Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime, Wes Hodko. It's we're coming
Speaker 1: to you here from our studios at lambeau Field and
Speaker 1: Wes here to preview Monday Night Football, the first of
Speaker 1: two Monday Night games that the Packers will play this year,
Speaker 1: both on the road. This one will be in Las
Speaker 1: Vegas at Allegiant Stadium against the Raiders. The Raiders are
Speaker 1: one and three, the Packers are two and two, and
Speaker 1: I guess the first question you ask with regard to
Speaker 1: the Raiders heading into this Monday Night game, and since
Speaker 1: it's only Thursday, we don't really have much of a
Speaker 1: read on anything yet, but who's going to be playing
Speaker 1: quarterback for the Raiders? Will Jimmy Garoppolo be back or
Speaker 1: will it be the second NFL start for the rookie
Speaker 1: out of Purdue, Aidan O'Connell, who made his NFL debut
Speaker 1: last week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the number one thing to track here this
Speaker 2: week because we'll see, obviously too DeVante Adams dealing with
Speaker 2: the shoulder injury. I would be absolutely flabbergasted if he
Speaker 2: doesn't play in this game.
Speaker 1: Though, Yeah, I'm with you there.
Speaker 2: But Garoppolo that kind of crept up out of nowhere.
Speaker 2: I think it was almost like an aftermath kind of
Speaker 2: a thing that happened with one of the games that
Speaker 2: the Raiders played and then wasn't available last week.
Speaker 3: Oh don you know. It led to O'Connell getting his
Speaker 3: first start.
Speaker 2: And realistically, it hasn't really mattered who the quarterbacks been
Speaker 2: for the Raiders. They've had some issues there. Offensively, have
Speaker 2: not been able to run the ball very well. They've
Speaker 2: given up way too many turnovers. I said this in
Speaker 2: our Insider Inbox column. I mean defensively they've been okay,
Speaker 2: they've been fine. Max Crosby is an absolute beast, but
Speaker 2: they only have one takeaway. And when you have ten
Speaker 2: giveaways on offense and you can't get you know, Josh
Speaker 2: Jacobs going, it's gonna be uphill sledding. So whether it's Garoppolo,
Speaker 2: whether it's O'Connell, the Packers have to pressure the quarterback
Speaker 2: in this one. This is I hate to use the
Speaker 2: term get right game because you can look past any opponent,
Speaker 2: but this is the type of opponent that I look
Speaker 2: at the Green Bay Packers on paper, and I think
Speaker 2: to myself, it's on the road, but this is a
Speaker 2: game the Packers should win.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too. And you said it with
Speaker 1: regard to the turnovers ten to one through four games,
Speaker 1: I mean to be minus nine after four games. That's
Speaker 1: that's a stark statistic. And certainly the Packers have to
Speaker 1: keep the Raiders, you know, down in the dumps, so
Speaker 1: to speak, with regard to that statistic. And and but
Speaker 1: you talk about you talk about a get right game,
Speaker 1: and it's not something you you want to overplay in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. But we suggested this a little
Speaker 1: bit on our last show. The Raiders offensively are going
Speaker 1: to look at this as their potential get right game.
Speaker 1: With regard to Josh Jacobs, a you know, the NFL's
Speaker 1: leading rusher last year who has not been able to
Speaker 1: get going this season, and the Packers have had their
Speaker 1: struggles against the allowing two hundred plus rushing yards to
Speaker 1: two of their first four opponents. Jacob's averaging just two
Speaker 1: point seven yards per carry through four games, which is
Speaker 1: which is a noticeably low number for a guy with
Speaker 1: his production. Packers have talked about adjusting some things schematically
Speaker 1: and what not to to defend the run better. That's
Speaker 1: that's really going to be I think a big, you know,
Speaker 1: secondary storyline maybe you say, aside from the turnovers with
Speaker 1: regard to the to the Raiders. Here is Josh Jacobs
Speaker 1: and Raiders trying to get him going and the Packers
Speaker 1: trying to get their run defense fixed and uh and
Speaker 1: it's going to be in front of a national TV
Speaker 1: audience on Monday night, and.
Speaker 2: It's the cat and most game that the Raiders were
Speaker 2: trying to play here. They've been doing this for the
Speaker 2: last year. Where it's you know, Josh Jacobs in your backfield,
Speaker 2: DeVante Adams and the perimeter. Where are you going to
Speaker 2: deploy your safeties? Where are you going to give attention?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: And and Adams is you know, just a complete mind
Speaker 2: boggle because you could put two defensive backs on him.
Speaker 2: We've seen three people on him and he still finds
Speaker 2: a way to get open.
Speaker 1: Yeah. He likes to count them, yeah, to see how
Speaker 1: many people are guarding him.
Speaker 2: But the way I count him is, well, if you
Speaker 2: have three people back on number seven tight, you have
Speaker 2: you know, eight others that are responsible for the other
Speaker 2: ninety percent of the field, and right that's where I
Speaker 2: thought Josh Jacobs, that that compliment of one another really
Speaker 2: helped them last year having the seasons that they had.
Speaker 3: But Jacobs had the holdout.
Speaker 2: He obviously felt some type of way about his contract
Speaker 2: and how he wanted to be paid, and like a
Speaker 2: lot of these running backs, working through that, he finally
Speaker 2: comes back and this just hasn't been able to get
Speaker 2: back on the tracks. I'm fully aware of this because
Speaker 2: he's on my fantasy football team and I'm also off
Speaker 2: to a one and three.
Speaker 3: Start to this season, so we're doing great right now.
Speaker 3: Well there you go.
Speaker 2: But I will say this though, Michael, the Greenmit Packers
Speaker 2: have to be up for this matchup, and they have
Speaker 2: to look at Josh Jacobs as the threat that he
Speaker 2: was last season, yes, and being able to contain him,
Speaker 2: whether that is Rudy Ford or Darnell Savage being in
Speaker 2: the box, whether that is you know, Devondre Campbell if
Speaker 2: he's not out there, and it's Isaiah McDuffie running with
Speaker 2: kway Walker, the Packers have to find a way to
Speaker 2: clog the holes because whether they got stretched against Atlanta
Speaker 2: or they kind of got bulldozed a little bit, against Detroit.
Speaker 2: Green Bay has just had a hard time getting hats
Speaker 2: to the ball and that has to change or Josh
Speaker 2: Jacobs will very seriously make make you pay for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. That is definitely a top priority
Speaker 1: here for the Packers. You said it earlier from within
Speaker 1: the context of it doesn't seem to matter who's playing
Speaker 1: quarterback for the Raiders. Their offense has just kind of
Speaker 1: been what it's been this year, and DeVante Adams continues
Speaker 1: to prove that it doesn't matter who's throwing him the football.
Speaker 1: I mean, thirty three catches, three hundred ninety seven yards
Speaker 1: and three touchdowns through four games. Like, oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: DeVante Adams is just on pace for another sixteen hundred
Speaker 1: yard fifteen touchdown season here for an offense that that is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, hasn't found its way yet. I mean what
Speaker 1: Davante Adams, and I mean you and I know this,
Speaker 1: anybody I understand you know Adams, he left Green Bay
Speaker 1: on good terms. He had his own reasons for wanting
Speaker 1: to go. The front office accommodated him. The Packers made
Speaker 1: the best they could out of the trade, and DeVante
Speaker 1: Adams has said in certain public forums that you know,
Speaker 1: he felt he needed to he needed to prove he
Speaker 1: could be who he was, you know, without Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: without a Hall of Fame quarterback.
Speaker 2: All that.
Speaker 1: Well, those of us who were here knew that. Anyway, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised in the slightest what he's done with
Speaker 1: the Raiders because look at the second half of twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: For half a season, he had a backup quarterback in
Speaker 1: Brett Hunley throwing him the ball and he produced. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was the focal point of the offense. Everybody knew
Speaker 1: he was the focal point of the offense with Hunley
Speaker 1: at quarterback, and he still produced on a regular basis
Speaker 1: and won some games for the Packers with some big plays.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't surprise me at all what Adams is doing.
Speaker 1: If he slowed down a little bit by that shoulder injury,
Speaker 1: that won't bother me too much here because that could
Speaker 1: help the Packers defense. And we'll see from a matchup standpoint,
Speaker 1: you know, if Jyu Alexander is back from the back injury.
Speaker 1: There was some positive news earlier this week. Now, the
Speaker 1: Packers haven't gotten into their full blown practice preparation mode
Speaker 1: for the Raiders at the time we're taping the show.
Speaker 1: Because of the Monday night game, things have been pushed back.
Speaker 1: But after the weekend following the Thursday night game, the
Speaker 1: Packers were back on the practice field Tuesday. Elton Jenkins
Speaker 1: was back at what was back at practice after missing
Speaker 1: a couple of games. Alexander was back on the practice field.
Speaker 1: Luke Musgrave, who left the Lions game with a concussion,
Speaker 1: he was back on the practice field, and it appeared
Speaker 1: as far as we can tell that Aaron Jones and
Speaker 1: Christian Watson were going through their practice routines coming out
Speaker 1: of the Lions game. No worse for Whear when they
Speaker 1: had made their returns following injury. So David Baktieri is
Speaker 1: on injured reserve Andandre Campbell wasn't practicing. John Runyan wasn't practicing.
Speaker 1: So there were some guys who remain out at least
Speaker 1: as of this moment, but some potentially good news for
Speaker 1: the Packers on the health front.
Speaker 2: And I will hop over to that party with you
Speaker 2: in a second here, but I just want to close
Speaker 2: on one more thing about DeVante Adams. Just strange. There's
Speaker 2: two strange anomalies right now with Adams in addition, you
Speaker 2: mentioned him already had four hundred receiving yards. He still
Speaker 2: hasn't even broke one yet this season. That's just pure
Speaker 2: possession type receiver stuff, and that will happen. The Packers
Speaker 2: have to hope that it's next week or further down
Speaker 2: the line. But the other thing too, he is the
Speaker 2: Raiders offense right now too. That's probably the thing that
Speaker 2: has confused me the most. I mean, Hunter Renfro has
Speaker 2: not done anything so far this season. Austin Hooper has
Speaker 2: not produced anything. I mean, and I'm not trying to
Speaker 2: be a jerk about I'm just saying, like they have
Speaker 2: like fifty receiving yards. Jacoby Myers came over, He's had
Speaker 2: a couple opportunit. Josh Jacobs has gotten some opportunities in
Speaker 2: the PASK game. But Tay is it right now? Yeah,
Speaker 2: So that's the part I'm really curious to see. We'll
Speaker 2: see about Ji R Alexander getting back over to the
Speaker 2: injuries and how the package, but how they match up
Speaker 2: with this because if the Packers were defending the run
Speaker 2: better right now, on paper, it would seem like, Okay,
Speaker 2: well yeah, Jy your travels with them, you give him
Speaker 2: some cloud help things you can do with the cover
Speaker 2: two to facilitate that. But if you do need to
Speaker 2: kind of give some extra thought early on to the
Speaker 2: to the run defense, that's where I if again we
Speaker 2: got to see how Jaws back is, but that this
Speaker 2: seems like the type of matchup where you actually do
Speaker 2: want to see those guys kind of go head to
Speaker 2: head and see if your best can try to negate
Speaker 2: their best.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, well. Most of most of the health news with
Speaker 1: regard to the Packers is on the offensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball, and you already mentioned on the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball. For the Raiders, you got Max Crosby.
Speaker 1: He is a handful to deal with. The Las Vegas
Speaker 1: Raiders have seven sacks as a team through four games.
Speaker 1: Max Crosby has four of them. He's he is the
Speaker 1: He is the guy on the defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: and it would certainly help Green Bay in terms of
Speaker 1: finding some level of stability on the offensive line if
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins can can get back in there. We don't
Speaker 1: really know what his status will be as the week
Speaker 1: goes along, but the fact that he was back on
Speaker 1: the practice field Tuesday. He only missed the two games
Speaker 1: after getting hurt in Atlanta. He said, you know, now
Speaker 1: they weren't in you know, full full pads and you
Speaker 1: know all the banging and stuff. But he told reporters
Speaker 1: after practice on Tuesday, he got through the Tuesday practice
Speaker 1: with no you know, with no pain or no real
Speaker 1: issues at least in that moment. So you know, it
Speaker 1: looks like Rashid Walker is is the guy the Packers
Speaker 1: want to go with at left tackle in Bakhtiari's place,
Speaker 1: if you can get a veteran pro bowler like Jenkins
Speaker 1: back at left guard to be next to next to
Speaker 1: that young guy. And uh and obviously the hope is
Speaker 1: also that Zach tom is you know, a little further
Speaker 1: removed from whatever happened to his knee in the Saints game,
Speaker 1: and he's had a little bit of extra time as
Speaker 1: opposed to having to deal with that knee on a
Speaker 1: short week, which is what happened against the Lions. So
Speaker 1: hopefully some things turning in the right direction health wise
Speaker 1: for the Packers. On offense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, Max Crosby, he won't be moved around
Speaker 2: as much as Hutchinson was last week. I mean, Aiden
Speaker 2: Hutchinson was playing everywhere, but cornerback, it felt like. But
Speaker 2: the thing about Crosby is he's just a mauler. He
Speaker 2: is just a marauder. I mean, he just goes at
Speaker 2: you play after play after play.
Speaker 1: He's like a back alley dude in a sense, like
Speaker 1: out a football field, like you just it's like you
Speaker 1: have to deal with him, but you really don't want
Speaker 1: to mess with him, like I don't know if that
Speaker 1: makes any sense.
Speaker 2: And his size, I mean for that position, he just
Speaker 2: he is a sixty minute headache to deal with. And
Speaker 2: going back to a couple of years ago, even when
Speaker 2: he wasn't necessarily producing the sacks, I think he still
Speaker 2: ended up being All Pro that season because of how
Speaker 2: much teams are his pressure, how which he got the
Speaker 2: quarterback off the spot. Now, the difficult thing for the
Speaker 2: Raiders is I think they had certain feelings, you know,
Speaker 2: a year ago when they get Chandler Jones, that was
Speaker 2: going to be the one too. Now Chandler Jones is
Speaker 2: out of the picture, so there is going to be
Speaker 2: a lot more attention. There has been a lot more
Speaker 2: attention on Crosby, who has entered this kind of the
Speaker 2: peak of his powers sort of stage of his career.
Speaker 3: What I like about.
Speaker 2: Elton though, if he can play in this one, even
Speaker 2: if he's not at left tackle, even if he's not
Speaker 2: the guy that's solely responsible for Crosby, having someone like
Speaker 2: Rashid Walker, having a resource like that with Jenkins is
Speaker 2: really valuable. You know, all credit in the world to
Speaker 2: Royce Newman, but Jenkins is a two time Pro Bowler
Speaker 2: now that has played really every position at the NFL
Speaker 2: level to the highest ability, And if you have him
Speaker 2: on the field, as much as you want to have
Speaker 2: Dave out there, and as much as we talked about
Speaker 2: that all off season, Elton was a part of this future.
Speaker 2: He was the guy that they just extended. He was
Speaker 2: going to be sort of this building block for them
Speaker 2: moving forward. I think that can go a long way
Speaker 2: for this Packers' offensive line. In addition to the fact
Speaker 2: that despite whatever Zach Tom was going for last week,
Speaker 2: you and I talked about it, he wasn't flawless against Detroit,
Speaker 2: but he gave them a yeoman's effort against the Lions
Speaker 2: to hold down that right tackle spot in a week
Speaker 2: in which Green Bay was really hurting on the offensive
Speaker 2: line with John Runyon also dealing with the ankle here's.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing to me schematically with regard to Crosby.
Speaker 1: If the Packers can get Elton Jenkins back, because if
Speaker 1: you're Max Crosby and you're trying to rush Jordan Love's
Speaker 1: blind side, so you're coming off of the left side
Speaker 1: of the offense, how often do you want to stunt
Speaker 1: inside where then you know the guy who's going to
Speaker 1: pick you up as the pro bowler, as opposed to
Speaker 1: stay outside where it's a first year starter in Rashid Walker.
Speaker 1: So it would make sense that Crosby is going to
Speaker 1: want to perhaps stay outside a little bit more rather
Speaker 1: than you know, run, run the games and the stunts
Speaker 1: with his fellow defensive lineman. Well, if that's the case,
Speaker 1: then that helps the Packers zero on him in a sense,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like because as you said,
Speaker 1: he's not moving around in terms of where he lines
Speaker 1: up the way Hutchinson did. But you know, they're always
Speaker 1: going to be doing stunts and games and things like that.
Speaker 1: And if and if Elton jenkins presence maybe just maybe
Speaker 1: limits what they want to do there schematically because of
Speaker 1: the matchup, well then you know x's and o's wise,
Speaker 1: you can figure out how to give Rashid Walker a
Speaker 1: little bit of help and protect Love's blindside. And and
Speaker 1: you know, so I think there's a there. There is
Speaker 1: an interesting piece to the uh to the chess match
Speaker 1: there with regard to Crosby. But the other thing with
Speaker 1: this Raiders defense, as you said at West four games
Speaker 1: into the season, they have one takeaway, one interception. They've
Speaker 1: not recovered an opponent's fumble. I think the opponents have
Speaker 1: only put the ball on the ground a couple of times.
Speaker 2: Ye.
Speaker 1: It's it's a defense that has not been able to
Speaker 1: generate takeaways and that's something that the Packers have to
Speaker 1: continue as well, have to protect the football the way
Speaker 1: they were protecting the ball in the first couple of
Speaker 1: games of the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And much like you know, everyone always likes to talk
Speaker 2: about the Packers and all they have all these first
Speaker 2: round picks on defense, the Raiders don't have very many
Speaker 2: at all. And that's a product I think of kind
Speaker 2: of getting out of the Mayock era a little bit
Speaker 2: and now transitioning into this new spot where they're in
Speaker 2: a way of which they're trying to compete, but they're
Speaker 2: also kind of rebuilding. It's like this this half life
Speaker 2: that kind of the vikings are in as well. For
Speaker 2: Green Bay standpoint, though, the part I'm really curious to
Speaker 2: see is, Okay, if you get Aaron Jones out there
Speaker 2: finally where he's uninhibited, if you get Christian Watson out
Speaker 2: there more than you did a week ago, being able
Speaker 2: to kind of start to play the chess match with
Speaker 2: defenses rather than more of the checkers, because it's like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I give Matt Lafleur in the offensive coaches a lot
Speaker 2: of credit the game plans that they came up with
Speaker 2: when you're featuring you know, don Davian Wicks is a
Speaker 2: rookie fifth round pick when you're trying to get the
Speaker 2: ball into Jaden Reid's hands. But let's be real, all
Speaker 2: summer long, it was about Jones, it was about Dobbs,
Speaker 2: it was about Watson. That's the building block, that's the
Speaker 2: foundation of this offense, and we haven't been able to
Speaker 2: see him together at all so far, realistically, outside of
Speaker 2: a couple snaps last week. Right, If those guys, when
Speaker 2: you talk about the health of this football team, in
Speaker 2: addition to the offensive line, you get your skill position
Speaker 2: players going here, Now, what can you do now? What
Speaker 2: kind of matchups can you do because I really don't know,
Speaker 2: not knowing every forty time of the Raiders, I'm not
Speaker 2: sure how many people can run with Watson in this
Speaker 2: defense right now. I'm not sure how many people can
Speaker 2: go sideline to sideline the way that Aaron Jones is
Speaker 2: going to stretch you. That's the aspect, that's the dimension
Speaker 2: of this offense that we have yet to see. And
Speaker 2: I really wonder when you're looking at this matchup and
Speaker 2: what Green Bay needs to achieve to slow down Max
Speaker 2: Crosby and to be able to get downfield with the
Speaker 2: football start faster, how those two guys could play into that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think certainly with the way the Packers want
Speaker 1: to get their running game going, as you know, sort
Speaker 1: of that best friend for Jordan Love, you know, the
Speaker 1: boost to the pass protection is going to come from
Speaker 1: getting the running game. And if you get Elton Jenkins
Speaker 1: and Aaron Jones back on the field for a full
Speaker 1: compliment of snaps, I think that could potentially do wonders
Speaker 1: for the Packers running game. I want to ask your
Speaker 1: thoughts on some other keys to victory here in a moment,
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Speaker 1: All right, So we've talked quite a bit about the
Speaker 1: turnover issue. But aside from that, what is the at
Speaker 1: the top of Wes Hodkowitz list as far as a
Speaker 1: key to victory for the Green Bay Packer.
Speaker 2: It's all the run game, all of it. The Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers thirtieth ranked run defense against you know a run,
Speaker 2: a run offense, it hasn't really been very proficient so
Speaker 2: far against the Raiders. The Packers run offense as well,
Speaker 2: that has struggled out of the gate without Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2: How do they handle I think the twenty fifth rank
Speaker 2: run defense against the Vegas Raiders. We made so much
Speaker 2: about Jordan Love and I give Jordan so much credit
Speaker 2: the first month of the season, the way he's handled
Speaker 2: this thing, how he's helped this team get to two
Speaker 2: and two, but we never anticipated these fourth quarter comebacks.
Speaker 2: Everything being on his shoulders right away, and that's the
Speaker 2: way it's kind of worked out. He's been put in
Speaker 2: a position, some of it himself, some of it some
Speaker 2: things around him. But the Packers need to be able
Speaker 2: to take care of business against the run here because
Speaker 2: for two reasons. One you have to execute against the
Speaker 2: Raiders team that there appears to be room.
Speaker 3: To execute against.
Speaker 2: But two, the bye week is on the other side
Speaker 2: of this thing. Packers, I'm sure we'll do their cross
Speaker 2: the hall meetings. I'm sure they'll make some corrections, but
Speaker 2: you want to feel good about where you're at. You
Speaker 2: want to feel like you're making positive strides. If they
Speaker 2: come out here and Aaron Jones can put together another performance,
Speaker 2: let't have to touch the ball eighty times. But if
Speaker 2: he can put together another performance like he did against
Speaker 2: Chicago in week one, if you can get a big
Speaker 2: explod to play from Christian Watson, then that gets generated
Speaker 2: off of the defense having to get pay more attention
Speaker 2: to Green Bay's backfield. Those are the type of things
Speaker 2: that I think you can kind of give a hang
Speaker 2: your hat identity sort of thing to your offense moving forward.
Speaker 2: But I said in an inbox Mike, I'll say it
Speaker 2: again to close out my point. I think this game
Speaker 2: is going to be won and lost in the run game.
Speaker 2: One team's gonna win because of it, and one team
Speaker 2: likely will lose.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you there. The only thing I will
Speaker 1: add to that is the fact that you you mentioned
Speaker 1: DeVante Adams hasn't you know, really broken a big one
Speaker 1: yet this year. That that concerns me because a guy
Speaker 1: like that is always due, right, and.
Speaker 3: He's a thirty two yarder, but he doesn't have like
Speaker 3: that sixty years.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but here's but here's here's here's the thing for
Speaker 1: all of the focus in you know, the narrative in
Speaker 1: what the Packers need to do to stop the run,
Speaker 1: you know, to improve in that area, and they absolutely
Speaker 1: do by the same token. You know what what concerns
Speaker 1: me there is, you know, are they're going to be
Speaker 1: end up being more vulnerabilities to give up the explosive plays.
Speaker 1: And you look at the Detroit game and I've said
Speaker 1: this in a couple of different forms already.
Speaker 3: For as much as the.
Speaker 1: Packers got bulldozed by the run and the Lions racked up,
Speaker 1: you know, the two hundred plus rushing yards. The Lions
Speaker 1: had five explosive plays in the first quarter, five explosive plays.
Speaker 1: When the Packers are playing their defense that is supposed to,
Speaker 1: you know, guard against explosive plays, the Lions had five
Speaker 1: of them in the first quarter that were worth I believe,
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty eight of their one hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety four yards in that first quarter when they completely
Speaker 1: dominated and took control of the game. The Packers can't.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a it's a tough balancing act for
Speaker 1: Matt Lafuer and Joe Barry and everybody who's involved in
Speaker 1: this because for everything that you need to do to
Speaker 1: as we talked about in our last show, to improve
Speaker 1: against the run, to take opposing offenses out of that
Speaker 1: mente of where you know, the Packers are just inviting
Speaker 1: teams to run the ball because they're struggling so much
Speaker 1: to stop it. You can't you can't suddenly start giving
Speaker 1: up explosive plays because that's a recipe for defeat as well.
Speaker 1: And and the Lions. The Lions didn't take control of
Speaker 1: Thursday night's game because they ran the ball down the Packers' throats,
Speaker 1: they ran the ball down the Packer's throats after they
Speaker 1: took control of the game with explosive Plays's that's how
Speaker 1: this happened, and you can't lose sight of that as
Speaker 1: you move forward here trying to fix some of the
Speaker 1: things that are ailing you.
Speaker 2: We get these nice Microsoft surface tablets. Thank you, Microsoft,
Speaker 2: appreciate you. I didn't even realize this until I was
Speaker 2: messing around at NFLGIS here. So Packers had seventeen interceptions
Speaker 2: last season.
Speaker 3: Gyra had a big year.
Speaker 2: I'll pro Yeah, the Raiders since twenty twenty one, how
Speaker 2: many interceptions do you think they have as a defense,
Speaker 2: So two point two five seasons, I don't know, thirteen.
Speaker 1: Interceptions in two and a quarter season.
Speaker 2: Six six and one. Wow, that's all that is, Like
Speaker 2: you almost think you'd get a couple of like just yeah,
Speaker 2: just tip balls or you know, or that's wild. Yeah
Speaker 2: that so it's not really been an anomaly. They're off
Speaker 2: to a slow start with the I n TS. It
Speaker 2: did a hard time getting them the last two years too.
Speaker 1: They're yeah, they're not a they're not a defense. They're
Speaker 1: not a defense that takes the ball away. They do
Speaker 1: they do like to pressure the quarterback though, and Crosby, Uh,
Speaker 1: Crosby certainly is that guy other games. You know, here's
Speaker 1: the here's the other thing. It'll be very interesting to
Speaker 1: see Minnesota coming off of its first victory of the season. Now, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, you have to go play the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champs and the Kansas City Chiefs to try to
Speaker 1: avoid a one and four start as the defending NFC
Speaker 1: North champions. So a lot of Packers fans have their
Speaker 1: eye on that on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Packers had to do it last year too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, enjoy it, Yeah, enjoy enjoy that first place Enjoy
Speaker 1: that first place schedule in in the now seventeen game era.
Speaker 1: But the other thing too, You know, you talked about
Speaker 1: the Packers. You know you want to go in you
Speaker 1: want to go into your bye week feeling good about
Speaker 1: some things. You know, you want to go in with victory. Obviously,
Speaker 1: be three and two, nothing's given in this league. But
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions have a Carolina Panthers team that is
Speaker 1: really really struggling, and it's you know, by and large,
Speaker 1: most likely the Detroit Lions are going to be four
Speaker 1: and one after this week. If you're the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: you know, and if you lose to the Las Vegas Raiders,
Speaker 1: you are most likely two games out of the division
Speaker 1: leads suddenly after five weeks, when when you were just
Speaker 1: tied with the Lions before they came into lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: So this game is this game is about getting some
Speaker 1: things right, about getting a win going into the bye week,
Speaker 1: but it's also going to be about keeping pace with
Speaker 1: that Detroit Lions team that is the team to beat
Speaker 1: in the division.
Speaker 2: The Lions have to be salivating right now, especially the
Speaker 2: veterans that have been on that team that have seen
Speaker 2: the kind of rise up here the last few years,
Speaker 2: from a three win team to a team that you know,
Speaker 2: finally got a winning season last year to now being
Speaker 2: at the top of the division. In addition to obviously
Speaker 2: Green Bay, it's gonna be a tough matchup. You gotta
Speaker 2: go down there, you got to go on the road
Speaker 2: a stadium they've never played in before. Take care of business.
Speaker 2: But then there's Minnesota against Kansas City. Then there's Chicago
Speaker 2: against a Washington team in Washington that I think is
Speaker 2: a lot better than teams you know that they've been
Speaker 2: given credit for. I mean, they took the Eagles right
Speaker 2: down to the wire last week.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what you're Honestly, I'll say
Speaker 1: that I don't know what you're gonna get from Washington. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they got absolutely blown out of the stadium by the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills or was it thirty seven to three or
Speaker 1: something like that. And then so they're, you know, a
Speaker 1: huge underdog on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles and
Speaker 1: they take their division rival right to the wire, and
Speaker 1: you know they had a shot to win if they
Speaker 1: go for two that on that last second touchdown pass.
Speaker 1: But not only that, they were beating the Eagles for
Speaker 1: a good portion of that game and then had to
Speaker 1: score a touchdown at the end to force the overtime.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're gonna get with Washington. When
Speaker 1: you throw throw in that, it's on a short week,
Speaker 1: it's even I think it's even less predictable as to
Speaker 1: what the commanders are going to look like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll take it up in one more notch. What
Speaker 3: are you going to get from the Chicago Bear?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no kidding When you have that type of performance
Speaker 2: against that opponent and then finally lose.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to blow a twenty one point lead at home
Speaker 1: against a winless Broncos team and now you have to
Speaker 1: go travel to the East Coast on a short week.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So getting back to my original point, like, Okay,
Speaker 2: let's just say the odds are what they are, and
Speaker 2: you know they have the Bears. Let's say they take
Speaker 2: an elegance Washington. Let's say Kansas City finds itself offensively
Speaker 2: and takes care of business against Minnesota, Detroit beats Carolina.
Speaker 3: They're going to.
Speaker 2: Be looking alright going into that Monday night game against
Speaker 2: Green Bay, you know, trying to see what the Packers
Speaker 2: do against the Raiders. That's the benefit of being the
Speaker 2: front runner. That's the benefit of being able to handle
Speaker 2: those situations. For the Packers' perspective, though, there's one opponent
Speaker 2: you can worry about now, and I thought they had
Speaker 2: the right mentality in that locker room coming out of
Speaker 2: that loss against the Lions. Kenny Clark Echoedoya earlier this
Speaker 2: week as well, you can't do anything about that one yet.
Speaker 2: Six weeks from now, seven weeks from now, you have
Speaker 2: an opportunity again, but you don't have that now. The
Speaker 2: only thing you can do now is try to go
Speaker 2: into allegiance, try to shut down DeVante, try to take
Speaker 2: the ball away a little bit, keep your quarterback clean,
Speaker 2: and get into that by with three victories.
Speaker 1: Yeah, quickly before we go big game in the NFC.
Speaker 1: In the larger picture of things, the Dallas Cowboys against
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine Ers.
Speaker 2: Your thoughts on that, well, I'm really interested to see
Speaker 2: how Dallas handles the forty nine ers now offensively.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I now Deebo has been kind of banged up as well,
Speaker 2: so we'll see how he's doing.
Speaker 1: Dallas doesn't have digs on the defensive.
Speaker 3: They don't have digs.
Speaker 2: And Christian McCaffrey when he's healthy, man, he's arguably the
Speaker 2: best player in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Here's what I love about it.
Speaker 2: There was a tweet I saw earlier today before we
Speaker 2: hopped in the studio from Robert Mays and an incredible
Speaker 2: look into what Kyle.
Speaker 3: Shanahan is doing right now.
Speaker 2: And he is playing teams two steps ahead of what
Speaker 2: they're giving them defensively, I mean, they whatever the plan
Speaker 2: is that they're getting, it's like they're just turning it
Speaker 2: on its head and finding some type of weakness to
Speaker 2: exploit on a week to week basis. And with that quarterback.
Speaker 2: I mean, here's the thing, Mike. You can draft a
Speaker 2: quarterback second overall, you can take them with the last pick.
Speaker 3: In the trap.
Speaker 2: What you ultimately need is you need somebody that is
Speaker 2: going to play the scheme as it's intended and make
Speaker 2: plays when they're presented. Brock Purdy gives you all of that.
Speaker 2: May not have the biggest arm, may not have the
Speaker 2: prototypical size, but he executes this scheme better than anybody
Speaker 2: I've seen.
Speaker 1: And he protects the football, and he protects the football.
Speaker 2: So when you have McCaffrey of all this, I think
Speaker 2: this is a gut check moment for the Cowboys because suddenly,
Speaker 2: if the forty nine ers run you over, now you're
Speaker 2: three and two. Now you've got questions to answer. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I like the forty nine ers chances in this, but
Speaker 2: obviously Mike and I love the scheme that they run
Speaker 2: down there with O'Brien. It's just a question of whether
Speaker 2: or not Digs. Everybody laughed at the Digs injury, not
Speaker 2: the injury per se, but it's like, oh, he's not
Speaker 2: that big of a player. Anybody can cover for two
Speaker 2: seconds and it's like that was it. He was a
Speaker 2: big ball hawk. Yeah, and now he's not there.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. I mean, there are guys who have a
Speaker 1: nose for the ball in this league and uh, and
Speaker 1: turnovers play such a huge part in the outcome of games.
Speaker 1: And and Trayvon Diggs was a was a turnover machine
Speaker 1: in some respects for the Dallas Cowboys, and and losing that,
Speaker 1: you just you just don't you just don't replace that,
Speaker 1: and uh, and you know, and from the Cowboys perspective,
Speaker 1: you know, this is the team that knocked him out
Speaker 1: of the playoffs, and you know, and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. So big game in the NFC, it should
Speaker 1: be a fun one, uh, to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: Sunday night. But with that we will call it a
Speaker 1: rap on this edition A Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team and all
Speaker 1: of our coverage of Monday Nights big game from Las Vegas.
Speaker 1: Packers and Raiders will have it all for you on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com. For Wes, I am Mike. Thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in.
Speaker 3: Everybody.
Speaker 1: We will see next time.
Speaker 2: M HM.