Speaker 1: Hi everyone. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my trusted colleague
Speaker 1: West Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at Lambeau Field and West We are here to talk
Speaker 1: about another Packers victory. I think the phrase game of
Speaker 1: inches originally was attached to the game of baseball, but
Speaker 1: there are days it applies to football, and it certainly
Speaker 1: did on Sunday at Lambeau the Packers stopping Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: inches shy of the goal line to preserve a twenty
Speaker 1: four to sixteen victory, right down to the final play.
Speaker 1: My friend, yeah, it was something else to watch and
Speaker 1: you know, talking to guys in the locker room about
Speaker 1: it afterwards, the snow is coming down. Jamal Williams said
Speaker 1: that line about he felt like he was in Frozen too.
Speaker 1: But I mean, it's just this is what this team
Speaker 1: has done so well, and I know you can look
Speaker 1: at it defensively and be like, there were too many
Speaker 1: yards again, you know, there's too many times where you
Speaker 1: know they were able to convert. But man of life,
Speaker 1: when they get down to the nitty gritty, gotta have
Speaker 1: the moments this defense finds a way, and they did
Speaker 1: it once again. And in watching that play, and I
Speaker 1: wrote an entire story about it for our Locker Report
Speaker 1: to see how that played out. I mean, Mike Patton's
Speaker 1: keeping his dime personnel on the field there two yards
Speaker 1: away from the end zone, and Truman Williams said it.
Speaker 1: A lot of these guys said it. They didn't know
Speaker 1: if it's gonna runner past, but they knew the ball
Speaker 1: was going to Christian McCaffrey. That's the MVP candidate for
Speaker 1: the Panthers. That's the guy you want to have the football.
Speaker 1: And the Packers with Kyler Facro being readjusted moments before
Speaker 1: the play is snapped and he breaks through and get
Speaker 1: some you know, hesitation the backfield from McCaffrey and then
Speaker 1: press the smith a two sack performance day makes that
Speaker 1: final tackle, and despite Greg Van Rowton's best efforts trying
Speaker 1: to pull McCaffrey into the end zone illegally, I might add,
Speaker 1: the Packers hold their grounds and are eight and two
Speaker 1: going to the bye week. What a start. Well, you
Speaker 1: and I both were thinking in the press box four
Speaker 1: seconds left final play. You and I were both thinking run.
Speaker 1: I actually thought the Panthers might try to cross the
Speaker 1: Packers up and do a quarterback draw with their rookie quarterback,
Speaker 1: because as you say, the Packers were in the dime defense.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like they were in a goal line set
Speaker 1: up front. But they went with their guy McCaffrey. You
Speaker 1: can't fault him on the call. And uh yeah, the
Speaker 1: Packers shifting guys right at the last second and not
Speaker 1: even really setting their stances as the ball is snapped.
Speaker 1: But Factor was able to slip the block from Van Rotten,
Speaker 1: which is why he ends up trying to drag McCaffrey
Speaker 1: into the end zone because he missed his block on
Speaker 1: the play, and Preston Smith comes crashing from the other side.
Speaker 1: They don't block him on the back side. He comes
Speaker 1: crashing into to get there, and then Blake Martinez is
Speaker 1: there to try to, you know, keep that surge from
Speaker 1: getting across the goal line. Just an incredible finish. As
Speaker 1: you said, the scene with the snow falling at Lambo
Speaker 1: kind of that snow globe scene. It only still early November,
Speaker 1: not even really mid November, just yet early for that,
Speaker 1: but uh, but quite the scene and the Packers at
Speaker 1: eight and two, they stay a game ahead of the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. We'll talk about this a little bit later.
Speaker 1: They got a big win down in Dallas on the
Speaker 1: road to stay one game behind the Packers. But you
Speaker 1: said it West. This defense, somehow, more often than not
Speaker 1: this year, when the unit's back is up against the wall,
Speaker 1: they find a way the end zone interceptions that we've
Speaker 1: seen in crucial moments this year. Yesterday basically two stops
Speaker 1: at the end zone. You get one interception in the
Speaker 1: third quarter in the end zone that takes points off
Speaker 1: the board for the Panthers, and then you get the
Speaker 1: stup at the end of the game. Yeah, this defense
Speaker 1: still has a lot to work on, but but boy
Speaker 1: they are Um they're right in a story of clutch
Speaker 1: plays in nineteen. Yeah, and Kenny Clark, a guy that
Speaker 1: I don't think you look at his box score, I
Speaker 1: don't think it really tells the story of the game
Speaker 1: he had with four tackles. I mean, he was much
Speaker 1: more effective than that. Showed the same thing for Zadarius Smith, Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question. Talking to Clark in the locker room efforts,
Speaker 1: he said, I mean this is an emotional way to play.
Speaker 1: It's a dangerous way to play, and they don't want
Speaker 1: to play that the entire season. But that being said,
Speaker 1: you have to look at it where the last you know,
Speaker 1: sixteen points allowed Carolina. You can move the ball as
Speaker 1: much as you want. No game in NFL history has
Speaker 1: been decided by who has more total yards. It's not
Speaker 1: a tiebreaker. So for them to be able to come
Speaker 1: up in those situations, I think that's been the biggest difference.
Speaker 1: You and I've talked about it in here before. But
Speaker 1: the other thing I think, you know, you're gonna look
Speaker 1: at this game, You're gonna see that the Panthers have
Speaker 1: fourner one total yards. What doesn't really tell you the
Speaker 1: story there is, by the traditional definition, the Packers did
Speaker 1: not allow an explosive play to Christian McCaffrey. I thought
Speaker 1: that was a big difference in this game. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: had a hundred yards rushing, he had thirty some odd
Speaker 1: yards receiving, but he didn't have that breakaway moment that
Speaker 1: can be backbreaking that has allowed the Panthers to win
Speaker 1: a lot of these games. Yeah, you never felt like
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey was the guy controlling the game, which is
Speaker 1: what he has done in a lot of the games
Speaker 1: that the Panthers have won this year. Yeah, And regardless
Speaker 1: of whether or not was the base personnel or whether
Speaker 1: or not I was that dime personnel in the final stage,
Speaker 1: when the Packers were between the hashes, really on both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball, they won this football game. They
Speaker 1: did it offensively. Aaron Jones another three touchdown performance, first
Speaker 1: time that's been accomplished in a single season since nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty two with the great Jim Taylor. Him and Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams both were gashing them in the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: And when the Packers were largely successful, and you and
Speaker 1: I talked about this after the game. There were a
Speaker 1: few moments where McCaffrey slipped out, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: when Carolina tried to play the rough and tough nor
Speaker 1: the south football, the Packers won those battles. And that
Speaker 1: was one area where they've really been lagging behind the
Speaker 1: last few weeks, and it's set them up to be
Speaker 1: able to make some critical stops at important junctions of
Speaker 1: that game. Well, that final drive, as I wrote about
Speaker 1: in my game recap story, the final drive was just
Speaker 1: full of all kinds of ebbs and flows. Emotionally, ended
Speaker 1: up being eighteen plays in all the Panthers started at
Speaker 1: their eleven yard line. They get credit for eighty eight yards,
Speaker 1: but not the eighty nine they needed for the touchdown.
Speaker 1: But you look at that final drive. JayR Alexander has
Speaker 1: a shot at an interception right away early in the
Speaker 1: drive to end the game, can't hang onto it. Then
Speaker 1: later on you get him in fourth and ten. You
Speaker 1: get pressure on Kyle Allen. You're thinking, okay, this is it,
Speaker 1: and then somehow a floater that he throws up to
Speaker 1: the left side, DJ Moore is open and is able
Speaker 1: to catch it, falling to the ground to convert fourth
Speaker 1: and ten for the first down. Then you get him
Speaker 1: in fourth and one. You think you have them stopped
Speaker 1: at Preston Smith is flagg for offside. So there's eight
Speaker 1: seconds left, they have first down, they've got two our
Speaker 1: place to try to score. The the emotional roller coaster
Speaker 1: of that, And that was the phrase that Matt Lafleur
Speaker 1: used when I asked him after the game in his
Speaker 1: press conference, you know what was that final drive like
Speaker 1: for you coaches and everybody on the sideline. He said, Hey,
Speaker 1: it's life in the NFL. It's a roller coaster ride,
Speaker 1: and and that's what that final drive was. And you know,
Speaker 1: just credit to the Packers. I mean, it's one of
Speaker 1: those things. Obviously, if the Panthers get the touchdown, they
Speaker 1: still need to get the two point conversion. And the
Speaker 1: Packers had stopped a two point conversion earlier in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, which was a very curious call, I thought
Speaker 1: by Ron Rivera. But regardless, the Packers had two chances
Speaker 1: to win this game, stop the drive or stop the
Speaker 1: two point play, and it didn't get It didn't come
Speaker 1: down to the two point play. Yeah, it was funny too.
Speaker 1: I was asking Kenny Clark about this after the game
Speaker 1: as well. I was like, you know, what did you
Speaker 1: see on that play that you know you almost had
Speaker 1: Alan He's like, well, which one are you talking? Because
Speaker 1: there was so many instances in Saidarius Smith talked about
Speaker 1: it too. Smith estimate. He's like, I might have had
Speaker 1: twelve third team pressures in this game. I'm really interested
Speaker 1: to see when Pro Football Focus gets done with this
Speaker 1: film review to see how many he gets credited for
Speaker 1: because he was so elusive. Jimmy Graham said afterwards, it
Speaker 1: was like he was doing some Ben Roethlisberger's stuff out there.
Speaker 1: Truman Williams said, it was like Harrison Wentz the way
Speaker 1: he was getting away from people. But Allen for a
Speaker 1: backup quarterback who was twenty three years old, I thought
Speaker 1: he showed a lot of poise and you know, three
Speaker 1: year and seven yards. But as one of the points
Speaker 1: you and I illustrated going into this game, like they
Speaker 1: need to pressure him, they did an overall better job
Speaker 1: of pressuring the quarterback. They got home three times. I
Speaker 1: think all of them were critical to the outcome of
Speaker 1: this game. And then also Truman Williams gets his first
Speaker 1: interception nearly two years in the end zone off of
Speaker 1: the tip from Adrian Amos, who was very close to
Speaker 1: having a pick in his own right. The gyre Alexander
Speaker 1: one could have ended everything. He had nothing but daylight
Speaker 1: and snow drifts in front of him. But you know,
Speaker 1: you had to come back, You had to persevere. The
Speaker 1: Panthers convert two fourth downs, one off of play, one
Speaker 1: off a penalty on that series, so many things. You know,
Speaker 1: Preston Smith did not really is not a fan of
Speaker 1: that offsides call that he got flagged for. He flint
Speaker 1: He flinched, and there's a question as to whether he
Speaker 1: really entered the neutral zone or not. And if anything,
Speaker 1: it was almost like his if you look at it closely,
Speaker 1: his hand when he flinches, goes forward and kind of
Speaker 1: goes into the neutral zone. It wasn't like his whole
Speaker 1: body lunged into the neutral zone. But they throw the
Speaker 1: flag and the Packers had a savage had a nice
Speaker 1: pass breakup there that you thought was going to end
Speaker 1: the game. But the flag gives UH the Panthers new
Speaker 1: life and UH and the Packers have to come up
Speaker 1: with another stop to win that. But that's what adversity
Speaker 1: defense is all about. And we can talk forever about
Speaker 1: total yards and sacks and points, so all the Packers
Speaker 1: have been pretty good in that area this year. Adversity
Speaker 1: defense is not it's manageable tangible stat but it's so
Speaker 1: important critical to the overall success of a team. This
Speaker 1: defense hasn't man and they were able to. They got
Speaker 1: Ibraham Campbell back. I thought they looked better in their rotations.
Speaker 1: There were some yards, some plays, some some breakdowns that
Speaker 1: they got to clean up, and that's stuff that they're
Speaker 1: gonna have an extra week to kind of rest up
Speaker 1: for now. But they put their offense in a position
Speaker 1: to win this game with what they had done in
Speaker 1: the third quarter, and you know you can't argue with
Speaker 1: eight and two. Yeah. Well, with Kyle Allen, I was
Speaker 1: asked an insider inbox, what I thought in my first
Speaker 1: response was he belongs. He showed he belongs in the NFL.
Speaker 1: The elusiveness you talked about was certainly impressive. I thought
Speaker 1: he made some really pinpoint throws, especially the over route
Speaker 1: to Greg Olsen on that final drive eighteen yards. I
Speaker 1: thought that was a tremendous throw given the conditions and
Speaker 1: the circumstances. But here's the thing, West, and this is
Speaker 1: what we talked about a lot the difference with Kyle
Speaker 1: Allen made three mistakes in this game. He fumbled a
Speaker 1: snap which the Packers recovered and they turned it into
Speaker 1: a touchdown. He tried to force the ball into the
Speaker 1: end zone on second down from the eleven yard line
Speaker 1: when he didn't really have to force it, and Tremon
Speaker 1: gets the pick off the deflection, and then he threw
Speaker 1: the ball that Alexander should have picked off. So the
Speaker 1: Packers made him pay for two out of the three mistakes.
Speaker 1: On the flip side, Aaron Rodgers doesn't throw any touchdown
Speaker 1: passes has a quarterback rating basically equivalent to what Alan's was.
Speaker 1: But the only mistakes that Rogers made is he missed
Speaker 1: a couple of open receivers. He didn't make any of
Speaker 1: the mistakes that that turned the game that are the
Speaker 1: backbreaking type of mistakes. And the Packers rode their running
Speaker 1: game here to a victory. Jamal Williams Aaron Jones combining
Speaker 1: for a hundred and fifty six yards. As you said,
Speaker 1: Jones with the three touchdowns to outproduce Christian McCaffrey the
Speaker 1: way the Packers backfield did. That's what I talked about
Speaker 1: last week. I felt if that was going to happen,
Speaker 1: I fully expected the Packers to win the game. And uh,
Speaker 1: and they did. And credit to the offensive line up front,
Speaker 1: the tight ends and wide receivers being involved in the
Speaker 1: blocking as well. For the running game, Packers just gash
Speaker 1: the Panthers up the middle with the run. The irony
Speaker 1: being that the only run between the tackles the Panthers
Speaker 1: stopped all game was the one right at the end
Speaker 1: of the first half on the one yard line when
Speaker 1: the Packers decided to punch it in instead of kick
Speaker 1: the chip shot field goal, and uh, but honestly, that
Speaker 1: was like the only run between the tackles the Panthers
Speaker 1: put up any kind of resistance because the Packers were
Speaker 1: controlling the line of scrimmage in this game. Yeah, and Mike,
Speaker 1: it was one of these things too. And I went
Speaker 1: back and looked at this thing and getting a chance
Speaker 1: to review it a little bit. You know, Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: after the first game in Chicago, he said we got
Speaker 1: a defense right after the ten to three win over
Speaker 1: the Bears. The feeling I got when I look at
Speaker 1: this game in particular is not that I'm trying to
Speaker 1: be Aaron Rodgers here anything, but you know, if if
Speaker 1: it was him, you know, we have a team and
Speaker 1: this doesn't have to be just the Aaron Rodgers show anymore. Uh.
Speaker 1: The structure of this game called four more runs. Packers
Speaker 1: talked all week long about needing to run the ball more,
Speaker 1: needing to get the ball in Jamal Williams and Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones hands more often, and Mike they both touched at
Speaker 1: thirteen times as far as carry's combined for a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty six rushing yards in three touchdowns. You your
Speaker 1: biggest key to victory going into this game was outproduced
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey because it wasn't just about making sure that
Speaker 1: you had more yards than him, it was the defensive
Speaker 1: responsibility to contain him. And Aaron Rodgers said it. You know,
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks there, we're focused on Rogers
Speaker 1: being in the m v P conversation. He's throwing Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones name in the hat now because this young man,
Speaker 1: for as humble as he is and as unsung as
Speaker 1: he was coming from Texas al Paso, you know, his
Speaker 1: hometown school and being a fifth round pick and people
Speaker 1: wondering if he's just a scatback. Well, suddenly he's already
Speaker 1: surpassed his career high for a single season in rushing attempts.
Speaker 1: He's tied with McCaffrey with fourteen total touchdowns and scores
Speaker 1: on the year. This guy's a playmaker and he's doing
Speaker 1: it in different ways each week. And when you think
Speaker 1: of the greatest, you think of the Alinde Greens of
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers history. You think of the Ladanian,
Speaker 1: Tomlinsons and some of these other guys that have really
Speaker 1: separated themselves on that upper echelon over the last fifteen
Speaker 1: to twenty years. It's that they can beat you to
Speaker 1: number of different ways, and the Packers have found a
Speaker 1: ground game that can do that with these two backs
Speaker 1: and with Aaron Jones, you know, kind of playing the lead. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: you mentioned the statistic with Jones getting his second three
Speaker 1: rushing touchdown game of the season. He had the four
Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns in Dallas. That's the first time that a
Speaker 1: Packers running back has had two of those types of
Speaker 1: performances in the same season since Hall of Famer Jim
Speaker 1: Taylor in nineteen sixty two. Taylor had three of them
Speaker 1: that year. A couple other things I'll throw out there
Speaker 1: for you. Aaron Jones now, with eleven rushing touchdowns on
Speaker 1: the year, he's the first Packers running back to hit
Speaker 1: double digits in rushing touchdowns since Eddie Lacey was a rookie.
Speaker 1: And and Jones is fourteen total touchdowns right now, and
Speaker 1: we're talking just after ten games, with six more in
Speaker 1: the regular season to go. His fourteen total touchdowns the
Speaker 1: most buy a Packers running back in a season since
Speaker 1: Amon Green had twenty in two thousand and three, when
Speaker 1: Green had fifteen rushing and five receiving touchdowns. So definitely
Speaker 1: some history being made here in UH in the franchise
Speaker 1: record books as far as Aaron Jones is concerned. And
Speaker 1: I thought it was great when uh when Rogers, he
Speaker 1: didn't expound on it at all. It was a very
Speaker 1: quick answer to UH to one of the questions in
Speaker 1: the press conference about Aaron Jones. But he said, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, Christian McCaffrey, really talented player. He's being talked
Speaker 1: about as a potential m v P. Maybe it's time
Speaker 1: to start talking about Aaron Jones in the m v
Speaker 1: P conversation. It's it could end up being an interesting
Speaker 1: discussion here depending on how the last six regular season
Speaker 1: games go for the package. And you were talking about
Speaker 1: on on Green most rushing touchdower, most overall touchdowns whatever
Speaker 1: since two thousand and three, with the twenty Jones right now,
Speaker 1: total touchdowns on pace for twenty one, the way that
Speaker 1: this thing is going from seventeen rushing as far as
Speaker 1: what the trajectory says so far, I would be remiss, Mike.
Speaker 1: We have to talk about it. Though with Davante Adams
Speaker 1: it didn't make it into either of our stories or
Speaker 1: any of our stories, but his quote was fantastic after
Speaker 1: the game because the storyline keeps being you know, Davante
Speaker 1: Adams doesn't have a receiving touchdown and commiseration to your
Speaker 1: fantasy team if you have Adams and you know it's
Speaker 1: not working out for you in that regard. But he
Speaker 1: had such a great line about how he doesn't care
Speaker 1: if you're eight and two. He doesn't care if Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones has eighty two touchdowns. He's getting a workout being
Speaker 1: the one running down to celebrate with him on these things.
Speaker 1: That shows you one the team aspect to all this.
Speaker 1: But too, why Davante Adams is so darn good because
Speaker 1: he had seven catches for eighteen yards in this game.
Speaker 1: He had to game breaking catches over thirty five yards.
Speaker 1: That's set up Jones touchdown runs. Touchdowns are touchdowns, bro.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's great, and I know these guys wanted.
Speaker 1: Adams is in the second year of a four year extension.
Speaker 1: He's not looking at it contracts or money or anything
Speaker 1: right now. He needs to play well for this football team,
Speaker 1: to perform well on the field, and he's filling that role.
Speaker 1: And I thought this game was a beautiful embodiment of Okay,
Speaker 1: how you can marry those running backs but still have
Speaker 1: Davante Adams making plays. And Adams was you know, he
Speaker 1: lamented afterwards he wanted that downfield catch off the shot play.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, that's the only thing Davanta Adams
Speaker 1: was worried about after the game was the was the
Speaker 1: deep shot that he had it in his hands, the
Speaker 1: defender knocked it away at the last second, and you
Speaker 1: know he wanted that one. He gets that one. We're
Speaker 1: talking about Davante Adams having maybe a hundred seventy five
Speaker 1: yard day out there. Yeah, and you think about it,
Speaker 1: those are the type of plays that they're not gimmes
Speaker 1: by any means. But Adams playing at the level he
Speaker 1: wants now, he expects those. But Mike, we're the thirty
Speaker 1: eight yard or down the sideline against I think it
Speaker 1: was Cockerell. The It reminded me a lot of that
Speaker 1: Alan's art play from a last month where it's there's
Speaker 1: such a small window there and Davante Adams laid hands
Speaker 1: whatever it is, he pulls up with it and that's
Speaker 1: such a shot of adrenaline. And when that game really
Speaker 1: got late and you're not able to you know, pass
Speaker 1: the ball as much anymore. And you know there's the
Speaker 1: conditions are you know, flurrying up. Davante Adams is still
Speaker 1: there and he's still making plays. And I just as
Speaker 1: good as Joe was. And obviously that the runs that
Speaker 1: that Jamal Williams had on their last scoring drive, those
Speaker 1: are so noteworthy. But I just I thought this was
Speaker 1: a great reflection of Davante Adams and what he does
Speaker 1: for this offense. Well, I thought offensively for the Packers,
Speaker 1: Davante Adams had the one key play that flipped the
Speaker 1: game in a sense. And what I'm talking about is
Speaker 1: right at the beginning of the third quarter, the Packers
Speaker 1: get stuffed at the goal line at the end of
Speaker 1: the first half when they decided to go for the
Speaker 1: touchdown instead of kicked the field goal. That kind of
Speaker 1: wiped out a very questionable roughing the pastor call in
Speaker 1: the end zone that kept that Packers drive alive very early.
Speaker 1: And then they ended up killing the rest of the
Speaker 1: first half clock. But they come out. The Packers get
Speaker 1: the ball to start the second half. It's only fourteen
Speaker 1: to ten. Aaron Rodgers gets sacked on the first play
Speaker 1: box tr gets flagged for hands to the face on
Speaker 1: the second play. It's second and twenty six on your
Speaker 1: own nine yard line in a fourteen to ten game,
Speaker 1: when you have just blown a scoring opportunity to end
Speaker 1: the first half. And what happens. Aaron Rodgers finds Davantae
Speaker 1: Adams open on a deep over route to the left
Speaker 1: sideline thirty plus yards converts on second and twenty six.
Speaker 1: Three plays later, with two of those being Aaron Jones runs,
Speaker 1: the Packers are in the end zone. They go ninety
Speaker 1: one yards in four plays after the two negative plays
Speaker 1: to start that drive, and suddenly it's twenty one to ten.
Speaker 1: That passed to Davanta Adams on second and twenty six.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna if you're gonna pick one offensive play,
Speaker 1: in my mind, that's the play of the game. That's
Speaker 1: the one. Yeah, because it's just those those type of plays.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't that, you know, it was just all
Speaker 1: yak or anything like that. I mean, it was the
Speaker 1: ball was placed at a first down level, that was
Speaker 1: a downfield throw. The percentage of making those with against
Speaker 1: that type of coverage in those types of situations is
Speaker 1: not high. But when it's Rogers, when it's Adams, it
Speaker 1: feels that way, And yeah, I thought that was. And
Speaker 1: you look at what happened right after that, Mike, I
Speaker 1: think you had the big Aaron Jones runs right after
Speaker 1: they just they just rolled after that catch, We're able
Speaker 1: to get in the end zone and get that too
Speaker 1: scorely that they had been searching for. Yeah, well, I
Speaker 1: know we're pushing our our time limit here, but I
Speaker 1: do want to talk a little bit about what went
Speaker 1: down in Week ten in the NFL. As I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: the Vikings get a huge road win at Dallas twenty four,
Speaker 1: so Minnesota seven and three, one game behind the Packers
Speaker 1: at eight and two. Elsewhere in the NFC North, Matthew
Speaker 1: Stafford is out potentially multiple weeks with a back injury,
Speaker 1: and the Lions, with their backup quarterback, lose a seven
Speaker 1: point game at Soldier Field. But the big result in
Speaker 1: the NFC was the one and seven Atlanta Falcons facing
Speaker 1: the seven and one New Orleans Saints in the Superdome
Speaker 1: and the Falcons come out victorious and very convincingly to
Speaker 1: nine Drew Brees and the Saints offense does not get
Speaker 1: into the end zone, so New Orleans picks up lost
Speaker 1: number two, and that changes the look of the potential
Speaker 1: layoff picture in in the NFC a little bit. I
Speaker 1: tell you what you and I were joking in the
Speaker 1: press box. I would we're not allowed to gamble on
Speaker 1: NFL games because we're employees, and even if we were allowed,
Speaker 1: I never would. And it's games like Atlanta at New Orleans.
Speaker 1: That that tell you anybody who's in anybody who's in
Speaker 1: a knockout pool, you know where you pick one game
Speaker 1: every week. Anybody who was still alive in a knockout
Speaker 1: pool and hadn't used the Saints yet, they had to
Speaker 1: have picked them to beat to beat Atlanta there, and
Speaker 1: they just got knocked out themselves. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: the NFL for you right there. And uh yeah, the
Speaker 1: playoff picture looks a little different in the NFC with
Speaker 1: New Orleans having two losses now almost a two touchdown
Speaker 1: favorite going into that game the Saints were and they
Speaker 1: lose by seventeen point Mike, you and I we we
Speaker 1: had like blood coming out of our mouths last week
Speaker 1: from biting our tongues about the whole you know, you
Speaker 1: have bad games, people get a you know, get a grip,
Speaker 1: get over it. It happens that's what that's This is
Speaker 1: the NFL. That's what I leaned over you during the
Speaker 1: game as we're watching it, we're seeing the result on
Speaker 1: the TVs. It's like, this is exactly what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: The NFL is so unpredictable at times, and you know,
Speaker 1: you look at it with we're talking about with the Charges.
Speaker 1: Charges played really well offensively against green Bay. They make
Speaker 1: that short trip over to Oakland, and then they couldn't
Speaker 1: find themselves in the first half this particular game. Atlanta's defense,
Speaker 1: which could do no right all season, last two seasons,
Speaker 1: then suddenly they're finding a way to shut down one
Speaker 1: of the games you know, best offenses and a future
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterback. It is remarkable at times what happens.
Speaker 1: And the playoffs is not about which team just dominate
Speaker 1: everybody and just rolled through everybody. It's about what six teams,
Speaker 1: which six teams were the most consistent over the course
Speaker 1: of a sixteen game schedule. There are highs, there are loads,
Speaker 1: there are bad games. You do not want, bad stretches,
Speaker 1: and as Aaron Jones talked about Jamal Williams discussed, the
Speaker 1: green Bay Packers prevented themselves from falling into a bad
Speaker 1: stretch with bouncing back with thatctory Yeah, well, and you
Speaker 1: look at what's coming up here Monday night, the undefeated
Speaker 1: San Francisco forty Owners. They're taking on the two loss
Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks, and also in that division, the l A Rams,
Speaker 1: the defending NFC champions, go on the road and lose
Speaker 1: at Hinz Field in Pittsburgh. The defending NFC champs are
Speaker 1: five and four West and they're there chances at any
Speaker 1: kind of a division title in the NFC West West
Speaker 1: could be out the window by Thanksgiving, depending on some
Speaker 1: of the some of these two upcoming San Francisco Seattle
Speaker 1: matchups that that are on the horizon here. So um,
Speaker 1: a lot of things still have to sort themselves out here,
Speaker 1: but but a big one tonight um in the Bay Area,
Speaker 1: San Francisco hosting Seattle, trying to remain the only unbeaten
Speaker 1: NFL team in twenty nineteen. There's a lot to like
Speaker 1: about the San Francisco forty Niners, certainly though they're dealing
Speaker 1: now with you know, George Kittle being injured. I just
Speaker 1: want to point this out before we wrap the show up.
Speaker 1: They have Seattle at home for this but if you
Speaker 1: really look at their schedule, considering they had the week
Speaker 1: or bye, they are going to be facing a murderers
Speaker 1: row here. It's lining up. Yeah, you have Seattle twice.
Speaker 1: You have the Cardinals before the Packers game, a Cardinals
Speaker 1: team that looks like it's been more dangerous and took
Speaker 1: them to the wire just week. Yeah, Baltimore at Baltimore
Speaker 1: at New Orleans, and they do have the Rams down
Speaker 1: the stretch man. We're gonna learn a lot about the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers coming out of the bye with how
Speaker 1: they play against the forty Niners. But I don't know
Speaker 1: if there is a single team in the NFL right
Speaker 1: now that there's going to be more of a barometer
Speaker 1: on where they're at than what San Francisco is going
Speaker 1: to face. Now the last eight games including tonight, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is uh, this is gonna get This is gonna
Speaker 1: get really interesting. Buckle up everybody, because I like to say,
Speaker 1: all right, with that, we do have to go. We'll
Speaker 1: call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team on Packers dot com. We've got lots of content
Speaker 1: coming up through the bye week, so don't desert us
Speaker 1: here Like us, Subscribe to us on iTunes and other
Speaker 1: podcast services. On Twitter, He's West Hot. I met Mike
Speaker 1: Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: See you next time. H