WEBVTT - #905 Packers Unscripted: Missed opportunity in Minnesota 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:11.049 Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers.com. 0:00:11.150 --> 0:00:14.190 I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted 0:00:14.210 --> 0:00:16.209 colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from the 0:00:16.270 --> 0:00:21.029 Pottawatomie Sportsbook studio inside the walls of Lambeau Field. Wes, 0:00:21.070 --> 0:00:24.270 we are back from the trip to Minneapolis. A season 0:00:24.340 --> 0:00:28.840 opening 39-22 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Very disappointing the 0:00:28.860 --> 0:00:31.620 way this one went. finished the way it played out 0:00:31.740 --> 0:00:34.580 at the end. The long and the short of it 0:00:34.659 --> 0:00:39.949 is it was a snowball effect and the Packers couldn't 0:00:40.010 --> 0:00:43.870 stop that snowball from rolling downhill and burying them at 0:00:43.909 --> 0:00:44.530 the end of the day. 0:00:45.570 --> 0:00:49.170 We did five final thoughts on Friday. You and I 0:00:49.229 --> 0:00:51.910 stepped in the studio Friday morning before anything really got 0:00:51.970 --> 0:00:54.390 started here at Lambeau, before we were in Minneapolis, before 0:00:54.430 --> 0:00:56.170 we took the plane ride, before we stepped into US 0:00:56.220 --> 0:00:59.440 Bank Stadium. And I think both of us in our 0:00:59.460 --> 0:01:02.340 keys to victory kind of laid out what had to 0:01:02.380 --> 0:01:04.020 happen in this game to get it done. And in 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.459 mine in particular was the need to finish and the 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.040 need to do it in the fourth quarter. And not 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.000 because it was a narrative coming out of last season, 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.280 not because it's something that has been just overemphasized and 0:01:13.340 --> 0:01:16.750 reiterated this offseason, because that's what it was going to 0:01:16.790 --> 0:01:18.740 take in that environment. Because you and I felt it. 0:01:18.810 --> 0:01:21.569 We felt it a half dozen times already now at U.S. 0:01:21.610 --> 0:01:24.910 Bank Stadium. What this can be like in there when 0:01:24.950 --> 0:01:27.870 that team is playing well, when momentum is on the 0:01:27.910 --> 0:01:32.230 Viking side, and you can't stop it. Now, obviously, as 0:01:32.450 --> 0:01:36.650 the followers on X would tell you, I had certain 0:01:36.690 --> 0:01:38.830 feelings about how a couple things went during the course 0:01:38.850 --> 0:01:43.229 of that game, compliments of Ed Hockley's son, but the 0:01:43.270 --> 0:01:46.450 fact is you still have to find a way to 0:01:46.709 --> 0:01:49.300 get some stops and to get some momentum rallying your way, 0:01:49.330 --> 0:01:53.900 and I just felt like that series, the go-ahead drive 0:01:53.940 --> 0:01:57.440 by Minnesota, That was the turning point, and Green Bay 0:01:57.500 --> 0:02:00.060 just was not able to recapture any of its early 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:01.170 room momentum after that. 0:02:01.340 --> 0:02:04.050 Yeah, that was really, I guess, what I would say 0:02:04.090 --> 0:02:07.430 was the most disheartening thing about it is that even 0:02:07.470 --> 0:02:11.169 with everything that had started to go wrong, you know, 0:02:11.290 --> 0:02:13.790 you take the points off the board, you get stopped 0:02:13.830 --> 0:02:15.980 on the fourth and one, the Vikings go the other way, 0:02:16.020 --> 0:02:19.540 you have the three third down penalties, and the Vikings 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:21.540 take the lead. They take their first lead of the game. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.800 But in that moment... It is a three-point game with 0:02:26.940 --> 0:02:28.959 six and a half minutes on the clock, and Jordan 0:02:28.980 --> 0:02:31.420 Love is taking the field, having thrown for over 300 0:02:31.419 --> 0:02:35.480 yards already at that point in the game. Anytime the 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.960 Packers are on the road, down by three, with six 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.040 minutes on the clock, and Jordan Love has the ball, 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.710 that's a situation that, as a Packers fan, you should 0:02:43.730 --> 0:02:45.829 feel pretty good about, and that's a situation where I 0:02:45.889 --> 0:02:47.889 think the Packers are going to win their fair share 0:02:47.910 --> 0:02:50.989 of games because of who Jordan Love is and what 0:02:51.030 --> 0:02:55.060 this offense can be. But it couldn't find anything. There 0:02:55.130 --> 0:02:59.200 was no answer. There was no answer to the things 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.820 that had gone wrong. And that is the narrative that 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.480 this team is going to have to change because now 0:03:05.540 --> 0:03:08.520 it has carried over from last season, fair or unfair, whatever. 0:03:09.060 --> 0:03:12.600 All of the comebacks by the opponents when the Packers 0:03:12.620 --> 0:03:16.100 have been on the road over the last however many weeks, 0:03:16.139 --> 0:03:17.840 months you want to look at it, they've all had 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:22.000 their different circumstances. They haven't all been the same. But 0:03:22.020 --> 0:03:25.579 the results have been the same, and so that's why 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.950 the narrative is there, and that's what the Packers need 0:03:29.970 --> 0:03:34.310 to deal with. Because the bottom line is you have 0:03:34.350 --> 0:03:37.730 to be, especially to win on the road in this league, 0:03:38.250 --> 0:03:40.310 you have to be the better team at crunch time. 0:03:40.490 --> 0:03:42.780 And that's the one thing that the Packers haven't been 0:03:42.820 --> 0:03:43.820 able to solve just yet. 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.040 No, and— We've talked a lot about that. As you said, 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:48.780 it's been a part of the narrative. And I wrote 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:50.860 in our insider inbox column that the thing that actually 0:03:50.900 --> 0:03:52.620 bothered me the most coming out of the game was 0:03:52.660 --> 0:03:55.100 the red zone. Because this is an area, I mean, 0:03:55.140 --> 0:03:57.560 you look statistically, Green Bay wasn't bad in it per 0:03:57.580 --> 0:03:59.310 se last year. I think they were middle of the pack, 0:03:59.340 --> 0:04:03.040 but they've been nowhere near what they were in like 0:04:03.090 --> 0:04:07.590 the gold zone era. And what is one big reason 0:04:07.670 --> 0:04:10.620 why teams can come back in the fourth quarter. What's 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.040 one big reason teams can come back in the second half? 0:04:13.330 --> 0:04:15.190 This has nothing to do with Matt LaFleur. This goes 0:04:15.230 --> 0:04:17.150 back to the Mike McCarthy era. It happens across the 0:04:17.190 --> 0:04:21.350 league constantly. If you don't punch the ball in, if 0:04:21.370 --> 0:04:24.910 you don't finish for seven, you're going to find a 0:04:24.930 --> 0:04:27.800 way to let the opponent come back in. And that 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.179 was probably the biggest takeaway from this. I love the fact, 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.400 I thought it was a gutsy call, but I thought 0:04:33.420 --> 0:04:35.840 it set the tone for Trey Smack to go out 0:04:35.860 --> 0:04:38.440 there and make the 59-yarder's second longest field goal in 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.400 Packers history in his first NFL game. 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:43.460 Amazing to me that a guy who's going to be 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.800 in the Packers Hall of Fame here before too much longer, 0:04:45.860 --> 0:04:50.700 Mason Crosby, that in Trey Smack's first regular season NFL game, 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.420 he made a field goal longer than Mason Crosby ever 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.560 made in a game in his 16-year career. And that's 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.180 not a knock on Crosby. It's just incredible to me 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:01.180 that that's how it played out. 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:02.300 You know what it is? And I think this is 0:05:02.339 --> 0:05:03.980 going to happen given another five years. We can talk 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:05.880 about this probably in another episode, but given another five, 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:07.839 10 years, I think you're going to see the, the, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:12.060 the kicker numbers specifically on field goals. Almost like when 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.789 you look back at the nineties quarterback numbers, right? When 0:05:14.810 --> 0:05:16.910 you look at Troy Aikman's numbers and the standard kid 0:05:16.930 --> 0:05:19.390 looks at him and goes, man. those weren't that impressive. Well, 0:05:19.410 --> 0:05:21.310 you had to be there to witness it. The game 0:05:21.350 --> 0:05:24.150 kind of changed. And obviously the way that the quarterback 0:05:24.190 --> 0:05:27.590 was utilized and what it took to win, right? The 0:05:27.670 --> 0:05:29.550 field goal thing is just out of this world now. 0:05:29.990 --> 0:05:31.590 You have to have a guy that can make a 0:05:31.610 --> 0:05:35.390 59-yard kick because head coaches want to try it. Whereas, 0:05:35.430 --> 0:05:38.150 you know, maybe 10, 15 years ago, if that's in 0:05:38.170 --> 0:05:40.680 the Metrodome, are you punting, trying to pin them back? 0:05:40.710 --> 0:05:42.690 You know, what exactly is the play there, you know? 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:44.660 So it's just funny to see how that game has turned. 0:05:45.060 --> 0:05:47.779 That being said... there was way too much of Trey 0:05:47.820 --> 0:05:49.940 Smack in this game. There were too many times where, 0:05:49.980 --> 0:05:52.260 you know, you get 240-plus yards. You know, Matt LaFleur 0:05:52.310 --> 0:05:55.620 talked about it. There was 10 plays he had explosives 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:57.830 for over 350 yards, I think is what he said. 0:05:58.650 --> 0:06:01.929 But there were two in specific that I think about 0:06:02.089 --> 0:06:04.469 with the Matthew Golden catch and the Jonu Smith catch, 0:06:04.890 --> 0:06:07.190 and he only got three points out of those. And 0:06:08.110 --> 0:06:10.530 he could have potentially had six, but obviously the fourth 0:06:10.570 --> 0:06:12.070 and one thing happened. But either way, you didn't score 0:06:12.089 --> 0:06:13.650 a touchdown off either of those opportunities. 0:06:13.690 --> 0:06:13.890 Correct. 0:06:14.350 --> 0:06:16.330 And that's why the door was left open for Minnesota 0:06:16.350 --> 0:06:16.910 to do what they did. 0:06:17.210 --> 0:06:20.130 Yeah. And when you talk about the, you know, kicking 0:06:20.150 --> 0:06:21.810 too many field goals thing, I mean, all you have 0:06:21.830 --> 0:06:25.690 to do is look at what almost became a disastrous 0:06:25.750 --> 0:06:29.229 home week one loss for the Detroit Lions because they 0:06:29.250 --> 0:06:31.570 were in goal to go with a couple minutes left 0:06:31.630 --> 0:06:35.160 on the clock and up by four points and they 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.240 got stopped and couldn't punch it in. They kicked the 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:39.980 chip shot field goal. The Saints came back the other 0:06:40.020 --> 0:06:42.360 way and got the touchdown that sent the game to overtime, 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.000 and the Lions ended up coming just a two-point conversion 0:06:45.050 --> 0:06:48.050 by New Orleans away from losing a home game in 0:06:48.089 --> 0:06:51.130 week one that nobody thought they would have any business losing. 0:06:51.510 --> 0:06:55.250 So that's just another example of that. The other thing 0:06:55.290 --> 0:06:58.150 I thought, when it comes to the regrets, and I 0:06:58.190 --> 0:07:00.919 do want to get into some of the fourth quarter 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.760 stuff later, but earlier on in this game, as far 0:07:03.820 --> 0:07:08.280 as the regrets are concerned, you had The Packers had 0:07:08.300 --> 0:07:12.400 a possession. The defense got a stop deep in Minnesota territory, 0:07:13.020 --> 0:07:15.950 a punt that was downed inside the five. Defense completely 0:07:16.010 --> 0:07:18.870 shut them down. The Vikings punter is in the back 0:07:18.890 --> 0:07:22.510 of the end zone. Sky Moore gets a nice return, 0:07:22.650 --> 0:07:26.840 and it's first down on the Minnesota 36-yard line. Now, 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.240 you don't do it this way, but you could literally 0:07:29.300 --> 0:07:31.480 take a knee three times and put three points on 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.300 the board right there. but the Packers went backwards because 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:36.600 of penalties, and on a drive that starts at the 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:42.000 Minnesota 36-yard line, you end up with zero points. Combine 0:07:42.020 --> 0:07:45.000 that with the red zone failures and too much Trey 0:07:45.020 --> 0:07:48.670 Smack in this game. I mean, that's, you know, I 0:07:48.750 --> 0:07:51.260 am the last person, as I said in Insider Inbox, 0:07:51.350 --> 0:07:54.670 I'm the last person to preach trying to avoid crunch 0:07:54.710 --> 0:07:57.230 time because you have to be able to perform in 0:07:57.270 --> 0:08:01.630 those moments. But that 22-10 lead the Packers had in 0:08:01.670 --> 0:08:05.360 the third quarter absolutely positively should have been larger because 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.260 they were in more control of that game than just 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.160 a 12-point lead. And when you're playing on the road 0:08:12.900 --> 0:08:15.640 and the home team starts to get the momentum with 0:08:15.660 --> 0:08:18.440 the crowd behind it and everything, it can be tough 0:08:18.460 --> 0:08:20.600 to stop, and the Packers couldn't stop it. 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.080 Vikings had 239 total yards of offense in this game. 0:08:24.810 --> 0:08:28.850 Jordan Love threw for 387 yards in this game. It 0:08:28.890 --> 0:08:31.050 just shows you that if you don't do the right things, 0:08:31.110 --> 0:08:34.880 if there's too many penalties, if you have turnovers, obviously 0:08:34.890 --> 0:08:36.699 the thing got out of control there at the end. 0:08:38.140 --> 0:08:40.960 But when the moments happen where Green Bay was able 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:48.339 to find the sort of take-them-out-of-the-game moments, right? I'm trying 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.280 to find the correct way to say this because I 0:08:50.300 --> 0:08:53.760 don't want to be too violent. But the thing where 0:08:53.780 --> 0:08:55.320 you knock them out. They had them on the ropes 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:56.520 and they didn't swing for it, right? 0:08:56.540 --> 0:08:56.620 Yeah. 0:08:57.170 --> 0:08:59.329 They might have tried to swing for it. They didn't connect. 0:08:59.370 --> 0:09:00.680 Yeah, it didn't work out. 0:09:00.730 --> 0:09:05.660 It's just to find yourself in a situation then where 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.200 it gets to one score. You know, we talk about, 0:09:08.340 --> 0:09:09.880 you know, Matt LeFleur mentioning that one of the reasons 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:14.280 why they make the 40-yard kick with smack, there's the 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.980 offsides penalty, you know, the encroachment penalty. So it goes 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:19.860 to fourth and one. They decide to try to go 0:09:19.940 --> 0:09:23.699 for it with the sneak. Right. And I talked about 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.520 this in inbox because people are like leaving the points. 0:09:25.700 --> 0:09:28.020 I mean, that was yet another field goal and you're 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.260 still only up eight points. I understand if you don't convert, 0:09:31.420 --> 0:09:33.300 everyone's going to say, well, why didn't you take three points? 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.290 I think it was bigger than that. The other aspect 0:09:36.330 --> 0:09:38.729 of it too, though, is if you don't come up 0:09:38.770 --> 0:09:40.840 with a touchdown there, when are you going to get it? 0:09:41.470 --> 0:09:44.590 And I think for the Packers to go into this game, 0:09:44.670 --> 0:09:47.450 knowing that they had to, let me put it this way. 0:09:47.929 --> 0:09:49.930 The two touchdowns of Christian Watson, right? Christian Watson has 0:09:49.970 --> 0:09:53.500 this tremendous first half, right? Five catches, 131 yards, whatever 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.040 it was, two touchdowns. How quiet did it get in U.S. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.860 Bank Stadium after all that? I mean, pin-droppingly quiet. Wes 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:02.839 Hodkowitz could have shouted from one side to the other, hey, 0:10:02.900 --> 0:10:05.460 how's it going, Nate Lacascio? And somebody would have heard me, right? 0:10:06.820 --> 0:10:08.819 What was it like then in the fourth quarter after 0:10:08.860 --> 0:10:11.280 that swing? That's the point I want to make with 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.219 all this. If you have a chance not only to 0:10:13.260 --> 0:10:14.700 take the Vikings out of it, but to take that 0:10:14.780 --> 0:10:17.660 crowd out of it, you have to find a way 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:18.140 to do it. 0:10:18.270 --> 0:10:21.010 Yeah, a couple of comments I'll make there with regard 0:10:21.030 --> 0:10:24.950 to the noise. You and I have been going to U.S. 0:10:24.990 --> 0:10:27.740 Bank Stadium since it opened in 2016. There were a 0:10:27.750 --> 0:10:29.859 couple years we didn't travel with the team, so I 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:33.420 believe you and I have covered nine games there in 0:10:33.420 --> 0:10:37.440 11 years. I don't think I have ever heard that 0:10:37.580 --> 0:10:44.350 crowd louder than the third down on the series right 0:10:44.470 --> 0:10:48.010 after the Vikings had taken the three-point lead the third 0:10:48.070 --> 0:10:50.850 down and the Packers are a little bit late getting 0:10:50.910 --> 0:10:52.510 out of the huddle and Jordan loves trying to make 0:10:52.550 --> 0:10:54.790 an adjustment. And then he's like stomping his foot and 0:10:54.830 --> 0:10:56.710 clapping his hands and wanting the ball to be snapped 0:10:56.730 --> 0:10:59.480 because the play clock is running down. And then, and then, 0:10:59.500 --> 0:11:01.400 you know, it's the sack and they strip the ball 0:11:01.460 --> 0:11:05.500 and Minnesota gets the ball back. That even before the 0:11:05.540 --> 0:11:08.100 ball was snapped, I don't know if I've ever heard 0:11:08.140 --> 0:11:09.740 that place any louder than that. I mean, it was, 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.300 it was, it was insane. Now, You can certainly argue 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:15.880 a timeout there might have been a good call because 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:21.700 the Packers were completely discombobulated. But that aside, it was 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.200 an incredibly difficult environment in which to operate, and the 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:29.110 Packers brought that on themselves because they let the Vikings 0:11:29.140 --> 0:11:34.090 get the momentum. The other thing I want to say 0:11:34.170 --> 0:11:37.870 with regard to when the game started to go the 0:11:37.910 --> 0:11:42.270 wrong direction Everything in this game ties together, right? There 0:11:42.330 --> 0:11:46.000 isn't anything that happens in a vacuum. Matt LaFleur, to 0:11:46.050 --> 0:11:48.440 explain his decision to take the points off the board 0:11:48.460 --> 0:11:50.340 and go for it on the fourth and one, and 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:54.340 he reiterated his rationale again on Monday, he was focused 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:58.750 on trying to make it a two-score game. Well, if 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.870 Trey Smack doesn't miss an extra point in the first half, 0:12:02.690 --> 0:12:05.390 then the three points in the fourth quarter puts the 0:12:05.429 --> 0:12:08.290 Packers up nine, and it is a two-score game. And 0:12:08.429 --> 0:12:10.949 Matt LaFleur probably does not take the points off the 0:12:10.990 --> 0:12:13.190 board and go for it on fourth and one because 0:12:13.210 --> 0:12:16.200 he wanted to be up by two scores. So again, 0:12:16.250 --> 0:12:20.280 it's all those little things. You mentioned the total yards 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.160 the Vikings ended up with. Not an impressive day offensively, 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.000 but how did they start to get back into the game? 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.330 Because a Packers special teams unit that had put a 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:31.910 good kickoff return from Bo Melton on the board to 0:12:31.990 --> 0:12:35.510 help the Packers get some points gave up a long 0:12:35.550 --> 0:12:37.869 kickoff return the other way, and Minnesota only had to 0:12:37.910 --> 0:12:41.580 go 28 yards to after the long kickoff return to 0:12:41.620 --> 0:12:44.120 go from 22 to 10 to 22 to 17. That 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.620 was where the comeback started. It was, it was on 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.660 the long kickoff return. So it's, it's all of the, 0:12:49.780 --> 0:12:52.130 it's all these things. I thought when you look at 0:12:52.170 --> 0:12:55.829 the explosive plays on offense, you look at, you look 0:12:55.850 --> 0:13:00.450 at what Edger and Cooper particularly, and quite frankly, most 0:13:00.490 --> 0:13:02.689 of the defensive front for Green Bay, what they were 0:13:02.730 --> 0:13:06.850 doing defensively against Carson Wentz and against Kyler Murray before 0:13:06.890 --> 0:13:09.520 he left the game with the concussion. you look at 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.880 Melton's kickoff return and smacks long field goal. I mean, 0:13:13.420 --> 0:13:16.160 there was some really good stuff. The Packers did in 0:13:16.300 --> 0:13:19.350 all three phases in this game, but then there were 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:24.530 also things that went wrong. Things weren't sustained things that 0:13:24.590 --> 0:13:28.170 went wrong. And unfortunately for the Packers, what's, what's been 0:13:28.190 --> 0:13:29.990 the case and what's been the narrative is the things 0:13:30.030 --> 0:13:33.819 go wrong at the wrong time in the game. And, uh, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.990 and then the game gets away. And so it's, uh, extremely, 0:13:38.210 --> 0:13:42.309 extremely frustrating in that regard. And, um, I'm going to 0:13:42.330 --> 0:13:44.330 turn it back to you right now because I want 0:13:44.370 --> 0:13:46.250 to get to another topic in a minute, but I 0:13:46.290 --> 0:13:47.970 want you to be able to say something before the break. 0:13:48.010 --> 0:13:49.750 Yeah. I just want to throw in there too, because 0:13:49.809 --> 0:13:52.620 the kickoffs, let's just touch on that really quick. The 0:13:52.650 --> 0:13:55.699 miles press thing can happen. I mean, just again, absolutely 0:13:55.740 --> 0:13:59.459 atrocious officiating for four quarters. Another instance there where there's 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:02.180 probably two or three holding penalties on that play. But 0:14:02.250 --> 0:14:04.689 what was the difference, Mike? The fact that the Vikings 0:14:04.870 --> 0:14:07.250 did punch that in for a touchdown. Right. Bo Melton 0:14:07.490 --> 0:14:09.910 cranks that 59-yard or 58-yard or whatever it was in 0:14:09.929 --> 0:14:12.470 the first half. Packers have to settle for a 43-yard 0:14:12.490 --> 0:14:12.810 field goal. 0:14:12.830 --> 0:14:13.449 Field goal, right. 0:14:13.470 --> 0:14:15.930 Again, not getting it done in the red area is 0:14:15.970 --> 0:14:18.770 what's ultimately going to end up happening. At the time 0:14:18.790 --> 0:14:21.109 in which we're doing this, we haven't talked to Cam Acord. 0:14:21.190 --> 0:14:23.150 I don't know how he's going to handle that. I mean, 0:14:23.170 --> 0:14:26.470 I've watched that return from Price four or five times now. 0:14:27.170 --> 0:14:29.190 I don't know what the coaching point is there other 0:14:29.230 --> 0:14:32.290 than they lost containment on the right wing, the outside wing, 0:14:32.310 --> 0:14:34.430 but that's not even where he brought it. He brought 0:14:34.470 --> 0:14:36.430 it up through the gap and he got two guys 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.880 with their, with their hands on the outside shoulder of, 0:14:40.180 --> 0:14:42.640 I mean, the Christian Welch one is just an abomination. 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.460 I mean, Welch is literally being turned a different direction, 0:14:46.140 --> 0:14:48.880 but again, at Hocula's kid wasn't interested in calling it. Yeah. 0:14:50.140 --> 0:14:52.360 We do need to pay some bills. So I'm going 0:14:52.380 --> 0:14:54.180 to take a quick break so we can hear a 0:14:54.260 --> 0:14:59.090 word from our sponsors. Sirius XM NFL Radio delivers hard-hitting 0:14:59.130 --> 0:15:06.190 analysis and up-to-the-minute NFL news that true football fanatics need 24-7, 365. 0:15:06.190 --> 0:15:08.240 Did you know Lambeau Field is just one of our 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:12.780 state's many wonders? Start making unforgettable memories on your next vacation. 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:18.380 Discover the Apostle Islands and more at TravelWisconsin.com slash wonders. 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:22.870 Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. All right, Wes, I didn't 0:15:22.890 --> 0:15:24.610 really want to go there, but I'm going to go there. 0:15:25.750 --> 0:15:31.450 Because I took a look at the Vikings go-ahead touchdown 0:15:31.470 --> 0:15:39.560 drive with the three penalties on third down. What bothered 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:42.800 me the most, as I noted in Insider Inbox and 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:47.290 you've repeated in certain platforms, is that there wasn't a 0:15:47.350 --> 0:15:52.450 single illegal contact, defensive holding, or roughing the passer and passing. 0:15:52.710 --> 0:15:54.530 Take a look at some of those hits on Jordan Love, 0:15:54.710 --> 0:15:56.630 as many of the fans in the live blog, the 0:15:56.670 --> 0:15:58.430 live chat were saying to me as the game was 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:03.960 going on. Not a single one of those three infractions 0:16:04.260 --> 0:16:07.380 called throughout the game, and then all three of them 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.040 get called on the same drive, all on third down 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:15.590 against Green Bay. I went back and looked at them. Surprisingly, 0:16:15.930 --> 0:16:19.570 I'll start by saying this, surprisingly, The defensive holding on 0:16:19.630 --> 0:16:22.230 McKinney is the one I understood the most when you 0:16:22.290 --> 0:16:25.530 looked at the video. Unfortunately for McKinney, he puts his 0:16:25.570 --> 0:16:29.170 hands on the tight end and one of his teammates 0:16:29.270 --> 0:16:33.100 who's chasing somebody else running a route essentially trips McKinney 0:16:33.260 --> 0:16:36.300 from behind. And so then as McKinney is falling to 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.120 the ground, he's kind of dragging the tight end down 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.100 to the ground with him, which is not a bad 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:43.220 move because otherwise the guy's going to be wide open 0:16:43.260 --> 0:16:46.640 for a touchdown. The official standing back by the goalpost 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.930 like sees it, throws the flag Before Carson Wentz throws 0:16:49.990 --> 0:16:51.970 the pass. So I get that one. 0:16:52.050 --> 0:16:54.370 Same official, by the way, that missed the contact on 0:16:54.430 --> 0:16:56.070 Matthew Golden in the back of the end zone earlier 0:16:56.090 --> 0:16:57.210 in the game. Yeah, yeah. 0:16:58.130 --> 0:17:02.870 But I get that one. But the other two, the 0:17:02.930 --> 0:17:05.390 one that bothered me the most was the illegal contact 0:17:05.470 --> 0:17:09.340 on Javon Bullard. And this is the larger problem to 0:17:09.380 --> 0:17:13.080 me with NFL officiating is that when you look at 0:17:13.140 --> 0:17:17.960 that play, yes, Javon Bullard made contact with the receiver downfield. 0:17:18.730 --> 0:17:22.430 When he made contact with the receiver downfield, Carson Wentz 0:17:22.470 --> 0:17:26.649 was already turtling up to take the sack in the pocket. 0:17:26.690 --> 0:17:30.670 He was going down to avoid the hit. That contact 0:17:30.710 --> 0:17:35.780 with the receiver had zero material impact on the play whatsoever. 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:41.820 But in NFL officiating, these guys are graded and evaluated 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.840 by you have to call what you see. There's no discretion. 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.430 There's no judgment in terms of the impact on the play. 0:17:50.030 --> 0:17:53.090 So the guy who's standing and he's standing 30 yards 0:17:53.150 --> 0:17:55.889 behind Javon Bullard, but he just sees that contact and 0:17:55.910 --> 0:17:58.830 he throws the flag when the contact is occurring while 0:17:58.850 --> 0:18:05.169 the quarterback is getting sacked. So it's a completely ridiculous call. 0:18:06.369 --> 0:18:09.270 But if this is how the league is going to 0:18:09.310 --> 0:18:13.730 evaluate its officials... then, and not allow them to use 0:18:14.150 --> 0:18:16.710 judgment and discretion in terms of how, in terms of 0:18:16.750 --> 0:18:19.910 how something actually impacts the play, if they just only 0:18:19.970 --> 0:18:23.070 call things by the letter of the law, well, then this, 0:18:23.150 --> 0:18:26.320 this is, this is what you get. And I will 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:31.810 add without that element of judgment or discretion. Or I 0:18:31.850 --> 0:18:35.470 should say, there are some officials who use that. And 0:18:35.490 --> 0:18:37.649 there are some who don't. And that is why the 0:18:37.890 --> 0:18:45.399 officiating in this league is wildly inconsistent. And that's a 0:18:45.420 --> 0:18:47.520 problem that's not going away. The roughing the passer on 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.340 Chris McClellan, I think it's a tough break for the rookie. 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.860 I see why it was called, but I also thought 0:18:53.900 --> 0:18:56.780 McClellan was in a tough spot and he was trying 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.800 to do what he could not to do the body 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.740 weight thing on the quarterback. And I thought, I thought 0:19:02.780 --> 0:19:05.310 roughing the passer was supposedly going to be part of 0:19:05.380 --> 0:19:06.550 replay reviews this year. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:07.660 Nothing. 0:19:07.970 --> 0:19:11.070 But nobody looked at it. Nobody saw that McClellan was 0:19:11.150 --> 0:19:13.649 trying not to land on him to then wipe out 0:19:13.710 --> 0:19:16.540 the penalty. They just took Sean Hockley's word for it, 0:19:16.890 --> 0:19:20.230 and the Vikings got another fresh set of downs. Okay, 0:19:20.609 --> 0:19:22.669 I'm done. No. I'll turn it over to you. 0:19:22.790 --> 0:19:24.590 I'm glad you did it because I think I've calmed 0:19:24.630 --> 0:19:29.200 down over the last two days in real time. Incredibly frustrating. 0:19:29.380 --> 0:19:31.460 And the main reason why is like, I mean, people 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.659 can be like, oh, you're wearing a Packers shirt and 0:19:34.700 --> 0:19:36.860 this is your team and you're rooting for your team. 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.480 And it's actually not above that. For me, it's about 0:19:40.510 --> 0:19:42.609 the fact that I feel like officiating, and you've heard 0:19:42.630 --> 0:19:44.430 me talk about it for the last 10 years now, 0:19:44.910 --> 0:19:48.149 since Dean Blandino left the league office has been on 0:19:48.190 --> 0:19:50.600 a down road slope and it has not stopped. if 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:55.190 anything it's gained momentum and it is affecting the enjoyment 0:19:55.210 --> 0:19:58.130 of watching the game because it's becoming an officials game 0:19:58.810 --> 0:20:01.340 Whereas I thought at one point it was more about 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.980 letting them play, seeing what happens. But now we are 0:20:05.100 --> 0:20:09.240 so in this weird gray area between player safety and 0:20:09.500 --> 0:20:11.869 still trying to have contact and they can't figure out 0:20:11.900 --> 0:20:14.950 how they want to do it. Me personally, the only 0:20:14.990 --> 0:20:17.010 way I feel like you can officiate the National Football League, 0:20:17.030 --> 0:20:20.109 I've reiterated this since the 2020 NFC title game, is 0:20:20.609 --> 0:20:22.710 you establish in the first half how the game is 0:20:22.750 --> 0:20:24.980 going to be played. And then that's how the game 0:20:25.020 --> 0:20:27.650 is played in the second half. Where I was really 0:20:27.690 --> 0:20:31.100 struggling with what Ed Hockley's son did was, to your point, 0:20:31.850 --> 0:20:36.370 everything switched. The emphasis changed. The quarterback hits in the 0:20:36.430 --> 0:20:40.170