Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joined by my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague Weston Hodkowitz, were coming to you here from
Speaker 1: our studios at lambeau Field here to talk about a
Speaker 1: Packers victory West and an impressive one on the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball, a sevent team to nothing shut
Speaker 1: out at lambeau Field of the Seattle Seahawks. And we've
Speaker 1: been talking all season long about how this defense, the
Speaker 1: arrow keeps pointing up, the unit just keeps ascending, and
Speaker 1: in some ways you don't know how much further you
Speaker 1: could have ascended. After a really impressive performance, although in
Speaker 1: a loss in Kansas City against Patrick Mahomes, but this
Speaker 1: defense topped itself once again. I can't believe that stat
Speaker 1: I saw afterwards. I wish I could give proper credit
Speaker 1: to the first person to point this out. Is a
Speaker 1: stat though, that Kyler Murray trick Mahomes and then having
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson three Elite Pro Bowl All Pro type players
Speaker 1: and the Packers held those three guys to one passing
Speaker 1: touchdown in those matchups. I mean, it was one of
Speaker 1: those deals where I know some people at halftime when
Speaker 1: I made a remark about how this is the first
Speaker 1: time the Packers have shut out an opponent in the
Speaker 1: first half, dating back to that game against Buffalo and eighteen,
Speaker 1: which also ended up being the last shutout, and some
Speaker 1: people are like, don't say anything, You're gonna jinxit, YadA, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, Mike, this is one of the
Speaker 1: first times I think I can remember on the beat
Speaker 1: where I don't think there was any worry of a jinx.
Speaker 1: I don't think there was any worry of a let
Speaker 1: up the Packers. The way they were playing, the confidence
Speaker 1: in which they were playing, with the speed and tenacity
Speaker 1: that they were playing with. Defensively, they were the best
Speaker 1: unit on the field once again, not just for the Packers,
Speaker 1: but either team. And it's been that way now for
Speaker 1: a number of weeks. And to have the injuries and
Speaker 1: the losses, and we'll talk about some of that here shortly,
Speaker 1: with the some of the more hits the defense took,
Speaker 1: they still keep moving forward in their ranked third right
Speaker 1: now in total yards and scoring uh and really looking
Speaker 1: like the unit the Packers need them to be to
Speaker 1: make a championship run. Yeah. Absolutely, And it was funny.
Speaker 1: I was for those of you who don't entirely understand
Speaker 1: our game day process. During the game, while things are
Speaker 1: going on, Wes is writing what we call the quarter
Speaker 1: by quarter updates on the website. I am doing the
Speaker 1: live blog as the game gets towards the end, and
Speaker 1: West is writing the fourth quarter update. I am getting
Speaker 1: ready to write a TOPP or what we call the
Speaker 1: top to your quarter by quarter updates that we can
Speaker 1: post right when the game ends of the final score
Speaker 1: and statistics and whatnot. My whole point of explaining this
Speaker 1: is that I was following live on g S. I
Speaker 1: s the total yards for the Seattle Seahawks in the game.
Speaker 1: On that final desperation drive, they just crossed over two
Speaker 1: hundred yards. Then Preston Smith gets a fourteen yard sack
Speaker 1: and drops them below two hundred yards, and it was
Speaker 1: looking like it would be a one ninety something game.
Speaker 1: But then they get a sixteen yard pass on the
Speaker 1: fourth and forever, so they barely get over two d
Speaker 1: total yards on the last play of the game. And
Speaker 1: that just that just speaks volumes to what this Packers
Speaker 1: defense was doing. And the crux of it really was
Speaker 1: what turned this from a solid defensive performance into a
Speaker 1: great one. Were the two interceptions in the second half.
Speaker 1: It's three to nothing and Russell Wilson makes an ill
Speaker 1: advised third down throw in the red zone to the
Speaker 1: end zone and Kevin King gets the interception there. And
Speaker 1: then when the Seahawks are in a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a desperation mode that tend to nothing, he tries
Speaker 1: to take a deep shot into double coverage to lock it.
Speaker 1: Adrian Amos gets that interception on the deep ball in
Speaker 1: the end zone. Those two turnovers, really, then is what
Speaker 1: allowed the Packers to stretch this out and take away
Speaker 1: any drama of what was looking like it could be
Speaker 1: a down to the wire game when it was just
Speaker 1: three nothing at halftime. Well, and to tell you the
Speaker 1: strength of this defense in addition just the mental fortitude
Speaker 1: and to be able to rally the way they have
Speaker 1: around each other. It's a fact that we talked about
Speaker 1: in the preseason. They have playmakers at all three levels,
Speaker 1: and with the installation of Davandre campbellt inside linebacker, there
Speaker 1: really isn't a weak spot right now for this defense.
Speaker 1: And you know, you look at a guy like Adriannams,
Speaker 1: I just feel like He's the one that's sort of
Speaker 1: really epitomizes this entire unit. He's an unheralded, rather spaff
Speaker 1: soft spoken individual that is just so darn consistent. I
Speaker 1: even think about that pass again, it's in garbage time,
Speaker 1: but they were in that zone concept the prevent defense there.
Speaker 1: I think it was to lock it. He was trying,
Speaker 1: Wilson was trying to hit along the sidelines, and Adrian
Speaker 1: Name is covering basically half the field, comes over right
Speaker 1: by the pylon and breaks up a past that otherwise
Speaker 1: might have been the touchdown. Uh. Not a big play
Speaker 1: in terms of the grand scheme of things in victory,
Speaker 1: but that's what kept Seahawks off the board. That's what
Speaker 1: kept those numbers close to yards of offense him in
Speaker 1: in the talent of Darnell Savage on the back end,
Speaker 1: the way the umbrella of that thing. Uh, that's been
Speaker 1: a big lynch pin here for this defense. But even
Speaker 1: before that, you know, I made this comment in inbox, Mike.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you thought about it, but Preston
Speaker 1: Smith gets that sixteen yard sack. I think it was
Speaker 1: it was this huge fourteen yards late in the game.
Speaker 1: I understand that that's a garbage time type sack. But
Speaker 1: the way Preston Smith played that entire type of that game,
Speaker 1: he really didn't have the statistics to really show the
Speaker 1: impact that he had made, the pressure that he had generated,
Speaker 1: some of the other plays that he helped create. That's
Speaker 1: the thing about this year's defense. There's not gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of guys where you look at the cornerbacks
Speaker 1: and be like, Okay, who's the stud right now. It's
Speaker 1: not gonna be a lot of Okay, where's the all Pro.
Speaker 1: It's just eleven guys when they're on the field playing
Speaker 1: as one, and it has the Packers with you know,
Speaker 1: their best defense right now statistically in a decade. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting because because I had made a
Speaker 1: point of this an insider inbox as well, when you
Speaker 1: talk about the sort of those steady influences, the understated
Speaker 1: you know, not the raw, raw guys, but but the
Speaker 1: leaders on this team to the defensive captains here are
Speaker 1: Adrian Amos and Kenny Clark. And you won't find two
Speaker 1: guys who at the same time can be so valuable
Speaker 1: to what their unit is doing, but in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways get so little recognition for it, and they
Speaker 1: also don't really care necessarily about getting that recognition, and
Speaker 1: I think that that says a lot about them. And
Speaker 1: and as as I said an inbox, that's not to
Speaker 1: take anything away from the larger personalities like as a
Speaker 1: Darius Smith or j Alexander who has also been they've
Speaker 1: also been captains on this defense. And I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to to disparage their way of going about things at all.
Speaker 1: But with those two guys in particular, Amos and Clark
Speaker 1: both being captains on this particular defense, and the way
Speaker 1: these guys are are are going about things, UM really
Speaker 1: stands out to me. This team now wes for the
Speaker 1: season eighteen points per game allowed, which as you said,
Speaker 1: I think is third in the league. Now since Week one,
Speaker 1: the thirty eight to three loss to New Orleans, since
Speaker 1: week one, it's fifteen point eight points per game. That's
Speaker 1: just remarkable. What um, what this group is doing. And
Speaker 1: now they will have some additional challenges. You just mentioned
Speaker 1: the type of game Preston Smith had and and then
Speaker 1: capping it off with a sack to get something big
Speaker 1: in the statistical column. Well, the pass rush here, Whitney Merciless,
Speaker 1: it looks like a very significant injury to his biceps,
Speaker 1: and then Rashawn Gary also leaving the game with an
Speaker 1: elbow injury. There's still some evaluation going on there. We'll
Speaker 1: see what what ultimately the deal is with Gary's injury,
Speaker 1: but this pass rush is going to be relying even
Speaker 1: more on Preston Smith than it already has here going forward,
Speaker 1: and Jonathan Garvin too. You know the second rounder, excuse me,
Speaker 1: the second year player was the seventh rounder last year
Speaker 1: and a young man that is still only twenty two
Speaker 1: years old and has had to really grow up quickly
Speaker 1: in this defense. It's after being a healthy scratch for
Speaker 1: half the season last year, he's suddenly been thrust in
Speaker 1: a rotational role. That's the way this thing has gone.
Speaker 1: What hurts the most about there's a couple of reasons
Speaker 1: that the merciless injury hurts that game, especially with some
Speaker 1: of the injuries they were dealing with on the defensive line.
Speaker 1: That game was the first time, Mike, that you and
Speaker 1: I have seen and maybe over a month, maybe two months,
Speaker 1: where the Packers started running their dime with three outside
Speaker 1: linebackers again, they were using Preston Smith, they were using
Speaker 1: Rashawn Gary as down three tech linemen or using Garry
Speaker 1: as a rover. They got away from that because they
Speaker 1: just didn't have the bodies for it. But Merciless, the
Speaker 1: way he was playing, enabled them to get back in
Speaker 1: those packages. It sounds, and Merciless had lined up inside
Speaker 1: on on an occasion as well, a lot of versatility
Speaker 1: there and that was sort of that spot they were
Speaker 1: missing without Zadarius Smith. That was a role that he
Speaker 1: had played before his back injury. And the thing that
Speaker 1: hurts the most is I felt like I tweeted this
Speaker 1: as I was leaving the building on Monday. Merciless really
Speaker 1: felt like that Eric Walden signing for this defense, he
Speaker 1: felt like it was, okay, you need help, but outside Rusher,
Speaker 1: here's a guy that can can bring something. And he
Speaker 1: seemed like he was a really steady locker room guy.
Speaker 1: We only got to talk to him once, but obviously
Speaker 1: you hear what people say about him down in Houston.
Speaker 1: He's a you know, admirable, you know, type of locker
Speaker 1: room dude. And for that injury, and as soon as
Speaker 1: you and I saw it, Mike, and when you see
Speaker 1: him curled up like that, and then you understand it's
Speaker 1: the biceps. We've seen enough of those type injuries. Your
Speaker 1: your your stomach kind of drops a little bit. The
Speaker 1: hope would be based on the reports we've seen so
Speaker 1: far as that the Packers might have avoided a big
Speaker 1: injury with Rashawn Gary. Got to see all that shuffles
Speaker 1: out yet. But the fact is is that Gary has
Speaker 1: been such an integral part of this defense. He's leading
Speaker 1: them in sacks right now. This season, he's gotten the
Speaker 1: uptick in playing time and he's really responded with those snaps.
Speaker 1: The Packers need him and you know, knock on wood
Speaker 1: at some point maybe the next two months, Saidarius Smith
Speaker 1: is back in the fold. Two. Yeah, we'll have to
Speaker 1: see how that goes. Rashaan Gary with five and a
Speaker 1: half sacks, I believe on the season, which is hops
Speaker 1: on the team. So before we shift gears to the
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Speaker 1: in a bowl. Cousins subs. We believe in better. All right. Offensively,
Speaker 1: the Packers did indeed get quarterback Aaron Rodgers back off
Speaker 1: of the COVID list, and he played despite not having
Speaker 1: essentially practiced for the previous two weeks. Um and give
Speaker 1: some credit to Seattle's defense, that's uh, that's no slouch
Speaker 1: of unit, especially when it comes to uh to what
Speaker 1: that group does in the red zone. But the Packers
Speaker 1: were having some trouble finding their footing on offense. A
Speaker 1: missed field goal early that took some points off the board.
Speaker 1: But this offense, as we had talked about last week,
Speaker 1: it went through the running backs Aaron Jones, A J. Dillon,
Speaker 1: combining for more than two hundred rushing and receiving yards,
Speaker 1: adding up those yards from scrimmage. But now things could
Speaker 1: shift in at least for the next game or two.
Speaker 1: Most likely are going to shift even more heavily to
Speaker 1: A J. Dillon because Aaron Jones is now out with
Speaker 1: a knee injury, though it sounds like it's only going
Speaker 1: to be a short absent. Yeah, and that's you know,
Speaker 1: as Metal even said on Monday, you know, the hope
Speaker 1: is they avoided you know, kind of a you know,
Speaker 1: a bullet there, Aaron Jones, you saw it. I understand
Speaker 1: his rushing yards where they're at right now. But in
Speaker 1: terms of the pass catching, you saw it. With those
Speaker 1: two catches he had over the span of three plays,
Speaker 1: bolt him over twenty yard explosives. The way he can
Speaker 1: energize this offense with his play style, what he can
Speaker 1: create when he's in space, it's incredible. A J. Dillon
Speaker 1: For a guy who was kind of maligned a little
Speaker 1: bit as a pass catcher coming out of Boston College,
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of that was just due
Speaker 1: to the fact he didn't really do it and this
Speaker 1: their system. What a revelation this guy has been. I
Speaker 1: mean that fifty yard or the reason that was so impressive.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like he had to make He's made better
Speaker 1: catches over the course of the year. But to throw
Speaker 1: an underneath pass to a running back and have that
Speaker 1: running back turned it into a fifty yard game down
Speaker 1: the sideline of making three guys miss or breaking their tackles,
Speaker 1: breaking their will. Uh that that was a huge play.
Speaker 1: You saw how amped up Davante Adam Scott after it,
Speaker 1: given the big shove to him after the play. This
Speaker 1: young guys come a long way, and the Packers knew
Speaker 1: that this was going to be a part of his
Speaker 1: maturation process. When you lose Jamal Williams, someone that was
Speaker 1: as steady as they go at the running back position,
Speaker 1: they knew they were going to need A. J. Dillon
Speaker 1: to step up. It wasn't gonna be carries a game
Speaker 1: with Aaron Jones, and I think he's done that in
Speaker 1: an exceptional way. And you'll also give credit to Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers too. I mean it was his first game back,
Speaker 1: you know, as mattal Floor pointed out, he hadn't really
Speaker 1: practice at all in two weeks, not only because of
Speaker 1: the COVID week, but then also the week before that
Speaker 1: they were on the short you know schedule going up
Speaker 1: against Arizona, so they really never even practice. It was
Speaker 1: just all walk through type stuff. So Rogers managed the
Speaker 1: situation and when they needed big explosive plays down the stretch,
Speaker 1: as Rogers said, all three of them were compliments and
Speaker 1: courtesy of A J. Dillon. Yeah, absolutely, what I liked
Speaker 1: what I like best about this game, And I mentioned
Speaker 1: this also an inbox because whether you're talking about the
Speaker 1: score being three to nothing after three quarters or the
Speaker 1: score being twenty four after three quarters. What I liked
Speaker 1: about this game is when your offense can put together
Speaker 1: two drives and score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and your defense doesn't give in and gets a second
Speaker 1: turnover and simply doesn't allow the opponent to ever generate
Speaker 1: any kind of momentum. Whatever the score is after three quarters,
Speaker 1: you play like that in the fourth quarter on both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball, You're gonna win a lot of
Speaker 1: football games in this league. And that's something as much
Speaker 1: as as much as those first three quarters offensively, it
Speaker 1: was it was frust rating. The Packers had some opportunities
Speaker 1: to score, mistakes were made, things didn't go their way.
Speaker 1: They finished this game the way you want to finish
Speaker 1: any football game, regardless of what the score is going
Speaker 1: into the fourth quarter. And I think that bodes well
Speaker 1: here as we're starting to hit, you know, getting closer
Speaker 1: and closer to what we could call the home stretch
Speaker 1: with Thanksgiving and the Packers by week now just around
Speaker 1: the corner. Well, and you know, and and O b J.
Speaker 1: Made his decision right he went to the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 1: It is what it is there isn't gonna be this big,
Speaker 1: you know, type of hero coming over the mountain. That's
Speaker 1: gonna just add even more plays in this offense. The Packers,
Speaker 1: if they're going to get where they want to offensively,
Speaker 1: it needs to be the young guys. It needs to
Speaker 1: be guys stepping up. A J. Dillen has been a
Speaker 1: big part of that. I think he's probably been the
Speaker 1: most improved player. I think would be easy for everyone
Speaker 1: to say in his second year here, with this offense
Speaker 1: and with Aaron Jones being gone here for a minute,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a big test for him, not
Speaker 1: only against you know, this upcoming opponent in Minnesota with
Speaker 1: all the challenges that Mike Zimmer defense presents, but also
Speaker 1: historic really one of the best defenses in the league,
Speaker 1: and the Los Angeles Rams over the last three or
Speaker 1: four years they're gonna have to battle as well. So
Speaker 1: I think the exciting aspect of this is you do
Speaker 1: hope you're getting Aaron Jones back, and obviously you hope
Speaker 1: that you know that's going to happen in December when
Speaker 1: you really want to get the run game going. But
Speaker 1: this is the trial by fire that I think A. J.
Speaker 1: Dillon really needs and see if, okay, can this guy
Speaker 1: be the every down back we needed to because with
Speaker 1: all due respect to Patrick Taylor, that was his first
Speaker 1: NFL carries on Sunday. So I got the ball twice
Speaker 1: there in the in the fourth quarter, giving Dilon a
Speaker 1: little bit of a break. Yeah, you want to get
Speaker 1: the you know, more backs involved, but realistically this is
Speaker 1: going to be a one back offense you would think
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks here. Yeah. Absolutely. The The
Speaker 1: one thing that will be interesting to see to me,
Speaker 1: sort of one of those little earth things that that
Speaker 1: people can forget about is that with Aaron Jones being
Speaker 1: out and a J. Dillon now taking the Lions, share
Speaker 1: the snaps at running back that pass protection in the backfield.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that A J. Dillon isn't any good
Speaker 1: at it, That's not my point. Aaron Jones has become
Speaker 1: exception as a pass blocking pass protecting running back with
Speaker 1: the Blitz pickups and the communication and everything like that.
Speaker 1: That's uh, that's something that that will be worth watching
Speaker 1: here with a J. Dillon because that's going to be
Speaker 1: another area where as big as strides as we've seen
Speaker 1: him making year two, he can take even more strides
Speaker 1: in that area because we saw what Aaron Jones has
Speaker 1: done over the first you know, three or four years
Speaker 1: of his career to get to where he is now.
Speaker 1: Big picture in the NFC, well, first, with regard to
Speaker 1: the Division, the Packers stay three and a half games
Speaker 1: ahead of the Minnesota Vikings, and we'll talk more about
Speaker 1: the Vikings on our next show with the trip to
Speaker 1: Minneapolis coming up here next weekend. But as far as
Speaker 1: the top of the NFC, the Packers are right back there. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: West one week after losing a game, losing your quarterback
Speaker 1: and losing a game and all that, Green Bay has
Speaker 1: eight into Arizona takes its second loss, not having its
Speaker 1: quarterback against Carolina. Cardinals and Packers both eaten two. Packers
Speaker 1: obviously have the head to head there Dallas a half
Speaker 1: game back at seven and two. The Rams took their
Speaker 1: third loss of the season on Monday Night Football. They
Speaker 1: lose on the road at San Francisco, and in division
Speaker 1: game out West, the Rams are seven and three, and
Speaker 1: suddenly the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are six and three, having
Speaker 1: lost two games on either side of their bye week.
Speaker 1: They lose to New Orleans. Going into the by, they
Speaker 1: come out of their by and lose at Washington. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's all right out there for Green Bay right now.
Speaker 1: The Lass at the Lass at Kansas City. We talked
Speaker 1: about it, you know, in some respects it was a
Speaker 1: missed opportunity considering all those results, the other results that
Speaker 1: had happened um last week. While the Packers got some
Speaker 1: more results in their favor this week, and they got
Speaker 1: the win over the Seahawks and uh and and they
Speaker 1: vaulted themselves right back up where they want to be.
Speaker 1: These seventeen games are not about who is the best
Speaker 1: team in the NFL. It's about who's the most consistent team,
Speaker 1: Who's gonna be the one that earns that first round
Speaker 1: by Who's going to be the team proves that we
Speaker 1: deserve to be considered the upper echelon entering the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And the way I look at it right now, Mike,
Speaker 1: as the Packers got four more division games, both of
Speaker 1: which against the Minnesota Vikings they still have yet to
Speaker 1: play this season. You win those, you run that table,
Speaker 1: and then you kind of let those other chips fall
Speaker 1: where they may with the remainder your nonconference stuff. And
Speaker 1: then also this matchup coming up against the Rams that
Speaker 1: puts you in the dance. And these next couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: the Packers take care of business against the Vikings again,
Speaker 1: a team that we're going to talk about scares the
Speaker 1: living daylights out of me, a team that cannot be overlooked,
Speaker 1: a team that has been in every single one of
Speaker 1: the nine games that's played so far, a team that
Speaker 1: is a team that is four and five and is
Speaker 1: just a whisker here. They're away from potentially being seven
Speaker 1: and two, but it's real, but it's consistency. And the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers at eight and two, have been an
Speaker 1: incredibly consistent football team, despite the injuries, despite the potential distractions,
Speaker 1: despite all that, and it has put them in a
Speaker 1: position now to to be able to really claim the
Speaker 1: top of this conference. It's gonna be a really exciting
Speaker 1: final seven games of this season, and obviously it starts
Speaker 1: on Sunday against the the Vikings in US Bank Stadium. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Packers will have an opportunity to go four and
Speaker 1: a half up on the Vikings with only six to play.
Speaker 1: That would be considered the catbird seat if I'm allowed
Speaker 1: to use the old cliche. But we'll talk more about
Speaker 1: that on our next show. For now, we'll call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team. We've
Speaker 1: got stuff for you every single day on packers dot
Speaker 1: com for West, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.