September 9, 2025 • 41 mins
Mike and Wes look back at the victory over the Lions, focusing on the defensive performance (:35) and the offense’s fast start (13:14), and look ahead to the Thursday night matchup with the Commanders (25:08), including their keys to victory (30:58). They also discuss other Week 1 results around the league (34:06).
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 Spofford, joined as always
by my partner in everything, Packers, Wes Hodkowitz. Coming to
you hear from our studios at Lambeufield and Wes. We
have a lot of ground to cover on this show
because it is Week two already in the NFL. It
is a short week for the Packers, so we kind
(00:26):
of have to cram two shows into one here, which
is to review week one in preview week two. So
we'll jump right into the twenty seven to thirteen victory
over the Lions at Lambeoufield to open the twenty twenty
five season. And when you talk about this game, I
think it starts with the performance by the Packers defense.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So this is a big game on Thursday night against
the Washington Commanders. Yes, it is, and we will obviously
get into that. We'll talk about it. Everyone's gonna want
to turn the page, take a moment to enjoy this
win for the Packers over the Detroit Lions, though, because
there were so many things in play here for Green Bay,
the fact that they did go one in five against
(01:08):
the NFC North last year, the fact that they have
had some troubles here in the past few seasons with
the Detroit Lions. But this game in particular, I thought,
and I think I wrote it. I can't remember if
I kept it in my inbox or not, but I'm
gonna say it now.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
One of the most impressive victories I think in the
post Aaron Rodgers era, the Jordan Love era, because Green Bay,
on both sides of the ball and special teams, but
on offense and defense, imposed its will against a team
that had been known for its physicality. If you look
at that defensive performance, as you outlined, everybody was questioning
(01:45):
whether or not they could stop the run withol Kenny Clark.
What was going to happen in that capacity? Detroit has
forty six rushing yards. People were wondering, Okay, what is
Michael Parson's going to bring to this place? In addition
to the fact that he had this overwhelming ovation at
the start of the football game, last guy out of
the tunnel, Michael Parsons comes in the game and gets
a pressure on his first snap. Every single one of
(02:07):
his plays was impactful. It affected the game in some
shape or fashion. But the three pressures, a two yard
checked down for a loss, a sack in an interception
for Evan Williams. I want to just make this real
quick point that you could take it wherever you want
(02:28):
to go. His chasing down of Jared Goff. I understand
there's a lot of haters out there from Dallas are
like what was in the fourth quarter of the game
is in hand. Him chasing down Jared Goff was a
moment more than it was just a play. That's the
type of thing that you make NFL films highlight reels
out of. And for Packer fans, the way they responded that,
(02:50):
the way the Packers sideline responded to it. Michael, this
was a very important game, seventeen more weeks, sixteen more games,
trying to win a Super Bowl here. But in terms
of making a first impression, by golly, the Micah Parsons
era got off to a good start.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, And I'm glad you mentioned those other plays before
you mentioned the sack that Parsons got, because his impact
on this game was undeniable, even though he technically didn't
have a tackle or a sack on the stat sheet
until late in the ballgame. And I like what you
(03:27):
said as well about that sack, the chasing down of
golf being a moment because you and yes, you expected
the crowd to react that way. But when you look
at the replay of that, look at how that Packer's
sideline reacted. They knew that he had had a big
time impact in that game, in his limited snaps, in
(03:47):
a part time role in this game. But every single
guy on that sideline also wanted him to have his
moment in his debut in Green Bay in front of
the home fans. It was important and for this defense collectively,
because this really was about the collective. It was shutting
down that two headed monster of Gibbs and Montgomery. It
(04:07):
was not allowing Jared Goff to even challenge the Packers
downfield with the passing game. I mean, other than a
couple catches by Sam Laporta with a little bit of
coverage bust in there, there just wasn't a threat downfield.
Jared Goff was just playing dink and dunkin check down
the entire game. He completed over thirty passes in the
game and barely got over two hundred yards. The collective,
(04:32):
I mean to hold, to hold the number one scoring
offense in the league last year. Out of the end
zone for fifty nine minutes out of the sixty minutes
of this game was a remarkable and an impressive effort.
And you can't say enough. You can't say enough about
how the Packers' defense came to play in this ballgame.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
No, it was immediate, and you know, I was talking
with Kobe Wooden in the locker room afterwards, talking to
a lot of guys and the Packers defense. You could
tell there's a chip on his shoulder, because yes, Michael
Parsons is a really good football player, one of the
very best defenders in this league. But Packers defense felt
(05:16):
like it was pretty good too, even before that trade
and whatever the outside noise was about, you know, how
this was going to affect their run game, or what
the domino effect was, or how the cornerbacks were going
to react. Now that Jyry Alexander's gone and Nate Hobbs
is there, and Hobbs is inactive for this game, I
feel like last year we just everybody took for granted
(05:37):
the fact that Jeff Haffley adapted so well to what
the circumstances were with injuries, with what the strengths were
of his players to be able to maneuver around and
change the chess board and ultimately have the defense they did.
But then you see a game like this and you
realize when they have more of those guys available, when
you have Lucas Vans in year three doing some inside
(05:59):
concepts passing downs. Rashaun Gary was exceptional in this game too,
creating some of his own plays and also showing at
times what he can do when he gets one on ones.
I just there's a quote that Tuckerkraft said afterwards, because
we were talking about the magnitude of the victory and
he said, you know, I'd never beaten the Lions at Lambeufield. Michael,
(06:20):
there was a time where the Packers beat the Lions
twenty four straight years at lambeau Field. And there's a
new generation of Packer players that hadn't experienced that yet.
Because of the trajectory that the Lions had been on
in the Packers being a young football team, they were
hungry and there was a fire in their belly to
meet that challenge. I think on both sides of the ball,
but defensively, after what the Lions did last season and
(06:43):
how efficient they were to completely rattle them and take
Golf out of his game, to stop the running game,
to really minimize the impact of amen Aros Saint Brown.
That was probably the most encouraging thing of all. It
showed that the Packers aren't just a team that's going
to be able to win here in the NFC and
hopefully make another playoff run. But this was a statement
victory that they are one of these top teams in
(07:04):
this conference.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah. I thought Jared Goff never looked particularly comfortable in
the pocket in this game, and that's saying something based
on how those two games against the Lions went last year,
when it looked like he wasn't bothered by anything. And
I honestly thought when Micah Parsons was in the game,
it sort of looked like Jared Goff kind of had
his eye on Parsons. You know, his eyes were almost
(07:26):
dropping to where Parsons might have been coming from, you know,
in the pass rush. Those types of things are, you know,
such a switch from when the Packers faced the Lions
last year. The other thing I really liked about a
couple other things I really liked about this defensive effort
is when you in reviewing the film of this game,
you look at the plays that Parsons was not on
(07:46):
the field, the front four, and there were some rotations,
but the front four of the Packers generally went with
was Vaness and Gary on the edges and DeVante White
and Colby Wooden as the interior tack and that front four,
every single one of those guys had multiple moments, multiple
(08:07):
areas of impact. I thought probably the two guys that
stood out the most, and this is hard to say,
when Rashan Gary had maybe the most important sack of
the game being backed by the goal line, which is
you know, which then set up the touchdown to seal
the game. But the two that jumped out at me
the most on the film in terms of the volume
of plays where they just where they showed up or wouldn't.
(08:27):
In van Ness and we saw Kolbe wouldn't have his
best training camp in his three year NFL career to date,
and it's tremendous to see that carry over right away
into the into the first game of the season. And
then Lucas Vanes this is this is a young man
who's you can see it, he's just starting to come
into his own right and he's been under a lot
(08:49):
of pressure. He's taken a lot of heat for being
a first round pick and not having that impact in
the first two years that everybody hopes from a first
round pick and all that he's had to wear, that
he's had to deal with. He's also had to fight
through some injuries he's had to you know, he's been
a pro about it all the way along. And this
is a young guy who's not going to stand in
front of the cameras and say, you know, I told
(09:10):
you so or anything like that. But the combination Lucas
van Neess with Rashan Gary, with Micah Parsons and maybe
where this thing is going defensively is really exciting.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, and in Parsons put a pretty lofty comparison out
there with with Vanas saying that he's told him that
he could be a camera away, could Julius Peppers type,
And obviously that goes without saying I mean those are
especially in Pepper's case, I mean, that's one of the
best players of his generation. But again, as I wrote
in our Insider Inbox column, you can see what he's
referring to though, because this was the first game where
(09:42):
we got to really see Lucasfanass rushing inside in some
of these third down passing situations. They called the package Cheetah.
It has a lot of parallels to what Dom Capers
was doing with NASCAR in the mid twenty tens, where
you're rushing, you're outside linebackers at the edges, but then
you're also having a third one inside at the three
tech position. And that's where Vanessa ended up getting his
(10:04):
half sack from in this game. And that was what
was sort of a staple for Julius Peppers when he
was here. They call it the Elephant at first when
he got here in fourteen, where those early downs he's outside,
and then when it comes to third downs, a lot
of times he's going to be at the three tech
And they had Mike Neil or Nick Perry at the
other edgeressing.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And we saw Mike Petton do it with Zadarius Smith
as well in twenty nineteen when he first got here
and all that. So it's certainly something we've seen before,
but with a young player, with a third year guy
and a guy who you know who seems to be,
you know, really making the progress that the Packers are
hoping for. It looks really promising for number ninety out there.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah it does, and you know, still twenty four and
still a lot in front of him right now. But
Green Bay has all these outside linebackers right now. Now we'll
have to see exactly what happens with Breton Cox junior.
He left with a groin injury, but Baron Sorel's coming
back from the neither six outside linebackers on this roster
for Greenbay at the moment, and you have Colin Oliver
on the pup list, the fifth round pick out of
(11:06):
Oklahoma State, So a multitude of guys that can be utilized,
but the body types just span the entire horizon here,
where you have guys like Oliver and Parsons who are
more in that two point fifty range and guys like
Gary and Vaness that are pushing to seventy five to eighty.
So a lot of different ways you can use them,
but I think the most encouraging thing is seeing how
(11:27):
they were used in tandem right where you had DeVante
why get involved with the pass rush game, and then obviously,
as you already alluded to, Colby Wooden being the guy
that kind of took over those early downsnaps that Kenny
Clark was seeing.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, well, a couple of statistics to talk about that
on the defensive side that really illustrated how this went.
And then we'll obviously move on to some other things.
But red zone. Packers got two stops in the red
zone that led to that forced field goals, and then
another stop in the red zone with Evan Williams interception
which came off of the came off of the Parsons pressure,
(12:00):
and obviously stopping the Lions in the red zone had
been an issue for a couple of years here for
Green Bay, so that was big. The other thing, and
I've actually got a whole statistical analysis of this up
on Packers dot com today if you want to check
it out. That Gibbs Montgomery running back duo. They touched
the ball thirty four times in this game, and in
(12:22):
those thirty four touches they did not get to one
hundred yards. They had ninety three yards on thirty four touches.
That's a two point seven average. Wes and I look
back gibbson Montgomery last year for the number one scoring
offense in the league in combining for over three thousand
yards from scrimmage. The two of them, they averaged five
point eight yards every time they touched the ball. The
(12:45):
Packers held them to less than half of that two
point seven when they got the ball on thirty four
out of sixty five plays. They got the ball on
more than half of Detroit's plays, and their output was
less than half of what they're accustomed to. So that
numbers wise, that just illustrates what the Packers did defensively.
(13:06):
And there were six tackles for loss against those two
running backs against Gibbson Montgomery in this game. But we
also need to talk about the offense because we talked
about it. Lafleur talked about it, the players talked about
in the locker room. Getting off to a fast start,
and the Packers lost the coin toss, the Lions decided
to defer. They gave the Packers the ball first, and
(13:28):
Jordan Love and company went eighty three yards down the
field for an opening touchdown and then continued that by
tacking on a field goal and then a quick strike
touchdown seventeen points in the first three possessions to take
control of this game. That type of fast start is
exactly what the Packers were looking for and they got.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It, and nine different players caught a pass in those drives. Yeah,
sometimes the best offense and plan is the one in
which you've mastered right for a number of years now,
and this has been one of the big strikes of
this Green Bay offense for so long. Even though now
you do add Matthew Golden into the mix and Luke
Musgrave is back. Multitude of different ways you can take
(14:07):
this thing. The Josh Jacobs factor, I thought was the
main headline on the offensive side of the ball, and
we were talking with them in the locker room afterwards.
I mean that the Detroit Lions are historically are going
to be a team that wants to try to play
that single high look. I thought they put that on
the extreme in this matchup. They were doing everything they
could with loading the box early on to stop Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
They were selling out. They were selling out against the run,
there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And really putting it on, you know, Jordan Love and
the receivers to take it and they did. I mean,
with Jacob's only having eight rushing yards in the first half.
This thing came down to Jordan Love converting some third
and long situations early and they came through.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
This is such a small thing, but did you get
a chance to watch There's been some clips on Twitter
that first big passing play, the twenty yarder to Romeo Romeo.
Did you see the pass protection on that? Oh yeah,
I'm telling you this right now, folks. Josh or excuse me,
Chris Brooks is going to play in the National Football
League for a long long time if he's healthy. I've
(15:09):
never seen anything like this before where he not only
picks up the linebacker who's blitzing, he ends up getting
the stunt picked up too. How many running backs can
do that? They had their edge rusher running a stunt
and Josh Brooks stands up to it, and because of
the way that the defense was orientated, Jordan Love had
all day to find Romeo Dobbs, so to go twelve
(15:32):
plays eighty three yards. You have the little extracurricular stuff
that happens at the end of the drive where Brian
Branch rips off Tucker Craft's helmet in the middle of
an engaged block, whips it to the sideline, and three
plays later, Kraft catches one of the most beautiful pass
in catch combinations. You're gonna see down the scene in
the National Football League, completely undeterred. Kraft comes through at
(15:55):
that ball, and yeah, the Packers were off to the races.
And then that's only rivaled by the fifty eight or
the forty eight yarder that Romeo Dobbs had down the meals,
where again two defensive backs closing in on he makes
a catch a Packer's receiving cord that had to answer
a lot of questions after some of the drop issues
last year, really came through begging this one.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, well you want to you want to know the
confidence that Matt Lafleur has in his quarterback and in
this offense. Right after the Detroit Lions take almost ten
minutes off the clock. It's a ten to nothing game.
The Lions take almost ten minutes off the clock, methodically
marching down the field. The Packers get the stop in
the red zone, make them kick the field goal. It's
ten to three. Is Matt Lafleure worried about giving his
(16:34):
defense arrest? Nah, it's play action. Take the shot downfield
to Romeo forty eight yards and then the very next
play is the seventeen yard touchdown to Jayden Reid. Off
the rub route. Don Tavian Wicks gets the assist for
the for the screen, not making contact with the defender.
By the way, he did that absolutely textbook. Jayden Reid
catches it, so two plays sixty five yards right after
(16:57):
the Lions had gotten within ten to That makes it
seventeen to three, and the Lions never made it a
one score game again the rest of the way. Basically
from that middle of the second quarter, the rest of
the way, the Packers had had a multi score lead.
I thought Jordan Love was efficient and effective a couple
of plays there in the second half where he put
(17:18):
the ball in harm's way. Fortunately Angeloni dropped the one
and then the other one was wiped out by a penalty.
Unfortunately that that interception was the play that hurt Zach Tom. Yeah,
and we don't know his availability on a short week
for Thursday. He's listed with an oblique injury. It was
announced as a hip injury. Officially on the injury report,
(17:39):
it's listed as an oblique injury, So we'll see if
Tom can be out there. He was replaced by the
newcomer on the offensive line, Darien Kinnard, for the rest
of the of the rest of the third and fourth quarters. There,
Packers also lost left guard Aaron Banks to an ankle injury.
He got rolled up on. I saw it on the film.
He got rolled up on on Jacob's touchdown run, the
(18:00):
one that put the Packers up twenty four to six. There.
He was replaced by Jordan Morgan, the first round pick
from last year. He went into left guard to replace Banks,
So we'll see the status of the Packers offensive line.
But for as much as Josh Jacobs struggled running the
ball in the first half with just the eight yards
(18:20):
on six carries, Jacobs was a stud in pass protection,
just as Chris Brooks was. Those two guys put on
an absolute clinic in terms of how to pick up
blitzes and how to protect your quarterback. And then Jacobs
was able to grind out fifty eight yards in the
second half, which is pretty good production in two quarters
against that Detroit defense. So I thought, all in all,
(18:43):
when it was all said and done, when you look
at the opponent that you were playing, I thought the Packers'
offense had a pretty darn good solid day.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
That was a great sign too for Jacobs, because if
you remember from last year, he was one of the
league leaders, if not the league leader, in first half
rushing yards, but sometimes the second half was tougher for
the Packers to get their running games going. This game
was the polar opposite where once Detroit started finally having
to respect the past, that's where Jacobs started to eat
on the looks that he was getting in the second
half and he got some well earned, hard earned yards
(19:11):
as well. I really liked the response there where you
have the sack by Gary, you have nobody blocking Colby
Wooden at all and him getting it was funny, he said.
His coach, DeMarcus Covington even says, usually, you know, don't
sleep on the easy like basically the easy plays, like
(19:31):
when they're there, you got to make those two, and
he did in that case and was a one year
attackle for loss. So Jack Fox has to kick out
of his own end zone and Jayden Reid takes it
back twenty yards of thirty six and it was all
Josh shacops. After that, it was boom boom, boom boom boom, downhill,
running the entire way and they end up getting in
the end zone. Those are again, it just shows you
(19:54):
the various ways that the packers can beat you right
and moving the chains. I just felt like, by and large,
Green Bay is a more explosive offense than Detroit Detroit.
You know, as much as we kind of talk about
the checkdowns, this is the way they run offense, right
It It's not a surprise that Gibbs and Montgomery touched
(20:18):
the ball thirty four times. What's the surprise they had ninety.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Three total yards out right exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
But they are going to try to wear you down
and get to the sticks and run some slants and
you know, try to make big plays happen and basically
wait for you to have a breakdown like they did
with the Sam Laporta completions. Yeah, but by and large,
Green Bay's offense there's just so much more offensive firepower
to it. And I felt like in this game, when
you have that type of explosive potential mixed with protecting
(20:43):
the football, well, it allows you to accomplish what Greenbay accomplished.
I must say this though, because I want I want
to make sure I get the stat right. This is
one of the things you're very rarely going to see.
But it just shows you the way that this game
went thirty five twenty five to twenty four to thirty
five in total time of possesson almost ten more minutes
of total possession for the Lions. But green Bay's defense
(21:04):
just did not give up. Yeah, they did not wear down.
And even the pass rush, you can make a case
that being able to work some of those rotations allowed
them to stay fresh.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, a couple other things I need to say before
we move on. We both mentioned the forty eight yard
pass the big bomb down the field of Romeo Dobbs,
the longest catch of his career to date, by the way,
which is a nice accomplishment for him. But you know
how he got so open on that play, It's because
the safety bit down on the crossing route by Matthew Golden.
Matthew Golden had multiple guys on him on the crossing route,
(21:36):
and then Romeo's open on the deep one because the
other guy coming from the backside that just was way
too far away in all that kind couldn't and couldn't
help out the corner there.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
In all that consternation about Jordan Love's hand and everything
like that, he goes under center, runs a play action
and whips that ball out there too.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And we did all this talking about the defense, and
we barely mentioned Kway, Walker and Edger and Cooper who
were absolutely all over the field. I mean, it was
that was just fun to watch. I mean number seven,
number fifty six, those guys were flying around, they were
they were being kept clean by the guys in front
of him, but then they were also dodging the blockers.
(22:15):
I mean you could when when the Lions new center
at Graham Glasgow, he's, you know, he keeps trying to
get to the second level to block one of those
guys and they just they just go around him. They
make him miss. It was extremely frustrating for the Lions,
and uh and Cooper and Walker had a lot to
do with that. And then the guy who got the
new contract, the punter, Daniel Wheeland. I mean you could
(22:35):
hear the gasps in the crowd when he boomed those
couple of punts. I mean, my goodness. Now, obviously early
in the season when the weather is like that, we're
not surprised because we watched it all through training camp.
That's a that's what Wheeland looks like, certainly this time
of year. But but man, talk about walking out there
after signing your your brand new contract and showing what
(22:56):
you're worth.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
He hits such a beautiful all too. It almost looks
like an Aaron Rodgers hail Mary Wait, that's I mean,
like the spin on it when he's really going at
for He's not Aussie styling it like when he's really
getting after it. There was that one where I mean
it flipped the entire field, and it's something when you
get a fourteen yard returned. I think Detroit had on that,
(23:19):
but he kicked it so far. I think the net
was still almost fifty yards just based on how far
he took it. Now, this is what green Bay's been
building towards. They saw what it looked like when they
don't have their kicker right, when they don't have their
long snapper right, when they don't have their punter right.
They've gone through all of those transitions here over the
last ten years, in some shape or form. They found
a battery now with Levado extended, Wheeling extended, and the.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Three year deal. Orsick Orsick I said, Rick Levado, why
did I say brain went back a handful of years there?
My friend was sorry, I had to correct you live
on the show here.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Rick Clevado goes past even my time with Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I hope you're doing well.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Rick. I don't think he's in Philly anymore, but yeah, no,
I mean Matthew Orzech, Daniel Wheel and both of those
guys extended and Brandon McMahons getting the getting his own contract.
That group is together for the foreseeable future. And this
is a great example of what they're capable of.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, well, we do need to turn the page to
the Washington Commanders in week two and Thursday Night Football.
We'll do that in just a minute after we pay
some bills with some words from our sponsors. Serious XM
NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the
minute NFL news that true football fanatics need. Twenty four
to seven, three sixty five. At Cousin Subs, we have
(24:37):
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 official grill of
Packers tailgating at Lambeau or at your house. Take your
game day to the next level with a pit Boss
(24:58):
wood pellet grill pit Boss drills available at minards. Welcome
Back to Packers Unscripted West Week two Thursday Night Football
at lambeau Field. It is Green Bay against Washington, yet
another twenty twenty four playoff team coming to Green Bay
to face the Packers, and this Washington team coming off
(25:19):
of a twenty one to six victory at home over
the New York Giants and their openers. So both both
the Packers and the Commanders are one and one. And
any discussion of Washington, of course, starts with the young
quarterback Jaden Daniels, the high draft pick out of LSU.
He led Washington all the way to the NFC Championship
Game a year ago, and you know he's the guy
(25:41):
everybody's gonna have their eyes on when that ball kicks
off on Thursday night. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I mean his performance against the New York Giants really
showed again just the multitude of ways that he can
beat you and whether it is you know, with his feet,
with his arm. He's a complete football player. And there's
a reason why he had all the accolades that he
did his rookie season. I don't think anyone's going to
confuse the New York Giants with the juncture that they're
at right now, with where the Packers are at right
(26:06):
But that being said, Washington's going to be a team
that is going to stress Green Bay on both sides
of the ball. I thought Dan Campbell's defense had a
magnificent showing and again against the Giants in that game,
New York could not run the ball and Russell Wilson
we just got done talking about how Jared Goff basically
had to turn into just check downs and high percentage throws.
That was Russell Wilson for the entirety of that game
(26:27):
against Washington, just complete fits all over the place. Conversely,
Washington has a number of different running backs they can
turn to. Deebo Samuel now is in that offense and
was a featured target in that win over the Giants,
and Terry McLaurin with his new contract, you know, he's
the guy. So they've built this thing up around Jayden Daniel.
(26:47):
But the crazy thing about it is it's a very
old football team. They have a young quarterback and a
very veteran team around him. So it's an interesting little
paradox for where they're at.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, it's a little bit different mix of offensive weapons
in year two here for Daniels, because Terry McLaurin is back,
they have tight end zach Ertz. They have kind of
the all purpose weapon in Austin Eckler out of the backfield.
But you mentioned Deebo Samuel is in the mix for
them now and he got a rushing touchdown off of
an end around against the Giants. And then a new
(27:20):
rookie running back Jacory Krossky merritt if I'm saying that correctly,
he's the guy they're now turning to with Brian Robinson
Junior having left the Commanders after last season, So it
is a different It is a different mix of guys
on offense. Defensively for dan Quinn, it starts with those
two linebackers Wagner and Louvu in the middle of the field.
(27:43):
Now Washington's Washington's run defense last year was a liability
for them for a good portion of the year. I
can't remember exactly where they ended up ranked. I know
it wasn't very high. It was toward the bottom of
the league if I remember correctly. But you said it
that they seem to have have, you know, fixed it
(28:05):
a little bit of their run defense. I think the
Packers will challenge that run defense a bit more with
with Josh Jacobs the Giants, you know, they just never
got anything going offensively, and and you know they're already
hollering in New York about you know, ending the Russell
Wilson era and turning to the rookie Jackson Dart at
quarterback because because that performance was so frustrating. Whatever the
(28:27):
case might be there. But but this is what this
is a Washington team that was they were the they
were the playoff surprise, they were the underdog, the Cinderella
whatever you want to call him. Last year that uh,
that they were one of the last two standing in
the NFC before Philadelphia beat them and then went on
to win the whole thing. So this is this is
(28:48):
a Washington team now that's not gonna surprise anybody, and uh,
but it's a it's a team that believes in what
dan Quinn is doing and where they're going and uh
for you know, for Week two showdown, this is a
pretty big one here at Lambeau.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
It's a huge showdown by all means. By the way,
Washington was thirtieth in.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Rushing, thirtieth and run defense last year.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So there's that information.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, you're welcome, happy to provide it. Yeah, I mean, well, okay,
so so many different ways to take this. First and foremost,
this is a Washington team that feels like it should
be competing for a Super Bowl this year. I think
they feel like they were really close last year. They
took a lot of people by surprise, but they almost
were kind of like the Packers in twenty twenty three,
where I think when they got down the stretch and
you saw the type of quarterback Daniels was that they
(29:32):
could challenge right off the bat with the makeup of
that roster. Dan Quinn going in there, a guy with
a lot of pelts on the wall, somebody that had
a lot of success as a head coach in this
league kind of had to reinvent himself a little bit.
With a good defense in Dallas built around Micah Parsons yep.
For the last three years. In his case, all these
things have come into terms. But I think the secret sauce,
(29:53):
honestly for Washington was the fact that they got Cliff Kingsbury.
And Kingsbury it did not work out for him really
as a college head coach or the Arizona Cardinals head coach. Right,
but this is one of the premier offensive minds of
this game. Off of that Mike Leech coaching tree and
the air raid and everything that he does. It was
the perfect style of offense with Jayden Daniels. Now can
(30:13):
you build upon that? Can you take that next step?
That's the challenge for them this season. But it's an
exciting football team, and when you're talking about Thursday night football,
where it sometimes can just be roll the ball out
there and see how this thing looks. Yea, The Arizona
Cardinals are built for that kind of matchup. So part
of me is a little bit sad that it has
to be this way. I'm glad it's a primetime matchup.
(30:34):
Everyone's going to be able to chance to see it.
But this would have been a great Sunday night football,
Monday night football game, you know, when you get the
full preparation week Sometimes historically those Thursday night games have
been you know, a ten or fifteen win team against
a three win team. A lot of times, this is
a great matchup for Week two football, but there's just
so many variables to it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah, well, keys to victory for green Bay, for me
the best way I can crystallize it or sum it
up in my mind as I think the two keys
to victory are one thing that the Packers did really
well against Detroit and then one thing they would like
to do better. The one thing they did really well
against Detroit obviously was they just didn't allow any big plays,
(31:15):
and I think that has to continue against Washington. Now
there's a different way you have to do it because
of Jayden Daniels and his threat in terms of the
off schedule plays and being able to be able to run,
make plays out of the pocket, get you know, first
downs with his legs, all of that kind of stuff,
but keeping a lid on the big plays that'll work
(31:37):
against any team in this league and give you a
really good chance to win. And on the other side,
I was talking about Washington's run defense being you know,
struggling for them last year. I don't think the Giants
really challenged them in that regard, and the Packers did
get off to obviously a slow start with the running
game against the Lions because Detroit was really selling out
to stop the run. It would be great to see
(31:57):
Josh Jacobs get going early this and and for Green
Bay to really establish that from the get go. So
those are the two things that jump out at me
as far as keys to victory.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I thought one of the things we didn't talk about
in the first segment, but it's gonna be very important
for Green Bay this season is giving Jordan Love the
amount of time in which he had to work with
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah, the pass protection. It wasn't just the running backs
that we were talking about. The pass protection for Jordan
Love on Sunday against the Lions was absolutely outstanding. You
could he was. He was bouncing on both feet there
in the pocket, surveying the field on a number of
throws and uh and yeah, you'd love for that to continue.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
If the tongue's out and he's bouncing in the pocket,
good things are gonna.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Happen, Yeah for the Packers.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
But the reason I bring that up, Tucker Craft was
saying after the game, I mean, there are some good
pass rushers for Washington. They may not have that, you know,
Micah Parsons type guy. I mean, obviously von Miller has
the name, but I mean he's an older player now,
but you know, you look at like Frankie Luvu. I mean,
this is one of the great stories in the National
Football League. A guy that was an undrafted free agent
(32:59):
that had kind of his way up the depth chart
and then finally becomes a second team All Pro in
Washington and now is becoming one of their faces of
that franchise. We'll have to see, as you talked about
early on, what this offensive line looks like for Green Bay.
If you don't have Zach Tom available here on this
short week, that is a significant loss. He's arguably the
best right tackle in the game right now. Just watch
(33:21):
the film of when he was on the field last
week against Detroit and what he was doing, shutting down,
shutting down Hutchinson and company. If he's not out there,
now you have a guy potentially in Darien Kinard who's
been here sort of like Malik Willis.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Last year to hear a couple weeks, a matter of weeks.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
That potentially could be in that spot, or Anthony Belton.
However they sorted out be that as it made. There's
a reason why Zach Tom got the contract that he did,
and for as much rotation as they've done with Jordan Morgan,
most of it's been at the guard spots and left tackle,
so That's the one thing to watch in this matchup
is if Green Bay can give Jordan Love that type
(33:58):
of pocket to work with again. Last week it showed
what he can do with it.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, I wish we had
more time to talk about the other results in Week one.
I'll just throw a couple of things out there, and
if you want to say something, you can. Otherwise we
can make life easier on our producer, Hannah and get
the heck out of here.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
But I got a couple of things to say. Hand,
I'm sorry, wherever you're at. I'm sorry, Hanna. I'm gonna
I'm gonna talk for a minute.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
But we saw we saw a couple of quite frankly
ridiculous comebacks with the Buffalo Bills coming back to beat
the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football and then the
Minnesota Vikings in Chicago coming back to beat the Bears.
I will just say this that those games are a
(34:43):
reminder of how important it is to be able to
finish a game in this league. The Baltimore Ravens, they
dominated the Buffalo Bills for three and a half quarters
in Buffalo, they couldn't finish the deal. And the Chicago
Bears were playing at home with their new head coach
(35:05):
in the first game and all this, and they dominated
the Minnesota Vikings for three quarters, but they couldn't put
them away. They couldn't finish the deal, and they're just
there isn't that much of a difference in talent inability
in most of the teams in this league. If you
are not able to put somebody away, they will take
(35:28):
you to the wire, yep. And anybody that can take
you to the wire can beat you. And we saw
that happen in both of those primetime games. The last
couple nights.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
You and I have talked ad nauseam about the Bills
and Ravens. We previewed it last week and certainly added
some really unique anecdotes and factoids with that victory and
that comeback fashion that the Bills had.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
But what I want to focus on is the Minnesota
Vikings because I thought JJ McCarthy showed something the second half.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Well, there's no doubt he did.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
There was a point in that game, Michael, where they
had negative yet net passing yardage. There was a stat
that people were throwing out there that if you'd have
just dirted the ball every single time, they would have
had more passing yardage than what they had.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Through the first two quarters.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
I believe it was the young man responded, and it's
always interesting when you see guys who are trying to
learn on the fly, which is what the Vikings are
committed to this season with McCarthy. He made the adjustments
and you can see why this guy has been a
winner at every level that he's played. This game and
the Chicago Bears, to your point, gave them way too
much breathing room in addition to compounding some errors at
(36:32):
the end. The Minnesota Vikings showed why they were a
team that surprised a lot of people last year. While
I felt like a lot of the window dressing has
changed in Chicago, they still found a way to lose
a game in a similar fashion to the Matt Aberflus era.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
If that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. I mean I saw
a statistic that the Bears have now lost four games
in the last four years in which they had a
double digit lead in the fourth quarter. It's it's got
to be incredibly frustrating for their fans and that game,
that game last night, there is not a soul in
(37:08):
America who thought at the end of the third quarter
that the Bears, especially playing at home, that they were
gonna let that one get away with their new head
coach in his first game, and they did. You have
to be able to finish games in this league. That's
why you know Packers are up seventeen to six for
seauan Gary getting a sack by the goal line and
(37:29):
then the offense taking the good field position pounding the
ball into the end zone. That's how you finish a
team off in this league. And neither neither the Ravens
nor the Bears were able to do that. It made
for some incredibly entertaining football, but a couple of pretty incredible,
gut punch losses for a couple of teams to start
their season.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
And if I may say this too, we didn't get
a chance to watch it because of us getting ready
for our own game, but I did go back and
watch a lot of the clips of the Steelers Jets matchup.
He's not the old Gunslinger, but he is the old
General and Aaron Rodgers put on a vintage performance in
that many years ago. When people were asking me about
Rogers playing into his forties. I remember saying the twenty
(38:11):
fourteen season the end of it, even though obviously everyone
thinks about how it ended. The way that Rogers had
to play with the CAF injury is what gave me
confidence that he was going to be able to play
deep into his career because when he was stationary in
the pocket, he could still operate. Not the same type
of player, but he could still operate in a lot
of ways that most quarterbacks can't. He was cerebral in
(38:31):
this game, and he maximized the talent of the playmakers
around him. And when you look at Aaron Rodgers' history,
that's what he's known for now. Obviously he was going
to be motivated going back into that stadium facing that opponent,
But it gave me a feeling again that this guy
still has something left in the basement.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Oh yeah, yeah. And I'll say one last thing on
Week one two, it was a reminder for everyone out
there how important it is to have a kicker in
this lee. Yeah, because Cleveland's young kicker, that five million
dollar kicker in Atlanta, and then you look at Chris
Boswell the Pittsburgh Do you hear what Mike Tomlin said
(39:13):
about him after called him a serial killer, said he's
got he's got the low pulse rate of a serial killer.
Sixty yarder on the road to get Aaron Rodgers. That
that victory, Man, I tell you there's there is there is.
There is no overstating the value of a clutch, reliable
(39:34):
kicker in this league.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
And Boswell to do that at this juncture his career too. Yeah,
I mean he is not a young kicker now, he's
been in Pittsburgh a long time.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Well, and and and even just uh, I mean Minnesota's
kicker hitting that fifty nine yard er at the end
of the first half when the Vikings had nothing going
for him, those three points turned out to be pretty big,
and McCarthy even mentioned after the game. JJ McCarthy of
course that the pass that he hit to set up
the long you'll go right at the end of the
first half, he felt that was the play that kind
(40:03):
of got him going. He went into the locker room
feeling like, yeah, all right, I can do this, you know,
we can win this game kind of thing. And if
will Record misses that fifty nine yarder at the end
of the first half, who knows where the Vikings heads
are as they go into the locker room, they get
Soldier Field.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
So and then look at Matt Prater too. Right, it's right,
he didn't have to make a fifty nine yard or
any of those. But I mean, this is a guy
that had to come in last minute, forty one years old,
kind of got tossed to the side by Arizona and
still making things happen.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, he has to fill in for Tyler Bass in
Buffalo and then he gets carried off the field by
his teammates pretty so yeah. Wow what a week one
and week two is already upon us. Packers and Commanders
on Thursday Night football at lambeau Field. We got to
sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted, but be
sure to continue to follow all of our coverage of
the team and everything from the big game against Washington.
(40:50):
We'll have a four 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 Spofford, joined as always
by my partner in everything, Packers, Wes Hodkowitz. Coming to
you hear from our studios at Lambeufield and Wes. We
have a lot of ground to cover on this show
because it is Week two already in the NFL. It
is a short week for the Packers, so we kind
(00:26):
of have to cram two shows into one here, which
is to review week one in preview week two. So
we'll jump right into the twenty seven to thirteen victory
over the Lions at Lambeoufield to open the twenty twenty
five season. And when you talk about this game, I
think it starts with the performance by the Packers defense.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So this is a big game on Thursday night against
the Washington Commanders. Yes, it is, and we will obviously
get into that. We'll talk about it. Everyone's gonna want
to turn the page, take a moment to enjoy this
win for the Packers over the Detroit Lions, though, because
there were so many things in play here for Green Bay,
the fact that they did go one in five against
(01:08):
the NFC North last year, the fact that they have
had some troubles here in the past few seasons with
the Detroit Lions. But this game in particular, I thought,
and I think I wrote it. I can't remember if
I kept it in my inbox or not, but I'm
gonna say it now.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
One of the most impressive victories I think in the
post Aaron Rodgers era, the Jordan Love era, because Green Bay,
on both sides of the ball and special teams, but
on offense and defense, imposed its will against a team
that had been known for its physicality. If you look
at that defensive performance, as you outlined, everybody was questioning
(01:45):
whether or not they could stop the run withol Kenny Clark.
What was going to happen in that capacity? Detroit has
forty six rushing yards. People were wondering, Okay, what is
Michael Parson's going to bring to this place? In addition
to the fact that he had this overwhelming ovation at
the start of the football game, last guy out of
the tunnel, Michael Parsons comes in the game and gets
a pressure on his first snap. Every single one of
(02:07):
his plays was impactful. It affected the game in some
shape or fashion. But the three pressures, a two yard
checked down for a loss, a sack in an interception
for Evan Williams. I want to just make this real
quick point that you could take it wherever you want
(02:28):
to go. His chasing down of Jared Goff. I understand
there's a lot of haters out there from Dallas are
like what was in the fourth quarter of the game
is in hand. Him chasing down Jared Goff was a
moment more than it was just a play. That's the
type of thing that you make NFL films highlight reels
out of. And for Packer fans, the way they responded that,
(02:50):
the way the Packers sideline responded to it. Michael, this
was a very important game, seventeen more weeks, sixteen more games,
trying to win a Super Bowl here. But in terms
of making a first impression, by golly, the Micah Parsons
era got off to a good start.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, And I'm glad you mentioned those other plays before
you mentioned the sack that Parsons got, because his impact
on this game was undeniable, even though he technically didn't
have a tackle or a sack on the stat sheet
until late in the ballgame. And I like what you
(03:27):
said as well about that sack, the chasing down of
golf being a moment because you and yes, you expected
the crowd to react that way. But when you look
at the replay of that, look at how that Packer's
sideline reacted. They knew that he had had a big
time impact in that game, in his limited snaps, in
(03:47):
a part time role in this game. But every single
guy on that sideline also wanted him to have his
moment in his debut in Green Bay in front of
the home fans. It was important and for this defense collectively,
because this really was about the collective. It was shutting
down that two headed monster of Gibbs and Montgomery. It
(04:07):
was not allowing Jared Goff to even challenge the Packers
downfield with the passing game. I mean, other than a
couple catches by Sam Laporta with a little bit of
coverage bust in there, there just wasn't a threat downfield.
Jared Goff was just playing dink and dunkin check down
the entire game. He completed over thirty passes in the
game and barely got over two hundred yards. The collective,
(04:32):
I mean to hold, to hold the number one scoring
offense in the league last year. Out of the end
zone for fifty nine minutes out of the sixty minutes
of this game was a remarkable and an impressive effort.
And you can't say enough. You can't say enough about
how the Packers' defense came to play in this ballgame.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
No, it was immediate, and you know, I was talking
with Kobe Wooden in the locker room afterwards, talking to
a lot of guys and the Packers defense. You could
tell there's a chip on his shoulder, because yes, Michael
Parsons is a really good football player, one of the
very best defenders in this league. But Packers defense felt
(05:16):
like it was pretty good too, even before that trade
and whatever the outside noise was about, you know, how
this was going to affect their run game, or what
the domino effect was, or how the cornerbacks were going
to react. Now that Jyry Alexander's gone and Nate Hobbs
is there, and Hobbs is inactive for this game, I
feel like last year we just everybody took for granted
(05:37):
the fact that Jeff Haffley adapted so well to what
the circumstances were with injuries, with what the strengths were
of his players to be able to maneuver around and
change the chess board and ultimately have the defense they did.
But then you see a game like this and you
realize when they have more of those guys available, when
you have Lucas Vans in year three doing some inside
(05:59):
concepts passing downs. Rashaun Gary was exceptional in this game too,
creating some of his own plays and also showing at
times what he can do when he gets one on ones.
I just there's a quote that Tuckerkraft said afterwards, because
we were talking about the magnitude of the victory and
he said, you know, I'd never beaten the Lions at Lambeufield. Michael,
(06:20):
there was a time where the Packers beat the Lions
twenty four straight years at lambeau Field. And there's a
new generation of Packer players that hadn't experienced that yet.
Because of the trajectory that the Lions had been on
in the Packers being a young football team, they were
hungry and there was a fire in their belly to
meet that challenge. I think on both sides of the ball,
but defensively, after what the Lions did last season and
(06:43):
how efficient they were to completely rattle them and take
Golf out of his game, to stop the running game,
to really minimize the impact of amen Aros Saint Brown.
That was probably the most encouraging thing of all. It
showed that the Packers aren't just a team that's going
to be able to win here in the NFC and
hopefully make another playoff run. But this was a statement
victory that they are one of these top teams in
(07:04):
this conference.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah. I thought Jared Goff never looked particularly comfortable in
the pocket in this game, and that's saying something based
on how those two games against the Lions went last year,
when it looked like he wasn't bothered by anything. And
I honestly thought when Micah Parsons was in the game,
it sort of looked like Jared Goff kind of had
his eye on Parsons. You know, his eyes were almost
(07:26):
dropping to where Parsons might have been coming from, you know,
in the pass rush. Those types of things are, you know,
such a switch from when the Packers faced the Lions
last year. The other thing I really liked about a
couple other things I really liked about this defensive effort
is when you in reviewing the film of this game,
you look at the plays that Parsons was not on
(07:46):
the field, the front four, and there were some rotations,
but the front four of the Packers generally went with
was Vaness and Gary on the edges and DeVante White
and Colby Wooden as the interior tack and that front four,
every single one of those guys had multiple moments, multiple
(08:07):
areas of impact. I thought probably the two guys that
stood out the most, and this is hard to say,
when Rashan Gary had maybe the most important sack of
the game being backed by the goal line, which is
you know, which then set up the touchdown to seal
the game. But the two that jumped out at me
the most on the film in terms of the volume
of plays where they just where they showed up or wouldn't.
(08:27):
In van Ness and we saw Kolbe wouldn't have his
best training camp in his three year NFL career to date,
and it's tremendous to see that carry over right away
into the into the first game of the season. And
then Lucas Vanes this is this is a young man
who's you can see it, he's just starting to come
into his own right and he's been under a lot
(08:49):
of pressure. He's taken a lot of heat for being
a first round pick and not having that impact in
the first two years that everybody hopes from a first
round pick and all that he's had to wear, that
he's had to deal with. He's also had to fight
through some injuries he's had to you know, he's been
a pro about it all the way along. And this
is a young guy who's not going to stand in
front of the cameras and say, you know, I told
(09:10):
you so or anything like that. But the combination Lucas
van Neess with Rashan Gary, with Micah Parsons and maybe
where this thing is going defensively is really exciting.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, and in Parsons put a pretty lofty comparison out
there with with Vanas saying that he's told him that
he could be a camera away, could Julius Peppers type,
And obviously that goes without saying I mean those are
especially in Pepper's case, I mean, that's one of the
best players of his generation. But again, as I wrote
in our Insider Inbox column, you can see what he's
referring to though, because this was the first game where
(09:42):
we got to really see Lucasfanass rushing inside in some
of these third down passing situations. They called the package Cheetah.
It has a lot of parallels to what Dom Capers
was doing with NASCAR in the mid twenty tens, where
you're rushing, you're outside linebackers at the edges, but then
you're also having a third one inside at the three
tech position. And that's where Vanessa ended up getting his
(10:04):
half sack from in this game. And that was what
was sort of a staple for Julius Peppers when he
was here. They call it the Elephant at first when
he got here in fourteen, where those early downs he's outside,
and then when it comes to third downs, a lot
of times he's going to be at the three tech
And they had Mike Neil or Nick Perry at the
other edgeressing.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And we saw Mike Petton do it with Zadarius Smith
as well in twenty nineteen when he first got here
and all that. So it's certainly something we've seen before,
but with a young player, with a third year guy
and a guy who you know who seems to be,
you know, really making the progress that the Packers are
hoping for. It looks really promising for number ninety out there.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah it does, and you know, still twenty four and
still a lot in front of him right now. But
Green Bay has all these outside linebackers right now. Now we'll
have to see exactly what happens with Breton Cox junior.
He left with a groin injury, but Baron Sorel's coming
back from the neither six outside linebackers on this roster
for Greenbay at the moment, and you have Colin Oliver
on the pup list, the fifth round pick out of
(11:06):
Oklahoma State, So a multitude of guys that can be utilized,
but the body types just span the entire horizon here,
where you have guys like Oliver and Parsons who are
more in that two point fifty range and guys like
Gary and Vaness that are pushing to seventy five to eighty.
So a lot of different ways you can use them,
but I think the most encouraging thing is seeing how
(11:27):
they were used in tandem right where you had DeVante
why get involved with the pass rush game, and then obviously,
as you already alluded to, Colby Wooden being the guy
that kind of took over those early downsnaps that Kenny
Clark was seeing.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, well, a couple of statistics to talk about that
on the defensive side that really illustrated how this went.
And then we'll obviously move on to some other things.
But red zone. Packers got two stops in the red
zone that led to that forced field goals, and then
another stop in the red zone with Evan Williams interception
which came off of the came off of the Parsons pressure,
(12:00):
and obviously stopping the Lions in the red zone had
been an issue for a couple of years here for
Green Bay, so that was big. The other thing, and
I've actually got a whole statistical analysis of this up
on Packers dot com today if you want to check
it out. That Gibbs Montgomery running back duo. They touched
the ball thirty four times in this game, and in
(12:22):
those thirty four touches they did not get to one
hundred yards. They had ninety three yards on thirty four touches.
That's a two point seven average. Wes and I look
back gibbson Montgomery last year for the number one scoring
offense in the league in combining for over three thousand
yards from scrimmage. The two of them, they averaged five
point eight yards every time they touched the ball. The
(12:45):
Packers held them to less than half of that two
point seven when they got the ball on thirty four
out of sixty five plays. They got the ball on
more than half of Detroit's plays, and their output was
less than half of what they're accustomed to. So that
numbers wise, that just illustrates what the Packers did defensively.
(13:06):
And there were six tackles for loss against those two
running backs against Gibbson Montgomery in this game. But we
also need to talk about the offense because we talked
about it. Lafleur talked about it, the players talked about
in the locker room. Getting off to a fast start,
and the Packers lost the coin toss, the Lions decided
to defer. They gave the Packers the ball first, and
(13:28):
Jordan Love and company went eighty three yards down the
field for an opening touchdown and then continued that by
tacking on a field goal and then a quick strike
touchdown seventeen points in the first three possessions to take
control of this game. That type of fast start is
exactly what the Packers were looking for and they got.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It, and nine different players caught a pass in those drives. Yeah,
sometimes the best offense and plan is the one in
which you've mastered right for a number of years now,
and this has been one of the big strikes of
this Green Bay offense for so long. Even though now
you do add Matthew Golden into the mix and Luke
Musgrave is back. Multitude of different ways you can take
(14:07):
this thing. The Josh Jacobs factor, I thought was the
main headline on the offensive side of the ball, and
we were talking with them in the locker room afterwards.
I mean that the Detroit Lions are historically are going
to be a team that wants to try to play
that single high look. I thought they put that on
the extreme in this matchup. They were doing everything they
could with loading the box early on to stop Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
They were selling out. They were selling out against the run,
there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And really putting it on, you know, Jordan Love and
the receivers to take it and they did. I mean,
with Jacob's only having eight rushing yards in the first half.
This thing came down to Jordan Love converting some third
and long situations early and they came through.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
This is such a small thing, but did you get
a chance to watch There's been some clips on Twitter
that first big passing play, the twenty yarder to Romeo Romeo.
Did you see the pass protection on that? Oh yeah,
I'm telling you this right now, folks. Josh or excuse me,
Chris Brooks is going to play in the National Football
League for a long long time if he's healthy. I've
(15:09):
never seen anything like this before where he not only
picks up the linebacker who's blitzing, he ends up getting
the stunt picked up too. How many running backs can
do that? They had their edge rusher running a stunt
and Josh Brooks stands up to it, and because of
the way that the defense was orientated, Jordan Love had
all day to find Romeo Dobbs, so to go twelve
(15:32):
plays eighty three yards. You have the little extracurricular stuff
that happens at the end of the drive where Brian
Branch rips off Tucker Craft's helmet in the middle of
an engaged block, whips it to the sideline, and three
plays later, Kraft catches one of the most beautiful pass
in catch combinations. You're gonna see down the scene in
the National Football League, completely undeterred. Kraft comes through at
(15:55):
that ball, and yeah, the Packers were off to the races.
And then that's only rivaled by the fifty eight or
the forty eight yarder that Romeo Dobbs had down the meals,
where again two defensive backs closing in on he makes
a catch a Packer's receiving cord that had to answer
a lot of questions after some of the drop issues
last year, really came through begging this one.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, well you want to you want to know the
confidence that Matt Lafleur has in his quarterback and in
this offense. Right after the Detroit Lions take almost ten
minutes off the clock. It's a ten to nothing game.
The Lions take almost ten minutes off the clock, methodically
marching down the field. The Packers get the stop in
the red zone, make them kick the field goal. It's
ten to three. Is Matt Lafleure worried about giving his
(16:34):
defense arrest? Nah, it's play action. Take the shot downfield
to Romeo forty eight yards and then the very next
play is the seventeen yard touchdown to Jayden Reid. Off
the rub route. Don Tavian Wicks gets the assist for
the for the screen, not making contact with the defender.
By the way, he did that absolutely textbook. Jayden Reid
catches it, so two plays sixty five yards right after
(16:57):
the Lions had gotten within ten to That makes it
seventeen to three, and the Lions never made it a
one score game again the rest of the way. Basically
from that middle of the second quarter, the rest of
the way, the Packers had had a multi score lead.
I thought Jordan Love was efficient and effective a couple
of plays there in the second half where he put
(17:18):
the ball in harm's way. Fortunately Angeloni dropped the one
and then the other one was wiped out by a penalty.
Unfortunately that that interception was the play that hurt Zach Tom. Yeah,
and we don't know his availability on a short week
for Thursday. He's listed with an oblique injury. It was
announced as a hip injury. Officially on the injury report,
(17:39):
it's listed as an oblique injury, So we'll see if
Tom can be out there. He was replaced by the
newcomer on the offensive line, Darien Kinnard, for the rest
of the of the rest of the third and fourth quarters. There,
Packers also lost left guard Aaron Banks to an ankle injury.
He got rolled up on. I saw it on the film.
He got rolled up on on Jacob's touchdown run, the
(18:00):
one that put the Packers up twenty four to six. There.
He was replaced by Jordan Morgan, the first round pick
from last year. He went into left guard to replace Banks,
So we'll see the status of the Packers offensive line.
But for as much as Josh Jacobs struggled running the
ball in the first half with just the eight yards
(18:20):
on six carries, Jacobs was a stud in pass protection,
just as Chris Brooks was. Those two guys put on
an absolute clinic in terms of how to pick up
blitzes and how to protect your quarterback. And then Jacobs
was able to grind out fifty eight yards in the
second half, which is pretty good production in two quarters
against that Detroit defense. So I thought, all in all,
(18:43):
when it was all said and done, when you look
at the opponent that you were playing, I thought the Packers'
offense had a pretty darn good solid day.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
That was a great sign too for Jacobs, because if
you remember from last year, he was one of the
league leaders, if not the league leader, in first half
rushing yards, but sometimes the second half was tougher for
the Packers to get their running games going. This game
was the polar opposite where once Detroit started finally having
to respect the past, that's where Jacobs started to eat
on the looks that he was getting in the second
half and he got some well earned, hard earned yards
(19:11):
as well. I really liked the response there where you
have the sack by Gary, you have nobody blocking Colby
Wooden at all and him getting it was funny, he said.
His coach, DeMarcus Covington even says, usually, you know, don't
sleep on the easy like basically the easy plays, like
(19:31):
when they're there, you got to make those two, and
he did in that case and was a one year
attackle for loss. So Jack Fox has to kick out
of his own end zone and Jayden Reid takes it
back twenty yards of thirty six and it was all
Josh shacops. After that, it was boom boom, boom boom boom, downhill,
running the entire way and they end up getting in
the end zone. Those are again, it just shows you
(19:54):
the various ways that the packers can beat you right
and moving the chains. I just felt like, by and large,
Green Bay is a more explosive offense than Detroit Detroit.
You know, as much as we kind of talk about
the checkdowns, this is the way they run offense, right
It It's not a surprise that Gibbs and Montgomery touched
(20:18):
the ball thirty four times. What's the surprise they had ninety.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Three total yards out right exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
But they are going to try to wear you down
and get to the sticks and run some slants and
you know, try to make big plays happen and basically
wait for you to have a breakdown like they did
with the Sam Laporta completions. Yeah, but by and large,
Green Bay's offense there's just so much more offensive firepower
to it. And I felt like in this game, when
you have that type of explosive potential mixed with protecting
(20:43):
the football, well, it allows you to accomplish what Greenbay accomplished.
I must say this though, because I want I want
to make sure I get the stat right. This is
one of the things you're very rarely going to see.
But it just shows you the way that this game
went thirty five twenty five to twenty four to thirty
five in total time of possesson almost ten more minutes
of total possession for the Lions. But green Bay's defense
(21:04):
just did not give up. Yeah, they did not wear down.
And even the pass rush, you can make a case
that being able to work some of those rotations allowed
them to stay fresh.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, a couple other things I need to say before
we move on. We both mentioned the forty eight yard
pass the big bomb down the field of Romeo Dobbs,
the longest catch of his career to date, by the way,
which is a nice accomplishment for him. But you know
how he got so open on that play, It's because
the safety bit down on the crossing route by Matthew Golden.
Matthew Golden had multiple guys on him on the crossing route,
(21:36):
and then Romeo's open on the deep one because the
other guy coming from the backside that just was way
too far away in all that kind couldn't and couldn't
help out the corner there.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
In all that consternation about Jordan Love's hand and everything
like that, he goes under center, runs a play action
and whips that ball out there too.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And we did all this talking about the defense, and
we barely mentioned Kway, Walker and Edger and Cooper who
were absolutely all over the field. I mean, it was
that was just fun to watch. I mean number seven,
number fifty six, those guys were flying around, they were
they were being kept clean by the guys in front
of him, but then they were also dodging the blockers.
(22:15):
I mean you could when when the Lions new center
at Graham Glasgow, he's, you know, he keeps trying to
get to the second level to block one of those
guys and they just they just go around him. They
make him miss. It was extremely frustrating for the Lions,
and uh and Cooper and Walker had a lot to
do with that. And then the guy who got the
new contract, the punter, Daniel Wheeland. I mean you could
(22:35):
hear the gasps in the crowd when he boomed those
couple of punts. I mean, my goodness. Now, obviously early
in the season when the weather is like that, we're
not surprised because we watched it all through training camp.
That's a that's what Wheeland looks like, certainly this time
of year. But but man, talk about walking out there
after signing your your brand new contract and showing what
(22:56):
you're worth.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
He hits such a beautiful all too. It almost looks
like an Aaron Rodgers hail Mary Wait, that's I mean,
like the spin on it when he's really going at
for He's not Aussie styling it like when he's really
getting after it. There was that one where I mean
it flipped the entire field, and it's something when you
get a fourteen yard returned. I think Detroit had on that,
(23:19):
but he kicked it so far. I think the net
was still almost fifty yards just based on how far
he took it. Now, this is what green Bay's been
building towards. They saw what it looked like when they
don't have their kicker right, when they don't have their
long snapper right, when they don't have their punter right.
They've gone through all of those transitions here over the
last ten years, in some shape or form. They found
a battery now with Levado extended, Wheeling extended, and the.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Three year deal. Orsick Orsick I said, Rick Levado, why
did I say brain went back a handful of years there?
My friend was sorry, I had to correct you live
on the show here.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Rick Clevado goes past even my time with Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I hope you're doing well.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Rick. I don't think he's in Philly anymore, but yeah, no,
I mean Matthew Orzech, Daniel Wheel and both of those
guys extended and Brandon McMahons getting the getting his own contract.
That group is together for the foreseeable future. And this
is a great example of what they're capable of.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, well, we do need to turn the page to
the Washington Commanders in week two and Thursday Night Football.
We'll do that in just a minute after we pay
some bills with some words from our sponsors. Serious XM
NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the
minute NFL news that true football fanatics need. Twenty four
to seven, three sixty five. At Cousin Subs, we have
(24:37):
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 official grill of
Packers tailgating at Lambeau or at your house. Take your
game day to the next level with a pit Boss
(24:58):
wood pellet grill pit Boss drills available at minards. Welcome
Back to Packers Unscripted West Week two Thursday Night Football
at lambeau Field. It is Green Bay against Washington, yet
another twenty twenty four playoff team coming to Green Bay
to face the Packers, and this Washington team coming off
(25:19):
of a twenty one to six victory at home over
the New York Giants and their openers. So both both
the Packers and the Commanders are one and one. And
any discussion of Washington, of course, starts with the young
quarterback Jaden Daniels, the high draft pick out of LSU.
He led Washington all the way to the NFC Championship
Game a year ago, and you know he's the guy
(25:41):
everybody's gonna have their eyes on when that ball kicks
off on Thursday night. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I mean his performance against the New York Giants really
showed again just the multitude of ways that he can
beat you and whether it is you know, with his feet,
with his arm. He's a complete football player. And there's
a reason why he had all the accolades that he
did his rookie season. I don't think anyone's going to
confuse the New York Giants with the juncture that they're
at right now, with where the Packers are at right
(26:06):
But that being said, Washington's going to be a team
that is going to stress Green Bay on both sides
of the ball. I thought Dan Campbell's defense had a
magnificent showing and again against the Giants in that game,
New York could not run the ball and Russell Wilson
we just got done talking about how Jared Goff basically
had to turn into just check downs and high percentage throws.
That was Russell Wilson for the entirety of that game
(26:27):
against Washington, just complete fits all over the place. Conversely,
Washington has a number of different running backs they can
turn to. Deebo Samuel now is in that offense and
was a featured target in that win over the Giants,
and Terry McLaurin with his new contract, you know, he's
the guy. So they've built this thing up around Jayden Daniel.
(26:47):
But the crazy thing about it is it's a very
old football team. They have a young quarterback and a
very veteran team around him. So it's an interesting little
paradox for where they're at.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, it's a little bit different mix of offensive weapons
in year two here for Daniels, because Terry McLaurin is back,
they have tight end zach Ertz. They have kind of
the all purpose weapon in Austin Eckler out of the backfield.
But you mentioned Deebo Samuel is in the mix for
them now and he got a rushing touchdown off of
an end around against the Giants. And then a new
(27:20):
rookie running back Jacory Krossky merritt if I'm saying that correctly,
he's the guy they're now turning to with Brian Robinson
Junior having left the Commanders after last season, So it
is a different It is a different mix of guys
on offense. Defensively for dan Quinn, it starts with those
two linebackers Wagner and Louvu in the middle of the field.
(27:43):
Now Washington's Washington's run defense last year was a liability
for them for a good portion of the year. I
can't remember exactly where they ended up ranked. I know
it wasn't very high. It was toward the bottom of
the league if I remember correctly. But you said it
that they seem to have have, you know, fixed it
(28:05):
a little bit of their run defense. I think the
Packers will challenge that run defense a bit more with
with Josh Jacobs the Giants, you know, they just never
got anything going offensively, and and you know they're already
hollering in New York about you know, ending the Russell
Wilson era and turning to the rookie Jackson Dart at
quarterback because because that performance was so frustrating. Whatever the
(28:27):
case might be there. But but this is what this
is a Washington team that was they were the they
were the playoff surprise, they were the underdog, the Cinderella
whatever you want to call him. Last year that uh,
that they were one of the last two standing in
the NFC before Philadelphia beat them and then went on
to win the whole thing. So this is this is
(28:48):
a Washington team now that's not gonna surprise anybody, and uh,
but it's a it's a team that believes in what
dan Quinn is doing and where they're going and uh
for you know, for Week two showdown, this is a
pretty big one here at Lambeau.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
It's a huge showdown by all means. By the way,
Washington was thirtieth in.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Rushing, thirtieth and run defense last year.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So there's that information.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, you're welcome, happy to provide it. Yeah, I mean, well, okay,
so so many different ways to take this. First and foremost,
this is a Washington team that feels like it should
be competing for a Super Bowl this year. I think
they feel like they were really close last year. They
took a lot of people by surprise, but they almost
were kind of like the Packers in twenty twenty three,
where I think when they got down the stretch and
you saw the type of quarterback Daniels was that they
(29:32):
could challenge right off the bat with the makeup of
that roster. Dan Quinn going in there, a guy with
a lot of pelts on the wall, somebody that had
a lot of success as a head coach in this
league kind of had to reinvent himself a little bit.
With a good defense in Dallas built around Micah Parsons yep.
For the last three years. In his case, all these
things have come into terms. But I think the secret sauce,
(29:53):
honestly for Washington was the fact that they got Cliff Kingsbury.
And Kingsbury it did not work out for him really
as a college head coach or the Arizona Cardinals head coach. Right,
but this is one of the premier offensive minds of
this game. Off of that Mike Leech coaching tree and
the air raid and everything that he does. It was
the perfect style of offense with Jayden Daniels. Now can
(30:13):
you build upon that? Can you take that next step?
That's the challenge for them this season. But it's an
exciting football team, and when you're talking about Thursday night football,
where it sometimes can just be roll the ball out
there and see how this thing looks. Yea, The Arizona
Cardinals are built for that kind of matchup. So part
of me is a little bit sad that it has
to be this way. I'm glad it's a primetime matchup.
(30:34):
Everyone's going to be able to chance to see it.
But this would have been a great Sunday night football,
Monday night football game, you know, when you get the
full preparation week Sometimes historically those Thursday night games have
been you know, a ten or fifteen win team against
a three win team. A lot of times, this is
a great matchup for Week two football, but there's just
so many variables to it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah, well, keys to victory for green Bay, for me
the best way I can crystallize it or sum it
up in my mind as I think the two keys
to victory are one thing that the Packers did really
well against Detroit and then one thing they would like
to do better. The one thing they did really well
against Detroit obviously was they just didn't allow any big plays,
(31:15):
and I think that has to continue against Washington. Now
there's a different way you have to do it because
of Jayden Daniels and his threat in terms of the
off schedule plays and being able to be able to run,
make plays out of the pocket, get you know, first
downs with his legs, all of that kind of stuff,
but keeping a lid on the big plays that'll work
(31:37):
against any team in this league and give you a
really good chance to win. And on the other side,
I was talking about Washington's run defense being you know,
struggling for them last year. I don't think the Giants
really challenged them in that regard, and the Packers did
get off to obviously a slow start with the running
game against the Lions because Detroit was really selling out
to stop the run. It would be great to see
(31:57):
Josh Jacobs get going early this and and for Green
Bay to really establish that from the get go. So
those are the two things that jump out at me
as far as keys to victory.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I thought one of the things we didn't talk about
in the first segment, but it's gonna be very important
for Green Bay this season is giving Jordan Love the
amount of time in which he had to work with
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah, the pass protection. It wasn't just the running backs
that we were talking about. The pass protection for Jordan
Love on Sunday against the Lions was absolutely outstanding. You
could he was. He was bouncing on both feet there
in the pocket, surveying the field on a number of
throws and uh and yeah, you'd love for that to continue.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
If the tongue's out and he's bouncing in the pocket,
good things are gonna.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Happen, Yeah for the Packers.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
But the reason I bring that up, Tucker Craft was
saying after the game, I mean, there are some good
pass rushers for Washington. They may not have that, you know,
Micah Parsons type guy. I mean, obviously von Miller has
the name, but I mean he's an older player now,
but you know, you look at like Frankie Luvu. I mean,
this is one of the great stories in the National
Football League. A guy that was an undrafted free agent
(32:59):
that had kind of his way up the depth chart
and then finally becomes a second team All Pro in
Washington and now is becoming one of their faces of
that franchise. We'll have to see, as you talked about
early on, what this offensive line looks like for Green Bay.
If you don't have Zach Tom available here on this
short week, that is a significant loss. He's arguably the
best right tackle in the game right now. Just watch
(33:21):
the film of when he was on the field last
week against Detroit and what he was doing, shutting down,
shutting down Hutchinson and company. If he's not out there,
now you have a guy potentially in Darien Kinard who's
been here sort of like Malik Willis.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Last year to hear a couple weeks, a matter of weeks.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
That potentially could be in that spot, or Anthony Belton.
However they sorted out be that as it made. There's
a reason why Zach Tom got the contract that he did,
and for as much rotation as they've done with Jordan Morgan,
most of it's been at the guard spots and left tackle,
so That's the one thing to watch in this matchup
is if Green Bay can give Jordan Love that type
(33:58):
of pocket to work with again. Last week it showed
what he can do with it.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, I wish we had
more time to talk about the other results in Week one.
I'll just throw a couple of things out there, and
if you want to say something, you can. Otherwise we
can make life easier on our producer, Hannah and get
the heck out of here.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
But I got a couple of things to say. Hand,
I'm sorry, wherever you're at. I'm sorry, Hanna. I'm gonna
I'm gonna talk for a minute.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
But we saw we saw a couple of quite frankly
ridiculous comebacks with the Buffalo Bills coming back to beat
the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football and then the
Minnesota Vikings in Chicago coming back to beat the Bears.
I will just say this that those games are a
(34:43):
reminder of how important it is to be able to
finish a game in this league. The Baltimore Ravens, they
dominated the Buffalo Bills for three and a half quarters
in Buffalo, they couldn't finish the deal. And the Chicago
Bears were playing at home with their new head coach
(35:05):
in the first game and all this, and they dominated
the Minnesota Vikings for three quarters, but they couldn't put
them away. They couldn't finish the deal, and they're just
there isn't that much of a difference in talent inability
in most of the teams in this league. If you
are not able to put somebody away, they will take
(35:28):
you to the wire, yep. And anybody that can take
you to the wire can beat you. And we saw
that happen in both of those primetime games. The last
couple nights.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
You and I have talked ad nauseam about the Bills
and Ravens. We previewed it last week and certainly added
some really unique anecdotes and factoids with that victory and
that comeback fashion that the Bills had.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
But what I want to focus on is the Minnesota
Vikings because I thought JJ McCarthy showed something the second half.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Well, there's no doubt he did.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
There was a point in that game, Michael, where they
had negative yet net passing yardage. There was a stat
that people were throwing out there that if you'd have
just dirted the ball every single time, they would have
had more passing yardage than what they had.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Through the first two quarters.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
I believe it was the young man responded, and it's
always interesting when you see guys who are trying to
learn on the fly, which is what the Vikings are
committed to this season with McCarthy. He made the adjustments
and you can see why this guy has been a
winner at every level that he's played. This game and
the Chicago Bears, to your point, gave them way too
much breathing room in addition to compounding some errors at
(36:32):
the end. The Minnesota Vikings showed why they were a
team that surprised a lot of people last year. While
I felt like a lot of the window dressing has
changed in Chicago, they still found a way to lose
a game in a similar fashion to the Matt Aberflus era.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
If that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. I mean I saw
a statistic that the Bears have now lost four games
in the last four years in which they had a
double digit lead in the fourth quarter. It's it's got
to be incredibly frustrating for their fans and that game,
that game last night, there is not a soul in
(37:08):
America who thought at the end of the third quarter
that the Bears, especially playing at home, that they were
gonna let that one get away with their new head
coach in his first game, and they did. You have
to be able to finish games in this league. That's
why you know Packers are up seventeen to six for
seauan Gary getting a sack by the goal line and
(37:29):
then the offense taking the good field position pounding the
ball into the end zone. That's how you finish a
team off in this league. And neither neither the Ravens
nor the Bears were able to do that. It made
for some incredibly entertaining football, but a couple of pretty incredible,
gut punch losses for a couple of teams to start
their season.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
And if I may say this too, we didn't get
a chance to watch it because of us getting ready
for our own game, but I did go back and
watch a lot of the clips of the Steelers Jets matchup.
He's not the old Gunslinger, but he is the old
General and Aaron Rodgers put on a vintage performance in
that many years ago. When people were asking me about
Rogers playing into his forties. I remember saying the twenty
(38:11):
fourteen season the end of it, even though obviously everyone
thinks about how it ended. The way that Rogers had
to play with the CAF injury is what gave me
confidence that he was going to be able to play
deep into his career because when he was stationary in
the pocket, he could still operate. Not the same type
of player, but he could still operate in a lot
of ways that most quarterbacks can't. He was cerebral in
(38:31):
this game, and he maximized the talent of the playmakers
around him. And when you look at Aaron Rodgers' history,
that's what he's known for now. Obviously he was going
to be motivated going back into that stadium facing that opponent,
But it gave me a feeling again that this guy
still has something left in the basement.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Oh yeah, yeah. And I'll say one last thing on
Week one two, it was a reminder for everyone out
there how important it is to have a kicker in
this lee. Yeah, because Cleveland's young kicker, that five million
dollar kicker in Atlanta, and then you look at Chris
Boswell the Pittsburgh Do you hear what Mike Tomlin said
(39:13):
about him after called him a serial killer, said he's
got he's got the low pulse rate of a serial killer.
Sixty yarder on the road to get Aaron Rodgers. That
that victory, Man, I tell you there's there is there is.
There is no overstating the value of a clutch, reliable
(39:34):
kicker in this league.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
And Boswell to do that at this juncture his career too. Yeah,
I mean he is not a young kicker now, he's
been in Pittsburgh a long time.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Well, and and and even just uh, I mean Minnesota's
kicker hitting that fifty nine yard er at the end
of the first half when the Vikings had nothing going
for him, those three points turned out to be pretty big,
and McCarthy even mentioned after the game. JJ McCarthy of
course that the pass that he hit to set up
the long you'll go right at the end of the
first half, he felt that was the play that kind
(40:03):
of got him going. He went into the locker room
feeling like, yeah, all right, I can do this, you know,
we can win this game kind of thing. And if
will Record misses that fifty nine yarder at the end
of the first half, who knows where the Vikings heads
are as they go into the locker room, they get
Soldier Field.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
So and then look at Matt Prater too. Right, it's right,
he didn't have to make a fifty nine yard or
any of those. But I mean, this is a guy
that had to come in last minute, forty one years old,
kind of got tossed to the side by Arizona and
still making things happen.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, he has to fill in for Tyler Bass in
Buffalo and then he gets carried off the field by
his teammates pretty so yeah. Wow what a week one
and week two is already upon us. Packers and Commanders
on Thursday Night football at lambeau Field. We got to
sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted, but be
sure to continue to follow all of our coverage of
the team and everything from the big game against Washington.
(40:50):
We'll have a four 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.