Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime, Weston Hodcotz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you here from our studios at lambeau Field, Weston, and
Speaker 1: we are here to talk about Packers Cowboys. In the
Speaker 1: NFC Wildcard Round. It was a forty eight to thirty
Speaker 1: two victory for the Green Bay Packers. That final score
Speaker 1: does not really indicate how this game went, and we
Speaker 1: will certainly get into that, but the bottom line is this.
Speaker 1: There are four teams left standing in the NFC looking
Speaker 1: to represent the conference in the Super Bowl, and the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers are one of them.
Speaker 2: Who to thunk it, Michael, who would have thunk it?
Speaker 2: I mean the Green Bay Packers, the team that so
Speaker 2: many people had counted out at so many different parts
Speaker 2: of this season. Here they are in the final four
Speaker 2: in the NFC, the Elite eight of the NFL, and
Speaker 2: a well earned, well thought out victory. I love the
Speaker 2: game plan, I love the execution. It was multiple phases
Speaker 2: of the game coming together for what would I think,
Speaker 2: honestly you could call the most dominant victory of this
Speaker 2: season for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question about it. I mean, this game was
Speaker 1: twenty seven to nothing late in the second quarter when
Speaker 1: Darnell Savage took that pick six to the house. It
Speaker 1: was forty eight to sixteen with ten minutes to go
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, a thirty two point lead on
Speaker 1: the road. Dallas's sixteen game home winning streak that had
Speaker 1: dated back to Week one of twenty twenty two that
Speaker 1: was wiped out. The Cowboys season is over, the Packers
Speaker 1: are moving on, and the number of the number of
Speaker 1: stars in this game is It's a long list, but
Speaker 1: it certainly starts, in my opinion, with Jordan Love. His
Speaker 1: playoff debut, first game as a starting quarterback in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and all he does is put up a maximum passer
Speaker 1: rating of one fifty eight point three until an incomplete
Speaker 1: pass late in the fourth quarter dropped it to one
Speaker 1: point fifty seven point two three touchdown passes. Jordan Love
Speaker 1: was absolutely in command and was masterful in this game.
Speaker 2: One of only five incomplete passes he threw against the Cowboys,
Speaker 2: but even more impressively, sixteen completions for two hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy two yards one hundred and fifty one of those
Speaker 2: going through Romeo Dobbs, Jordan Love and I wrote this
Speaker 2: in our Insider Inbox column. If you want to go
Speaker 2: check that out for Monday or Tuesday night, rather Mike,
Speaker 2: it didn't matter if dan Quinn blitzed them. It didn't
Speaker 2: matter if dan Quinn played coverage. It didn't matter if
Speaker 2: they loaded the box, if they played two safeties back.
Speaker 2: Every single time, Jordan had an answer for it. And
Speaker 2: you were the one that pointed this out, And I
Speaker 2: know it's been a thing making the rounds and social
Speaker 2: media this week. His mastery of the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 2: in his use of cadence to get defenses to kind
Speaker 2: of disclose what they're doing. I don't know if that's
Speaker 2: a teaching point with the Green Bay Pack. I don't
Speaker 2: know if that's something that Aaron Rodgers kind of taught him.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if that's something that Jordan's just done
Speaker 2: all his life.
Speaker 3: But as a.
Speaker 2: First year starting quarterback at twenty five years old, you
Speaker 2: could have I would have thought it was Joe Montana
Speaker 2: out there. The way that he was commanding that thing.
Speaker 2: He was poise, confident, he was cerebral in man oh
Speaker 2: Man when he needed to make some big time catches.
Speaker 2: He made them in this ball game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And when the Packers started the game just the
Speaker 1: way you'd like to. They took the ball seventy five
Speaker 1: yards down the field, took almost eight minutes off the clock.
Speaker 1: Caught one huge break on that drive, which was on
Speaker 1: the second play of that drive, Love had gotten sacked.
Speaker 1: It was looking like it would be third and twelve,
Speaker 1: but an illegal contact penalty on the Cowboys on one
Speaker 1: of the Packers' receivers downfield wiped out the sack, gave
Speaker 1: the Packers a fresh set of downs at the thirty
Speaker 1: yard line, and then from there they went seventy yards
Speaker 1: without much difficulty. And a lot of that was built
Speaker 1: on running back Aaron Jones, who, let's face it, at
Speaker 1: and T State has become his personal backyard, I guess
Speaker 1: as far as playing football. He's got seven rushing touchdowns
Speaker 1: in that stadium in his last two appearances. There, three
Speaker 1: of them here in the playoff game, which tied the Packers'
Speaker 1: playoff record for a single game. He also set the Packers'
Speaker 1: career playoff record for rushing touchdowns one hundred and eighteen yards,
Speaker 1: his fourth consecutive one hundred yard game including the end
Speaker 1: of the regular season, Aaron Jones, and quite frankly, the
Speaker 1: stick toitiveness with regard to the run really paid off
Speaker 1: here because I thought the Packers' offensive line kind of
Speaker 1: got smacked a little bit on those initial plays really
Speaker 1: early in the game. But once that group settled in
Speaker 1: and with Matt Lafleur sticking with the run and Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones starting to gash the Cowboys a little bit, that's
Speaker 1: when suddenly everything opened up on offense.
Speaker 2: And as you said, from the very beginning of this thing,
Speaker 2: this game is so predicated on momentum, and I thought,
Speaker 2: I love the way that Dallas started this game. They
Speaker 2: were physical, they were hard hitting. Dan Quinn was stacking
Speaker 2: the box. They were challenging Green Bayer run the football.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the beginning of the Packers' first two drives, it
Speaker 1: looked like Dallas was the one controlling the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: But it didn't last long.
Speaker 2: No, and being able to go seven carries twenty five
Speaker 2: yards in well earned yardage was so important for this
Speaker 2: thing because you saw Mike as it built up, the
Speaker 2: confidence that Aaron was running with, but also just the
Speaker 2: core around him, whether it was the offensive line, the
Speaker 2: tight ends, the receivers, everybody was doing their job with
Speaker 2: the blocking, and there was one moment.
Speaker 3: It was a very small moment.
Speaker 2: I don't know how many people were able to catch
Speaker 2: it on television, but it was right before the two
Speaker 2: carries for thirty seven yards that ended up rupturing into
Speaker 2: the Luke Musgrave touchdown. I believe the play the series begins,
Speaker 2: Aaron Jones is literally grittying his way to the huddle
Speaker 2: from the sideline. He's basically dancing his way onto the field.
Speaker 2: He was feeling it, and I don't know if that
Speaker 2: was just how at home he feels there. He had
Speaker 2: twenty four tickets for family and friends at that game.
Speaker 2: Obviously we know the backstory with his father. One of
Speaker 2: the most iconic photos that's ever been taken of Aaron
Speaker 2: was with his dad kind of leaning over the stands
Speaker 2: there giving him a hug before one of those games
Speaker 2: against the Cowboys. Whatever the magic is there for him,
Speaker 2: the guy was completely in his zone. Four straight games
Speaker 2: now of one hundred or more rushing yards. Up until
Speaker 2: two weeks ago, he never had back to three consecutive
Speaker 2: games with one hundred plus rushing yards. The Green Bay
Speaker 2: Packers needed Aaron Jones to be a superstar for them
Speaker 2: down the stretch, especially with this injury to AJ Dillon.
Speaker 2: In my O Mai, the twenty nine year old guy
Speaker 2: is looking like a kid again and he's.
Speaker 1: Got a heck of an accurate army. Threw a strike
Speaker 1: to his twin brother with that one touchdown ball there
Speaker 1: in the stands.
Speaker 3: I would have taken.
Speaker 2: Out probably like a pregnant woman accidentally about trying to
Speaker 2: throw that pass. I'm telling you right now, because the
Speaker 2: other thing was he was still kind of running when
Speaker 2: he threw it. That was sort of a you know,
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson played there by him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was on the move for sure. Well, you
Speaker 1: mentioned you mentioned Romeo Dobbs earlier, and it's definitely worth
Speaker 1: talking a little bit more about this performance because for
Speaker 1: as much of the rock and the consistency and everything
Speaker 1: that Romeo Dobbs has brought to this offense, particularly this
Speaker 1: year in his second season, he had yet to have
Speaker 1: a one hundred yard receiving game in his career, and
Speaker 1: he had his first, not just on a playoff stage,
Speaker 1: and not just one hundred yards, but one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty one yards on just six catches with a touchdown.
Speaker 1: It was big play after big play to Romeo Dobbs.
Speaker 1: And for those who want to take a closer look,
Speaker 1: I actually broke down all of all six of Dobbs
Speaker 1: catches in the game they're in by what you might
Speaker 1: have missed, peace, just lots of really interesting little things
Speaker 1: to see on film with regard to how those plays worked.
Speaker 1: And then I also broke down the touchdown pass to
Speaker 1: don Tavian Wish, which reflects the Jordan Love's command at
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage we were talking about earlier. But
Speaker 1: with Dobbs, the Packers had gone what was it, fourteen
Speaker 1: games without a one hundred yard receiver, and now in
Speaker 1: three of the last four games they've had one hundred
Speaker 1: yard performance by three different guys. First it was Bo Melton,
Speaker 1: then it was Jaden Reid, and now it's Romeo Dobbs. This,
Speaker 1: this Packer's receiving corps. They are proving it's It's not
Speaker 1: just some kind of a cliche. It's not just a
Speaker 1: fun thing to say. This Packer's receiving corp is proving
Speaker 1: any one of these guys could go off and be
Speaker 1: the star at any given time. I mean this next
Speaker 1: week against San Francisco. It could be Christian Watson, it
Speaker 1: could be Dontavian Wicks. Who knows, and that is functioning
Speaker 1: as a major strength for this Packers offense, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as Matt Lafleur said, Jayden Reid didn't have
Speaker 2: a catch in this game, and if and I saw
Speaker 2: him in the locker room afterwards, he was you could
Speaker 2: have thought he had another one hundred and twelve yard game. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Hold men as well, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that group has been for one another. But bringing
Speaker 2: this back to Dobbs Mike, because he is so understated,
Speaker 2: he is so about his business that it's sometimes is
Speaker 2: easy to overlook what he's doing on the field, and
Speaker 2: this game he made himself undeniable.
Speaker 3: Whether it was the routes he's running or the scheme.
Speaker 2: Personally, my favorite story, even though it wasn't you know,
Speaker 2: his forty six yarder was actually a new career long
Speaker 2: for him reception. But the thirty nine yard completion that
Speaker 2: they had there. The reason why I liked that so
Speaker 2: much is it shows you how in rhythm and how
Speaker 2: in sync this offense is. Because Matt Lafleur said, he
Speaker 2: even purposely called that time out before that to s
Speaker 2: get Dobbs back on the field to run that play
Speaker 2: and it ran perfectly for them. And it's just been
Speaker 2: moments like that with six catches one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: one yards. I was talking with Dontavian Wicks about that
Speaker 2: in the locker room afterwards. He said, you know, this
Speaker 2: is no surprise. This is what Rome does. And because
Speaker 2: there is so much variance, there is so many dynamic
Speaker 2: players out there in that receiving corps, you sometimes can
Speaker 2: forget that this second year guy who's still only I
Speaker 2: think twenty four years old, he has so much football
Speaker 2: in front of him, even though he's played so much already,
Speaker 2: and in a game like this really showed that. You know,
Speaker 2: he's a big time player and in this particular performance
Speaker 2: when they needed him, he came through in.
Speaker 3: A huge way.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And when you talk about the offense being in sync,
Speaker 1: you know, you look at the replay, you look at
Speaker 1: the film of these plays. You see Aaron Jones sticking
Speaker 1: his nose in there to help out in pass protection,
Speaker 1: throwing some key blocks on whether it's DeMarcus Lawrence or
Speaker 1: whether it's Micah Parsons. You know, you see that, you
Speaker 1: see that kind of stuff happening, and Dobbs with all
Speaker 1: the big plays you mentioned forty six yard or thirty
Speaker 1: nine yard, you had a couple twenty plus yarders in
Speaker 1: the first quarter. I think the most underrated play he made,
Speaker 1: perhaps in terms of the in terms of his impact
Speaker 1: on the game. And this is even aside from the
Speaker 1: touchdown that he got at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: After Jayira Alexander's interception, the Packers got to first in
Speaker 1: goal from the six yard line, but then got called
Speaker 1: for holding at the turn of the quarter, when then
Speaker 1: they switch ends of the field, So suddenly the Packers
Speaker 1: are on the other end of the field and it's
Speaker 1: first and goal from the sixteen. The game is only
Speaker 1: seven to nothing at this point. First and goal from
Speaker 1: the sixteen is a tough spot and the Packers are
Speaker 1: looking at you know, if you can't convert there, maybe
Speaker 1: only get a field goal. It's only ten to nothing.
Speaker 1: You're only getting three points off of the turnover in
Speaker 1: the red zone. But on first and goal from the sixteen,
Speaker 1: it's like Romeo Dobbs boom slant passed down to the
Speaker 1: one yard line. Suddenly its second goal from the one,
Speaker 1: and that penalty was erased. A big holding penalty is
Speaker 1: completely forgotten about. The Packers get the touchdown, they go
Speaker 1: up fourteen to nothing, they were on their way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and his hands, man, you and I have talked
Speaker 2: about that. I mean, he plays strong with his hands,
Speaker 2: and there's so many times, whether it's plucking the ball
Speaker 2: like on a slant like that, or just going up
Speaker 2: and being physical at the point of attack and showing
Speaker 2: to the defender. No, this is my football. Romeo Dobbs
Speaker 2: does it all. And again it's so cool to see
Speaker 2: Dontavian Wick step up and Luke Musgrave step up and
Speaker 2: Tucker Craft emerge. And obviously you've seen players like Malik
Speaker 2: Heath and bow Melton have their moments too. But so
Speaker 2: much of this a year ago was built around Romeo
Speaker 2: and Christian and this young nucleus that they were building
Speaker 2: with this receiving corps. He's still been an impact player,
Speaker 2: he still had some phenomenal games this year, but just
Speaker 2: to see him have that career sort of defining moment
Speaker 2: in how humble he was about it afterwards, really not
Speaker 2: having too much to say, I just again, I think
Speaker 2: it speaks to the duty is and by the way
Speaker 2: to correct myself still only twenty three years old. I
Speaker 2: almost put an extra year on him. So film's got
Speaker 2: a long way to go. Man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we do need to talk about the defensive
Speaker 1: performance in this game, because it was impressive. And you
Speaker 1: can't look at the statistics from this game because the
Speaker 1: Cowboys when they were way behind, they racked up a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of yards, got extra points in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. That's not what this game
Speaker 1: was about defensively for the Packers. This game was about
Speaker 1: specific moments defensively where the unit really came up big.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Alexander's interception in the red zone set up
Speaker 1: a touchdown. You have Darnell said Savages pick six late
Speaker 1: in the second quarter where he just he jumped the
Speaker 1: slant route to Ceedee Lambley. I mean he just he
Speaker 1: read Dak Prescott's eyes and Prescott quite frankly telegraphed that
Speaker 1: pass and Savage didn't miss it. He took it all
Speaker 1: the way you had the early early in the game,
Speaker 1: I believe, second quarter, the Cowboys are are on the
Speaker 1: edge of field goal range, possibly in field goal range,
Speaker 1: and Keishawn Nixon chases down Dak Prescott for a sack
Speaker 1: pushes them out of field goal range, they have to punt,
Speaker 1: and another what I thought was kind of an underrated
Speaker 1: moment for the defense in this game, the opening drive
Speaker 1: of the second half. It's twenty seven to seven. The
Speaker 1: Cowboys are scored on the final play of the first
Speaker 1: half to get on the board. They get the ball
Speaker 1: coming out in the third quarter, they drive, they're driving
Speaker 1: down the field, they get across midfield, they're into scoring territory,
Speaker 1: and then Preston Smith swats that pass down on third
Speaker 1: down and forces the Cowboys to kick a field goal,
Speaker 1: And at that point Wes twenty seven ten felt a
Speaker 1: heck of a lot different than twenty seven to fourteen.
Speaker 1: If the Cowboys would have been able to finish that
Speaker 1: drive double up on either side of the half, from
Speaker 1: twenty seven to nothing to twenty seven to fourteen, it
Speaker 1: still would have been It still would have felt like
Speaker 1: anybody's game at that point. I thought the defense rose
Speaker 1: up in some really key moments in this game, and
Speaker 1: that's something they need to hang their hat on moving forward.
Speaker 2: To Sefru. It's an excellent point because you remember, at
Speaker 2: the end of that first half you end up having
Speaker 2: the Andras Carlson missed extra point. So that's where it
Speaker 2: gets kind of dicey. If you end up getting two
Speaker 2: touchdowns and two extra points for Dallas and there's still
Speaker 2: what would there have been at that point nine minutes
Speaker 2: and twenty seven seconds left.
Speaker 3: In the third quarter. That's an eternity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I even said I remarked to my former
Speaker 2: colleague Rob Damofski when we were in the halftime line
Speaker 2: to go get some ice cream. Give you some background
Speaker 2: insight into life of a sports reporter. But I mentioned
Speaker 2: to him, I was like, hey, dude, I was here
Speaker 2: for twenty six to three. You know when Matt Flynn
Speaker 2: and Eddie Lacy led these guys back. I wasn't resting
Speaker 2: on any Laurel at that point when he's congratulating me
Speaker 2: on going on to San Francisco. But that being said,
Speaker 2: the defense, when they needed big moments, they had big
Speaker 2: moments quickly. I'm just going to go through the four
Speaker 2: that you outlined. Jyr Alexander he mentioned in the locker
Speaker 2: room five to six hours a day he was spending
Speaker 2: in the training room sleeping in compression sleeve boots just
Speaker 2: to make sure that his ankle is good. To go
Speaker 2: after he has that really unfortunate freak incident during the
Speaker 2: jog through on Wednesday, he toughs it out. He goes
Speaker 2: out there, he plays lights out football, gets his first
Speaker 2: interception of the season on that slant pass, and as
Speaker 2: you mentioned with the Romeo Dobs slant with the final
Speaker 2: touchdown run there by Jones turns that into seven points.
Speaker 2: Then you come back and get the Darnell Savage pick six.
Speaker 3: Mike.
Speaker 2: For my money, I've seen a lot of cool pick
Speaker 2: sixes in my life. That was probably the most aesthetically
Speaker 2: pleasing because Darnell was already he was in second gear
Speaker 2: when he caught that ball. Yeah, and he was in
Speaker 2: the fourth gear by midfield.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, and as I think it was Kenny Clark
Speaker 2: in the locker room when Darnell Savage is running in
Speaker 2: the open field and you see that grass in front
Speaker 2: of no one's catching that guy.
Speaker 1: And then he put it on cruise control twenty five
Speaker 1: yards in the end zone because nobody was nobody was
Speaker 1: close to me. Literally just waltzed across the goal line.
Speaker 2: And you could just see the body language of that
Speaker 2: time of the college.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the.
Speaker 2: Air was out of the balloon in the stadium, and
Speaker 2: you would expect that when you go down twenty seven nothing,
Speaker 2: But that was I really felt like, there's gonna be
Speaker 2: no Wayne lair Vi daggers in the second quarter. You
Speaker 2: even lamented even the third quarter.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I thought the third quarter is still a little early.
Speaker 1: I mean, hey, like, like, okay, I was I was
Speaker 1: in college. I was in college and I watched Houston
Speaker 1: and Buffalo the thirty five to three game out at
Speaker 1: Old Rich Stadium in Buffalo. That was thirty five to
Speaker 1: three in the third quarter, and the Buffalo Bills came
Speaker 1: back and won that game and eventually got to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl that year. So calling a dagger in the
Speaker 1: third quarter, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: Not my style. Wayne wants to do it.
Speaker 1: That's fine, not my style.
Speaker 3: Wayne's the man.
Speaker 2: We're just two peasants down here. But but that being said,
Speaker 2: I really did feel and Darnell even acknowledged it afterwards.
Speaker 2: At first, he didn't want to take too much credit
Speaker 2: for it, but he did acknowledge. He's like, twenty seven
Speaker 2: to nothing is a big deficit, and guys were even
Speaker 2: riding him a little bit, like, hey, celebrate more. He's like,
Speaker 2: we got two more quarters to play.
Speaker 1: Yet, Yeah, there was still a lot of football left
Speaker 1: at that point.
Speaker 2: You're absolutely spot on with the with the deflection from
Speaker 2: Preston Zadarius. Excuse me, Devandra Campbell also got credited for
Speaker 2: a sack at the beginning of that final part of
Speaker 2: that series too, being able to stop Prescott after kind
Speaker 2: of a weird, sort of.
Speaker 3: A boarded play.
Speaker 2: But I got to mention this, Michael, because I really
Speaker 2: did feel like the Keishawn Nixon play was one of
Speaker 2: my more underrated moments in this game because of how
Speaker 2: relentless Kishan was there. I thought that play specifically really
Speaker 2: spoke towards the defensive performance of this because, yeah, he
Speaker 2: got the sack, but if he misses that tackle, Bak's
Speaker 2: gonna have some opportunities. He didn't allow that. He was
Speaker 2: able to come through there. Two weeks after having his
Speaker 2: first half sack in his NFL career, he gets his
Speaker 2: first full sack in his first postseason sack, and Green
Speaker 2: Bay was off and running well.
Speaker 1: And I thought the key to that play And I
Speaker 1: was chatting with the fans in the live blog at
Speaker 1: the time, and a lot of the fans shared the
Speaker 1: same sentiment that I had which is that Nixon was
Speaker 1: able to make that play because he was absolutely decisive.
Speaker 1: He did not hesitate as soon as he as soon
Speaker 1: as he made up his mind, I'm going after the
Speaker 1: quarterback here. I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be all cautious and see if he wants to pump
Speaker 1: fake or throw it. I mean, because Prescott tried to
Speaker 1: pump fake, it didn't matter because Nixon had decided I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm going I'm going for the mid section. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try to get him down, and he was able
Speaker 1: to get the sack which pushed him out of field
Speaker 1: goal range. I want to bring up another thing that
Speaker 1: I hadn't realized until I was kind of looking back
Speaker 1: and processing the game. So Jordan Love hits the twenty
Speaker 1: yard touchdown to Dontavian Wicks, puts the Packers up twenty
Speaker 1: to zero. In a really strange the way this played
Speaker 1: out a strange sequence of events. Jordan Love leaves the
Speaker 1: field with a twenty to nothing lead. The next time
Speaker 1: he took a snack, it was twenty seven to ten.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because there was the pick six.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys get a touchdown on the last play of
Speaker 1: the half, they drive down and get a field goal
Speaker 1: on the opening drive of.
Speaker 2: The third quarter.
Speaker 1: So the game has gone from twenty to nothing to
Speaker 1: twenty seven to ten and Jordan Love hasn't taken a snap.
Speaker 1: But then what happens the Packers two drives in the
Speaker 1: third quarter. They go seventy five yards in five plays,
Speaker 1: and seventy five yards in three plays, one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty yards in eight plays and two touchdowns after that
Speaker 1: kind of weird layoff for the offense where they hadn't
Speaker 1: even been on the field like that just showed that
Speaker 1: just shows you how everything was clicking and nothing was
Speaker 1: going to stop the Packers' offense in this game.
Speaker 2: Well, like I said too, it was in that quarter
Speaker 2: that I saw Aaron kind of just dancing his way
Speaker 2: on the field. I mean, because again, the offense was
Speaker 2: just feeling it and it didn't matter how long they
Speaker 2: were sitting on the seats and on the bench. They
Speaker 2: were ready to play and they felt confident in their plan.
Speaker 2: Kenny Clark also joked afterwards, He's like, yeah, it was
Speaker 2: it was Goetna a little tight there in terms of
Speaker 2: needing a breather, because it was almost the opposite of
Speaker 2: some of these games where hey, offense goes three and out,
Speaker 2: the defense gotta go back out there. No, Greenbay was
Speaker 2: having so much success that the defense was continually put
Speaker 2: out on the field. Uh, and obviously the offense just
Speaker 2: being able to make big plays and huge ruptures too.
Speaker 2: I mean for Luke Musgrave to come out uncovered on
Speaker 2: that play action after those back to back explosive runs
Speaker 2: by Aaron Jones. I asked Luke about that afterwards in
Speaker 2: the locker room and he said, you know, those are
Speaker 2: the hardest catches to make because it's the ball is
Speaker 2: up there for just so long, there's so much time
Speaker 2: to think about it. He did everything right though he
Speaker 2: made it.
Speaker 1: Got The crazy thing when that play happened, the folks
Speaker 1: in the live blog were messaging me saying, there was
Speaker 1: nobody within the camera shot. When you look at the
Speaker 1: ALL twenty two, there's nobody in the sh it's the
Speaker 1: ALL twenty two. It was all one. Luke Musgrave was
Speaker 1: the only one who was even within the camera field
Speaker 1: of the ALL twenty two when he caught that ball.
Speaker 1: It was unbelievab how wide open he was.
Speaker 2: I don't do, obviously what you might have missed, but
Speaker 2: that honestly might be my favorite scheme of the season
Speaker 2: because it's a two tight end set with Bou Melton
Speaker 2: and Christian Watson both on the field, two guys who
Speaker 2: run in.
Speaker 3: The four threes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Bo Melton, you want to talk about how much
Speaker 2: respect this guy has commanded in like four weeks since
Speaker 2: he's been on the practice squad. He was the one
Speaker 2: drawing the safety to his side, kind of running sort
Speaker 2: of a corner route and from the slot, and there
Speaker 2: was just they didn't want to get burned by those two.
Speaker 2: But now that you have a pair of tight ends
Speaker 2: like Craft and Muskgrave, there's just so much to account for. Again,
Speaker 2: it's gonna get kind of probably to be cliche to
Speaker 2: discussing how deep green Bay is, but these are the
Speaker 2: type of scenarios you can kind of play with and
Speaker 2: the different combinations that Matt Lafleur and Adam Stenovich can
Speaker 2: work with in their game planning, and it's it's playing
Speaker 2: off in a big way for green Bay.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I'll take care a little bit of sponsor
Speaker 1: business here West and then we'll start looking around at
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Speaker 3: All right, So the.
Speaker 1: Packers become the first number seven seed in the four
Speaker 1: years of this current playoff format to knock off a
Speaker 1: number two. They earn a trip to the number one seed,
Speaker 1: now San Francisco, who got the loan playoff by in
Speaker 1: the NFC, and the Niners will be you know, not
Speaker 1: only a bye, but they rested their guys in Week
Speaker 1: eighteen as well, so they will be as rested and
Speaker 1: ready to go as anybody. With the Packers heading out
Speaker 1: to the West Coast. Interestingly, Wes, the Packers were the
Speaker 1: only road team on wild Card weekend to get a
Speaker 1: victory out of the six games. The home team's went
Speaker 1: five out of six, with Houston defeating Cleveland, Kansas City
Speaker 1: defeating Miami Detroit beating the Rams, Tampa Bay finishing off
Speaker 1: the apparently unstoppable collapse of the Philadelphia Eagles. And there's
Speaker 1: one other AFC game I'm missing in there. Oh and
Speaker 1: obviously Buffalo winning at home against.
Speaker 2: Did you come up with unstoppable collapse or did you
Speaker 2: pull that from somewhere?
Speaker 1: No, I just just came to me.
Speaker 3: Sorry me.
Speaker 1: Well here, okay, before we get into these games, this
Speaker 1: this is some This is something that's this is something
Speaker 1: that's worth sharing. Because you and I talk all the time.
Speaker 1: We say it on this show, we say it an
Speaker 1: insider inbox. It's it's a week to week league. All
Speaker 1: you can do is deal with what is in front
Speaker 1: of you. And I understand fans like to look ahead
Speaker 1: and everybody wants to look at the big picture and
Speaker 1: all that wes. After eleven games this season, the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles were ten and one. The Green Bay Packers were
Speaker 1: five and six. If anybody had said at that moment
Speaker 1: that the Packers would be alive in the playoffs longer
Speaker 1: than the Philadelphia Eagles, you would have been sent to
Speaker 1: an insane asylum. But that's how insane, that's how crazy
Speaker 1: this league is. You just don't know where a season
Speaker 1: is going to go for one team or another team.
Speaker 1: Teams improve, teams fall off, teams plateau. They ride a
Speaker 1: roller coaster that they can't get off. I mean, every
Speaker 1: single season is its own entity. And where the Packers
Speaker 1: are right now and where the Eagles are right now
Speaker 1: is I think a lesson for everybody in terms of
Speaker 1: just how you have to Yes, it's cliche and it's boring,
Speaker 1: but you have to take it one week at a
Speaker 1: time in this league.
Speaker 2: The thing about the NFL is, and you and I
Speaker 2: have preached this so much, it's about improving throughout the
Speaker 2: course of the season. If there would have been an
Speaker 2: in season tournament for the National Football League, Philadelphia would
Speaker 2: have probably been, if not victorious, definitely in the running.
Speaker 2: But you got to play the seventeen games. You have
Speaker 2: to handle the eighteen weeks. And I'm not going to
Speaker 2: get into all the things that went wrong for Philly
Speaker 2: this year. Obviously there's probably enough media on the West
Speaker 2: coast or the East coast excuse me how they're going
Speaker 2: to do that. But the Green Bay Packers improved from
Speaker 2: Week one against Chicago to Week eighteen against Chicago. In
Speaker 2: this game against Dallas, I thought they really showed where
Speaker 2: they've grown. And it's not just the players. It's the
Speaker 2: coaches too, understanding these guys, knowing what buttons to push,
Speaker 2: which plays to call, what the scheme is going to entail.
Speaker 2: And I just I really love the mentality that Green
Speaker 2: Bay has had during this Philadelphia Man, I don't know
Speaker 2: if there's ever been a playoff team that was again
Speaker 2: the top wild card that went up against, you know,
Speaker 2: a respectable but not world beater in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the number four seed of the division champs.
Speaker 2: Thirty two to nine for a team that had had
Speaker 2: won ten of its first eleven.
Speaker 3: It wasn't really a surprise based on how they finished
Speaker 3: the year.
Speaker 1: No, it really wasn't. It really wasn't. And so the NFC,
Speaker 1: the defending NFC champions, go from ten to one to
Speaker 1: losing six of their last seven, including the playoff game.
Speaker 1: They are out. The Packers are on their way to
Speaker 1: San Francisco. Tampa Bay is on its way to Detroit.
Speaker 1: As I like to say, I'm not in the business
Speaker 1: of tossing bouquets at division rivals, but I will say
Speaker 1: hats off to the Lions. Thirty two years without a
Speaker 1: playoff victory for that franchise, and they got it. They
Speaker 1: barely hung on twenty four to twenty three. But a
Speaker 1: win is a win. They knocked out the Rams, a
Speaker 1: team that had been playing some pretty darn good football.
Speaker 1: I thought heading into the playoffs. The Lions take care
Speaker 1: of business there.
Speaker 2: So they stopped Karen Williams too. They finally took the
Speaker 2: ball out of his hands.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were. And for all those who always wonder
Speaker 1: when we talk about, oh, you know, red zone and
Speaker 1: all these you know, catchwords, this and that, the Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions stopped the La Rams three times in the red
Speaker 1: zone and made them kick field goals three times and
Speaker 1: hung on and won that game by one point. That
Speaker 1: was the difference. The difference in that game. So the Lions,
Speaker 1: having gone thirty thirty two years without a playoff victory,
Speaker 1: thirty years without a home playoff game, suddenly now have
Speaker 1: two home playoff games in two weeks because the Packers
Speaker 1: knocked the coup Boys out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and here's the thing I like the most about
Speaker 2: the Lions and just the way this thing has kind
Speaker 2: of played out for them this season. That was a
Speaker 2: highly emotional game with Matthew Stafford going into Detroit and no,
Speaker 2: we'll talk about whether or not you could wear a
Speaker 2: nine jersey at the stadium, you.
Speaker 1: Know, and the emotions of Jared Goff as well that
Speaker 1: that he you know, leads the Lions into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but then he's got to knock off his old team.
Speaker 1: And there was you know, some obviously some bad feelings
Speaker 1: with the trade and how all that went down, and
Speaker 1: there there was a there was a lot tied up
Speaker 1: in that matchup.
Speaker 2: But this is what I love, I mean NFC Central.
Speaker 2: Like here we go back in the day, the Black
Speaker 2: and Blue Division here holding.
Speaker 3: Up the stanchioneer for the at the end.
Speaker 1: Of the two of the four left standing in the
Speaker 1: conference from the from the the old Black and Blue.
Speaker 2: But doubt you know, Detroit, this is a great opportunity
Speaker 2: for them. They're going to have an opportunity to take
Speaker 2: on a Tampa team that I'm sure they feel pretty
Speaker 2: good about matching up with. And now you look at
Speaker 2: the San Francisco forty nine ers. We're gonna have a
Speaker 2: lot of chances to talk about them later this week.
Speaker 2: But I made the comment an insider inbox that two
Speaker 2: years ago the roles were reversed. Yep, San Francisco came
Speaker 2: in here underdogs, upset green Bay in the cold Weather game.
Speaker 1: They were the sixth seed, I believe when when they
Speaker 1: came when they.
Speaker 2: Same exact circumstances too, because of the Monday nighter. They
Speaker 2: came here on a six day week to play on
Speaker 2: a Saturday night, and there they go. But it was
Speaker 2: a fun overall Super wild Card weekend. I had a
Speaker 2: really good time with the games. I unfortunately, as I
Speaker 2: told you in our pre production meeting, I fell asleep
Speaker 2: in the second half of Philadelphia and Tampa because I
Speaker 2: didn't really sleep a lot the night before.
Speaker 1: We got we we got, We got back from Dallas
Speaker 1: quite a bit later than we had planned. I lost.
Speaker 1: I lost a fair amount of sleep on Sunday night
Speaker 1: as well. That was that was That was a for
Speaker 1: for a what's supposed to be a two hour flight
Speaker 1: from Dallas back to Green Bay. That was a long
Speaker 1: travel evening.
Speaker 3: Did I tell you I had a flat tire when
Speaker 3: I got back to Green Bay?
Speaker 1: No? You did? Your car wasn't was parked not that far.
Speaker 1: Why didn't you say something?
Speaker 2: Because I got it over to a quick trip.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I got hold the one right by the
Speaker 1: airport there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I got over there and flated that thing,
Speaker 2: got it back home, figured.
Speaker 3: It all out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well good.
Speaker 3: I got I turned on my car. So it's like
Speaker 3: it's what one degree outside. It took it took me.
Speaker 1: It took me like twenty minutes to get my car
Speaker 1: scraped off to be able to drive it home. That
Speaker 1: was We came back to the deep.
Speaker 3: Freeze, and it was the perma frost.
Speaker 2: Like there's different types of like you know, no doubt
Speaker 2: you freeze over your car. It was the permafrost one,
Speaker 2: the one where it's like you almost need a match
Speaker 2: just to get the stuff off your windshield. But so
Speaker 2: I get in my car and this has nothing to
Speaker 2: do with packers on script and I'm sorry humans, but
Speaker 2: I get in my car and I got I didn't
Speaker 2: get the check engine light because usually it's always you
Speaker 2: worry about the check enginelight.
Speaker 3: I got the exclamation mark. Yeah, I don't ever get
Speaker 3: the exclamation Yeah.
Speaker 1: There the tire pressure.
Speaker 2: And it tells me the back it's like, hey, low
Speaker 2: tire pressure. I look, I was at like fifteen pounds
Speaker 2: of tire pressure in my back right tire. So there
Speaker 2: I was at like two in the morning over at
Speaker 2: quick trip.
Speaker 3: Great. And it always happens in the cold too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's the way. That's the way these things go.
Speaker 1: But we have another road trip coming up. We will
Speaker 1: be heading to San Francisco on Friday. The game is
Speaker 1: Saturday night Primetime under the Lights in Santa Clair. We
Speaker 1: will preview the heck out of that game on our
Speaker 1: next episode. Will look ahead to all of the the
Speaker 1: NFL Divisional playoff matchups on our next show. Unless you
Speaker 1: have any other.
Speaker 3: Thoughts before we do another PEP rally too, we.
Speaker 1: Are doing another PEP patio, which is where we were
Speaker 1: our last one. Yeah, Palo Alto. Is that what we're
Speaker 1: gonna be for the PEP rally.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a great one. I think Jordie was
Speaker 2: at that one. One of my all time favorite moments.
Speaker 2: So I got a chance to meet Alan Lazard's dad there, Kevin,
Speaker 2: great human being. Owes gentlemen and a lady came up
Speaker 2: and interrupted us to ask if he was one of
Speaker 2: the alumni.
Speaker 3: It's like, no, my son plays for the team.
Speaker 1: That's that's it.
Speaker 3: That's why I'm here.
Speaker 2: But uh, yeah, this one, I think it's gonna be
Speaker 2: what Tony mal and Desmond Bishop Desmond Bishop, Yeah, and
Speaker 2: Mike Spofford, which is always what's most exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Tony, if you're out there listening, I'd love
Speaker 1: a bottle of that Three Fat Guys wine that you
Speaker 1: and Darren College and Jason Spitz your whole venture out there.
Speaker 1: I know you're the guy. I know you're the guy
Speaker 1: in charge of the Three Fat Guys wine. My wife
Speaker 1: would love a bottle of that.
Speaker 3: Can you bring that back with you? I don't even
Speaker 3: know how to.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: You have to ship it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe I'll have to do that. So yeah, Tony,
Speaker 1: you'll set me up.
Speaker 2: This has been a great up, but this has been
Speaker 2: our best episode Unscripted yet. Hey, the Packers are playing
Speaker 2: playoff football.
Speaker 3: Base it's the playoffs.
Speaker 1: It's the playoffs.
Speaker 3: The package are still going.
Speaker 1: We're gonna preview the next game on our next episode
Speaker 1: and with that we will sign off on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team. It's divisional playoff week here in
Speaker 1: Green Bay. We're hitting the Skies on Friday. Saturday night
Speaker 1: is the next ball game for Wes. I am like,
Speaker 1: thank you for tuning in everybody.
Speaker 3: We will see you next time