Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my
Speaker 1: partner in crime, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field talking Packers Rams. It'll
Speaker 1: be Monday night football at lambeau Field and West. When
Speaker 1: the Packers came back from the bye weekend hit the
Speaker 1: practice field on Tuesday. There is still the issue of
Speaker 1: David baktr you, recovering from the appendectomy. We don't really
Speaker 1: know what his status is going to be here in
Speaker 1: the coming weeks moving forward, but the rest of this
Speaker 1: team is looking pretty healthy. If the Packers are going
Speaker 1: to make a run at this, they're at least getting
Speaker 1: the bulk of their horses in the race, so to speak. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're getting, you know, pretty much the full arsenal. Uh
Speaker 1: even so, I mean even look at Caleb Jones was
Speaker 1: activated off the non football illness list. Uh So, the
Speaker 1: Packers roster is back at fifty three players. Now finally
Speaker 1: to other reinforcement for the offensive line. Another reinforcement for
Speaker 1: the offensive line. But most importantly, you look at the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball. Aaron Rodgers was practicing on
Speaker 1: Tuesday and it's now. Keep in mind it's a light practice.
Speaker 1: They're only going for an hour, but he didn't have
Speaker 1: tape on that thumb. He told Pat McAfee during his
Speaker 1: weekly appearance that he's feeling much better with that ribs,
Speaker 1: hopefully feeling better here. You hope that you have Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers back towards maybe not you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to put the percentage on it, but feeling more like
Speaker 1: himself again. The big thing though, is the fact that
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones no lingering after effects from that shin injury
Speaker 1: in Chicago, and Romeo Dobbs continuing to practice. He said
Speaker 1: afterwards in the locker room, really commended the team and
Speaker 1: himself for the decision they made. As difficult as it
Speaker 1: was for him not to play against Chicago, he feels
Speaker 1: like that extra two weeks put him in a position
Speaker 1: to feel back to where he wanted to be, being
Speaker 1: able to cut run full speed again. And Mike, we've
Speaker 1: talked about it for a week now, but we're finally
Speaker 1: getting closer to seeing Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs on
Speaker 1: the field together. Yeah, and and it's not even not
Speaker 1: even just just those two. It has been a long
Speaker 1: time since the Packers have had the the five receivers.
Speaker 1: They went into the season with feeling like we're gonna
Speaker 1: be their top five, whatever order you want to put
Speaker 1: them in. Lazard, Watson, Dobbs, Cobb, Watkins, those five guys.
Speaker 1: I think it was Week two against Chicago was the
Speaker 1: only time that the Packers actually had all five of
Speaker 1: those players available. And you're right. The exciting thing is
Speaker 1: that is with the two rookies, Watson the second rounder,
Speaker 1: Dobbs the fourth rounder, they played very They've been on
Speaker 1: the field together for very few snaps over the course
Speaker 1: of their of their rookie season. And this is this
Speaker 1: is kind of the exciting and interesting thing, not just
Speaker 1: from the standpoint of what can the Packers do in
Speaker 1: these last four games down the stretch, but um, regardless
Speaker 1: of what happens elsewhere on the roster in the off season,
Speaker 1: this is the future of the Packers passing game. Here.
Speaker 1: These two guys, they were drafted where they were drafted
Speaker 1: because they're going to be long term fixtures at that position.
Speaker 1: It's a chance to see what it looks like with
Speaker 1: both of them out there together. You know, you had
Speaker 1: to edit it. I wrote it uh the Insider Inbox
Speaker 1: column on Thursday. I was trying to think of the
Speaker 1: last time the Packers have had two receivers in the
Speaker 1: same draft class that were as highly acclaimed as the
Speaker 1: two that they have in Watson and Dobbs, and I
Speaker 1: really couldn't think of them. They've doubled up before, they've
Speaker 1: taken multiple guys in specific years, but to have two
Speaker 1: guys that have shown real potential to be difference makers
Speaker 1: every down players in this offense that came out of
Speaker 1: the same draft class, it doesn't happen a lot. And
Speaker 1: talking with Watson a little bit this year, talking with
Speaker 1: Dobbs again this past week, you could tell the affinity
Speaker 1: all these guys have for each other, the fact that
Speaker 1: they went through the same process alongside each other, earning
Speaker 1: the trust of Aaron Rodgers, earning their place in this offense,
Speaker 1: going back to meeting each other at the Senior Boat
Speaker 1: in Mobile, Alabama as well back in January, and their
Speaker 1: skill sets complement each other perfectly. And if you throw
Speaker 1: Samori too Ray into that as well, another guy that
Speaker 1: could potentially be a playmaker for this team down the line,
Speaker 1: it is a very exciting time for the Packers receiving
Speaker 1: corn finally, regardless of how these last four weeks go,
Speaker 1: finally getting a chance to see what really that future
Speaker 1: of the perimeter game is going to look like in
Speaker 1: Green Bay. While the perimeter game for the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Rams certainly looks very different than the one the Packers
Speaker 1: faced late in the season last year at lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: And it's not just obviously the change at quarterback with
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield now taking over for Matthew Stafford, but the
Speaker 1: guy who led the NFL last year in receptions, in
Speaker 1: receiving yards, and in touchdowns, Cooper Cup is not on
Speaker 1: the field for the Rams. Give me your assessment of
Speaker 1: just where the Rams are with their with their perimeter weapons.
Speaker 1: I mean, we saw Van Jefferson get the game winning
Speaker 1: touchdown on the Thursday night football game against the Raiders.
Speaker 1: You know, heck of a play, one on one, great
Speaker 1: throw by uh Baker Mayfield for the touchdown there. But
Speaker 1: then you look at Van jefferson statistics for the season
Speaker 1: and you're sort of like, well, where has this guy been? All? Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: so I'm not I'm not sure exactly. You know, you
Speaker 1: take Cooper Cup out of the mix and and tight
Speaker 1: end Tyler Higbee is is is one of the biggest
Speaker 1: weapons that the Rams have here in the passing game
Speaker 1: moving forward. Yeah, I mean the dearth of playmakers in
Speaker 1: this offense. I think it's kind of what has hurt
Speaker 1: them in addition to the fact they've had like five
Speaker 1: different quarterbacks this season. I mean, honestly, it kind of
Speaker 1: reminds you when you look at the box scored almost
Speaker 1: looks like those the strike years in eight seven, where
Speaker 1: there's just like where all these guys coming from that
Speaker 1: we're playing quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. Unfortunately, now
Speaker 1: they get Baker Mayfield off of waivers. But it has
Speaker 1: been a grind, a relentless grind um with with Matthew Stafford,
Speaker 1: you know, and you wish the best for him. I mean,
Speaker 1: it seems like he's dealing with kind of a scary
Speaker 1: um sort of you know, incident. But losing Cooper Cup
Speaker 1: everybody knew the offense ran through him, but then Allen
Speaker 1: Robinson goes down for the season. Um, they've had to
Speaker 1: rely on guys that were more complimentary pieces in this
Speaker 1: offense now as the go toos. And furthermore, you know,
Speaker 1: some some really interesting decisions. You know, Darrel Henderson gets
Speaker 1: cut mid season, so you know, cam Akers hasn't really
Speaker 1: been as effective as I think they were hoping for,
Speaker 1: you know, when they drafted him. Injury, his aside, they
Speaker 1: just haven't had a lot to hang their head. And
Speaker 1: now that being said, Mike, you look at Van Jefferson.
Speaker 1: He was a guy that was brought in a number
Speaker 1: of years ago. He was kind of picked as the
Speaker 1: prospect to develop with all these other guys. You know,
Speaker 1: when you go back to Robert Woods being there, he
Speaker 1: was kind of seen as that next guy. And then
Speaker 1: you know Ben's you know Scarronic. I mean, they have
Speaker 1: players that can hurt you. It's just when you look
Speaker 1: at the Rams right now, they aren't the same team
Speaker 1: as they were before. When it's okay, how are we
Speaker 1: going to address Cooper Cup and what's the domino effect
Speaker 1: of that defense on the rest of you know, how
Speaker 1: you attack ELL's offense. Well, with regard to the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: switched to Baker Mayfield, I have to issue a correction
Speaker 1: from our last show because I said the last time
Speaker 1: the Packers had faced a quarterback and back to back
Speaker 1: seasons for different teams as the starter was Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: with the Chargers in the Colts, and that is actually
Speaker 1: not correct. I opened my mouth before I finished my research,
Speaker 1: and because I had forgotten. When I got to the
Speaker 1: end of my research, I discovered that I had forgotten
Speaker 1: about the Jared Goff Matthew Stafford quarterback switch between the
Speaker 1: Rams and the Lions. And the Packers faced Jared Goff
Speaker 1: as the Rams quarterback in the playoffs and then as
Speaker 1: the Lions quarterback in and then of course they faced
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford as the Lions quarterback in and then as
Speaker 1: the Rams quarterback in the regular season when the Packers
Speaker 1: and Rams met in. So um, this whole back to
Speaker 1: back with different quarterbacks thing is is somewhat starting to
Speaker 1: get old hat for um. For Matt Lafleur, this situation
Speaker 1: is very different though, in that we talked about on
Speaker 1: our last show, how there's only three quarters of Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield Los Angeles Rams film to go off of here.
Speaker 1: This isn't you can't look at, you know, the nine
Speaker 1: games that Philip Rivers played with the Colts before, um,
Speaker 1: you know, before he ended up facing the Packers as
Speaker 1: an example, So a real challenge, a real challenge for
Speaker 1: the UH for the Packers defense here, and I think
Speaker 1: I think if there's one, if there's one area, well,
Speaker 1: I guess I would say two areas. Defensively, the Packers
Speaker 1: need to get more stout against the run. They can't
Speaker 1: have any more of these games like what happened against
Speaker 1: the UH the Philadelphia Eagles. And I thought we saw
Speaker 1: some signs of the run defense stepping up against Chicago,
Speaker 1: certainly down the stretch. The way the defense played to
Speaker 1: allow that fourth quarter comeback, that was a good sign there.
Speaker 1: But the Packers also have got to find some pass
Speaker 1: rush from somewhere because they've had a hard time getting
Speaker 1: after quarterbacks since Rashaan Gary went down. You lose your
Speaker 1: best pass rusher, you know, those guys don't grow on trees.
Speaker 1: As they say. Justin Hollins has come in off off
Speaker 1: of waivers from the Rams and provided UH some depth there.
Speaker 1: But uh um. But I'm curious if this bye week
Speaker 1: and when the coaches have a little bit more time
Speaker 1: to study things and think about things, if we might
Speaker 1: start seeing a little bit more creativity in terms of
Speaker 1: getting after quarterbacks. Because the Packers can't, They're not going
Speaker 1: to be able to make a run in this last
Speaker 1: month when you you don't have Shawn Gary, he's not
Speaker 1: gonna show up. He's not gonna Willis read it coming
Speaker 1: out of the tunnel. So you've got to get pass
Speaker 1: rush from somewhere for this defense to play the way
Speaker 1: the Packers needed to play down the Street. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that's what's tough, because the defensive front and the
Speaker 1: way the attack the quarterback was kind of built off
Speaker 1: of Rashaan Gary. Really, I mean, you know you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a lot of Gary this season. You knew you're
Speaker 1: gonna see a lot of Preston Smith, but it was
Speaker 1: almost like they were going to try to recreate what
Speaker 1: they did in nineteen with the Smith Bros. But just
Speaker 1: kind of subbing in Gary into that formula. Well, when
Speaker 1: you lose Gary, uh six sacks on the season, you know,
Speaker 1: still the team leader, I believe at this point in time,
Speaker 1: despite the fact he's been out for a month already.
Speaker 1: It just shows you the change you have to make
Speaker 1: with your defensive front. You say that, you know, pass
Speaker 1: rushers don't grow on trees. I'm always reminded of the
Speaker 1: old ron Zook adage of yeah, they don't come out
Speaker 1: of the womb, you know, rushing the passer, come on
Speaker 1: the room, returning punts. Um. But it is true. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's so difficult to replace those players. I took
Speaker 1: my cap to kingsleyanding Barie. I feel like he stepped
Speaker 1: up in a lot of ways. Certainly Justin Hollins has
Speaker 1: come in and already has a sack. I mean been that.
Speaker 1: But it's not just about one player or one position
Speaker 1: group pulling the the Packers forward in that. It's about
Speaker 1: the defensive front as a whole. It's about you know,
Speaker 1: calls that Joe Berry makes to potentially get the blitz
Speaker 1: going a little bit more. Maybe get Dave Andre Campbell
Speaker 1: and you get a guy like Kay Walker in vault.
Speaker 1: Packers got to get creative with it to to branch
Speaker 1: off of what your argument was, if I may, because
Speaker 1: you make a good point about the run defense. This
Speaker 1: is not the week you can allow the l. A.
Speaker 1: Rams to to start running the football. No, this this
Speaker 1: is this is an offense. This Rams offense has struggled
Speaker 1: to run the ball all year and the Packers have
Speaker 1: to keep it that way. Yeah, and it's not just
Speaker 1: about the run game. It's about what Baker Mayfield could
Speaker 1: do because last week, I mean it, if you look
Speaker 1: at it, like the fact that they were able to
Speaker 1: win the head game over the Raiders, if you look
Speaker 1: at a box score, it's pretty astonishing. I mean, that
Speaker 1: game for fifty five minutes kind of was going to
Speaker 1: play out the way the way it was supposed to well.
Speaker 1: And and what's really crazy about it too, Statistically, even
Speaker 1: after that fourth quarter comeback against the Raiders, the Rams
Speaker 1: have still been outscored by forty nine points in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter this year, so that total was over sixty points.
Speaker 1: They've been outscored in the fourth quarter until Mayfield lad
Speaker 1: that come back in the last five six minutes on
Speaker 1: on Thursday night. This isn't a team, this isn't a
Speaker 1: team that has finished well. Suddenly Baker Mayfield changes changes
Speaker 1: that narrative. And I'm sure they'd like to get their
Speaker 1: run game going to help out Mayfield, who still is
Speaker 1: only going to have a portion of the playbook to
Speaker 1: be able to run when he takes the field at Lamb.
Speaker 1: And that's why, by stopping the run, you put this
Speaker 1: game back in Baker Mayfield's hands a little bit more.
Speaker 1: And Mayfield is an accomplished, guy's former number one overall pick.
Speaker 1: But the Packers have seen him, they've intercepted him, they
Speaker 1: made plays off of them, and you need to make
Speaker 1: him look like the guy that got signed three minutes ago,
Speaker 1: you know, our claimed three minutes ago. Right. That's the
Speaker 1: key to victory for the Packers. You can't let the Rams,
Speaker 1: especially on what appears to be probably a pretty darn
Speaker 1: cold night at lambeau Field, allowing them to feel comfortable
Speaker 1: in this venue. Yeah, I think generating some turnovers for
Speaker 1: this defense, and and especially if you can get if
Speaker 1: you can get Mayfield to throw you an interception too,
Speaker 1: I think that, uh, that really changes the out look
Speaker 1: of this game. I did look up some statistics on
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield that I'll share with you West, because we've
Speaker 1: seen him. He's, you know to me, and this is
Speaker 1: what I said an insider inbox, He's he's a flip
Speaker 1: flip the coin quarterback. You you don't know what you're
Speaker 1: gonna get from game to game. Here's the thing. In
Speaker 1: game games he has started in his career where Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield is not thrown an interception, He's eighteen and eight
Speaker 1: games in which he has thrown two or more interceptions,
Speaker 1: he's three and thirteen. I mean, Alo, you know what,
Speaker 1: what are you? What are you gonna get? But but
Speaker 1: but if you can force him, if you can force
Speaker 1: him into a couple of mistakes, he's proven over the
Speaker 1: course of his career he's not necessarily going to be
Speaker 1: able to overcome those mistakes to uh to get a victory.
Speaker 1: So I think that that ranks up there the other one.
Speaker 1: That's a key to victory for me. And I say
Speaker 1: this not just in this game, but if the Packers
Speaker 1: are going to make a run here over the final
Speaker 1: month and put together a winning streak, the Packers have
Speaker 1: to start playing from ahead. They have to start getting
Speaker 1: leads early in games. I think I think that does
Speaker 1: a couple of things. I think it provides a boost
Speaker 1: to the offense when you can start fast, get some
Speaker 1: points on the board early, and play from in front.
Speaker 1: And it helps a defense to be playing with a lead,
Speaker 1: as opposed to um playing from behind and then saying, oh,
Speaker 1: we just got to hold him here, you know, hold
Speaker 1: him here, give the offense a chance to come back.
Speaker 1: I look back at the two thousand sixteen run the
Speaker 1: table West, the last six games of the regular season
Speaker 1: when the Packers had to win all six of those
Speaker 1: to get to the playoffs. Every single one of those
Speaker 1: games started out Green May seven, opponent zero. The Packers
Speaker 1: got the first touchdown of the game six games in
Speaker 1: a row as part of that six game winning streak.
Speaker 1: I think that's something that you have that this team
Speaker 1: needs to play from in front and stop trying to
Speaker 1: you know, scramble in the fourth quarter to be able
Speaker 1: to come back and pull out these close victims. That's
Speaker 1: probably the thing I missed the most this season compared
Speaker 1: to especially the last two years, was Green Bay had
Speaker 1: so many good opening drives, uh, lengthy drives you know,
Speaker 1: eight to twelve play series that would end up in
Speaker 1: the end zone. Um, that wasn't always like that. They
Speaker 1: struggled with that even in Matt Lafleur's first season. I
Speaker 1: mean there were times where it didn't work out. But
Speaker 1: I think it was before this game against Chicago was
Speaker 1: it something like was it seventh straight first quarter drives
Speaker 1: where they weren't able to get points? I mean, it
Speaker 1: really does. It sets the tempo for a football game.
Speaker 1: And I think also, you know, I was asked the
Speaker 1: question again about the deferring people always like to ask
Speaker 1: about that. You know, if you win the coin toss,
Speaker 1: do you defer? I always do, just because I feel
Speaker 1: like the advantage is still so strong there. But if
Speaker 1: that's what you're doing, that means the defense has to
Speaker 1: come out and set the tone. That means that if
Speaker 1: the defense gets you a three and out, the offense
Speaker 1: needs to set the tone. And it comes back to
Speaker 1: the number one narrative that you and I have talked
Speaker 1: about all season. People can talk about players, they can
Speaker 1: talk about positions, they can talk about coordinators, but it
Speaker 1: comes down to complimentary football. When the Packers play together
Speaker 1: and they play together with a lead early. That's how
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur became the any coach in NFL history through
Speaker 1: his first three seasons. Yeah, and that's the type of
Speaker 1: football they need to play down the strap and you
Speaker 1: you bring up the deferring thing to another another thing
Speaker 1: that I looked up, and I'm I'm generally I like
Speaker 1: to defer and and take the ball at the start
Speaker 1: of the second half because the first half is so
Speaker 1: much of a feeling out process. Here's the thing though
Speaker 1: about the two Packers this season. The Packers have had
Speaker 1: the opening possession of the third quarter nine times. They've
Speaker 1: only scored three out of those nine. Six of the
Speaker 1: nine have been either a punter or turnover. The strategy
Speaker 1: of deferring and taking the ball at the start of
Speaker 1: the second half hasn't really helped them. They haven't been
Speaker 1: able to come out of the locker room and and
Speaker 1: take the ball down the field and score. It just
Speaker 1: makes me wonder. You know, you get a bye week,
Speaker 1: you think about things, the coaches study all these things.
Speaker 1: We'll just see and obviously if you lose the toss,
Speaker 1: it's not your call anyway, right, but we'll just see
Speaker 1: if if there are any any strategies perhaps that that
Speaker 1: change up here, because because Mike McCarthy in the two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen when the team was four and six, he
Speaker 1: did start taking the ball when he won the toss
Speaker 1: instead of deferring to the second half, and they got
Speaker 1: a seven and nothing lead. As I said, in all
Speaker 1: six of those games. It's so hard to predict the
Speaker 1: right though, because like Chicago wins the toss, the Bears
Speaker 1: take the ball right, they start off super fast, and
Speaker 1: then they can't do anything else the rest of the
Speaker 1: game off right. So it's it's yeah, it's it's a
Speaker 1: weird Yeah. There there are no there are no guarantees.
Speaker 1: There are no guarantees regardless. It's just when you get
Speaker 1: when you get this late in the season and you
Speaker 1: see what you've tried and what has worked and what
Speaker 1: hasn't worked, you just wonder if if there may be
Speaker 1: some changeups coming down the pike. You just gotta get
Speaker 1: back to losing the coin toss every week like they
Speaker 1: did last season. Yeah, that that worked. That worked. That
Speaker 1: worked pretty well. Packers didn't need to win the toss
Speaker 1: to to win games. To win games last year, they
Speaker 1: left the choice up to the opponent and they just
Speaker 1: rolled with it. So um some sponsor business here. West
Speaker 1: Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and
Speaker 1: up to the NFL news that true football fanatics need
Speaker 1: seven three and its and subs. We have something for everyone,
Speaker 1: like our Wisconsin Cheese cards, mac and Cheese, golden fries,
Speaker 1: and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or
Speaker 1: sub in a bowl. Cousin Subs fifty years of better. Alright,
Speaker 1: I want to take a look at some other games
Speaker 1: going on around the NFL and actually starting with Thursday
Speaker 1: Night Football a game that has some implications for the Packers.
Speaker 1: It's the uh, the brock Purty forty Niners, although he's
Speaker 1: listed as questionable on the injury report, but the Niners
Speaker 1: are at Seattle. Um if he doesn't pay pay, I
Speaker 1: I don't know. Christian McCaffrey gonna play wildcat quarterback for
Speaker 1: the game. Again. You know, they don't even have Deebo
Speaker 1: Samuel that takes some snaps in the wildcat because he's
Speaker 1: injured now. So um, but a big Thursday night game, UM, Niners,
Speaker 1: Niners and Seahawks, UM, big implications in that division as
Speaker 1: far as and also in the in the wild card race. Oh,
Speaker 1: Josh Johnson is the guy forgot they signed Josh Johnson.
Speaker 1: Josh Johnson is NER's now. Okay, So a couple of
Speaker 1: things to this game. Sounds like Keneth Walker is gonna play.
Speaker 1: Uh that that's the number one thing here people will
Speaker 1: talk about pretty that's that's a that's a big boost
Speaker 1: for the Seahawks. And the Seahawks were not the same
Speaker 1: team without him last week. Gino Smith is not the
Speaker 1: same quarterback without him. He has to do more, which
Speaker 1: leads to more, you know, interceptions, at least That's what
Speaker 1: it's looked like so far. Kenneth Walker has been the
Speaker 1: running back that they've been looking for for so many
Speaker 1: years now. So seeing how he performs and how Gino
Speaker 1: performs against that defense is really the biggest thing here,
Speaker 1: as much as we want to make about Purty, And
Speaker 1: certainly it was funny listening to Alan Lazard rant and right,
Speaker 1: not rant, but rave about him because you know, the
Speaker 1: Iowa state connection, the fact that the Packers really do
Speaker 1: need this young man to play well down the stretch
Speaker 1: to help their own wild card, uh, you know, potential.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of reasons why people are
Speaker 1: going to talk about him in that position. But ultimately
Speaker 1: it comes back to Damiko Ryan's defense against this Seattle offense.
Speaker 1: Seattle's reeling man. They have kind of they were out front,
Speaker 1: they surprised everybody, and now they've started to come back
Speaker 1: down to earth a little bit. San Francisco, meanwhile, has
Speaker 1: basically risen as the Seahawks have fallen. It'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see who comes out on top of that one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a bunch of other games. I'll just rattle them off
Speaker 1: here and I'll let you comment on what you'd like
Speaker 1: to UM Giants and Washington second meeting in a span
Speaker 1: of a few weeks between those two teams. Obviously, they
Speaker 1: had an overtime tie the first time. Hard to say,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, if you know, if you're if
Speaker 1: you're looking at this from all of the Packers scenarios
Speaker 1: and stuff, I'm not sure who you want to win.
Speaker 1: What's impossible for both to lose? I mean, the overtime
Speaker 1: ties about as close as it gets. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you can count on a second one of those
Speaker 1: between the same two teams. UM Detroit is at the
Speaker 1: New York Jets. UM. I'm very intrigued with this one
Speaker 1: because of the way the Lions offense has been playing
Speaker 1: and the way the Jets defense has been playing. I
Speaker 1: think that's a really I think that's a really, really
Speaker 1: interesting matchup there in the a f C East. You
Speaker 1: have Miami going to Buffalo. Could be a big time
Speaker 1: weather game out there in western New York with with
Speaker 1: what the forecast looks like. Another another interesting game in
Speaker 1: the a f C. Two teams kind of maybe going
Speaker 1: in opposite directions right now, the Tennessee Titans against the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Chargers. The Titans actually have not won in
Speaker 1: games since they won at lambeau Field on that Thursday
Speaker 1: night football game. They've they're they're in a rut now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, and the Chargers coming off of
Speaker 1: the big win UM in prime time last week over
Speaker 1: Miami and Justin Herbert, you know, looking like looking like
Speaker 1: the guy that um that everybody thought he was going
Speaker 1: to be throughout the course of the year, and then
Speaker 1: Cincinnati at Tampa Bay. The only reason I bring this
Speaker 1: one up is because if the Buccaneers lose to the Bengals,
Speaker 1: the leader or leaders in the a f C South
Speaker 1: or sorry, the NFC South would be six and eight,
Speaker 1: would be two games if if the Buccaneers lose this game,
Speaker 1: two games under five hundred with three games to go,
Speaker 1: would be leading that divisi six and eight. Feeling great.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens there. Certainly that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: big game too for the Bengals as they continue to
Speaker 1: try to mount this late season charge. Are Bengals are
Speaker 1: coming on potential two games I want to talk about,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't care less about the Titans struggling. Um.
Speaker 1: What I what I do want to talk about is
Speaker 1: the Lions and the Jets, because let's take away for
Speaker 1: just two seconds the implications with the Packers. That is
Speaker 1: a winner, go home game for basically both of those teams.
Speaker 1: And the interesting part of this is it's in New York,
Speaker 1: It's not in Detroit. It'll be very interesting to see
Speaker 1: how the Lions come out of the gate in this one.
Speaker 1: There two and three on the road this year, they've
Speaker 1: been okay, and they've already won a game in that
Speaker 1: stadium because they beat the Giants there a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: so that that's an interesting too. It's a road game,
Speaker 1: but they're going back to a place they just played
Speaker 1: like a month ago. You want to talk about the Titans. Uh,
Speaker 1: the Giants suddenly have not won a game in a month.
Speaker 1: It's it was it was a dominating the eight point
Speaker 1: victory over the one win Houston Texans. I mean it's
Speaker 1: been and if you look at these schedules, Mike, for
Speaker 1: both the Giants in the Commands, it is daunting on
Speaker 1: both sides of it. I think the Commanders still have
Speaker 1: what is it um Minnesota is still on their Philadelphia. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Giants I think still have to play San Francisco.
Speaker 1: I mean like it's it's interesting the way that somebody's
Speaker 1: got somebody's got Dallas too. I can look that up.
Speaker 1: But but getting back to the Packers, let's just do
Speaker 1: that really quickly. As far as the Packers are concerned, Hey,
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts, you want to show up on Sunday knock
Speaker 1: off the Minnesota Vikings, go crazy, the Chicago Bears. If
Speaker 1: you can actually have a decent performance against the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles shocked the world. The more losses, and then the
Speaker 1: Jaguars against the Cowboys, and you know the way Jacksonville
Speaker 1: plays with Doug Peterson and Trevor Lawrence. You're never sure,
Speaker 1: never can be too sure. The Packers is you and
Speaker 1: I have talked about and we kind of looked ahead
Speaker 1: to the week eighteen hourglass there. You want to keep
Speaker 1: that race as tight as possible between Philly and Dallas.
Speaker 1: You want to make sure that those teams are still
Speaker 1: playing for something. You want to make sure the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings are still playing for something, because ultimately there are
Speaker 1: a lot of cross over there with these division champions
Speaker 1: slash wild card teams that are gonna have to get
Speaker 1: shuffled out. The Packers need this thing to stay competitive,
Speaker 1: to the very end, and there's a lot of little
Speaker 1: competition and matchups this week to make that happen. Yeah, Um,
Speaker 1: I think um, I'll be curious to watch Miami taking
Speaker 1: on Buffalo with not only because of the potential of
Speaker 1: the weather factor, but because Miami is obviously green Bay's
Speaker 1: next opponent. They're coming off of a tough loss against
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Now they have a tough division road game.
Speaker 1: Maybe they end up going into Christmas Day against Green
Speaker 1: Bay on on a bit of a losing streak and
Speaker 1: then everybody's suddenly questioning what's going on in Miami. You know,
Speaker 1: it'll it'll be interesting to see what what happens. But
Speaker 1: that's a that's a big matchup in the a f
Speaker 1: C East Buffalo and the Bills in the Dolphins. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Miami has just been as talent as they are,
Speaker 1: and they and we're gonna next week from now we're
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about how dangerous to re kill is.
Speaker 1: But I mean, they have been up and down throughout
Speaker 1: the course of this season. If I may, just to
Speaker 1: make sure we get all of our facts straight. The
Speaker 1: Giants here, they have the Commanders, then they play on
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve. They are at Minnesota, then they play Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: They have to travel then to Philadelphia. In the final
Speaker 1: week of the season. Over on Washington side of things,
Speaker 1: they get the New York Giants. They then travel to
Speaker 1: San Francisco. On Christmas Eve, they post the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: and then they host the Dallas Cowboys in week eighteen.
Speaker 1: So a lot of competitive matchups there. Cleveland not looking
Speaker 1: so good right now. You know, maybe Joe Kobe de
Speaker 1: percent becomes the quarterback again, who knows, but it is
Speaker 1: what it is, and and for the Packers, you just
Speaker 1: have to hope again these last four games, you have
Speaker 1: to take care of business against the Rams and hope
Speaker 1: a few more dominoes follow your way. Yeah, absolutely, well,
Speaker 1: it's it's about it's about one at a time, as
Speaker 1: it always is, but even more so with the situation
Speaker 1: the Packers are in right now. So with that we
Speaker 1: will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team,
Speaker 1: all kinds of content for you available on Packers dot com.
Speaker 1: For West, I'm Mike, Thank you for tuning, and everybody,
Speaker 1: we'll see you next time.