Speaker 1: Yeah, Hi everyone. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my partner in crime,
Speaker 1: West hod Kuitz. Were coming to you here from our
Speaker 1: studios at lambeau Field West. It is Friday, our final
Speaker 1: show of the week and that means Keys to Victory
Speaker 1: Day Packers Chargers Sunday out in Los Angeles. Where do
Speaker 1: you start with this one? What will it take for
Speaker 1: the Packers to come back to green Bay eight and one?
Speaker 1: Taking care of business? That's been my mentality this entire week,
Speaker 1: I think for this team and where this all shuffles
Speaker 1: out for them, they have done so many different things
Speaker 1: well situationally that certainly you need those things to line
Speaker 1: up again if this ends up being a close ball game,
Speaker 1: is I still anticipate it will be. I do too.
Speaker 1: But the thing about green Bay that separated them from being,
Speaker 1: you know, at this point of the season, you know,
Speaker 1: sitting where they are, and then the Chargers being in
Speaker 1: the position they are with five losses already, is that
Speaker 1: Packers have executed so much better with the situational things,
Speaker 1: whether it's the four minute offense to close out games,
Speaker 1: whether it's their fifteen, you know, first scripted place to
Speaker 1: start games, third down Situationally, they've been excellent this year.
Speaker 1: It's been an area that's plagued them in the past.
Speaker 1: The biggest key I think for Green Bay is going
Speaker 1: to be if you can have enough stitch enough of
Speaker 1: those things together. And then, by the way, if you
Speaker 1: get Davante Adams back, the element that that offers to this,
Speaker 1: you know, and to this offense and a challenge to
Speaker 1: the Chargers defense, I think really could be a thing
Speaker 1: that tips the scales. Yeah, I think the Packers, for
Speaker 1: all the talk about how it's going to be a
Speaker 1: pro Packers crowd and you know, won't really be like
Speaker 1: a true road game and all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: I think the Packers have to be ready for another
Speaker 1: one of those punches in the mouth they got from
Speaker 1: Kansas City last week. Because this is a Chargers team.
Speaker 1: They were two and five, they were on they were
Speaker 1: on the brink. If Eddie Pineiro's kick goes through at
Speaker 1: Soldier Field last week, the Chargers season almost for all
Speaker 1: intents and purposes, is over at two and six at
Speaker 1: a halfway point. They got a reprieve. They know it,
Speaker 1: and this is a this is a good team that
Speaker 1: made a really strong second half run last year. I
Speaker 1: expect them to give the Packers absolutely everything they can
Speaker 1: handle because they're still in this thing, and they know
Speaker 1: if they get to four and five with seven games
Speaker 1: to go, as up and down as a lot of
Speaker 1: teams are in the a f C right now, aside
Speaker 1: from the New England Patriots, I think the Chargers are
Speaker 1: gonna feel like they're right in and and uh in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. The Packers have to do what
Speaker 1: they did last week against Kansas City, which is when
Speaker 1: that momentum starts to turn the other way, because I
Speaker 1: think there's going to be a stretch in this game
Speaker 1: when it will. The Packers need to limit the damage.
Speaker 1: And I thought last week stopping that Kansas City drive
Speaker 1: right at the end of the first half and making
Speaker 1: them kick a field goal so it was only seventeen
Speaker 1: fourteen at halftime instead of twenty one to fourteen after
Speaker 1: the Packers were up fourteen nothing earlier, I thought that
Speaker 1: was starting to turn things back in the other direction.
Speaker 1: And the Packers are going to need a couple of
Speaker 1: moments like that, I think in this game on Sunday
Speaker 1: to withstand or at least limit a surge from the Chargers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Charges are the most dangerous type of three and
Speaker 1: five team that you're going to face because they can
Speaker 1: basically play to anybody's level. And you've seen that. You know,
Speaker 1: they can obviously play down to the competition, but they
Speaker 1: can play up to it as well. And you know,
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers has been through so many of these things
Speaker 1: over the years. The thing that does stand out to me, though, Mike,
Speaker 1: if you look at it, the games in which Rivers
Speaker 1: has turned over the football have been mostly the games
Speaker 1: where the Chargers have not prevailed. That game against Detroit
Speaker 1: seventy three passer rating, they lose thirteen to ten. The
Speaker 1: loss to Denver, which was a demoralizing one thirteen a
Speaker 1: fifty eight point six passer rating. To intercept is in
Speaker 1: that ball game Pittsburgh the following week two more interception eight.
Speaker 1: When he's been on, they've had a chance. When he's
Speaker 1: been off, it's it's hurt them. But with Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: playing the way he does in the structure of this
Speaker 1: offense is that he can still go off at any time.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Insider in box. I look at him and
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen is one of the top quarterback receiver combos
Speaker 1: in this league right now. And for that reason is
Speaker 1: why I think, yeah, if there's going to be some series,
Speaker 1: if there's going to be some drives that they end
Speaker 1: up you know, putting together, you know, lengthy eight nine plays,
Speaker 1: they move the ball, you have to be able to
Speaker 1: stay stout in the red zone. And the Packers have
Speaker 1: been terrific in that way this season. So there there's
Speaker 1: gonna be those adverse moments. And even if it is
Speaker 1: a pro Packers crowd inside you know, the stadium, thirty
Speaker 1: thousand seats or whatever, most of it on top of
Speaker 1: the field, you still have to be ready to rally.
Speaker 1: You still have to be ready to cut it out.
Speaker 1: And I think one thing that the seven and one
Speaker 1: start has taught the Packers and Ron Williams was discussing
Speaker 1: in the locker room this week, is when you find
Speaker 1: ways to win like this and you keep you know,
Speaker 1: getting those ws in your your win column, that's what's
Speaker 1: going to propel you into the second half of a
Speaker 1: season because you've been there before many times. And then
Speaker 1: so yeah, I I agree with you entirely, because as
Speaker 1: we talked about at the beginning, of the week. There's
Speaker 1: a narrative with this Chargers team in twenty nineteen and
Speaker 1: one with this Packers team in twenty nineteen, and a
Speaker 1: lot of it comes down to executing being the better
Speaker 1: team in the fourth quarter, and the Chargers for the
Speaker 1: most part have not been and that is why they
Speaker 1: are three and five, and they very easily could be
Speaker 1: two and six. As I said, if that, you know,
Speaker 1: they gave up the drive that set up the field goal.
Speaker 1: They weren't getting it done when they needed to in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, but they caught a break. The Packers
Speaker 1: for the most part have been the better team in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter this year and that's why they're seven
Speaker 1: and one. So as far as with green Bay, that
Speaker 1: being who you are, you want to continue to be
Speaker 1: that team. But it's funny to me, is somebody in
Speaker 1: inbox this week brought up He's like, well, Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: has never won against the Packers, which technically is true.
Speaker 1: He's owing three against Green Bay, but he's put up
Speaker 1: a lot of yards against green Bay. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think about that game. I think in two thousand
Speaker 1: fifteen that they played here at lambeau Field. I want
Speaker 1: to say he threw for was it four or eight
Speaker 1: yards or something insane? It was it was over four hundred.
Speaker 1: I know that he was throwing the ball all over
Speaker 1: the place. And the game out in San Diego in
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, the Packers have built a big lead
Speaker 1: and the Chargers were coming back. It turned out to
Speaker 1: kind of be a shootout, going back and forth, and
Speaker 1: um the Chargers lost the game but still put up
Speaker 1: thirty four points and Rivers had some big numbers that
Speaker 1: day as well. Yeah. I mean, he's averaging three yards
Speaker 1: per game against Green Bay through the air in those
Speaker 1: three games. So you can't just look at the wins
Speaker 1: and losses and be like, Okay, well this is just
Speaker 1: gonna be an easy cake walk. He's going to present challenges.
Speaker 1: But the point I want to get to at the
Speaker 1: end of all this is that the takeaways can be
Speaker 1: the difference maker, that can be the common denominator when
Speaker 1: when you're looking for a path to victory against l
Speaker 1: A and and there's just they've given the ball away
Speaker 1: too much and then they just haven't been able to
Speaker 1: take it away the way they have in the past
Speaker 1: few seasons. So if the Packers can win that area,
Speaker 1: which I want to say, in what six of their
Speaker 1: eight games so far they have that that is going
Speaker 1: to be a big path here for the Packers to proceed. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: a couple of stats and info nuggets here for you,
Speaker 1: wes Um. I actually looked this up just before we
Speaker 1: came into the studio. Philip Rivers will be the first
Speaker 1: a f C quarterback to face Aaron Rodgers three times
Speaker 1: with the same team. Yeah, it's never happened before, partly
Speaker 1: because of Rogers injuries where he's missed games with Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: because you know, because of injuries. He did face Flacco
Speaker 1: for a third time this past year, but that was
Speaker 1: once with Denver as opposed to the first two with Baltimore.
Speaker 1: So that's just kind of interesting because because of the
Speaker 1: once every four years thing that here Rogers and Rivers
Speaker 1: are facing off with the same teams for the third time.
Speaker 1: The other thing is, do you know how far how
Speaker 1: far back you have to go to find a Packers
Speaker 1: game that was played in front of a crowd of
Speaker 1: roughly thirty thousand people? I must you're pretty close. There
Speaker 1: was one in the I remember there was one in
Speaker 1: the eighties or nineties. There were actually a couple of
Speaker 1: games that year. One was that the Pontiac Silver Dome
Speaker 1: in Detroit, where the announced attendants was like twenty nine
Speaker 1: thousand people. It's a good year for the Lions. But anyway,
Speaker 1: just kind of an interesting. Yeah, there were there were
Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember now. I I apologize for not
Speaker 1: writing it down. I think it was against Atlanta. Was
Speaker 1: the other one that where the the announced crowd was
Speaker 1: like thousand something That just like a post like player
Speaker 1: lockout kind of lull that really, I don't know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was, it was odd. The numbers there were odd.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you, though, with regard to crowd size,
Speaker 1: what do you make of what we're expecting to see
Speaker 1: in terms of this invasion of the Packers fans, Because
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's going to be a really
Speaker 1: really unique atmosphere to have potentially a pro Packers crowd
Speaker 1: that's not at lambeau Field. I find that really intriguing
Speaker 1: and I'm really anxious to see what that's going to
Speaker 1: be like. But as far as the impact on the game,
Speaker 1: one of the points I made in Insider in Boxes
Speaker 1: that the Chargers know what this is like because earlier
Speaker 1: this year they played a primetime game in that stadium
Speaker 1: against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that traveling contingent of Pittsburgh fans.
Speaker 1: They took over the place and they made it a
Speaker 1: home game for Pittsburgh. So from the whole atmosphere and
Speaker 1: and dealing with that type of crowd situation in your
Speaker 1: own stadium, so to speak, the Charges have dealt with
Speaker 1: this before, So from that standpoint, it's not there's not
Speaker 1: going to be some sort of a shelf shock or
Speaker 1: a shock to the system. And in that respect, yeah,
Speaker 1: So if I had my druthers here, I'd rather be
Speaker 1: in London this week. I wish that that would have
Speaker 1: been where the game is going to be playing, so
Speaker 1: all this snow falling outside we wouldn't have to deal
Speaker 1: with until we get back. No, But okay, so that's
Speaker 1: first and foremost. I still think, I mean, and they
Speaker 1: should have played this game in London. I actually even
Speaker 1: I said this on the yesterday show for the Charger's sake,
Speaker 1: I think would have benefited them to have it in London.
Speaker 1: I was pegging this game to be the one in London,
Speaker 1: going back to like ten, like per Packers at Chargers
Speaker 1: in nineteen that's got to be the game that's going
Speaker 1: to London. We're going to l A, going to l
Speaker 1: A instead. But uh, that little mini Lambeau that's gonna
Speaker 1: be over there is going to be something to be
Speaker 1: a part of. Because here's the thing. Thirty thousand seats
Speaker 1: for football I think twenty seven thousand for soccer being
Speaker 1: in Winnipeg this year, even though it didn't fill up,
Speaker 1: that was a thirty three thousand seat stadium, So it
Speaker 1: gives you sort of a little bit of a field.
Speaker 1: I don't know where the press boxes. We could be
Speaker 1: behind the outhouse for all I know. But as far
Speaker 1: as the feeling of the stadium, I've envisioning it in
Speaker 1: my mind much like Winnipeg, and if that plays out,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a really cool environment. To answer your
Speaker 1: original question, I think it gonna be really fun to
Speaker 1: be a part of because it's so intimate and in
Speaker 1: this day and age, and you look at college football
Speaker 1: hundred thousand seeds stadiums, the NFL seven eight seed stadiums,
Speaker 1: Jerry World or whatever it was for that game, you
Speaker 1: very rarely get an opportunity to play in this kind
Speaker 1: of environment. So I think, let me put it this
Speaker 1: way too. The people that are forking over that cash,
Speaker 1: whether it was straightaway at the ticket office or on
Speaker 1: the secondary market, You've got to be a pretty big
Speaker 1: fan to be able to wanting to pay that kind
Speaker 1: of you know, premium. So I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be an awesome environment to be a part of. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to it too, I think, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: this will be the only the only time the Packers
Speaker 1: in their hundred one year history and moving forward will
Speaker 1: play a game in this particular stadium because the next
Speaker 1: time the Packers are going to play the Chargers on
Speaker 1: the road, obviously it'll be well after the new stadium
Speaker 1: in l A has built, the one that the Rams
Speaker 1: and the Chargers are going to share eventually, So this
Speaker 1: is eventually, supposedly allegedly. But yeah, I think it's going
Speaker 1: to be I think it's going to be fun. I
Speaker 1: do want to take a look at what else is
Speaker 1: going on in Week nine in the NFL though. Before
Speaker 1: we signed off for the week, we saw hack of
Speaker 1: a ballgame last night on Thursday Night Football. Look like
Speaker 1: the forty Niners were in command. They had a two
Speaker 1: score lead with about five minutes to go, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden boom and eighty eight yard touchdown pass, and
Speaker 1: the Cardinals had a couple of really really big chances
Speaker 1: to get the ball back down the stretch. A third
Speaker 1: and eleven they gave it up, a third and nine
Speaker 1: they gave it up, And the forty Niners were able
Speaker 1: to kill those last five minutes without giving the ball
Speaker 1: back to the Cardinals with just a three point deficits.
Speaker 1: So this is what's remarkable about what the Cardinals did.
Speaker 1: And everybody wants to talk about Cliff Kingsbury in their offense. Defensively,
Speaker 1: they were pretty much the first team to solve the
Speaker 1: San Francisco run game puzzle. Now, certainly it's a little
Speaker 1: bit easier without use check in there, but it's still dynamic.
Speaker 1: Just asked my fantasy football team that had to play
Speaker 1: Tevin Coleman last week when he off for all those touchdowns.
Speaker 1: In this game, Tevin Coleman three carries, twelve carries for
Speaker 1: twenty three yards. Matthew Brita also struggling to get going.
Speaker 1: But this is where the forty Niners really can be dangerous.
Speaker 1: I asked that question I think last week about Okay,
Speaker 1: can the forty Niners win when they can't run. Now,
Speaker 1: they weren't playing from behind per se in this game,
Speaker 1: but when they needed Jimmy Garoppolo to be the quarterback,
Speaker 1: to be the leader, to be there, the centerpiece of
Speaker 1: that offense, he came through. And as we were walking
Speaker 1: in here, I believe it was Matthew Arvin, our valued producer,
Speaker 1: who mentioned eighteen and two now for Garoppolo as a
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. I think that just saw that. You saw
Speaker 1: the standard in there. I thought the Cardinals played a
Speaker 1: tremendous football game. I think the San Francisco forty Niners
Speaker 1: are a tremendous team. And when that team stays together
Speaker 1: and doesn't turn over the football, even if you don't
Speaker 1: have the best aspect of your offense, you're still going
Speaker 1: to find a way to victory. Yeah. Well, the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners are eight. No, they remain the only
Speaker 1: undefeated team in the NFC to this point. Looking at
Speaker 1: the NFC North, interestingly, as we had talked about last week,
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings now head to Arrowhead Stadium and to
Speaker 1: play the Kansas City Chiefs one week after the Packers did.
Speaker 1: I think this is going to be a really interesting matchup.
Speaker 1: I will admit I haven't been paying attention to any
Speaker 1: of the talk of whether Mahomes is going to come
Speaker 1: back this week or if they're still sticking with Matt Moore.
Speaker 1: Have you heard anything what the Chiefs are doing. What
Speaker 1: is funny about this is that it's your last week.
Speaker 1: Packer fans are all like, and I've seen an inbox
Speaker 1: a little bit. I've seen it definitely on Twitter. Packer
Speaker 1: fans are like, how could you ever consider playing Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes on nine days after this injury? And then all
Speaker 1: week this week it's been why isn't a full participant,
Speaker 1: Come on, get out there and play. Shoot, I'm out there. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's still limited and at the time in which we're
Speaker 1: taping this, we still don't have an update. The reports
Speaker 1: have been that they're looking more at the Titans game
Speaker 1: as far as when he's going to be back. But
Speaker 1: but it's which is kind of what the original projection was,
Speaker 1: you know. Anyway, So yeah, I'm sure there's a lot
Speaker 1: of Packer fans. I want to see Patrick Mahomes, But
Speaker 1: as my brother in law made me wear last week,
Speaker 1: I mean, Matt Moore. If there's any silver lining to
Speaker 1: what Kansas City did against Green Bay's defenses that Matt
Speaker 1: Moore looked fine, looked like he can handle this thing.
Speaker 1: We'll see what the Minnesota Vikings are able to come
Speaker 1: up with. But the big challenge I think for Minnesota
Speaker 1: in this game is they have a lot of experience.
Speaker 1: How does that match up with Kansas City speed because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of it in this whole week is
Speaker 1: very interesting because you were just talking about why this
Speaker 1: game matters so much for green for you know, almost
Speaker 1: at San Diego the Chargers on Sunday. I've been struggling
Speaker 1: with that all week by because if you win in
Speaker 1: Minnesota beats Kansas City, if if Oakland you know, comes through,
Speaker 1: or you know, if Goldland gets beat by Detroit, however
Speaker 1: this puzzle shuffles out, the Charges could be right back
Speaker 1: in this race. So for Kansas City, there's an urgency
Speaker 1: there because it's like you want to be able to
Speaker 1: main tame this lead over. I think what a lot
Speaker 1: of people expected going into the season to be relative,
Speaker 1: you know, a bottom feeder in Oakland with all the
Speaker 1: stuff they had going on there in a team in
Speaker 1: Kansas City that you kind of had their numbers. So
Speaker 1: this is a very important week for the NFC North
Speaker 1: and for that a f C West in which teams
Speaker 1: could prevail and in what the byproduct and meaning of
Speaker 1: those games could be. Yeah, well you mentioned Oakland is
Speaker 1: taking on the Detroit Lions. The Chicago Bears talk about
Speaker 1: heading into a gut check type of game. Here they
Speaker 1: go to Philadelphia. The Eagles coming off of a big
Speaker 1: win on the road at Buffalo, a Buffalo team that
Speaker 1: had only lost one game until last week. The Eagles
Speaker 1: get themselves back to five hundred at the midway point
Speaker 1: at four and four, they're playing at home, and again
Speaker 1: I'm sure the Eagles are looking at that win over
Speaker 1: Buffalo as this is our takeoff moment. This is where
Speaker 1: we start to go. And the Bears are up against it.
Speaker 1: Here there are three and four. They see where the
Speaker 1: Vikings are, they see where the Packers are, and the
Speaker 1: Bears are trying to get to that even four and
Speaker 1: for that level spot halfway through their season to see
Speaker 1: where it goes. This is what I love about. Uh,
Speaker 1: the f C East right now. Um Philadelphia, who just
Speaker 1: everything's been going wrong for them. Uh, they go up
Speaker 1: against Buffalo and basically take it to the Bills. For
Speaker 1: the most part. It kind of reminded me like when
Speaker 1: you get like those middling sort of SEC teams and
Speaker 1: they have to take on like I don't know, one
Speaker 1: of the Top and the Sun Belt or something like that,
Speaker 1: and they just they just take it to them. They
Speaker 1: get their victory. I think Philadelphia reminded everybody, even though
Speaker 1: they've been very up and down, and they got it.
Speaker 1: If they're gonna make a playoff run here, they have
Speaker 1: to be able to find some kind of winning streak.
Speaker 1: They can't be, you know, matching win for loss. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not going to make the playoffs in the NFC
Speaker 1: at nine and seven. I just don't see that happening
Speaker 1: the way things are going right now. Yeah. So, I
Speaker 1: mean this is a huge game for them. I mean,
Speaker 1: with where Chicago season is headed, the issues that they're
Speaker 1: having um, and I think the way that Philadelphia defends
Speaker 1: the run. Even though David Montgomery had that big game
Speaker 1: last week, I look at this as a matchup that
Speaker 1: Philadelphia should win, and they really definitely need to win
Speaker 1: if they're going to actually keep themselves in the conversation,
Speaker 1: you're not only just for playoff spots or being in
Speaker 1: the lead of the division or any of those kind
Speaker 1: of things, just to show that, okay, we're still a
Speaker 1: championship type contender here we weren't, you know, sort of
Speaker 1: that that spark, that that flash in the pan that
Speaker 1: we can actually be a team that rises above. And
Speaker 1: for Chicago, I mean, this is the ultimate gut check
Speaker 1: because that, by by all accounts, was there. That's the
Speaker 1: most demoralizing loss of their season so far. Now you've
Speaker 1: got to go into you know, Lincoln Financial and try
Speaker 1: to you know, turn the course of your season. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a rematch of the NFC wild Card game from
Speaker 1: a year ago in the other stadium, and it's just
Speaker 1: interesting that obviously with the miss by Cody Parkey at
Speaker 1: the end of that game, and now the Bears are
Speaker 1: going into this playoff rematch with their new kicker having
Speaker 1: just missed a field goal on the last play of
Speaker 1: the game the week before. So a lot to try
Speaker 1: to sort out there. Anything else on the Week nine
Speaker 1: slate you think is worth mentioning right now? I mean,
Speaker 1: there's just a total barn burner going on in Miami
Speaker 1: between the Jets and the Dolphins in the Adam Gaze Bowl.
Speaker 1: Uh No, there's some great matchups here. Uh, there's this
Speaker 1: storyline now that's developing with the Jaguars where you know
Speaker 1: Nick Foles could potention to be back here soon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Gardner Minshew has been not only a really good quarterback,
Speaker 1: but as I was looking at one of the things
Speaker 1: that ESPN brought up, I mean, he's been one of
Speaker 1: the top rookies so far this season. You can make
Speaker 1: an argument he's had a better rookie season at this
Speaker 1: point than Kyler Murray. So they're gonna have to make
Speaker 1: a decision there, and they have a tough opponent coming
Speaker 1: in in the Houston Texans. But realistically, Mike, we've talked
Speaker 1: weekend and week out, We've written about it numerous times,
Speaker 1: the New England Patriots have not been tested. Well, now
Speaker 1: they get tested. They go into Baltimore, they take on
Speaker 1: that defense. First off, Tom Brady, who has been you know,
Speaker 1: ky Eve in this game manager sort of role. Now,
Speaker 1: can he get this offense moving and can that New
Speaker 1: England Patriots defense that has been so stout step up
Speaker 1: to the challenge of Lamar Jackson. We're probably not going
Speaker 1: to be able to watch this game. Unfortunately. I wish
Speaker 1: I could because I think it's going to be a
Speaker 1: really interesting contrast in football styles and seeing if the
Speaker 1: way that the Baltimore Ravens play right now, run heavy, athletic,
Speaker 1: solid special teams, a sneaky good defense, if that can
Speaker 1: match up with the very best in the FC right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people looking at that game Patriots
Speaker 1: against the Ravens as a potential preview of a of
Speaker 1: a January rematch between between those two teams down the roads.
Speaker 1: You can make a case, Mike, if you go back
Speaker 1: to last December, that there's no hotter team in football
Speaker 1: than the Baltimore Ravens, even though you know San Francisco
Speaker 1: has been on the run they've been on this season
Speaker 1: if you count that, I mean the Ravens had a
Speaker 1: run the table esque kind of run at the end
Speaker 1: of last season. They did, would the only interruption being
Speaker 1: that loss in overtime to Kansas City. If you partner
Speaker 1: that together with this way that they got off to
Speaker 1: this season, I mean you got to tip your captain
Speaker 1: John Harbob, because they they things weren't looking good there
Speaker 1: for a minute, but they got sort of this influx
Speaker 1: of momentum and swagger from that move to to Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson and here we are. I think they're one of
Speaker 1: those teams that when you're talking about just a regular
Speaker 1: seven day, one week preparation, they're a preparation challenge because
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson and the way that offense runs is just
Speaker 1: so different. It's so it's so non traditional for from
Speaker 1: what en NFL football is and and it is. It's
Speaker 1: it's going to be a great matchup because the Patriots
Speaker 1: statistically and what we've seen on the field, regardless of
Speaker 1: who their opponents have been, they've been uh an incredibly
Speaker 1: stout defense, very very difficult for anybody's score. And I
Speaker 1: would make an argument to Mike that the Baltimore Ravens,
Speaker 1: more than maybe any other team in the NFL right now,
Speaker 1: are as dangerous if they end up thing a buy
Speaker 1: if you give John Harbaugh that extra week to work
Speaker 1: with to prepare and then teams having to focus on
Speaker 1: a wild card opponent and then taking the Ravens, which
Speaker 1: is how different they are and how different they play.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that worked against them
Speaker 1: was working into that hole at the beginning of last season,
Speaker 1: having to make a run to get a wild card
Speaker 1: spot that ultimately is I think why their their car
Speaker 1: ran out of gas. But man, if they can be
Speaker 1: in position, I'm sure you're gonna have just might as well.
Speaker 1: Sharpie in you know, the Patriots for one of those
Speaker 1: two buys in the a f C. But the Ravens
Speaker 1: and then the where Kansas City's at right now, Ravens
Speaker 1: can make a real run at at being that number
Speaker 1: two seeds. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch.
Speaker 1: With that, we'll call out a wrap on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our
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Speaker 1: at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks
Speaker 1: for tuning in, everybody, See you next time. The