Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague Weston hod Kowitz. We're coming to you Hear
Speaker 1: from our studios at Lambefield to talk Packers Dolphins West.
Speaker 1: It will be a Christmas Day noon Central Time kickoff
Speaker 1: from hard Rock Stadium in South Florida. We all know
Speaker 1: what the implications are for the Packers. The Packers have
Speaker 1: to keep winning and do some scoreboard watching on Saturday
Speaker 1: on the flight down to Miami. And we'll talk about
Speaker 1: those the games that impact that a little bit later
Speaker 1: in the show. But you look at this Dolphins team
Speaker 1: in two and it has been a team of streaks.
Speaker 1: They began the season with three straight wins, then they
Speaker 1: lost three straight games, then they won five in a row.
Speaker 1: Now they head into this Christmas matchup with a three
Speaker 1: game losing streak. Not to say that they're necessarily playing
Speaker 1: poorly in this three game losing streak, but it was
Speaker 1: a three game road gauntlet at San Francisco, at the
Speaker 1: l A Chargers, at Buffalo they came up short all
Speaker 1: three times. And that now with the Dolphins going from
Speaker 1: eight and three to eight and six. They're fighting for
Speaker 1: their playoff lives in the a f C. Very interesting
Speaker 1: situation that Dolphins find themselves in because after this game
Speaker 1: against Green Bay, they are traveling to the New New
Speaker 1: England Patriots and then they finish up the season verse
Speaker 1: hosting the Jets. So as much as we're talking about
Speaker 1: the Packers and their run here towards the end of
Speaker 1: the season, the Dolphins have very similar implications with this
Speaker 1: whole run. The part of it that is the most
Speaker 1: fascinating to me though, is, and we've talked about it
Speaker 1: a couple of times throughout the week and the coverage
Speaker 1: with Matt Lafleur and some of the players, this is
Speaker 1: a different team at hard Rock Stadium. Uh. They're five
Speaker 1: and one on the season and that only loss was
Speaker 1: the game in which they did not have to uh
Speaker 1: available to them. So the the explosivity of this offense,
Speaker 1: a running game that Green Bay is very familiar with
Speaker 1: with Raheem Mostart, and by all indications it sounds like
Speaker 1: Jeff Wilson will be back this week. Tyreek Hill is
Speaker 1: one of the most dynamic receivers in this league, and
Speaker 1: Jalen Waddle is a real nice up and comer for them.
Speaker 1: I was a hundred and fifty wrong, Mike Um, and
Speaker 1: I'm not ashamed to say it. I was. I had
Speaker 1: some real questions when they acquired Hill about whether or
Speaker 1: not this offense a new head coach to UH, they
Speaker 1: were gonna be able to keep him happy and also
Speaker 1: make sure that Jalen Waddle gets his touches. Mike Gasecki
Speaker 1: hasn't really been the same type of receiving threat he's ben,
Speaker 1: So it's not like everybody's flourishing. But for both of
Speaker 1: those two receivers to be the only two in the
Speaker 1: NFL right now with a thousand yards, this is a
Speaker 1: stiff test for Green Bay going down into South Beach well.
Speaker 1: And what's impressive about the numbers that Hill and Waddle
Speaker 1: it put up. And credit to Mike McDaniel, the first
Speaker 1: year head coach of the Dolphins, because you said it.
Speaker 1: There were a lot of questions as to how they
Speaker 1: were going to make this work offensively, and as Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur has told us this week, having worked with Mike
Speaker 1: McDaniel UM as an assistant coach at at UH, you
Speaker 1: know previous stops in UH in La Fleur's NFL career.
Speaker 1: Hill and Waddle, they aren't just over a thousand yards.
Speaker 1: I mean, Tyreek Hill is over fifteen hundred yards with
Speaker 1: three games left to go in the regular season. And
Speaker 1: he's already over a hundred receptions with three games left
Speaker 1: to go. Jalen Waddle, this is the amazing thing. He's
Speaker 1: over eleven hundred yards receiving any and on just sixty
Speaker 1: two receptions. The guy is averaging eighteen yards per catch.
Speaker 1: In this day and age of of the you know,
Speaker 1: the quick game, the bubble screens and this and that
Speaker 1: for a wide receiver in the current NFL, the way
Speaker 1: passing games are designed to be averaging eighteen yards a
Speaker 1: catch for an entire season is phenomenal. I mean, you
Speaker 1: just don't see that. That's a you know that that's
Speaker 1: sort of in the James Lofton category from back in
Speaker 1: the in the nineteen eighties when he was in his heyday.
Speaker 1: So and obviously then you know, you mentioned Mostard, who
Speaker 1: hasn't had a huge workload necessarily for the Dolphins. But
Speaker 1: lo and behold, the guy is averaging four point nine
Speaker 1: yards per carry. He's still he's still lighten it up
Speaker 1: as well. And then Gisicky doesn't have the big numbers,
Speaker 1: but he's got four touchdowns this year despite everything that
Speaker 1: that Hill and Waddle are doing in the passing game.
Speaker 1: So this is a and you know I've been I've
Speaker 1: been saying this all week long. This is no disrespect
Speaker 1: to the Philadelphia Eagles, this is no disrespect to the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, other teams the Packers have played this year.
Speaker 1: I think this is the the biggest challenge the Packers
Speaker 1: are gonna face defensively all season long. These guys, these
Speaker 1: guys are dangerous, They're explosive, they can score from anywhere
Speaker 1: on the field. And somebody has to explain to me
Speaker 1: how to a Tago Vloa, as the leading fan vote
Speaker 1: getter in the Pro Bowl and with the number one
Speaker 1: passer rating in the league at one oh seven point eight,
Speaker 1: somehow is not on the a f E roster for
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl games. Somebody has to explain to me
Speaker 1: how that has happened. But whatever chip he may or
Speaker 1: may not be carrying on his shoulder with regard to
Speaker 1: that snub heading into this week to a especially having
Speaker 1: come back from from a couple of scary moments with
Speaker 1: the head injuries to us having a whale of a season.
Speaker 1: It was the thing. I was writing our story on
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and his media scrum on Wednesday, and I
Speaker 1: had asked him about Tega the Law, and it was
Speaker 1: interesting in that I was going to go in there
Speaker 1: and I was just gonna take for granted that he'd
Speaker 1: been in the Pro Bowl. As I was getting ready
Speaker 1: to basically press him in my story, the guy's leading
Speaker 1: the league and passer rating. How is the number one
Speaker 1: passer rating quarterback in the league? Like not on a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl ros. There's a lot of players and coaches
Speaker 1: out there that must not have felt very strongly about it.
Speaker 1: But goodness, whatever the case may be. I mean, you
Speaker 1: listen to them talk. The way he carries himself. He
Speaker 1: was like that at Alabama, He's been like that in Miami.
Speaker 1: And and here's the most exciting thing if you're a
Speaker 1: Dolphins fan, I think Mike McDaniel the best compliment I
Speaker 1: can pay him is he basically replicated the blueprint that
Speaker 1: San Francisco used, and he did it in year one.
Speaker 1: Um a good offensive line, tarn Armstead. You know, as
Speaker 1: much as we talked about David baktr In the thirteen draft,
Speaker 1: tarn Armstead was just as good of a pick one
Speaker 1: round earlier for the New Orleans Saints. He comes to Miami,
Speaker 1: he now makes a Pro Bowl in his first year there.
Speaker 1: That that running offense with mostart in now Wilson. After
Speaker 1: the acquisition, you know, alec Ingold was coming off an
Speaker 1: a c L injury. I don't know what happened. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things that happened. But with the
Speaker 1: Raiders non tendering all these guys, Ingold got non tenure,
Speaker 1: Nixon got nontendered, Keshan Nixon, and in Ingold has been,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the better fullbacks in this league
Speaker 1: and is playing kind of that Kyle us Chick role
Speaker 1: for this offense where he's not going to show up
Speaker 1: a lout of a statu sheet, but he's going to
Speaker 1: be a part of this game plan um. And then
Speaker 1: having the two receivers that they have. I love the
Speaker 1: way that those pieces have fit together for Miami. Now,
Speaker 1: the one thing about this, as you said, is it's
Speaker 1: been a streaky team. They've had off weeks, they've had
Speaker 1: on weeks, but their strength of schedule and their strength
Speaker 1: of victory have been pretty impressive. And as much as
Speaker 1: you can point to that three game losing streak, they
Speaker 1: took care of business against Houston and Cleveland before that,
Speaker 1: and those aren't necessarily teams that a lot of you
Speaker 1: know clubs have had success, you know, beating them by
Speaker 1: two scores this season. Yeah, absolutely, and the uh and
Speaker 1: give the Dolphins credit to I think we mentioned this
Speaker 1: on our last show, how they they went into Buffalo
Speaker 1: in Buffalo weather in prime time last weekend, with you know,
Speaker 1: the cold, the snow started flying in the second half
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff, and they were they
Speaker 1: were right there against the Buffalo Bills with with a
Speaker 1: lead in the fourth quarter, um end up losing on
Speaker 1: a on a walk off field goal to a Buffalo
Speaker 1: Bills team that is looking to wrap up the number
Speaker 1: one seed, number one playoff seed in the a f C.
Speaker 1: So defensively though, here for the Dolphins, there are certainly
Speaker 1: guys to watch out for. They acquired Bradley Chubb to
Speaker 1: help out with with the pass rush. I believe Melvin
Speaker 1: Ingram is another one of their pass rushers, a guy
Speaker 1: who's hopped around to some different teams, but he's he
Speaker 1: remains productive. But the bottom line West. This Dolphins defense
Speaker 1: is twenty three in the league and yards allowed tied
Speaker 1: for twenty six in the league, and points allowed. It's
Speaker 1: a defense that can be had. It's a defense that
Speaker 1: that has given up its share. And with the way,
Speaker 1: with the way the Packers offense has turned a corner
Speaker 1: here the last month in terms of getting healthier at
Speaker 1: the perimeter positions, the you know rookies more the rookie
Speaker 1: receivers in particular, and then Zack tom at left tackle
Speaker 1: coming along and uh and making this making this unit
Speaker 1: more productive in a unit that would have scored thirty
Speaker 1: plus again on Monday night had it not been for
Speaker 1: you know, taking a knee on the one yard line
Speaker 1: there in the last two minutes. Packers offense, you're moving
Speaker 1: out of the cold. Now. It's gonna be fifty something
Speaker 1: degrees or whatever down in Miami. Um, certainly it'll be
Speaker 1: a fast track for the Dolphins. But the Packers have
Speaker 1: to take advantage of of these um, you know, ideal
Speaker 1: conditions so to speak for Green Bay's offense and UH
Speaker 1: and and have a big time game because it's it's
Speaker 1: going to be difficult to stop these Miami Dolphins from scoring. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it will be. Uh, the most fascinating part about the
Speaker 1: Dolphins though, as you touched on the defense, I don't
Speaker 1: mean to be disrespectful when I say this, but it's
Speaker 1: a very meat and potatoes unit. Uh. It is a
Speaker 1: unit that has not taken the ball away much this year.
Speaker 1: I mean, Xavien Howard the number one positive thing you
Speaker 1: can say at him, much like you know Ji Alexander here.
Speaker 1: He is a traditional shutdown Durrell Reava's type cornerback. Teams
Speaker 1: just don't want to throw at him. And you know,
Speaker 1: he only has one pick on the season. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: as a team only have seven interceptions on the year.
Speaker 1: Despite as impressive as they've been, I think they're minus
Speaker 1: two in the turn over margin this year. You know,
Speaker 1: end up credit largely goes to toa on that there
Speaker 1: haven't been a lot of giveaways. You know, three of
Speaker 1: their what do they have fifteen? Yeah, fifteen giveaways this here.
Speaker 1: Three of those came from Teddy Bridgewater in his appearances.
Speaker 1: So it's been an offense and a defense that have
Speaker 1: played together, but necessarily defensively haven't been you know, an
Speaker 1: inspiring unit. Also a statistic that Larry Mcaron brought up
Speaker 1: to me when we were doing our three Things video yesterday.
Speaker 1: That I was not aware of is the fact that
Speaker 1: the Dolphins are right near the bottom of the league
Speaker 1: and kickoff return yardage allowed in terms of you know, average,
Speaker 1: So there's a potential opportunity there for Keishaw Nixon as well.
Speaker 1: The whole point, and I'm trying to draw with this
Speaker 1: is the Dolphins are a very good football team. They
Speaker 1: are dynamic, they can shut teams down, they can win
Speaker 1: in multiple ways, and they're very creative with Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: at the helm. But it is not an insurmountable hill
Speaker 1: to climb. And I think that's why is the week
Speaker 1: is sort of progressed and the Packers have been healthier,
Speaker 1: you know, the tide has slowly turned a little bit
Speaker 1: back into I think maybe the Packers getting more of
Speaker 1: an opportunity and seen as having a shot in this game.
Speaker 1: But ultimately, Mike, I think it ultimately does come down
Speaker 1: to the mono explosive plays that the Dolphins generate offensively,
Speaker 1: and how many of those are running through hill and waddle. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I want to get to uh some keys to victory
Speaker 1: and go into more detail on that in a minute,
Speaker 1: But first some sponsored business. Serious x M NFL Radio
Speaker 1: delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL
Speaker 1: news that true football fanatics need seven three six, And
Speaker 1: at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone like our
Speaker 1: Wisconsin Cheese Kurds, mac and Cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes,
Speaker 1: all paired with your favorite sub or sub in a bowl.
Speaker 1: Cousin Subs fifty years of better. All right, well, you
Speaker 1: you hinted at it already as far as a key
Speaker 1: to victory here, and I do think it absolutely comes
Speaker 1: down to limiting the explosive plays that this my emmy
Speaker 1: offense is going to generate. And I think not the
Speaker 1: only factor, but one of the key factors in limiting
Speaker 1: explosive place for this Packers defense is going to be tackling.
Speaker 1: You're not necessarily going to be able to prevent Jalen
Speaker 1: Waddle and Tyree Hill from getting the football. Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: is is creative enough, savvy enough, he's going to find
Speaker 1: a way to get his guys the ball one way
Speaker 1: or another. But we saw what happened in Philadelphia when
Speaker 1: the Packers didn't tackle, well, they had twenty plus miss
Speaker 1: tackles in that that primetime game out in Philly and
Speaker 1: play you know, plays that were you know, four or five, six,
Speaker 1: seven yard plays were rupturing into twenty and twenty five
Speaker 1: yard games for Jalen Hurts and company. There the real
Speaker 1: danger with these guys is miss tackles can turn a
Speaker 1: five yard play into a touchdown from anywhere on the
Speaker 1: field because as soon as they get loose and they
Speaker 1: get up to top speed, it's almost impossible to catch them.
Speaker 1: So the tackling, I think is is going to is
Speaker 1: going to be key. The Packers certainly have tackled much
Speaker 1: better since the Philadelphia game, which was the big let
Speaker 1: down in that category, and it needs to continue and
Speaker 1: perhaps reach you know, its peak level against weapons like this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and it is. It's an interesting mix with what
Speaker 1: Miami brings to the table because as dynamic as those
Speaker 1: two receivers are, and that's what the offense largely runs through. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, both Wilson since he jumped on board in
Speaker 1: Miami and Mostart have had their moments too as runners.
Speaker 1: Uh Wilson a couple of weeks ago was the lead
Speaker 1: back had over a hundred yards. Last week, Mostard had
Speaker 1: hit his best game of the season when Wilson was
Speaker 1: out with the hip injury. Yeah, they relied on him
Speaker 1: in that in that cold and Buffalo and he delivered
Speaker 1: for him and Mike. If there was every you bring
Speaker 1: up the point of of the tackling issue, if there
Speaker 1: was ever a player that the Green Bay Packers are
Speaker 1: going to face that it reminds you that how much
Speaker 1: you need to be disciplined, how much you need to
Speaker 1: put a hat on a hat. It is Raheem Moster
Speaker 1: who had, you know, the biggest game in his career
Speaker 1: against Green Based several years ago, the thing that kind
Speaker 1: of put him on the map after He's not just
Speaker 1: a guy in that Kyle Shanahan offense. This is a
Speaker 1: legitimate number one type back. So Packers can't take any
Speaker 1: of this for granted. What I'm most fascinated to see,
Speaker 1: and you can call it a key to victory, you
Speaker 1: can call it a three thing, whatever you want, is
Speaker 1: the decisions the Packers are going to have to make
Speaker 1: in this game on how they defend Miami. How much
Speaker 1: resources are spent to the two you know, you know
Speaker 1: receivers Jr. Alexander can obviously shadow somebody if you need
Speaker 1: them to you, you know, can mix up the zone coverages.
Speaker 1: That's all gonna be up to Joe Berry and Jerry
Speaker 1: Gray and how they want to approach it. But you
Speaker 1: can't be so overcommitted to that that it then leaves
Speaker 1: you light in the box against that running game. They
Speaker 1: can hurt you either ways. There's gonna be some I
Speaker 1: candy that that McDaniel's offense is gonna throw at him.
Speaker 1: That ultimately, I think when you look at keys to victory,
Speaker 1: when you look at how do the Packers win this
Speaker 1: game defensively, it starts there. Yeah, and it will be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how the Packers go about to fending
Speaker 1: things because I still think as as as great a
Speaker 1: season as two has had, he's still he's still a
Speaker 1: young quarterback. And generally the approach against young quarterbacks is
Speaker 1: too is to constantly be mixing up, mixing up coverage.
Speaker 1: You don't want to get into certain patterns, you know,
Speaker 1: and and and in the process of mixing up coverages,
Speaker 1: you don't want to always be playing, you know the
Speaker 1: same thing on third and six. You know, you don't
Speaker 1: you don't want to get into into those kind of
Speaker 1: patterns that that he can decipher that being said, lots
Speaker 1: of teams have tried lots of things against this offense,
Speaker 1: and and uh and and Ta has has sliced and
Speaker 1: diced a lot of a lot of defenses on the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball. I think it just it
Speaker 1: just comes down to efficiency, because the Packers are going
Speaker 1: to need to put up a good number of points,
Speaker 1: I believe, in order to win this game. But by
Speaker 1: the same token, you don't necessarily want it to become
Speaker 1: a shootout. UM, So it comes down it comes down
Speaker 1: to being efficient offensively where you're getting the points you
Speaker 1: need to make, but potentially shortening the game at the
Speaker 1: same time. You you had talked on our last show
Speaker 1: about over the last couple of games, how the Packers
Speaker 1: have had numerous scoring drives of ten plus eleven plus plays.
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of drives the Packers need to continue.
Speaker 1: They need they need to finish them and punch them
Speaker 1: all into the end zoner as many of them as
Speaker 1: they can. But those are the kinds of drives that
Speaker 1: the Packers need because if you get into you get
Speaker 1: into a game, you get into a game with the
Speaker 1: Dolphins where you're upwards of you know, fourteen fifteen sixteen
Speaker 1: possessions over the course of four quarters. Against these guys,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be really really hard to keep up with.
Speaker 1: But if you can, if you have some longer drives,
Speaker 1: limit the number of possessions, shorten the game in that
Speaker 1: sense a little bit, then umum, you know, then I
Speaker 1: like the Packers chances to to hang around and give
Speaker 1: themselves a shot. That's probably why I fell so much
Speaker 1: in love with that performance against the Rams. It wasn't
Speaker 1: about the opponent, it wasn't about the fact that Packers
Speaker 1: need to win that game. It was that that finally
Speaker 1: felt like Matte floor football again. That the Rams only
Speaker 1: ran forty five offensive places. Uh, you know, and the
Speaker 1: Packers have been on the other side of that Cole
Speaker 1: times where you're you're you're looking at the offensive film
Speaker 1: and you're going, we only we only ran fifty plays. Well,
Speaker 1: no wonder, this guy only had this many touches and
Speaker 1: this guy only had this many because we didn't run
Speaker 1: enough plays. Yeah, and thirty seven minutes over thirty seven
Speaker 1: minutes in terms of their time of possession to run
Speaker 1: out the clock. It was quintessential Packers football. This matchup
Speaker 1: I look at well, first off, getting a J. Dillon
Speaker 1: back is a huge side of relief because it sounds
Speaker 1: like even you know, Aaron Jones dealing with some stuff
Speaker 1: right now with the knee. So at least to have
Speaker 1: both of those guys available so it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: fall on one specific guy. You tip your cap to
Speaker 1: Patrick Taylor the way he finished that game for Green Bay,
Speaker 1: but the way that you know AJ has been running
Speaker 1: the ball, specifically in the red zone these last few weeks,
Speaker 1: these last few games, has been very encouraging. But I
Speaker 1: look towards the Christian Watson thing. I look towards Alan Lazard.
Speaker 1: I looked towards this this sort of you know, weaponry
Speaker 1: that Green Bay has built throughout the course of the
Speaker 1: season too to come up big in this thing. Watson
Speaker 1: changes the way defenses attack this offense, and there's a
Speaker 1: multitude of ways to use them. And I know there's
Speaker 1: some some film buffs out there that we're already putting
Speaker 1: out film talking from the last game of here were
Speaker 1: opportunities where Watson could have been even more involved, if
Speaker 1: he would have been the primary target, if he would
Speaker 1: have been the hot read on things that that's the
Speaker 1: exciting thing to me, and how they want to use things.
Speaker 1: You know, the ultimate credit to this young man is
Speaker 1: how much Jalen Ramsey was covering him, you know last week.
Speaker 1: I mean, teams have taken notice and offensively for the Packers,
Speaker 1: I think with Aaron Rodgers feeling a little bit better,
Speaker 1: this is feeling like the green Bay Packers offensive old again.
Speaker 1: They're still trying to get back to that thirty point threshold.
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones had kind of smirk on his face after
Speaker 1: the game when talking about being that close to it.
Speaker 1: But you know, they're right there. So that if you know,
Speaker 1: you do have some offensive success on Miami side, green
Speaker 1: Bay could potentially be able to match that firepower. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you mentioned that matchup with Ramsey against Watson Monday night
Speaker 1: against the Rams. So I'm curious what you think do
Speaker 1: the do the Dolphins put Howard on Watson and and
Speaker 1: and and let that let that go one. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are different ways you can do this, right because
Speaker 1: because some teams take the approach of yep, we're putting
Speaker 1: our number one guy on their number one guy. Other
Speaker 1: teams take the approach when you're talking about man coverage. Essentially,
Speaker 1: zon zone is a whole different idea. But other teams
Speaker 1: take the approach of you know, no, we're gonna put
Speaker 1: our number two guy on the number one guy and
Speaker 1: have the safety help over the top most of the time,
Speaker 1: and then put our number one guy on their number
Speaker 1: two guy and ask him to cover that guy without
Speaker 1: any help at all and be the shutdown guy on
Speaker 1: the other side of the field. So there are different
Speaker 1: ways to go about it, and I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: with with a an all pro talent like Xavian Howard
Speaker 1: and an emerging star in Christian Watson, how the how
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins go about this. Yeah, I am too,
Speaker 1: because the thing about Howard is he's been one of
Speaker 1: the best corners of this league for the last three years,
Speaker 1: but he's also probably one of the league's best up secrets.
Speaker 1: You don't hear a lot of love for him when
Speaker 1: you're talking about you know, guys like jayre and guys
Speaker 1: like Jalen Ramsey are a little bit more boisterous right
Speaker 1: in terms of the national scene. So to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, I really don't know how. You know, traditionally
Speaker 1: week to week Miami lines him up. But but that's
Speaker 1: a decision they're gonna have to make. And how they
Speaker 1: want to go about attacking this thing. It's not the
Speaker 1: deepest secondary in the league, so maybe potentially you see
Speaker 1: that kind of versatility there and maybe he's he's tracking
Speaker 1: around some guys. But you know, all that being said,
Speaker 1: I I really think this comes back to the Packers
Speaker 1: being and the Packers and you know last week the
Speaker 1: mix of the run and the past and the consistency
Speaker 1: of it um two back to back games, Mike, where
Speaker 1: they've had three scoring drives of eleven or more plays.
Speaker 1: That that speaks to the efficiency the offense. That speaks
Speaker 1: to the ability to protect the football, and it speaks to,
Speaker 1: you know, just being able to have success again. And
Speaker 1: I think that can be demoralizing for a defense and offensively,
Speaker 1: I think it can remind Green Bay once again, as
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers talked about it is locker on Wednesday. You know,
Speaker 1: when you're not having success, when you're not winning, you
Speaker 1: sometimes forget what that feels like a little bit in
Speaker 1: Green Bay now has a little bit of that momentum
Speaker 1: on their side. Yeah, we hear all the time. Explosive
Speaker 1: plays often lead to points, right well, when you can
Speaker 1: still score points in this league without necessarily getting a
Speaker 1: bunch of explosive plays. It speaks to it speaks to
Speaker 1: the execution, it speaks to the sharpness of everything that
Speaker 1: you're doing on offense. So whether the Packers can hit
Speaker 1: can hit the big plays or not limiting the Dolphins
Speaker 1: in that regard, I think is a key to this game.
Speaker 1: And uh, and whatever it takes, whatever it takes on
Speaker 1: offense to to continue doing what they're doing. I want
Speaker 1: to get your thoughts before we go on a very
Speaker 1: interesting weekend, Um can can I? Can I edit that
Speaker 1: a little bit? Yeah? A very interesting Saturday. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I love about the way the NFL set
Speaker 1: this up. We've got the Christmas Day games, right if
Speaker 1: you like. If you ranked all the games, Packers is
Speaker 1: by far the most compelling one against the Dolphins. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot, a lot of a lot of people will
Speaker 1: be tuned into pack Chris Dolphins, and then the other
Speaker 1: the other two on Christmas late afternoon and evening will
Speaker 1: just kind of be like on the TV in the background.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how closely people are gonna be paying attention. Ye,
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay in Arizona, they might be getting a run
Speaker 1: for their money with It's a wonderful life. I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: but but hey, to your point though, it is a
Speaker 1: great slate of games this weekend, a lot of um,
Speaker 1: you know, playoff implications, and I will let you lead
Speaker 1: me through the dance from there. Well, the interesting thing
Speaker 1: from the Packers perspective, when you're looking at you know,
Speaker 1: doing the scoreboard watching and the teams that the teams
Speaker 1: that you want to get some help, you'd like to
Speaker 1: see certain teams lose. Detroit, Seattle, the Giants, and Washington,
Speaker 1: all of them are on the road, all of them
Speaker 1: with um potentially difficult matchups. Detroit is at Carolina, Seattle
Speaker 1: is at Kansas City, the Giants are at Minnesota, and
Speaker 1: Washington is at San Francisco. This lines up pretty well
Speaker 1: for potentially for the Packers to get the help they
Speaker 1: need and then to be heading to hard Rock Stadium
Speaker 1: on Sunday morning going, you know, all right, we you know,
Speaker 1: we really are in this thing. If we can, if
Speaker 1: we can get this victory, and then be heading back
Speaker 1: to Green Bay knowing that they're you know, to home
Speaker 1: games left with a chance to uh to finish the
Speaker 1: regular season above five. So, Detroit Seattle Giants commanders, what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on some of those games. First things first,
Speaker 1: when I was working on my story for today on
Speaker 1: the Packers dot Com, I found that fascinating when you
Speaker 1: look at New York Times, if the Packers win out,
Speaker 1: they have them at making the playoffs. UHIVET eight actually
Speaker 1: has it all the way up to seventy. So it
Speaker 1: is interesting just by controlling what they can control, green
Speaker 1: Bay actually does have still what I would consider to
Speaker 1: be higher odds than I would have anticipated, you know,
Speaker 1: even a week ago. But all that being said, I
Speaker 1: love the matchup between Detroit and Carolina because Detroit is
Speaker 1: finally kind of getting a taste of its own medicine.
Speaker 1: The Panthers are one of these teams that, while they
Speaker 1: are technically still in the playoff hunt due to the
Speaker 1: you know, just the atrocity of that division, Panthers are
Speaker 1: a team that can play with anybody and lose the anybody.
Speaker 1: They They'll play anybody tough the way that they've acted
Speaker 1: this season. The Minnesota Vikings, man, it's such a weird
Speaker 1: matchup because they're coming off a win, but I still
Speaker 1: feel like there's so much for them to prove, and
Speaker 1: if you if you lose a game, like this to
Speaker 1: the Giants. Suddenly you're not feeling so great about where
Speaker 1: you're at heading into this final stretch because that's a
Speaker 1: team that you very easily could see in the playoffs
Speaker 1: and potentially lose to the Commanders in forty. Certainly that
Speaker 1: goes without saying that's a huge game, the biggest game
Speaker 1: in terms of the Packers situation, but Philadelphia in Dallas,
Speaker 1: because you and I have had this conversation about what
Speaker 1: do you do with Jalen Hurts, what do you do
Speaker 1: with these starters if it gets to week eighteen, and
Speaker 1: maybe it doesn't matter. Well, now he's dealing with the
Speaker 1: shoulder spring, so Gardener sounds like playing. He's not Gardner.
Speaker 1: Minshew's starting that game, Nick Sirianni I was talking about
Speaker 1: before we popped in here. So now it becomes a
Speaker 1: question of, Okay, whatever happens in this game happens, obviously,
Speaker 1: But if he ends up getting healthy here with the sprain,
Speaker 1: do you want him sitting a month before he plays
Speaker 1: a playoff game? Like in a weird backdoor kind of way,
Speaker 1: if Green Bay makes a run here, maybe this ends
Speaker 1: up working out to their advantage, because yeah, Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: not playing against a game against another playoff team, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. But as we know, the Philadelphi Eagles
Speaker 1: have one coming up down the pipe that that will
Speaker 1: have implications for Green Bay. Yeah. Absolutely. And and the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, the Cowboys have four losses, is correct? Okay?
Speaker 1: So essentially the ah the Philadelphia Eagles can clinch the
Speaker 1: number one seed with one more victor, correct, Is that right?
Speaker 1: So by the same by the same token, the Cowboy
Speaker 1: if the Cowboys beat If the Cowboys beat the Eagles
Speaker 1: on Sunday, I believe it's a late afternoon. I think
Speaker 1: that's the central kickoff. You're JNA Cowboys? Yeah, and I see.
Speaker 1: And I didn't even like write all this down before
Speaker 1: he came in here. This show is truly unscripted folk trust. Um.
Speaker 1: So the Cowboys looking to get within two games of
Speaker 1: that NFC East lead with two games to go, there,
Speaker 1: you know, their chances of getting a division championship as
Speaker 1: opposed to a wild card, which is which would be
Speaker 1: the difference between obviously a home game and being the
Speaker 1: five seed in the first round? Are are you know?
Speaker 1: Hinging on every week? Here? And this Jalen hurts shoulder injury,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of throws a wrench into where Philadelphia
Speaker 1: wanted to be. I don't know, did did you see
Speaker 1: the tackle when the Bears The Bears guy, you know,
Speaker 1: tackled him and and his shoulder got driven into into
Speaker 1: the ground there and and you know, it's the kind
Speaker 1: of thing that can happen to any quarterback at any time.
Speaker 1: But you raise, you raise a really interesting point because
Speaker 1: all the Eagles have to do is win one more
Speaker 1: game to clinch the number one seed. And Gardner Minshew,
Speaker 1: whether it's against the Cowboys or somebody else here in
Speaker 1: the last two weeks of the regular season is certainly
Speaker 1: is certainly capable of doing that. But then what's the
Speaker 1: decision in terms of when to play Jalen hurts. If
Speaker 1: you're going to get the one seed and then have
Speaker 1: the buy and not be playing in the postseason until
Speaker 1: the second weekend, um, it's it's going to be it's
Speaker 1: going to be very interesting to see, well the decisions
Speaker 1: that are made and and and how this plays out.
Speaker 1: For now, I think from the Packers perspective, you want
Speaker 1: the Cowboys to win that game. You want you want
Speaker 1: the Cowboys because they're gonna be playing one of their
Speaker 1: NFC East rivals in week eighteen. You want the Cowboys
Speaker 1: the Washington Football Commanders. They're playing Washington. You want the
Speaker 1: Cowboys to have something to play for in week eighteen
Speaker 1: to potentially beat the Commanders if the Packers are are
Speaker 1: on the run and trying to trying to steal that
Speaker 1: seventh spot. That's the interesting thing in this equation is
Speaker 1: that we can talk right now about Philly, but if
Speaker 1: the Giants go into US Bank Stadium, which has not
Speaker 1: been you know, a place where the Vikings have just
Speaker 1: dominated everybody, the Giants go in there and win, and
Speaker 1: enough things go their way, they can clinch a wild cards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: then they can. They can clench it. You don't even
Speaker 1: give up who about what happens in week eighteen with
Speaker 1: the Philly or the Giants or whatever. The main thing
Speaker 1: then becomes Mike McCarthy becoming the Green Bay Packers best
Speaker 1: friend again, because then if they have if they beat Philly,
Speaker 1: then they faced Tennessee and then that last one is
Speaker 1: at Washington. And you know, Cooper Rush is a good
Speaker 1: little quarterback too, so it isn't necessarily the end of
Speaker 1: the world if he has to start that game, But
Speaker 1: how many of the complimentary pieces is a Micah Parsons
Speaker 1: playing in that game then, and then it kind of
Speaker 1: becomes a question. Yeah, absolutely, those are kinds of Those
Speaker 1: are the kinds of things that I hope we're talking about,
Speaker 1: because if the last two weeks of the regular season
Speaker 1: are going to be at a high level of interest
Speaker 1: for the Green Bay Packers, it starts with beating the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins on Christmas down in South Florida. So with
Speaker 1: that we will call it a wrap on this of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team and all of the coverage from Sunday's
Speaker 1: Christmas Day game in Miami. We will have it all
Speaker 1: for you on Packers dot com for Wes, I am Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in everybody. Merry Christmas to everyone
Speaker 1: out there. We will see you next time.