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 partner in crime, Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you hear from our studios at Lambeufield, ready to discuss
Speaker 1: Sunday's upcoming game noon Central time, kickoff at Lambefield. It'll
Speaker 1: be the Packers against the Los Angeles Rams. So, Wes,
Speaker 1: let's take a look at this Rams team right now,
Speaker 1: and the first thing that jumps out to me is
Speaker 1: the schedule that this team has had. Like my goodness,
Speaker 1: they start the season actually by beating the Seattle Seahawks,
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks only have two losses so far this year.
Speaker 1: One of those was in the opener of the Rams.
Speaker 1: But then they have had very close competitive losses to
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers, to the Bengals, to the Eagles,
Speaker 1: and then, unfortunately for them, they kind of took one
Speaker 1: on the chain in last week against the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: getting blown out. I think they were down, you know,
Speaker 1: like thirty points before kind of some late late scores
Speaker 1: closed the gap a little bit. But really that game
Speaker 1: last week against Dallas is the only one the only
Speaker 1: one they've played, yeah, against one of the better teams
Speaker 1: in the league that hasn't been close. Hard to say
Speaker 1: exactly you know where things are headed with this Rams team,
Speaker 1: but it's a competitive bunch.
Speaker 2: It is a competitive bunch. Scrappy, I think, is the
Speaker 2: word that comes up. Salty is the way you think
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 1: But Larry likes that word salty, big.
Speaker 2: Salty, gay No. But I mean the thing about it, though,
Speaker 2: is the Packers are probably meeting a team that has
Speaker 2: dealt with more injuries. Maybe not on a hole as
Speaker 2: Green Bay has, but definitely right now when you compare
Speaker 2: their injury reports. Stafford right now working through his deal
Speaker 2: here day to day. The thing about it is, though,
Speaker 2: for as much as I think there were questions about Okay,
Speaker 2: Sean mcay is going to come back, what do they have?
Speaker 2: What has impressed me the most is in the Rams
Speaker 2: have done this continually. There's always somebody else that seems
Speaker 2: to step up for them that you weren't expecting. They've
Speaker 2: done it for years in the backfield. I mean, Cooper
Speaker 2: cup in some regards came out of nowhere and it's
Speaker 2: happening yet again here with this young football team.
Speaker 1: Yeah. When you look at the big story this week
Speaker 1: and leading up to Sunday's game is going to be
Speaker 1: the status of Matthew Stafford, the quarterback. He's dealing with
Speaker 1: a ligament injury in his thumb. The Rams have said
Speaker 1: he's day to day. At the time we are taping this,
Speaker 1: all we know is that he did not practice on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Sounds like it's something that could end up being an
Speaker 1: end of the week or possibly even a game day decision.
Speaker 1: If Stafford were to start, I will just throw this in.
Speaker 1: It would actually it would be his twenty second career
Speaker 1: start against the Green Bay Packers, which is the most
Speaker 1: of his twenty one already is the most by far
Speaker 1: of any active quarterback in the NFL. Well, if Stafford
Speaker 1: cannot go, the rains would be turned over to Brett Rippen.
Speaker 1: He is the backup and he's only thrown ten passes
Speaker 1: this season. This is a young quarterback with a young
Speaker 1: quarterback with not a lot of experience, But the injuries
Speaker 1: don't stop there for them. They're leading rusher Kyron Williams
Speaker 1: is currently on injured reserve, so they're trying to piece
Speaker 1: together a running game with Royce Freeman and Darryl Henderson,
Speaker 1: who they brought back after he was gone for a while.
Speaker 1: And then the big story in terms of their offense
Speaker 1: is that while Cooper Cup was out and still recovering
Speaker 1: from a very long term and difficult hamstring situation, low
Speaker 1: and behold, a rookie fifth round pick out of BYU
Speaker 1: named Puka Nakua has kind of taken the NFL by
Speaker 1: storm in a lot of respects. Obviously, his name gets
Speaker 1: a lot of attention, but his numbers wes. I mean
Speaker 1: sixty one catches for seven hundred and ninety five yards
Speaker 1: and eight games. That puts him on pace for more
Speaker 1: than one hundred and twenty catches more than sixteen hundred
Speaker 1: yards as a rookie fifth round pick in this league.
Speaker 1: This is a guy that teams have had a lot
Speaker 1: of trouble containing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I love the fact that Stafford. Stafford's numbers
Speaker 2: are not good like by any means, but the guy
Speaker 2: already has two thousand passing yards on the season. They
Speaker 2: are just slinging the football right now. But Nikua, the
Speaker 2: thing I love about it is again less snead, a
Speaker 2: guy that has had virtually no draft picks for what
Speaker 2: five years. The way that they've done things. They finally
Speaker 2: get a fifth round pick here this year, it's like, ah, hey,
Speaker 2: we'll take probably what is right now the offensive rookie.
Speaker 1: I'll say he's on his way to being the offensive
Speaker 1: rookie of the year in the NFL.
Speaker 2: But the exciting thing for the Rams, and unfortunately for
Speaker 2: the Packers what they're gonna have to contend with is
Speaker 2: Cup has come back. And while we've seen how hamstring
Speaker 2: injuries can linger and hold guys back and aggravations, Cup
Speaker 2: has come back and has already over three hundred receiving
Speaker 2: yards as well in the year, averaging fifteen yards of catch.
Speaker 2: Just a very explosive offense. I think Tyler Higbe is
Speaker 2: one of the more underrated tight ends in the league.
Speaker 2: He's not going to be a dude that's going to
Speaker 2: wow you. He's not going to be your best friend's
Speaker 2: favorite fantasy tight end, but another guy that helps move
Speaker 2: the sticks. The backfield has been in flux, as it's
Speaker 2: been for a while here for them. But the one
Speaker 2: thing that they do well, and I give them credit
Speaker 2: for it, Henderson comes back. They get Freeman involved, they
Speaker 2: get some veterans and some guys with some knowledge of
Speaker 2: the system and they can kind of get back on,
Speaker 2: you know, the ground running.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the things when you look at when
Speaker 1: you look at sort of the statistical profile of the Rams,
Speaker 1: one of the things that doesn't really make a lot
Speaker 1: of sense is how well they move the ball and
Speaker 1: the yardage that they pile up. But it hasn't translated
Speaker 1: to the points they've had. They've had trouble finishing drives.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, they had a kicker
Speaker 1: who has since been released, but they had a kicker
Speaker 1: who had missed six field goals in the first you know,
Speaker 1: five or six games whatever of the regular season, so
Speaker 1: forty three field goals, believe, Yeah, well that's and and
Speaker 1: that's they haven't been able to they move the football.
Speaker 1: They moved the football all the time, but they have
Speaker 1: not they have not been able to finish drives. And
Speaker 1: then they left a lot of they've left even more
Speaker 1: points out there because they had a kicker who wasn't
Speaker 1: wasn't making making kicks. They've since made a change at kicker,
Speaker 1: sorry man, and are looking to uh, you know, looking
Speaker 1: to get you know, in better shape with regard to
Speaker 1: their to their red zone offense, to be able to
Speaker 1: put more points on the board. They don't have. They
Speaker 1: don't have much of a running game, but with getting
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup back with you know, to two at wells
Speaker 1: doing some things for them in the passing game. You
Speaker 1: have Tyler Higbee who's starting to become kind of a
Speaker 1: mainstay at tight end, you know, kind of an old
Speaker 1: stand by if you will. In Sean mcvay's offense. This
Speaker 1: strikes me as an offense that is potentially ready to
Speaker 1: bust out, you know, because because of the way they've
Speaker 1: consistently moved the football this year. I think this is
Speaker 1: going to be a significant challenge for Green Bay defense.
Speaker 2: And they what on the chops to the Cowboys right
Speaker 2: before this, I mean the Rams right now. This season,
Speaker 2: I think, as you were talking about in the intro,
Speaker 2: they've been the quintessential team of They've beaten who they've
Speaker 2: needed to beat, and they've lost to the teams that
Speaker 2: probably they were the underdogs against, with the exception probably
Speaker 2: that Week one game. I think that caught everybody by
Speaker 2: surprise a little bit, especially with what the expectations were
Speaker 2: for the Rams this season. Right that being said, I
Speaker 2: think if I'm the Packers, I got to think about
Speaker 2: the fact that it was a slow start for the
Speaker 2: Rams last week. And if you ever want to see
Speaker 2: how important Slover's fast starts can be, just watch the
Speaker 2: first two quarters of that game against Dallas, where Dallas
Speaker 2: basically put that thing away before they even got to halftime.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the Cowboys got an early score, then
Speaker 1: Stafford threw a pick six, and then the next time
Speaker 1: the Cowboys got the ball, they scored again, and it
Speaker 1: just you know, it started to It started a snowball
Speaker 1: on the Rams, and that game got away from them
Speaker 1: in a hurry. On the defensive side of things, of course,
Speaker 1: it all revolves around Aaron Donald. I believe, three time
Speaker 1: NFL Defensive Player of the Year if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1: He has four and a half sacks so far this
Speaker 1: year of his team's fifteen sacks, so he has roughly
Speaker 1: one third of this defense's sacks. It's a unit other
Speaker 1: than Aaron Donald. There aren't a lot of big, recognizable
Speaker 1: names necessarily on this defense. But again, I'll say, when
Speaker 1: you look at things statistically, except for last week's game
Speaker 1: against the Cowboys when the score really got away from him,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a team that didn't give up
Speaker 1: a whole They only gave up i think twenty three
Speaker 1: points to the Philadelphia Eagles, who have a pretty darn
Speaker 1: good offense. They did not give up a whole lot
Speaker 1: of points to the Cincinnati Bengals. You know, early in
Speaker 1: the season. Obviously they held the Seattle Seahawks and check.
Speaker 1: So this is a this is a defense that's held
Speaker 1: its own but is coming off of a rough game.
Speaker 1: This is a team, a team that is coming off
Speaker 1: of a rough game, and it'll be interesting to see
Speaker 1: exactly how they respond to that. And I think the
Speaker 1: expectation from a guy like Sean McVay is that his
Speaker 1: team is going to respond well because it is a
Speaker 1: veteran team. There aren't a whole lot of young guys
Speaker 1: out there, with the exception of their leading receiver.
Speaker 2: No, And I think this was the area when the
Speaker 2: Rams are I don't want to call it a rebuild,
Speaker 2: but what they were sort of doing with taking down
Speaker 2: the tent a little bit and selling some of their wares,
Speaker 2: it affected the defense quite a bit. And it isn't
Speaker 2: so much changed the way they're ranked or any of
Speaker 2: those type of things. They're just not taking away the
Speaker 2: football right now. They're tied with Green Bay twenty ninth
Speaker 2: in the NFL the fewest takeaways so far in the
Speaker 2: league at six, so that has been a big challenge
Speaker 2: for them finding a way to make those impact plays.
Speaker 2: And why you look at a game like this where
Speaker 2: turnover margin may weigh so heavily, but Aaron Donald is
Speaker 2: who he's always been. I'm sure this is going to
Speaker 2: be a matchup that Elton Jenkins is relishing. It's a
Speaker 2: good time to get Jenkins back to health a little
Speaker 2: bit more with that knee, and certainly something in the
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers offensive line is going to have to
Speaker 2: be cog because, unlike a lot of teams where you're
Speaker 2: worried about the edge pressure and what gets generated through
Speaker 2: the middle but determined on how much attention you pay outside,
Speaker 2: everything starts in the middle at the three tech and
Speaker 2: at those positions for the Rams, and they build out
Speaker 2: their pressure from the rest of that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, let's use that to just transition into what
Speaker 1: we think our keys to victory are for the Packers
Speaker 1: in this game. A couple things obviously that stick out
Speaker 1: to me. The one that is most obvious is this
Speaker 1: Packers offense has to find a way to get in
Speaker 1: the end zone in the first half. I mean, it
Speaker 1: has been since Week two since the Packers have scored
Speaker 1: a touchdown in the first half. That needs to change
Speaker 1: to put the Packers in a better position. Just one
Speaker 1: touchdown in the first half. Somebody's got to find it.
Speaker 1: They've got to put it together and do it to
Speaker 1: just put themselves in a better position on the scoreboard
Speaker 1: going into the second half, when by and large they
Speaker 1: played some pretty decent offensive football. But the other thing
Speaker 1: that sticks out to me with this is there's a
Speaker 1: lot about this game from the defensive matchup for the
Speaker 1: Packers against this Rams offense that strikes me as it
Speaker 1: could be very similar to last week's game against the Vikings,
Speaker 1: and that it's an offense that doesn't run the ball
Speaker 1: that well. You know, their leading rusher is out. They're
Speaker 1: trying to piece it together with the running game, but
Speaker 1: they have a veteran quarterback who's been there, done that.
Speaker 1: They have weapons in the passing game. If the Packers
Speaker 1: stop the run like they did against the Vikings, I
Speaker 1: think they're going to get the Rams in a lot
Speaker 1: of third and seven plus and third and eight plus,
Speaker 1: and the Packers defensively got killed in those situations last
Speaker 1: week by Kirk Cousins. When they get in those situations
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and I think they will, they have to
Speaker 1: get the stops and get off the field when that
Speaker 1: down and distance is supposed to favor you. The percentages
Speaker 1: need to favor the Packers as well.
Speaker 2: It's critical more than any other game Green Bays played
Speaker 2: this season because, Mike, when you were talking about the
Speaker 2: inability for the Rams to finish drives this season, it
Speaker 2: hasn't been an issue of them kicking too many field
Speaker 2: goals inside the red zone. The red zone offense is
Speaker 2: actually in the top ten in the NFL. I think
Speaker 2: their goal to go is in the top five. When
Speaker 2: they get down the field, they finish. It's been the
Speaker 2: issue for them of getting stopped right around the fifty
Speaker 2: yard line or so when they're working their way in.
Speaker 2: It's why Maher missed as many forty plus and fifty
Speaker 2: plus field goals as he did so for Green Bay.
Speaker 2: If you get this opportunity again, if you get them
Speaker 2: in thirty and eight plus six seven times, you have
Speaker 2: to be able to get out of the field. You
Speaker 2: have to keep those percentages skewing in your direction. No
Speaker 2: team in the National Football League has attempted more field
Speaker 2: goals this year than the Rams. They're twenty five, lay
Speaker 2: the league by four and unfortunately for them, they've missed
Speaker 2: a handful of those as well. It's a rookie kicker
Speaker 2: or whatever that's coming off a practice squad that is
Speaker 2: the guy that has replaced Maher. They didn't sign Mason
Speaker 2: Crosby after that workup. So for the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 2: standpoint getting off the field defensively and as you said, offensively,
Speaker 2: we're gonna keep saying it until it changes. Might You
Speaker 2: have to start faster, You have to find waste to
Speaker 2: get going. The Green Bay Packers, on paper, have a
Speaker 2: significant advantage with their ground game compared to the Rams.
Speaker 2: I tip my cap to Henderson and Royce Freeman. These
Speaker 2: guys have done it. They've done it at a high level.
Speaker 2: Henderson has come out of nowhere to really be a
Speaker 2: consistent playmaker for them the last three years, whether he's
Speaker 2: been on the roster or not. Yeah, and you can't
Speaker 2: allow them to get their footing. The Packers have to
Speaker 2: be able to hold their ground like they did last week.
Speaker 2: But conversely, whatever you have of Aaron Jones and obviously
Speaker 2: have an AJ Dillon out there as well. The Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers have to be able to run the football.
Speaker 2: You can't be in a situation where Aaron Jones or
Speaker 2: where you should say, Jordan Love is going to be
Speaker 2: in third and eight plus on his side of the ball. Yeah,
Speaker 2: trying to make something happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I mean, just to show you from the
Speaker 1: you know, the defensive side of things. I think I
Speaker 1: saw these numbers correctly, but just what, you know, one
Speaker 1: rough day on third downs like the Packers had against
Speaker 1: the Vikings can do. I believe just from one game,
Speaker 1: the Packers went from ninth in the league in third
Speaker 1: down defense to seventeenth. Yeah, with that one bad day,
Speaker 1: with allowing the Vikings to convert as many of those
Speaker 1: third and longs as they did, and you just you
Speaker 1: have to be able to get off the field in
Speaker 1: those situations because and yes, both of these teams have
Speaker 1: struggled to take the football away. But you know, I
Speaker 1: thought one of the one of the key, one of
Speaker 1: the key things we saw in last week's game against Minnesota.
Speaker 1: The opening drive of the second half, the Packers are
Speaker 1: down ten to three, the Vikings get the ball coming
Speaker 1: out of halftime, and right away on the first series,
Speaker 1: they're in third and nine and then the Packers give
Speaker 1: it up. It's an explosive play. Suddenly the Vikings are
Speaker 1: out to the fifty yard line, converting that early third down,
Speaker 1: and then they end up finishing that drive with a touchdown.
Speaker 1: And it's not even just that allowing that third and
Speaker 1: nine led to a touchdown, but allowing that third and
Speaker 1: nine flips the field. If you're not a defense that's
Speaker 1: going to be able to take the ball away on
Speaker 1: a consistent basis, then you have to win the field
Speaker 1: position battle, which means if you get them in third
Speaker 1: and nine back at their own twenty five yard line,
Speaker 1: that's where you got to get the stop, because you
Speaker 1: don't know if that opportunity is going to come up again.
Speaker 1: And then even if it does, you stop them at
Speaker 1: the fifty, they're going to punt you down to the ten,
Speaker 1: and then you know your offense that's still trying to
Speaker 1: find itself is in a tough spot having ninety yards
Speaker 1: to go. All these kinds of things have been working
Speaker 1: against the Packers, and the way that game went last week,
Speaker 1: you can see exactly the things that need to change
Speaker 1: this week.
Speaker 2: And all things are not equal. If one thing happens,
Speaker 2: there's always a butterfly effect on the rest of the game.
Speaker 2: So I'm not going to ask so to be so
Speaker 2: simplistic as well. If the Packers get a three and
Speaker 2: out there at the start of the third quarter, how
Speaker 2: does it change things? But I will say this, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that two score lead or at that point, I guess
Speaker 2: it was a three score lead that they ended up getting.
Speaker 2: That changed the complexion of the football game because then
Speaker 2: and now it's twenty four to ten, when the Packers
Speaker 2: finally scored as opposed to seventeen ten. You don't know
Speaker 2: then how if you get stopped, if you're kicking field goals,
Speaker 2: if you're doing that kind of thing. It's when you
Speaker 2: start to get that advantage, especially against a team like
Speaker 2: the Vikings and Kirk Cousins, where they're going to use
Speaker 2: those odds in their favor. Green Bay can't allow that
Speaker 2: to happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely well, we'll take care of a little sponsor
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Speaker 1: bowl Cousin Subs fifty years of better. All right, one
Speaker 1: story that I would encourage folks to check out on
Speaker 1: our website. It just went up on the website not
Speaker 1: long before we turned on the cameras here. We found
Speaker 1: out earlier this week West that the Packers Salute to
Speaker 1: Service nominee for the twenty twenty three season is running
Speaker 1: back Aaron Jones, and you wrote about it. You've written
Speaker 1: about Jones and his the military background and his family
Speaker 1: and all that. So tell us what Aaron said when
Speaker 1: you told him in the locker room. Hey, dude, you're
Speaker 1: the Salute to Service nominee.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exciting moment there for Aaron Jones. Some people
Speaker 2: get to open up boxes. Some people just have me
Speaker 2: coming up to him being like, hey, can we talk
Speaker 2: about the Slutive Service nomination. But that being said, I'll
Speaker 2: tell you what, man, the guy's been a multiple time
Speaker 2: Man of the Year nominee for them. He actually was
Speaker 2: nominated for the Saluted Service Award previously for Green Bay
Speaker 2: in twenty eighteen. A lot of great people involved in
Speaker 2: this organization. T Bone, Tom Bachan in the equipment staff
Speaker 2: has been up for at numerous times. Chris Gizzy, the
Speaker 2: packer's strength and Conditioning coordinator, was the nominee two years ago.
Speaker 2: A former service member. Obviously, we know the story with
Speaker 2: him in September eleventh and his attachment to the Groom
Speaker 2: mid Packers and an image that'll be forever associated with this franchise.
Speaker 2: Darren College, You've done stories on just to quickly surmise
Speaker 2: everything with Aaron, because I think it's very important. This
Speaker 2: guy comes from a military background, his parents, Vergis and
Speaker 2: Elvin Senior, both of them fifty six combined years of
Speaker 2: military service retarding retiring sergeant Majors in the Armed Forces,
Speaker 2: and to be able to find ways to continually give
Speaker 2: back has been such a huge thing for him and
Speaker 2: Elvin Junior with the A and A All the Way Foundation,
Speaker 2: such a cool thing to see him get recognized for
Speaker 2: this again because of how much of a front facing
Speaker 2: member of the organization he's been. In the Salute to
Speaker 2: Service Month, he's been the spokesperson for a number of
Speaker 2: the Packers' efforts the last few years, this year, even
Speaker 2: earlier this week, both him and were just both talked
Speaker 2: at the turnover there for the Huddle for Heroes events,
Speaker 2: fifty six veterans all there. They're writing letters for service people,
Speaker 2: active duty service members. So many cool things associate with that.
Speaker 2: So it's so neat to see Aaron get that, you know, recognition,
Speaker 2: so deserving and honestly, I'm gonna tell you right now,
Speaker 2: I'm actually really pushing. You know. We always have these
Speaker 2: efforts and you know, pushing and you know, wanting to
Speaker 2: make sure that your guy wins. This is the year.
Speaker 2: I would love to see this be the year for
Speaker 2: Aaron because of everything that he does. And that's why
Speaker 2: I wanted to take this time out is that you have,
Speaker 2: you know, sponsorship business. This is the hot business over here. Okay,
Speaker 2: just to remind fans because now with the Salute to Service,
Speaker 2: you can vote and the opportunity to vote your favorite
Speaker 2: nominee actually does help determine the three finalists which will
Speaker 2: be decided on and voted upon. And recognize that the
Speaker 2: NFL honors in February, and to do that just to
Speaker 2: go to NFL dot com Forward slash Salute Fan Vote
Speaker 2: now until November thirtieth, one vote per day is permitted
Speaker 2: per fans. I encourage people to go check out that link.
Speaker 2: There's a link in the story as well. If you
Speaker 2: don't want to just go off of what I'm saying
Speaker 2: right now, you can check that out on packers dot com.
Speaker 2: But so excited for Aaron and an incredible thing and
Speaker 2: hopefully see him be able to get that. It's not
Speaker 2: just about oh he gets an award, it's you know,
Speaker 2: money that gets donated two different branches of the military
Speaker 2: in his name, and such a cool thing. I'd love
Speaker 2: to see him get recognized in that way. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What is that website at NFL dot com slash forward
Speaker 1: slash Salute Fan Vote, Salute Fan Vote, NFL dot com
Speaker 1: slash Salute Fan Vote. Yeah, cast your vote for Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: It would be great to see him that. I'm sorry, yes,
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones. Sorry, Hey, we do the show, Brain Brain
Speaker 1: the brain locked there for a second. My bad with that.
Speaker 1: Before we go, a quick glance at the week nine
Speaker 1: slate in the NFL, and I tell you, Wes, there
Speaker 1: are some really intriguing games out there. It starts actually
Speaker 1: Sunday morning with the NFL's first game in Frankfurt, Germany.
Speaker 1: The NFL has played in Germany in the past. I
Speaker 1: believe this is the first game in Frankfurt Miami against
Speaker 1: Kansas City. That one certainly stands out the other ones.
Speaker 1: I'll just read these off to you as the as
Speaker 1: the games that jumped out to me, and I'll let
Speaker 1: you talk about whichever ones you want to. Seattle at
Speaker 1: Baltimore one of those NFC versus AFC matchups that's really
Speaker 1: intriguing with two teams that are off to uh to
Speaker 1: darn good. Starts big time matchup in the NFC East
Speaker 1: with Dallas at Philadelphia and then on Sunday Night football,
Speaker 1: which hopefully, you know, we'll get home in time maybe
Speaker 1: to catch the second half when we get all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of Packers rams donn and on the site
Speaker 1: and put to bed for Sunday. Buffalo is at Cincinnati
Speaker 1: in prime time, and who knows, maybe we'll see former
Speaker 1: Packer Rasul Douglas on the field for Buffalo. Maybe not.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's going to play for them
Speaker 1: right away. But that's an interesting one too, with the
Speaker 1: Bills against the Bengals, a playoff rematch from last year,
Speaker 1: with this one's in Cincinnati, but last year Cincinnati went
Speaker 1: into Buffalo and ended the Bills season. So some really
Speaker 1: interesting games coming up here in Week nine in the NFL.
Speaker 2: I love what's building too at this twenty twenty draft class,
Speaker 2: because you're getting these matchups now when like Josh Allen,
Speaker 2: you know, taking on Joe Burrow again, and it almost
Speaker 2: kind of reminds you like the Jim Kelly Dan Marino,
Speaker 2: you know games back in the FC, where every single
Speaker 2: one of them felt like they're really high stakes. Credit
Speaker 2: to Zach Taylor, I mean, they the I think everyone
Speaker 2: understood the Bengals were gonna be good this year. Having
Speaker 2: to deal with some early season adversity, both injury wise
Speaker 2: at Burrow, but then also with the results on field,
Speaker 2: they've kind of rallied back. Bills have been kind of
Speaker 2: teetering on both sides of it, but have been really
Speaker 2: solid once again, always teemed to be not to be
Speaker 2: trifled with. I am really excited to see what the
Speaker 2: Cowboys do against the Eagles, though, I think that's probably
Speaker 2: the main the marquee matchup for me this week. Just
Speaker 2: from the standpoint of the Eagles are winning football games,
Speaker 2: and they find ways to win football games. And as
Speaker 2: we talked about earlier this week, Nick Sirianni just is
Speaker 2: always thinking one step ahead right now, and he has
Speaker 2: the talent and the ability to be able to maximize that.
Speaker 2: The Cowboys have to be feeling pretty good about themselves
Speaker 2: with the way that they handle the Rams, but they're
Speaker 2: still kind of looking for that signature win. And then Mike,
Speaker 2: I mean, just let's say it. I mean, the Vikings
Speaker 2: have a pivotal game coming up against the Atlanta Falcons,
Speaker 2: a game in which you know there's gonna be backup.
Speaker 1: Quarterbacks, right, two backup quarterbacks, and that one with the Falcons,
Speaker 1: you know, benching Desmond Ritter and turning to Taylor Heineke
Speaker 1: has plenty of experience in the NFL. And then the
Speaker 1: Vikings are turning to Jalen Hall with I think the
Speaker 1: guy the Vikings want to go to in Kirk cousins absence,
Speaker 1: is on injured reserve. They're waiting for Nick Mullins to
Speaker 1: get healthy to be able to take over that offense,
Speaker 1: but they have to go with Jalen Hall for now
Speaker 1: to try to get themselves above five hundred.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Josh Dobbs getting brought in there to try to
Speaker 2: help that situation. I mean, this is a real pickle
Speaker 2: for the Vikings because you're on this winning streak and
Speaker 2: you're feeling so good about yourself and then you lose
Speaker 2: the guy that was pretty much the catalyst for all this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've won four your last five after an zero
Speaker 1: to three start, but now all of a sudden, it's
Speaker 1: you're kind of back to square one because you lost
Speaker 1: your quarterback.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, Miami in Kansas City, I mean, everybody's
Speaker 2: had that kind of It's a weird thing because the
Speaker 2: Chiefs are kind of working through some stuff right now,
Speaker 2: but at the same time, the Dolphins are kind of
Speaker 2: like in that Cowboys standpoint where they're still looking for
Speaker 2: like a big marquee win, and certainly Kansas City would qualify.
Speaker 2: Is that if it would work out that way?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it just looks to me like, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: if if you know this Kansas City Miami game could
Speaker 1: have you know, I think both of those teams are
Speaker 1: going to end up in the playoffs when this is
Speaker 1: all said and done. But the winner of that game,
Speaker 1: you know that that this game could have big implications
Speaker 1: in terms of playoff seeding down the line obviously Dallas
Speaker 1: and Philadelphia. If if, if the Cowboys don't beat the Eagles,
Speaker 1: the Eagles are you know, really sitting in the catbird
Speaker 1: seat as far as the division. If if the Cowboys
Speaker 1: want to have a you know, realistic chance of taking
Speaker 1: that division from the Eagles, I think they have to
Speaker 1: go into Philadelphia and and and win this game at
Speaker 1: Lincoln Financial. And then, as I said, Buffalo and Cincinnati
Speaker 1: is a is a playoff rematch from last year. Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: Cincinnati is you know, seems to be finding itself, Buffalo
Speaker 1: still having you know, some ups and downs. But again
Speaker 1: another game that you know, two teams that you think
Speaker 1: are you know, gonna have a pretty good chance of
Speaker 1: being in the playoffs. And this is one of those
Speaker 1: results that could that could have an impact on the
Speaker 1: on the seating and the order of things.
Speaker 2: Come January and the complete opposite of what happened for
Speaker 2: so many years right now at the AFC East where
Speaker 2: it was always the Patriots and then okay, can anybody
Speaker 2: else make a wildcard run here? Well, now you got Miami,
Speaker 2: who again its strength of victories this year is two
Speaker 2: eighty three, but you're still winning football game.
Speaker 1: Went, they're winning the games that they're supposed to win.
Speaker 2: And Buffalo, and then you have the Jets. You're going
Speaker 2: to be hosting the Chargers, who always feel like the
Speaker 2: Chargers are in primetime every week to meet for so
Speaker 2: whatever reason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they got they got paid, they got pegged for
Speaker 1: a lot of for a lot of primetime games with
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert and you know, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack. Obviously
Speaker 1: we'll be talking about them in a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: here because they'll be coming into lambeau Field. Not for
Speaker 1: a primetime game, but you're right, the Chargers seem to
Speaker 1: be playing under the lights quite a bit this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then the Jets. I mean, nobody's underdog at
Speaker 2: four and two or four and three right now. So yeah,
Speaker 2: a lot of interesting ball. Hopefully the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: get back in the wins the wind column this weekend
Speaker 2: and we could start talking about some NFC North outcomes again.
Speaker 2: But yeah, certainly for the NFL big week this week with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Packers looking to to end that four game
Speaker 1: losing street, get back in the win column and see
Speaker 1: if they can have something to build on with that,
Speaker 1: we'll call it a rap on this edition of Packers
Speaker 1: on Script. To be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team on Packers dot com. We'll have
Speaker 1: all of the coverage of Sunday's game from Lambeufield again,
Speaker 1: a noon Central time kickoff Packers in the Rams right
Speaker 1: here in Green Bay for Wes. I am like, thank
Speaker 1: you for tuning in. Everybody. We will see you next time.