Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is the one and only
Speaker 1: wes Hodkoits. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field and West. I want to start today's
Speaker 1: show following up on Matt Lafleur's Monday press conferences usual
Speaker 1: day after the game review of the proceedings. And it
Speaker 1: was really kind of funny because he had notched his
Speaker 1: tenth win, becoming the first Packers head coach in the
Speaker 1: one year history of the Green Bay Packers to reach
Speaker 1: double digit wins in his first season in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: But big surprise, he didn't do anything to celebrate it whatsoever.
Speaker 1: He was a little frustrated with the way some of
Speaker 1: the things had gone on Offen in the game, and
Speaker 1: so afterward he went straight up to his desk on
Speaker 1: the third floor in the atrium and put on the
Speaker 1: game film and started grinding away trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to get this thing where he wants it to be,
Speaker 1: the whole ten wins and all that. You know, it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: he'll he'll relish it. However it shakes out in the
Speaker 1: off season. But this guy is. This guy is absolutely
Speaker 1: laser focused on getting the Packers to a level that
Speaker 1: he hasn't seen yet. Yeah, and I think that's what
Speaker 1: when you break it all down and you see a
Speaker 1: team that's ten and three but still has areas to improve,
Speaker 1: that's the motivation right now for him in this Packers offense.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting because right now, as it stands, the
Speaker 1: Packers are ten and three, and we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: playoffs scenarios. That's gonna be a topic moving forward here
Speaker 1: until week seventeen. But unlike many other years, you know,
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy always used to like to say, you get
Speaker 1: to ten wins, you can start thinking playoffs. This is
Speaker 1: a different type of year because of just how top
Speaker 1: heavy and you know the NF he has been, and
Speaker 1: how basically six teams have really separated themselves. Now with
Speaker 1: the Rams getting that win from the rest of the pack,
Speaker 1: and then you have whatever is happening right now in
Speaker 1: the NFC East. I mean just it's like the Hare
Speaker 1: and Hall of the NFL right now that you won't
Speaker 1: understand that reference, but it's like, does anyone want to
Speaker 1: win this thing? Yeah? For a second, there I was
Speaker 1: that first half on Monday, and I was like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: maybe Eli Manning wants to come back and win this thing.
Speaker 1: Who knows. But that being said, the Packers have to
Speaker 1: stay concentrated because there is scenarios here, Mike, where the
Speaker 1: Packers could win eleven games and miss the playoffs depending
Speaker 1: on how certain things you know, come together. Now, there
Speaker 1: are two lynchpin games to this whole thing. It's the
Speaker 1: Packers and Vikings next week, and it's the forty Niners
Speaker 1: and Rams, which I believe is also a Week sixteen.
Speaker 1: A lot of implications based off of both of those,
Speaker 1: but for either one of those to have huge implications
Speaker 1: for weeks sixteen, you have to get through the Packers
Speaker 1: and the Bears. In the Rams and the Cowboys, the
Speaker 1: Packers and Bears, I mean that that matchup right there.
Speaker 1: The Packers win that game, in the Rams lose, the
Speaker 1: Packers do technically have a playoff spot clinched. If I
Speaker 1: have that math correct, Yes, that is that is correct.
Speaker 1: This week. A Packers win and a Rams loss guarantees
Speaker 1: the Packers a playoff spot of one sort or another.
Speaker 1: But here's the spoiler alert. If that scenario plays out,
Speaker 1: I guarantee you next Monday, Matt Lafleur is not gonna
Speaker 1: want to talk about that. He's gonna want to talk
Speaker 1: about the twelve win and winning the division. That's the
Speaker 1: way he's driven, and then that's the way the scenarios
Speaker 1: played out. The Packers have worked so hard. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can talk about the ups and the downs of
Speaker 1: this season, but they've put themselves in a position, Mike
Speaker 1: on December ten to have ten victories. A team that
Speaker 1: had been playing and clawing from behind for the better
Speaker 1: part of three years. Well, now suddenly they're the ones
Speaker 1: going around that final turn of the track with the
Speaker 1: wind in their back and trying to finish this race strong.
Speaker 1: But you know, there's other teams that were gonna try
Speaker 1: to have a good kick too, and are going to
Speaker 1: try to usurp them there on that final you know,
Speaker 1: hundred meters or what have you. That's why the motivation,
Speaker 1: that's why the attention to detail has to be there. Because,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about now a little bit, and we'll
Speaker 1: preview it more tomorrow, the Chicago Bears are for real.
Speaker 1: I mean, they are still a good football team that
Speaker 1: has a not so great record. They're making a charge,
Speaker 1: but they're making a charge of the Packers have to
Speaker 1: hold them off on Sunday. There's one way to do that,
Speaker 1: and that's to be focused on win number eleven. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it is to be focused on win number eleven.
Speaker 1: And just to give everyone the quick rundown as to
Speaker 1: where things stand right now, as we just mentioned, the
Speaker 1: Packers can clinch a playoff spot this week if they win,
Speaker 1: and if the Rams lose, that would guarantee the Packers
Speaker 1: a spot in the postseason. As far as the NFC
Speaker 1: North is concerned, right now, the magic number is twelve.
Speaker 1: If the Packers get to twelve wins, they win the
Speaker 1: NFC North, which means they need to win two of
Speaker 1: their last three games to win the division, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter which too. They can beat the Bears and
Speaker 1: the Lions and lose to the Vikings and their division champs,
Speaker 1: or they can win one of the other ones and
Speaker 1: beat the Vikings and their division champs. Twelve wins is
Speaker 1: the magic number there, and obviously the Packers are still
Speaker 1: keeping their eye on what's going on with the Seahawks
Speaker 1: the Saints in terms of two of the division champions
Speaker 1: in the NFC are going to get first round bys
Speaker 1: and so all of that is still in play as well.
Speaker 1: And to point this out as well, I mean it's
Speaker 1: not quite run the table. Maybe it's run the coffee
Speaker 1: table or run the nightstand. But I mean the Packers
Speaker 1: could very well win these last three and then you
Speaker 1: get a first round by Yes, they are in. They
Speaker 1: are in control of that. If the Packers get to
Speaker 1: thirteen wins, they will have a first round by either
Speaker 1: the one or the two seed, depending on what else happens.
Speaker 1: But obviously getting getting to thirteen wins is a huge
Speaker 1: task when your last three opponents are all of your
Speaker 1: division opponents, and two of those after this week are
Speaker 1: going to be on the road. Yeah. Absolutely. One of
Speaker 1: the things I really did enjoy, though, beyond what Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur said just about that reaching that milestone, was how
Speaker 1: he broke down this game. And I think one of
Speaker 1: the things that he's been really good with the media
Speaker 1: with this year that he probably doesn't get enough credit
Speaker 1: for those Monday breakdowns. A lot of times after the
Speaker 1: games he says, you know, we have to look at it,
Speaker 1: we have to review it. But once he reviews it,
Speaker 1: he's been pretty transparent in what he sees, and he
Speaker 1: did it again on Monday. We're looking at some of
Speaker 1: the plays that they were just an eyelash here too
Speaker 1: away from breaking a big one. And it's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why he still thinks this offense, he likes
Speaker 1: where it's at. He thinks the potential is there for
Speaker 1: them to be really good down the stretch. They just
Speaker 1: have to clean some stuff up. In this game, it was,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of pretty much amounted to the past. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it did. It did amount to the passing game. You
Speaker 1: can't argue with a hundred and seventy four rushing yards,
Speaker 1: which is a season high for the Packers ind and
Speaker 1: thirty four of those from Aaron Jones. But Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: and this is what I thought was kind of interesting,
Speaker 1: is he started that press conference on Monday, he rattled
Speaker 1: off like five or six plays showing how top of
Speaker 1: mind they were. They're still on his mind as to
Speaker 1: how close the Packers were in the passing game to
Speaker 1: breaking this open. He mentioned the play action throwback to
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham a few times. There was a post play
Speaker 1: over the middle where Alan Lazard was open and Packers
Speaker 1: didn't connect. There was a potential touchdown past to j
Speaker 1: Sternberger Um the rookie tight end didn't quite connect. There.
Speaker 1: There was a screen pass to Jamal Williams where one
Speaker 1: block was missed and that could have broken for a
Speaker 1: big one. There was a third down past Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: down the sideline that didn't quite connect. Jones actually released
Speaker 1: to the inside, which was unexpected, but it's because the
Speaker 1: cornerback slipped and Rogers, because he was lofting a deep ball,
Speaker 1: he still through it as though it was an outside release,
Speaker 1: and so then Jones couldn't catch up with it. So
Speaker 1: just all these things with the little circumstances. Something's off
Speaker 1: here there. The timing is a little bit off, so
Speaker 1: things weren't connecting. This was the message I got form
Speaker 1: though Matt Lafleur wasn't standing at the podium saying saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're really close, everything's gonna be all right. He's like no,
Speaker 1: he's saying we're really close and we have to get there.
Speaker 1: That that was That was his message. He is going
Speaker 1: to be pushing these guys. And he talked about the
Speaker 1: details of the place, and that comes down to things
Speaker 1: like the leases and the timing and and a block
Speaker 1: here there the details of the place. He's going to
Speaker 1: be pushing these guys to really lock down on those details,
Speaker 1: because for the Packers to get to where they want
Speaker 1: to go the rest of this season and hopefully into January,
Speaker 1: that's what it's going to take. It's going it's going
Speaker 1: to take the execution of all of the finer points
Speaker 1: so that you're not standing there on a Monday and
Speaker 1: and saying like, oh, yeah, we're just three or four
Speaker 1: plays away that we needed to connect. You know, that's
Speaker 1: obviously that's not going to cut it in January. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the big line I think it was Linda
Speaker 1: and Fonte who once said, you know, we're five plays
Speaker 1: away from being twelve and four when they were seven
Speaker 1: and nine or something like that. I mean, it happens, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, those those are the kind of things. But
Speaker 1: it's also hindsight. And if you flip a coin, however
Speaker 1: many times it's gonna vary depending on what's going to
Speaker 1: happen in that given scenario. I mean, it's just you
Speaker 1: can't have all the stars line every time. You have
Speaker 1: to make sure that you correct what's correctable and then
Speaker 1: live with the mistakes because it is a it's a
Speaker 1: human game. There our mistakes. There's just the fundamental issues
Speaker 1: that I think the Packers want to hone up here,
Speaker 1: and you saw and it's not just with the offense.
Speaker 1: It's all three phases. I thought the special teams, as
Speaker 1: we talked about yesterday, took a big step forward and
Speaker 1: in the Fleur was very effusive in his praise for
Speaker 1: their blocking on their punt returns and how they cleaned
Speaker 1: some stuff up there. Tyler Irvin staks north and south
Speaker 1: and you know, catching a clean ball the defense and
Speaker 1: in you know, being able to can dictate the temple
Speaker 1: a little bit. Yeah, there were a couple of breaks
Speaker 1: there in the middle of the field that they want
Speaker 1: to be able to, you know, eliminate. But for the
Speaker 1: most part, the Packers won this game because of how
Speaker 1: the defense responded offensively. The step forward that we saw
Speaker 1: was with the run game, the re emergence of Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones and in seeing exactly how dynamic he can be,
Speaker 1: because the one thing we hadn't really seen Mike to
Speaker 1: this point was him break that big game is largest
Speaker 1: Kerry before Yester or before Sunday was twenty yards. He
Speaker 1: brought up forty two yards and a credit on that
Speaker 1: a three tight end package. It was the receiver Jake
Speaker 1: Kumro that was busting him free there on the left
Speaker 1: side of the line. So I got the big block
Speaker 1: on the safety. Yeah. So there are uh, you know,
Speaker 1: positives that you draw from and things that it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's something you can hang your hat on. This is
Speaker 1: what we could be down the line. But you also
Speaker 1: need to have the passing element honed up. And you've
Speaker 1: seen it. You've seen Davante Adams, You've seen Alan Lazard,
Speaker 1: You've seen these receivers have big games. Can you do
Speaker 1: it more consistently now? Because these next two games, Mike I,
Speaker 1: as I said, I mean New York in Washington, those
Speaker 1: were the two where it's like, okay, you get the winds,
Speaker 1: you feel good about yourself. Chicago and Minnesota are two
Speaker 1: of the tougher defenses the Packers are gonna play all season,
Speaker 1: especially if a Cheam Hicks comes back this week, which
Speaker 1: is what all signs are pointing towards. The front is
Speaker 1: going to be short up. Yes, they don't have Roal
Speaker 1: Kwan Smith, but they have a good scheme and Chuck
Speaker 1: Pagano has been really intelligent with how he's used that personnel.
Speaker 1: And then Minnesota, you always know what you're getting with
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmers. So this is where they got to rise up,
Speaker 1: because if you take care of business against Chicago and Minnesota,
Speaker 1: then people expect you to be able to go in
Speaker 1: Detroit and win that one in the season finale, especially
Speaker 1: if Matthew Stafford doesn't come back. Can you rise to
Speaker 1: that occasion? This is what this week is about. This
Speaker 1: is the first part of that test. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: know we'll talk about it more tomorrow with regards to
Speaker 1: the Bears, but I made this comment in Monday's Insider Inbox,
Speaker 1: writing late Sunday night after the rest of our postgame
Speaker 1: coverage was was up on the website. The Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: are playing for their season. I mean, there's uh, there's
Speaker 1: just there's no two ways about it. They they they
Speaker 1: are going to come into lambeau Field and absolutely lay
Speaker 1: it all on the line, because, um, this is it.
Speaker 1: I mean, and as we talked about yesterday, the Bears
Speaker 1: could run it here and get to ten and six
Speaker 1: and it still might not be enough to get into
Speaker 1: the postseason, but they know they cannot afford a seventh loss.
Speaker 1: I mean if if the Packers beat the Bears on Sunday,
Speaker 1: I don't know if the Bears are necessarily fully mathematically eliminated.
Speaker 1: That might depend on some other things, but they are
Speaker 1: eliminated with regard to the Packers. I mean, the Packers
Speaker 1: will essentially have eliminated them. That that Chicago cannot catch
Speaker 1: Green Bay in any way, shape or form. And uh,
Speaker 1: And this is a Bears team that, yes, there were
Speaker 1: some there were some low moments. They've they've underachieved to
Speaker 1: a certain extent, but they were twelve and four. They
Speaker 1: were twelve and four last year for a reason. They
Speaker 1: were a field goal away from getting to the Divisional
Speaker 1: round of the playoffs. And they're starting to play like
Speaker 1: that Chicago Bears team again. A couple of things. You're one,
Speaker 1: You're right, they'll still even if they lose to the
Speaker 1: Packers on Sunday, they still could have that potential playoff
Speaker 1: door open. But they need Minnesota to lose out, They
Speaker 1: need the Rams to lose out, and and certainly that
Speaker 1: would include them beating the Vikings in their regular season finale.
Speaker 1: But the part that you raised, I think is a
Speaker 1: good point because it's something I talked with Mercedes Lewis
Speaker 1: about last week. That's a guy that's been around now
Speaker 1: for thirteen fourteen years in the NFL, and he mentions
Speaker 1: how the parody of the league in the margin for
Speaker 1: error is so small with how much parody that there is,
Speaker 1: and in there really isn't that much that separates a
Speaker 1: team like the Bears from being a legitimate playoff contender.
Speaker 1: I mean, look at it, Mike. I mean, they beat
Speaker 1: the team that could very well end up winning the
Speaker 1: NFC East still in Dallas last week, and it was
Speaker 1: a convincing victory that But you played by the rules,
Speaker 1: and the rules are as the divisions get a win.
Speaker 1: You know, whoever wins the division gets a buy or
Speaker 1: it gets a seating and gets a home game, and
Speaker 1: two of them get buys. But you know, for for
Speaker 1: the Packers here, I think the important thing is going
Speaker 1: to be at ten and three to show that this
Speaker 1: is what we present, this is what we offer, and
Speaker 1: this is who we are. We've been more consistent than
Speaker 1: the Bears have been this season, and it's put us
Speaker 1: in a position now to potentially control our own destiny
Speaker 1: going into the playoffs. But to the original point, the
Speaker 1: Bears are dangerous because there is nothing to lose in
Speaker 1: this case, and unlike there's nothing to lose, but yet
Speaker 1: everything to lose at the same time. And that's right
Speaker 1: because unlike New York and Washington, who at least you know,
Speaker 1: depending on what they do with their coaching staffs, you
Speaker 1: know that personnel is built beyond this year. They're not
Speaker 1: looking at us here. The Bears were looking at this year.
Speaker 1: They were staring this season in the eye, and they
Speaker 1: wanted to be able to make a run and they
Speaker 1: wanted to show that they could be a team that
Speaker 1: goes from the division champion to a conference champion to
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl contender. They weren't able to do that
Speaker 1: to this point. So, yeah, you have a GM, you
Speaker 1: have a head coach, you have personnel there that they
Speaker 1: were very forward thinking with that. They put a lot
Speaker 1: of eggs in this basket that's right in front of us.
Speaker 1: And it's that that's what makes the Bears dangerous. And
Speaker 1: it makes it so that La Fleur and his coaching
Speaker 1: staff and once these players come back into the building
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, they have to be up on it because
Speaker 1: in order for this to be relevant, in order for
Speaker 1: the Packers to consider themselves to be legitimate playoff contenders.
Speaker 1: They needed to get through these three weeks. They've gotten
Speaker 1: through two of them. You need to beat the Bears,
Speaker 1: and then you need to be able to do the
Speaker 1: what they haven't been able to do, which is when
Speaker 1: in the US, which is to win in Minneapolis. And
Speaker 1: that will be a certainly coming up soon enough. Well,
Speaker 1: with regard to the Bears, we know that they're coming
Speaker 1: off of a mini by having played on the previous
Speaker 1: two Thursdays. As a matter of fact, um and but
Speaker 1: I also want to get to some of the other
Speaker 1: results from this past Sunday in the NFL, because, boy,
Speaker 1: that game in New Orleans West San Francisco, forty Niners
Speaker 1: against the Saints, back and forth, back and forth. It
Speaker 1: was um, it was like watching the you know, watching
Speaker 1: the score on like a pinball machine or something. The
Speaker 1: way the way the numbers just kept rising and rising.
Speaker 1: And it comes down to the Saints coming back from
Speaker 1: nine points down in the fourth quarter. They take the lead.
Speaker 1: The forty Niners get the ball last and a big
Speaker 1: fourth down conversion to George Kittle coupled with a face
Speaker 1: mask penalty that takes what would have been a fairly
Speaker 1: lengthy field goal into more of chip shot range for
Speaker 1: Robbie Gold and the San Francisco fourty Entners reclaim the
Speaker 1: number one spot in the NFC with a forty eight
Speaker 1: to forty six shootout victory. San Francisco eleven and two.
Speaker 1: New Orleans is ten and three. How freaking good is
Speaker 1: Drew Brees, though forty years old, to put three in
Speaker 1: passing yards? I believe that was a season high against
Speaker 1: Robert Salis past defense against that, against that, I mean,
Speaker 1: those are those are two teams that have played some
Speaker 1: pretty good defense for the bulk of the season, and
Speaker 1: it's just it's just an example of how you absolutely
Speaker 1: never know in this league how games are going to
Speaker 1: I mean, who would have thought, yes, I mean, the
Speaker 1: forty enters have a really good offense. Drew Brees is
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame quarterback. The Saints have been really
Speaker 1: good on offense for a number of years. But nobody
Speaker 1: thought with those two defenses going head to head in
Speaker 1: December that there'd be ninety four points on the board
Speaker 1: in regulation. Mind, you didn't even didn't even go to overtime. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a certain fore Ride beat writer sitting near left
Speaker 1: right now that decided not to start Drew Brees in
Speaker 1: a fantasy league, went with Russell Wilson instead, and that
Speaker 1: I'll be looking forward to playing in the consolation bracket
Speaker 1: this week in the Green Bay Ballers, but have fun
Speaker 1: with that. But no turning the focus back. A couple
Speaker 1: of things we learned here. One, Kyle Shanahan can coach
Speaker 1: man because it's not even about the schemes. It's about
Speaker 1: the fact that the Saints came back um and they
Speaker 1: put those points on the board. There's fifty some seconds left,
Speaker 1: forty some seconds left, and for Shanahan to rally the
Speaker 1: troops and for Jimmy Garoppolo to manage that situation. This
Speaker 1: was another one of those games like we saw last month,
Speaker 1: where the running game did get going, but it didn't
Speaker 1: dictate the temple like it has in the past. For
Speaker 1: the forty, Jimmy Garoppolo needed to win that game. And
Speaker 1: George Kittle, who did diddally squat in the first half,
Speaker 1: believe even he had a fumble at one point, he
Speaker 1: comes back in is their big playmaker down the stretch.
Speaker 1: That's what you anticipate from those players. And credit to
Speaker 1: the forty Niners to be able to come back and
Speaker 1: pull that out because the storyline until Week seventeen, now
Speaker 1: unless the forty Niners actually claimed this number one seed,
Speaker 1: is the fact that they ended up losing to Seattle
Speaker 1: in a game in which they could have tied and
Speaker 1: really controlled their destiny down the stretch. They needed this win,
Speaker 1: they needed to claw their way back because there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a really good team from the NFC West that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a five seed and that's just the reality.
Speaker 1: And want to make sure it's not them. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I give the I give the forty Niners. I give
Speaker 1: the forty Niners a heck of a lot of credit
Speaker 1: because everybody talked about, you know, this gauntlet that they
Speaker 1: were facing, where they were going to where they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to face Green Bay and then the Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 1: and then the New Orleans Saints back to back to back.
Speaker 1: And what did they do. They ended up winning two
Speaker 1: out of those three, and the one that they lost
Speaker 1: was on essentially on a walk off field goal the
Speaker 1: same way that they beat that they beat the Saints
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. And I'm telling you, West, you know,
Speaker 1: I realized, I'm I'm biased in this sense because in
Speaker 1: my years covering the Packers, I've only been to the
Speaker 1: New Orleans Superdome twice, and the Packers pretty much got
Speaker 1: it handed to them both times, and I left both
Speaker 1: of those games with an absolute ear splitting headache from
Speaker 1: all of the noise. I think that Superdome is one
Speaker 1: of the toughest places in the NFL to play. I
Speaker 1: certainly would not like the Packers to have to go
Speaker 1: there in January if it comes down to that, exactly,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring a whole bottle. But for the Fortys
Speaker 1: to go in there in December, in that big of
Speaker 1: a matchup and to perform the way they did and
Speaker 1: to pull and to pull out of victory. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know if you and I were sitting here at
Speaker 1: Packers fans, if the Packers were involved in a game
Speaker 1: like that, Packers fans would be going crazy, saying the
Speaker 1: defense isn't ready for the playoffs, you know, all this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Nobody's saying that with New Orleans and
Speaker 1: San Francisco because their their defenses. Their defenses have done
Speaker 1: a really good job throughout the bulk of the season,
Speaker 1: and this was just one of those games that just
Speaker 1: took on a certain path, and that's how this lead
Speaker 1: can go exactly, and so much it is based on
Speaker 1: who you're playing too. I mean, with all due respect
Speaker 1: to Washington, there's a reason why the Packers defense, you know,
Speaker 1: two or sixty two yards compared to you know, some
Speaker 1: of these other weeks where they've had four hundred. I mean,
Speaker 1: you expect to give up the yards when you face
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints, especially in their own place. That's
Speaker 1: just the way that you know, the business goes. The
Speaker 1: thing that is surprising to me. That's gonna be one
Speaker 1: of the interesting storylines to follow, getting back to the
Speaker 1: super Dome. The Saints have been beatable at home this year.
Speaker 1: They have that is something that has not really been
Speaker 1: a thing in the past with them. I totally agree
Speaker 1: with you. So seeing how they perform here into January
Speaker 1: is gonna be really instrituing to watch. They're gonna get
Speaker 1: one home game for sure, and we'll see what happens
Speaker 1: with obviously that number two seed. But right now as
Speaker 1: it stands, I think it's been three times they've been
Speaker 1: beating at home, now Atlanta, right in now San Francisco,
Speaker 1: and then when there was one more was there not?
Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, I thought they got I can't remember
Speaker 1: for sure. You keep talking and sounding smart, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna look, well, that's okay. The the other one, the
Speaker 1: other one that there was only two, I'm sorry. Only
Speaker 1: they've lost at the Rams. Yeah. Well and obviously they
Speaker 1: granted it was the bad call and everything, but they
Speaker 1: did lose the NFC Championship at home last year to
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Rams. Um. The other one, though, that
Speaker 1: is worth talking about two is the Rams because they
Speaker 1: hosted Sunday and Football against the Seattle Seahawks. And as
Speaker 1: much as we've been talking about the Bears and how
Speaker 1: they're starting to look a lot more like ten Bears,
Speaker 1: the Rams are starting to look a lot more like
Speaker 1: the ten Rams that won the NFC and went to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. They are still on the fringe here,
Speaker 1: trying to stay in the race, but they handled a
Speaker 1: contender in pretty impressive fashion, knocking Seattle down a peg.
Speaker 1: And the Rams are still right in the mix here
Speaker 1: people want to talk about with the Packers and some
Speaker 1: of the areas that they're struggling with. Seattle is a
Speaker 1: real legitimate contender in the NFC, and they are not
Speaker 1: averse to having just completely laying it a game. They've
Speaker 1: they've done it several times this season. They can play
Speaker 1: with anybody, but there's also moments where it just seems
Speaker 1: like that offense can't even get going. Yeah, and they
Speaker 1: and they've and they've had they've had games where their
Speaker 1: defense has let them down as well. They had a
Speaker 1: home game earlier this year West where they had to
Speaker 1: go to overtime to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now
Speaker 1: Bruce arians is doing some good things in Tampa and
Speaker 1: trying to turn things around there, but that game ended up,
Speaker 1: you know, something like, you know, forty whatever to thirty
Speaker 1: whatever in overtime. And that's not the type of defense
Speaker 1: you would expect to see Seattle playing at home. So
Speaker 1: they have their flaws and their vulnerabilities as well, and
Speaker 1: they you know, they've been they've had their struggles in
Speaker 1: certain games this year. And they're sitting there at ten
Speaker 1: and three in the same position as the Packers, And
Speaker 1: now you have the Rams who are trying to play
Speaker 1: catch up on everyone. I mean, that's why if the
Speaker 1: Packers can take care of business this week against the Bears,
Speaker 1: and again, that's a big if you can't look ahead.
Speaker 1: But there there's so many implications with that potential Vikings
Speaker 1: game because it's not just about you know, where the
Speaker 1: Packers are. The Vikings need to stay in this thing
Speaker 1: for the wild card to based on, you know, the
Speaker 1: Rams still being in the hunt absolutely the one thing,
Speaker 1: and Sean McVeigh discussed it recently. They're getting back to
Speaker 1: Todd Gurley. Now, this wasn't the game that's going to
Speaker 1: go on Todd Gurley's highlight reel, but I think l
Speaker 1: A is starting to realize after getting away from it
Speaker 1: late last season, that Girle is one of your top
Speaker 1: playmakers unless there's a legitimate thought that, Okay, something's wrong
Speaker 1: with his knee and you just got to be careful.
Speaker 1: You gotta feed him. And even if it is a
Speaker 1: game like this for the only averages three and a
Speaker 1: half yards to carry, that's the identity though, right, Isn't
Speaker 1: that the reason why the Rams originally became the contenders
Speaker 1: that they were, because they got Girly going and they
Speaker 1: were able to kind of pull him out of those dull,
Speaker 1: those dull drums that sort of were during that last
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher season. This game, what did he have seven touches.
Speaker 1: I mean, the more he touches the ball, the more
Speaker 1: this offenses and sync. And I think you're seeing that
Speaker 1: that is really getting back to Jared Goff. I think
Speaker 1: he's really talented quarterback. I don't know if he's at
Speaker 1: the juncture in his career where he can just put
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands and let him let him
Speaker 1: run the show. Well, I think it's a complimentary run game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think we're seeing a lot with the Rams offense
Speaker 1: right now, much like we're seeing with the Packers offense
Speaker 1: in a lot of stages where when you can get
Speaker 1: some things going on the ground and then you are
Speaker 1: working play action off of that, you were you work
Speaker 1: play action and suddenly guys are running free in the
Speaker 1: secondary and your quarterbacks got these big throwing lanes and bang,
Speaker 1: you're hitting plays. If you're not getting the running game
Speaker 1: going and you're just trying to play a straight drop
Speaker 1: back game or just line up in the shotgun all
Speaker 1: the time and and have the quarterback survey the field,
Speaker 1: defenses are coming up with a lot more answers for
Speaker 1: that when when they don't have to honor the play
Speaker 1: action and things aren't working off of that. So the
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh and Matt Lafleur offenses I think are very
Speaker 1: similar in that respect. And what I saw on Sunday
Speaker 1: getting back to the Packers is it just felt like
Speaker 1: every time and obviously they had the running game going
Speaker 1: with Aaron Jones, and it felt like every time Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers ran a play action there was somebody open. Now,
Speaker 1: they didn't connect on all of them, because as we
Speaker 1: talked about at the beginning, there were some plays that
Speaker 1: just missed and everything. But other than one time I
Speaker 1: remember Washington on one side of the field, they completely
Speaker 1: stayed home on the play action and it wasn't there
Speaker 1: and Rogers had to throw it away or something like
Speaker 1: that or take a check down. Other than that one play,
Speaker 1: it seemed like every time Rogers ran play action there
Speaker 1: was somebody open. The play the play design was exact
Speaker 1: what you were looking for. And uh, that's something I
Speaker 1: think that the Packers can really make the foundation of
Speaker 1: things moving forward. They weren't able to carry it through
Speaker 1: for the last three quarters, but that first quarter what
Speaker 1: they were able to do getting Rogers open in space
Speaker 1: with some rollouts rolling both sides of the field, and
Speaker 1: that people always want to talk about identities, and I
Speaker 1: kind of laugh at that I mentioned an inbox winning
Speaker 1: is an identity. But that is something I think when
Speaker 1: you look at this team down the stretch, that it
Speaker 1: can really do well when Rogers is outside the pocket.
Speaker 1: With the way that those guys can block in the
Speaker 1: threat that those running backs present now as pass catchers
Speaker 1: in addition to what they do as running backs, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting to watch. I think that is definitely
Speaker 1: a foundational point of this offense that they can build on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's where I think that's that's if there
Speaker 1: is something this offense is going to hang its hat
Speaker 1: on moving forward, I think that's where it has to be. So,
Speaker 1: but for now, we do need to sign off on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers on Script. To be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers
Speaker 1: dot com, Subscribe to us like us on i Tunes
Speaker 1: and other podcast services, and be sure to check out
Speaker 1: the Packers YouTube channel for West. I'm Mike. Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in, everybody, See you next time. H m hm.