Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by the
Speaker 1: one and only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at Lambellfield to talk Packers Giants Monday
Speaker 1: night football. It's coming up from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford,
Speaker 1: New Jersey and West This Giants team not having the
Speaker 1: season that they envisioned. After an impressive run to a
Speaker 1: playoff spot and chalking up a playoff victory last year
Speaker 1: on the road in Minneapolis, the Giants started this season
Speaker 1: two and eight. They are now four and eight after
Speaker 1: back to back victories heading into their bye week. They
Speaker 1: are now coming off the bye when they face the
Speaker 1: Packers at home on a Monday night. Not the year
Speaker 1: that they were looking for, but a team that with
Speaker 1: these back to back victories heading into their buy you
Speaker 1: wonder if they're starting to figure something out.
Speaker 2: Not easy to win in the National Football League, and
Speaker 2: the fact that the Giants have won back to back
Speaker 2: games for the first time this season. The big message
Speaker 2: that I had in our insider inbox calm this week
Speaker 2: was the Packers have to proceed with confidence and caution.
Speaker 2: This is not the time to start overlooking opponents. The
Speaker 2: greevad Packers don't have that benefit. When you're six and six,
Speaker 2: you got five games to go, and you need every
Speaker 2: single one of these victories possible to improve your situation,
Speaker 2: to potentially make a playoff spot, and then maybe even
Speaker 2: try to improve that positioning in the postseason. Yet, you
Speaker 2: can't take anybody for granted. I think Tommy DeVito has
Speaker 2: given this team some life. I know it was a
Speaker 2: little bit of controversy earlier this week with the decision
Speaker 2: that hey, Tyrod Taylor's back, but they want to still
Speaker 2: run with DeVito. Yeah. I think that's the right call.
Speaker 2: I respect Tyrod. He's had a tremendous career. Maybe they
Speaker 2: have to go back to him at some point. But
Speaker 2: when you've won back to back games, I know what
Speaker 2: the opposition was. I know it wasn't they didn't beat
Speaker 2: the Detroit Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs, But there's
Speaker 2: a little bit more swagger in this team, and it
Speaker 2: was a team that has been struggling to have confidence lately.
Speaker 2: And if you have somebody that you feels odd hand,
Speaker 2: you might as well ride him. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, one of the things that was certainly detrimental to
Speaker 1: the start that the Giants got off to was when
Speaker 1: running back Saquon Barkley had to miss I believe it
Speaker 1: was three games back in late September, mid October, sort
Speaker 1: of in that range. When he came back from that injury,
Speaker 1: he got on a pretty good run. He averaged about
Speaker 1: ninety rushing yards per game for a stretch of five
Speaker 1: games until the Patriots kind of shut him down that
Speaker 1: last game before the Giants bye week. But he was
Speaker 1: up there, you know, four and a half yards per
Speaker 1: carry over a stretch of five games there. But this
Speaker 1: offense has been They've struggled to protect their quarterbacks, whether
Speaker 1: it's been Daniel Jones or Tyron Taylor or Tommy DeVito.
Speaker 1: They're also missing one of their downfield threats and tight end,
Speaker 1: Darren Waller, who is injured and it sounds like he
Speaker 1: will not be back for the game on Monday night
Speaker 1: against the Packers. You look at this from the Packers' perspective. Defensively,
Speaker 1: you absolutely cannot let Saquon Barkley get going. You have
Speaker 1: to make this what has been a struggling passing game
Speaker 1: for the Giants. You have to make them turn things
Speaker 1: over to that struggling passing game and try to beat
Speaker 1: you that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the number one key to victory in this thing.
Speaker 2: And I know we'll talk about that later. But with
Speaker 2: Saquon Barkley, when you talk about that season they had
Speaker 2: a year ago, a lot of that I had to
Speaker 2: do with Barkley, and it had to do with it
Speaker 2: as much as I know Daniel Jones got the contract
Speaker 2: and everything, Saquon Barkley is the one that ultimately pushed
Speaker 2: into the postseason with his play throughout the course of
Speaker 2: that year, kind of reminding everybody of what this guy
Speaker 2: is capable of when he's healthy. Unfortunately for him, as
Speaker 2: you talked about, wasn't healthy earlier this season, but showed,
Speaker 2: you know, against the New York Jets he could still
Speaker 2: be a belkow who touches the ball thirty plus times. Yeah,
Speaker 2: in some of the you know, two weeks ago that
Speaker 2: win over Washington to receiving touchdowns, again reminding you of
Speaker 2: what this guy is capable of in space. And the
Speaker 2: greenwad Packers have to have their intentas up for that
Speaker 2: because the fact of the matter is the Giants offensively
Speaker 2: as much as everyone's been so focused on the Jets,
Speaker 2: the Giants have really struggled on offense this season. Two
Speaker 2: in New York, I think second the league right now
Speaker 2: in scoring off or second to last in league excuse me,
Speaker 2: in scoring offense, in dead last and total yards. They
Speaker 2: have not been able to move the ball effectively. Defensively,
Speaker 2: we'll talk about that in a second. There's been some
Speaker 2: positives there, but offensively it's been pretty lethargic. They haven't
Speaker 2: had a lot of guys step up in the passing game. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: if you're the Green bit Packers, it starts with Saquon Barkley,
Speaker 2: starts with pressuring de Vito, and from there allowing your
Speaker 2: secondary to handle the rest of it.
Speaker 1: Again, we've talked obviously over the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: about how important these fast starts have been for the
Speaker 1: Packers and how detrimental that was earlier in the season
Speaker 1: when it was taking so long for the offense to
Speaker 1: get going. This New York Giants team wes scored sixteen
Speaker 1: points in the first quarter the entire season. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, the Packers were at twenty
Speaker 1: points in the first quarter through ten games but this
Speaker 1: is now sixteen points for the Giants through twelve games
Speaker 1: in the first quarter. If you want getting off to
Speaker 1: getting off to a good start on the road, you know,
Speaker 1: in a primetime game. This is this is a big
Speaker 1: time opportunity for the Packers to do that and to
Speaker 1: keep the Giants struggling in the early portions of games.
Speaker 2: Well and pressuring the quarterback here too, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: when you're looking at these numbers that they've given up
Speaker 2: this so far the season, what DeVito's already been sacked
Speaker 2: twenty eight times? I mean, is this I didn't even
Speaker 2: know if it was this extreme. They have sixty nine
Speaker 2: sacks allowed? Is that my reading that? Right? I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know that's actually a number. I did not
Speaker 2: look so so Daniel Jones thirty. I knew Divito was
Speaker 2: already at twenty eight because that's been a big thing.
Speaker 2: But Daniel Jones sacked thirty times, Divito sacked twenty eight times,
Speaker 2: and then Tyrod Taylor was sacked ten times. My goodness,
Speaker 2: I mean, it shows you why we were talking about
Speaker 2: the people talking and mentioning that the issues they've had
Speaker 2: in pass protection. Evan Neil this week, I know that's
Speaker 2: been another big topic in New York and what's happening
Speaker 2: at right tackle. But be that as it may, you
Speaker 2: can't take it for granted. For Shan Gary's pressuring, well,
Speaker 2: Prescott Smith is pressuring, well, you have to be confident
Speaker 2: going in this matchup. You have to show that we
Speaker 2: are the team that has won three in a row.
Speaker 2: Now we're the team that has won four of our
Speaker 2: last five and we are turning a corner. But you're
Speaker 2: doing it on there couturf yep, and you're doing it
Speaker 2: against an opponent that obviously has a little bit more
Speaker 2: of a hunger along with them after this recent uptick.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, on the defensive side of the ball, it's
Speaker 1: it's almost the opposite in a sense, because defensively against
Speaker 1: the pass, this is a team you have Caveon Thibodeau
Speaker 1: with eleven sacks eleven of the team's twenty one. He
Speaker 1: actually has more than half of their sacks. But you
Speaker 1: have Thibodeaux with eleven, you have Dexter Lawrence with four.
Speaker 1: That guy is a beast in the middle of any
Speaker 1: defensive line. They have twelve interceptions against the pass, two
Speaker 1: of them are turned for touchdowns. Opposing quarterbacks have just
Speaker 1: an eighty three point four passer route against them on
Speaker 1: the season. But the flip side of it is they
Speaker 1: haven't been able to stop the run. They're giving up
Speaker 1: four point eight yards per carry on the season. They've
Speaker 1: allowed eighteen rushing touchdowns. They've allowed more rushing touchdowns than
Speaker 1: passing touchdowns defensively, which almost is unheard of in this
Speaker 1: day and age of the NFL. So again, like the statistics,
Speaker 1: the blueprints sort of lays itself out that you pound
Speaker 1: the ball with aj Dillon, you make them stop the run,
Speaker 1: which they've struggled to do. It ought to open some
Speaker 1: things up for Jordan Love. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you have to be cognizant of protecting the football because
Speaker 1: twelve interceptions is no small number. These guys have taken
Speaker 1: it away. They're fifth in the league in third down defense.
Speaker 1: When they get you in third down, they can make
Speaker 1: life difficult for you, and that's when you have to
Speaker 1: be conscious of protecting that ball.
Speaker 2: It's the wink Martindale's defense. We've had so much, you know,
Speaker 2: said so much about him over the years, and I
Speaker 2: know people, despite the numbers, really hold him in high regard.
Speaker 2: Out there in New York of what he's done there,
Speaker 2: and it's been this feast or famine kind of unit
Speaker 2: so far this season. But Keevon Thibadeau is a guy
Speaker 2: that I was super impressed with. I joked. I remember
Speaker 2: with the draft, I was like, man, if somehow he
Speaker 2: would have fallen to green Bay, what a great pick
Speaker 2: that would have been. With him coming out with the
Speaker 2: green and gold suit from orgon green and yellow suit
Speaker 2: from Oregon, I've been perfect for green Bay. But the
Speaker 2: guy has eleven of their twenty one sacks so far
Speaker 2: this season. He is their pressure force there. Dexter Lawrence
Speaker 2: is coming off I think the first game he's ever
Speaker 2: missed of his career with the hamstring. It sounds like
Speaker 2: from what Brian Dabble said that he will be back
Speaker 2: for this one or it's trending that way. Yeah, maybe
Speaker 2: he didn't practice on Tuesday, But they have some legit
Speaker 2: playmakers on that side of the ball, and as you said,
Speaker 2: if they do when the opportunities that they get where
Speaker 2: they do stop the run and they get you in
Speaker 2: third downs, they get off the field for green Bay
Speaker 2: standpoint though, especially coming off offor rmans like they had
Speaker 2: against Kansas City. I don't know what the status is
Speaker 2: going to be with Aaron Jones here, but you have
Speaker 2: to be able to go north and south on this team.
Speaker 2: You have to be able to set that up because
Speaker 2: if you do, it makes everything easier for Jordan Love,
Speaker 2: it makes everything easier for this Packers offense. And the
Speaker 2: opportunity is there, you have to execute on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I mean Thibodeau. Thibodeau is a guy who
Speaker 1: he was I guess, you'd say, taking a lot of
Speaker 1: criticism as a rookie because he was such a high
Speaker 1: draft pick and didn't really burst on the scene the
Speaker 1: way everybody everybody was hoping for in New York. But
Speaker 1: you're seeing that guy develop. He's a he's a tough
Speaker 1: customer on the edge. He's racking up the sacks this year,
Speaker 1: and I don't think I don't think we've seen the
Speaker 1: best of Dexter Lawrence this season, because man, I mean,
Speaker 1: I know you and I talked about it last last winter.
Speaker 1: He was he was an absolute force in that playoff
Speaker 1: game when they went into Minnesota and beat the Vikings
Speaker 1: in the wildcard round. And that's the that's the Dexter
Speaker 1: Lawrence you have to prepare for bad hamstring or not,
Speaker 1: because he's capable. He's capable of causing all kinds of
Speaker 1: problems in the middle of that defensive line.
Speaker 2: And I mean it shows you how tough and durable
Speaker 2: this guy's been too, that he went this long, and
Speaker 2: I mean for that to be what took him down
Speaker 2: a hamstring to an interior defensive lineman, that tells you
Speaker 2: it's not that was not a happy day for him. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that is a pretty significant deal to sideline a defensive
Speaker 2: lineman because a lot of times I remember Mike Daniels
Speaker 2: dealt with it for a stretched during one of his
Speaker 2: seasons too. If there's one position where sometimes you can
Speaker 2: overcome the hamstring, it tends to be the interior stuff.
Speaker 2: But it took him down. If he's back out there,
Speaker 2: I mean, that does another game changer for them. They
Speaker 2: just are a very opportunistic bunch and if you look
Speaker 2: at the games in which they've won this season, it's
Speaker 2: been executing. It's been finding those ways to sort of,
Speaker 2: I don't want to say manipulate, but being able to
Speaker 2: capitalize on some of the mistakes the opposing offense is doing.
Speaker 2: Green Bay needs another clean ball game to come out
Speaker 2: on this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's certainly where the Packers offense has been trending,
Speaker 1: and you want that trend to continue in that direct.
Speaker 2: By the way, I did the look up the stats
Speaker 2: here quick, I apologize I didn't do my research. Fully,
Speaker 2: I knew the Giants offensive line has had some issues
Speaker 2: this season. Sixty nine sacks allowed for the Giants. The
Speaker 2: next closest is Washington at fifty eight, and then the
Speaker 2: much maligned New York Jets offensive line fifty one. So
Speaker 2: it kind of gives you an idea of how far
Speaker 2: in front the Giants have been so far this season
Speaker 2: as far as pressure on the quarterback. And honestly, that's
Speaker 2: kind of been a recurring theme for them the last
Speaker 2: few seasons.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they they they found they definitely found something last
Speaker 1: season with getting Daniel Jones on the move and even
Speaker 1: with some design runs and whatnot, and and but but
Speaker 1: that part of things it didn't come together for them.
Speaker 1: You know, they took the they took it whatever, it was,
Speaker 1: forty to nothing, you know, on the chin, right right
Speaker 1: out of the gate Week one against the Cowboys, and
Speaker 1: it just seemed like that was a that was a
Speaker 1: blow that they that they haven't really recovered from. And
Speaker 1: but again, to me, when you look at this game
Speaker 1: from the Packers' perspective, Saquon b Sekon Barkley is the
Speaker 1: guy that you're most concerned about, especially because the Packers
Speaker 1: run defense throughout the course of the season has been
Speaker 1: so up and down. Yeah, there have been games where
Speaker 1: the Packers have played the run really really tough, but
Speaker 1: we also know there are three games this season where
Speaker 1: the Packers have allowed two hundred plus rushing yards and
Speaker 1: obviously they've lost all three of those. Those are three
Speaker 1: of the six losses on the Packers ledgers. So obviously,
Speaker 1: when we start talking keys to victory, which we might
Speaker 1: as well do right now, stopping Saquon Barkley ranks at
Speaker 1: the top of the list. But the other one for me,
Speaker 1: just knowing what we see in the numbers and what
Speaker 1: we've seen from this Giant's defense, is that is that
Speaker 1: the Packers need their own ground game to be to
Speaker 1: be reliable and productive throughout all four quarters of this game.
Speaker 1: You don't want to just get into a drop back,
Speaker 1: a straight drop back passing game against the secondary with
Speaker 1: all those picks and against two pass rushers like Thibodeau
Speaker 1: and Lawrence.
Speaker 2: No, you can't do it. And I feel like with
Speaker 2: green Bay and looking at some of these statistics for
Speaker 2: the Giants sixteen hundred and thirty three rushing yards allowed
Speaker 2: so far this season, as you mentioned, the eighteen touchdowns,
Speaker 2: four point eight yards per carrie, which I believe is
Speaker 2: thirtieth in the NFL for most yards per carry allowed.
Speaker 2: It does sort of set the blueprint there for what
Speaker 2: has to happen in these games. And honestly, it's gonna
Speaker 2: sound kind of dumb, it's gonna sound very basic, but
Speaker 2: it really comes down to just scoring points. The Giants
Speaker 2: are zero and five this year when they've given up
Speaker 2: over thirty points. When you're not scoring, it's hard to
Speaker 2: win those type of shootout games. And I think from
Speaker 2: green Bay standpoint, when you're protecting the football and you're
Speaker 2: running the football, well that is that's as simple as
Speaker 2: it gets in terms of what you need to do
Speaker 2: to execute this game. More headlines are going to be
Speaker 2: about Jordan Love Now the guys eight touchdowns, no picks
Speaker 2: the last three games. You know, people are throwing them
Speaker 2: out there is one of the young up and coming
Speaker 2: quarterbacks now funny how quickly a month can change things
Speaker 2: in the eyes of the national pundits. But I think
Speaker 2: it's mostly about the hole and Green. Let's just be honest, Mike.
Speaker 2: On paper, in recent results, they are the better football team. Yes,
Speaker 2: you can't allow yourself to make the mistakes that kind
Speaker 2: of haunted them earlier this season. You come out fast,
Speaker 2: you sustain that. I think the path to victory is there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I thought it was very purposeful on the
Speaker 1: part of Matt Lafleur when he addressed the media on Monday,
Speaker 1: and it's one of the reasons I wrote about it.
Speaker 1: The story was actually posted Wednesday on our website. You
Speaker 1: can go check it out with regard to some of
Speaker 1: the things with the Packers defense, because as impressive as
Speaker 1: it was and holding Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City
Speaker 1: Chiefs to nineteen points as a result, you will take
Speaker 1: any day of the week and twice on Sunday, as
Speaker 1: they say. But he made a point of emphasizing that
Speaker 1: there were a couple of instances against Isaiah Pacheco where
Speaker 1: the Packers had called a single safety defense, meaning that
Speaker 1: one of the safeties was down in the box as
Speaker 1: an extra run defender to help against the run. But
Speaker 1: then the guys, the guys didn't fit the gaps properly,
Speaker 1: and Pachecko, against a defense designed to stop the run,
Speaker 1: was able to get an explosive and gash them. I
Speaker 1: think he specifically mentioned that on Monday because Saquon Barkley
Speaker 1: is coming up, and because the Packers are going to
Speaker 1: I think bring an extra run defender into the box
Speaker 1: quite a bit against Barkley in this game on Monday night.
Speaker 1: And that's the biggest thing with the run defense. They
Speaker 1: have to shore up. I mean, if you're gonna if
Speaker 1: you need to sit back in certain situations to safeties,
Speaker 1: the other team is going to be able to get
Speaker 1: some runs that you know, the five and six yard
Speaker 1: runs like those are going to happen. When you call
Speaker 1: a defense to stop the run, you need to be
Speaker 1: able to stop the run at the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: or within a couple of yards of the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: And that's what the Packers have to do. They have
Speaker 1: to get that short up, they have to get the
Speaker 1: gap fits right. You have to tackle better than you
Speaker 1: did against Pachecko and the Chiefs, And I think that's
Speaker 1: the biggest emphasis defensively going into this game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great point. I mean, Pacheco is a
Speaker 2: different type of running back in Barkley, and that I
Speaker 2: mean a lot of it. He doesn't have the size
Speaker 2: of Barkley, but a lot of is based on expo
Speaker 2: explosion and seeing how much he was running through contact.
Speaker 2: Really just with pure speed. Barkley is going to be
Speaker 2: a guy that's going to try to wear you down,
Speaker 2: especially if he's fit for twenty five carries in this game,
Speaker 2: it's going to be a four quarter battle in that way.
Speaker 1: But and last year out in London, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: the Packers had trouble with Barkley in the second half
Speaker 1: is the game war on, It got harder and harder
Speaker 1: to get him on the ground. And certainly the Giants
Speaker 1: know what they did to be successful in London with
Speaker 1: Barkley against the Packers last year. You know they're going
Speaker 1: to turn back to that absolutely.
Speaker 2: But yeah, looking at the Giants very quickly, thirty first
Speaker 2: in the league and third down offense when you give
Speaker 2: up that may sacks, that's not too big of a surprise.
Speaker 2: Thirty point nine percent, thirty first in red zone offense.
Speaker 2: So even when they've been getting down on drives, have
Speaker 2: not been able to finish those off. And honestly, the
Speaker 2: biggest stat that is just going to jump off the
Speaker 2: page to you, nineteen points six percent sacks to pass attempts.
Speaker 2: So basically, every five times your quarterback's dropping back.
Speaker 1: He's getting he's getting sacked.
Speaker 2: Pretty wild, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll take care of a little bit of sponsor
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Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Two things to look at with regard to the NFC
Speaker 1: playoff picture for this week. The first is what directly
Speaker 1: involves the Packers, which is that all four of the
Speaker 1: wild card contenders with the six and six records in
Speaker 1: the NFC, all of them are on the road. The
Speaker 1: Packers are at the Giants the Rams are at the Ravens,
Speaker 1: the Vikings are at the Race, and the Seahawks are
Speaker 1: at the forty nine Ers. So any thoughts you want
Speaker 1: to share on those other games. I think it's just
Speaker 1: it's interesting when we talk about this cluster of teams
Speaker 1: that are six and six, and I'm not including the
Speaker 1: Falcons because they're leading their division technically not in the
Speaker 1: wild card chase. At the moment that all four of
Speaker 1: them are on the road in the same week, everyone's looking,
Speaker 1: everyone's looking to chalk up a road victory before coming
Speaker 1: back home to friendly confine.
Speaker 2: Well, and before I just touch on that, as you
Speaker 2: mentioned with that Falcons game, the Packers aren't a point
Speaker 2: right now that they just cheer for the Falcons to
Speaker 2: win any opportunity they get.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you want the Falcons to win the NFC South,
Speaker 1: so they are not in the wild card picture because
Speaker 1: that's a team that you lost to head to head.
Speaker 1: So if a tie breaker comes into play, you don't
Speaker 1: want it to be against the Falcons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So obviously from a Packers fan perspective, hoping for
Speaker 2: them to hold serve there against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 2: Some interestingly difficult matchups though, I mean the Rams having
Speaker 2: to go into Baltimore with the way that Baltimore is
Speaker 2: playing right now. Baltimore is another one of those teams
Speaker 2: has gone through some adversity. They lose Mark Andrews, but
Speaker 2: defensively have been continually be a tough unit to be
Speaker 2: able to penetrate.
Speaker 1: I think that's interesting too, because Matthew Stafford seems to
Speaker 1: have that Rams offense cranked quite a bit. The Rams
Speaker 1: offense that the Packers faced with Brett Rippen at quarterback
Speaker 1: and whatever. The Rams are in a completely different place
Speaker 1: right now, but that Ravens defense is going to be
Speaker 1: a big challenge for Stafford and Cup and Nikua and
Speaker 1: those guys.
Speaker 2: The fascinating thing too about the Rams is as much
Speaker 2: as it's been built around Cup and Stafford, they are
Speaker 2: just it's been like this since the beginning with McVeigh.
Speaker 2: With the Rams too, they don't always prioritize the resources
Speaker 2: put into the running back position, but that offense is
Speaker 2: completely different whenever they have a productive running back. With
Speaker 2: Williams back in the lineup and doing what he's been doing.
Speaker 2: The first game he had coming off of ir whatever,
Speaker 2: he had one hundred and fifty rushing yards incredibly productive. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and even though Nikoua and some of those guys have
Speaker 2: been banged up a little bit, that sort of helped
Speaker 2: them in that regard Seattle with a gut check game
Speaker 2: now against San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they played the Niners at home very recently,
Speaker 1: obviously on Thanksgiving Night. Then they had to go on
Speaker 1: the road for a Thursday night game at Dallas, and
Speaker 1: then and then now they're hitting the road again to
Speaker 1: go to San Francisco and playing the Niners for the
Speaker 1: second time in three games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're desperately hoping you can get Kenneth Walker back
Speaker 2: here and get him involved in that offense once again,
Speaker 2: and certainly with Gino kind of wondering what you're gonna
Speaker 2: get with him taking on a very stifling San Francisco defense.
Speaker 2: But with the way that Christian McCaffrey is running the
Speaker 2: ball brock Purty last week, I mean, I said it
Speaker 2: on our last show. I mean, when you have a
Speaker 2: quarterback that is playing the system the way he's playing it,
Speaker 2: I think it's sometimes you overlook just how good Brock
Speaker 2: Purdy has been as a quarterback in general. The kid
Speaker 2: is doing all the right things to help that football
Speaker 2: team win, and certainly that the forty nine ers when
Speaker 2: you pressure him when he doesn't have Deebo Samuel Babel,
Speaker 2: different football team. And then if I may just very
Speaker 2: quickly to touch on this with Minnesota, this is kind
Speaker 2: of almost as big of a Josh Dobbs sort of
Speaker 2: heat check as anything else and seeing, okay, is this
Speaker 2: going to be the guy for us? You're going up
Speaker 2: against Vegas who has had their own issues, but you're
Speaker 2: on their turf. The Vikings, I think probably desperately are
Speaker 2: hoping that Dobbs can perform here and look like the
Speaker 2: guy he was early on because otherwise now you're trying
Speaker 2: to mount a playoff push with a quarterback controversy. So
Speaker 2: what and that's never a good formula.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the Vikings are hoping that by sticking with
Speaker 1: Dobbs and getting Justin Jefferson back from his injury, that
Speaker 1: that combination that those two can maybe find, you know,
Speaker 1: find a way to click. And you know, really the
Speaker 1: bottom line for Minnesota is it's been the turnovers. When
Speaker 1: they turn the ball over, they look like a bad
Speaker 1: football team, and they struggle to get victories and they
Speaker 1: look very poor in doing so when they protect the football,
Speaker 1: that's a tough team to beat. I mean, and it's
Speaker 1: been it's been one or the other with the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings so far this season. The other thing to look
Speaker 1: at with regard to the NFC playoff picture, the big
Speaker 1: game everybody's going to be watching, of course, is the
Speaker 1: Sunday night football game. It's Philadelphia at Dallas. Dallas is
Speaker 1: one game behind the Eagles in the NFC East race.
Speaker 1: But where this could potentially get really interesting, Wes is
Speaker 1: if the Niners beat the Seahawks, if the Lions win
Speaker 1: their game, and if the Cowboys beat the Eagles, you
Speaker 1: suddenly will have a four way tie for the number
Speaker 1: one seed in the NFC with four games to go.
Speaker 1: And not saying that that's what's going to happen, but
Speaker 1: it's certainly very plausible that that's how that's where the
Speaker 1: NFC playoff picture could be sitting after this week with
Speaker 1: four teams at ten and three and four games to
Speaker 1: go to decide who gets that number one spot, and
Speaker 1: the first round by the only one now with that
Speaker 1: only going to the top seed as opposed to the
Speaker 1: first two like it used to be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, this is what the NFL wanted, right,
Speaker 2: They wanted that type of battle not only for playoff
Speaker 2: you know, berths, but also the positioning to get that
Speaker 2: number one seed. And if I'm mad a Eberflus in
Speaker 2: Chicago right now, I'm reminding my football team of exactly
Speaker 2: what we did to the Detroit Lions a couple weeks,
Speaker 2: no questions, So that that's a game with a lot
Speaker 2: on the line for them. Buffalo's trying to go to
Speaker 2: Kansas City. I mean, I think that's a huge game
Speaker 2: for both of those teams for an entirely different reasons. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it is a very compelling Week fourteen slate of games
Speaker 2: that are going to have huge implications for how the
Speaker 2: rest of this thing goes. But Dallas, you know, Mike McCarthy,
Speaker 2: I saw the reports out there with the appendicitis. You
Speaker 2: hope everything's going okay with him. What's his availability going
Speaker 2: to be for that game against Philly? A lot to
Speaker 2: keep your eye on here as the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: prepare for that game on Monday night.
Speaker 1: Well, I had my emergency apendectomy last year on a
Speaker 1: Wednesday night, and I was in the press box to
Speaker 1: cover the game on Sunday, So Mike McCarthy Bert. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm kidding. I hope every time stood. I hope
Speaker 1: everything is good with Mike and there. I mean, it
Speaker 1: sounds like he is expecting to be able to be
Speaker 1: on the sideline on Sunday. So I don't mean to
Speaker 1: I don't mean to make to make light of it,
Speaker 1: but if you went through it last year, it's not fun.
Speaker 1: But obviously sitting up in the press box with my
Speaker 1: laptop is a little different than being on the sideline
Speaker 1: with the headset and calling plays and trying to trying
Speaker 1: to you know, dodge three hundred pound guys making tackles.
Speaker 1: And I mean, we've seen not to go off on
Speaker 1: too big of as we've seen, we've seen some like
Speaker 1: ugly sideline collisions in NFL games this year. Like people
Speaker 1: got to start protecting themselves a little bit more like
Speaker 1: this is this is getting out of hand. I just
Speaker 1: I hate watching those moments in games where somebody just
Speaker 1: very innocently, you know, on the sideline, a chain gang
Speaker 1: member or whatever the case might be, and uh and
Speaker 1: they you know, they need medical attention and all this,
Speaker 1: and it's like it's been happening too much in this league.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes it hard for me to transition back,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to force it anyway. Could you have
Speaker 2: stood for three hours covering that game last year after
Speaker 2: the appendectomy?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could have.
Speaker 2: I could have.
Speaker 1: I could have stood.
Speaker 2: I mean if I took your chair away, and I say,
Speaker 2: if you asked you asked.
Speaker 1: Me to ask me to run down the sideline to
Speaker 1: call a time out, you know when when when you've
Speaker 1: got a bad look on offense or defense or whatever. No,
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to do that. But Stan standing
Speaker 1: still a few days after, Yeah, I could have. I
Speaker 1: could have probably pulled that off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but to your point, yeah, it's been it's been
Speaker 2: very scary. You know that. I think that was what
Speaker 2: one of the chain game guys last week got a
Speaker 2: pretty bad deal. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Down in New Orleans it was the Detroit the Detroit
Speaker 1: New Orleans game.
Speaker 2: Gotta stay heads up, very fast, very athletic, very big
Speaker 2: human beings.
Speaker 1: And that's why you and I don't spend any time
Speaker 1: on the sideline. We just stay safe up in the
Speaker 1: press box, not just because it's warm, but because we
Speaker 1: we can protect ourselves up there.
Speaker 2: I will never forget as we can close out the
Speaker 2: show on this Uh. I believe it was twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: It wasn't it was was Was it after Farv got
Speaker 2: his NF I think it was after Farv got his
Speaker 2: Super Bowl. He was getting a Super Bowl ring at
Speaker 2: lambeauf or not a superring, his the Hall of Fame ring. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it was sixteen and they were doing the
Speaker 2: halftime show. So I walked down early. I think I
Speaker 2: was working for the Packers at that point. I think
Speaker 2: you stayed up in the press box. I went down
Speaker 2: early to cover the halftime thing with Farvre and I
Speaker 2: spent the last five minutes of the first half down
Speaker 2: on the field. And that experience of watching I think
Speaker 2: Dallas was driving and so the defense was they had
Speaker 2: their back to me, but they were getting into Green
Speaker 2: Bay territory and like Julius Peppers was out there and
Speaker 2: like all these guys, and I'm like, it gave me
Speaker 2: a new appreciation not only for the speed of these guys,
Speaker 2: but just how many monsters there are out there on
Speaker 2: the fields. It is startling. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Or earlier, earlier in my career, both with the Packers
Speaker 1: and when in the news paper business, there were moments
Speaker 1: for different reasons where I would spend just brief periods
Speaker 1: on the sidelines. Maybe I was, you know, running digital
Speaker 1: cards for photographers or whatever the case might be. You
Speaker 1: spend any time right on the sideline while the action
Speaker 1: is going on in an NFL game, The speed of
Speaker 1: the game, the power of the collisions, as you said,
Speaker 1: the size of the players. I mean, it really hits
Speaker 1: you when you are that, when you are that close
Speaker 1: to it, you know, hits you, no pun intended. You
Speaker 1: realize that, you realize that the game that you're watching
Speaker 1: on TV looks and feels a heck of a lot
Speaker 1: different when you are right down there on the grass.
Speaker 1: And I've always you know, filed away those memories because
Speaker 1: it is it is a different game. And you and
Speaker 1: I both spent plenty of time on high school sidelines,
Speaker 1: even college games sidelines perhaps here and there. In the NFL, man,
Speaker 1: it's a whole different world.
Speaker 2: And you might get a kid that that's a really
Speaker 2: good tackler. You might get a kid that's really fast,
Speaker 2: Very rarely, at least in our part of the country.
Speaker 2: Do you see the guy with the whole total package. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the probably the closest I came to that was Alec
Speaker 2: Ingold over at Bayport, and he was just a quick,
Speaker 2: kind of sized up quarterback. But it's just it's it's
Speaker 2: incredible to watch, and it gives your respect and profound
Speaker 2: admiration for what these guys do on a weekly basis
Speaker 2: to get themselves ready for it. I was tired enough.
Speaker 2: It's Thursday morning. I think I finally came back today
Speaker 2: as far as getting on my sleep schedule. And I
Speaker 2: don't even have to do anything athletic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now and and now we have to now we
Speaker 1: have to do it again. And I don't know ones
Speaker 1: are playing going to get back like three in the
Speaker 1: morning or three thirty.
Speaker 2: And I gotta shoot daily on Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1: See, so yeah, well we'll we'll have to uh, we'll
Speaker 1: have to readjust again next week. But hey, Packers are uh,
Speaker 1: Packers are in the playoff chase, and that beats the alternative.
Speaker 2: It's the best. It is the best thing to cover
Speaker 2: December football when your team is in it. Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: there's nothing like it. They even you can see the
Speaker 2: article views, you know, the engagement on stuff. People are
Speaker 2: just revd up for it. Yeah and yeah Greenmit, Packer's
Speaker 2: got five more to go here, trying to get another
Speaker 2: one on Monday Night.
Speaker 1: No question about it. With that, we'll call it a
Speaker 1: rap on this edition of Packers Own Script To be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of Monday night's
Speaker 1: game from MetLife in New Jersey. We will have it
Speaker 1: all for you on packers dot com for Wes, I
Speaker 1: am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will
Speaker 1: see you next time.