Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 2: I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trust
Speaker 2: and colleague Wes Honkoitz. We're coming to you here from
Speaker 2: our studios at lambeau Field for our only show this
Speaker 2: week because of Thanksgiving and the Packers playing on Thursday night,
Speaker 2: so we got a lot of ground to cover in
Speaker 2: this episode. Here, Wes, we'll start with reviewing Sunday's big
Speaker 2: victory over the forty nine Ers thirty eight to ten.
Speaker 2: The final score the Packers get to eight and three.
Speaker 2: The forty nine Ers were really banged up. And the
Speaker 2: storyline for the Packers in this game, as you wrote about,
Speaker 2: as we've written about really all season long, the two
Speaker 2: free agents that Brian Gudakun signed right as free agent,
Speaker 2: the free agency bell rang and the ink was already
Speaker 2: dry on those contracts, Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney, both
Speaker 2: of those guys playing a huge, huge part in this game,
Speaker 2: as they've done all season.
Speaker 3: I just thought it was so interesting, man. And I
Speaker 3: know I allude to this on Twitter, probably a little
Speaker 3: bit more than I've put in my story, but you know,
Speaker 3: both of those guys, they came here to win, but
Speaker 3: it's been interesting watching how they've added to Green Bay's
Speaker 3: winning recipe. Both of these guys, you know, you listen
Speaker 3: to Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney talk about it. I
Speaker 3: think both of them made one playoff appearance in their
Speaker 3: previous stops. It was such an important thing to them
Speaker 3: to not only get what they deserve as unrestricted free agents,
Speaker 3: but also be able to find places where they can
Speaker 3: take a good thing and make it a little bit better.
Speaker 3: And for Josh Jacobs man who is currently up for
Speaker 3: the UH, I think it's the FedEx Aaron Ground Player
Speaker 3: of the Week honor. This Sky had ninety one rushing
Speaker 3: yards in the first half. The San Francisco forty nine
Speaker 3: ers had not given up one hundred yard rusher in
Speaker 3: almost three years in the in the regular season, fifty
Speaker 3: four straight regular season games, and he just imposed his
Speaker 3: will against him. I thought it was interesting, you know,
Speaker 3: Matt Lafleur's postgame presser when they were asking I think
Speaker 3: it was Steve mcgargey from the Associate Press had asked
Speaker 3: him about, Hey, what was the key to this? He's like, well,
Speaker 3: we got that number eight guy back there. He's pretty good.
Speaker 3: I mean I think I also saw a stat that
Speaker 3: he might have forced like fifteen mistackles or something like
Speaker 3: that in this game.
Speaker 2: It was the most I think by any by that metric.
Speaker 2: It was the most by any single running back in
Speaker 2: a game this season in the NFL fifteen fifteen whiffs
Speaker 2: on Josh Jacobs on Sunday.
Speaker 1: It was pretty amazing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he forced it. I mean it wasn't just that,
Speaker 3: Oh well, San Francisco forty hours and make a bet.
Speaker 3: I mean, there was a couple of those plays, man.
Speaker 3: And I'm not even talking like some forty yard touchdown round.
Speaker 3: I'm talking about like just taking what potentially could have
Speaker 3: been a negative yard is playing getting three yards out
Speaker 3: right right. I mean, this guy is just a mac
Speaker 3: truck with this cerebral attitude towards the game where he
Speaker 3: just sees processing all this information. And I've said it
Speaker 3: time and time again, but his jump cuts, man, and
Speaker 3: taking what the offensive line is giving him and maximizing it.
Speaker 3: That's what the best running backs do. And then Zabra
Speaker 3: McKinney won this game. In the second half of the Packers,
Speaker 3: I mean they might have already been in firm control,
Speaker 3: but with that interception, that is what took any hope
Speaker 3: that the San Francisco forty nine ers might have of
Speaker 3: a comeback and just completely removed all that air from
Speaker 3: the blue. Forty eight yard return sets off a string
Speaker 3: of three second half takeaways, and the Packers got the
Speaker 3: job done well.
Speaker 2: You have to say with regard to the two big
Speaker 2: plays McKinney made in this game. He was guarding McCaffrey
Speaker 2: on the short fourth and two breaks up the pass
Speaker 2: Packers get the turnover on downs, and then the interception
Speaker 2: which he has the long run back to set up
Speaker 2: a touchdown. Both of those plays occurred in Green Bay territory,
Speaker 2: and when the score was only seven team to seven,
Speaker 2: the Niners were looking to were in position to make
Speaker 2: it a one score game on both of those possessions,
Speaker 2: and McKinney was the guy who ended up stopping both
Speaker 2: of those. So he gets his seventh interception of the season.
Speaker 2: I think more importantly for the defense that started another
Speaker 2: one of these turnover binges where the defense gets three
Speaker 2: takeaways in the second half after going basically two and
Speaker 2: a half games. The fourth quarter of the Jacksonville game
Speaker 2: was the defense's last takeaway. No takeaways against the Lions
Speaker 2: or the Bears, or in the first half against the
Speaker 2: forty nine ers. So you go two and a half
Speaker 2: games with nothing and then suddenly you get three. So
Speaker 2: hopefully that's a good sign for the defense. But getting
Speaker 2: back to Jacobs, I've said on this show many times,
Speaker 2: and I've said it an insider inbox and everywhere else.
Speaker 2: I've been impressed from the very beginning with Josh Jacobs's
Speaker 2: vision and his footwork and just his toughness, his style
Speaker 2: of running. It's been really, really impressive from the start.
Speaker 2: What we're seeing now is all of that being married
Speaker 2: up with faking end rounds and pulling guards or doing
Speaker 2: the duo where they're just double team blocking going straight ahead.
Speaker 2: All of this mixing up of how the Packers are
Speaker 2: running the ball. When you look at it, there is
Speaker 2: not just like the staple, Okay, this is the Packers
Speaker 2: running play. This isn't the days of the Lombardi sweep
Speaker 2: in the sixties, Matt Lafleur and the way the blocking
Speaker 2: schemes and everything are set up. You have the tight
Speaker 2: ends cutting across to you know, to take out defensive ends.
Speaker 2: You have the receivers coming in and cracking on the
Speaker 2: second level guys, and you have all the motion that's
Speaker 2: going on with the receivers and the running backs themselves. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the creativity that's going on in the running game and
Speaker 2: giving defenses so much to try to decipher as far
Speaker 2: as what's going on and who's getting the ball. Pairing
Speaker 2: all of that with all of the skills and physical
Speaker 2: attributes that Josh Jacobs brings to the table, we're really
Speaker 2: starting to see something special in the Packers running game
Speaker 2: and hopefully they can continue.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And and it's Jacob's ability in those instances too,
Speaker 3: to get from zero to sixty pretty quick, being able
Speaker 3: to get up to speed and where he needs to
Speaker 3: get and being decisive in those moments. And so many
Speaker 3: times running backs really struggle between trying to allow their
Speaker 3: blocks to set up, but then at the same time
Speaker 3: also making sure that they get there before the game
Speaker 3: the gaps close. And it leads to what I like
Speaker 3: to refer to as almost those twirling little play actions
Speaker 3: that Jordan Love does where he almost sometimes will do
Speaker 3: a full three to sixty and then hand the ball.
Speaker 3: The Packers have been able to really open things up
Speaker 3: and again facing a team like San Francisco where they
Speaker 3: want to run the ball, they want to shorten up
Speaker 3: the game, they want to play the possession game. At
Speaker 3: the end of the first half, Green Bay did everything
Speaker 3: they needed to do. If San Francisco wants to defer,
Speaker 3: which is what Kyle Shanahan religiously does, you need to
Speaker 3: go down the field. You need to get a touchdown
Speaker 3: right off the bat. And seeing how the running games
Speaker 3: set up the passing game in some of those big
Speaker 3: plays they were able to do. That's the hallmark of
Speaker 3: a good football team. Rob Dmowski wrote about this too,
Speaker 3: And you had your story last week about the explosive plays.
Speaker 3: The mix between running the football well and creating downfield explosives.
Speaker 3: That's that's how you get in the hunt. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: I feel like we saw in this game. I mean,
Speaker 3: it could have been even better. Unfortunately, Christian Watson doesn't
Speaker 3: isn't able to bring in that pass, has that drop
Speaker 3: at the end of the first half. That could have
Speaker 3: been a forty nine yard touchdown. This game could have
Speaker 3: almost been over here by halftime. The green Bay Packers,
Speaker 3: Michael did what they have to do and listening to
Speaker 3: Keishawn Nixon talk after the game. Again, I will not
Speaker 3: quote him directly, but the Packers they had to go
Speaker 3: three games without their quarterback too, and they won those
Speaker 3: three games. So just the way this league goes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Niners. The Niners were as banged up as
Speaker 2: it gets. They didn't have Brock Purty, they didn't have
Speaker 2: their left tackle Trent Williams. They didn't have their best
Speaker 2: defensive player in Nick Bosa. They didn't have one of
Speaker 2: their starting cornerbacks in Shavarius Ward.
Speaker 1: But as you said, Wes.
Speaker 2: The Packers did exactly what they needed to do, which
Speaker 2: is they jumped on these guys. It was seventeen to
Speaker 2: nothing before the forty nine Ers had a first out
Speaker 2: on offense.
Speaker 1: That is exactly what.
Speaker 2: You do when you have the personnel advantage when the
Speaker 2: other team is trying to make adjustments for missing top
Speaker 2: key players. The Packers got on top of them. No,
Speaker 2: they probably should have put the game away a little
Speaker 2: sooner than they did, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: it ends up thirty eight to ten. It's actually the
Speaker 2: largest winning margin of victory in the Matt Lafleur era
Speaker 2: twenty eight points. And the other really good sign before
Speaker 2: we shift our focus to the Miami Dolphins. The other
Speaker 2: really good sign was going five for five in the
Speaker 2: red zone five red zone opportunities five touchdowns last week
Speaker 2: against the number one red zone defense in the league
Speaker 2: in Chicago. It was three out of five. The sour
Speaker 2: taste was those two misses were zero point even being
Speaker 2: able to get any points out of those. But the
Speaker 2: bottom line is, for where the Packers have been near
Speaker 2: the bottom of the league through the first half of
Speaker 2: the season in red zone offense, they're now eight of
Speaker 2: their life ten punching him into the end zone in
Speaker 2: the red zone. That hopefully is a good sign moving
Speaker 2: forward here for the stretch run.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the fact that when they you don't have penalties,
Speaker 3: but when they did they actually found a way to
Speaker 3: bounce back from it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had the one on the on the open
Speaker 2: the opening drive, there was the one red zone penalty,
Speaker 2: but then they overcame, didn't even need third down, No,
Speaker 2: actually ended up getting the touchdown on second down there.
Speaker 2: So well, it is a short week. The Miami Dolphins
Speaker 2: are slated to come into lambeau Field for a Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: night clash, and when you look at this was really
Speaker 2: this is two teams, both of which have generated their
Speaker 2: own momentum coming into this game. The Packers. Packers now
Speaker 2: eight and three. They've won two straight after the loss
Speaker 2: to Detroit. Miami has now won three in a row.
Speaker 2: Their quarterback two Attagovailoa, is back from the concussion. He's
Speaker 2: been back for five games, and in those five games,
Speaker 2: the Dolphins lost the first two a couple of shootouts,
Speaker 2: and then they've won three straight since then. The bottom
Speaker 2: line is the Miami has averaged twenty nine points per
Speaker 2: game since Tua came back. This is an offense that
Speaker 2: is incredibly explosive, very much on a roll, and this
Speaker 2: is going to be a huge, huge test for.
Speaker 1: Jeff Affley's defense. Thursday night, I was.
Speaker 3: Talking with Travis Wingfield, who works for the Dolphins right
Speaker 3: before this for his podcast, and I told him this too,
Speaker 3: and I mean this from the bottom of my heart.
Speaker 3: When two is on the field, this is one of
Speaker 3: the best teams in professional football. YEP. What they had
Speaker 3: to go through there with losing him, and they've had
Speaker 3: to do it a couple times now. Unfortunately, it just
Speaker 3: changes everything because it's built on his decision making, it's
Speaker 3: built on his ability to control the field, and obviously
Speaker 3: the chemistry that he's built up with all of these
Speaker 3: receiving weapons. I mean, the Packers. We talk so often
Speaker 3: about how Green Bay has a multitude of different playmakers
Speaker 3: they can go to. Yeah, Tyreek Hill is one of
Speaker 3: the pre eminent receivers in this league, but it's not
Speaker 3: just built around him. In Miami, they have receivers, they
Speaker 3: have tight ends, they list multiple backs as their starter.
Speaker 3: They there are so many different avenues of playmakers that
Speaker 3: McDaniel invites into this offense. And again, much like what
Speaker 3: happened with the Floor, getting underneath the shanahan and McVeigh
Speaker 3: tree and then creating his own style, McDaniel has done
Speaker 3: the same exact thing down in Miami. It's an impressive
Speaker 3: offense and so much of it is tied into Tua
Speaker 3: and his ability to create with it. Well.
Speaker 2: Numbers wise, Tua right now has a one hundred and
Speaker 2: six point two passer rating on the season, which is
Speaker 2: awfully impressive. He's completing seventy three percent of the passes
Speaker 2: this offense. Not to say that they won't take a
Speaker 2: shot downfield, because they certainly will, but this offense is
Speaker 2: very much predicated on a lot of the quick throws
Speaker 2: and Tua hitting Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waddle and those guys
Speaker 2: hitting them in stride so that they can yep yards
Speaker 2: after the catch and try to get plays to you know,
Speaker 2: short what looked like short, simple plays to rupture into
Speaker 2: big plays Hill, Waddle, tight end John Newsmith. They all
Speaker 2: have over five hundred yards receiving this year. Devon a
Speaker 2: Chan raheem mostered a pretty good one to two punch
Speaker 2: in the backfield. And a chan of course is he's
Speaker 2: as good a receiver as a runner out of the backfield.
Speaker 2: So and these guys, wes I was looking at it.
Speaker 2: These guys are incredibly close, so incredibly close to being
Speaker 2: on a five game winning streak here because when Tua
Speaker 2: came back, they lost a twenty eight to twenty seven
Speaker 2: game to Arizona in which they blew a two score
Speaker 2: lead in the fourth quarter and lost on a walkoff
Speaker 2: field goal. Then the following week they lose thirty to
Speaker 2: twenty seven, another shootout type game against Buffalo. They lose
Speaker 2: that on a sixty one yard walk off field goal
Speaker 2: by Tyler Bass of the Bills. But then after losing
Speaker 2: those two heartbreakers, now they've ripped off three straight wins
Speaker 2: against teams much lower than much lower than them record wise,
Speaker 2: or at least lower than them in the standings overall.
Speaker 2: But this Miami team, there's it's interesting because to the
Speaker 2: before he left the podium on Sunday after their blowout
Speaker 2: winning against the Patriots two, was asked about the cold
Speaker 2: weather in Green Bay because as a quarterback, he's I believe.
Speaker 1: It's oh to seven, yeah, when the.
Speaker 2: Peperature is under forty degrees, And right away he was like, hey,
Speaker 2: it's it's time to bust that narrative, you know, bring
Speaker 2: it on, let's go. And you have to remember, as
Speaker 2: much as yes, it sounds like the weather it's going
Speaker 2: to be in the twenties or whatever on Thursday night,
Speaker 2: it's definitely not Miami weather by any stretch. But this
Speaker 2: is very much the same Miami team that played in
Speaker 2: absolute arctic conditions in the wild Card round in Kansas
Speaker 2: City last January. My point is that for all the
Speaker 2: guys who were in that game twenty degrees that lambell
Speaker 2: Field is not really going to feel all that crazy
Speaker 2: to them, because what they dealt with in Kansas City
Speaker 2: in the playoffs last year was absolutely frigid, so I
Speaker 2: can see, you know, and Tua wants to break that
Speaker 2: whole narrative about his own whatever record. When the temperature
Speaker 2: is under forty degrees, Miami is Miami is going to
Speaker 2: come in here and absolutely give the Packers everything they
Speaker 2: can handle.
Speaker 3: Well, and this is this is the this is the
Speaker 3: heat check right now. No pun intended with the in
Speaker 3: respect of the Packers weather.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like that, that's good.
Speaker 3: But I mean the Dolphins have been a really solid
Speaker 3: football team, and they're beating teams recently the way that
Speaker 3: you would expect them to beat them with Tua back
Speaker 3: in the lineup and with the weapons that they have.
Speaker 3: I think one thing I love most about Miami is that,
Speaker 3: you know, they have a chan who comes out of nowhere.
Speaker 3: Most it is this you know, ageless wonder as well,
Speaker 3: but they still go and draft Jalen Wright. Jalen Wright
Speaker 3: is contributing in this offense too. I mean it's in
Speaker 3: a lot of ways. You almost have a three headed
Speaker 3: monster back there. You look at you know, Jalen Waddle,
Speaker 3: what he's been able to come. You mentioned Smith as well.
Speaker 3: Smith is a guy that I think the league has
Speaker 3: been really enticed by for a bulk of his career.
Speaker 3: It seems like he's finally sort of I think he's
Speaker 3: probably twenty nine years old at this point, but he
Speaker 3: sort of realized that the potential that New England had
Speaker 3: sort of seen in him and these other programs thinking that, hey,
Speaker 3: this dude could be a potential playmaker. He's fit well
Speaker 3: into what the Miami Dolphins want to do offensively, and yeah,
Speaker 3: they're going to be super motivated to put that behind him.
Speaker 3: You can even tell it so many times it's the
Speaker 3: media that drives a lot of these narratives going into it.
Speaker 3: You can tell listening to too and listening to these
Speaker 3: guys down in Miami this week. They are fully embracing
Speaker 3: this for what it is, you know, for as much
Speaker 3: as again it's not Miami weather, but they we were
Speaker 3: there on Christmas the second coldest game in that stadium's history.
Speaker 3: It was like fifty one degrees at kickoff. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: they you know, Miami, Florida and South Florida is pretty
Speaker 3: warm a lot of times of the year. But I
Speaker 3: mean when you play in that division, you see the
Speaker 3: teams that you face, you're gonna have to, you know,
Speaker 3: come up and rise up to these these matchups, So
Speaker 3: I am fully anticipating you're going to see their best
Speaker 3: effort in this one, and obviously trying to get back
Speaker 3: to five hundred and show that there's still a lot
Speaker 3: of fight left in this thing. Despite losing Toua for
Speaker 3: as long as they did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they lost him for a month. They went I
Speaker 2: believe it was one in three in the in the
Speaker 2: four games that they missed.
Speaker 3: One passing touchdown too, That is wild. They had one
Speaker 3: passing touchdown during that straight Yeah.
Speaker 2: They're off. Their offense was really struggling. It's worth pointing
Speaker 2: out because we've pretty much just talked about Miami's offense
Speaker 2: to this point. Miami's defense very good. It's there is
Speaker 2: There is nothing that jumps off the page that you
Speaker 2: accept that when you look at their rankings across the board,
Speaker 2: whether you want to look at rushing yards, passing yards,
Speaker 2: total points, third down, red zone, whatever category you want
Speaker 2: to look at, it's very difficult to find a defensive
Speaker 2: category in which they are not in the top ten
Speaker 2: or twelve in the league. They're not like number one
Speaker 2: in anything, you know, not up in the top one
Speaker 2: or two in a whole bunch of things, but they're
Speaker 2: not in the bottom half of the league in almost anything.
Speaker 2: They're up there in the top ten or twelve just
Speaker 2: about every category. This This this is a defense that
Speaker 2: has played has played pretty steady and pretty consistent. It had,
Speaker 2: as I mentioned, had a bad fourth quarter against Arizona
Speaker 2: that cost him a game and then Josh Allen kind
Speaker 2: of did you know what Josh Allen does? And the
Speaker 2: Bills put up thirty. But since then, since then, teams
Speaker 2: have not been able to do much and in fact,
Speaker 2: and I know New England is struggling, but you know
Speaker 2: New England was down what was it, thirty one to
Speaker 2: nothing before they even scored any points last week against
Speaker 2: against this Miami defense. So as much as this is
Speaker 2: a big time challenge for Jeff Haffley, this is no
Speaker 2: picnic for Jordan Love and company. A lot of positive
Speaker 2: signs were seeing with the Packers on offense, no turnovers
Speaker 2: for the offense in this last game. We talked about
Speaker 2: Josh Jacobs and the running game. But this is this
Speaker 2: is going to be a tough matchup for Green Bay.
Speaker 3: Very interesting matchup two in that it features the oldest
Speaker 3: team in the National Football League in Week one versus
Speaker 3: what was the youngest team and then now.
Speaker 1: So I didn't realize that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think if I understood that, right, I believe
Speaker 3: the Again, I'm doing this off top of my head.
Speaker 3: I think the Dolphins have twenty three players who are
Speaker 3: twenty nine or older on their team. A lot of
Speaker 3: those players are on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 3: And in credit to them, you got guys like Calias Campbell,
Speaker 3: who's still their leading sacker this season, must be thirty
Speaker 3: four to thirty five years old at this point.
Speaker 2: Who Apparently Mike McDaniels stood on the table for Campbell
Speaker 2: because there were rumors about him getting traded at the
Speaker 2: trade deadline, and Mike McDaniel's like, do not trade that guy,
Speaker 2: and the Dolphins hung onto him and they are very
Speaker 2: much I mean, they're trying to work their way back
Speaker 2: in the playoff race in the AFC, but they are
Speaker 2: definitely not out of this.
Speaker 3: No, not at all. And in a guy like Campbell,
Speaker 3: you're talking about an NFL Man of the Year, a
Speaker 3: guy that has been one of the most dominant interior
Speaker 3: forces for the last decade in this league, and the
Speaker 3: guy I'm really enjoying them, Mike, I talk about how
Speaker 3: old they are, and obviously Jalen Ramsey's there and Jordan
Speaker 3: Poyer signed with them in the offseason. But Chop Robinson
Speaker 3: is putting some really good things on film too as
Speaker 3: their first round pick. And when you have a young
Speaker 3: guy that can come in and start to make an
Speaker 3: impact like he's done and being sort of sprinkled into
Speaker 3: this defense a little bit, it's a very formidable group.
Speaker 3: At the top of this thing is Anthony Weaver, who
Speaker 3: was among this mass exodus because of just accomplishment that
Speaker 3: was in Baltimore last year, guys becoming coordinators, you know,
Speaker 3: moving into bigger positions. Weaver gets this opportunity down in Miami,
Speaker 3: and I think there's a culture and there's a thought process,
Speaker 3: and I think there's definitely an energy you can feel
Speaker 3: that maybe wasn't there last year with Zick Vangio that
Speaker 3: you know, these guys really he has them believing in
Speaker 3: what they're doing, and even in those games where they
Speaker 3: didn't have to it defensively, they were as competitive as
Speaker 3: they've ever been in a lot of those matchups trying
Speaker 3: to keep their team in it. So, yeah, Miami, again,
Speaker 3: it presents a lot of different looks and things that
Speaker 3: Green Bay is gonna have to take into account for.
Speaker 2: All Right, Well, I want to get to our keys
Speaker 2: to victory in this one, but I will take care
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Speaker 2: All right, Keys to Victory. I think the first thing
Speaker 2: that jumps out to me in this game is this
Speaker 2: is a game that defensively you have to tackle well
Speaker 2: because busted tackles is what leads to the ruptured plays.
Speaker 2: And that is how Tyreek Hill and Jayden Waddle and
Speaker 2: Devon h Chan and these guys you know they they
Speaker 2: they are the masters in many ways of turning five
Speaker 2: yard gains into two pus five yard gains.
Speaker 1: That's what they do.
Speaker 2: And the Packers defense have to absolutely be on their
Speaker 2: p's and q's with the tackling, which is it's always interesting.
Speaker 2: You know, a Thursday game, short week, guys are just
Speaker 2: trying to get their bodies back. You never quite know
Speaker 2: in these short week situations where players are going to
Speaker 2: be fundamentally are there going to be more fundamental breakdowns
Speaker 2: because you don't do much in practice the whole week.
Speaker 2: The whole week is really a week of mental preparation
Speaker 2: and the only thing you're doing physically on the field
Speaker 2: is more walk through and jogging kind of stuff. You're
Speaker 2: not having any real practices like you do when you
Speaker 2: have the full seven days in between games. But for me,
Speaker 2: this one, this one starts with how well will Green
Speaker 2: Bay tackle on defense?
Speaker 3: You know, before I give it into this, someone was
Speaker 3: praising you at inbox, and as they should. I mean,
Speaker 3: we do our final thoughts video every week, and you
Speaker 3: know how we always give our little thoughts.
Speaker 2: And last week, yeah, the Packers win, if which is
Speaker 2: the final segment.
Speaker 3: In mind was punching the ball in they went five
Speaker 3: for five.
Speaker 2: We were talking about red zone and then you had yours,
Speaker 2: which was to get a takeaway, get a take away
Speaker 2: and they got.
Speaker 3: Three of them. Can I just put you on blast
Speaker 3: for one thing? Okay, when we did three Things last week,
Speaker 3: I love how I think you finished yours with you know,
Speaker 3: and I'll be very surprised if this thing doesn't come
Speaker 3: down to the last minute of the game or something
Speaker 3: like that. And then the Packers ended up happening their
Speaker 3: biggest win ever with Matt Lafleour. You just never can tell,
Speaker 3: that's right now, You never can tell.
Speaker 1: Of course we did.
Speaker 2: We did film three Things on Wednesday, and we had
Speaker 2: no idea that brock Purty wasn't going to play, So
Speaker 2: I'll just say that. But yes, it's funny when you
Speaker 2: look at it, and I did say I expected that
Speaker 2: game with the Niners to go right down to the end,
Speaker 2: and then of course it didn't be.
Speaker 3: Somebody was I just got a kick out it because
Speaker 3: somebody's praising us for all this stuff at inbox and
Speaker 3: I'm thinking of all the weeks where I could not
Speaker 3: have been more wrong with final thoughts. But okay, so
Speaker 3: here goes. Here's my big prediction with this one one.
Speaker 3: Green Bay actually can't allow them to get their running
Speaker 3: game going. I thought last week, yes, the pace of
Speaker 3: play had a lot to do with that. Getting up
Speaker 3: to that lead had a lot to do with that.
Speaker 3: I think we were in the middle of the second
Speaker 3: quarter by the time that Christian McCaffrey got his second
Speaker 3: can carry in that game. But even so, Miami hasn't
Speaker 3: actually run the ball that well this year. A chan
Speaker 3: has is a huge weapon from the passing game, five
Speaker 3: receiving touchdowns as a back. This year, he hasn't had
Speaker 3: those big explosive moments like he had his rookie season.
Speaker 3: You look at moster, he's been okay this year. You
Speaker 3: have to try to make this thing one dimensional with
Speaker 3: Tua and try to get after him. Twenty nine sacks
Speaker 3: so far this season have been allowed by that offensive line. Again,
Speaker 3: there's been multiple quarterbacks there, but I think pressure is
Speaker 3: gonna be very important. But I really do think it
Speaker 3: all starts with containing their run game. If you can
Speaker 3: take the things that you did well, and certainly the
Speaker 3: offense played into that too, but defensively with them being
Speaker 3: able to not allow much breathing room to that rushing
Speaker 3: offense for the forty nine ers, this is still the
Speaker 3: same tree that this branch is coming off, that Shanahan tree,
Speaker 3: and if you allow Miami to get that run game going,
Speaker 3: then that's when Tua becomes extremely dangerous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you bring up a good point about how
Speaker 2: the Packers played run defense run defense against the forty
Speaker 2: nine ers Christian McCaffrey. Yes, he missed a big chunk
Speaker 2: of the season, but he's still the reigning NF Offensive
Speaker 2: Player of the Year and a guy with fresh legs
Speaker 2: at this point. Because of that time that he missed,
Speaker 2: Packers only allowed him thirty one rushing yards on eleven carries.
Speaker 2: And in fact, I put together my series of clips
Speaker 2: for what you might have missed for those who want
Speaker 2: to check that out on packers dot com. Six of
Speaker 2: those eleven carries. Packers held him to two or fewer
Speaker 2: yards on six of those eleven. So that was a
Speaker 2: heck of a job up front by the run defense
Speaker 2: and something I agree with you that needs to continue on.
Speaker 2: So those are two keys to victory on the defensive
Speaker 2: side of the ball for the Packers. What do you
Speaker 2: think on the offensive side.
Speaker 3: Protect the football? Yeah, you want to get more takeaways
Speaker 3: and things like that, But I thought last week showed
Speaker 3: and there were some close calls there, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 3: There were some moments there for San Francisco to make
Speaker 3: plays that it didn't. But that being said, I thought
Speaker 3: this this game against the forty nine ers illustrated what
Speaker 3: is possible when you don't hurt yourself with penalties and
Speaker 3: you protect the football. Green Bay outlasted the forty nine ers.
Speaker 3: They routed them, but they outlasted them. They were able
Speaker 3: to maintain that throughout four quarters. A lot of guys
Speaker 3: afterwards it was the buzzword among the media asking if
Speaker 3: this was the most complete game that Green Bay has
Speaker 3: played this season. You give it, put whatever narratives you
Speaker 3: want on top of it, especially considering the state of
Speaker 3: the opponent. But I just felt like the complimentary football
Speaker 3: set of thing and looking at how the Packers were
Speaker 3: able to transition and turn those point those takeaways into points.
Speaker 3: That was the difference in that football game against the
Speaker 3: forty nine ers. So you look at Miami's defense, it's
Speaker 3: been very opportunistic at times this season. They will hurt
Speaker 3: you with the interceptions if you allow them to. Green
Speaker 3: Bay has to and Jordan Love has to protect the football.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I certainly hope that the Packers stay as persistent
Speaker 2: with the running game as they've been, and Josh Jacobs
Speaker 2: is coming on a twenty six carry game, it's a
Speaker 2: short week. He certainly looks no worse for where and
Speaker 2: he will take the ball at anytime that Matt Lafleur wants
Speaker 2: to give it to him. But I tell you, if
Speaker 2: I'm a Manuel Wilson or Chris Brooks, I'm ready to
Speaker 2: get the ball in this game as well, because the
Speaker 2: last thing Matt Lafleuur wants to do is if Josh
Speaker 2: Jacobs needs a breather and he has to come out
Speaker 2: that now suddenly it's like, okay, well now the Packers
Speaker 2: have to throw the ball. No, They're gonna want to
Speaker 2: Manuel Wilson and Chris Brooks to be able to run
Speaker 2: the ball and to continue whatever it is that Jacobs
Speaker 2: establishes when he does need to come out and get
Speaker 2: a breather, and hopefully the Packers can just keep things
Speaker 2: going on the ground what they have shown recently.
Speaker 3: I should say a word here about Chris Brooks because
Speaker 3: for him this is obviously facing his former team in
Speaker 3: the Miami Dolphins, a team that he had a lot
Speaker 3: of success with as an undrafted free agent last year.
Speaker 3: Has a concussion during training camp, gets injuries settled, and
Speaker 3: now he's ends up here in Green Bay, the amount
Speaker 3: of pony that we've seen this year, the amount of
Speaker 3: the two running back packages we've seen this year in
Speaker 3: the aftermath of the injuries to AJ Dillon and also
Speaker 3: marsh Sean Lloyd. If you'd have told me the Packers
Speaker 3: would be lining up in that as frequently as they
Speaker 3: have been in the first half of the season, I
Speaker 3: would have said, you are nuts, right, But that show
Speaker 3: is not only the faith that they haven't Emmanuel Wilson,
Speaker 3: but then for Chris Brooks to come in and he
Speaker 3: had a tripping penalty that I'm sure he definitely wants back.
Speaker 3: But by and large, his ability to pick up blitz,
Speaker 3: his ability to run the football. There was some motioning
Speaker 3: that was happening last week between him and Josh Jacobs,
Speaker 3: and I think there was even a play where Jiden
Speaker 3: Reid was in the backfield with him at one point.
Speaker 3: Chris Brooks, dude, for being a guy that was not
Speaker 3: here during training camp, his ability to function within this
Speaker 3: offense and allow Green Bay to stay in their preferred packages.
Speaker 3: He's another guy I don't think you could say enough
Speaker 3: about him. Will be very critical in this matchup against
Speaker 3: his former team. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Well, before we go looking around the league at
Speaker 2: the most recent results very quickly. As we said, Packers
Speaker 2: are eight and three, Detroit still on top of the
Speaker 2: NFC North at ten to one, Minnesota in between Green
Speaker 2: Bay and Detroit at nine and two. The Vikings end
Speaker 2: up surviving a furious comeback by the Chicago Bears. The
Speaker 2: Bears get at eleven points in the last thirty seconds
Speaker 2: of regulation to force overtime, but then Minnesota wins in
Speaker 2: ot one of just several crazy games in the early window.
Speaker 2: On Sunday, Dallas and Washington played a wild one and
Speaker 2: Dallas ends up getting the win. Kansas City needs a
Speaker 2: walk off field goal to beat the Carolina Panthers down
Speaker 2: in Charlotte, and the Houston Texans take a bad home
Speaker 2: loss against the Tennessee Titans when Houston's kicker misses a
Speaker 2: chip shot that should have forced overtime in that game,
Speaker 2: I will say, since we're kind of calling each other
Speaker 2: out and putting each other on blast, you kind of
Speaker 2: dismissed my thought last week of watch to see how
Speaker 2: Washington responds to getting steamrolled in the fourth quarter by
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Eagles, and you're like, well, it's the Dallas
Speaker 2: Cowboys coming in Well, that's why just you can't always
Speaker 2: dismiss that kind of stuff. Because Washington didn't respond well
Speaker 2: to a really tough division loss where they got run
Speaker 2: over in the fourth quarter by Philly. They took a
Speaker 2: bad home loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and which certainly
Speaker 2: helps the Packers in the playoff picture that Washington now
Speaker 2: has five losses. But Jayden Daniels a rookie quarterback, and
Speaker 2: what's going on in Washington that's something to watch now
Speaker 2: because they've dropped two in a row, and you know
Speaker 2: the shine is coming off the Christmas ornament a little bit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, and looking at the Cowboys very quickly,
Speaker 3: people want to really rip on Mike and everything that's
Speaker 3: happened out there for him to build a winnable game
Speaker 3: plan for Cooper Rush looking as good as he did
Speaker 3: in that game, dowd Will becoming their featured back I
Speaker 3: thought had one of his best games as well. You
Speaker 3: tip your cap to him in that phase. Very odd
Speaker 3: ending to it, but the Cowboys did what they had
Speaker 3: to do to win.
Speaker 1: Forty one points in the last nine minutes.
Speaker 3: And then an on side kick that was returned for
Speaker 3: a touchdown when it didn't matter. I mean, the thing
Speaker 3: has just happened at the end of that game that
Speaker 3: I have not quite understanding.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, the Cowboy Cowboys picked up an onside
Speaker 2: kick and ran it for a touchdown when you just
Speaker 2: need to slide kneel the game out for a touchdown
Speaker 2: and Jade and Daniels gets a shot at a hail
Speaker 2: Mary on the final play because the Cowboys didn't just
Speaker 2: take a stupid knee. It was just it is are
Speaker 2: so many but bizarre things going on in that game.
Speaker 2: But Washington, this is again, this is where you have
Speaker 2: a young team, a different type of team, with a
Speaker 2: lot of new pieces and and Daniel's having to be
Speaker 2: the franchise guy. They're very interested to see how they respond.
Speaker 2: Chicago Bears had one job they failed and this this
Speaker 2: losing streak that they're on continues. By the way, have
Speaker 2: you peaked at all at their schedule the Bear schedule
Speaker 2: here the next month?
Speaker 1: I know that.
Speaker 2: I mean they they they still have they still have
Speaker 2: both of their games left with Detroit. They haven't really
Speaker 2: they haven't played the Lions.
Speaker 3: So listen to this meat grinder. So they had they
Speaker 3: lost three, they've lost five in a row. Out of
Speaker 3: the by. They lost three in a row at home.
Speaker 3: Here's what they now face at Detroit, at San Francisco,
Speaker 3: at Minnesota, and then you come back against Detroit at home,
Speaker 3: and then they wrap up against Seattle and they come
Speaker 3: to Green Bay. Very very rough turn of events for
Speaker 3: the Bears.
Speaker 1: Bears.
Speaker 2: Bears are sitting at four and seven in three games.
Speaker 2: The the the game against Washington, the game against the Packers,
Speaker 2: and now this last one against against the Vikings. Three
Speaker 2: games they've lost on the final play of the game
Speaker 2: when when they they had they had opportunities to win
Speaker 2: and uh yeah, the I mean, you know, the Bears
Speaker 2: got they got another field goal blocked early in that game,
Speaker 2: which then I think influenced a decision to go for
Speaker 2: it on a fourth and four instead of kicking a
Speaker 2: field goal, you know, in like the third quarter. Just
Speaker 2: all these all these things that then added up to
Speaker 2: you know, they had another terrible special teams play where
Speaker 2: the you know, the guy had the punt bounce off
Speaker 2: his leg and the Vikings.
Speaker 1: Recovered they end up getting a touchdown.
Speaker 2: All these things that add up to, you know, they're
Speaker 2: down by two scorers in in the last two minutes
Speaker 2: and then they pull off this amazing you know, touchdown,
Speaker 2: two point conversion, recover, the on side kick, the field
Speaker 2: goal to get it to overtime, and they win the
Speaker 2: toss in overtime yep. And then then they go three
Speaker 2: and out.
Speaker 1: The Vikings win the game anyway.
Speaker 3: So yeah, and for Minnesota, it just Kevin O'Connell keeping
Speaker 3: that team together, staying balanced. And you know, again, Josh
Speaker 3: Jacobs has been a tremendous fine for Green Bay. He's
Speaker 3: the right running back for this offense and a guy
Speaker 3: that you can feed and he's durable. But Aaron Jones
Speaker 3: is looking good too. Still had a fumble early in
Speaker 3: that game, but they stuck with him and he showed
Speaker 3: him to be right again in that instance. And you know,
Speaker 3: Minnesota just keeps finding away. I did say this an
Speaker 3: inbox and I do truly mean this, and we'll just
Speaker 3: have to keep a pin in it the rest of
Speaker 3: the season. But to me, this is starting to remind
Speaker 3: me a lot of that twenty two team they had
Speaker 3: where they won a lot of football games. Very curious
Speaker 3: to see how high they're ceiling runs once you get
Speaker 3: to the postseason. But they're beating the teams they have
Speaker 3: to beat and I will close on this the statistic.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it was Tom Fanning that found it,
Speaker 3: but that's stat about how the green Bay Packers at
Speaker 3: eight and three have the best records since I think
Speaker 3: the merger in nineteen seventy at eight and three through
Speaker 3: thirteen weeks of the season. But to still be in
Speaker 3: the third place or worse within the division, that's never happened.
Speaker 3: And again it just speaks to this division, how difficult
Speaker 3: it is, how tight it is, and the fact that
Speaker 3: of those handful of losses the North has, three of
Speaker 3: them were doled out to each other. It's just it
Speaker 3: is a wild, wild development and green Bay just has
Speaker 3: to keep winning football games and trying to pick up
Speaker 3: another intra conference game on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, three quarters of the NFC North playing on Thanksgiving,
Speaker 2: with the Bears going to Detroit the Packers hosting Miami.
Speaker 2: The only NFC North game to watch on Sunday when
Speaker 2: the Packers are not playing will be Minnesota playing against Arizona.
Speaker 3: Chaos theory. You and I we are already sitting here
Speaker 3: calling ourselves out for some bad predictions. Is there any
Speaker 3: chance the Chicago Bears, losers of five in a row
Speaker 3: can go into Ford Field and win on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: I don't I certainly don't like their chances, but I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna I'm not gonna.
Speaker 3: Give me a percentage. There's no there's no gambling in Bushwood.
Speaker 3: But like, what, what do you think is for give
Speaker 3: me a percentage that you think they can win? Straight up?
Speaker 1: Twenty percent?
Speaker 3: Okay, cool, let's see what happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this, I mean, honestly, in a lot
Speaker 2: of ways, this is this is a lot like where
Speaker 2: Detroit was on Thanksgiving last year when the Packers came.
Speaker 2: Packers were four and six at that time, the lines
Speaker 2: I think were eight and two. Nobody really gave the
Speaker 2: Packers a chance. They hadn't shown a whole heck of
Speaker 2: a lot. The Bears in some ways have shown more
Speaker 2: than the Packers showed last year at this time because
Speaker 2: they've just lost some heartbreaking games that have led to
Speaker 2: this four and seven records.
Speaker 1: So, but but.
Speaker 2: There's it just it feels like just everything, all the
Speaker 2: all the the negativity going on with Eberflus right now,
Speaker 2: head coach of the Bears. It just feels like it's
Speaker 2: too it's too much to overcome. For the Bears to
Speaker 2: start to put together a run here as close as
Speaker 2: they've been in some of these games.
Speaker 3: If you would have told me back in September that
Speaker 3: we would get to Thanksgiving. It looks like Caleb Williams
Speaker 3: is a player. Their defense is playing pretty well in
Speaker 3: the fact that they are plus nine in turnover differential
Speaker 3: right now in their four and seven.
Speaker 2: Yeah, plus nine, plus nine, But three games under five
Speaker 2: hundred at Thanksgiving?
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 3: Do you know how far you have to go down
Speaker 3: on the turnover differential to find a team without a
Speaker 3: winning record other than Chicago? Like, it's like all the
Speaker 3: way it's I think it's like La The Rams are
Speaker 3: like sixteen in turnover differential in our below five hundred.
Speaker 3: It's wild.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is kind of crazy.
Speaker 2: Bear down, yeah, bear down indeed.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: The home of the twenty twenty five NFL Draft is
Speaker 2: right here in Green Bay, so don't miss any draft
Speaker 2: action coming April twenty four through April twenty six of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. Visit green Bay dot com slash Draft
Speaker 2: twenty five for more information.
Speaker 3: Can I ask you one last question?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 3: Uh? Because we won't see each other for another week.
Speaker 3: My coach yes, kind of in a way in the
Speaker 3: chair in these chairs. Last week, I was quoted as
Speaker 3: saying that Mike Tomlins from the NFL Coach of the Year,
Speaker 3: which could still end up being the case. They had
Speaker 3: took a bad loss to Cleveland. Dennis Crowsey had asked
Speaker 3: me this question after they lost, So maybe it's still
Speaker 3: Tomman who's the NFL Coach of the Year right now?
Speaker 1: Oh boy, you're really putting me.
Speaker 3: But see, I had the same exact response me on
Speaker 3: the spot because I'm really opinionated on the Coach of
Speaker 3: the Year stuff. You know, I always talk about it
Speaker 3: being the ap makes it a flavor of the month competition.
Speaker 2: Here's one. Here's one I'll throw out that not a
Speaker 2: lot of people are talking about. Nick Sirianni maybe deserves.
Speaker 3: That's a great pick. That's a great way.
Speaker 2: I philed the way Philadelphia completely all apart at the
Speaker 2: end of last season, and the way Nick Sirianni has
Speaker 2: those Eagles playing right now after taking a couple of
Speaker 2: early season losses and now there's still half a dozen
Speaker 2: games left in the regular season. Oh, for sure, a
Speaker 2: ton of stuff can happen, But you're asking me that
Speaker 2: question right now. That's kind of the that's kind of
Speaker 2: the first one that pops into my eye.
Speaker 3: It's just weird because like somebody had asked me this,
Speaker 3: and I'm like everybody it's been you know, because it's like, okay, so,
Speaker 3: well you so opinion on this who should be the
Speaker 3: coach of the year. I'm like, well, me, personally, maybe
Speaker 3: it should just be who the best teams are and
Speaker 3: then that's where you pull from. But like all the
Speaker 3: people that they wanted to put it on, like Dan Quinn, well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now that's your thing. Now, Washington suddenly lost two
Speaker 2: in a row. Yeah, everybody's wondering what's up with them?
Speaker 2: So Jim Harbaugh, they lost again.
Speaker 3: Now like yeah, anyway, I wanted to ask you that
Speaker 3: because otherwise we're never going to talk about it.
Speaker 2: So well, well let's let's revisit. Yeah when that's a
Speaker 2: good pick. So with that, we'll call it a rap
Speaker 2: on this edition of Packers Unscript. To be sure to
Speaker 2: follow all of our coverage of Thursday night's big game
Speaker 2: at lambeau Field between the Packers and the Dolphins. Will
Speaker 2: have it all for you on Packers dot com. For
Speaker 2: wes I and Mike, thank you for tuning in. Happy
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving everybody, and we will see you next time.