September 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Mike and Wes preview the opener vs. the Lions, looking at the NFC North picture (:32), Detroit’s coaching (7:56) and personnel (11:32) changes, Green Bay’s keys to victory (17:41) and other key Week 1 matchups around the league (24:21).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joined by my
partner in all things Packers, Wes Hodkowitz, coming to you
here from our studios at Lambeufield, Wes. The season opener
is just about upon us. It will be the Packers
and the Lions three twenty five Central time kickoff Sunday
(00:27):
at lambeau Field. And every season opener has a certain
amount of excitement, a certain amount of hype, juice, vibe,
whatever you want to call it. It's been a while
since one has reached this level. Yeah, and it was
feeling like it was headed that way anyway, even before
(00:49):
last week's big trade. But now it feels like the
hype and the energy for this one is headed off
the charts.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So you know me, I'm mister hyperbole.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I was trying to think of some big Week one
matchups that the Green Bit Packers have had. The only
one I really could come up with in terms of
that I thought might reach this scale was the twenty
thirteen opener.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That was It's funny that you would say that, because
that was exactly the one that popped into my head, which,
for those who don't remember, that was the Packers were
coming off of the big loss in the playoffs in
San Francisco to Colin Kaepernick, and then they were opening
the following season right back in Candlestick Park, the scene
of the crime, so to speak, against the same forty
(01:30):
nine Ers team with Colin Kaepernick as quarterback. I agree,
that's that's the one that pops into my head in
terms of the hype leading up to an opener.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, like there was just a different vibe to it
where it was again, you never make these things out
to be too big or too small. The Packers win
this game on Sunday, I guarantee Matt Lafour is going
to that press conference podium after the game saying we
got a game to prepare for on Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yep, like it is. It is just one game. But
let's talk about what this.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Entire offseason has been about, right, Mike, And you've about it,
I've written about it, We've talked about it numerous times.
The Packers want to reclaim the NFC North. They need
to show out better than they did last year when
they went one in five. Now, fortunately they swept the
AFC South. They swept the NFC West and were able
to launch themselves into the playoffs, despite the fact they
only had that one win over the Bears within the division.
(02:19):
When you're talking about the standard bearers not only for
the North, but really the conference in general, the past
couple seasons, it's been the Detroit Lions who have had
nothing but an incline during this time that Dan Campbell
has been their head coach. Every season, there's been progress. Well,
the way their season ended last year was kind of
the first time I think that they fell short of
expectations where they didn't necessarily have that. Well, we're building
(02:41):
towards something next year. They still feel like their competitors,
they still feel like their top contenders, but realistically, I
think there were the number one seed in the NFC
playoffs for a reason. Well, now the Packers come back.
They have this trade with Michael Parsons. They obviously have
all these young guys in this talent they've been developing
for the last two years, and they want to prove
that they're here to play, that they are going to
be here to contend for this thing. They have big
(03:02):
goals this season, super Bowls, Playoffs, all of that type
of stuff, But it all starts with winning the North
in the first game that you can take is on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Absolutely. I mean, if the Packers want to get back
on top of the North, which is a perch they
haven't owned since the twenty twenty one season, it starts
with this game against the Lions. The Lions are the
two time defending division champs. As you mentioned, they were
the number one seed in the NFC playoffs a year ago,
(03:30):
and this is just a series, a rivalry, a series
that the Packers have to turn around and get headed
in the other direction because the Lions have now won
six of the last seven against green Bay. And I
did a little research yesterday before our Three Things video
that we did with Larry. The last time the Lions
had a stretch of winning six out of seven against
(03:52):
green Bay, you have to go back to the early eighties.
It's been over forty years. So it's a series that
for the most parts, have had their share of success in.
But Dan Campbell and company have turned it around and
the Packers need to turn it back around the other way.
And quite frankly, in what we've heard from Matt lafora
(04:12):
we've heard from the players. It all begins with getting
off to a better start in these games. Because you
mentioned the one in five record in the division last year,
and we all know it was the two losses to
the Vikings, the two losses to the Lions. I looked
up those games as far as far as how they started.
(04:33):
The two games against Minnesota started twenty eight to nothing
and twenty to three. The two games against the Lions
started twenty four to three and ten to zero. Now
that's a collective, a collective seventy six point deficit in
those four games. And the Packers ended up losing those
four games by a combined seventeen points. So it's not
(04:54):
rocket science here to figure out how the Packers are
going to give themselves a better chance to win against
the Detroit Lions. And you know, starting with this game
on Sunday, the Packers can't win the NFC North on Sunday.
But when you've got the champs, the reigning division champs,
coming to your place in Week one, you make your
(05:15):
path to a division title a lot harder if you
don't win this game, because you're only going to get
those Lions one more time, and it's going to be
in their place on Thanksgiving. So this is a this
is a tone setter type of game for green Back.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah. I was listening to one of the interviews that
Pete Prisco, longtime NFL beat writer, was doing. I believe
it was with Barstool, and you know, he right now
has the Packers as his super Bowl contender's super Bowl
representative from the NFC, and he said that he felt
that way before even the trade of Michael Parsons. That's
how strongly he felt about what he saw from them
this summer and what he thought is all out there
for him. But as he was talking about I think
(05:50):
a lot of people have been discussing this offseason, it's
this idea that you know, Green Bay has had all
these young guys that have been young for the past
two years and now they have all that experience behind them.
So we'll get the actual NFL superlatives probably after this
weekend in terms of the youngest teams. How the NFL
collects all that data and presents it after the Week
(06:13):
one games are played. But there's a very good chance
Green Bay is going to be the youngest team in
the NFL again this year. But they have all this
totality of experience from the last two three seasons depending
on when they got in with the draft class. And
I just feel like this division, to bring it back
to what Prisco said is it is an absolute gauntlet.
It is a meat grinder, and if you're looking for
(06:36):
a potential Super Bowl representative, this is I think where
it starts in the NFC, just based on what Detroit
has coming back, what Green Bay has this season, the
fact that Chicago is still a lot of unknowns they
are with Ben Johnson taking that ship over and some
of the additions that they've had, they feel like they'll
put a better foot forward this year. And Minnesota was
the team that I wrote off last season and they
(06:57):
proved me wrong immeasurably. So for the Packers to be
able to prevail in this thing and to be able
to take care of business within its own division, it's
important for their own playoff abspirations. But the other aspect
of it is too. You don't know how many losses
the Lions are really going to pick up this season.
You don't know how many losses the Minnesota Vikings are
(07:18):
going to pick up this season. This is your opportunity
to hand them one of those.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
When you look at the records in the North last year, Mike,
it is remarkable how few times the division lost in
the regular season. Obviously the postseason was a much different story.
But the Packers, they swept the AFC South. I'm pretty
sure what was there, like maybe two wins that the
celt actually might have had against the division against the
North last year.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It was either one or two across. Yeah, it was
either one or two. That's all.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's all it was.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
So basically, the point I'm trying to bring back with
all that is, if Green Bay wants to live up
to the expectations of being a legitimate contender, it starts
at home.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah a yeah, one hundred percent. Well, let's talk about
these Lions a little bit, because they were a fifteen
to two team last year, number one seed in the playoffs,
a disappointing home playoff loss to Washington after that first
round by But there are a lot of changes to
actually talk about with the Lions, and it starts on
the coaching staff. Two new coordinators, John Morton on the
(08:12):
offensive side taking over for Ben Johnson, who's now the
head coach of the Chicago Bears, and Kelvin Sheppard taking
over his defensive coordinator for Aaron Glenn, who's now the
head coach with the New York Jets. Now there are
a lot of questions about, Okay, so just how much
is going to change offensively defensively with the Lions with
having two new coordinators in And while I believe both
(08:34):
of those new coordinators are going to put their own
stamp on things, Dan Campbell did not go outside the
organization to bring in new coordinators. These are guys who
are on the staff. John Morton, you know, worked under
Ben Johnson, and Kelvin Sheppard worked under Aaron Glenn. So
(08:54):
this is still They're still going to be running essentially
the same system, and we just have to see exactly,
you know, what sort of tweaks and signatures that that
these new coordinators are gonna put are gonna put on it.
But that's really been the sort of lingering storyline. Question
(09:15):
mark unknown out there with regard to the Lions coming
off of that fifteen and two season is how as
a team collectively will they move forward with two new coordinators.
For the guys who got the head coaching jobs in
the off season.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Well, for a couple of things are one. John Morton.
I didn't really realize this until I was kind of
digging through some of the info. I didn't realize he
was in Green Bay for a very brief amount of
time as a player.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Oh I didn't in nineteen ninety three. Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, So there are some ties there, and the fact
that like all these guys, he seems to be just
another like kind of I wouldn't call him like a
member of the Shanahan tree. Obviously he was in San
Francisco before that, during the Harbaugh era. But it's just
it's it's it's always interesting to me when you see
these guys that pop up and they always have connections.
When you think about these successful runs that teams have had,
(10:02):
it's not a coincidence that these guys end up in
these spots and for Morton to work his way up
and obviously he's been a mainstay in Detroit over I
believe it was ended up being two different tenures with him,
if I remember that, Yeah, because he was with Denver
the last two seasons for him to be taking the
ship over here. But if you look at their coaching staff,
so much of it is the same. Mark Burnell, is
still the quarterbacks coach. I mean, like there's so many names,
(10:24):
and when you kind of like that transitionary period that
Green Bay was in when teams started plucking their assistance,
you know, after the NFC championship runs. You build from within,
you develop your roster within, you develop your coaching staff
from within. I feel like that's where Detroit feels like,
that's where they are right now. It's the same mission
with some different generals in the front of the line.
So what I'm curious to see though, is when you
(10:46):
have somebody like Campbell, who's that CEO head coach is
the is the guy that sets the vision right and
leaves the play calling to the coordinators. Seeing what that
transition is like when you don't have known commodities. You
might lose your offensive play caller, but you still have
the defense coordinator. You might have the defensive coordinator, but
then you have a shift with maybe the offensive coordinator
in the play calling spot. This is a complete reset
(11:06):
of the chessboard here for the Lions. So seeing exactly
how that is going to look in addition to what
you know, if the execution can still be there, because
we know these seasons are never the same year to year.
That to me, when you talk about unscoted looks when
you talk about things that are like unknown going into
an opener, that shoots Detroit into a different stratosphere for
(11:27):
what could be positive or negative reasons.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, and there are some some personnel changes to talk
about too. First off, on the offensive line, longtime center
Frank Ragnow retired in the offseason and veteran guard Kevin
Zeitler left as a free agent to go to Tennessee.
They've been replaced by Graham Glasgow, who was a guard
(11:49):
and is now moving over to center to take Ragnow's spot.
And then they spent a second round draft pick on
Tate Ratledge, who is going to slide in as a
starting guard in that spot. And then, of course, on
the defensive side, the big change is that Aiden Hutchinson
is back. He only played five games last season broke
(12:10):
his leg. I believe had seven and a half sacks
in the first five games of the season. I mean
he was on his way potentially to being the defensive
player of the Year in the NFL and missed the
rest of the year. He is back, and I wrote
a story on Packers dot Com think I think it's
just very interesting how this all unfolded. That Hutchinson is
(12:31):
now is back for the Lions as obviously a premier
edge rusher, and then the Packers have added a premier
edge rusher in Micah Parsons to change the look of
their defense as well. So just those two things alone
make this matchup potentially so much different than it was
in the two meetings in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah, with unequivocally, I mean, still some bad luck for Detroit.
I mean, Levi owns Zurique ended up tearing his ACL
in the offseason, so the second around pick a year ago,
still are not going to have him available. But to
have a guy like Hutchinson back is that is the
game changing addition for this defense. I give Aaron Glenn
(13:10):
a lot of credit. I mean, they were still incredibly competitive,
more than I expected them to be after Hutchinson was
injured last year. Obviously, there were those narratives out of hey,
if potentially they make a Super Bowl run, could he
be back out there for him? But again, there's only
so many were talked so much in the past week
about Michael Parsons. There's only so many game wreckers out there,
Hutchinson is one of them, and he's done it at
(13:31):
such a quick pace. I mean, that's another aspect of
this thing that has just been so intriguing to me,
is that you have these guys coming into the league now,
highly touted, credentialed college football players who just jump in
and look like they immediately belong in the NFL. And
I mean, there's a reason why Hutchinson had everything in
the momentum and the narratives behind him. Seeing how this
(13:52):
defense changes with him on the field, as you outline
in your story with what's happening with the Packers with
Parsons is definitely probably the number one headline in terms
of how you're going to see this game play out
relative to how last year's contests were playing.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, and it's easy to forget because the Packers lost
both games to the Lions last year when the Lions
did not have Hutchinson for either game, It's easy to
forget just how impactful Hutchinson was the previous two years
against Green Bay. You go back to look at his
rookieyear in twenty twenty two and then the games in
twenty twenty three. In twenty two, the game at Ford field.
(14:27):
He had the interception in the end zone when on
the fourth and goal when Aaron Rodgers was trying to
hit David Baktiari on a tackle eligible play. The second
meeting in twenty twenty two was the regular season finale
when the Lions knocked the Packers out of the playoff picture,
and Hutchinson in that game had two sacks, both on
(14:47):
third down, both in the red zone area or close
to the red zone that forced the Packers to kick
field goals when they were on their way to scoring drives.
And then you look at the first game in twenty
twenty three, which, if you recall the the Packers the
Packers excuse me, the Packers started that game if I
recall correctly, with a quick turnover, but then on the
(15:11):
second offensive play, Hutchinson comes in and sacks Jordan Love
and the Packers essentially go three and out and have
to kick a field goal when when it was looking like,
you know, they were gonna get off to a much
better start in that game. So the only time the
Packers have really contained Hutchinson or limited his impact was
in that Thanksgiving game in twenty twenty three, when the
Packers went and it went into Ford Field and won
(15:33):
that game. So this is the guy who's had He's
had his share of success against green Bay, and with
all that time he missed last year, you know he is.
He's absolutely itching to get out there, hit people, make
an impact and be the player that he was before
he got.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Hurt with Yeah, I mean when you bring up the
stats here, the guy has three and a half sacks
and four games against green Bay, six quarterback hits, ten tackles.
I mean he's been in four of those tackles for
a lot. So I mean this is a guy that
has been and found ways in the interception I forget
about that. I mean the guy has found ways to
make an impact.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah. And the other thing too.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
It'll be interesting to track as it relates to Detroit.
Marcus Davenport's back too, who was supposed to be a
big signing for them last year but got injured right
away only played in two games. They worked out a
deal with him in March for him to come back.
So even though you know the Ozerique thing hasn't worked
out for them so far due to injury, another pass
rusher to for green Bay to account for.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, Well, there are a lot of other players to
talk about here with the Lions, whether you're talking about
a safety like Kirby Joseph or Aceiver like I'm on
Ross Saint Brown, the two headed monster in the backfield.
Maybe we'll get to those when we discuss keys to victory.
But I want to take a break and pay some bills,
and so we will hear a word from our sponsors.
Serious XM NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up
(16:52):
to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need.
Twenty four to seven, three sixty five. At Cousin Subbs,
we have something for everyone, like our Wisconsin cheese curds,
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. Pit Boss Grills the
(17:13):
official grill of Packers tailgating at Lambeau or at your house.
Take your game day to the next level with a
pit Boss wood pellet grill. Pit Boss Grills available at Minards.
Welcome back to Packers unscripted. All right, Wes, it's time
as we preview this season opener against the Lions again
Sunday three, twenty five Central kickoff at lambeau Field. The
(17:36):
game is on CBS. Keys to victory for green Bay
there are a lot of them. You can't just focus
on one thing and do that well in order to
win a game like this. But what's at the top
of the list for you.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
The first fourth down between the forty and from the
minus forty end pretty much when I said this an
insider inbox, if you go back to when green Bay
has had success in specifically when they've beaten Dan Campbell's
the two occasions that they've beaten Dan Campbell's Lions, it's
been when they've used Detroit's over aggression against them, and that,
(18:10):
as Evan Williams and a couple guys were talking about
in the locker room on Wednesday, that is going to
be the huge litmus test for green Bay because if
they decide two different variables of this one, if they're
in third and eight, there's a good chance you're still
going to see them run the ball with David Montgomery
or Jamior Gibbs and see if they can get to
fourth and short and potentially be able to do something
off that.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Or two, if they decide.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
To go forward on fourth down wherever the ball is,
whatever the yardage is, Green Bay making sure that they're
up to that challenge, because if they get that first conversion,
it only feeds the beast. With Dan Campbell, it's only
going to make him more bold. And that's where much
like what's happened with really the Philadelphia Eagles, when you
look at the success that they've had in recent years,
(18:54):
it's when you keep the gas pedal down and you
accept the risk and you try to formulate some points
off of it that those teams have separated themselves. So
the normal things are all in play, turnovers, protecting the football,
first downs, fast starts, all that type of stuff. But
to me, when it comes trying to find a way
to solve the Detroit Lions, it goes by defanging Dan
(19:17):
Campbell and some of the moves he makes as the
head coach.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, I mean defensively, he just he makes you take
such a different perspective on everything because anytime the Detroit
Lions are in third and five to eight, which is
a ninety five percent passing proposition against any other team
out there, and then as a defensive coordinator, you're like, okay,
like what kind of pressure do I want to dial
(19:40):
up here this and that. When it's third and five
to eight, you have to be ready for them to
run the ball, because if they can get to fourth
and three or less, yep, there's a really good chance
as long as the field position is where they want
it to be. There's a really good chance on fourth
and three or less that Dan Campbell's going to go
for it. So to me, it puts it puts that
(20:03):
much more of an onus on your your essentially your
straight up defense, your four man rush that is also
you know, your standard front seven to stop the run
has to be able to perform well because in those
third and five to eights, Jared Goff might drop back
to pass, which means your standard four has got to
(20:25):
get there and has got to pressure him, or they
might run the ball and you've got to stop them
and make it fourth and five or more to make
sure that they punt the ball. You can't you can't
be dialing up all kinds of creative stuff on third
mediums because because then they'll catch you out of position
and they'll get exactly what they want because they're going
to run a play that that is unconventional for that
(20:46):
down and distance. So I agree with you there. I
think that's a I think that's a big part of
this the other one for me, and it kind of
goes hand in hand with it in a sense. But
with the Packers adding Parsons to the mix and you
lose Kenny Clark, the transition that the Packers have to
make with regard to their run defense at this stage,
and they've got Jamier Gibbs and David Montgomery and you know,
(21:09):
a new offensive coordinator in John Morton. I expect him
to challenge the Packers run defense. He's going to bring
those two running backs at him and say, you know,
here we come. You got to you gotta stop us.
And otherwise, if they don't, then all of the passing
for Jared Goff will be off of play action. There
won't be any straight dropback, there won't be any necessarily
(21:29):
predictable passing situations. And and then you know, the Lions
have you right where they want you.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, And let's just be honest about this, because all
the credit in the world of golf, he's become a
tremendous quarterback, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Definitely the NFC.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
But it is about always setting up the run with
him right. When he had success in LA, that was
about the run and having that compliment. And when he
is going in the run game is right. This guy
barely misses throw right. I mean, especially with what they
asked him to do with some of the short area concepts.
I mean, the Detroit Lions are a professional football team
(22:07):
at moving the football yard after yard, first down after
first down, and then if we get an explosive here,
and they're fantastic, but it's ultimately a game of measurements
with them. And when you have Montgomery and Gibbs, and
I said this last year, I got a lot of
respect for what Detroit did because I was wrong about it.
I thought they made a cataclysmic error when they moved
(22:28):
on from Jamal Williams to sign David Montgomery from Chicago
after all the injuries he had, and he still had
a few injuries with the Lions, but ultimately he has
blossomed even more. He's become even more of a dangerous
power running back in his style perfectly compliments what Gibbs does.
So for them to have that one two punch in addition,
(22:49):
then to have an amen ra move in the chains
and Sam Laporta, you know, becoming a big impact right
away for this offense. In a lot of ways, there's
a mirror matchup between what Green Bay wants to do
and what Right wants to do, and seeing that separation
is ultimately going to probably determine who ends up winning
this game.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, and you mentioned the move to the move to
Montgomery at running back. They raised a lot of eyebrows
with the very very high draft pick they used on
Jamier Gibbs. When that draft happened, everybody was wondering, boy, what,
like what are the Lions doing? Then when you watch
what they're doing offensively, like, oh, yeah, that's why they
spent you know, essentially a top ten pick on a
(23:24):
running back that nobody thought was going to be drafted,
was going to be drafted that high. They have. They
have a two headed monster in that backfield with gibbson Montgomery,
and it might be it might be the best the
best one to two punch running back wise in the
entire league.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Definitely, I think in terms of chemistry between them and
the other aspect too. I don't want to misquote my camera.
If it was gamble or if it was actually Brad
Holmes that set up. I mean, like when there was
all that consternation about you know, b Jhon Robinson, they
were saying, well, if we would have been picking there,
we'd have taken Gibbs there too. They were that sold
on this guy, kind of like Jack Gamble as well
at linebacker a few picks after him.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
These were their.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Guys, And dude, I'm telling you, you and I have
talked about it. One of my big probably almost cliches
at this point. If you're looking at teams that have
been really good in the National Football League over the
last few years, chances are they've drafted really well. And
while all the credit in the world goes to Campbell
for what they built in the culture that he's instilled
in that locker room, Brad Holmes is really knocked it
out of the park here the last two three years,
and it has you know, Detroit in the driver's seat
(24:17):
right now.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, no question about it. Well, let's take a look
around the rest of the league as far as Week
one goes, and some big ones right off the bat.
Thursday Night Football is Dallas at Philadelphia. Friday Night Football
is Kansas City against the Chargers in sal Paulo, Brazil.
Let's hope the field in sal Polo at Arena Corinthians
(24:37):
is in a little bit better shape than the one
the Packers and Eagles played on on this particular Friday
a year ago. But those two openers Thursday night Friday night,
you got any thoughts there?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Did you see the videos of the Kansas City and
the Chiefs like going through the airport. It's like it
was everything we were doing last year at Second Carbon Coffee,
just sub out the Packers for the Chiefs roster. Like,
it was hilarious watching same routine, different colors of the fans,
you know, with what they're aware in, but otherwise it's
all the same. Uh okay, First and foremost, Dallas and Philly.
I love this matchup on so many levels. And now
(25:10):
there's these reports out on Thursday morning that hey, Philly
was trying to potentially trade.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
For Micah Parsons in the right season. Yeah, the Dallas
wasn't having it.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Now you got Kenny Clark saying he's gonna play in
this game for you know, the Cowboys right away. Obviously
all the NFC East rivalry woven into that. It's probably
the most excited I've been for a Thursday night matchup.
I think it'd be amazing if, after everything Dallas has
been through and all this conversation for last week, if
they would actually find a way to topple the defending
Super Bowl champions some way, somehow at the Philadelpiayah, at
(25:41):
the Link of all places. You couldn't draw it up
any better. But you know, I'm guessing the Eagles will
be heavily favored there.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I really am excited to see what the Chargers do
this season, because I don't they are not built the
same way that Harbaugh's forty nine Ers teams were built,
where you know, he had a promising year early on,
but you know, it was you know, is what it was,
and then they just everything shifted. Defense got really solid,
Kaepernick turned out to be a really good quarterback for
(26:09):
them for a couple of years, and they just became
an enigma within the NFC.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I don't get those vibes from the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I think, I mean, always been a Justin Herbert believer,
but I don't know if he's like just suddenly gonna
like pop off as like one of the top quarterbacks
in the game. But at the same time, Kansas City
has some real questions now too after what happened in
the Super Bowl with an aging roster. Yeah, a very
interesting juxtaposition with how that game is orientated.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, with both teams coming off of massive postseason disappointments.
The Chiefs obviously got all the way to the Super Bowl,
but then we're not competitive against the Eagles in their
quest to win three in a row. And then the
Chargers with Harbaugh getting that organization back on the right
track and getting them back into the postseason. But you know,
(27:01):
frankly kind of fell flat on their face in Houston
in losing to the Texans there. So that's a that's
a team with a seasoned playoff coach and a quarterback
that they certainly believe in as their guy the future
where they're they're trying to take that next step. Some
other games to look at as far as Week one,
Pittsburgh is at the Jets. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers going
(27:24):
against his former team, the Jets. And if you had
told me three years ago that I was going to
utter that line, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers going against his
former team, the Jets, I would have said, what bizarro world.
Are we are we in? But that is where we are.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I would have said what happened to Denver? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
And two other games on Sunday that are very interesting
in the fact that they pit teams that were in
the playoffs last year and they are facing each other
in Week one. Houston is at the Rams, so you
have an AFC versus NFC matchup two teams that were
in the postseason a year ago, and then a playoff
rematch Baltimore at Buffalo. Those two teams have squared off,
(28:08):
of course in the postseason. And then Week one ends
with Monday Night Football and the NFC North Minnesota at Chicago.
So everybody in the NFC North playing a division game
here in Week one, but I threw a lot of
games at your West. So I'll let you talk about
whichever ones you want to.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Well, I mean, let's let's talk about Minnesota and in Chicago.
But I will say this, I mean Baltimore and Buffalo.
I don't know, and you you know more football history
than I do. Can you think of two teams in
the same conference that have been just perennial contenders the
way that the Ravens had been with Lamar Jackson in
Buffalo has been with Josh Allen, but yet neither team
(28:44):
has been able to get to that next step to
the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, neither team has made it to a super Bowl,
let alone one one.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
But yeah, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino on that. But
you know it was already after you know, Buffalo did
what they did.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, but and Dan Marino did get to a superper
BWL his his second season and the league and then
he didn't get back again. But you're right, you're talking
about perennial contenders who have never in for different reasons,
but neither one has made it past the AFC Championship Game.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
They're chasing the same goal and their position to achieve it,
but they haven't gotten there yet. So it's funny that
Baltimore in Buffalo. It just feels like a continuation of
last year. Yeh. In a lot of ways, Minnesota Chicago's huge,
and I mean, honestly, let's talk about it. I mean,
this is the Ben Johnson Show with the Bears, and
this man has put a lot on his plate and
(29:35):
a lot of expectations on his shoulders. With some of
the bravado, with some of the things of that nature.
And now he's taking on a Minnesota team that as
many question marks as they had last year, it's doubled
now with the JJ McCarthy thing. So what kind of
team is Minnesota going to be this year? I offer
no predictions. I picked them to be fourth in the
NFC North last year. I'm not giving any predictions this
(29:57):
year with the Vikings, but this is going to be
a tone center, either the Vikings showing that we're still
here to play, or the Chicago Bears starting off one
to oh and the Ben Johnson ara is showing that, hey,
we can be part of this thing too. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Well, the Bears felt they got their franchise quarterback a
year ago when they drafted Caleb Williams. Now they feel
they have the head coach who is going to elevate
Caleb Williams to that franchise quarterback status in terms of performance,
and the Bears are trying to move forward there. I'll
say this with regard to the NFC North, when you
look at the fact that the Packers have brought in
(30:30):
Micah Parsons, I'm talking about the big changes to teams
in the NFC North. The Packers bringing in Parsons, the
Bears having Ben Johnson take over as head coach, the
Lions with two new coordinators, and the Vikings starting with
a quarterback in JJ McCarthy who has yet to take
a snap in an NFL regular season game. The biggest
unknown to me of all of those changes to the
(30:54):
NFC North teams is McCarthy as the quarterback of the Vikings.
There's no way to know have any idea how how
this is going to go. And it's fascinating in that regard.
Kevin O'Connell showed what he can do bringing in a
brand new quarterback into his system. Working with that guy,
(31:15):
Sam Darnold, you know, ends up having a tremendous year
before things got off the rails. Really in their final
two games, the regular season finale, in the playoff game,
things didn't go well. But can Kevin O'Connell do that
now with a quarterback who's never played in the NFL before,
And that's what everybody's waiting to see. And uh and
you know who knows this.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Guy's legitimate though? Man, Yeah, talked about it. I mean,
this guy can coach.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
No, no, no doubt about it. I'm I'm I'm not
I'm not questioning that. I'm just saying it's it. There
are similarities to last year, but yet it's different when
it's very different when a guy has not actually played
before it. And that's and that's who you're putting into
essentially a star studded lineup. When you got Aaron Jones
at running back and Justin Jeff out wide receiver and TJ.
(32:01):
Hockinson tight end, all these guys that are going to
be around him, can JJ McCarthy run that ship?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
And the point I'm trying to make is if you
look at the curveballs that he's been thrown, oh my god,
when you go back two years ago to Josh Dobbs
having to win games for them and this menagerie of
quarterbacks they had to trot out there too.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Last year.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
One of the big reasons I wrote them off was well,
McCarthy went down. Sam Bradford was a good one year,
ten million dollars signing, but this guy's not going to
be able to get them anywhere. And then look at
the contract that Sam Bradford earned himself. This off SE's
AA Donald, Sorry Sam Donald. Sam Bradford didn't work out
for them. Sam Donald did yeah, correct, but no, but
I mean, like Donald was a really quick, one year,
(32:41):
ten million dollar contract, he was an insurance policy that
ended up having to be exercised for them. Yeah, and
then sure enough they end up having the success they did.
But if O'Connell can do this again.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Holy cow. Yeah, that's a way to build a legacy
in the NFL early on.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Yeah, absolutely well. It should be a wild and Willie
Week one and a lot of eyeballs will be on
Lambeufield Sunday afternoon for the Packers and the Lions. It's
a great way to start the season. We are thrilled
that it is here and we will sign off for
now on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
follow all of our coverage of the big Week one
game Green Bay and Detroit. We'll have it all for
(33:18):
you on Packers dot com for Westside Mike. Thank you
for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time.
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joined by my
partner in all things Packers, Wes Hodkowitz, coming to you
here from our studios at Lambeufield, Wes. The season opener
is just about upon us. It will be the Packers
and the Lions three twenty five Central time kickoff Sunday
(00:27):
at lambeau Field. And every season opener has a certain
amount of excitement, a certain amount of hype, juice, vibe,
whatever you want to call it. It's been a while
since one has reached this level. Yeah, and it was
feeling like it was headed that way anyway, even before
(00:49):
last week's big trade. But now it feels like the
hype and the energy for this one is headed off
the charts.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So you know me, I'm mister hyperbole.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I was trying to think of some big Week one
matchups that the Green Bit Packers have had. The only
one I really could come up with in terms of
that I thought might reach this scale was the twenty
thirteen opener.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That was It's funny that you would say that, because
that was exactly the one that popped into my head, which,
for those who don't remember, that was the Packers were
coming off of the big loss in the playoffs in
San Francisco to Colin Kaepernick, and then they were opening
the following season right back in Candlestick Park, the scene
of the crime, so to speak, against the same forty
(01:30):
nine Ers team with Colin Kaepernick as quarterback. I agree,
that's that's the one that pops into my head in
terms of the hype leading up to an opener.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, like there was just a different vibe to it
where it was again, you never make these things out
to be too big or too small. The Packers win
this game on Sunday, I guarantee Matt Lafour is going
to that press conference podium after the game saying we
got a game to prepare for on Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yep, like it is. It is just one game. But
let's talk about what this.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Entire offseason has been about, right, Mike, And you've about it,
I've written about it, We've talked about it numerous times.
The Packers want to reclaim the NFC North. They need
to show out better than they did last year when
they went one in five. Now, fortunately they swept the
AFC South. They swept the NFC West and were able
to launch themselves into the playoffs, despite the fact they
only had that one win over the Bears within the division.
(02:19):
When you're talking about the standard bearers not only for
the North, but really the conference in general, the past
couple seasons, it's been the Detroit Lions who have had
nothing but an incline during this time that Dan Campbell
has been their head coach. Every season, there's been progress. Well,
the way their season ended last year was kind of
the first time I think that they fell short of
expectations where they didn't necessarily have that. Well, we're building
(02:41):
towards something next year. They still feel like their competitors,
they still feel like their top contenders, but realistically, I
think there were the number one seed in the NFC
playoffs for a reason. Well, now the Packers come back.
They have this trade with Michael Parsons. They obviously have
all these young guys in this talent they've been developing
for the last two years, and they want to prove
that they're here to play, that they are going to
be here to contend for this thing. They have big
(03:02):
goals this season, super Bowls, Playoffs, all of that type
of stuff, But it all starts with winning the North
in the first game that you can take is on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Absolutely. I mean, if the Packers want to get back
on top of the North, which is a perch they
haven't owned since the twenty twenty one season, it starts
with this game against the Lions. The Lions are the
two time defending division champs. As you mentioned, they were
the number one seed in the NFC playoffs a year ago,
(03:30):
and this is just a series, a rivalry, a series
that the Packers have to turn around and get headed
in the other direction because the Lions have now won
six of the last seven against green Bay. And I
did a little research yesterday before our Three Things video
that we did with Larry. The last time the Lions
had a stretch of winning six out of seven against
(03:52):
green Bay, you have to go back to the early eighties.
It's been over forty years. So it's a series that
for the most parts, have had their share of success in.
But Dan Campbell and company have turned it around and
the Packers need to turn it back around the other way.
And quite frankly, in what we've heard from Matt lafora
(04:12):
we've heard from the players. It all begins with getting
off to a better start in these games. Because you
mentioned the one in five record in the division last year,
and we all know it was the two losses to
the Vikings, the two losses to the Lions. I looked
up those games as far as far as how they started.
(04:33):
The two games against Minnesota started twenty eight to nothing
and twenty to three. The two games against the Lions
started twenty four to three and ten to zero. Now
that's a collective, a collective seventy six point deficit in
those four games. And the Packers ended up losing those
four games by a combined seventeen points. So it's not
(04:54):
rocket science here to figure out how the Packers are
going to give themselves a better chance to win against
the Detroit Lions. And you know, starting with this game
on Sunday, the Packers can't win the NFC North on Sunday.
But when you've got the champs, the reigning division champs,
coming to your place in Week one, you make your
(05:15):
path to a division title a lot harder if you
don't win this game, because you're only going to get
those Lions one more time, and it's going to be
in their place on Thanksgiving. So this is a this
is a tone setter type of game for green Back.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah. I was listening to one of the interviews that
Pete Prisco, longtime NFL beat writer, was doing. I believe
it was with Barstool, and you know, he right now
has the Packers as his super Bowl contender's super Bowl
representative from the NFC, and he said that he felt
that way before even the trade of Michael Parsons. That's
how strongly he felt about what he saw from them
this summer and what he thought is all out there
for him. But as he was talking about I think
(05:50):
a lot of people have been discussing this offseason, it's
this idea that you know, Green Bay has had all
these young guys that have been young for the past
two years and now they have all that experience behind them.
So we'll get the actual NFL superlatives probably after this
weekend in terms of the youngest teams. How the NFL
collects all that data and presents it after the Week
(06:13):
one games are played. But there's a very good chance
Green Bay is going to be the youngest team in
the NFL again this year. But they have all this
totality of experience from the last two three seasons depending
on when they got in with the draft class. And
I just feel like this division, to bring it back
to what Prisco said is it is an absolute gauntlet.
It is a meat grinder, and if you're looking for
(06:36):
a potential Super Bowl representative, this is I think where
it starts in the NFC, just based on what Detroit
has coming back, what Green Bay has this season, the
fact that Chicago is still a lot of unknowns they
are with Ben Johnson taking that ship over and some
of the additions that they've had, they feel like they'll
put a better foot forward this year. And Minnesota was
the team that I wrote off last season and they
(06:57):
proved me wrong immeasurably. So for the Packers to be
able to prevail in this thing and to be able
to take care of business within its own division, it's
important for their own playoff abspirations. But the other aspect
of it is too. You don't know how many losses
the Lions are really going to pick up this season.
You don't know how many losses the Minnesota Vikings are
(07:18):
going to pick up this season. This is your opportunity
to hand them one of those.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
When you look at the records in the North last year, Mike,
it is remarkable how few times the division lost in
the regular season. Obviously the postseason was a much different story.
But the Packers, they swept the AFC South. I'm pretty
sure what was there, like maybe two wins that the
celt actually might have had against the division against the
North last year.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It was either one or two across. Yeah, it was
either one or two. That's all.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's all it was.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
So basically, the point I'm trying to bring back with
all that is, if Green Bay wants to live up
to the expectations of being a legitimate contender, it starts
at home.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah a yeah, one hundred percent. Well, let's talk about
these Lions a little bit, because they were a fifteen
to two team last year, number one seed in the playoffs,
a disappointing home playoff loss to Washington after that first
round by But there are a lot of changes to
actually talk about with the Lions, and it starts on
the coaching staff. Two new coordinators, John Morton on the
(08:12):
offensive side taking over for Ben Johnson, who's now the
head coach of the Chicago Bears, and Kelvin Sheppard taking
over his defensive coordinator for Aaron Glenn, who's now the
head coach with the New York Jets. Now there are
a lot of questions about, Okay, so just how much
is going to change offensively defensively with the Lions with
having two new coordinators in And while I believe both
(08:34):
of those new coordinators are going to put their own
stamp on things, Dan Campbell did not go outside the
organization to bring in new coordinators. These are guys who
are on the staff. John Morton, you know, worked under
Ben Johnson, and Kelvin Sheppard worked under Aaron Glenn. So
(08:54):
this is still They're still going to be running essentially
the same system, and we just have to see exactly,
you know, what sort of tweaks and signatures that that
these new coordinators are gonna put are gonna put on it.
But that's really been the sort of lingering storyline. Question
(09:15):
mark unknown out there with regard to the Lions coming
off of that fifteen and two season is how as
a team collectively will they move forward with two new coordinators.
For the guys who got the head coaching jobs in
the off season.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Well, for a couple of things are one. John Morton.
I didn't really realize this until I was kind of
digging through some of the info. I didn't realize he
was in Green Bay for a very brief amount of
time as a player.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Oh I didn't in nineteen ninety three. Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, So there are some ties there, and the fact
that like all these guys, he seems to be just
another like kind of I wouldn't call him like a
member of the Shanahan tree. Obviously he was in San
Francisco before that, during the Harbaugh era. But it's just
it's it's it's always interesting to me when you see
these guys that pop up and they always have connections.
When you think about these successful runs that teams have had,
(10:02):
it's not a coincidence that these guys end up in
these spots and for Morton to work his way up
and obviously he's been a mainstay in Detroit over I
believe it was ended up being two different tenures with him,
if I remember that, Yeah, because he was with Denver
the last two seasons for him to be taking the
ship over here. But if you look at their coaching staff,
so much of it is the same. Mark Burnell, is
still the quarterbacks coach. I mean, like there's so many names,
(10:24):
and when you kind of like that transitionary period that
Green Bay was in when teams started plucking their assistance,
you know, after the NFC championship runs. You build from within,
you develop your roster within, you develop your coaching staff
from within. I feel like that's where Detroit feels like,
that's where they are right now. It's the same mission
with some different generals in the front of the line.
So what I'm curious to see though, is when you
(10:46):
have somebody like Campbell, who's that CEO head coach is
the is the guy that sets the vision right and
leaves the play calling to the coordinators. Seeing what that
transition is like when you don't have known commodities. You
might lose your offensive play caller, but you still have
the defense coordinator. You might have the defensive coordinator, but
then you have a shift with maybe the offensive coordinator
in the play calling spot. This is a complete reset
(11:06):
of the chessboard here for the Lions. So seeing exactly
how that is going to look in addition to what
you know, if the execution can still be there, because
we know these seasons are never the same year to year.
That to me, when you talk about unscoted looks when
you talk about things that are like unknown going into
an opener, that shoots Detroit into a different stratosphere for
(11:27):
what could be positive or negative reasons.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, and there are some some personnel changes to talk
about too. First off, on the offensive line, longtime center
Frank Ragnow retired in the offseason and veteran guard Kevin
Zeitler left as a free agent to go to Tennessee.
They've been replaced by Graham Glasgow, who was a guard
(11:49):
and is now moving over to center to take Ragnow's spot.
And then they spent a second round draft pick on
Tate Ratledge, who is going to slide in as a
starting guard in that spot. And then, of course, on
the defensive side, the big change is that Aiden Hutchinson
is back. He only played five games last season broke
(12:10):
his leg. I believe had seven and a half sacks
in the first five games of the season. I mean
he was on his way potentially to being the defensive
player of the Year in the NFL and missed the
rest of the year. He is back, and I wrote
a story on Packers dot Com think I think it's
just very interesting how this all unfolded. That Hutchinson is
(12:31):
now is back for the Lions as obviously a premier
edge rusher, and then the Packers have added a premier
edge rusher in Micah Parsons to change the look of
their defense as well. So just those two things alone
make this matchup potentially so much different than it was
in the two meetings in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah, with unequivocally, I mean, still some bad luck for Detroit.
I mean, Levi owns Zurique ended up tearing his ACL
in the offseason, so the second around pick a year ago,
still are not going to have him available. But to
have a guy like Hutchinson back is that is the
game changing addition for this defense. I give Aaron Glenn
(13:10):
a lot of credit. I mean, they were still incredibly competitive,
more than I expected them to be after Hutchinson was
injured last year. Obviously, there were those narratives out of hey,
if potentially they make a Super Bowl run, could he
be back out there for him? But again, there's only
so many were talked so much in the past week
about Michael Parsons. There's only so many game wreckers out there,
Hutchinson is one of them, and he's done it at
(13:31):
such a quick pace. I mean, that's another aspect of
this thing that has just been so intriguing to me,
is that you have these guys coming into the league now,
highly touted, credentialed college football players who just jump in
and look like they immediately belong in the NFL. And
I mean, there's a reason why Hutchinson had everything in
the momentum and the narratives behind him. Seeing how this
(13:52):
defense changes with him on the field, as you outline
in your story with what's happening with the Packers with
Parsons is definitely probably the number one headline in terms
of how you're going to see this game play out
relative to how last year's contests were playing.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, and it's easy to forget because the Packers lost
both games to the Lions last year when the Lions
did not have Hutchinson for either game, It's easy to
forget just how impactful Hutchinson was the previous two years
against Green Bay. You go back to look at his
rookieyear in twenty twenty two and then the games in
twenty twenty three. In twenty two, the game at Ford field.
(14:27):
He had the interception in the end zone when on
the fourth and goal when Aaron Rodgers was trying to
hit David Baktiari on a tackle eligible play. The second
meeting in twenty twenty two was the regular season finale
when the Lions knocked the Packers out of the playoff picture,
and Hutchinson in that game had two sacks, both on
(14:47):
third down, both in the red zone area or close
to the red zone that forced the Packers to kick
field goals when they were on their way to scoring drives.
And then you look at the first game in twenty
twenty three, which, if you recall the the Packers the
Packers excuse me, the Packers started that game if I
recall correctly, with a quick turnover, but then on the
(15:11):
second offensive play, Hutchinson comes in and sacks Jordan Love
and the Packers essentially go three and out and have
to kick a field goal when when it was looking like,
you know, they were gonna get off to a much
better start in that game. So the only time the
Packers have really contained Hutchinson or limited his impact was
in that Thanksgiving game in twenty twenty three, when the
Packers went and it went into Ford Field and won
(15:33):
that game. So this is the guy who's had He's
had his share of success against green Bay, and with
all that time he missed last year, you know he is.
He's absolutely itching to get out there, hit people, make
an impact and be the player that he was before
he got.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Hurt with Yeah, I mean when you bring up the
stats here, the guy has three and a half sacks
and four games against green Bay, six quarterback hits, ten tackles.
I mean he's been in four of those tackles for
a lot. So I mean this is a guy that
has been and found ways in the interception I forget
about that. I mean the guy has found ways to
make an impact.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah. And the other thing too.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
It'll be interesting to track as it relates to Detroit.
Marcus Davenport's back too, who was supposed to be a
big signing for them last year but got injured right
away only played in two games. They worked out a
deal with him in March for him to come back.
So even though you know the Ozerique thing hasn't worked
out for them so far due to injury, another pass
rusher to for green Bay to account for.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, Well, there are a lot of other players to
talk about here with the Lions, whether you're talking about
a safety like Kirby Joseph or Aceiver like I'm on
Ross Saint Brown, the two headed monster in the backfield.
Maybe we'll get to those when we discuss keys to victory.
But I want to take a break and pay some bills,
and so we will hear a word from our sponsors.
Serious XM NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up
(16:52):
to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need.
Twenty four to seven, three sixty five. At Cousin Subbs,
we have something for everyone, like our Wisconsin cheese curds,
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. Pit Boss Grills the
(17:13):
official grill of Packers tailgating at Lambeau or at your house.
Take your game day to the next level with a
pit Boss wood pellet grill. Pit Boss Grills available at Minards.
Welcome back to Packers unscripted. All right, Wes, it's time
as we preview this season opener against the Lions again
Sunday three, twenty five Central kickoff at lambeau Field. The
(17:36):
game is on CBS. Keys to victory for green Bay
there are a lot of them. You can't just focus
on one thing and do that well in order to
win a game like this. But what's at the top
of the list for you.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
The first fourth down between the forty and from the
minus forty end pretty much when I said this an
insider inbox, if you go back to when green Bay
has had success in specifically when they've beaten Dan Campbell's
the two occasions that they've beaten Dan Campbell's Lions, it's
been when they've used Detroit's over aggression against them, and that,
(18:10):
as Evan Williams and a couple guys were talking about
in the locker room on Wednesday, that is going to
be the huge litmus test for green Bay because if
they decide two different variables of this one, if they're
in third and eight, there's a good chance you're still
going to see them run the ball with David Montgomery
or Jamior Gibbs and see if they can get to
fourth and short and potentially be able to do something
off that.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Or two, if they decide.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
To go forward on fourth down wherever the ball is,
whatever the yardage is, Green Bay making sure that they're
up to that challenge, because if they get that first conversion,
it only feeds the beast. With Dan Campbell, it's only
going to make him more bold. And that's where much
like what's happened with really the Philadelphia Eagles, when you
look at the success that they've had in recent years,
(18:54):
it's when you keep the gas pedal down and you
accept the risk and you try to formulate some points
off of it that those teams have separated themselves. So
the normal things are all in play, turnovers, protecting the football,
first downs, fast starts, all that type of stuff. But
to me, when it comes trying to find a way
to solve the Detroit Lions, it goes by defanging Dan
(19:17):
Campbell and some of the moves he makes as the
head coach.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, I mean defensively, he just he makes you take
such a different perspective on everything because anytime the Detroit
Lions are in third and five to eight, which is
a ninety five percent passing proposition against any other team
out there, and then as a defensive coordinator, you're like, okay,
like what kind of pressure do I want to dial
(19:40):
up here this and that. When it's third and five
to eight, you have to be ready for them to
run the ball, because if they can get to fourth
and three or less, yep, there's a really good chance
as long as the field position is where they want
it to be. There's a really good chance on fourth
and three or less that Dan Campbell's going to go
for it. So to me, it puts it puts that
(20:03):
much more of an onus on your your essentially your
straight up defense, your four man rush that is also
you know, your standard front seven to stop the run
has to be able to perform well because in those
third and five to eights, Jared Goff might drop back
to pass, which means your standard four has got to
(20:25):
get there and has got to pressure him, or they
might run the ball and you've got to stop them
and make it fourth and five or more to make
sure that they punt the ball. You can't you can't
be dialing up all kinds of creative stuff on third
mediums because because then they'll catch you out of position
and they'll get exactly what they want because they're going
to run a play that that is unconventional for that
(20:46):
down and distance. So I agree with you there. I
think that's a I think that's a big part of
this the other one for me, and it kind of
goes hand in hand with it in a sense. But
with the Packers adding Parsons to the mix and you
lose Kenny Clark, the transition that the Packers have to
make with regard to their run defense at this stage,
and they've got Jamier Gibbs and David Montgomery and you know,
(21:09):
a new offensive coordinator in John Morton. I expect him
to challenge the Packers run defense. He's going to bring
those two running backs at him and say, you know,
here we come. You got to you gotta stop us.
And otherwise, if they don't, then all of the passing
for Jared Goff will be off of play action. There
won't be any straight dropback, there won't be any necessarily
(21:29):
predictable passing situations. And and then you know, the Lions
have you right where they want you.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, And let's just be honest about this, because all
the credit in the world of golf, he's become a
tremendous quarterback, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Definitely the NFC.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
But it is about always setting up the run with
him right. When he had success in LA, that was
about the run and having that compliment. And when he
is going in the run game is right. This guy
barely misses throw right. I mean, especially with what they
asked him to do with some of the short area concepts.
I mean, the Detroit Lions are a professional football team
(22:07):
at moving the football yard after yard, first down after
first down, and then if we get an explosive here,
and they're fantastic, but it's ultimately a game of measurements
with them. And when you have Montgomery and Gibbs, and
I said this last year, I got a lot of
respect for what Detroit did because I was wrong about it.
I thought they made a cataclysmic error when they moved
(22:28):
on from Jamal Williams to sign David Montgomery from Chicago
after all the injuries he had, and he still had
a few injuries with the Lions, but ultimately he has
blossomed even more. He's become even more of a dangerous
power running back in his style perfectly compliments what Gibbs does.
So for them to have that one two punch in addition,
(22:49):
then to have an amen ra move in the chains
and Sam Laporta, you know, becoming a big impact right
away for this offense. In a lot of ways, there's
a mirror matchup between what Green Bay wants to do
and what Right wants to do, and seeing that separation
is ultimately going to probably determine who ends up winning
this game.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, and you mentioned the move to the move to
Montgomery at running back. They raised a lot of eyebrows
with the very very high draft pick they used on
Jamier Gibbs. When that draft happened, everybody was wondering, boy, what,
like what are the Lions doing? Then when you watch
what they're doing offensively, like, oh, yeah, that's why they
spent you know, essentially a top ten pick on a
(23:24):
running back that nobody thought was going to be drafted,
was going to be drafted that high. They have. They
have a two headed monster in that backfield with gibbson Montgomery,
and it might be it might be the best the
best one to two punch running back wise in the
entire league.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Definitely, I think in terms of chemistry between them and
the other aspect too. I don't want to misquote my camera.
If it was gamble or if it was actually Brad
Holmes that set up. I mean, like when there was
all that consternation about you know, b Jhon Robinson, they
were saying, well, if we would have been picking there,
we'd have taken Gibbs there too. They were that sold
on this guy, kind of like Jack Gamble as well
at linebacker a few picks after him.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
These were their.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Guys, And dude, I'm telling you, you and I have
talked about it. One of my big probably almost cliches
at this point. If you're looking at teams that have
been really good in the National Football League over the
last few years, chances are they've drafted really well. And
while all the credit in the world goes to Campbell
for what they built in the culture that he's instilled
in that locker room, Brad Holmes is really knocked it
out of the park here the last two three years,
and it has you know, Detroit in the driver's seat
(24:17):
right now.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, no question about it. Well, let's take a look
around the rest of the league as far as Week
one goes, and some big ones right off the bat.
Thursday Night Football is Dallas at Philadelphia. Friday Night Football
is Kansas City against the Chargers in sal Paulo, Brazil.
Let's hope the field in sal Polo at Arena Corinthians
(24:37):
is in a little bit better shape than the one
the Packers and Eagles played on on this particular Friday
a year ago. But those two openers Thursday night Friday night,
you got any thoughts there?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Did you see the videos of the Kansas City and
the Chiefs like going through the airport. It's like it
was everything we were doing last year at Second Carbon Coffee,
just sub out the Packers for the Chiefs roster. Like,
it was hilarious watching same routine, different colors of the fans,
you know, with what they're aware in, but otherwise it's
all the same. Uh okay, First and foremost, Dallas and Philly.
I love this matchup on so many levels. And now
(25:10):
there's these reports out on Thursday morning that hey, Philly
was trying to potentially trade.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
For Micah Parsons in the right season. Yeah, the Dallas
wasn't having it.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Now you got Kenny Clark saying he's gonna play in
this game for you know, the Cowboys right away. Obviously
all the NFC East rivalry woven into that. It's probably
the most excited I've been for a Thursday night matchup.
I think it'd be amazing if, after everything Dallas has
been through and all this conversation for last week, if
they would actually find a way to topple the defending
Super Bowl champions some way, somehow at the Philadelpiayah, at
(25:41):
the Link of all places. You couldn't draw it up
any better. But you know, I'm guessing the Eagles will
be heavily favored there.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I really am excited to see what the Chargers do
this season, because I don't they are not built the
same way that Harbaugh's forty nine Ers teams were built,
where you know, he had a promising year early on,
but you know, it was you know, is what it was,
and then they just everything shifted. Defense got really solid,
Kaepernick turned out to be a really good quarterback for
(26:09):
them for a couple of years, and they just became
an enigma within the NFC.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I don't get those vibes from the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I think, I mean, always been a Justin Herbert believer,
but I don't know if he's like just suddenly gonna
like pop off as like one of the top quarterbacks
in the game. But at the same time, Kansas City
has some real questions now too after what happened in
the Super Bowl with an aging roster. Yeah, a very
interesting juxtaposition with how that game is orientated.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, with both teams coming off of massive postseason disappointments.
The Chiefs obviously got all the way to the Super Bowl,
but then we're not competitive against the Eagles in their
quest to win three in a row. And then the
Chargers with Harbaugh getting that organization back on the right
track and getting them back into the postseason. But you know,
(27:01):
frankly kind of fell flat on their face in Houston
in losing to the Texans there. So that's a that's
a team with a seasoned playoff coach and a quarterback
that they certainly believe in as their guy the future
where they're they're trying to take that next step. Some
other games to look at as far as Week one,
Pittsburgh is at the Jets. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers going
(27:24):
against his former team, the Jets. And if you had
told me three years ago that I was going to
utter that line, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers going against his
former team, the Jets, I would have said, what bizarro world.
Are we are we in? But that is where we are.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I would have said what happened to Denver? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
And two other games on Sunday that are very interesting
in the fact that they pit teams that were in
the playoffs last year and they are facing each other
in Week one. Houston is at the Rams, so you
have an AFC versus NFC matchup two teams that were
in the postseason a year ago, and then a playoff
rematch Baltimore at Buffalo. Those two teams have squared off,
(28:08):
of course in the postseason. And then Week one ends
with Monday Night Football and the NFC North Minnesota at Chicago.
So everybody in the NFC North playing a division game
here in Week one, but I threw a lot of
games at your West. So I'll let you talk about
whichever ones you want to.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Well, I mean, let's let's talk about Minnesota and in Chicago.
But I will say this, I mean Baltimore and Buffalo.
I don't know, and you you know more football history
than I do. Can you think of two teams in
the same conference that have been just perennial contenders the
way that the Ravens had been with Lamar Jackson in
Buffalo has been with Josh Allen, but yet neither team
(28:44):
has been able to get to that next step to
the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, neither team has made it to a super Bowl,
let alone one one.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
But yeah, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino on that. But
you know it was already after you know, Buffalo did
what they did.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, but and Dan Marino did get to a superper
BWL his his second season and the league and then
he didn't get back again. But you're right, you're talking
about perennial contenders who have never in for different reasons,
but neither one has made it past the AFC Championship Game.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
They're chasing the same goal and their position to achieve it,
but they haven't gotten there yet. So it's funny that
Baltimore in Buffalo. It just feels like a continuation of
last year. Yeh. In a lot of ways, Minnesota Chicago's huge,
and I mean, honestly, let's talk about it. I mean,
this is the Ben Johnson Show with the Bears, and
this man has put a lot on his plate and
(29:35):
a lot of expectations on his shoulders. With some of
the bravado, with some of the things of that nature.
And now he's taking on a Minnesota team that as
many question marks as they had last year, it's doubled
now with the JJ McCarthy thing. So what kind of
team is Minnesota going to be this year? I offer
no predictions. I picked them to be fourth in the
NFC North last year. I'm not giving any predictions this
(29:57):
year with the Vikings, but this is going to be
a tone center, either the Vikings showing that we're still
here to play, or the Chicago Bears starting off one
to oh and the Ben Johnson ara is showing that, hey,
we can be part of this thing too. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Well, the Bears felt they got their franchise quarterback a
year ago when they drafted Caleb Williams. Now they feel
they have the head coach who is going to elevate
Caleb Williams to that franchise quarterback status in terms of performance,
and the Bears are trying to move forward there. I'll
say this with regard to the NFC North, when you
look at the fact that the Packers have brought in
(30:30):
Micah Parsons, I'm talking about the big changes to teams
in the NFC North. The Packers bringing in Parsons, the
Bears having Ben Johnson take over as head coach, the
Lions with two new coordinators, and the Vikings starting with
a quarterback in JJ McCarthy who has yet to take
a snap in an NFL regular season game. The biggest
unknown to me of all of those changes to the
(30:54):
NFC North teams is McCarthy as the quarterback of the Vikings.
There's no way to know have any idea how how
this is going to go. And it's fascinating in that regard.
Kevin O'Connell showed what he can do bringing in a
brand new quarterback into his system. Working with that guy,
(31:15):
Sam Darnold, you know, ends up having a tremendous year
before things got off the rails. Really in their final
two games, the regular season finale, in the playoff game,
things didn't go well. But can Kevin O'Connell do that
now with a quarterback who's never played in the NFL before,
And that's what everybody's waiting to see. And uh and
you know who knows this.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Guy's legitimate though? Man, Yeah, talked about it. I mean,
this guy can coach.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
No, no, no doubt about it. I'm I'm I'm not
I'm not questioning that. I'm just saying it's it. There
are similarities to last year, but yet it's different when
it's very different when a guy has not actually played
before it. And that's and that's who you're putting into
essentially a star studded lineup. When you got Aaron Jones
at running back and Justin Jeff out wide receiver and TJ.
(32:01):
Hockinson tight end, all these guys that are going to
be around him, can JJ McCarthy run that ship?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
And the point I'm trying to make is if you
look at the curveballs that he's been thrown, oh my god,
when you go back two years ago to Josh Dobbs
having to win games for them and this menagerie of
quarterbacks they had to trot out there too.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Last year.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
One of the big reasons I wrote them off was well,
McCarthy went down. Sam Bradford was a good one year,
ten million dollars signing, but this guy's not going to
be able to get them anywhere. And then look at
the contract that Sam Bradford earned himself. This off SE's
AA Donald, Sorry Sam Donald. Sam Bradford didn't work out
for them. Sam Donald did yeah, correct, but no, but
I mean, like Donald was a really quick, one year,
(32:41):
ten million dollar contract, he was an insurance policy that
ended up having to be exercised for them. Yeah, and
then sure enough they end up having the success they did.
But if O'Connell can do this again.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Holy cow. Yeah, that's a way to build a legacy
in the NFL early on.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Yeah, absolutely well. It should be a wild and Willie
Week one and a lot of eyeballs will be on
Lambeufield Sunday afternoon for the Packers and the Lions. It's
a great way to start the season. We are thrilled
that it is here and we will sign off for
now on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
follow all of our coverage of the big Week one
game Green Bay and Detroit. We'll have it all for
(33:18):
you on Packers dot com for Westside Mike. Thank you
for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.