00:00:06
Speaker 1: Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers.com. I am Mike Spoffer, joined, as always, by my partner in everything Packers, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from the Pottawatomie Sportsbook studio inside the walls of Lambeau Field. And Wes, I feel like we need to start this show continuing our conversation from the last show about the changes on the Packers offensive line and the new additions because we Another new guy showed up on Wednesday at practice for Green Bay and that is veteran and Wisconsin native and Wisconsin Badger All-American 15-year veteran Kevin Zeitler. He is in the fold and I don't know if he's going to be ready to play on Sunday or not in Tampa. One, I wouldn't put it past him, but two... I would say that Kevin Zeitler, once he is ready to go, is the Packers' starting right guard for the rest of 2026.
00:01:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, you would think so, right? There was another development also on Wednesday. We don't know the severity of it, but Jacob Monk was not practicing due to a quad injury. So in addition to the fact that you have the Bakabu LA injury for the remainder of the season, in addition to the fact that Aaron Banks is still out with the knee and the toe injury, did not practice. You also have that that has piled up. So what do the Green Bay Packers do? This week has been a lot of Brian Gutekunst and his scouts picking up the phone, making calls, and Kevin Zeitler is the most recent in that series of transactions that Green Bay wanted to do. What I like about this move is every once in a while over the years, there's been instances where fans, we'll see it in Insider Inbox, we'll see it in our mentions on social media, they'll be like, you need to sign this particular player. Happened with Christian Michael. What was that now? Probably over a decade ago.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was about 10 years ago.
00:01:51
Speaker 2: I remember people saying, hey, you've got to go get Tavon Austin after he came available a couple years back. And Zeitler's a guy that obviously Packer fans are familiar with. Played at Wisconsin in All-American. He won two state championships, Division III at Wisconsin Lutheran. He's from Waukesha. He lives in Eagle River, Wisconsin in the Northwoods in the offseason. He checks so many boxes in addition to the fact that that he still wants to play football. He's still hungry to play football. We talked with him on Wednesday and he mentioned that there was no thought of retirement. He needed to get some things cleaned up after last year with the Titans. It's one of the reasons why he didn't sign anywhere. But once he got cleared last month, his intention was to play football again and now he gets to do it for the team he grew up cheering for.
00:02:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is kind of interesting, right, how this goes because a lot of times people start to wonder, okay, well, why is this guy still available then if he wants to play? Well, then We found out he had to have a procedure done on an injury from the very end of the season with the Titans. And kind of the same thing with Makai Becton. Everybody's wondering, you know, a first-round pick from a handful of years ago, why is he still available? Well, it turned out he had a surgery in the offseason. So these things have all sort of conspired here and have in some ways revamped Green Bay's offensive line. I mean, as I said, we'll see who exactly... ends up being in the starting lineup on Sunday. I would think just based on the fact that Tomlinson has been with a team, he was with the Cowboys on the Cowboys practice squad. You know, he had a training camp and all of the usual stuff to get ready for a season. He would be potentially the most immediate help of the group. The other guys, both Becton and Becton would have to be elevated from the practice squad too, just to clarify. But both with Becton and Zeitler, these are guys who are just now kind of starting football for 2026, coming off of the off-season surgeries and then finding a team to sign with. So we have to see what happens here, but everybody's going to be waiting with anticipation.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: And these guys are specialists, right? Lakin Tomlinson has started for 11 years in the NFL at left guard. You have a guy like Kevin Zeitler who has started in the NFL for 14 years at right guard. These are the positions that these guys play, even though they mentioned that there's some, you know, they'll do whatever they want. This is what they've done. This is how they've kind of made their money over the years. And what I like about the Tomlinson one is that's a plug and play guy that you can put in there potentially as early as Sunday if it needs to happen that way. But based on where he is in his career and kind of the roles that he's played, if Aaron Banks can get back healthy again from the toe and the knee, you know, he still would, you would think would still be the projected starter at that position. And now Lakin gives you a lot of versatility, gives you some depth, I should say, and durability at that position if you need him to plug in somewhere else. Whereas with Zeitler, it's just remarkable the career that he's put together. Both of those two guards have been to the Pro Bowl, but Zeidler was there three years ago at 33 years old. He was an alternate in his one season with Detroit. Wherever he's gone, he's fit in. So the Packers needed a response. And obviously you see the reported numbers on the contract. I mean, they are definitely paying him to come in and play. And this is what you got to do. Sometimes these things happen in the middle of the season or early in the season.
00:05:10
Speaker 3: You need a response.
00:05:11
Speaker 2: The Packers need to exercise it. And another thing is to Kevin Zeitler was not going to be available in week eight or nine.
00:05:18
Speaker 3: This guy was healthy. He was ready to go.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: He was going to get a call here sooner or later and the Packers jumped on it.
00:05:23
Speaker 1: Well, on the flip side of adding players to the roster, unfortunately, we've also learned this week that wide receiver Jaden Reed's 2026 season is over. The good news is that the long-term prognosis for his health with the neck injury, he needs surgery. The long-term prognosis is good. I mean, Jaden Reed is going to be okay from everything that we've been told. And his teammates have said, you know, Jordan Love said they've seen him, you know, he's walking around the building, you know, everything's all right. But his season is over because of the surgery that he needs. That's going to be a big hole for the Packers to fill, not only offensively, but in the locker room from the leadership standpoint, from the just the attitude and energy that Bird has brought to this team since he arrived as a second-round draft pick out of Michigan State. But I think we're going to see, we've seen Sky Moore make an impact on this team in the return game, which is what he was brought here to do. I think Sky Moore and Bo Melton and J. Mike Sturtevant will be in that mix too, but I think Sky Moore is a guy who will potentially be taking a fair share of of Jaden Reed snaps and he's going to be more involved in the offense here moving forward.
00:06:42
Speaker 2: He is the backup, right? When you talk about Bo, Bo is the backup to Christian Watson. Watson runs a deep route. Who's the first player that's going in on the next play?
00:06:51
Speaker 3: It's Bo Melton, right?
00:06:52
Speaker 2: That's not to say that these guys can't play different roles, but you just sort of project it out in terms of, okay, if you lose this guy, how do you keep those scheme and how do you keep those plays in the playbook? Sky Moore allows Green Bay to do that with Jaden Reed. In addition to the fact the slot running stuff, but as I've talked to you about, I mentioned it on three things on Wednesday. It just, one of the first plays Green Bay ran all season was Jaden Reed lined up in the backfield with, I believe it was Chris Brooks on that particular play. You can tell there's concepts that Matt LaFleur and Adam Stenovich and his offensive coaches want to use with being able to kind of get a little bit more out of that receiver position and utilize it in different ways.
00:07:30
Speaker 3: Sky Moore allows you to stay in that.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: And I actually really liked when they couldn't get the run game going against the Falcons, they turned to that little screen pass to Moore and got some yardage out of it. You're not going to be able to do that every single time, but he allows Green Bay to stay in their playbook, stay in their scheme. And at some point here, you would hope you do get Savion Williams back, and then he also gives you some options there as well.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: Not ideal, but.
00:07:52
Speaker 2: The big picture thing is here, man, when you have an injury that's scary, and you and I have seen a couple neck injuries over the years now.
00:07:58
Speaker 3: Sure have.
00:08:00
Speaker 2: The first thing you want to see is just if the guy's doing okay. And my hope and my aspiration is this neck surgery that Jaden's going to get, whatever it is, it's going to allow him to make whatever decision he wants to make. You never want to see the decision taken out of a player's hands. We saw it with Terrence Murphy. We saw it from different players over the years, Michael Finley, Johnny Jolly.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: Nick Collins.
00:08:22
Speaker 2: Nick Collins, obviously the biggest name of all in recent modern history. But as long as Bird can make what is the best decision for himself and his family, that's what you want to see. Because man, I'll tell you what, you and I were there and we'll never forget how quiet it was at MetLife when he got carted off the field.
00:08:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. No doubt about it. Well, the opponent this weekend for the Packers is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The game will be at Raymond James Stadium. It's a noon central time kickoff. And This is a struggling Buccaneers team, Wes. They are not only 0-3, but now they are dealing with replacing starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, who is out with a dislocated thumb, which occurred at the very end of the Buccaneers' loss to the Vikings last week. And now it's an undrafted rookie in Jalen Daniels taking over at quarterback for Tampa Bay. The rest of the weapons are still there. Bucky Irving, Kenneth Gainwell in the backfield, Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin, Ted Hurst at wide receiver. Kate Otten at tight end. All those guys are still there, but this is potentially going to be a whole new look to Tampa Bay's offense with the change at quarterback.
00:09:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and the switch to Jalen Daniels is a major one because he had a really impressive preseason. I've watched him probably more than any of these rookie quarterbacks, to be honest with you, because I watched a lot of Kansas football the last few years because Lance Leopold is there. And Jalen Daniels, he was there. He was in Lawrence for six years. The guy started in 2020, didn't go particularly well right off the bat with the Jayhawks, but they threw him in there as a true freshman right off the bat. So he's played a lot of football and the way I've kind of described it is, and he did this in the Big 12, he's kind of a master at just making the most out of chaos. But from a pure intangible standpoint, there's a reason why he went undrafted.
00:10:10
Speaker 3: There was a lot of.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: Question marks in the draft process about how he reads defenses, how he's going to be able to hold up against NFL pass coverages. But in terms of just being able to have He's not a natural, like, don't think Michael Vick here. He runs basically the same 40s Jordan does. But, you know, he's slippery, and he's going to be able to extend some plays and I think give that receiving core enough to potentially work with, especially with an Ibuka, like guys that have that type of talent. Chris Godwin, we'll see. He hasn't practiced this week, if he'll be available or not. But Bucky Irving, these guys in the backfield, you've got to imagine, no matter what it is that Daniels can give them, that Tampa's going to want to run this thing through its ground game.
00:10:50
Speaker 1: Here's my question with regard to Daniels taking over at quarterback. How much do the Packers need to be prepared for some of the, whether you want to call it zone read or read option type stuff? The quarterback runs, put the ball in the belly of the running back and then either hand it off or keep it based on the way he reads the defensive line. Now, there's always risk to that, right? Because one big hit, and then suddenly the Buccaneers are down to their number three quarterback. So I'm not saying that they're going to build their entire game plan around zone read looks from Daniels, but it feels to me like it's something the Packers need to be prepared for. But I'm just curious to see how much the Buccaneers are actually going to run it.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: I would think if I'm the Buccaneers, I think I'd major in it, to be honest with you. And they did sign Brett Rippin. They have Easton Stick there, too. So they do have some backup quarterbacks options. Both of those guys play the game very differently than Daniels. And if I'm Green Bay, I think that's probably the number one thing you're scouting going into this thing. Because let's be honest, you never overlook an opponent. And I think there's ways that you could still get burned in this game through the air. But I think in these type of instances, you need to trust Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams and, you know, Javon Bullard to trust their rules, to trust their principles, their keys in play on instinct. And if you need to dedicate another body to the box to account for either the run game or the possibility of Daniels taking off, I think you just have to roll the dice on that.
00:12:27
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: Because it goes back to the idea, right, that you want him to beat you with his arm. Like we talk about when you play you know, a guy like Kyler Murray, you want to keep him in the pocket. You want to make him beat you from the pocket in whatever he does in terms of either scrambling or throwing down the field. You don't want him extending plays. If you allow a guy like Jalen Daniels to get comfortable early and moving the pocket, getting out, extending plays, allowing his receivers, you know, to get time against plaster coverage. That's I think where the chaos kind of gets involved here. But from Green Bay's standpoint, you got to have a short memory too, because I actually think defensively Green Bay matches up really well with what Tampa presents. Tampa doesn't have the run game that Atlanta has. They've struggled in their own ways to establish the run this season, and honestly it's kind of the reason why Baker Mayfield was put in the position that he was, trying to throw the ball, obviously trying to play from behind. There's a lot in this game for Green Bay. Certainly you've got to get to 2-2, but I think based on just pure talent alone, Green Bay in some ways needs to go in there and really impose their will.
00:13:29
Speaker 1: Well, on the defensive side of things, this is a Buccaneers defense that has done really well against the run, only allowed 76 yards rushing per game so far, which is not something you normally see from an 0-3 team because you would think teams that are beating them are going to be running the ball late in games and kind of piling up the rushing statistics. That hasn't been the case. This is a team that stops the run well. The flip side of it is they only have six sacks through– three games, and they only have two takeaways defensively. Now, that being said, you know with the way the Packers have struggled to protect the quarterback, they're going to be, Todd Bowles is going to be dialing up things to get after Jordan Love and to try to make life difficult for Green Bay offensively, and I think they're going to count on that run defense that has performed well so far, combined with the fact that the Packers haven't run the ball very well, to try to make Green Bay one-dimensional. I mean, from Todd Bowles' standpoint, this is okay we're going to make the Packers have to throw the football, and then we're going to get after Jordan Love and try to make him as uncomfortable as possible. It seems on paper, from a game plan standpoint, this is pretty simple for Tampa Bay in terms of what their goals are.
00:14:44
Speaker 2: And honestly, I'll be honest with you, Mike, I think it's pretty simple for Green Bay, too. You've got to protect Jordan Love. You have to be able to run the football. Tampa's, you mentioned the 6-6, they only have 14 quarterback hits this season. I mean, it's been, where Green Bay has struggled to protect Love... Tampa's struggled to just get pressure in terms of being able to actually control the game in that way. The three games in which they've played, the offenses that they're going up against are not the best rushing offenses. But conversely, Green Bay currently ranks last in rushing offense. So it is a little bit of this something has to give here. And I think for Green Bay, especially if they end up having some new bodies there on the offensive line or if just their unit plays a little bit more stout, I think there is an opportunity to establish the run in this game. I think there is an opportunity for Jordan Love to get comfortable, to be able to get into a rhythm and establish something there. Because you've got to remember, from Tampa Bay's standpoint, as good as the statistics look, and there are some really positive things to draw from, I mean, Vita Vea is as good as it gets in terms of a big body in the middle of the line that is not going to be able to give you a lot there, that you're going to have to make some decisions with how you want to attack the run game. But all that being said, the Buccaneers are 0-3. they are going to be without their starting quarterback, not just for this game, but potentially the next month here, depending on how all the stuff with the ligament works out with Baker Mayfield. So Packers need a fast start. They need to do what they did in that first quarter, in that first half against Minnesota, but they need to sustain it then too.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to get to some more of our keys to victory, but first let's 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. Hey Packers fans, looking to score a few more Wisconsin memories? From Devil's Lake State Park to the Milwaukee Art Museum, discover all the wonders of Wisconsin at TravelWisconsin.com slash wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. All right, keys to victory, Wes. We've already been talking about some of them, obviously. I think at the top of the list is to protect Jordan Love. On the defensive side, I do think it's be prepared for the zone read, read option stuff from Jalen Daniels. The other one I'll throw in, this is a game where the Packers absolutely need to win the special teams battle because the Minnesota Vikings are not undefeated and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not winless if not for Miles Price's 86-yard punt return last week at Raymond James Stadium. That was the play that set the tone for that game, kept Minnesota in the lead. And we've talked about Sky Moore and what he's done, and there's going to be an opportunity here for the Packers to make some hay in the return game, and I think they have to cash in.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: It's a big Sky Moore game, I think so. And I'm not saying you need an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown, but if you can leak out and get some 10-, 15-, 20-yard returns mixed in with maybe an explosive here and there, That's how you change the whole formulation of a football game. And then the other thing is, too, is that it came down to this kicker battle in that matchup. I mean, Will Reichardt, he had to make some big-time kicks to be able to put Minnesota ahead, but Chase McLaughlin made a handful of his own. So when it gets to that phase, I mean, it has been through three weeks, that has been the most consistent phase for Green Bay this season. And I think they're going to need a big game out of that whole unit in this one. The part that really intrigues me the most, though, is seeing what Tampa's response is going to be to giving up that punt return for a touchdown. That has been a pretty salty group in terms of how they play their teams. Obviously, when you listen to Cam Acor this week, very effusive in his praise of of that whole operation, the coordinator, everything that the Buccaneers have done over the years. But at the end of the day, you put it on film and now it is the job of Acord. It's the job of Sky Moore. It's the job of the assistants, everybody on that unit to try to find a way to exploit it. Because for Green Bay, you talk about Minnesota winning this game against Tampa Bay. Green Bay probably doesn't walk out of MetLife without a victory over the Jets, if not for how the special teams played all five quarters of that matchup. So very, very critical phase for sure. Yeah.
00:18:59
Speaker 1: Anything else jumping out at you in this one in terms of the focal points for Green Bay to come back from Tampa with a 2-2 record?
00:19:07
Speaker 2: There's so many things you can point to because obviously Christian Watson's going home. He's off to the best start of his career. This guy came back last October. against Pittsburgh and he has never slowed down. And in addition to that, you can just tell that he is the heartbeat now of this offense. I think Matthew Golden is doing some really good things. Three games, he already is halfway towards his targets from last season. So the explosive potential there as this group, it's available to them. Jordan Love is what, fourth right now in terms of the passing yards in the NFL this season. Packers can move the ball in chunks. They need to do it in the short yardage situations now though. Whether that means on first and 10, being able to get those four or five yard carries, whether that means being able to convert third and threes and get into more of those manageable situations. And Michael, I talk fast and I have a lot of different thoughts flowing through my head, but ultimately this comes down to one thing. I'm not saying this is the judge, jury, and executioner of the Packers offensive line play. There's a lot of games to go, 13 more after this, but the Packers need to take a step forward, regardless of Tomlinson's on the field, regardless of Zeitler's on the field. I don't care what the starting five looks like. Green Bay needs to put forward a better effort than it did against Atlanta because ultimately that's kind of what ruined their Thursday night. They were not able to establish the run. Conversely, Atlanta did, and the result was what it was.
00:20:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: When you don't hold up in the trenches, but you have the weapons that Green Bay does, a lot of opportunities are going by the wayside and you become a boom or bust offense, right? It's either a big explosive play and something's happening or or it feels like you can't go anywhere. And the Packers need to get out of that. They need to establish what their offense can consistently do to threaten defenses possession after possession and not get into driving 10 plays down the field and then the next possession is a quick three and out and you're punting. The boom or bust aspect is what needs to change for Green Bay. A lot of interesting games around the league in week four. I'll just start with where things are in the NFC North. So you have the Jets are at the Bears, the Dolphins are at Minnesota, and Detroit on Sunday Night Football is at Carolina. I think I heard that is the first time Carolina is hosting Sunday Night Football since their Super Bowl season in 2015. Wow. Yeah, 11 years since Charlotte has had Sunday Night Football in town.
00:21:22
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:21:23
Speaker 1: So we've seen the Jets play both the Packers and the Lions very tough, and the Jets came up short both times. Now they go to play Chicago. The Bears are on a short week, and Ben Johnson's keeping it close to the vest in terms of which quarterback he's going to go with. I can't imagine he wouldn't stick with Case Keenum at this point, but we'll see how that unfolds. And it would be great if Jeff Halfley could do the Packers a solid and go into Minnesota and get his first victory as a head coach, but that's going to be a tough one for Miami.
00:21:55
Speaker 2: You feel bad for Miami because they are the full embodiment of a rebuilding organization.
00:22:03
Speaker 3: I'm not just talking about in terms of, okay, a new GM, new head coach. I mean, no, they've strip this thing down to the bolts.
00:22:10
Speaker 1: They're trying to get out of cap jail. I mean, everything from, from, uh, from the personnel side to the financial side, all of it.
00:22:17
Speaker 2: And I was reading a lot of the content down there, uh, this past week. And I mean, what's, what's terrible for Miami is it feels like they've had the small moral victories, right? Like they've had these small incremental improvements that they've been making where, okay, we have all these issues in week one. You have maybe 95% of them in week two night, like, and now you lose a Chan. So it's like, and then that was when you and I were talking right in the beginning of the offseason about, okay, so what can Jeff Halfley do? You know, what can Nathaniel, what can they make out of this? Well, that's what it was going to be. It was going to be actually utilizing all of that, that H and gives you to build out the rest of the offense. And I almost said Nathaniel Hackett. Nathaniel's in Arizona. Bobby Slowick is with Halfley in Miami. But That Miami defense, man. Brian Flores taking on his old team. I mean, it just, that's going to be a rough one for the Dolphins, I think.
00:23:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be tough. A lot of other interesting games around the league. New England is at Buffalo, and there's, you know, everybody's trying to figure out what's going on with the Patriots and Drake May coming off of going to the Super Bowl, and now, you know, they face their biggest division rival on the road and trying to avoid, I guess, what would be a one and three start for New England. Rams are at Philadelphia. The Rams are one and two. They haven't looked horrible necessarily in doing so. I mean, they had the horrible game in Australia, but since then, the Rams have played pretty good football, but they're one and two. And then Philadelphia is Two and one, but coming off of an absolutely putrid performance on Monday Night Football in Chicago. But this is kind of an interesting game as far as where these two teams are at this point.
00:24:06
Speaker 2: I laugh at this because, again, following all the coverage. The Rams are 1-2 and not feeling that bad about themselves.
00:24:12
Speaker 3: No, not at all.
00:24:13
Speaker 2: The Eagles are 2-1 and you think the sky is falling right now in Philadelphia.
00:24:19
Speaker 1: They squeaked the one out against Tennessee and Tennessee is obviously a very struggling team. But yeah, the way the Eagles played in Chicago on Monday night has everybody scratching their heads as to what's going on over there.
00:24:32
Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts led them to a Super Bowl two years ago. It just always feels like they're just trying to ride the guy out of town.
00:24:38
Speaker 1: It's like, what's going on here?
00:24:40
Speaker 2: But no, a huge matchup. And from the Rams standpoint, yeah, you can feel good about yourself. You can think that, okay, we're a pretty good team. Let that one guy get away from you in the second half last week. But Obviously, the first half production was what it was. The defense has shown in spurts that it can pretty much shut down anybody. But you have to find a way to close out those games. But you also can't lose much more ground because you look at how this division is shaping up, man, in the West. There's not going to be a lot of gimmies.
00:25:10
Speaker 3: The South there might be.
00:25:11
Speaker 2: But within the NFC West, you're.
00:25:13
Speaker 3: Going to need every win.
00:25:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, not a lot of wiggle room in that division at all. And another team out West, San Francisco, hosting Denver. hosting Denver, another, another, um, intriguing matchup there. The 49ers are playing, are playing well, despite some injuries and whatnot. And, uh, and Denver's coming off of the big comeback victory Sunday night football over the Rams. Um, you know, one of those AFC NFC games that, uh, you know, that feels like it could certainly go either way. And then just as everybody predicted first place in the AFC West is on the line between the chiefs and the Raiders in week four. Um, I don't know about you. I did not see the three, you know, Las Vegas Raiders coming. Um, but, uh, um, but you talk about, you talk about a massive opportunity in front of them. This is, I mean, the chiefs and Raiders have obviously been a huge rivalry for, you know, for decades in the NFL. And this is the Raiders chance to host Kansas city and, uh, um, If the Raiders somehow find a way to win this game, they become the story of the AFC for the early part of the season.
00:26:20
Speaker 2: The two teams don't play each other this week, but I think we're going to learn exactly from that Week 2 matchup at SoFi how bad are the Chargers and how good are the Raiders. Because in that matchup, the Raiders end up beating them by what? If it was 14, 12 points, something like that. It seems like it completely took the wind out of the Chargers. Now LA has to go to Seattle. the defending Super Bowl champion that's sitting at 2-1 after a disappointing loss, trying to save its season. Meanwhile, the Raiders are taking on what has been the juggernaut in the AFC now for the last.
00:26:51
Speaker 3: Decade, pretty much.
00:26:52
Speaker 2: So definitely a huge litmus test for Vegas. And again, the other thing that's really underrated about Vegas post-COVID here is they're still trying to basically formulate their fan base, not be a transient Vegas crowd. They want to get a real push behind it. Well, there's no better way to put that flag in the ground than to turn back the Kansas City Chiefs on your own soil. This is a very, very important game, I think, for the Raiders.
00:27:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, lots of really good NFL matchups in week four, and you got the baseball playoffs and all that going on.
00:27:25
Speaker 3: Too for sports fans like me. Yeah, when do the Brews play?
00:27:27
Speaker 1: Saturday night, and then actually they'll be playing on Sunday when we're on the flight back from Tampa. Oh, nice. I'll be doing my work, of course, but I'll be trying to keep an eye on the game as best I can.
00:27:39
Speaker 3: Will that be available on the flight?
00:27:40
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:27:41
Speaker 3: Who broadcasts playoffs now?
00:27:43
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. It's either going to be FS1, I believe, on Sunday for the Brewers.
00:27:50
Speaker 3: Well, good luck to the crew.
00:27:51
Speaker 1: Whether we get that on our little screen on the plane, we'll have to see. Otherwise, I have to figure out a way to follow it on my phone or something like that. While I'm doing work, while I'm writing.
00:28:01
Speaker 3: While you're working. Writing about a Packers win.
00:28:04
Speaker 1: Hopefully all of that content we will have for you on Packers.com. But with that, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of Sunday's game from Tampa. We'll have it for you on Packers.com. For Wes, I'm 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 Spoffer, joined, as always, by my partner in everything Packers, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from the Pottawatomie Sportsbook studio inside the walls of Lambeau Field. And Wes, I feel like we need to start this show continuing our conversation from the last show about the changes on the Packers offensive line and the new additions because we Another new guy showed up on Wednesday at practice for Green Bay and that is veteran and Wisconsin native and Wisconsin Badger All-American 15-year veteran Kevin Zeitler. He is in the fold and I don't know if he's going to be ready to play on Sunday or not in Tampa. One, I wouldn't put it past him, but two... I would say that Kevin Zeitler, once he is ready to go, is the Packers' starting right guard for the rest of 2026.
00:01:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, you would think so, right? There was another development also on Wednesday. We don't know the severity of it, but Jacob Monk was not practicing due to a quad injury. So in addition to the fact that you have the Bakabu LA injury for the remainder of the season, in addition to the fact that Aaron Banks is still out with the knee and the toe injury, did not practice. You also have that that has piled up. So what do the Green Bay Packers do? This week has been a lot of Brian Gutekunst and his scouts picking up the phone, making calls, and Kevin Zeitler is the most recent in that series of transactions that Green Bay wanted to do. What I like about this move is every once in a while over the years, there's been instances where fans, we'll see it in Insider Inbox, we'll see it in our mentions on social media, they'll be like, you need to sign this particular player. Happened with Christian Michael. What was that now? Probably over a decade ago.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was about 10 years ago.
00:01:51
Speaker 2: I remember people saying, hey, you've got to go get Tavon Austin after he came available a couple years back. And Zeitler's a guy that obviously Packer fans are familiar with. Played at Wisconsin in All-American. He won two state championships, Division III at Wisconsin Lutheran. He's from Waukesha. He lives in Eagle River, Wisconsin in the Northwoods in the offseason. He checks so many boxes in addition to the fact that that he still wants to play football. He's still hungry to play football. We talked with him on Wednesday and he mentioned that there was no thought of retirement. He needed to get some things cleaned up after last year with the Titans. It's one of the reasons why he didn't sign anywhere. But once he got cleared last month, his intention was to play football again and now he gets to do it for the team he grew up cheering for.
00:02:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is kind of interesting, right, how this goes because a lot of times people start to wonder, okay, well, why is this guy still available then if he wants to play? Well, then We found out he had to have a procedure done on an injury from the very end of the season with the Titans. And kind of the same thing with Makai Becton. Everybody's wondering, you know, a first-round pick from a handful of years ago, why is he still available? Well, it turned out he had a surgery in the offseason. So these things have all sort of conspired here and have in some ways revamped Green Bay's offensive line. I mean, as I said, we'll see who exactly... ends up being in the starting lineup on Sunday. I would think just based on the fact that Tomlinson has been with a team, he was with the Cowboys on the Cowboys practice squad. You know, he had a training camp and all of the usual stuff to get ready for a season. He would be potentially the most immediate help of the group. The other guys, both Becton and Becton would have to be elevated from the practice squad too, just to clarify. But both with Becton and Zeitler, these are guys who are just now kind of starting football for 2026, coming off of the off-season surgeries and then finding a team to sign with. So we have to see what happens here, but everybody's going to be waiting with anticipation.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: And these guys are specialists, right? Lakin Tomlinson has started for 11 years in the NFL at left guard. You have a guy like Kevin Zeitler who has started in the NFL for 14 years at right guard. These are the positions that these guys play, even though they mentioned that there's some, you know, they'll do whatever they want. This is what they've done. This is how they've kind of made their money over the years. And what I like about the Tomlinson one is that's a plug and play guy that you can put in there potentially as early as Sunday if it needs to happen that way. But based on where he is in his career and kind of the roles that he's played, if Aaron Banks can get back healthy again from the toe and the knee, you know, he still would, you would think would still be the projected starter at that position. And now Lakin gives you a lot of versatility, gives you some depth, I should say, and durability at that position if you need him to plug in somewhere else. Whereas with Zeitler, it's just remarkable the career that he's put together. Both of those two guards have been to the Pro Bowl, but Zeidler was there three years ago at 33 years old. He was an alternate in his one season with Detroit. Wherever he's gone, he's fit in. So the Packers needed a response. And obviously you see the reported numbers on the contract. I mean, they are definitely paying him to come in and play. And this is what you got to do. Sometimes these things happen in the middle of the season or early in the season.
00:05:10
Speaker 3: You need a response.
00:05:11
Speaker 2: The Packers need to exercise it. And another thing is to Kevin Zeitler was not going to be available in week eight or nine.
00:05:18
Speaker 3: This guy was healthy. He was ready to go.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: He was going to get a call here sooner or later and the Packers jumped on it.
00:05:23
Speaker 1: Well, on the flip side of adding players to the roster, unfortunately, we've also learned this week that wide receiver Jaden Reed's 2026 season is over. The good news is that the long-term prognosis for his health with the neck injury, he needs surgery. The long-term prognosis is good. I mean, Jaden Reed is going to be okay from everything that we've been told. And his teammates have said, you know, Jordan Love said they've seen him, you know, he's walking around the building, you know, everything's all right. But his season is over because of the surgery that he needs. That's going to be a big hole for the Packers to fill, not only offensively, but in the locker room from the leadership standpoint, from the just the attitude and energy that Bird has brought to this team since he arrived as a second-round draft pick out of Michigan State. But I think we're going to see, we've seen Sky Moore make an impact on this team in the return game, which is what he was brought here to do. I think Sky Moore and Bo Melton and J. Mike Sturtevant will be in that mix too, but I think Sky Moore is a guy who will potentially be taking a fair share of of Jaden Reed snaps and he's going to be more involved in the offense here moving forward.
00:06:42
Speaker 2: He is the backup, right? When you talk about Bo, Bo is the backup to Christian Watson. Watson runs a deep route. Who's the first player that's going in on the next play?
00:06:51
Speaker 3: It's Bo Melton, right?
00:06:52
Speaker 2: That's not to say that these guys can't play different roles, but you just sort of project it out in terms of, okay, if you lose this guy, how do you keep those scheme and how do you keep those plays in the playbook? Sky Moore allows Green Bay to do that with Jaden Reed. In addition to the fact the slot running stuff, but as I've talked to you about, I mentioned it on three things on Wednesday. It just, one of the first plays Green Bay ran all season was Jaden Reed lined up in the backfield with, I believe it was Chris Brooks on that particular play. You can tell there's concepts that Matt LaFleur and Adam Stenovich and his offensive coaches want to use with being able to kind of get a little bit more out of that receiver position and utilize it in different ways.
00:07:30
Speaker 3: Sky Moore allows you to stay in that.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: And I actually really liked when they couldn't get the run game going against the Falcons, they turned to that little screen pass to Moore and got some yardage out of it. You're not going to be able to do that every single time, but he allows Green Bay to stay in their playbook, stay in their scheme. And at some point here, you would hope you do get Savion Williams back, and then he also gives you some options there as well.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: Not ideal, but.
00:07:52
Speaker 2: The big picture thing is here, man, when you have an injury that's scary, and you and I have seen a couple neck injuries over the years now.
00:07:58
Speaker 3: Sure have.
00:08:00
Speaker 2: The first thing you want to see is just if the guy's doing okay. And my hope and my aspiration is this neck surgery that Jaden's going to get, whatever it is, it's going to allow him to make whatever decision he wants to make. You never want to see the decision taken out of a player's hands. We saw it with Terrence Murphy. We saw it from different players over the years, Michael Finley, Johnny Jolly.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: Nick Collins.
00:08:22
Speaker 2: Nick Collins, obviously the biggest name of all in recent modern history. But as long as Bird can make what is the best decision for himself and his family, that's what you want to see. Because man, I'll tell you what, you and I were there and we'll never forget how quiet it was at MetLife when he got carted off the field.
00:08:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. No doubt about it. Well, the opponent this weekend for the Packers is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The game will be at Raymond James Stadium. It's a noon central time kickoff. And This is a struggling Buccaneers team, Wes. They are not only 0-3, but now they are dealing with replacing starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, who is out with a dislocated thumb, which occurred at the very end of the Buccaneers' loss to the Vikings last week. And now it's an undrafted rookie in Jalen Daniels taking over at quarterback for Tampa Bay. The rest of the weapons are still there. Bucky Irving, Kenneth Gainwell in the backfield, Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin, Ted Hurst at wide receiver. Kate Otten at tight end. All those guys are still there, but this is potentially going to be a whole new look to Tampa Bay's offense with the change at quarterback.
00:09:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and the switch to Jalen Daniels is a major one because he had a really impressive preseason. I've watched him probably more than any of these rookie quarterbacks, to be honest with you, because I watched a lot of Kansas football the last few years because Lance Leopold is there. And Jalen Daniels, he was there. He was in Lawrence for six years. The guy started in 2020, didn't go particularly well right off the bat with the Jayhawks, but they threw him in there as a true freshman right off the bat. So he's played a lot of football and the way I've kind of described it is, and he did this in the Big 12, he's kind of a master at just making the most out of chaos. But from a pure intangible standpoint, there's a reason why he went undrafted.
00:10:10
Speaker 3: There was a lot of.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: Question marks in the draft process about how he reads defenses, how he's going to be able to hold up against NFL pass coverages. But in terms of just being able to have He's not a natural, like, don't think Michael Vick here. He runs basically the same 40s Jordan does. But, you know, he's slippery, and he's going to be able to extend some plays and I think give that receiving core enough to potentially work with, especially with an Ibuka, like guys that have that type of talent. Chris Godwin, we'll see. He hasn't practiced this week, if he'll be available or not. But Bucky Irving, these guys in the backfield, you've got to imagine, no matter what it is that Daniels can give them, that Tampa's going to want to run this thing through its ground game.
00:10:50
Speaker 1: Here's my question with regard to Daniels taking over at quarterback. How much do the Packers need to be prepared for some of the, whether you want to call it zone read or read option type stuff? The quarterback runs, put the ball in the belly of the running back and then either hand it off or keep it based on the way he reads the defensive line. Now, there's always risk to that, right? Because one big hit, and then suddenly the Buccaneers are down to their number three quarterback. So I'm not saying that they're going to build their entire game plan around zone read looks from Daniels, but it feels to me like it's something the Packers need to be prepared for. But I'm just curious to see how much the Buccaneers are actually going to run it.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: I would think if I'm the Buccaneers, I think I'd major in it, to be honest with you. And they did sign Brett Rippin. They have Easton Stick there, too. So they do have some backup quarterbacks options. Both of those guys play the game very differently than Daniels. And if I'm Green Bay, I think that's probably the number one thing you're scouting going into this thing. Because let's be honest, you never overlook an opponent. And I think there's ways that you could still get burned in this game through the air. But I think in these type of instances, you need to trust Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams and, you know, Javon Bullard to trust their rules, to trust their principles, their keys in play on instinct. And if you need to dedicate another body to the box to account for either the run game or the possibility of Daniels taking off, I think you just have to roll the dice on that.
00:12:27
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: Because it goes back to the idea, right, that you want him to beat you with his arm. Like we talk about when you play you know, a guy like Kyler Murray, you want to keep him in the pocket. You want to make him beat you from the pocket in whatever he does in terms of either scrambling or throwing down the field. You don't want him extending plays. If you allow a guy like Jalen Daniels to get comfortable early and moving the pocket, getting out, extending plays, allowing his receivers, you know, to get time against plaster coverage. That's I think where the chaos kind of gets involved here. But from Green Bay's standpoint, you got to have a short memory too, because I actually think defensively Green Bay matches up really well with what Tampa presents. Tampa doesn't have the run game that Atlanta has. They've struggled in their own ways to establish the run this season, and honestly it's kind of the reason why Baker Mayfield was put in the position that he was, trying to throw the ball, obviously trying to play from behind. There's a lot in this game for Green Bay. Certainly you've got to get to 2-2, but I think based on just pure talent alone, Green Bay in some ways needs to go in there and really impose their will.
00:13:29
Speaker 1: Well, on the defensive side of things, this is a Buccaneers defense that has done really well against the run, only allowed 76 yards rushing per game so far, which is not something you normally see from an 0-3 team because you would think teams that are beating them are going to be running the ball late in games and kind of piling up the rushing statistics. That hasn't been the case. This is a team that stops the run well. The flip side of it is they only have six sacks through– three games, and they only have two takeaways defensively. Now, that being said, you know with the way the Packers have struggled to protect the quarterback, they're going to be, Todd Bowles is going to be dialing up things to get after Jordan Love and to try to make life difficult for Green Bay offensively, and I think they're going to count on that run defense that has performed well so far, combined with the fact that the Packers haven't run the ball very well, to try to make Green Bay one-dimensional. I mean, from Todd Bowles' standpoint, this is okay we're going to make the Packers have to throw the football, and then we're going to get after Jordan Love and try to make him as uncomfortable as possible. It seems on paper, from a game plan standpoint, this is pretty simple for Tampa Bay in terms of what their goals are.
00:14:44
Speaker 2: And honestly, I'll be honest with you, Mike, I think it's pretty simple for Green Bay, too. You've got to protect Jordan Love. You have to be able to run the football. Tampa's, you mentioned the 6-6, they only have 14 quarterback hits this season. I mean, it's been, where Green Bay has struggled to protect Love... Tampa's struggled to just get pressure in terms of being able to actually control the game in that way. The three games in which they've played, the offenses that they're going up against are not the best rushing offenses. But conversely, Green Bay currently ranks last in rushing offense. So it is a little bit of this something has to give here. And I think for Green Bay, especially if they end up having some new bodies there on the offensive line or if just their unit plays a little bit more stout, I think there is an opportunity to establish the run in this game. I think there is an opportunity for Jordan Love to get comfortable, to be able to get into a rhythm and establish something there. Because you've got to remember, from Tampa Bay's standpoint, as good as the statistics look, and there are some really positive things to draw from, I mean, Vita Vea is as good as it gets in terms of a big body in the middle of the line that is not going to be able to give you a lot there, that you're going to have to make some decisions with how you want to attack the run game. But all that being said, the Buccaneers are 0-3. they are going to be without their starting quarterback, not just for this game, but potentially the next month here, depending on how all the stuff with the ligament works out with Baker Mayfield. So Packers need a fast start. They need to do what they did in that first quarter, in that first half against Minnesota, but they need to sustain it then too.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to get to some more of our keys to victory, but first let's 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. Hey Packers fans, looking to score a few more Wisconsin memories? From Devil's Lake State Park to the Milwaukee Art Museum, discover all the wonders of Wisconsin at TravelWisconsin.com slash wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. All right, keys to victory, Wes. We've already been talking about some of them, obviously. I think at the top of the list is to protect Jordan Love. On the defensive side, I do think it's be prepared for the zone read, read option stuff from Jalen Daniels. The other one I'll throw in, this is a game where the Packers absolutely need to win the special teams battle because the Minnesota Vikings are not undefeated and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not winless if not for Miles Price's 86-yard punt return last week at Raymond James Stadium. That was the play that set the tone for that game, kept Minnesota in the lead. And we've talked about Sky Moore and what he's done, and there's going to be an opportunity here for the Packers to make some hay in the return game, and I think they have to cash in.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: It's a big Sky Moore game, I think so. And I'm not saying you need an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown, but if you can leak out and get some 10-, 15-, 20-yard returns mixed in with maybe an explosive here and there, That's how you change the whole formulation of a football game. And then the other thing is, too, is that it came down to this kicker battle in that matchup. I mean, Will Reichardt, he had to make some big-time kicks to be able to put Minnesota ahead, but Chase McLaughlin made a handful of his own. So when it gets to that phase, I mean, it has been through three weeks, that has been the most consistent phase for Green Bay this season. And I think they're going to need a big game out of that whole unit in this one. The part that really intrigues me the most, though, is seeing what Tampa's response is going to be to giving up that punt return for a touchdown. That has been a pretty salty group in terms of how they play their teams. Obviously, when you listen to Cam Acor this week, very effusive in his praise of of that whole operation, the coordinator, everything that the Buccaneers have done over the years. But at the end of the day, you put it on film and now it is the job of Acord. It's the job of Sky Moore. It's the job of the assistants, everybody on that unit to try to find a way to exploit it. Because for Green Bay, you talk about Minnesota winning this game against Tampa Bay. Green Bay probably doesn't walk out of MetLife without a victory over the Jets, if not for how the special teams played all five quarters of that matchup. So very, very critical phase for sure. Yeah.
00:18:59
Speaker 1: Anything else jumping out at you in this one in terms of the focal points for Green Bay to come back from Tampa with a 2-2 record?
00:19:07
Speaker 2: There's so many things you can point to because obviously Christian Watson's going home. He's off to the best start of his career. This guy came back last October. against Pittsburgh and he has never slowed down. And in addition to that, you can just tell that he is the heartbeat now of this offense. I think Matthew Golden is doing some really good things. Three games, he already is halfway towards his targets from last season. So the explosive potential there as this group, it's available to them. Jordan Love is what, fourth right now in terms of the passing yards in the NFL this season. Packers can move the ball in chunks. They need to do it in the short yardage situations now though. Whether that means on first and 10, being able to get those four or five yard carries, whether that means being able to convert third and threes and get into more of those manageable situations. And Michael, I talk fast and I have a lot of different thoughts flowing through my head, but ultimately this comes down to one thing. I'm not saying this is the judge, jury, and executioner of the Packers offensive line play. There's a lot of games to go, 13 more after this, but the Packers need to take a step forward, regardless of Tomlinson's on the field, regardless of Zeitler's on the field. I don't care what the starting five looks like. Green Bay needs to put forward a better effort than it did against Atlanta because ultimately that's kind of what ruined their Thursday night. They were not able to establish the run. Conversely, Atlanta did, and the result was what it was.
00:20:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: When you don't hold up in the trenches, but you have the weapons that Green Bay does, a lot of opportunities are going by the wayside and you become a boom or bust offense, right? It's either a big explosive play and something's happening or or it feels like you can't go anywhere. And the Packers need to get out of that. They need to establish what their offense can consistently do to threaten defenses possession after possession and not get into driving 10 plays down the field and then the next possession is a quick three and out and you're punting. The boom or bust aspect is what needs to change for Green Bay. A lot of interesting games around the league in week four. I'll just start with where things are in the NFC North. So you have the Jets are at the Bears, the Dolphins are at Minnesota, and Detroit on Sunday Night Football is at Carolina. I think I heard that is the first time Carolina is hosting Sunday Night Football since their Super Bowl season in 2015. Wow. Yeah, 11 years since Charlotte has had Sunday Night Football in town.
00:21:22
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:21:23
Speaker 1: So we've seen the Jets play both the Packers and the Lions very tough, and the Jets came up short both times. Now they go to play Chicago. The Bears are on a short week, and Ben Johnson's keeping it close to the vest in terms of which quarterback he's going to go with. I can't imagine he wouldn't stick with Case Keenum at this point, but we'll see how that unfolds. And it would be great if Jeff Halfley could do the Packers a solid and go into Minnesota and get his first victory as a head coach, but that's going to be a tough one for Miami.
00:21:55
Speaker 2: You feel bad for Miami because they are the full embodiment of a rebuilding organization.
00:22:03
Speaker 3: I'm not just talking about in terms of, okay, a new GM, new head coach. I mean, no, they've strip this thing down to the bolts.
00:22:10
Speaker 1: They're trying to get out of cap jail. I mean, everything from, from, uh, from the personnel side to the financial side, all of it.
00:22:17
Speaker 2: And I was reading a lot of the content down there, uh, this past week. And I mean, what's, what's terrible for Miami is it feels like they've had the small moral victories, right? Like they've had these small incremental improvements that they've been making where, okay, we have all these issues in week one. You have maybe 95% of them in week two night, like, and now you lose a Chan. So it's like, and then that was when you and I were talking right in the beginning of the offseason about, okay, so what can Jeff Halfley do? You know, what can Nathaniel, what can they make out of this? Well, that's what it was going to be. It was going to be actually utilizing all of that, that H and gives you to build out the rest of the offense. And I almost said Nathaniel Hackett. Nathaniel's in Arizona. Bobby Slowick is with Halfley in Miami. But That Miami defense, man. Brian Flores taking on his old team. I mean, it just, that's going to be a rough one for the Dolphins, I think.
00:23:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be tough. A lot of other interesting games around the league. New England is at Buffalo, and there's, you know, everybody's trying to figure out what's going on with the Patriots and Drake May coming off of going to the Super Bowl, and now, you know, they face their biggest division rival on the road and trying to avoid, I guess, what would be a one and three start for New England. Rams are at Philadelphia. The Rams are one and two. They haven't looked horrible necessarily in doing so. I mean, they had the horrible game in Australia, but since then, the Rams have played pretty good football, but they're one and two. And then Philadelphia is Two and one, but coming off of an absolutely putrid performance on Monday Night Football in Chicago. But this is kind of an interesting game as far as where these two teams are at this point.
00:24:06
Speaker 2: I laugh at this because, again, following all the coverage. The Rams are 1-2 and not feeling that bad about themselves.
00:24:12
Speaker 3: No, not at all.
00:24:13
Speaker 2: The Eagles are 2-1 and you think the sky is falling right now in Philadelphia.
00:24:19
Speaker 1: They squeaked the one out against Tennessee and Tennessee is obviously a very struggling team. But yeah, the way the Eagles played in Chicago on Monday night has everybody scratching their heads as to what's going on over there.
00:24:32
Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts led them to a Super Bowl two years ago. It just always feels like they're just trying to ride the guy out of town.
00:24:38
Speaker 1: It's like, what's going on here?
00:24:40
Speaker 2: But no, a huge matchup. And from the Rams standpoint, yeah, you can feel good about yourself. You can think that, okay, we're a pretty good team. Let that one guy get away from you in the second half last week. But Obviously, the first half production was what it was. The defense has shown in spurts that it can pretty much shut down anybody. But you have to find a way to close out those games. But you also can't lose much more ground because you look at how this division is shaping up, man, in the West. There's not going to be a lot of gimmies.
00:25:10
Speaker 3: The South there might be.
00:25:11
Speaker 2: But within the NFC West, you're.
00:25:13
Speaker 3: Going to need every win.
00:25:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, not a lot of wiggle room in that division at all. And another team out West, San Francisco, hosting Denver. hosting Denver, another, another, um, intriguing matchup there. The 49ers are playing, are playing well, despite some injuries and whatnot. And, uh, and Denver's coming off of the big comeback victory Sunday night football over the Rams. Um, you know, one of those AFC NFC games that, uh, you know, that feels like it could certainly go either way. And then just as everybody predicted first place in the AFC West is on the line between the chiefs and the Raiders in week four. Um, I don't know about you. I did not see the three, you know, Las Vegas Raiders coming. Um, but, uh, um, but you talk about, you talk about a massive opportunity in front of them. This is, I mean, the chiefs and Raiders have obviously been a huge rivalry for, you know, for decades in the NFL. And this is the Raiders chance to host Kansas city and, uh, um, If the Raiders somehow find a way to win this game, they become the story of the AFC for the early part of the season.
00:26:20
Speaker 2: The two teams don't play each other this week, but I think we're going to learn exactly from that Week 2 matchup at SoFi how bad are the Chargers and how good are the Raiders. Because in that matchup, the Raiders end up beating them by what? If it was 14, 12 points, something like that. It seems like it completely took the wind out of the Chargers. Now LA has to go to Seattle. the defending Super Bowl champion that's sitting at 2-1 after a disappointing loss, trying to save its season. Meanwhile, the Raiders are taking on what has been the juggernaut in the AFC now for the last.
00:26:51
Speaker 3: Decade, pretty much.
00:26:52
Speaker 2: So definitely a huge litmus test for Vegas. And again, the other thing that's really underrated about Vegas post-COVID here is they're still trying to basically formulate their fan base, not be a transient Vegas crowd. They want to get a real push behind it. Well, there's no better way to put that flag in the ground than to turn back the Kansas City Chiefs on your own soil. This is a very, very important game, I think, for the Raiders.
00:27:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, lots of really good NFL matchups in week four, and you got the baseball playoffs and all that going on.
00:27:25
Speaker 3: Too for sports fans like me. Yeah, when do the Brews play?
00:27:27
Speaker 1: Saturday night, and then actually they'll be playing on Sunday when we're on the flight back from Tampa. Oh, nice. I'll be doing my work, of course, but I'll be trying to keep an eye on the game as best I can.
00:27:39
Speaker 3: Will that be available on the flight?
00:27:40
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:27:41
Speaker 3: Who broadcasts playoffs now?
00:27:43
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. It's either going to be FS1, I believe, on Sunday for the Brewers.
00:27:50
Speaker 3: Well, good luck to the crew.
00:27:51
Speaker 1: Whether we get that on our little screen on the plane, we'll have to see. Otherwise, I have to figure out a way to follow it on my phone or something like that. While I'm doing work, while I'm writing.
00:28:01
Speaker 3: While you're working. Writing about a Packers win.
00:28:04
Speaker 1: Hopefully all of that content we will have for you on Packers.com. But with that, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of Sunday's game from Tampa. We'll have it for you on Packers.com. For Wes, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We will see you next time.
