Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by the one the only Western Hodkowitz. Were coming to
Speaker 1: you hear from our studios at lambeau Field talking about
Speaker 1: Packers Lions, which will take place at Ford Field in
Speaker 1: Detroit on Sunday. It's a noon Central Time kickoff and west.
Speaker 1: When you look at this one and six Lions team,
Speaker 1: there's one statistic that absolutely jumps off the page. In
Speaker 1: four home games, the Lions have scored a hundred and
Speaker 1: forty three points nearly thirty six per game. In three
Speaker 1: road games, they've scored just thirty points, only ten per game. Well,
Speaker 1: this game is at Ford Field, the Lions are at home,
Speaker 1: and that is the explosive offense that the Packers are
Speaker 1: preparing for the greatest show on turf. But nowhere else. Listen,
Speaker 1: UM in that very spot over there. I know Justin
Speaker 1: and Marvin can't pan over there right now, but Larry
Speaker 1: McKern and I did our three Things video on Wednesday
Speaker 1: evening and Larry put it out there bluntly. You can't
Speaker 1: take this Lions team lightly. For that reason, UM to
Speaker 1: also quote Larry, their defense is the pits. I mean
Speaker 1: they are basically bottom of everything. But offensively, uh, particularly
Speaker 1: as you illustrated when they're at Ford Field, this team
Speaker 1: can play with anybody. And Kenny Clark was kind of
Speaker 1: outlining this a little bit for him. He thought it
Speaker 1: starts a lot with their offensive line, a lot of
Speaker 1: resources they've invested there that has helped their run game
Speaker 1: improve over the last few years. Certainly back that is
Speaker 1: as stable and consistent as Jamal Williams. That has given
Speaker 1: them sort of a foundation to build their offense. And
Speaker 1: if you go back and look at Jared Goff throughout
Speaker 1: his career, that is when he really has excelled when
Speaker 1: he's had a back that he can play off of
Speaker 1: and create downfield opportunities. Now, amandros st Brown has been
Speaker 1: banged up here for them as of late. They just
Speaker 1: traded t J. Hockenson, so it's gonna be interesting to
Speaker 1: see which playmakers step up for them, especially with DeAndre
Speaker 1: Swift still missing practices. But you can't overlook this Lions
Speaker 1: team there one in six. But there's a lot of
Speaker 1: dangerous looking statistics in that statue. Yeah, you mentioned Jared
Speaker 1: Goff and I think that the thing and and coupled
Speaker 1: with that running game, Jared Goff so far this season
Speaker 1: through seven games has a ninety three point to passer rating.
Speaker 1: That is his best passer rating since two thousand and eighteen.
Speaker 1: For all of the um uh, you know, all all
Speaker 1: of the uh you know gruff he's taken from fans
Speaker 1: for for not living up to that you know, to
Speaker 1: his draft status over the course of his career, Jared
Speaker 1: Goff is putting together his best season in in quite
Speaker 1: a while. They did get DeAndre Swift back last week
Speaker 1: in a limited role um per. Perhaps he's still going
Speaker 1: to be available this week. Don't know, but DeAndre Swift
Speaker 1: in limited action this year because of injuries, is averaging
Speaker 1: seven point four yards per carry. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: a guy who's taking chunks of the field when he
Speaker 1: gets an opportunity. You mentioned Jamal Williams eight rushing touchdowns,
Speaker 1: which ranks second in the league. UM in rushing touchdowns,
Speaker 1: I believe it's Chubb from Cleveland with ten is on
Speaker 1: top of the league. Jamal Williams has eight, but no
Speaker 1: t J. Hockenson because of the trade to the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see if a whole lot really changes
Speaker 1: with regard to Detroit's offense, or if it's just okay,
Speaker 1: Hockinson is not available, so you put in a tight
Speaker 1: end to you know, it's it's are they just gonna
Speaker 1: do a plug and play type of thing and try
Speaker 1: to try to continue that or is there going to
Speaker 1: be a little bit more of a radical or wholesale
Speaker 1: change because you don't have T. J. Hockenson in the
Speaker 1: mix anymore. I'm not sure which way they're going to
Speaker 1: go especial really on short notice. Well, Mike, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have to be a hundred honest with you. I have
Speaker 1: no idea who brock Wright and James Mitchell are. I
Speaker 1: don't either, which is why I didn't even bring up
Speaker 1: the names, but you called him up on your surface tablets.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, though, I have paid a lot of
Speaker 1: attention to Hawkinson this year, the huge game he had
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago being the primary target for Jared
Speaker 1: Goff three ninety five yards so far this season, that
Speaker 1: was that was tops on the Lions. Now, I mean
Speaker 1: a monros st Brown and Josh Reynolds both over three
Speaker 1: hundred yards as well, but yardage wise, Hockinson was number
Speaker 1: one on their lists. Yeah, and in golf. I mean,
Speaker 1: you just watched the games. Mike when he needed a receiver,
Speaker 1: when he needed to go to guy, it was Hockinson.
Speaker 1: So I'm very interested to see who steps up in
Speaker 1: that spot for them right now, because as difficult as
Speaker 1: things have been offensive or defensively for them, offensively is
Speaker 1: why they've been able to stay in a lot of
Speaker 1: these games. And you know, you look at the fact
Speaker 1: that they went, you know, up the thirty five with
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles in Week one, a game that I
Speaker 1: thought everybody was probably overlooking at the beginning of the
Speaker 1: season because it's like, Okay, how good are the Eagles
Speaker 1: gonna be this year? But doesn't really matter they're going
Speaker 1: up against the Lions. And then suddenly the Lions kind
Speaker 1: of opened some eyes, and I think if you win
Speaker 1: through those first second or third weeks of the season,
Speaker 1: people actually really like, you know, Detroit's chances this year
Speaker 1: in the second year under Dan Campbell. But games have
Speaker 1: gotten away from them. As you said, on the road,
Speaker 1: they've really struggled, and defensively across the board, they haven't
Speaker 1: been able to stop anybody. So how this offense reacts
Speaker 1: is what I'm really interested to see because I know
Speaker 1: the quotes out this week from Brad Holmes about their
Speaker 1: general manager. You know, we would have done this trade
Speaker 1: if we were six and one two. I beg to
Speaker 1: disagree with that. I mean, second and you know, fifth
Speaker 1: round picks. Whatever it ended up being. It's good equity.
Speaker 1: I get it. But t J. Hockenson was the eighth
Speaker 1: overall pick a couple of years ago. He was a
Speaker 1: guy that was showing, in my opinion, legitimate playmaking Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl potential when he's been healthy, when he hasn't had
Speaker 1: some you know, there's been some concussions and stuff to
Speaker 1: take him away from this offense now, I just I'm
Speaker 1: just very curious how the Lions respond to that, because
Speaker 1: that's a pretty vivid message that you're sending to your
Speaker 1: organization that not only are we probably going to continue
Speaker 1: this rebuild when you take away a guy that's twenty
Speaker 1: five years old or whatever, Hockinson, is that that that
Speaker 1: kind of tells you that we still feel like we're
Speaker 1: a lot farther away than maybe we were hoping at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the season. Yeah, it was a curious move,
Speaker 1: and you make and you make a good point as
Speaker 1: far as how how is the locker room, how are
Speaker 1: the players going to react to that seeing a major
Speaker 1: piece even though they're one and there, one and six.
Speaker 1: But they've been right in a lot of games. They've
Speaker 1: lost three shootouts at home. You know the game you
Speaker 1: mentioned with the Eagles, the score was in the thirties.
Speaker 1: They lost to the Seahawks at home. They lost UM
Speaker 1: just last week at home to Miami thirty one to
Speaker 1: twenty seven, when they had jumped out to a fourteen
Speaker 1: nothing lead, but their defense fault and through the second
Speaker 1: and third quarters and Miami really got rolling. That defense
Speaker 1: is thirty second last in the league in both yards
Speaker 1: and points allowed. That being said, there one win this
Speaker 1: year was sort of a shootout at home against the
Speaker 1: Washington Commanders, a high scoring game that that UM that
Speaker 1: they were able to pull out. So the other response
Speaker 1: I think to see what happens here with regard to
Speaker 1: the Lions is they just uh fired their defensive backs
Speaker 1: coach this week Aubrey pleasant Um Aaron Glenn, the defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator who is a defensive back by trade and made
Speaker 1: his way to the to the coordinator position through the secondary.
Speaker 1: So to speak, just they decided to move on from
Speaker 1: Aubrey Pleasant. So then with all of the problems that
Speaker 1: they've had with their past defense, you know, are they
Speaker 1: are they going to change something? Are they going to
Speaker 1: try something new? I think you know that change at
Speaker 1: defensive backs coach. And also the trade aid for Hackinson
Speaker 1: makes this a challenge this week in some respects for
Speaker 1: the Packers in terms of preparing and studying film because
Speaker 1: you don't know what changes they're going to make based
Speaker 1: on um, based on these moves that just happened within
Speaker 1: the last few days. Well, and how drastic are they
Speaker 1: gonna be? Are they going to really try some different
Speaker 1: type of stuff there? Because you're kind of getting to
Speaker 1: this point where let me just read off some of
Speaker 1: these statistics really quickly. If you don't mind, I know
Speaker 1: you're usually the stat guy. I'm gonna wear that hat
Speaker 1: here for a couple of minutes. Sure, they're giving up
Speaker 1: thirty two point one points per game. As much as
Speaker 1: we put this on Pleasant in the passing game, then
Speaker 1: being against the past this season is actually one of
Speaker 1: their better statistics. Right now, they are thirty second and
Speaker 1: totally yards, giving up fourner and twenty one yards per game.
Speaker 1: They are thirty against the run, giving up a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty four yards per game interceptions, they only have
Speaker 1: to this season third down defense, they are dead last
Speaker 1: in the National Football League fifty point six percent of
Speaker 1: the time not being able to get stopped. So I
Speaker 1: look at this right now from Detroit's perspective, is Okay,
Speaker 1: we have Aidan Hutchinson. He looks like he's going to
Speaker 1: be pretty good four and a half sacks on the season.
Speaker 1: But I don't know what else there is to really
Speaker 1: hang their hat on. Right hutch Hutchinson has the four
Speaker 1: and a half sacks to lead the team. Nobody else
Speaker 1: on the team has more than one and a half.
Speaker 1: I mean, he he is sort of the crux of
Speaker 1: their defense. What I wonder about in terms of, you know,
Speaker 1: I know it's short notice in terms of making changes
Speaker 1: from a schematic standpoint or whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, they're one and six at
Speaker 1: some point at some point here, I mean, we've seen
Speaker 1: we've seen Dan Campbell. He loves to go for it
Speaker 1: on fourth down. He likes to fake punts, he likes
Speaker 1: to onside kick, he he likes to he likes to
Speaker 1: pull out all the stops and so to to a
Speaker 1: certain extent. Now now that they're one and six, nearing
Speaker 1: the midway point of their season, at some point it's
Speaker 1: gonna be like, hey, we got we got nothing to lose.
Speaker 1: Let's just let's let's let's let's try whatever and and
Speaker 1: see if we can beat you know, a struggling Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers team coming in with a four game los
Speaker 1: and for green Bay, I mean, this is this is
Speaker 1: the perfect elixir. There's a lot of you know, kind
Speaker 1: of some pressure on the Packers here, coming off a
Speaker 1: four game losing streak to still be favored in this game,
Speaker 1: to try to get it up. Twenty five first downs
Speaker 1: a game, right now, that's one and a half more
Speaker 1: than the next team. That's crazy. Six six per quarters,
Speaker 1: I mean six first downs per quarters. So for the Packers,
Speaker 1: a team that offensively has been struggling to find itself
Speaker 1: at times, been trying to find perimeter weapons to step up.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers was asked, are you prepared to go to
Speaker 1: a shootout in this one? He's like yeah, he said,
Speaker 1: he said, we better be better, you know, I mean
Speaker 1: that's the way this thing is put together right now.
Speaker 1: For the Packers. So the guys in the locker room
Speaker 1: understand that urgency and one of the points I made
Speaker 1: in our insider inbox column, and it kind of goes
Speaker 1: off dovetailing off. What a lot of the guys said
Speaker 1: in the locker room was, this isn't about getting style points.
Speaker 1: You don't need to, you know, finesse on them. You
Speaker 1: don't need to have a blowout. Packers need to win
Speaker 1: right now, and they need to win before they come
Speaker 1: back home and face a good Dallas team, a very
Speaker 1: dangerous Tennessee Titans team. Yeah, the Packers. The Packers are
Speaker 1: going to come off this game in Detroit and then
Speaker 1: have two home games in a span of five days.
Speaker 1: You get a win, you all of a sudden start,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe to feel a little bit better about yourself,
Speaker 1: generate some kind of momentum to home games in five
Speaker 1: days against at Lambeau, against very very good teams. But
Speaker 1: this is I mean right here, this is it a
Speaker 1: road game at Detroit, a team that's only won one game,
Speaker 1: and then two home games in a span of five days.
Speaker 1: If the Packers are going to turn their season around,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be now. Because if I'm Matt Lafleur in
Speaker 1: that locker room. Obviously, it would never be a speech
Speaker 1: with him because they're not looking to pass the front opponent.
Speaker 1: But fourteen games, fourteen days from now, the Packers could
Speaker 1: be a game above five if you play your cards
Speaker 1: right over these next two weeks. The good thing for
Speaker 1: green Bay coming out of Wednesday we saw Allen Lazard
Speaker 1: returned back to practice. That would be a huge gift
Speaker 1: for them with this offense. You know, Christian Watson, we
Speaker 1: don't know what the prognosis is going to be for him,
Speaker 1: but at the very least, it seems like he's doing okay.
Speaker 1: I think he was out there. You were at practice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he wasn't stretching, he wasn't going through the drills on
Speaker 1: the field, but he was present at practice. He was
Speaker 1: going through the team stretch at the beginning of practice,
Speaker 1: which is a good sign because some in certain stages
Speaker 1: of the protocol, like you don't even see the player
Speaker 1: down by the field at all. So again, we don't
Speaker 1: know how this is gonna shake out for Watson as
Speaker 1: the rest of the week unfolds, but that was a
Speaker 1: really good sign just to see him with his teammates
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, and as Rogers said too, you know, and
Speaker 1: hopefully here in a couple of weeks they can get
Speaker 1: Randall cobback. So the Packers, we saw it happen with
Speaker 1: the trading deadline and when when everybody, and I know
Speaker 1: that's such a big point of contention right now amongst
Speaker 1: fan base, but the reality is, no matter what would
Speaker 1: have happened there, the Packers had to rely on Romeo Dobbs,
Speaker 1: Samory Too re Christian Watson to improve, and they needed
Speaker 1: guys like al Lazar, Randall Cobb and Sammy Watkins to
Speaker 1: lead with this group early on. It's been tough, there's
Speaker 1: no question about it. But I think if you look
Speaker 1: at that game against Buffalo again, a team that was
Speaker 1: that are it is considered a Super Bowl favorite. Packers
Speaker 1: did a lot of positive things in there. Now is
Speaker 1: the time to build on that, learn from your mistakes,
Speaker 1: and go and impose your will against the lines. All right,
Speaker 1: I want us to specifically call our keys to victory
Speaker 1: in a minute here, but first I'll take care of
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Speaker 1: Subs fifty years of better. All right, the keys to
Speaker 1: victory here we will see. Aaron Rodgers sounded uh, sounded positive,
Speaker 1: optimistic about the prospect of David Baktier and Elton Jenkins
Speaker 1: playing side by side on the left side of the
Speaker 1: offensive line this week, even though both of them um
Speaker 1: did not practice on Wednesday. You mentioned the the situation
Speaker 1: going on with the receivers. I think if the Packers
Speaker 1: based on what we saw from this offensive line, certainly
Speaker 1: in the running game with the two plus yards against
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills last week, with the changes that have
Speaker 1: been made, yosh Niman's noutright tackle John Runnion has been
Speaker 1: flipped over to right guard. You're trying to get Jenkins
Speaker 1: back in there at left guard, and box are played
Speaker 1: the entire game last week at left tackle. If this
Speaker 1: unit settles in, obviously, Aaron Rodgers is the captain, he's
Speaker 1: the lead, he's the you know, the leader of the
Speaker 1: whole thing. But if if that's your starting five on
Speaker 1: the offensive line, and if that group can settle in
Speaker 1: and start to play every game every week on a
Speaker 1: consistent basis and have some continuity and reliability there, that's
Speaker 1: the unit, in my opinion, that's going to lead this
Speaker 1: Packers offense back to to the productive level that they're
Speaker 1: hoping for and that they're counting on. So um I
Speaker 1: would like to see. I I really would like to
Speaker 1: see obviously that that starting five going against the bottom
Speaker 1: rank defense in the entire league, and that starting five
Speaker 1: control this football game. I agree, Mike, because the thing is,
Speaker 1: it's not just about Jenkins and box tr it's the
Speaker 1: fact that you know, you look at yash Nieman being
Speaker 1: able to get three weeks now at right tackle, and
Speaker 1: that's that's your spot. You don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: a rotation, you don't have to worry if something's going
Speaker 1: to happen. You're going to concentrate on this and we'll
Speaker 1: we'll deal with whatever happens on the left side as
Speaker 1: it happens. Being able to develop that comfort last week,
Speaker 1: it was a little bit of a grind early on
Speaker 1: with the pass pro, but they made some adjustments there.
Speaker 1: I thought for the most part, the run blocking was exceptional, uh,
Speaker 1: particularly from the skill the skill positions. Um, Josie Deguara
Speaker 1: made some good blocks, you know, near the line of
Speaker 1: scrimmage outside. You see these guys given second effort there.
Speaker 1: That's the key to break in this thing. Sammy Watkins
Speaker 1: talked about it last week. They know what Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: is capable of. If you get him to the second level,
Speaker 1: it's up to the receivers to kind of give them
Speaker 1: that second block, yeah, to be able to spring him
Speaker 1: for a touchdown. That's one thing they've been missing so
Speaker 1: far because he has gotten to the second and third
Speaker 1: level pretty easily this season. But the big thing for
Speaker 1: me really comes back to Aaron Rodgers in this game.
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, he he mentioned it to,
Speaker 1: you know, wanting to get the most out of himself,
Speaker 1: rising to the challenge himself. Um. This offense, you know,
Speaker 1: the guys are gonna drop passes, there's going to be
Speaker 1: mistakes made, but so much of this is riding on
Speaker 1: the quarterback. And I just felt like one positive it
Speaker 1: was very small, and I get that it was in
Speaker 1: a two minute type format, so it's not really within
Speaker 1: the traditional scheme of the offense. But the Packers when
Speaker 1: they had to turn back to the past against Buffalo
Speaker 1: after three quarters of running it, They've made some big plays.
Speaker 1: Romeo Dobbs made some big play, Samari two Ray made
Speaker 1: some big plays. Now you're going up against Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: secondary that I'm going to just say it is not
Speaker 1: overly talented. They aren't that deep. Ye, they haven't gotten
Speaker 1: the job done and they haven't been able to take
Speaker 1: away the football right. The key to victory for me
Speaker 1: and this one Mike, is being able to penetrate that secondary,
Speaker 1: get touchdowns and win the turnover battle. That's kind of
Speaker 1: for me. What it all comes back to. Yeah, on
Speaker 1: the on the defensive side of the ball, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be writing about this for for my One Last
Speaker 1: Look column on Saturday, on the defensive side of the
Speaker 1: ball as as much as Aaron Rodgers. He was asked
Speaker 1: the question, Hey, you know, are you guys prepared to
Speaker 1: go win a shootout? And he says, yeah, we better be.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's on the Packers defense to not
Speaker 1: let this game become a shootout. This this is where
Speaker 1: we we've been talking about it week after week, every
Speaker 1: single game, there are stretches where this Packers defense plays
Speaker 1: really well. But what has happened in this four game
Speaker 1: losing streak and when I'm outlining in my up in
Speaker 1: my upcoming column, each of the last four games, there
Speaker 1: has been a stretch of at least three and in
Speaker 1: a couple of cases five possessions where the opponent has
Speaker 1: scored consecutively. You know, five straight possessions against the Giants
Speaker 1: in London, five straight possessions last week against Buffalo. It
Speaker 1: was stretches of three consecutive possessions against both the Jets
Speaker 1: and the Commanders. This Packers defense, you're not gonna go
Speaker 1: out there and pitch shutouts. You're not gonna hold everybody
Speaker 1: to ten or twelve points. That's not how it works
Speaker 1: in this league. But what this Packers defense has to
Speaker 1: do is when the other team starts to make some plays,
Speaker 1: when they start to get something rolling, they've got to
Speaker 1: find a way to stop the bleeding. They've got to
Speaker 1: find a way to undercut that momentum so that the
Speaker 1: snowball doesn't just get running downhill out of control to
Speaker 1: where suddenly the other team has put seventeen or twenty
Speaker 1: or twenty seven points on the board in the span
Speaker 1: of a quarter and a half or two quarters, and
Speaker 1: then the whole team is reeling. Detroit. As we talked
Speaker 1: about at the top of the show, they have an
Speaker 1: offense that is capable of getting rolling and putting up
Speaker 1: some big points on that fast track at Ford Field.
Speaker 1: This Packers defense, bottom line for me, they cannot let
Speaker 1: this game become a shootout. They have they have to
Speaker 1: do their job and not force the Packers offense. As
Speaker 1: poor as Detroit's defense is, they can't force the Packers
Speaker 1: offense say hey, you gotta go score thirty five and
Speaker 1: win this game. That that's not going to bode well
Speaker 1: in the big picture for trying to turn this thing
Speaker 1: around for Green Bay. I agree, Mike, and and the
Speaker 1: other thing just to tie into that is I think
Speaker 1: that's why they amonras st Brown equation gets gets included
Speaker 1: in this because the one takeaway I had from that
Speaker 1: week a team game, there wasn't a lot to draw
Speaker 1: from it, but it did show you that this kid,
Speaker 1: in terms of a possession receiver, in terms of a
Speaker 1: guy that's gonna be able to move the first down marker,
Speaker 1: this kid's gonna get it done and when you mac
Speaker 1: when you add in a running back, regardless of what
Speaker 1: happens with Swift, but somebody like Jamal Williams that's going
Speaker 1: to run hard for his yards. When Detroit's able to
Speaker 1: get into that rhythm, much like the Packers, much like
Speaker 1: a lot of teams, when you're able to start moving
Speaker 1: those first downs one after another, that's when it does
Speaker 1: get demoralizing for a defense. That's when it hard sometimes
Speaker 1: is hard to get that stop in the midst of
Speaker 1: a run. I'm in Russ st Brown and how the
Speaker 1: Packers choose to defend him is going to be very
Speaker 1: telling because it's not like he's just this typical you know,
Speaker 1: uh Stefon Diggs. You're worried about a seventy yard touchdown
Speaker 1: on any given play, but he can hurt you, and
Speaker 1: he can hurt you in in situations and third and
Speaker 1: favorables that can really make for a long afternoon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you look at that week eate team game. I
Speaker 1: know the Packers ended up, you know, resting guys in
Speaker 1: the second half and all that, But going back to
Speaker 1: what we talked about before with Dan Campbell, the Lions
Speaker 1: were pulling trick plays out of I mean, the Packers
Speaker 1: have to have to be ready for absolutely anything that
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell might want to try in this game, whether
Speaker 1: whether it's from scrimmage, whether it's on special teams, whatever
Speaker 1: the case might be. UM this, Dan Campbell is going
Speaker 1: to pull out all the stops to beat the green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers and get his team it's it's second win.
Speaker 1: I think green Bay has to be ready for that.
Speaker 1: Elsewhere we can nine in the NFL. Just to touch
Speaker 1: on a couple of games, and one I think that's
Speaker 1: interesting in the a f C, just partly because the
Speaker 1: Packers have already played both of these teams. Is Buffalo
Speaker 1: is at the New York Jets for a big matchup
Speaker 1: in the a f C East. And this one stands
Speaker 1: out to me for the New York Jets because they
Speaker 1: had gotten themselves to five and two and people were saying, oh,
Speaker 1: you know Robert Salo that you know turning around the Jets,
Speaker 1: maybe the Jets are for real. Well then you know
Speaker 1: they kind of they kind of stunk it up against
Speaker 1: the Patriots, a division rival. UM took a loss that
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people with everything going on
Speaker 1: with the quarterback situation in New England. People thought, you know,
Speaker 1: the Jets, they should be able to beat their division
Speaker 1: rival here. Now they're hosting the Buffalo Bills, the team
Speaker 1: on top of the division team a lot of people
Speaker 1: pointing to in the a f C, A is a
Speaker 1: super Bowl favorite. This is the chance for the Jets.
Speaker 1: They're either they're either going to make the statement that
Speaker 1: they're in this thing and uh and they're a legitimate
Speaker 1: contender in the a f C. Or they're going to
Speaker 1: be one of those other, you know, teams in the
Speaker 1: mix that's maybe scrambled into, you know, to just squeak
Speaker 1: into the playoffs with the bottom wild card seat. That's
Speaker 1: how I see this game potentially for the Jet could
Speaker 1: go either way. Yeah, well, I mean I think what
Speaker 1: happened is they lost their identity, Breeze Hall got hurt
Speaker 1: and now you know, they traded for James Robinson. Certainly
Speaker 1: Robinson needs some time to pick up the scheme, but
Speaker 1: that offense is a lot different when Michael Carter's back
Speaker 1: there as opposed to Hall. You know, Corey Davis I
Speaker 1: think has had some injuries as well. So uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson, they believe in him and he's the future
Speaker 1: for them. But I felt like when he's playing at
Speaker 1: his best, it's because he's had a running back to
Speaker 1: kind of play off of and they lost that home
Speaker 1: run threat now with Hall. Yeah, another interesting one in
Speaker 1: the NFC, Rams at Buccaneers and uh, if you had
Speaker 1: told me, if you had told me at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the season, that we'd be sitting here with our
Speaker 1: Thursday Week nine show talking about a matchup in early
Speaker 1: November between the Rams and Buccaneers and both teams would
Speaker 1: be below five be wondering what in the world is
Speaker 1: going on? Right? But this is uh, this is the
Speaker 1: type of game that is uh, you know, that's potentially
Speaker 1: a season save or in some respects for one team
Speaker 1: or the other. Here. This is an interesting one in
Speaker 1: the NFC, and the big thing for Todd Bowles he
Speaker 1: needs to remind his team, Yeah, everything's feeling like the
Speaker 1: world's against us, but we're like a game and a
Speaker 1: you know game, half game out from the lead right
Speaker 1: now in their division. Yeah, their division, the leader is
Speaker 1: at four and four. So I mean like, yeah, as
Speaker 1: much as this has been difficult, as much as they
Speaker 1: can't run the ball or don't run the ball, um
Speaker 1: that there's still a huge opportunity here. The Rams are
Speaker 1: kind of in an abyss right now, Like I'm sort
Speaker 1: of at a loss for why the Rams have kind
Speaker 1: of that this thing's gone as it has. We know
Speaker 1: that they didn't really have much of a run game,
Speaker 1: you know, since the cam Akers injury. We know it's
Speaker 1: been kind of hit or miss at times with this offense.
Speaker 1: But two to be in this type of stretch in
Speaker 1: a division that's as competitive as the West is right now,
Speaker 1: with teams like Seattle coming out of nowhere to be
Speaker 1: right up there, Um, it's a must win game. I
Speaker 1: always said him, like, I never felt like there are
Speaker 1: must win games in November. But the way that these
Speaker 1: this NFC nor in the NFC West have played out
Speaker 1: definitely good games to get what I think is probably
Speaker 1: the game of the week in the NFL. This Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and Houston. Let's get going. No, I don't think so,
Speaker 1: but I'm excited about it because it's on Sunday night football,
Speaker 1: and with the Packers playing at noon, hopefully we can
Speaker 1: get the bulk of our work, if not all of
Speaker 1: our work done um before this game or shortly after
Speaker 1: this game kicks off. And of course I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the Sunday night matchup Tennessee at Kansas City with what
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry is doing, you know, running the football, pounding
Speaker 1: the ball for Tennessee. A team that, as we talked
Speaker 1: about before, Green Bay is going to see them two
Speaker 1: weeks from tonight, um and then Kansas City playing at
Speaker 1: home Arrowhead under the lights and everything like that. But
Speaker 1: a Chiefs team that you know, maybe hasn't quite found
Speaker 1: itself just yet. And we've seen that before with Kansas
Speaker 1: City where they're not there. You know, Andy, Andy Reid
Speaker 1: has Andy Reid has shown an ability to get that team,
Speaker 1: to really get that team clicking on all cylinders into
Speaker 1: December and January to to make the deep playoff runs
Speaker 1: that they have become accustomed to making. But this is
Speaker 1: an interesting one for early November Tennessee at Kansas City.
Speaker 1: In the a f C. In Tennessee is that they
Speaker 1: are the Minnesota Vikings of the a f C right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, they are winning the games they need to win.
Speaker 1: I have so much respect for Mike Vrabel. That team
Speaker 1: continues to pull out these games one score games. I mean,
Speaker 1: they got the breaks beat off them in week two. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, by Buffalo, but since then I've really rallied
Speaker 1: it for the Packers sake. If you're Packers fan, I
Speaker 1: think you really do need to pull for Kansas City
Speaker 1: here because after this, Tennessee gets Denver, which has kind
Speaker 1: of gutted their defense a little bit. Now that that
Speaker 1: that could be really tough proposition. If if the Titans
Speaker 1: are really rolling that much heading into lambeau Field in
Speaker 1: two weeks, yeah, absolutely well with that, we will call
Speaker 1: it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Scripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team and all of our coverage of Sunday's game. Packers
Speaker 1: and Lions in Detroit will have it all for you
Speaker 1: on Packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.