Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is my trusted colleague West
Speaker 1: hod Koos. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field, and I'm sure you're all tuning in
Speaker 1: to listen to us talk about the Packers trades of
Speaker 1: Ha Ha, Clinton, Dix in Time Montgomery. But you know what, West,
Speaker 1: I'm throwing you a curveball because we haven't heard from
Speaker 1: g M Brian gudacun store head coach Mike McCarthy at
Speaker 1: the time we're taping this episode. We haven't gotten reaction
Speaker 1: from the locker room, which we will get after Wednesday's practice.
Speaker 1: So because I think the discussion of the trades will
Speaker 1: be better after we get all of that, I want
Speaker 1: to postpone that until tomorrow's show. So I want to
Speaker 1: focus today's show on this opponent for the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers Sunday Night football in Foxborough. It's the New England Patriots.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what. These two teams only face
Speaker 1: each other once every four years. Tom Brady and Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers have faced each other only once. This is gonna
Speaker 1: be a special game. It really is, and and uh,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick was asked about that matchup, and in terms
Speaker 1: of the best quarterback you know, games he's ever been
Speaker 1: a part of. He wasn't going to play the game
Speaker 1: of like ranking it or saying where it fits. But
Speaker 1: you can tell how much respect he has for Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: how much respect he has for Mike McCarthy, and really
Speaker 1: respecting as a true historian of this game, given his
Speaker 1: father's uh, you know ties to football as well, his
Speaker 1: appreciation for what this ultimately is and how rare it is.
Speaker 1: I made the analogy in inbox this week. It really
Speaker 1: is an eclipse in the NFL of two of the
Speaker 1: greatest forces of this generation of of football meeting and
Speaker 1: they only cross path atsid only they only come into
Speaker 1: each other's orbit every four years guaranteed. So for this
Speaker 1: matchup to go out to Gillette Stadium, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you saw the Lebron James and Lebron James with
Speaker 1: the Michael Jordan's Yeah commercial. All that was missing from
Speaker 1: that commercial was Lebron James. But even Hollow James played
Speaker 1: it up to but yeah, they were the same number.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people consider them in this
Speaker 1: right now, one A, one B in terms of the
Speaker 1: greatest quarterbacks of this uh, of this current NFL. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun to watch. Yeah, Well, I think back
Speaker 1: to that game in at lambeau Field, West. I know
Speaker 1: you were covering the team beat reporter for the Press
Speaker 1: Gazette at that time. I personally felt that was one
Speaker 1: of the best regular season games I've ever seen. It
Speaker 1: was the best I've ever at lambeau Field. Um. When
Speaker 1: you think about you had Durrell Reeves against Jordy Nelson,
Speaker 1: you had Nate Soldier against Clay Matthews. You had obviously
Speaker 1: Brady and Brady and Rogers. Unfortunately, it should have been
Speaker 1: a preview of the Super Bowl that year. Unfortunately that
Speaker 1: didn't happen. You had these two coaches, Mike McCarthy Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick with Super Bowls on their resume. UM, and as
Speaker 1: we all expected, it was a four quarter game, came
Speaker 1: right down in the last couple of minutes. The Packers
Speaker 1: end up pulling out a really, really big victory that
Speaker 1: showed the type of team they had that season. But
Speaker 1: here we are four years later in the New England Patriots.
Speaker 1: About a month ago, we were hearing the usual thing
Speaker 1: we hear about the Patriots once they lose a game
Speaker 1: or two in September, that all Brady and Belichick they're
Speaker 1: on the downside. It's not gonna happen, and the dynasty
Speaker 1: is finally over. Well, since that lost to the Detroit Lions,
Speaker 1: they actually lost two in a row. They lost the
Speaker 1: rematch of the a f C Championship to the Jacksonville
Speaker 1: Jaguars in Week two. Then they lost on the road
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night Football at Ford Field to the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: They were one and two. Well, all they've done is
Speaker 1: rip off five wins in a row, one of them
Speaker 1: a shootout forty to forty victory over the Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 1: who many are considering the best team in the a
Speaker 1: f C. Right now. The New England pay Chreots are
Speaker 1: six and two right in the middle of all of this,
Speaker 1: including a road win at Soldier Field over a Bears
Speaker 1: team that gave them all they could handle. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: the scary thing is too, is that Tom Brady is
Speaker 1: getting back into his groove again. It looks like I mean,
Speaker 1: there were a couple of turnovers early in the season,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, you look at these last
Speaker 1: three games he's played, um and I know there weren't
Speaker 1: any touchdown passes against Buffalo, but they did what they
Speaker 1: needed to do to win that game in some adverse
Speaker 1: situations and circumstances. The fun thing about where the what
Speaker 1: I really appreciate about the Patriots is I'd say over
Speaker 1: the last ten years there's probably three, maybe four times
Speaker 1: where in September the national media tries to pick up
Speaker 1: on that narrative. I remember there was a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, what was that, maybe three or four years
Speaker 1: ago they're talking about, Is this that for Brady? Is
Speaker 1: he finally finally going down? The attempts, the attempts to
Speaker 1: bury this dynasty are are starting to pile up here
Speaker 1: because it's it's been it's been attempted, and no one's
Speaker 1: been successful. But then and then at the end of
Speaker 1: the year, they're the FC represents end of it begin
Speaker 1: more times than not in the Super Bowl. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: a great matchup with the Packers for a number of reasons.
Speaker 1: You look at the weapons that they have. I know
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick told the you know New England media this week,
Speaker 1: you know he wants more depth at running back. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Cordurel Patterson ended up being their running back on Monday Night. Uh,
Speaker 1: Sony Michelle missing that game, James White giving them an option.
Speaker 1: But I really do like to this point of the
Speaker 1: season that one to punch, considering they lost Jeremy Hill
Speaker 1: for the year, that Michelle and then with with James White,
Speaker 1: we know what he's done for so long, and then
Speaker 1: the weapons on the boundary. Uh, they went and got
Speaker 1: Josh Gordon. I know there was some issues there this
Speaker 1: week with him and potentially missing meetings reportedly, but there
Speaker 1: are a lot of things that the Packers have to
Speaker 1: take into account. But conversely, when you look at the
Speaker 1: Packers weapons against this defense, there's potentially yards to be
Speaker 1: gained there too. So I think this just has the
Speaker 1: makings of what could be a really classic Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: Tom Brady shoot up. Yeah. I I watched the most
Speaker 1: I've watched the Patriots this year was the Packers around
Speaker 1: the bye week, and that was when the Patriots went
Speaker 1: to Soldier Field in Chicago to play the Bears. I
Speaker 1: watched a good portion of that game, and what I
Speaker 1: saw was a Patriots defense still kind of trying to
Speaker 1: find itself. They really had trouble with Mitr Drobisky. They
Speaker 1: didn't account for his scrambling Mitsch Drobisky running the ball
Speaker 1: was really a key factor for the Bears in that game,
Speaker 1: and quite frankly, West the Bears very well could have
Speaker 1: and maybe should have pulled that game out if not
Speaker 1: for two special teams touchdowns by the Patriots. Cordorrell Patterson.
Speaker 1: He can still do it in the return game, Canny man,
Speaker 1: is he dangerous? He took one to the house against
Speaker 1: Chicago that really started to turn that game around. And
Speaker 1: then they were and then they blocked a punt that
Speaker 1: they returned for a touchdown against the Bears. Chicago ends
Speaker 1: up losing that game by seven. Hail Mary comes up
Speaker 1: one yard short of the goal line. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: that was potentially a second NFC North team that that
Speaker 1: could have beaten the New England Patriots. But um, what
Speaker 1: I see is a defense that isn't quite up to
Speaker 1: the standard we've seen of Belichief defenses so far, and uh,
Speaker 1: and an offense that frankly, with the injury to Sony Michelle,
Speaker 1: they're trying to, you know, figure some things out, and
Speaker 1: they've had to deal with Rob Gronkowski missing some time
Speaker 1: and all that. So it's not the it's not the
Speaker 1: Patriots in the in the quote unquote sense of the word.
Speaker 1: But they're still the Patriots. They are and in the
Speaker 1: way that they're structured. I mean, you look at that
Speaker 1: game against Kansas City, which for my money to this
Speaker 1: point now eight weeks into the season, is still the
Speaker 1: best game that was probably played this year. I watched
Speaker 1: basically in an its entirety with Patrick Mahomes and the
Speaker 1: shootout that they found themselves in against Brady. But the
Speaker 1: thing that's interesting about Brady a lot like with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: If you give him the ball with a minute, two
Speaker 1: minutes on the clock and you're down six, you're you're tied,
Speaker 1: He's going to give you a chance to win that game.
Speaker 1: He just does. He's seen it, he's been a part
Speaker 1: of all of it. And the nice thing for them
Speaker 1: too is now they do you know, there's we know
Speaker 1: the classic thing with Belichick and how he shuffles the roster,
Speaker 1: but there is the core. There's in nucleus. There's Rob Gronkowski,
Speaker 1: Julian Edelman, the guys that have been in the trenches
Speaker 1: with him for so long. Their offensive line knowing the
Speaker 1: way that Brady runs that offense and what they expect
Speaker 1: out of it. The biggest question for me is the defense,
Speaker 1: because although Matt Patricia did get the job with the
Speaker 1: with the Lions, and deservedly so, he was one of
Speaker 1: the hot coaching candidates after last season. I mean, they did,
Speaker 1: I think have the twenty ninth rank defense last year
Speaker 1: in the NFL. There were some things that they were
Speaker 1: working through. To me, they still don't have that Chandler
Speaker 1: Jones type difference maker as a pass rusher. I like
Speaker 1: the pieces that they have in the secondary, but I
Speaker 1: think they're just there're a couple of playmakers short right now,
Speaker 1: trying to find some guys that you can consistently rely
Speaker 1: on to generate pressure. So that's gonna be the biggest adjustment.
Speaker 1: But to to the original point that you made, there's
Speaker 1: still the Patriots and it's still Tom Brady. You have
Speaker 1: to put up points and you have to be aware
Speaker 1: of that in the last final stretch of the game.
Speaker 1: With Brady and Belichick and the way that they can
Speaker 1: play those situations, it's it's tough to counter. Sometimes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if there's a if there's a statistic that kind of
Speaker 1: jumps out at me that that's hard to really figure out.
Speaker 1: It's what you mentioned about the pass rush. Because the
Speaker 1: Patriots have played eight games, their defense has only twelve
Speaker 1: sacks in eight games. That's not a lot. That's on
Speaker 1: pace for only twenty four for an entire season, which
Speaker 1: is a pretty low number. The flip side of it is, though,
Speaker 1: they have a forty plus year old quarterback who's only
Speaker 1: been sacked eleven times in eight games, which tells you
Speaker 1: obviously Tom Brady wouldn't be playing into his forties if
Speaker 1: he had been taking tons and tons of hits over
Speaker 1: the years. So he knows how to shift in the pocket.
Speaker 1: He's not a scrambler, but he knows how to how
Speaker 1: to maneuver in the pocket, get rid of the ball,
Speaker 1: and protect himself and still make plays at the same time.
Speaker 1: This is it's interesting because so much is predicated in
Speaker 1: games these days west on pass rush and on disrupting
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and everything like that. You look at the you
Speaker 1: look at the statistics with the Patriots and their their
Speaker 1: games have been you know about quarterbacks on both sides
Speaker 1: not necessarily being that disrupted. So um, if the Packers
Speaker 1: can change that narrative a little bit. Maybe that's maybe
Speaker 1: that's where you find an edge. I think it is,
Speaker 1: and it's just the thing that stands out to me. Again,
Speaker 1: I don't want to paint this picture that the Patriots
Speaker 1: can't affect Rogers and they can't do things to play
Speaker 1: winning football. Certainly they can. They wouldn't be at this
Speaker 1: point in the season if they couldn't. But it's just
Speaker 1: that they don't have an Aaron Donald and the Dominican
Speaker 1: Sue type interior rusher. You don't really have the outside rushers.
Speaker 1: To me, the best embodiment of that was when Chandler
Speaker 1: Jones was there, and certainly they ended up trading him
Speaker 1: to Arizona and he's gone on to have a really
Speaker 1: successful career there. But that's the one thing that, like,
Speaker 1: I mean, we gotta remember that James Harrison started in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl for them last year as an edge rusher.
Speaker 1: So I'm just really interested to see what this defense
Speaker 1: looks like when you put it up against Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: because you wrote about it with One Last Look and
Speaker 1: some of these things that we've talked about the ways
Speaker 1: you have to defend him, the things that teams do, certainly,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick is going to be aware of that and
Speaker 1: how they need to, you know, contain him. But at
Speaker 1: the same time he always has that counter move to
Speaker 1: that as well. So that's the thing I'm excited about.
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick was effusive in his praise of McCarthy and
Speaker 1: Rogers and seeing that chess match playoff, considering it's only
Speaker 1: the second time we're getting it due to his I
Speaker 1: believe it was the concussion in two. Yeah, Rogers had
Speaker 1: the concussion in Detroit the week before, and then it
Speaker 1: was Matt Flynn on Sunday Night Football as a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, against against Tom Brady. It's a great storyline
Speaker 1: to watch. Um quickly though West here at Homer, here
Speaker 1: in the stands. We all know that Green Bay fans
Speaker 1: give it their all and that takes a lot of energy.
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Speaker 1: of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, you mentioned the chess
Speaker 1: match to me. When you talk about the matchups in
Speaker 1: this game. What really intrigues me in terms of what
Speaker 1: Mike Petton is going to do, and I honestly don't
Speaker 1: know what his decision is going to be. But we
Speaker 1: saw last week in Los Angeles that with the Packers
Speaker 1: having their full compliment of cornerbacks healthy, they can cover
Speaker 1: pretty well on the back end against a pretty explosive offense.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing to me, the difficult matchups with
Speaker 1: the New England Patriots. And I'm taking nothing away from
Speaker 1: Chris Hogan Julian Edelman, top quality wide receivers, but it's
Speaker 1: James White and Rob Gronkowski that become the really intriguing
Speaker 1: matchups soon because you can't just take a cover guy,
Speaker 1: you know, a cover corner at least not for the
Speaker 1: bulk of the game, and put a corner on those
Speaker 1: types of guys, because then not only are there some
Speaker 1: certain matchup problems just within that itself, but then you're
Speaker 1: way too vulnerable to the run because you're just you're
Speaker 1: just too light up front to be able to stop
Speaker 1: the run if you flood the market with cornerbacks, so
Speaker 1: to speak. So how Mike Petton decides to defend Rob
Speaker 1: Gronkowski and James White. I think is is the crux
Speaker 1: of this whole chess match. I agree with specifically to White,
Speaker 1: because you know, Gronkowski has had to work through some injuries,
Speaker 1: he's been quiet in certain strap just but White has
Speaker 1: been really the constant for them since the first month
Speaker 1: of the season. And I know, like I got, like
Speaker 1: I mentioned early on with Belichick, they want to have options.
Speaker 1: He loves to play matchup football. We've seen how they've
Speaker 1: used those running backs in the past. He doesn't want
Speaker 1: the opposing defensive coordinator to know who the weapons are
Speaker 1: going to be, outside of what maybe Corey Dillon, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, ten twelve years ago when they had him
Speaker 1: and he was a yard rusher. Otherwise, it's very largely
Speaker 1: based on whoever the hot hand is and who they
Speaker 1: feel is gonna be the best matchup. That being said,
Speaker 1: White is sort of evergreen and towards him how you
Speaker 1: can use him, especially now in the NFL, So I
Speaker 1: actually think it's been somewhat a positive for them that
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't want to lose Jeremy Hill for
Speaker 1: the year. You don't want to be in a situation
Speaker 1: where guys are going down. But it has allowed White
Speaker 1: to get more consistent playing time to have him become
Speaker 1: more part of the offense. The guy's the leading receiver, Michael.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's what fifty five catches. Gronk is next
Speaker 1: with twenty nine. He is the guy that helps move
Speaker 1: the chains for them consistently. And when you look at
Speaker 1: Tom Brady in you know, you mentioned the offensive line
Speaker 1: and a huge credit to them and the way they've
Speaker 1: adjusted over the last few years to be you know,
Speaker 1: developing a new front for him. It ultimately is on
Speaker 1: Tom Brady to get the ball all quickly when he's
Speaker 1: forty one years old, to keep himself upright, and James
Speaker 1: White is often the safety valve towards accomplishing that and
Speaker 1: also dynamic once he gets the ball in his hands. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and from the Packers side, I want to bring up
Speaker 1: that game again because that one at lambeau Field. We
Speaker 1: saw Mike McCarthy get very creative in that game with
Speaker 1: Randall Cobb and the way that he was used. That
Speaker 1: game was a coming out party of sorts for a
Speaker 1: rookie receiver named Davante Adams. Um what happened? So okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm really curious offensively, what the Packers are going
Speaker 1: to do here because we've seen, you know, there is
Speaker 1: a rookie receiver Marquez Veldez Scantling who's really starting to
Speaker 1: come on here for the Packers. Does Mike McCarthy look
Speaker 1: for a matchup with mvs against somebody in that New
Speaker 1: England secondary like he did with Davante Adams, to try
Speaker 1: to take advantage of to to to high light, so
Speaker 1: to speak. Um So, a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: different things going on here. Obviously, the Packers, you know,
Speaker 1: Davante Adams is going to be in that Jordy Nelson role,
Speaker 1: but they don't have Darrell Rivas on the other side.
Speaker 1: Nelson may obviously made a huge play against Darrell Revas
Speaker 1: right at the end of the first half there. So
Speaker 1: Adams is still going to have to do his thing.
Speaker 1: But but it it is, it's it's it's the chess match.
Speaker 1: It's finding those matchups, it's scheming things to get certain
Speaker 1: guys one on one against certain guys. And that's what
Speaker 1: both of these coaches are really really good. And if
Speaker 1: you're going to beat the New England Patriots, you need
Speaker 1: secondary players to emerge. Davantae Adams was that guy in
Speaker 1: that two thousand four team matchup. I believe that was
Speaker 1: his first career hundred yard game six catches for yards. Belichick,
Speaker 1: when he was talking to the media or with the
Speaker 1: Green Bay media on the conference call, said simply, yeah,
Speaker 1: he killed us, and it was because they locked in
Speaker 1: on Jordy Nelson and that allowed, you know, Randall cob
Speaker 1: to have some opportunities to have Davantae Adams have a
Speaker 1: breakthrough game. The Packers are going to need that again
Speaker 1: in the matchup because now Davante Adams is the Jordy
Speaker 1: Nelson threat in this offense. You're gonna need your Marquez
Speaker 1: Valdes Scantlings to step up. You're gonna need to be
Speaker 1: able to be creative with Randall cop with Jimmy Graham. Packers,
Speaker 1: with getting healthier on the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: have their weapons wide open now, and that's where Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy can really get to work and making sure that
Speaker 1: they maximize those and keeping the defense on its heels. Yeah.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, you and I have some press conferences
Speaker 1: to get to, so I think we're gonna sign off,
Speaker 1: and I promise folks we will get to those trades
Speaker 1: and all of that discussion on tomorrow's show, I will
Speaker 1: mention this to give somebody to to what the palet
Speaker 1: a little bit um and and certainly we'll talk about
Speaker 1: the ramifications of the trades. If you go back to
Speaker 1: two thousand and fourteen game, though, it was a heavy
Speaker 1: dose of Eddie Lacy in that backfield. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that that's what it's gonna be with Aaron Jones, but
Speaker 1: I do think if you're able to get in a
Speaker 1: groove with a guy, especially now with just being Jones
Speaker 1: and Jamal Williams in that backfield, could really help them
Speaker 1: in terms of establishing the offense and allowing Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: to really go to work. Yeah, you get them to
Speaker 1: focus on the run. That's where the creativity with some
Speaker 1: of the other perimeter players comes into play. Eddie Lacy
Speaker 1: was so important in that game. I know he didn't
Speaker 1: have a fifty sixty yard run, but he just he
Speaker 1: was the guy that kept moving the chains for them.
Speaker 1: They fed him in that game, and I think that
Speaker 1: could be an opportunity for Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams
Speaker 1: really shining this matchup. All right, Well, we will sign
Speaker 1: off now because we've got a run on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team on Packers dot com on Twitter,
Speaker 1: He's at west hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers
Speaker 1: for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next time.