Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague West hod Kuwitz. Were coming to
Speaker 1: you from socially distant locations at lambeau Field, West Packers
Speaker 1: Panthers lambeau Field Saturday Night football in prime time. A
Speaker 1: couple of thoughts about this Carolina Panthers team started the
Speaker 1: season three and two, but since then seven losses in
Speaker 1: their last eight games. But it comes with a bit
Speaker 1: of a caveat because not only has Christian McCaffrey missed
Speaker 1: the majority of the Panthers games this season, but during
Speaker 1: this struggling time for them, they lost by three points
Speaker 1: to the New Orleans Saints, two points to the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs, and by one point to the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: This isn't a team of four and nine team that's
Speaker 1: got a whole bunch of blowouts on its ledger. These guys.
Speaker 1: These guys play four quarters. They've been in pretty much
Speaker 1: every game they've played this year, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what the Packers can expect even without Christian McCaffrey. On
Speaker 1: Saturday Night. It kind of reminds you of the first
Speaker 1: year that Mike McCarthy was in Green Bay sort of
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I know they're not getting on
Speaker 1: that run at the end of the season here, but
Speaker 1: a lot of one score games, a lot of close losses.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look, they lost by five to Denver,
Speaker 1: They lost by one at Minnesota, we all know that story.
Speaker 1: They did get blown out by Tampa Bay. But a
Speaker 1: two point loss at Kansas City, Uh, an eight point
Speaker 1: loss to Atlanta, in a three point loss at New Orleans.
Speaker 1: This has been a really you know, tear you know,
Speaker 1: kind of tough schedule that the Panthers have had to
Speaker 1: weather this year. And they've had to do it with
Speaker 1: the exception of three games without Christian McCaffrey. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the top playmakers in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: So for Matt Rule, it's interesting him coming into this situation.
Speaker 1: He's been familiar with rebuilds before, and with rebuilds you
Speaker 1: occasionally take your lumps early on. Uh. They've had some
Speaker 1: good adjustments. We'll talk about some of those here momentarily.
Speaker 1: But UH, the fact that they still sit four and nine,
Speaker 1: it is what it is, and you have to imagine
Speaker 1: this is a team that's still looking to finish this
Speaker 1: year on an upswing and show that year one under
Speaker 1: Rule was indeed a success. Well, you look at this
Speaker 1: offense and what it does have going for it even
Speaker 1: without Christian McCaffrey. Teddy Bridgewater obviously a productive player. He's
Speaker 1: done it in a few different locations now and uh,
Speaker 1: and he's putting together a pretty solid season. Mike Davis
Speaker 1: at running back is certainly no slouch, and they're getting
Speaker 1: dj more back um in their receiving corps and they
Speaker 1: have kind of that you know, trickster gadget play guy
Speaker 1: in Curtis Samuel that they do some different things on offense.
Speaker 1: This is a team that, certainly when you look at
Speaker 1: guys like Samuel and Moore, has a lot of speed
Speaker 1: on the perimeter on the outside, and the Packers are
Speaker 1: gonna have to be ready for that speed on Saturday Night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the big thing was getting more back to i
Speaker 1: mean eighteen point five yards to catch this season. We
Speaker 1: and he's proven product. It's not that this this guy
Speaker 1: just came out of nowhere. I mean he's had a
Speaker 1: lot of success in Carolina for a number of years now,
Speaker 1: so having him back is huge. The big thing with
Speaker 1: Bridgewater that I find so interesting and compelling is he
Speaker 1: only has fourteen touchdown passes this year, but he's completing
Speaker 1: his passes at a seventy clip h eight interceptions, you know,
Speaker 1: pretty modest stats for the most part, but he also
Speaker 1: adds that dimension where he can run with his feet
Speaker 1: and extend plays as well. So this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a great matchup, I think, a great test for this
Speaker 1: Packers defense. Mike Davis, the backup, the veteran that has
Speaker 1: been there for a number of you know, number of
Speaker 1: different teams, whether it with San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, he
Speaker 1: had to cup a coffee with. He's settled in really
Speaker 1: well into this backfield and it has allowed rule in
Speaker 1: this offense to stain a lot of the same concepts
Speaker 1: that they were wanting to do with Christian McCaffrey. So
Speaker 1: again with with Bridgewater, in these various weapons that they have,
Speaker 1: it's it's an opponent you can't take for granted, and
Speaker 1: they are battle tests to throw out the courses thirteen
Speaker 1: game season. Yeah, well, right, before we get to some
Speaker 1: of the key used to victory here for Green Bay,
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Speaker 1: All right, Well, keys to victory here for green Bay West.
Speaker 1: When I look at things on the offensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball for Green Bay, there are three things that
Speaker 1: come to mind for me. One is that this Panthers
Speaker 1: defense has eighteen forced fumbles and thirteen fumble recoveries on
Speaker 1: the season, so the Packers do a good job protecting
Speaker 1: the football. It is always an emphasis, but when you
Speaker 1: see numbers like that heading into a game, you definitely
Speaker 1: it definitely gets your attention because those are some significant
Speaker 1: fumble statistics for this Panthers defense. And the other the
Speaker 1: other two things for me are what the Packers have
Speaker 1: done on third down and what the Packers have done
Speaker 1: in the red zone. Green Bay right now second in
Speaker 1: the league and third down conversions just to shade under
Speaker 1: fifty and number one in the league in red zone,
Speaker 1: or I guess the gold zone offense at seventy seven percent.
Speaker 1: And just to put this in perspective here, last year,
Speaker 1: the Packers were just thirty six percent on third down
Speaker 1: and they ranked twenty three in the league. They've gone
Speaker 1: from thirty six percent to over and all the way
Speaker 1: up to number two in the league. That is a
Speaker 1: huge jump. And the Packers were still actually pretty good
Speaker 1: in the red zone last year at sixty percent, ranked
Speaker 1: eighth in the league, but they've jumped from sixty percent
Speaker 1: to seventy percent and all the way up to number
Speaker 1: one in the league. If the Packers continue to convert
Speaker 1: on third downs and convert in the red zone slash
Speaker 1: gold zone at those paces at at at those kind
Speaker 1: of rates, that's how you continue to rack up victories
Speaker 1: and keep yourself in this position that Green Bay finds itself. Well,
Speaker 1: they're just so vastly improved in efficiency. I think you
Speaker 1: looked at last year, Mike, they had this talent in
Speaker 1: the ability, you know, with a lot of these guys
Speaker 1: to be productive and in to score touchdowns in that
Speaker 1: but uh, this year, the way that they're finishing drives,
Speaker 1: the way they're finishing third downs has been probably the
Speaker 1: biggest jump that they've made in year two underneath Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 1: It was kind of comical a little bit. We were
Speaker 1: talking with Mason Crosby on Wednesday, and obviously coming off
Speaker 1: of that fantastic performance that he had in Detroit, and
Speaker 1: he talks, you know, about the relationship he has with
Speaker 1: Rogers and how long they've been around each other, and
Speaker 1: he mentions, you know, his ability to watch excellence as
Speaker 1: he calls it from the sidelines. There's been a lot
Speaker 1: of times this season where he's been revved up, getting
Speaker 1: ready to go out there to be mentally prepared to
Speaker 1: kick a thirty or forty fifty yard field goal. The
Speaker 1: offense just keeps driving Aaron Rodgers, keeps pushing them downfield,
Speaker 1: and next thing you know, he's kicking a thirty three
Speaker 1: yard extra points. So, uh, that's just the way of it.
Speaker 1: Crosby leads the league and in extra points attempted and
Speaker 1: made this year. I mean that that's how this offense
Speaker 1: has played out. Now you put that in contrast with
Speaker 1: what the Carolina There's do. This is a completely renovated
Speaker 1: scheme here. Uh, in the first year underneath Matt Rule. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Luke Kickley retired, they still have a lot of great
Speaker 1: weapons in that defense. I mean, and being able to
Speaker 1: get a guy like Brian Burns last year I thought
Speaker 1: was such a big thing for them. Uh, one of
Speaker 1: the big pass rushers that I was really high on.
Speaker 1: Not really as many sacks are on the you know,
Speaker 1: same toward pace he was a year ago, but very effective,
Speaker 1: very efficient, but I mean so many different areas where
Speaker 1: they can take the ball away. And then as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know their ability to they've forced, they've recovered. I
Speaker 1: believe it's thirteen fumbles and they've only lost three. I mean,
Speaker 1: to have that kind of difference in your turnover differential, Uh,
Speaker 1: that that's that's gonna be something that's gonna keep you
Speaker 1: in a lot of games. Yeah. And on the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball for the Packers, we talked about
Speaker 1: the speed and these weapons that Teddy Bridgewater has. It
Speaker 1: kind of feels like, doesn't it, West, that it just
Speaker 1: comes down to preventing those really big explosive plays that
Speaker 1: can hurt you. You have to make this Panther's offense
Speaker 1: earn its way down the field, you know, seventy seventy
Speaker 1: five yard drives, but doing it doing in in in
Speaker 1: little chunks, and if this Packers defense can you know,
Speaker 1: can get them into a third and seven or a
Speaker 1: third and nine, that's going to be the opportunity to
Speaker 1: to get off the field and get the ball back
Speaker 1: to number twelve. Yeah, and that's where you know the
Speaker 1: counter punches with the Panthers that they can do it
Speaker 1: both ways. I mean, as we mentioned, you have a
Speaker 1: guy like d G. Moore back in the lineup, one
Speaker 1: of the most explosive receivers in this league. And then
Speaker 1: you have a guy like you know, Mike Davis who
Speaker 1: can kind of chip away at you a little bit
Speaker 1: with the passing game and the running game. I think
Speaker 1: as long as carry this year is only twenty five yards,
Speaker 1: but he's been effective in averaging, you know, over four
Speaker 1: four point one four point two yards per carry this year.
Speaker 1: So depending on which direction they want to go, they
Speaker 1: can kind of wear you down and hit you with
Speaker 1: the big punch. But the other side of this thing
Speaker 1: I that I look at is the difference in the quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: a difference in the experience level. Aaron Rodgers goes into
Speaker 1: this thing, he's looking to hit that tipping point again
Speaker 1: for forty touchdowns. He's over five you know, fifty career
Speaker 1: passing yards, has been one of the biggest and most
Speaker 1: consistent performers in one specific offense for so many years
Speaker 1: and then now has taken those traits and translated to
Speaker 1: what Matt Lafleur does. On contrast, Teddy Bridgewater, who's a
Speaker 1: guy I've always been really high on. He's gone through
Speaker 1: multiple offensive systems now, and he was brought in this
Speaker 1: year because of a lot of things he did in
Speaker 1: spot duty in New Orleans, obviously coming off of the big,
Speaker 1: terrible leg injury that he had that ended his time
Speaker 1: in Minnesota. So, uh, you haven't seen a lot of
Speaker 1: these type of matchups. It's been a while since Bridgewater
Speaker 1: has played the Packers, So I think that that's gonna
Speaker 1: be one of these these type of matchups and and
Speaker 1: how things shuffle out here, Um, that's gonna tell you
Speaker 1: a lot, not only about this Packers defense, but also
Speaker 1: this Packers offense trying to stay in the rhythm that
Speaker 1: they've been in. Yeah, and on the special teams side
Speaker 1: of things, we've seen obviously the Packers have had some
Speaker 1: issues with their coverage units and this Carolina Panthers special
Speaker 1: teams unit, Trent and Cannon kickoff returner. He's got a
Speaker 1: ninety eight yard kickoff return, had that against Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: this season. Pharaoh Cooper is their punt returner. He was
Speaker 1: a pro bowler a few years ago. But on the
Speaker 1: flip side of things, Carolina has allowed an eighty three
Speaker 1: yard punt return for a touchdown this season. Packers have
Speaker 1: Tavon Austin back there now, a different a different weapon,
Speaker 1: a new guy that they're working into uh into the mix.
Speaker 1: So special teams could definitely play a factor in this game.
Speaker 1: Not just the kicking game with with Mason Crosby and
Speaker 1: Joey Slye, but but those the returns and the coverage
Speaker 1: that could definitely be a factor Saturday night. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: if I remember right, I think sly actually had a
Speaker 1: missfield goal there that kind of loom large in that
Speaker 1: that game last year too. From what I recall, I
Speaker 1: mean this this is the area with the third phase
Speaker 1: that you're gonna see a lot of these games be
Speaker 1: decided down the stretch. And I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the big things of why Matt Lafloor Shawn Menee have
Speaker 1: talked about wanting to shore up the areas where they've
Speaker 1: fallen short. Crosby touched down in it as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: they've had these moments where you get thirty plays and
Speaker 1: you know, twenty eight of them, twenty nine of them
Speaker 1: look okay. But then you let a seventy one yard
Speaker 1: kickoff return go, or you have a blocked punt or
Speaker 1: a punt return for a touchdown. Those things won't fly,
Speaker 1: especially down the final stretch here. So the one thing
Speaker 1: I you look at Tavon Austin, Uh, this is a guy.
Speaker 1: I said it to you last week because we were
Speaker 1: watching the game, Mike. He catches the ball fluidly on
Speaker 1: punt returns. Now, it's one thing to be a really
Speaker 1: good returner. Jeremy Ross was an excellent punt returner, but
Speaker 1: he wasn't always the best at catching the ball fluidly
Speaker 1: and looking natural back there when he receives it. That.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a lot that we saw from Tavon Austin
Speaker 1: that first game. It was a very modest workload that
Speaker 1: he had. They only used him on punts especially, But
Speaker 1: you can just tell the confidence he has there. This
Speaker 1: is a guy that's been doing that his entire life.
Speaker 1: He's done it every single season he's been in the NFL.
Speaker 1: It's a second nature and it is one of the
Speaker 1: most underrated positions in the National Football League that when
Speaker 1: you have a guy there that you have confidence that
Speaker 1: he's not only gonna be able to catch the ball,
Speaker 1: but it is naturally gonna be able to turn up field.
Speaker 1: That's where the Packers are trying to get something here
Speaker 1: during this final stretch. Last year it was Tyler Irvin.
Speaker 1: This year they needed to be Tavon Austin. Yeah. Absolutely well.
Speaker 1: In looking at where the Packers sit, as we talked
Speaker 1: about on our last show, the NFC North is in
Speaker 1: the books. The Packers are the division champions and currently
Speaker 1: sitting in control of the number one seed, tied with
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints at ten and three for the
Speaker 1: top record in the NFC. The Packers have that head
Speaker 1: to head tiebreaker over New Orleans. Three victories in these
Speaker 1: last three games and the Packers will be the number
Speaker 1: one seed in the NFC and get that first round
Speaker 1: by Obviously, you'd love to be able to get some
Speaker 1: breathing room, right, I mean um, And this is an
Speaker 1: opportunity this week is an opportunity for the Packers to
Speaker 1: do that, You're you're hosting a Carolina Panthers team that
Speaker 1: is significantly below five hundred. While the New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: unsure whether or not Drew Brees will be back from
Speaker 1: his rib injury, they have to take on the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs, the top team in the a f C,
Speaker 1: A team that I think has lost only one of
Speaker 1: its last six or twenty seven games dating back to
Speaker 1: last year and through the Super Bowl and everything like that.
Speaker 1: So everything went right for the Packers last weekend that
Speaker 1: you could have asked for in terms of what you
Speaker 1: wanted to happen in the position you wanted to be.
Speaker 1: And you get a win here and uh and a
Speaker 1: win from Kansas City over New Orleans, then things are
Speaker 1: really really looking good heading into the last two weeks
Speaker 1: of the regular season. Yeah, they really are. I mean,
Speaker 1: because I think before that game last week for the
Speaker 1: Saints going up against the Philadelphia a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of the thinking was, Okay, well, the Saints could
Speaker 1: run the table here, but it's that Kansas City game
Speaker 1: that we have to keep an eye open for. When
Speaker 1: the door opens after a loss like that to the Eagles,
Speaker 1: especially heading into a game with Kansas City. That's where
Speaker 1: it starts to raise some questions there. Taysom Hill has
Speaker 1: done a fantastic job of keeping that ship afloat for them,
Speaker 1: But I think you've seen defenses kind of make their adjustments.
Speaker 1: Now he's gonna have to find ways to win in
Speaker 1: different ways now where it's not just gonna be the same. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know we're gonna throw on this place, so it's
Speaker 1: looking down the receiver and there he is and throw
Speaker 1: the past or or going out and trying to scramble
Speaker 1: and make something happen. Hill's really talented. But that's going
Speaker 1: to be the CounterPunch here. And this is going to
Speaker 1: be a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs where they
Speaker 1: have a defense that's going to be able to get
Speaker 1: after him and pressure him up the middle. So that's
Speaker 1: gonna be something to follow. But for Green Bay standpoint,
Speaker 1: as we talked about just now, where you can't really
Speaker 1: look past Carolina. It doesn't matter if it's offense or defense.
Speaker 1: You have Jeremy Chin on the defensive side for Carolina too,
Speaker 1: is a defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. At this point,
Speaker 1: they can't look past this opponent either. So because you
Speaker 1: have the Tennessee Titans coming up on the horizon as well.
Speaker 1: It's what makes playoff football so compelling, it what makes
Speaker 1: the last two or three weeks of the regular season great.
Speaker 1: I wish this game wasn't playing being played on Saturday night.
Speaker 1: I wish you and I were watching it at New
Speaker 1: and Central time on Sunday. But that's not the world
Speaker 1: we live in. The Packers had to make that adjustment
Speaker 1: this week, and we'll see how they handle this in
Speaker 1: the past when things are unique, when schedules aren't really
Speaker 1: typically set and they have to create, you know, a
Speaker 1: new plan. Matt Lafleur and his coaches have done a
Speaker 1: pretty good job of it. Well. A couple other games
Speaker 1: that will be interesting in terms of the NFC playoff
Speaker 1: picture that are worth talking about as well. Right in
Speaker 1: the NFC North, you can almost call it a playoff
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, the Vikings taking on the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: Both teams are six and seven. I mean, really, the
Speaker 1: simplest way to explain it is the winner of this
Speaker 1: game is going to still be alive for a wild
Speaker 1: card spot, and the loser of this game is probably out.
Speaker 1: It really is almost a playoff game for these two
Speaker 1: teams that are trailing the Packers in the NFC North,
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here as the Bears and the
Speaker 1: Vikings go head to head for a second time in
Speaker 1: the Bears and Vikings, in two very different ways, are
Speaker 1: both just screaming towards eight and eight seasons. And that's
Speaker 1: a phrase I've used in the past because they've just
Speaker 1: been two up and down, and when you're two up
Speaker 1: and down as a team, you typically end up falling
Speaker 1: right under that five hundred line throughout the course of
Speaker 1: a year. From Chicago standpoint, it's funny how one game
Speaker 1: can kind of make you get your confidence back, your
Speaker 1: swagger back a little bit. Mitchell Robinsky was up for
Speaker 1: FedEx Air Player of the Week after everything he's been
Speaker 1: through to have a three touchdown performance where he really
Speaker 1: looked like he had a command of the offense. Matt
Speaker 1: Negie was talking about it. He sees a difference in
Speaker 1: him right now. But can you carry that over? Can
Speaker 1: you do it again against Mike Zimmers defense? Can you
Speaker 1: finish the year strong and make your team convinced that
Speaker 1: you're not a guy that can step up and make
Speaker 1: throws and make plays. You know here and there that
Speaker 1: shows those bright spots that that you can be a real,
Speaker 1: you know, franchise quarterback. Can you do that? Every single
Speaker 1: week I keep throwing out that line about Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: thirteen games this season, twelve of them over eight passer rating.
Speaker 1: It's so difficult to do. That's not easy to do.
Speaker 1: But that's what the elite quarterbacks can do in this league.
Speaker 1: And that's just one the one area where Troubinsky has
Speaker 1: fallen short to this point. Minnesota, they made the rally,
Speaker 1: they got back into this thing. Sometimes you wonder can
Speaker 1: you maintain that? Can you finish the race here to
Speaker 1: the to the final bell. That's what we're gonna find
Speaker 1: out very soon. They have weapons, we've seen them all
Speaker 1: they had, they could honestly as as good as Delvin
Speaker 1: Cook is, they could become one of the top passing
Speaker 1: offenses in the National FOOTBA. Like if they just if
Speaker 1: that's the focus of how they wanted to do things,
Speaker 1: they're built to win in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately for them, again, it's been one step forward,
Speaker 1: one step back. Yeah, it's really interesting when you when
Speaker 1: you look at these two teams, they're sitting there, sitting
Speaker 1: there at six and seven. Both of them have a
Speaker 1: very recent loss that looks extremely damaging to their playoff
Speaker 1: chances right now. The Vikings lost that game a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago to the Dallas Cowboys, which really they had
Speaker 1: no business losing to a team like the Cowboys and
Speaker 1: the struggles that they were going through, but it happened.
Speaker 1: The Bears. They had the Detroit Lions on the ropes,
Speaker 1: They had a ten point lead with four minutes to
Speaker 1: go in their own building and had the Lions backed
Speaker 1: up near their own goal line, and they let them
Speaker 1: off the hook. And those those individual losses for those teams,
Speaker 1: those are the ones that you lament. But as you said,
Speaker 1: that's that that's sort of what happens to teams that
Speaker 1: ride the roller coaster up and down like that. And
Speaker 1: so now they have to forget about those results. They
Speaker 1: they've got a de facto playoff game against one another
Speaker 1: here on Sunday. The other one I want to ask
Speaker 1: you about um two division leaders actually in the NFC.
Speaker 1: Seattle is at Washington, and we've seen this Washington. We've
Speaker 1: seen this Washington football team though West. I mean the
Speaker 1: you know Alex Smith, Alex Smith is playing you know
Speaker 1: Alex Smith football, he's he doesn't make a whole lot
Speaker 1: of mistakes. They found a little bit of a running game.
Speaker 1: But this Washington team is doing it with defense. Chase Young.
Speaker 1: Chase Young that high draft pick, and this Washington team
Speaker 1: has has shown in the last few weeks it's not
Speaker 1: easy to just go out there and you know, put
Speaker 1: up points on these guys. Seattle, they're in a you know,
Speaker 1: a real dog fight in the NFC West with the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams. Those two teams are going to play
Speaker 1: each other next week. Um the Rams sort of get
Speaker 1: you know, if you can call it such in the
Speaker 1: NFL the gimme game. They have the New York Jets,
Speaker 1: which was the team that Seattle be up on last week.
Speaker 1: Um So Seattle is looking at, you know, feeling like
Speaker 1: they have to win get to tenant four to keep
Speaker 1: pace with the Rams, who most likely will be tenant
Speaker 1: four when the Seahawks and the Rams face off a
Speaker 1: week from now. Can somebody just win the NFC East
Speaker 1: Already it's been every team I think there's They've brought
Speaker 1: in teams off the street that have made a run
Speaker 1: at this thing. At this point. The thing that's great
Speaker 1: about Washington. You mentioned he's playing Alex Smith football. That's
Speaker 1: true game management one O one, but he actually has
Speaker 1: been turning over the ball a little bit and they've
Speaker 1: still found a way to overcome that with the way
Speaker 1: that this defense is structured. And probably another defensive Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year candidate there. They've lost Antonio Gibson, they
Speaker 1: still end up rolling last week. That that's the sign
Speaker 1: of a good team. Ron Rivera excels in these situations.
Speaker 1: I mean, when they were looking at changing their culture,
Speaker 1: they were looking to change their you know, the win
Speaker 1: loss record, a new identity. He's the guy unfortunately has
Speaker 1: had to work through some other things. But this is
Speaker 1: is the test now, Washington, can they have success against
Speaker 1: this defense in Seattle? Kind of in a different way.
Speaker 1: Can they penetrate what has been one of the top
Speaker 1: defenses in the National Football League this year with Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson being able to, you know, take on a unit
Speaker 1: like this and not have the errors or mental lapses.
Speaker 1: The NFC West race has tightened up real fast, and
Speaker 1: unfortunately for the San Francisco forty Niners, they hadn't really
Speaker 1: been a part of it. But just watching these teams
Speaker 1: and and trying to assert their dominance there and understanding
Speaker 1: what that means for their playoff implications. Um, this is
Speaker 1: a game that the Seahawks cannot look past. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And the Arizona Cardinals in third place in that NFC
Speaker 1: West there right in the right, in that wild card hunt,
Speaker 1: they sit a game ahead of the Bears and Vikings,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals at seven and six and trying to get
Speaker 1: one of those wild card spots in the NFC. Any
Speaker 1: games in the a f C West that uh in
Speaker 1: the West, I'm sorry, games in the a f C
Speaker 1: that jump out at us that you're going to have
Speaker 1: your eye on this weekend. Yeah, there were a couple.
Speaker 1: The first one is I mean, if they're New York Jets,
Speaker 1: if there was ever a year for them to draw
Speaker 1: the NFC West uh in a in a season series
Speaker 1: that that's just turned out really well for them. Uh No.
Speaker 1: But New England and in Miami, Mike was the game
Speaker 1: that stood out to me. And this was so many years.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was a huge winning streak I think
Speaker 1: the Patriots had too over the Dolphins or season series,
Speaker 1: and then that was a team that they just sort
Speaker 1: of they were the big brother too for so many
Speaker 1: years and now with Brian Flores there, now the Dolphins
Speaker 1: are looking like a team on the rise, and in
Speaker 1: the Patriots are having to answer a lot of questions,
Speaker 1: so seeing how they how they handle that, I mean otherwise, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's not a whole ton of you know, huge matchups here.
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's gonna beat up likely on Cincinnati. The Ravens kind
Speaker 1: of after a really tough little run that they had
Speaker 1: to go through, now they get a winnable game against Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: This seems kind of more like a take care of
Speaker 1: business week for most teams, but um, seeing if Miami
Speaker 1: can complete that, you know, the season sweep there on
Speaker 1: the Patriots gonna be interesting to watch. Well, even in
Speaker 1: a take care of business week, there's usually some game
Speaker 1: that jumps up on somebody where somebody doesn't take care
Speaker 1: of business and then the playoffs scenarios in one conference
Speaker 1: or another kind of get thrown for a loop. So
Speaker 1: we'll see if that, uh, we'll see if that happens here.
Speaker 1: As Week fifteen in the NFL comes to a close.
Speaker 1: Oh that's wrong. The Dolphins last week one to the Patriots,
Speaker 1: so they didn't sweep. But Dolphins are finishing really strong though, Mike,
Speaker 1: So there are that would be that that would be
Speaker 1: that'd be quite an achievement for Brian Flores in his
Speaker 1: second year as coach there with the program he took
Speaker 1: over to potentially get Miami to the playoffs. That would
Speaker 1: be impressive. And the moves they made a dit to
Speaker 1: do it, I mean going with two uh and you know,
Speaker 1: kind of saying this is gonna be our guy. The
Speaker 1: rest of the way. We feel like we can compete
Speaker 1: this year. We're gonna do it. They've had to go
Speaker 1: through a bunch of different running backs to whether it
Speaker 1: be through COVID or injuries. I think that says a
Speaker 1: lot about his program, the way they've kind of rallied
Speaker 1: this thing. And Patrick Graham, former Packers inside linebackers coach,
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator down there, that's right, absolutely well with that,
Speaker 1: we will call it a wrap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team and everything going on with Saturday night's game.
Speaker 1: It'll all be on Packers dot Com for West I
Speaker 1: Am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time.