WEBVTT - #499 Packers Unscripted: Finding another way 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:14.440 Hi everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.919 I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my partner in crime, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.120 Wes Hodkuwitz. Were coming to you here from our studios 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:25.560 at lambeau Field, back from Detroit from a piece of cake. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.840 No doubt, never wondered about it at all. Packers victory 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.520 to secure a first round by in the playoffs West 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.400 just the way uh Green Bay drew it up for 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:38.120 week seventeen, right, Yeah, absolutely, I mean just the way 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:39.559 when you who are sitting in the meetings of the 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:41.400 week just drawn it up. This is exactly how we 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.400 want this thing to play out. I'll tell you what 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:45.839 this The story was made out of a lot of 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:48.199 reporters afterwards, and the questions were asked in locker room. 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.000 I'm sure it came up in the news conferences too. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.000 Packers beat the Detroit Lions twice this season without leading 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.680 for a single second of either game up until the 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.000 final score. I man, I'd be hard pressed to title 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.760 last time that that's happened in NFL history. Actually, it's 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.000 according according to a Lie of Sports Bureau, it's only 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.040 the second time in league history it's ever happened seven 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:13.680 Saints over forty nine Ers twice. It's the only other 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.040 time it's ever happened in league history. And this is 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.440 another thing reader pointed out an inbox Laurie from Costa Rica. 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:23.920 You know. Yeah, She pointed out that if you go 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.200 back to the Hail Mary game in Detroit, three of 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:32.320 the packers last five victories now against Detroit have been 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.000 games where the Packers did not lead at all until 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:37.200 the final until the final play of the game. So 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:39.760 something about the Packers and the Lions and the way 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.160 this rivalry is going right now. But that being said, 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.840 boy um, I don't I don't even know where to 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.080 start with this one. You can start with the garbage 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.360 first half or the miraculous second half, I don't know. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:57.680 But the Packers, somehow, some way, as they've done thirteen 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:01.760 times this year, they found a way to win a ballgame. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:03.960 And it was another one of those games that things 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.240 did not look all that great at various stages, but 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.120 they got it done. And we could talk about that 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.280 first half, we could talk about that second half, But 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.639 where I actually want to start this with is Mason 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.000 Crosby and not just the kick, the redemptive kick I 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.160 wrote about it. I think you lad was a game 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:23.200 notes within or the column with it. It was really 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.120 interesting when he was in the locker room because so 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.399 many people wanted to ask him about Detroit. Last year 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.079 was for missfield goals in the Misssextra point that nightmare. Yeah, 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.000 he's back at the scene of the crime and you know, 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.760 working through everything that he did this season. But it 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:37.839 was something that he mentioned where he's like, I don't 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.240 want to talk his first quote as he's talking to 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:41.240 me and he's like, I don't want to you know, 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.639 look at that that was so long ago. I want 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.000 to talk about this team. I want to talk about 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:50.600 this locker room. And he said, this is a special team. 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.200 And I think when you try to break it all 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:57.280 down and you and you put a title description of 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.040 this two thousand nineteen season, this is a special team. 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:05.120 They found unorthodox ways to be thirteen and three. And 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.400 if you can't appreciate that, there's really nothing I can 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:11.440 do for you. Could it be prettier at times? Absolutely? Uh? 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:14.760 Not to start the Packers wanted whatsoever. But when the 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.480 chips are down, as I keep saying over and over again, 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:19.960 whether it's inbox or whether it's on the show, you 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.440 have to beat the Green Bay Packers for sixty minutes. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:24.800 You can get off to a big lead on them. 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.639 They're gonna claw their way back if you let them. 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:29.720 You can get off to a slow start and you 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:31.480 might find a way to get yourself back in the 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:33.840 fourth quarter. But then they close out where they need to. 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.280 They always have that counter punch when they need it 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.600 at exactly the right time, and in this particular case, 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.960 it was that Blake Martinez interception is Zadarius Smith's pressures 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.680 and a incredible final series by the Packers offense to 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.520 put Mason Crosby in position to make the thirty three 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:54.520 yard game winning field goal. Yeah. I mean, you look 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.440 at the anatomy of the comeback. What gets lost in 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.920 it a little bit, quite frankly, West, is that the 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.520 score is seventeen to three in the middle of the 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.000 third quarter. The Packers have just come off a drive 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.880 where Crosby has missed a long field goal by inches 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.920 fifty one yard or that just goes outside the upbright 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.479 So it's still seventeen to three. The Lions get the 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.760 ball back, but they punt and they pinned the Packers 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:21.479 on the five yard line. So you're nine minutes left 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.479 in the third quarter, you're down by fourteen. You seemingly 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:28.039 have nothing going for you. Aaron Rodgers statistics at this 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:32.200 point in the game are ugly, and they put together 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.400 a ninety five yard touchdown drive seventeen to ten. You 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.919 get back in it. The touchdown past to Davantae Adams 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.440 comes on third and ten after the interception by Martinez. 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.520 The touchdown passed by Alan Lazard that ties the game 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.680 at twenty comes on third and ten um and that 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.960 was after a fourth and one conversion to Davante Adams 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:56.520 that kept that drive live a few plays earlier. And 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.400 then the defense after Martinez gets the intercept sin that 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.680 sets up the tying drive, the defense gets two more 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.440 stops in the final five minutes to give Rogers in 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.520 the offense two cracks at the game winning drive. The 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.640 first one doesn't work out. The second one hinges on 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.880 a screen pass to Aaron Jones for thirty one yards 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.159 that gets the Packers into Crosby's field goal range, and 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.520 a screen pass which I wrote about in my postgame editorial. 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.559 The Packers hadn't called a screen pass all day battle 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.520 Fleur said He's never gone into a game with fewer 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:32.920 screens in the game plan because all the film study 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:36.719 on Detroit showed that screens didn't work against those guys. 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.320 But with the game on the line, Aaron Rodgers is 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:42.600 calling the plays in the two minute drill as as 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:46.120 he always does, he decides, after fifty nine minutes of 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.440 not running a screen, decides to call one. It didn't 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.200 look the prettiest as the entire you know, the entire 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:56.520 game did. But Rogers got the ball to Jones, got 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.520 a couple of blocks, made a couple of guys miss, 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.640 He gets thirty one yards. And this was the theme 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.920 of my postgame editorial, this Packers team, and it just 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.560 it piggybacks off of what you just said they have. 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.400 The story of this season is that this Packers team 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.760 makes the right play at the right time to win 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:17.479 a game. And I don't care if you're talking about 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.200 interceptions in the end zone late in the fourth quarter 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.000 that won some games early in the year, goal line 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:27.280 stop to beat Carolina, clutch first downs in the four 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.400 minute offense to just close out a game without giving 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:34.120 the ball back to the other team. This team has 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.479 a way to just make the right play at the 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:38.800 right time, no matter what has happened in the rest 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.880 of the game. And that's that's how they've won. And 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.440 to me, and I take nothing away from Blake Martinez 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.640 is interception, but to me it was it was the 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.719 screen pass, just because of the circumstances of the fact 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.120 that it wasn't really in the game plan. They hadn't 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:55.880 tried one, they'd had one practice essentially full speed practice 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.080 all week long on a short week with the holiday, 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.719 and yet with a minute left in the game, they 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.080 called to play, they executed, and it wins the game. Well, 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.840 And this is the reason to start with the Martinez 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.240 play that it stands out to me is the defense 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.680 other than a couple explosive plays early on him. You 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:12.600 gotta remember the Packers gave up fifty four yards of 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.680 total yards in the second half. There was the big 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.040 thirty yard defensive pass interference. There were four first downs, 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.440 four first downs and three points, the three points being 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.800 a monstrous field goal by Matt Prator that a lot 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.280 of teams wouldn't even have tried. But Prators got the 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.480 leg to make that indoors any drill. Yeah, and if 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.600 not for that net, it would have landed in Lake Michigan. 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.200 So I mean, just an incredible kick by him, but 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:36.720 the defense that was all they gave up in the 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:39.640 buckled down. But what was missing at that time they 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:41.960 needed to take away. They need to turn the momentum, 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:43.720 and is this is right after the Packers get the 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.360 ball back and they go three and out offensively, they 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:48.960 can't connect on any of those deep shots, so they 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.400 give them the chance. They give them an opportunity. So 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:55.000 Martinez gets the pick, Zadarius Smith gets the pressure. They 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.840 get down the field and are high points the ball perfectly. 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.960 And then credit to Matt Lafleur coaching staff, they had 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.760 the perfect plan, perfect place set up for that quarters 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:10.440 beater that basically Lazard knew once they shifted the coverage 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:11.960 a certain way that the ball was going to go 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.320 to him. Rogers throws it where only he can catch it, 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.960 and they on former undrafted rookie steps up get the 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.120 game tied. But all that's well and good, but the 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.160 defense gets another stop and as you point out, you 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.080 get the opportunity then to go for a game winning drive, 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.120 to go try to get this thing down the field. 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.480 A big mistake with the the hitting Rogers on the slide. 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:36.000 Just a not good technique at all. I think that 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.280 was Wilson who had that right, Yeah, Tavon will Tavon 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.160 Wilson drilled Rogers on the slide and got flagged and 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.600 it was like a two yard scramble that ended up 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.080 being a seventeen yard play with the fifteen yard penalty. 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.199 Tavon Wilson, Actually, I thought it had a pretty good game. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.400 He had that breakup on Aaron Jones earlier. When the 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.560 quarterback sliding like that, you can't be diving in with 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:54.480 the shoulder. They're just going to call it every single time, 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:55.880 even though I know some of the fans for the 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:59.120 lines didn't like it. They have the opportunity. They dropped 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:00.960 that play and it was into this thing. Listening to 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.079 the offensive lineman and also Aaron Jones talk about how 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:08.000 that came together sort of the muddied uh screen pass, 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.280 I mean just being able to shift through that dice 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.880 through it and Jones gets to pick up those yards. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.040 You know. I made the argument in our game notes 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.360 section that he did get his thousand yards season, which 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.880 is incredibly meaningful. He had a hundred yard day on 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.120 the ground, but that screen pass, that set the tone 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:24.959 for the Packers being able to win that ballgame. It 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.080 gets the ball down to the twenty yard line at 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.560 the time of the Lions and really makes the Packers 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.040 sort of feel comfortable with where they're gonna be at. 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.040 They forced Detroit to burn their last two time outs 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.280 and Mason Crosby goes in there and does what he does. 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.800 Aaron Jones the one thing we have learned this year, 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.800 this guy is a legitimate superstar in this league. He 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.120 is a guy that you can carry. You can put 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.120 the weight of your team on him, and he might 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.280 be five nine and two night pounds, but he's gonna 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.840 be able to carry that load. Pound engine of a 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.680 playoff offenses is really what it is. He's he's the 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.280 guy who's making this work. And for only the second 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:02.640 time in his career, there really wasn't a plan. B. 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.720 Jamal Williams was inactive with the shoulder injury. It had 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:07.480 to be Aaron Jones, and he stepped up in rows 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:09.480 to the occasion. Yeah, well, you look at you look 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.160 at the way this game unfolded West and you know, 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:13.960 it was one of those things that if it could 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.000 go wrong in the first half, it did. Whether you 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.559 want to talk about drop passes, passes that were off target, 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:24.080 penalties on both sides, miss tackles. The Lions were running 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.520 the ball really, really well. The Lions even get points 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.520 at the end of the first half when they've essentially 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.360 given up. They're just handing off with twenty seconds left 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.400 to see if maybe they can break a run low 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.240 and behold. They do a forty yard run and then 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:41.120 it wasn't even carry on or both. So they so 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.760 they end up getting in field goal range when they 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.199 weren't even necessarily trying to and it just happened. So 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:47.720 they get three more points at the end of the 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:52.280 first half, then in then in the second half. Admittedly, 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.280 you don't pull off a comeback like this without some luck, 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.200 without some good fortune, without some breaks, and the Packers 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.439 got some. When you look at the act that Martinez 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.520 got an extra fifteen yards on his interception return because 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.880 of a stupid personal file on Danny amndola Um. You 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.319 already mentioned the fifteen yards on Tavon Wilson. Those are 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.720 thirty yards that led to ten points in this In 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:19.040 this comeback for the Packers, I I personally thought I 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.480 didn't understand the way the Lions were running the ball. 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.000 They had a three headed monster in the backfield that 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.600 had piled up a hundred and sixty rushing yards in 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:28.600 the game. More that had like a hundred and twelve 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:30.720 in the first half, and they only handed the ball 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:32.920 off eight times in the second half when you had 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.160 the lead the whole time. I didn't understand that the 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.600 Lions put the game in the hands of their undrafted 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.240 rookie quarterback, and ultimately he made the critical mistake, which 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.720 was trying to throw a deep ball under pressure from Smith. 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.959 He badly under throws it and Martinez gets the pick. 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.080 So that was, yes, it was a good play by 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:54.640 the defense, but also again a fortunate break. It was 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.200 just one of these games that that that goes back 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.079 and forth and then you all of a sudden, you're 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.240 fifty five minutes and you've got five minutes left on 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.840 the clock and everything's a wash because the score is tied. 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:05.840 So then it's like, okay, who's going to make a 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.720 play to win the game? And even when Aaron Rodgers 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.480 throws an interception late in the game, it was on 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.640 third and twenty, it essentially functioned as about a fifty 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.600 four yard punt which was better than you would normally 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:21.640 even hope for off of a regular punt. So yeah, 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.320 with Kumaro making making the tackle right away, So that 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.720 ended up working out in in the Packers favor as well. 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.600 But at the end of the day, again there you know, Matt, 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:38.360 it's interesting Matt Lafleur's postgame press conferences. He continues to 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.040 just say a lot of the same things. And I'm 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.079 not saying that as a criticism, but it's because it's 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.319 because it's just about this team. It's you know, he 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:51.080 continues to talk about the resilience, the belief in each other, 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:56.160 the the just the character of the team. That these 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.000 guys are going to give everything they have for four quarters, 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.640 no matter what the heck has happened, no matter what 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.080 has gone right, no matter what has gone wrong, They're 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.560 just gonna battle their way to the end. And this 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.199 is the Packers team that's going into the playoffs. I mean, 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.679 this is this is who they are. We'll see where 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.360 it goes from here. Yeah, And I mean, just to 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.959 touch quickly on that first half, as you mentioned, offensively 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.240 not to start, they're looking for trying to find some 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.280 rhythm early and they're just not able to do it. 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:23.560 They do finally get that field goal at the end 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:25.079 of the half, and then they gave it right back. 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:27.520 They gave it right back in twenty second to fall 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.199 behind seventeen three. But what impressed me the most about 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:34.000 that performances They lose Corey Linsley to the back injury. Yes, 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:38.320 that means it becomes Lucas Patrick, who signed a contract 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.800 extension on Saturday Saturday. Well, now he's in there for 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:43.480 the sign it right before he got on the plane 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.319 at right. He's in there now for the first time 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.440 since Dallas. Then you lose. You you have Alan Lazard 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.120 step up make a critical catch, you know, one of 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.440 the big go to options with as much attention as 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.600 the Lions were giving Davante Adams, and then he gets 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.400 a third down conversion on a aunt injurs the ankle 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.240 has to leave the game, come out. Brian Bulaga gets 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.000 evaluated for a concussion, leaves the game in the second half. 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.960 Jared Valdier, for the first time in three or in 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.000 sixty five days, has to come in and play in 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.200 an NFL regular season game, and he steps up at 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.160 right tackle. So regardless of what the odds are, what 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.400 the score is or how poorly they might have played 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.560 in the first half. Here you are with different guys 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.960 in different positions, stepping up and making themselves, making their 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:32.880 presence felt. That I think is ultimately wherever this this 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.040 ride ends for the Packers, that is going to be 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.400 what I remember this team for the most is that 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.040 no matter who they're playing or what the circumstances are, 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.400 they have guys one through forty six on the game 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.560 day roster that are going to be ready to step 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.200 in there and contribute. All right, well, we need to 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.040 get to the rundown on where the Packers stand in 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.160 this playoff picture. But I will take care of some 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.160 sponsor business first. Select Cousin Subs locations are now offering delivery. 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.400 Whether you're ordering catering or your favorite sub, They're delivering 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.200 right to you when you order online at Cousin Subs 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:09.120 dot com. Cousin Subs. We believe in better, Okay. As 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:11.080 I said at the top of the show. With the victory, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.600 the Packers secured a first round by in the playoffs. 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.400 They then became very interested spectators in the Sunday night 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:22.320 football game between San Francisco and Seattle, and the Packers 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:29.240 come literally west one inch away from, maybe two from 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:33.800 the number one overall seed. As Seattle's come back at 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.360 Century Link ends up just a couple inches shy of 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:42.760 the goal line. San Francisco wins by five. San Francisco 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.480 is the number one seed, the Packers are the number two. 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:47.680 They also find out as soon as that game is 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.400 over that the Packers time slot for the divisional round. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.360 The Packers will play the final game of the four 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.000 divisional games in two weeks. It will be Sunday, January twelfth, 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:03.000 lambeau Field five forty pm Central time, so an early 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:07.200 evening kickoff there, and the Packers will face one of 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.520 three opponents. They will face either the New Orleans Saints, 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.560 who are the three seed, the Philadelphia Eagles, who are 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.360 the four seed, or the Seattle Seahawks, who dropped to 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.600 the five seed with the loss to San Francisco on 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.080 Sunday night. So the scenario is this, and it's really 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.960 pretty simple. The Minnesota Vikings are playing at New Orleans 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.880 this coming Sunday in the wild Card round. If Minnesota 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.720 wins that game, if Minnesota pulls the upset, so to speak, 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.080 Minnesota will go to San Francisco and the Packers will 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.400 get the winner of the Philadelphia Seattle game if New Orleans, 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.800 if the Seeds hold in New Orleans wins at home 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.240 as the three seed. New Orleans is coming to lambeau 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:48.280 Field on January twelve, So that is where things stand. 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.640 Really interesting the way this shook out obviously at the 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:53.840 top of the NFC because you end up with three 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.480 teams that are thirteen and three and I can't remember 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.560 the last time I would have to look it up, 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.240 maybe I looked it up earlier, but that a thirteen 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.960 and three team did not get a first round by 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.399 the Saints at thirteen and three are the three seed 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:09.880 and they do have to play in the wild card round. Yeah, 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.200 And to be honest with you, I think that actually 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.640 probably tells the story of the NFC in two thousand nineteen. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.600 They're just it was very top heavy. I mean, I 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.840 think there are four teams that kind of solidified themselves 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.840 as the cream of the crop. San Francisco, Green Bay, 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:28.080 Seattle in New Orleans, Minnesota was always on the cusp 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.080 of that, but they never really got a key victory 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:31.840 throughout the course of the year. And the NFC East 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.560 is just the NFC East, So it actually does, I think, 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.720 speak to the parody of this, not really the parody, 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:39.879 but on top the parody of those three teams and 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.520 where they stand going into this thing. For the Packers, 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:44.080 it's the first time in five years that they get 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:45.920 to buy. It was interesting talking to a few guys 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:47.800 in the locker room that I've been around for a 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.119 pretty good amount of time, and they've never experienced that. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.920 All they've known since really entering the league is sort 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:54.920 of playing from behind, trying to get a playoff berth 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.560 and then missing the playoffs the past two years. This 0:17:57.600 --> 0:17:59.680 is different. So you look at it with Lazard, with 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:02.840 the coal injury obviously the injuries to bolog In Lindsley. 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:04.280 This gives you a week now to be able to 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.359 sit back recover from that. We don't know at this 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.520 point in time when we're shooting the show, how Matt 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:10.720 Lafleur is actually gonna approach this week and what is 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.440 what his mentality will be. I know for a fact, 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.960 going back to fourteen when Mike McCarthy last got the buy, 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:19.560 they gave off the players the beginning half of the 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:21.040 week and then they returned at the end of it 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.000 to do some practices and a little bit of work 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.560 on Friday and Saturday. So a lot of different things 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.199 that they're gonna have to sort out. But as I 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.000 was saying to you know, some of the members of 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.280 the executive committee as we were walking out of the building, 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:34.159 I mean, it's a good problem to have to finally 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:35.920 be in a position where you don't have to run 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.600 the table, you don't have to catch up, you can 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.679 kind of breathe a little bit. Don't take that too 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:42.919 you know, seriously, but I mean being able to just 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.160 kind of decompress and reset exactly. It's it's a it's 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:48.720 a reset. It's a reset, it's a recharge week. You 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.680 mentioned the injuries. The Packers obviously will try to we'll 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.920 try to get those guys healthy. Usually in these situations 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.600 that the coaches will start preparing sort of preliminary game 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:02.200 plans for all three opponents, not taking every game plan 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.600 to the finish line necessarily, but you'd start doing that 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.040 scouting work on all three of those opponents. You're also 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.359 doing a lot of scouting on yourselves in terms of 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:13.199 where you are and UH and what you need to 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:15.480 or want to take into the playoffs and or what 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.040 adjustments you need to make. So that's what this week 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.120 will be about. As you said, we'll wait and see 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:23.400 exactly what the player's schedule is. When Matt Lafleur announces 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.400 that two things, I want to close the show on here. 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.560 I know our rental time for the hour is almost up, 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:29.399 but I need to ask you this first thing. You 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:33.320 watch the San Francisco Seattle game. Yes, the play with 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.040 was it Hollister that ended up being It looked like 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:40.040