September 18, 2025 • 28 mins
Mike and Wes preview the upcoming trip to Cleveland, looking at both the Browns’ defense (2:51) and offense (8:49), updating the Packers’ injuries on the offensive line (11:11), sharing their keys to victory (16:51), and looking at other key Week 3 matchups around the league (22:53).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by the
one and only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you Hear
from our studios at lambeau Field, Wes. To talk about
Week three. It'll be Packers Browns in Cleveland, first road
game of the regular season in twenty twenty five for
the Packers. This is a Browns team that is zero
(00:28):
to two, but a tale of two teams in many ways,
because while Cleveland has one of the best defenses in
the NFL, it's an offense for Cleveland that is struggling
and is the biggest reason why the Browns have not
found the win.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Columny, It's a very strange offensive makeup when you look
at Cleveland right now because they have one of, if
not the oldest starting quarterback in the NFL this year,
and Joe flawo at forty years old, and a bunch
of rookies and young guys around him, obviously Jerry Judy,
David and Joku. They do have some veterans there, but
you know, you know, Quinn Shawn Judkins is back now
(01:09):
in their backfield. I mean Dylan Samson, I think is
not even twenty one years old yet. Their other running
back back there, Harold Fan in their third round pick
out of Bowling Green, is off to a tremendous start,
but it's still a young football player and they've had
a difficult time kind of getting things moving here early on.
Now you know you're playing the Baltimore Ravens, you're gonna
(01:29):
go and take some lumps a team that's that veteran,
that organized, and that you know, perennially dominant. But all
that being said, when you look at the Browns being
off to their first to two starts since their winless
season in twenty seventeen, there are some parallels there in
terms of just some of the offensive issues they've had
in the early goings.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, and it was a gut punch of a loss
for them in Week one because they battled the Cincinnati Bengals,
obviously a division rival, in state rival, all that that
was their He's an opening matchup, and and this is
before Joe Burrow obviously got hurt. So the Bengals and
the Browns were in quite a tussle and Cleveland was
(02:10):
in position to win the game, and unfortunately their young
kicker missed a thirty six yard field goal and so
the Bengals escaped with the victory there. And then in
Week two, some special teams problems kind of reared their
ugly head again for them as Baltimore blocked a punt
which set up an easy score. And the way things
(02:32):
went for the Browns offensively and on special teams, Baltimore
just seemed to play on short fields all day long.
It was it was short touchdown drives and before you
knew it, you know, Lamar Jackson and company were pushing
the forty point barrier in that one and it turned
into a blowout. But when you look at you look
at this matchup, in particular against against Green Bay, the
(02:55):
Browns have allowed only ninety one rushing yards through two games.
The Packers have allowed only ninety seven. That is one
two in the NFL, and quite frankly, it's not close
because there's only one other team in the league right
now that has allowed fewer than one hundred and forty
rushing yards and that's New England. So the fact that
(03:16):
the Browns and the Packers are the only two teams
to have allowed less than one hundred rushing yards so far.
I think it sets up as for an interesting matchup
in the sense that you know, you wonder, can one
of these running backs, whether it be Josh Jacobs for
the Packers or the rookie quinch On Judkins for Cleveland,
can one of these running backs get kind of crack
(03:38):
the code, so to speak, and break through against these
tough rushing, rushing defense units.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Well Judkins too, I mean, he cracked a thirty one
yarder last week, and you know there's some off the
field issues for why it took him so long to
get on the field. Second round pick, obviously a very
credentialed guy, was considered one of the top backs in
this year's draft. So there's an explosivity to hit game
that I think the Browns were looking to get here.
I mean, they've been a veteran team for a number
(04:05):
of years. Obviously Nick Chubb was there, they go a
different direction this year. So for the Green Bay Packers'
perspective as it relates to stopping Judkins, Samson Ford, everybody
in that backfield, that is going to be where things start.
You want to be able to get this pass rush
pinning its ears back and getting after Joe Flacco. It's
just the way it is, especially if Flacco's allowed to
get into a rhythm, even at forty years old. They
(04:26):
always say with quarterbacks, the last thing to go is
your arm strength. The guy still has his punch, he
can still deliver the football. There's still plenty of life
left in that dog, and you can't allow him to
be able to get into a rhythm. The Packers have
seen it before in his numerous stops in matchups with
Green Bay in the past, but Judkins is a real
threat green Bay's perspective. Though, I put this an insider index,
(04:49):
I feel like the biggest win condition for this game
is Josh Jacobs and getting him going and getting him
going early, because it is a really interesting matchup in
terms of what the Browns are looking to achieve here.
They play single high, Jim Schwartz plays man covers. They
are a physical bunch. The Packers have to deliver that
initial punch there to be able to get where this
(05:11):
thing is going. Last year, Josh Jacobs was incredibly effective
out of the gate, ran for more rushing yards I
think than anybody else in the first half. Green Bays
trying to recreate that now in year two.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, and this Brown's defense has a very interesting and
intriguing mix of players. Age wise, I guess you would
say everybody knows about Miles Garrett, former defensive player of
the Year, sort of a guy who's in that discussion
for defensive player of the year pretty much every season.
He's already got three and a half sacks through two games.
You have a veteran on the linebacker level in Devin Bush,
(05:44):
who's a former first round draft pick, and then in
the secondary you have veterans like Denzel Ward and Greg
Newsom the second. But then they've also mixed in their
top two draft picks from this past draft, Mason Graham
on the defensive line. He was the number five overall pick,
and then Carson Sweessinger at linebacker, he was the number
(06:08):
thirty three overall pick. He was the high pick in
the second round. Those two guys are appear to be
off to a really good start. They've you know, they've
mixed them in well. And as you said with with
Jim Schwartz, With Jim Schwartz defenses, it's all about aggression.
It's all about attack. They are not going to react
to what you do. They are going to come after you,
(06:29):
and that includes the guys on the outside with pressman coverage.
As you said, they do like to play a lot
of man coverage. Miles Garrett is certainly not reacting to
anybody or anything. He is coming after you right at
the snap. And it seems that these young rookies, these
high draft picks that they've thrown into the mix, you know,
kind of fit that mold as well.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, and a couple things of this. One thing I
love about the way that Cleveland has built up their defense. Again,
there are some significant questions on offense, and I think
that's a team that throughout the course of the year
Flaco stays healthy, they will get better as the year
goes on. But defensively, you look at those top two picks, well,
what did they do. They drafted Graham and they put
them right next to Malie Collins, who they signed this offseason.
They have a swashinger there. But Devin Bush has been
(07:13):
one of my favorite type of off ball hybrid type
linebackers here in the National Football League for number of years.
This defense can go man and there was a lot
of people an insider inbox this week, a little bit
of you know, I don't want to get up too
much over confidence here. I would dare I say cocky
amongst the fan base of well, hey, we beat Detroit,
we beat Washington, we handed it to both those teams.
(07:35):
Is there a chance we could go four and all
going into the Bay. You cannot look past the Browns.
And as I wrote again earlier this week, the forty
one points they gave up against Baltimore is just a
small part of the entire big picture. You talked about it,
the short fields, some of the stuff that happened in
the later half of that game. This is a team
that can make you look silly. And the thing that's
(07:56):
scary about it, much like Green Bay, they haven't gotten
any takeaways yet. Green Bay has won, Cleveland has none.
But when it comes to just pure yardage, they've been
stopping everybody.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, and that's why I brought up the fact right
at the top of the show that this Browns team
was a thirty six yard field goal away from beating
the Joe Burrow Bengals, a team that a lot of people,
prior to Burrow's injury thought had some Super Bowl aspirations.
There if this, if that kick goes through, regardless of
what happens in Week two against Baltimore. If that kick
(08:26):
goes through in Week one and we're talking about a
one on one Browns team with a win over the
Cincinnati Bengals, I think the you know, the attitude of
the fans and sort of the perspective on this game
is completely different. So you have to keep that in mind.
This team was right there with a chance to beat
one of their biggest rivals in Week one. You mentioned
(08:47):
on the offensive side that what intrigues me the most
about this is that really, for the first time that
I can remember, and not that I follow the Browns
or even the AFC North all that much, but it
seems that Cleveland is trying to develop this So this
one two punch at tight end with Fannin and Joku. Now,
(09:08):
Joku's the veteran who's been there for a while. Fannon
is the rookie, as you mentioned, but it seems that
you know, they they've spent the money on Jerry Judy
and he had a twelve hundred yard season last year,
his best season as a pro, better than any of
the years that he had had in Denver before he
went to Cleveland. But the whole two tight end thing
(09:29):
is is interesting because it seems that both Fannin and
Joku are off to a pretty good start, and certainly
a veteran quarterback like Flacco is going to find those
guys if they find some opening.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well, and it gives them a base offense that I
think they can run with too. I mean, in many
ways this is a mirror matchup. They do not go
as deep as Green Bay does at receiver. I mean
it is Judy and then it's a lot of young guys. Yeah,
obviously they signed Isaiah Bond last month, but within Djoku
and Fan and Okay, so the thing to know about
Fan and he's not your traditional inline tight end right
(10:02):
and Djoku is like he's the prototype. There's a reason
he was picked where he was picked. And obviously he's
been in Cleveland for a number of years now, had
a lot of success. He is your inline guy. Fannin's
gonna do multiple things for them and has become kind
of a go to target for Flacco. The amount of
two tight end that they've run so far is almost startling,
but if you think about it, it's because that is
(10:25):
really been their best way of moving the football early
on and now you add Judkins into that equation, I imagine
the Packers are going to see a lot of that,
so getting hats on those two guys can be really important.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
What's nice for green.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Bay defensively is they're as well positioned to match up
with this type of offense as they've been in years.
And when you factor in Javon Bullard in the slot
and then also the inside linebackers they have that can cover,
this is something where Green Bay should still be able
to put on the gas, especially with some injury concerns
up front for Cleveland. You can't take this match up
(11:00):
for granted, but I think it sets up really well
for Green Bay's defense considering what they did in the
first week of the season.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And one more thing to touch on before we get
to our keys to victory. The update on the Packers
offensive line health wise. So on Wednesday, both Aaron Banks,
the left guard and Zach tom the right tackle were
back in practice from their injuries. Both were limited. Both
also spoke to reporters after practice. Aaron Banks painted a
(11:32):
much more positive picture in terms of his availability for Sunday.
He feels that he will be ready to go and
he will be out there, Zach Tom not so sure.
A lot more uncertainty there. But again that was only
Wednesday's practice, you know, Sunday is several days away. We'll
see what the rest of the week brings. But the
good news is it doesn't seem that either of those
(11:56):
injuries to the Packers starters on the offensive line are seriousals.
They're already working their way back from those and and
should be back in the in the lineup sooner than later.
If the Packers are back to full strength and the
offensive line, you definitely like that in terms of this
matchup against Miles Garrett and that defensive front for Cleveland.
(12:18):
So but we'll just have to see. We'll find out, probably,
you know, ninety minutes before kickoff, as we do a
lot of times, whether the Packers are going to have
all of their horses up front or not.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, the Aaron Banks injury kind of felt more like
a Hey, the guy's banged up and he's on a
short week.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I mean, what's he going to be able to give you?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And is it better to have a completely healthy Jordan
Morgan in that spot when you feel confident about the
guy that could step in for him. The Zach Tomblin's
x been incredibly transparent about the state of his injury
and the quad receps, and he said, I mean, it's
not torn fully to the point where you would need
to go in there and have surgery, but when it
comes to straight line speed, it's a little bit more difficult.
In terms of just playing the right tackle position, absorbing contact,
(12:56):
moving in and out of his kickslide. It sounds like
he's okay, but it's when the get off trying to
get downfield that could be a little bit more problematic.
Time will tell. We're two weeks away from the bye week.
Maybe that's something that can help him down the line too.
You know, however, these next two games shuffle out. But
one thing I did mention, and obviously I wrote earlier
this week on Anthony Belton, and I had some people
(13:17):
on Twitter coming after me for this because they were saying, well,
you know, Miles Garrett really only lines up against the
left tackle in early downs.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If you watch the Baltimore game, they use him in
a not a stand up role like Sadarius Smith was
once to use, but very similarly to what Micah Parsons does.
He's gonna line up against your guards. He's gonna move
around everywhere. Jim Schwartz is going to try to be unpredictable.
So whoever is in there in that starting five at
any of those positions have to be on high alert
for him.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Well, you don't think Jim Schwartz is gonna maybe make
an adjustment if the Packers have to start a rookie
and Anthony Belton r.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Now no, not if you ask our fans the Belton, but.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I mean, you know he's gonna say, hey, let's take
the future Hall of Famer and let him go after
the rookie and then see how their offense has to
adjust in what limitations then that causes because you want
to you know, you want to help the young guy,
and it becomes a very different type of matchup in
that regard. So you can't put anything, I mean, you
can't assume anything with Jim Schwartz in this league. I mean,
(14:17):
he's he's been doing this, he's been doing this for
a long time and uh, and he's not gonna he's
not going to fall into into too many patterns and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I'll just say this really quick too.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It is so much fun and it won't be fun
this week for Packer, but it is so much fun
to watch Miles Garrett play football.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
You know, you go back to the Detroit game when
Micah Parsons beat Penny School and you're seeing good on good,
great on great. Yeah, that was the same thing in
that game between Cleveland and Baltimore. You don't see Ronnie
Staley look the way that he looked on a couple
of those rushes.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
But yeah, Miles gartt I Garrett.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
There are levels to this game.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And when you see pass rushers like this, and on
a given year, we're not necessarily blessed to be able
to see a Miles Garrett come in and have to
Packers have to match wits with him.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
But now that Michaeh.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Parsons is here and then you kind of see what
he accomplished, and now with Garrett coming in here, I mean,
it is a big chess match there for Green Bay
trying to shut him down.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Well, and it's such a tough deal for any offensive
lineman going against a player of Michael Parsons caliber or
Miles Garrett's caliber, because say you mentioned last week against Baltimore,
Ronnie Stanley, say he had forty five snaps against Miles Garrett.
He might have had two or three really bad ones
out of those forty five, but the nature of the
(15:31):
game is those two or three really bad ones can
change the entire game, and that's what makes it so
hard against players of that caliber. I want to get
to our keys to victory, but we do have to
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(16:38):
We're previewing Packers and Browns. It will be from Cleveland,
a noon Central time kickoff on Sunday, Week three here
in the NFL. Packers two and oh Browns zero to two. Wes,
You've already mentioned a couple of things already, but what's
at the top of your list in terms of the
keys to victory for green Bay in.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
This game, Cleveland, I'm gonna make you a deal. You
face the Detroit Lions. You can have as many takeaways
as you want, as many interceptions, as many force fumbles.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Do what you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
The Packers have to make sure that for one more
week there's an eggnog there in terms of what they've
been able to do.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
With taking away the football.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That's the only thing that's been missing for Cleveland so
far this season. They have it generated turnovers. For me, Yes,
there's the Josh Shacobs saying, I'm sure there's other stuff
you're going to go into, but keeping a clean pocket
right now for Jordan Love is paramount, and Jordan also
protecting the football is going to be key in this one.
They're gonna get single high looks, they're gonna have chances
for downfield opportunities, and hopefully the receivers can help make
(17:44):
that right. But within the pocket right now, when you
look at the passer rating for Jordan, I believe it's
one twenty right now when operating from a clean pocket
this season, which leads the National Football League. The Packers
have to be able to do that whoever is on
the offensive line, whoever is chipping, whoever is in the
backfield pass protection as well, and let's pick up making
sure that number ten can get that ball out cleanly
(18:05):
and then protecting it. I feel like it's probably one
of the biggest things that Green Bay Packers have to
accomplish in this thing to come out with a win.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, I'm with you on that. In terms of protecting
the football, that just feels like, and it's a big
thing every week, don't get me wrong, but in this
particular matchup, it just feels like it rises to the
top and then some because this Cleveland offense is struggling.
They're not moving the ball consistently, they're not scoring points
on a consistent basis. The way that could change for
(18:35):
Cleveland is if via turnovers they get short fields right
and they they don't have to go seventy or seventy
five yards or even sixty five yards, that they don't
have to go the distance in order to put points
on the board. So the way the Packers' defense is playing,
if green Bay is not turning the ball over and
(18:56):
the special teams doesn't allow a big return or something
like that, if Cleveland and doesn't have short fields and
they have to go the long way, I like the
Packers defense chances of keeping that point total down to
where the Packers offense doesn't have to have a banner
day against one of the best defenses in the league,
but a productive and functional day will get the job done.
(19:18):
So that's how I look at this. With regard to
Jacobs in the running game, it would be it would
be a tremendous boon to be able to get him
going and to sort of crack that code of Cleveland's
run defense, because you know how it works in this
league West if you're a defense that does really well
stopping the run, as soon as as soon as that
(19:39):
starts to falter a little bit, suddenly everything else on
defense gets a lot harder to manage and a lot
harder to put together because because then you're not doing
what you expect to do, which is to shut down
the run and then play your traditional defense against everything else.
So that's definitely something to watch. And I don't put
it past Josh Jacobs win this offensive line to to
(20:03):
figure something out. And sometimes sometimes all it can take
is that you know that one little seam, that one
little crack, and suddenly there's a big explosive run and
then you've got a really good defense on its heels.
And then that's where Matt Lafleur and and and the
play calling with Jordan Love and company could could get
really interesting. So that's that's at the at the top
(20:24):
of things for me. As far as the Packers defense
is concerned, if they continue to pressure quarterbacks the way
they have in the first two weeks, I think it's
it's potentially a rough day for Joe Flacco because he
doesn't have the ability to get away that Jaden Daniels does,
and we haven't seen now. I'm expecting Cleveland to want
(20:44):
to try to play the quick game with the passes
for Joe Flacco to get the ball out of his
hands quickly. Jared Goff is a guy who's perfected that
for Detroit. They they play the quick game a lot
and get the ball out of his hands. And even
they were having trouble functioning on a consistent and basis
with the pressure that the Packers were putting on. So
continue to pressure the quarterbacks the way you have, and
(21:05):
I think the Packers have a big advantage of this game.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I mean, the fact is, Mike, I mean, I talk
well about Judkins and some of these things they can do,
but the Browns have the twenty eighth ranked rushing offense
here through the first two weeks of the season. This
is not the week for the Packers run defense to lapse. Yeah,
you and I have seen the last few weeks, and
you've got a couple of years to watch Don Caper's
first few defenses, including the Super Bowl year. I did
(21:30):
not get that in terms of the coverage aspect of it.
But I have not seen the Packers be able to
get teams in third and medium to long the way
they have these first two weeks and been able to
capitalize on it the way they have. There is no okay, well,
you know you send four. You play coverage and you
hope to tackle them before the sticks. No, they are
going for sacks here, they are going for disruption, they
(21:53):
are going for explosive plays and on value, this matchup
present all of that. If you can earn the right
to pin you year back and get after Flacco. But
to your initial point too, I mean, one thing that
Detroit does really well in addition to the quick passing
game is they have playmakers who can make plays in space.
(22:14):
They can have guys like Aman Ross Saint Brown take
his short intermediate slant route.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And break it.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Sure that isn't quite there for Cleveland. So it will
obviously be big on the safeties to make sure you
keep a top on this defense. But it's also really
just rallying to the ball so when the ball does
get thrown, you know, having multiple tacklers there, and Green
Bay's done a really good job of that so far.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, I'll be interested to see how quickly Flacco is
trying to get the ball out of his hands in
this game. And as you said, if they're hitting those
short throws, then are the Packers rallying to the ball,
making the tackles, not allowing the broken tackles to lead
to explosives and whatnot. So before we go, we'll take
a glance around Week three in the NFL. Elsewhere in
(22:56):
the NFC North, Cincinnati is a Minnesota. I don't think
Jake Browning versus Carson Wentz is what CBS had in
mind when they assigned Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, absolutely Wolfson
to go cover this game in Minneapolis. But it is
the battle of the backup quarterbacks there. Dallas is at Chicago,
the Bears obviously looking for that first win of the season.
(23:18):
The Bears defense has been on the wrong end of
the NFC Offensive Player of the Week two weeks in
a row, and now Dak Prescott and a Cowboys offense
that certainly put up a bunch of points against the
Giants last week is coming in. And then the other
one in the NFC North, which maybe is the game
of the week. In the NFL, we're talking Monday Night football.
(23:40):
Detroit is at Baltimore. That's that's as big and intriguing
a matchup as far as AFC versus NFC as as
you're gonna get.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah, and Monday Night football wins the day.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Here. Typically, it seems like in recent years, it's always
been the Sunday night football game with a big matchup.
In this particular case, it goes to Monday night football.
And Yeah, for Detroit, this is a this is a
major challenge. I mean, they are going into Baltimore's home
field and seeing if they can knock off what has
been perennially one of the most consistent, you know, dominating
type football teams the last few years. And you know,
(24:14):
there's a lot of frustration, I'm sure about how that
game ended two weeks ago against Buffalo, but the fact
of the matter is, I mean they responded and did
what they were supposed to do against the Browns, and
there's such a veteran oriented team with a multiple time
MVP at quarterback. They you know, there is no concern
(24:34):
in my mind about Baltimore and I mean they're going
to be in this thing once again, and their defense
I think is going to look more like it did
against Cleveland than it did necessarily in the second half
against Buffalo. So huge, huge matchup for Detroit, which did
get back on the rails last week. Their run game
got back going. Jared Goff was almost perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, fiving completions in five touchdown passes for Jerry Golf
and that game against Chicago. The other thing I think
that's interesting with regard to this Lions Ravens matchup is
I believe it was two years ago in twenty twenty three,
which the year Detroit eventually made it all the way
to the NFC Championship Game and nearly got to the
Super Bowl in that game with San Francisco. But that
(25:18):
year Detroit went into Baltimore and got it handed to him.
The Ravens just blew them out. And that was somewhat
early in the season, I want to say, where the
Lions were looking pretty good and then all of a
sudden they took it on the chin and everybody was like, oh,
what's going on with Detroit. So Dan Campbell and company
are going to remember that game because that was one
(25:41):
that they did not feel good about. And now they're
going back into Baltimore with another shot. One last thought
I want to get from you a pair of two
to zero NFC teams going ahead to head on Sunday,
the Rams at Philadelphia, which is a playoff rematch. Those
two teams met in Philadelphia in the snow in January
last year and the Rams took the Eagles all the
(26:03):
way to the wire in that game. Your thoughts on
who comes out of this one at three and oh
in the NFC and.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
They're all three of the four teams are in the
NFC West. I mean, this is this is critical. Certainly
San Francisco, as I talked about on Tuesday's show, Mac
Jones stepping in played really well, Christian McCaffrey getting the
you know his stuff going again. They have the team
to be able to support a quarterback coming in. But
now you're taking on an Arizona team under Kyler Murray
(26:30):
that has flirted at times with being a front runner
in that division and just not being able to consistently
keep it together.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And it sounds like party could be back for San
Francs really too. Yeah, the word is the word is that.
I mean it's it's a maybe, but the word is
that that party might actually be back in action for
San Francisco in this one, just missing maybe the one game,
but we'll see.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
That's crazy. That's wow. Not not the same turf toe
as Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
No, definitely not the same the Rams.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
That the point I want to bring back to the
ramso is they have to face one of the absolute
juggernauts of this NFL to hold serve here and to
keep themselves up at the top of this thing, because
one way or another, in most likely scenarios, you're gonna
be having another three and zero team within your division
after three weeks. I looked at it, though, Mike just
want to say this. I think there are three must
win games on the slate, and I'm saying must win
(27:18):
and I never say must win in September, but I
think there are three must win games. I think Miami
has to find a way to beat the Buffalo Bills.
They can't start owing three. And I don't know, Mike
McDaniel where this thing could spiral to. If you get
completely ran out of high Mark, it.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Could get bad quick. The Chicago Bears have to beat
the Dallas Cowboys. It has to happen.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
They have to, like Ben Johnson this era, if this
thing starts owing three after how things ended last year,
they made that regular season finale against Green Bay, it's
super Bowl, yeah, but reality was is the Bears were
not trending in the right direction at the end of
last season. That is a pivotal matchup and this is
probably the most easily on paper, would be the most
(28:02):
easily winnable game. Kansas City has to go into MetLife
and they have to take care of business against the Giants.
You can't take anything for granted right now with way
things are going for Kansas City competitive games. You know,
they lost to really good teams. But this is what
was the first time was since twenty eighteen that Mahomes
has lost back to back games or something something like that. Yeah,
(28:24):
just saying yeah, just saying.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, I hear you. Well with that, we'll call it
a rap on this edition of Packers Unscript. You'd be
sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
and all of our coverage from Sunday's game in Cleveland.
Wes and I will both be there and we will
have it all for you on Packers dot com for
west Iimmike. 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 by the
one and only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you Hear
from our studios at lambeau Field, Wes. To talk about
Week three. It'll be Packers Browns in Cleveland, first road
game of the regular season in twenty twenty five for
the Packers. This is a Browns team that is zero
(00:28):
to two, but a tale of two teams in many ways,
because while Cleveland has one of the best defenses in
the NFL, it's an offense for Cleveland that is struggling
and is the biggest reason why the Browns have not
found the win.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Columny, It's a very strange offensive makeup when you look
at Cleveland right now because they have one of, if
not the oldest starting quarterback in the NFL this year,
and Joe flawo at forty years old, and a bunch
of rookies and young guys around him, obviously Jerry Judy,
David and Joku. They do have some veterans there, but
you know, you know, Quinn Shawn Judkins is back now
(01:09):
in their backfield. I mean Dylan Samson, I think is
not even twenty one years old yet. Their other running
back back there, Harold Fan in their third round pick
out of Bowling Green, is off to a tremendous start,
but it's still a young football player and they've had
a difficult time kind of getting things moving here early on.
Now you know you're playing the Baltimore Ravens, you're gonna
(01:29):
go and take some lumps a team that's that veteran,
that organized, and that you know, perennially dominant. But all
that being said, when you look at the Browns being
off to their first to two starts since their winless
season in twenty seventeen, there are some parallels there in
terms of just some of the offensive issues they've had
in the early goings.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, and it was a gut punch of a loss
for them in Week one because they battled the Cincinnati Bengals,
obviously a division rival, in state rival, all that that
was their He's an opening matchup, and and this is
before Joe Burrow obviously got hurt. So the Bengals and
the Browns were in quite a tussle and Cleveland was
(02:10):
in position to win the game, and unfortunately their young
kicker missed a thirty six yard field goal and so
the Bengals escaped with the victory there. And then in
Week two, some special teams problems kind of reared their
ugly head again for them as Baltimore blocked a punt
which set up an easy score. And the way things
(02:32):
went for the Browns offensively and on special teams, Baltimore
just seemed to play on short fields all day long.
It was it was short touchdown drives and before you
knew it, you know, Lamar Jackson and company were pushing
the forty point barrier in that one and it turned
into a blowout. But when you look at you look
at this matchup, in particular against against Green Bay, the
(02:55):
Browns have allowed only ninety one rushing yards through two games.
The Packers have allowed only ninety seven. That is one
two in the NFL, and quite frankly, it's not close
because there's only one other team in the league right
now that has allowed fewer than one hundred and forty
rushing yards and that's New England. So the fact that
(03:16):
the Browns and the Packers are the only two teams
to have allowed less than one hundred rushing yards so far.
I think it sets up as for an interesting matchup
in the sense that you know, you wonder, can one
of these running backs, whether it be Josh Jacobs for
the Packers or the rookie quinch On Judkins for Cleveland,
can one of these running backs get kind of crack
(03:38):
the code, so to speak, and break through against these
tough rushing, rushing defense units.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Well Judkins too, I mean, he cracked a thirty one
yarder last week, and you know there's some off the
field issues for why it took him so long to
get on the field. Second round pick, obviously a very
credentialed guy, was considered one of the top backs in
this year's draft. So there's an explosivity to hit game
that I think the Browns were looking to get here.
I mean, they've been a veteran team for a number
(04:05):
of years. Obviously Nick Chubb was there, they go a
different direction this year. So for the Green Bay Packers'
perspective as it relates to stopping Judkins, Samson Ford, everybody
in that backfield, that is going to be where things start.
You want to be able to get this pass rush
pinning its ears back and getting after Joe Flacco. It's
just the way it is, especially if Flacco's allowed to
get into a rhythm, even at forty years old. They
(04:26):
always say with quarterbacks, the last thing to go is
your arm strength. The guy still has his punch, he
can still deliver the football. There's still plenty of life
left in that dog, and you can't allow him to
be able to get into a rhythm. The Packers have
seen it before in his numerous stops in matchups with
Green Bay in the past, but Judkins is a real
threat green Bay's perspective. Though, I put this an insider index,
(04:49):
I feel like the biggest win condition for this game
is Josh Jacobs and getting him going and getting him
going early, because it is a really interesting matchup in
terms of what the Browns are looking to achieve here.
They play single high, Jim Schwartz plays man covers. They
are a physical bunch. The Packers have to deliver that
initial punch there to be able to get where this
(05:11):
thing is going. Last year, Josh Jacobs was incredibly effective
out of the gate, ran for more rushing yards I
think than anybody else in the first half. Green Bays
trying to recreate that now in year two.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, and this Brown's defense has a very interesting and
intriguing mix of players. Age wise, I guess you would
say everybody knows about Miles Garrett, former defensive player of
the Year, sort of a guy who's in that discussion
for defensive player of the year pretty much every season.
He's already got three and a half sacks through two games.
You have a veteran on the linebacker level in Devin Bush,
(05:44):
who's a former first round draft pick, and then in
the secondary you have veterans like Denzel Ward and Greg
Newsom the second. But then they've also mixed in their
top two draft picks from this past draft, Mason Graham
on the defensive line. He was the number five overall pick,
and then Carson Sweessinger at linebacker, he was the number
(06:08):
thirty three overall pick. He was the high pick in
the second round. Those two guys are appear to be
off to a really good start. They've you know, they've
mixed them in well. And as you said with with
Jim Schwartz, With Jim Schwartz defenses, it's all about aggression.
It's all about attack. They are not going to react
to what you do. They are going to come after you,
(06:29):
and that includes the guys on the outside with pressman coverage.
As you said, they do like to play a lot
of man coverage. Miles Garrett is certainly not reacting to
anybody or anything. He is coming after you right at
the snap. And it seems that these young rookies, these
high draft picks that they've thrown into the mix, you know,
kind of fit that mold as well.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, and a couple things of this. One thing I
love about the way that Cleveland has built up their defense. Again,
there are some significant questions on offense, and I think
that's a team that throughout the course of the year
Flaco stays healthy, they will get better as the year
goes on. But defensively, you look at those top two picks, well,
what did they do. They drafted Graham and they put
them right next to Malie Collins, who they signed this offseason.
They have a swashinger there. But Devin Bush has been
(07:13):
one of my favorite type of off ball hybrid type
linebackers here in the National Football League for number of years.
This defense can go man and there was a lot
of people an insider inbox this week, a little bit
of you know, I don't want to get up too
much over confidence here. I would dare I say cocky
amongst the fan base of well, hey, we beat Detroit,
we beat Washington, we handed it to both those teams.
(07:35):
Is there a chance we could go four and all
going into the Bay. You cannot look past the Browns.
And as I wrote again earlier this week, the forty
one points they gave up against Baltimore is just a
small part of the entire big picture. You talked about it,
the short fields, some of the stuff that happened in
the later half of that game. This is a team
that can make you look silly. And the thing that's
(07:56):
scary about it, much like Green Bay, they haven't gotten
any takeaways yet. Green Bay has won, Cleveland has none.
But when it comes to just pure yardage, they've been
stopping everybody.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, and that's why I brought up the fact right
at the top of the show that this Browns team
was a thirty six yard field goal away from beating
the Joe Burrow Bengals, a team that a lot of people,
prior to Burrow's injury thought had some Super Bowl aspirations.
There if this, if that kick goes through, regardless of
what happens in Week two against Baltimore. If that kick
(08:26):
goes through in Week one and we're talking about a
one on one Browns team with a win over the
Cincinnati Bengals, I think the you know, the attitude of
the fans and sort of the perspective on this game
is completely different. So you have to keep that in mind.
This team was right there with a chance to beat
one of their biggest rivals in Week one. You mentioned
(08:47):
on the offensive side that what intrigues me the most
about this is that really, for the first time that
I can remember, and not that I follow the Browns
or even the AFC North all that much, but it
seems that Cleveland is trying to develop this So this
one two punch at tight end with Fannin and Joku. Now,
(09:08):
Joku's the veteran who's been there for a while. Fannon
is the rookie, as you mentioned, but it seems that
you know, they they've spent the money on Jerry Judy
and he had a twelve hundred yard season last year,
his best season as a pro, better than any of
the years that he had had in Denver before he
went to Cleveland. But the whole two tight end thing
(09:29):
is is interesting because it seems that both Fannin and
Joku are off to a pretty good start, and certainly
a veteran quarterback like Flacco is going to find those
guys if they find some opening.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well, and it gives them a base offense that I
think they can run with too. I mean, in many
ways this is a mirror matchup. They do not go
as deep as Green Bay does at receiver. I mean
it is Judy and then it's a lot of young guys. Yeah,
obviously they signed Isaiah Bond last month, but within Djoku
and Fan and Okay, so the thing to know about
Fan and he's not your traditional inline tight end right
(10:02):
and Djoku is like he's the prototype. There's a reason
he was picked where he was picked. And obviously he's
been in Cleveland for a number of years now, had
a lot of success. He is your inline guy. Fannin's
gonna do multiple things for them and has become kind
of a go to target for Flacco. The amount of
two tight end that they've run so far is almost startling,
but if you think about it, it's because that is
(10:25):
really been their best way of moving the football early
on and now you add Judkins into that equation, I imagine
the Packers are going to see a lot of that,
so getting hats on those two guys can be really important.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
What's nice for green.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Bay defensively is they're as well positioned to match up
with this type of offense as they've been in years.
And when you factor in Javon Bullard in the slot
and then also the inside linebackers they have that can cover,
this is something where Green Bay should still be able
to put on the gas, especially with some injury concerns
up front for Cleveland. You can't take this match up
(11:00):
for granted, but I think it sets up really well
for Green Bay's defense considering what they did in the
first week of the season.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And one more thing to touch on before we get
to our keys to victory. The update on the Packers
offensive line health wise. So on Wednesday, both Aaron Banks,
the left guard and Zach tom the right tackle were
back in practice from their injuries. Both were limited. Both
also spoke to reporters after practice. Aaron Banks painted a
(11:32):
much more positive picture in terms of his availability for Sunday.
He feels that he will be ready to go and
he will be out there, Zach Tom not so sure.
A lot more uncertainty there. But again that was only
Wednesday's practice, you know, Sunday is several days away. We'll
see what the rest of the week brings. But the
good news is it doesn't seem that either of those
(11:56):
injuries to the Packers starters on the offensive line are seriousals.
They're already working their way back from those and and
should be back in the in the lineup sooner than later.
If the Packers are back to full strength and the
offensive line, you definitely like that in terms of this
matchup against Miles Garrett and that defensive front for Cleveland.
(12:18):
So but we'll just have to see. We'll find out, probably,
you know, ninety minutes before kickoff, as we do a
lot of times, whether the Packers are going to have
all of their horses up front or not.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, the Aaron Banks injury kind of felt more like
a Hey, the guy's banged up and he's on a
short week.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I mean, what's he going to be able to give you?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And is it better to have a completely healthy Jordan
Morgan in that spot when you feel confident about the
guy that could step in for him. The Zach Tomblin's
x been incredibly transparent about the state of his injury
and the quad receps, and he said, I mean, it's
not torn fully to the point where you would need
to go in there and have surgery, but when it
comes to straight line speed, it's a little bit more difficult.
In terms of just playing the right tackle position, absorbing contact,
(12:56):
moving in and out of his kickslide. It sounds like
he's okay, but it's when the get off trying to
get downfield that could be a little bit more problematic.
Time will tell. We're two weeks away from the bye week.
Maybe that's something that can help him down the line too.
You know, however, these next two games shuffle out. But
one thing I did mention, and obviously I wrote earlier
this week on Anthony Belton, and I had some people
(13:17):
on Twitter coming after me for this because they were saying, well,
you know, Miles Garrett really only lines up against the
left tackle in early downs.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If you watch the Baltimore game, they use him in
a not a stand up role like Sadarius Smith was
once to use, but very similarly to what Micah Parsons does.
He's gonna line up against your guards. He's gonna move
around everywhere. Jim Schwartz is going to try to be unpredictable.
So whoever is in there in that starting five at
any of those positions have to be on high alert
for him.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Well, you don't think Jim Schwartz is gonna maybe make
an adjustment if the Packers have to start a rookie
and Anthony Belton r.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Now no, not if you ask our fans the Belton, but.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I mean, you know he's gonna say, hey, let's take
the future Hall of Famer and let him go after
the rookie and then see how their offense has to
adjust in what limitations then that causes because you want
to you know, you want to help the young guy,
and it becomes a very different type of matchup in
that regard. So you can't put anything, I mean, you
can't assume anything with Jim Schwartz in this league. I mean,
(14:17):
he's he's been doing this, he's been doing this for
a long time and uh, and he's not gonna he's
not going to fall into into too many patterns and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I'll just say this really quick too.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It is so much fun and it won't be fun
this week for Packer, but it is so much fun
to watch Miles Garrett play football.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
You know, you go back to the Detroit game when
Micah Parsons beat Penny School and you're seeing good on good,
great on great. Yeah, that was the same thing in
that game between Cleveland and Baltimore. You don't see Ronnie
Staley look the way that he looked on a couple
of those rushes.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
But yeah, Miles gartt I Garrett.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
There are levels to this game.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And when you see pass rushers like this, and on
a given year, we're not necessarily blessed to be able
to see a Miles Garrett come in and have to
Packers have to match wits with him.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
But now that Michaeh.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Parsons is here and then you kind of see what
he accomplished, and now with Garrett coming in here, I mean,
it is a big chess match there for Green Bay
trying to shut him down.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Well, and it's such a tough deal for any offensive
lineman going against a player of Michael Parsons caliber or
Miles Garrett's caliber, because say you mentioned last week against Baltimore,
Ronnie Stanley, say he had forty five snaps against Miles Garrett.
He might have had two or three really bad ones
out of those forty five, but the nature of the
(15:31):
game is those two or three really bad ones can
change the entire game, and that's what makes it so
hard against players of that caliber. I want to get
to our keys to victory, but we do have to
pay some bills around here, so we will start with
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Wisconsin dot com slash Wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted.
(16:38):
We're previewing Packers and Browns. It will be from Cleveland,
a noon Central time kickoff on Sunday, Week three here
in the NFL. Packers two and oh Browns zero to two. Wes,
You've already mentioned a couple of things already, but what's
at the top of your list in terms of the
keys to victory for green Bay in.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
This game, Cleveland, I'm gonna make you a deal. You
face the Detroit Lions. You can have as many takeaways
as you want, as many interceptions, as many force fumbles.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Do what you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
The Packers have to make sure that for one more
week there's an eggnog there in terms of what they've
been able to do.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
With taking away the football.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That's the only thing that's been missing for Cleveland so
far this season. They have it generated turnovers. For me, Yes,
there's the Josh Shacobs saying, I'm sure there's other stuff
you're going to go into, but keeping a clean pocket
right now for Jordan Love is paramount, and Jordan also
protecting the football is going to be key in this one.
They're gonna get single high looks, they're gonna have chances
for downfield opportunities, and hopefully the receivers can help make
(17:44):
that right. But within the pocket right now, when you
look at the passer rating for Jordan, I believe it's
one twenty right now when operating from a clean pocket
this season, which leads the National Football League. The Packers
have to be able to do that whoever is on
the offensive line, whoever is chipping, whoever is in the
backfield pass protection as well, and let's pick up making
sure that number ten can get that ball out cleanly
(18:05):
and then protecting it. I feel like it's probably one
of the biggest things that Green Bay Packers have to
accomplish in this thing to come out with a win.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, I'm with you on that. In terms of protecting
the football, that just feels like, and it's a big
thing every week, don't get me wrong, but in this
particular matchup, it just feels like it rises to the
top and then some because this Cleveland offense is struggling.
They're not moving the ball consistently, they're not scoring points
on a consistent basis. The way that could change for
(18:35):
Cleveland is if via turnovers they get short fields right
and they they don't have to go seventy or seventy
five yards or even sixty five yards, that they don't
have to go the distance in order to put points
on the board. So the way the Packers' defense is playing,
if green Bay is not turning the ball over and
(18:56):
the special teams doesn't allow a big return or something
like that, if Cleveland and doesn't have short fields and
they have to go the long way, I like the
Packers defense chances of keeping that point total down to
where the Packers offense doesn't have to have a banner
day against one of the best defenses in the league,
but a productive and functional day will get the job done.
(19:18):
So that's how I look at this. With regard to
Jacobs in the running game, it would be it would
be a tremendous boon to be able to get him
going and to sort of crack that code of Cleveland's
run defense, because you know how it works in this
league West if you're a defense that does really well
stopping the run, as soon as as soon as that
(19:39):
starts to falter a little bit, suddenly everything else on
defense gets a lot harder to manage and a lot
harder to put together because because then you're not doing
what you expect to do, which is to shut down
the run and then play your traditional defense against everything else.
So that's definitely something to watch. And I don't put
it past Josh Jacobs win this offensive line to to
(20:03):
figure something out. And sometimes sometimes all it can take
is that you know that one little seam, that one
little crack, and suddenly there's a big explosive run and
then you've got a really good defense on its heels.
And then that's where Matt Lafleur and and and the
play calling with Jordan Love and company could could get
really interesting. So that's that's at the at the top
(20:24):
of things for me. As far as the Packers defense
is concerned, if they continue to pressure quarterbacks the way
they have in the first two weeks, I think it's
it's potentially a rough day for Joe Flacco because he
doesn't have the ability to get away that Jaden Daniels does,
and we haven't seen now. I'm expecting Cleveland to want
(20:44):
to try to play the quick game with the passes
for Joe Flacco to get the ball out of his
hands quickly. Jared Goff is a guy who's perfected that
for Detroit. They they play the quick game a lot
and get the ball out of his hands. And even
they were having trouble functioning on a consistent and basis
with the pressure that the Packers were putting on. So
continue to pressure the quarterbacks the way you have, and
(21:05):
I think the Packers have a big advantage of this game.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I mean, the fact is, Mike, I mean, I talk
well about Judkins and some of these things they can do,
but the Browns have the twenty eighth ranked rushing offense
here through the first two weeks of the season. This
is not the week for the Packers run defense to lapse. Yeah,
you and I have seen the last few weeks, and
you've got a couple of years to watch Don Caper's
first few defenses, including the Super Bowl year. I did
(21:30):
not get that in terms of the coverage aspect of it.
But I have not seen the Packers be able to
get teams in third and medium to long the way
they have these first two weeks and been able to
capitalize on it the way they have. There is no okay, well,
you know you send four. You play coverage and you
hope to tackle them before the sticks. No, they are
going for sacks here, they are going for disruption, they
(21:53):
are going for explosive plays and on value, this matchup
present all of that. If you can earn the right
to pin you year back and get after Flacco. But
to your initial point too, I mean, one thing that
Detroit does really well in addition to the quick passing
game is they have playmakers who can make plays in space.
(22:14):
They can have guys like Aman Ross Saint Brown take
his short intermediate slant route.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And break it.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Sure that isn't quite there for Cleveland. So it will
obviously be big on the safeties to make sure you
keep a top on this defense. But it's also really
just rallying to the ball so when the ball does
get thrown, you know, having multiple tacklers there, and Green
Bay's done a really good job of that so far.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, I'll be interested to see how quickly Flacco is
trying to get the ball out of his hands in
this game. And as you said, if they're hitting those
short throws, then are the Packers rallying to the ball,
making the tackles, not allowing the broken tackles to lead
to explosives and whatnot. So before we go, we'll take
a glance around Week three in the NFL. Elsewhere in
(22:56):
the NFC North, Cincinnati is a Minnesota. I don't think
Jake Browning versus Carson Wentz is what CBS had in
mind when they assigned Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, absolutely Wolfson
to go cover this game in Minneapolis. But it is
the battle of the backup quarterbacks there. Dallas is at Chicago,
the Bears obviously looking for that first win of the season.
(23:18):
The Bears defense has been on the wrong end of
the NFC Offensive Player of the Week two weeks in
a row, and now Dak Prescott and a Cowboys offense
that certainly put up a bunch of points against the
Giants last week is coming in. And then the other
one in the NFC North, which maybe is the game
of the week. In the NFL, we're talking Monday Night football.
(23:40):
Detroit is at Baltimore. That's that's as big and intriguing
a matchup as far as AFC versus NFC as as
you're gonna get.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah, and Monday Night football wins the day.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Here. Typically, it seems like in recent years, it's always
been the Sunday night football game with a big matchup.
In this particular case, it goes to Monday night football.
And Yeah, for Detroit, this is a this is a
major challenge. I mean, they are going into Baltimore's home
field and seeing if they can knock off what has
been perennially one of the most consistent, you know, dominating
type football teams the last few years. And you know,
(24:14):
there's a lot of frustration, I'm sure about how that
game ended two weeks ago against Buffalo, but the fact
of the matter is, I mean they responded and did
what they were supposed to do against the Browns, and
there's such a veteran oriented team with a multiple time
MVP at quarterback. They you know, there is no concern
(24:34):
in my mind about Baltimore and I mean they're going
to be in this thing once again, and their defense
I think is going to look more like it did
against Cleveland than it did necessarily in the second half
against Buffalo. So huge, huge matchup for Detroit, which did
get back on the rails last week. Their run game
got back going. Jared Goff was almost perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, fiving completions in five touchdown passes for Jerry Golf
and that game against Chicago. The other thing I think
that's interesting with regard to this Lions Ravens matchup is
I believe it was two years ago in twenty twenty three,
which the year Detroit eventually made it all the way
to the NFC Championship Game and nearly got to the
Super Bowl in that game with San Francisco. But that
(25:18):
year Detroit went into Baltimore and got it handed to him.
The Ravens just blew them out. And that was somewhat
early in the season, I want to say, where the
Lions were looking pretty good and then all of a
sudden they took it on the chin and everybody was like, oh,
what's going on with Detroit. So Dan Campbell and company
are going to remember that game because that was one
(25:41):
that they did not feel good about. And now they're
going back into Baltimore with another shot. One last thought
I want to get from you a pair of two
to zero NFC teams going ahead to head on Sunday,
the Rams at Philadelphia, which is a playoff rematch. Those
two teams met in Philadelphia in the snow in January
last year and the Rams took the Eagles all the
(26:03):
way to the wire in that game. Your thoughts on
who comes out of this one at three and oh
in the NFC and.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
They're all three of the four teams are in the
NFC West. I mean, this is this is critical. Certainly
San Francisco, as I talked about on Tuesday's show, Mac
Jones stepping in played really well, Christian McCaffrey getting the
you know his stuff going again. They have the team
to be able to support a quarterback coming in. But
now you're taking on an Arizona team under Kyler Murray
(26:30):
that has flirted at times with being a front runner
in that division and just not being able to consistently
keep it together.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And it sounds like party could be back for San
Francs really too. Yeah, the word is the word is that.
I mean it's it's a maybe, but the word is
that that party might actually be back in action for
San Francisco in this one, just missing maybe the one game,
but we'll see.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
That's crazy. That's wow. Not not the same turf toe
as Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
No, definitely not the same the Rams.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
That the point I want to bring back to the
ramso is they have to face one of the absolute
juggernauts of this NFL to hold serve here and to
keep themselves up at the top of this thing, because
one way or another, in most likely scenarios, you're gonna
be having another three and zero team within your division
after three weeks. I looked at it, though, Mike just
want to say this. I think there are three must
win games on the slate, and I'm saying must win
(27:18):
and I never say must win in September, but I
think there are three must win games. I think Miami
has to find a way to beat the Buffalo Bills.
They can't start owing three. And I don't know, Mike
McDaniel where this thing could spiral to. If you get
completely ran out of high Mark, it.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Could get bad quick. The Chicago Bears have to beat
the Dallas Cowboys. It has to happen.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
They have to, like Ben Johnson this era, if this
thing starts owing three after how things ended last year,
they made that regular season finale against Green Bay, it's
super Bowl, yeah, but reality was is the Bears were
not trending in the right direction at the end of
last season. That is a pivotal matchup and this is
probably the most easily on paper, would be the most
(28:02):
easily winnable game. Kansas City has to go into MetLife
and they have to take care of business against the Giants.
You can't take anything for granted right now with way
things are going for Kansas City competitive games. You know,
they lost to really good teams. But this is what
was the first time was since twenty eighteen that Mahomes
has lost back to back games or something something like that. Yeah,
(28:24):
just saying yeah, just saying.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, I hear you. Well with that, we'll call it
a rap on this edition of Packers Unscript. You'd be
sure to follow all of our coverage of the team
and all of our coverage from Sunday's game in Cleveland.
Wes and I will both be there and we will
have it all for you on Packers dot com for
west Iimmike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will
see you next time.
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