Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is the one and only
Speaker 1: West Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field West. It's the middle of the week.
Speaker 1: Packers forty Niners for the NFC Championship will take place
Speaker 1: on Sunday PM Central Time. This is normally the show
Speaker 1: where we take a closer look at the Packers opponent.
Speaker 1: We were just doing so with the forty Niners about
Speaker 1: a month and a half ago, so we won't necessarily
Speaker 1: review all of that, but I do want to take
Speaker 1: a look at before we get to some Pro Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame news later in the show, just to
Speaker 1: tease that a little bit, but I do want to
Speaker 1: take a look at the forty Niners season, how it
Speaker 1: finished up after the victory over the Packers in Week twelve,
Speaker 1: and when you look at how this unfolded for San
Speaker 1: Francis Go. The Niners final five regular season games literally
Speaker 1: came down to the last play of the game. I
Speaker 1: mean they were involved in crunch time game. After crunch
Speaker 1: time game, they went three and two. They lost to
Speaker 1: the Ravens on the last second field goal. They lost
Speaker 1: to the Falcons on a last second touchdown, but they
Speaker 1: pulled out victories over the Saints, over the Rams, and
Speaker 1: over the Seahawks to win the NFC West and get
Speaker 1: that NFC's number one seed, which is why they are
Speaker 1: hosting the Packers this weekend. It was a really, really
Speaker 1: uh tough stretch of games, a gauntlet so to speak,
Speaker 1: that the Forts finished their season. Yeah, and honestly, I
Speaker 1: think there's maybe one game in there that they didn't
Speaker 1: play well. I felt like the Atlanta game they just
Speaker 1: they played poorly in that other ones, I mean, they
Speaker 1: had a couple of things that didn't go their way,
Speaker 1: But I mean I thought they put together a good
Speaker 1: effort against the Saints. Obviously, the game against the Ravens
Speaker 1: was what it was. Robbie Gold, I believe, was still
Speaker 1: injured during that game, and obviously, you know, the Ravens
Speaker 1: won it on a game winning field goal. And then
Speaker 1: you go to that Seahawks game, and it's funny, Mike,
Speaker 1: when you look at how the Packers won that game
Speaker 1: against Seattle. Now, while they had a little bit more
Speaker 1: breathing room than the Forts did, very similar in how
Speaker 1: those second halves played out, can you stop Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: that one play, that one drive that you need you
Speaker 1: to fill, you know, get a victory. San Francisco did that,
Speaker 1: and it just shows you that it doesn't matter if
Speaker 1: you're the first ranked defense or the last ranked defense.
Speaker 1: If you're going up against Russell Wilson, you're in for
Speaker 1: a long afternoon. And when they needed, I felt they
Speaker 1: needed to pull things together and make a statement. They
Speaker 1: did that against Minnesota. That was the game where they
Speaker 1: definitively put their foot down and said we are the
Speaker 1: better team. Because you're right. That was an absolute gauntlet.
Speaker 1: They won games that maybe they shouldn't have when you
Speaker 1: look at the Rams contest, and they lost a game
Speaker 1: against the Falcons that they very much should have won.
Speaker 1: They were the number one seed, they got the first
Speaker 1: round by they put it to good use. They're very
Speaker 1: healthy and had the performance that they did against the
Speaker 1: Vikings well. And I think the game that everybody points
Speaker 1: to as probably the game of the year in the
Speaker 1: NFL as far as the regular season is concerned, was
Speaker 1: that forty Niners visit to the super Dome in New
Speaker 1: Orleans back and forth. One of the highest scoring games
Speaker 1: in the NFL. The final was forty forty six. New
Speaker 1: Orleans gets a touchdown. I believe it was less than
Speaker 1: a minute to go, like fifty some seconds on the clock.
Speaker 1: New Orleans takes the lead. The forty Niners come back
Speaker 1: the other way and they look they're hanging by a
Speaker 1: thread there at fourth down. The game is on the line,
Speaker 1: and then George Kittle catches the pass, breaks some tackles,
Speaker 1: gets a big play down the field, and that sets
Speaker 1: up the game winning field goal. Not only obviously was
Speaker 1: that instrumental in the forty Niners ultimately getting the number
Speaker 1: one seed, it also helped the Packers get a first
Speaker 1: round by because it tagged a loss on the Saints.
Speaker 1: That ended up proving pivotal as far as all of
Speaker 1: the tie breakers and everything else went with regard to
Speaker 1: the playoff seeding. But that was one ale of a game,
Speaker 1: and I think that was the game that a lot
Speaker 1: of people said, Okay, that's the one that really pegs
Speaker 1: the Niners as the team to beat in the NFC
Speaker 1: because they went into New Orleans. Everybody knows that's a
Speaker 1: tough place to play. They want to shoot out and
Speaker 1: uh and they did it in pretty impressive fashion yea,
Speaker 1: and they got a two point stop at the end
Speaker 1: of that game. You know, there was the touchdown pass
Speaker 1: from Breeze with fifty three seconds, that's right, and the
Speaker 1: Saints went for two. They went for two because they
Speaker 1: want to be able to persive it absolute point advantage.
Speaker 1: And for the exact reason that played out, Robbie Gold
Speaker 1: comes down, makes the thirty yard field goal, forty Niners win.
Speaker 1: But you know, much like the Packers and and JR.
Speaker 1: Alexander getting that sack of Wilson, you know, those those
Speaker 1: can be such momentum turning plays, even though they aren't
Speaker 1: always the first thing to the top of your mind.
Speaker 1: I just felt like the San Francisco forty Niners showed
Speaker 1: a lot of fortitude and grit during the second half
Speaker 1: of the season, because, yeah, you can talk about those
Speaker 1: last five games in the regular season, all of them
Speaker 1: being one score. Before that, they had to knock down,
Speaker 1: drag out games against Arizona. They've really been tested when
Speaker 1: when you look at how their season has played out.
Speaker 1: What was the other game too, I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: of off the top of my head, uh, Seattle beating
Speaker 1: them on November eleven, twenty four Yeah, that overtime game
Speaker 1: on Monday night that almost ended in a tie. Like
Speaker 1: the over, the overtime almost expired before the Seahawks won. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so much of this is put on the Packers for,
Speaker 1: you know, winning ugly and all these things. I mean,
Speaker 1: people kind of forget that once the forty niner is lost,
Speaker 1: and even before that, you know, them beating Washington nine
Speaker 1: to zero. I mean, they've had to win ugly two.
Speaker 1: That's what makes this game great and as good as
Speaker 1: Seattle has been in the second half this year, and
Speaker 1: how they've won their share of one score games. I
Speaker 1: think when you look at the true strength and makeup
Speaker 1: of the NFC right now, as I said on yesterday's show,
Speaker 1: it's Green Bay and it's San Francisco. It's these two
Speaker 1: Titans that are finally gonna clash here, And as Kyle
Speaker 1: Shannon's talked about, as Matt with Floors talked about, this
Speaker 1: is going to be a different game. I'm mostly just
Speaker 1: interested in seeing one what adjustments Anahan makes offensively in
Speaker 1: this rematch against Mike Petton, his former head coach when
Speaker 1: they were together in Cleveland, and how Matt Lafleur tries
Speaker 1: to steer the ship differently for this offense in Round
Speaker 1: two against San Francisco. What did he learn from maybe
Speaker 1: watching the Rams? What did he learn from watching what's
Speaker 1: the Saints did? Is there certain avenues towards victory there
Speaker 1: that maybe the Packers didn't explore the first time that
Speaker 1: would allow him to get off to a faster start. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and obviously I think the Packers are are looking for
Speaker 1: a faster start. Things went south early in that that
Speaker 1: first matchup in Week twelve, and the Packers never really recovered. That.
Speaker 1: Being said, you know, you look at the way the
Speaker 1: forty niner season ended, as we talked about, with all
Speaker 1: these close games. You look at the way the Packers
Speaker 1: entire season is gone. With all these close games in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, you just get the feeling, just like
Speaker 1: with the Seattle game um last week, that that this one,
Speaker 1: this one's gonna be a four quarter battle. The Week
Speaker 1: twelve result, notwithstanding the the overwhelming evidence with regard to
Speaker 1: these two teams is that these are the kind these
Speaker 1: are the kind of games that they play. I remember
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on that. I believe it was a
Speaker 1: Saturday night game in Week sixteen when the forty Niners
Speaker 1: were playing the Rams, which of course Packers fans had
Speaker 1: their eye on because of potential seating possibilities and all
Speaker 1: of that. And the game is tied, and twice on
Speaker 1: San Francisco's game winning drive to kick the walk off
Speaker 1: field goal at the end, they had third and sixteen. Offensively,
Speaker 1: they converted it both times, you know, much like you
Speaker 1: know the Packers hitting the big third down conversions against
Speaker 1: Seattle to not give Russell Wilson another chance. The Rams
Speaker 1: were in great shape. You're at third and sixteen, you
Speaker 1: get a stop, you got a minute or so on
Speaker 1: the clock. Jared Goff maybe drives them down to to
Speaker 1: kick a field goal and win that game. But um,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo converts a pair of third and sixteens. The
Speaker 1: the number of crunch time, clutch moments that both of
Speaker 1: these teams have been through throughout the course of the season,
Speaker 1: I think is what really makes this interesting that now
Speaker 1: they're the last two teams standing in the NFC. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and what is an NFL season like? It is a
Speaker 1: battle of attrition. It's trying to, you know, manage the
Speaker 1: highs and the lows of a year. Because, as everyone
Speaker 1: always likes to talk about it's been what forty seven
Speaker 1: years now since the team has gone undefeated for an
Speaker 1: entire season through the Super Bowl. You're gonna take losses,
Speaker 1: You're gonna take punches on your chin, But how do
Speaker 1: you bounce back for them? And I think see San
Speaker 1: Francisco and Green Bay have been two of the most
Speaker 1: resilient teams in the NFL this year, and it goes
Speaker 1: back to confidence. Uh, these teams are not swayed by,
Speaker 1: you know, certain outcomes of adversity. They if they if
Speaker 1: they're gonna take a loss, they're gonna learn from it
Speaker 1: and they're gonna try their best the following week to
Speaker 1: not replicate those mistakes. That's what stood out to me
Speaker 1: the most during the second half of the season with
Speaker 1: San Francisco because it's not like, Okay, you have Jerry
Speaker 1: Rice and you've got you know, Garrison Hurst. You have
Speaker 1: guys that you need to feed the football too, and
Speaker 1: that's your offense. That's not the way they operate. They
Speaker 1: got three different running backs, four different running backs. If
Speaker 1: you want to throw Jeff Wilson in there, that can
Speaker 1: all take the ball in the backfield. The Packers got
Speaker 1: a little familiar with Wilson in that first game. You
Speaker 1: you have, yes, Emmanuel Sanders that came in, but they
Speaker 1: didn't just start piping the ball to Emmanuel Sanders every
Speaker 1: single down. You have different areas where they thrive in.
Speaker 1: I think they have the best tight end in football,
Speaker 1: they have the best fullback in football. They win in
Speaker 1: unconventional ways, and they thrive unconventionally. That statistic as I
Speaker 1: was watching the game against Minnesota that I wasn't familiar
Speaker 1: with is the fact that Jimmy Garoppolo's average yards per
Speaker 1: pass are the league's low right now among quarterbacks. They
Speaker 1: asked so much in terms of yards after catch from
Speaker 1: their receivers to get the ball and then create afterwards.
Speaker 1: Get the ball in open field and let your athletes work.
Speaker 1: That's what's made them so I think, honestly dominant throughout
Speaker 1: the course of the year, because if there's anything that
Speaker 1: is difficult to beat in the NFL, it's a team
Speaker 1: that consistently moves the chains and gets first down. In
Speaker 1: San Francisco for the large part of this season, has
Speaker 1: been one of the best at doing that. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And when you look at last week's game against Minnesota,
Speaker 1: which really was quite a statement by the four Niners.
Speaker 1: The way they dominated that game. They obviously used the
Speaker 1: playoff by to their advantage. They got some guys healthy,
Speaker 1: and they were in control of that game pretty much
Speaker 1: from start to finish. Garoppolo made the one mistake he
Speaker 1: threw the interception to Eric Kendricks, but the Vikings didn't
Speaker 1: totally capitalize on it. They only got a field goal
Speaker 1: out of it, and uh and then the Vikings never
Speaker 1: were able to completely close the gap. What Minnesota was
Speaker 1: able to do in that game was limit George Kittle,
Speaker 1: which not a lot of teams have been able to do.
Speaker 1: And I'm no xs and OS expert, and I did
Speaker 1: not sit and watch the game from start to finish,
Speaker 1: had some other things going on on Saturday. But in
Speaker 1: stopping George Kittle, the one thing the Vikings were not
Speaker 1: able to do was stop the running game, because because
Speaker 1: San Francisco just pounded the ball I think one of
Speaker 1: the touchdown drives, didn't They run the ball on every
Speaker 1: single play, like seven or eight plays for sixty yards
Speaker 1: something like that. So Minnesota was able to take Kiddle
Speaker 1: out of the game, but was that at the expense
Speaker 1: of not being able to stop the run I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what makes these guys so tough to defend. And
Speaker 1: what you said about whatever adjustments Petton is going to make,
Speaker 1: and as we've talked about whatever adjustments the Fleur might
Speaker 1: make in terms of trying to get Aaron Rodgers out
Speaker 1: of the pocket. Look at look at what the Rams did. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of working sideline to sideline offensively
Speaker 1: to uh to get that defense moving. It all sounds
Speaker 1: great in theory, but you have to execute it so
Speaker 1: precisely against these guys because they're really, really good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the reason I'm gonna agree with you that I
Speaker 1: think that is what happened. The emphasis on Kittle in
Speaker 1: the pasting game costs them against the run is because
Speaker 1: San Francisco had forty seven carries forty three if you
Speaker 1: don't want to count Garoppolo. Their longest carry was eleven yards.
Speaker 1: I mean, this isn't Derrick Henry wearing you down, wearing
Speaker 1: you down and then busting a big one. They were
Speaker 1: just ahead of the chains. Everything they were. They were
Speaker 1: in second and three, second and four. It seemed like
Speaker 1: the vast, the vast majority of the time I was
Speaker 1: looking at the screen, I wasn't seeing San Francisco in
Speaker 1: second and eight or second nine. It was second and
Speaker 1: four or second and five, second and two and uh.
Speaker 1: And that's a great way to live offensively, especially with
Speaker 1: that offense, when you use bunch formations and you're so
Speaker 1: tight end heavy, it isn't trying to get you know,
Speaker 1: stretch plays down the field. It's not trying to to
Speaker 1: you know, run go routes and outbreakers and trying to
Speaker 1: do things to make it explosive play happen. They're just
Speaker 1: they forced them organically, if that even makes sense. I mean,
Speaker 1: they are just going to keep pushing the ball down
Speaker 1: your throat until you just can't take it. And that's
Speaker 1: the reason I think. For example, here twenty one first
Speaker 1: downs forty in this game, there were seven for the Vikings.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Grappil only completed eleven passes. The time of possession
Speaker 1: was thirty one thirty three. Kyle Shanahan says all the
Speaker 1: right things this week, and I think people who don't
Speaker 1: really understand the four Niners and the way they win
Speaker 1: will say, well, you know, he's just giving his guys
Speaker 1: the right message that you know, you can't look at
Speaker 1: that first game with Green Bay. You gotta be focused
Speaker 1: on this one, yes, but it's also the fact that
Speaker 1: they won that game in a very different fashion than
Speaker 1: they usually win. The Packers dominated time of possession, The
Speaker 1: Packers ran seventy offensive place at Green Bay was being
Speaker 1: forced to go the length of the field. I don't
Speaker 1: even think they got two hundred yards of total offense,
Speaker 1: and San Francisco was being opportunistic. That's a way to win,
Speaker 1: and it's allowed San Francisco to be a number one
Speaker 1: seed and has allowed them to be one of the
Speaker 1: best teams in football. But that's not their bread and butter.
Speaker 1: Their bread and butter is doing what they did so
Speaker 1: that when you're in the fourth quarter, your will is broken. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what that's that's uh, that's definitely what they're after
Speaker 1: and they had. They did have some breakdowns in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter late in the season that cost him a
Speaker 1: couple of games. To their credit, they also bounced back
Speaker 1: from a few of those breakdowns and they did not
Speaker 1: ultimately give away the number one seed. And that's why
Speaker 1: they're playing at home on Sunday. And here's the other
Speaker 1: thing too, you have to consider with this, and we
Speaker 1: talked about a little bit, but it's big man. Joe
Speaker 1: Staley's back for them now, Kwon Alexander is back for them.
Speaker 1: De Ford is back for them, And there's a certain
Speaker 1: line of thinking out there. For as much attention as
Speaker 1: Bosa has gotten this year, that a lot of that
Speaker 1: attention and a lot of that success is going hand
Speaker 1: in hand with having DeFord on the field, much like
Speaker 1: having both of the Smith bros. When you get those
Speaker 1: multiple pass rushers in different ways to pressure, that's going
Speaker 1: to enable your playmakers to make more plays. This is
Speaker 1: a big challenge, no question about it. On the flip side,
Speaker 1: the Viking, sorry not the Vikings, the forty Niners have
Speaker 1: lost two players on the interior in the trenches, center
Speaker 1: Weston Richburg and defensive tackle those tackle DJ Jones are
Speaker 1: both out for the season now, so that'll be a
Speaker 1: little bit different from what the Packers faced back in
Speaker 1: Week twelve. And rich Burg would you go back to
Speaker 1: when John Lynch was building this team and they signed
Speaker 1: him over from the Giants. I felt like that was
Speaker 1: no no antenna, but a Lynch pin for their offensive
Speaker 1: line because the way they want to run the ball,
Speaker 1: in the way that he kind of compliments that style
Speaker 1: that is a challenge, no question about it. Um and
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a good matchup. Well, quickly, here's some
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Speaker 1: said we would get to the Pro Football Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame news. So that is where we are going to
Speaker 1: turn the Hall of Fame's centennial slate, this special class
Speaker 1: that is being inducted as part of the NFL's one season.
Speaker 1: There were several former Packers that were in the finalist stage,
Speaker 1: the contenders for um this honor. The only one who
Speaker 1: has been elected now to the Hall of Fame from
Speaker 1: that group is defensive back Bobby Dylan, uh LaVey Wegg
Speaker 1: cecil isbel Verne Llewellyn, and former head coach Mike Holmgren,
Speaker 1: who were all strong candidates did not make the cut. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we'll get to a little bit of that later. But
Speaker 1: I know that this special blue Ribbon panel Centennial Committee
Speaker 1: that the Hall of Fame put together to handle this
Speaker 1: process to elect this special class. Ron Wolfe was on it,
Speaker 1: and I know Ron Wolfe is a very strong advocate
Speaker 1: for Bobby Dillon. He'd been on record saying that he thought,
Speaker 1: as far as any former Packers who were deserving of
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, but we're not in that he
Speaker 1: thought Bobby Dylan had was the biggest oversight. So I'm
Speaker 1: sure that Ron Wolfe had a big part in Bobby
Speaker 1: Dylan getting getting in here. And for those who are wondering, well,
Speaker 1: who exactly is Bobby Dylon. You might think the Packers
Speaker 1: all time leader in interceptions as someone like her Batterlee
Speaker 1: or Charles Woodson, It's Bobby Dylon. He intercepted fifty two
Speaker 1: passes during his time with the Packers. That is still
Speaker 1: the franchise all time record, and um unfortunately for him,
Speaker 1: it's a posthumous honor. But congratulations to to his family
Speaker 1: and his descendants who will will have something to celebrate
Speaker 1: this year. It is quite an honor. However it happens
Speaker 1: to go into Canton. I am extremely happy for them
Speaker 1: and I hope they can take some pride in this honor.
Speaker 1: And obviously he did pass away in August at eighty nine,
Speaker 1: years old, and our sympathies and condolences go out to
Speaker 1: them for that. But it is a tremendous honor. And
Speaker 1: as you said, Ron Wolf has been a huge advocate
Speaker 1: for him for a number of years. I know there's
Speaker 1: a number of Packer players that he kind of took
Speaker 1: a liking to, just with him being the historian of
Speaker 1: this game that that he is. Yeah, the thing I
Speaker 1: love about Bobby Dylan's story is one you have to understand.
Speaker 1: If Bobby Dylan would have been eight years younger and
Speaker 1: been there during the Lombardi years, this guy would have
Speaker 1: been probably a first ballot Hall of Fame. He really
Speaker 1: would have been. Can you imagine. Can you imagine Bobby Dylan,
Speaker 1: Herb Adderley, and Willie would all in the same secondary
Speaker 1: as you say, if it was the era had just
Speaker 1: shifted maybe a little bit. And this is the other
Speaker 1: thing that's great about forties and fifties. I felt like
Speaker 1: two of the strongest candidates, I'll be honest with you,
Speaker 1: the gentleman from the twenties. I don't know much about them,
Speaker 1: but I know a lot about Cecil Hasabell, and I
Speaker 1: know a lot about Bobby Dylan. And the thing is
Speaker 1: they both cut their career short. Uh, Dylan, and for
Speaker 1: the same reason. Football was different in the forties and fifties.
Speaker 1: Guys wanted to make money. You didn't make money by
Speaker 1: playing football. If you were married and had a family.
Speaker 1: You got to explain that to your wife, why you're
Speaker 1: doing this when there's more money to be made. And
Speaker 1: I think, what was it plastics or whatever. Dylan eventually
Speaker 1: got into and and cecil Isabel ended up quitting after
Speaker 1: the retiring whatever you wanna call it, after five years
Speaker 1: and got into to being a head coach. And the
Speaker 1: thing that's great about Dylan though, is he played for
Speaker 1: six head coaches in eight years. Those were lean years
Speaker 1: for the Green Bay Packers. He had fifty two interceptions
Speaker 1: in eight seasons, the second most in the NFL at
Speaker 1: that time. And the guy, the gentleman that was in
Speaker 1: front of him, you know, played four more years and
Speaker 1: and everything else. Uh. It was an incredible run that
Speaker 1: he got on. And the fact that he was blind
Speaker 1: in one eye, I mean he only had one eye
Speaker 1: he lost. Yeah, remarkable physical attributes that he had and
Speaker 1: how he played the game with that limitation with regards
Speaker 1: to his vision, Yeah, and still being able to to
Speaker 1: lead the NFL all those years, have so many All pros,
Speaker 1: so many Pro Bowlers, And the other thing I love
Speaker 1: too about it is he's basically the one guy that
Speaker 1: kind of said no to Vince Lombardi. Lombardi comes in
Speaker 1: in fifty nine. He basically had already that being dealing,
Speaker 1: had basically made up his mind he was going to retire.
Speaker 1: Lombardi sees this film of him, identifies that this is
Speaker 1: one of our best players, if not the best player
Speaker 1: that I'm inheriting here. We gotta find a way to
Speaker 1: get him to play. And there's just a lot of
Speaker 1: you know, kind of pulling and stretching him, and you know,
Speaker 1: there was fines that were like potentially thrown out for
Speaker 1: him not taking part in training camp, and the guy
Speaker 1: was just kind of beyond it. Lombardi eventually does convince
Speaker 1: him to come. I think there were some injuries that year,
Speaker 1: the season didn't go entirely core to plan, but he
Speaker 1: did get the one season with Lombardi, which also resulted
Speaker 1: in his only winning season as a Green May Packer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's certainly true. I know you you've always been
Speaker 1: a big advocate for Cecil Isabel and unfortunately things didn't
Speaker 1: go his way. Our team historian Cliff Crystal has written
Speaker 1: a lot on our website packers dot Com history section
Speaker 1: if you want to go check some of that out
Speaker 1: with regard to Verne Llewellyn. Um because back in back
Speaker 1: in his day, Llewellyn was an all around player and
Speaker 1: he was also a punter, and field position was a
Speaker 1: huge part of the way the game was played back
Speaker 1: in the day, and and yeah, Llewellen was a huge
Speaker 1: weapon in that respect. And so I know Cliff Crystal
Speaker 1: has written a lot about how he feels Verne Llewellen
Speaker 1: has been overlooked for for too long as far as
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame is concerned. I admit I don't
Speaker 1: know a lot about Labby Dilweg other than that crazy
Speaker 1: reporter in Dallas who tried to ask Aaron Rodgers about it.
Speaker 1: But uh, but that aside the other one. The other
Speaker 1: one to talk about two is that unfortunately Mike Holmgren
Speaker 1: did not make the cut. This uh special centennial slate
Speaker 1: as they're calling it, with this Hall of Fame class
Speaker 1: was to include two coaches, and the two who made
Speaker 1: the cut who got in our Jimmy Johnson and Bill
Speaker 1: Coward those who were watching the playoff games over the weekend,
Speaker 1: both of those guys in the studio shows, but on
Speaker 1: CBS and Fox, they were informed as a surprise, essentially
Speaker 1: on live television, that they had made the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. So congratulations them in neat moments. I
Speaker 1: do feel bad for Mike Holmgren though, and I have
Speaker 1: no problem with Jimmy Johnson and Bill Coward getting in.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Johnson not only as a coach, but he was
Speaker 1: also a big part of personnel wise, of building that
Speaker 1: Dallas dynasty of the early nineties. The problem, the only
Speaker 1: problem that I have really it kind of goes back
Speaker 1: to my same remember the argument we were having about
Speaker 1: uh when Steve Atwater as a safety has been a
Speaker 1: finalist and until this year, Leroy Butler had not been
Speaker 1: a finalist, And it felt like just because of the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl thirty two result that the Broncos beat the
Speaker 1: Packers and Atwater has two Super Bowl rings and Butler
Speaker 1: only has one, that that's been some defining characteristic in
Speaker 1: terms of the process. Well, if the Seattle Seahawks wins
Speaker 1: Super Bowl forty, is Mike Holmgren in and Bill Kawer
Speaker 1: not And and to me, that's unfortunate. It feels it
Speaker 1: feels like one It feels like one game is what
Speaker 1: is making these decisions. And and I just I don't
Speaker 1: like that. It should be it should be more about
Speaker 1: the entire body of work. And and uh, I feel
Speaker 1: I feel bad for Homegren. He led he got to
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl three times with two different teams. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: he only won one of them. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what's keeping him out of the Hall of Fame. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and I want to first off point out congratulations
Speaker 1: with Jimmy Johnson and Bill Kawer. I personally feel like
Speaker 1: the NFL, with with the adjustment that the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame has made without having contributors, I'm starting
Speaker 1: to become more of an advocate for just having a
Speaker 1: head coach make it every year. I just feel like
Speaker 1: they're for as much of people feel like there was
Speaker 1: a over you know, so many seniors and contributors that
Speaker 1: are not being allowed to get in. I feel like
Speaker 1: there's really a log jam at coaches too. All that
Speaker 1: being said, I had one shoe in for this. It
Speaker 1: was Don Corrielle. Yep. I was. I was totally with you,
Speaker 1: and that's where I was going to go. So well.
Speaker 1: I thought Corey Yell deserved, has deserved for a long
Speaker 1: time to get in and unfortunately he's still not. I've
Speaker 1: I've always said I it's it's a mantra in a
Speaker 1: maxim that Pete Doherty developed when I was at the Press.
Speaker 1: Because that I've always stuck with it. It's have you
Speaker 1: did you change the game of football? Yeah, Don Coriel,
Speaker 1: he was a game changer for the game of football. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I know you didn't. I know you you didn't
Speaker 1: watch those core Yell offenses. I'm old enough to have
Speaker 1: said some highlights, Yeah, but I used to. I I
Speaker 1: was actually as a young kid, I was a big
Speaker 1: fan of those late afternoon Chargers games that you know
Speaker 1: that that we're out on the West Coast because watching
Speaker 1: what Dan Fouts was doing with Charlie Joyner and West
Speaker 1: Chandler and John Jefferson and Kellen Winslow and Chuck Munsey
Speaker 1: in the backfield. I mean, what those offenses were doing.
Speaker 1: Nobody else was doing that at that time. And that's
Speaker 1: what you say, like, did you change the game, Don
Speaker 1: Coorey Yell and that that air raid type of you know,
Speaker 1: before the current air raid. His type of air raid
Speaker 1: passing attack was revolutionary at the time, and it really did.
Speaker 1: It did change the game. It made the game a
Speaker 1: lot more exciting. And uh, and I think it's unfortunate
Speaker 1: that he got this far in this process with this
Speaker 1: centennial slate thing, and then he's still he still is
Speaker 1: not considering how close he's gotten in just the normal yes,
Speaker 1: and yeah, because he's had he's had other opportunities, but
Speaker 1: it has never fallen his way. So so that was
Speaker 1: my shoe. And I had Jimmy Johnson and Mike Homebrand
Speaker 1: as the number two. Yeah, I felt like those are
Speaker 1: the two other ones that were compete. That's where that's
Speaker 1: where my mind was as well. Johnson for everything you
Speaker 1: just said, and Homegrown from the standpoint of you have
Speaker 1: to understand this organization where it had been, at the
Speaker 1: moves that he made not only just with this roster
Speaker 1: in getting the most out of Brett far but his
Speaker 1: coaching staff and what he had built in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: And then honestly, going to you talk about Super Bowl
Speaker 1: thirty two, he goes to Seattle and makes another Super
Speaker 1: Bowl there if he wins. That's that's what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like Super Bowl forty was Homegrown against Cower, and and
Speaker 1: that was Cowers Super Bowl Championship with the Steelers, and
Speaker 1: hats off to him. Homegrown doesn't win that one. And
Speaker 1: yet here we are in this Hall of Fame decision
Speaker 1: and Cowers in and and I think, honestly, you win
Speaker 1: thirty two or forty. I think either way, homegrons in there.
Speaker 1: So this is the problem I think that this Cower
Speaker 1: situation creates. And again that I congratulate him on this honor,
Speaker 1: but it does open sort of the floodgates here. I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of resumes that need to be considered,
Speaker 1: including the coach that came after him now and Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 1: There's a certain train of thought out there that Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin's Hall of Fame candidacy is probably going to be
Speaker 1: better than what Bill Cowards even was. And I hope
Speaker 1: the voters remember at here whenever that that day comes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, Sean Payton, Mike McCarthy, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: coaches now that you're gonna need to really consider here.
Speaker 1: I think because of the decision to put Bill Coward in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, I think, and I think that is
Speaker 1: something that that's going to be discussed now in the
Speaker 1: years moving forward, So we will see. But we've gone
Speaker 1: a little bit over time, so we're going to call
Speaker 1: it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team,
Speaker 1: everything going on here on NFC Championship Week on Packers
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Speaker 1: great video content out there on the Packers YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: For Wes, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See
Speaker 1: you next time.