Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spaffer, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston Hadco. It's coming to you
Speaker 1: hear from our studios at lambeau Field and West lambeau
Speaker 1: Field will be the host location of Sunday Night Football.
Speaker 1: We are here to talk about the Packers against the
Speaker 1: defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. It's a big
Speaker 1: one for both teams. The Packers have gotten themselves back
Speaker 1: in the mix a little bit here in the NFC.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs are chasing that loan first round. By that
Speaker 1: only the number one seed in each conference gets under
Speaker 1: the lights. And maybe they'll be a superstar in a
Speaker 1: music superstar in a lambeau suite somewhere. I guess we'll
Speaker 1: find that out at some point. But this is about football,
Speaker 1: and this is gonna be a really, really exciting, entertaining
Speaker 1: and highlyticipated game.
Speaker 2: Do you know something I don't know about Mick jaggerbying
Speaker 2: here or something? I got jokes? Bad dad jokes.
Speaker 1: Swifty Night Football is what some people might be calling this.
Speaker 2: That's me, but you know, I get it, understand it.
Speaker 2: I'm a part of it. I enjoy Taylor Swift music.
Speaker 2: But I got some goosebumps in the locker room on Wednesday,
Speaker 2: and it had nothing to do with Travis Kelce or
Speaker 2: Taylor Swift or pop culture. Had to do with John Runyan.
Speaker 2: And I was pushing you big on the John Runyan Press,
Speaker 2: you know, the press scrum yesterday. But Runyon had a
Speaker 2: moment near the end of his scrum where he got
Speaker 2: to talking about Sunday night football and Sunday night football
Speaker 2: specifically in the month of December. And the thing that
Speaker 2: he sort of have to remember is his first two
Speaker 2: years here, NFC Championship game, Big year in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: number one seed, a lot of Sunday night action. And
Speaker 2: he said, you know, there's a lot of young guys
Speaker 2: in the scene that haven't felt it yet. But there
Speaker 2: is something special when you walk out on land Field
Speaker 2: and you see your breath, you get those kind of chills,
Speaker 2: those fall late fall, early winter vibes. Yeah, and there's
Speaker 2: something that just brings it adia and him doing that
Speaker 2: it almost kind of to me was like when people
Speaker 2: describe like baking a cake or you know, Thanksgiving dinner
Speaker 2: like it almost. It got me revd up because this
Speaker 2: game in it itself, it sells itself. Yeah, Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 2: surging offense, coming together five and six, very much alive
Speaker 2: now in this playoff hunt. And then the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 2: I think when you look at marketability branding, this team
Speaker 2: is the face of the National Football League, defending Super
Speaker 2: Bowl champions And it's not just Patrick Mahomes, it's the
Speaker 2: guys that have gotten the light put on them. Beyond that,
Speaker 2: you know, I think of a guy like Chris Jones.
Speaker 2: I think of, you know, these players that have been
Speaker 2: making an impact, but more importantly have been winning football games.
Speaker 2: So as you talk to me about this and we
Speaker 2: preview this game here coming up, I'm just so excited
Speaker 2: to be back in December and obviously have a very
Speaker 2: meaningful football game in front of us.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, looking at the Kansas City Chiefs and the
Speaker 1: season that they have had coming off of their second
Speaker 1: Super Bowl title in the last handful of years. They
Speaker 1: started off with a loss in that Thursday night kickoff
Speaker 1: opener to the Detroit Lions, but then they bounced back
Speaker 1: from that. They won six games in a row. They
Speaker 1: were six and one. But now They've lost two of
Speaker 1: their last four. Now. Granted, one of those was a
Speaker 1: big Monday night game, you know, under the lights against
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles, the top seed in the NFC. Really
Speaker 1: good game, came right down to the wire. Those kind
Speaker 1: of things happened. But there have been a lot of
Speaker 1: questions about the Chiefs offense this year because it hasn't
Speaker 1: been the explosive point producing machine that it has been
Speaker 1: under Patrick Mahomes with Patrick Mahomes at the Helm in
Speaker 1: recent years. But I tell you what, Wes you know.
Speaker 1: I know the Raiders have had, you know, their share
Speaker 1: of ups and downs and everything this year, and they
Speaker 1: have the coaching situation going on there and all that.
Speaker 1: But the Chiefs last week, they were behind fourteen to
Speaker 1: nothing out of the gate to the Las Vegas Raiders,
Speaker 1: and they ended up winning that game in a runaway.
Speaker 1: They scored four touchdowns in a span of five possessions
Speaker 1: and absolutely blew out the Raiders. After a slow start.
Speaker 1: I think the Chiefs are getting to where they're answering
Speaker 1: some questions about the offense and getting to where maybe
Speaker 1: this offense is going to start revving up for the
Speaker 1: stretch run. Right when and where Kansas City wants it to,
Speaker 1: and this is going to be a big time challenge
Speaker 1: for Green Bay's defense to slow these guys down.
Speaker 2: The Chiefs are in an interesting position in two different ways. One,
Speaker 2: you obviously want to win as many games as you can,
Speaker 2: you want the number one seed. But I think from
Speaker 2: Kansas City's perspective, with as much confidence as they have
Speaker 2: in Patrick Mahomes and that defense, they're thinking more about
Speaker 2: how do we set ourselves up here to propel ourselves
Speaker 2: into the postseason to try to make this back to
Speaker 2: back run. But when I look scifically at the offense
Speaker 2: and I look at Mahomes in this thing, in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways, Mike, it sort of even reminds me
Speaker 2: of those Brett Farve years after the Super Bowl, after
Speaker 2: Mike Holmgren, where it was like you knew you had
Speaker 2: Brett Farv. You might not have known all the other
Speaker 2: names around him, but you had Brett Farv and you
Speaker 2: were going to be able to score points, and you're
Speaker 2: going to have production, maybe a few too many interceptions
Speaker 2: for your liking, but you're going to move the football
Speaker 2: with no disrespect to him. But the Antonio Chapmans of
Speaker 2: the world, sure not to say the kansadate's in that predicament,
Speaker 2: but it's Travis Kelcey and it's a wide variety of
Speaker 2: receivers that are around him. There is not a Tyreek
Speaker 2: Hill that's going to command one hundred and ten receptions.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a little bit of sky More,
Speaker 2: it's going to be a little bit of mvs and
Speaker 2: obviously the Rashi Rice who's coming on here for them
Speaker 2: lately as well. Yeah, and they're all dangerous. That's my
Speaker 2: main takeaway from where they're sitting right now is you
Speaker 2: can't take them for granted in that because, as Kenny
Speaker 2: Clark was discussing strictly speaking with Patrick Mahomes, he's one
Speaker 2: of the rare quarterbacks that can beat you from the
Speaker 2: pocket and with his feet, and when those two things
Speaker 2: come together, it makes it really difficult in terms of
Speaker 2: a defense trying to contain that weapon for four quarters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. I did a little bit of research
Speaker 1: with regard to Mahomes because he is he is the
Speaker 1: offense's second leading rusher Kansas City behind Pacheco, who has
Speaker 1: I believe it's six hundred and sixty nine yards and
Speaker 1: five touchdowns. That's correct. But what I did is is
Speaker 1: with Mahomes being the second leading rusher on the team,
Speaker 1: he's officially he's averaging five point eight yards per carry.
Speaker 1: But I went back through the Chiefs play by plays
Speaker 1: and counted up all of the end of game, end
Speaker 1: of half, or end of game usually end of game
Speaker 1: kneel downs by Mahomes, And when you take those out,
Speaker 1: he's had fifteen kneel downs for minus seventeen yards this season.
Speaker 1: If you take those out, he's averaging eight point five
Speaker 1: yards every time he takes off and scrambles. That's a
Speaker 1: chain moving scrambler, is what that is. He You know,
Speaker 1: he can absolutely kill you on third downs where you
Speaker 1: can defend that offense for five or six or even
Speaker 1: seven seconds as well as you could possibly defend Kelsey
Speaker 1: and Rashie Rice and MVS and all these other guys,
Speaker 1: and then Mahomes will still find a way to move
Speaker 1: the chains because when he takes off, he finds a lane,
Speaker 1: he maybe makes a guy miss, he has the angle
Speaker 1: just to get to that first down marker. That's where
Speaker 1: where I think this Packers defense that has certainly shown
Speaker 1: some growth and some progress. You know, yes, there was
Speaker 1: there was some bad run defense against Pittsburgh, but Kenny
Speaker 1: Pickett didn't do a whole lot in that game. The
Speaker 1: Packers contain Jared Goff. They haven't faced a quarterback like this,
Speaker 1: who who can be so dangerous when you defend the
Speaker 1: offense so well. And I think that's gonna be something
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on come Sunday night.
Speaker 2: Something else I thought was really funny. You were the
Speaker 2: one to bring it to light for me about how
Speaker 2: much at the end of these second quarters they've been scoring.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, that's and that when I was doing
Speaker 1: the research on the kneel downs, I'm looking through their
Speaker 1: play by plays, and it's like, every time I look
Speaker 1: at the second quarter, I'm like, oh, the Chiefs scored again.
Speaker 1: Oh you scored like, you know, a field goal on
Speaker 1: the last play of the half or a touchdown with
Speaker 1: five seconds left in the first half. That's the other
Speaker 1: thing I was going to bring up because that prompted
Speaker 1: me to look up another statistic.
Speaker 2: The Chiefs have.
Speaker 1: Scored more than half of their points of the entire
Speaker 1: season in the second quarter. Yeah, one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: two of their two hundred and fifty six points have
Speaker 1: come in the second quarter. To be this many games
Speaker 1: into the season and to have more than half your
Speaker 1: points in one quarter of play, that's like almost unheard of.
Speaker 1: It's uncanny. But so the point is, if the Packers
Speaker 1: and Jordan Love and the offense, if they're going to
Speaker 1: put together a you know, fifteen play ten minute scoring drive,
Speaker 1: make it in the second quarter, so Mahomes doesn't have
Speaker 1: quite so many chances to score points. Anyway, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: I interrupted you. We're going to make a point.
Speaker 2: That was basically my point. I mean, just to quickly
Speaker 2: put this out there. One hundred and thirty two points
Speaker 2: in the second quarter. The Jets have one hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty three for the season. I mean, this is a
Speaker 2: unit that plays well and it plays to its strengths.
Speaker 2: And if I may just to kind of give you
Speaker 2: another preview of when you have confidence and you have
Speaker 2: a core in a nucleus with their offense, defense, and
Speaker 2: special teams. Last week we were talking with Detroit about
Speaker 2: how Green Bay got off to that fast start and
Speaker 2: they used the complimentary phase of football to basically ice
Speaker 2: it right. Kansas City, look at some of these statistics
Speaker 2: on them, Mike. They've returned five kickoffs this season. They
Speaker 2: don't return kickoffs. They don't return kickoffs. I mean when
Speaker 2: you look at Travis kelce Travis kelcey seventy receptions for
Speaker 2: seven or and thirty two yards, five touchdowns. The guy's
Speaker 2: thirty three to thirty four years old now at this
Speaker 2: point in his career. I made the case an insider inbox.
Speaker 2: In my money, he does this for another two three years.
Speaker 2: You're talking about the greatest tight end of all time. Yeah,
Speaker 2: with all due respect to Tony Gonzalez, another great Kansas
Speaker 2: City Chief But defensively, they have six takeaways in terms
Speaker 2: of interceptions, Like, there are ways to beat Kansas City,
Speaker 2: and if you look at the games in which they've
Speaker 2: lost this year, the three of them, it's because of
Speaker 2: those things getting away from them. So for as dynamic
Speaker 2: as they are, I don't want to call them predictable
Speaker 2: because that'd be doing a disservice to all this. But
Speaker 2: there is a very clear blueprint for how you beat
Speaker 2: the Chiefs. The question for the Packers is can you
Speaker 2: play to that level in order to achieve it? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean when you look on the other side of
Speaker 1: the ball, this Kansas City Chiefs defense, and I'm not
Speaker 1: pretending to be an expert on the Chiefs and this
Speaker 1: run they've had.
Speaker 2: With you before we walked in here, you told me
Speaker 2: you were an expert on the Chiefs and this run
Speaker 2: that they're currently on.
Speaker 1: Well, no, I'm not okay, But this run that includes
Speaker 1: two Super Bowl championships, three AFC championships in the last
Speaker 1: handful of years, this might be. This might be the
Speaker 1: best defense that they've had. During this run. They are
Speaker 1: third in the league in points allowed, fourth in the
Speaker 1: league in yards allowed. They've reacked up thirty seven sacks.
Speaker 1: Steve Spagnolo, this defense is all about generating pressure on
Speaker 1: the quarterback, getting you into you know, the tough down
Speaker 1: in distances that force you to throw, and then Spagnola
Speaker 1: will dial up, you know, these exotic looks, these crazy blitzes,
Speaker 1: and make you react to them on the fly. George
Speaker 1: Karloftis leads the defense with eight sacks of those thirty seven.
Speaker 1: But the engine in the middle of that defense is
Speaker 1: Chris Jones. You mentioned his name before. He has seven
Speaker 1: and a half sacks, but that doesn't even begin to
Speaker 1: illustrate what he means to this Chiefs defense. He is
Speaker 1: a massive, massive dude in the middle of that defensive line.
Speaker 1: And even sometimes as big as he is, they'll still
Speaker 1: line him up almost more in an in an ad
Speaker 1: rushing position or even a five technique type of thing.
Speaker 1: He's not necessarily on the interior all the time, but man,
Speaker 1: he is a handful and and he you know, he
Speaker 1: just he plugs up the middle, run and pass and
Speaker 1: gets after the quarterback. Like you know, he's like an
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald in a sense. But he's but he's Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald with a heck of a lot more size and
Speaker 1: h and just a guy that you have to game
Speaker 1: plan for. And I'm very curious to see how the
Speaker 1: Packers can handle him on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's not like he's six six three forty.
Speaker 2: He's about six six three fifteen in that range. And
Speaker 2: if you want to see the difference in that Kansas
Speaker 2: City defense, and when we talk about like quarterbacks, right MVPs,
Speaker 2: you know, what do the Chiefs look like without Patrick Mahomes?
Speaker 2: What do the Miami Dolphins look like without Tua? Look
Speaker 2: at what this Kansas City defense looked like and against
Speaker 2: Detroit in Week one when Jones was still holding out,
Speaker 2: different unit. This guy is the playmaker He is the centerpiece.
Speaker 2: He is everything. When you talk about defensive line play
Speaker 2: and versatility, he exudes all of it. And as I
Speaker 2: was talking with Kenny clarkabouk because one of the questions
Speaker 2: I asked Kenny on Wednesday was you know how much
Speaker 2: he studies other defensive tackles, And he studies them all,
Speaker 2: and he isolated three things with him that stand out.
Speaker 2: It is the size. It obviously is the length, but
Speaker 2: it's the hands. And when you are that big and
Speaker 2: you can keep people off of you the way that
Speaker 2: he does, it doesn't matter if you're getting triple teams.
Speaker 2: Sometimes the guy's violent enough with his hands that it
Speaker 2: makes it very difficult for another three hundred pound human
Speaker 2: being to stay in front of him for any sustained
Speaker 2: amount of time. Chiefs did the right thing. Things did
Speaker 2: not go well defensively against the Lions. They missed Chris
Speaker 2: Jones in that game. They took care of him financially,
Speaker 2: they found a way to make it work, and since
Speaker 2: he's been back, he's been exceptional. I'll just throw out
Speaker 2: there too, George KARLOFTI, even though I'm not a scalp
Speaker 2: by any means, he was one of my favorite guys
Speaker 2: from the draft a couple of.
Speaker 1: Years ago coming out of Purdue.
Speaker 2: And he's developed into more of an all around pass rusher.
Speaker 2: That's been the biggest difference I think I've seen with
Speaker 2: him this season. Yes, he gets the sacks, but he's
Speaker 2: doing a little bit more of the little things too,
Speaker 2: with that linebacker corps behind them. When you talk about
Speaker 2: front sevens, I think right now in the National Football League,
Speaker 2: Kansas City's as good as they come, regardless of how
Speaker 2: much Steve Spagnolo is pressuring.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, this is a defense that has proven tough
Speaker 1: to beat throughout the course of the season. One other
Speaker 1: note I'll throw out there with regard to the Chiefs
Speaker 1: on special teams, Harrison, Butker hasn't missed a kick all season.
Speaker 1: He's twenty eight out of twenty eight on his extra points,
Speaker 1: and he's twenty out of twenty on field goals, a
Speaker 1: couple of those being from fifty six and from sixty yards,
Speaker 1: So it's not like he's perfect on field goals with
Speaker 1: just a bunch of thirty five yards. And in kicks
Speaker 1: he's made some long ones. Yeah, so a couple of
Speaker 1: really long ones. And he's a big piece of this
Speaker 1: Chiefs team as well as I said the number of times,
Speaker 1: and I wish I had actually counted it up because
Speaker 1: I was obviously working on another statistic. I wish I
Speaker 1: had counted it up when I was looking at it.
Speaker 1: The number of times that Harrison Bucker has made a
Speaker 1: field goal on the last play of the first half
Speaker 1: is crazy. This year. It's it's happened. I would I'd
Speaker 1: be willing to bet it's happened at least six or
Speaker 1: seven times in their eleven games based on when I
Speaker 1: was going back through their.
Speaker 2: Play You just look at the special teams coordinator, the
Speaker 2: unit that they put together there with Town said, the operation.
Speaker 2: It's all consistent. It's you know what you're getting day
Speaker 2: in and day out with it, and they've been doing
Speaker 2: it together for years. And correct me if I'm wrong here. Again,
Speaker 2: I wasn't researching this as thoroughly as you did. But
Speaker 2: I think Buckner even had an injury earlier this year
Speaker 2: that he might have been playing through a little bit.
Speaker 2: I mean it could be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not I'm not entirely familiar with what his
Speaker 1: situation was.
Speaker 2: Help was being able to be as consistent as he's
Speaker 2: been and be putting some of those situations and embrace
Speaker 2: it the way he has. We're entering this stretch mic
Speaker 2: where you're you're getting You don't, you don't, you don't
Speaker 2: expect perfection, But it seems like NFL teams are it
Speaker 2: more now from their yeahers Yeah, and with somebody like Bucketer, Yeah,
Speaker 2: and with how many opportunities you're gonna get when Patrick
Speaker 2: Mahomes is your quarterback. You need a good kicker in Kansas.
Speaker 2: Kansas City certainly has one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned earlier there's a blueprint to beat the
Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs. I want to give you a chance
Speaker 1: to outline that blueprint, but we will do so right
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Speaker 1: All right, Well, it's keys to victory time. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the blueprint outline it for us. How do the Packers
Speaker 1: win this football game?
Speaker 2: Yeah, coach Wes Hodkwitz over here with my middle school
Speaker 2: background in football, No, there's three things that I see
Speaker 2: with this. One is as dangerous as Kansas City is.
Speaker 2: They are erratic, and they've had big drops this season.
Speaker 2: I don't mean to throw mvs under the bus with that,
Speaker 2: but certainly you go back a couple weeks ago and
Speaker 2: that was the difference between a win and a loss
Speaker 2: for them. They can hurt you, but they're gonna give
Speaker 2: you some chances. They're minus five right now on turnover
Speaker 2: margin for the season. I think that ranks like twenty
Speaker 2: fourth in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: That's amazing to be minus five and turnovers and be
Speaker 1: eight and three.
Speaker 2: That means here, what do you gotta do If defense
Speaker 2: gets the opportunities, you have to convert them into points.
Speaker 2: And Lastly, for as much as this is always going
Speaker 2: to be about Mahomes, Kelsey and these weapons, the run
Speaker 2: game is such an interesting part of this equation. For
Speaker 2: Kansas City, Isaiah Pacheco was a fantastic find for them,
Speaker 2: and late in the rounds, I believe there was a
Speaker 2: local scout here from Green Bay. That was the one
Speaker 2: that was responsible for that a number of years ago
Speaker 2: for Kansas City. But when they don't run the football,
Speaker 2: that's the blueprint. When you can stop them from having
Speaker 2: success and putting them in third and law, that's the blueprint.
Speaker 2: Watch any of the losses that they've had this season,
Speaker 2: that's when they get in bad situations. And you know,
Speaker 2: Kadarius Tony had a really rough game you know, earlier
Speaker 2: this season under those circumstances when we're trying to convert
Speaker 2: third and lungs and drop passes turned in interceptions and
Speaker 2: in some cases I believe a pick six. So stopping Pacheco,
Speaker 2: stopping you know, whoever they throw at you, whether it's
Speaker 2: McKinnon or Edwards Hilaire, just being able to make sure
Speaker 2: they don't get as much room as possible they're keep
Speaker 2: them in third and lungs. Yes, this will game will
Speaker 2: be in Matt Patrick Mahomes' hands. It's just the way
Speaker 2: that this thing goes. Yeah, but you don't want to
Speaker 2: make his life any easier. I hope I answered your question.
Speaker 1: No, you did. And for me, I the two things
Speaker 1: that stand out to me in this game. If you're
Speaker 1: looking at keys to victory for the Packers. The first
Speaker 1: one is it's all about protection, protection of Jordan Love.
Speaker 1: And I say that not just because of you know,
Speaker 1: the game two years ago in Kansas City, when you know,
Speaker 1: when Love was thrown in there, when Rogers had COVID
Speaker 1: and he had just a couple of days to prepare,
Speaker 1: and then Spagnolo blitz the heck out of the Packers
Speaker 1: and you know, kind of wrecked their offense really for
Speaker 1: three and a half quarters. It's not because of that,
Speaker 1: it's because of how this twenty twenty three Chiefs defense
Speaker 1: is playing. Because watching, for example, the Monday Night game
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago against the Philadelphia Eagles, you know,
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl rematch and everything, and a super Bowl
Speaker 1: that was very high scoring, that game became a defensive
Speaker 1: slog for a while. The Chiefs were not doing much offensively,
Speaker 1: but that defense was making life really difficult for a
Speaker 1: while for Jalen Hurts and that Eagles offense because of
Speaker 1: the pressure up front. Because of all of the disruption,
Speaker 1: the Packers have done a really good job in recent
Speaker 1: weeks against Aaron Donald, against TJ. Watt, against Khalil Mack
Speaker 1: and then obviously this last game against Aiden Hutchinson. These
Speaker 1: are the elite of the elite, and Chris Jones is
Speaker 1: another guy who ranks right up there, and the Packers
Speaker 1: have to continue what they've been doing to neutralize that
Speaker 1: guy in the opponent's defensive front who is the most
Speaker 1: disruptive and has the most potential to wreck what you're doing.
Speaker 1: The other thing for me, aside from the protection of
Speaker 1: Jordan Love in this game, then, is just to limit
Speaker 1: the big plays defensively the Chiefs. The Chiefs have shown
Speaker 1: this year they can put together ten, eleven, twelve play
Speaker 1: drives and go down the field and score. But that's
Speaker 1: what you have to make them do because if they
Speaker 1: hit you for the big plays and they score quickly,
Speaker 1: then that is when their point total can get up
Speaker 1: into the twenty eight and the thirty one and the
Speaker 1: thirty four point range. And I don't think the Packers
Speaker 1: want to get into that kind of a game with
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs. Limit the big plays, make them
Speaker 1: go the distance. Maybe they make a mistake. They are
Speaker 1: playing on the road. You know, we'll see what the
Speaker 1: weather is like and everything like that. On Sunday night,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta tap Travis Kelcey. As soon as
Speaker 1: he catches the ball, you can't let him turn six
Speaker 1: yard passes into sixteen eighteen yard games with broken tackles.
Speaker 1: That kind of thing is what I'm talking about in
Speaker 1: terms of limiting the big place. So for me, those
Speaker 1: are the two things at the top of my list.
Speaker 1: Protection and cutting down on explosives.
Speaker 2: And if there was ever a game for the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers to get back some of these injured players
Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball, this is the
Speaker 2: one because you know, I give a lot of credit
Speaker 2: to Isaiah McDuffie for how has stood in there this
Speaker 2: season for absolute Walker and Campbell. But if Devondre Campbell
Speaker 2: and Kay Walker are both out there, that makes life
Speaker 2: easier if you're in base against the Travis Kelcey, if
Speaker 2: you have Darnell Savage there, if you potentially you know where.
Speaker 2: However this shakes out at cornerback, there is a domino
Speaker 2: effect to the rest of it. With Jyry Alexander. So
Speaker 2: I just think it's a critical game and it's a
Speaker 2: big moment for Green Bay. I have implored people my
Speaker 2: biggest message in this thing is regardless of what the
Speaker 2: outcome is, maybe other than a tie. But regardless of
Speaker 2: the outcome, win or lose, you can't get too high
Speaker 2: or too low with this. Yep, the Packers win it,
Speaker 2: it's not the super Bowl. The Packers lose it. You
Speaker 2: have five games coming up here, and honestly, Mike more
Speaker 2: I look at this thing. I think it's going to
Speaker 2: take seven good victories to make the playoffs. The Packers
Speaker 2: need to bring as many of those together, whether it's
Speaker 2: beat in Kansas City or Carolina. You have to put
Speaker 2: some of these victories together and keep building on what
Speaker 2: they've done well here in their last three games.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. We'll take a quick look here at some
Speaker 1: other games around the NFL in Week thirteen. Actually, there's
Speaker 1: an important one in the NFC. Tonight, Thursday Night, Seattle
Speaker 1: is at Dallas for Thursday Night Football. Second straight Thursday
Speaker 1: game for both of these teams that both played on
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving a week ago. The league seems to have gotten
Speaker 1: into that pattern that the Thursday night game after Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: is two teams that had played on Thanksgiving. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, that seems to be.
Speaker 2: The computers just rebelling against the system. I guess so.
Speaker 1: But that's obviously a very interesting one in terms of
Speaker 1: the NFC playoff picture. A couple others that I think
Speaker 1: Packers fans will probably have their eye on Sunday before
Speaker 1: the Packers and Chiefs kickoff on Sunday night. Detroit is
Speaker 1: at New Orleans, Cleveland is at the Rams. So those
Speaker 1: games involve some teams that are in the mix there
Speaker 1: with the Packers. And then the biggest game on Sunday
Speaker 1: in the afternoon anyway, is San Francisco at Philadelphia, a
Speaker 1: rematch of the NFC Championship from last year when Brock
Speaker 1: Purdy got hurt and the Eagles kind of cruise to
Speaker 1: that victory to get into the Super Bowl. Man, how
Speaker 1: many times, speaking of the schedule and the computer spitting
Speaker 1: things out, how many times has there been a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl rematch and a conference championship rematch within a span
Speaker 1: of like three weeks.
Speaker 2: Or where it's been.
Speaker 1: That's kind of crazy when you think about it. But anyway,
Speaker 1: so Niners and Eagles, I think we'll all be watching
Speaker 1: the finish of that in the press box before Packers
Speaker 1: and Chiefs kickoff. Your thoughts on any of those games
Speaker 1: here in Week thirteen.
Speaker 2: Well, the New Orleans one is very interesting to me
Speaker 2: because as we've been talking about the Lions, you know,
Speaker 2: take nothing away from them, that was a very you know,
Speaker 2: hard fought game last week, but the Lions are kind
Speaker 2: of going through some things right now. They haven't really
Speaker 2: been hitting on all cylinders like they were even before
Speaker 2: that game against Green Bay. So seeing how they match
Speaker 2: up in the Superdome against the Saints, who have proven
Speaker 2: to be basically it's kind of a coin flip with
Speaker 2: them every week, it feels like, I mean, they certainly
Speaker 2: are a much different team with Alvin Kamara, there's no
Speaker 2: doubt about that. But trying to figure out them has
Speaker 2: been a really big challenge. You know, they they're so
Speaker 2: unconventional offensively with what Taysom Hill continues to do. I
Speaker 2: just in any given week, I don't really know what
Speaker 2: you get, and in most cases it ends up being
Speaker 2: around five hundred, right So seeing how the Lions responded
Speaker 2: that is going to be major. But I mean it
Speaker 2: is all about San Francisco and Philly and seeing how
Speaker 2: you know, Hurts has been kind of banged up. You know,
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers kind of went through some doldrums there,
Speaker 2: but now they've kind of pulled it together. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: talk about being a repeat of you know, the past
Speaker 2: NFC Championship game. I'm sure Kyle Shanahan the way he's
Speaker 2: looking at this is this is our measuring stick. This
Speaker 2: is where we got to get this team to. If
Speaker 2: we're finally going to solve the Philly problem, There's going
Speaker 2: to be five other problems in the playoffs and the
Speaker 2: NFC side of things. But you go back to the
Speaker 2: years with San Francisco and Dallas in the nineties, this
Speaker 2: is how these things go. So, uh, I'm sure they're
Speaker 2: going to tackle this thing, you know, very you know,
Speaker 2: with that much vigor and seeing if you know, they
Speaker 2: could finally pass that test. I do have a quick
Speaker 2: question for you, because I still don't really understand the
Speaker 2: flex scheduling for Monday night football. Okay, is there any
Speaker 2: party that was surprised there wasn't movement with Cincinnati and
Speaker 2: in Jacksonville or was it just too late because of
Speaker 2: the Borough thing?
Speaker 1: I think I think the I think the people really
Speaker 1: want to say, I think the Borough injury might have happened,
Speaker 1: might have happened too late in that Yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's my best guess. But that being said, you know, Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: And I know Jacksonville doesn't have the market size and
Speaker 1: the fan following, but Jacksonville is a playoff team. They
Speaker 1: were last year. They're leading their leading their division and
Speaker 1: everything right now.
Speaker 2: So did you watch that Bengals Steelers game? Though? Last week?
Speaker 1: I watched a good portion of it. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: that was pretty rough.
Speaker 2: I was looking for some leaves to rake or something,
Speaker 2: but I kept watching because the only reason I even
Speaker 2: bring up the Monday night football thing is because it
Speaker 2: keeps getting asked an insider inbox about the Packers Monday
Speaker 2: night game against the Giants. Against the Giants, I don't
Speaker 2: expect there to be any movement, especially since the Jets
Speaker 2: play there on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Right yeah, and the the deadline has passed now anyway,
Speaker 1: But I always thought from the beginning, because the Jets
Speaker 1: have a home game at MetLife on Sunday afternoon, and
Speaker 1: then they scheduled the Giants for the for the Monday,
Speaker 1: I mean, how are I mean? So, the only the
Speaker 1: only way to flex it is essentially to then move
Speaker 1: the Jets to the Monday night game, which I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's any more attractive, because you know, Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers is back at practice now, but he's not act
Speaker 1: if he's not going to be playing.
Speaker 2: We've watched a game, yeah, the Jets.
Speaker 1: The Jets were put in a lot of big spotlight
Speaker 1: games for for obvious reasons, and then uh, and then
Speaker 1: with Rogers injury, those those haven't turned out to be
Speaker 1: the games other than when they beat the Eagles, which
Speaker 1: is the Eagles only lost this season. That was the
Speaker 1: one the country was watching, and and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and that was what, uh, the game that everybody thought, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe the Jets are going to be all right here,
Speaker 1: but they're you know, they're not. I'll say this with
Speaker 1: regard to the Eagles and the Niners, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a fun game to watch
Speaker 1: the and I know mathematically nothing will be decided, but man,
Speaker 1: if the Eagles win this game, they basically have the
Speaker 1: number one seed. I mean they're not you know, yes,
Speaker 1: mathematically it won't be official, but they're going to get
Speaker 1: if they win this game, they're going to get the
Speaker 1: number one seed. They're going to get the buye The
Speaker 1: only chance for in my opinion, for the Niners to
Speaker 1: actually steal that number one seed and the bye is
Speaker 1: for the Niners to go into the Link on Sunday
Speaker 1: and get that win and tighten things up.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like the marathon when you have the
Speaker 2: person that's out front by a couple miles. I mean,
Speaker 2: the Eagles closed the season giants, Arizona Giants. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you're gonna get them, you better get them quick. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know if i'd.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the Niners could win this game, and the
Speaker 1: Eagles could still get the number one, absolutely because but
Speaker 1: you gotta help you currently have the one loss. I
Speaker 1: mean them pulling off that overtime victory when they were
Speaker 1: trailing throughout the game, trailing at the end of the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, even trailing in overtime, but they pulled out
Speaker 1: that game against Buffalo to still be sitting there with
Speaker 1: just the one loss. You know, the Eagles are sitting
Speaker 1: in the catbird seat.
Speaker 2: As I like to say, as you like to say.
Speaker 2: It's a big Spoffordism.
Speaker 1: Should be a good game tonight, though, Dallas against the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys obviously trying to keep pace with the Eagles.
Speaker 1: The Seahawks, they've hit the skids a little bit. Kenneth
Speaker 1: Walker has been injured. A lot of Packers fans will
Speaker 1: be watching to see if the Cowboys can hand Seattle
Speaker 1: a sixth loss.
Speaker 2: More than anything. Gino Smith versus that Cowboys defense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that Cowboys defense. You thought they were going to lose
Speaker 2: something earlier this season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they lost one of their best players. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: look here.
Speaker 2: Comes Blank just out of nowhere, being like, hey, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna return every interception for a touchdown.
Speaker 1: Touchdout and set set an NFL record. That was something too.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize when he got that fifth pick six.
Speaker 1: The last time somebody had four pick sixes in a
Speaker 1: season was thirty years ago. It was nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1: It was like, Holy Cole. I didn't realize that it had
Speaker 1: been it had been that long. But I guess that
Speaker 1: just shows them.
Speaker 2: Getting Well you think about it too. I mean, how
Speaker 2: often is it that a guy either has that much
Speaker 2: speed or is just that far removed from everybody else
Speaker 2: to be able to take it? You know, like, yes,
Speaker 2: there is a Dion Sanders type skill towards it, right,
Speaker 2: but a lot of times there's so many other variables
Speaker 2: that go into returning an interception right, And.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you can't have any You can't have any
Speaker 1: of your teammates block somebody in the back either, which
Speaker 1: happens a lot on interception returns. But when that doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: obviously you're you know you got a chance to to
Speaker 1: take it. But yeah, it should be a good one
Speaker 1: Thursday and at a big game in terms of the
Speaker 1: NFC playoff picture. A lot of Packers fans will be
Speaker 1: watching leading up to Sunday night, and with that we'll
Speaker 1: call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be shure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team and everything from Sunday Night's game against the defending
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. We will have it
Speaker 1: all for you on Packers dot com. For Wes, I'm Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you
Speaker 1: next time.