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 West hod Qwitz. Were coming to
Speaker 1: you here from our studios at lambeau Field and West. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: for the fifth Tuesday in a row, we are here
Speaker 1: to talk about a Packers loss, and honestly, this was
Speaker 1: this was the most distressing one. Um The Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: came in on a five game losing streak, the Packers
Speaker 1: were on a four game losing streak, and Green Bay's
Speaker 1: losing streak continues. Fifteen to nine is the final score.
Speaker 1: And I guess if there's a way to sum up
Speaker 1: how this game epitomized how the last month or so
Speaker 1: have Packers football has gone. We sat here every week
Speaker 1: and talk about talked about missed opportunities that might have
Speaker 1: altered the course of the game. This one, it's missed
Speaker 1: opportunities that absolutely be positively altered the outcome of the
Speaker 1: game because the Packers had plenty of chances to score
Speaker 1: enough points to win this one and they simply didn't
Speaker 1: get it done. There's a lot of times, Joel sitting here,
Speaker 1: we'll talk for twenty two and a half minutes or
Speaker 1: whatever it ends up being, and then we just move
Speaker 1: about our day. Honestly, Marvin from the back could punch
Speaker 1: their you know, punch all the buttons on this thing.
Speaker 1: I can mention losing the turnover battle three to one,
Speaker 1: going over four in the red zone, over two and
Speaker 1: goal ago. We could call it a day. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's ultimately what this came down to. That was the game.
Speaker 1: And Mike, what was the biggest line that I reiterated?
Speaker 1: We both talked about it, But the biggest line I
Speaker 1: was pitching all last week is that they've done good
Speaker 1: things against the New York Giants. They've done good things
Speaker 1: against the New York Jets. They did good things in Washington,
Speaker 1: they did really good things late in Buffalo. But what
Speaker 1: you do in those games does not guarantee victory the
Speaker 1: following week. The strides you make in certain air is
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that those areas are going to hold up
Speaker 1: the following week. In this game, as you talked about
Speaker 1: with this five game losing streak, this game epitomized all
Speaker 1: of that. Because Packers had three total yards of offense,
Speaker 1: they dominated time of possession, third downs, they were six
Speaker 1: for eight in the first half. They did all the
Speaker 1: things well except finish, and in some of these other
Speaker 1: games this year, the Packers have been not as good
Speaker 1: on third downs and then they've been able to punch
Speaker 1: the ball in the end zone. It's just that inconsistency.
Speaker 1: And it's that line that Adam Stenovich said last Thursday
Speaker 1: that is kind of he was talking just strictly about
Speaker 1: the offensive line about the only thing that's been consistent
Speaker 1: is inconsistency, and unfortunately for the Packers, I think as
Speaker 1: a whole through the first nine games, that's been sort
Speaker 1: of the hallmark of this team. Yeah, the statistic that
Speaker 1: kind of blows you away from this game is the
Speaker 1: fact that the Packers had eight possessions that ended in
Speaker 1: Lions territory on the plus side of the fifty. The
Speaker 1: only one that didn't is when the Packers took a
Speaker 1: knee at the end of the first half, when they
Speaker 1: didn't have enough time to do anything. The other eight
Speaker 1: times the Packers had the ball, they crossed, they were
Speaker 1: across midfield every single time, and out of those eight possessions,
Speaker 1: they were only able to produce nine points. That's it's all.
Speaker 1: It's it's hard to fathom. Um. And we don't need
Speaker 1: to go over the chapter in verse of you know,
Speaker 1: from the five yard line and interception from the one
Speaker 1: yard line and interception and an interception right after the
Speaker 1: Packers defense got an interception. I mean, we all saw it.
Speaker 1: We all know what happened. There was another another failed
Speaker 1: fourth down. Um, you know inside the forty yard line
Speaker 1: of Detroit, when the Packers couldn't convert so many, so
Speaker 1: many chances. And uh and to walk out of to
Speaker 1: walk out of Ford Field with a fifteen and nine loss.
Speaker 1: And Aaron Rodgers said it after the game, you can't
Speaker 1: lose a game like that to that team. Um and uh.
Speaker 1: And the Packers couldn't. Packers couldn't lose that game, but
Speaker 1: they did and uh. And now they have to turn
Speaker 1: the page to two home games in a span of
Speaker 1: five days against a couple of teams that are right
Speaker 1: in the thick of the playoff front in their respective conferences,
Speaker 1: Dallas in the NFC and Tennessee in the a f C,
Speaker 1: UM the U in terms of the opponents you're facing.
Speaker 1: The gauntlet of the schedule is coming up now and
Speaker 1: the Packers are still searching for that victory that maybe,
Speaker 1: just maybe one win could start to turn things in
Speaker 1: another direction, but they haven't gotten it for five weeks. Well,
Speaker 1: and again it tends to be one of these things
Speaker 1: where I do the inbox on Mondays and then we
Speaker 1: come in here on Tuesday mornings and and sort of
Speaker 1: hash this thing out. And I recall something I said
Speaker 1: an inbox as well, which is I don't care about
Speaker 1: the season right now. I don't care about the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I don't care about the future. It is all about
Speaker 1: win number four and about finding a win four. I
Speaker 1: think it's been thirty seven days. The Packers have still
Speaker 1: been chasing that that fourth win of the season. That's
Speaker 1: the emphasis right now. That's the focus. And they're going
Speaker 1: up against a really good Dallas Cowboys team this weekend.
Speaker 1: We'll preview it, you know, later this week. But the
Speaker 1: team of that again is coming off a bye, much
Speaker 1: like Buffalo was, Much like the mini by with Washington.
Speaker 1: This schedule has done the Packers no favors. There's been
Speaker 1: times where the calls have not done the Packers. The
Speaker 1: officials calls have not done the Packers any favors. There's
Speaker 1: been adversity that has hit time and time again. You
Speaker 1: can probably fill up a minute block here coming up
Speaker 1: discussing all the injuries the Packers had coming out of
Speaker 1: this game against the Lions. But one of the big
Speaker 1: things that Matt Lafloor always talks about, one of his
Speaker 1: big you know lines, is nobody's going to feel sorry
Speaker 1: for you. That's where the Packers are there, three and six.
Speaker 1: And when you look at this coin flip league in
Speaker 1: the amount of parody in the National Football League, there
Speaker 1: are times where you're three and six. There's times when
Speaker 1: you're six and three and you know, Aaron Rodgers touched
Speaker 1: on it after the game. The Packers won a lot
Speaker 1: of one score games early on, especially in nineteen under
Speaker 1: Matt Lafloor. In this year, those fortunes, those odds have
Speaker 1: not been in their favor so far. Yeah. And this
Speaker 1: this uh, this game once again was another another example
Speaker 1: the epitome, if you will, of the self inflicted wounds
Speaker 1: because the interceptions were um, we're certainly the fault of
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers the um and as much as on defense,
Speaker 1: the holding a Detroit team that had averaged nearly thirty
Speaker 1: six points per game at home to fifteen points. Bottom
Speaker 1: line is that was a defensive performance that should have
Speaker 1: been good enough to win the game. So as I
Speaker 1: get into some of the things that went wrong with
Speaker 1: the defense, that needs to be out there first and foremost.
Speaker 1: The defense overall played well enough to win, but some
Speaker 1: of the same types of things that we've seen in
Speaker 1: previous weeks are still hurting this Packers defensive. Even though
Speaker 1: they only gave up fifteen points, they had opportunities to
Speaker 1: play even better. Jr. Alex Ander had a great interception
Speaker 1: in the game, but earlier he had a totally undisciplined
Speaker 1: on you know, unnecessary roughness penalty that turned a sixteen
Speaker 1: yard pass play into a thirty one yard chunk play
Speaker 1: for the Lions, which led to a touchdown. Right before halftime.
Speaker 1: Third and fifteen, Keyshan Nixon gets called for defensive holding
Speaker 1: and instead of getting a stop right there in Detroit territory,
Speaker 1: Detroit goes on to score it's other touchdown because of
Speaker 1: the reprieve. They're a five yard penalty on third and
Speaker 1: fifteen that gives them an automatic first down and the
Speaker 1: Packers can't get the stop. Late in the game, a
Speaker 1: second and twenty, they take a checkdown throw over the
Speaker 1: middle they're just trying to get a few yards to
Speaker 1: make it third and twelve, and Chris Barnes gets called
Speaker 1: for a helmet hit and unfortunately then has to leave
Speaker 1: the game for a concussion evaluation. But then that fifteen
Speaker 1: yard penalty extends the drive for the Lions. The Packers
Speaker 1: don't get it back then for their final drive until
Speaker 1: just a couple of minutes left, as opposed to having
Speaker 1: maybe four or four and a half minutes on the
Speaker 1: clock if they get a stop there off of the
Speaker 1: second and twenty situation. Those are the kinds of things
Speaker 1: that continue to happen to this team in this game
Speaker 1: on on on both sides of the ball. And you
Speaker 1: don't need every single thing to go your way to
Speaker 1: win a game that ends up fifteen to nine. But
Speaker 1: you can't have this many things that that are nothing
Speaker 1: but your own fault, um, you know, the self inflicted
Speaker 1: kind of stuff and expect to win and and and
Speaker 1: it's what it's what the Packers have to as Matt
Speaker 1: la Felix, to say, win or lose, you have to
Speaker 1: hit the reset button. You have to start over. And
Speaker 1: that's what they'll do this week and preparing for Dallas.
Speaker 1: But some of but some of these lessons from week
Speaker 1: to week, you know when things when things aren't changing,
Speaker 1: it's hard to know. It's hard to know when it's
Speaker 1: going to well. And this was the most probably maddening
Speaker 1: part of this thing for the Packers was that they
Speaker 1: played well despite a lot of injuries, a lot of departures.
Speaker 1: I mean, they go into this game without Devondre Campbell,
Speaker 1: so you know you have a rookie in Kuay Walker
Speaker 1: who's relaying the calls the mic linebacker they're rotating their
Speaker 1: inside backers Isam McDuffie and Chris Barnes both played there.
Speaker 1: Eric Stokes leaves with an ankle and knee injury that
Speaker 1: forces were Soul Douglas to come in, and as you
Speaker 1: talked about with Keishaw Nixon getting the defensive holding while
Speaker 1: he's in the slot. Because they lost Stokes, you lose
Speaker 1: you ver Shawn Gary to what appears to be a
Speaker 1: season ending knee injury. Kingsley and Nigbari has the only
Speaker 1: sack for Green Bay in this game, but that gets
Speaker 1: wiped out because the way that Goff's falling his head,
Speaker 1: his hand makes you contact with his helmet. It is
Speaker 1: one of these situations where I thought, in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways for the Packers defense, it you get done
Speaker 1: with that game and it's fifteen points. You know, Jared
Speaker 1: Goff through for a hundred thirty seven yards and the
Speaker 1: jol had they only had two hundred fifty some yards,
Speaker 1: I think, and they've been they'd been a as I said,
Speaker 1: four hundred yard you a thirty plus point team at
Speaker 1: home throughout the course of the year. Yeah, Jamal Williams
Speaker 1: has three point four yards per carry. The guy that
Speaker 1: had eight touchdowns a lot of red zone finishes, wasn't
Speaker 1: able to punch. There's just so many little things in
Speaker 1: this game where the Packers did enough to win with
Speaker 1: their defense, but they didn't get a pick six. They didn't,
Speaker 1: you know, as as much as Joi Alexander tried on
Speaker 1: his you know, twenty nine yard return off the interception
Speaker 1: that golf he had off golf. Nice play. It's just
Speaker 1: been one of those kind of things. And mattal Floor,
Speaker 1: I thought, summed up perfectly. When you give up fifteen points,
Speaker 1: you expect to win that football game, and it just
Speaker 1: wasn't enough for Green Bay. And then it just at
Speaker 1: various points this season, it just hasn't been quite enough.
Speaker 1: So where you go from here, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of it's going to depend on what this you know,
Speaker 1: injury report looks like on Wednesday. It sounds like they've
Speaker 1: dodged a bullet with Aaron Jones, which is huge because
Speaker 1: during that final stretch at the end of the game
Speaker 1: they didn't have him available. Um, you wonder how that
Speaker 1: potentially changes some of that two minute if if he's there,
Speaker 1: because typically he's been the two minute running back. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, Christian Watson, thankfully, it sounds like did not
Speaker 1: suffer a concussion that was really scary for him. You know,
Speaker 1: I just talked about two unfortunate type scenarios that just
Speaker 1: play out in the game of football, where this young
Speaker 1: man is in you know, going to catch the ball,
Speaker 1: gets the ball, and there's you know, guys crashing on him. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: looks like you might lose Dobbs here for a little bit.
Speaker 1: Think the key for Matt Laflour, offense, defense, special teams,
Speaker 1: as they're gonna need to get back in the building
Speaker 1: this week, get their confidence back after a game like that,
Speaker 1: and remind themselves that we lost to a pretty good
Speaker 1: Giants team. We lost to a pretty good Jets team
Speaker 1: that just you know, took you know, Buffalo to the
Speaker 1: wood shed Washington. They lost, but I mean they've played
Speaker 1: better in Buffalo is Buffalo. This was the first one
Speaker 1: where I left the building, left Ford Field going how
Speaker 1: you gotta beat that team? And and to close on
Speaker 1: my long winded point there, Aaron Jones said it afterwards.
Speaker 1: They felt like they all played you know, Detroit, but
Speaker 1: when you lose fifteen to line, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: And for Dan Campbell's crew that might have been a
Speaker 1: job saving you know, performance for Campbell, you don't know
Speaker 1: right now, and just a disheartening, uh you know loss. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Well to crystallize or to to uh to go over
Speaker 1: all of the injuries in in one fell swoop here.
Speaker 1: The bad news is that it sounds like Rashaan Garry's
Speaker 1: season is over with the knee injury, and it sounds
Speaker 1: like it could be a significant injury. It was announced
Speaker 1: as both knee and ankle injuries for second year cornerback
Speaker 1: Eric Stokes. Matt Flour's update on Monday, as they're still
Speaker 1: gathering some more information, running some tests there, so we'll
Speaker 1: see what the prognosis is on Stokes, but there's definitely
Speaker 1: a lot of concern there. And as you mentioned, there
Speaker 1: wasn't really a specific update provided on Romeo Dobs, but
Speaker 1: there are some outside media reports indicating that he's going
Speaker 1: to miss multiple weeks. UM not a UM, not a
Speaker 1: serious or necessarily season ending injury, but something that that
Speaker 1: sounds like we'll keep him out for multiple games. I
Speaker 1: mentioned Chris Barnes left the game for a concussion evaluation.
Speaker 1: Offensive line, we saw John Runyon leave the game, but
Speaker 1: then he came back in. David Bactieri left the game
Speaker 1: for a significant stretch in the second half, he came
Speaker 1: back in. So once again, a lot of things on
Speaker 1: the offensive line influx. Not a lot of certainty there
Speaker 1: as the Packers are going to return to the practice
Speaker 1: field on Wednesday. The good news on the injury side
Speaker 1: of things, as you mentioned, is Aaron Jones with his
Speaker 1: ankle injury. He was held out at the end of
Speaker 1: the game. It doesn't sound like um, it's it sounds
Speaker 1: like he avoided anything significant and Matt Lafleur did not
Speaker 1: rule out the possibility that he might be back and
Speaker 1: be able to play this week against the Cowboys and
Speaker 1: then Christian Watson. We saw him take another big hit
Speaker 1: after a pass reception. He was removed from the game
Speaker 1: for a concussion evaluation. It turned out it was not
Speaker 1: a concussion. It turned out he was not hit in
Speaker 1: the head. What was determined is that he actually the
Speaker 1: the the brunt of the shot that he took was
Speaker 1: actually to his chest and he staggered a little bit
Speaker 1: or you know. Um didn't look completely in control of
Speaker 1: his faculty, so to speak, because the wind was knocked
Speaker 1: out of him, but he was trying to stay on
Speaker 1: his feet instead of falling uh to the turf. So
Speaker 1: he cleared everything with regard to head injury or concussion concerns.
Speaker 1: But because of the concussion the previous week in Buffalo
Speaker 1: and that hit knocking the wind out of him Um
Speaker 1: in Detroit, he was held out for the rest of
Speaker 1: the game, the Packers taking the high side of caution there.
Speaker 1: I have to can make a quick comment about that.
Speaker 1: I get a kick out of the fans reaction to
Speaker 1: this too, because before that we're getting all these questions
Speaker 1: in the inbox. Hated the Packers need to shut him
Speaker 1: down for the season. Is this a long term concern?
Speaker 1: Matt la Floor goes to the podium at three pm
Speaker 1: on Monday and says, Yep, not a concussion, and immediately
Speaker 1: switched to why wasn't he back in the game? That
Speaker 1: why didn't he play? And I want to address this
Speaker 1: because it's not just about the to a thing, although
Speaker 1: I think that's probably the best example of this, a
Speaker 1: couple of things to this one. How many times, Mike,
Speaker 1: over the years have you and I covered football games
Speaker 1: where a guy passes the initial concussion protocol and then
Speaker 1: and not even comes back to the game same situation
Speaker 1: as Watson, and then maybe a day or two later,
Speaker 1: you know, feel some effects. I don't want to use
Speaker 1: specific names, but I can think of a couple right now,
Speaker 1: I think over the last few years where that happened.
Speaker 1: So you want to make sure this kid is good
Speaker 1: at this moment, the next hour, the next day, especially
Speaker 1: with what happened in Buffalo in two the Packers Christian
Speaker 1: Watson was good to go, he was cleared, everything was fine.
Speaker 1: We saw him practice this past week. He looked great.
Speaker 1: But you do when people are asking about do you
Speaker 1: want to be careful with him? That was the Packers
Speaker 1: being careful with it in that moment, making sure that
Speaker 1: This is a young man, second round draft pick, great prospect,
Speaker 1: but also a twenty two year old kid that you
Speaker 1: gotta make sure that for his decision making, for his livelihood,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be okay. Yeah, And no matter how much
Speaker 1: he's standing there on the sideline talking to the medical
Speaker 1: staff saying I'm good, put me back in, I passed everything,
Speaker 1: put me back in the game. And the Packers are like, no,
Speaker 1: we're not We're not going to do that. They were
Speaker 1: going to take the high side of caution, even though
Speaker 1: he obviously could have been a huge factor down the
Speaker 1: stretch with the with the Packers getting into the red
Speaker 1: zone on the final possession of the game and throwing
Speaker 1: four straight in complete passes. Of course he could have
Speaker 1: made a difference. Of course Aaron Jones could have made
Speaker 1: a difference as well, but that's not how the Packers
Speaker 1: were going to go about it. And uh, and now
Speaker 1: it's it's let's see where these guys are this week
Speaker 1: moving and you don't want that young man to have
Speaker 1: three bad hits then in two games. That's not great
Speaker 1: for optics either. Hopefully pulls through this week is available
Speaker 1: here for this game against Dallas because I'm telling you, Mike,
Speaker 1: depending on what happens with Dobbs, they're not going to
Speaker 1: get Randall Cobb back this week. They're gonna need Christian
Speaker 1: Watson here during these next two months. Yeah, and I'll
Speaker 1: give I want to give a shout out here to
Speaker 1: while we're talking about injuries. UM, I know you were
Speaker 1: in the press box in Detroit. I was actually back
Speaker 1: here at the office covering the game live blogging the
Speaker 1: game off of TV. And uh um, but even off
Speaker 1: of the television broadcast, you could tell that Alan Bazard
Speaker 1: was absolutely gutting that game out. On the bad shoulder,
Speaker 1: he was he was, he was giving it everything he
Speaker 1: had and quite frankly, I think the I think the
Speaker 1: shoulder played potentially played a factor in him not quite
Speaker 1: being able to haul in that fourth and three pass
Speaker 1: on on the seam shot there that was initially ruled
Speaker 1: to catch. Replay obviously showed that the ball scraped the ground,
Speaker 1: so it was ruled incomplete and a turnover. On downs,
Speaker 1: he did catch the Packers only touchdown pass of the game. Um,
Speaker 1: Alan Zard absolutely gutted it out in that game. And
Speaker 1: and uh and I just wanted to say that because
Speaker 1: for all of the injuries and everything and and the
Speaker 1: list as we've gone through, it got ridiculous in this
Speaker 1: game and over the course of this season, it's gotten
Speaker 1: ridicu killis and you just wonder, like, you know, when
Speaker 1: are you know how how much? How many more times?
Speaker 1: Are these hits just gonna keep coming in the health department.
Speaker 1: But um, hopefully at some point here the Packers are
Speaker 1: going to start to look like a healthier and watching Alan,
Speaker 1: I know there was one instance where he left quickly,
Speaker 1: went and talked to the training staff early on, came
Speaker 1: back he was fine. But he played sixty the seventy
Speaker 1: four snaps and I think I basically end to add
Speaker 1: my eyes glued onto every single time he went to
Speaker 1: the sideline, and I would say if there was nine
Speaker 1: place he didn't play at least eight of them. It
Speaker 1: wasn't that he was just going to the sideline like
Speaker 1: sitting there waiting to go back in. It was him
Speaker 1: like on one knee with water getting himself back. I
Speaker 1: mean that guy of the snaps, I mean shoulder everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, he put it all out there. Four catches
Speaker 1: for eighty seven yards and a touchdown. The Greeny Packers
Speaker 1: needed him. Yeah, No, question about it? UM, a little
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Speaker 1: Taking a look at other things that happened around Week
Speaker 1: nine in the NFL, you mentioned we don't have the
Speaker 1: next opponent to talk about their most recent game because
Speaker 1: the Cowboys were h We're on a bye week. UM.
Speaker 1: We had talked last Thursday in previewing Week nine about
Speaker 1: the Jets against Buffalo and whether some sort of a
Speaker 1: statement might be made there by the New York Jets,
Speaker 1: who are adjusting for life without Breece Hall, their star
Speaker 1: young running back, and lo and behold, the Jets came
Speaker 1: from behind late in the game to knock off the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills, and suddenly the a f C East is
Speaker 1: uh is really anybody's division to win? With Buffalo now
Speaker 1: taking a second loss on the year. UM, the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: They win their sixth knsecut to one score game. They
Speaker 1: are now seven and one UM and I'll say this,
Speaker 1: I give I give a lot of credit for what
Speaker 1: the Vikings have done Kevin O'Connell, the culture that he's
Speaker 1: obviously trying to build, to build and create their what
Speaker 1: the Vikings are doing is so reminiscent to me of
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur's first season here in Green Bay in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell's first season in green Bay in Minnesota in
Speaker 1: two It's so similar. It's it's winning the close games
Speaker 1: and it's doing so by consistently weekly game after game,
Speaker 1: being the better team in the fourth quarter. That was
Speaker 1: the definition of the Green Bay Packers in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: that they ended up a thirteen win team that was
Speaker 1: not a juggernaut by any means because they didn't blow
Speaker 1: out and dominate people. But the Green Bay Packers in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen were the better team in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: almost every single week along the a to those thirteen wins.
Speaker 1: And that is exactly what the Minnesota Vikings are doing.
Speaker 1: And UH and the culture that Kevin O'Connell is creating
Speaker 1: early on his tenure in Minneapolis. Yeah, for sure. I
Speaker 1: mean I look at this game and you know, Delvin
Speaker 1: Cook had seventeen carries for forty seven yards. UM Andrew
Speaker 1: Madison Alexander Manison excuse me, uh, two carries for one yard.
Speaker 1: This game ultimately kind of at the end went on
Speaker 1: the shoulders of Kirk Cousins. And Cousins is a really
Speaker 1: interesting quarterback because he's had these moments. I know, people
Speaker 1: talked about the prime time games for a while and things,
Speaker 1: but when he's locked in and especially with the you know,
Speaker 1: the bond and chemistry he's formed with you know, Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson and being able to make quick utilization of t. J.
Speaker 1: Hockenson in this game, he can win you ball games,
Speaker 1: and he can win you ball games late. And I
Speaker 1: think that whatever this relationship is with O'Connell or whatever
Speaker 1: they've kind of hit on here, Uh, it's worked and
Speaker 1: it will be really interesting to see them face you know,
Speaker 1: an elite you know, well above five team here at
Speaker 1: some point. But the other thing about that two thousand
Speaker 1: nineteen season, as the Packers were coming off a pretty
Speaker 1: bad two thousand eighteen season, the schedule allows you to
Speaker 1: see some of that what people would perceive to be
Speaker 1: lesser competition. Yeah, that's the position the Vikings have been
Speaker 1: in this season, and they made the most of it
Speaker 1: while beating the teams that I think earlier in this
Speaker 1: season you maybe not necessarily had them pinned down to beat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And interestingly, we'll see as this week develops, because you
Speaker 1: mentioned Minnesota facing you know, one of the what will
Speaker 1: happen when they face one of the elite teams in
Speaker 1: the league with their quarterback there, they're they're they're only
Speaker 1: law Their only loss is to the Philadelphia Eagles, who
Speaker 1: are the only undefeated team in the league. And now
Speaker 1: they are getting ready to face the Buffalo Bills this week.
Speaker 1: But there are all kinds of questions about Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and his elbow and whether he whether he will be
Speaker 1: able to play or not, or will he be at
Speaker 1: full strength or not. And again reminiscent of nineteen when
Speaker 1: the Packers had to go on the road to face
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs. But Patrick Mahomes and the game
Speaker 1: and the Packers got a big win and kept you know,
Speaker 1: kept things rolling there in the middle of the season.
Speaker 1: That's the way, that's the way this league can work sometimes,
Speaker 1: and the Vikings are taking advantage of everything you mentioned
Speaker 1: Cousins in the fourth quarter. I take nothing away obviously
Speaker 1: from what he's done. When you're in when you're in
Speaker 1: tight games, whether you're losing, tie game, you need to
Speaker 1: put together those drives. But Minnesota's defense has also come
Speaker 1: up big in the fourth quarter time and time again.
Speaker 1: Being the better team in the fourth quarter means doing
Speaker 1: it on both sides of the ball to be able
Speaker 1: to win those close games, and that's what the Vikings
Speaker 1: are doing. Tampa Bay Buccaneers uh, sort of a quasi
Speaker 1: season saving comeback for them against the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 1: The Buccaneers now four and five, last year's Super Bowl
Speaker 1: champs now three and five and uh and as we
Speaker 1: had talked last week, UM the game of the week
Speaker 1: in the NFL in Week nine was the Sunday night
Speaker 1: matchup with Kansas City against Tennessee and it turned into
Speaker 1: one of those um very entertaining matchups. From this and
Speaker 1: point of the Tennessee Titans could only run the ball
Speaker 1: and couldn't throw it, and the Kansas City Chiefs just
Speaker 1: refused to run the ball and put the whole game
Speaker 1: in in on Patrick Mahomes's right arm, the past attempts
Speaker 1: versus the run attempts, you know, for the other team,
Speaker 1: statistically one of those one of those crazy ones, and
Speaker 1: it ends up going to overtime in the Kansas City
Speaker 1: Chiefs pull it out, and you know, I just wonder,
Speaker 1: from the ups and downs we've seen from the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs, if a win like that under the lights
Speaker 1: at home against the team that they've seen plenty, uh
Speaker 1: you know here in recent years and and got taken
Speaker 1: to the wire by them, maybe this is where where
Speaker 1: Kansas City starts to starts to make that second half
Speaker 1: run well, because they came back from basically the wind
Speaker 1: condition that Tennessee looks for, which is punching in the
Speaker 1: mouth with Derrick Henry and control, controlling time, possession, controlling
Speaker 1: the Temple Titans did that giving up nine points in
Speaker 1: the first half, but I mean, Derrick Henry owned that game,
Speaker 1: and they came out in the second half and dick
Speaker 1: to the tempo and show it again that if you
Speaker 1: need to, you can just put this thing entirely on
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes and he's gonna step up for you. Overall, though,
Speaker 1: I want to just mention this before we go out.
Speaker 1: The Packers are still trying to claw their way back
Speaker 1: into this and I said, they need to win a
Speaker 1: game here before we talk about anything else. But a
Speaker 1: f C did the Packers a lot of favors in
Speaker 1: this week over four on Sunday, the NFC was in
Speaker 1: those crossover games, including the Bears losing that shootout to
Speaker 1: the to the Dolphins. So it's still all out there
Speaker 1: for Green Bay. You gotta get a win, you gotta rally,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna need to start beating some teams that
Speaker 1: nobody expects you to beat. But this is got time. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: the Packers, as we said, to to home games to
Speaker 1: home games in five days, but they're probably gonna be underdogs,
Speaker 1: and both of them based on the three and six
Speaker 1: record and facing two teams that are in the playoff hunt.
Speaker 1: But we'll talk more about that match up with the
Speaker 1: Cowboys on our next show. For now, we'll call it
Speaker 1: a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com day after day. We've got everything for
Speaker 1: you for West, I'm Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. M