Speaker 1: Yeah, Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford sitting alongside my partner in crime,
Speaker 1: Wes hodkuwits were coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field and West. The Green Bay Packers are
Speaker 1: three and oh it's a pretty impressive start, it is,
Speaker 1: uh And you know, I was sitting around with some
Speaker 1: of our interns after the game last night, on a
Speaker 1: Hoosier among them, and talking with some people and on
Speaker 1: a Whosier who's actually a Buckeye because she went to
Speaker 1: a house state. Just to clarify, but we won't get
Speaker 1: into all that college affiliation, but there was we're all
Speaker 1: kind of congregated around that area, and the question was
Speaker 1: you know, kind of came up, like, you know, there's
Speaker 1: only a few of these teams that are left on
Speaker 1: defeated at this point. And you can also throw out
Speaker 1: the stats. I know you brought it up about a
Speaker 1: week or two ago. Matt Lafleur three and O as
Speaker 1: a head coach the rest of the first year. The
Speaker 1: first time head coaches in the league right now something
Speaker 1: like to eighteen and one, there's only two, only two
Speaker 1: other victories from first time head coaches so far through
Speaker 1: the first three weeks of the season. So what does
Speaker 1: that tell you? It tells you it's difficult to win
Speaker 1: in this league. So regardless of the ups and the downs,
Speaker 1: the highs and the lows, consistency and setbacks, the only
Speaker 1: thing that ultimately matters in the grand scheme of things
Speaker 1: is whether or not you won the game. The Packers
Speaker 1: have had some learning moments, they've had some dominant moments,
Speaker 1: and they're three and o to show for it. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: then to sixteen victory over the Denver Broncos Sunday at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field is what got the Packers to three and oh.
Speaker 1: And when you look at this game West, it is
Speaker 1: absolutely the classic, a number one grade, a example of
Speaker 1: what timely impact plays on defense due because defensively, the
Speaker 1: Packers gave up some long drives, some clock consuming drives.
Speaker 1: They couldn't get off the field on third down in
Speaker 1: some instances. But at the end of the day, the
Speaker 1: three turnovers, two of which led to touchdowns for the offense,
Speaker 1: the six sacks a few of those that stopped drives
Speaker 1: in their tracks. Timely impact plays on defense is the
Speaker 1: name of the game, and that's exactly what this Packers
Speaker 1: defense did to the Broncos. So you're right, they did
Speaker 1: give up too many yards. The running game through Denver
Speaker 1: was very impactful throughout the day. I mean, they didn't
Speaker 1: have that big break, but they were able to move
Speaker 1: the ball and they won short yard situations. But two
Speaker 1: things stood out to me with this one. They gave
Speaker 1: up green Bay did They gave up two explosive plays
Speaker 1: in this game. So what does that mean. It means
Speaker 1: that in the other cases, you mostly were making Denver
Speaker 1: work for their yards. So what happens when they work
Speaker 1: for the yards, it's more plays, which creates more opportunities
Speaker 1: for a takeaway. And when the defense got those opportunities,
Speaker 1: as have through the first two weeks of the season,
Speaker 1: they capitalized on them. That was the biggest telltale sign
Speaker 1: of this victory is they won three to nothing in
Speaker 1: the turnover battle. Offensively, they were able to again shut
Speaker 1: out Vaughan Miller Bradley Chubb in that pass rush. Third
Speaker 1: straight game without a sack, not an easy thing to do.
Speaker 1: Not a turnover Broncos defense either for the third straight game.
Speaker 1: So defensively, it allowed Green Bay to control the tempo
Speaker 1: from that, and so many guys stepped up. Preston Smith
Speaker 1: his second three sack game of his career, um tying
Speaker 1: a career highs and Darius Smith had two sacks, including
Speaker 1: the final one of the game, which is Smith was
Speaker 1: saying the locker room, I mean that could have basically
Speaker 1: been anybody, Kyler, Fakral, Kenny Clark. There are so many
Speaker 1: different guys that were involved in that play. And that's
Speaker 1: the exciting thing about this defense is there's just so
Speaker 1: many guys around the ball that are trying to get
Speaker 1: after this thing. Takeaways Galore Jr. Alexander strips the ball
Speaker 1: away from Noah Fan to tight end. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: never tell Jaire alex Inder that he's undersized. He'll prove
Speaker 1: you wrong every time. Darniell Savage gets his first career
Speaker 1: pick upon review, Rashawn Gary gets his first career sack.
Speaker 1: I just think when you're talking about total defensive performances,
Speaker 1: and in Preston Smith discussed this in the locker room,
Speaker 1: you're not talking about, okay, that the secondary stepped up,
Speaker 1: but the defensive line didn't play that well, or the
Speaker 1: linebackers were good, but the secondary wasn't where they need
Speaker 1: to be. They're playing complete eleven man football and it's
Speaker 1: along to win games like this. Yeah, for me, the
Speaker 1: timing of some of these plays was absolutely perfect for
Speaker 1: Packers in the game situation. And what was happening You
Speaker 1: mentioned Alexander's great strip um almost simultaneous strip and recovery
Speaker 1: of the ball from Noah Fan That's a completion to
Speaker 1: the rookie tight end from Iowa on a third down
Speaker 1: that is for a first down. He's across the marker,
Speaker 1: he has it. Alexander rips the ball away from him.
Speaker 1: You rewind the clock a little bit, the score is
Speaker 1: ten to ten. You're late in the second quarter. The
Speaker 1: Broncos have the ball. They've put together a couple of
Speaker 1: long clock consuming drives in the first half already, and
Speaker 1: Green Bay just had a three and out offensively right,
Speaker 1: and the Broncos at the end of the first half
Speaker 1: are looking to potentially take the lead, and they're getting
Speaker 1: the ball coming out of halftime. So it's a crucial
Speaker 1: point in the game. And what happens, strip sack of
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco in the pocket. Rashaan Gary falls on the ball. Actually,
Speaker 1: a Broncos offensive lineman had a great chance to recover
Speaker 1: that and save that for Denver, he wasn't able to.
Speaker 1: Preston Smith not only knocked the ball out of Flacco's hands,
Speaker 1: but kind of prevented that lineman from covering, and the
Speaker 1: ball still squirted out. Rashan Gary falls on on the
Speaker 1: five yard line. The Packers get a touchdown there before half,
Speaker 1: and then that possession coming out after halftime is when
Speaker 1: Alexander gets the strip and recovery the turnover there and
Speaker 1: the Packers end up getting another touchdown. So from that
Speaker 1: ten to ten point when you're looking at the Broncos
Speaker 1: maybe having the back to back possessions to establish something
Speaker 1: in and take the lead in the game, those possessions
Speaker 1: turned into a to ten lead for the Packers because
Speaker 1: of the two turnovers in the offense capitalizing. The timing
Speaker 1: of it, to me was astounded. Yeah, and just you
Speaker 1: know Green Bay gets that takeaway. The offense starts at
Speaker 1: the Denver five yard line. I mean, just an incredible
Speaker 1: situation to be asked. The Gyro Alexander play he runs,
Speaker 1: he ends up being brought called down. But then the
Speaker 1: next play right after that, Danny vidally twenty seven yards
Speaker 1: of the one yard line. Two plays later, Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: goes in for the touchdown fourteen points off turnovers in
Speaker 1: a eleven point victory. I mean that shows you how
Speaker 1: important those key moments are. And just to touch on
Speaker 1: really quickly with Preston Smith, because we lump him and
Speaker 1: Zadarius Smith together, and rightfully so. Their lockers are close together,
Speaker 1: they play the same position, they signed the same offseason,
Speaker 1: they have a history together, and certainly they're very friendly.
Speaker 1: Buddy buddy, But Preston Smith, I've been saying this, you
Speaker 1: can I'm not trying to pat myself on the back,
Speaker 1: but I've been saying this since the summer that so
Speaker 1: many eyeballs were on Zadarius Smith after the season he
Speaker 1: had in Baltimore and where the defense that he was
Speaker 1: coming from. Preston Smith was kind of the somewhat understated
Speaker 1: player that the Packers had signed. But I felt from
Speaker 1: the beginning this guy fit exactly what Mike Petton wanted
Speaker 1: to do defensively, and he talked a little bit about that.
Speaker 1: I also appreciate that it was very refreshing to hear
Speaker 1: him say when he's asked why he came to Green Bay,
Speaker 1: it was the best offer on the table. That's the
Speaker 1: starting point, right. It's like that for anybody in any
Speaker 1: walk of life. I don't care for a professional writers
Speaker 1: something else here. Yeah, but then he said, you know
Speaker 1: the way I was going to be used the conversations
Speaker 1: we had here, and he just feels like this defense
Speaker 1: is bringing out the best in his capabilities. Mike, he
Speaker 1: has four and a half sacks and three games. He
Speaker 1: had four sacks last year his career high as eight.
Speaker 1: And it isn't just the sacks. It's the fact that
Speaker 1: he has an interception. It's the fact that he has
Speaker 1: forced that fumble. He is finding ways to get after
Speaker 1: the quarterback and make plays whenever he's around the football.
Speaker 1: And for the Green Bay Ackers outside linebackers here to
Speaker 1: have seven and a half sacks from those two guys
Speaker 1: specifically at this point, yeah, oh my gosh, what a
Speaker 1: way to pace a defense. Yeah, no question about it.
Speaker 1: And I'll go back even to the timeliness factor. Even
Speaker 1: earlier in the game, the Packers start out with a
Speaker 1: touchdown on a free play. Marquis Valde scantling sprints down
Speaker 1: the field. Um von Miller, I believe it was jumped
Speaker 1: off sides for the Broncos forty yard touchdown, Packers around
Speaker 1: the board seven nothing. Broncos immediately sixty yard kickoff returned
Speaker 1: the other way. They are across midfield there in position
Speaker 1: to answer right away. Defense not only gets a three
Speaker 1: and out, but on the third down, Preston Smith gets
Speaker 1: the sack to thwart that drive and suddenly that sixty
Speaker 1: yard kickoff return is rendered null and void immediately by
Speaker 1: the defense never started at the green bay forty three
Speaker 1: on that series. I mean, they need ten yards to
Speaker 1: get in range for Brandon mcmennis for a field for
Speaker 1: a field goal, and they're there on the board. And
Speaker 1: then later in the first half, the Broncos put together
Speaker 1: a drive. The Packers maybe catch a little bit of
Speaker 1: a break when a holding penalty downfield on Emmanuel Sanders
Speaker 1: wipes out a touchdown run. Now Jr. Alexander was pretty
Speaker 1: animated on the field. That's something had happened there that
Speaker 1: he had gotten grabbed. So whether Alexander really was held
Speaker 1: that badly or just sold it to the officials, the
Speaker 1: Broncos had to work a little extra hard to get
Speaker 1: into the end zone. And then what happens on a
Speaker 1: third and short in the red zones and Darius Smith
Speaker 1: gets the sack and forces the field goal. So the timing,
Speaker 1: the timing of these plays, I mean, you know how
Speaker 1: it is West you get a sack on third down,
Speaker 1: it ends a series. You get a sack on first down,
Speaker 1: the defense still or the offense still has a chance
Speaker 1: to convert there. I mean, the timing of these plays
Speaker 1: is is um is really what's making the difference because
Speaker 1: there were some lapses on defense um in this game.
Speaker 1: I think, maybe even more lapses than we then we
Speaker 1: had seen, just in terms of the Broncos being able
Speaker 1: to basically convert about down. They were. They were efficient
Speaker 1: on third down, they had a ton of third and
Speaker 1: short because they're running game was working so well. But
Speaker 1: when you can make plays on defense at the right time, boy,
Speaker 1: it it not only makes a difference in the game,
Speaker 1: but it just it energizes the team. It fires up
Speaker 1: the sideline, it fires up everybody else. And uh, and
Speaker 1: that that was the difference in this ball game. Yea.
Speaker 1: And I want to just touch on as you were
Speaker 1: illustrating with Jaire Alexander a little bit. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't like being hyperbolic. I don't know how many times
Speaker 1: I've said that in this show, but I really truly don't.
Speaker 1: But to me, I think that this is one of
Speaker 1: his best games, if not his best game in the uniform.
Speaker 1: The reason I say that is one, obviously, Emmanuel Sanders
Speaker 1: had two catches for ten yards. That's you know, the
Speaker 1: null and void point you start with with them across
Speaker 1: the field. But too, Packers had some problems tackling at
Speaker 1: various intervals in this game, and it bit them. I mean,
Speaker 1: there was some a lot of the big plays that
Speaker 1: came off of miss tackles. J Alexander had seven tackles.
Speaker 1: I think six of them were solo for a little guy,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I shouldn't say little, but for a defensive
Speaker 1: back he does back for a guy that is not
Speaker 1: Sadarius Smith. For him to be able to make the
Speaker 1: open field tackles he did was impressive. His two p
Speaker 1: bus were impressive. And he's just a menace man that
Speaker 1: That's just he is a menace out there. So even
Speaker 1: when Fant gets that catch, he comes back and he
Speaker 1: rips the ball away from this is a guy that
Speaker 1: probably has what eighty pounds fifty you know, seventy pounds
Speaker 1: on jire Alexander, he should care and I just think
Speaker 1: that mindset so regardless if you're Kenny Clark, there's a
Speaker 1: Darius Smith or Preston Smith having that type of mindset.
Speaker 1: That's why two years old, we keep saying, jaire, Alexander
Speaker 1: is gonna be a player in this league because he
Speaker 1: hasn't even scratched the surface yet of what his true
Speaker 1: ability is. Yeah, Well, before we shift gears to talk
Speaker 1: about the offense a little bit, Wess select Cousin Subs
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Speaker 1: believe in better. Okay, offensively, I mentioned another fast start.
Speaker 1: You get a touchdown on the opening drive. Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: as he is known to do, takes advantage of the
Speaker 1: free play, throws the ball deep and Valdes Scantling comes
Speaker 1: down with it for a forty yard touchdown. There were
Speaker 1: again some lulls offensively in this game, but then, much
Speaker 1: like the Minnesota game the previous week, in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: the Packers needed to put together a drive. In the
Speaker 1: Minnesota game. It was just to kill clock in this game.
Speaker 1: It's a one score game that I believe the Packers
Speaker 1: took over with thirteen and a half minutes on the
Speaker 1: correct in the fourth quarter, and they drained more than
Speaker 1: half the quarter. Seven minutes, forty one seconds come off
Speaker 1: the clock. Very methodical drive, eleven plays fifty one yards
Speaker 1: overcame a delay of game penalty along the way, and
Speaker 1: got into a pretty reasonable range for Mason Crosby to
Speaker 1: kick a forty one yard field goal and make this
Speaker 1: a two score game. When the offense had to do
Speaker 1: something when they when the unit had to produce, it produced,
Speaker 1: and Aaron Rodgers is I don't want to stay frustrated
Speaker 1: because he's not. He's looking for more out there. Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur is looking for more. Everybody knows this offense is
Speaker 1: capable of more. But when you can put together drives
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter when you absolutely have to have them,
Speaker 1: that's at least as you're trying to work out some
Speaker 1: of this other stuff, that's at least something you can
Speaker 1: hang your hat on unequivocally, because I don't did you
Speaker 1: ever see that thirty on winning time, Reggie Miller, That's
Speaker 1: what these moments are about it's winning time. It's time
Speaker 1: for you to kind of get yourself together, even if
Speaker 1: you might have a couple of punts in a row,
Speaker 1: and find something to build upon. And the other thing
Speaker 1: I loved about that drive was how many times have
Speaker 1: you and I seen an inbox or heard from fans like, well,
Speaker 1: why don't they just give Aaron Jones the balls thirty
Speaker 1: five times a game and just keep running him. Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams is a top of the end running back in
Speaker 1: this league. And what I mean by at especially as
Speaker 1: the fact that he's a well rounded football player. And
Speaker 1: there's a reason why you hear matt Le talked about
Speaker 1: he wants to balance off the reps because while Williams
Speaker 1: and Jones have different strengths, you saw in this game
Speaker 1: why Jamal Williams is going to play in the NFL
Speaker 1: for a long time. In addition to the fact that
Speaker 1: he's sort of that Reggie almost Reggie the Edgar Bennett mutter,
Speaker 1: just seems like whenever the conditions kind of get Junkie out,
Speaker 1: he he always seems to step up in that situation.
Speaker 1: I think he had nine touches for fifty six yards
Speaker 1: in the second half, But it was that ten yard
Speaker 1: catch he had on third and five when that was
Speaker 1: a gotta have at moment for this offense to convert
Speaker 1: there when they had been having some problems in that
Speaker 1: capacity that you see it. He's just he's a he's
Speaker 1: a sure, confident pass catcher, he's a good pass protector.
Speaker 1: He just gives you every dimension that you want out
Speaker 1: of a running back that you can play on any down.
Speaker 1: And in this game, when it maybe it wasn't coming
Speaker 1: together for Aaron Jones like it did last week, the
Speaker 1: offense turned to Jamal Williams and he stepped up. They
Speaker 1: turned Danny Vitally and he stepped up. You need to
Speaker 1: have options to have a sustainable offense throughout the season.
Speaker 1: I think that's the one positive I've gleaned from these
Speaker 1: first three weeks overarching with the offense is that when
Speaker 1: somebody needs to rise to the occasion, somebody usually does. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you alluded to it earlier. Not only did the
Speaker 1: Packers shut out Von Miller and Bradley Chubb that match
Speaker 1: up on the edges that we were talking about all week,
Speaker 1: but Aaron Rodgers made a big point to mention in
Speaker 1: his postgame press conference that he basically wasn't touched all day,
Speaker 1: said he only got hit once and it was on
Speaker 1: the wheel route to Danny Vitality that got the offense
Speaker 1: down to the one yard line after the Alexander turnover.
Speaker 1: Otherwise Rogers was not touched. And I'll be honest, I mean,
Speaker 1: we will talk about this a little bit more going
Speaker 1: forward with the Packers on a short week here in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: coming in for your thirty five year old quarterback to
Speaker 1: go to the podium after a game like that against
Speaker 1: a pretty decent Denver Broncos defense and to physically feel
Speaker 1: pretty good because his offensive line did such an exemplary
Speaker 1: job of keeping him, keeping him clean on a rainy day,
Speaker 1: and not not just the no sacks, but but the
Speaker 1: limited contact that he had. I think that could really
Speaker 1: be a big factor here on a short week heading
Speaker 1: into this, uh, this Philadelphia game on Thursday night. It's
Speaker 1: a huge factor because we're gonna talk about the Eagles
Speaker 1: enough here in the next couple of days, but that
Speaker 1: is a banged up unit right now, and they lost
Speaker 1: some more guys in that game against the line to
Speaker 1: deal with. For the Packers not to have at least
Speaker 1: to this point in time in which we're shooting this.
Speaker 1: Any big injuries going into this game now against the
Speaker 1: Eagles is going to be huge. But for Rogers, I mean,
Speaker 1: what can you say about the offensive line and the
Speaker 1: protection unit. He drops back thirty times, He's only hit once,
Speaker 1: and that one hit was on a completion, a twenty
Speaker 1: seven yard completion. I've always found that interesting with cute
Speaker 1: quarterback hits. Yes he was technically hit, but it was
Speaker 1: an explosive place, So I'd never quite understand why they
Speaker 1: credited as such. If it's like, okay, you pressure him
Speaker 1: into an incompletion. I get that, but that's another story
Speaker 1: for another day. But David Box, tr Brian Bulaga, Elton
Speaker 1: Jenkins coming in, he had a false start early but
Speaker 1: being able to settle in there at left guard with
Speaker 1: Lane Taylor, and now on I R. They just there
Speaker 1: were so many different guys that just were not baited
Speaker 1: into anything. I saw some of the stunts that Miller
Speaker 1: was running, Billy Turner's picking that up. I just it
Speaker 1: was such an incredible performance in that regard. It was
Speaker 1: very understated in this but the fact that Rogers was upright,
Speaker 1: the fact that his jersey was clean, as he said
Speaker 1: on a muddy night, um that that is absolutely huge,
Speaker 1: especially in a short week. Yeah, well the Packers again
Speaker 1: for the third straight week. We're talking about a lot
Speaker 1: of issues that the Packers need to work out because it's,
Speaker 1: I guess the simplest way to say it is, it's
Speaker 1: a lack of consistency on offense. They they just haven't
Speaker 1: been able to put together an extended stretch of you
Speaker 1: know where you're talking three or four drives in a
Speaker 1: row where everything is really clicking. I mean, nobody's gonna
Speaker 1: you know, Rogers alluded to wanting to click for sixty minutes.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's any offense in the league
Speaker 1: that really can you know, be in full gear, full
Speaker 1: speed ahead for sixty minutes. That's really hard to do.
Speaker 1: But the Packers are there there in this mode right
Speaker 1: now where the offense is kind of is kind of
Speaker 1: in fits and starts. I mean, things will look pretty good,
Speaker 1: you drive down and you get a field goal or
Speaker 1: something like that, but then the next couple of possessions
Speaker 1: things aren't going right. Rogers was, you know, throwing some
Speaker 1: balls away when you know plays that they were trying
Speaker 1: to set up. Things just weren't materializing, and so it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, live to live, to play another down. You're
Speaker 1: winning the game. You don't need to be in a
Speaker 1: desperation mode to move the ball there. But there were
Speaker 1: some things that that clearly didn't look good on offense,
Speaker 1: and and Rogers, you know, maybe just maybe getting a
Speaker 1: tad impatient, and that he wants this to start coming
Speaker 1: around and doing it on a short week now, you know,
Speaker 1: who knows what's going to happen on Thursday night. But
Speaker 1: Rogers feels very confident in the potential of this offense.
Speaker 1: But he said after the game that it's getting time
Speaker 1: to where the potential needs to start matching the performance,
Speaker 1: and that hasn't happened, sure, right, because I mean you're
Speaker 1: almost at the first quarter pole right going through this thing,
Speaker 1: so I mean you need to be able to start
Speaker 1: finding your identity. Truman Williams said it about the defense.
Speaker 1: He wasn't really willing to, you know, make any big,
Speaker 1: high arching, uh you know, proclamations about the defense. He
Speaker 1: wants to see one more game. The offense is on
Speaker 1: the same side of that coin, trying to see what
Speaker 1: they are now going into October. The thing you gotta
Speaker 1: understand about Aaron Rodgers. He's seen a lot of football.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have eye expectations. You and I remember two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven and two thousand fourteen intervals where they just
Speaker 1: threw the ball, you know, they rolled the ball out
Speaker 1: in the field. The Packers scored seven points. Uh that's
Speaker 1: that's the optimum situation, but it's always not always realistic.
Speaker 1: For the NFL, they're trying to find just that galvanizing.
Speaker 1: I don't use galvanizing because that got thrown around last
Speaker 1: year a lot. But they're just trying to find that
Speaker 1: consistency factor that they're looking for. And I see it.
Speaker 1: I mean you look at you know, some of the plays,
Speaker 1: whether it was a drop past here, they're the ball
Speaker 1: slipping onto Roger's hands and kind of sailing over. I
Speaker 1: think it was Geronimo Allison in a potential third down situation.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are are opportunities Robert Tany going down
Speaker 1: the sideline, the ball just a couple of yards out
Speaker 1: of his reach. You see where those moments are, and
Speaker 1: they're just trying to find those and grab those. But
Speaker 1: more than anything else, I just think it's going to
Speaker 1: be about this team kind of finding a rhythm, getting
Speaker 1: out to a fast start, which they've done the last
Speaker 1: two weeks, but then winning the third downs. There were
Speaker 1: two and nine again on third downs in this game.
Speaker 1: So whether it is getting to third and short or
Speaker 1: just converting when you need to, those are the type
Speaker 1: of plays I feel like are what can be sort
Speaker 1: of the gateway to opening up what they're looking for. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: quickly before we go here, Wes, I want to get
Speaker 1: your impressions on other things that you saw in Week
Speaker 1: three in the NFL, because as we're taping this, the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears will be playing on Monday Night Football. But
Speaker 1: don't look now West. The NFC North collectively with one
Speaker 1: game left to go in the first three weeks. With
Speaker 1: the Bears playing at Washington on Monday Night, the NFC
Speaker 1: North is eight two and one. Yeah, not too bad
Speaker 1: for a division that no one ever seems to give
Speaker 1: any credits to, right, h Before I get into I
Speaker 1: just want to make one point. You said it during
Speaker 1: our periscope. I want to give you credit for this
Speaker 1: because it's the last chance I'll be able to say it.
Speaker 1: I was touting Okay, uh was it? Truman Smith Trumon
Speaker 1: tramont I can never get that right. I was saying,
Speaker 1: it was just, you know, big debut, possibly a kickoff. Retorney.
Speaker 1: You said Brandon McManus is gonna be there. That may
Speaker 1: get negated. It did. You didn't get a chance to
Speaker 1: see him in that capacity. So as far as this week,
Speaker 1: I want to give you credit for that because I
Speaker 1: don't think we're gonna get a other chance to mention that.
Speaker 1: Uh Detroit man, I mean, and they're finding ways to
Speaker 1: win right now. Uh. They still really don't have a
Speaker 1: consistent running game. Matthew Stafford through for two and one yards,
Speaker 1: but they were opportunistic. They capitalized when opportunities presented themselves,
Speaker 1: and they beat the Philadelphia Eagles on the road, which
Speaker 1: is not easy to do. Minnesota bounced back. I just
Speaker 1: I think this whole division is going to be something
Speaker 1: to really follow this year. There's a reason why I
Speaker 1: keep bringing it up. But there's a reason why Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers said he thought there could be four teams in
Speaker 1: the NFC North for top ten defenses. It just really
Speaker 1: looks like the way that things are going right now.
Speaker 1: To me, for my money, I think it can still
Speaker 1: be the best division in football this season. I think
Speaker 1: Detroit is one of those teams that's really hard to
Speaker 1: figure out right now, frankly, because they should have beaten
Speaker 1: Arizona in Week one, they let a big lead get away,
Speaker 1: they end up with an overtime tie. The Chargers went
Speaker 1: into Detroit and missed a couple of field goals and
Speaker 1: had a slew of other mistakes that kind of handed
Speaker 1: a game to Detroit. And then yesterday against against the Eagles.
Speaker 1: Um and we'll talk more about Philadelphia moving forward. But
Speaker 1: the Eagles block a field goal at the end of
Speaker 1: the game, and then a deep pass down the field,
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia receiver has a chance to make a play
Speaker 1: in his and to put Philadelphia in position to win,
Speaker 1: and he drops the ball and Detroit walks out of
Speaker 1: Philadelphia with a three point victory. And and the Lions
Speaker 1: are undefeated at two oh and one, and the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles on the flip side, two weeks in a row,
Speaker 1: a dropped past late in the fourth quarter costs them
Speaker 1: big time. And the Eagles are coming to lambeau Field
Speaker 1: that one and two looking to avoid being one and
Speaker 1: three at the quarter pole of their season. Eagles are
Speaker 1: kind of finding themselves in the same situation they've been
Speaker 1: in the last couple of seasons, where they just kind
Speaker 1: of get off to these slow starts and then they're
Speaker 1: suddenly playing catchup again. But again, you can't take you
Speaker 1: really can't overlook that opponent. I mean, you see exactly
Speaker 1: the different areas that they can be effective. They're doing
Speaker 1: a great job of defending the run right now, but yeah,
Speaker 1: they're twenty nine against the past. You know, you look
Speaker 1: at and they're banged up, and they're banged up. Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: you know, has been up and down. They're trying to
Speaker 1: find a consistent presence with the passing game and their
Speaker 1: running game has had a slow start out of the gate.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to dissect with this matchup, and we'll
Speaker 1: get into it later this week, but I just think
Speaker 1: this game, with the Packers sitting at three and o
Speaker 1: and the Eagles at one and two, there's a lot
Speaker 1: to be learned about both teams. Yeah, there's some other
Speaker 1: reflections I want to get to on week one, but
Speaker 1: we'll do that tomorrow when we discuss the Eagles also
Speaker 1: in a little bit more depth, But for now, we
Speaker 1: will call it a wrap on this at aition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
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Speaker 1: He's at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers
Speaker 1: for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See
Speaker 1: you next time. M