December 31, 2024 • 40 mins
Mike and Wes review the loss to the Vikings, including the Packers’ performance on defense (2:28) and offense (13:08). They also conduct an extended discussion about penalties (21:59) and playoff scenarios (29:13).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trust
and colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from
our studios at lambeau Field to review the Packers Week
seventeen loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The final was twenty
seven to twenty five at US Bank Stadium West. But
(00:37):
you know, and I know that quite frankly, this game
was not as close as the final score. The Packers
made a run at it in the back half of
the fourth quarter. They did not give up in this game,
but for a good portion of the game they were
down multiple scores and the Vikings were in control of
the game. And I think Matt Lafleur said it best
(00:57):
on Monday when he went to the podium and he
basically just accused the Packers of playing sloppy football. And
you play sloppy football against good teams, and it's going
to be really, really hard to win. And that's what
the Packers found out on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, And to me, I mean, I just look at
that beginning of it and I thought the approach was right.
We saw what happened in when Detroit when they deferred
on the kickoff. This time they decided to take it.
You try to take the crowd out of it. Almost
maybe replicate these fast starts they had in back to
back games where they really get two touchdowns off their
first two series, and honestly, they're moving the ball a
little bit, but then Josh Jacobs has the fumble. Credit
(01:34):
to the Packers defense, they actually keep the Vikings off
the board. They actually earn another punt on the next
series as well. I can't remember if it was exactly
three now, but they got off the field again in
this situation, and Green Bay plays pretty much a scoreless
first quarter with Minnesota until the Brandon McManus pack the
drive stalls in the red zone. McManus gets a twenty
(01:55):
two yarder and then after that it was off to
the races. It just seemed like the Vikings were able
to get into a rhythm. I think the Packers took
a pretty big hit with the Zane Anderson loss. You're
kind of expecting that he once again is going to
be back there. With Xavier McKinney, a veteran that has
been in this league for a number of years now,
even if he hasn't played as much. A couple dominoes
fell a couple different directions, a couple penalties went a
(02:17):
couple different ways, and obviously the offense didn't start fast
enough and the Green Bay Packers picked up their fourth
loss in the NFC Nord.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, there's certainly a lot of disappointment on both sides
of the ball with how this game went. Defensively, I
agree with you entirely on what happened with Zane Anderson.
He gets injured on the kickoff right after the McManus
field goal, when the Packers are up three to nothing.
He leaves for concussion evaluation. And you wouldn't think, okay,
(02:44):
you lose Zane Anderson, who was just filling in at
safety anyway, right, You wouldn't think that that would be
a big issue. But when the Packers are down Jay
or Alexander and Evan Williams in the secondary, and Javon
Bullard had just come back from being out for two weeks,
he was limited in practice with the ankle injury, and
(03:04):
you and I both suspect that the vast majority, if
not all, of his snaps, the limited snaps he did
get in practice were at the nickel position right because
Anderson was going to be the other deep safety with McKinney. So,
as you said, the dominoes start to fall then because
Bullard moves back to safety, which is a position he
hadn't practiced really at all on top of being out
(03:29):
for the last two games. And then Keyshawn Nixon then
has to start bouncing between the slot corner and the
boundary corner based on what defensive package the Packers are in,
and quite frankly that that domino effect in the secondary
had a big impact on the defense. Sam Darnold ends
up thirty three for forty three, a career high three
(03:51):
hundred and seventy seven yards, And it was a combination
of a lot of things. There were times the coverage
didn't hold up. There were a lot of times that
the pass rush just didn't affect Donald enough. It it
became once the Vikings got going offensively, it sort of
became this snowball that started to go downhill. And the
(04:11):
fact that the Packers were really stifling Minnesota's running game
to a great degree just didn't matter because they could
not get Sam Donald out of his rhythm.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
One hundred percent and a couple of different things to
touch on here. One, I want to just very quickly
mention this safety situation, because you laid it out perfectly
Sat Anderson. He's only been in there, he only had
started one game, right. But then you kind of think
about what Eric Wilson has done at inside linebacker when
you lose kway Walker at two different intervals of the season,
and you have a guy that you can turn to
(04:43):
on the bench that has played eight years in the
National Football League, has been a starter before, and can
become the key communicator at the linebacker position and kind
of keep all the chess pieces lined up appropriately. It's
kind of like that on the back end too, where
you're thinking you're going to go in with a certain
game plan. We saw Xavier McKinney blitzing from a free
Sat I think on the second series. Those are the
type of things that you can do when you have
(05:04):
some You have the reps, you have the camaraderie, you
have the trust, and then suddenly Buller's being in addition
to coming back from injury, now being forced to play
a position that he likely didn't practice. To your point
though about where things headed for Green Bay in the
first half. I agree with you. It seemed like early
on they were able to get some pressure on Darnold
nearly took him down on a couple different occasions. But
(05:26):
then somewhere in that second quarter into the third quarter,
there were too many times where he is standing back
there and there is nothing around him and he has
all that time to survey the field. I thought they
were really smart. I liked with Kevin O'Connell drew up obviously.
You know when you have those type of weapons, with
Jalen Naylor also as a third option. How many times
you and I talked last week. I never even brought
(05:47):
up Naylor's name. He ends up catching the believe it
was a thirty one yard post that if with the
touchdown that kind of got things rolling. Justin Jefferson didn't
really hurt them for a majority of this game, but
then heated up towards the end of it. It was
sort of like what you were discussing last week, where
he had a bunch of catches but not a lot
of yards early on, and then Jordan Addison is just
(06:07):
a difference maker.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Mattlefloor said it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I mean they have two bona fide Number one receivers
and I thought both those guys played like it. And
then the last thing I will say, the Packers did
an excellent job against the run in this game. Aaron
Jones really wasn't too much of a factor. The backs
behind him really didn't factor in that much. What I
will say though, is Aaron Jones did a tremendous job
in pass protection. They tried the Drin Cooper blitzes, they
tried the stunts, the games, the twists, and Minnesota was
(06:31):
really stood up well to it. I think that was
another thing that kind of contributed to the time that
Donald had to work with.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, and that's what I was kind of getting at with.
You know, everything with the defense was the combination of
the Russian coverage. Because statistically Donald has forty three pass attempts,
He's only sacked once, Carlbrooks got him late in the
first half. Only four quarterback hits by the Packers pass
rush in forty three pass attups. That is certainly not
(06:57):
good enough when you look at the film, and I
you know, from our vantage point up in the corner
of the end zone at US Bank Stadium, you know,
not something that I noticed during the game, but when
you when you look at the film, the Vikings kept
a running back and sometimes also a tight end in
in pass protection. A lot of times at the snap yep,
they were they were in a max protect type of
(07:20):
scenario where you've got six or seven guys in pass
protection at least initially before somebody might leak out. That's
gonna that's gonna make it really hard for a four
or even a five man rush to get home the problem.
The problem was that in those instances the pack the
(07:41):
Vikings then only have three or four guys out into
the pattern against at least six or seven pass defenders.
But Darnold was still finding holes and still getting completion.
So that's why I say I don't want to put
it all on the pass rush because there was only
one sack in forty three dropbacks. But by the same token,
(08:03):
you can't you know, it's not just all on the
coverage because the Vikings didn't mass max protect every single time.
And what really I saw happening a lot of times
with the four man rush was one guy would get
some penetration or get possibly an angle to try to
disrupt Donald. But when only one guy is getting there,
(08:24):
there's all these spaces for Donald to step into, step up,
step this way, step that way, because nobody else was
winning the rush. If only one guy wins on his
rush and doesn't get a clean hit at the quarterback,
all he has to do is take a step or
two one way or another, and then he's still got
a throwing lane to get rid of the ball. So
it was just this combination of things where there weren't
(08:46):
enough guys getting pressure on Donald, and then when the
Vikings were making sure there wouldn't be any pressure on Donald,
the coverage wasn't holding up when the Packers should have
had the advantage in the back end. And you know,
yet the injury certainly happened, but the expectation is for
the Packers to be able to play better than that.
And quite frankly, this was just Sam Donald's day.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, and to kind of work off of what we
were talking with Carrington Valentine in the locker room afterwards,
and Carrington, credit to him, did get a third quarter interception,
a second pick in three weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That was a huge play because you know, the Packers
were down twenty to three at the time, They're looking
close to being dead in the water and Valentine gets
that interception. Fortunately Carl Brooks recovers the fumble. At the
end of the return, the Packers take it in for
a touchdown, and not a lot has gone right, but
it's a ten point game, and hope was not lost
at that well.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And even as Xavier McKinney said afterwards when I was
talking with them in the locker, I mean, those are
the plays they're gonna need, whether it's from Valentine or
other guys. They need to take the ball away. That's
the identity of this defense. That stuff that they're gonna
need to build upon going into the postseason. But the
reason I bring up the Carrington bit is because, as
he mentioned, when he was being asked about some of
the things that happened with the passing game, you know,
he said, I mean their quarterback gets paid too, Like
(09:58):
Sam Donald is a very good courquarterback. And by the way,
the Packers, if they can make a postseason run here
are going to face some very good quarterbacks. You have
to solve them. But I just want to say, and
I think I said this after the Week four Game two,
the search is over. Sam Donald is the quarterback of
the Minnesota Vikings. I don't want to hear JJ McCarthy's
name anymore. You want to keep him on ice for
three years, keep him on ice. You want to trade him,
(10:20):
you can trade him. Do whatever you want. If you
are foolish enough to let that guy out of the building,
it would be the biggest thing positively that you could
do for Detroit, Green Bay in Chicago. Sam Darnald, the
way that he performed at the end of last season
with San Francisco and what he's shown this year with Minnesota,
that's your guy.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Now.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
The Packers need to find some answers for him. As
we talked about whether it was final thoughts some of
our other content last week, they didn't do a good
enough job pressure on. Matt Lefloor said that himself. But
Sam Donald made some big throws in this game, and
it's why this Minnesota Vikings were able to out last
Greame Day.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah. The one bright spot I would say on defense,
as we saw a rookie linebacker Edger and Cooper play
seventy one of seventy two snaps happening, which was a
major major increase in his workload. We talked about, you know,
edgerin Cooper is going to become an every down defender
in this defense at some point. We don't know when. Well,
it was this it was this week the Packers went
(11:13):
that direction. He was out there for all but one snap,
and he was an impact player. Ten tackles, four of
them behind the line of scrimmage. He was an absolute
terror in the running game with regard to to shutting
down the Vikings running backs. As you mentioned, Aaron Jones
was as usual a stud in pass protection and was
(11:33):
a big reason that Edgern Cooper was not involved in
any of the pass rush stats whatsoever. Matt Lafleur said,
you know, this is the first time Edgering Cooper, you know,
really played a full game. There were some ups and downs.
There were certainly some plays that he would like to
have back, probably some assignments he misster did and play
as well as he should have. But you certainly saw
the impact that he can have over the course of
(11:55):
a full game when he's out there. That is definitely
something that this is going to build on. And we
will see if he ends up getting paired with kway
Walker here potentially in the playoffs, if Walker can Beck
can get back from his injury.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
If Edrin Cooper is good, the hamstrings behind him.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
It's go time.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, the Packers are playing for all these games matter.
Mattlinfloor said to himself their goal from here on out
is to win every game. And before Packer fans jump
on that and say, well it should have been that
way from the beginning, no, he's looking at it as
we are. Win every game where your season's over. You
have to build momentum against Chicago. You can't go into
the playoffs with a loss against Chicago, the first loss
(12:34):
of the Mattlin Floor era. You can't go into whether
it's Philadelphia or Los Angeles or I think maybe potentially
Tampa Bay.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeh.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
You can't go through Anito scenarios and be flat, not
if you're expecting to win that game and then go
on next week to face a team like Minnesota or Detroit.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So put all that out there, Edgerri and Cooper.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I think defensively, this guy has become not only a playmaker,
but one of the top guys on that side of
the ball. He is one of the guys now that
opposing offense is having to scheme up against and plan for.
That's what you want, and that's what they're getting out
of their rookie second round pick and it's exciting to see.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Well, on the offensive side of the ball, it was
a huh, it was a tough slog. The bottom line
was through three and a half quarters, Jordan Love had
sixty four passing yards until those two touchdown drives late
in the fourth quarter, where he threw for one hundred
and twenty one yards. Packers scored the two touchdowns to
(13:30):
get within two points. Have the chance to get the
stop at the end and get the ball back one
more time. That doesn't happen. But you mentioned the fumble
by Josh Jacobs. There were some There were a couple
of procedure penalties that took away some significant plays. There were,
you know, a couple of throws are off, a couple
of passes that could have been caught might have been dropped.
(13:50):
I think the biggest one the fourth down when the
Packers were in field goal range in the second quarter.
I believe it was fourth and three, fourth and too,
something like that. Matt Lafleur decides to play it aggressively,
just said he had a gut feeling on the play
that he had called. They decided to go for it.
A field goal would have made it seven to six.
They're going to play for the touchdown there, and unfortunately,
(14:13):
you know, Jordan loves throws a little bit off. Jaden
Reid gets his hands on it, trying to dive for it,
but can't bring it in. A throw that could have
been better, a ball that still could have been caught.
The bottom line is the play was there and it
wasn't made. And yeah, you can parse the decision and
everything all that you want, but that was sort of
a microcosm in a lot of ways to me of
(14:35):
the first three plus quarters of this game is that
there were plays to be made against this Vikings defense, yep,
and the Packers didn't make them. And that was the
consummate example of it right.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
There, And the thing that probably is the most frustrating
all Green Bay ran the ball well against the second
ranked run defense in the National Football League. They did
not particularly run the ball well in that first matchup,
although to be fair to them, they fell behind big early.
I felt like they controlled the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately,
the Josh Jacobs fumble kind of set the tone for
some stuff. Jacobs himself said afterwards, it's gonna be hard
for me to sleep tonight. He prides himself on being
(15:07):
able to start when they get off to fast starts.
Josh Jacobs wears that as a badge of honor. You
look at the yards from scrimmage he's put together this year.
I think it's what now, four hundred yards games from
scrimmage in the first half this season. He wanted to
do that again in Minnesota. He wanted to take the
crowd out. If they weren't able to do it. It
was more than Josh Jacobs though, as you said, the
situation there on the fourth down, Love could throw a
(15:29):
better ball, Reid could catch it. Somebody needs to make
a play, right, That's the name of the game. Who
is making your plays? And Green Bay just didn't have
enough of that in this I love the scheme. I
love the defense that Minnesota has put together. It's multiple,
it's versatile, there's a lot of names, there's a lot
of veterans. I think this is the second oldest team
in the National Football League entering the season, behind Miami.
(15:50):
But they play still very fast, very smart, and I
think Brian Flores mixed up his stuff too, that it
wasn't the same carbon copy game plan as that first
one where they were really teasing the safeties, blitzing and
getting guys eight nine guys on the line of scrimmage.
They played two shell a lot more in this game,
naturally from the base look, and Green Bay had a
hard time answering it. Losing Christian Watson was a big deal.
(16:13):
I think you and I both agreed going into this
that was gonna be a big deal because it's not
just what he does catching the ball, it's how he
sets other things up. But if you don't have Christian Watson,
somebody else needs to become that playmaker. Last year in Minnesota,
it was boul Melton one hundred and five receiving yards,
a touchdown, first one hundred yard game of the season,
and that in that instant for the Packers' receivers that
kind of got them going throughout the playoffs. Who's going
(16:36):
to be that guy that takes that baton in this game?
It just didn't happen. I will give I will say this,
I won't say, well, it didn't happen. I thought Tucker
Craft gave some really good reps. I thought when the
offense was firing, when it looked explosive, Tucker Craft had
a hand in that, but there just wasn't enough of it.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I think partly what we're seeing here, and I've you know,
I remember having you know, when I've done off season
interviews for your book stories and things like that that
I've talked to Matt Lafuer, even going back to times
that I talked with Mike McCarthy when he was here.
Matt Lafuer's comment after the game that the Vikings played
way more man to man coverage than the Packers anticipated.
(17:13):
It brought me back to comments that I've heard in
the past when Aaron Rodgers was here, that teams would
break their own profile on defense to shake things up
against against a good quarterback like Jordan Love. The Detroit
Lions didn't do that. The Detroit Lions. They line up
and play man's and that's what they do. That's what
(17:34):
that's what they're doing. That's that's Dan Campbell's philosophy, that's
how Aaron Glenn calls it. But the Vikings threw a
change up at the Packers. They threw more man coverage
at Green Bay than had been their profile, and the
Packers struggled to adjust to it. And that's something that
you know, those adjustments in a lot of ways became
seamless when you know your four time MVP Aaron Rodgers,
(17:58):
he can make that adjustment by the middle of the
first quarter. Certainly by the end of the first quarter,
he's going to get a beat on things. Jordan Love
is still in his second year as a starter. A
change up like that gets thrown at the offense and
you've got still a bunch of young receivers and whatnot.
I'm not trying to make excuses for the Packers. I'm
trying to explain, quite frankly, when a defense does that
(18:18):
and changes its profile, it's a measure of respect for
what they believe you might be able to do against them,
and they feel like they have to change things in
order to disrupt you. Credit to Brian Flores and the Vikings.
It worked because the Packers did not adjust well to
what they had planned for coming into the game, and
(18:39):
it wasn't until very late in the game when the
Vikings had a three score lead. They're certainly playing the
clock more so than they're playing the opponent. And then
Jordan Love got into a rhythm and that relaxed approach
in some ways almost bit the Vikings because if they
don't get the first down in the last two minutes,
Jordan Love is on fire and he's got one more opportunity,
(19:00):
needing only a field goal to escape that game with
a huge comeback victory. But the Packers, it's a lesson
learned for the Packers in that you have to be
ready for opponents to maybe throw some changeups at you,
and you have to figure out how to adjust to
it sooner so that it doesn't take this long for
what is a very dangerous offense to find its footing
(19:22):
in the get going.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
And the other thing is too is Green Bay has
got to be its own They got to bring its
own juice, sometimes too offensively. You know, as we talked
about with the Carrington Valentine interception, it seemed like that
changed everything. The offense flowed a little bit better. They
got those adversity points right, it punched it in with
Josh Jacobs touchdown run, and it just seemed like after
that they were untouchable a little bit. But before that
(19:44):
it was trying to find an answer and trying to
find first downs and they just couldn't get there. And again,
there's so many things that go into that, but making
those adjustments. Making those corrections are really pivotal. And I
will say this too, just to tie into the end
of that game there, because.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
It miraculously green Bay does.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
They get the two point conversion with the pass to Dobbs,
they get, you know, within two points.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
The touchdown to Malik Heath.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Malik Heath, with the touchdown Malik Heath, and Minnesota gets
the ball back with green Bay having all three timeouts
and the north side of the two minute warning. The
one part that was frustrating for me a Minnesota running
game that was just obsolete all afternoon, with maybe the
exception of one Aaron Jones run.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There was one run by Cam Akers Akers Dad got
out of the gate, yes, but basically one run by Jones,
one run by Acres. Other than that, Minnesota could not
run the ball.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
And yet Minnesota still runs a play action. They get
the thirteen yard pass to Ham. They don't it's not
a true play action. It was more of a rollout
on the pass that ended up going to Acres. But
it's like those things are so frustrating because it's like
you've already proven well one, you don't have to sell
out for it, and in Minnesota's case, it's like you're
really going to set up play action after.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You haven't run the ball all day. But they got
away with it and they got the win.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Well both and really when on all of the throws,
you know, those last four plays where they got the
two first downs, one on the plus side of the
two minute warning and then the second one that sealed
the game, Darnold was on the move in the pocket,
which from a play calling perspective, is really smart because
then if the throw isn't there, he can just tuck
it and run and slide and make the Packers use
(21:18):
their timeouts. Right, you can't you can't count on being
able to do that if you're standing in the pocket.
And so Kevin m'connell got him on not a mobile quarter,
no any means, but he got him on the move
to give him that option. And and then the the
third down, and you know, credit cam Acres. It wasn't
a great throw on the final third and three Acres
(21:38):
makes a really difficult catch, you know, falling down backwards,
grabs it off his shoe tops. Those are the kind
of catches that you know, some of those the Packers
let get away in this game, and Acres makes it
at the.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
End on that one too, it's like then he's uncovered.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
So it's like, yeah, you know exactly, you know the
there was there was nobody there to make it a
more difficult guess for him. The most The other concerning thing,
of course, on the offense is that is that we
saw the you know these the pre snat penalties and
and things like that. Just this It's been part of
(22:13):
the roller coaster with this offense up season, right It's
like they crop up for a while, then it seems
like they go away, then all of a sudden they
come back again. That's what Matt Lafleur was talking about
in some respects with with the sloppy football comment and
just really frustrating it. And it was especially it was
especially damaging right at the end of the first half
(22:34):
because the Packers have the ball, there's under two minutes
left in the first half and they have a third
and one and then that's where I believe it's Dantevian
Wicks gets called for illegal formation. Mattlafuir totally disagreed with
the call. He felt Tucker Craft had come off the
line and and had checked with the official on that
Dantevian Wicks had stepped up onto the line of scrimmage,
(22:55):
but they threw the flag for illegal formation anyway, that
put the Packers set of third and one. It's third
and six. They end up they end up hunting, and
then Minnesota gets one more crack to score before halftime,
which then they get a second crack at the field
goal because of the off side call on Edger and
Cooper get five yards closer and reikerd hits the field goal.
(23:18):
A lot of controversy there. The Packers and Matt Lafluer
certainly did not agree with either of those pre snap penalties.
But you know, but again a microcosm in some ways
of things that have gone wrong in games earlier this season.
That's very frustrating to see that stuff crop up in
late December when you're hoping to have put that stuff
behind you.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, it was, Yeah, it was. It was tough.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And again Matt Lafleur will always say, you never want
to put it in the officials' hands. I will say,
I mean Kyle Schaeffer's and you know, I mean, who's
the my car was the down judge too? I mean
I've never seen a crew perseverate more over the line
of scrimmage than they did in this game. And by
the way, it happened to Minnesota too. Yeah, it wasn't
just gimingh but but it was just a very bizarre sequence,
(24:04):
and certainly at the end of the first half. I
know I have Viking fans all over me on Twitter
about this too, but like, and I think you pointed
out right. I mean, there's probably just a little bit
too much movement, a little bit too much forward motion
from Edgrin. But I also don't think the officials really
knew where the line of scrimmage was based on how
people were lined up.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, and and that's that's what I was going to
get at, because, as you know, I don't participate much
in social media, but I do read it. And I
was reading that because you were kind of going back
and forth.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Was still am evidently, and but I was.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I was reading through that, and I apologize for not
remembering this individual's name, but it's somebody from somebody associated
with she said TV who made a response to one
of your comments. And then when I when I look
back at the film, this makes a lot of sense
to me. It doesn't excuse it in terms of the call.
But what I what I want to explain is when
(24:57):
you you look at that line of scrimmage view of
the field goal, it looks like the right guard for
Minnesota is too far forward. He's the one who's actually offside,
lined up in the neutral zone. What I wonder about,
(25:17):
and this is possibly this is a plausible explanation. The
side judge who threw the flag on Cooper on Nathan
Ji's side of the field, on the packer's side of
the field, maybe he thought, based on his view down
the line of scrimmage, that the right guard.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Was actually the center.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, which the way everybody's packed in on a field
goal and whatnot, and you're standing that far away, you know,
with a look down the line of scrimmage, that's plausible
to me. And if he thinks that that Vikings right
guard is the center and not a right guard who
is lined up off side, then I can understand why
he thinks Edgrin Cooper ends up lined up offside. It
(26:00):
doesn't excuse it to me. It's poor officiating if that's
the case, But I think that's actually a somewhat plausible
explanation for how that flag gets thrown When you look
at how everybody was lined up and where the flag
came from.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
When does the flag need to be thrown? Though?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
That's what I'm curious about, because if you watch the
all twenty two and again, I have to say, it's
almost like the field goals missed before the flag comes out.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Oh really, I didn't notice that part of it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Let's go back and watch this afterwards. Okay, but I
mean it's not like the ball was snapped and the
flag comes out. I don't believe that's how that went down.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Because if you're saying a guy is lined up, if
you're saying a guy is lined up offside or if
he jumped the snap, yes, then absolutely the flag should
be coming out immediately.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, I don't should be meming out.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Let me go back and look and if I'm wrong,
I'll correct myself on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
But to me, that was the other thing.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
It seemed like the kick was missed and then now
I'm seeing a flag like and by the way, there's
an advantage to that because Will Reiker ended up getting
another try at that kick. In addition to it being
five Beard's closer. The Mason Crosby thing just rings in
my head all the time with this stuff. Now these
guys that is gold to kickers, to be able to
have an extra shot at these things, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
So again it is what it is. We all move forward.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
It's not like the Packers were just being absolute world
beaters at that time and that broke up their momentum.
They had opportunities well before that, They had opportunities after that.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yep, agreed, It's just it my diet tribe.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I win on on Twitter and I ultimately ended up
deleting this because what's the point. But these aw shucks
penalties happen all the time, and it may not be
Green Bay, it may end up being a Minnesota. It
could end up being Detroit. The Vikings, They've had stuff
happen to them before in the past. Somebody's gonna get
eliminated from the postseason on one of these things, yea,
And then we will all be like, oh darn it,
and the talk shows will discuss it the following day.
(27:44):
A month will pass, two months will pass, and everybody
forgets that it ever happened. But next fall when we
come back and nothing changes. These are the things that
ultimately end up bubbling back up to the surface.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I apologize for the long explanation and perseverating on that.
I just wanted to point out that the individual from
Cheesehead TV, whose name unfortunately I cannot remember, I can
get he he posited to me the what I think
is the best explanation for how that call happened, because
I was completely baffled as to how the flag gets
thrown there until I saw what, uh oh.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
It's Bruce Irons. Bruce Irons and Bruce Irons, okay, thanking thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
He said that the Vikings being offside so bad made
it look like the Packers were offsides.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And by the way, all.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
This would be could be saved if we would go
back to the Dean Blandino era of like the NFL
officially just explaining why calls are made.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, but we don't get that anymore.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Right now, you can't even interview these guys after the game.
If you ask for like an actual interview the poor report,
you're talking to the league office. Now you're not even
talking to the official anymore. So it's like we are
so far past the rumicon at this point.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
All right, Well, I do have to take care of
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(29:15):
All right, before we go, we will just review where
the Packers are in terms of the playoff scenarios. The
five seed is out of reach with the loss to
the Vikings. The Packers sitting at eleven and five trying
to get to twelve and five facing the Bears here
in week eighteen. If the Packers win and if Washington
(29:36):
loses to Dallas, the Packers will have the sixth seed.
If Washington defeats Dallas, the Packers will be the seven
regardless of what happens against the Chicago.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
And both those games are at the same time.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
One both games are both games are noon Central time kickoffs,
And refresh my memory the Washington Dallas game is being
played where.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Because I don't recall it's being played in Dallas.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Mike's being played in Dallas, so I eventually got there. Okay,
So Mike McCarthy, the former Packers head coach, can help
out his old team potentially if if the Cowboys can
beat the Commanders. But so, it's either it's either the
six or the seven seed for the Packers, and you
we all know that if it's the seventh seed, then
(30:27):
the opening playoff opponent would be the Philadelphia Eagles because
they are locked into the two seed in the NFC. Obviously,
the big game in the NFC coming up is the
one four the one seed in the first drawn by
It will be the last regular season game of twenty
twenty four Slash twenty five. Sunday Night Football Week eighteen
(30:49):
will be the Vikings at the Lions.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
The winner.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
The stakes here are incredible West for a game that's
not do or die, but the stakes are the winner
is the one seed and the loser is the five
seed and having to go on the road in the
first round of the play.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
And the first ever fourteen win wildcard team, which is
going to happen when you have seventeen games out but
still fourteen wins.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
It might be a while before.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
We have a fifteen win wild card team again, though that.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Might happened to the North again next year too.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Well yeah, who knows, we'll see. That's pretty unusual though,
But that's the big one in the NFC. It's for
the one seed and the first droun buy for the
NFC North Championship. All that the loser will drop to
the five. The packers will get either the six or
the seven, depending on what they do and what Washington
does against Dallas. So that's how the scenarios are setting
(31:40):
up here for Week eight.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
So I was supposed to go to Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well I did go to Vegas becuse my intention with
going to Vegas in June was I was going to
see the Connor.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
McGregor fight, right, okay, and a bunch.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Of stuff happened. Connor ends up pulling out of it.
They have to save the card. So there's this guy
named Alex Piheeda who you won't know, but he's the
light heavyweight champion of the UFC. He steps up and
he decides on like, I don't know, three weeks in
otis four weeks. Notice, he's gonna defend his title against
the guy that he beat and it's like a big
headliner for this pay per view. That's what the Minnesota
(32:11):
Vikings and Detroit Lions did for the NFL in Week eighteen.
There is no main event this week. There is one
spot even up for grabs in this as far as
the entire playoffs are concerned, in or out, and those
teams don't even play each other. Yeah, so you have
Minnesota and Detroit. They come down to the wire here
the most improbable scenario possible of two fourteen win teams
(32:33):
competing for a division title and the number one seed
in the playoffs, and it completely bails the league out
from I think probably otherwise it would have been Kansas City.
If if the Packers win, right, and San Francisco does
what it does and there's no meaning behind Detroit Minnesota,
I'm guessing they probably flip Minnesota in Detroit, keep that
at three twenty five, and probably have Kansas City in Denver.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, because does the play because in the whole AFC
thing to determine the final spot, Denver is the one
in control if the Broncos. If the Broncos win, they
get in. If the Broncos lose to Kansas City and.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Car Wentz as the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, if the Broncos lose to Kansas City, then it
opens the door for either the Miami Dolphins or the
Cincinnati Bengals to take the final spot.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I agree with.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I think that's what they would have done. They would
have had my You know, Cincinnati's already playing on Saturday,
they have Miami play on Sunday, and then those teams
have to sit and wait and see what and see
what happens with Denver on Sunday night. But the league
got the Lions Vikings game, So that's what's there, and
it'll be interesting to see because, as I said, the
(33:45):
loser of the Lions Vikings game is going to go
to the five seed is gonna be going on the
road in the wild card game, going on the road
coming off of a Sunday night game in Week eighteen.
I wonder if what ever wild card game that loser
is involved in is automatically going to be the one
on Monday night. I think it probably Wildcard weekend. Yeah,
(34:07):
just in terms of the kickoff times and kind of
trying to even out the rest and whatnot, because you're
certainly not going to put that Wildcard game on Saturday, right,
the loser of that of the Sunday night game Packers
is having to play on Saturday. But I think that
might end up being that might end up being the
Monday night the final of the six wild card games.
(34:28):
The loser of the Lions Vikings game will be in
that one. That's just my guess.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Well, and then it is interesting too because we were hoping, well,
the league was hoping probably for like some more drama
there with the NFC West that gets completely sorted out
because of all the dominoes felt. The Rams end up
clinching even you know, even though.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
In Arizona, and Arizona was what six yards away yeah,
six yards away on Saturday night from winning that game
against the Rams and setting up a winner take all
NFC West showdown between the Rams and the Seahawks. Instead,
the ball hits off I think it was off McBride's helmet,
and the defender makes a diving interception in the end
zone saves the game for the Rams, and then the
(35:07):
tiebreaker ends up getting clinched on Sunday. So the Rams
against the Rams against the Seahawks is not for the
NFC West title. The Seahawks have been eliminated, and it
only impacts the potential seating for the Rams.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
We gotta go. I know you got an eleven o'clock
am lunch day here, but we didn't get a chance
to talk about this. But isn't it funny how the
timeout thing came into play again on Sunday Night football
as well, where I'm telling you, man, like there used
to be that role, Like what was it like under
eight or something in like Domofskio just said you never
go for two unless it's under eight. That was like
(35:42):
an old standard. If we were to create a new standard,
if you have a pass play that generates over what
fifteen twenty yards, you call the timeout of immediately.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Exactly that And coaches used to do that. I mean
it used to be almost automatic that they would do
that because they knew how much time it would take
because of the ball being that much further downfield to
get everybody line up, whether it's to spike it or
or to try to run another play, whatever the case
might be. And uh yeah, I mean Atlanta, Atlanta taking
(36:12):
not even using, not even using their last time out
and having to try a fifty six yard field.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Goal with your backup kicker with your back, Riley Patterson.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
As soon as as soon as Drake London caught that ball,
I mean, I was thinking, all you had to do
is fall backwards to a lot of bounds. He didn't
get out of bounds. But then as soon as you
see the referee signaling to wind the clock, you have
to they had two timeouts.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, you should have.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Had a first down with thirty seconds left and still
one time out to go as you're near, as you're
almost to midfield there, and instead they don't even get
the next snap off until there are seventeen seconds left,
and you're still sitting with two timeouts. Like it just
it made it made no sense. And you're right, we're
seeing we're seeing the clock management across the league now getting.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Poorer and poorer.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Crazy because it and there's actually a question that I
saw an insider inbox that I'm going to answer for tomorrow.
It's almost as though coaches are getting way too obsessed
with not leaving a single second on the clock in
an game scenario that even you know because and you know,
because of Patrick Mahomes having enough timeouts to get a
(37:27):
field goal against Buffalo in the playoffs with thirteen seconds
on the clock, it's like you can't leave, you can't
leave any time. Well, you know, if the other team
doesn't have any timeouts or only has one time out left,
leaving ten seconds on the clock is not the end
of the world. Like, do what you do to need
to do to get your team in the best position
the field. Position there is more important than what is
(37:48):
on the clock and not burning a time out. That probably,
quite frankly, it probably cost Atlanta the NFC South Yes
title one hundred percent because they had it. They it
was a tremendous final drive. Michael Pennix Junior, the rookie
quarterback two fourth down conversions including the one for the touchdown,
and then and then they blow the clock management and
(38:09):
probably the division championship just just based on not using
a timeout.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
You've got to help your rookie quarterback that has been
a starting quarterback for two This is not Prime twenty fourteen,
Aaron Rodgers. This is a guy that is extremely talented,
has second enough of I start, and he's been playing
NFL regular season football for two weeks.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Yeah, and you don't give him the time out there.
I mean it unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I might have been able to understand I might have
been able to understand this if it was Matt Lafleur
calling the offense and he's gotten whatever. Raheem Morris is
a defensive minded coach. I mean he has he has
a very eclectic background as far as coaching, but like
it's not like he's sitting there trying to figure out
what the next play is.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Like it just I I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yeah, I think it cost that. I think they I
think Atlanta costs itself a division championship by not calling timeout.
And that's it's pretty pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Well what was right after your defense just got an
amazing stop of the Jayden Daniels to get that opportunity exactly.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, Jaden Daniels becomes the hero in overtime. Nobody's talking
about the fact that they went three and out with
the opportunity to win the game and gave the Falcons
the opportunity to win the game in regulation on the road.
But last thing with regard to the Packers playoff scenarios,
because they didn't mention this, if the Packers were to
get the sixth seed, they could play either the Rams
or the Buccaneers, depending on how those games. The Rams
(39:31):
are playing the Seahawks, the Buccaneers are playing the Saints.
So if it's the seven, it's the Eagles. If it's
the six, it could be one of two opponents, Los
Angeles or Tampa Bay. So I just wanted to clear
that up. And last, but not least, the countdown to
the twenty twenty five NFL Draft has begun. Green Bay
is hosting this year in case you didn't know that,
and you won't want to miss it, so mark your
(39:51):
calendars for April twenty fourth through April twenty six of
twenty twenty five, and visit green Bay dot com slash
Draft twenty five for more information. We've gone way over time.
We apologize, especially to our producer Zach, but he'll deal
with it and for less, I am Mike. Thank you
for tuning in everybody, Happy New Year, and we'll see
you next time.
Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trust
and colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from
our studios at lambeau Field to review the Packers Week
seventeen loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The final was twenty
seven to twenty five at US Bank Stadium West. But
(00:37):
you know, and I know that quite frankly, this game
was not as close as the final score. The Packers
made a run at it in the back half of
the fourth quarter. They did not give up in this game,
but for a good portion of the game they were
down multiple scores and the Vikings were in control of
the game. And I think Matt Lafleur said it best
(00:57):
on Monday when he went to the podium and he
basically just accused the Packers of playing sloppy football. And
you play sloppy football against good teams, and it's going
to be really, really hard to win. And that's what
the Packers found out on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, And to me, I mean, I just look at
that beginning of it and I thought the approach was right.
We saw what happened in when Detroit when they deferred
on the kickoff. This time they decided to take it.
You try to take the crowd out of it. Almost
maybe replicate these fast starts they had in back to
back games where they really get two touchdowns off their
first two series, and honestly, they're moving the ball a
little bit, but then Josh Jacobs has the fumble. Credit
(01:34):
to the Packers defense, they actually keep the Vikings off
the board. They actually earn another punt on the next
series as well. I can't remember if it was exactly
three now, but they got off the field again in
this situation, and Green Bay plays pretty much a scoreless
first quarter with Minnesota until the Brandon McManus pack the
drive stalls in the red zone. McManus gets a twenty
(01:55):
two yarder and then after that it was off to
the races. It just seemed like the Vikings were able
to get into a rhythm. I think the Packers took
a pretty big hit with the Zane Anderson loss. You're
kind of expecting that he once again is going to
be back there. With Xavier McKinney, a veteran that has
been in this league for a number of years now,
even if he hasn't played as much. A couple dominoes
fell a couple different directions, a couple penalties went a
(02:17):
couple different ways, and obviously the offense didn't start fast
enough and the Green Bay Packers picked up their fourth
loss in the NFC Nord.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, there's certainly a lot of disappointment on both sides
of the ball with how this game went. Defensively, I
agree with you entirely on what happened with Zane Anderson.
He gets injured on the kickoff right after the McManus
field goal, when the Packers are up three to nothing.
He leaves for concussion evaluation. And you wouldn't think, okay,
(02:44):
you lose Zane Anderson, who was just filling in at
safety anyway, right, You wouldn't think that that would be
a big issue. But when the Packers are down Jay
or Alexander and Evan Williams in the secondary, and Javon
Bullard had just come back from being out for two weeks,
he was limited in practice with the ankle injury, and
(03:04):
you and I both suspect that the vast majority, if
not all, of his snaps, the limited snaps he did
get in practice were at the nickel position right because
Anderson was going to be the other deep safety with McKinney. So,
as you said, the dominoes start to fall then because
Bullard moves back to safety, which is a position he
hadn't practiced really at all on top of being out
(03:29):
for the last two games. And then Keyshawn Nixon then
has to start bouncing between the slot corner and the
boundary corner based on what defensive package the Packers are in,
and quite frankly that that domino effect in the secondary
had a big impact on the defense. Sam Darnold ends
up thirty three for forty three, a career high three
(03:51):
hundred and seventy seven yards, And it was a combination
of a lot of things. There were times the coverage
didn't hold up. There were a lot of times that
the pass rush just didn't affect Donald enough. It it
became once the Vikings got going offensively, it sort of
became this snowball that started to go downhill. And the
(04:11):
fact that the Packers were really stifling Minnesota's running game
to a great degree just didn't matter because they could
not get Sam Donald out of his rhythm.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
One hundred percent and a couple of different things to
touch on here. One, I want to just very quickly
mention this safety situation, because you laid it out perfectly
Sat Anderson. He's only been in there, he only had
started one game, right. But then you kind of think
about what Eric Wilson has done at inside linebacker when
you lose kway Walker at two different intervals of the season,
and you have a guy that you can turn to
(04:43):
on the bench that has played eight years in the
National Football League, has been a starter before, and can
become the key communicator at the linebacker position and kind
of keep all the chess pieces lined up appropriately. It's
kind of like that on the back end too, where
you're thinking you're going to go in with a certain
game plan. We saw Xavier McKinney blitzing from a free
Sat I think on the second series. Those are the
type of things that you can do when you have
(05:04):
some You have the reps, you have the camaraderie, you
have the trust, and then suddenly Buller's being in addition
to coming back from injury, now being forced to play
a position that he likely didn't practice. To your point
though about where things headed for Green Bay in the
first half. I agree with you. It seemed like early
on they were able to get some pressure on Darnold
nearly took him down on a couple different occasions. But
(05:26):
then somewhere in that second quarter into the third quarter,
there were too many times where he is standing back
there and there is nothing around him and he has
all that time to survey the field. I thought they
were really smart. I liked with Kevin O'Connell drew up obviously.
You know when you have those type of weapons, with
Jalen Naylor also as a third option. How many times
you and I talked last week. I never even brought
(05:47):
up Naylor's name. He ends up catching the believe it
was a thirty one yard post that if with the
touchdown that kind of got things rolling. Justin Jefferson didn't
really hurt them for a majority of this game, but
then heated up towards the end of it. It was
sort of like what you were discussing last week, where
he had a bunch of catches but not a lot
of yards early on, and then Jordan Addison is just
(06:07):
a difference maker.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Mattlefloor said it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I mean they have two bona fide Number one receivers
and I thought both those guys played like it. And
then the last thing I will say, the Packers did
an excellent job against the run in this game. Aaron
Jones really wasn't too much of a factor. The backs
behind him really didn't factor in that much. What I
will say though, is Aaron Jones did a tremendous job
in pass protection. They tried the Drin Cooper blitzes, they
tried the stunts, the games, the twists, and Minnesota was
(06:31):
really stood up well to it. I think that was
another thing that kind of contributed to the time that
Donald had to work with.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, and that's what I was kind of getting at with.
You know, everything with the defense was the combination of
the Russian coverage. Because statistically Donald has forty three pass attempts,
He's only sacked once, Carlbrooks got him late in the
first half. Only four quarterback hits by the Packers pass
rush in forty three pass attups. That is certainly not
(06:57):
good enough when you look at the film, and I
you know, from our vantage point up in the corner
of the end zone at US Bank Stadium, you know,
not something that I noticed during the game, but when
you when you look at the film, the Vikings kept
a running back and sometimes also a tight end in
in pass protection. A lot of times at the snap yep,
they were they were in a max protect type of
(07:20):
scenario where you've got six or seven guys in pass
protection at least initially before somebody might leak out. That's
gonna that's gonna make it really hard for a four
or even a five man rush to get home the problem.
The problem was that in those instances the pack the
(07:41):
Vikings then only have three or four guys out into
the pattern against at least six or seven pass defenders.
But Darnold was still finding holes and still getting completion.
So that's why I say I don't want to put
it all on the pass rush because there was only
one sack in forty three dropbacks. But by the same token,
(08:03):
you can't you know, it's not just all on the
coverage because the Vikings didn't mass max protect every single time.
And what really I saw happening a lot of times
with the four man rush was one guy would get
some penetration or get possibly an angle to try to
disrupt Donald. But when only one guy is getting there,
(08:24):
there's all these spaces for Donald to step into, step up,
step this way, step that way, because nobody else was
winning the rush. If only one guy wins on his
rush and doesn't get a clean hit at the quarterback,
all he has to do is take a step or
two one way or another, and then he's still got
a throwing lane to get rid of the ball. So
it was just this combination of things where there weren't
(08:46):
enough guys getting pressure on Donald, and then when the
Vikings were making sure there wouldn't be any pressure on Donald,
the coverage wasn't holding up when the Packers should have
had the advantage in the back end. And you know,
yet the injury certainly happened, but the expectation is for
the Packers to be able to play better than that.
And quite frankly, this was just Sam Donald's day.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, and to kind of work off of what we
were talking with Carrington Valentine in the locker room afterwards,
and Carrington, credit to him, did get a third quarter interception,
a second pick in three weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That was a huge play because you know, the Packers
were down twenty to three at the time, They're looking
close to being dead in the water and Valentine gets
that interception. Fortunately Carl Brooks recovers the fumble. At the
end of the return, the Packers take it in for
a touchdown, and not a lot has gone right, but
it's a ten point game, and hope was not lost
at that well.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And even as Xavier McKinney said afterwards when I was
talking with them in the locker, I mean, those are
the plays they're gonna need, whether it's from Valentine or
other guys. They need to take the ball away. That's
the identity of this defense. That stuff that they're gonna
need to build upon going into the postseason. But the
reason I bring up the Carrington bit is because, as
he mentioned, when he was being asked about some of
the things that happened with the passing game, you know,
he said, I mean their quarterback gets paid too, Like
(09:58):
Sam Donald is a very good courquarterback. And by the way,
the Packers, if they can make a postseason run here
are going to face some very good quarterbacks. You have
to solve them. But I just want to say, and
I think I said this after the Week four Game two,
the search is over. Sam Donald is the quarterback of
the Minnesota Vikings. I don't want to hear JJ McCarthy's
name anymore. You want to keep him on ice for
three years, keep him on ice. You want to trade him,
(10:20):
you can trade him. Do whatever you want. If you
are foolish enough to let that guy out of the building,
it would be the biggest thing positively that you could
do for Detroit, Green Bay in Chicago. Sam Darnald, the
way that he performed at the end of last season
with San Francisco and what he's shown this year with Minnesota,
that's your guy.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Now.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
The Packers need to find some answers for him. As
we talked about whether it was final thoughts some of
our other content last week, they didn't do a good
enough job pressure on. Matt Lefloor said that himself. But
Sam Donald made some big throws in this game, and
it's why this Minnesota Vikings were able to out last
Greame Day.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah. The one bright spot I would say on defense,
as we saw a rookie linebacker Edger and Cooper play
seventy one of seventy two snaps happening, which was a
major major increase in his workload. We talked about, you know,
edgerin Cooper is going to become an every down defender
in this defense at some point. We don't know when. Well,
it was this it was this week the Packers went
(11:13):
that direction. He was out there for all but one snap,
and he was an impact player. Ten tackles, four of
them behind the line of scrimmage. He was an absolute
terror in the running game with regard to to shutting
down the Vikings running backs. As you mentioned, Aaron Jones
was as usual a stud in pass protection and was
(11:33):
a big reason that Edgern Cooper was not involved in
any of the pass rush stats whatsoever. Matt Lafleur said,
you know, this is the first time Edgering Cooper, you know,
really played a full game. There were some ups and downs.
There were certainly some plays that he would like to
have back, probably some assignments he misster did and play
as well as he should have. But you certainly saw
the impact that he can have over the course of
(11:55):
a full game when he's out there. That is definitely
something that this is going to build on. And we
will see if he ends up getting paired with kway
Walker here potentially in the playoffs, if Walker can Beck
can get back from his injury.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
If Edrin Cooper is good, the hamstrings behind him.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
It's go time.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, the Packers are playing for all these games matter.
Mattlinfloor said to himself their goal from here on out
is to win every game. And before Packer fans jump
on that and say, well it should have been that
way from the beginning, no, he's looking at it as
we are. Win every game where your season's over. You
have to build momentum against Chicago. You can't go into
the playoffs with a loss against Chicago, the first loss
(12:34):
of the Mattlin Floor era. You can't go into whether
it's Philadelphia or Los Angeles or I think maybe potentially
Tampa Bay.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeh.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
You can't go through Anito scenarios and be flat, not
if you're expecting to win that game and then go
on next week to face a team like Minnesota or Detroit.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So put all that out there, Edgerri and Cooper.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I think defensively, this guy has become not only a playmaker,
but one of the top guys on that side of
the ball. He is one of the guys now that
opposing offense is having to scheme up against and plan for.
That's what you want, and that's what they're getting out
of their rookie second round pick and it's exciting to see.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Well, on the offensive side of the ball, it was
a huh, it was a tough slog. The bottom line
was through three and a half quarters, Jordan Love had
sixty four passing yards until those two touchdown drives late
in the fourth quarter, where he threw for one hundred
and twenty one yards. Packers scored the two touchdowns to
(13:30):
get within two points. Have the chance to get the
stop at the end and get the ball back one
more time. That doesn't happen. But you mentioned the fumble
by Josh Jacobs. There were some There were a couple
of procedure penalties that took away some significant plays. There were,
you know, a couple of throws are off, a couple
of passes that could have been caught might have been dropped.
(13:50):
I think the biggest one the fourth down when the
Packers were in field goal range in the second quarter.
I believe it was fourth and three, fourth and too,
something like that. Matt Lafleur decides to play it aggressively,
just said he had a gut feeling on the play
that he had called. They decided to go for it.
A field goal would have made it seven to six.
They're going to play for the touchdown there, and unfortunately,
(14:13):
you know, Jordan loves throws a little bit off. Jaden
Reid gets his hands on it, trying to dive for it,
but can't bring it in. A throw that could have
been better, a ball that still could have been caught.
The bottom line is the play was there and it
wasn't made. And yeah, you can parse the decision and
everything all that you want, but that was sort of
a microcosm in a lot of ways to me of
(14:35):
the first three plus quarters of this game is that
there were plays to be made against this Vikings defense, yep,
and the Packers didn't make them. And that was the
consummate example of it right.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
There, And the thing that probably is the most frustrating
all Green Bay ran the ball well against the second
ranked run defense in the National Football League. They did
not particularly run the ball well in that first matchup,
although to be fair to them, they fell behind big early.
I felt like they controlled the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately,
the Josh Jacobs fumble kind of set the tone for
some stuff. Jacobs himself said afterwards, it's gonna be hard
for me to sleep tonight. He prides himself on being
(15:07):
able to start when they get off to fast starts.
Josh Jacobs wears that as a badge of honor. You
look at the yards from scrimmage he's put together this year.
I think it's what now, four hundred yards games from
scrimmage in the first half this season. He wanted to
do that again in Minnesota. He wanted to take the
crowd out. If they weren't able to do it. It
was more than Josh Jacobs though, as you said, the
situation there on the fourth down, Love could throw a
(15:29):
better ball, Reid could catch it. Somebody needs to make
a play, right, That's the name of the game. Who
is making your plays? And Green Bay just didn't have
enough of that in this I love the scheme. I
love the defense that Minnesota has put together. It's multiple,
it's versatile, there's a lot of names, there's a lot
of veterans. I think this is the second oldest team
in the National Football League entering the season, behind Miami.
(15:50):
But they play still very fast, very smart, and I
think Brian Flores mixed up his stuff too, that it
wasn't the same carbon copy game plan as that first
one where they were really teasing the safeties, blitzing and
getting guys eight nine guys on the line of scrimmage.
They played two shell a lot more in this game,
naturally from the base look, and Green Bay had a
hard time answering it. Losing Christian Watson was a big deal.
(16:13):
I think you and I both agreed going into this
that was gonna be a big deal because it's not
just what he does catching the ball, it's how he
sets other things up. But if you don't have Christian Watson,
somebody else needs to become that playmaker. Last year in Minnesota,
it was boul Melton one hundred and five receiving yards,
a touchdown, first one hundred yard game of the season,
and that in that instant for the Packers' receivers that
kind of got them going throughout the playoffs. Who's going
(16:36):
to be that guy that takes that baton in this game?
It just didn't happen. I will give I will say this,
I won't say, well, it didn't happen. I thought Tucker
Craft gave some really good reps. I thought when the
offense was firing, when it looked explosive, Tucker Craft had
a hand in that, but there just wasn't enough of it.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I think partly what we're seeing here, and I've you know,
I remember having you know, when I've done off season
interviews for your book stories and things like that that
I've talked to Matt Lafuer, even going back to times
that I talked with Mike McCarthy when he was here.
Matt Lafuer's comment after the game that the Vikings played
way more man to man coverage than the Packers anticipated.
(17:13):
It brought me back to comments that I've heard in
the past when Aaron Rodgers was here, that teams would
break their own profile on defense to shake things up
against against a good quarterback like Jordan Love. The Detroit
Lions didn't do that. The Detroit Lions. They line up
and play man's and that's what they do. That's what
(17:34):
that's what they're doing. That's that's Dan Campbell's philosophy, that's
how Aaron Glenn calls it. But the Vikings threw a
change up at the Packers. They threw more man coverage
at Green Bay than had been their profile, and the
Packers struggled to adjust to it. And that's something that
you know, those adjustments in a lot of ways became
seamless when you know your four time MVP Aaron Rodgers,
(17:58):
he can make that adjustment by the middle of the
first quarter. Certainly by the end of the first quarter,
he's going to get a beat on things. Jordan Love
is still in his second year as a starter. A
change up like that gets thrown at the offense and
you've got still a bunch of young receivers and whatnot.
I'm not trying to make excuses for the Packers. I'm
trying to explain, quite frankly, when a defense does that
(18:18):
and changes its profile, it's a measure of respect for
what they believe you might be able to do against them,
and they feel like they have to change things in
order to disrupt you. Credit to Brian Flores and the Vikings.
It worked because the Packers did not adjust well to
what they had planned for coming into the game, and
(18:39):
it wasn't until very late in the game when the
Vikings had a three score lead. They're certainly playing the
clock more so than they're playing the opponent. And then
Jordan Love got into a rhythm and that relaxed approach
in some ways almost bit the Vikings because if they
don't get the first down in the last two minutes,
Jordan Love is on fire and he's got one more opportunity,
(19:00):
needing only a field goal to escape that game with
a huge comeback victory. But the Packers, it's a lesson
learned for the Packers in that you have to be
ready for opponents to maybe throw some changeups at you,
and you have to figure out how to adjust to
it sooner so that it doesn't take this long for
what is a very dangerous offense to find its footing
(19:22):
in the get going.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
And the other thing is too is Green Bay has
got to be its own They got to bring its
own juice, sometimes too offensively. You know, as we talked
about with the Carrington Valentine interception, it seemed like that
changed everything. The offense flowed a little bit better. They
got those adversity points right, it punched it in with
Josh Jacobs touchdown run, and it just seemed like after
that they were untouchable a little bit. But before that
(19:44):
it was trying to find an answer and trying to
find first downs and they just couldn't get there. And again,
there's so many things that go into that, but making
those adjustments. Making those corrections are really pivotal. And I
will say this too, just to tie into the end
of that game there, because.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
It miraculously green Bay does.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
They get the two point conversion with the pass to Dobbs,
they get, you know, within two points.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
The touchdown to Malik Heath.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Malik Heath, with the touchdown Malik Heath, and Minnesota gets
the ball back with green Bay having all three timeouts
and the north side of the two minute warning. The
one part that was frustrating for me a Minnesota running
game that was just obsolete all afternoon, with maybe the
exception of one Aaron Jones run.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There was one run by Cam Akers Akers Dad got
out of the gate, yes, but basically one run by Jones,
one run by Acres. Other than that, Minnesota could not
run the ball.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
And yet Minnesota still runs a play action. They get
the thirteen yard pass to Ham. They don't it's not
a true play action. It was more of a rollout
on the pass that ended up going to Acres. But
it's like those things are so frustrating because it's like
you've already proven well one, you don't have to sell
out for it, and in Minnesota's case, it's like you're
really going to set up play action after.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You haven't run the ball all day. But they got
away with it and they got the win.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Well both and really when on all of the throws,
you know, those last four plays where they got the
two first downs, one on the plus side of the
two minute warning and then the second one that sealed
the game, Darnold was on the move in the pocket,
which from a play calling perspective, is really smart because
then if the throw isn't there, he can just tuck
it and run and slide and make the Packers use
(21:18):
their timeouts. Right, you can't you can't count on being
able to do that if you're standing in the pocket.
And so Kevin m'connell got him on not a mobile quarter,
no any means, but he got him on the move
to give him that option. And and then the the
third down, and you know, credit cam Acres. It wasn't
a great throw on the final third and three Acres
(21:38):
makes a really difficult catch, you know, falling down backwards,
grabs it off his shoe tops. Those are the kind
of catches that you know, some of those the Packers
let get away in this game, and Acres makes it
at the.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
End on that one too, it's like then he's uncovered.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
So it's like, yeah, you know exactly, you know the
there was there was nobody there to make it a
more difficult guess for him. The most The other concerning thing,
of course, on the offense is that is that we
saw the you know these the pre snat penalties and
and things like that. Just this It's been part of
(22:13):
the roller coaster with this offense up season, right It's
like they crop up for a while, then it seems
like they go away, then all of a sudden they
come back again. That's what Matt Lafleur was talking about
in some respects with with the sloppy football comment and
just really frustrating it. And it was especially it was
especially damaging right at the end of the first half
(22:34):
because the Packers have the ball, there's under two minutes
left in the first half and they have a third
and one and then that's where I believe it's Dantevian
Wicks gets called for illegal formation. Mattlafuir totally disagreed with
the call. He felt Tucker Craft had come off the
line and and had checked with the official on that
Dantevian Wicks had stepped up onto the line of scrimmage,
(22:55):
but they threw the flag for illegal formation anyway, that
put the Packers set of third and one. It's third
and six. They end up they end up hunting, and
then Minnesota gets one more crack to score before halftime,
which then they get a second crack at the field
goal because of the off side call on Edger and
Cooper get five yards closer and reikerd hits the field goal.
(23:18):
A lot of controversy there. The Packers and Matt Lafluer
certainly did not agree with either of those pre snap penalties.
But you know, but again a microcosm in some ways
of things that have gone wrong in games earlier this season.
That's very frustrating to see that stuff crop up in
late December when you're hoping to have put that stuff
behind you.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, it was, Yeah, it was. It was tough.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And again Matt Lafleur will always say, you never want
to put it in the officials' hands. I will say,
I mean Kyle Schaeffer's and you know, I mean, who's
the my car was the down judge too? I mean
I've never seen a crew perseverate more over the line
of scrimmage than they did in this game. And by
the way, it happened to Minnesota too. Yeah, it wasn't
just gimingh but but it was just a very bizarre sequence,
(24:04):
and certainly at the end of the first half. I
know I have Viking fans all over me on Twitter
about this too, but like, and I think you pointed
out right. I mean, there's probably just a little bit
too much movement, a little bit too much forward motion
from Edgrin. But I also don't think the officials really
knew where the line of scrimmage was based on how
people were lined up.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, and and that's that's what I was going to
get at, because, as you know, I don't participate much
in social media, but I do read it. And I
was reading that because you were kind of going back
and forth.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Was still am evidently, and but I was.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I was reading through that, and I apologize for not
remembering this individual's name, but it's somebody from somebody associated
with she said TV who made a response to one
of your comments. And then when I when I look
back at the film, this makes a lot of sense
to me. It doesn't excuse it in terms of the call.
But what I what I want to explain is when
(24:57):
you you look at that line of scrimmage view of
the field goal, it looks like the right guard for
Minnesota is too far forward. He's the one who's actually offside,
lined up in the neutral zone. What I wonder about,
(25:17):
and this is possibly this is a plausible explanation. The
side judge who threw the flag on Cooper on Nathan
Ji's side of the field, on the packer's side of
the field, maybe he thought, based on his view down
the line of scrimmage, that the right guard.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Was actually the center.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, which the way everybody's packed in on a field
goal and whatnot, and you're standing that far away, you know,
with a look down the line of scrimmage, that's plausible
to me. And if he thinks that that Vikings right
guard is the center and not a right guard who
is lined up off side, then I can understand why
he thinks Edgrin Cooper ends up lined up offside. It
(26:00):
doesn't excuse it to me. It's poor officiating if that's
the case, But I think that's actually a somewhat plausible
explanation for how that flag gets thrown When you look
at how everybody was lined up and where the flag
came from.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
When does the flag need to be thrown? Though?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
That's what I'm curious about, because if you watch the
all twenty two and again, I have to say, it's
almost like the field goals missed before the flag comes out.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Oh really, I didn't notice that part of it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Let's go back and watch this afterwards. Okay, but I
mean it's not like the ball was snapped and the
flag comes out. I don't believe that's how that went down.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Because if you're saying a guy is lined up, if
you're saying a guy is lined up offside or if
he jumped the snap, yes, then absolutely the flag should
be coming out immediately.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, I don't should be meming out.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Let me go back and look and if I'm wrong,
I'll correct myself on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
But to me, that was the other thing.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
It seemed like the kick was missed and then now
I'm seeing a flag like and by the way, there's
an advantage to that because Will Reiker ended up getting
another try at that kick. In addition to it being
five Beard's closer. The Mason Crosby thing just rings in
my head all the time with this stuff. Now these
guys that is gold to kickers, to be able to
have an extra shot at these things, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
So again it is what it is. We all move forward.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
It's not like the Packers were just being absolute world
beaters at that time and that broke up their momentum.
They had opportunities well before that, They had opportunities after that.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yep, agreed, It's just it my diet tribe.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I win on on Twitter and I ultimately ended up
deleting this because what's the point. But these aw shucks
penalties happen all the time, and it may not be
Green Bay, it may end up being a Minnesota. It
could end up being Detroit. The Vikings, They've had stuff
happen to them before in the past. Somebody's gonna get
eliminated from the postseason on one of these things, yea,
And then we will all be like, oh darn it,
and the talk shows will discuss it the following day.
(27:44):
A month will pass, two months will pass, and everybody
forgets that it ever happened. But next fall when we
come back and nothing changes. These are the things that
ultimately end up bubbling back up to the surface.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I apologize for the long explanation and perseverating on that.
I just wanted to point out that the individual from
Cheesehead TV, whose name unfortunately I cannot remember, I can
get he he posited to me the what I think
is the best explanation for how that call happened, because
I was completely baffled as to how the flag gets
thrown there until I saw what, uh oh.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
It's Bruce Irons. Bruce Irons and Bruce Irons, okay, thanking thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
He said that the Vikings being offside so bad made
it look like the Packers were offsides.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And by the way, all.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
This would be could be saved if we would go
back to the Dean Blandino era of like the NFL
officially just explaining why calls are made.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, but we don't get that anymore.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Right now, you can't even interview these guys after the game.
If you ask for like an actual interview the poor report,
you're talking to the league office. Now you're not even
talking to the official anymore. So it's like we are
so far past the rumicon at this point.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
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(29:15):
All right, before we go, we will just review where
the Packers are in terms of the playoff scenarios. The
five seed is out of reach with the loss to
the Vikings. The Packers sitting at eleven and five trying
to get to twelve and five facing the Bears here
in week eighteen. If the Packers win and if Washington
(29:36):
loses to Dallas, the Packers will have the sixth seed.
If Washington defeats Dallas, the Packers will be the seven
regardless of what happens against the Chicago.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
And both those games are at the same time.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
One both games are both games are noon Central time kickoffs,
And refresh my memory the Washington Dallas game is being
played where.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Because I don't recall it's being played in Dallas.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Mike's being played in Dallas, so I eventually got there. Okay,
So Mike McCarthy, the former Packers head coach, can help
out his old team potentially if if the Cowboys can
beat the Commanders. But so, it's either it's either the
six or the seven seed for the Packers, and you
we all know that if it's the seventh seed, then
(30:27):
the opening playoff opponent would be the Philadelphia Eagles because
they are locked into the two seed in the NFC. Obviously,
the big game in the NFC coming up is the
one four the one seed in the first drawn by
It will be the last regular season game of twenty
twenty four Slash twenty five. Sunday Night Football Week eighteen
(30:49):
will be the Vikings at the Lions.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
The winner.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
The stakes here are incredible West for a game that's
not do or die, but the stakes are the winner
is the one seed and the loser is the five
seed and having to go on the road in the
first round of the play.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
And the first ever fourteen win wildcard team, which is
going to happen when you have seventeen games out but
still fourteen wins.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
It might be a while before.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
We have a fifteen win wild card team again, though that.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Might happened to the North again next year too.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Well yeah, who knows, we'll see. That's pretty unusual though,
But that's the big one in the NFC. It's for
the one seed and the first droun buy for the
NFC North Championship. All that the loser will drop to
the five. The packers will get either the six or
the seven, depending on what they do and what Washington
does against Dallas. So that's how the scenarios are setting
(31:40):
up here for Week eight.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
So I was supposed to go to Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well I did go to Vegas becuse my intention with
going to Vegas in June was I was going to
see the Connor.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
McGregor fight, right, okay, and a bunch.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Of stuff happened. Connor ends up pulling out of it.
They have to save the card. So there's this guy
named Alex Piheeda who you won't know, but he's the
light heavyweight champion of the UFC. He steps up and
he decides on like, I don't know, three weeks in
otis four weeks. Notice, he's gonna defend his title against
the guy that he beat and it's like a big
headliner for this pay per view. That's what the Minnesota
(32:11):
Vikings and Detroit Lions did for the NFL in Week eighteen.
There is no main event this week. There is one
spot even up for grabs in this as far as
the entire playoffs are concerned, in or out, and those
teams don't even play each other. Yeah, so you have
Minnesota and Detroit. They come down to the wire here
the most improbable scenario possible of two fourteen win teams
(32:33):
competing for a division title and the number one seed
in the playoffs, and it completely bails the league out
from I think probably otherwise it would have been Kansas City.
If if the Packers win, right, and San Francisco does
what it does and there's no meaning behind Detroit Minnesota,
I'm guessing they probably flip Minnesota in Detroit, keep that
at three twenty five, and probably have Kansas City in Denver.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, because does the play because in the whole AFC
thing to determine the final spot, Denver is the one
in control if the Broncos. If the Broncos win, they
get in. If the Broncos lose to Kansas City and.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Car Wentz as the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, if the Broncos lose to Kansas City, then it
opens the door for either the Miami Dolphins or the
Cincinnati Bengals to take the final spot.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I agree with.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I think that's what they would have done. They would
have had my You know, Cincinnati's already playing on Saturday,
they have Miami play on Sunday, and then those teams
have to sit and wait and see what and see
what happens with Denver on Sunday night. But the league
got the Lions Vikings game, So that's what's there, and
it'll be interesting to see because, as I said, the
(33:45):
loser of the Lions Vikings game is going to go
to the five seed is gonna be going on the
road in the wild card game, going on the road
coming off of a Sunday night game in Week eighteen.
I wonder if what ever wild card game that loser
is involved in is automatically going to be the one
on Monday night. I think it probably Wildcard weekend. Yeah,
(34:07):
just in terms of the kickoff times and kind of
trying to even out the rest and whatnot, because you're
certainly not going to put that Wildcard game on Saturday, right,
the loser of that of the Sunday night game Packers
is having to play on Saturday. But I think that
might end up being that might end up being the
Monday night the final of the six wild card games.
(34:28):
The loser of the Lions Vikings game will be in
that one. That's just my guess.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Well, and then it is interesting too because we were hoping, well,
the league was hoping probably for like some more drama
there with the NFC West that gets completely sorted out
because of all the dominoes felt. The Rams end up
clinching even you know, even though.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
In Arizona, and Arizona was what six yards away yeah,
six yards away on Saturday night from winning that game
against the Rams and setting up a winner take all
NFC West showdown between the Rams and the Seahawks. Instead,
the ball hits off I think it was off McBride's helmet,
and the defender makes a diving interception in the end
zone saves the game for the Rams, and then the
(35:07):
tiebreaker ends up getting clinched on Sunday. So the Rams
against the Rams against the Seahawks is not for the
NFC West title. The Seahawks have been eliminated, and it
only impacts the potential seating for the Rams.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
We gotta go. I know you got an eleven o'clock
am lunch day here, but we didn't get a chance
to talk about this. But isn't it funny how the
timeout thing came into play again on Sunday Night football
as well, where I'm telling you, man, like there used
to be that role, Like what was it like under
eight or something in like Domofskio just said you never
go for two unless it's under eight. That was like
(35:42):
an old standard. If we were to create a new standard,
if you have a pass play that generates over what
fifteen twenty yards, you call the timeout of immediately.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Exactly that And coaches used to do that. I mean
it used to be almost automatic that they would do
that because they knew how much time it would take
because of the ball being that much further downfield to
get everybody line up, whether it's to spike it or
or to try to run another play, whatever the case
might be. And uh yeah, I mean Atlanta, Atlanta taking
(36:12):
not even using, not even using their last time out
and having to try a fifty six yard field.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Goal with your backup kicker with your back, Riley Patterson.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
As soon as as soon as Drake London caught that ball,
I mean, I was thinking, all you had to do
is fall backwards to a lot of bounds. He didn't
get out of bounds. But then as soon as you
see the referee signaling to wind the clock, you have
to they had two timeouts.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, you should have.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Had a first down with thirty seconds left and still
one time out to go as you're near, as you're
almost to midfield there, and instead they don't even get
the next snap off until there are seventeen seconds left,
and you're still sitting with two timeouts. Like it just
it made it made no sense. And you're right, we're
seeing we're seeing the clock management across the league now getting.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Poorer and poorer.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Crazy because it and there's actually a question that I
saw an insider inbox that I'm going to answer for tomorrow.
It's almost as though coaches are getting way too obsessed
with not leaving a single second on the clock in
an game scenario that even you know because and you know,
because of Patrick Mahomes having enough timeouts to get a
(37:27):
field goal against Buffalo in the playoffs with thirteen seconds
on the clock, it's like you can't leave, you can't
leave any time. Well, you know, if the other team
doesn't have any timeouts or only has one time out left,
leaving ten seconds on the clock is not the end
of the world. Like, do what you do to need
to do to get your team in the best position
the field. Position there is more important than what is
(37:48):
on the clock and not burning a time out. That probably,
quite frankly, it probably cost Atlanta the NFC South Yes
title one hundred percent because they had it. They it
was a tremendous final drive. Michael Pennix Junior, the rookie
quarterback two fourth down conversions including the one for the touchdown,
and then and then they blow the clock management and
(38:09):
probably the division championship just just based on not using
a timeout.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
You've got to help your rookie quarterback that has been
a starting quarterback for two This is not Prime twenty fourteen,
Aaron Rodgers. This is a guy that is extremely talented,
has second enough of I start, and he's been playing
NFL regular season football for two weeks.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Yeah, and you don't give him the time out there.
I mean it unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I might have been able to understand I might have
been able to understand this if it was Matt Lafleur
calling the offense and he's gotten whatever. Raheem Morris is
a defensive minded coach. I mean he has he has
a very eclectic background as far as coaching, but like
it's not like he's sitting there trying to figure out
what the next play is.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Like it just I I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yeah, I think it cost that. I think they I
think Atlanta costs itself a division championship by not calling timeout.
And that's it's pretty pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Well what was right after your defense just got an
amazing stop of the Jayden Daniels to get that opportunity exactly.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, Jaden Daniels becomes the hero in overtime. Nobody's talking
about the fact that they went three and out with
the opportunity to win the game and gave the Falcons
the opportunity to win the game in regulation on the road.
But last thing with regard to the Packers playoff scenarios,
because they didn't mention this, if the Packers were to
get the sixth seed, they could play either the Rams
or the Buccaneers, depending on how those games. The Rams
(39:31):
are playing the Seahawks, the Buccaneers are playing the Saints.
So if it's the seven, it's the Eagles. If it's
the six, it could be one of two opponents, Los
Angeles or Tampa Bay. So I just wanted to clear
that up. And last, but not least, the countdown to
the twenty twenty five NFL Draft has begun. Green Bay
is hosting this year in case you didn't know that,
and you won't want to miss it, so mark your
(39:51):
calendars for April twenty fourth through April twenty six of
twenty twenty five, and visit green Bay dot com slash
Draft twenty five for more information. We've gone way over time.
We apologize, especially to our producer Zach, but he'll deal
with it and for less, I am Mike. Thank you
for tuning in everybody, Happy New Year, and we'll see
you next time.
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