Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I and Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you hear from our studios at lambeau Field, and Wes,
Speaker 1: we are here to talk about a victory. Twenty to three.
Speaker 1: The Packers defeat the Los Angeles Rams at Lambeoufield on Sunday.
Speaker 1: It breaks the four game losing streak, It gets the
Speaker 1: Packers record to three and five, and a lot of
Speaker 1: positives to talk about from this one. Certainly, not a
Speaker 1: clean game, not a pretty game. Plenty for the Packers
Speaker 1: to work on. But when it comes to the things
Speaker 1: that went well, I'll let you take it where you
Speaker 1: want to. If you want to start on offense, defense
Speaker 1: or special teams, you pick it. Let's go.
Speaker 2: Let's start with Pahad. All right, let's start with this thing,
Speaker 2: because I was breaking down the game as only I
Speaker 2: can with my father afterwards, the original Packers on Scripted
Speaker 2: and one of the big lessons I took away from this,
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought up the fact it wasn't a
Speaker 2: complete game. It wasn't a clean game. There's still things
Speaker 2: to clean up with it, but the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: finally get to do that now after a win. It
Speaker 2: feels different when you do that after a win. When
Speaker 2: you make mistakes, you overcome them, but you find ways forward. Yes,
Speaker 2: I know the Los Angeles Rams didn't have Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 2: I know they were missing their starting running back. I
Speaker 2: know there was a lot of things working against the Rams.
Speaker 2: The Green Bay Packers have had plenty working against them
Speaker 2: too this season, including in this matchup. I mean, how
Speaker 2: often is it, Mike, that the Green Bay Packers are
Speaker 2: going to practice on Thursday and Friday and they lose
Speaker 2: a starter after each of those basically where you end
Speaker 2: up not having those guys available in Rudy Ford and
Speaker 2: Kuway Walker. So what happens, what has to happen. Guys
Speaker 2: have to step up. Isaiah McDuffie, I thought played a
Speaker 2: whale of a ballgame next to Devondre Campbell Dre being back,
Speaker 2: I don't that is a surprise that the run defense
Speaker 2: is playing as well as it has since Campbell got
Speaker 2: back in the lineup. On the back end, you lose
Speaker 2: a guy like Ford who's been one of the big
Speaker 2: playmakers for this team so far this season. But in
Speaker 2: comes Anthony Johnson Junior, the rookie seventh round pick from
Speaker 2: Iowa State who's been playing the position for just over
Speaker 2: a calendar year. He makes a critical interception late jyr
Speaker 2: Alexander gets over the back injury. He's making plays out there.
Speaker 2: Carrington Valentine has to be thrown into the perimeter starting
Speaker 2: corner position with Rasul Douglas's trade, and then if that
Speaker 2: wasn't enough, Mike the only position where it seemed like
Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers were actually good on the defensive line.
Speaker 2: They lose their two time Pro bowler Kenny Clark at
Speaker 2: the end of the first quarter. There's a lot to
Speaker 2: talk about, there's a lot to dissect, but defensively, the
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers rolled with the bunches better than what
Speaker 2: the Rams offense was able to do. And Mike, they
Speaker 2: only gave up three points. And I said it to
Speaker 2: you one of the first comments I made when I
Speaker 2: came into the on Monday. I looked at NFLGSIS Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers defense going from twentieth to tenth. It's not
Speaker 2: the end of the season, a lot of games left,
Speaker 2: but it should remind you that in this game in
Speaker 2: the National Football League, things can change in a hurry,
Speaker 2: and the Green Bay Packers made sure to take advantage
Speaker 2: of that opportunity on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you really had to like what you saw from
Speaker 1: the defense. And yes, it was against a backup quarterback
Speaker 1: and Brett Rippon who was a bit overmatched. And as
Speaker 1: we had talked about last week, the Rams were trying
Speaker 1: to figure out something with their running game. With losing
Speaker 1: Kyron Williams, their leading rusher, he remained on injured reserve.
Speaker 1: They're trying to piece it together with a running game.
Speaker 1: They were missing their starting right tackle and Rob Havenstein
Speaker 1: who was a scratch at the ninety minutes before kickoff
Speaker 1: with his injury, and the Packers defense. The Packers defense
Speaker 1: did what it needed to do. It looked like it
Speaker 1: needed to look in this type of matchup. And you
Speaker 1: can't say enough about the young guys who made some
Speaker 1: things happen out there. You already mentioned a couple of them,
Speaker 1: with Anthony Johnson Junior stepping in at safety, with Carrington
Speaker 1: Valentine stepping in at cornerback, Carl Brooks and Kolby wooden't
Speaker 1: on the defensive line the two rookies there, Brooks deflects
Speaker 1: a couple of passes. Wooden gets a stop on fourth
Speaker 1: and two when the Rams were trying to keep a
Speaker 1: drive alive. You mentioned McDuffie stepping in for kuay Walker,
Speaker 1: and he stepped in previously for Devondre Campbell. Now he
Speaker 1: was stepping in for kway Walker two weeks in a row.
Speaker 1: Now wes the Packers run defense, and yes, against a
Speaker 1: Vikings offense that was struggling to run the ball, against
Speaker 1: a Rams offense that was struggling to run the ball,
Speaker 1: but the Packers kept those teams struggling. And those are
Speaker 1: things that over the last couple of years. Sometimes that
Speaker 1: hasn't always been the case, where you go, okay, you
Speaker 1: should be all right here because this team doesn't do
Speaker 1: this very well, and then suddenly the profile changes. If
Speaker 1: the Packers defense can continue to do what it's done
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks against the run, even if
Speaker 1: maybe the rushing yards might increase against teams that run
Speaker 1: the ball better, but when you're not getting gashed against
Speaker 1: the run, it makes everything else look a heck of
Speaker 1: a lot better.
Speaker 2: And last week ten third down conversions, this week three
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. Five third down conversions. I sounded so tough
Speaker 2: when I was saying that too, and then I'd botch it.
Speaker 2: But it shows you that, yeah, there's gonna be some
Speaker 2: third and long completions. Certainly the Packers had some stuff
Speaker 2: to clean up after that game against Minnesota, but if
Speaker 2: you get the job done on the first two downs,
Speaker 2: it will pay off on the money down. This game,
Speaker 2: in particular, I thought was really interesting Mike, because, as
Speaker 2: you said, you had to keep them struggling. I think
Speaker 2: back to that game in Vegas, Raiders were really struggling
Speaker 2: with the run game. Yes, you think back to this
Speaker 2: past week the Raiders win, still struggling with the run
Speaker 2: game somewhat. What was the two differences in that they
Speaker 2: were able to run the ball well with Josh Jacobs
Speaker 2: that it made a difference. The twenty four yard carry
Speaker 2: Jacobs had against Green Bay made a difference. Last week
Speaker 2: what he did against the Bears made a difference, and
Speaker 2: it tilted the game. Brett Rippen, what he wanted more
Speaker 2: than anything was for LA to establish the run and
Speaker 2: be able to build off the rest of it from there.
Speaker 2: Green Bay gave no quarter in this game. It didn't
Speaker 2: matter if it was the runs. It didn't matter if
Speaker 2: it was some of the simple screens that they were
Speaker 2: trying to run, whether it was Puka, whether it was
Speaker 2: Cooper Cup. They were unable to get that going. They
Speaker 2: made a couple of plays throughout the course of the game,
Speaker 2: but by and large Green Bay was able to dictate
Speaker 2: how they wanted to play, and in addition to that,
Speaker 2: they got two big takeaway opportunities. The green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: converted both of those into points and ultimately came out
Speaker 2: with the victory.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the thing that the thing that I liked, in
Speaker 1: addition to the run defense, the other thing I liked
Speaker 1: about the way the defense looked in this game is that,
Speaker 1: yes it was against a backup quarterback, but you and
Speaker 1: I watched the games from the press box, we can
Speaker 1: see the entire field, and other than the one third
Speaker 1: and long conversion that Rippin hit to Cooper Cup down
Speaker 1: the scene, it was not as though we were watching
Speaker 1: two very good receivers in Cup and Puka Nakua running
Speaker 1: free there in the secondary and Rippin just couldn't get
Speaker 1: them the ball. You know, Rippin couldn't get them the
Speaker 1: ball because the Packers were making it difficult for those
Speaker 1: guys to get open. And I thought with all the
Speaker 1: adjustments that were being made in the secondary because of
Speaker 1: the injuries, because of the trade of Douglas and all that,
Speaker 1: I thought that was a really positive sign moving forward
Speaker 1: for this Packer secondary because you know, whenever, you know,
Speaker 1: assuming Rudy Ford is not going to be out long term,
Speaker 1: assuming that kay Walker's not going to be out long term,
Speaker 1: but getting these young guys experience, then you know the
Speaker 1: next time, the next time that something happens, even if
Speaker 1: it's during a game and somebody has to miss one
Speaker 1: series like John Runyan misses one series on offense, Sean
Speaker 1: Ryan steps in at right guy and the Packers go
Speaker 1: forty one yards for a touchdown, most of it on
Speaker 1: the ground and some of it running right behind Sean Ryan,
Speaker 1: who just came off the bench and stepped in for
Speaker 1: some of his first NFL action. Those kinds of things
Speaker 1: are important signs to see with a young team moving forward,
Speaker 1: and I thought we saw a lot of them on
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball in this game.
Speaker 2: And while Carrington doesn't need a mentor someone to look at,
Speaker 2: you know, Anthony Johnson Jr. Has talked about all these
Speaker 2: safeties he's learned from. But if there was actually a
Speaker 2: kind of a poster child for this, I actually think
Speaker 2: it is Isaiah McDuffie because this is a guy that
Speaker 2: came in as a six round pick two years ago
Speaker 2: and Mike every single time he plays on defense, he's
Speaker 2: gotten better. And I thought in this game it was
Speaker 2: pretty simple what they had to do. You had Campbell
Speaker 2: taken over the mic again, he's relaying the defense, but
Speaker 2: you saw McDuffie being so much more active out their vocal.
Speaker 2: He made some big TFLs too. I think that five
Speaker 2: yard tackle for a loss that he had was probably
Speaker 2: as important as anything in that game for to pack
Speaker 2: defense being able to stop them right from the get go.
Speaker 2: I think in the third quarter they have had guys
Speaker 2: step up. And when you do that consistently and you
Speaker 2: play that role and you wear that hat numerous times,
Speaker 2: you feel like a more confident football player when you
Speaker 2: have to go in. And I thought, for the Packers defense,
Speaker 2: you hope everything's cool with Kui here. He caught up
Speaker 2: a little tight on Friday morning. He wasn't able to
Speaker 2: get right with that groin injury going into this thing.
Speaker 2: But the Packers have guys they can turn to, and
Speaker 2: ultimately I think that's what helped them win this football game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, on the offensive side of the ball, a
Speaker 1: much more uneven performance. You know, there were plenty of
Speaker 1: the miscues that we have seen in recent weeks that
Speaker 1: have gotten frustrating quite frankly, for the fans, for the coaches,
Speaker 1: for the players, for everybody, whether you know, for whatever reason.
Speaker 1: It's a discussion for another day, But like this lining
Speaker 1: up off sides on fourth and one thing that suddenly
Speaker 1: the league has decided apparently that they're going to call
Speaker 1: every every inch of the neutral zone in that regard.
Speaker 1: But even setting those aside, which were crucial penalties because
Speaker 1: the Packers had converted both of those fourth and one sneaks,
Speaker 1: but there were other penalties. There were the two fumbles,
Speaker 1: one by Dontavian Wicks, one by Aaron Jones. There were
Speaker 1: missed opportunities to put points on the board earlier in
Speaker 1: the game, to try to stretch out the lead earlier
Speaker 1: in the game, whether it's you know, Malik Heath dropped
Speaker 1: a pass, Jordan Love took a sack on you know,
Speaker 1: a play where there was good protection and in that situation,
Speaker 1: late in the first half. You can't take a sack
Speaker 1: there and you know, and and hurt yourself. Andras Carlson
Speaker 1: unfortunately missed a field goal at the end of the
Speaker 1: first half. So there were there's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff that the Packers are going to be looking at
Speaker 1: this week to continue to clean up moving forward. That
Speaker 1: being said, the offense got a touchdown in the first
Speaker 1: half for the first time since Week two. They found
Speaker 1: the end zone. The ground game with Aaron Jones back
Speaker 1: to a a full complement of snaps, not being held
Speaker 1: back on a pitch count, whatever you want to say.
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones was a focal point of this offense, and
Speaker 1: between Jones and Dylan and then some clean up yards
Speaker 1: late from Emmanuel Wilson, the ground game churned out over
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty rushing yards. And so how does
Speaker 1: this happen, Wes, Well, it's because it's because even with
Speaker 1: the mistakes that were made and the opportunities that were missed,
Speaker 1: the Packers weren't playing in some desperation ketchup mode two
Speaker 1: minute hurry up offense for the entire second half. Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur made the comment on Monday, they were in their
Speaker 1: normal offensive plan throughout the course of the game, and
Speaker 1: the vast majority of the mistakes were made in the
Speaker 1: first half beginning of the second half, and then when
Speaker 1: they started to find themselves, it wasn't just because they
Speaker 1: were in desperation hurry up mode. It's because they started
Speaker 1: to execute and they started to move the ball consistently.
Speaker 1: And yeah, you don't want to settle for two field
Speaker 1: goals in the red zone there in the second half,
Speaker 1: but you had to take those field goals because the
Speaker 1: score was only seven to three. You stretch it to
Speaker 1: thirteen to three, you get a two score lead. Lots
Speaker 1: still for the offense to work on. But the fact
Speaker 1: that they got to play a four quarter game off
Speaker 1: of the call sheet, so to speak. I think that's
Speaker 1: something that could be really important for this for this
Speaker 1: young offense moving forward.
Speaker 2: I wholeheartedly agree. And for the Packers' offense. I don't
Speaker 2: know the statistics, but you can make an argument that
Speaker 2: might have been one of their worst third quarters, if
Speaker 2: not their worst third quarter of the season. But why
Speaker 2: did they survive? Yeah, they got that touchdown in the
Speaker 2: second quarter that certainly helped. Yeah, but it was also
Speaker 2: the way the defense picked them up there it. Don
Speaker 2: Caper's always called it adversity defense. Matt Lafleur threw a
Speaker 2: different one out on I can't remember what he called
Speaker 2: it of have to look it up, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Capers also used to call it a sudden change
Speaker 1: sudden change defense as well, like he would use both.
Speaker 1: He would use both terms. But yes, the Packers' defense
Speaker 1: responded in a couple of tough when the game was
Speaker 1: just seven to three in the third quarter and could
Speaker 1: have flipped, could have turned the other direction. The Packers
Speaker 1: defense didn't allow that to happen, which allowed the offense
Speaker 1: to find itself.
Speaker 2: And the coolest thing that happened. I mentioned it on Twitter,
Speaker 2: I know. Aaron Nagler tweeted out the video. Two. Dantavian
Speaker 2: Wicks has just a rookie mistake, just a regrettable gaff
Speaker 2: to start the second half. Get a fifty one yard
Speaker 2: kickoff return from Keyshawn Nixon, the longest of the season.
Speaker 2: You're starting at midfield. Yep, the Packers have the most
Speaker 2: dominant third quarter offense in the league. Right now, you
Speaker 2: think everything's going to be going swimmingly, Wix ends up
Speaker 2: fumbling trying to extend for the first down, doesn't get
Speaker 2: touched down, so the ball ends up being rolled to fumble.
Speaker 2: He's walking to the sideline, his head is down. Aaron
Speaker 2: Jones quite literally pulls his head back up and talks
Speaker 2: to him. Yeah, the next series happens, starts raining a
Speaker 2: little bit. Maybe Aaron doesn't have the right gloves on
Speaker 2: at that point. Be that as it may. He fumbles,
Speaker 2: they lose. The amount of guys that were coming over
Speaker 2: to him on the sideline lift them up. A team
Speaker 2: that doesn't have a solid foundation, doesn't have a culture,
Speaker 2: has a pointing fingers mentality. I don't know what happens
Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter, right, but the green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: kept their head amongst themselves defensively, I think they were
Speaker 2: feeling dominant and they executed the way they needed to execute.
Speaker 2: And best of all, Mike, what I love the most
Speaker 2: to close on this offensive point, you were talking about
Speaker 2: how they stayed within the game plan from beginning to end.
Speaker 2: I would offer to you the touchdown passed to Luke
Speaker 2: Musgrave in the fourth quarter doesn't happen if Green Bay
Speaker 2: isn't building towards what they were doing earlier in the game.
Speaker 2: The pony package was back on that particular play to Musgrave.
Speaker 2: They have Jones going out left, they have a screen
Speaker 2: set up to Dylan on the right. They're challenging those
Speaker 2: linebackers that to make a decision with where they're going
Speaker 2: to cover, and when the inside linebacker breaks, that's what
Speaker 2: opens up the sea for Luke Musgrave. Musgrave made two
Speaker 2: huge catches in this game. The touchdown was one of them.
Speaker 2: Downfield pass was also one of those plays that him
Speaker 2: and Love weren't connecting on earlier this season. Three catches,
Speaker 2: fifty one yards and his first touchdown. Packers closed this
Speaker 2: game out the way they need to close it, and
Speaker 2: you hope that's something they can build on now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that final touchdown drive. The other thing I
Speaker 1: mean that the double fake screen and the slip of
Speaker 1: Musgrave over the middle. That's the thing of beauty. It's
Speaker 1: actually it's one of my bonus plays in what you
Speaker 1: might have missed, which is on the site, I kind
Speaker 1: of diagram.
Speaker 2: Gave some extra to the fans.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of diagram what to look for on
Speaker 1: the defense in terms of how that happens. Because it's
Speaker 1: really interesting because you have you have the two inside
Speaker 1: linebackers who are in the middle of the field. When
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones goes in that looping motion behind the shotgun quarterback,
Speaker 1: those guys start to shift toward Jones. Then at the snap,
Speaker 1: with the lineman and aj Dillon leaking out the other
Speaker 1: way to set up a screen, they both over commit
Speaker 1: to the other way and then to Muskgrave's credit, and
Speaker 1: this is kind of something that Matt Lafleur had talked
Speaker 1: about in the past in terms of learning the nuances
Speaker 1: and the timing of everything, Musgrave sells his block on
Speaker 1: the edge rusher long enough to allow those linebackers to commit,
Speaker 1: and then he slips in behind him if he if
Speaker 1: he gets over anxious, which young players do. Jaden Reed
Speaker 1: got over anxious in the slot and fall started when
Speaker 1: he was going to get the slant pass at the
Speaker 1: end of the first half. It happens right if they
Speaker 1: get If you get over anxious and you blow the
Speaker 1: timing of it, you're not going to be as open.
Speaker 1: And that's a much tougher throw for Jordan Love and
Speaker 1: it probably doesn't, you know, rupture into into a touchdown.
Speaker 1: But with everything happening, he timed it right and the
Speaker 1: two deep safeties. They're so concerned about seeing two running
Speaker 1: backs both split and two wide receivers both split, that
Speaker 1: the two deep deep safeties kind of open things up
Speaker 1: as well, and that's what leaves leaves that lane for
Speaker 1: Luke Musgrave to score. The other thing before that, I
Speaker 1: think that was really important, though, was the thirty seven
Speaker 1: yard catch by Christian Watson. I mean not just for Love,
Speaker 1: not just for Watson, but for this entire offense to
Speaker 1: make an explosive play like that in an important situation.
Speaker 1: It was on a third down. The score is thirteen
Speaker 1: to three at that point, so ten point game. You know,
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, the game is certainly not over
Speaker 1: at that point. There are all kinds of metrics out there.
Speaker 1: We've talked about it, Wes. With regard to the Packers
Speaker 1: haven't made those plays for Jordan Love, for this offense,
Speaker 1: the contested catches haven't been there. Christian Watson made a
Speaker 1: heck of a one that looked like the Christian Watson
Speaker 1: who was making his share of contested catches as a
Speaker 1: rookie when he went on that scoring binge last November.
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of things when you talk when
Speaker 1: you talk about building and growing and stacking and everything
Speaker 1: that you want to say about about all the young
Speaker 1: players on this offense with a first year starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of things that just, I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't You're not gonna be able to replicate it
Speaker 1: every single week. I mean, it's a it's a deep
Speaker 1: ball downfield, it's a one on one play, Christian Watson
Speaker 1: went up and made it. But it's the it's the
Speaker 1: kind of thing that just it It provides a foundation,
Speaker 1: you know, psychologically, there's a there's a confidence level to
Speaker 1: everybody when those plays get made every once in a
Speaker 1: while instead of every time that deep ball goes up
Speaker 1: and it's a contested play and then oh it's incomplete
Speaker 1: and everybody kind of sighs like, oh, it didn't work
Speaker 1: that time. Right. Those are the kinds of things that
Speaker 1: we saw in this game that hopefully the Packers can
Speaker 1: build on them push things forward, because, as we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about on our next show, the competition is
Speaker 1: the competition on the schedule is getting stiffer here over
Speaker 1: the next month, and the Packers are going to have
Speaker 1: to play better than they did against the Rams if
Speaker 1: they want to stack another victory to chalk up another one.
Speaker 1: But it feels like they have so much more to
Speaker 1: build on now.
Speaker 2: They do. And for that particular play for Jordan and Christian,
Speaker 2: I think is important because yeah, everyone looks at the
Speaker 2: speed and the vertical and all that stuff, but Christian
Speaker 2: Watson just went and made a football play, got a
Speaker 2: little banged up on it. It sounds like from what
Speaker 2: Matt Lafore said on Monday, he is okay, no concussion.
Speaker 2: But I love the way he played that ball, in
Speaker 2: the aggressiveness he showed because I think Christian Watson knows
Speaker 2: he's six foot four, two hundred and eight pounds or whatever,
Speaker 2: but he made the defense back feel it on that play, yep.
Speaker 2: And understanding that hey, if I'm this big of a
Speaker 2: human being and I can have a vertical in that
Speaker 2: forty range or whatever he's at, I can get up
Speaker 2: there and make that play. I think that's what makes
Speaker 2: them special. And for the Packers last sale, just close
Speaker 2: on this another reminder two of what Romeo Dobbs gives
Speaker 2: this offense. Because Dobbs' stats are not going to jump
Speaker 2: off the page at you, but he was just as
Speaker 2: integral to that win with some of the third down
Speaker 2: plays he made, some of the plays he made when
Speaker 2: Jordan Love needed to get the ball to him. And
Speaker 2: I don't think there's a better pass catcher on this
Speaker 2: team right now than Romeo Dobbs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's he's been, he's certainly been been the most reliable.
Speaker 1: And yes, some of the third downplays he made in
Speaker 1: this game where we're highlight reel worthy. For sure. I'll
Speaker 1: take care of sponsor business here West before we run
Speaker 1: out of time. Serious XMNFL Radio delivers hard to hear
Speaker 1: and a hard hitting analysis and up to the minute
Speaker 1: NFL news that true football fanatics need twenty four to seven,
Speaker 1: three sixty five and had cousin subs. We have something
Speaker 1: for everyone like our Wisconsin cheese curds, mac and cheese,
Speaker 1: golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite
Speaker 1: sub or submon a bowl cousin subs, fifty years of
Speaker 1: better quickly before we go, just taking a look around.
Speaker 1: We talked last Thursday heading into the weekend of how
Speaker 1: many really intriguing big matchups there were in the NFL
Speaker 1: in Week nine, and as it turned out, it was
Speaker 1: the home team's holding serve in all these big matchups.
Speaker 1: The Baltimore Ravens really took it to the Seattle Seahawks.
Speaker 1: The Philadelphia Eagles defended their home turf against the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys going from what was it, first and goal
Speaker 1: on the six yard line with twenty seven seconds to
Speaker 1: go and a chance to win, they go from that
Speaker 1: to throwing basically like a hail Mary to try to
Speaker 1: win the I mean, it was just an incredible, hard,
Speaker 1: incredibly bad sequence when they had a chance to post
Speaker 1: a big time victory and the Cincinnati Bengals hold serve
Speaker 1: at home over the Buffalo Bills in a big matchup
Speaker 1: in the AFC. Home field doesn't always, but this past week,
Speaker 1: homefield mattered. In the NFL, it definitely did.
Speaker 2: And as I forecasted on Thursday's episode, you can go
Speaker 2: back and look at it. I told everybody Tampa Bay
Speaker 2: and Houston, man, this is a must see television game.
Speaker 2: Wherever you are, sit your children down watch it. It's
Speaker 2: gonna be the best game of the season. And lo
Speaker 2: and behold that's how it turned out. But no, I mean,
Speaker 2: c J. Stroud, I mean that's a Rookie of the
Speaker 2: Year type performance, and.
Speaker 1: I mean broke the NFL rookie record for passing yards
Speaker 1: in a game. I mean they Holy cow.
Speaker 2: You know how I was talking with Rippin about how
Speaker 2: he was hoping that you get the run game going.
Speaker 2: Stroud did not have that. Texans could not run the
Speaker 2: football against Tampa's defense. It was all on the rookie
Speaker 2: and he performed like a top draft pick. An exciting
Speaker 2: football game. The former Packers running back Badger's.
Speaker 1: Yes Starry a Goobawale. He made a field goal, made
Speaker 1: the the yeah had to step in for the injured kicker,
Speaker 1: and drilled the twenty nine yarder, which and hey, that
Speaker 1: was in the second half, Like there was there was
Speaker 1: a lot, there was a lot of the line on
Speaker 1: that kick, and a goomble Walle put it through, no
Speaker 1: doubt her.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but just quickly, You're absolutely right about the home
Speaker 2: field advantage and everything. The Baltimore Ravens just ran over Seattle.
Speaker 2: That was incredible to watch. But I want to touch
Speaker 2: on this because I think this is important for Packer
Speaker 2: fans to realize the vikings. In one of the situations
Speaker 2: where the home team didn't come through, Josh Dobbs shows up,
Speaker 2: you know, minutes before the game.
Speaker 1: Unbelievable plays is hard out.
Speaker 2: I mean some of the stuff that they were saying
Speaker 2: in terms of how Kevin O'Connell was relaying the play
Speaker 2: calls and basically having to explain the play calls yeah
Speaker 2: to do and then him, you know, just doing some
Speaker 2: incredible stuff to make plays happy.
Speaker 1: Well, and and the fact that he did that, all
Speaker 1: the plays that he made in the second half to
Speaker 1: pull that game out for the Vikings. When you look
Speaker 1: at the highlights of that game when he first came
Speaker 1: in and during the it was a disaster. They were
Speaker 1: turning the ball over. The Falcons simply couldn't get any
Speaker 1: touchdowns off of those turnovers. They kept kicking field goals
Speaker 1: and kept the Vikings in the game. And then when
Speaker 1: Dobbs kind of settled down and you know, stopped, you know,
Speaker 1: stop putting the ball in harm's way the way he
Speaker 1: was early on, and got the Vikings offense moving, then
Speaker 1: suddenly they pull it out at the end. I mean,
Speaker 1: absolutely incredible, incredible victory by the Minnesota Vikings, and it
Speaker 1: looks like they've found their quarterback for the rest of
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three seasons.
Speaker 2: And seeing where it takes them this year. But just
Speaker 2: very quickly. I mean, you have two juggernauts. I would
Speaker 2: say right now in the NFC, you got failing, you
Speaker 2: got Detroit Detroit. You give him the credit for winning
Speaker 2: the games. They're already at six wins. It may only
Speaker 2: take nine to make the playoffs. And this thing be fewer.
Speaker 2: We'll see. But with the with the Vikings beating the Falcons,
Speaker 2: with the Saints a very methodical victory over Chicago, they're
Speaker 2: now atop their division. Dallas loses again, they're at five
Speaker 2: and three. You have the forty nine ers at five
Speaker 2: or three. This is a wide open field right now.
Speaker 2: In the NFC. I know you don't talk about playoffs
Speaker 2: until you get to ten wins. I stick to Mike
Speaker 2: McCarthy's old apps. You know, it's maximum on.
Speaker 1: That bobbly in the seventeen game season. Now you can
Speaker 1: say nine.
Speaker 2: Nine probably works. Yeah, but be that as it may.
Speaker 1: Seventh playoff spot. I should say, as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, but I mean be that as it may.
Speaker 2: I think it's another reminder that Packers have played good football.
Speaker 2: They played bad football. They are what their record says
Speaker 2: they are. But my goodness, it only takes a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks to pull yourself back into this thing, especially
Speaker 2: in the age Now that seventh playoff game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, well, the Packers have a big one to
Speaker 1: see if they can actually start a winning streak heading
Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh, a team that is very intriguing. We will
Speaker 1: talk lot about the Steelers on our next show. They
Speaker 1: are having one of the more interesting, head scratching yet
Speaker 1: intriguing seasons that we've seen an NFL team have in
Speaker 1: quite some time, and we will definitely get to that
Speaker 1: on our next episode, but for now, we'll call it
Speaker 1: a rap. On this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team. Lots
Speaker 1: of content review of the previous game we'll have previewing
Speaker 1: the next game coming up. Lots of stuff for you
Speaker 1: this week on Packers dot com for Wes, I'm Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We will see you
Speaker 1: next time.