Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston Hodquitz. Coming to you hear
Speaker 1: from our studios at Lambeufield to talk about, unfortunately, another
Speaker 1: tough loss for the Packers West twenty three to nineteen
Speaker 1: to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Akrascher Stadium. Just wanted to
Speaker 1: say that one more time for your benefit, I.
Speaker 2: Think you're getting paid over here, Mike doing it that often.
Speaker 1: My feeling, my feeling on this game. I wrote about
Speaker 1: it already in a few different places. Yes, the ending
Speaker 1: was the same and the ending was just as frustrating
Speaker 1: as the other similar endings that the Packers have been
Speaker 1: subject to this season. But this was not the same
Speaker 1: script as far as the game goes, and the script
Speaker 1: and the way this game unfolded gives you something to
Speaker 1: feel a little bit better about with the Packers than
Speaker 1: some of these other losses that we've had to discuss.
Speaker 2: I know you're not a big social media guy, you're
Speaker 2: not a big meme guy, but this almost, this game
Speaker 2: to me almost kind of felt like the kombucha Lady
Speaker 2: where she's like trying to determine whether or not she
Speaker 2: liked the flavor of it, and it's going back and forth.
Speaker 2: That's kind of been me in the aftermath of this loss,
Speaker 2: because when it first happened, I was pretty disappointed. I
Speaker 2: kind of thought I was like, Man, it happened to
Speaker 2: these guys again, Yeah, where they just they they fell
Speaker 2: into a spot where they're having to play and trying
Speaker 2: to win in the fourth quarter. But the more and
Speaker 2: more time passes, the more content I am with not
Speaker 2: only the outcome of the game, but where the Packers
Speaker 2: are at this point in time. And I think you
Speaker 2: can kind of feel that a little bit with Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 2: with this locker room. You don't want to lose, and
Speaker 2: a loss is a loss is a loss.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we stinks.
Speaker 2: There were so many things that when we talk about
Speaker 2: the signs of progression from week one to week ten,
Speaker 2: the things that necessarily didn't always see in the losses
Speaker 2: earlier this season that were present in this game against
Speaker 2: the Steelers. The Packers got off to a faster start offensively, defensively,
Speaker 2: gave up some points, first time in thirteen straight games
Speaker 2: where they gave up a touchdown on the opening offensive
Speaker 2: possession for the opposing team.
Speaker 1: First touchdown on the opening drive for the offense since
Speaker 1: week one.
Speaker 2: Since week one. Yeah, And it wasn't that they just
Speaker 2: scored a touchdown. It was that they had to respond
Speaker 2: right right. They had to actually match the touchdown that
Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh had had. And then I look at some
Speaker 2: of the guys that stepped up along the way AJ
Speaker 2: Dillon running the way he's been running the last few weeks,
Speaker 2: this rookie class, this skill position players being able to
Speaker 2: step up and defensively, not defending the run as well
Speaker 2: as they have been two hundred plus yards unacceptable, but
Speaker 2: not finding and sort of falling and regressing after that
Speaker 2: first series, those first two series where they give up
Speaker 2: fourteen points, the defense came back and battled the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers have a lot of work to do in
Speaker 2: three and six is not good enough. But now that
Speaker 2: were forty eight hours away from this thing, I feel
Speaker 2: like they're small things that Matt Lafleur and this coaching
Speaker 2: staff can point to towards we did this better. Now
Speaker 2: we need to do it to the level of which
Speaker 2: we're gonna be able to win a football game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the start for the defense was very frustrating to watch.
Speaker 1: As you said, Pittsburgh scored touchdowns on their first two possessions,
Speaker 1: they had a field goal on their third possession, so
Speaker 1: they had seventeen points on three drives out of the gate,
Speaker 1: and quite frankly that what was the most disappointing thing
Speaker 1: with the way the defense started the game was that
Speaker 1: until the final third down of the third drive, they
Speaker 1: did not get Pittsburgh in anything worse than a third
Speaker 1: and three. I mean, my point is they didn't even
Speaker 1: really give themselves much of a chance to get off
Speaker 1: the field because Pittsburgh just stayed ahead of the chains
Speaker 1: for essentially three drives until that third one ended in
Speaker 1: the red zone and they were in third and long
Speaker 1: and then ended up having to kick a field goal.
Speaker 1: So that for to see the Packers' offense start the
Speaker 1: way it did and to start productively and still find
Speaker 1: yourself in a seventeen to seven hole in the middle
Speaker 1: of the second quarter was definitely deflating a lot of
Speaker 1: other regrets in this game. And we'll certainly talk about
Speaker 1: some of the positives that we think the Packers are
Speaker 1: going to build on, but again, drop passes on offense,
Speaker 1: the penalties on both sides of the ball hurt. A
Speaker 1: blocked extra point, you can't overstate how large a role
Speaker 1: that played in the game, because you know the Packers
Speaker 1: then on those final two drives they have to get
Speaker 1: a touchdown instead of being able to settle for what
Speaker 1: might have been a game tying field goal to extend
Speaker 1: the game, and then you never know what happens after that.
Speaker 1: But the blocked extra point, the replay review thing, I'm
Speaker 1: not even going to get into it. I said my
Speaker 1: piece in Monday Mornings Insider Inbox. I'll stand by what
Speaker 1: I said there, and I know you're not really interested
Speaker 1: in talking about it either.
Speaker 2: All I'm gonna say, if I may really quickly, is
Speaker 2: that New York when when New York started jumping in
Speaker 2: on these calls where it wasn't just on the officials
Speaker 2: at the field, That's where I thought maybe we would
Speaker 2: start to get a little bit more clarity on these things.
Speaker 2: I actually think it's muddled the water even worse because
Speaker 2: in the past, I'll be honest with you, if it
Speaker 2: was just up to Scott Novak and his and his
Speaker 2: staff and his crew on the field, okay, whatever, it's
Speaker 2: just he's They're calling back to the New York office
Speaker 2: to try to make sense of these things and they
Speaker 2: still can't figure it out.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, you look at Dean Blandino for the thirty third
Speaker 2: team and I get it. Man, I'm the biggest Dean
Speaker 2: Blandino stand there is. But what I will keep saying,
Speaker 2: Mike is that when Dean Blandino was the VP officiing
Speaker 2: in the National Football League, there was accountability. Every week
Speaker 2: Dean Blandino was coming out there, he was explaining, clarifying
Speaker 2: what the calls were, good, bad, and everything in between. Yep,
Speaker 2: it's no longer out river On. But the way that
Speaker 2: this has degressed for the NFL in the last ten years,
Speaker 2: I have never had less confidence in officiating week to
Speaker 2: week and in any of my time covering the National
Speaker 2: Football League.
Speaker 1: Yep, I agree. I agree with you.
Speaker 2: That's my only two cents.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you entirely, And as I said,
Speaker 1: I will stand by what I said. I answered multiple
Speaker 1: questions about it in Monday Mornings Insider inbox. I am
Speaker 1: quite confident, even though I've only positive a theory, I'm
Speaker 1: quite confident that I'm right in how in how that
Speaker 1: went down. I'll let you folks read it.
Speaker 2: I don't want to take it in the business.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but other regrets too, even aside from that one,
Speaker 1: you know, And as you mentioned, the defense did bounce back,
Speaker 1: they gave the offense a chance to come back, and
Speaker 1: the Packers actually did take the lead in this game.
Speaker 1: But we had talked all week last week about needing
Speaker 1: to win the turnover battle, and at a time when
Speaker 1: the turnovers in the game were zero zero, Packers had
Speaker 1: the best chance for one that would have potentially turned
Speaker 1: the game around, and unfortunately, Devandre Campbell led an interception,
Speaker 1: maybe a pick sick slip through his hands. How many
Speaker 1: times coming back from these road games are we talking
Speaker 1: about interceptions and potential pick six. Is that the Packers
Speaker 1: are not coming up with the plays. Those are the
Speaker 1: game changers, those are the ones you gotta have. Campbell's
Speaker 1: not the only one who's missed one this year. It's
Speaker 1: been it's been all season long. So you get on
Speaker 1: the plane with those with those regrets as well, after
Speaker 1: you take a deep breath and you try to settle
Speaker 1: in and go, okay, how are you going to move
Speaker 1: forward here and try to get a home win over
Speaker 1: the La Chargers, and we'll talk more about the Chargers
Speaker 1: on our next episode. But when you look at what
Speaker 1: this offense did Wes, you know, it's not just Jordan
Speaker 1: Love thrown for two eighty nine. It's not just putting
Speaker 1: up three ninety nine total in a road game. It's
Speaker 1: the The explosive play was back suddenly for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. Six plays, six offensive plays in this game,
Speaker 1: five passes, one run that were twenty eight yards or longer.
Speaker 1: Those six plays accounted for over two hundred yards, more
Speaker 1: than half of the three hundred and ninety nine. That's
Speaker 1: how you get productivity in this league. And even saying
Speaker 1: the six of twenty eight or more, there were two
Speaker 1: or three others that were twenty twenty two to twenty
Speaker 1: three yards right in that range as well. The explosive
Speaker 1: play was there. I thought, I thought Jordan loves delivery
Speaker 1: when the explosive plays were there to be made, I
Speaker 1: thought he was. I thought he was spot on. I
Speaker 1: think there's no question that even with the two interceptions
Speaker 1: at the end of the game, Jordan Love played his
Speaker 1: best game as a Green Bay Packer.
Speaker 2: He made the throws that you want to see a
Speaker 2: franchise quarterback, make the decision making, and obviously the red zone,
Speaker 2: the one for five that Green Bay had down there.
Speaker 2: It'll continue to be debated this week. It's something people
Speaker 2: are gonna have their eye on. But I was watching
Speaker 2: somebody had cut up all those explosive plays and put
Speaker 2: them together. That's a real deal NFL quarterback. The way
Speaker 2: he stepped into the pocket, the way he saw through
Speaker 2: the pass rush, the way he was able to keep
Speaker 2: his eyes downfield and deliver good footballs. And yeah, there
Speaker 2: were some fun ones. The thirty five yard touchdown to
Speaker 2: Jayden Reid, the forty six yard pass to Jaden Reid,
Speaker 2: which was kind of a broken play, the seam to
Speaker 2: Luke Musgrave, the corner to Luke Musgrave. But as I
Speaker 2: wrote about an insider Inbox, I think my favorite play
Speaker 2: was the Dontavian Wicks one because it came off somewhat
Speaker 2: off schedule and it was a rookie fifth round pick
Speaker 2: finding a hole in the secondary in Jordan Love, dancing left,
Speaker 2: dancing right, doing all these little maneuvers within the pocket,
Speaker 2: standing tall and delivering a thirty two yard pass on
Speaker 2: third and long. Green Bay really executed, I thought well.
Speaker 2: Within the offense in this game, they need to get
Speaker 2: back to producing like they did earlier this season in
Speaker 2: the red zone. That was a huge strength for them
Speaker 2: early on. But overall, again, I just I think when
Speaker 2: you look at the litmus test for Jordan Love and
Speaker 2: him checking the boxes you want to see with him
Speaker 2: being aotential, you know, starting quarterback for the future for
Speaker 2: Green Bay, there were so many promising signs in this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I one hundred, which which makes ending tough, you know, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing is to see the game, to
Speaker 1: see the game end with the back to back interceptions,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll start with this, the one on the
Speaker 1: last play of the game. The fact that the Packers
Speaker 1: take over on their own nineteen yard line with fifty
Speaker 1: nine seconds left and no timeouts and needing a touchdown,
Speaker 1: and Jordan Love gets them to the sixteen yard line
Speaker 1: with three seconds left to get even a legitimate shot
Speaker 1: at the end zone. I thought that was some impressive work.
Speaker 1: And it started with, as you said, the forty six
Speaker 1: yard passed to Jayden Reid. That was some really good
Speaker 1: improv by both guys, by about the quarterback and the
Speaker 1: receiver to find that opening for a big play. You
Speaker 1: convert the fourth down to aj Dillon, you know, hustle up,
Speaker 1: spike the ball, give yourself a chance. The interception on
Speaker 1: the last play though, I mean, come on, folks, I mean,
Speaker 1: look at the film. Steelers have seven guys who are
Speaker 1: literally lined up sidelined to sideline across the goal line.
Speaker 1: I mean, which is how you defend which which is
Speaker 1: exactly how you defend that. And you need you need
Speaker 1: a p you need practically a miracle to uh to
Speaker 1: be able to get that ball into the end zone.
Speaker 1: And and Love took it. He took his shot. It
Speaker 1: didn't work out, it got picked off. I don't blame
Speaker 1: him for that interception. I didn't like the one on
Speaker 1: the previous possession though, and and Matt Lafluur has made
Speaker 1: has made some comments about that because they tried the
Speaker 1: out and up with Christian Watson down the sideline. Watson
Speaker 1: didn't really sell the out before he went up. It
Speaker 1: wasn't it wasn't the best route, and as Matt Lafluur
Speaker 1: also said, it wasn't the best coverage. Look for that
Speaker 1: kind of a route to try to make that play
Speaker 1: in the red zone where the field is a little
Speaker 1: bit tighter, and when it's only second down from the
Speaker 1: fourteen yard line, there wasn't there wasn't the need necessary
Speaker 1: really to uh to gopher broke there, so that one, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: you know, does does fall on Jordan and it does
Speaker 1: fall on h On Watson for a couple of different reasons.
Speaker 1: A heck of a play by Patrick Peterson. I mean,
Speaker 1: what can you say, A veteran guy who's going to
Speaker 1: be in Canton someday whenever he's still playing, but whenever
Speaker 1: it's five years after he's retired, the guy is going
Speaker 1: to be in Canton, and he made he made made
Speaker 1: a whale.
Speaker 2: Of a play. It was if I can't just mention
Speaker 2: this because you and I were discussing this at our cubicles. Yeah,
Speaker 2: on Monday. It reminded me of your dad in the driveway,
Speaker 2: where it's like, you may have all the athleticism in
Speaker 2: the world. You might be the better, you know, more
Speaker 2: more conditioned athlete at this point, but the old man's
Speaker 2: gonna back into every once in a while and he's
Speaker 2: gonna post up and maybe not dunk, but he'll he'll
Speaker 2: get the ball in the hoop. Yeah, that's Patrick Peterson
Speaker 2: at the stage of his career and he finds a
Speaker 2: way to make things happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that a heck of a heck of a play
Speaker 1: by him. But you'd love to see the Packers. You'd
Speaker 1: love to see Jordan Love and the offense kind of
Speaker 1: live to play another down there and take your crack on.
Speaker 1: You know, third and nine from the fourteen, you still
Speaker 1: got plenty of time on the clock to get that touchdown,
Speaker 1: or who knows, maybe with that much time on the
Speaker 1: clock and you got three timeouts, and you know the
Speaker 1: defense had you know, been hanging in there. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: you end up actually kicking the field goal and try
Speaker 1: to get the ball back one more time for another
Speaker 1: field goal to win. Who knows, But they didn't give
Speaker 1: themselves that opportunity. But we also have to point out
Speaker 1: here we talked all last week about a couple of
Speaker 1: darn good edge rushers for the Pittsburgh Steelers and TJ.
Speaker 1: Watt and Alex high Smith, And credit to Rashid Walker
Speaker 1: and to Zach Tom also to the plan. When you
Speaker 1: when you look at the film, you see you see
Speaker 1: the chip blocks, you see the help in certain situations
Speaker 1: that don't allow Watt and high Smith to just you know,
Speaker 1: pin their ears back, as they say, and come after
Speaker 1: the quarterback. The Packers slowed those guys up. They neutralized
Speaker 1: them as best they could. When Jordan Love is dropping
Speaker 1: back forty plus times and you look at the stat
Speaker 1: sheet at the end of the game and Alex Highsmith
Speaker 1: has almost no stats to speak of and TJ. Watt
Speaker 1: just has one sack and two quarterback hits on forty
Speaker 1: plus pass dropbacks in Pittsburgh on the road. That's a
Speaker 1: heck of an effort in pass protection by the Packers.
Speaker 1: And that's another good sign here moving forward, because we've
Speaker 1: been talking about, you know, when is this offensive line
Speaker 1: going to settle in to you know, to where they
Speaker 1: are with the young players that are fitting in and
Speaker 1: figuring out their roles and everything and helping this offense
Speaker 1: find a level of efficiency. That game, that game, to me,
Speaker 1: was hopefully the start of that because that was a
Speaker 1: challenge against the Pittsburgh pass rush, and the Pittsburgh pass
Speaker 1: rush did not dictate how that game went.
Speaker 2: They didn't. I was super impressed. You had to read
Speaker 2: about it in my inbox. But Zach Tom the effort
Speaker 2: he had in that game, and there was a lot
Speaker 2: of times I isolated.
Speaker 1: Just on him outstanding performance again against against a tremendous player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was you know, Aaron Jones chipping here
Speaker 2: and there. You know, guys the tight ends contributing to that.
Speaker 2: But there were a lot of times too where Zach
Speaker 2: Tom just had to get into his backstep his kickstep,
Speaker 2: and it was just him versus TJ. Watt yep and
Speaker 2: what is going to make his plays? He just will,
Speaker 2: but they again neutralize that threat. Can't say enough about
Speaker 2: really Walker, really this entire offensive line. I've watched that
Speaker 2: run too by AJ Dillon probably about a half dozen times.
Speaker 1: Now, Man, you cannot execute a sequence of blocks better
Speaker 1: than how the Packers executed on that play. That's what
Speaker 1: you might have missed, which is now on the website
Speaker 1: if people want to check out the video clips and
Speaker 1: my diagram my descriptions. I look specifically at all six
Speaker 1: of the twenty eight plus yard explosives and try to
Speaker 1: diagram and explain how and why they worked, if you
Speaker 1: want to check it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I was talking with Burt Griffin in the
Speaker 2: locker room afterwards from WFRV, and he said, I mean,
Speaker 2: it was the old John Riggins play where it's you know,
Speaker 2: you give Rashid Walker gets on his guy and you
Speaker 2: have both Runyon and Tom pulling from the right side,
Speaker 2: and they sealed it off perfectly. And for aj Dillon Man,
Speaker 2: a guy that has kind of had to go through
Speaker 2: some pitfalls this season, but to be able to finally
Speaker 2: get that high stepping down the sideline the old Walter
Speaker 2: Payton style, I can only imagine how that must have
Speaker 2: felt to him, and to be able to get up.
Speaker 2: You know, that game in itself, Mike basically rose his
Speaker 2: average yards percary from three point three to three point seven.
Speaker 2: That's the difference of an explosive play. The Packers have
Speaker 2: to get all their different various playmakers kind of all
Speaker 2: kicking at the same time. Here. You know, it was
Speaker 2: a tougher game for Aaron Jones. There was lamenting some
Speaker 2: issues afterwards, but by and large Green Bay has had
Speaker 2: most of their weapons available now and you're seeing when
Speaker 2: they're used in concert how dynamic they can be.
Speaker 1: And I'll just say this with regard to and I
Speaker 1: try to explain this, am I what you might have
Speaker 1: missed piece as well. For those who like to get
Speaker 1: all hung up on scheme and play calling, versus execution.
Speaker 1: When coaches, when guys like us say, you know, you
Speaker 1: look at the film and there's you know, things are
Speaker 1: there to be executed that aren't executed properly. That forty
Speaker 1: yard run by aj Dillon. Packers had a seven man
Speaker 1: offensive line, five linemen, two tight ends, one on each side.
Speaker 1: The Steelers had an eight man box. It was seven
Speaker 1: on eight. Schematically, that's advantage defense. But when everything is
Speaker 1: executed the way you draw it up, it's a busted
Speaker 1: It's a busted run out the gate for forty yards.
Speaker 1: It's not all about scheme and play calling, folks. It's
Speaker 1: about how the guys on the field execute their assignments.
Speaker 1: And that play was a perfect example of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the plays in which Green Bay were able
Speaker 2: to generate those explosives, it speaks to that the challenge
Speaker 2: for green Bay just tying this all together in a
Speaker 2: bow is what you said earlier with the mixed extra point,
Speaker 2: with the blocked extra point. Green Bay was finding themselves
Speaker 2: back and playing from behind from pretty much the very beginning.
Speaker 2: They got that quick little lead at the end of
Speaker 2: the third quarter, but then obviously the Pittsburgh Steelers came
Speaker 2: back and answered with what is probably an all Pro
Speaker 2: type season right now from Chris Boswell, with the way
Speaker 2: he's playing. Yeah, and for Green Bay, it just shows
Speaker 2: you why every single thing you do has to be tight. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you have to have it all coming together at the
Speaker 2: same time.
Speaker 1: And that's that's what That's what I was going to say,
Speaker 1: because the Packers, the Packers are at the stage where
Speaker 1: they're trying to put it together. They're trying, they're trying
Speaker 1: to they're trying to grow, they're trying to get this
Speaker 1: thing going. But you're still at the stage where your
Speaker 1: margin of error is incredibly thin. And when your margin
Speaker 1: of error is as thin as it is with this
Speaker 1: Packers team, every little thing matters. And yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a blocked extra point that plays a huge role
Speaker 1: in the game when the field goal unit. According to
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur, was coach to alter the snap count and
Speaker 1: to not allow a guy, a veteran like Patrick Peterson
Speaker 1: coming off the edge to time the snap and get
Speaker 1: the jump that he needs. Yes, there should have been
Speaker 1: a better block on him, but he's also not supposed
Speaker 1: to be able to time up the snap that well.
Speaker 1: But yet he was. Because it looked like, you know,
Speaker 1: the operation was, everything was normal, nothing was really changed up.
Speaker 1: Those those are the little things. Aaron Jones not getting
Speaker 1: out of bounds on the final drive on the checkdown pass,
Speaker 1: he has a chance to you know, to get to
Speaker 1: the sideline and save you know, fifteen eighteen seconds before,
Speaker 1: which are time that the Packers end up losing before
Speaker 1: their next snap, which then is why you only get
Speaker 1: one crack at the end zone once you get inside
Speaker 1: the twenty, you don't have maybe two or three there
Speaker 1: because there isn't the time on the clock. Every little
Speaker 1: thing matters with this team. And that's why this one,
Speaker 1: this one was was this one hurt more in a
Speaker 1: sense in terms of the regrets. The regrets in this
Speaker 1: one hurt more, but for a good reason because there
Speaker 1: were so many other good things that had happened in
Speaker 1: the game, and this team is, this team is getting there.
Speaker 1: You gotta believe that at some point point one of
Speaker 1: these final drives is going to result in is going
Speaker 1: to result in the victory, and then it really becomes
Speaker 1: something that they can build on. But they've got to
Speaker 1: keep they've got to continue to cut down on those
Speaker 1: mistakes that are proving so costly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's where I think, in my opinion, when
Speaker 2: I look at this whole scenario right now for green
Speaker 2: Bay in the way it's working out, I'd be more
Speaker 2: concerned if you didn't have the young guys making plays.
Speaker 2: I'd be more concerned if this was a veteran leaden
Speaker 2: team that is making the mistakes that they're making. They're
Speaker 2: kind of being the team that we sort of expected
Speaker 2: they were going to be. Unfortunately for green Bay, they've
Speaker 2: been going up against a team like Pittsburgh that, in
Speaker 2: addition being credibly well coached, they do have veteran leaders
Speaker 2: where you need them, and I think, in some ways,
Speaker 2: getting back to that Patrick Peterson analogy earlier, when you
Speaker 2: have the guys that have been there and done that, Yep,
Speaker 2: sometimes it is experienced, it helps you prevail.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, I'll take care a little bit of
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Speaker 2: Can I say one last thing on the game before
Speaker 2: we move on? Yeah, because I didn't get a chance
Speaker 2: to mention it. Kishawn Nixon. I had another big return
Speaker 2: forty nine yards.
Speaker 1: Yeah he did.
Speaker 2: I just want to say this because I want people
Speaker 2: to understand that that we're getting close here to what
Speaker 2: I would consider to be another all pro type season,
Speaker 2: and he's done it without like that huge return. Kishawn
Speaker 2: Nixon now twenty six point four yards per return. The
Speaker 2: only kickoff returner in the league right now that I
Speaker 2: believe is above four hundred return yards. Kishaw Nixon's at
Speaker 2: five oh two and it's getting cold out. That could
Speaker 2: be a big thing to follow the second half.
Speaker 1: Of this season, Absolutely no question about it.
Speaker 2: Thank you for this Wes Hokowitz minut. It brought to
Speaker 2: you by Cousin Subths. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But I'm glad you brought that up because that even
Speaker 1: that even points out another regret that you have, which
Speaker 1: is when you know you get really good field position
Speaker 1: off of a you know, a kick return near midfield
Speaker 1: by Keishawn Nixon, but then the offense goes three and
Speaker 1: out and you're not able to able to capitalize capitalize
Speaker 1: on it when maybe all you need is one or
Speaker 1: two first downs and you're getting three points on the board.
Speaker 1: And in a game you lose by four with a
Speaker 1: couple of red zone cracks at the end, you know,
Speaker 1: every every point matters. Looking around the rest of the
Speaker 1: league in Week ten, it's funny how this league works, Wes.
Speaker 1: It truly is a week to week league, because last week,
Speaker 1: at this time in this show, I said, well, all
Speaker 1: the big games the home team's held serve yep, right,
Speaker 1: Well look what happens the following week. Cleveland wins at Baltimore,
Speaker 1: Houston wins at Cincinnati, San Francisco wins at Jacksonville, Detroit
Speaker 1: wins at the Chargers, all of the big games that
Speaker 1: we talked about heading into the weekend, the road team
Speaker 1: ends up pulling them out, and Washington almost wins at
Speaker 1: Seattle the game in a game that comes down to
Speaker 1: the wire. A really wild, absolutely wild week in the NFL.
Speaker 1: The Monday night game ended up being the sixth game
Speaker 1: of the week in the NFL that ended on a
Speaker 1: walk off field goal, which is an all time record.
Speaker 1: It was already an all time record at five, and
Speaker 1: then Monday night made it six. You also had two
Speaker 1: other games that I know of from highlights that I
Speaker 1: watched that came down to a Hail Mary on the
Speaker 1: last play of the game. And then of course you
Speaker 1: have the Packers game with a shot at final play
Speaker 1: touchdown from inside the red zone. The games this week
Speaker 1: in the NFL were wildly entertaining and some pretty significant results,
Speaker 1: especially with some of those things that happened in the AFC,
Speaker 1: with Cleveland beating Baltimore, Houston beating Cincinnati, and then on
Speaker 1: Monday night, the Denver Broncos on the road beat the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills and suddenly the Broncos and Russell Wilson and
Speaker 1: Sean Payton are in the playoff conversation in the AFC.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my biggest thing from this weekend, Michael and I
Speaker 2: didn't get a chance to watch it live, but I
Speaker 2: watched the highlights. I have so much respect right now
Speaker 2: for the Vikings, Kevin O'Connell, that entire front office, Josh
Speaker 2: Dobbs going in there and playing the way he's playing
Speaker 2: right now. And did you see that clip too where
Speaker 2: he got to us Bank Stadium. He didn't know how
Speaker 2: to get to the Vikings locker room. Oh no, I
Speaker 2: like the security people were actually like directing him around. Shay,
Speaker 2: I've been there too, brother, I mean I've been there too.
Speaker 2: It's a tough place to figure out. But yeah, this,
Speaker 2: you know, he makes plays. He makes plays with his
Speaker 2: feet and Mike. I've said this so many times and
Speaker 2: I think I even mentioned it a few times when
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers was hurt in the past. In order for
Speaker 2: backup quarterbacks to succeed, you are not going to be
Speaker 2: able to win the same way that your starter did. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you can have a guy that might fit the scheme
Speaker 2: or whatever, but a lot of times it comes down
Speaker 2: to organized chaos and Josh Dobbs has mastered that. And
Speaker 2: for them to go in and perform the way they
Speaker 2: did and hold Serve against New Orleans with the menagerie
Speaker 2: of running backs that they're utilizing right now, I think
Speaker 2: that speaks a lot to him. Justin Jefferson coming around.
Speaker 2: Fortunately for the Packers, they don't need to see them
Speaker 2: yet for another month and you know, kind of see
Speaker 2: what happens there and Detroit. Uh, I made it my
Speaker 2: key to victory we'll talk about it more on Thursday.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about it on Final Thoughts and Packers Preview
Speaker 2: and the other eighty four different types of video content
Speaker 2: that you and I produce. But you have to score
Speaker 2: points in order to beat the Chargers, and you better
Speaker 2: do it in their house too, if you're gonna if
Speaker 2: you're gonna be successful. Detroit did that, and you know,
Speaker 2: Jamier Gibbs has kind of proven me wrong a little bit.
Speaker 2: He's been very steady for them, been a good contributor,
Speaker 2: and you know, Detroit is high.
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell was back to his fourth down madness too,
Speaker 1: and you know, yeah, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It worked at the end of the game. That's the
Speaker 1: way that crazy sequence he passes. He passes on a
Speaker 1: forty four yard field goal to go forward on fourth
Speaker 1: and two because he's in it, he's in a shootout.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really want to put his defense back on
Speaker 1: the field against Justin Herbert, so he's going to go
Speaker 1: for it on fourth and two, try to get the
Speaker 1: first down and then drain the clock for a walk
Speaker 1: off field goal, and it ends up working. The field
Speaker 1: goal ends up being only three yards closer, yeah, than
Speaker 1: what it would have been it was a forty one
Speaker 1: yarder instead of a forty four yarder when it was
Speaker 1: fourth and two. But there's no time on the clock
Speaker 1: and his defense doesn't have to go back out there
Speaker 1: to defend Justin Herbert again in a shootout game, and
Speaker 1: the Lions get another victory. And I want to echo
Speaker 1: your point about Kevin O'Connell because we're not normally in
Speaker 1: the business of tossing bouquets at division rivals. But for
Speaker 1: all the talk about, okay, just what do the Vikings
Speaker 1: have when they win thirteen games? But it's all these
Speaker 1: down to the wire things and all of these supposed
Speaker 1: luck metrics in this and that, you know, look at
Speaker 1: their season last year and everybody's wondering, Okay, just what
Speaker 1: do the Vikings have? Kevin O'Connell is proving that what
Speaker 1: the Vikings have is one heck of a coach. And
Speaker 1: I think that is a co which much like Dan
Speaker 1: Campbell now in Detroit. That's a coach that the Packers
Speaker 1: are going to have to deal with for a long
Speaker 1: time because those guys aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They've
Speaker 1: they've got some they've got some things figured out they're
Speaker 1: doing some impressive work. And and it's on the Packers
Speaker 1: now with Matt Lafleur, with Jordan Love with this young
Speaker 1: offense to uh to catch up and uh and get
Speaker 1: to where uh. And we're going to see the Packers
Speaker 1: play both the Lions and the Vikings again here before
Speaker 1: the end of the season. I think it could be
Speaker 1: some pretty entertaining football.
Speaker 2: And I have so much respect too for the way
Speaker 2: in which the Vikings and Lions have gone about these
Speaker 2: rebuilds or whatever you want to call him over the
Speaker 2: last few years, because for so long, all these organizations
Speaker 2: made it about, hey, we need to stop Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2: So we're just gonna make our head coach, a defensive
Speaker 2: minded head coach draft for defensive players. Right, And here's
Speaker 2: a little spoiler alert for you. Uh, it's gonna be
Speaker 2: difficult to stop Aaron Rodgers, regardless of who your head coaches.
Speaker 2: Mike Szimmer did a fine job of it many times,
Speaker 2: but ultimately it didn't bring the Vikings a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: He's still I mean, as good as Zimmer was, he
Speaker 1: still didn't actually win a whole lot of games against
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. Yes, he had some success, but for the
Speaker 1: most part, Rogers still controlled that raval.
Speaker 2: So instead the Lions went and got one of the
Speaker 2: popular coaching candidate's a guy that interviewed here as well,
Speaker 2: and Dan Campbell. Kevin O'Connell was the newest branch of that,
Speaker 2: you know, Sean McVay tree. They brought him in and
Speaker 2: they're playing good football right now. Me personally, yes, you're
Speaker 2: always pulling for the Packers. You want to see them succeed.
Speaker 2: But when you get competitive divisions like this, I've been
Speaker 2: saying for years, Mike, the NFC North is so much
Speaker 2: better than people give it credit for being. I agree,
Speaker 2: And it's only been because you've had the Packers for
Speaker 2: ten fifteen years, and then it's been the Vikings, and
Speaker 2: then maybe a little bit of Lions, then the Bears
Speaker 2: come out of nowhere, then it's back to the Vikings.
Speaker 2: There just hasn't been that consistent number two. But when
Speaker 2: you go up pound for pound playoff seedings, victories, in
Speaker 2: the postseason, regular season wins, the North is right up
Speaker 2: there with everybody. Yeah, So anyway, put a little respect
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 1: Well, I think I think there's going to be I
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be some darn entertaining games coming up
Speaker 1: within the division, a non division game coming up this
Speaker 1: week for the Packers. Before the Thanksgiving showdun in Detroit,
Speaker 1: we will talk about the Chargers. We'll talk more about
Speaker 1: that Chargers Lion shootout on our next show, but for now,
Speaker 1: we'll call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team all week long on Packers dot com. For Wes,
Speaker 1: I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will
Speaker 1: see you next time.