Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. A happy new year out there from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston Hodkowitz. Coming to you hear
Speaker 1: from our studios at Lambeufield and West here to talk
Speaker 1: about a big victory for the Green Bay Packers. It
Speaker 1: came on Sunday Night football at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: Thirty three to ten was the final score over the Vikings.
Speaker 1: And the bottom line is this. The Packers have gotten
Speaker 1: themselves to eight and eight. They are in a position
Speaker 1: where it is win to get in to the postseason.
Speaker 1: And when this team was two and five, when this
Speaker 1: team was three and six, when this team was six
Speaker 1: and eight, this situation is the best you could possibly
Speaker 1: ask for. That the Packers got themselves back in the race,
Speaker 1: they got the help they needed, and now it's in
Speaker 1: their hands.
Speaker 2: I was looking over the Internet before I popped in
Speaker 2: here to shoot on scripted. We do that sometimes from
Speaker 2: time to time, as my former colleague Pete Doherty say,
Speaker 2: I'm going to read the Internet for a minute, and
Speaker 2: what I saw was NFL bringing up the graphic of
Speaker 2: the AFC playoff picture and the NFC playoff picture and
Speaker 2: to see the green Bay Packers back into that number
Speaker 2: seven spot after everything they went through. I think Matt
Speaker 2: Lafleur had some very poetic words after that win over
Speaker 2: the Carolina Panthers in the locker room. He mentioned how
Speaker 2: they all count the same and you have to keep
Speaker 2: yourself alive. Green Bay did. That was not their best
Speaker 2: performance in Carolina, but conversely to some of their poorer
Speaker 2: performances this season, they got the win and how quickly
Speaker 2: things can change over a one week span of time.
Speaker 2: They going into US Bank Stadium and Michael if I
Speaker 2: would have closed my eyes at several moments of that game,
Speaker 2: other than the fact that there was tons of fans
Speaker 2: around me with the open air press box, in some
Speaker 2: ways almost felt like a game at lambeau Field. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the energy in there after the first quarter, The way
Speaker 2: the Packers performed probably pound for pound, the best game
Speaker 2: Green Bay has played this season. It was not perfect,
Speaker 2: but when you look at how efficient the offense was
Speaker 2: fourner and seventy yards, you look at the defense getting
Speaker 2: two takeaways in the first half and converting those into
Speaker 2: thirteen points. I felt like the Green Bay Packers made
Speaker 2: a statement that we are very much still alive in
Speaker 2: this thing, and with getting a little bit of help
Speaker 2: from the Pittsburgh Steelers, now are in control their own destiny. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It truly is a week to week league, and that
Speaker 1: just gets proven over and over again. As you said,
Speaker 1: everybody was wondering, Okay, just where is this Packers team?
Speaker 1: The offense is doing all right, but the defense seems
Speaker 1: kind of shaky. You barely escape Carolina, the team that
Speaker 1: would have the number one draft pick next season if
Speaker 1: not for the fact that they already traded it to
Speaker 1: the Bears. And then, as we talked about last week,
Speaker 1: you're thinking the Rams and the Buccaneers are the two
Speaker 1: teams really on the rise here in the end, and
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers completely fall flat in a big division game
Speaker 1: for them, and the Rams nearly get beat on the
Speaker 1: road against a Giants team, a Giants team that beat
Speaker 1: the Packers about a month ago, and and the Rams
Speaker 1: would have lost that game if a former Packers kicker,
Speaker 1: Mason Crosby had been able to make a kick, or
Speaker 1: if the Giants could have just gotten him a little
Speaker 1: bit closer instead, of leaving him with a fifty four yarder.
Speaker 1: But all that aside, this game against the Vikings really,
Speaker 1: for me, it just it showed that Jordan Love is
Speaker 1: not done taking steps forward. I thought he, you know,
Speaker 1: for the venue, you know, primetime, under the lights, what
Speaker 1: was at stake for the Packers. I thought Jordan Love
Speaker 1: was absolutely outstanding in this game. I mean he still, yes,
Speaker 1: he had a couple of throws he would like to
Speaker 1: have back, you always do, but one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: five passer rating, three touchdowns. I believe now his passer
Speaker 1: rating over the last seven games is approaching one hundred
Speaker 1: and ten. It's like one away or one o nine,
Speaker 1: something like that. And he was absolutely masterful in this game.
Speaker 1: And actually, my what you might have Missed piece that
Speaker 1: is now up on the Packers' website has a handful
Speaker 1: of clips of just of how Jordan Love was getting
Speaker 1: all the information you needed at the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: getting you know, the right protection calls and everything to
Speaker 1: set everything up for the Packers to succeed. And it
Speaker 1: just it felt like maybe other than you know, the
Speaker 1: missed fourth and one throw to bow Melton, which was
Speaker 1: really really close, it felt like after the initial three
Speaker 1: and out in this game, the Packers offense was just
Speaker 1: in a rhythm and wasn't going to be stopped.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's funny even that Melton play. I mean,
Speaker 2: he had a little bit of pass rush in his face,
Speaker 2: kind of an off platform throw, and after that happened,
Speaker 2: I was sort of thinking to myself and it was funny.
Speaker 2: In the locker room after its bow, Melton was lamenting
Speaker 2: the fact that he still didn't catch that he felt
Speaker 2: like he still could have gotten that ball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought. I thought that was one where yes,
Speaker 1: the throw could have been better, it also could have
Speaker 1: been caught. You know, it was. It was one of
Speaker 1: those that kind of goes both ways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But what I was thinking about efforts, I'm like,
Speaker 2: you watch an average NFL game, and I watched a
Speaker 2: lot of football this weekend while waiting for this one
Speaker 2: quarterback play doesn't look as efficient on a week two
Speaker 2: week basis as Jordan Love made it look in that
Speaker 2: much pressure in Minnesota, both figuratively and literally.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he saw a lot in this game, and yet
Speaker 2: he made the throws he needed to make, and he
Speaker 2: did it routinely. It's not a situation now where well,
Speaker 2: there's too many incompletions or why is he throwing these
Speaker 2: deep balls? It's starting to turn into more Oh wow,
Speaker 2: how many consecutive completions were there? How many plays has
Speaker 2: he made? And particularly you know, I wrote that story
Speaker 2: last week about the goal to goal situations and the
Speaker 2: way that he commands the line of scrimmage when there's
Speaker 2: points on the line is probably something that I think
Speaker 2: has really impressed me this year. Him having thirty touchdown
Speaker 2: passes thirty four scores on the season. That's not an anomaly.
Speaker 2: This guy knows how to put points on the board.
Speaker 2: And in a game like this against the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 2: who were starting a rookie fifth round pick at quarterback,
Speaker 2: Jordan Love really did look like the veteran and his
Speaker 2: team played like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think Love's touchdown pass total is
Speaker 1: now up to like third in the league, you know,
Speaker 1: right now. There's a lot to be said for that.
Speaker 1: And what's impressed me the most about Love as well
Speaker 1: when you look at how things have gone the last
Speaker 1: couple of months, is he is making it work no
Speaker 1: matter who is out there. The Packers have had injuries
Speaker 1: at the perimeter positions running back, tight end, wide receiver
Speaker 1: all throughout the season, and there were a lot of
Speaker 1: struggles early. But now that Jordan Love has hit his
Speaker 1: stride and really gotten this offense into a groove, you know,
Speaker 1: it didn't matter that Dontavian Wicks was a late scratch.
Speaker 1: You know, they were hoping maybe he'd be available, but
Speaker 1: then he wasn't. You know, Christian Watson's been out for
Speaker 1: multiple weeks now. Jaden Reid has been in and out
Speaker 1: of the lineup with injuries. Luke Musgrave the Packers are
Speaker 1: still maybe hoping to get him back, but he's not
Speaker 1: back yet. It hasn't mattered because Jordan Love makes it
Speaker 1: work with whoever whoever's out there. Read before he had
Speaker 1: to leave the game at halftime with what appears to
Speaker 1: be kind of a recurrence of the chest injury or
Speaker 1: something got reaggravated there. He catches two touchdowns. He breaks
Speaker 1: Sterling Sharp's rookie record for receptions, a record that had
Speaker 1: stood around here for thirty five years. Bo Melton thrice
Speaker 1: elevated now from the practice squad to the active roster,
Speaker 1: and now he's been signed to the active roster. He
Speaker 1: becomes the first Packers receiver with a one hundred yard game,
Speaker 1: catches the deep shot from Sean Clifford at the end
Speaker 1: there to get over one hundred, and then the little
Speaker 1: engine that could, so to speak, as we talked about
Speaker 1: last week, Aaron Jones is in the backfield, just crank
Speaker 1: it out yards one hundred and twenty rushing yards again.
Speaker 1: The Packers went into the game in Carolina with not
Speaker 1: a single one hundred yard rushing or one hundred yard
Speaker 1: receiving performance this season, and now in the last two
Speaker 1: games they have three of them. Jones has been over
Speaker 1: one hundred yards rushing twice and now Melton goes over
Speaker 1: one hundred yards receiving. The guys that are around Jordan
Speaker 1: Love have elevated their games right along with Loves. In Jones' case,
Speaker 1: it was a matter of getting healthy. We've seen Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones do all this before. But all those other guys,
Speaker 1: their games are you know, their arrows are pointing up
Speaker 1: the same way. Jordan Loves is well.
Speaker 2: And just like I wrote a story because spoiler alert,
Speaker 2: the tight Ends are going to be featured on the
Speaker 2: Game Day program on Sunday. I wrote this story on
Speaker 2: Josiah Deguara and the tight Ends and you know Tucker
Speaker 2: Kraft everything he's done over three hundred yards receiving now
Speaker 2: in the season, two touchdowns that all happened, and really
Speaker 2: this whole second half of the season too, since you
Speaker 2: know Luke Musgrave got hurt and believe that was the
Speaker 2: Chargers game right at the last rated kidney. And now
Speaker 2: you suddenly have the stat that Tom Fanning from our
Speaker 2: communications staff was pumping out about how Craft is now
Speaker 2: what the seventh rookie tight end since nineteen seventy to
Speaker 2: have four straight games of forty four plus catches and
Speaker 2: forty five plus receiving yards. Yeah, I mean, just uncommon production, Mike.
Speaker 2: You don't always get that from NFL tight ends period,
Speaker 2: regardless of whether or not you're a rookie. But bringing
Speaker 2: it back to your initial point there, one, if you're
Speaker 2: gonna be down all these receivers, if you're gonna be
Speaker 2: down all these playmakers, Aaron Jones is the guy you need,
Speaker 2: and he's been that guy back to back games. First time.
Speaker 2: He's had one hundred plus rushing yards and back to
Speaker 2: back games since the end of the twenty nineteen season.
Speaker 2: The offense just typically isn't structured like that, but they've
Speaker 2: needed to feed Jones the last couple of weeks, and
Speaker 2: they did it again on Sunday. Aj Dillon has to
Speaker 2: go out with the stinger. That meant more Aaron Jones
Speaker 2: late in the four minute offense situations. I thought he
Speaker 2: thrived in that. But the last thing before I turn
Speaker 2: it back over to you is bow Melton. Because I've
Speaker 2: written about it, I've talked about it. I know you
Speaker 2: and I have had discussions about this. I have so
Speaker 2: much respect for this young man and you saw the
Speaker 2: way he carried himself when he came in the building
Speaker 2: line last year, just looking for an opportunity. Really super
Speaker 2: quick guy, little bit undersized, right, but kind of in
Speaker 2: that same sort of area as Jaden Reid in terms
Speaker 2: of his measurables. He doesn't make the roster. The Packers
Speaker 2: do draft three receivers. A lot of questions there about okay, well,
Speaker 2: where exactly a you're going to fit into this thing?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: He stuck around. He stayed on the practice squad. He
Speaker 2: wasn't active for the first two and a half months
Speaker 2: of the year, and then in a situation like this
Speaker 2: where not only does he have to be a starter
Speaker 2: for the first time, his career. Not only is he
Speaker 2: a part of the offense when they lose Jayden Reid,
Speaker 2: he was one of their biggest playmakers in the second half,
Speaker 2: just moving the chains, not even explosive plays. That's what
Speaker 2: this thing's all about. And when you hear guys like
Speaker 2: Aaron Jones and Adam Stenovitch, the offensive coordinator, talk about
Speaker 2: how deep this room is, the fact they've done that
Speaker 2: in a complete overhaul in the last two years, that's remarkable.
Speaker 1: Michael, Yeah, it absolutely is. You look at what Melton
Speaker 1: has done. As you say, he was an inactive on
Speaker 1: game day, on the practice squad for the bulk of
Speaker 1: the season, and now here the Packers are in a
Speaker 1: playoff push and Jordan Love is looking for bow Melton
Speaker 1: on third down. He's looking for bo Melton when the
Speaker 1: blitz is in his face because he knows where Melton's
Speaker 1: route is going to be, and he's going to put
Speaker 1: the ball out there and let him go get it.
Speaker 1: Melton also gets his first NFL touchdown, and you actually
Speaker 1: had the list in your Insider Inbox column on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Seven players this season have caught their first NFL touchdown
Speaker 1: from Jordan Love. I mean, that's remarkable in itself. I
Speaker 1: can't even I don't even know how you put together
Speaker 1: or how you figure out the list or whether that's
Speaker 1: some kind of a record or not. But where the
Speaker 1: Packers are and we'll see what happens this week. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know they were running some tests on Jaden Reid
Speaker 1: with him having to leave the game, and he was
Speaker 1: obviously on his way to one hundred yards receiving. He
Speaker 1: had eighty nine with two touchdowns at halftime. You know
Speaker 1: he was going to get his one hundred yard game,
Speaker 1: but unfortunately had to leave. We'll see what his status is.
Speaker 1: We'll see don Tavian Wis, We'll see about Christian Watson
Speaker 1: and Luke Musgrave here in this must win game coming
Speaker 1: up against the Bears. But and this is this is
Speaker 1: what I wrote about on the bus ride slash plane
Speaker 1: ride back after the game for my rapid reaction piece,
Speaker 1: because the question you and I are getting the most
Speaker 1: is what is the difference between the Packers being in
Speaker 1: that must win game in Week eighteen at home against
Speaker 1: the division rival last year where it was Detroit and
Speaker 1: they were playing well, and now it's the same situation
Speaker 1: this year another division rival in Chicago, who is playing well.
Speaker 1: And we'll talk more about the Bears on our on
Speaker 1: our next episode. So what's what's the difference? And to me,
Speaker 1: the difference is where the Packers offense is and it's
Speaker 1: what Jordan Love is doing. Last year, yes, the Packers
Speaker 1: got on a run late in the season, but the
Speaker 1: red zone problems, the gold to go problems were not
Speaker 1: fixed the Packers where they were getting a bunch of
Speaker 1: turnovers on defense, but then the offense was still kicking
Speaker 1: field goals. You know, the Packers' special teams got the
Speaker 1: touchdown against Minnesota on the Nixon return and a pick
Speaker 1: six by Darnell Savage. They were racking up a bunch
Speaker 1: of points. It wasn't the offense that was doing it.
Speaker 1: And those problems on the Packers offense last year reared
Speaker 1: their ugly head when the season was on the line
Speaker 1: against the Lions. This Packers offense in twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: is in a completely different place with completely different personnel
Speaker 1: than the Packers had a year ago. And so for
Speaker 1: me like that, that's what makes going into this game
Speaker 1: feel so different from Week eighteen last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you I mean you hit it. That's the
Speaker 2: one A one b That is the biggest part. I
Speaker 2: think when you talk about the offense and where things
Speaker 2: are at, the only thing I will build off of that.
Speaker 2: I'll just say this. The Packers in twenty twenty two
Speaker 2: were a more veteran team that got better as the
Speaker 2: season were on. They got better in the month of December.
Speaker 2: They played more like a teamment football. This Packers team
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three is better because of progression and
Speaker 2: because of players that were in roles early on that
Speaker 2: maybe they weren't quite ready for in the first couple
Speaker 2: of weeks of the season now being catalysts to their
Speaker 2: specific phase. And then much like all these seasons. I
Speaker 2: know we'll pivot here shortly into the defense, I'm sure,
Speaker 2: but you look at a guy like Corey Ballentine and
Speaker 2: go back to Rasseul Douglas and these guys, and again
Speaker 2: going back to bow Melton. These guys that maybe when
Speaker 2: you had your first fifty three at the beginning of
Speaker 2: the year you were set in your depth charts at
Speaker 2: home or trying to figure out, okay, what is going
Speaker 2: to be the chain of command With the way these
Speaker 2: things are schemed up. They aren't the guys that you
Speaker 2: were really having written down and sharpie as Okay, these
Speaker 2: are the core players. But over the course of a season,
Speaker 2: when your roster is fifty three players, when you can
Speaker 2: only dress forty eight on game days, you have guys
Speaker 2: that are suddenly thrust into positions. They could be a rookie,
Speaker 2: they could be a fifty year player, but they own
Speaker 2: that and they become invaluable to what you're doing. And
Speaker 2: that's ultimately what you need. Michael. It's progression, veteran and
Speaker 2: young player alike.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, on the defensive side of the ball, you
Speaker 1: brought up you brought up Corey Ballentine, and the Packers
Speaker 1: also went with Carrington Valentine, those two who were integral
Speaker 1: to the Packers, you know, kind of getting things going defensively.
Speaker 1: In November, they ended up being the guys on Sunday
Speaker 1: Night in Minneapolis because j R. Alexander was suspended for
Speaker 1: the one game and then Eric Stokes had a recurrence
Speaker 1: of his hamstring injury prior to the trip to Minneapolis
Speaker 1: and he was placed on injured reserve. His season is over,
Speaker 1: So the Packers went back to CV and CB as
Speaker 1: they are known in the locker room, you know, against
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and kJ Osbourne and you
Speaker 1: know what ends up happening. Justin Jefferson is held to
Speaker 1: five just for fifty nine yards. Jordan Addison has a
Speaker 1: twenty yard reception but that's about all that he does,
Speaker 1: and kJ Osborne doesn't even catch a pass snaps. Yeah, now,
Speaker 1: a lot of that, A lot of that is, you know,
Speaker 1: was the Vikings problems at quarterback, and you know they
Speaker 1: made the move to go to Jaren Hall, the rookie
Speaker 1: fifth round pick. He was going to make his second
Speaker 1: NFL start. Kevin O'Connell just desperate to find a quarterback
Speaker 1: who is going to protect the football. And as you
Speaker 1: mentioned much earlier in the show, the Packers end up
Speaker 1: getting two turnovers in the first half. Both of those
Speaker 1: get turned into touchdowns. The first one, I thought, in
Speaker 1: particular was was just enormous. It was an off target
Speaker 1: throw to the tight end kind of underneath, and because
Speaker 1: it was off target, the tight end deflected with his
Speaker 1: hands and Ballentine was there to get the pick and
Speaker 1: just whatever it was a player two later, boom, Jayden
Speaker 1: Reid is in the end zone and the Packers turn
Speaker 1: a three to nothing game into attend to nothing game
Speaker 1: and all these questions suddenly are on the Minnesota sideline, like, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe this guy can't protect the football either. We just
Speaker 1: had another turnover led to points for the other team.
Speaker 1: There was a real shift I felt in the building
Speaker 1: and just in the field of things, which is what
Speaker 1: I thought would happen if they could get a turnover
Speaker 1: early from Jaron Hall and it played out that way.
Speaker 1: Then they get another one at the end of the
Speaker 1: first half, turned that into another touchdown, and suddenly you're
Speaker 1: up twenty points at halftime.
Speaker 2: And here's the thing that was really important about that
Speaker 2: opening sequence too. No disrespect to what the Vikings did,
Speaker 2: because I understand it. You have a rookie fifth round
Speaker 2: pick out there. You're not going to dial up a
Speaker 2: lot of exotic stuff. You want to get him comfortable, right, Well,
Speaker 2: what happened. It was the sixteen year old that's out
Speaker 2: there for his first driver's ED class. I guess he'd
Speaker 2: be fifteen year old. Yeah, and you're driving ten miles
Speaker 2: an hour and you back into the pole. That's what happened.
Speaker 2: Because that Johnny Mont passed. That was about as basic
Speaker 2: as it gets. They tried to get a little tricky
Speaker 2: because they saw the Packers had their base personnel. They
Speaker 2: tried to motion it into an empty set, but that's
Speaker 2: just the basic underneath, brought basically to the tight end
Speaker 2: and it sales high to him and Corey Balentine made
Speaker 2: a fantastic, fantastic play on that because it's those ones
Speaker 2: that look so simple, Mike, that oftentimes will fall through
Speaker 2: defensive back's hands. They put their hands on their helmet and.
Speaker 1: You go on to second down the old tip drill, right,
Speaker 1: It's like you have to be able to react, keep
Speaker 1: your eyes on the ball, you know, keep your wits
Speaker 1: about you. And and Balentine was able to get his his.
Speaker 2: First which I thought this was important too because he
Speaker 2: gets that first pick. This is a guy that's been
Speaker 2: in the National Football League. This is his fifth season
Speaker 2: in some shape or form, with four different clubs. He
Speaker 2: gets his first pick. You talk about a confidence boost
Speaker 2: for a young guy that found out on Saturday that
Speaker 2: he'd be starting because of the injury to the hamstring
Speaker 2: issue with Eric Stokes, right, you're drawing Justin Jefferson. He
Speaker 2: gets that pick early. He's playing physical, he's jamming at
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage. He gets two pass deflections while
Speaker 2: Jefferson is in his coverage the Packers, I thought, when
Speaker 2: you talk about marrying your pass rush with your secondary,
Speaker 2: fourteen quarterback hits and four sacks, seven passes defense including
Speaker 2: the interception, Packers finally played complimentary on both sides that
Speaker 2: they had to weather some injuries to do it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but my goodness, Michael, I thought that that was an
Speaker 2: encouraging performance as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the fourteen quarterback hits was really pretty astounding, and
Speaker 1: I believe it was nine different nights, nine different players.
Speaker 2: I lied to Presston after the game, I said it
Speaker 2: was thirteen. It was nine. Oops.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's still pretty remarkable. And the Vikings did
Speaker 1: end up switching quarterbacks. Haul got benched at halftime. They
Speaker 1: went with Nick Mullins. The other really big key moment
Speaker 1: for the defense was that opening possession for the Vikings
Speaker 1: in the second half. The score is twenty three to three.
Speaker 1: Mullins is taking the Vikings down the field, and you
Speaker 1: could tell immediately he just had so much better feel
Speaker 1: for the timing of the Vikings offense. You know, he
Speaker 1: hits Jefferson, he hits Addison like they're on the move
Speaker 1: and they're looking to get a touchdown, which would have
Speaker 1: been the score twenty three to ten. Middle of the
Speaker 1: third quarter. The game is far from over at that point,
Speaker 1: but the Packers get him in fourth and four from
Speaker 1: the nine yard line, and you know, O'Connell passes on
Speaker 1: the field goal like twenty three to six. He's not
Speaker 1: interested in that. He wants to get this game to
Speaker 1: twenty three to ten. And the Packers defense, you know, interestingly,
Speaker 1: you know, in my opinion, for as aggressive as we
Speaker 1: saw them in various situations like the slot blitz with
Speaker 1: Keishaw Nixon on first and twenty, they threw a six
Speaker 1: man pressure at Jaren Hall on just a basic like
Speaker 1: second and six call, you know, and that's when Kuay
Speaker 1: Walker gets his sack. When he makes ty Chandler with
Speaker 1: on the blitz pick up the fourth and four at
Speaker 1: the nine yard line. Packers just played it straight four
Speaker 1: man rush, you know, man to man coverage, safety help,
Speaker 1: which turns into a very effective double team on Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson and Quay Walker is spying Nick Mullins to where
Speaker 1: when Mullens steps up, he's got nowhere to go. Walker
Speaker 1: is a shoulder into him that makes that throw really
Speaker 1: tough and the defense gets off the field. The score
Speaker 1: is still twenty three to three. I thought that was
Speaker 1: a big moment there, because in that building, that touchdown
Speaker 1: happens middle of the third quarter and it's twenty three
Speaker 1: to ten. A lot of things could have looked different.
Speaker 2: I mean, you just had to listen. I mean, the
Speaker 2: Vikings fans at that point were just looking for a
Speaker 2: reason to cheer, and they got it. And I looked
Speaker 2: at the clock, I'm like, okay, fourteen and change left.
Speaker 2: Stranger things have happened. But it was at that point
Speaker 2: that then the Packers' offense locks back down. Thirteen plays
Speaker 2: ninety one yards, they eight eight minutes off the clock
Speaker 2: in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, it was
Speaker 2: the thirteen plays fifty four yards and eight seven to
Speaker 2: fifty five off the clock.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for a field goal.
Speaker 2: They just didn't blink. Yeah, And I thought that was
Speaker 2: so critical because Mike, that's where again people were ripping us, me,
Speaker 2: everyone a couple of weeks ago, a week ago about
Speaker 2: the Matt Lafleur stepp into the podium in Carolina and
Speaker 2: taking ownership for the offense going three and out twice
Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter at the time in which Screen
Speaker 2: Bay defense was really struggling. Yeah, people like, why is
Speaker 2: he throwing the offense under the bus. Because one, he's
Speaker 2: the play caller, that's the part that he's overseeing. That's
Speaker 2: kind of accountability. I can spell it for if you
Speaker 2: need me to. But the fact is is that you
Speaker 2: can when you have answers and you give up points,
Speaker 2: whether it be an advisory, you know, adversity defense situation,
Speaker 2: you get up, you you're able to eat eight minutes
Speaker 2: off the clock as opposed to turning the ball over
Speaker 2: fifty five seconds later to the defense to the opposition,
Speaker 2: that's what makes all the difference in these games. It's
Speaker 2: when you pick each other up. Yeah it was a
Speaker 2: muff punt. Yeah, mistakes were made. The offense came right
Speaker 2: back and responded. Green Bay never let the momentum get
Speaker 2: back in Minnesota's favor, And Michael, that's an important lesson
Speaker 2: to learn. If not for this winning you're in game
Speaker 2: on Sunday against Chicago, once you get into the postseason,
Speaker 2: if you're so lucky, those are the type of things
Speaker 2: that in your mind as a team, as a coach,
Speaker 2: as a player, you have to be respect respective to
Speaker 2: responsive to and trying to you know, have a response
Speaker 2: in those moments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we'll take a look at that playoff picture
Speaker 1: here in a moment. But first, some sponsor business Serius
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Speaker 1: fifty years of better. All right, the playoff picture. The
Speaker 1: reason this became a win to get in game for
Speaker 1: the Packers, they actually before the game kicked off in Minneapolis,
Speaker 1: the Packers knew that they were, you know, two wins
Speaker 1: to get in. Beat the Vikings, beat the Bears in.
Speaker 2: You're in.
Speaker 1: Because the Pittsburgh Steelers went to Seattle out on the
Speaker 1: West Coast and played a whale of a game against
Speaker 1: the Seahawks and cooled off what had looked like potentially
Speaker 1: a surging Seahawks team, or at least a Seahawks team
Speaker 1: that was pulling off these fourth quarter comeback and potentially
Speaker 1: building some momentum there. The Steelers get that win, it
Speaker 1: puts the Packers back in control of a wild card spot.
Speaker 1: So now the Packers get to win over the Vikings.
Speaker 1: Now they need they need to win over the Bears,
Speaker 1: and the possibilities are. The possibilities are essentially this and
Speaker 1: possibly as soon as tomorrow. At some point later this week,
Speaker 1: I will have a path to the Playoffs piece on
Speaker 1: the website laying out as legibly as I can all
Speaker 1: the different possibilities here for the Packers. But the simplest
Speaker 1: way to look at it is this. The Packers, if
Speaker 1: they win, they can get either the six or the
Speaker 1: seven seed, and they would be going to either Detroit,
Speaker 1: Philadelphia or Dallas. So it's two possible seeds, three possible destinations.
Speaker 1: That's where things sit with one game to go.
Speaker 2: If you'd be so kind, and I am putting you
Speaker 2: on the spot, okay, if you want to tell me, Wes,
Speaker 2: it's not the time for that, would you be willing
Speaker 2: to explain why exactly Green Bay at eight and eight
Speaker 2: holds the advantage for the seven seed because you have
Speaker 2: two other teams sitting in that spot right now. Seattle
Speaker 2: is the eighth seed, and then the ninth seed is
Speaker 2: New Orleans. That's simple enough because I think between them all,
Speaker 2: Seattle and Green Bay are both what is it six
Speaker 2: and five in the conference? New Orleans is five and
Speaker 2: six correct? Common opponents are both three and three between
Speaker 2: Green Bay and Seattle.
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 2: Where did the Packers have the edge there?
Speaker 1: The tiebreaker? The reason the Packers have the edge is
Speaker 1: the tiebreaker is down to strength of victory. So I
Speaker 1: can give you those numbers if you like, and when
Speaker 1: you get and when you get this late in the season,
Speaker 1: it's very difficult for the strength of victory to shift
Speaker 1: as significantly as it would need to shift for the
Speaker 1: Packers to get overtaken in that regard. So that's what
Speaker 1: it comes down to, is the packer's strength of victory, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, I'll just say this, that's how they
Speaker 1: got in on the tiebreaker in twenty ten when they
Speaker 1: got the number six seed. But we'll save that story
Speaker 1: press another day.
Speaker 2: Maybe Seattle could just lose it. We don't even have
Speaker 2: to worry about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but but yes, it gets it gets pretty It
Speaker 1: gets pretty deep into the end of the tiebreaker situation
Speaker 1: where where the Packers are in control. There is a
Speaker 1: scenario whereby the Packers could lose to the Bears and
Speaker 1: still get the number seven seed. But you don't want
Speaker 1: to hang your hat on that because it's it's like
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of games, a handful of games that
Speaker 1: would have to go the other way. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, Okay, but yes, it's strength, it's strength.
Speaker 2: You can put the playoffs about that.
Speaker 1: It'll be It'll be in there. Yeah, it'll be in there.
Speaker 1: Just so every just so everybody knows, I will say this.
Speaker 1: It's literally the Packers are going to need at least
Speaker 1: three other games to go their way in order to
Speaker 1: get in if they lose to the Bears. The most
Speaker 1: important thing is if you beat the Bears, you don't
Speaker 1: have to scoreboard, watch it all done. That's where you're at.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And and to go back to the original thesis
Speaker 2: statement of this episode, the fact that Green Bay has
Speaker 2: got itself back in this position again, Mike, a team
Speaker 2: that was what two and five, three and six a
Speaker 2: lot of times. I mean, they traded Rasul Douglas. You're
Speaker 2: really wondering exactly which direction this season's going to turn.
Speaker 2: And they found momentum. They got their two biggest wins
Speaker 2: of the season back to back with the Lions and
Speaker 2: the Chiefs. They tripped after that, they had to reset
Speaker 2: a little bit, but to be able to get the
Speaker 2: wins over Carolina and then come back and go into
Speaker 2: Minnesota and do that back to back on the road.
Speaker 2: I don't care what Carolina's record is. It's still tough
Speaker 2: to play in a different road environment and to be
Speaker 2: at eight and eight with a young football team I
Speaker 2: think at one point the youngest maybe still the youngest
Speaker 2: in the.
Speaker 1: National Football League, I would imagine.
Speaker 2: So that's a real testament I think to the job
Speaker 2: that Matt Lafleur does, and that spins me into my
Speaker 2: last point I wanted to make about this game because
Speaker 2: I wrote about an insider inbox. He will never take
Speaker 2: credit for this, he would probably hate me even talking
Speaker 2: about it, But I thought Matt Lafleur had an absolutely
Speaker 2: exceptional day calling plays against Minnesota. In the first half
Speaker 2: when the Packers to get into a rhythm, he did it.
Speaker 2: In the second half when they need to concoct some
Speaker 2: twelve minute offensive plays, it seemed like they were able
Speaker 2: to do it. And for Green Bay, you talk about
Speaker 2: coaches or players all the time, but coaches too. Everybody
Speaker 2: wants to peek here when you get into the postseason.
Speaker 2: So or in that final run, I should say, so,
Speaker 2: it was an exciting game to be a part of.
Speaker 2: And now, as we'll preview later this week, taking down
Speaker 2: the Chicago Bears, trying to make this thing really count
Speaker 2: because if you don't get a job done there and
Speaker 2: we just wasted a lot of breath.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's and that's exactly what Matt Lafleur. In fact,
Speaker 1: he said it twice at the podium in between he
Speaker 1: was interrupted by the eleven o'clock hour, where about somebody,
Speaker 1: a bunch of people in a nearby room were like
Speaker 1: watching the ball drop in New York City or whatever,
Speaker 1: and they were counting down like three two, like Matt
Speaker 1: Laflour's in the middle of a press conference answer. But
Speaker 1: he said twice in that press conference that it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean anything if the Packers can't take care of business
Speaker 1: on Sunday and beat the Bears in it in and
Speaker 1: take advantage of this opportunity, an opportunity that they did
Speaker 1: not get last year. They did not, excuse me, an
Speaker 1: opportunity they did not cash in on us last year.
Speaker 1: A couple other things just to talk about with regard
Speaker 1: to the playoff picture, the number one seeds and the
Speaker 1: first round bys in each conference are clinched. San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers are the one seed in the NFC,
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens are the one seed in the AFC.
Speaker 1: Those clubs will get will have the first weekend of
Speaker 1: the playoffs off and to themselves as far as the
Speaker 1: rest of the NFC goes. The Packers kind of jousting
Speaker 1: with the Rams for the six and seven spots. The
Speaker 1: Rams are in and if they win their game against
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers, and who knows what the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers are going to do personnel wise, because it's
Speaker 1: essentially an exhibition game for them. But if the Rams win,
Speaker 1: they get the six and then the seven is the
Speaker 1: only one excuse me, let to be determined. Dallas and
Speaker 1: Philadelphia is still battling each other for the UH for
Speaker 1: the NFC East. And here's what I figured out, Wes.
Speaker 1: As long as the Dallas has the tiebreaker right now
Speaker 1: on the Eagles, they have the same record. Dallas has
Speaker 1: the tiebreaker based on this record.
Speaker 2: That sorry, I said Dallas is also good.
Speaker 1: Yes, they're they're they're quite good, and Philadelphia is not
Speaker 1: playing very well right now.
Speaker 2: That was kind of the subtle thing I was gonna.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the the Cowboys and Eagles are tied, Dallas has
Speaker 1: the tiebreaker as long as either the Eagles or the
Speaker 1: Cowboys win this week. The winner of the NFC East
Speaker 1: is the two seed, and the loser drops to the five.
Speaker 1: The runner up in the NFC East is getting the
Speaker 1: five seed. It will be a wild card going on
Speaker 1: the road regardless. The Detroit Lions are pretty close in
Speaker 1: a sense to being locked into the three seed, except
Speaker 1: there is one scenario where the Lions jump up to
Speaker 1: the two, and that is that if the Cowboys and
Speaker 1: the Eagles both lose and the Lions beat the Vikings,
Speaker 1: then the Lions would actually vault to the two the
Speaker 1: NFC East winner, which in that case would be Dallas.
Speaker 1: If the Eagles and Cowboys both lose, Dallas would be
Speaker 1: the three seed and then the Eagles would be the five.
Speaker 1: So those are the various permutations. Obviously, whoever wins the
Speaker 1: NFC South, which could be any of three teams, the Buccaneers,
Speaker 1: the Saints, and the Falcons all have a path. The
Speaker 1: Buccaneers are the ones in control, but they all have
Speaker 1: a path to winning the NFC South, which would be
Speaker 1: the four seed and the Buccaneers and Saints. Whoever doesn't
Speaker 1: win the NFC South is still looking for a bunch
Speaker 1: of help to maybe get a wild card. But again
Speaker 1: that's where when you're the Packers, you're looking at it
Speaker 1: as we are the ones in control. Just win your
Speaker 1: game and get in and it doesn't matter what all
Speaker 1: those teams in the NFC South.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we'll preview those matchups soon enough, but I
Speaker 2: mean Tampa would need almost like a well we'll see
Speaker 2: how it goes. But I mean I think they got
Speaker 2: Carolina this week, right, I mean they do try to
Speaker 2: take care of business there.
Speaker 1: They do. Their quarterback has some sore ribs though apparently
Speaker 1: oh so, yeah, Baker Mayfield not one hundred.
Speaker 2: Percent, So Kyle Trask is the backup?
Speaker 1: There might be Yeah, I haven't looked at it.
Speaker 2: But to get back to this past weekend though, we'll
Speaker 2: have plenty of time to preview. I mean, it was interesting.
Speaker 2: I was sitting in my room on Sunday afternoon, I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: the Packers aren't getting much help. The Bears were pretty
Speaker 2: much the only ones that wanted to play ball there
Speaker 2: in the early half of things, and obviously we were
Speaker 2: going to see them Sunday. With how talented they are
Speaker 2: and where they've been sort of building towards a much
Speaker 2: better team than the Atlanta Falcons without a doubt. It
Speaker 2: doesn't matter if it was a snow game Shoulder Field.
Speaker 2: I think they win that one anywhere, Yeah, just based
Speaker 2: on where Atlanta's at.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they beat them by twenty. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: a convincing victory.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really something else. I think there was
Speaker 2: we want justin chance afterwards at Soldier Field. I mean,
Speaker 2: people were psyched up for it, the NFL, E, NFC
Speaker 2: East other than McCarthy, and what they did on Saturday
Speaker 2: night was just tripping itself. An embarrassing weekend for them.
Speaker 2: I mean the Giants, I mean, people want to put
Speaker 2: that thing at Mason's foot, Fine, no pun intended, but
Speaker 2: like everything New York did in the final five minutes,
Speaker 2: that game was just a head scratcher. Philadelphia completely falls
Speaker 2: apart in a Also, they have a.
Speaker 1: Two touchdown lead at home against the Arizona Cardinals with
Speaker 1: so much to play, for the division title, the playoff seeding,
Speaker 1: all of it, and their defense just completely falls apart
Speaker 1: against against the Cardinals. Kyler Murray goes nuts, James Connor
Speaker 1: goes nuts, and the Eagles get the winning touchdown with
Speaker 1: thirty seconds on the clock or whatever it was. And
Speaker 1: the Eagles take an absolutely devastating loss. A team that
Speaker 1: was ten to one and looking like it was headed
Speaker 1: for the one seed in the first round by is
Speaker 1: now possibly going to be relegated to the five seed
Speaker 1: and going on the road for the wild card run.
Speaker 2: And they played like that. I mean, everyone wants to
Speaker 2: talk about this much maligned defense, but the offense hasn't
Speaker 2: really been you know.
Speaker 1: Yeahckers no and and And you're right about that because,
Speaker 1: as I say, a two touchdown lead at halftime against
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, one of those touchdowns was a ninety nine
Speaker 1: yard pick six by the Eagles defense. So you're right
Speaker 1: in that the Eagles offense was not exactly setting the
Speaker 1: world up.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I mean, we'll see what all becomes of that,
Speaker 2: but yeah, fortunately for Green Bay, it all came down
Speaker 2: to Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin sent of a nice box at cheese. Maybe,
Speaker 2: uh some what is it wedding gifts.
Speaker 1: Well, did you did you see did you see the
Speaker 1: note from your from your junior reporter friend that Yeah,
Speaker 1: I put I put it in. I put it in
Speaker 1: an insider inbox on Monday morning. Your junior reporter friend
Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh missed that one. He lived, He and his
Speaker 1: family like, they live near Mike Tomlin, and they prior
Speaker 1: to the Steelers trip to Seattle, they delivered a box
Speaker 1: of chocolates to Tomlin's house, essentially asking h asking them,
Speaker 1: asking the Steelers to beat the Seahawks for the Packers
Speaker 1: lo and behold. Anyway, the note in the insider inbox
Speaker 1: was for you, because you know the young man. But
Speaker 1: I felt compelled to post it in my column because
Speaker 1: it really struck.
Speaker 2: A Well, here's the other thing. I was going on
Speaker 2: about three hours of sleep, and I probably missed that
Speaker 2: one while I was paging through the column on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: But either as Monday, I don't even know what day
Speaker 2: the week is anymore, Michael.
Speaker 1: But yeah, these night games get to us at.
Speaker 2: I've been struggling with it. But hey, I'll tell you what, Pittsburgh,
Speaker 2: you know, I hope them they can make a run here. Obviously,
Speaker 2: they got a tough challenge coming up this weekend, but
Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers bottom line got back to where
Speaker 2: they need to get to and now we'll see what
Speaker 2: they can do with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. We will preview this Packers Bears Week eighteen showdown
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, all
Speaker 1: the playoff news and scenarios and possibilities, everything you want,
Speaker 1: reviewing the Vikings game, previewing the Bears. We've got it
Speaker 1: all for you on Packers dot com. For Wes, I'm Miike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you
Speaker 1: next time.