edge.
Speaker 1: And uh and one screen Bay started to turn the
Speaker 1: ball over, it just everything with the game got thrown
Speaker 1: out of whack and and it didn't becoming the type
Speaker 1: of game the Packers wanted to play. Yeah, and and
Speaker 1: now again Mahomes did have some turnovers in December. We'll
Speaker 1: have to see if if you know, the Bucks can
Speaker 1: be opportunistic here. But I just I just think Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay needs to play a perfect game and I think
Speaker 1: Kansas City can win it even if they don't. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a great battle though, because again, much
Speaker 1: like I was building up with the NFC title game,
Speaker 1: there is an interes inesting storyline here. Either you're gonna
Speaker 1: have Kansas City beginning the you know, the beginnings of
Speaker 1: a dynasty. Being able to go back to back would
Speaker 1: be a huge accomplishment, very difficult to do in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. Nobody, nobody's done it since Tom Brady
Speaker 1: and back in oh three oh four with New England Patriots.
Speaker 1: It hasn't happened in this league for a long time.
Speaker 1: And and on the other side of it, you have
Speaker 1: Tom Brady trying to win a Super Bowl at age
Speaker 1: forty three with a new football team after twenty one
Speaker 1: seasons with with New England. So that that way it
Speaker 1: will be really interesting. And hey, Mike, I know your
Speaker 1: big weekend fan. You get a weekend performance out of
Speaker 1: this too, So congratulations. All right, thanks very much. Well,
Speaker 1: with that, we are going to sign off on this
Speaker 1: edition of Packers Unscripted and has, as West suggested a
Speaker 1: moment ago, we're going to go on a little bit
Speaker 1: of an indefinite hiatus here with PTO season. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: both need to get some vacation time in. We're both
Speaker 1: going to be in and out of the office, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna shut it down for a while. We will
Speaker 1: be back, trust me. Um, I'm just not gonna say
Speaker 1: exactly when. It's a surprise. Yeah, So stay tuned to
Speaker 1: Packers dot com and and all of your all your
Speaker 1: podcast notifications for when we do come back. But whenever
Speaker 1: that is, we will see you then. For Wes, I
Speaker 1: am Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody, take care.