Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford and he is my trusted colleague,
Speaker 1: West Hodkowitz. We're coming to here from our studios at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field and West. Once again, we are still waiting
Speaker 1: for head coach Mike McCarthy to deliver the official announcement
Speaker 1: as he fills out his coaching staff. He's still in
Speaker 1: the process of doing that. So, as I've said on
Speaker 1: other shows, we are going to wait until that news
Speaker 1: is official and that announcement is out there. And we
Speaker 1: know all of Mike McCarthy's assistant coaches before we get
Speaker 1: into discussions of them. So that being said, I want
Speaker 1: to start today with a bit of Packers news that's
Speaker 1: happened since the last time we, uh we sat down here,
Speaker 1: and that is that wide receiver Davante Adams has earned
Speaker 1: his first Pro Bowl bid. He will be headed to
Speaker 1: Orlando for the Pro Bowl as an injury substitute for
Speaker 1: Atlanta's Julio Jones. Hats off to Davante Adams a well
Speaker 1: deserved honor. Yeah, and it's actually when I saw this
Speaker 1: news kind of pop up earlier this week. You feel
Speaker 1: good because obviously, certainly in you know, he earned this opportunity,
Speaker 1: but the way the season ended, I thought kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, robbed some of the uh, I don't want
Speaker 1: to say momentum, but some of the luster of this
Speaker 1: year for him, because it truly was another breakout season
Speaker 1: for him, and for him not to get the chance
Speaker 1: to go for a thousand yards again and having to
Speaker 1: sit on the sideline those last two weeks after the
Speaker 1: hit from Thomas Davis, I thought, you know that that
Speaker 1: was unfair to him in the year that he had.
Speaker 1: But now to be able to kind of end it
Speaker 1: on a high note with him obviously he cleared the
Speaker 1: concussion protocol at the end of the season, he did
Speaker 1: the final locker room interviews with the media, So now
Speaker 1: the chance for him to actually go through this process
Speaker 1: get to the Pro Bowl for the first time a
Speaker 1: really good honor for him and also um as Ted
Speaker 1: Thompson moves on to his next stage's career. I also
Speaker 1: thought it was fitting for all the second round success
Speaker 1: he had in the draft, one more guy before he
Speaker 1: steps into that new role getting a chance to go
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl with the likes of Greg Jennings,
Speaker 1: Jordie Nelson, Randall Cobb, the litany of guys that have
Speaker 1: made the Pro Bowl after being second round draft picks
Speaker 1: with the Green Bay Packers. Yeah, and here's an interesting statistic,
Speaker 1: excuse me that I looked up the other day. Davante Adams.
Speaker 1: Despite missing those couple of games at the end of
Speaker 1: the season, he obviously also took the big hit from
Speaker 1: Chicago's Danny Trevathan early in the year, and he bounced
Speaker 1: back very quickly from that. He hit double digit touchdowns
Speaker 1: for the second year in a row. Do you know
Speaker 1: the last Packers receiver to actually get double digit touchdowns
Speaker 1: in the regular season in back to back years, back
Speaker 1: to back seasons. I don't want to just sit here
Speaker 1: and wait and sit on this for two hours, so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk very long and and find ways extended.
Speaker 1: I'll go with Antonio Freeman, very good you hit. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is, and just surprising that for all the for
Speaker 1: all the accomplishments of Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, uh uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, all of these guys,
Speaker 1: and they've all had their double digit touchdown seasons. But yeah,
Speaker 1: James Jones as well, you have to go all the
Speaker 1: way back to Freeman to find somebody who actually did
Speaker 1: that in back to back years. So I thought that
Speaker 1: was kind of interesting and and and also too. Now
Speaker 1: the Packers have two players going to the Pro Bowl,
Speaker 1: and Mike Daniels and Davante Adams, and it's the first
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl for both guys. That's kind of special. It
Speaker 1: is special, Mike, And I think it's interesting too that
Speaker 1: you bring that up because one of the big storylines
Speaker 1: this year for the Atlanta Falcons was the fact that
Speaker 1: Julio Jones end up only having I think it was
Speaker 1: one touchdown, three touchdowns somewhere in that area. This whole season.
Speaker 1: He's seen as one of the top receivers in the league.
Speaker 1: It's just not always a given that those guys are
Speaker 1: going to be able to score in the red zone.
Speaker 1: And I think that says a lot about Adams that
Speaker 1: not only can he be the big play target, a
Speaker 1: guy that you know breaks a big forty sixty yard touchdown,
Speaker 1: but he's also really effective inside the red zone. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the big benefits to
Speaker 1: his game when you look at where he stands out
Speaker 1: the most on the field. And to continue this trajectory
Speaker 1: too with you know, you've seen George Nelson had the
Speaker 1: success there. Randall Cobbs certainly put himself in that conversation,
Speaker 1: but now to extend that, uh, just it's it's something
Speaker 1: that I think, I don't know. At no point this
Speaker 1: year can I ever recall Davanta Adams saying I want
Speaker 1: to be a Pro bowl er, that's my goal for
Speaker 1: the season. But you can just tell the way he
Speaker 1: reacted to it on social media, excitement of his teammates.
Speaker 1: This was an honor. I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: were excited for him to receive. Yeah, is there one
Speaker 1: particular catch, one particular play from seen that you felt
Speaker 1: was Davante adams best or that maybe sticks out in
Speaker 1: your memory the most, man, there were so many, um
Speaker 1: that off the top of my head, it's kind of
Speaker 1: hard to pinpoint one. I still think for his career,
Speaker 1: the one in Philadelphia year ago is still I think
Speaker 1: that shows exactly what he can be as Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would agree, I thought that. I still think that's his
Speaker 1: best career game. And I think when you tie in
Speaker 1: every single element that that play encapsulated it. And maybe
Speaker 1: maybe you can think of one off of this season
Speaker 1: but the one. The ones that stand out to me
Speaker 1: were the finish in Cleveland with the with the the
Speaker 1: touchdown in the last thirty seconds and then also getting
Speaker 1: the overtime touchdown when he spins away from the defense
Speaker 1: and runs up the tunnel. Kept the Packers alive at
Speaker 1: that point. As far as a catch where you know,
Speaker 1: my jaw kind of hit the floor type of play,
Speaker 1: it's one A lot of people are forgotten about it,
Speaker 1: but it was in Atlanta in week two that one
Speaker 1: down the sideline to the pylon. I didn't think he
Speaker 1: had a you know, a snowball's chance and you know
Speaker 1: where of coming down with that thing, and he grabbed
Speaker 1: that for a touchdown. I know the Packers lost that
Speaker 1: game and and all that, but that was that was
Speaker 1: one heck of a play and I'll certainly remember that
Speaker 1: one in the memory bank. And then the one to
Speaker 1: to kind of show where he's developed as a receiver
Speaker 1: on the back shoulder connection with Aaron Rodgers, um that
Speaker 1: they had that play scouted out, mapped up. Rogers doesn't
Speaker 1: put it where he needs it to. Adams goes back,
Speaker 1: basically stares him down and just throw a better ball.
Speaker 1: Throws the back shoulder higher one inas and that was
Speaker 1: a play too that It's it's funny because the guy's
Speaker 1: only twenty four years old at that time and he's
Speaker 1: staring down as two time MP, two time challenging him,
Speaker 1: the most accurate pastor in NFL history, challenging to throw
Speaker 1: a better ball. Rogers comes through and Adams makes the play,
Speaker 1: and again, it's just he can run the whole row tree. Here,
Speaker 1: Joe Witt talk a lot about that, the value of
Speaker 1: a receiver that can run the whole rowd tree. Davante
Speaker 1: Adams is that guy, and it's the main reason why
Speaker 1: the Packers made sure to take care of him extend
Speaker 1: him before it ever came to free agency, because he's
Speaker 1: a big part of this offensive future. Yeah, and kudos
Speaker 1: to Daniels and Adams both making the Pro Bowl. I
Speaker 1: know when the Pro Bowl UH rosters first came out,
Speaker 1: the Packers didn't have anybody on it. We're hearing from
Speaker 1: everybody in insider inbox. This is such an indictment of
Speaker 1: the Packers roster and everything. And you know, I pointed out, hey,
Speaker 1: back in where Aaron Rodgers missed half the year, the
Speaker 1: Packers didn't have any Pro Bowlers then either David bak
Speaker 1: tr and Uh and Eddie Lacy both ended up going
Speaker 1: as alternate. So it's not as though the Packers didn't
Speaker 1: have any Pro Bowlers. And again, a couple of alternates
Speaker 1: they get they get their opportunity here. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 1: something people sound the alarm on. But then you also
Speaker 1: have to understand the way that the Pro Bowl works
Speaker 1: and how many alternates fall out either because of the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl or injuries. You're gonna get your chance if
Speaker 1: you're a top alternate. Now you know Davante Adams getting
Speaker 1: his opportunity as well, no doubt with that. We'll toss
Speaker 1: to a break back with more on Packers Unscripted right
Speaker 1: after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in
Speaker 1: this chair, West Hodkowitz and that one and West we
Speaker 1: haven't talked on the show yet based on our new
Speaker 1: production schedule. Here about the divisional playoff weekend that finished
Speaker 1: in Minneapolis, the shootout between two of the best defenses
Speaker 1: in the league in Pittsburgh. I don't know where you
Speaker 1: want to start, but it was it was quite a
Speaker 1: weekend of NFL playoff football. I think I have to
Speaker 1: start with Jacksonville because I've been, you know, talking a
Speaker 1: lot of snack about them the last two weeks um
Speaker 1: and let's be honest. I mean, one of the things
Speaker 1: I said going into this game is Blake Bortles needed
Speaker 1: to pitch a shutout. And what I meant by that
Speaker 1: is he needed to not turn over the football and
Speaker 1: he protected the football. He managed how we needed to manage.
Speaker 1: You have Leonard for net, and I thought, even though
Speaker 1: he's dealing with that ankle injury, I know it's been
Speaker 1: bothering him the last two months of the year. They
Speaker 1: put the offensive game plan on his back, and they
Speaker 1: asked their defense to make place. Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh. They
Speaker 1: have a lot of weapons, so it didn't surprise me
Speaker 1: in the least that they made the run and rally
Speaker 1: back that they did. I saw it was one thing
Speaker 1: on Twitter. I don't know who exactly said it. I
Speaker 1: apologies for not crediting them, but basically saying at halftime,
Speaker 1: one of these two teams is really gonna stew over
Speaker 1: this loss, either Pittsburgh getting down as much as they
Speaker 1: did or Jacksonville letting go of that lead. I think
Speaker 1: ultimately the better team won Jacksonville already had gone in
Speaker 1: there and you know, really, you know, punched the Steelers
Speaker 1: in Roethlisberger in the face earlier the season, held on
Speaker 1: for the victory again though, And I don't want to
Speaker 1: keep bringing up this caveat, but they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: play better now against the New England Patriots. We'll talk
Speaker 1: more about that shortly, but um, I thought for them
Speaker 1: to go in there and do that again to Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: it's not an easy place to win, and and the
Speaker 1: fact that the Jaguars did it speaks I think a
Speaker 1: lot to that defense and a lot to their offense
Speaker 1: being able to manage that game effectively. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the absence of Ryan Shazer clearly showed up for Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: because we had talked about that going in that. You know,
Speaker 1: we felt Pittsburgh was probably the most well rounded team
Speaker 1: of the final eight in the in the NFL playoff field,
Speaker 1: but not having Shazier really changed change the outlook for them.
Speaker 1: You look at that The game in Philadelphia Atlanta against
Speaker 1: the Eagles reminded me a lot of the NFC Championship
Speaker 1: from a handful of years back, when Matt Ryan had
Speaker 1: goal to go against the San Francisco forty Niners and
Speaker 1: the NFC title game to send his team to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, and the forty Niners defense stood up and
Speaker 1: stopped him. And Uh, that game in Philadelphia reminded me
Speaker 1: of that because it just looked like the Falcons had
Speaker 1: all the momentum. You're thinking, they're gonna score here, they're
Speaker 1: gonna win this game. And then Philadelphia's defense rises up
Speaker 1: and makes a couple of plays, Julio Jones slips on
Speaker 1: fourth down, all of that, and uh and the Atlanta Falcons,
Speaker 1: you know, go home and are unable to defend their
Speaker 1: NFC title. Yeah. And I want to make one more
Speaker 1: point with this Jacksonville game too, because I saw a
Speaker 1: lot of this on Twitter about well, why don't why
Speaker 1: don't everybody just do what the Jaguars did. They spent
Speaker 1: all this money, they guaranteed all this money of these
Speaker 1: veterans on defense. The reason the Jaguars were able to
Speaker 1: do that is because they had like a hundred million
Speaker 1: dollars in cap room as like two years ago, so
Speaker 1: they were able to go out and get Clias Campbell
Speaker 1: and a j boy who has been a phenomenal signing
Speaker 1: a lot of times people throw out big money to
Speaker 1: these free agents and it doesn't always work out. I
Speaker 1: give Jacksonville's front office a lot of credit for seeing
Speaker 1: the talent and boy and realizing that wasn't a one
Speaker 1: hit wonder that year he had with Houston text that
Speaker 1: he was gonna be able to build on that. So
Speaker 1: we'll see if they can carry him, you know, the
Speaker 1: rest of the way here. Because now that you're getting
Speaker 1: into this next round. Yeah, the defense of the New
Speaker 1: England Patriots hasn't been what it need has been in
Speaker 1: the past, but you still have Tom Brady who has
Speaker 1: been the X factor. Yeah, alright, Well, Minneapolis finish for
Speaker 1: the Ages and uh, you know, just an amazing game.
Speaker 1: And because Minnesota's defense had Drew Brees really flustered the
Speaker 1: entire first half. Then Drew Brees kind of finds his rhythm,
Speaker 1: gets it go in the middle of the third quarter
Speaker 1: and suddenly the number one defense in the league cannot
Speaker 1: stop the Saints. Drew Brees was doing whatever he wanted
Speaker 1: to do, brings them back. I mean, they score twenty
Speaker 1: four points in what was it, a span of like
Speaker 1: sixteen seventeen minutes there and uh, and then you think
Speaker 1: the Saints have pulled off this amazing comeback on the road,
Speaker 1: down seventeen nothing, They've got a twenty four to twenty
Speaker 1: three lead. The Minnesota Vikings are sixty one yards from
Speaker 1: the end zone there at least twenty five yards from
Speaker 1: a reasonable field goal attempt with ten seconds on the
Speaker 1: clock and no time outs, and Stefan Diggs gets into
Speaker 1: the end zone when Marcus Williams misses the tackle. I
Speaker 1: I don't know how, I don't know how it happens,
Speaker 1: but all you can say is that's the NFL. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I'll say this, whenever the season ends, if the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings can find a way to keep winning here,
Speaker 1: that horseshoe that case Keenum has right now this season
Speaker 1: needs to go in Pro Football Hall of Fame. This
Speaker 1: has been a phenomenal year for him. And I'll say this, Mike,
Speaker 1: I was watching this game. I watched the entire thing,
Speaker 1: and even when it was third and ten and they
Speaker 1: were down to ten seconds on the clock. For whatever reason,
Speaker 1: if I was a New mean I'm watching this thing
Speaker 1: as an unbiased observer, just you know, watching it for
Speaker 1: the sake of a good football game. But if I
Speaker 1: was in New England, New Orleans Saints fan, I didn't
Speaker 1: feel comfortable, and I don't know why. I just felt
Speaker 1: like something was bound to break. And it was interesting
Speaker 1: in that ultimately it was the two areas here where
Speaker 1: it was the Minnesota Vikings offense in New Orleans Saints defense.
Speaker 1: Because they were talking about the matchup between the Saints
Speaker 1: offense and Vikings defense. It came down to basically the
Speaker 1: number two with the plan b's on both sides, and
Speaker 1: the Vikings offense, as they've done all season, found a
Speaker 1: way to do it. Marcus Williams had a nice rookie
Speaker 1: season for interception seventy some tackles, had a big interception
Speaker 1: as part of the comeback in the second half, and
Speaker 1: of course everybody's going to forget about that because of
Speaker 1: of the one final play, which there's no excuse for
Speaker 1: completely withing the way that he did, and he's he's
Speaker 1: he's got to live with that one and the Saints
Speaker 1: fans have to live with that one, as as difficult
Speaker 1: as that is. But we're talking about a really tantled
Speaker 1: a player who could be headed to a great career,
Speaker 1: and now he's going to be remembered for something like this.
Speaker 1: For a long time, and it just shows you sometimes
Speaker 1: Mike too, that safety spot you really need experience. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they did the wrong thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's a great young player and I think he
Speaker 1: has a bright future in this league if you can
Speaker 1: put this behind him. But that's the type of play
Speaker 1: that it's like, Okay, if you have Morgan Burnett in
Speaker 1: that situation, or you know Kenny Vaccaro that's playing in
Speaker 1: that spot, you have to understand where the field is.
Speaker 1: You can let him catch that ball. You can't even
Speaker 1: push him out of bounds. Don't give up the big
Speaker 1: play because you're in zero. You know, there's no one
Speaker 1: else behind you. Because even because even if even obviously
Speaker 1: you'd like to keep him in bounds and then the
Speaker 1: clock runs out, but even if he does catch it
Speaker 1: and get out of bounds, the field goal is still
Speaker 1: fifty plus yards. That's no gimme. Four Bath had just
Speaker 1: hit a fifty plus yard or not that long before,
Speaker 1: but still any fifty plus yard or with that kind
Speaker 1: of pressure, even doors is no gimmeon at least at
Speaker 1: least you still would have had a chance to win
Speaker 1: the game. And uh, and yeah, I mean the Saints
Speaker 1: let it get away. I thought the Saints were going
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. I thought the Saints were gonna
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl. I thought I thought between the
Speaker 1: Saints and the Steelers, and now both of them are out.
Speaker 1: To my point, this is the why it's a beautiful game.
Speaker 1: It's it's demoralizing in some ways, but it shows you
Speaker 1: the small margin for error at this level, and unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints found that out the most difficult,
Speaker 1: heartbreaking way. Possibly, yeah, no question about it. With that,
Speaker 1: we'll go to a breakback with more on Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford. Here,
Speaker 1: West Hodko wits over there West too. Conference championship games
Speaker 1: now coming up on Sunday. You have the Jaguars traveling
Speaker 1: to Foxborough to face the Patriots in the a f
Speaker 1: C and the Minnesota Vikings traveling to face the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles in the NFC. Let's start with the a f C.
Speaker 1: I know you talked a lot about the Jaguars in
Speaker 1: the last segment. Obviously, the New England Patriots are the favorites.
Speaker 1: One thing I'll say about the Jaguars because you brought up, obviously,
Speaker 1: what they did in free agency and how they had
Speaker 1: all that cap room and they built around it. The
Speaker 1: other thing I looked it up this week. I don't
Speaker 1: want to say they're all starters, but I would say
Speaker 1: players that are playing prominent roles on this team. They
Speaker 1: have eight players drafted within the top forty picks of
Speaker 1: the draft over the last four drafts that are key
Speaker 1: players on this team. And this is this is exactly
Speaker 1: what they've been building for. They've been drafting very high
Speaker 1: in the draft for a number of years, so you're
Speaker 1: getting high first round and high second round picks. You
Speaker 1: have a whole bunch of those those guys. They've supplemented
Speaker 1: it with some significant spending in free agency. You're getting
Speaker 1: the best play out of order quarterback Blake Bortles that
Speaker 1: that you've ever gotten. This is a huge opportunity for
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Jaguars, enormous and it does remind me in
Speaker 1: some ways of how the Packers different situations obviously, but
Speaker 1: how the Packers sort of built their Super Bowl team
Speaker 1: in two thousand and ten because they did draft some
Speaker 1: really good defensive players. B j Rajie, Clay Matthews, The
Speaker 1: list goes on and on of guys they had in
Speaker 1: house that's stepped up, but they also had those Charles
Speaker 1: Woodson and Ryan Pickett type guys. And I just think
Speaker 1: that the additions that they've made defensively have really nicely
Speaker 1: complimented all the other weapons that they have. And I
Speaker 1: made this comment on Twitter going back to the Buffalo
Speaker 1: game that they played about Jalen Ramsey and just how
Speaker 1: incredible he is as a cornerback. Someone said, oh, I wish,
Speaker 1: I wish the Packers had someone like that. Well, the
Speaker 1: Packers weren't picking fourth that year. I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: reason why Jalen Ramsey was picked the way he was. Again,
Speaker 1: you give credit to the Jaguars front office for finding
Speaker 1: the talent that they needed to find when you are
Speaker 1: picking that high in the draft. Yeah. As far as
Speaker 1: the Patriots, now, they're in the a f C Championship
Speaker 1: Game for what is it the seventh year in a row,
Speaker 1: Just an incredible run. Bill Bell checked Tom Brady trying
Speaker 1: for their sixth Super Bowl title here and uh, well,
Speaker 1: and it would be there? Would it be their ninth
Speaker 1: appearance in the Super Bowl together? I think I think
Speaker 1: that's what it would be obviously Tom Brady running the
Speaker 1: show on offense for the New England Patriots. But a
Speaker 1: lot of questions about the Patriots defense where they ranked
Speaker 1: this year, some you know, some question marks as far
Speaker 1: as uh um, you know, can this defense do enough
Speaker 1: in the postseason. I'm sure they're glad in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways. Maybe that that, at least from that side
Speaker 1: of the ball that they're facing the Jaguars offense and
Speaker 1: Blake Bortles and not Ben Roethlisberger and lady On Bell
Speaker 1: and Antonio Brown. But that being said, this Jaguars defense
Speaker 1: is gonna have something to say about Tom Brady. So
Speaker 1: interested to see that battle between what the Jaguars do
Speaker 1: defensively in the game that Tom Brady tries to play
Speaker 1: weekend and week out. And you've got the Tom Coughlin factor.
Speaker 1: Do his experience with the Giants and beating the Patriots
Speaker 1: twice in the Super Bowl with those style of defenses.
Speaker 1: It's really intriguing matchup, it is. And I don't know
Speaker 1: how much Tom Coughlin gets involved with those sort of
Speaker 1: things with Doug Morown, but I mean he's in a
Speaker 1: unique position in that organization right now. I'm really interested
Speaker 1: to see what the Patriots bring offensively in this game.
Speaker 1: The reason I say that, Mike, is because they did
Speaker 1: have tough matchups against tough defenses Pittsburgh, Denver, but within
Speaker 1: their own division. Offensively, they played six games against defenses
Speaker 1: that ranked in the bottom half of the league. So
Speaker 1: how do you do against this unit? And can you
Speaker 1: be effective with their running backs? Is there enough left
Speaker 1: besides Gronkowski perimeter wise to be effective? I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a really intriguing matchup. It might not be
Speaker 1: the one that gets a million viewers, you know, in
Speaker 1: every market in the country, but it is gonna be
Speaker 1: really interesting to see how that chess match plays out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, and before we go to a break, I
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Speaker 1: sup partner of the Green Bay Packers back with more
Speaker 1: on Packers Unscripted right after this Welcome Back to Packers
Speaker 1: unscripted Mike Spofford alongside West, Hodkowitz and West quickly before
Speaker 1: we go the NFC title game, Minnesota at Philadelphia. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure how you see this one, but I think
Speaker 1: if Philadelphia is going to win, the Eagles will have
Speaker 1: to win a game just like they did against the Falcons.
Speaker 1: It's gonna have to be low scoring. I think if
Speaker 1: I think if Minnesota can put sixteen seventeen points on
Speaker 1: the board, I think they win this game. Because I'm
Speaker 1: not sure Nick Foles against that Vikings defense, He's not
Speaker 1: Drew Brees, and Drew Brees only scored twenty four because
Speaker 1: he got shut out for an entire first half. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure Nick Foles can put up seventeen against this defense.
Speaker 1: The the Eagles have got The Eagles defense has got
Speaker 1: to to clamp down on Keenum and Latavius Murray and
Speaker 1: Stefon Diggs and all those guys. You remember geometry, I
Speaker 1: think the additive inverse they always talked about that. I
Speaker 1: think it was geometry at least. This is what this
Speaker 1: matchup is. Now, you're taking on one of the league's
Speaker 1: elite defenses in an offense that is somewhat suspect without
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz running the show because they don't have the
Speaker 1: proven running backs. They try to use them. They have
Speaker 1: success at times. J Ji he has really helped that unit.
Speaker 1: But they are in Alvin Kamara and mark Ingram. No,
Speaker 1: they don't have I mean they have obviously al Sean Jeffrey.
Speaker 1: But can Nick Foles get him the football defensively? Can
Speaker 1: the Eagles put this game on their back and win it.
Speaker 1: Foles did what he had to do in that game
Speaker 1: against the Falcons, played efficient, turnover free football. It's a
Speaker 1: lot more difficult though, to do that against Mike Zimmers group. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and when you look at the matchups here, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have Xavier Rhodes on al Shan Jeffrey, two guys familiar
Speaker 1: with each other, with Jeffrey his years in Chicago. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Rhods I thought, you know, came as close as you
Speaker 1: can come to taking Michael Thomas out of the game
Speaker 1: for the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees was trying to
Speaker 1: force him the ball at times, and Rhodes was just
Speaker 1: all over it. Nick Foles is going to have to
Speaker 1: find some other weapons. I don't know if the Eagles
Speaker 1: are going to have enough other weapons. If Xavier Rhodes
Speaker 1: is on his game, I think Nick Foles is going
Speaker 1: to have a really tough time in the pocket. And then,
Speaker 1: obviously the other element to this, to the fact that
Speaker 1: case Keenum nick Foles were they were there together in St. Louis,
Speaker 1: good friends. Between the two of them, they have a
Speaker 1: little bit of a bond. I think they even said.
Speaker 1: I think it was Keenum that said it's one of
Speaker 1: season as one of his best friends. Which one of
Speaker 1: these guys, which one of these replacements can step up,
Speaker 1: can make those plays, is going to be probably the
Speaker 1: determining factor in this because you know defensively what both
Speaker 1: of these teams can do. Yeah, your prediction for a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl matchup, I think it's still gonna be Minnesota,
Speaker 1: but we'll see against New England. Okay, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it's Patriots Vikings too. But we've got to call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers
Speaker 1: dot Com, on Twitter, at west hod At, Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time H