November 5, 2024 • 29 mins
Mike and Wes discuss Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, the Packers’ 6-3 start and what lies ahead in the second half of the 2024 season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you
hear from our studios at Lambeufield to talk Wes unfortunately
about the Packers heading into their bye week with a
home loss to the Detroit Lions. Twenty four to fourteen
(00:36):
was the final score at Lambeufield. But that score almost
doesn't even really mean anything in terms of how this
game was played. There was one team on Sunday that
made a bunch of mistakes, there was another team that didn't,
and who won and who lost was pretty obvious.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, I mean Detroit Lions. As Matt Lfuller talked about afterwards,
this football team is very, very good and as a
lot of the guys mentioned in the locker room, when
you play a very talented team, a very complete team,
you have to play your best game. Green Bay did
not do that. When when we were talking about final
thoughts last week and Packer's preview and Keys to Victory,
my biggest thing was talking about how, hey, you got it.
(01:15):
You have to win in the red zone Packers did
that all right. You know, Lions went two for four
in the red zone. They outyardaged them one fifty, you know,
by one hundred and fifty yards. But when you have
a swing and that's what I kind of isolated an
insider inbox like they had at the end of the
first half into the second half, Packers giving up a
(01:36):
pick six offensively, the defense giving up a touchdown out
of the break that ultimately was the deciding factor in
this game, and a menagerie of penalties and drop passes
and you know, kind of missed opportunities. This was the
final result. I thought green Bay battled. I thought there
were a lot of positives to draw from in terms
of if you're going to play see them again next month,
things you can build off of. But at the end
(01:57):
of the day, Michael, the Detroit Lions, especially their offense,
are just so freaking efficient that if you don't break
their rhythm and then don't find some heavy punches on
the other side of things, you're gonna have an outcome
like this. It was twenty four to fourteen, but realistically
it was more twenty four to six, twenty four to three. Yeah,
and Green Bay just could not find that momentum to
(02:18):
be able to knock off really the front runner right
now in this conference.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, absolutely, I think I think the Lions have established
themselves not only as the team to beat in the
NFC North, but really as the team to beat in
the entire NFC right now. And you mentioned sort of
having you know, throwing some punches to get back at them.
I thought the Packers did that in terms of getting
(02:43):
some explosive plays and generating some momentum at certain times.
But whether it was the penalties or the drop passes
or the other miscues, they just missed the opportunities that
they were creating for themselves. Because that the way that
first half in particular went, the explosive plays the Packers got,
(03:06):
and that was something I had talked about last week.
It was, you know, when the explosive play equation limit
the ones that Detroit got, which green Bay's defense I
thought did pretty well for Yeah, a juggernaut that was
averaging forty plus points a game over the past month,
and the Packers were getting their share, but then they
weren't cashing in on those and getting the points on
the board the way the first half went for the
(03:26):
Packers to only have three points, You're scratching your head, going,
how in the world are there are only three points
on the board with what the Packers were doing offensively,
And it was really frustrating in that regard. You said it.
The possessions that sandwiched halftime was really where this game swung.
The Packers defense gets a key stop in the red
(03:50):
zone laid in the first half, the Packers are using
their timeouts to save time for one more possession before halftime.
The Lions have to kick a field goal, so the
game is ten to three. But then Jordan Love tries
to do a little bit too much and Kirby Joseph
makes a great play, gets the pick six, and then,
as you said, the Lions come out a halftime then
(04:10):
getting the ball, they marched down the field for the
second time in the game, get a touchdown on fourth
down where they went forward on fourth down in the
red zone, and suddenly that ten to three game with
a minute to go in the first half is a
twenty four to three game. The next time, Jordan Love
and the offense get the ball back. So and that's
(04:30):
where kind of the game plan gets thrown out the
window you've got a hurry to score because you don't
know if your defense is going to be able to
just hold them at twenty four the rest of the game,
which the Packers defense did. But you can't just sit
there and take, you know, seven eight minutes off the
clock to try to score points in the second half
when you're down by twenty one. So the game plan
(04:51):
was out the window and and things went from there.
I do think this was a commendable effort by Green
Bay's defense, actually missing two of your starters in the
secondary j R. Alexander Evan Williams did not play. If
you had told me before the game that the Detroit
Lions were going to have two hundred and sixty one
yards and seventeen points on offense, I would have said,
(05:15):
the Packers are going to have a tremendous opportunity to
win this game. And I think the Packers did have
a tremendous opportunity to win this game. They just they
couldn't get a get out of their own way with
their own miscues.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, it was in Josh Jacobs touched on this after
the game, and Xavier McKinney did as well. I mean,
there's been recurring habits, bad habits that green Bay has had,
and I felt like there's been times where they've gotten
away with it because they're the better football team. They
play better situationally, they make some clutch plays down the stretch,
the defense makes a stop, Brandon McManus makes a game
(05:46):
winning field goal. There's a reason why the Packers are
sitting on six wins heading into their bye week. But
at the same time, when you face a team like
Detroit who was also sitting on six wins entering this game,
there's so many things that the Lion do well. And defensively,
I still think there's a lot of holes. Certainly, you know,
they've reportedly added Zadarias Smith. That's going to help the
(06:07):
edge rush a little bit, but you know there's still
whatever the twentieth rank defense, they still there's yards to
be had out there. I thought green Bay ran the
ball really well against that front when they were able to,
when that's what the game was dictating, right. But the
challenge is is that Detroit. It almost felt like a
high school football game where Detroit really locked in once
(06:29):
you got farther down the field and they just were
not green Bay was not able to cash in those
opportunities you have. Brian Branch gets a huge penalty in
game ejection after you feel like, Okay, this is going
to be that moment where green Bay is going to
be able to put some points on the board. They're
gonna be able to get some touchdown swing momentum in their favor.
They didn't. They didn't do it. Josh Jacobs breaks a
(06:50):
thirty seven yard run on his first carry on a series,
green Bay can't turn it into a touchdown. Those type
of incidents are ultimately the lead in the yards on
the field, leaving the points on the field, and he
just can't do that against a team like the Detroit Lions.
And I'll say this too, and this is not any
disrespect at all that Jared Goff. They made the plays
they needed to make, They caught the football passes, the
(07:14):
footballs that they needed to do, the passes that they
needed to do. But the way they ran the ball
in how they avoid pre snap penalties and procedural penalties,
Goff's mo becomes very simple in terms of what they
want to accomplish and how they want to do it.
I gained an appreciation for that watching because you look
at a stat sheet. Mike and I don't get to
watch these teams every week. You're like, how is Jared
(07:34):
Goff completing twelve straight passes? How is he going these
games where there's two or three incompletions for an entire game.
And then you watch what they did in this game,
the way he's protected, in the way they're able to
set up their offense with favorable down and distance. I'm
telling you, man, this will be Ben Johnson's last year
with Jared Goff. That guy is going to be one
of the most highly sought after head coaching candidates I
(07:54):
can think of in the recent twenty first century at
the end of the season because of just how a
fish they've been and how well they execute their offense.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, and here's the thing. The way this game went
the Detroit Lions, I mean the fourth and goal after
the off side another big mistake by the Packers. The
off side puts the ball in the two and a
half yard line instead of on the five, so they
go for it on fourth and goal. That was a
heck of a throw and catch Jared Goff, Aman Ross
Saint Brown. That's what those guys do. Fourth and one
(08:26):
in the third quarter from the fifteen yard line, Jeff
Hafley goes aggressive calls for the blitz. Unfortunately, two blitzing guys,
Cooper and McKinney, both blitz the same gap. Jamior Gibbs
takes the handoff and cuts to the one gap that
there was no blitzer, and he basically waltz into the
end zone for a touchdown. But the Detroit because of
(08:50):
the mistakes the Packers were making. The Packers didn't make
the Lions make any great plays in order to win
this game. Right the way the game was going, the lineons,
you could feel it that the Lions were like, Okay,
these guys keep screwing up. They keep making mistakes. They're
they're you know, they're false starting, they're dropping passes, all
this kind of stuff. If we don't we don't have
(09:11):
to do anything great to win here today. We're going
to play our game. We're going to be mistake for you,
which they were, I mean, aside from aside from you know,
maybe the one, uh, the one mistake where Pinay Sewell
trips on his yeah, on his lineman's foot and so
Aaron Moseby gets a sack, and then I think they
had maybe one illegal shift on offense as far as
(09:33):
a pre snat penper right, but they were like, hey,
if we don't make any mistakes, uh, we're going to
win this game, because you know, the other guys are
the ones who are making the mistakes and the game
just the game unfolded that way. You have to make
when you come into a game like this against a
team that's been playing as well as the Lions, you
have to make that team make some great plays to
(09:55):
beat you. And uh and and the Packers didn't do that.
The Packers had to summon their best game of the
season to date in order to beat the best team
that they were playing to date, and quite frankly, they
didn't come close. And that's something they have to think
about now for two weeks over the bye. Maybe it's
a good thing. Maybe this one, you know, Matt Lafleuir
(10:15):
talked about, you know, a loss like this, as you know,
you sit and stew about it, and it's gonna stick
with you longer because of the bye week. Maybe that'll
be a good thing for this even the long run.
We'll see, you know, there's already discussion from lafleur about
maybe changing some things up in practice because the drop
passes and the pre snap penalties and stuff like that
is it's something that's it's been an ongoing thing. Yeah,
(10:37):
it goes away for maybe a game or game and
a half, but it's cropping up in every single game
that the Packers play. So it's got to it's got
to get corrected or at least get limited. Nobody's gonna
play perfect football, right, but it has to get limited
if you're going to beat these teams like the Lions
and the Vikings and the forty nine ers that are
on your second half schedule when you come back from
(10:57):
the buy, if you're gonna beat those teams, you've got
to play cleaner football. And that's what the Packers have
to aim.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, that's gonna be the challenge for them, and also
just owning these elements. I mean, this was a game
that you know, unfortunately it was rainy, it was cold.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Who is the indoor team in this game? I mean, yeah,
they turned the Lions to turn that on its head.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, and Green Bay from their standpoint, this is where
it's going to be a challenge for them because as
I was saying, and I've written about it and we're
talking with guys about in the locker room afterwards. I mean,
the weather's only going to get worse, and there's gonna
be challenges with holding onto the football, snapping the football,
catching the football, running with the football, keeping your balance,
keeping your feet, and green Bay needs to be able
(11:38):
to handle all that. And then also the other aspect
of this that I'm just very interested to see when
we come out of the bye week is exactly where
Jordan Love is at. Because you know, we're nine weeks
into this, we still have not seen the best version
of Jordan Love. And if we can finally start to
see the penalties get correct, if you see Love, you know,
looking more like he did during the second half of
(11:59):
last season, and guys catching passes and lifting each other up,
I still think the sky's the limit for this team
compared to where they were at last year at this time,
when Rasul Douglas gets traded and you're not sure which
direction this whole thing is going to go the second
half the season and the Packers just catch absolute fire.
Because the one difference between green Bay the way I
look at it and where Detroit is at is it's
(12:19):
almost like green Bay is a year behind Detroit in
terms of just how they've built their football team. Detroit
is on this third fourth year. Now if this reclamation
with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes and now you've got
guys that have come up together, have lost together, have
started to win together, made an NFC Championship game together,
and now feel like, hey, we're trying to make that
(12:40):
last step. We're trying to make this thing, you know,
be it at the top level here, whereas green Bay
had to go through their own process here with the
transition to Jordan Love and going very young two straight seasons.
Kind of fighting those battles and learning from that adversity,
that's the challenge. Now, can green Bay close that gap?
You cannot worry about the Detroit Lions again. For another,
you have to worry about the Chicago Bears in front
(13:01):
of you. But they saw it was right in front
of him, it was on their home turf. Exactly what
the standard right now is in this conference.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I think that's an excellent, excellent analysis of the two
teams and where they are, and I like the way
you put that. I want to say this about Jordan
Love because there's obviously a lot of discussion out there.
Matt Lafleur has been taking the questions. Jordan himself's been
taking the questions about the interceptions. There's ten of them now.
Jordan Love has played six and a half games and
(13:28):
he's thrown ten interceptions. He leads the league in that category.
Everybody knows he needs to protect the ball better. You know.
It's finding that balance between the playmaking and protecting all
that kind of stuff. And there's plenty of truth in
all that. This is what I want to say about
Jordan Love. I'm hoping that after the bye week and
(13:49):
for the rest of the season, that Jordan Love gets
to focus on his game and less on his health. Yep,
because he dealt with the knee injury right at the
end of Week one. He missed. This is two games.
There was a process to come back and to be
able to play with the knee injury for a week
or two before he really started feeling and looking like
(14:09):
his old self again. And then all of a sudden
in Jacksonville, the groin injury hits, and so then you
come into the following week. I meant, Matt Lafleur told
everyone from the podium after the game on Sunday. Jordan
Love didn't take any eleven on eleven snaps Wednesday or
Thursday of last week. They were obviously focused on his
(14:31):
health to get him available and ready to play, and
I understand why they were why they were focused on that.
My point is, from Jordan Love's perspective and everybody talking
about his statistics and where things are at, he has
spent the better part of these nine games concerned about
his health and trying to just get his body ready
to be able to play football. If he can get
(14:53):
healthy and he can practice, take all the reps every
week and not have all the extra time I'm in
the training room and everything, and he can focus on
his game, I have every confidence in the world that
we can see the Jordan Love that we saw in
the second half of last year, and I think in
some respects that goes for the team in general. You
(15:13):
and I see it every week West the number of
guys who are on the injury report, and it's not
just it's not just the fact that yet JayR Alexander
has missed games this season and that's been tough. The
Packers have missed some key guys for some key games
throughout the course of this season so far. But when
you look at that list every week and so and
so is missing this practice or missing that practice or
(15:36):
limited practice reps, not being a full participant in practice,
that kind of stuff is going to add up over
time in terms of your sharpness, in terms of being
able to reach your peak level. And I think this
game against Detroit was an example of the Packers needing
to reach their peak level against a team like this,
and they simply weren't able to do it. And I
(15:57):
think the overall health of the team and all limited
practice and the missed practice and whether it's Jordan Love
and other guys and everything else, my point is there's
a cumulative effect to that. And I think we saw
we saw the cumulative result in that performance when the
Packers couldn't summon their best against the best team that
(16:18):
they were playing. I think that's I think it's a
big it's it's a big picture look at things in
terms of Okay, now, where do you go from prior?
And I think it starts with using this bye week
to get healthy. Yes, maybe Matt Lafleur changes some things
with regard to practice and whatnot, but this is like,
this is a chance to take a deep breath and
reset and at the end of the day. Last year,
(16:40):
at this time of year three and six, this year,
you're six and three. Get healthy, get everybody practicing. This
is still a young team that needs to practice and
play together to reach its peak. So let's see if
they can do that over the last two months of
the regular season.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It was nice to finally see that by fall in
the middle of the season for Green Bay because for
so long two years it was in December. Last year,
it was early. I think it was the earliest last
year if I remember correctly. This year finally falls in
week ten and you can kind of catch your breath here.
And obviously you will have to go eight games there
to make a playoff push. There's gonna be a lot
of football to be played there in the second half
of the season still, but I just feel like seeing
(17:17):
the names. Yeah, you're right about the injur report, the
length of it. A lot of teams deal with lengthy
injury reports though, and you but when you see Jordan
Love of jyr Alexander, Evan Williams, and Evan Williams doing
what he's doing right now, you know how he's looked
the first half of the season. You know, Josh Myers
is not able to play in this game because of
a wrist injury, so and Elton has to move to center.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, and Elton Jenkins has not actually practiced a full
week for several weeks now because of things that's that
he's dealing with. And I understand you want your players
to be in the best physical condition you know possible
to be able to play because this game is so
demanding and having your body right and being healthy to
(17:58):
be able to play the game is important. But there
is accumulative effect to missing practice, and not only for
that individual, but for the group.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
As a whole. One hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, I want to talk about I'll take care of
sponsor business here and then I want to talk a
little bit about where things are in the NFC. North
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(18:30):
mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired
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subs fifty plus years of better all Right, NFC North,
the Lions are seven and one, the Vikings are six
and two, the Packers are six and three. Certainly a
lot of football left to be played and nothing's been
(18:50):
decided yet. But when you look at things from as
far as how the schedule is laid out and who
has done what, the Detroit Lions have won games at
Minnesota and at Green Bay. So the rematch is that
both of those teams will get against the Lions will
both be at Ford Field. I don't like to jump
(19:10):
to too many conclusions, but I'm gonna say this right now.
If the Vikings and the Packers, I think the Vikings
and the Packers both have to go into Ford Field
and win for the Lions to not win the division. Yeah,
(19:30):
I think I I you know, I think it's going
to I think it's going to come down to that now.
I mean, anything can change from an injury perspective, this
and that, you know whatever. But but my point is
the Lions are absolutely in the catbird seat in the
NFC North right now with winning those two division road games,
and the Packers are in a tough spot having lost
(19:53):
two division home games to the Vikings in line.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Did you have you looked at a Lions schedule at
all yet?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I glanced at it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So they finish out the AFC South on three consecutive weeks, now.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, they Yeah, they have three straight. They have three
straight AFC South games and then probably gonna get They're
probably gonna get Houston without Digs or Collins at one receiver, right,
so they're gonna they're you know, the Packers caught a
break without Nico Collins being in that game for Houston.
The Lions are now going to play them where C. J.
Stroud doesn't have either of his two best receiver.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And the fact that then they have to still face
Chicago twice. Uh, obviously Green Bay again, Buffalo, San Francisco,
and then they close against Minnesota. It's pretty interesting schedule
how it lined up for Detroit considering they were Buffalo
and San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Will be no picnic for sure, Lions by any stretch.
But the Packers also have to play San Francisco and
and I think the forty nine ers they you know,
they might be a team that's gonna that's gonna start
to hit their stride here as they potentially get healthy.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, and the tough thing is now where you look
at it and how it sits is yeah, the NFC.
I said this last week when you and I were
going through some of our analysis. Yes, certainly you want
to win the division, and you got to do that,
but when you're looking at tiebreakers and potential positioning for
a playoff run like NFC wins are so critical. Division
is critical because you want to win the division, you
want to make a run potentially at a number one
(21:10):
seed in a bye, but you have to win those
conference games. The Packers got into the playoffs last year
because of commonality and conference wins and things of that nature.
So it's just so pivotal to be able to pick
those off, and certainly they'll have their opportunity to do
that against Chicago. The frustrating thing for me, though, watching
how this unfolded with Minnesota in particular, was Indianapolis had
(21:32):
several opportunities to win that game. They went with what
I still think was a pretty rash decision to go
with Joe Flacco, not because they're losing, only because I
think it's pretty obvious that that Anthony Richardson is the
future of that team. I don't think by any means
this is that bryce know, young situation where it's wavering
confidence and a young player. I just I don't really
(21:53):
understand the analysis because so much times, so many times
teams will make a move and they'll go the veteran
because it feels good and they won a game or
two and they feel like they have momentum, and then
you get a couple weeks down the road and then
you have a performance like Flacco did against Minnesota, and
now you're kind of back to wondering where you're at
with this thing. And again that division is up for
anybody's grabs right now. But still I mean Green Bay
(22:16):
as it's worked cut out for it and just seeing
all the rest of these things align. Chicago, we talked
about the you know, kind of the hangover after the hail.
Mary did not play well against Washington, struggled to do
anything in terms of, you know, threatening the end zone,
and now they're sitting at four and four after all
that hype early on. So you just got to you
gotta ride those waves, man. You have to find wins
(22:36):
when you can get them.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, it's interesting. We had talked last week, How would
the Bears respond to the to the Hail Mary loss
when they were on the verge of beating the leaders
in the NFC East in Washington, and then that gets
away on the Hail Mary. Then they go out west
to Arizona and you know, single digit points, and and
you know Kyler Murray and that Cardinals offense put up
(22:57):
twenty eight on them. And yeah, as you said, the
Bears are four and for and the Vikings, yeah they
won a game. They're six and two, but they won
a game with their quarterback turning the ball over three times.
There are a lot of questions in Minnesota as to
just where they are because, quite frankly, the quarterback changed
to Flacco, and then what Minnesota's defense was able to
do to frustrate Flacco and to frustrate that Colts offense.
(23:19):
Minnesota's defense really won that game for them on Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
If you'd have told me that Darnold is going to
turn over the ball three times, Aaron Jones is gonna
be held to three yards per carry and They're still
going to find a way to win that game, I
would have been surprised, just based on what the recipe
has been this year for them trying to eat those out. Yeah,
but they did it. And at the end of the day,
that's all that matters, is what's on the scoreboard. And now,
(23:43):
you know, seeing where Minnesota goes with this thing is
going to be very interesting as well, because they're a
team that's still making moves. They still are trying to
potentially make a run this season despite all the setbacks
that they've had, and yeah, Green Bay will see them
again of course at the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, big picture in the the NFC, if I counted
it right, I believe there are ten ten of the
sixteen teams in the NFC are at five hundred or above. Correct,
And it was actually eleven until the Buccaneers lost in
overtime on Monday night to the undefeated these still undefeated
Kansas City Chiefs. Ten of sixteen teams at five hundred
(24:20):
or above. And as as you know, there are only
there are only seven playoff spots, So these last two
months of the regular season, there's going to be a
lot of a lot of jockeying for position. And you know,
the conference as a whole, I think is so strong
that you don't I don't think you look at anybody's
schedule and you say, oh, yeah, you know, pencil pencil
(24:41):
rights guys in for eleven or twelve wins. It just
doesn't it. It doesn't feel that way. It does feel
in some ways though, that that eleven wins maybe is
the target to feel to feel safe with a playoff spot.
There could be a there could be a ten win
team or two in the NFC that maybe doesn't get
in depending on how this fall.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah, and where teams are at. There's a clear line
of demarcation right now where Green Bay is technically the
seventh seed at six and three, and then Chicago's the
eight seed at four and four. Where those teams that
are sitting at five hundred, the three of them Chicago,
La Rams in the San Francisco. You know they're gonna
have to pick up some wins there to threaten that again.
So Green Bay does has built up a little bit
of a base and a little bit of a bubble
(25:22):
there in front of that group. But again, they're playing Chicago,
They're going to play San Francisco. Yeah, you're gonna have
to fend those challenges off. It's interesting because I thought
what you opened with was a good point when you
look at where Detroit stands in this conference, and I
don't know, man, like I have total respect for Washington.
(25:44):
I love what, you know, everything Daniels has done this year,
but they're sort of the upstart. Yeah, Atlanta is a
team that has not had a lot of success recently.
There they stand. It's just it's these teams that you're
you're unfamiliar with being at the top of the conference,
and it just it creates a lot of usion in
terms of Okay, who's going to last and who's going
to fade? You noted what you're getting in Detroit every
(26:06):
single week, but seeing how teams like Washington, Atlanta, if
Arizona is a much different team than the one that
the Packers face, that it's it's gonna be an interesting
second half for sure.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, it's fun to take a look at the big
picture when you know you're on the bye week and
and you know we'll get a weekend here to just
see how results shake out and what the records look like.
You know, come next week when the Packers are preparing
to play the Chicago Bears, and we will turn our
attention more from the big picture to the Chicago Bears
(26:38):
next week. Just a quick programming note. Because this is
the bye week, this will be our only show this week.
We won't have a second show this week, but then
we'll be back with our usual two shows next week
leading into the the road trip to Chicago. What you
got planned?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Not too much, man. I do want to, you know,
get some stuff done around the house. Like I'm not
going any big trips. I texted my buddy Dave to
see if he be down in Milwaukee. He's hunting this
week out on the western side of the state. So
I will not be doing that bow hunter. Yeah, oh okay, yeah,
I was gonna see he married a wonderful season yet
but he married a wonderful woman, Kelsey, whom whose family
(27:22):
has you know, land on the western side of the state.
So he goes and does that. I've never shot a bow.
I have no desire to shoot a bow, but that's
something that he's big into. But I'll probably be just
hanging out, maybe finish watching Peaky Blinders. I'm not the
Netflix guy like you are, but I've been trying to
get through Peaky Blinders and find with little windows to
(27:42):
watch that. I'm into season three right now. But yeah, otherwise,
rest up and recover and get ready for next week.
It's gonna be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Definitely some work to do around the house. I'm gonna
hit be making the trip I am making. It's not
all that far, but it's just back home my old
high school. I'm actually speaking at a career your day. Well, yeah,
to talk to a bunch of kids.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Roll out the Platfeld carpet.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
I'll let them. I'll let them pepper me with the
questions about the packers and working here and all that
kind of stuff. So it's been a long time since
I've set foot in my old high school. Really you that, Yeah,
I can't even two weeks ago. I'm sure during my
college years when I was back home in the summers
and whatnot, like I you know, I would stop in there,
you know, go catch a basketball game or something like that.
(28:26):
I don't think since, you know, since my college years,
that I've actually set foot in my old high school.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
So, mister Spofford, mister Stafford, what.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I definitely I will definitely be telling them to call
me Mike, not.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Mister Spofford, but dude like that. Please, Michael, You're.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
One of the only people in this world as all out.
Oh me, Michael.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Actually, you know what else is coming up? The twenty
twenty five NFL Draft. It is brought to you by
the green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
The countdown to the twenty twenty five NFL Draft has begun.
Green Bay is hosting this year and you won't want
to miss it. Mark your calendars for April twenty four
through April twenty six of twenty twenty five, and visit
green Bay dot com slash Draft twenty five for more information.
With that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition
(29:16):
of Packers Unscripted, and be sure to follow all of
our coverage of the team on Packers dot com and
we will be back next week. Thank you for tuning,
everybody to see you next time.
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you
hear from our studios at Lambeufield to talk Wes unfortunately
about the Packers heading into their bye week with a
home loss to the Detroit Lions. Twenty four to fourteen
(00:36):
was the final score at Lambeufield. But that score almost
doesn't even really mean anything in terms of how this
game was played. There was one team on Sunday that
made a bunch of mistakes, there was another team that didn't,
and who won and who lost was pretty obvious.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, I mean Detroit Lions. As Matt Lfuller talked about afterwards,
this football team is very, very good and as a
lot of the guys mentioned in the locker room, when
you play a very talented team, a very complete team,
you have to play your best game. Green Bay did
not do that. When when we were talking about final
thoughts last week and Packer's preview and Keys to Victory,
my biggest thing was talking about how, hey, you got it.
(01:15):
You have to win in the red zone Packers did
that all right. You know, Lions went two for four
in the red zone. They outyardaged them one fifty, you know,
by one hundred and fifty yards. But when you have
a swing and that's what I kind of isolated an
insider inbox like they had at the end of the
first half into the second half, Packers giving up a
(01:36):
pick six offensively, the defense giving up a touchdown out
of the break that ultimately was the deciding factor in
this game, and a menagerie of penalties and drop passes
and you know, kind of missed opportunities. This was the
final result. I thought green Bay battled. I thought there
were a lot of positives to draw from in terms
of if you're going to play see them again next month,
things you can build off of. But at the end
(01:57):
of the day, Michael, the Detroit Lions, especially their offense,
are just so freaking efficient that if you don't break
their rhythm and then don't find some heavy punches on
the other side of things, you're gonna have an outcome
like this. It was twenty four to fourteen, but realistically
it was more twenty four to six, twenty four to three. Yeah,
and Green Bay just could not find that momentum to
(02:18):
be able to knock off really the front runner right
now in this conference.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, absolutely, I think I think the Lions have established
themselves not only as the team to beat in the
NFC North, but really as the team to beat in
the entire NFC right now. And you mentioned sort of
having you know, throwing some punches to get back at them.
I thought the Packers did that in terms of getting
(02:43):
some explosive plays and generating some momentum at certain times.
But whether it was the penalties or the drop passes
or the other miscues, they just missed the opportunities that
they were creating for themselves. Because that the way that
first half in particular went, the explosive plays the Packers got,
(03:06):
and that was something I had talked about last week.
It was, you know, when the explosive play equation limit
the ones that Detroit got, which green Bay's defense I
thought did pretty well for Yeah, a juggernaut that was
averaging forty plus points a game over the past month,
and the Packers were getting their share, but then they
weren't cashing in on those and getting the points on
the board the way the first half went for the
(03:26):
Packers to only have three points, You're scratching your head, going,
how in the world are there are only three points
on the board with what the Packers were doing offensively,
And it was really frustrating in that regard. You said it.
The possessions that sandwiched halftime was really where this game swung.
The Packers defense gets a key stop in the red
(03:50):
zone laid in the first half, the Packers are using
their timeouts to save time for one more possession before halftime.
The Lions have to kick a field goal, so the
game is ten to three. But then Jordan Love tries
to do a little bit too much and Kirby Joseph
makes a great play, gets the pick six, and then,
as you said, the Lions come out a halftime then
(04:10):
getting the ball, they marched down the field for the
second time in the game, get a touchdown on fourth
down where they went forward on fourth down in the
red zone, and suddenly that ten to three game with
a minute to go in the first half is a
twenty four to three game. The next time, Jordan Love
and the offense get the ball back. So and that's
(04:30):
where kind of the game plan gets thrown out the
window you've got a hurry to score because you don't
know if your defense is going to be able to
just hold them at twenty four the rest of the game,
which the Packers defense did. But you can't just sit
there and take, you know, seven eight minutes off the
clock to try to score points in the second half
when you're down by twenty one. So the game plan
(04:51):
was out the window and and things went from there.
I do think this was a commendable effort by Green
Bay's defense, actually missing two of your starters in the
secondary j R. Alexander Evan Williams did not play. If
you had told me before the game that the Detroit
Lions were going to have two hundred and sixty one
yards and seventeen points on offense, I would have said,
(05:15):
the Packers are going to have a tremendous opportunity to
win this game. And I think the Packers did have
a tremendous opportunity to win this game. They just they
couldn't get a get out of their own way with
their own miscues.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, it was in Josh Jacobs touched on this after
the game, and Xavier McKinney did as well. I mean,
there's been recurring habits, bad habits that green Bay has had,
and I felt like there's been times where they've gotten
away with it because they're the better football team. They
play better situationally, they make some clutch plays down the stretch,
the defense makes a stop, Brandon McManus makes a game
(05:46):
winning field goal. There's a reason why the Packers are
sitting on six wins heading into their bye week. But
at the same time, when you face a team like
Detroit who was also sitting on six wins entering this game,
there's so many things that the Lion do well. And defensively,
I still think there's a lot of holes. Certainly, you know,
they've reportedly added Zadarias Smith. That's going to help the
(06:07):
edge rush a little bit, but you know there's still
whatever the twentieth rank defense, they still there's yards to
be had out there. I thought green Bay ran the
ball really well against that front when they were able to,
when that's what the game was dictating, right. But the
challenge is is that Detroit. It almost felt like a
high school football game where Detroit really locked in once
(06:29):
you got farther down the field and they just were
not green Bay was not able to cash in those
opportunities you have. Brian Branch gets a huge penalty in
game ejection after you feel like, Okay, this is going
to be that moment where green Bay is going to
be able to put some points on the board. They're
gonna be able to get some touchdown swing momentum in their favor.
They didn't. They didn't do it. Josh Jacobs breaks a
(06:50):
thirty seven yard run on his first carry on a series,
green Bay can't turn it into a touchdown. Those type
of incidents are ultimately the lead in the yards on
the field, leaving the points on the field, and he
just can't do that against a team like the Detroit Lions.
And I'll say this too, and this is not any
disrespect at all that Jared Goff. They made the plays
they needed to make, They caught the football passes, the
(07:14):
footballs that they needed to do, the passes that they
needed to do. But the way they ran the ball
in how they avoid pre snap penalties and procedural penalties,
Goff's mo becomes very simple in terms of what they
want to accomplish and how they want to do it.
I gained an appreciation for that watching because you look
at a stat sheet. Mike and I don't get to
watch these teams every week. You're like, how is Jared
(07:34):
Goff completing twelve straight passes? How is he going these
games where there's two or three incompletions for an entire game.
And then you watch what they did in this game,
the way he's protected, in the way they're able to
set up their offense with favorable down and distance. I'm
telling you, man, this will be Ben Johnson's last year
with Jared Goff. That guy is going to be one
of the most highly sought after head coaching candidates I
(07:54):
can think of in the recent twenty first century at
the end of the season because of just how a
fish they've been and how well they execute their offense.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, and here's the thing. The way this game went
the Detroit Lions, I mean the fourth and goal after
the off side another big mistake by the Packers. The
off side puts the ball in the two and a
half yard line instead of on the five, so they
go for it on fourth and goal. That was a
heck of a throw and catch Jared Goff, Aman Ross
Saint Brown. That's what those guys do. Fourth and one
(08:26):
in the third quarter from the fifteen yard line, Jeff
Hafley goes aggressive calls for the blitz. Unfortunately, two blitzing guys,
Cooper and McKinney, both blitz the same gap. Jamior Gibbs
takes the handoff and cuts to the one gap that
there was no blitzer, and he basically waltz into the
end zone for a touchdown. But the Detroit because of
(08:50):
the mistakes the Packers were making. The Packers didn't make
the Lions make any great plays in order to win
this game. Right the way the game was going, the lineons,
you could feel it that the Lions were like, Okay,
these guys keep screwing up. They keep making mistakes. They're
they're you know, they're false starting, they're dropping passes, all
this kind of stuff. If we don't we don't have
(09:11):
to do anything great to win here today. We're going
to play our game. We're going to be mistake for you,
which they were, I mean, aside from aside from you know,
maybe the one, uh, the one mistake where Pinay Sewell
trips on his yeah, on his lineman's foot and so
Aaron Moseby gets a sack, and then I think they
had maybe one illegal shift on offense as far as
(09:33):
a pre snat penper right, but they were like, hey,
if we don't make any mistakes, uh, we're going to
win this game, because you know, the other guys are
the ones who are making the mistakes and the game
just the game unfolded that way. You have to make
when you come into a game like this against a
team that's been playing as well as the Lions, you
have to make that team make some great plays to
(09:55):
beat you. And uh and and the Packers didn't do that.
The Packers had to summon their best game of the
season to date in order to beat the best team
that they were playing to date, and quite frankly, they
didn't come close. And that's something they have to think
about now for two weeks over the bye. Maybe it's
a good thing. Maybe this one, you know, Matt Lafleuir
(10:15):
talked about, you know, a loss like this, as you know,
you sit and stew about it, and it's gonna stick
with you longer because of the bye week. Maybe that'll
be a good thing for this even the long run.
We'll see, you know, there's already discussion from lafleur about
maybe changing some things up in practice because the drop
passes and the pre snap penalties and stuff like that
is it's something that's it's been an ongoing thing. Yeah,
(10:37):
it goes away for maybe a game or game and
a half, but it's cropping up in every single game
that the Packers play. So it's got to it's got
to get corrected or at least get limited. Nobody's gonna
play perfect football, right, but it has to get limited
if you're going to beat these teams like the Lions
and the Vikings and the forty nine ers that are
on your second half schedule when you come back from
(10:57):
the buy, if you're gonna beat those teams, you've got
to play cleaner football. And that's what the Packers have
to aim.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, that's gonna be the challenge for them, and also
just owning these elements. I mean, this was a game
that you know, unfortunately it was rainy, it was cold.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Who is the indoor team in this game? I mean, yeah,
they turned the Lions to turn that on its head.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, and Green Bay from their standpoint, this is where
it's going to be a challenge for them because as
I was saying, and I've written about it and we're
talking with guys about in the locker room afterwards. I mean,
the weather's only going to get worse, and there's gonna
be challenges with holding onto the football, snapping the football,
catching the football, running with the football, keeping your balance,
keeping your feet, and green Bay needs to be able
(11:38):
to handle all that. And then also the other aspect
of this that I'm just very interested to see when
we come out of the bye week is exactly where
Jordan Love is at. Because you know, we're nine weeks
into this, we still have not seen the best version
of Jordan Love. And if we can finally start to
see the penalties get correct, if you see Love, you know,
looking more like he did during the second half of
(11:59):
last season, and guys catching passes and lifting each other up,
I still think the sky's the limit for this team
compared to where they were at last year at this time,
when Rasul Douglas gets traded and you're not sure which
direction this whole thing is going to go the second
half the season and the Packers just catch absolute fire.
Because the one difference between green Bay the way I
look at it and where Detroit is at is it's
(12:19):
almost like green Bay is a year behind Detroit in
terms of just how they've built their football team. Detroit
is on this third fourth year. Now if this reclamation
with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes and now you've got
guys that have come up together, have lost together, have
started to win together, made an NFC Championship game together,
and now feel like, hey, we're trying to make that
(12:40):
last step. We're trying to make this thing, you know,
be it at the top level here, whereas green Bay
had to go through their own process here with the
transition to Jordan Love and going very young two straight seasons.
Kind of fighting those battles and learning from that adversity,
that's the challenge. Now, can green Bay close that gap?
You cannot worry about the Detroit Lions again. For another,
you have to worry about the Chicago Bears in front
(13:01):
of you. But they saw it was right in front
of him, it was on their home turf. Exactly what
the standard right now is in this conference.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I think that's an excellent, excellent analysis of the two
teams and where they are, and I like the way
you put that. I want to say this about Jordan
Love because there's obviously a lot of discussion out there.
Matt Lafleur has been taking the questions. Jordan himself's been
taking the questions about the interceptions. There's ten of them now.
Jordan Love has played six and a half games and
(13:28):
he's thrown ten interceptions. He leads the league in that category.
Everybody knows he needs to protect the ball better. You know.
It's finding that balance between the playmaking and protecting all
that kind of stuff. And there's plenty of truth in
all that. This is what I want to say about
Jordan Love. I'm hoping that after the bye week and
(13:49):
for the rest of the season, that Jordan Love gets
to focus on his game and less on his health. Yep,
because he dealt with the knee injury right at the
end of Week one. He missed. This is two games.
There was a process to come back and to be
able to play with the knee injury for a week
or two before he really started feeling and looking like
(14:09):
his old self again. And then all of a sudden
in Jacksonville, the groin injury hits, and so then you
come into the following week. I meant, Matt Lafleur told
everyone from the podium after the game on Sunday. Jordan
Love didn't take any eleven on eleven snaps Wednesday or
Thursday of last week. They were obviously focused on his
(14:31):
health to get him available and ready to play, and
I understand why they were why they were focused on that.
My point is, from Jordan Love's perspective and everybody talking
about his statistics and where things are at, he has
spent the better part of these nine games concerned about
his health and trying to just get his body ready
to be able to play football. If he can get
(14:53):
healthy and he can practice, take all the reps every
week and not have all the extra time I'm in
the training room and everything, and he can focus on
his game, I have every confidence in the world that
we can see the Jordan Love that we saw in
the second half of last year, and I think in
some respects that goes for the team in general. You
(15:13):
and I see it every week West the number of
guys who are on the injury report, and it's not
just it's not just the fact that yet JayR Alexander
has missed games this season and that's been tough. The
Packers have missed some key guys for some key games
throughout the course of this season so far. But when
you look at that list every week and so and
so is missing this practice or missing that practice or
(15:36):
limited practice reps, not being a full participant in practice,
that kind of stuff is going to add up over
time in terms of your sharpness, in terms of being
able to reach your peak level. And I think this
game against Detroit was an example of the Packers needing
to reach their peak level against a team like this,
and they simply weren't able to do it. And I
(15:57):
think the overall health of the team and all limited
practice and the missed practice and whether it's Jordan Love
and other guys and everything else, my point is there's
a cumulative effect to that. And I think we saw
we saw the cumulative result in that performance when the
Packers couldn't summon their best against the best team that
(16:18):
they were playing. I think that's I think it's a
big it's it's a big picture look at things in
terms of Okay, now, where do you go from prior?
And I think it starts with using this bye week
to get healthy. Yes, maybe Matt Lafleur changes some things
with regard to practice and whatnot, but this is like,
this is a chance to take a deep breath and
reset and at the end of the day. Last year,
(16:40):
at this time of year three and six, this year,
you're six and three. Get healthy, get everybody practicing. This
is still a young team that needs to practice and
play together to reach its peak. So let's see if
they can do that over the last two months of
the regular season.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It was nice to finally see that by fall in
the middle of the season for Green Bay because for
so long two years it was in December. Last year,
it was early. I think it was the earliest last
year if I remember correctly. This year finally falls in
week ten and you can kind of catch your breath here.
And obviously you will have to go eight games there
to make a playoff push. There's gonna be a lot
of football to be played there in the second half
of the season still, but I just feel like seeing
(17:17):
the names. Yeah, you're right about the injur report, the
length of it. A lot of teams deal with lengthy
injury reports though, and you but when you see Jordan
Love of jyr Alexander, Evan Williams, and Evan Williams doing
what he's doing right now, you know how he's looked
the first half of the season. You know, Josh Myers
is not able to play in this game because of
a wrist injury, so and Elton has to move to center.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, and Elton Jenkins has not actually practiced a full
week for several weeks now because of things that's that
he's dealing with. And I understand you want your players
to be in the best physical condition you know possible
to be able to play because this game is so
demanding and having your body right and being healthy to
(17:58):
be able to play the game is important. But there
is accumulative effect to missing practice, and not only for
that individual, but for the group.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
As a whole. One hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, I want to talk about I'll take care of
sponsor business here and then I want to talk a
little bit about where things are in the NFC. North
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(18:30):
mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired
with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl cousin
subs fifty plus years of better all Right, NFC North,
the Lions are seven and one, the Vikings are six
and two, the Packers are six and three. Certainly a
lot of football left to be played and nothing's been
(18:50):
decided yet. But when you look at things from as
far as how the schedule is laid out and who
has done what, the Detroit Lions have won games at
Minnesota and at Green Bay. So the rematch is that
both of those teams will get against the Lions will
both be at Ford Field. I don't like to jump
(19:10):
to too many conclusions, but I'm gonna say this right now.
If the Vikings and the Packers, I think the Vikings
and the Packers both have to go into Ford Field
and win for the Lions to not win the division. Yeah,
(19:30):
I think I I you know, I think it's going
to I think it's going to come down to that now.
I mean, anything can change from an injury perspective, this
and that, you know whatever. But but my point is
the Lions are absolutely in the catbird seat in the
NFC North right now with winning those two division road games,
and the Packers are in a tough spot having lost
(19:53):
two division home games to the Vikings in line.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Did you have you looked at a Lions schedule at
all yet?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I glanced at it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So they finish out the AFC South on three consecutive weeks, now.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, they Yeah, they have three straight. They have three
straight AFC South games and then probably gonna get They're
probably gonna get Houston without Digs or Collins at one receiver, right,
so they're gonna they're you know, the Packers caught a
break without Nico Collins being in that game for Houston.
The Lions are now going to play them where C. J.
Stroud doesn't have either of his two best receiver.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And the fact that then they have to still face
Chicago twice. Uh, obviously Green Bay again, Buffalo, San Francisco,
and then they close against Minnesota. It's pretty interesting schedule
how it lined up for Detroit considering they were Buffalo
and San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Will be no picnic for sure, Lions by any stretch.
But the Packers also have to play San Francisco and
and I think the forty nine ers they you know,
they might be a team that's gonna that's gonna start
to hit their stride here as they potentially get healthy.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, and the tough thing is now where you look
at it and how it sits is yeah, the NFC.
I said this last week when you and I were
going through some of our analysis. Yes, certainly you want
to win the division, and you got to do that,
but when you're looking at tiebreakers and potential positioning for
a playoff run like NFC wins are so critical. Division
is critical because you want to win the division, you
want to make a run potentially at a number one
(21:10):
seed in a bye, but you have to win those
conference games. The Packers got into the playoffs last year
because of commonality and conference wins and things of that nature.
So it's just so pivotal to be able to pick
those off, and certainly they'll have their opportunity to do
that against Chicago. The frustrating thing for me, though, watching
how this unfolded with Minnesota in particular, was Indianapolis had
(21:32):
several opportunities to win that game. They went with what
I still think was a pretty rash decision to go
with Joe Flacco, not because they're losing, only because I
think it's pretty obvious that that Anthony Richardson is the
future of that team. I don't think by any means
this is that bryce know, young situation where it's wavering
confidence and a young player. I just I don't really
(21:53):
understand the analysis because so much times, so many times
teams will make a move and they'll go the veteran
because it feels good and they won a game or
two and they feel like they have momentum, and then
you get a couple weeks down the road and then
you have a performance like Flacco did against Minnesota, and
now you're kind of back to wondering where you're at
with this thing. And again that division is up for
anybody's grabs right now. But still I mean Green Bay
(22:16):
as it's worked cut out for it and just seeing
all the rest of these things align. Chicago, we talked
about the you know, kind of the hangover after the hail.
Mary did not play well against Washington, struggled to do
anything in terms of, you know, threatening the end zone,
and now they're sitting at four and four after all
that hype early on. So you just got to you
gotta ride those waves, man. You have to find wins
(22:36):
when you can get them.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, it's interesting. We had talked last week, How would
the Bears respond to the to the Hail Mary loss
when they were on the verge of beating the leaders
in the NFC East in Washington, and then that gets
away on the Hail Mary. Then they go out west
to Arizona and you know, single digit points, and and
you know Kyler Murray and that Cardinals offense put up
(22:57):
twenty eight on them. And yeah, as you said, the
Bears are four and for and the Vikings, yeah they
won a game. They're six and two, but they won
a game with their quarterback turning the ball over three times.
There are a lot of questions in Minnesota as to
just where they are because, quite frankly, the quarterback changed
to Flacco, and then what Minnesota's defense was able to
do to frustrate Flacco and to frustrate that Colts offense.
(23:19):
Minnesota's defense really won that game for them on Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
If you'd have told me that Darnold is going to
turn over the ball three times, Aaron Jones is gonna
be held to three yards per carry and They're still
going to find a way to win that game, I
would have been surprised, just based on what the recipe
has been this year for them trying to eat those out. Yeah,
but they did it. And at the end of the day,
that's all that matters, is what's on the scoreboard. And now,
(23:43):
you know, seeing where Minnesota goes with this thing is
going to be very interesting as well, because they're a
team that's still making moves. They still are trying to
potentially make a run this season despite all the setbacks
that they've had, and yeah, Green Bay will see them
again of course at the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, big picture in the the NFC, if I counted
it right, I believe there are ten ten of the
sixteen teams in the NFC are at five hundred or above. Correct,
And it was actually eleven until the Buccaneers lost in
overtime on Monday night to the undefeated these still undefeated
Kansas City Chiefs. Ten of sixteen teams at five hundred
(24:20):
or above. And as as you know, there are only
there are only seven playoff spots, So these last two
months of the regular season, there's going to be a
lot of a lot of jockeying for position. And you know,
the conference as a whole, I think is so strong
that you don't I don't think you look at anybody's
schedule and you say, oh, yeah, you know, pencil pencil
(24:41):
rights guys in for eleven or twelve wins. It just
doesn't it. It doesn't feel that way. It does feel
in some ways though, that that eleven wins maybe is
the target to feel to feel safe with a playoff spot.
There could be a there could be a ten win
team or two in the NFC that maybe doesn't get
in depending on how this fall.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah, and where teams are at. There's a clear line
of demarcation right now where Green Bay is technically the
seventh seed at six and three, and then Chicago's the
eight seed at four and four. Where those teams that
are sitting at five hundred, the three of them Chicago,
La Rams in the San Francisco. You know they're gonna
have to pick up some wins there to threaten that again.
So Green Bay does has built up a little bit
of a base and a little bit of a bubble
(25:22):
there in front of that group. But again, they're playing Chicago,
They're going to play San Francisco. Yeah, you're gonna have
to fend those challenges off. It's interesting because I thought
what you opened with was a good point when you
look at where Detroit stands in this conference, and I
don't know, man, like I have total respect for Washington.
(25:44):
I love what, you know, everything Daniels has done this year,
but they're sort of the upstart. Yeah, Atlanta is a
team that has not had a lot of success recently.
There they stand. It's just it's these teams that you're
you're unfamiliar with being at the top of the conference,
and it just it creates a lot of usion in
terms of Okay, who's going to last and who's going
to fade? You noted what you're getting in Detroit every
(26:06):
single week, but seeing how teams like Washington, Atlanta, if
Arizona is a much different team than the one that
the Packers face, that it's it's gonna be an interesting
second half for sure.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, it's fun to take a look at the big
picture when you know you're on the bye week and
and you know we'll get a weekend here to just
see how results shake out and what the records look like.
You know, come next week when the Packers are preparing
to play the Chicago Bears, and we will turn our
attention more from the big picture to the Chicago Bears
(26:38):
next week. Just a quick programming note. Because this is
the bye week, this will be our only show this week.
We won't have a second show this week, but then
we'll be back with our usual two shows next week
leading into the the road trip to Chicago. What you
got planned?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Not too much, man. I do want to, you know,
get some stuff done around the house. Like I'm not
going any big trips. I texted my buddy Dave to
see if he be down in Milwaukee. He's hunting this
week out on the western side of the state. So
I will not be doing that bow hunter. Yeah, oh okay, yeah,
I was gonna see he married a wonderful season yet
but he married a wonderful woman, Kelsey, whom whose family
(27:22):
has you know, land on the western side of the state.
So he goes and does that. I've never shot a bow.
I have no desire to shoot a bow, but that's
something that he's big into. But I'll probably be just
hanging out, maybe finish watching Peaky Blinders. I'm not the
Netflix guy like you are, but I've been trying to
get through Peaky Blinders and find with little windows to
(27:42):
watch that. I'm into season three right now. But yeah, otherwise,
rest up and recover and get ready for next week.
It's gonna be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Definitely some work to do around the house. I'm gonna
hit be making the trip I am making. It's not
all that far, but it's just back home my old
high school. I'm actually speaking at a career your day. Well, yeah,
to talk to a bunch of kids.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Roll out the Platfeld carpet.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
I'll let them. I'll let them pepper me with the
questions about the packers and working here and all that
kind of stuff. So it's been a long time since
I've set foot in my old high school. Really you that, Yeah,
I can't even two weeks ago. I'm sure during my
college years when I was back home in the summers
and whatnot, like I you know, I would stop in there,
you know, go catch a basketball game or something like that.
(28:26):
I don't think since, you know, since my college years,
that I've actually set foot in my old high school.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
So, mister Spofford, mister Stafford, what.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I definitely I will definitely be telling them to call
me Mike, not.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Mister Spofford, but dude like that. Please, Michael, You're.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
One of the only people in this world as all out.
Oh me, Michael.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Actually, you know what else is coming up? The twenty
twenty five NFL Draft. It is brought to you by
the green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
The countdown to the twenty twenty five NFL Draft has begun.
Green Bay is hosting this year and you won't want
to miss it. Mark your calendars for April twenty four
through April twenty six of twenty twenty five, and visit
green Bay dot com slash Draft twenty five for more information.
With that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition
(29:16):
of Packers Unscripted, and be sure to follow all of
our coverage of the team on Packers dot com and
we will be back next week. Thank you for tuning,
everybody to see you next time.
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