Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime West and Hodkowitz. We're coming
Speaker 1: to you here from our studios at lambeau Field and
Speaker 1: unfortunately Wes. We're here to talk about another tough loss
Speaker 1: suffered by the Green Bay Packers, this one nineteen to seventeen,
Speaker 1: the final score in Denver against the Broncos. And we
Speaker 1: don't need to go through this one blow by blow
Speaker 1: by any stretch of the imagination, but boy is it
Speaker 1: frustrating to see what felt like, in many ways a
Speaker 1: carbon copy of the previous loss before the bye, A
Speaker 1: big struggle in the first half offensively, a comeback that
Speaker 1: puts you in position to give you a chance to
Speaker 1: win at the end of the game, and then an
Speaker 1: interception when you go for broke at the end of
Speaker 1: the game when you're trying to make the big play.
Speaker 1: The last two games have been have been very much
Speaker 1: like that. It's a script that the Packers have to
Speaker 1: change moving forward, but it's one that they haven't been
Speaker 1: able to change just yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I watched the same game, you know, from what
Speaker 2: happened in Vegas and then in Denver all the way
Speaker 2: down to you know, the defense having to work through
Speaker 2: some stuff, getting some key stops, but ultimately just giving
Speaker 2: up that one additional drive that ends up being the
Speaker 2: difference in the football game. I you know, obviously I
Speaker 2: had a few days of process this thing now, And
Speaker 2: as I wrote again as I often do in our
Speaker 2: insider inbox Q and A, I think that's the maddening
Speaker 2: part is you see these glimpses of really good potential,
Speaker 2: and you see the talent of this football team, but
Speaker 2: it's just getting it to break out of its shell
Speaker 2: early on has been such a struggle. And I know
Speaker 2: there's a lot of lighthearted jabs on social media about hey,
Speaker 2: could they just start in the second half, could you
Speaker 2: just you know, spot them ten points? All that. The
Speaker 2: fact of the matter is is that Green Bay wants
Speaker 2: their identity to be what they've done coming out of
Speaker 2: the break, and like Mike, let's just look at that
Speaker 2: drive quickly. It was only three points after halftime, but
Speaker 2: the ingenuity that the Dantavian Wicks throw the first down conversions,
Speaker 2: a little bit of Aaron Jones thrown in there. It
Speaker 2: looked more like what the Green Bay Packers and I
Speaker 2: think you and me more specifically thought this offense would
Speaker 2: look like the first half. It seems like in some
Speaker 2: ways the Packers have just gotten caught in their own
Speaker 2: head in terms of just trying to make an opportunity
Speaker 2: happen and hoping that something ruptures. Defenses are playing them tight.
Speaker 2: And as you and I said all last week, and
Speaker 2: it wasn't to couch anything, it was just a statement
Speaker 2: of fact. Denford did some good things. They showed progress
Speaker 2: against Kansas City, and I felt like, to the Broncos credit,
Speaker 2: they built on some of that going into this game
Speaker 2: against Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was certainly, you know, certainly frustrating
Speaker 1: to see, you know, the players and the coach are frustrated.
Speaker 1: Everybody's frustrated to see the slow start once again. Where
Speaker 1: the where the offense can't get going until the second half.
Speaker 1: Here's and I don't I don't know what the I
Speaker 1: don't know what the solution is to that. You and
Speaker 1: I could sit here and fill the whole show trying
Speaker 1: to talk about, you know, what the Packers can do
Speaker 1: to fix their slow starts. I have absolutely no idea
Speaker 1: what it's going to take to get them out of this.
Speaker 1: I do believe that Matt Lafleur and Jordan Love and
Speaker 1: this cast of characters on offense is going to get
Speaker 1: out of this because, as you said, they're better than that,
Speaker 1: and they've shown it, so at some point the tide
Speaker 1: is going to turn. Here's my question for you with
Speaker 1: regards to this game, just as as a different way
Speaker 1: to go through this one. When you look back at
Speaker 1: this one, what is your biggest regret in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of what you saw, in terms of what
Speaker 1: happened a certain moment, whatever, What's what's your biggest regret
Speaker 1: that you feel coming out of this Packers loss.
Speaker 2: It's an excellent question for me. It's twofold. It's on
Speaker 2: the offense and defensive side of the ball. Offensively, you know,
Speaker 2: we knew what the game was going to be with
Speaker 2: Aaron Jones. You're not going to have them for forty plays.
Speaker 2: You have to make those count, and to some extent,
Speaker 2: I feel like Green Bay did that. But when I
Speaker 2: looked at the box score afterwards and it was ten
Speaker 2: different receivers and nobody with more than what thirty four
Speaker 2: receiving yards or something like that, it tells you that
Speaker 2: Jordan loves seeing the ball well and he's making you know,
Speaker 2: getting the ball into people's hands. But it also shows
Speaker 2: you that nothing ruptured. The Packers really struggled to get
Speaker 2: an explosive play in this game. Their best play in
Speaker 2: terms of a yardage standpoint, unfortunately, was the eighteen yard
Speaker 2: pass to Luke Musgrave in which Kareem Jackson was penalized
Speaker 2: with the unnecessary roughness hit that he's now since been
Speaker 2: suspended for. Up until that, you know, Green Bay hadn't
Speaker 2: really had a lot of like big opportunities to get
Speaker 2: a chunk play, and you saw what happened after that catch.
Speaker 2: They were able to go down the field to have
Speaker 2: their best drive of the game. They were opportunistic in
Speaker 2: the red zone to make opportunities happen. Aj Dillon a
Speaker 2: great opportunity, takes a dump off pass for twenty nine yards.
Speaker 2: They actually get into what I would consider to be
Speaker 2: Denver scoring territory based on the altitude getting over to
Speaker 2: the forty four yard line. Maybe you need ten more
Speaker 2: yards to be able to kick a field goal to
Speaker 2: potentially win the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think you necessarily even needed another first
Speaker 1: down at least to get a shot at a field
Speaker 1: goal based on Carlson's leg in the location. But sorry
Speaker 1: to interrupt, No, no.
Speaker 2: No, just my really quick point on the defense. The
Speaker 2: defense did a great job of adversity defense in the
Speaker 2: first half, bending but not breaking, keeping points off the board,
Speaker 2: so it was still only a two score game going
Speaker 2: into halftime. But while Green Bay's offense got things together
Speaker 2: in the third quarter, the Packers unfortunately end up giving
Speaker 2: up that lone touchdown drive and at the very end
Speaker 2: of the game, the Broncos just get too many yards.
Speaker 2: They have a kicker that has just too much leg
Speaker 2: and while Preston Smith did get that sack on Russell
Speaker 2: Wilson for no yards, that was the only sack Green
Speaker 2: Bay had of Wilson in this game. They didn't turn
Speaker 2: over the football and they lost the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my regrets, my regrets from this one. I guess
Speaker 1: lay I lay it out as kind of an ABC first,
Speaker 1: it's that you caught a break with a deflected touchdown
Speaker 1: catch on fourth down that you know could have sunk you,
Speaker 1: but you get some good fortune to go your way.
Speaker 1: That's not going to happen every week, and yet you
Speaker 1: lose a game when you catch a big break like that.
Speaker 1: So that's that's a tough one to take. Number two,
Speaker 1: you mentioned the Packers getting to the Denver forty four
Speaker 1: yard line, and then your best offensive lineman, your multi
Speaker 1: pro bowler, gets called for holding at absolutely the worst,
Speaker 1: the most inopportune time. There from the forty four you know,
Speaker 1: you know loved run the quarterback draw. He was to
Speaker 1: the forty maybe just inside it. You didn't even necessarily
Speaker 1: need to get the next first down at the thirty
Speaker 1: four yard line to give Carlson a chance. But then
Speaker 1: you get backed up ten yards. You're back on the
Speaker 1: other side of the fifty year not in field goal range,
Speaker 1: and and and you know, the tide, the momentum, their
Speaker 1: shifts to the defense. I look. I'm not saying it
Speaker 1: wasn't a penalty. I looked at I looked at the film.
Speaker 1: Pretty ticky tac call to be making with two minutes
Speaker 1: to go in a game, in my opinion, But they
Speaker 1: threw the flag on a really, really good offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: and the Packers had to pay the price for that.
Speaker 1: The other one, my third, my third regret, was the
Speaker 1: sequence more of a longer sequence of things, and it
Speaker 1: was at the end of the first half because the Packers,
Speaker 1: after a lot of struggles on offense through one and
Speaker 1: a half quarters, they put together a good drive. They
Speaker 1: finally got some things going. You could see, you could
Speaker 1: see the blocking was improving, some of the some of
Speaker 1: the runs to the perimeter, we're getting we're moving the chains,
Speaker 1: you know, converting some first downs. Unfortunately, the drive stalls.
Speaker 1: But then your rook kicker Carlson misses his first kick
Speaker 1: of the season. He'd been perfect up to that point.
Speaker 1: He misses one. Obviously he was gonna miss one. Eventually,
Speaker 1: you wish it hadn't been in that moment. But but
Speaker 1: then as that sequence continues, the Broncos end up going
Speaker 1: fifty yards the other way in about thirty two seconds,
Speaker 1: and when it was looking like you were going to
Speaker 1: go into the locker room down six to three, you
Speaker 1: were down nine to nothing because of that sequence at
Speaker 1: the end of the first half, instead of a three
Speaker 1: point deficit, it's a two score deficit, and it just
Speaker 1: you know, Yes, the Packers came out in the second
Speaker 1: half and got things going and played the kind of
Speaker 1: football you expected to see them play in Denver, but
Speaker 1: for that deficit to be nine to zero, and then
Speaker 1: when the defense did give up the one touchdown, suddenly
Speaker 1: it becomes sixteen to three. The deficit was just larger
Speaker 1: than it needed to be, than it should have been
Speaker 1: based on the sequence at the end of the first half.
Speaker 2: And again, the thing that is just absolutely maddening in
Speaker 2: front strading is the Packers didn't just pitch the tent
Speaker 2: and call it a day after falling down sixteen to three,
Speaker 2: a time in which a thirteen point leads seemed a
Speaker 2: lot more insurmountable than it really was. They rallied again,
Speaker 2: They found a way to get points on the board,
Speaker 2: ten points in that third quarter. They can find the
Speaker 2: moxie and the guts in the fortitude to stay in
Speaker 2: these games, but they just have not been able to
Speaker 2: win them. And yeah, I think in the long run,
Speaker 2: and it will benefit this team a lot of young
Speaker 2: guys on this team that are learning to win right now,
Speaker 2: how to win, what it takes to win. Because what
Speaker 2: I go back to is what Matt Lafleur said, I
Speaker 2: think going after the Saints game where they were able
Speaker 2: to come back, it is not easy to win in
Speaker 2: this league. I think sometimes we definitely lose sight of
Speaker 2: that with the amount of parody. This is not one
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty teen BCS system. You know, there's thirty
Speaker 2: two teams and they're all pretty dang good with some
Speaker 2: good football players on it. And you have to be
Speaker 2: able to survive the narrow margin of error. And for
Speaker 2: this Packers team, young, old, whatever you want to call them,
Speaker 2: it has just been a real test trying to make
Speaker 2: that happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, you know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: sound like a broken record with regard to crunch time,
Speaker 1: but the Packers have had four of their six games
Speaker 1: come down to the very end, and they have executed
Speaker 1: at the end of games once and they have failed
Speaker 1: at the end of the game three times, one in three.
Speaker 1: That's why you're two games under five hundred at two
Speaker 1: and four. That's what determines your season and your what
Speaker 1: your record says you are is what happens at the
Speaker 1: end of those games. That being said, this leads to
Speaker 1: my next question. And as I said before, I firmly
Speaker 1: believe the Packers are gonna are gonna pull out of this.
Speaker 1: I mean, last year it was five losses in a row,
Speaker 1: seven losses in a span of eight games, and they
Speaker 1: spun it around and got things going. I think the
Speaker 1: same thing can and will happen at some point this year.
Speaker 1: So my question for you is, what do you take
Speaker 1: out of this game, whether it's this game or just
Speaker 1: what you've seen recently, heard recently, whatever it may be
Speaker 1: that gives you the biggest reason for hope that this
Speaker 1: thing is going to turn around.
Speaker 2: The Packers ran for one hundred and thirty seven yards
Speaker 2: in this game without a carry of more than fifteen yards.
Speaker 2: They didn't even break one, so to speak, in terms
Speaker 2: of the explosive gain aspect. You know, AJ Dillon is
Speaker 2: running behind his pads more Aaron Jones knock on wood
Speaker 2: as we're doing this show. Hopefully the hamstring came throw
Speaker 2: ok for him and he'll be more available this upcoming
Speaker 2: game against the Falcons. Yeah, why does that matter? It's
Speaker 2: not just about running the football. It goes back to
Speaker 2: the most impressive stat about Jordan Love in this game,
Speaker 2: courtesy I Believe of Pro Football Focus. The guy was
Speaker 2: nine for nine for like one hundred and nine yards
Speaker 2: and a touchdown off play action in this game, Jordan
Speaker 2: Love did really well in terms of the play action game,
Speaker 2: getting outside the pocket, making plays happen a lot of
Speaker 2: what hurt him for whatever reason it was when he
Speaker 2: was facing even pressure and you know, being stuck contained
Speaker 2: in the pocket. So those things tie together, and I
Speaker 2: think you can see this running offense getting more comfortable
Speaker 2: and getting a lot more confidence among itself. The penalties
Speaker 2: kind of popped up again. Green Bay has to get
Speaker 2: that straightened out. But this teams stuck together, and Mike,
Speaker 2: I don't know what the Packers' final win and loss
Speaker 2: record is going to be. I don't know what it's
Speaker 2: all going to look like. I can't guarantee you this
Speaker 2: team is going to be vastly better in December than
Speaker 2: it was in September. But as far as the twenty thirteen,
Speaker 2: that whole exhibition that you have to put on display
Speaker 2: to show that you're capable of being a playoff team,
Speaker 2: that's where the challenge lies for green Bay. If you
Speaker 2: dig yourself into an early hole here, what does the
Speaker 2: second half of the season look like to get yourself
Speaker 2: out of it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you in that. When I see what
Speaker 1: I'm kind of hanging my hopes on and what I
Speaker 1: see are the signs that this can be turned around,
Speaker 1: it goes to it does go to how the Packer
Speaker 1: are running the ball. We've seen it. We've seen it
Speaker 1: the last two games. I thought it was even better
Speaker 1: against the Broncos than it was against the Raiders. And
Speaker 1: as much as I know, I started the show by saying,
Speaker 1: you know, there there was this carbon copy thing with
Speaker 1: all the struggles in the first half, you have a
Speaker 1: comeback and then and then you know, you have the
Speaker 1: turnover at the end when you're trying to win the game.
Speaker 1: To me, this the Broncos performance was a much more
Speaker 1: encouraging and I don't want to overstate that, but it was.
Speaker 1: It was a more encouraging offensive performance than the Raiders
Speaker 1: game for a couple of reasons. One is I thought
Speaker 1: I thought the Packers were able to stay balanced that
Speaker 1: even during the comeback when they weren't, they weren't busting
Speaker 1: big explosive plays. They didn't have a seventy seven yard
Speaker 1: you know, completion to Christian Watson to take up you know,
Speaker 1: a huge chunk of the field. They were staying balanced
Speaker 1: and moving the ball, and that being able to use
Speaker 1: the run and the play action and not get into
Speaker 1: any kind of a desperation mode until the very end
Speaker 1: of the game. I thought that was a good sign
Speaker 1: for where this thing can go. The offense also had
Speaker 1: to do this very much on its own, because when
Speaker 1: you think back to the Raiders game, there was the
Speaker 1: interception by Rudy Ford gave them a short field, they
Speaker 1: get a touchdown. Packers didn't have that. All of their
Speaker 1: scoring drives in this game. They had to cover a
Speaker 1: big chunk of the field to get points, and they
Speaker 1: did have the one good drive in the first half
Speaker 1: that didn't result in points, and then when they were
Speaker 1: moving the ball at the end of the game, you
Speaker 1: get the penalty that sets you back. So I think
Speaker 1: there were more signs in this game, even though it's
Speaker 1: another frustrating loss. And I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything,
Speaker 1: but I think there were more signs in this game
Speaker 1: that the offense is starting to find something than we
Speaker 1: saw in the Raiders and.
Speaker 2: The other thing I just want to touch on quickly
Speaker 2: because it kind of fellow up on what you said
Speaker 2: last week. We were talking about our like MVPs or
Speaker 2: whatever during the by and I still say KOI Walker's
Speaker 2: had a find fine season so far. But you brought
Speaker 2: up Russelle Douglas and I got to thinking more about
Speaker 2: that throughout the weekend and then watching him in this game.
Speaker 2: Russell Douglas is having the best year of his career.
Speaker 2: And I know he had the five picks or whatever,
Speaker 2: but like, the guy's not being penalized. He is getting
Speaker 2: pass deflections and it is getting very difficult for teams
Speaker 2: to throw on him. He's playing physical ball.
Speaker 1: Well, we saw, we saw what Russell Russell Wilson, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, no offense to Carrington Valentine. Yeah, who you know,
Speaker 1: had some rough definitely had some rough moments in this game,
Speaker 1: filling in for Jayi Alexander. But Russell Wilson was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: Douglas is over here. I've seen what he's done on film.
Speaker 1: Carrington Valentine or rookie seventh round pick is filling in
Speaker 1: for the all pro guy on the other side. And
Speaker 1: Wilson went after him. You know that. And but that's
Speaker 1: also because of how Russelle Douglas has been playing.
Speaker 2: And the other thing about Suell maybe some people don't
Speaker 2: realize is he was the co Stand Up Award winner
Speaker 2: last year for the Packers, as given by the PFWA
Speaker 2: for his dealings with the media. The guy sat at
Speaker 2: his locker for six minutes after the game, which you know,
Speaker 2: for you know, in terms of like a road locker room,
Speaker 2: that's actually a pretty long media scrum. And he was
Speaker 2: a very honest raw about how he's feeling about this thing.
Speaker 2: He didn't throw anybody under the bus. He didn't throw
Speaker 2: the offense under the bus, but he did have a
Speaker 2: really poignant line when he was talking to the media
Speaker 2: about how basically, I'm tired of seeing you guys, and
Speaker 2: not to be He's not being routering, but basically saying like,
Speaker 2: you're coming in here and I'm giving you the same
Speaker 2: answers I've given you the week before. We are working
Speaker 2: at it, we are trying, but ultimately it comes down
Speaker 2: to winning. And you know, he was even kind of
Speaker 2: throwing a little bit of a softball about having eleven
Speaker 2: games left. He's like, yeah, but we got to win.
Speaker 2: Doesn't matter how many games are left. You have to
Speaker 2: win to be able to end this losing streak and
Speaker 2: to feel what it's like to win a football game again.
Speaker 2: Something else he had talked about earlier in the week.
Speaker 2: Douglas has been a guy that's really stick up for
Speaker 2: this defense in terms of the leadership aspect of it,
Speaker 2: without a Devandre Campbell, without Jaiyre missing you know, three
Speaker 2: two or three games now, he has been one of
Speaker 2: the guys that has stepped up and I thought has
Speaker 2: really led with his play on the field. And honestly, Mike,
Speaker 2: depending on what happens here with Jaws back, he could
Speaker 2: end up being one of the really pivotal pieces for
Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers in the second half the season,
Speaker 2: much like he was in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree with you. There one more question
Speaker 1: I want to throw at you before we shift gears
Speaker 1: a little bit. There are a lot of things that
Speaker 1: are ailing the Packers right now, but if you had
Speaker 1: to point to the one thing that you feel would
Speaker 1: be at the top of the list, the most important
Speaker 1: key to getting this thing turned around.
Speaker 2: It was a thing I let inbox with. If it's
Speaker 2: not even about the fast starts, because that's becoming kind
Speaker 2: of like this catch all. Yeah, Mike, I just want
Speaker 2: to see what it looks like if the Packers go
Speaker 2: out and put points on the board on the first drive.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying, oh, if you win the coin toss,
Speaker 2: you have to take the ball. No, you can defer
Speaker 2: until the Cows come home. Yeah, but I'm saying when
Speaker 2: the offense it's out there for the first time, what
Speaker 2: does it look like if you go into halftime? Because
Speaker 2: I'm thinking back to that Chicago game. I know it's
Speaker 2: difficult for fans to do that right now, but the
Speaker 2: Packers put up thirty eight points in that game and
Speaker 2: really impose their will against the Bears, and we haven't
Speaker 2: seen that again since then. So I just feel like
Speaker 2: this team, the doubts or whatever could be creep into
Speaker 2: your mind after you go three and out or you
Speaker 2: give up some points early on defensively, if the Packers
Speaker 2: can get out to a lead, what does it look
Speaker 2: like with those third quarters, if you actually have some
Speaker 2: points on the board and you have some of that
Speaker 2: momentum in your favor.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what I was going to say as well.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest key to turning this around, and
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that the Packers, as you said it,
Speaker 1: as far as a fast start, It's not that the
Speaker 1: Packers need to jump out ten nothing or fourteen nothing
Speaker 1: or seventeen nothing on a team, but they need to
Speaker 1: just stop playing from behind because once you get behind,
Speaker 1: then you're only one possession away from being multiple scores behind.
Speaker 1: And that's what we've seen has come hounded itself with
Speaker 1: this team. If you can, if you can, just if
Speaker 1: you can stay not just not just stay in the game,
Speaker 1: because they were obviously in the game and it was
Speaker 1: only a one score game in Denver until the field
Speaker 1: goal right at the end of the first half made
Speaker 1: it a two score game. But if you can actually
Speaker 1: get the lead, even if it's just seven to three
Speaker 1: or seven to six or ten to seven or whatever
Speaker 1: it is, even ten to ten at halftime something like that,
Speaker 1: if you can just be in that situation heading into
Speaker 1: the second half as opposed to coming out of the
Speaker 1: locker room and feeling like your backs are against the
Speaker 1: wall again like they were against Detroit, like they were
Speaker 1: against the Raiders, like they were against the Saints before that.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is you know, the Saints game was
Speaker 1: a victory, but this is this is four games in
Speaker 1: a row now where the Packers are playing from behind,
Speaker 1: and that's just that's not a life you can continue
Speaker 1: to live if you want to, if you want to
Speaker 1: be able to find success on a regular basis. And
Speaker 1: the biggest reason that they've that they're two and four
Speaker 1: right now is bec as they're playing from behind way
Speaker 1: too much.
Speaker 2: And this game specifically, Mike. People can make whatever jokes
Speaker 2: they want to make about the Broncos, but I'm telling
Speaker 2: you what, man Sean Payton Russell Wilson, those are two
Speaker 2: pool sharks there. When they look at a nine to
Speaker 2: zero halftime lead, it's affecting the way they look at
Speaker 2: the rest of that game.
Speaker 1: Hunter.
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson is not pressing to make plays. If his
Speaker 2: defense is playing well, He's going to let his defense
Speaker 2: play and live to see another down.
Speaker 1: Hey, the Raiders did the same thing with Garoppolo. It's
Speaker 1: not like Garoppolo was chucking the ball over the field.
Speaker 1: I mean the Raiders. The Raiders, they felt their defense
Speaker 1: was playing well. They knew the Packers were struggling on offense,
Speaker 1: and even when the Raiders did get behind, it's not
Speaker 1: you know, they just said, Okay, we're going to grind.
Speaker 1: We're going to grind this thing out. And they were
Speaker 1: confident that they that they could get the one score
Speaker 1: they needed and then their defense was going to hold up.
Speaker 2: And then the last thing I'll say about Wilson, because
Speaker 2: it was sort of a storyline last week you and
Speaker 2: I touched on in terms of his weight, the way
Speaker 2: he's playing this year, Russell Wilson from twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: this game might end up turning out a lot different.
Speaker 2: You know, you looked at some of those pressures that
Speaker 2: Lucas Vans had that Rshawn Gary had right off the bat. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they only had three quarterback hits in one sack, but
Speaker 2: a lot of that the times in which he was
Speaker 2: truly under duress, he was able to flush out of
Speaker 2: the pocket, keep his eyes downfield and make a play.
Speaker 2: And then when he needed to, he also was able
Speaker 2: to pick up some yards with his feet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he did that. That's what's set up the chip
Speaker 1: shot field goal at the end of the first half.
Speaker 1: Was the scramble that was a real killer for the Packers.
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Speaker 1: Cousin subs fifty years of better. All right, Well, if
Speaker 1: we needed any more evidence that the NFL is a
Speaker 1: week league, just look at what happened in the NFC North.
Speaker 1: All we have to do is look at that's it.
Speaker 1: The division is three. The Bears have to go with
Speaker 1: a backup quarterback against another backup quarterback for the Raiders.
Speaker 1: But suddenly they light up the scoreboard at Soldier Field
Speaker 1: and they get a win. The Detroit Lions go on
Speaker 1: the road against the Baltimore Ravens. They're five and one.
Speaker 1: Folks are wondering because the Niners and the Eagles had
Speaker 1: both just lost a game. Are the Lions the best
Speaker 1: team in the NFC? Maybe? Well, the Ravens had something
Speaker 1: to say about that. The Lions took one on the chin. Now,
Speaker 1: as we had talked about before with them, how do
Speaker 1: they handle success? Well, now, how do they handle this
Speaker 1: amount of adversity because that was a rough day for
Speaker 1: them in Baltimore. And then the Minnesota Vikings, who will
Speaker 1: talk about them a lot more on our next show
Speaker 1: with them being the Packers next opponent here at Lambeau field.
Speaker 1: But the Vikings, no Justin Jefferson on offense, no Marcus
Speaker 1: Davenport on defense, and the San Francisco forty nine Ers,
Speaker 1: who everybody figured would be steaming hot, spit and tax
Speaker 1: mad after that loss in Cleveland. Well, lo and behold.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins completes thirty five passes, three hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: whatever some yards passing, and the Minnesota defense holds off
Speaker 1: brock Perdy and that Niners offense with interceptions two interceptions
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, and the Vikings suddenly, after an
Speaker 1: zero to three start, are three and four with a
Speaker 1: victory over a team that many thought just a couple
Speaker 1: weeks ago was the best team perhaps in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Well, first off, I want to start off with the
Speaker 2: Chicago game because I wish this Raiders team would have
Speaker 2: showed up at Allegiance Stadium when they faced the Packers,
Speaker 2: because that was one of the worst offensive game plans
Speaker 2: I've ever seen. Honestly, the Bears did exactly what the
Speaker 2: Raiders should have done, and maybe that is the key
Speaker 2: for Chicago moving forward. Is Deontay Freeman. Man. I don't
Speaker 2: know why no one wants to sign this guy long term,
Speaker 2: but he's like a rent to running back and he
Speaker 2: will come in there and he will produce yards for you.
Speaker 2: And they did it at will against a Raiders defense
Speaker 2: I thought looked really good against Green Bay in terms
Speaker 2: of at least not rupturing right and offensively, you have
Speaker 2: Brian Hoyer stepping in for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo, and
Speaker 2: they just once again, forget that Josh Jacobs exists. This
Speaker 2: seemed to me like a game where Josh Jacobs should
Speaker 2: have covered, should have ran the ball twenty five times.
Speaker 2: But no, they're they're in whatever happened with DeVante, happened whatever.
Speaker 2: But I mean, you have a backup quarterback in there
Speaker 2: that's lost twelve straight starts and suddenly he's throwing the
Speaker 2: ball thirty two times.
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't I said to you in the press
Speaker 1: box in Denver. I didn't even understand why they didn't
Speaker 1: just stick with Aidan O'Connell, the rookie from Perdue, who
Speaker 1: I know, he had some turnovers and whatnot in his
Speaker 1: one start there against the Chargers, but he gave them,
Speaker 1: he gave them a chance to win, you know. And
Speaker 1: yet and yet now Garoppolo goes down and they decide,
Speaker 1: they decide they have to turn it over to Hoyer,
Speaker 1: who was who was frankly off. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So if you're ever looking for a way to completely
Speaker 2: take the air out of your blown after winst bring
Speaker 2: up that football game. You'll learn something from it. But
Speaker 2: as far as the Lions, man, I'm telling you, Mike,
Speaker 2: that's just the league. Like people are already saw some
Speaker 2: of the stuff like, oh, are they a fraud? No,
Speaker 2: the Lions are a really good football team, and so
Speaker 2: are the Baltimore Ravens. And I thought the Ravens were exceptional.
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson was amazing in that game, and the Lions
Speaker 2: just were not able to make anything happen offensively. It's
Speaker 2: gonna happen. I still view Detroit the same way I
Speaker 2: viewed them going into Sunday afternoon. Yeah, very dangerous team.
Speaker 1: I do too. I mean we saw it. You know.
Speaker 1: The Packers had three consecutive thirteen win seasons under mattin Floor,
Speaker 1: and every season there were there there was at least one,
Speaker 1: sometimes more than one, just regular season dud game where
Speaker 1: you just got it handed to you. And it happens
Speaker 1: to everybody in this league, and it happened it happened
Speaker 1: to the Lions, and you know, they're they're a very
Speaker 1: curious case because because they're in a position that their
Speaker 1: franchise is not used to being in. And how are
Speaker 1: they how are they going to handle the ups? How
Speaker 1: are they going to handle the downs? You know, they
Speaker 1: have a target on their back as the team on
Speaker 1: top of the NFC North right now, and you know,
Speaker 1: but it happens in this league.
Speaker 2: Lastly, I'll just say this quickly about the Vikings and
Speaker 2: an expertly played football game. Kirk Cousins gets his win
Speaker 2: in prime time, but more importantly, Jordan Addison stepping up
Speaker 2: the way that I think the Vikings needed him to
Speaker 2: in the wake of this justin Jefferson injury. You look
Speaker 2: at Daniel Hunter defensively, I thought did some really good
Speaker 2: things in that game. And then lastly, I just have
Speaker 2: to say it because we take for granted so much
Speaker 2: what Harrison Smith does in this league. And he's older
Speaker 2: now and I'm sure physically he's probably not the same
Speaker 2: player he was five years ago. But my goodness, man,
Speaker 2: when you have such a smart, heady safety playing on
Speaker 2: top of your defense, what a difference that makes, you know,
Speaker 2: depending on where they're at in their career. But I
Speaker 2: just there's just something to be said for that in
Speaker 2: the leadership that he provides. I was super impressed by
Speaker 2: what the Vikings did in that game and really made
Speaker 2: Brock Purdy and the forty nine Ers mortal. They had
Speaker 2: a they were coming off a tough loss against the
Speaker 2: Cleveland Browns, and the Vikings said, you know what, we're
Speaker 2: going to take a piece of this too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and and you know the forty nine Ers
Speaker 1: dealing with their own adversity. They don't have Deebo Samuel
Speaker 1: Trent Williams.
Speaker 2: Did he I don't believe he did.
Speaker 1: I don't believe he played. You know, their their stud
Speaker 1: left tackle wasn't in there able to tell you though.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's the kind of it's stuff
Speaker 1: that happens in this league. It's the kind of stuff
Speaker 1: that every that every team deals with. We will talk
Speaker 1: more about the Vikings on our next show. We'll also
Speaker 1: provide you know, one thing we didn't get to with
Speaker 1: regard to the Broncos game is the injuries that have
Speaker 1: continued to pile up for the Packers. But when we
Speaker 1: do our next show, the Packers will have their Wednesday
Speaker 1: practice under their belt, will have at least a first
Speaker 1: glance at the injury report for the week, and we
Speaker 1: can try to provide, you know, try to lay out
Speaker 1: the landscape of where things are with the health of
Speaker 1: the Packers.
Speaker 2: On our next episode, Big Dean Lowry at a fumber
Speaker 2: recovery too against the forty nine ers. Don't you pick
Speaker 2: up on that or not?
Speaker 1: I did. I did not because I missed a good
Speaker 1: chunk of the first half. I did watch the second
Speaker 1: half of the game, and yeah, kept waiting for the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers to just look like the forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: and other than a couple of plays here and there,
Speaker 1: they really didn't. And so but a lot of football
Speaker 1: left for them, a lot of football left for the
Speaker 1: Packers as well. With that, we'll call it a rap
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers Unscripted. You should follow all
Speaker 1: of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com
Speaker 1: for Wes. I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody.
Speaker 1: We will see you next time.