Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is Wes Hodkowitz.
Speaker 1: We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field West Packers Bears Week two. It will be at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field Sunday night football under the lights, prime time,
Speaker 1: and uh we we can get right to it, Keys
Speaker 1: to victory here. Oh first, sorry, a little bit of
Speaker 1: an injury update. Oh yeah, let's start Bearing Bay Packers.
Speaker 1: We can start there because Alan Lazard, wide receiver who
Speaker 1: missed Week one against the Minnesota Vikings, he was back
Speaker 1: on the practice field Wednesday on a limited basis, so
Speaker 1: things are trending in the right direction. He wouldn't make
Speaker 1: any guarantees he would be out there on Sunday night,
Speaker 1: but things are are potentially pointing that way. Other good
Speaker 1: news in the injury department, Quay Walker Keyshawn Nixon, two
Speaker 1: players on the defense who had left the Minnesota game
Speaker 1: with shoulder injuries, were both back on the practice field
Speaker 1: on Wednesday as well, So that was that was also
Speaker 1: a positive sign. And we don't know exactly what's going
Speaker 1: on with the offensive line. John Runyon is in the
Speaker 1: concussion protocol. David Botr and Elton Jenkins were practicing again
Speaker 1: on a limited basis, So we'll see what the rest
Speaker 1: of the week brings. All of that injury news being processed,
Speaker 1: what jumps out at you as the a number one
Speaker 1: top of the list first priority key to victory against
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears on Sunday night. I'm going to tie
Speaker 1: it into your injury updates. I think if you have
Speaker 1: Quay Walker out there tackling the way that he tackled
Speaker 1: in that game against Minnesota, I think you have Devandre
Speaker 1: Campbell I like this defensive front against what the Bears
Speaker 1: are putting forth. The reason for that is because you
Speaker 1: need to have sideline to sideline speed and you need
Speaker 1: to contain justin fields. I don't know how many more
Speaker 1: time as I can say it, I've already worn out
Speaker 1: the line. You have to be able to contain justin
Speaker 1: fields because this Bears offense is going to go as
Speaker 1: far as he takes them. I thought at times, you know,
Speaker 1: seeing some of these statistics about you know, his ability
Speaker 1: to create how many off schedule plays they run. A
Speaker 1: lot of that is predicated on being able to contain him.
Speaker 1: The Packers have too really good rush to contain guys
Speaker 1: in Rashawn Garry just through his brute power and strength,
Speaker 1: and also Preston Smith just through his acumen and the
Speaker 1: fact that you know he's such a savvy football player.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of confidence with those two guys
Speaker 1: being able to keep their lanes and understand the assignment.
Speaker 1: But really, I think about that an interior, I think
Speaker 1: about your Kenny Clark's. Kenny had the best game of
Speaker 1: maybe anybody in that game against the Vike Games. Clark
Speaker 1: Clark played a whale of a game in Minnesota. For
Speaker 1: the push that you get with Kenny, you know, Jaren
Speaker 1: Reid knowing his assignments, Dean Dean Lawry, I just think
Speaker 1: that's such a critical part of this thing. But seeing
Speaker 1: Quay Walker back, not just because of the injury to
Speaker 1: Chris Barnes, but Walker the way he played eight tackles
Speaker 1: before he left that ballgame, Like I thought, for as
Speaker 1: many explosives that were given up, for as many missed
Speaker 1: opportunities as the Packers had when it came to c ball,
Speaker 1: hit ball, get ball to the ground, Kuay Walker was
Speaker 1: right on point. And I really liked what I saw
Speaker 1: so far from him and Campbell being able to work
Speaker 1: as that one to punch yeah, and certainly staying on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball. You have to believe
Speaker 1: that this Packers defensive backfield is going to have a
Speaker 1: bounce back kind of game. And yes, the Bears do
Speaker 1: not have a Justin Jefferson, you know, Adam thieland combination. Um,
Speaker 1: they don't have a Dalvin cook In in the backfield either.
Speaker 1: That's taking nothing away from Montgomery and Herbert, who are
Speaker 1: quality NFL running backs. Darnell Mooney is potentially still a
Speaker 1: rising star at receiver in this league. But those guys
Speaker 1: are not on the level of the Vikings perimeter weapons.
Speaker 1: And this this secondary for Green Bay. We talked about
Speaker 1: it that that main five that plays in the nickel,
Speaker 1: it's an experience group. It's a talented group. It's also
Speaker 1: a prideful group. And they know that the way they
Speaker 1: played last Sunday in Minnesota is not who they are.
Speaker 1: And they they're not you know, they're not talking about it,
Speaker 1: woofing about it whatever this week in the locker room,
Speaker 1: but you know, in their own minds, they're like, all right,
Speaker 1: let's we gotta be who we are and take care
Speaker 1: of business here. That's the that's the group, the personnel group,
Speaker 1: the position group for the packers that you look to
Speaker 1: really bounce back in the biggest way. This was a
Speaker 1: seminal moment for me. Just now. You don't even realize this,
Speaker 1: but wolfing is now a thing that I think I'm
Speaker 1: going to work in my vernacular for the rest of
Speaker 1: my life from this bit MO day moving forward. I
Speaker 1: just want to make sure that you're aware of that.
Speaker 1: But you're absolutely right, Mike, because what I took away
Speaker 1: from the postgame locker room you were at almost said
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy. You were at Matt Lafleur's press conference with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. I was in the locker room and listening
Speaker 1: to Resul Douglas Gire, Alexander and Eric Stowe all addressed
Speaker 1: the media afterwards, and even some of those guys talking
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. Nobody was defensive, nobody was unsure of themselves.
Speaker 1: There was almost this this kind of like approach that
Speaker 1: it was round one of a boxing match and they
Speaker 1: got knocked down. You know, it's a ten eight round
Speaker 1: for the opponent. They they owned it, but they're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to work their way back, and that's going
Speaker 1: to be critical because, as Jerry Gray said, you have
Speaker 1: to make the corrections because you're gonna see that number
Speaker 1: eighteen again in the purple uniform or white uniform later
Speaker 1: this season. They're gonna have to deal with Justin Jefferson again.
Speaker 1: But you can't do anything about that week too. You
Speaker 1: have to worry about the weapons that the Chicago Bears present.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what, Mike, while they don't have
Speaker 1: a Jefferson, you can even make the case they don't
Speaker 1: have an Adam feeling, they do have guys that are
Speaker 1: pretty gritty, and that was kind of my main takeaway
Speaker 1: from that game with the Bears. You know, Dante Pettis
Speaker 1: being able to have the fifty one yard score or
Speaker 1: the fifty one yard completion. You look at the score
Speaker 1: that Econemius st. Brown had the those were heavy plays
Speaker 1: and a lot of that was generated off of the
Speaker 1: creativity of fields. So you can't worry about the vikings.
Speaker 1: You have to turn your attention to this Bears team
Speaker 1: because again they're gonna be riding high coming off of
Speaker 1: this win and win that very few people expected over
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty Niners. But the circumstances this game
Speaker 1: are gonna be much different. You're gonna have a crowd
Speaker 1: in there for the first time at lambeau Field in
Speaker 1: a regular season setting. We remember what that atmosphere was
Speaker 1: like for the preseason game that they had here. Team
Speaker 1: they're going to be energized. The Packers are going to
Speaker 1: have that wind in their sales in These cornerbacks need
Speaker 1: to play up to their potential because when you look
Speaker 1: at what they did during training camp, which you look
Speaker 1: at what they did against the New Orleans Saints and
Speaker 1: those practices, they were dominating, suffocating, and they found ways
Speaker 1: to take away the football, and that's what they have
Speaker 1: to do on Sunday. Yeah. Well, on the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball, we talked already with regard to the
Speaker 1: running backs and and the Packers getting them more involved.
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur, Aaron Rodgers have touched on it. I don't
Speaker 1: want to to beat that topic to death. I am
Speaker 1: interested though. If Alan Lazard is able to come back
Speaker 1: and make his two debut, and if Robert Tunyan, who
Speaker 1: we believe might have been on a snap count with
Speaker 1: his first game back from that's our suspicion. That's our
Speaker 1: that's our Yeah, we we suspect the old clue goes
Speaker 1: um that he might have been on a rep count
Speaker 1: and perhaps if that increases and he has more opportunities
Speaker 1: to get involved with maybe Lazard. Coming back with the
Speaker 1: fact that Romeo Dobbs and Christian Watson will no longer
Speaker 1: be playing their first game in the NFL. UM, they'll
Speaker 1: also be back home, you know, with the crowd behind them,
Speaker 1: all of that, um, all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: I I you know, I just have to believe we're
Speaker 1: going to see not just because the Bears defense is
Speaker 1: different from the Vikings defense. I think we're going to
Speaker 1: see a very very different Green Bay Packers offense than
Speaker 1: the one we saw in a very difficult place to
Speaker 1: play last Sunday. Do you ever cover hockey? Yeah, you
Speaker 1: said what Green Bay could potentially do it again, It's
Speaker 1: it's kind of predicated on number third team being available.
Speaker 1: But I like the line changes that Green Bay can
Speaker 1: potentially utilize. You saw a little bit of them in
Speaker 1: that game against the Vikings. I mean, at forty one
Speaker 1: offensive snaps. Sammy Watkins was the most active offensive perimeter
Speaker 1: playmaker for Green Bay. You go back to the days
Speaker 1: of Davante Adams. I mean he was playing maybe three
Speaker 1: or four snaps he was taken off the field. I
Speaker 1: like the idea that Green Bay has all these this
Speaker 1: this different mesh of receiving talent that can be used
Speaker 1: in a multitude of ways. You can have your Randall
Speaker 1: Cobs that are just there quickly to catch a pass
Speaker 1: and get you a first down on a third and
Speaker 1: five right up the middle, because there's that that synergy
Speaker 1: there with Aaron Rodgers. I like that you have the
Speaker 1: deep threat with with um Christian Watson because as much
Speaker 1: as we've talked about the drop this week, I think
Speaker 1: the long term thing here for Watson, if he can
Speaker 1: really put that in the past, is the fact that
Speaker 1: he was going up against an all Pro type cornerback
Speaker 1: on his first NFL snaps and he beat him off
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage by three and a half yards.
Speaker 1: His talent, his skill, and his natural gifts are as advertised.
Speaker 1: You and I have seen it a little bit. It
Speaker 1: just based on the knee injury and camp when he
Speaker 1: did come back, I thought that really shined. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, you need to be able to work
Speaker 1: with that and learn from the past mistakes. Romeo Dobbs.
Speaker 1: The list goes on and on, and the amount of
Speaker 1: Packers receiving talent that they have, and I think that
Speaker 1: can be a big, big asset for them in this game.
Speaker 1: Eddie Jackson had the interception last week. Jalen Johnson I
Speaker 1: think is an up and coming cornerback in this league.
Speaker 1: But the Green Bay Packers need to kind of keep
Speaker 1: their foot on the gas, so to speak. And as
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur said this week, a lot of that is
Speaker 1: going to be predicated on the backfield, to getting more
Speaker 1: touches for Aaron Jones and a J. Dillon. This is
Speaker 1: not the two thousanders anymore. This is not an offense
Speaker 1: that's going to run through one specific all pro It's
Speaker 1: going to be versatile. And having Lazard back with all
Speaker 1: the different ways that you can use him, I just
Speaker 1: think again, it opens up that cookbook just a little
Speaker 1: bit wider with some interesting recipes for this offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Eddie Jackson, the safety for the Bears. Uh,
Speaker 1: playmaking kind of guy. You definitely have to be aware
Speaker 1: of him. And I'll go back to what I said
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the week and Insider in b
Speaker 1: X when somebody asked me about the keys against the Bears,
Speaker 1: and you have to get a hat on ro Quan Smith.
Speaker 1: You know, whatever sorts of running plays, whether you're gonna
Speaker 1: go inside zone, outside zone, if you're going to run
Speaker 1: the reverses, the jet sweeps, whatever it might be. Whoever
Speaker 1: is headed to the second level off of the offensive line,
Speaker 1: off of the combo blocks, you've got to be able
Speaker 1: to beat fifty eight to the spot, so to speak. Right,
Speaker 1: You've got to get a hat on that guy because, um,
Speaker 1: because he's a guy who's just he's capable of wrecking
Speaker 1: so much of what you want to do offensively. This
Speaker 1: is not the same Bears front that we've seen in
Speaker 1: recent years with Khalil Mack and a Keem Hicks and
Speaker 1: guys like that up front. But ro Kuwan Smith is
Speaker 1: still there just behind the line of scrimmage, and uh,
Speaker 1: and he's he's a guy. He's a guy. You just
Speaker 1: you have to be able to block him and he's
Speaker 1: going to make his tackles at the defense is designed
Speaker 1: to do that. But you can't let him be an
Speaker 1: impact player, I guess, is what I'm saying. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I really like, you know, for for as much as
Speaker 1: you know green Bay. Last week we talked about the
Speaker 1: push on the goal line. You know, there were some
Speaker 1: issues there with the past protection, but I really liked
Speaker 1: this offensive line and the athleticism and how that's kind
Speaker 1: of shown up at the second level. Josh Myers did
Speaker 1: that a little bit in the preseason. You saw, I mean,
Speaker 1: you see some of these intangibles that these guys have.
Speaker 1: The Packers have the athleticism there to really thrive on
Speaker 1: that side of the ball. But it's a difference between
Speaker 1: that and really getting a hat on a hat and
Speaker 1: and Roquan makes it very difficult for offensive linemen to
Speaker 1: achieve that. But that being said, you look at six
Speaker 1: point two six point three yards per carry for Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones and a j Dillon last week. Green Bay needs
Speaker 1: to repeat that recipe and maybe throw a little bit
Speaker 1: more in there too, UH to be able to get
Speaker 1: into more favorable situations, because realistically, the only time where
Speaker 1: Green Bay started to fall behind in some of these
Speaker 1: these downs was when there was an incompletion or a
Speaker 1: sack on first down. UH. When they ran the ball,
Speaker 1: for the most part, they weren't getting stuff for second
Speaker 1: and nine or second and eight. They were able to
Speaker 1: get into some second and six, you know, second and
Speaker 1: five situations. You want to see that replicated because if
Speaker 1: a guy like Rokwan gets going, and especially you know
Speaker 1: with Robert Quinn, if he's able to you know, pin
Speaker 1: his ears back a little bit, that's a self fulfilling
Speaker 1: prophecy for any defense. So, uh, that's gonna be probably
Speaker 1: the big intangible in this game is what does Green
Speaker 1: Bay do upfront early on to really set the tone
Speaker 1: in that matchup. Yeah, when you look at when you
Speaker 1: look at the twenty nine yard run by Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: last week, I had it in my clips on Zach
Speaker 1: Tom Larry did a great Rock report on it as
Speaker 1: well for anybody who wants to check it out. The
Speaker 1: key to springing that run was Marcedes Lewis taken out
Speaker 1: Eric Kendricks, you know, and and Eric you know, Roquan
Speaker 1: smith Is is sort of like the Eric Kendricks you
Speaker 1: know of um of this Bears defense. So that's ah,
Speaker 1: that's where you get a hat on that guy. That's
Speaker 1: where you can turn the three and four yard runs
Speaker 1: into the potentially explosive ones. On the special team side
Speaker 1: of things. Um. I thought it was a solid debut
Speaker 1: for Rich Bisacci's units. Matt Lafleur talked about a little
Speaker 1: bit too leaky in the punt protection. Uh, there were
Speaker 1: a few punts that were a little too close for
Speaker 1: comfort in terms of getting blocked. But I think that's
Speaker 1: something that type of attacking mentality from opponents is something
Speaker 1: the Packers are just gonna have to get used to.
Speaker 1: Um because of what was put on film last year
Speaker 1: and the block punt in the playoff game and everything.
Speaker 1: Teams are gonna come after Green Bay in that regard
Speaker 1: and see uh and see if the Packers can hold
Speaker 1: up on the return side of things. I thought there
Speaker 1: was the one punt return where a Mari Rodgers might
Speaker 1: have had a lane down the sideline maybe called for
Speaker 1: the fair catch a little bit too early there. That
Speaker 1: was that was an opportunity, But the sure hands were
Speaker 1: definitely there. There were no no issues in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of potential turnovers or worries in that regard.
Speaker 1: So a solid effort there. But um, but certainly some
Speaker 1: ways that you can see this special Teams unit moving forward. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just like seeing a Mari get north and south.
Speaker 1: There was you know too much, no kind of indecisiveness
Speaker 1: last year. I think that was one of things that
Speaker 1: really kind of hurt him down the stretch. And also
Speaker 1: just the way he's fielding the ball he's fielding and
Speaker 1: a lot cleaner uh in year two. Uh. This is
Speaker 1: an interesting matchup though with the with the Bears, because
Speaker 1: you know, for so many years here you kind of
Speaker 1: had to worry not not that you don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about Pettis here, but you know, jacchem Grant and
Speaker 1: obviously the Devin Hester years, there was always kind of
Speaker 1: this this fear a little bit associated with you know
Speaker 1: what you know, uh, the amount of playmakers that you
Speaker 1: could potentially see on that unit. You still have to
Speaker 1: be on your p's and ques. But I thought one
Speaker 1: of the big tests that Green Bay passed last week
Speaker 1: was just being able to survive those returners. I thought
Speaker 1: Pat O'Donnell, even though maybe there was some you know
Speaker 1: a little bit of leakiness with the protection pedal donnald
Speaker 1: I thought punted really well in the situation. I thought
Speaker 1: O'Donnell had a great game. All things considered. You can't
Speaker 1: really give them much quarter because of what Reagor could
Speaker 1: potentially do, which Green Bay has seen firsthand three years ago.
Speaker 1: So being able to neutralize that I thought was a
Speaker 1: solid building block for them. You know, Mason Crosby a
Speaker 1: few extra points, but still getting back into his own rhythm,
Speaker 1: getting back into his whole pregame process, his second consecutive
Speaker 1: start in the NFL, or consecutive game played. All those
Speaker 1: things are gonna matter because I'll tell you what you
Speaker 1: mentioned Keishaw Nixon early on. How important is it not
Speaker 1: only is him as the dime cornerback, but him still
Speaker 1: being available now as a gunner. Rudy Ford was fantastic.
Speaker 1: I thought in that game as a gunner, Green Bay
Speaker 1: has some vets there now, and and being able to
Speaker 1: see those young guys rally around those veterans as opposed
Speaker 1: to last year. I think a lot of times it
Speaker 1: was guys just looking at each other trying to figure
Speaker 1: out who's gonna like lead this group, who's gonna step up.
Speaker 1: I think over the course of the year, Mike, you're
Speaker 1: gonna see that show up. Yeah. Well, I want to
Speaker 1: get to a couple of interesting statistics to throw your
Speaker 1: way West, But first some sponsor business Serious x M
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Speaker 1: Two stats for you West. First, the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: have won fourteen of their last fifteen home openers going
Speaker 1: back to two thousand and seven. Since two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: the only home opener the Packers have lost was the
Speaker 1: Week one contest. It actually was a season opener against
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty and Iiners in two thousand and twelve,
Speaker 1: so this is the type of game that the Packers
Speaker 1: normally win. And the other thing I came across this
Speaker 1: week it was really interesting and I'm gonna be writing
Speaker 1: a little more about this in my one Last Look
Speaker 1: column which will post on the website on Saturday. But
Speaker 1: I didn't realize in two thousand eighteen, when Matt Naggy
Speaker 1: brought the Chicago Bears UH to lambeau Field for the
Speaker 1: first time for him as a head coach that when
Speaker 1: the Packers came back from that twenty point deficit with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers being injured coming back out of the lock
Speaker 1: room and all of that. The Packers winning that game
Speaker 1: actually broke a streak of and I'm bringing this up
Speaker 1: because Matt Eberflus is coaching his first Packers Bears game
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field. The two thousand eighteen twenty point comeback
Speaker 1: against Matt Naggi's Bears actually broke a streak of four
Speaker 1: consecutive Bears coaches head coaches who had won their first
Speaker 1: Packers Bears game at lambeau It was really strange. I
Speaker 1: went back and looked at Dick Geron going back to
Speaker 1: love Smith in two thousand four, and then also Mark
Speaker 1: Trustman and John Fox. They all won their first Packers
Speaker 1: Bears game at lambeau Field, and Matt Nagy was really
Speaker 1: darn close to making it five and row as as
Speaker 1: Eberflus comes in for his first Packers Bears game at Lamba,
Speaker 1: I just thought it was interesting. I'll have more on
Speaker 1: it in my column, but but just one of those
Speaker 1: weird stats that you don't think would be even possible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and in this rivalry with the Bears, I mean, this
Speaker 1: will be the seventeenth straight You're these two teams are
Speaker 1: in prime time. Um, these are the type of things
Speaker 1: that I'll always forever remember Lovey Smith taking the podium
Speaker 1: for the first time as their head coach and that
Speaker 1: my number one goal is to beat the Packers. And
Speaker 1: and I'll be honest with you, Mike, over all the
Speaker 1: rhetoric that I've heard for years and how excited fans get,
Speaker 1: you know, if their team beat Screen Bay within the division,
Speaker 1: that's always been the number one thing. Because I think
Speaker 1: Love's comments spoke on two different levels. Because one, obviously,
Speaker 1: there is the rivalry. There's a reason why we're continually tracking, Hey,
Speaker 1: which team has more Pro Football Hall of Famers, which
Speaker 1: team is up on the regular season career you know,
Speaker 1: wins total. But it also was the statement that love
Speaker 1: You was making that day, where in order if you're
Speaker 1: going to become a perennial contender here in the NFC,
Speaker 1: you need to get past Screen Bay. You need to
Speaker 1: get past Aaron Rodgers, Brett Farve, everybody that they've had
Speaker 1: thrown at this division, in the NFC Central and all
Speaker 1: these years. And as Rogers touched on last week, teams
Speaker 1: just haven't been able to regularly do it. Uh. You
Speaker 1: know that the comment last year's Soldier Field that Go
Speaker 1: is this said, I won't I won't elaborate anymore on it,
Speaker 1: but regardless, these are the type of matchups that teams
Speaker 1: wake up for, and it's the type of things that
Speaker 1: head coaches when they chart out their season, when they
Speaker 1: take over an NFC Division, an NFC North team, you
Speaker 1: know what the task is going to be. You know
Speaker 1: what you're ultimately gonna have to deal with. There was
Speaker 1: a reason why the Minnesota Vikings hired Mike Zimmer back
Speaker 1: in two thousand fourteen. The Vikings need to do a
Speaker 1: better job against Aaron Rodgers, and Zimmer had some success
Speaker 1: against him in Cincinnati. It's those type of lessons that
Speaker 1: get passed on and for my money, seeing how eiber
Speaker 1: Flus handles this moment, especially with the Bears having a
Speaker 1: chance to go to up in the division, knocked down
Speaker 1: the Packers of Pedestal. As far as week to go
Speaker 1: is and Aaron Jones touchdown on on Monday, it's not
Speaker 1: a must win. I will never say a must win
Speaker 1: before December, but it is. There's a lot of implications
Speaker 1: in this matchup and and certainly I'm I know that
Speaker 1: that Bear's locker room is aware of it. There are
Speaker 1: some interesting things to keep an eye on around week two. Um,
Speaker 1: with the Packers not playing until Sunday night, we'll actually
Speaker 1: have a chance to maybe watch some some noon games
Speaker 1: from the comfort of our living room couches. Um. Well,
Speaker 1: first off, tonight after we're taping this episode, the Thursday
Speaker 1: night game Chargers at Chiefs. It doesn't get much better
Speaker 1: than that. As far as Justin Herbert against Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: You know, an a f C West showdown at at
Speaker 1: Arrowhead in Kansas City. That should be a fun one.
Speaker 1: Do you like how they scheduled that for week two
Speaker 1: as well? Like that didn't end up in like week eleven,
Speaker 1: where hey, maybe you end up getting the second string
Speaker 1: quarterback against the fourth string running back or something like that.
Speaker 1: But like you know, teams not wanting to put out
Speaker 1: their talent on a on a quick turnaround. Now you're
Speaker 1: getting that right in week two. And you get it
Speaker 1: when you know Justin Herbert's star is about is as
Speaker 1: big as it's getting. I mean, did you see that
Speaker 1: throw he had last week? That that that one that
Speaker 1: he had down the scene where it was like there's
Speaker 1: basically triple coverage there and there's one spot like literally
Speaker 1: like six inches that he can throw that football. He
Speaker 1: nailed it like twenty five yards downfield. Yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: talented young man. Yeah. It's gonna be uh, it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun to watch some of those a f
Speaker 1: C matchups when we get a chance this year. On Sunday,
Speaker 1: Washington is at Detroit in the NFC North. Interesting thing there,
Speaker 1: I heard that Detroit is actually favored by the odds
Speaker 1: makers in that game. It's the first time in like
Speaker 1: a season and a half that Detroit has actually been
Speaker 1: favored to winning something like twenty four games they've gone
Speaker 1: with with being the underdog games in a row. So
Speaker 1: um so, the Lions actually favored to win at home,
Speaker 1: playing at Ford Field for second week in a row
Speaker 1: after the shootout with Philadelphia last week. Tampa Bay at
Speaker 1: New Orleans. For whatever reason, the New Orleans Saints have
Speaker 1: just had Tampa Bay's number um over the last couple
Speaker 1: of years, so I think that's an interesting one to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on. Seattle at San Francisco the forty
Speaker 1: and is coming off a very disappointing loss at Soldier
Speaker 1: Field and Seattle coming off of a tremendously uplifting wind
Speaker 1: for them Week one Monday Night Football, the whole Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson returned to Seattle and the Seahawks came out on top.
Speaker 1: So that's an interesting one. In the in the a
Speaker 1: f C West and Cincinnati at Dallas, Joe Burrow four
Speaker 1: interceptions for the Bengals in Week one and they lose
Speaker 1: a weird whole kicking thing in overtime um to the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers and and the Dallas Cowboys having to deal
Speaker 1: with the absence of Dak Prescott. Now, so I threw
Speaker 1: a lot of games at you, any comments on any
Speaker 1: of those, this one I want to just add this
Speaker 1: one too, and maybe you're gonna get to it in
Speaker 1: a second. But also Minnesota at Philly, yeah's gone to night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll let we can touch on that in a second,
Speaker 1: because to me, that's probably the most fascinating game because
Speaker 1: you go from Minnesota's defense facing Aaron Rodgers to the
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts offense, which is very talented, very dynamic, but
Speaker 1: there is sort of a throw the grass up in
Speaker 1: the air and see which way the way it takes
Speaker 1: the element to it. But but as far as this
Speaker 1: weekend is concerned, I'm I'm really interested. It's not to
Speaker 1: be a game. I'm sure it's in the DC area,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure it's in the Detroit area, but I
Speaker 1: really am interested to see that Lions game because you remember,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that stat that you just threw at
Speaker 1: me about the row of being underdogs. But Detroit lost
Speaker 1: Washington one, and yet Detroit is the favorite team in
Speaker 1: this matchup because of how well they played against the Eagles,
Speaker 1: with everybody kind of getting behind the Eagles now thinking
Speaker 1: that they're gonna be one of the top contenders this year.
Speaker 1: So it was kind of an interesting let miss test
Speaker 1: and Mike, I've said it so many times, if if
Speaker 1: DeAndre Swift is healthy, Detroit's offense is just so much different,
Speaker 1: and that they've had they've struggled to just get him
Speaker 1: on the field, but when he's there, I thought last
Speaker 1: week you really saw how dynamic he can be. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then realistically, the New Orleans Saints, I mean, Tom
Speaker 1: Brady and the Buccaneers did everything they had to do
Speaker 1: to win that game. But I thought it also kind
Speaker 1: of showed the way that Tampa's probably gonna have to
Speaker 1: win this year, which is a lot of Leonard for
Speaker 1: net in good defense. The Saints are going stress them
Speaker 1: a little bit. They're gonna do some you know some.
Speaker 1: You know, Michael Thomas came back and had a good
Speaker 1: game last week. You know, Taysom Hill's still carrying the football.
Speaker 1: There is a lot that they're gonna throw at that
Speaker 1: Bucks defense. I think that's gonna be a barn burn
Speaker 1: until the very end. Yeah. Well, you you mentioned on
Speaker 1: Monday night. It's actually a Monday Night doubleheader this week
Speaker 1: and a f C matchup Tennessee at Buffalo, two teams
Speaker 1: that that made the playoffs a year ago, So an
Speaker 1: interesting one there. And then, as you said, I think
Speaker 1: the most the most intriguing game maybe on the entire
Speaker 1: week to slate right up there with the Chargers Chiefs
Speaker 1: on Thursday night is Minnesota at Philadelphia. Both of those
Speaker 1: teams want to know. The Eagles were sort of the
Speaker 1: last team to get into the playoffs last year and
Speaker 1: then they got bumped out right away. They're kind of
Speaker 1: especially with the Dak Prescott injury, they're kind of being
Speaker 1: peg now. Is the clear favorite in the in the
Speaker 1: NFC East and a chance to for them to really
Speaker 1: put an early stranglehold on that division in Summer X
Speaker 1: because of because of the length of time that Prescott
Speaker 1: could be out for the Cowboys. And then the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: Can they build on what they did against the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. But now Kevin O'Connell takes that show on
Speaker 1: the road in primetime Philadelphia, that fan base not an
Speaker 1: easy place to go play really intriguing Monday night game.
Speaker 1: Vikings Eagles completely flipping the script offensively, defensively, and atmosphere
Speaker 1: wise from what they had last Sunday. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: going back over that game with Detroit, I mean, we're
Speaker 1: gonna learn so much about both of those teams coming
Speaker 1: up here. You know, are the Eagle are the are
Speaker 1: the lines better than people gave him credit for? The
Speaker 1: Eagles not as good as everybody thought either way. I
Speaker 1: just thought that Jalen hurts. The way he runs this
Speaker 1: offense and the way that they're building this thing around
Speaker 1: him now it fits. Um. I couldn't tell you anything
Speaker 1: about their run game. I think forty eight different people
Speaker 1: are involved in their backfield right now. But that being said,
Speaker 1: they have a formula that works, and for her, it's
Speaker 1: it's looking for opportunities to get out in the open
Speaker 1: field and also using that that footwork and that allusiveness
Speaker 1: to potentially open things up for their receivers as it goes.
Speaker 1: In terms of entertaining football teams to watch. On that
Speaker 1: power rankings, the Eagles might be at the very top
Speaker 1: right now. The Minnesota Vikings defensively, I think we're gonna
Speaker 1: learn a lot about them because Hurts is going to
Speaker 1: stress them in a lot of different ways that they
Speaker 1: didn't see with Green Bay. So that aspect of it,
Speaker 1: I think is going to keep me glue to the television. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it should be. It'll be a whale of a Monday
Speaker 1: night doubleheader and there's quite a bit of overlap, so
Speaker 1: maybe you know, flipping channels back and forth to you know,
Speaker 1: the commercials are long enough. You can do that quite
Speaker 1: a bit with NFL teams these days. With that, I'd
Speaker 1: better get off the air. We call it a wrap.
Speaker 1: On this edition of Packers Unscripted, be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of the team. We will have
Speaker 1: everything from Sunday Night's big game at Lambe Field against
Speaker 1: the Bears for you on packers dot com. For West,
Speaker 1: I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. Let's see you
Speaker 1: next time.