Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, sitting alongside the
Speaker 1: one and only Western Hot Cowitz. We're coming to you
Speaker 1: here from our studio at lambeau Field West. The Packers
Speaker 1: begin the second half of the season on Sunday at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field a noon Central time kickoff against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 1: A six and two team against a one and seven team.
Speaker 1: And we won't necessarily talk about those records, but we
Speaker 1: might as well get right into it here. Offensively, defensively,
Speaker 1: I'll let you start where you want to. What do
Speaker 1: the Packers need to do to win this game? Well,
Speaker 1: they need to be able to protect the quarterback. And
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is Jacksonville only has eight
Speaker 1: sacks on the season. You're not anticipating a heavy pass rush.
Speaker 1: But for Green Bay, I really think that this game
Speaker 1: really boils down to is if Aaron Rodgers is time
Speaker 1: to work, the Packers likely are going to be able
Speaker 1: to roll in this one. I just think that's where
Speaker 1: the tempo is gonna get said. I think that's where
Speaker 1: the tone is going to happen, and Jacksonville I mean
Speaker 1: it was so recently, Mike, they were saying, you know, Saxonville,
Speaker 1: there was so much energy and enthusiasm about that unit,
Speaker 1: and it just hasn't been there this season. Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: as I pointed out on Tuesday's show, you know, he
Speaker 1: does have two and a half sacks here in the
Speaker 1: last three games, but that's all he has this season.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's been kind of he had a
Speaker 1: slow start, then had an injury. You know, Miles Jack
Speaker 1: has had some stuff as well. So you know, you
Speaker 1: wrote a story on Packers dot Com looking at Davante
Speaker 1: Adams and and Aaron Jones both being back on the
Speaker 1: field now, not one or the other, both of them,
Speaker 1: if you get that one to combination. Going again for Rogers,
Speaker 1: with what they've been doing offensively and especially the way
Speaker 1: they've started games this season, I just think if green
Speaker 1: Day imposes their will in those first couple of series,
Speaker 1: that could be enough to at least set the tone
Speaker 1: for the rest of that game. Yeah. I think a
Speaker 1: big part of this game, because as we know, this
Speaker 1: is a game the Packers should win if they play well,
Speaker 1: they play their game. I think the start of the
Speaker 1: game is crucial here because you don't you don't want
Speaker 1: to let the Jacksonville Jaguars think they can hang around
Speaker 1: and and and make a game of this. Frankly, this
Speaker 1: is a game. This is a game that the Packers
Speaker 1: should be able to win comfortably. I'm not saying it's
Speaker 1: going to be some college blowout like to six, That's
Speaker 1: not what I'm saying. But in the NFL, you know
Speaker 1: what a comfortable win feels like. And that's really what
Speaker 1: the Packers should do here. And I think if they
Speaker 1: I mean Packers have scored on their opening possession all
Speaker 1: eight games so far this year. Obviously, you want to
Speaker 1: keep that going, make it nine, get control of the
Speaker 1: game in the first quarter. Don't really let the Jaguars
Speaker 1: think that this rookie quarterback Jake Luton is going to
Speaker 1: come into lambeau Field and upset Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
Speaker 1: And I think Green Bay will be in good shape,
Speaker 1: you know. And the one thing that stands out to
Speaker 1: me too, And you look at Jacksonville this season, they've
Speaker 1: scored points in the first quarter over eight They're averaging
Speaker 1: three points a game in the first quarter. Now they've
Speaker 1: gotten better. I mean they put up sixty. In the second,
Speaker 1: they're still getting outscored their seventy one to sixty, but
Speaker 1: a sixty four to twenty four deficit out of the gate.
Speaker 1: I think that kind of speaks to the issues they've
Speaker 1: had early on in games. So if Green Bay is
Speaker 1: able to again go out and be able to do
Speaker 1: some of the things they've done through their first eight
Speaker 1: games of the season, I just think it sets the
Speaker 1: dominoes up for the rest of the thing to go.
Speaker 1: How Matt Lafleur and Mike Petton would wish it to be, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought it was. It was interesting asking questions yesterday
Speaker 1: the story that you mentioned that I wrote about Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones and Davante Adams being on the field at the
Speaker 1: same time together. You look at these first eight games,
Speaker 1: it's only happened three and a half games out of
Speaker 1: eight that the two of them have been on the
Speaker 1: field together, and only only for two games since Week two.
Speaker 1: So the Packers are hoping that they get into a
Speaker 1: stretch here where both of those guys are on the
Speaker 1: field together. And I thought Adams explained it from the
Speaker 1: challenge of the defense side of the ball. I thought
Speaker 1: he explained it really well. In terms of deciding what
Speaker 1: to do with your safeties. If you're gonna play you
Speaker 1: know what they call cover two or too high, keeping
Speaker 1: both safeties back, that's how you take away the big
Speaker 1: play in the passing game. But it makes it a
Speaker 1: lot harder to clamp down on Aaron Jones because if
Speaker 1: he makes if he gets a hole and makes one
Speaker 1: linebacker miss, suddenly you know you can have an explosive
Speaker 1: run of fIF yards the flip side. If you're only
Speaker 1: gonna play single high safety because you want that other
Speaker 1: safety down in the box to prevent those explosive runs
Speaker 1: by Aaron Jones, Suddenly, Davante Adams and Marquis Velde scant
Speaker 1: Link for that matter, can be big problems because you're
Speaker 1: gonna have a lot of harder time taking away the
Speaker 1: deep passing place. So when the Packers have and again
Speaker 1: I'm not taking anything away from Jamal Williams and what
Speaker 1: he did in the backfield and everything, but we know
Speaker 1: we've heard it from the coaches and the players. When
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones is out there, he just brings a different
Speaker 1: element to this offense. And now that he and Davantae
Speaker 1: Adams are both healthy and hopefully we'll be playing together regularly.
Speaker 1: I think that's the sign that this offense can can
Speaker 1: you know, kick it up another name. You and I
Speaker 1: discussed it on Tuesday, but it bears repeating. I mean,
Speaker 1: when you look at Aaron Jones, you're not gonna look
Speaker 1: at his box score from the forty Niners game and
Speaker 1: be completely blown away. And he was fifteen carries, maybe
Speaker 1: fifty eight rushing yards. Not one of the ones that
Speaker 1: he's going to put up on his mantle. But the
Speaker 1: fact was just watching the way that San Francisco and
Speaker 1: Robert Sala had to defend them at the beginning of
Speaker 1: that game, as opposed to if they would have had
Speaker 1: a practice squad player like Dexter Williams back there, or
Speaker 1: you know, Tyler Irvin who hasn't played a traditional backfield
Speaker 1: running back role this season. The game changed with Jones
Speaker 1: doing that. The other thing is to Mike, you mentioned
Speaker 1: it with the Cover two game that defensive coordinators have
Speaker 1: to play. If you give Aaron Jones a hole, Uh,
Speaker 1: the yardage that he takes out of that is just
Speaker 1: He's He's the type of running back that if you
Speaker 1: give him four, he's gonna find eight. And it's just
Speaker 1: his shifting nous, the way he can knife through the
Speaker 1: line in the biggest positive for Green Bay was coming
Speaker 1: out of that game. Even there were questions about the
Speaker 1: calf going in, there were no questions about it coming out.
Speaker 1: He was a full participant on Wednesday. The Packers would
Speaker 1: hope that, you know, through the Thursday and Friday good
Speaker 1: to go. In addition to the fact that Jamal Williams
Speaker 1: now is off the COVID list after being held there
Speaker 1: precautionarily and not being able to play against the forty,
Speaker 1: So all those things together, especially depending on what happens
Speaker 1: with Alan Lazar this week or whenever he's able to
Speaker 1: get back onto the field. It's been sort of this dark,
Speaker 1: hazy time for the Packers offense, but yet there's still
Speaker 1: a top ten unit and now they're getting all their
Speaker 1: weapons back. Yeah. Absolutely well on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. For me, this game comes down to one
Speaker 1: thing that the Packers need to do in my mind,
Speaker 1: and it is eliminate the big plays. And I say
Speaker 1: that because when you have a rookie quarterback coming in
Speaker 1: here like Jake Luton, the last thing you want to
Speaker 1: do is let him do what he did at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the Houston game, which has hit a seventy
Speaker 1: yard touchdown pass right out of the gate, and that
Speaker 1: big play kept Jacksonville in that game the entire way,
Speaker 1: and they end end up, you know, losing a close
Speaker 1: one there at the end. With a rookie quarterback, more
Speaker 1: than any other type of signal caller for the opposing offense,
Speaker 1: you want to make him have to put together a
Speaker 1: ten twelve third team play drive in order to get
Speaker 1: points because rookie quarterbacks are going to make mistakes. If
Speaker 1: you give up the big chunk plays and he can
Speaker 1: get points on a three or four play scoring drive,
Speaker 1: that makes his job a heck of a lot easier.
Speaker 1: The more you can stretch him out and make him
Speaker 1: earn it all the way down the field, the greater
Speaker 1: chance that a mistake is going to happen, and then
Speaker 1: you hope for the Packers defense to pounce on a turnover.
Speaker 1: We'll look at that game against Houston, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: his one touchdown passes a seventy three yard bomb to
Speaker 1: DJ Sharks. So I mean, these are those type of
Speaker 1: plays that can really tell the football game if you
Speaker 1: let them. The thing that I think we learned the
Speaker 1: most with this offense and with Luton in particular, is
Speaker 1: that you don't want to discount or discredit anybody. I
Speaker 1: kind of pose the question off of you know what
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna be reading this Saturday, UH to
Speaker 1: Jerry Gray, the Packers defensive backs coach, about what this
Speaker 1: process is like getting ready for a rookie quarterback. What
Speaker 1: kind of you know, what do you tell your guys
Speaker 1: as far as defending them or what kind of opportunities
Speaker 1: would have been there? And he takes a very baseline
Speaker 1: approach at it. The way he kind of laid it
Speaker 1: out was well, at some point Tom Brady was a
Speaker 1: rookie sixth round pick two our first year, second year
Speaker 1: player too. There were defenses that undoubtedly took him for
Speaker 1: granted and he made them pay. You got to prepare
Speaker 1: like you're seeing the starting quarterback of an NFL team
Speaker 1: and not really care about what the rest of the
Speaker 1: you know, the box score says or the bio says.
Speaker 1: They have to be ready because otherwise you're gonna get
Speaker 1: burned in Green Bay depending on if Gire Alexander plays
Speaker 1: in this game. As he's working his way through the
Speaker 1: concussion protocol right now you might be going in with
Speaker 1: Josh Jackson and Kadar Holman as you're starting boundary cornerbacks,
Speaker 1: your perimeter cornerbacks. So the main focus has to be
Speaker 1: on what Green Bay is doing now so much about
Speaker 1: what Jacksonville is going to give them, because if you
Speaker 1: focus too much and you take for granted what Jacksonville
Speaker 1: is gonna throw at you because they're, you know, one
Speaker 1: in seven and they have all these things working against them,
Speaker 1: that's where you get burned. Yeah. Absolutely, And you hope, obviously,
Speaker 1: as we talked about on our last show that the
Speaker 1: defense getting the two turnovers against the San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: nine last Thursday ups the season total of takeaways from
Speaker 1: four to six. You hope that maybe that's the start
Speaker 1: of some momentum here on defense too, to generating those
Speaker 1: takeaways that were such a big part of the defense's
Speaker 1: success in Now you're facing another rookie quarterback, not not
Speaker 1: that Mullins was. Mullins was not a rookie, but was
Speaker 1: a backup quarterback. You're facing another backup quarterback here this
Speaker 1: week that certainly the Packers on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball would like to generate a couple of more
Speaker 1: turnovers and and see if they can set a certain
Speaker 1: standard for how they're going to play and the ways
Speaker 1: in which they can take the football away and try
Speaker 1: to carry that through the second half of the season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and this is where it has to start. We're
Speaker 1: in the third quarter now, this is where Green Bay
Speaker 1: is gonna have this game against Jacksonville and then everything
Speaker 1: ramps up. Indianapolis has the best defense in the NFL
Speaker 1: right now. Statistically, Chicago is no slouch either, even though
Speaker 1: they've had a couple of games going against them. Philadelphia
Speaker 1: always beats this plays this team tough and beat them
Speaker 1: the last time. That game was actually at lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you can't take anything, you know, just thinking that. Okay,
Speaker 1: well we're six and two now, we got a big
Speaker 1: win against the forty Niners. Now we'll just press forward.
Speaker 1: You have to build on what they did against the
Speaker 1: forty Niners offense, defense, and special teams, and it starts
Speaker 1: on Sunday against Jacksonville. All right, Well, quickly hear what's
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Speaker 1: Packers All Rights. I want to get your thoughts here
Speaker 1: on a handful of other games this week in the NFL,
Speaker 1: because there are some interesting ones to discuss, and actually
Speaker 1: I want to start with the one that's going on
Speaker 1: tonight as we tape this on Thursday morning. Thursday Night
Speaker 1: Football will be the Indianapolis Colts at the Tennessee Titans,
Speaker 1: a big matchup in the a f C South, the
Speaker 1: two top teams in the a f C South, both
Speaker 1: of whom are on the Packers schedule in the second
Speaker 1: half of the season, and next week the Colts being
Speaker 1: that opponent now they will be coming. They will be
Speaker 1: coming back to Lucas Oil Stadium, but off of the
Speaker 1: mini by with the weekend off, just like the Packers
Speaker 1: are now after playing on a Thursday night. But this
Speaker 1: will be an interesting one here with as you said,
Speaker 1: top defense in the league as far as yardage goes,
Speaker 1: one of the top in terms of points allowed, with
Speaker 1: the Colts against a against the Titans team that certainly
Speaker 1: they they've had a couple of hiccups, but since uh,
Speaker 1: you know, last December and into January, this is a
Speaker 1: Titans team that has played with anybody and everybody, and
Speaker 1: they've they've established themselves as a real formidable force in
Speaker 1: the a f C. Yeah, and I think over the
Speaker 1: last few years now, we've started to actually appreciate I
Speaker 1: think more and more Mike Vrabel isn't just an underrated
Speaker 1: coach anymore. He's quickly becoming one of the best coaches
Speaker 1: in the league, and especially on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball with what they've implemented there the last few
Speaker 1: seasons and some of the changes that they've made. This
Speaker 1: is a gut check game for Indianapolis, though, because while
Speaker 1: they sit at five and three and they haven't lost
Speaker 1: back to back games all season, it always seems like
Speaker 1: when they take one step forward, they just take another
Speaker 1: step back and they're still stuck in neutral Philip rivers
Speaker 1: this season ten touchdowns, seven interceptions only I think seven
Speaker 1: points six yards per pass yards per attempt this year,
Speaker 1: so a little bit down in that regard. They also
Speaker 1: need to figure out what their running game is right now?
Speaker 1: Is it Jonathan Taylor, is it Jordan Wilkins Who's going
Speaker 1: to be the face of that in the second half
Speaker 1: of the season. So I think, much like how we've
Speaker 1: been learning more and more about the Bears, positive and negative,
Speaker 1: I think this is gonna be a real checkpoint on
Speaker 1: the cold season as well. And from the Titans perspective,
Speaker 1: it's a wide open top of that conference right now.
Speaker 1: Everybody has a shot at that top seed and there's
Speaker 1: basically five teams that all that could arguably be the
Speaker 1: top seeds. So uh, it's a kind of a taking
Speaker 1: bit care of business sort of matchup for them and
Speaker 1: seeing if Derrick Henry can keep doing what he's been doing. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: as far as uh these a f C NFC matchups,
Speaker 1: which the Packers in Jacksonville is obviously one of those,
Speaker 1: the most interesting one on the schedule Buffalo traveling out
Speaker 1: west to face Arizona. Now, last week Seattle traveled across
Speaker 1: the country to Buffalo to play the Bills and Buffalo
Speaker 1: chalked up a big victory there. Now Buffalo is the
Speaker 1: team that has to make the cross country trip, uh
Speaker 1: down to the Southwest to Arizona. To face the Cardinals
Speaker 1: from the NFC West. This is this is a really
Speaker 1: interesting one because there's a there's a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of positive vibe, a lot of hype around the
Speaker 1: Bills and Josh Allen and rightly so, but also Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray and uh and the Arizona Cardinals. They're trying to
Speaker 1: they're trying to, you know, stake their claim to some
Speaker 1: territory here in a really tough NFC West division, and
Speaker 1: this this one, there aren't there probably isn't a lot
Speaker 1: of the country that's going to get to watch this
Speaker 1: one in terms of the way the network stuff is uh,
Speaker 1: you know, shaking out for this week. But this is
Speaker 1: a really interesting matchup. It's great and it's funny. I
Speaker 1: just got done talking about you know, he had sort
Speaker 1: of an underrated coach in Mike Frabel. Then you've got
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott with the Bills, and I mean he might
Speaker 1: be the most underrated of all and the best might
Speaker 1: be more impressed over the last handful of years, like
Speaker 1: what he has done with with that with that Buffalo Bill,
Speaker 1: especially during some years where the didn't have really a
Speaker 1: set quarterback and yet they still found ways to win well.
Speaker 1: Now they probably by all intensive purposes. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: I think they got the best quarterback of that draft
Speaker 1: class right now. I mean, Josh Allen is looking dynamic.
Speaker 1: He can throw, he can pass, he can run, he
Speaker 1: can basically do whatever they need him to do at
Speaker 1: any given moment to win a football all game. Now,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be going up against an Arizona defense and
Speaker 1: has had some questions to answer. But Cliff Kingsbury's offense
Speaker 1: with Kyler Murray at the controls, they can play with
Speaker 1: anybody in the National Football League. And you look at Murray,
Speaker 1: I think last week he was an up for NFL
Speaker 1: Ground Player the Week with what he did with his feet.
Speaker 1: When I mentioned Alan and being so multifaceted, Murray is
Speaker 1: of that same bilk and even more importantly, that conference
Speaker 1: or that division. I should say, you have to win
Speaker 1: every game that's in front of you. The Bills are
Speaker 1: a massive test to being able to do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that one's going to be going to be a good
Speaker 1: one to follow. Another one to mention here within the
Speaker 1: NFC West, that tough division we've been talking about. Seattle
Speaker 1: is at the l A. Rams and as I mentioned
Speaker 1: on our last show. The Rams are five and three
Speaker 1: at the midway point, but four of their remaining eight
Speaker 1: games they have two with the Seahawks and two with
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. They have a lot in front of them
Speaker 1: that they can if they can get on a run here,
Speaker 1: they can take command of things. Seattle six and two
Speaker 1: tied for the top record in the NFC right now
Speaker 1: with the Packers in the Saints. But the Seahawks have
Speaker 1: lost two of their last three after a five and
Speaker 1: oh start, and they have a defense that statistically is
Speaker 1: among the bottom of the of the league. They've got
Speaker 1: problems defensively. This is a really really important one in
Speaker 1: the NFC West because if Seattle wins this and gets
Speaker 1: two games up on the Rams, you know, seven and
Speaker 1: two versus five and four, things look really really different
Speaker 1: for the Rams. But if the Rams get the win
Speaker 1: six and three, they even themselves up with the Seahawks
Speaker 1: at six and three. Whatever happens with Arizona against Buffalo,
Speaker 1: that NFC, that NFC West starts to get even more complicated,
Speaker 1: and Aaron Donald against that Seattle front too, and seeing,
Speaker 1: you know what, what's the number one way to really
Speaker 1: attack Russell Wilson collapse the pocket. He does it better
Speaker 1: than anybody in the National Football League, So that aspect
Speaker 1: of it is really intriguing. But you know, throw this
Speaker 1: out there too. You also got to look at that
Speaker 1: game between San Francisco now having to go to New Orleans,
Speaker 1: so you know, we'll see how that works out for
Speaker 1: the four Niners, They're still gonna be missing a lot
Speaker 1: of people. This is a massive opportunity for either the
Speaker 1: Rams of the Seahawks to really gain some traction with
Speaker 1: the Cardinals having a tough competition with the Bills and
Speaker 1: the Forts having to take care of arguably now the
Speaker 1: hottest team in the NFL in the Saints, who I
Speaker 1: think many left for dead as recently as three weeks ago.
Speaker 1: So that just sort of tells you where this season
Speaker 1: has gone. And yet for the for the Rams perspective,
Speaker 1: this is what they were wanting to do after missing
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year. Has come back and make a statement,
Speaker 1: show that Jared Goff is still our quarterback, showed that
Speaker 1: this offense can be successful in the post Todd Gurley era.
Speaker 1: And they've done all that, I mean, and along with
Speaker 1: the defense that's really difficult to sometimes solve. Yeah, no
Speaker 1: doubt well, last one to get your thoughts on, and
Speaker 1: this is the one that is the most pertinent as
Speaker 1: far as the Green Bay Packers are concerned. Monday Night football,
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings will be at Soldier Field to take
Speaker 1: on the Chicago Bears. And I've gone back and forth
Speaker 1: a little bit with the with the readers and inbox
Speaker 1: about this one. Because the Bears are five and four
Speaker 1: the Vikings are three and five. So when you get
Speaker 1: those records, you go, oh, well, you want Minnesota to
Speaker 1: beat Chicago. But I'm not so sure. Because the Bears
Speaker 1: were five and one, they have lost three in a row.
Speaker 1: They have not solved any of their issues on offense.
Speaker 1: That offense is still really struggling and trying to find
Speaker 1: its footing. Meanwhile, the Vikings, after their one in five start,
Speaker 1: they now have two straight wins over division opponents, beating
Speaker 1: the Packers and the Lions in back to back weeks.
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook looks as unstoppable as any running back in
Speaker 1: the league, similar to what Derrick Henry for the Titans
Speaker 1: was doing late last season. And here's the thing, Wes.
Speaker 1: After this Monday night game at Chicago, Minnesota's next three games,
Speaker 1: Cowboys Panthers, Jaguars, three sub five hundred teams. Cowboys obviously
Speaker 1: have have been, you know, playing the quarterback carousel with
Speaker 1: with their issues Carolina. There's still questions about Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: and his health, and obviously Jacksonville we've been talking about
Speaker 1: them this week. If minnesot To wins this game on
Speaker 1: Monday night and gets to four and five, they very
Speaker 1: very easily could be seven and five three more weeks
Speaker 1: from now, and all of a sudden, everybody's saying nobody
Speaker 1: wants to play the Vics, right, I mean that that's
Speaker 1: where this could be headed. Yeah, And the rumors of
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer's demise I've been greatly exaggerated, absolutely absolutely, you know,
Speaker 1: and I've said it a million times on the show
Speaker 1: over the last four and a half years. I have
Speaker 1: so much respect for him because, yeah, you're right about
Speaker 1: Delvin Cook. I'm not going to disagree with any of that.
Speaker 1: But statistically, I don't know how this is gonna end
Speaker 1: up going down from Mike Zimmer's defense wise, but it
Speaker 1: very well could end up being the best coaching job
Speaker 1: he's done in Minnesota truly. I mean, with what they've
Speaker 1: made work here, the last few weeks and now you've
Speaker 1: seen sort of role players develop into more defined roles
Speaker 1: in this defense. And I think it really comes back
Speaker 1: to if you have a strong back end, if you
Speaker 1: have linebackers that you're confident in, you can make the
Speaker 1: other stuff work if you're flexible enough with it. So, uh,
Speaker 1: it's a really interesting game in you have the Vikings
Speaker 1: at three and five and the Bears at five and four,
Speaker 1: and it almost feels like you could flip the records
Speaker 1: just based on how the last three weeks it fell.
Speaker 1: And for the Bears, I mean, this is this is
Speaker 1: the moment They're going to be going into the by
Speaker 1: here soon they have the Packers coming up on the
Speaker 1: you know very quickly as well. You've got to be
Speaker 1: able to get a win when you desperately need when
Speaker 1: you're taking on a Vikings team that's really streaking here
Speaker 1: into this third point of the season. Well, this will
Speaker 1: be interesting with regard to Dalvin Cook because we've seen
Speaker 1: him run rough shot over the Packers and the Lions
Speaker 1: and back to back weeks. But this Bears defense, that's
Speaker 1: another outfit entirely the and this will be on the
Speaker 1: national stage on Monday night um, not on the you know,
Speaker 1: not on the fast track of of an artificial surface,
Speaker 1: but obviously that the grass surface didn't slow down Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook here at lambeau Field a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: My question to you then is, as I said, going
Speaker 1: back and forth with Packers fans the readers in inbox,
Speaker 1: as a Packers fan, which team do you root for
Speaker 1: Monday Night? Who do you want to win this game? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think it's probably the Vikings still, because I go
Speaker 1: back to what I said a number of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I think it was at the San Francisco game before
Speaker 1: the Packers played. I forget which one it was, which
Speaker 1: example I use, but Green Bays at six and two,
Speaker 1: if you take care of business against Jacksonville, you're seven
Speaker 1: and three. The Packers don't have to see the Vikings
Speaker 1: again this season, unless it ends up being in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That is, that is the one factor here. The Packers
Speaker 1: have to play the Bears twice, no games left against
Speaker 1: the Vikings. If the Green Bay takes care of business
Speaker 1: here and the Bears fall back to five and five,
Speaker 1: you're now looking at a two game advantage here in
Speaker 1: the NFC North with seven games to go, for green Bay,
Speaker 1: I just I focus on what's in front of me,
Speaker 1: not what's behind me. I totally get what you're saying,
Speaker 1: though you know the Vikings end up coming back up
Speaker 1: in this race. You never know what could happen in December.
Speaker 1: But Chicago is the clear and present danger right now.
Speaker 1: They're the team they're going to see at the end
Speaker 1: of the month. They're the team that's closest to them
Speaker 1: in the division. If you can knock them down another peg,
Speaker 1: I'd like Green Bay's chances to be able to close
Speaker 1: this division out. Maybe the best way to look at
Speaker 1: it from a Packers fans perspective is that the Bear
Speaker 1: and the Vikings can't both win. Somebody's got to lose
Speaker 1: unless there's a tie. But we're not going to talk
Speaker 1: about we won't get into that. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm glad this game is on Monday night because we'll
Speaker 1: we'll work, you know, cover the game on Sunday. We'll
Speaker 1: put in our day after the game, work on Monday,
Speaker 1: and then it's like, Okay, go home and pop the
Speaker 1: popcorn and get ready to watch. Is a good old
Speaker 1: fashioned NFC North battle from Soldier Field. So no, it'll
Speaker 1: be it'll be fun to watch. And again, I am
Speaker 1: interested to see how Dalvin Cook responds to this getting
Speaker 1: back onto that type of turf. And honestly, Mike, what's
Speaker 1: the only thing that's held him back to this point
Speaker 1: in his career injuries? If he stays healthy here and
Speaker 1: they keep feeding him a big workload, I mean, I
Speaker 1: said it on Tuesday's show, I'll say it one more time.
Speaker 1: He is in the running then suddenly for the best
Speaker 1: running back title in the NFL. Yeah so, and I
Speaker 1: think he I think mentally he's going to be saying
Speaker 1: hey on Monday night football national television against the defense,
Speaker 1: I can state my case. I can state my case
Speaker 1: for for that type of recognition, and the Packers will
Speaker 1: be watching. They don't have to be a part of it,
Speaker 1: absolutely will be with that. We'll call it a wrap
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of the team and everything with
Speaker 1: Sunday's game against Jacksonville. It'll all be for you on
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com for West, I'm Mike. Thank you for
Speaker 1: tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.