Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston hod Kowitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you here from our studios at lambeau Field. Back from
Speaker 1: the bye week, Weston, I hope you had a good
Speaker 1: weekend of rest and recuperation. How did it go? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was fun and uh, I mean watched a little
Speaker 1: bit of football, but otherwise it was a lot of
Speaker 1: whole Christmas shopping family time. And uh. I also got
Speaker 1: even had a chance to take in a Green Bay
Speaker 1: women's basketball game on Saturday, so being able to get
Speaker 1: old ground campus first time I think I've been on
Speaker 1: campus in like ten years. But no, it was it
Speaker 1: was a good It was a fun time. I hope
Speaker 1: your your weekend was good as well. And tell you what, man,
Speaker 1: it took so long to get to this bye week.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you think about it, yes, there was
Speaker 1: that bye week at the end of training camp, but
Speaker 1: I mean it's been a four and a half month
Speaker 1: gauntlet if you go back to the beginning of training camp.
Speaker 1: So I can only imagine how these guys felt finally
Speaker 1: get a chance to arrest their bodies. We are shooting
Speaker 1: this before practice on Monday, so we'll just by Tuesday,
Speaker 1: so we'll see what the injury report looks like and
Speaker 1: who's available for them. But you would hope, based on
Speaker 1: everything Matt Lafloor said last week, this should be on
Speaker 1: paper the healthiest Green Bay's probably been all season coming
Speaker 1: out of this. Yeah, as you can probably tell, my
Speaker 1: voice has not one and recovered from the illness that
Speaker 1: I've been dealing with for quite a while. But I
Speaker 1: feel better than I sound, So the weekend off was good.
Speaker 1: I think you just sound tougher like. It's like like
Speaker 1: like a biker now mcgrawl a mcgrawler um. But but healthwise,
Speaker 1: you're right. The Packers hopefully are headed into this stretch
Speaker 1: run here where let's face it, their backs are against
Speaker 1: the wall, right and even even if the Packers are
Speaker 1: able to put together winning streak can win out. There
Speaker 1: no guarantees as to where things are going to go
Speaker 1: with the playoff seating. But that being said, the opponent
Speaker 1: next up Monday night football. It will be at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field the Los Angeles Rams and Lo and behold, look
Speaker 1: who the quarterback is it's Baker Mayfield, and it will
Speaker 1: be almost a calendar year to the day, fifty one
Speaker 1: weeks really rather than fifty two that the Packers are
Speaker 1: going to see Baker Mayfield again. He was the quarterback
Speaker 1: on Christmas for the Cleveland Browns last year. Now he
Speaker 1: has taken over the offense for the Los Angeles Rams,
Speaker 1: getting claimed off waivers last week Tuesday, and then he
Speaker 1: was leading a two touchdown comeback in the final five
Speaker 1: minutes of the fourth quarter on Thursday Night Football, just
Speaker 1: two days after he arrived at the Rams facility. It
Speaker 1: was a remarkable win that the Rams pulled off last week,
Speaker 1: and Baker Mayfield has injected some energy into a defending
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champion that has not had the season it wanted.
Speaker 1: No And as I said on our Insider Inbox on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, they're still playing with the purpose even
Speaker 1: though the Rams season, by all intensive purposes is over. Um,
Speaker 1: did you see that stat about how up until last week,
Speaker 1: I think there's only three times in NFL history or
Speaker 1: something like that that a team had come back from
Speaker 1: thirteen plus points in the last five minutes of the
Speaker 1: game or whatever. And then it happened twice last week,
Speaker 1: twice in a week on Monday Night Football with Tom
Speaker 1: Brady and the Buccaneers, and then on on Thursday Night Football.
Speaker 1: Here's the other stat I saw though that kind of
Speaker 1: blew me away. There have been eight times this season
Speaker 1: that a team has been leading a game at halftime
Speaker 1: by double digits and lost, and four of the eight
Speaker 1: have been the Raiders. Four of the eight have been
Speaker 1: the Raiders. And you know that that's that's a team.
Speaker 1: I mean, this the season, the season the Raiders have had, obviously,
Speaker 1: the fourth being the Baker Mayfield come back last Thursday
Speaker 1: night when um, the I mean the Rams sort of
Speaker 1: looked like they'd be left for dead at sixteen to three,
Speaker 1: and uh and Baker Mayfield pulls pulls it out of fire. Here.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Do you
Speaker 1: know the last time the Packers face the same quarterback,
Speaker 1: the same opposing starting quarterback in back to back years
Speaker 1: but with different teams. Nope, it's actually more recent than that,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if Kyle Orton was Orton might
Speaker 1: have been back to It's actually in the Matt Lafleur era,
Speaker 1: which I didn't realize until I got some assistance from
Speaker 1: Tom Fanning in the communications to part No Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers the Chargers in nineteen and then the Indianapolis
Speaker 1: Colts in so um so it actually happened fairly recently.
Speaker 1: But um this situation being a little bit different though,
Speaker 1: because Mayfield just joined the Rams and the Packers have
Speaker 1: a lot of familiarity with the Ram scheme and Sean
Speaker 1: McVeigh they played them a few times um here in
Speaker 1: the Mattle Floor era. But it's a matter of figuring
Speaker 1: out what does Baker Mayfield do well in this scheme?
Speaker 1: And I think it's it's it's a difficult it's a
Speaker 1: difficult preparation sequence here for Green Bay to get ready
Speaker 1: for this. And if I can, my going back to
Speaker 1: that game between the Raiders and the Rams, because a
Speaker 1: lot of people ask that same question this week to
Speaker 1: you and I about Okay, well, what do the Packers
Speaker 1: have to do? What? What? What? What is you know
Speaker 1: seeing this magic that Mayfield created at the end of
Speaker 1: that game. Well, there's a couple of things that played
Speaker 1: into that. Vegas lost that game in every way you
Speaker 1: could lose the question, chief among them being you know
Speaker 1: how poorly you know, David Carr kind of played throughout
Speaker 1: Derek Cark, excuse me, played throughout that game. Freudian slipped there,
Speaker 1: you know, the turnovers, the inability to get the offense going,
Speaker 1: because the thing about l A is, you know they're
Speaker 1: hurting everywhere, but def pensively they still have a very
Speaker 1: formidable defense, and offensively, there was enough that the Raiders
Speaker 1: left that door open enough that Mayfield was able to
Speaker 1: charge that door right in. And I think we've well
Speaker 1: established this year, outside of maybe Max Crosby, you know,
Speaker 1: the Raiders defense has been largely a disappointment. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: so you break it down like this, where you're in
Speaker 1: a game like that, you have absolutely nothing to lose,
Speaker 1: and as much as Baker Mayfield is walking in through
Speaker 1: the back door, almost like a Fantasy football plug in play,
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Raiders weren't preparing for that either, And
Speaker 1: I thought that shine through to that end. I think
Speaker 1: that's for Green Bay and again we'll we'll probably get
Speaker 1: more into the breaking down the excess and os in
Speaker 1: a couple of days, but Green Bay is going to
Speaker 1: have a week and half to prepare here and meshing
Speaker 1: Baker mayfiel skill set with this vast knowledge they have
Speaker 1: of Sean McVeigh scheme offensively defensively, the type of system
Speaker 1: he runs. They've played McVeigh a lot, so marrying up
Speaker 1: those two concepts I think is going to be critical,
Speaker 1: But it's going to ultimately come down to winning the
Speaker 1: turnover battle and not allowing a team to finish the
Speaker 1: way that the Raiders allowed the Rams to finish in
Speaker 1: that game. Yeah, well, you mentioned you mentioned the Rams
Speaker 1: defense and we will see as the week goes on
Speaker 1: what the status will be with Aaron Donald in the
Speaker 1: middle of that Rams defense because that unit is still
Speaker 1: playing awfully well. But Donald has been in and out
Speaker 1: of the lineup, has has missed some games, So that
Speaker 1: will definitely be a storyline to watch this week. And
Speaker 1: you brought up the turnover battle. Hey, last year when
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield came into lambeau Field, he through four interceptions
Speaker 1: Rousseul Douglas had to including the clincher at the end
Speaker 1: of the game. Donald Savage had one chance and Sullivan
Speaker 1: had one. Four interceptions on Christmas at lambeau last year
Speaker 1: from Baker Mayfield um two win for the Packers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: ended up ended up being a one A one score game.
Speaker 1: I mean Douglas. Douglas is interception at the end, I
Speaker 1: mean the Mayfield. Mayfield, despite having thrown three interceptions to
Speaker 1: that point, was trying to drive the Browns for a
Speaker 1: game winning score there late in the fourth quarter. So, um,
Speaker 1: you absolutely right that that the Packers have to Uh,
Speaker 1: the Packers have to win that category. I'll be curious
Speaker 1: to see when we here. We'll hear later this week
Speaker 1: from Aaron Rodgers. He talked about after the victory over
Speaker 1: the Bears, um that the extra time off, he's hoping
Speaker 1: that you know, his thumb will be back to a
Speaker 1: hundred percent or very close to it, that his ribs
Speaker 1: will be back to a hundred percent or very close
Speaker 1: to it. Um. So, and then as we've talked about
Speaker 1: the the emergence of Christian Watson, what he's meant to
Speaker 1: the offense, the Packers hopefully can get Romeo Dobbs back
Speaker 1: and get those two those two rookie wide receivers on
Speaker 1: the field. We've seen We've seen this Green Bay offense
Speaker 1: making some incremental steps, some improvement, even even in defeat
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. We talked about, um, where where this offense
Speaker 1: appeared to be trending, and uh, you know, I'm very
Speaker 1: curious if the Packers can get Watson and Dobbs on
Speaker 1: the field together and a healthier Aaron Rodgers. Don't know
Speaker 1: what the situation will be at left tackle, but it
Speaker 1: also you know, anytime this time off helps your running
Speaker 1: backs to these you know, Aaron Johns, a J. Dillon.
Speaker 1: With the beatings that they've taken, I'm very interested to
Speaker 1: see just what this Green Bay offense can look like
Speaker 1: now as it hits the stretch run. This has been
Speaker 1: a disappointing season for the Packers, and I understand when
Speaker 1: you say that the d were there, people automatically go
Speaker 1: there five and eight. That's not why. To me, it's disappointing.
Speaker 1: It's disappointing for the way in which the Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 1: ran the New York Giants out of their own stadium
Speaker 1: this past weekend. It's disappointing in that you see, you know,
Speaker 1: teams that I think the Packers can play with. I
Speaker 1: think teams that the Packers can beat. They're gonna be
Speaker 1: the ones, you know, probably feeling more comfortable in this
Speaker 1: playoff race than Green Bay because they fell behind the
Speaker 1: eight ball a little bit. The Packers have been able
Speaker 1: to play with all these teams, they just haven't won
Speaker 1: enough of those games. And there's a fine line between
Speaker 1: all that. Now where I look at this matchup with
Speaker 1: the Rams, because people are going to talk about playoffs scenarios,
Speaker 1: and I know there's a lot of stories out there
Speaker 1: right now talking about, Okay, this is the way they
Speaker 1: can do it. It might be unlikely in problem, but
Speaker 1: this is how they do it. You can't worry about
Speaker 1: any of that. The Packers have to worry about beating
Speaker 1: l A on Monday. Fortunately for them this weekend, with
Speaker 1: the exception of their favorite NFC Division team, the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: the Packers did get a lot of help throughout these games.
Speaker 1: The Giants lost again. Shoot, the Houston Texans almost upset
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys. You know, Carolina about any given Sunday, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: Carolina took your care of business in Seattle venue that
Speaker 1: at one time the Seahawks could never lose in. So
Speaker 1: they got the help they need. But in order to
Speaker 1: help themselves, Green Bay has to get that train moving
Speaker 1: on Monday night. Yeah. Absolutely, I want to take care
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Speaker 1: another show this week and we will get into a
Speaker 1: little bit more about the Rams and the Packers Keys
Speaker 1: to Victory and all that one thing that we don't
Speaker 1: get enough time on this show to talk about on
Speaker 1: a regular basis, and that's mostly my fault since I
Speaker 1: sort of steer the ship, but I think this is
Speaker 1: a good opportunity to do so. I'm talking about some
Speaker 1: of the off the field things and we we really
Speaker 1: need to give a shout out to Aaron Jones. He
Speaker 1: is the Packers nominee for the Walter Payton Man of
Speaker 1: the Year Award for the second consecutive year, which doesn't
Speaker 1: happen very often, and and he has now uh, he
Speaker 1: has now reached the finalist stage for the Art Rooney
Speaker 1: Sportsmanship Award. Every team nominates Boddy for that award, and
Speaker 1: then the thirty two nominees has whittled down to a
Speaker 1: list of eight finalists, and then a winner will be
Speaker 1: chosen from that list of eight. And Aaron Jones, who
Speaker 1: has been in the running for that award before. If
Speaker 1: I'm not mistake, don't believe he was a finalist, but
Speaker 1: he was one. He was, He was one of the
Speaker 1: thirty two. Now he's a finalist in the final eight.
Speaker 1: He can't say enough about the man that Aaron Jones is.
Speaker 1: Aside from the touchdowns and the statistics and the highlights
Speaker 1: and everything that he creates, Aaron Jones is everything that
Speaker 1: it means to be a Green Bay Packer, and Packers
Speaker 1: fans should be mighty proud of it. Well, and Aaron whenever,
Speaker 1: you know, and hopefully plays another ten years, but whenever
Speaker 1: that day, I mean, the guy is going to be
Speaker 1: a beloved figure um for decades to come after. The
Speaker 1: type of guy that you can imagine is going to
Speaker 1: come back for alumni weekends and you know, for community
Speaker 1: outreach events. I mean what him and his twin brother
Speaker 1: Elvin have done creating their own foundation. Yeah, I've said this,
Speaker 1: Mike An inbox. And I know I've reiterated on these
Speaker 1: shows before, but it's great when professional athletes get out
Speaker 1: in the community, do charitable work, use their platform for
Speaker 1: the greater good. But what I appreciate the most about
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones is he isn't necessarily doing it for the photos,
Speaker 1: the photo ops. He's not doing it to look good.
Speaker 1: He's not doing it because he's supposed to. He's a
Speaker 1: guy that the idea of service was ingrained in him
Speaker 1: at a young age, and he wants to do that
Speaker 1: because he remembers being on the other side of it,
Speaker 1: remembers being in El Paso, Texas, when there weren't necessarily
Speaker 1: NFL you know, camps for kids, you know, with with
Speaker 1: pro athletes involved with them. You know, he he came
Speaker 1: up in one of the hardest ways possible. A great
Speaker 1: family system around it, but I mean moving around the
Speaker 1: country a lot, you know, military family. It's you know,
Speaker 1: being under the radar in Texas. To to see him
Speaker 1: be able to to move the needle the way he
Speaker 1: has and in the way in which you can tell,
Speaker 1: you know, as as tragic as it us where he
Speaker 1: lost his father last year, that it had just empowered
Speaker 1: him even more with those ideals of making sure that
Speaker 1: you're connecting with your community and doing good work. Um,
Speaker 1: it's really touching and heartwarming. Packers have had some really
Speaker 1: tremendous athletes come through here. You know. Aaron Rodgers himself
Speaker 1: in two thousand fourteen was a finalist for the Walter
Speaker 1: Payton Man of the Year And that finalist list is
Speaker 1: only three and Aaron, Aaron Rodgers came. Aaron Rodgers was
Speaker 1: in that final three back. So you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be difficult. It's always difficult. It's like the World Cup, right,
Speaker 1: you know, there's only only three at the end of
Speaker 1: this thing. But I really hope Aaron you know, he
Speaker 1: plays a position that gets a little bit more notoriety.
Speaker 1: He's a household name in a lot of ways, especially
Speaker 1: in the fantasy football realm. It would be great to
Speaker 1: see people really hear his message. Hopefully you and I
Speaker 1: can do our best to amplify that in our video
Speaker 1: department over the next month, because it's not just about
Speaker 1: him getting that recognitions, about what that recognition represents in
Speaker 1: the charitable stuff that goes along with it. Shoot, you
Speaker 1: can retweet his stuff on Twitter with his with his hashtag.
Speaker 1: I wish I remember that off the top of my head,
Speaker 1: but you know that can win him twenty five dollars
Speaker 1: for his for his charities and his outreach stuff. So
Speaker 1: it's a great thing that the NFL does, and there
Speaker 1: is a reason why the NFL Honors ceremony. The last
Speaker 1: award that has announced is the Walter Payton Man of
Speaker 1: the Year. It is the pre pre eminent honor you
Speaker 1: can receive in this league. Andrew Witworth getting it last
Speaker 1: year deservingly so, so it'll be really fun and engaging
Speaker 1: to see what these next few weeks and month hold
Speaker 1: for for Aaron in that regard. Yeah, and if you
Speaker 1: want to get a sense of what some other players
Speaker 1: on the team are about in the community, there's series
Speaker 1: of videos on packers dot com. We're in the my Cause,
Speaker 1: My cleats time of year in the NFL and UH
Speaker 1: a handful of players, including Matt Lafleur, head coach Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: their videos on our website with them describing their causes
Speaker 1: and you get to see kind of the pictures of
Speaker 1: the shoes and and UH and stuff like that. So
Speaker 1: some some really good visuals and and some good views
Speaker 1: there with some other off the field stuff as well.
Speaker 1: Back on the field, I want to talk about some
Speaker 1: of the results from this past weekend, and you hinted
Speaker 1: at a few of them. But even aside from the
Speaker 1: quote unquote impact on on the Packers, on the Packers
Speaker 1: playoff chase um, the Detroit Lions knocked off the NFC
Speaker 1: North leading and one win away from clinching the division
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. So the Lions, the Lions are keeping themselves
Speaker 1: right in the thick of the playoff rights. I think
Speaker 1: this is really interesting with Detroit because this is what
Speaker 1: I mentioned in Insider inbox on Monday. They had a big,
Speaker 1: meaningful December home game for the first time probably since
Speaker 1: the final game of the regular season when the Packers
Speaker 1: were there, with a lot of playoff implications for both squads.
Speaker 1: First home, meaningful December football game in a long time.
Speaker 1: Now they they're there home, are brought it they wanted.
Speaker 1: They knocked off the team that is that is leading
Speaker 1: the NFC North. Now the Lions have to go out
Speaker 1: on the road the next two weeks for these meaningful
Speaker 1: December football games against the New York Jets this coming week,
Speaker 1: which is another team that's right in the in the
Speaker 1: thick of the wild card chase in the a f C.
Speaker 1: This will be really really interesting to see. And we
Speaker 1: know that the Detroit Lions are coming to lambeau Field
Speaker 1: in week eighteen, but the Lions, the Lions have some
Speaker 1: more games to win here to keep themselves in the
Speaker 1: hunt and uh, and it'll be uh, it'll be fascinating
Speaker 1: to see if Dan Campbell squad is up to the tag.
Speaker 1: This is the team that I think I was anticipating
Speaker 1: when you and I did all these offseason you know,
Speaker 1: previews and like that. I actually, I think I might
Speaker 1: even said on one of these unscripteds they seem to
Speaker 1: me like a nine and eight, eight and nine team,
Speaker 1: But they're the type of team that nobody's gonna want
Speaker 1: to play. Yeah, and offensively, that offensive line, you know,
Speaker 1: you look at this past weekend. It finally was on
Speaker 1: Jared Goff's arm to win that football game and he
Speaker 1: did it. Um. Defensively, they've gotten better UM Minnesota for
Speaker 1: all intensive purposes, and I don't mean to be disrespectful
Speaker 1: to them, but they're a mess right now. Defensively, what
Speaker 1: is it four or five games in a row with
Speaker 1: five five games in a row. Minnesota's defense has allowed
Speaker 1: four hundred plus yards, which is a first in franchise history. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: they're not. Even Dennis Green was was having any of that.
Speaker 1: The Vikings now they've you know, they're still games left
Speaker 1: to play. The playoffs are the playoffs are still more
Speaker 1: than a month away at this point. So so there's
Speaker 1: always there's always time to shore things up, to get
Speaker 1: things turned back in the right direction. But right now,
Speaker 1: Minnesota's defense is a problem. They're not stopping anybody. The
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions. Other than the fake punt, the Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: did not do anything tricky or fancy any respect. They
Speaker 1: just moved the ball up and down the field against Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and that has to have the Vikings concerned. And the
Speaker 1: you know, much maligned Detroit defense that we heard about
Speaker 1: when the Packers played them, held Delvin Cook to fifteen
Speaker 1: carries for twenty three yards in that match. They shut
Speaker 1: out they shut down the run, and that was the
Speaker 1: biggest reason. That was the biggest reason the Packers couldn't
Speaker 1: do anything at Ford Field is because they couldn't get
Speaker 1: the running game going and uh and the passing game
Speaker 1: was was just out of sync for a number of reasons.
Speaker 1: For as much as people want a dog on Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins in Minnesota, the best thing that the Vikings happened
Speaker 1: for them right now is Cousins and Justin Jefferson. Those
Speaker 1: guys are playing some fantastic football. That's the reason this.
Speaker 1: You know, they got to where they got in this game.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm Vikings are up for a gut check. Man.
Speaker 1: It is fascinating, Mike. We talked about it about, you know,
Speaker 1: the Lions being favored going into this game, and Detroit
Speaker 1: proved it again. Man. Fortunately for the Packers that game
Speaker 1: is at lambeau Field, because I tell you what, there
Speaker 1: are no teams right now in the National Football League
Speaker 1: that I think I have any interest in playing the
Speaker 1: Lions at Ford Field. It's really interesting how this season
Speaker 1: has played out because it was a it was the
Speaker 1: win over the Packers that seemed to jump start the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions. Might say, job, you don't know it was
Speaker 1: in a lot of respects. It was the win over
Speaker 1: the Packers that jump started the Washington Commanders and Taylor
Speaker 1: Heineke and getting that team, uh, you know in the
Speaker 1: wild card chase, which is another another squad that you know,
Speaker 1: Packers fans are monitoring their progress. But well, he's not
Speaker 1: taking the starting job back from Taylor Heineke. But but
Speaker 1: he's back, um. And we'd be remiss, of course, if
Speaker 1: we didn't mention what was going on in the nf
Speaker 1: both the NFC West and the NFC South, the NFC
Speaker 1: West being, of course, Brock Purdy, the last pick in
Speaker 1: the NFL draft. I hate the title of Mr. Irrelevant,
Speaker 1: because I think that's incredibly insulting, especially two players who
Speaker 1: make great careers of themselves without being drafted at all.
Speaker 1: You know, but regardless, the last pick in the NFL
Speaker 1: draft wins a blowout against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. Now, the Buccaneers are still in first place
Speaker 1: in the NFC South. But I gotta hand it to
Speaker 1: you because you would asked me a week or two
Speaker 1: or so ago on this show whether the winner of
Speaker 1: the NFC South would have a winning record, and it
Speaker 1: certainly looks like you're going to be correct in that
Speaker 1: that division champion will be below five hundred. I still thought,
Speaker 1: I thought there's still time. The Buccaneers could still finish
Speaker 1: nine and eight. There are other teams in that division.
Speaker 1: That could still finish nine and eight as well. But
Speaker 1: I'm cheering for the Panthers. Hey man, I mean you
Speaker 1: mentioned they went into Seattle and actually pretty much controlled
Speaker 1: that game, start to finish and uh and you know,
Speaker 1: they trade their best offensive player, Christian McCaffrey, to the
Speaker 1: San Francisco Fortia. They change, but they they and they
Speaker 1: change coaches in the middle of the season there. They've
Speaker 1: been trying to figure out what to do a quarterback
Speaker 1: all season. Log Baker Mayfield was there. He's now in
Speaker 1: l a quarterback in the Rams. But but hats off
Speaker 1: to Steve Wilkes as the as the interim head coach there.
Speaker 1: He got a one and done shot with the with
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals that didn't work out. They he was
Speaker 1: fired after one season. Now he's the interim coach in Carolina,
Speaker 1: a team that looked like it was going absolutely nowhere.
Speaker 1: They've now won four games. I believe Wilkes is four
Speaker 1: and four, four and four in his eight games as
Speaker 1: the as as the interim coach for the Panthers. And
Speaker 1: because the NFC South is is such a struggle for
Speaker 1: all those teams, the Panthers are going to have a
Speaker 1: shot to win that division. And if you're the Seattle Seahawks,
Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker cannot get healthy fast enough. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: if there was ever a reiteration of how important he's
Speaker 1: been to them this season, and they and they have
Speaker 1: the short week playing Fatusday night this week against San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Who's hoping to get Brock Purdy back from taking a
Speaker 1: few shots shots to the to the ribs in that
Speaker 1: game against today Let's go Niners, Let's go pop up Purty,
Speaker 1: all right, But if I can just really quickly what
Speaker 1: I love about Carolina in addition to the fact of
Speaker 1: everything you said about Steve Steve Wilkes there, it is
Speaker 1: the ultimate reminder that if you just have a team
Speaker 1: that just wants to play together. You said they traded
Speaker 1: away Christian McCaffrey. Absolutely, they trade away all these studs. Dude,
Speaker 1: they their backfield. Yes, was Dante Foreman in Hubbard, Like,
Speaker 1: this is not a name team now at this point,
Speaker 1: but it's guys that are looking to win. Sam Donald
Speaker 1: through for twenty yards of this game. I mean again,
Speaker 1: it's just it's pulling together and playing good football. And
Speaker 1: you can win in this league by playing good football,
Speaker 1: especially you know, against a team that had was missing
Speaker 1: probably their best player. Yeah, I mean, it's it's a
Speaker 1: it's fascinating what's going on in the NFC South because
Speaker 1: because right now, I mean, I just u in working
Speaker 1: on Insider Inbox for tomorrow. I just answered a question
Speaker 1: from a reader who brought up that without Tom Brady
Speaker 1: making that two touchdown comeback in the last five minutes
Speaker 1: to beat the Saints on Monday Night Football last week,
Speaker 1: there would be a four way tie, like everybody in
Speaker 1: the NFC South would be five and eight right now
Speaker 1: if not for that crazy comeback by Brady on Monday
Speaker 1: at football. Um, it's it's amazing what's going on in
Speaker 1: that division. One of those teams is going to win
Speaker 1: that division and not only get in the playoffs, but
Speaker 1: get to host a game, most likely hosting they would
Speaker 1: be the four seed and most likely hosting the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: who will probably have the best record of all the
Speaker 1: wild card teams. Then will therefore be the be the
Speaker 1: fifth seed. But um, but yeah, kind of just amazing
Speaker 1: how these seasons can evolve. You just never know. And
Speaker 1: you mentioned it yourself. The the the Houston Texans going
Speaker 1: into Jerry's world and almost knocking off the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: There was and I'm not a gambler, and gambling's illegal
Speaker 1: at Bushwood as we all know, but in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: that was the largest point spread on any game on
Speaker 1: the NFL slate this entire season so far, and the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys needed a tough down in the final minute
Speaker 1: to avoid getting upset. You absolutely just never know. And
Speaker 1: I think that's, uh, that's where we where we leave
Speaker 1: this off heading into these final four games for the
Speaker 1: pack I mean in Houston. Really, the thing that is
Speaker 1: mind bogging about that they really haven't been blown out
Speaker 1: by anybody. They haven't had a forty two three type
Speaker 1: loss this season. They've played a lot of teams stuff,
Speaker 1: they just haven't won. You just can't get the wins.
Speaker 1: But dude, it goes back again to show you the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys are the perfect embodiment of the way that
Speaker 1: this league can fluctuate in a week to week basis.
Speaker 1: And it's why for the Green Bay Packers, you have
Speaker 1: four more opportunities to try having a winning record, to
Speaker 1: try making this playoff push. There's the only time will
Speaker 1: tell if they can do it. But I'll say this
Speaker 1: Mike for the guy here in this seat that was
Speaker 1: really ripping the number seven seeds here in the A
Speaker 1: F C N N. I was, I was, I was right.
Speaker 1: I was right there with you. I was right there.
Speaker 1: You play the game with the pieces that are on
Speaker 1: the board, right. We don't make the rules, We just
Speaker 1: follow them, playing about the occasionally. All Right, with that,
Speaker 1: we will call it a wrap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers in Scripted. Be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team, all kinds of content for you
Speaker 1: on packers dot com. For Wes, I am Mike. Thank
Speaker 1: you for tuning in. Everybody. We'll see you next time.