00:00:06
Speaker 1: Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers.com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from the Pottawatomie Sportsbook studio inside the walls of Lambeau Field. And Wes, coming off of what feels like ages ago with the Thursday night football game at Lambeau Field, a 35-14 loss for the Packers. At the hands of the Atlanta Falcons, I don't think we need to spend this show going through chapter and verse of everything that went wrong, but it was a rough night in all three phases for the home team.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to lose by 21 points at home, obviously you and I spent a lot of time last week talking about the streak of consecutive 13 victories at home in the opener that goes by the wayside, and I think probably the most demoralizing part of this one is that the start actually was pretty good for Green Bay, all things considered. I mean, offensively, they were able to punch one in right away. Defensively, they controlled the line of scrimmage, but then adversity hit again for them. And again, I don't want to get into the penalty stuff. You and I have talked way too much about referees already this season, but the Brenton Cox Jr. hit happens, another drive gets extended, and right after that, again, the defense ruptures for a big gain. And it just seemed like after that 55-yard run by Bijan Robinson, everything turned on its axis, and the difference from the game against the Jets were, down the stretch, all three phases picked each other up. In this particular game, I think all three phases kind of let each other down, and for the Packers, it led to a pretty demoralizing defeat.
00:01:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the best way to put it is all three phases let each other down because you can look at the different moments. As you said, the defense gives up the big explosive run right after the tough call. When the offense is in position to get the game tied, there's a breakdown in field goal protection. And instead of a 10-10 game, it's still 10-7. And then on the opening drive of the second half, you have a failed fourth and one where you're looking at trying to get it to 17-14 and still staying right in the game. And then really from the moment that fourth and one pass was incomplete, and credit the Falcons, they completely covered everything in the end zone. They were not fooled by the play-action fake at all. Love had nowhere to go with the ball. And when that turnover on downs happened, then really nothing went right for Green Bay after that, and Atlanta just stayed in control with Bijan Robinson, his running. Michael Penix, give him credit coming back from the injury. He played a very solid game. Other than the early interception, he really protected the football. But we all know the root of this, the root of the issues for Green Bay, and it's not the only issue, but the root of the issues is what's going on with the offensive line And we're seeing now that we're a few days past this loss, which dropped the Packers to 1-2. We're seeing efforts being made to try to get things corrected. A couple of veteran players, both former first-round draft picks, Lakin Tomlinson, Makai Becton, Tomlinson to the 53, Becton for now to the practice squad, have been signed. Packers are trying to get things straightened out on the offensive line because the breakdowns up front are affecting everything. everything with regard to Jordan Love's timing, with regard to the running game, with regard to everything that's going on. And the struggles on offense we saw really started to spill over into the struggles on defense as the game got away from the Packers on Thursday night. So this is where things have to get better. And the personnel department is working overtime to try to find some reinforcements and get this figured out.
00:03:52
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I mean, this also comes two weeks after Cordell Volson was added to the practice squad as well.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: So another, another veteran with a lot of experience in this league.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. The Packers now have, um, you know, three guys, uh, that they've added over the last two weeks that have all played a lot of football. So the thing I liked about bringing in Tomlinson and, and Becton, there's, there's two different aspects to this. The first one is, you know, cause people always ask, well, then why are they free agents right now? Well, both of them did come off some pretty big injuries in the off season. Tomlinson had a procedure done on his knee or on his, excuse me, his heel to clean that up. He got cleared last month, was working the workout circuit. Detroit, who drafted him in 2015, actually brought him in for a workout, looked pretty close to him sticking around there, going back there, I should say. Then he ultimately ends up signing to Dallas's practice squad. Dallas had been dealing with some injuries on the offensive line, wanted an insurance policy there. And while Dallas is down in Rio, he's in the practice squad, his family. went back and hung out with them in California, and he got the call. The Packers wanted to bring him up here. And this guy has played over 150, has had over 160 starts in the National Football League, was a pro bowler in 2021 with San Francisco. And one of the things that he mentioned when I was just talking with him in the locker room was he's been trying to get back in a scheme like this since he left San Francisco. He feels like the way the Packers operate, the way that Shanahan operates, That is where it complements his skill set the best. So he's excited and he's eager to get back out there and show that there's some still left in the tank. So we have Tomlinson here at 34. And on the other side of it, you have Becton at 27, who's a former first round pick as well. He kind of had this career resurgence with Philadelphia two years ago, wins a Super Bowl, was a starting right guard on that team, only played tackle before that. goes to the Chargers last year, ends up playing through a labrum issue that he has surgery for. He gets cleared from that reportedly last week. We didn't have a chance to talk to him yet because he's on the practice squad. And now he's in Green Bay. So for how this has gone the last couple weeks, both with the injuries and then just how many times Jordan Love's been hit and the problems they've had establishing the run, the Packers had to do something. And this is two very big somethings. Yeah.
00:06:09
Speaker 1: What's interesting to me about this is that there's, There's a parallel to 2023 here, but yet something that's very different from 2023. And what I mean is Jordan Love's first year as a starting quarterback, we saw early in the season a lot of struggles, a lot of fits and starts. Things didn't look right in a lot of ways on offense for a good portion of the season. But what was going on then is that Jordan Love and all of his perimeter weapons, Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, Jaden Reed, Luke Musgrave, Tucker Craft, They're all growing along with their young quarterback. And the Packers were able to eventually figure it out. You get things going, and 2023 ended up being a very promising year. But where they were early in the season is, okay, if a guy runs a wrong route or makes a mistake on the perimeter or something, it doesn't completely blow up what you're trying to do. The problem the Packers are having right now is that the young players that they need to sort of grow up and mature quickly are the guys on the offensive line. And when those breakdowns are on the offensive line, it doesn't matter what the perimeter guys are doing. They can't make up for it.
00:07:26
Speaker 2: Right.
00:07:27
Speaker 1: So that's why a lot of this feels like 2023, but yet the Packers can't just sit back and wait for these guys to come along and figure it out because there's, there's too much impact with every mistake when it's the guys in the trenches. I hope I'm making some sense. I hope I'm making some sense there because, uh, because I think the Packers would like to be able to, to ride this out and, um, believe in the young linemen that they're bringing along and, and they believe that these guys are going to be solid players in the future. But that's just a really, when it's multiple guys in the same unit on the offensive line and how crucial that is to how everything functions, you just can't do that the way they did with the perimeter guys in 2023.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Well, and it's the reason why Matt LaFleur talked about it when the injury happened with Aaron Banks, and we're still not sure what the prognosis is going to be for him this week, of why Donovan Jennings got that first op at left guard over Jagger Burton. And he used that term, time on task. Now, fans always hear that and they're like, well, what does that mean? But I mean, it was a great question. I forget which, I wish I could remember which TV media person asked Tucker Kraft this, but when you're talking about not just offensive line play, but any position, the amount of experience there, obviously you want guys in their prime. You want guys that have their athletic, you know, they're right in the, the, the, the, the feel good spot as far as where they're going to be at, uh, in terms of their talent meeting, um, you know, their production. but you need the reps, you need the snaps, you need the experience. And, and that's where Green Bay is kind of struggling right now. Cause I mean, it's Jordan Morgan's first go around in the NFL at left tackle right now. Anthony Belton has played multiple positions. Uh, you know, Jacob Monk is a starter for the first time in his career. And then obviously there's been that, that situation at left guard. So yeah, Packers find themselves in a bit of a lurch here and are trying to find some answers and, and, you know, kudos to them. I mean, they didn't waste any time doing it. We're in week three and they went out and signed these guys and, Brian Goodikens, they were prepared for this. They knew that potentially something could be up with Zach Bacabuele. Obviously, Aaron Banks rotated in and out of the lineup throughout training camp. They kept 10 offensive linemen on this roster, but it was really the worst case scenario losing Zach right off the bat. And then obviously having these setbacks here with Banks, not only with the knee, but also now with the toe injury.
00:09:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think what we saw on Thursday night was sort of a, I don't want to, a culmination isn't the right word, but what we saw is young players up front who are strong. you're not going to get any better on a short week when you don't get to practice, right? I mean, you know, it's all walk through stuff on a short week when you're playing on Thursday. And I understand it's the same for both teams, et cetera. Atlanta was dealing with their own stuff, coming in with an 0-2 record. And they're getting their starting quarterback back and their perimeter weapons. I mean, Drake London, Austin Hooper, you know, those guys were all fired up to get their quarterback back.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: Right.
00:10:25
Speaker 1: I mean, we saw how that unfolded, but the Packers just, you can't, you're, you're not going to get better up front without practicing. And, and everything just kind of went sideways when, when you're not getting the reps that you need to prepare to play a game with, with the young guys up front. So They're trying to do something about it moving forward.
00:10:49
Speaker 2: One thing I want to add in, too, because obviously you hope that Lake and Tomlinson can give him something here, maybe potentially be in there sooner than later if they need him at either left guard or right guard. He said he's up for doing either. But I go back to 2017, too, where they signed Jyrie Evans, and that ended up being Jyrie's last year in the National Football League. But I can't tell you how much between Lucas Patrick, Justin McRae, Lane Taylor— All these young guys, what they said in terms of what he was able to give them in terms of the bigger picture, having a six-time Pro Bowler in the room like that. There was a domino effect that transcended just that season. I think that's really valuable for this team too right now because that's the one detractor of how this thing has been lined up for Green Bay. They don't have that eight, nine-year veteran in this lineup anymore. There isn't a Brian Balaga. There's not a David Bakhtiari. You know, it's been young and it stayed young.
00:11:44
Speaker 1: And the most accomplished guy you have in that unit is dealing with a major, major injury right now that he's going to be spending months upon months rehabbing. He can't necessarily be spending all his time in the meeting room trying to coach these guys up and all that. That's not ZBB's job, right? I mean, he's got to take care of himself first and he's in a difficult spot as well with everything that he's gone through over the last year or so. And he's a fifth year pro.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Like, I mean, that's just how this game has been lined up right now. I mean, they just, they really... Ben Young on the offensive line. And I remember a scout telling me years ago when I was at the Green Bay Press Gazette saying to me, he's like, in his opinion, now this is an old school mindset, but his opinion was you don't see offensive linemen reach their peak until 28, 29 years old. It's a later than any other position in football because there's so much muscle memory that's built up. There's obviously the physical aspects of the job and where you reach your prime and building muscle. But then most importantly, it's understanding how to win. in those instances, how to game and out-duel your opponent, whether it's a double team, whatever the scheme is, whoever's lined up across from you, there's so much knowledge and intuition that plays into that.
00:12:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Quentin Nelsons of the world who become all pros in their first and second year, those guys are the exception, not the rule, right, when it comes to offensive line play. I want to shift gears to the defense here because I thought the Packers' defense played for the most part, some pretty darn solid football the first two weeks of the season. So is what we saw on Thursday night, do you chalk it up to just an anomaly? It was a bad night. Things started to go wrong. Or did the Falcons expose something there? Like, how are you looking at it?
00:13:31
Speaker 2: Okay, it's a great question. First and foremost, there's only one B. John Robinson. I've always had respect for this guy. There was a reason why he went as high as he did in the draft, right? But what I saw in that game that's so much different than anything else I've experienced watching him is the mixture of patience and explosiveness that he has. He waits for... Dude, he said this afterwards in the locker room. I thought it was such a great quote where he's like, he's basically looking... for those peekaboo moments where it's like, Oh, here I am.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: Boom.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: I'm gone. Yeah. And he's so darn good at it. So yeah, you can get them in space and he can catch the ball. But man, I tell you when he is running, especially some of the outside zone stuff they did where he's looking for his cutback lane in that once the guy gets moving, he's electric. Oh. And then by the way, he also has that Josh Jacobs type of ability to, when it looks like everything's plugged, he still gets four yards out of it.
00:14:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:14:25
Speaker 2: Atlanta was never in like really a second and long situation. And The Packers, they cleaned up the penalties in a lot of regards in that game, but in this particular matchup, it wasn't in a legal procedure or something or legal contact on 3rd and 11 wiping things out. It was Bijan Ravan just staying in front of the sticks, and Mike, you saw it as well as I did. As that game got moving, after that first interception, Michael Penix was back in his comfort zone. And once that happened and he got into that same page with Drake London, I just think the dam gave way. So Green Bay can't allow that to happen. It's still 500 yards of total offense. I think the defense wore down a little bit. I think some of that had to do, especially in the first half with the three and outs offensively. They were on the field a lot. But you still have to find an answer. And in this particular instance, Green Bay just didn't have one.
00:15:10
Speaker 1: I think what struck me the most, and I agree with everything you said about Robinson, and I think our perceptions of this are aligned. The other way that I would say it, is that what struck me watching him live from the press box, and it was the first time we had seen him live since 2023 when he was a rookie, was that his style, and by style I mean that combination of the patience and the burst and everything, he throws off the conventional timing of a running play. And because the timing of everything and the way he does things is not conventional, is not normal, it felt like the Packers' defense just wasn't able to adjust and to react to that. And so then what you see is holes opening up late because you don't think that that's where the hole is going to be because the conventional timing means the ball's going to go this way. Or the timing is so thrown off that then you start missing tackles because everything is just abnormal. He doesn't play the game in the normal fashion of a running back. And when you combine that with his incredible skill and talent, he becomes the most dangerous player on the field, and that's who he was on Thursday night. And I'm not trying to make excuses for the Packers, because when you're in position to make tackles, you have to make them. You have to stay in your gaps. And the downfield passes, we saw a couple of coverage busts with Drake London, where he ends up getting almost 200 yards receiving in this game as well. So The Packers have plenty to work on defensively coming off of this game. I do think there were some very different circumstances with this game compared to the first two that contributed to the struggles. That being said, the Packers are now going into a game against Tampa this coming Sunday. a backup quarterback, another quarterback they're not really going to have film on. You're not necessarily going to know exactly how the Buccaneers are going to want to run their offense with Jalen Daniels replacing Baker Mayfield and all that. But it seems like defensively the Packers just have to kind of look inward and go, all right, we have our rules, we have our assignments, and we can't let things just go sideways the way they did against Robinson and the Falcons.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. And we, and I'm not going to get into keys to victory yet, but I'll tell you this right now, you have to win first down against Tampa. They didn't do that against Atlanta.
00:17:45
Speaker 1: Right.
00:17:46
Speaker 2: And I'm, you know, another spoiler alert here for everybody, the Buccaneers are going to run the football on Sunday.
00:17:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, they are.
00:17:52
Speaker 2: And especially we'll have to see how the forecast, if it ends up being rain or not. But I mean, that's just the way this thing's going to be with Jalen Daniels. And Jalen is a, is it dual threat quarterback? He was very, effective at Kansas for five, six years at just kind of embracing the chaos, especially once Lance Leopold got there and the way they structured things. It's not going to be a cakewalk, especially when you look at what Tampa does defensively. This is the second best run defense in the NFL. Packers have to run the ball, too. You have to win on the ground. And I don't know what the offensive line configuration is going to look like. How quickly can Lake and Tomlinson get up to speed? I'm not sure. What is the prognosis here at the time in which we're taping this with Sean Ryan? Did he check out fine because he was getting looked at afterwards with the hand? All these different things kind of factor into it. But what we do know is Zach Baccabuella is not going to be back again this season. And you don't know exactly what the situation is going to be with Aaron Banks. This game against Tampa is one out of 14 left in the regular season. Green Bay has to find ways to adjust to it.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I want to get to kind of the bigger picture, what else is going on around the league, the NFC North and whatnot. But first, we will pay some bills and hear a quick word from our sponsors. Sirius XM NFL Radio delivers hard-hitting analysis and up-to-the-minute NFL news that true football fanatics need 24-7, 365. Did you know Lambeau Field is just one of our state's many wonders? Start making unforgettable memories on your next vacation. Discover the Apostle Islands and more at TravelWisconsin.com slash wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. All right, Wes, three weeks in. The Minnesota Vikings are 3-0. The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears are both 2-1. The Green Bay Packers are 1-2. Really interesting what's going on around the north because the Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what they can do to get some offense going. They're the first team in I don't know how many decades to be 3-0. and not have an offensive game of more than 250 yards. But they are clearly built on their defense and special teams. I mean, that is where Minnesota's strength is. And it's led them to three victories so far. We saw the Chicago Bears win play without Caleb Williams and Case Keenum stepped in on Monday night football and took it to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Eagles offensively couldn't do anything against Chicago's defense. And the Detroit Lions have, uh, won a couple of down to the wire games at home. They squeaked the one out against New Orleans when they stopped the two point conversion. They, uh, um, they kind of blow a fourth quarter lead, um, against the Jets, but then go down and get the score they need to, uh, to ultimately win the game, and then their defense finally holds up at the end. So the Packers are bringing up the rear here in the division, but I don't see anybody in the NFC North that looks like a world beater right now. I think all the teams in the NFC North have their flaws, and it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out from here. And obviously, as the season goes along, we're going to see more of the division matchups. The Packers are going to be playing the Bears very soon, and we already saw the Bears play the Vikings. etc. So a lot to be decided, obviously, in the NFC North with 14 games to go. But the Packers are the ones who have the biggest hill to climb.
00:21:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do. And ultimately, as you said, all these teams have flaws, but you have to find ways to win, right? And I think Minnesota is a perfect embodiment of that. The Vikings, in a lot of ways, are probably a little bit more polished version of the Packers. Defensively, they're setting the tone in all these games. Offensively, they're doing just enough. Kyler Murray, first game back since the incident in Minnesota against Green Bay. So we'll have to see what kind of rust that he was shaking off in that matchup, but not having Jordan Mason is going to change the structure of their offense. And if Aaron Jones is actually going to be able to be a bell cow at 31 years old and dealing with some of his own knee injuries right now, it's been a grind for Minnesota, but they've found a way to grind the winds out. Honestly, the least surprising thing of the entire weekend to me was Case Keenum and what the Bears did. I mean, Case Keenum has been a very good quarterback in this league for a long time. I think everybody would agree that's been an embarrassment of riches there. Case Keenum was brought to Chicago to be the number two. Bajent just ended up being a tremendous find for them as an undrafted rookie, a guy that they end up extending to. So, I mean, the fact that either of those guys can win football games, it doesn't matter who starts against Green Bay a week from now. I mean, both of those guys are going to be a threat. And Keenum being able to manage that situation and, you know, a lot of friendly things too, you know, having the home crowd and all that stuff matters. But The fact is, is that one team looked very composed on Monday night and one team looked like a mess. Yeah.
00:22:37
Speaker 1: And what was interesting to me in watching that, watching the Monday night game unfold is that I felt like Philadelphia, at least from the defensive side of things, you know, Black Friday last year, the Bears ran all over Philadelphia. I mean, would they have 350 rushing yards or some ridiculous number in that game, right? So the Eagles were already... in whatever circle they put around this Monday night game in Chicago on their calendars from the beginning. They knew like, all right, we have to go into Chicago and stop the run. Ben Johnson's going to run the ball down our throat. Oh, and Caleb Williams isn't playing and they're going with a backup quarterback. we really got to be ready to stop the run. And what did Ben Johnson do? He came out and let Case Keenum chuck the ball over the field. And quite frankly, it felt like defensively, the Eagles looked totally shell-shocked at what they were facing. It was not what they expected at all. And even midway through the third quarter, they still looked like they hadn't really figured out what Chicago was. They were completely blown away by how Chicago came out and played with Case Keenum at quarterback and, and, and credit the bears. They had the Eagles on their heels all night long. And, um, and then offensively the, uh, other than, you know, well, the Eagles had two drives, one of which ended with the backup quarterback throwing an interception in the end zone. And then they got the touchdown at the end of the first half, but then they came out in the second half and it was, you know, three and out after three and out. And, uh, and the bears were in complete, complete command there. Um, I want to ask you, I don't know how much NFL football you watched on Sunday, but I've been trying to decide, okay, which one is the early candidate for game of the year in the NFL, that Rams-Broncos game, the Rio game between the Ravens and the Cowboys, or the Commander Seahawks game that saw the Seahawks winning streak that dates back to last November and obviously ran through the Super Bowl last year. Their winning streak comes to an end at the hands of a backup quarterback in Marcus Mariota in Washington, a backup quarterback who has a C on his chest, by the way. So don't forget about that part of it. That's going to be an interesting thing to monitor in Washington moving forward now that Mariota just knocked off the defending Super Bowl champs. But it was a tremendous Sunday of NFL football. And like I say, kind of multiple candidates early on for like game of the year in the league.
00:25:06
Speaker 2: And who was Mariota's center in that game?
00:25:08
Speaker 1: Lucas Patrick.
00:25:10
Speaker 2: Um, I'm telling you, man, I wrote about an insider inbox today. These are the Packers. Hopefully you can find something here with Tomlinson and Becton, but this is, these are the things you do have to do over the course of the season. You have to find ways to stitch together a football team. And I thought Washington winning that game. Um, and then by the way, Mariota for how, how badly things ended last year, uh, for him. And it didn't look good at times.
00:25:29
Speaker 1: Right.
00:25:29
Speaker 2: Um, this is a guy that continues to pull himself back off the mat. And that's not it. You, you and I have seen it time and time again. I mean, this is, this is a, uh, When you have Dan Quinn and the way he plays defensively, it wasn't a shock two years ago that they made it as far as they did in the playoffs and make an NFC championship run when Jaden Daniel was playing the way he was. They're going to find ways to win. So, I mean, that's probably the early incumbent, I would say, especially the way that thing went. I mean, the Rams game was.
00:25:59
Speaker 1: So darn fun. That was wild.
00:26:01
Speaker 2: Devontae's just a man still, and he's given all these headaches to, you know, PS2.
00:26:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, and for Stafford to come back from, he throws the pick six, and then immediately goes back out, and then they march down the field, and then he hits a big pass to the smaller receiver, I forget his name right now, Mumpfield or something like that, I think.
00:26:19
Speaker 2: And Suns.
00:26:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, that Rams-Broncos game was just wild. Unfortunately, the controversial call on the interception by the Rams guy, but he gets flagged for pass interference and then sets up the winning score for the Broncos. There's always going to be these discussions of the officials. And heck, those football fans in Rio, they got a heck of a treat. They did. The Ravens and the Cowboys. Seven seconds to go. This is... And we'll end the show here talking a little bit of strategy. This is where it gets very interesting that where the NFL has now made the, the touchback on a kickoff that goes into the end zone on the fly, the ball comes out to the 35 because the Cowboys just decided after they tied the game, there's seven seconds on the clock. We're like, all right, we're just, you know, Aubrey's just going to boot the ball through the end zone and not And they didn't want to have to worry about making a tackle on a kickoff return, right?
00:27:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:27:21
Speaker 1: Well, the seven seconds with the Ravens having the one timeout and getting to start at the 35-yard line and with these kickers who can make 55-plus, 60-yarders, whatever, on a fairly regular basis when it's the last play of the game. The strategy at the end, if you're not– If you're not the team that's setting up for like the walk-off kick or the walk-off score and you're leaving some time on the clock, what you do on that kickoff is something you have to think about because of what the Ravens just pulled off.
00:27:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to tell you this right now. You have the best kicker in the game, right, in Aubrey. I think I probably just trust him to mortar kick it. They had covered the kickoffs fine in the game. just getting way too cute at the end because the.
00:28:09
Speaker 1: Problem is, the one thing I will say, Aubrey had kicked two kickoffs out of bounds in that game and put them on the 40 yard line two times.
00:28:17
Speaker 2: So I, you wonder, so put them at the 35 instead.
00:28:19
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean, that's essentially what, that's essentially what they did because, because he had had a bad day on kickoffs.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: 18 yard, you know, completion, those gets you in field goal position. So it's like, and, and by the way, kudos to the, Baltimore, the execution there, the awareness to be able to get that thing down.
00:28:35
Speaker 1: And the young kicker who missed the kick that sent Aaron Rodgers to the playoffs last year on that final Sunday night game in week 18, he comes out there and drills the 56 yarder in Rio and, you know, major celebration. But kudos to him because he had to. he had to live all off season with that essentially a walk-off miss that cost his team a playoff spot.
00:28:57
Speaker 2: He snuck that one in on the black too. At first when that thing went up, I'm like, ah, I'm not so sure about that. Yeah, it was going to be dicey. It's like the backdoor slider a little bit to be able to sneak it in there. But yeah, I mean, it was a huge win for Baltimore. And this is going to be big for Dallas now because I think Dallas, you know, there's a lot of hope and optimism about that defense and they've kind of struggled out of the gate here a little bit. Um, Yeah. But the last point I want to make, though, if I can, you know, because we talk about Green Bay and this is obviously not been the start the Packers want. There's a lot of bouncing back that Green Bay has to do. But you look at the Los Angeles Chargers right now at 0-3. You look at New England at 1-2 and just getting completely, you know, dog walked by. by Jacksonville. You look at Houston again at an 0-3 start once again. I mean, there's different ways to play this golf course. And there's going to be times where you have some bogeys and double bogeys on the first couple holes. But the only way you're going to end up with a terrible 100 round is if you don't find a way to turn it around. Yep. that's going to be the challenge for green Bay. It's going to be the challenge for some of these teams in the, in the early, you know, started this thing. But the fact of the matter is, is it is only three weeks and there's still 14 more to go. Yeah.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: There's everybody's dealing with something. Right. And yeah, there's, you know, the, even the Buffalo bills, they're sitting at three and O and looking like the legit AFC contender everybody thought, but they turned the ball over five times at home and almost lost to the chargers. Right. So, I mean, everybody's, everybody's got something they're dealing with. And all you want to try to do in these early stages of the season is just chalk up enough wins to give yourself a shot when it turns into November and December football. And hopefully the Packers can get back on the winning track on Sunday in Tampa.
00:30:44
Speaker 2: The one update we got from Matt LaFleur on Monday was that Micah Parsons isn't going to practice this week. So obviously that window still is out there for his return from PUP. But you know, The point I want to try to draw off that is when I was looking at the Packers and their season outlook, I've said it, I've written it since before the opener. The Packers had, in my opinion, had to go two and two in September. This is not the way you probably wanted it to line out. I actually thought Tampa might end up being the biggest challenge for them based on Baker Mayfield and what they present with Todd Bowles' defense. But the fact is, is that's still out there for them. I still feel like if you can get through this stretch without Mike at 500, you're sitting okay for the rest of the year. That being said, there's other injuries that have hit. Nothing is absolute. But you can't lose sight of the big picture here, which is this is a win procurement business, and the Packers need to get their wins here to set themselves up for the rest of the season. Once they've been successful, two, they have not. and their fourth opportunity comes on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
00:31:43
Speaker 1: All right, and with that, we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers.com. For Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We will see you next time.
Speaker 1: Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers.com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from the Pottawatomie Sportsbook studio inside the walls of Lambeau Field. And Wes, coming off of what feels like ages ago with the Thursday night football game at Lambeau Field, a 35-14 loss for the Packers. At the hands of the Atlanta Falcons, I don't think we need to spend this show going through chapter and verse of everything that went wrong, but it was a rough night in all three phases for the home team.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to lose by 21 points at home, obviously you and I spent a lot of time last week talking about the streak of consecutive 13 victories at home in the opener that goes by the wayside, and I think probably the most demoralizing part of this one is that the start actually was pretty good for Green Bay, all things considered. I mean, offensively, they were able to punch one in right away. Defensively, they controlled the line of scrimmage, but then adversity hit again for them. And again, I don't want to get into the penalty stuff. You and I have talked way too much about referees already this season, but the Brenton Cox Jr. hit happens, another drive gets extended, and right after that, again, the defense ruptures for a big gain. And it just seemed like after that 55-yard run by Bijan Robinson, everything turned on its axis, and the difference from the game against the Jets were, down the stretch, all three phases picked each other up. In this particular game, I think all three phases kind of let each other down, and for the Packers, it led to a pretty demoralizing defeat.
00:01:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the best way to put it is all three phases let each other down because you can look at the different moments. As you said, the defense gives up the big explosive run right after the tough call. When the offense is in position to get the game tied, there's a breakdown in field goal protection. And instead of a 10-10 game, it's still 10-7. And then on the opening drive of the second half, you have a failed fourth and one where you're looking at trying to get it to 17-14 and still staying right in the game. And then really from the moment that fourth and one pass was incomplete, and credit the Falcons, they completely covered everything in the end zone. They were not fooled by the play-action fake at all. Love had nowhere to go with the ball. And when that turnover on downs happened, then really nothing went right for Green Bay after that, and Atlanta just stayed in control with Bijan Robinson, his running. Michael Penix, give him credit coming back from the injury. He played a very solid game. Other than the early interception, he really protected the football. But we all know the root of this, the root of the issues for Green Bay, and it's not the only issue, but the root of the issues is what's going on with the offensive line And we're seeing now that we're a few days past this loss, which dropped the Packers to 1-2. We're seeing efforts being made to try to get things corrected. A couple of veteran players, both former first-round draft picks, Lakin Tomlinson, Makai Becton, Tomlinson to the 53, Becton for now to the practice squad, have been signed. Packers are trying to get things straightened out on the offensive line because the breakdowns up front are affecting everything. everything with regard to Jordan Love's timing, with regard to the running game, with regard to everything that's going on. And the struggles on offense we saw really started to spill over into the struggles on defense as the game got away from the Packers on Thursday night. So this is where things have to get better. And the personnel department is working overtime to try to find some reinforcements and get this figured out.
00:03:52
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I mean, this also comes two weeks after Cordell Volson was added to the practice squad as well.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: So another, another veteran with a lot of experience in this league.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. The Packers now have, um, you know, three guys, uh, that they've added over the last two weeks that have all played a lot of football. So the thing I liked about bringing in Tomlinson and, and Becton, there's, there's two different aspects to this. The first one is, you know, cause people always ask, well, then why are they free agents right now? Well, both of them did come off some pretty big injuries in the off season. Tomlinson had a procedure done on his knee or on his, excuse me, his heel to clean that up. He got cleared last month, was working the workout circuit. Detroit, who drafted him in 2015, actually brought him in for a workout, looked pretty close to him sticking around there, going back there, I should say. Then he ultimately ends up signing to Dallas's practice squad. Dallas had been dealing with some injuries on the offensive line, wanted an insurance policy there. And while Dallas is down in Rio, he's in the practice squad, his family. went back and hung out with them in California, and he got the call. The Packers wanted to bring him up here. And this guy has played over 150, has had over 160 starts in the National Football League, was a pro bowler in 2021 with San Francisco. And one of the things that he mentioned when I was just talking with him in the locker room was he's been trying to get back in a scheme like this since he left San Francisco. He feels like the way the Packers operate, the way that Shanahan operates, That is where it complements his skill set the best. So he's excited and he's eager to get back out there and show that there's some still left in the tank. So we have Tomlinson here at 34. And on the other side of it, you have Becton at 27, who's a former first round pick as well. He kind of had this career resurgence with Philadelphia two years ago, wins a Super Bowl, was a starting right guard on that team, only played tackle before that. goes to the Chargers last year, ends up playing through a labrum issue that he has surgery for. He gets cleared from that reportedly last week. We didn't have a chance to talk to him yet because he's on the practice squad. And now he's in Green Bay. So for how this has gone the last couple weeks, both with the injuries and then just how many times Jordan Love's been hit and the problems they've had establishing the run, the Packers had to do something. And this is two very big somethings. Yeah.
00:06:09
Speaker 1: What's interesting to me about this is that there's, There's a parallel to 2023 here, but yet something that's very different from 2023. And what I mean is Jordan Love's first year as a starting quarterback, we saw early in the season a lot of struggles, a lot of fits and starts. Things didn't look right in a lot of ways on offense for a good portion of the season. But what was going on then is that Jordan Love and all of his perimeter weapons, Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, Jaden Reed, Luke Musgrave, Tucker Craft, They're all growing along with their young quarterback. And the Packers were able to eventually figure it out. You get things going, and 2023 ended up being a very promising year. But where they were early in the season is, okay, if a guy runs a wrong route or makes a mistake on the perimeter or something, it doesn't completely blow up what you're trying to do. The problem the Packers are having right now is that the young players that they need to sort of grow up and mature quickly are the guys on the offensive line. And when those breakdowns are on the offensive line, it doesn't matter what the perimeter guys are doing. They can't make up for it.
00:07:26
Speaker 2: Right.
00:07:27
Speaker 1: So that's why a lot of this feels like 2023, but yet the Packers can't just sit back and wait for these guys to come along and figure it out because there's, there's too much impact with every mistake when it's the guys in the trenches. I hope I'm making some sense. I hope I'm making some sense there because, uh, because I think the Packers would like to be able to, to ride this out and, um, believe in the young linemen that they're bringing along and, and they believe that these guys are going to be solid players in the future. But that's just a really, when it's multiple guys in the same unit on the offensive line and how crucial that is to how everything functions, you just can't do that the way they did with the perimeter guys in 2023.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Well, and it's the reason why Matt LaFleur talked about it when the injury happened with Aaron Banks, and we're still not sure what the prognosis is going to be for him this week, of why Donovan Jennings got that first op at left guard over Jagger Burton. And he used that term, time on task. Now, fans always hear that and they're like, well, what does that mean? But I mean, it was a great question. I forget which, I wish I could remember which TV media person asked Tucker Kraft this, but when you're talking about not just offensive line play, but any position, the amount of experience there, obviously you want guys in their prime. You want guys that have their athletic, you know, they're right in the, the, the, the, the feel good spot as far as where they're going to be at, uh, in terms of their talent meeting, um, you know, their production. but you need the reps, you need the snaps, you need the experience. And, and that's where Green Bay is kind of struggling right now. Cause I mean, it's Jordan Morgan's first go around in the NFL at left tackle right now. Anthony Belton has played multiple positions. Uh, you know, Jacob Monk is a starter for the first time in his career. And then obviously there's been that, that situation at left guard. So yeah, Packers find themselves in a bit of a lurch here and are trying to find some answers and, and, you know, kudos to them. I mean, they didn't waste any time doing it. We're in week three and they went out and signed these guys and, Brian Goodikens, they were prepared for this. They knew that potentially something could be up with Zach Bacabuele. Obviously, Aaron Banks rotated in and out of the lineup throughout training camp. They kept 10 offensive linemen on this roster, but it was really the worst case scenario losing Zach right off the bat. And then obviously having these setbacks here with Banks, not only with the knee, but also now with the toe injury.
00:09:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think what we saw on Thursday night was sort of a, I don't want to, a culmination isn't the right word, but what we saw is young players up front who are strong. you're not going to get any better on a short week when you don't get to practice, right? I mean, you know, it's all walk through stuff on a short week when you're playing on Thursday. And I understand it's the same for both teams, et cetera. Atlanta was dealing with their own stuff, coming in with an 0-2 record. And they're getting their starting quarterback back and their perimeter weapons. I mean, Drake London, Austin Hooper, you know, those guys were all fired up to get their quarterback back.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: Right.
00:10:25
Speaker 1: I mean, we saw how that unfolded, but the Packers just, you can't, you're, you're not going to get better up front without practicing. And, and everything just kind of went sideways when, when you're not getting the reps that you need to prepare to play a game with, with the young guys up front. So They're trying to do something about it moving forward.
00:10:49
Speaker 2: One thing I want to add in, too, because obviously you hope that Lake and Tomlinson can give him something here, maybe potentially be in there sooner than later if they need him at either left guard or right guard. He said he's up for doing either. But I go back to 2017, too, where they signed Jyrie Evans, and that ended up being Jyrie's last year in the National Football League. But I can't tell you how much between Lucas Patrick, Justin McRae, Lane Taylor— All these young guys, what they said in terms of what he was able to give them in terms of the bigger picture, having a six-time Pro Bowler in the room like that. There was a domino effect that transcended just that season. I think that's really valuable for this team too right now because that's the one detractor of how this thing has been lined up for Green Bay. They don't have that eight, nine-year veteran in this lineup anymore. There isn't a Brian Balaga. There's not a David Bakhtiari. You know, it's been young and it stayed young.
00:11:44
Speaker 1: And the most accomplished guy you have in that unit is dealing with a major, major injury right now that he's going to be spending months upon months rehabbing. He can't necessarily be spending all his time in the meeting room trying to coach these guys up and all that. That's not ZBB's job, right? I mean, he's got to take care of himself first and he's in a difficult spot as well with everything that he's gone through over the last year or so. And he's a fifth year pro.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Like, I mean, that's just how this game has been lined up right now. I mean, they just, they really... Ben Young on the offensive line. And I remember a scout telling me years ago when I was at the Green Bay Press Gazette saying to me, he's like, in his opinion, now this is an old school mindset, but his opinion was you don't see offensive linemen reach their peak until 28, 29 years old. It's a later than any other position in football because there's so much muscle memory that's built up. There's obviously the physical aspects of the job and where you reach your prime and building muscle. But then most importantly, it's understanding how to win. in those instances, how to game and out-duel your opponent, whether it's a double team, whatever the scheme is, whoever's lined up across from you, there's so much knowledge and intuition that plays into that.
00:12:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Quentin Nelsons of the world who become all pros in their first and second year, those guys are the exception, not the rule, right, when it comes to offensive line play. I want to shift gears to the defense here because I thought the Packers' defense played for the most part, some pretty darn solid football the first two weeks of the season. So is what we saw on Thursday night, do you chalk it up to just an anomaly? It was a bad night. Things started to go wrong. Or did the Falcons expose something there? Like, how are you looking at it?
00:13:31
Speaker 2: Okay, it's a great question. First and foremost, there's only one B. John Robinson. I've always had respect for this guy. There was a reason why he went as high as he did in the draft, right? But what I saw in that game that's so much different than anything else I've experienced watching him is the mixture of patience and explosiveness that he has. He waits for... Dude, he said this afterwards in the locker room. I thought it was such a great quote where he's like, he's basically looking... for those peekaboo moments where it's like, Oh, here I am.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: Boom.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: I'm gone. Yeah. And he's so darn good at it. So yeah, you can get them in space and he can catch the ball. But man, I tell you when he is running, especially some of the outside zone stuff they did where he's looking for his cutback lane in that once the guy gets moving, he's electric. Oh. And then by the way, he also has that Josh Jacobs type of ability to, when it looks like everything's plugged, he still gets four yards out of it.
00:14:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:14:25
Speaker 2: Atlanta was never in like really a second and long situation. And The Packers, they cleaned up the penalties in a lot of regards in that game, but in this particular matchup, it wasn't in a legal procedure or something or legal contact on 3rd and 11 wiping things out. It was Bijan Ravan just staying in front of the sticks, and Mike, you saw it as well as I did. As that game got moving, after that first interception, Michael Penix was back in his comfort zone. And once that happened and he got into that same page with Drake London, I just think the dam gave way. So Green Bay can't allow that to happen. It's still 500 yards of total offense. I think the defense wore down a little bit. I think some of that had to do, especially in the first half with the three and outs offensively. They were on the field a lot. But you still have to find an answer. And in this particular instance, Green Bay just didn't have one.
00:15:10
Speaker 1: I think what struck me the most, and I agree with everything you said about Robinson, and I think our perceptions of this are aligned. The other way that I would say it, is that what struck me watching him live from the press box, and it was the first time we had seen him live since 2023 when he was a rookie, was that his style, and by style I mean that combination of the patience and the burst and everything, he throws off the conventional timing of a running play. And because the timing of everything and the way he does things is not conventional, is not normal, it felt like the Packers' defense just wasn't able to adjust and to react to that. And so then what you see is holes opening up late because you don't think that that's where the hole is going to be because the conventional timing means the ball's going to go this way. Or the timing is so thrown off that then you start missing tackles because everything is just abnormal. He doesn't play the game in the normal fashion of a running back. And when you combine that with his incredible skill and talent, he becomes the most dangerous player on the field, and that's who he was on Thursday night. And I'm not trying to make excuses for the Packers, because when you're in position to make tackles, you have to make them. You have to stay in your gaps. And the downfield passes, we saw a couple of coverage busts with Drake London, where he ends up getting almost 200 yards receiving in this game as well. So The Packers have plenty to work on defensively coming off of this game. I do think there were some very different circumstances with this game compared to the first two that contributed to the struggles. That being said, the Packers are now going into a game against Tampa this coming Sunday. a backup quarterback, another quarterback they're not really going to have film on. You're not necessarily going to know exactly how the Buccaneers are going to want to run their offense with Jalen Daniels replacing Baker Mayfield and all that. But it seems like defensively the Packers just have to kind of look inward and go, all right, we have our rules, we have our assignments, and we can't let things just go sideways the way they did against Robinson and the Falcons.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. And we, and I'm not going to get into keys to victory yet, but I'll tell you this right now, you have to win first down against Tampa. They didn't do that against Atlanta.
00:17:45
Speaker 1: Right.
00:17:46
Speaker 2: And I'm, you know, another spoiler alert here for everybody, the Buccaneers are going to run the football on Sunday.
00:17:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, they are.
00:17:52
Speaker 2: And especially we'll have to see how the forecast, if it ends up being rain or not. But I mean, that's just the way this thing's going to be with Jalen Daniels. And Jalen is a, is it dual threat quarterback? He was very, effective at Kansas for five, six years at just kind of embracing the chaos, especially once Lance Leopold got there and the way they structured things. It's not going to be a cakewalk, especially when you look at what Tampa does defensively. This is the second best run defense in the NFL. Packers have to run the ball, too. You have to win on the ground. And I don't know what the offensive line configuration is going to look like. How quickly can Lake and Tomlinson get up to speed? I'm not sure. What is the prognosis here at the time in which we're taping this with Sean Ryan? Did he check out fine because he was getting looked at afterwards with the hand? All these different things kind of factor into it. But what we do know is Zach Baccabuella is not going to be back again this season. And you don't know exactly what the situation is going to be with Aaron Banks. This game against Tampa is one out of 14 left in the regular season. Green Bay has to find ways to adjust to it.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I want to get to kind of the bigger picture, what else is going on around the league, the NFC North and whatnot. But first, we will pay some bills and hear a quick word from our sponsors. Sirius XM NFL Radio delivers hard-hitting analysis and up-to-the-minute NFL news that true football fanatics need 24-7, 365. Did you know Lambeau Field is just one of our state's many wonders? Start making unforgettable memories on your next vacation. Discover the Apostle Islands and more at TravelWisconsin.com slash wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. All right, Wes, three weeks in. The Minnesota Vikings are 3-0. The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears are both 2-1. The Green Bay Packers are 1-2. Really interesting what's going on around the north because the Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what they can do to get some offense going. They're the first team in I don't know how many decades to be 3-0. and not have an offensive game of more than 250 yards. But they are clearly built on their defense and special teams. I mean, that is where Minnesota's strength is. And it's led them to three victories so far. We saw the Chicago Bears win play without Caleb Williams and Case Keenum stepped in on Monday night football and took it to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Eagles offensively couldn't do anything against Chicago's defense. And the Detroit Lions have, uh, won a couple of down to the wire games at home. They squeaked the one out against New Orleans when they stopped the two point conversion. They, uh, um, they kind of blow a fourth quarter lead, um, against the Jets, but then go down and get the score they need to, uh, to ultimately win the game, and then their defense finally holds up at the end. So the Packers are bringing up the rear here in the division, but I don't see anybody in the NFC North that looks like a world beater right now. I think all the teams in the NFC North have their flaws, and it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out from here. And obviously, as the season goes along, we're going to see more of the division matchups. The Packers are going to be playing the Bears very soon, and we already saw the Bears play the Vikings. etc. So a lot to be decided, obviously, in the NFC North with 14 games to go. But the Packers are the ones who have the biggest hill to climb.
00:21:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do. And ultimately, as you said, all these teams have flaws, but you have to find ways to win, right? And I think Minnesota is a perfect embodiment of that. The Vikings, in a lot of ways, are probably a little bit more polished version of the Packers. Defensively, they're setting the tone in all these games. Offensively, they're doing just enough. Kyler Murray, first game back since the incident in Minnesota against Green Bay. So we'll have to see what kind of rust that he was shaking off in that matchup, but not having Jordan Mason is going to change the structure of their offense. And if Aaron Jones is actually going to be able to be a bell cow at 31 years old and dealing with some of his own knee injuries right now, it's been a grind for Minnesota, but they've found a way to grind the winds out. Honestly, the least surprising thing of the entire weekend to me was Case Keenum and what the Bears did. I mean, Case Keenum has been a very good quarterback in this league for a long time. I think everybody would agree that's been an embarrassment of riches there. Case Keenum was brought to Chicago to be the number two. Bajent just ended up being a tremendous find for them as an undrafted rookie, a guy that they end up extending to. So, I mean, the fact that either of those guys can win football games, it doesn't matter who starts against Green Bay a week from now. I mean, both of those guys are going to be a threat. And Keenum being able to manage that situation and, you know, a lot of friendly things too, you know, having the home crowd and all that stuff matters. But The fact is, is that one team looked very composed on Monday night and one team looked like a mess. Yeah.
00:22:37
Speaker 1: And what was interesting to me in watching that, watching the Monday night game unfold is that I felt like Philadelphia, at least from the defensive side of things, you know, Black Friday last year, the Bears ran all over Philadelphia. I mean, would they have 350 rushing yards or some ridiculous number in that game, right? So the Eagles were already... in whatever circle they put around this Monday night game in Chicago on their calendars from the beginning. They knew like, all right, we have to go into Chicago and stop the run. Ben Johnson's going to run the ball down our throat. Oh, and Caleb Williams isn't playing and they're going with a backup quarterback. we really got to be ready to stop the run. And what did Ben Johnson do? He came out and let Case Keenum chuck the ball over the field. And quite frankly, it felt like defensively, the Eagles looked totally shell-shocked at what they were facing. It was not what they expected at all. And even midway through the third quarter, they still looked like they hadn't really figured out what Chicago was. They were completely blown away by how Chicago came out and played with Case Keenum at quarterback and, and, and credit the bears. They had the Eagles on their heels all night long. And, um, and then offensively the, uh, other than, you know, well, the Eagles had two drives, one of which ended with the backup quarterback throwing an interception in the end zone. And then they got the touchdown at the end of the first half, but then they came out in the second half and it was, you know, three and out after three and out. And, uh, and the bears were in complete, complete command there. Um, I want to ask you, I don't know how much NFL football you watched on Sunday, but I've been trying to decide, okay, which one is the early candidate for game of the year in the NFL, that Rams-Broncos game, the Rio game between the Ravens and the Cowboys, or the Commander Seahawks game that saw the Seahawks winning streak that dates back to last November and obviously ran through the Super Bowl last year. Their winning streak comes to an end at the hands of a backup quarterback in Marcus Mariota in Washington, a backup quarterback who has a C on his chest, by the way. So don't forget about that part of it. That's going to be an interesting thing to monitor in Washington moving forward now that Mariota just knocked off the defending Super Bowl champs. But it was a tremendous Sunday of NFL football. And like I say, kind of multiple candidates early on for like game of the year in the league.
00:25:06
Speaker 2: And who was Mariota's center in that game?
00:25:08
Speaker 1: Lucas Patrick.
00:25:10
Speaker 2: Um, I'm telling you, man, I wrote about an insider inbox today. These are the Packers. Hopefully you can find something here with Tomlinson and Becton, but this is, these are the things you do have to do over the course of the season. You have to find ways to stitch together a football team. And I thought Washington winning that game. Um, and then by the way, Mariota for how, how badly things ended last year, uh, for him. And it didn't look good at times.
00:25:29
Speaker 1: Right.
00:25:29
Speaker 2: Um, this is a guy that continues to pull himself back off the mat. And that's not it. You, you and I have seen it time and time again. I mean, this is, this is a, uh, When you have Dan Quinn and the way he plays defensively, it wasn't a shock two years ago that they made it as far as they did in the playoffs and make an NFC championship run when Jaden Daniel was playing the way he was. They're going to find ways to win. So, I mean, that's probably the early incumbent, I would say, especially the way that thing went. I mean, the Rams game was.
00:25:59
Speaker 1: So darn fun. That was wild.
00:26:01
Speaker 2: Devontae's just a man still, and he's given all these headaches to, you know, PS2.
00:26:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, and for Stafford to come back from, he throws the pick six, and then immediately goes back out, and then they march down the field, and then he hits a big pass to the smaller receiver, I forget his name right now, Mumpfield or something like that, I think.
00:26:19
Speaker 2: And Suns.
00:26:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, that Rams-Broncos game was just wild. Unfortunately, the controversial call on the interception by the Rams guy, but he gets flagged for pass interference and then sets up the winning score for the Broncos. There's always going to be these discussions of the officials. And heck, those football fans in Rio, they got a heck of a treat. They did. The Ravens and the Cowboys. Seven seconds to go. This is... And we'll end the show here talking a little bit of strategy. This is where it gets very interesting that where the NFL has now made the, the touchback on a kickoff that goes into the end zone on the fly, the ball comes out to the 35 because the Cowboys just decided after they tied the game, there's seven seconds on the clock. We're like, all right, we're just, you know, Aubrey's just going to boot the ball through the end zone and not And they didn't want to have to worry about making a tackle on a kickoff return, right?
00:27:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:27:21
Speaker 1: Well, the seven seconds with the Ravens having the one timeout and getting to start at the 35-yard line and with these kickers who can make 55-plus, 60-yarders, whatever, on a fairly regular basis when it's the last play of the game. The strategy at the end, if you're not– If you're not the team that's setting up for like the walk-off kick or the walk-off score and you're leaving some time on the clock, what you do on that kickoff is something you have to think about because of what the Ravens just pulled off.
00:27:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to tell you this right now. You have the best kicker in the game, right, in Aubrey. I think I probably just trust him to mortar kick it. They had covered the kickoffs fine in the game. just getting way too cute at the end because the.
00:28:09
Speaker 1: Problem is, the one thing I will say, Aubrey had kicked two kickoffs out of bounds in that game and put them on the 40 yard line two times.
00:28:17
Speaker 2: So I, you wonder, so put them at the 35 instead.
00:28:19
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean, that's essentially what, that's essentially what they did because, because he had had a bad day on kickoffs.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: 18 yard, you know, completion, those gets you in field goal position. So it's like, and, and by the way, kudos to the, Baltimore, the execution there, the awareness to be able to get that thing down.
00:28:35
Speaker 1: And the young kicker who missed the kick that sent Aaron Rodgers to the playoffs last year on that final Sunday night game in week 18, he comes out there and drills the 56 yarder in Rio and, you know, major celebration. But kudos to him because he had to. he had to live all off season with that essentially a walk-off miss that cost his team a playoff spot.
00:28:57
Speaker 2: He snuck that one in on the black too. At first when that thing went up, I'm like, ah, I'm not so sure about that. Yeah, it was going to be dicey. It's like the backdoor slider a little bit to be able to sneak it in there. But yeah, I mean, it was a huge win for Baltimore. And this is going to be big for Dallas now because I think Dallas, you know, there's a lot of hope and optimism about that defense and they've kind of struggled out of the gate here a little bit. Um, Yeah. But the last point I want to make, though, if I can, you know, because we talk about Green Bay and this is obviously not been the start the Packers want. There's a lot of bouncing back that Green Bay has to do. But you look at the Los Angeles Chargers right now at 0-3. You look at New England at 1-2 and just getting completely, you know, dog walked by. by Jacksonville. You look at Houston again at an 0-3 start once again. I mean, there's different ways to play this golf course. And there's going to be times where you have some bogeys and double bogeys on the first couple holes. But the only way you're going to end up with a terrible 100 round is if you don't find a way to turn it around. Yep. that's going to be the challenge for green Bay. It's going to be the challenge for some of these teams in the, in the early, you know, started this thing. But the fact of the matter is, is it is only three weeks and there's still 14 more to go. Yeah.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: There's everybody's dealing with something. Right. And yeah, there's, you know, the, even the Buffalo bills, they're sitting at three and O and looking like the legit AFC contender everybody thought, but they turned the ball over five times at home and almost lost to the chargers. Right. So, I mean, everybody's, everybody's got something they're dealing with. And all you want to try to do in these early stages of the season is just chalk up enough wins to give yourself a shot when it turns into November and December football. And hopefully the Packers can get back on the winning track on Sunday in Tampa.
00:30:44
Speaker 2: The one update we got from Matt LaFleur on Monday was that Micah Parsons isn't going to practice this week. So obviously that window still is out there for his return from PUP. But you know, The point I want to try to draw off that is when I was looking at the Packers and their season outlook, I've said it, I've written it since before the opener. The Packers had, in my opinion, had to go two and two in September. This is not the way you probably wanted it to line out. I actually thought Tampa might end up being the biggest challenge for them based on Baker Mayfield and what they present with Todd Bowles' defense. But the fact is, is that's still out there for them. I still feel like if you can get through this stretch without Mike at 500, you're sitting okay for the rest of the year. That being said, there's other injuries that have hit. Nothing is absolute. But you can't lose sight of the big picture here, which is this is a win procurement business, and the Packers need to get their wins here to set themselves up for the rest of the season. Once they've been successful, two, they have not. and their fourth opportunity comes on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
00:31:43
Speaker 1: All right, and with that, we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers.com. For Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We will see you next time.
