Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is the one and only
Speaker 1: West Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field and West. We are coming off of
Speaker 1: a short night of sleep. It's after a thrilling Packers
Speaker 1: come from behind victory to twenty two over the Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions on Monday Night football lambeau Field a walk off
Speaker 1: field goal by Mason Crosby. There is so much to
Speaker 1: talk about with this game and how it unfolded and
Speaker 1: how the Packers came out with the victory. Where do
Speaker 1: you want to start, my friend? There are three rules
Speaker 1: that I live by, Michael. Never speed in school zones,
Speaker 1: always tip your waiter waitress, and never apologize for a victory.
Speaker 1: The Green Dave Packers did just that on Monday Night football,
Speaker 1: and I was talking to a number of players about
Speaker 1: this in the locker room afterwards. Was it the prettiest game? No?
Speaker 1: Were there missed opportunities? Yes? Were they beaten by three
Speaker 1: in the turnover battle? They were, But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, the defense got the stops that they
Speaker 1: needed to keep Detroit out of the end zone, and
Speaker 1: just enough playmakers made plays for Aaron Rodgers in this
Speaker 1: offense to pull out the victory. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you felt about it. I felt like this was one
Speaker 1: of Aaron rodgers finest hours. He did not have Davante
Speaker 1: Adams for the second straight week. Geronimo Allison leaves the game.
Speaker 1: I just thought he put on a masterclass about not
Speaker 1: only how to play the quarterback position, but bouncing back
Speaker 1: from adversity. A number of different instances in that game
Speaker 1: where a lesser quarterback, a less experienced quarterback could crumble
Speaker 1: underneath that drop touchdowns, interceptions that probably shouldn't have been in.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers rose above it, and he found a guy
Speaker 1: that had twenty one offensive snaps to his NFL career
Speaker 1: resume going into this game in Alan Lazard made some
Speaker 1: incredible catches down the stretch. Yeah, I think that's as
Speaker 1: good a place to start as any as with Alan Lazard.
Speaker 1: You said it, the twenty plus offensive snaps he'd played
Speaker 1: in his NFL career. He had one catch for seven
Speaker 1: yards to his name as an NFL player, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't even from Aaron Rodgers. It came in week seventeen
Speaker 1: when Rogers was out with a concussion last year in
Speaker 1: what really was a meaningless game against Detroit that the
Speaker 1: Packers got it handed to him that day to wrap
Speaker 1: up a rough eighteen. But Alan Lazard I mean listening
Speaker 1: to Rogers in his postgame press conference talking about how
Speaker 1: he went to Alvis Wood at the wide receiver's coach
Speaker 1: with the Packers down by a couple of scores in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, and said, hey, put number thirteen in
Speaker 1: the game, Let's see what can happen here. And then
Speaker 1: third and five from the thirty five yard line when
Speaker 1: you're down by nine points. He had just tried to
Speaker 1: go to Lazard, tough play in traffic down the seam,
Speaker 1: almost makes a great catch, gets broke and up. Next
Speaker 1: play goes right back to him one on one down
Speaker 1: the sideline with Justin Coleman, who had had the big
Speaker 1: interception of the deflection of Darius Shepherd at the goal
Speaker 1: line on the Packers previous possession. The throw is right
Speaker 1: on the money, Lizard makes the catch, tumbling into the
Speaker 1: end zone, and suddenly a star is born. Not only
Speaker 1: with that touchdown, but then Lazard catches three passes for
Speaker 1: thirty yards on the final drive, two of those that
Speaker 1: moved the chains to help set up the game winning
Speaker 1: field goal. This Uh, this young receiver from Iowa State.
Speaker 1: He didn't make the fifty three man roster out of
Speaker 1: training camp. He was on the fifty three the day
Speaker 1: before the opener when Darius Shepherd had a hamstring injury
Speaker 1: and couldn't place who was only on the practice squad
Speaker 1: for a few days. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: West the Packers are lucky that this six ft five
Speaker 1: receiver out of Iowa State was not claimed on waivers,
Speaker 1: because otherwise he's not even here to be able to
Speaker 1: make those plays at the end of a week six
Speaker 1: Monday night games, they roll the dice a little bit.
Speaker 1: It was one of the first thing that actually was
Speaker 1: the first thing that Aaron Rodgers kind of acknowledged when
Speaker 1: he was speaking at the podium. But the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is they did the same thing with Geronimo Allison,
Speaker 1: Jake Crumero, a number of these players that have been
Speaker 1: on the bubble before and you know, been on the
Speaker 1: practice squad. But they brought him right back up right away.
Speaker 1: And I remember talking to Allen about that that week after,
Speaker 1: and sure there was some disappointment involved with not making
Speaker 1: the initial fifty three. That was a big goal for him,
Speaker 1: but he also saw the end game when he resigned
Speaker 1: with the Packers. And there's a lot you know, everybody
Speaker 1: wants to make comparisons about players like you know, player
Speaker 1: A plays like player X from But the thing that
Speaker 1: I like the most of aut Alanas artist he has
Speaker 1: a very similar temperament to Davante Adams. This is an
Speaker 1: ultra confident athlete. He might have been an undrafted free agent,
Speaker 1: he might have spent a majority of his first rookie
Speaker 1: season on the practice squad of the Jaguars, but he
Speaker 1: feels like he belongs and he was just waiting for
Speaker 1: that moment. I thought you saw him, you know, show
Speaker 1: those attributes. Throughout the preseason, he made some credible catches
Speaker 1: in at slate, but very productive in the month of August,
Speaker 1: no question about it. He made a legitimate run out
Speaker 1: of roster spot and uh, I know it wasn't an
Speaker 1: easy decision for the Packers, but decisions are tough. Fortunately
Speaker 1: it worked out that he wasn't claimed. He came back.
Speaker 1: Rogers talked about how he's done nothing but work hard.
Speaker 1: He didn't let the disappointment affect him and uh, and
Speaker 1: he came up big when his number was called, and
Speaker 1: that's what I really liked about. I mean, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: Rogers throws that contested passed to him. He was asked
Speaker 1: in his Pope Lazar was was asking his postgame scrum, like,
Speaker 1: did you say anything to Rogers, like, you know, to
Speaker 1: throw it back to me? He said, I just kept
Speaker 1: throwing it, telling to throw me the ball. And you
Speaker 1: know he wasn't throwing at every play. He was obviously joking,
Speaker 1: but that's just the way he's wired. And I think
Speaker 1: he even it was your column that he had retweeted
Speaker 1: this morning, um saying he's made for this, this is
Speaker 1: the moments he's made for, and he echoed those comments afterwards.
Speaker 1: He's incredibly humble, he said, this is a huge dream
Speaker 1: come true to be able to have four catches for
Speaker 1: sixty yards in a touchdown, all in the last ten
Speaker 1: minutes of a game, only playing seventeen offensive snaps, and
Speaker 1: yet having that production. But at the same time, like
Speaker 1: as markisveld Is Scantling, other guys said in the locker room,
Speaker 1: this isn't surprise anybody. Al Lazard has been calling his
Speaker 1: shot since he got to Green Bay and he had
Speaker 1: a chance to show what he could do on Monday night. Well,
Speaker 1: and Rogers said after the touchdown on the final drive
Speaker 1: for the Packers, Lazard was coming back to the huddle
Speaker 1: and telling Rogers what routes he wanted to run. He
Speaker 1: was getting a feel for the coverage, what the Lions
Speaker 1: were running, what he was comfortable with, and how he
Speaker 1: could get open. Rogers said there was one moment where
Speaker 1: La Fleur was in between two different play calls when
Speaker 1: there was a time out or they were discussing something
Speaker 1: on the sideline, and Rogers told him to go with
Speaker 1: the one that included the route that Lazard had told
Speaker 1: him he wanted to run. And the Packers got a
Speaker 1: first down out of it, and the ball keeps moving
Speaker 1: down the field. Just great execution by a green Bay
Speaker 1: down the stretch. Yes, the illegal hands to the face
Speaker 1: penalty on Trey Flowers, his second one of the game,
Speaker 1: certainly factored into the Packers being able to run out
Speaker 1: the clock and not give Matthew Stafford a chance. Going
Speaker 1: the other way, the Lions would have had ninety seconds.
Speaker 1: I think we're so if that third down penalty is
Speaker 1: not called, and then you have to kick the field
Speaker 1: goal a little bit earlier with Mason Crosby. But but boy, yeah,
Speaker 1: you drain the last sixty six off the clock fourteen
Speaker 1: plays seventy seven yards from the Packers perspective, you can't
Speaker 1: draw it up any better. Yeah, I remember seeing this
Speaker 1: to you in the press box right around I think
Speaker 1: it was too forty one remaining, like, oh, could the
Speaker 1: Packers legitimately run this thing? They could run it out.
Speaker 1: There are three things I want to mention here. Okay,
Speaker 1: first and foremost, I've been really hard on officiating this
Speaker 1: year in the inbox and obviously here. The review process
Speaker 1: is something that is driving me bonkers. But the job
Speaker 1: of referees itself, I don't envy them, especially in two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen. I want no part of that. If we
Speaker 1: want to have more conversation about that tomorrow, we can
Speaker 1: discuss that then. But the bigger point I want to
Speaker 1: make is that I'm sure there's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of people in Detroit, a lot of people in Michigan
Speaker 1: that are upset. They feel like they, you know, they
Speaker 1: got it taken away from a little bit. The fact
Speaker 1: of the matter is Mike because Detroit didn't finish drives,
Speaker 1: and that's where the Packers ultimately beat them. That's why
Speaker 1: they were able to overcome the three turnovers. It wasn't
Speaker 1: the officials or the penalties that it's the fact that
Speaker 1: Detroit had to settle for five Matt Parator field goals
Speaker 1: um including some in the red zone. You have to
Speaker 1: be able to finish off drives if you're gonna win this,
Speaker 1: like the Green Bay Packers have found that out too.
Speaker 1: You look at the NFC Championship game five years ago, well,
Speaker 1: and I was gonna say just a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: ago against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Packers are in the
Speaker 1: same kind of situation in terms of, yes, you're lamenting
Speaker 1: the fact at the end of the Eagles game that
Speaker 1: there's not past interference called on the past of Valda
Speaker 1: scantling at the goal line that leads to the deflection
Speaker 1: in the interception. Everybody could see the pictures. Everybody knows
Speaker 1: that it's past interference. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: the Packers had plenty of other chances to win the game.
Speaker 1: You can't sit there and cry about a call or
Speaker 1: a no call or whatever it is when you have
Speaker 1: those opportunities. The Packers knew they had their chances against
Speaker 1: the Eagles. They didn't get the job done. They licked
Speaker 1: their wounds, and they've come back and found a way
Speaker 1: to win two more games. Yeah, and the Lions legitimately
Speaker 1: did shoot themselves in the foot at several turns. Look
Speaker 1: about it like having twelve men on the field for
Speaker 1: a field goal opportunity. That's an excusable four points that
Speaker 1: you have to know what your personnel is when you
Speaker 1: go out there in that unit. There was an instance
Speaker 1: where you know, Matt Floor took a time out because
Speaker 1: they had twelve defensive players on the field. They were
Speaker 1: switching out from a base defense to their dime. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's stuff that you understand. A field goal operation of protection.
Speaker 1: You have to know what your job responsibility is the
Speaker 1: coaches field goal block on the sideline and it's supposed
Speaker 1: to you have to know who the eleven guys are
Speaker 1: that are going in a game. So the point I
Speaker 1: want to kind of close up on this whole discussion
Speaker 1: with is Detroit came out of the gate and had
Speaker 1: two huge plays right away. The flee flicker to Kenny
Speaker 1: Galladay for sixty six yards and then Marvin Hall had
Speaker 1: his fifty eight yard touchdown or fifty eight yard pass
Speaker 1: that led to a touchdown on that drive ten points
Speaker 1: right off the bat. After that, they did not have
Speaker 1: another play of more than twenty five yards the mainder
Speaker 1: of the game, the Agreemat Packers had five. So that's
Speaker 1: what it came down to me, and I wrote about
Speaker 1: this in Packers dot com with our with our locker report.
Speaker 1: It was lazard as you wrote about in your column.
Speaker 1: It was Jamal Williams coming back after missing two weeks,
Speaker 1: comes back as a hundred four yard Rushi performance was
Speaker 1: a stabilizing presence for four quarters for this team. Uh
Speaker 1: and then obviously slid down late, so you want to
Speaker 1: go in the end zone to to allow Mason Crosby
Speaker 1: to hit the field goal. It was Crosby making three
Speaker 1: big field goals, the biggest of which was the twenty
Speaker 1: three yarder to win it. And then also you have
Speaker 1: to tip your cap to this to this auxiliary players,
Speaker 1: the the Marcedes Lewis is having two catches for fifty yards,
Speaker 1: the will Redmond's playing safety Chandon Sullivan played safety in
Speaker 1: this game. Jannon Sullivan's not listed as a safety. I mean,
Speaker 1: it is just when you get that's the biggest thing
Speaker 1: that really separates this team. I feel, as opposed to
Speaker 1: where the Packers were at last year, is that if
Speaker 1: the starters go down, they just have guys that are
Speaker 1: more experienced and a little behind them. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what's allowed them in the instances when everything doesn't
Speaker 1: go right, to be five and one at this point, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to get back to that point in a minute, West,
Speaker 1: but I can't forget about our sponsored business. Select Cousin
Speaker 1: Subs locations are now offering delivery. Whether you're ordering catering
Speaker 1: or your favorite sub, they're delivering right to you when
Speaker 1: you order online at Cousin Subs dot com. Cousin Subs
Speaker 1: we believe in better. Yeah. I wanted to get to
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams here because, as you and I both know, West,
Speaker 1: this game can humble you quickly, and it can humble
Speaker 1: you in different ways. Jamal Williams took that shot on
Speaker 1: the opening play against the Philadelphia Eagles, and he's out
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks. He's can't get himself back
Speaker 1: onto the field. Unfortunately, Aaron Jones becomes the star in
Speaker 1: Dallas with four rushing touchdowns. Well, what happens on Monday night?
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones fumbles the ball. Aaron Jones drops a wide
Speaker 1: open touchdown pass. This game can humble you. And it's
Speaker 1: what you said. It's having those other guys who can
Speaker 1: step in and pick up the slack. And Jamal Williams
Speaker 1: did that. He had a forty five yard run to
Speaker 1: set up a field goal, the longest rush of his
Speaker 1: career by twenty yards. He ends up with a hundred
Speaker 1: and four yard performance. He keeps his wits and his
Speaker 1: head about him when everybody has said in the huddle, okay,
Speaker 1: we're not scoring a touchdown. We want to run the
Speaker 1: clock down and kick the chip shot field goal. The Lions,
Speaker 1: you know, part the ways from the eleven yard line.
Speaker 1: They're gonna let him walk into the end zone and
Speaker 1: he sits down on the three and yeah and bypasses
Speaker 1: the touchdown so that the Packers can execute the final
Speaker 1: drive and the final plays the way they need to,
Speaker 1: so that Matthew Stafford doesn't get another crack the other way.
Speaker 1: I can't say enough about what Jamal Williams did in
Speaker 1: this game. On top of the fact that it was
Speaker 1: his first game back in the whatever was eighteen days
Speaker 1: since he had taken that shot against the Eagle. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The other thing I love about this to talk about
Speaker 1: the cat, you know, willing itself not to eat, the
Speaker 1: Canarian situation. I asked Williams about that after the aim
Speaker 1: I mean is that is it difficult to turn that
Speaker 1: switch off because you are just trained your entire football life.
Speaker 1: Now I understand there's some instances where I remember I
Speaker 1: think it was Brian Westbrook a number of years ago,
Speaker 1: or whoever it was, where they're running and then they
Speaker 1: they're wide open. They could just john you know, go
Speaker 1: right into the end zone and they stop at the two,
Speaker 1: they slide, they give themselves up. Jamal Williams is right
Speaker 1: in the middle of the battlefield there and the Sea's part,
Speaker 1: as he said, and he had to make sure he
Speaker 1: got down. He did say, it is a little tough.
Speaker 1: It is tough not to want to score. But then
Speaker 1: you have to remind yourself what you're doing. That's the
Speaker 1: benefit to the team not going into the end zone,
Speaker 1: being smart in those instances. And Rogers said, hey, he
Speaker 1: probably wanted to dance. He's a dancing light. He wants
Speaker 1: to do is celebrate. I mean jokingly, of course, but
Speaker 1: you can, right And no matter how much it's communicated though, West,
Speaker 1: my point is that you have to keep your head
Speaker 1: about you have to keep your wits about you in
Speaker 1: a highly charged, highly competitive, intense moment there because his
Speaker 1: number one priority, of course this ball, security to not
Speaker 1: fumble the ball, and then all of a sudden everything's
Speaker 1: wide open and has the presence of mind to go, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not going into the end zone here. We're going
Speaker 1: to do this the uh, the right way, the best
Speaker 1: way to give us the chance to win, and uh
Speaker 1: and the Packers come out with the victory. I was
Speaker 1: really just really really impressed with Jamal Williams start to finish,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to jinx him here, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure obviously fans will say I am now. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's gone basically over three and fifty career touches, three
Speaker 1: and fourteen carries, two and sixty four receiving yards without
Speaker 1: a fumble in his NFL career to this, didn't had
Speaker 1: a fumble, lost without a fumble. I mean, and here's
Speaker 1: the thing about Jamal Williams. A couple different points to
Speaker 1: this one. He's a fun guy. Everybody understands that. You know,
Speaker 1: he's he's joking, he's jovial. He's throwing footballs with kids
Speaker 1: before games. He was really introspective after the game. Any
Speaker 1: can be really introspected. There was a little huddle with myself,
Speaker 1: Bill Hubert, Ryan would he's a different personality, but he
Speaker 1: is a very He is a very smartful guy. He
Speaker 1: is an incredibly intelligent guy. And it was when when
Speaker 1: he pulls back all that stuff, it was really interesting
Speaker 1: to just hear him talk about football. And and Ryan
Speaker 1: had asked him a question. It was a good question,
Speaker 1: basically saying everybody talks about Aaron Jones, does that frustrate you?
Speaker 1: And he said it doesn't frustrate him because he knows
Speaker 1: the player he is. He's confident in the player he is.
Speaker 1: He doesn't care if he's running, blocking, passing, catching the football.
Speaker 1: He he's a confident football player. And it ties into
Speaker 1: what he said last week too, when myself and others
Speaker 1: are asking, I mean, how can you have a hit
Speaker 1: like that like you took against Derek Barnett and just
Speaker 1: go back out there and put it behind you? And
Speaker 1: he said, that's my mentality. It's not bravado, it's not
Speaker 1: a statement, it's not a line that he's trying to
Speaker 1: give people. He legitimately just wants to play football and
Speaker 1: he's an as to use his own words, he's an
Speaker 1: all around back. He can do it all. And I
Speaker 1: think when you really look at what he's given this
Speaker 1: offense over the last two and a half years, every
Speaker 1: single time they've needed to turn to Jamal Williams for injury,
Speaker 1: for opportunity, for game situation, he's responded and you made delivered.
Speaker 1: There's no question you made such a great comment last
Speaker 1: night too, when we watched him after he win in
Speaker 1: for Aaron Jones. You need five yards, He's gonna get
Speaker 1: you five yards, man. I mean, he just was dragging
Speaker 1: piles and then he has a forty five yard carry,
Speaker 1: his longest by twenty yards in his NFL career. Uh,
Speaker 1: he just found ways to make plays and he ended
Speaker 1: up with his second career hundred yard rushing day. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: we'd be remiss if we didn't also give due to
Speaker 1: the Packers defense here. You mentioned it earlier, the two
Speaker 1: big plays over the top. Early. I looked at my
Speaker 1: play by play as I was putting some things together
Speaker 1: in the wee hours of the morning after the game
Speaker 1: and finishing up our coverage on the website. Five minutes
Speaker 1: into this game, the Detroit Lions had a hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty two yards of offense. In the last fifty five
Speaker 1: minutes of this game, they only added a hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty seven yards to that total. I mean, what the
Speaker 1: green Bay Packers defense did over the last fifty five
Speaker 1: minutes of this ball game was incredible, and they almost
Speaker 1: stopped him on the goal line stand there. Highly questionable call.
Speaker 1: You had the two side judges, the one the one
Speaker 1: is signaling that it's a stop, and Cleet Blakeman, the referee,
Speaker 1: actually signals first down in the Packers direction. The side
Speaker 1: judge on the other side is signaling touchdown, and suddenly
Speaker 1: Cleet Blakeman turns on his microphone and says the ruling
Speaker 1: on the field was touched on moments after he just
Speaker 1: signaled first down Green Bay. There was no discussion, there
Speaker 1: was no huddle. Suddenly it's a Detroit Lions touchdown. Highly questionable.
Speaker 1: The replay clearly inconclusive, so they're just gonna stand with
Speaker 1: the call in the field based on the way the
Speaker 1: rule is written. But my point is what the Packers
Speaker 1: defense did in this game, holding the Lions to five
Speaker 1: field goals, almost got the goal line stand. Two of
Speaker 1: those possessions for the Lions started in Green Bay territory,
Speaker 1: and the Packers defense gets the stop, and yeah, it
Speaker 1: ended up ended up being a long field goal, but
Speaker 1: they didn't even give him a first down um green
Speaker 1: Bay's defense. As Aaron Rodgers said after the game, the
Speaker 1: team got punched in the mouth in the earth least
Speaker 1: stages of this game. But they responded. They and they
Speaker 1: didn't just respond, they responded quickly because that thirteen to
Speaker 1: nothing deficit was wiped out by early in the third quarter.
Speaker 1: It was thirteen to thirteen. I remember turning to you
Speaker 1: looking at how much time was on the clock in
Speaker 1: the third quarter. I was like, all right, it's thirteen thirteen,
Speaker 1: there's twenty seven minutes left. May the best team win?
Speaker 1: Here we go. Yeah, it's just to touch on really
Speaker 1: quickly with the goal line thing. I found it really
Speaker 1: funny that didn't seem to make it into the group
Speaker 1: pool for the you know, the Yeah, there weren't there
Speaker 1: weren't There weren't any questions about how that decision was
Speaker 1: made with no discussion amongst officials who had disagreed with
Speaker 1: what they had seen on the field. But we digress.
Speaker 1: But you do wonder if it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where Cleet thought, Okay, well I'll get reviewed. But I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: there was no way to tell once it got to that.
Speaker 1: But Cleet was the one that actually had the vantage point.
Speaker 1: The other guy was looking at shoulder pads. Be that
Speaker 1: as it may. Let's move forward here the Packers defense.
Speaker 1: This is what's so important about the confidence that they have.
Speaker 1: It's not I've said this several times this year, but
Speaker 1: it's not a synthetic confidence. It's not something that they
Speaker 1: just put on a Phase four and try to act
Speaker 1: like they got swagger and then when they get punched
Speaker 1: in the maut they curl up in the corner and
Speaker 1: and quit. They really truly believe every single time they
Speaker 1: go on the field, regardless of what happened the last series,
Speaker 1: that they're going to get a stop, that they're going
Speaker 1: to get a takeaway, that they're gonna make a big play.
Speaker 1: And this comes in many different facets. Michael, the run
Speaker 1: defense had struggled the last few weeks. I was talking
Speaker 1: to Dean Lowry about this after the game, they admit
Speaker 1: that they needed to play better. They did against Carrie
Speaker 1: on Johnson and guy that was just coming off us
Speaker 1: couldn't do anything on the ground in this game against
Speaker 1: Kansas City two weeks ago. The pass rush when they
Speaker 1: needed to get to it. And this is a question
Speaker 1: I asked Hermon Williams the third down right now for
Speaker 1: the Packers, that dime package when they get guys in
Speaker 1: third and to medium, to third and long. The confidence
Speaker 1: that that unit plays with three sacks there, Preston Smith
Speaker 1: one and a half of those, sharing one with Kyler
Speaker 1: Facral and Sadarius Smith getting another sack as well. Thirteen
Speaker 1: and a half sacks on the year now for the
Speaker 1: Smith brothers. Incredible. And then just the will to bounce back.
Speaker 1: Kevin King bouncing back from a rough first quarter Gire Alexander.
Speaker 1: I still don't know if he gave up a pass
Speaker 1: in this game. You just ask him about it afterwards.
Speaker 1: They just the defense in the way the which they play.
Speaker 1: It's not phased by what's happened, even if they ends
Speaker 1: up being an adverse situation. If I remember correctly, I
Speaker 1: think Preston Smith got a sack, they ended up having
Speaker 1: the muff punt, and they gave the ball back to
Speaker 1: Detroit at that's where they ended up getting the three
Speaker 1: and out. They just aren't phased. I just thought the
Speaker 1: adversity defense in this game in the way that the
Speaker 1: Packers didn't relent even after they did get punched in
Speaker 1: them all, that's what tells you the true character of
Speaker 1: a unit. Yeah, well here's one for you, Wes, because
Speaker 1: the one thing the defense did not do was get
Speaker 1: a takeaway in this game, and so the Packers lost
Speaker 1: the turnover battle three zero. As I got down rushing
Speaker 1: down from the press box to the media auditorium setting
Speaker 1: up my computer for Matt Lafleur's postgame press conference, it
Speaker 1: takes a few minutes for him to get in there.
Speaker 1: I was searching for some stuff on the internet. I
Speaker 1: found a website that indicate it had all the stats
Speaker 1: that since two thousand and five, NFL teams with a
Speaker 1: plus three turnover margin in a game one one point
Speaker 1: four percent of the time. I mean, the odds against
Speaker 1: the Packers being three oh down in the turnover margin
Speaker 1: to come out with victory are pretty astronomical. But you
Speaker 1: can overcome that when those three turnovers for the other
Speaker 1: team only produced nine points with your defense getting those
Speaker 1: kinds of stops and then you make the clutch plays
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. Yes, did the Packers get some
Speaker 1: breaks with the officials. Sure, they got the breaks in
Speaker 1: the second half that Detroit seemed to be getting in
Speaker 1: the first half. That's how it shakes out. Everybody's going
Speaker 1: to talk about the ones at the end, and yes,
Speaker 1: I think we'll get to the officiating stuff tomorrow. But
Speaker 1: there were a lot of odds stacked against the Packers
Speaker 1: in this game, and they found a way to win,
Speaker 1: and in a way West that's starting to become the
Speaker 1: theme of the nineteen Green Bay Packers is find a
Speaker 1: way to win. Because all five of these victories in
Speaker 1: the first six games, they've all come in some little
Speaker 1: bit of a different way. There hasn't been one formula
Speaker 1: that they've just gone out and said, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: how it works and this is how we're gonna win.
Speaker 1: They've had to win different ways and they've done it.
Speaker 1: And let's be honest, Mike, last year they found ways
Speaker 1: to lose in different ways and that's what ultimately lead
Speaker 1: them to be in the position that there were was
Speaker 1: just that one week they'd have something. The next week
Speaker 1: it will get strained out, an official call here, a
Speaker 1: fumble there, and the record was what it was. You
Speaker 1: have to win the games, you have to persevere through it.
Speaker 1: Truman Williams, Brian Bulaga, guys who have been through it
Speaker 1: spoke to that afterwards and what this really can tell
Speaker 1: you about a team and ultimately pushing forward the rest
Speaker 1: of the way. I do want to mention, just very quickly,
Speaker 1: Mike Petton. I think you need to take your cap
Speaker 1: off to him as well. And we give Mike Petton
Speaker 1: a lot of credit in the media for the job
Speaker 1: he's done in Green Bay. I thought one of the
Speaker 1: things that he did really well in this and again
Speaker 1: we can talk about it later this week, but they
Speaker 1: gave a variety of third down looks as well. They
Speaker 1: gave times where they put seven up on the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage and sent three. The big play late that
Speaker 1: ended up force I think they got a sack off
Speaker 1: of they went with all seven. Yeah, seven guys came
Speaker 1: after the quarterback. He set the rush up perfectly to
Speaker 1: be able to pressure the quarterback, which, as we had
Speaker 1: talked about at nauseum last week was the thing that
Speaker 1: Packers had not done against Matthew Stafford during this recent
Speaker 1: losing streak. Yeah. Well, the Packers at five and one,
Speaker 1: all alone atop the NFC North. Still no team in
Speaker 1: the NFC North with a losing record, the Lions at
Speaker 1: two two and one, the Bears at three and two,
Speaker 1: the Vikings at four and two, the Packers at five
Speaker 1: and one, and uh three other teams I believe in
Speaker 1: the NFC right now with five wins. So, as I
Speaker 1: said an insider in box this morning, hang onto your hats, folks,
Speaker 1: this one is just getting started. And it is and
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a really tight race for the division.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a really tight race in the NFC
Speaker 1: for the wild card. I mean, there are no sleeper games,
Speaker 1: and Packers have to be back up on it going
Speaker 1: up against another team coming off of bye week this
Speaker 1: Sunday in the open writers, all right, well, we will
Speaker 1: follow up on more from this Monday night thriller on
Speaker 1: tomorrow's show, but for now we have to call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com, Subscribe to us, Like us on iTunes
Speaker 1: and other podcast services. On Twitter, He's at west hot
Speaker 1: I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you next time.