Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston Hodkoitz. Coming to you hear
Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field and unfortunately Wes. This
Speaker 1: is our season ending episode of Packers Unscripted because the
Speaker 1: Packers fell to the forty nine Ers in the NFC
Speaker 1: Divisional Playoffs Saturday night out in Santa Claara. The final
Speaker 1: score was twenty four to twenty one, and the long
Speaker 1: and the short of it is missed opportunities early, missed
Speaker 1: opportunities late, and the forty nine Ers were able to,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, quite frankly escape with a home playoff
Speaker 1: victory that sent the Packers back to Green Bay and
Speaker 1: thinking about twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the word I've been using all week is survival.
Speaker 2: I thought that San Francisco forty nine Ers survived. They
Speaker 2: didn't play particularly well. This is a team that I
Speaker 2: think you've already heard people talk on the West Coast
Speaker 2: is going to have to play better now in the
Speaker 2: NFC Championship to get past Detroit. But for the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers' circumstances. I think they had a lot to
Speaker 2: do with that. I thought defensively, green Bay set the
Speaker 2: tone early. I thought offensively, they were able to push
Speaker 2: the ball downfield, were not able to capitalize on red
Speaker 2: zone opportunities in the first half, and then obviously we're
Speaker 2: not able to turn over the football defensively when brock
Speaker 2: Purty gave him a couple opportunities. Conversely, looking at San Francisco,
Speaker 2: very opportunistic in the second half was strange because for
Speaker 2: three quarters it was sort of the struggle between the
Speaker 2: two teams. The third quarter for whatever reason, turned into
Speaker 2: a shootout.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But then.
Speaker 1: Suddenly the third quarter the teams are both teams were
Speaker 1: just going up and down the field like crazy, and
Speaker 1: you have Keishaw Nixon's long return and the fumble and
Speaker 1: the Packers recovered it. Sort of got chaotic, yeah, for
Speaker 1: a little while. Then in the fourth quarter things settled down.
Speaker 1: But the Packers had, as much as they had missed
Speaker 1: on those opportunities offensively earlier in the game, they had
Speaker 1: multiple opportunities with the lead, with the ball in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, chances to extend that lead, and they didn't
Speaker 1: get it done. And ultimately that bit them because the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers were able to put together the one
Speaker 1: final drive they needed to take the ultimate to take
Speaker 1: the ultimate lead at the end of the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what I've sort of been saying since the
Speaker 2: game was the forty nine Ers kind of did what
Speaker 2: to the Packers what the Packers had been doing to teams,
Speaker 2: which is finding a lead late and then being able
Speaker 2: to use the four minute offense, getting the running game
Speaker 2: going move in the chains. Green Bay actually did pretty
Speaker 2: well in early down situations, but brock Purdy gave him credit.
Speaker 2: Give the Niners receivers credit. When it came to third
Speaker 2: and long, third and nine to third and tens, they
Speaker 2: found ways to stay on the field and green Bay
Speaker 2: could not get off of it. Ultimately, Christian McCaffrey showed up,
Speaker 2: brock Purdy showed up. And when you play a team
Speaker 2: that's that good and that talented Michael, you have to
Speaker 2: capitalize on your opportunities. When you don't, you find yourself
Speaker 2: in the position the Packers are today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the thing I think. I think when you
Speaker 1: look back at this game, the Packers had, the Packers
Speaker 1: had opportunities to put even more pressure on the forty
Speaker 1: nine Ers than they did, because when the Packers were
Speaker 1: trailing in this game, they only trailed by a point
Speaker 1: here or there. You know, they were right in it.
Speaker 1: When the Packers had the lead, both in the first
Speaker 1: half and then also in the fourth quarter. When the
Speaker 1: Packers had the lead, they had chances to kind of
Speaker 1: crank up that pressure on the favored team, on the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers by extending that lead, maybe changing the
Speaker 1: tenor of the game a little bit. They weren't able
Speaker 1: to do that, and because the forty nine Ers were
Speaker 1: always just within that one score, all they needed was
Speaker 1: the one drive to do it. Obviously, you know, you'd
Speaker 1: love to see what maybe would have transpired if the
Speaker 1: ending would have transpired differently, if Andras Carlson makes the
Speaker 1: kick and the Packers go up by seven, then if
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers go down and score, it's a
Speaker 1: tie game instead of being in desperation mode with a
Speaker 1: minute to go, you know, maybe the game goes to
Speaker 1: overtime or something like all these things that you know,
Speaker 1: sort of the the what ifs and and would it
Speaker 1: could have should as when it's all said and done.
Speaker 1: You know, for me, and I think I think I
Speaker 1: speak for a lot of Packers fans in this regard
Speaker 1: for messing processing the loss. You're kind of caught in
Speaker 1: between two places because I've been doing this long enough
Speaker 1: to know that that being the hot team at the
Speaker 1: end of the season and having the kind of mojo
Speaker 1: that this Packers team had is rare. It doesn't happen
Speaker 1: that often, and when it does happen, you want to
Speaker 1: try to maximize it as as best you can. And
Speaker 1: unfortunately it you know, as well as the Packers played
Speaker 1: for the majority of the game in San Francisco, they
Speaker 1: just weren't able to get it done. And seeing a
Speaker 1: hot team with a hot quarterback and that kind of
Speaker 1: mojo come up short is really tough. But then the
Speaker 1: other side, when you talk about being in between things,
Speaker 1: the other side of it is what the future holds
Speaker 1: for this team. I mean, the biggest question that needed
Speaker 1: to be answered in twenty twenty three do the Packers
Speaker 1: have a franchise quarterback? And I don't know when the
Speaker 1: season started, if we would be sitting here doing a
Speaker 1: January show saying unequivocally the Packers have that answer, Like
Speaker 1: you know, after one season, but the Packers unequivocally have
Speaker 1: that answer, they have their franchise quarterback, That's what needed
Speaker 1: to be answered. And then with all these other young
Speaker 1: players on offense growing around Jordan Love, you can't help
Speaker 1: but be excited for what the future holds, even though
Speaker 1: this particular moment and this opportunity getting away is still
Speaker 1: tough to swallow.
Speaker 2: Oh it burns because of that reason that the team
Speaker 2: did play that well down the stretch, Jordan Love did
Speaker 2: actually mesh with these offensive weapons as well as he
Speaker 2: did and Mike what impressed me the most about Jordan
Speaker 2: and people will point to the stats, and rightfully so
Speaker 2: that's where you know, the rubber.
Speaker 3: Meets the road.
Speaker 2: Four thousand yards passing, thirty plus touchdowns thrown, getting a
Speaker 2: team to the NFC Divisional round of the playoffs in
Speaker 2: his first year as a starting quarterback. But I go
Speaker 2: back to what happened in April, and I still had
Speaker 2: that image in my mind. I don't know if it
Speaker 2: was Stephen Huddy or whoever it was that was doing
Speaker 2: the social media videos or the guys walking in for
Speaker 2: the first day of the off season program and Jordan
Speaker 2: came in, cool, calm and collected, having been annointed to
Speaker 2: the starting quarterback everybody kind of knowing that's the direction
Speaker 2: things are going. Aaron Rodgers would be getting traded to
Speaker 2: the Jets and everyone would be going their separate ways.
Speaker 2: And he never backed down from it. He welcomed it.
Speaker 2: He was the guy pulling guys together during the summer,
Speaker 2: getting them together in California, being able to get that
Speaker 2: little bit of a workout in that team bonding and camaraderie,
Speaker 2: the Monday dinners, the sitting down and breaking down film
Speaker 2: with the receivers when things weren't going so hot mid season.
Speaker 2: He passed every on and off the field test you
Speaker 2: want to see from a rookie quarter or his first
Speaker 2: year starting quarterback. And that is what, ultimately is the
Speaker 2: reason why I feel confident calling him a franchise guy.
Speaker 2: It's not that he's just talented. It's not that he
Speaker 2: just has a good arm. It's not because he was
Speaker 2: one of the hottest quarterbacks during the final stretch.
Speaker 3: Of the season.
Speaker 2: It's everything he did in the window of the past
Speaker 2: nine months to earn the right to be the QB
Speaker 2: one here. And why is that important for the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers, Because, Michael, if you look at all the
Speaker 2: franchises around the league that have struggled to find their guy,
Speaker 2: all of the wasted equity that goes with that, the
Speaker 2: wasted draft picks, the numerous draft picks you're spending high
Speaker 2: capital trying to find a quarterback. Green Bay managed to
Speaker 2: do it, and they have a process.
Speaker 3: Of doing it.
Speaker 2: And I think that was probably the most gratifying thing
Speaker 2: for me was watching Jordan Love stay true to it,
Speaker 2: understand what was asked of him for three years, being patient,
Speaker 2: and now finally seeing some of the fruits of his labor.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I don't want this to come off the
Speaker 1: wrong way in terms of talking about Jordan Love, but
Speaker 1: when you look at when you look at what happened
Speaker 1: and you start to project forward into the future, the
Speaker 1: fact that Jordan Love had the ball in his hands
Speaker 1: with a minute and seven seconds on the clock, down
Speaker 1: by three points, with a chance to keep the Packers
Speaker 1: season alive, and he made a colossal mistake that he
Speaker 1: knows was on him. There may be nothing better in
Speaker 1: some respects for this team. We'll see how it plays out.
Speaker 1: There may be nothing better than the new franchise quarterback
Speaker 1: being motivated by that by that mistake. At the end,
Speaker 1: the entire offseason leading into next year. Jordan Love isn't
Speaker 1: walking into the offseason going I was the hottest quarterback
Speaker 1: out there and hey, you know we came up short.
Speaker 1: He personally is walking into the offseason going, man like,
Speaker 1: you know, I made it the type of mistake that
Speaker 1: I hadn't made for a long time, the type of
Speaker 1: mistake that I made early in the season. I wasn't
Speaker 1: making it late in the season, but I made it
Speaker 1: with the season on the line. I believe that young man,
Speaker 1: that young quarterback is going to be supremely motivated heading
Speaker 1: into twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: The best quote that came out of the season, and
Speaker 2: Matt Lafleur reiterated it after the game, but it was
Speaker 2: in the lead up to this game, him talking about
Speaker 2: how Jordan has learned from every experience this week, Yes,
Speaker 2: this year, good and bad. It's the only thing this
Speaker 2: guy didn't have. He didn't have the reps. He didn't
Speaker 2: have the opportunity to go out and learn from success
Speaker 2: and learn from failure at the NFL level. He has
Speaker 2: that now. He's been at the highest of highs now
Speaker 2: eight straight games, eighteen touchdowns, one interception. The reason why
Speaker 2: the Packers are in the playoffs, the way he played
Speaker 2: down the stretch, and also why they now are not
Speaker 2: going to be trying to compete for a championship in
Speaker 2: this specific year. On that drive, Now, he wasn't the
Speaker 2: only guy, as you mentioned, there was defense involved with that,
Speaker 2: There was special teams involved with that, right, But this
Speaker 2: is the position Jordan wants to be in. And when
Speaker 2: you have that much confidence in a guy's composure, in
Speaker 2: his poise, I don't worry about that being something that's
Speaker 2: going to be a deterring factor with him. I see that,
Speaker 2: like you said, something that is going to kind of
Speaker 2: spur him on now into this twenty twenty four season
Speaker 2: and beyond.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as much as Matt Lafleur said on Monday, you know,
Speaker 1: when you review that game, you feel, you know, on
Speaker 1: the Packers side of things, it shouldn't have come down
Speaker 1: to that final drive. Packers shouldn't have been in that
Speaker 1: position to be down by three points with a minute
Speaker 1: to go in needing to score to either tie or
Speaker 1: try to win the game because of all the other
Speaker 1: missed opportunities and and just and you know, close calls,
Speaker 1: you know, Matt, Matt Lafleur had said when he's talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, the missed field goal, which is gonna be
Speaker 1: a big discussion throughout the offseason as well. These games
Speaker 1: are never just about one play, you know, Lafleur said,
Speaker 1: you know, you look at that game, they are about
Speaker 1: ten plays. Ten You know that that if maybe one
Speaker 1: or two of those go the other way for Green Bay,
Speaker 1: you know, we might be talking about a different result.
Speaker 1: But a that's the NFL B that's the NFL playoffs.
Speaker 1: When you know the margin the margins in the regular
Speaker 1: season in this league are small enough, the margins and
Speaker 1: the playoffs get even smaller. Especially you know, regardless that
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers were the one seed and the
Speaker 1: Packers were the seventh seed. Everybody knew the Packers were
Speaker 1: a hot team, they had a hot quarterback. Everybody was
Speaker 1: wondering how would the forty nine ers respond, you know,
Speaker 1: with with having you know, the buy and all the rest,
Speaker 1: and you know, trying to get their guys healthy. But
Speaker 1: then you know they lose Deebo Samuel. That has the
Speaker 1: effect on their offense as well. We saw that earlier
Speaker 1: in the season with the forty nine Ers. So all
Speaker 1: these things that get jumbled into the mix in a
Speaker 1: playoff game, and it's frustrating to come up short when
Speaker 1: you feel like the Packers for the bulk of the
Speaker 1: game were the better team. But again it's you know,
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs, it's about being able to finish
Speaker 1: off the game yea, And the Packers weren't able to
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 2: No, And you've been on both sides of it. I
Speaker 2: know for Packer fans it's difficult because you felt this
Speaker 2: pain before. There has been incidences where the Packers got
Speaker 2: into an NFC championship game and they got beaten in
Speaker 2: Atlanta against San Francisco the first time, but there's also
Speaker 2: been these instances where it got right down to the
Speaker 2: wire and the Packers had a chance, and that's what.
Speaker 3: Makes it hurt more.
Speaker 2: But what's exciting about it if you can separate yourself
Speaker 2: from that era of Packers football on what you saw
Speaker 2: this year is that Jordan Love has his entire career
Speaker 2: ahead of him. Now he has the opportunity to learn
Speaker 2: from his mistakes and be better. And most of all,
Speaker 2: Michael I got to give credit to Andy Herman on this.
Speaker 2: He was the one that tweeted this out. If you
Speaker 2: look at how their roster is shaped for next year,
Speaker 2: without resigning any players, without signing any free agents, without
Speaker 2: making any of these draft picks. The Packers have a
Speaker 2: bulk of their core already back under contract for next.
Speaker 1: Year one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: It's not guaranteed. You have to work for it. You're
Speaker 2: not just going to be anointed another spot in the
Speaker 2: final four of the NFC. But with given the youth
Speaker 2: of this roster and what Green Bay was able to
Speaker 2: do this season, that's what leads to this optimism now
Speaker 2: for what's going to happen now in Jordan Love's second
Speaker 2: year as a starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I want to transition to that in terms
Speaker 1: of looking forward, but I will take care of some
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Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: We had Matt Lafleur's final press conference of the season
Speaker 1: on Monday. We had the final open locker room media
Speaker 1: availability on Monday morning, and I thought it was really
Speaker 1: I thought it was really poignant what Matt Lafleur had
Speaker 1: to say about, you know, totally acknowledging there's a lot
Speaker 1: to be proud of in terms of what this team did. Yes,
Speaker 1: the disappointing, the ending is disappointing, it's bitter, it's tough,
Speaker 1: and there is a lot to look forward to. But
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna crown the Packers NFC North champions. Nobody's going
Speaker 1: to hand the Green Bay Packers a playoff spot in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four just because of how they played over
Speaker 1: the last month or so of the twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: and into January of twenty twenty four. It's all the
Speaker 1: discussion is about what are the individual players going to
Speaker 1: do in terms of seizing their off season and making
Speaker 1: the individual strides, because the individual improvement that players make
Speaker 1: on their own is what will lead to the collective
Speaker 1: improvement when they all get back together for OTAs and
Speaker 1: training camp and all that. It's a process here, and
Speaker 1: once the games start next season, everything starts over. Everything
Speaker 1: is everything is zero and zero. But what you do
Speaker 1: between now and then is going to determine whether whether
Speaker 1: the team that you put out there on the field
Speaker 1: next September is a better one than the one you
Speaker 1: had the previous season.
Speaker 2: Because you have to look at where they were at
Speaker 2: four months ago and where they can get to four
Speaker 2: months from now. Yeah, because yeah, and guys need to
Speaker 2: rest up, they need to recover.
Speaker 3: You need to step away.
Speaker 2: You got to get your mind clear, you got to
Speaker 2: get your body back to full health. Yes, But as
Speaker 2: Matt Lafleur said April fifteenth, it's going to be here
Speaker 2: and we're less than three months away from it. The
Speaker 2: first day of the offseason program when guys can come
Speaker 2: back voluntary obviously, but usually the starting point for most
Speaker 2: of the roster. You want to be able to show
Speaker 2: that not only can you pick up where you left off,
Speaker 2: but you're gonna be one step better even then. And
Speaker 2: I think they will be because Michael I was absolutely
Speaker 2: blown away by what the Packers did this season, not
Speaker 2: even with the rookie class because we talk about that
Speaker 2: so often, but a guy like Bou Melton that just
Speaker 2: gets thrown in and is playing major snaps for them
Speaker 2: in important games down the stretch.
Speaker 3: Bou Meltain.
Speaker 2: It won't get talked about it all because they lost
Speaker 2: the game, but draws a forty one yard DPI and
Speaker 2: then makes a toe tapping touchdown for nineteen yards. For
Speaker 2: all the guys we talked about at receiver and cornerback
Speaker 2: going into the season, what those two positions looked like
Speaker 2: by the end of the year, that's all based on
Speaker 2: what guys were doing in practice, how they were picking
Speaker 2: the playbook up. And now those same players are going
Speaker 2: to have an opportunity to sit back, take everything in,
Speaker 2: understand the full segment of what's being asked of them,
Speaker 2: in knowing how they fit into these offenses and defenses.
Speaker 3: That's very important.
Speaker 2: You hope to get some of these guys like Eric
Speaker 2: Stokes back and players that dealt with injury this year,
Speaker 2: but Carrington Valentine now has banked nine hundred snaps on defense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that type of stuff goes a long way, because now
Speaker 2: these guys know I played at this level, I can
Speaker 2: play at this level moving forward, and I can make
Speaker 2: plays going forward.
Speaker 3: And I think that's one of the most exciting aspects.
Speaker 1: Of all this. Yeah, And I think when you look
Speaker 1: at the big picture of this Packers twenty twenty three season.
Speaker 1: I think what everybody has to appreciate because it certainly
Speaker 1: never happened around here, and I don't I'm not familiar
Speaker 1: enough with the rest of the NFL to recall a
Speaker 1: specific instance where where it's gone like this. But within
Speaker 1: one season span of time was discussion as to whether
Speaker 1: the Packers were going to get a top five draft pick,
Speaker 1: and then by the end they were a legitimate Super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender.
Speaker 3: With the twenty fifth draft picks.
Speaker 1: And now selecting twenty fifth in the first round come April.
Speaker 1: The ground that had to be made up, you know,
Speaker 1: the progress that had to be made in a fairly
Speaker 1: short amount of time to go from talking about top
Speaker 1: five draft pick to not just pie in the sky
Speaker 1: but legitimate Super Bowl contender. The way they were playing,
Speaker 1: it's remarkable what this team did. And that's and that
Speaker 1: goes to the personnel department, it goes to the coaching staff,
Speaker 1: it goes to the players, the young players for sticking
Speaker 1: with it, the veteran players for sticking with it as well,
Speaker 1: knowing that these young guys had stuff to learn and
Speaker 1: had to you know, the veterans had to bring them
Speaker 1: along to a certain extent when you to me, when
Speaker 1: I whenever I, you know, really reflect back on the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three season, That's what I'm going to be
Speaker 1: thinking about. That. This Packers team was two and five
Speaker 1: in October and people were wondering how high the draft
Speaker 1: pick was going to be, and by the end of
Speaker 1: the season, people were wondering, can this team go to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I've never experienced a season like that before,
Speaker 1: and I think that big picture part of it is
Speaker 1: something that should be appreciated.
Speaker 2: And that's why Matt Lafleur said they've earned higher expectations
Speaker 2: now for next season, because that's one of the reasons
Speaker 2: why we couldn't figure it out because we didn't know
Speaker 2: what the expectations were. We really didn't know what the
Speaker 2: standard was, especially when this team's sitting at two and
Speaker 2: five and three and six trying to figure out, Okay,
Speaker 2: what are they.
Speaker 3: Going to be? What are they going to make of
Speaker 3: this season?
Speaker 2: I think a lot of that give you give the
Speaker 2: locker room credit, you give the players credit for their
Speaker 2: own individual development, but I think some of it has
Speaker 2: to come back to Matt Lafleur too, And he was
Speaker 2: throwing bouquets at Brian Goodekunz in his front office for
Speaker 2: finding the talent that they did. But somebody has to
Speaker 2: develop it. Somebody has to understand how to incorporate it.
Speaker 2: Lafleur maybe in his staffy in any other season I've
Speaker 2: covered here in Green Bay, found ways to play to
Speaker 2: player's strengths, found ways to bring in a bow Melton,
Speaker 2: found ways to bring in Emmanuel Wilson, Tucker Kraft and
Speaker 2: find out how to best utilize their strengths to be
Speaker 2: successful on offense. And lastly, just to mention this piece
Speaker 2: of it, when you look at the defense had to
Speaker 2: go through a lot and no promises have been made.
Speaker 2: Mattlefuller said, he's taken a full evaluation. We'll see where
Speaker 2: things go from here. But I do think it says
Speaker 2: a lot about those defensive players and their character, their
Speaker 2: willpower that when things weren't going great, and even when
Speaker 2: you win a game in Carolina, but you give up
Speaker 2: thirty points to a team that didn't even score any
Speaker 2: more points the rest of the season, that they didn't fold.
Speaker 2: Jy R Alexander did not fold. He rallied back. Guys responded,
Speaker 2: and that goes a long way, And I think That's
Speaker 2: one of the reasons too, when you try to figure
Speaker 2: out how this thing could look in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: The locker room will be different, the chemistry will be different,
Speaker 2: but I think the right pieces are in play there
Speaker 2: to ensure you're going to have the best to try
Speaker 2: to build on all this momentum.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, And it's somewhat goes without saying, but
Speaker 1: we probably should still say it. What's really in place?
Speaker 1: Maybe the most important thing, aside from you know, the
Speaker 1: on the field part with the quarterback and having the
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback, the most important thing that Matt Lafleur I
Speaker 1: believe has put in place here is the culture. And
Speaker 1: that's when you talk about the bouncing back, the resiliency,
Speaker 1: the sticking together, you know, powering through the tough times.
Speaker 1: That's about the culture that's around the team. It's within
Speaker 1: the locker room, it's within every meeting room. You know,
Speaker 1: when the players are with their position coaches, when they're
Speaker 1: with the coordinators. You know, all of that and that's
Speaker 1: what got this team through things. And that culture, you know,
Speaker 1: it'll be a challenge to it's always a challenge to
Speaker 1: make to maintain, to keep a really good culture like
Speaker 1: that in place over a long period of time. But
Speaker 1: that same kind of culture is what I think is
Speaker 1: going to fuel the Packers in twenty twenty four because
Speaker 1: whatever setbacks they know they encounter are going to be
Speaker 1: with those higher expectations. So there's gonna be a different
Speaker 1: dynamic to things, but you still have to have that
Speaker 1: culture to power through it and get yourself through to
Speaker 1: the other side. I think that's in place here and
Speaker 1: I think that's something that that's another real bright spot
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: And we'll have to see exactly how this roster shapes up,
Speaker 2: which veterans will be back. Obviously there's a lot of
Speaker 2: business that has to get taken care of between now
Speaker 2: and the beginning of the off season program. But I
Speaker 2: think it says a lot about Aaron Jones and Preston
Speaker 2: Smith for Sean Gary Kenny Clark, guys that maybe weren't
Speaker 2: the most vocal in the past. I shouldn't say that
Speaker 2: about Preston. I think he's pretty much been vocal since
Speaker 2: he's been here, but guys that maybe felt that they
Speaker 2: need to take a step up with their vocal leadership.
Speaker 2: It had to be more of guys stepping in front
Speaker 2: of the room. There wasn't a Mercedes Lewis there this
Speaker 2: season that was breaking down the huddle right or talking
Speaker 2: to the team after games. You don't have someone like
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers who's been there and done that and seen
Speaker 2: it all. You had to have guys step into that void.
Speaker 2: There wasn't any permanent captains this season. The Green Bay
Speaker 2: didn't even do it in the playoffs. But what happened
Speaker 2: was I thought you saw individuals stepping up in their
Speaker 2: own phase of the game and taking the bowl by
Speaker 2: the horns. And by doing that, it's what is allowed
Speaker 2: now guys like Romeo Dobbs and some of these younger
Speaker 2: players on this roster to understand, you know what I
Speaker 2: can be those people too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to ask you a couple of big
Speaker 1: picture questions here and then we'll move on to just
Speaker 1: looking at you know, where things stand with the rest
Speaker 1: of the playoffs here moving forward. Since this is our
Speaker 1: last show for a while, I would expect we'll be
Speaker 1: back for those wondering, we'll be back at some point
Speaker 1: before the draft, but this will be our last show
Speaker 1: for a while, and actually our last show physically in
Speaker 1: this studio because we're also moving within the building to
Speaker 1: another location. I think the g behind us is maybe
Speaker 1: coming along.
Speaker 2: No, actually, no, I have my dad's truck outside. I'm
Speaker 2: taking that home.
Speaker 1: Oh you're taking that home.
Speaker 3: Let's go on, all right?
Speaker 1: All right, well, maybe maybe we'll start doing the show
Speaker 1: in your garage. Then we'll stick.
Speaker 2: We'll stick that as soon as we're done shooting. We're
Speaker 2: just gonna start breaking this thing down ourselves. Right.
Speaker 1: Well, here a couple of big, big picture questions for
Speaker 1: you Wes. Aside from the quarterback situation and everything the
Speaker 1: Packers learned there and how that has been established moving forward,
Speaker 1: what was your most pleasant surprise from what you saw
Speaker 1: from this team and its development, whether it be a player,
Speaker 1: a position, or whatever the case. What was your most
Speaker 1: pleasant surprise for twenty twenty Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2: You can talk about being the youngest team in the
Speaker 2: National Football League and the youngest team to win a
Speaker 2: playoff game and all these different things, and it was impressive,
Speaker 2: But when you go back and look at how scary
Speaker 2: that situation got after the Chargers game and not sure
Speaker 2: if you're going to get Aaron Jones back again, and
Speaker 2: seeing how emotional he was to be able to be
Speaker 2: in a position where this guy at twenty nine years old,
Speaker 2: at a position where everybody's just waiting. They're just just plea.
Speaker 2: You know, teams in the NFL, the way they look
Speaker 2: at running backs in this league, they aren't given the
Speaker 2: benefit of the doubt on the back.
Speaker 3: Half of their career.
Speaker 1: That's very true.
Speaker 2: Not saying Green baying that, I'm just saying, look at
Speaker 2: every running back in the National Football League, right unless,
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, your name is Raheem Moster for some reason.
Speaker 2: But the fact is is that with five games to
Speaker 2: go in the season, as it turned out, with the
Speaker 2: two playoff games, Aaron Jones was as good as he's
Speaker 2: ever been, and he was as important as he's ever been.
Speaker 2: He had the most rushing yards in the NFL during
Speaker 2: the divisional round of the playoffs. This guy cannot be
Speaker 2: judged by his position, He cannot be judged by his age.
Speaker 2: He is one of the most important players on this team.
Speaker 2: And Michael, when you asked me what my biggest surprise was,
Speaker 2: it was that we went through this roller coaster this
Speaker 2: year where you and I were saying all summer long,
Speaker 2: he is going to be the catalyst for Jordan love.
Speaker 2: He is going to be his best friend. This guy
Speaker 2: is going to be able to help this offense transition
Speaker 2: to his news phase. He did it against Chicago, but
Speaker 2: they largely missed him for the next two.
Speaker 3: Months, at least on a consistent basis.
Speaker 2: But you know what, Michael, when the time came for
Speaker 2: the playoffs, when the time came for this team to rally,
Speaker 2: he was right there, and I thought it made all
Speaker 2: the difference.
Speaker 1: Yeah, his hundred play yards against San Francisco, first one
Speaker 1: hundred yard rusher against the forty nine ers in like
Speaker 1: fifty game fifty something like that. And I actually look
Speaker 1: this up as well, first Packers running actually only the
Speaker 1: second running back in Packers' history to have one hundred
Speaker 1: plus rushing yards in back to back playoff games in
Speaker 1: the same postseason. The only other one to do it
Speaker 1: was Dorsey Levens back in nineteen ninety seven when the
Speaker 1: Packers went to the Super Bowl. So what you said
Speaker 1: about Aaron Jones, I agree with everything one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: For me, what I would consider my most pleasant surprise
Speaker 1: is where the Packers got to at the tight end
Speaker 1: position this year. Because you and I have sat here,
Speaker 1: whether we're talking pre draft, post draft, you know, OTA's
Speaker 1: training camp, we've talked about how the transition at the
Speaker 1: tight end position from the college level to the NFL
Speaker 1: level is significant. There there are so many more responsibilities
Speaker 1: that are placed on guys in terms of, you know,
Speaker 1: the duties at the line of scrimmage when they line up,
Speaker 1: you know, split out, the pass protection, the run game,
Speaker 1: the route adjustments. Everything. There is a it's a tremendous
Speaker 1: learning learning curve at the tight end position. And Brian
Speaker 1: Gudokunz took a chance because he went into this season
Speaker 1: with three rookie tight ends in Luke Musgrave, Tucker Craft
Speaker 1: and Ben Simms claimed off waivers at the end of
Speaker 1: training camp, and the only veteran tight end in the
Speaker 1: room was a guy who really hadn't been in every
Speaker 1: down player, Josiah Daguara. Important guy and important piece, but
Speaker 1: a role player, yep, throughout the course of his time
Speaker 1: here in Green Bay. And even with the time that
Speaker 1: Musgrave miss due to injury. You know what we saw,
Speaker 1: what we saw from his development. You know, early on,
Speaker 1: you know, guys are running the wrong routes and you
Speaker 1: see two guys in the same spot and whatever, and
Speaker 1: you look at Tucker Craft coming from a school like
Speaker 1: South Dakota State and you know, struggling at times early
Speaker 1: on with his blocking, and then by mid season and
Speaker 1: on you're watching the game film going, Tucker Craft is
Speaker 1: blocking some of the best pass rushers in this one
Speaker 1: on one and protecting Jordan Love based on certain schemes
Speaker 1: and certain calls. Where where the Packers got to in
Speaker 1: one year with these with these rookie tight ends, where
Speaker 1: you expect there to be a much you know, steeper
Speaker 1: learning curve and a longer transition. I think that sets
Speaker 1: up tremendously well for this offense because we know how
Speaker 1: much Matt Lafleur loves to use tight ends in different
Speaker 1: ways within his system and within his scheme. And I
Speaker 1: was really impressed with what the young tight ends did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you saw tons of twenty one personnel, uh
Speaker 2: in that game, I should say twelve personal excuse me,
Speaker 2: dyslikes it in that game, you know, with the amount
Speaker 2: of tight ends that they end up having incorporated in
Speaker 2: that I was most impressed with those guys in terms
Speaker 2: of the When Brian Gudikun's draft players, right, it's one
Speaker 2: thing to be like, oh, these are their measurables or
Speaker 2: these are their statistics. Then you go and find someone
Speaker 2: like Tucker Craft, and it's always interesting to me and
Speaker 2: fascinating to me when you can project out the way
Speaker 2: the guy's going to develop. They saw shades of what
Speaker 2: could make him special at South Dakota State, and it
Speaker 2: took time. I think he played maybe three offensive snaps
Speaker 2: in the opener, but the way his blocking came around
Speaker 2: his yards after catch. You know, he talked all off
Speaker 2: season about how, you know, I was a yak machine
Speaker 2: in college. That's kind of my game and that actually
Speaker 2: manifested and developed. And then you have a guy like
Speaker 2: Luke Musgrave who unfortunately suffers just a gruesome, god awful
Speaker 2: injury that he misses a month with but then finds
Speaker 2: his way back, and you could see how this guy
Speaker 2: at six foot six can be a real vertical threat
Speaker 2: against opposing defenses. It's an exciting time, man, I thought,
Speaker 2: and it's really the entire tight end position. Sam Laporter
Speaker 2: was just incredible for Detroit this year. Dalton Kincaid had
Speaker 2: some good snaps for Buffalo, but I was the guy
Speaker 2: that was always saying, yeah, that's the position that takes
Speaker 2: the longest to develop. You gotta be patient with it.
Speaker 2: And now you're seeing these guys, you're seeing Trey McBride
Speaker 2: that the position is almost kind of shifting where guys
Speaker 2: are starting to make instant impacts again. And you saw
Speaker 2: the statistics, Michael. First time the Packers had three rookies
Speaker 2: have a tight end have a touchdown.
Speaker 3: Three rookie tight.
Speaker 2: Ends have a touchdown in the same season, right, and
Speaker 2: first time I believe that happened in NFL history. There's
Speaker 2: going to be markers like that that are you're going
Speaker 2: to see probably more and more in the good news
Speaker 2: for green Bay now they solve their tight end future.
Speaker 2: I mean, these guys, this is what you're going to
Speaker 2: build around for years to come.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they are. It's there's no doubt about it. Another
Speaker 1: big picture question I have for you and Justin our producer.
Speaker 1: We're going to go a little bit long.
Speaker 3: Today because yeah, sorry, Justin. I hope you didn't need
Speaker 3: to get.
Speaker 1: To lunch hanging there with us, Justin, so we're going
Speaker 1: to make the most of this. My other big picture
Speaker 1: picture question for you, what is your and I hope
Speaker 1: I can phrased this properly, what is your biggest hope
Speaker 1: for where or how this team improves moving forward into
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. What are you looking at?
Speaker 2: You know, I think defensively is probably where it's going
Speaker 2: to start. For me. There's going to be regardless of
Speaker 2: how they're going to shape things and the decisions they
Speaker 2: have to make in the months ahead. But that group
Speaker 2: had such astronomical expectations this year, and we all wrote
Speaker 2: about it. I wrote about it, and then you sometimes
Speaker 2: forget they're still Again, going back to what Matt Lafleur said,
Speaker 2: just because something ends a certain way doesn't.
Speaker 3: Mean it begins the next way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for as good as things ended last year for
Speaker 2: the Defense, it took time for them to find their
Speaker 2: groove again, And honestly, it took almost thirteen weeks until
Speaker 2: they started to sort of really hold things down and
Speaker 2: shut things down. That side of the ball is going
Speaker 2: to be very interesting to see how everything works itself out.
Speaker 2: It sounds like the Jyr Alexander situation is in a
Speaker 2: much better spot. Matt laflor mentioned again on Monday, the
Speaker 2: communication is much improved. They feel like they're going to
Speaker 2: be in a good position to continue that relationship for
Speaker 2: years to come. You saw how important jaw was in
Speaker 2: those last three games after he came back. How he
Speaker 2: toughed it out through the ankle injury to be out
Speaker 2: there for his team. But a lot of the unrestricted
Speaker 2: free agents, and that's for the Packers have are on
Speaker 2: that side of the ball. You know, Darnell Savage, Rudy Ford,
Speaker 2: Jonathan Owens are all going to be going into free agency.
Speaker 2: Keishawn Nixon again is going to be coming up. They
Speaker 2: have some big decisions to make there in the secondary.
Speaker 2: Seeing where things are at again with Eric Stokes. So
Speaker 2: I look for the defense to sort of galvanize and
Speaker 2: crystallize and develop around the way they played down the
Speaker 2: final stretch. Yeah, because I'm not saying you have to
Speaker 2: always hang your hat on the defense, but there's gonna
Speaker 2: be times reader and to need them to help set
Speaker 2: the pace with you. And I thought that was one
Speaker 2: area where Greenbaya at times really did sort of struggle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna pair it a word that
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur used, but it's also one that I have
Speaker 1: talked about, you know, in Insider Inbox, on this show,
Speaker 1: other platforms with regard to the defense. And I know
Speaker 1: it's a buzzword, but the word is consistency, and I
Speaker 1: know that there is There is no such things as
Speaker 1: full consistency, as we like to joke about. Because this
Speaker 1: is the NFL, You're gonna have bad days at the office.
Speaker 1: Like I get that. You know, you can't just say,
Speaker 1: you know, you have to build a defense that's gonna
Speaker 1: hold everybody to you know, eighteen points or less or whatever.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work that way. But the issue with this defense,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, over the past two seasons, has been
Speaker 1: not just that it's been up and down, but that,
Speaker 1: you know, the swings have been wildly up and then
Speaker 1: wildly down to where you just don't really know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna get. I mean, for this for this defense
Speaker 1: to play like it did in the victories over the
Speaker 1: Lions and the Chiefs that got the Packers kind of
Speaker 1: back in the hunt and back in the picture. To
Speaker 1: then follow that up with the three games against the Giants,
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers and the Panthers defensively before then you can
Speaker 1: turn it back around again and get things going back
Speaker 1: the other direction. It's like I said, it's one thing
Speaker 1: to have a bad day at the office, but you
Speaker 1: can't have this level of inconsistency where when things start
Speaker 1: to go wrong, it goes wrong for three weeks.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: That's where that and I don't know, I don't know
Speaker 1: what Matt Lafluir is going to decide big picture wise
Speaker 1: with how he wants to go forward. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's I don't know, if it's the style of defense,
Speaker 1: something with the scheme, if it has to do with
Speaker 1: with the leadership, whatever the case might be. He's going
Speaker 1: to make his decisions on that. But Matt Leffleuur, as
Speaker 1: the head coach and the offensive play caller and the
Speaker 1: guy running this thing with Jordan Love and the new
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback, he's got to have something you can rely
Speaker 1: on on that other side and not get into a
Speaker 1: situation where Baker Mayfield comes into lambeau Field and puts
Speaker 1: up one fifty eight point three, or you go to Carolina,
Speaker 1: the worst team in the league, and they put up
Speaker 1: thirty point on you, and you barely get out of
Speaker 1: there with a victory to keep your playoff hopes alive.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of thing that as this defense played
Speaker 1: really really well the last four games Minnesota, Chicago, Dallas,
Speaker 1: San Francisco. On balance, the defense played really well, but
Speaker 1: then what was the previous three weeks when for three
Speaker 1: weeks we're waiting for the you know, waiting and wondering
Speaker 1: what's going on with the defense, And that's when you know,
Speaker 1: kind of it feels like this crisis mode as to
Speaker 1: what the future of the defense is going to be.
Speaker 1: The other thing I'll say with regard to consistency, of course,
Speaker 1: is the kicking game. Because Andras Carlson missed too many kicks.
Speaker 1: There's no there's no two ways about that. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the Packers are going to do moving forward.
Speaker 1: I would expect potentially some competition for that job in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, But the lack of consistency in the
Speaker 1: kicking game obviously bit the Packers in a really big moment.
Speaker 1: And you have to you have to get to a
Speaker 1: situation where you can be a little bit more sure
Speaker 1: of yourself as much as we believe will be on
Speaker 1: the line from this team moving forward.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm a big proponent for competition. Matt Lafleur
Speaker 2: talks about it all the time. I always go back
Speaker 2: to what Mason Crosby talked about of twenty thirteen twenty
Speaker 2: twelve did not go well at all, I mean sixty
Speaker 2: one percent whatever it ended up being on.
Speaker 3: His field goals.
Speaker 2: Green Bay doesn't make a major move, they don't sign anybody,
Speaker 2: they don't draft anybody, but they brought in Giorgio Tavacchio,
Speaker 2: and so many times Mason talked about how that competition
Speaker 2: kind of brought out the best in him. Again, it
Speaker 2: sort of allowed him to right himself along with some
Speaker 2: of his own structural and procedural ways that he went
Speaker 2: about his kicking process. But I think that can do
Speaker 2: a world of good. I thought it did a world
Speaker 2: good this offseason with the punting competition. Yes, Green Bay
Speaker 2: didn't necessarily need to replace Pat O'Donnell, but they found
Speaker 2: Daniel Wheeland and they felt really good about this guy,
Speaker 2: and I thought, on average was one of the highlights
Speaker 2: of special teams for them this season. In addition to
Speaker 2: what he did as a punter, also as a holder.
Speaker 2: I just thought, again brought a lot of consistency in
Speaker 2: that facet. I think a lot of good can come
Speaker 2: out of that. The one thing I feel pretty good
Speaker 2: about with Anders is that he is not a guy
Speaker 2: that frets. You can tell he kind of has that
Speaker 2: calmness and that composure to him, much like Jordan Love.
Speaker 2: We just got to figure out the process and exactly
Speaker 2: what the hitch has been there, because with some of
Speaker 2: these kicks, you're trying to look for the common denominator,
Speaker 2: the parallel between them, and I really personally wasn't able
Speaker 2: to do that. I'm also not a special teams coach. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but if you can figure that out and allow him
Speaker 2: the latitude that they did this year to try to
Speaker 2: right the ship, so to speak, I think there's a
Speaker 2: lot there too, because with the sixth round pick, you
Speaker 2: are making a heavy investment into a player and you
Speaker 2: want to see the thing through as opposed to what
Speaker 2: the Vikings went through in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3: With his brother.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, before we go, I want to get
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the rest of the playoff picture. At
Speaker 1: this point, we saw Baltimore beat Houston. We saw Kansas
Speaker 1: City win at Buffalo in really another playoff classic and
Speaker 1: yet another heartbreaker for Buffalo Bills fans. Troit wins its
Speaker 1: second playoff game, knocking off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to
Speaker 1: get that shot out in San Francisco. So Kansas City
Speaker 1: is at Baltimore at the Lions are at the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers. What are your thoughts on what's gonna happen here?
Speaker 2: Lions protect the football, They absolutely win that game. I
Speaker 2: fully believe it.
Speaker 3: Really I do.
Speaker 2: I think if they if Jared Goff can go in
Speaker 2: there and keep a go sag in that interception's calm,
Speaker 2: I think they win that game against forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: See I'm I'm I'm gonna I'm the opposite here.
Speaker 3: Do you think if he throws an interception they'll win?
Speaker 1: No? What I was what I was gonna say is,
Speaker 1: while I do believe that that the forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: as has been proven this year, they've they've had their
Speaker 1: struggles without Deebo Samuel on offense, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if they're going to have Deebo Samuel for this game.
Speaker 1: But I also feel, because I watched enough of the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers this year, I also feel that maybe
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers might have gotten away with their
Speaker 1: like off game in the playoffs, in escaping last week
Speaker 1: and being able to beat the Packers and move on.
Speaker 1: And I think even without Deebo Samuel, I think the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers are going to play much much better.
Speaker 1: And I think I'm not counting out the Lions, but
Speaker 1: I think the Lions are going to have a really
Speaker 1: tough time winning that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I really think San Francisco is a different team
Speaker 2: based on whether or not Samuel is out there. And
Speaker 2: I know Kyle Shanahan put it as fifty to fifty
Speaker 2: of whether or not he'll be able to play through
Speaker 2: that shoulder injury, but they that passing game is different
Speaker 2: when he's not available. Ye, And I'm very interested to
Speaker 2: see which route they take. The thing I like about
Speaker 2: the Lions is I feel like they're kind of like
Speaker 2: a They're like a an NFL plus version of where
Speaker 2: the Packers were at this season. They had to go
Speaker 2: through their own crucibles too, but they passed it, yep,
Speaker 2: and they were able to find their path into the postseason.
Speaker 2: They won that close game against the Rams, they made
Speaker 2: some mistakes against the Bucks, but still were able to
Speaker 2: pull this thing out.
Speaker 1: The Lions might have been the number one seed. Now,
Speaker 1: granted the forty nine ers wouldn't have rested their guys
Speaker 1: in Week eighteen, but the Niners, I mean, the Lions
Speaker 1: might have been the number one seed if they win
Speaker 1: that game in Dallas. Yeah, in what tam right, Now.
Speaker 2: What's wild about that is you're right, they wouldn't have
Speaker 2: rested Purty, but they may have had to rest McCaffrey
Speaker 2: in that game regardless with the calf, So it would
Speaker 2: have been very interesting to see how that would have
Speaker 2: played out. Yeah. But to make my quick point here
Speaker 2: on all of this, whether it's the forty nine ers,
Speaker 2: whether it's the Lions, somebody needs to prove to me
Speaker 2: or the or the Ravens have to have a really
Speaker 2: poor game, that the Baltimore Ravens are not the best
Speaker 2: team in the National Football League. The best team doesn't
Speaker 2: always win the Super Bowl, right right, That's the way
Speaker 2: this thing goes. Sometimes somebody gets hot, it's a best
Speaker 2: of one tournament. That's the end of it. But Baltimore,
Speaker 2: the way that d deconstructed Houston, and that's the only
Speaker 2: other game I watched this weekend, the way they deconstructed
Speaker 2: them and just completely defanged everything they were trying to
Speaker 2: do offensively while picking up part their defense. Who Kansas City,
Speaker 2: either Patrick Mahomes gonna have to play extraordinarily well or
Speaker 2: Kansas City's going to be in long afternoon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you that I think Baltimore has proven
Speaker 1: that the Ravens are the best team in the NFL
Speaker 1: this season. And it's it's there. It's their championship chase
Speaker 1: to finish, right that that that's really where this is
Speaker 1: as far as Baltimore is concerned. What I will say
Speaker 1: with regard to the Kansas City Chiefs going into Baltimore
Speaker 1: is for all to talk about, Patrick Mahomes is gonna
Speaker 1: have to finally gonna have to play a road game
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, have to go to Buffalo. You know. Now,
Speaker 1: obviously the Chiefs have played in you know, the week before,
Speaker 1: they played in the freezing cold at Arrowheads, So the
Speaker 1: conditions in Buffalo aren't going to be an issue for
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs. But Mahomes is on the road
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. This is not This Kansas City team
Speaker 1: is not the offensive juggernaut that we have seen in
Speaker 1: in you know, past past versions with this Andy Reid
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes partnership. But what Patrick Mahomes did going into Buffalo.
Speaker 1: You take out the Neil forty three offensive snaps, twenty
Speaker 1: seven points on the board, twenty one first downs, they
Speaker 1: were only in third down four times in the game.
Speaker 1: I mean the offensive efficiency that they put together on
Speaker 1: the road against a hot team, a good team, a
Speaker 1: team had that was playing for everything because they were
Speaker 1: tired of losing to the Chiefs, right, I mean all
Speaker 1: the past results there. I do think Baltimore is the
Speaker 1: best team in football. But man, what I saw on Sunday,
Speaker 1: and I know you told me you didn't watch the game,
Speaker 1: what I saw from the Chiefs going into Buffalo, I
Speaker 1: absolutely cannot count them out. It would As much as
Speaker 1: I believe Baltimore is the best team in football, it
Speaker 1: would not shock me in the slightest if Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: goes in there.
Speaker 3: Oh for sure.
Speaker 2: I mean, this guy is he's one of the goats,
Speaker 2: now right, I mean.
Speaker 1: He's I mean, if you put it this, if he
Speaker 1: with what that Chiefs team was up against this year,
Speaker 1: if he wins the Super Bowl again this year, all
Speaker 1: the talk is gonna be about is he going to
Speaker 1: ultimately surpass Tom Brady down the road as the goat
Speaker 1: with the championships, the rings and all the accolades. Like,
Speaker 1: if he does it this year with the team that
Speaker 1: the Chiefs had, you can't do anything but tip.
Speaker 2: Your cap and the one thing I will say, because
Speaker 2: I didn't watch the games on Sunday, I had a
Speaker 2: very important appointment with my son for Guy's Grocery Games.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of miss time with the Sun
Speaker 2: the last couple of week.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, so I've been there in years past.
Speaker 2: So the Sun was all about Guy's Grocery Games on
Speaker 2: Discovery Plus this week, so that was fun. But what
Speaker 2: I did do though, on Sunday night and on Monday
Speaker 2: was watching those highlights on Twitter of that game.
Speaker 3: And you can.
Speaker 2: Spout off all the stats about Patrick Mahomes and every
Speaker 2: single one of them is spot on, But watching how
Speaker 2: that guy navigated the pocket on the All twenty two
Speaker 2: film on several of those throws, Patrick Mahomes is on
Speaker 2: a different level. Yeah, And it's gonna be a great
Speaker 2: test seeing how he matches up with Baltimore's defense and
Speaker 2: seeing how Steve Spagnola's defense actually tries to contain Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: Yes, because that's a different challenge, a different.
Speaker 2: Challenge too, and it's kind of an oil and water
Speaker 2: proposition because they're going to take chances defensively to try
Speaker 2: to contain Jackson, and Jackson can really hurt you if
Speaker 2: you don't have the containment on himself. It'll be a
Speaker 2: fun weekend of games. I'm excited to see how the
Speaker 2: final four plays out. Just obviously, as Matt lafore said,
Speaker 2: you just wish the Packers were also part of the
Speaker 2: party in the preparation right now for Detroit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if there's one thing, even if it might be
Speaker 1: a little bit painful to hear as a Packers fan,
Speaker 1: but these are the facts. There are four teams left
Speaker 1: playing for a championship. The Packers beat two of them
Speaker 1: this season and back to back weeks, and they took
Speaker 1: a third one all the way to the wire and
Speaker 1: probably outplayed them most of the game and just came
Speaker 1: up short. And those of those four teams that are left,
Speaker 1: that's how the Packers fared, yep, against those squads. And
Speaker 1: that's something to maybe just maybe hang your hat on
Speaker 1: moving forward here. But with that we will call it
Speaker 1: a wrap.
Speaker 3: I got to catch a plane on this edition.
Speaker 1: Of Packers Unscripted. And for the season of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Thank you all out there for watching, for listening following along.
Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. We will be back at some
Speaker 1: point before the draft. I don't know exactly when that's
Speaker 1: going to be. It will be in a new room
Speaker 1: somewhere in this building, or on Zoom or on Zoom,
Speaker 1: or in Wes's garage with the Big G on us.
Speaker 1: We will see what happens there. But in all seriousness,
Speaker 1: thank you for following along. We will continue with all
Speaker 1: of our off season coverage on Packers dot com. Have
Speaker 1: it all for you as there so for Wes. I
Speaker 1: am Mike, Thank you for tuning in everybody, and we
Speaker 1: will at some point see
Speaker 3: You next time.