September 30, 2025 • 33 mins
Mike and Wes review the shootout in Dallas, looking at the quarterback performances (8:08), the end-of-game sequences (14:25) and a big night from K Brandon McManus (26:18), among several topics. They also discuss the current state of the NFC North (27:51).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted
colleague Wes Hodkowitz, coming to you hear from our studios
at Lambeaufield to talk about Sunday Nights game down in Dallas. Wes.
It ended in a forty to forty overtime tie. And
I've probably begun a number of shows over are what
(00:28):
is this now close to ten years or doing this
show with this particular line. Just when you think you've
seen it all in this league, another game gets played
and this is another one of those games that nobody
could have predicted that, I mean, it's it was. It
was off the wall in so many ways. And there's
(00:50):
a ton of ground to cover in this show, and
I don't think we're gonna be able to get to
all of it, but just initially your overall impressions of
how this game went out.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The first ever forty forty game in NFL history, the
second highest tie ever in NFL history, the Dallas Cowboys
first tie since nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Nice, And I'll be honest with you, Mike, as I
came to terms with this and we finished all of
our content. You and I are flying through the night
and get back into Green Bay at a little before
four in the morning. I was walking to my car
and I thought to myself, after writing everything, reading everything,
it is kind of like going through everything. It was
one of those games where really truly nobody I think
(01:33):
deserved to win. When you and I say that, actually
not just from a point of you know, being a contrarian,
I mean, you look at both of these sides. There's
a compelling argument for why the Dallas Cowboys should have
won and why the Green Bit Packers should have won
in neither team achieved the goal. From the Cowboys perspective,
I don't know the stat exactly off my head, but
(01:54):
I think it was the first time at least is
it in their franchises. Yeah, I was in their franchise's history.
I think Movski was the one that tweeted this out
that they scored over four hundred points with four hundred
totally yards with forty points, yeah, and didn't have a turnover.
It was the first time they didn't win that game
in franchise history. I think they're now like it's like
(02:15):
three hundred zero and one when they've achieved those those
measurements from the Packers standpoint. The really bizarre thing about
this first month, Mike, they've started fast in all these
games for the most part. I mean, they have got
on the board, they've put points up, and then they've
had these moments where whether it's the block field goal
(02:35):
or the blocked extra point in this game, or that
bizarre series of events at the end of the first
half where you go from leading thirteen to two and
now you're trailing sixteen to thirteen at halftime, and then
you know, on Green Bay kind of still found ways
to get the offense going, but then defensively then they
couldn't stop Dallas in the second half. Just a very
bizarre game on so many fronts, and I thought a
(02:56):
lot of guys afterwards, you were at the press conferences,
I was in the locker room, in the common sense,
in the Packers' locker room. It just was a weird night,
a weird game, and the only silver line you could
take from it is the Packers walked out of there
with a tie, and in twenty thirteen, that was the
difference between them getting into the playoffs or not, and
the Packers have to keep winning and hope that it's
something that could propell them forward down the line.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I mean, we'll just have to see. I think
it was you quoted Brandon McManus in the locker room afterwards, saying,
you just have to see come December, early January, what
a tie on the record means, you know, as you're
trying to sort out the all of the postseason, end
of season scenarios. I've certainly never seen a game, or
I can't recall one where the last nine consecutive possessions
(03:41):
in the football game all resulted in points and actually
it was six touchdowns in a row as these teams
went back and forth. In my mind, there are similarities
to the game against Cleveland, there are also significant differences.
The similarity being there was another costly special teams breakdown
(04:06):
in getting kick blocked. This one was an extra point
that the Cowboys ran back for two points, so in
a sense, it was the equivalent of getting a field
goal blocked because it was a three point swing on
the scoreboard. The Packers had scored a touchdown and essentially
netted only a plus four on the scoreboard because they
didn't get the extra point and the Cowboys got too,
(04:29):
So that was one similarity. Another similarity was, as you
alluded to a somewhat catastrophic error offensively in terms of
a turnover deep in your own territory, giving the other
team a short field they end up scoring a touchdown.
The difference was that, at least in this case compared
to Cleveland, that big mistake on offense happened at the
(04:53):
end of the first half, not at the end of
the game. So the Packers had an entire second half
to try to make up for it, and they sort
of did and sort of didn't in terms of being
able to get out of Dallas with a tie when
they went into the locker room at halftime losing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I think.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
With for everything that went wrong in this game, what
rises to I would say maybe the largest level of
concern for me as far as what I saw was
a Packers defense that had played so well for three
weeks and started this game so well with three consecutive
scoreless possessions forcing three straight punts. Suddenly the Cowboys drove
(05:34):
ninety five yards. They're pinned on their own five yard line.
They go the length of the field, ninety five yards
for a touchdown in the second quarter, and then it
just felt like Green Bay's defense never recovered from you know,
they they took a big punch that Dak Prescott through
a Haymaker with that ninety five yard drive and basically announced, Okay, yeah,
(05:54):
this Cowboys offense has shown up to play tonight, and
it felt like Green Bay's defense never responded to that. Now,
it's just one game, and certainly the bulk of the
work of Green Bay's defense over the course of this
young season has been much more good than bad, But
that was troubling to watch, to feel like Green Bay's
defense never recovered from the moment when things started to
(06:18):
go wrong.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, I would agree with that. And again, the one
thing that kind of stinks about the bye week coming
now is we're not going to have a chance to
really break this thing down with Jeff Halfley, with Richie Saccia.
We're not going to talk to them at least for
another week plus, so a lot of time and a
lot of water. I'll be under the bridge at that point.
But so some of these observations, again, we haven't even
(06:39):
talked to Matt Lafleur at this point. Than which we're
taping this so trying to figure out what the packer's
reaction to a lot of it is and where they
thought some of the seams kind of came undone. We're
going to have to still figure that out. But from
my vantage point as I was watching that game, defensively,
it just seemed like Green Bay was pretty committed to
a four man rush. Yep, you didn't see much blitzing.
(07:01):
There weren't any simulated pressures. They moved around Micah Parsons
a little bit throughout the front, but there wasn't that
threat for the most part. I think Kuay did blitz
a couple of times. I think Edgern did blitz a
couple times, but it wasn't as much incorporated into the
plan in this game as it had been some of
the others.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Certainly not with how many snaps there were over the
course of seventy minutes. You know, we would have thought,
you know, that there would have been some more change
ups threat down there.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, so yeah, we'll have to wait and see. But
you know, long at the end of the day, where
Green Bay I thought, by and large, they did a
really good job against Prescott. The problem was they only
had the five quarterback hits against some of the one
sack which ended up being a huge play. I mean,
(07:48):
it's not your traditional sack, right, but it was a
huge play in the game, and that it kept Prescott
from getting into the end zone and ultimately kept Green
Bay alive to be able to match the or at
least have a chance to and then obviously match the
field goal. But Prescott in the times in which he
was under pressure seemed to get the ball out just
(08:09):
in the nick of time, yep. And then in the
instances where the Packers didn't get pressure, Prescott really went
to work.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeahak dak. Prescott's experience and his savvy and his accuracy.
I mean, he he showed in this game how big
time a quarterback he is. I mean, he's missing one
of his top weapons, if not his top weapon in
CD Lamb and the Packers certainly had their trouble with
George Pickens. Pickens had a big night, but we also
saw you know, guys like Jalen Tolbert and Turpin and
(08:38):
these and these other guys. I mean Prescott, I think
you had said it an insider inbox. It was as
though he was always a step ahead, because as soon
as Micah Parsons was you know, would beat his guy
and was closing in on him, the ball was out,
you know. And the ball wasn't just out, but most
of the time it was out very accurately to somebody
who was able to make a play for him. It
(08:59):
was it was frustrating in that sense to watch. It
felt like as the game went on that that the Packers,
the Packers didn't get enough pressure on Dak Prescott. But
then when you go back and look at it and
you see how many times he just got the ball
out so quickly, you have to you have to give
him credit. And from Jeff Hafley's perspective up above, if
he's watching this and he's seeing the opposing quarterback constantly
(09:22):
getting the ball out so fast anytime somebody was closing
in on him, you can understand the reluctance to blitz,
the reluctance to dial things up, because you don't want
to compromise your coverage if they're just gonna go three
step drop and fire the ball all night long. So
there was there was a lot of that kind of
chess match stuff and and and trying to find an
answer going on and and and Prescott played a big
(09:44):
time game. On the other side, I thought Jordan Love
played a big time game as well. The turnover deep
in your own territory late in the first half extremely unfortunate.
I think the Packers got a little bit this is
just my feeling that cycleote logically, they got a little
bit too wrapped up in the idea of Dallas being
able to double up. Where Dallas scores on the ninety
(10:07):
five yard drive and they're going to get the ball
coming out at the start of the second half, and
because of that possibility of the double up, the you know,
the Packers got a little too aggressive. You get the
first down at the thirty two yard line, but after
a false start moves you back to the twenty seven
and you're out of timeouts and the clock is, you know,
down into the low twenties in terms of seconds left
(10:28):
in the first half. You're probably better off going in
the locker room there at thirteen to nine. And I
know that's easy for me to say, like you know,
sitting here, but I think it was just it was
this whole pressure of feeling like, Okay, you can't let
the Cowboys double up, right, and then they ended up
doubling up and getting a chance to triple up as
it turned out, So that was unfortunate. But the Packers' offense,
(10:49):
and as we've seen with Jordan Love, when a mistake happens,
he shakes it off, he comes out, and he came
out in the second half firing. And as much as
the Packers were having trouble stop in Prescott, the Cowboys
are having just as much trouble stopping Jordan Love in
the Packers.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know what drives me nuts sometimes with Packer fans.
I'm a little raw here because I just got done
doing Insider Inbox last night, So kind of like if
you had to do it, if we had to do
this show right after you wrote Inbox on Mondays, I'm
guessing you'd have a few different thoughts after you get
a time to sort of let things marinate a little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, walking off the plane at four am wouldn't have
been after writing that Insider Inbox wouldn't have been a
good time for me to step in front of a microphone.
But yes, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
But what drives me nuts sometimes with fans is you know,
they get so frustrated, and yes, I'm not. I understand
Jordan made a bad interception a week earlier against Cleveland,
and then that whole thing of again, that series of
unfortunate events at the end of the first half, which
Matt Lafuller took ownership for for wanting to put the
(11:50):
foot on the pedal for probably when the fall start happens,
maybe at that point packing your bags in because you
don't have any timeouts left. You are down to twenty
seconds on the clock maybe to play another day.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, and yard and five yards in that situation when
the best you're gonna do is field goal range, five
yards is a big deal and you have to and
you have to consider that.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
But go on. So the point I want to raise
with that is the way that Jordan Love bounced back
from that and the way that the defense bounced back
from that. If the Packers don't have that response, this
isn't even a game. But what happened was is the
defense did get one, did get off the field once,
and that's what gave Green Bay a chance to get
back into this thing. And when Jordan Love got that
(12:29):
ball back in his hands, he got back to his playmakers.
Josh Jacobs played some really good football in this game.
Emmanuel Wilson played some really good football in this game.
The Packers run game showed up in Tucker Kraft and
those the sprinkling there of Romeo Dobbs with the touchdown catches.
When I talk about my frustration with fans at times
is they focus so much on what the immediate result is,
(12:51):
and I don't think they always understand you're seeing the
maturation of young players before your eyes. Romeo Dobbs is
as cool, calming, collected as a receivers you're going to
find in the National Football League, and they need that
in this offense. Jordan Love with his cool disposition to
things and his ability to let the water kind of
go off his shoulder a little bit and focus on
(13:12):
the next task at hand, that's an important trait that
I think trickles down to the rest of this football
team offensively. This was their day. As you were in
the press conference with Micah Parsons, he said he went
up to Jordan Love and thanked him for picking the
defense up that day. When you're looking at complimentary football,
these are the instances you look at special teams had
(13:32):
a rough day. Defense had a rough day. But outside
of just the end of that first half. Offensively, in
a game in which Jordan Love could not afford to blink,
he kept his straight forward vision and helped this offense succeed.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, I thought you mentioned Jacobs and Wilson. I thought
we maybe saw the best of each of those guys
in a Packers' uniform. Certainly the best game of Emmanuel
Wilson's young career. I thought he was extremely effective. And
uh and just in general the Packers, the Packers got
(14:06):
the running game going, they got both of the running
backs involved in in the passing game, whether it was
screens or or checkdowns, and uh, and there's a there
was a lot to like about about what Green Bay's
offense did in this game. And as you mentioned, Dobbs
had the had the three touchdowns the the end of
the game, so Green Bay's defense is up against it.
(14:32):
In overtime, the Cowboys have first and goal on the
five yard line after the the sideline toe tap catch
there by Tolbert on I mean, on an incredible throw
by Prescott. Frankly, under pressure, he heaves it, it looks
like it might just go out of bounds, and Tolbert
is able to get it and uh and keep his
feet and bounds. So it's first and goal at the five,
(14:53):
and the Packers defense has not stopped Dallas since the
opening drive of the second half, but they rose up
and they were able to force the field goal. Micah
Parsons gets the chase down sack and I think Dak
Prescott's gonna score on that scramble if Parsons isn't able
to catch him, so they force the field goal. There
a big moment for Green Bay's defense. Then on the
other end, the Packers get all the way to the
(15:16):
twelve yard line. They have first and ten on the
Dallas twelve. Obviously, a touchdown wins the game, a field
goal ties the game. The clock is running down, and
we do this show a couple of days after the game,
so we've seen a lot of the narratives out there.
And if there's one narrative about this game that bothers
me more than anything, it's that supposedly Matt Lafleur and
(15:38):
the Packers weren't trying to win the game there, and
just because they weren't able to doesn't mean they weren't trying.
I mean the first play, the first play they try
the wide receiver screen to Matthew Golden. They have decent
numbers on the outside there, but a block is missed
and Golden gets tackled for a three yard loss. Unfortunate,
(16:01):
the play wasn't executed all that well. But just because
the Packers throw the ball sideways for a screen and
not towards the goal line doesn't mean they weren't trying
to win the game. So then we hear afterward from
Matt Lafluur and Jordan Love. So then on second down,
Lafleur is trying to take advantage of the fact that, Okay,
(16:22):
on this first on the first down play, the Cowboys
have had their guys up tight to the line of scrimmage,
So if they're gonna do that again, we're gonna take
the shot at the end zone. The Cowboys morph into
a cover too, They drop their coverage into the end zone.
There's nothing there for Jordan. He takes the checkdown to
Emmanuel Wilson, who isn't quite able to get back to
the line of scrimmage and the clock is still running.
(16:42):
I would say there's an argument to be made there.
Maybe Jordan Love needs to throw that ball away rather
than take the checkdown. It's one on one on the outside.
If Emmanuel Wilson could make the guy miss, then maybe
he gets, you know, a few yards, gets out of bounds. Whatever.
The biggest problem with the final sequence is that Emanuel Wilson,
it's tackled with twenty two seconds on the clock, and
(17:02):
then the third down snap doesn't happen until there are
six seconds left on the clock. It took sixteen seconds.
There wasn't the urgency out there on the field to
get to get lined up to run the play, to
take that last shot at the end zone. And quite frankly,
the Packers got extremely lucky that there was still one
second on the clock when the pass to the end
(17:23):
zone hit. I believe it was Sandborn in the back
the linebacker Jack Sanborn. It hit him in the back
and fell to the ground. If that ball is tipped
or deflected in any way, that last second probably ticks
off the clock and you've got an even greater disappointment
on your hands. My point, my overarching point, is the
(17:44):
final sequence didn't work out. The lack of urgency on
third down to get the snap off and not run
the clock down. As far as the Packers did, that
was the biggest problem with that sequence. It wasn't that
the Packers weren't trying to win the game, weren't and
were just settling for the field goal. That is not
what was happening there. It was a it was a
(18:05):
bad sequence of plays, it was a bad series of
downs that didn't go well. But to sit back there
and say that that Matt Lafleur was being all conservative
and wasn't trying to win the game, that is so
misguided and and it's and quite frankly, it's it's lazy.
It's it's frustration at not getting the victory being applied
(18:26):
to Oh the the intent to try to win the
game wasn't there. And and that's I don't have any
I don't have any time for that. And it's been
out there way too much. As far as as far
as the end of this game. I'm sorry, I went
on a long monologue there. I'll turn it back over
to you.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
No, it's it's very much the case. And you know,
I think seeing how the Packers rallied there down the stretch,
I I feel like most of that frustration for fans
and and maybe some of it's coming from the media too.
Is I the idea that Okay, well you you won
the coin toss, so you elected the kick. So you're
trying to put yourself in a position to be able
(19:04):
to win the game, right and you know, you see
if your defense can hold, and they did, they kept
him to three points. So now you're at this point
where you just had Brandon McManus hit a fifty three
yard field goal as time expired in the in regulations.
So once the Packers crossed midfield, the thing I'm sure
that's going through everybody's mind is, okay, well we got
(19:26):
the three in the bag. Now, whatever happened on the
extra point, we came back, we made good on the
the you know, the fifty three yard because that's about
as high level difficulties you're going to find for an
NFL kicker and then a whole operational unit.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, and McManus absolutely striped that kick too. It was
right down the middle and probably would have been good
from sixty five yards.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah. And as somebody said too, I mean you want
to talk about ten out of ten just from a
you know, pure beauty standpoint, I mean that thing was
right down Broadway. Yeah, nice operation there, and afterwards you know,
McManus commended both Matt Orzik and Daniel Wheeland for the
whole operation there. Okay, that all happens Packers rally, they're
down the field, things are looking up, and you have
(20:06):
some strikes to the end zone. But one of the
things is is now that we're down to this fifth
you know, we go from fifteen to ten minutes and
when it was not you know that now on both teams,
no matter what, get a chance to possess the ball,
you're going to see some down to the wire overtimes. Now, Yeah,
because there isn't always just going to be a you know,
seventy five yard touchdown to get things started. It's going
(20:26):
to be long, sustained drives that could take six, seven,
eight minutes. So Green Bay I felt like in that instance,
I mean Mattlefuer took ownership for it. He said, you know,
we got to be better there, play calls got to
be better, whatever you want to call it, right, But
at the end of the day, I think there also
is a lot of trust that Jordan Love is going
to get this offense where it needs to be. And again,
(20:47):
kind of going back to my point earlier, I think
sometimes fans get so wrapped up in what the actual
result is, you're not actually seeing what's happening on the field.
And Jordan Love is taking absolute command of this offense.
Now he's catching guys every week with twelve men on
the field. There's so many attributes that it's not just
about what he learned from Aaron Rodgers. There's a lot
that he learned from Aaron Rodgers, and that's a big
(21:08):
part of his story, but it's also the way that
Matt Lafuer develops quarterbacks and the way the Packers developed
their offense. The pieces are coming together, and yeah, it
got really dramatic there at the end, But I guess
a part of me never felt like the thing was
out of control. And I think a lot of the
frustrations that we've heard verbalized in the last few days,
I think coming mostly out of the standpoint that it
(21:30):
was a frustrating game and the Packers weren't able to
punch it in at the very end.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, here's my question that I'll throw out to you
as a hypothetical of sorts. Were you surprised that on
fourth and goal from the four that the Cowboys didn't
go for it In overtime because I thought they might,
just because their defense had been struggling so much that Okay,
(21:54):
if you don't get the touchdown there, the Packers are
backed up on their own four yard line, you're giving
your defense the you know, an opportunity there. And I'm
not saying that they should have gone for it.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I just I thought it was I.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Thought it was an interesting question the way that game
had gone on everything. On fourth and goal, you're inside
the five yard line, do you go for it there?
They obviously chose to kick the field goal. I was
just curious if you had any thoughts.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And they're gonna take one more look just to see.
I want to see what the plays were leading up
to that. Sorry fans. Okay, so person sacked him on
second down and then the passes incomplete on third. Yeah, okay.
My initial reaction to that is, no, it didn't surprise me.
And the main reason for that is, while you're right
about where things were at with the defense, you also
(22:39):
saw what was happening with the Packers offense at that point,
and yes, they would have been supremely backed up. But
if Green Bay does move the ball from that point,
chances are it's going to be a long drive that
will ultimately lead to a game winning field goal. I
get yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
In the end the Cowboys that ultimately the decision was
we're not going to put our defen in a position
where they can lose the game on a field goal.
They're only going to lose the game on a touchdown.
And it worked and it worked out for them. But
again that goes back to the Prescott scramble. I mean, say,
if Parsons is another step late and Prescott gets to
(23:18):
like the two or the one yard line and then
you're talking fourth and goal from there as opposed to
the four, maybe it's a whole different decision as well.
I realize that's all hypothetical stuff. I was just curious.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, it's a good question. I guess that's where because
I'm looking at it now. I mean, here's the thing,
like leading up to the end of the game here,
I mean, I'm personally perseverating so much on the Packers defense,
but the whole second half is nine plays sixty five
yards touchdown, eight plays sixty five yards touchdown, ten plays
sixty five tart yards touchdown, three plays thirty nine yards
(23:49):
game tying field goal, and then they end up actually
having a thirteen play drive that leads up to the
game tying field again for McManus, so, I think it's
one of those things that when you're in that type
of shootout, nine straight scoring drives, as you mentioned, a
bunch of touchdown drives combined as well. Yeah, I think
you can't take anyffer granted to shoot the Packers put
(24:11):
what was it the Cowboys started at their own five.
You're thinking the Packers got three straight punts at that
point in the second quarter.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Right, and that that's that's the point that you think
the Packers defense is in great position, you know, with
the offense has already scored, you're in the lead. You
back them up on the five yard line, and that's
when Dak Prescott came out, drove them all the way
down the field and he sort of announced like all right,
I came, I came to play tonight. And the Packers
defense had trouble on their hands the rest of the game.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
By the way, one last thing on all this, uh dude,
something that drives me absolutely nuts right now too. Again
this is the West is Going Nuts episode? Uh people,
Well they didn't have Cedee Lamb, so how did the
Dallas George Pickens is a really good football receiver.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Pickens is good, and the Packers had Packers had trouble.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Did you watch those clips of Ceedee Lamb on the sideline,
like picking out the plays that picking was gonna make explosives? Yeah, Like, yeah,
there's a lot of like bad juju so to speak
around Pickens because of how things ended in Pittsburgh. But
the guy's always been really really talented. Yeah, so yeah,
I mean, Dak is really good. Pickens is really good.
The Packers walked out of there with the tie, and
(25:18):
as I also said an insider inbox, they're going to
go back to Lambeufield here after the bye. The Packers
still have yet to lose at Lambefield. And I know
what you wrote an inbox and what you said during
final thoughts last week. You want to split on the road.
It's gonna get really weird now with being zero one
and one on the road. But that being said, one
of the arguments I made the Los Angeles Chargers did
(25:41):
a cross country flight to New York against the Giants
team that last week I said was ill advised in
starting Jackson Dark.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Three and o versus zero and three and welcome, Welcome
to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
It's very hard to win on the road, so it's
not an excuse. I understand the frustration. Fortunately, the Packers
are two to one and one here going into the
by and are the one think green Bay has to
do coming out of it. They have to be more consistent,
for sure. Everybody agrees with that. Yes, they also need
to get incredibly more healthy. It's wild what happened in
this game really for both offensive lines being down a
(26:11):
lot of their preferred starters. Green Bay's got work to do. Yeah,
that's the more of the story.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
One last thing I want to say before we pay
some bills. We mentioned Brandon McManus. Obviously the two clutch
kicks that stave off defeat. He was also making tackles
on kickoffs. I thought Brandon McManus played a whale of
a football game. The blocked extra point was not his fault.
The Packers actually changed multiple personnel on the right side
of the field goal protection unit after the pat was blocked.
(26:39):
And when McManus is making tackles on kickoffs, the Packers
have a lot to figure out and sort out on
special teams. That's got to get sorted out. But I
just wanted to give a tip of the Captain McManus
because that was a whale of a game from a
kicker and the Packers are lucky to have him. But
right now I do need to turn it over to
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(27:46):
slash Wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted West. Last thing
before we go a quick look at where things stand
in the NFC North. The Detroit Lions at three and one,
sitting back on top where they've been the last couple
of years. The Packers right behind at two to one
and one, Minnesota and Chicago both two and two, both
getting to two and two in very different ways. The
(28:06):
Vikings losing across the pond in Ireland to the Steelers,
a comeback attempt at the end that comes up short,
and the Bears get a block field goal on the
final play in Las Vegas to hang on and beat
the Raiders. So the Bears have wiped out their zero
and two start, the Packers have almost wiped out their
(28:26):
two and oh start. Although two to one and one
is certainly better than two and two, and everybody's chasing
the Detroit Lions again, we're right back where we've been
the last couple seasons.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yeah, it was really funny to watch how this thing
played out. Now. By the way I was mentioning our
last segment, the difference between playing home and away, I
thought you saw that with Detroit being inside Ford Field,
Cleveland trying to go in there and doing what they
did and obviously having a much different result than what
happened against Green Bay. I give a lot of credit
to Minnesota. They kept their head in it, they tried
to make some plays. I thought Pittsburgh had a really
(28:56):
good plan for justin Jefferson allowed them to build that
pushing that under. They ultimately ended up needing. I was
a little bit flabbergasted by how Mike Tomlin and the
Steelers handled those last five minutes of the game.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, that was a little rough, but.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
That being said, they did find a way to pull
it out. Minnesota falls to two and two. Uh. My
other takeaway from the Bears game, Ashton Genty is very
very real. I there's a part of me that wonders
with Steve Carroll, with Pete Carroll. Excuse me, almost said
Steve Carrell. It's been a long week.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Steve Carroll, A guy named Steve Carroll was actually one
of my college baseball teammates.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
By the way, that's a whole that what position?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
First base?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Nice power hitter, Yes, actually big gotta have your power
on the corners.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Big guy Rote wrote his honors thesis on the economics
of baseball, and I proofread it for him. But anyway,
that's cool. There we go. I hope you gotten a
Sorry you just mentioned name like Steve Carroll and all
these men come back. Steve, I have no idea if
you're out there and listening to this, but anyway, you
just got You just got your moment in the sun
and backers scripts scripted my old my old teammate and
(30:01):
economics major. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
But but my point I was going to try to
make before I ended up watching. You know, one of
the most longest tenured head coaches in the National Football
League is the fact that correct, you know, Carrol's offenses
when they have been most successful in Seattle always had
that type of back. Yeah, it was the offense was
built around him. I think Gent can be that guy.
But but to the Bears credit, man, they found a
way to win that football game, even though it was
(30:25):
a road game. As you mentioned, there's still a lot
of Bears fans there. But at the end of the day,
you have to be able to pull those out. It's
going to be competitive, man. I said it the day
after the Packers beat the Lions. I mean, the Lions
are not going anywhere, no, And it's a good thing
Green Bay picked up that win, because if you don't
do that there the Lions would be sitting and undefeated
(30:46):
here at the quarter pole.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, and for all of the hair pulling and everything
else that's going on, you know, there are thirteen games
left in this thing. The Packers have played exactly one
Division game and they got a win in that one
Division game. There are five to vision games left. Those
are going to be obviously of heightened importance as they
as they always are. But this is going to be
a long, tough slog in the NFC North. I think
(31:10):
there are a lot of good teams in this mix again,
just as there were last year, and there's it's going
to be a long time in my opinion before this
gets sorted out.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
And you got to win the games that are in
front of you. Man. Baltimore Ravens right now are one
and three in the season, Kansas City's two and two,
and only one of those teams is going to be
able to get the two in the win column out
of that matchup. It is, as I've said time and
time again, it is difficult to win in this league.
And you know, records are not created equal. I mean
there was that one statistic too. If Spencer Rattlers still
(31:39):
has not won an NFL game. I think he's zero
to ten now as a starting quarterback. The Washington Commanders
were flying high, and then Jaden Daniels gets hurt, and
now Atlanta, who couldn't move the ball on anybody, ends
up having a really strong offensive performance. Drake London finally
has a big game for that offense.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So yeah, if you think the Packers have been a
little bit of jecky and hide here in the first
month of the regular season, look at what's been going
on around the league with whether you're talking about the
Falcons or the Panthers or even the Buccaneers to a
certain extent. Who you know, they're pulling out all these
last second victories in the first three weeks, but then
you know they run into Philadelphia and now the Eagles
(32:19):
are sitting there at four and oh.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And to be fair, I mean, this is what good
teams do, though, right, Buffalo's four and oh, the Eagles
are four and oh. When you are a front runner,
when you are a contender, you are consistent. That is
the translation. Everybody can do it at a high level
from the most cases in this league, it's who does
it in all three phases on the most consistent basis.
That's what the biggest learning lesson has to be for
green Bay out of this first month of the year.
(32:41):
This team can compete with anybody. They have the talent
to win a super Bowl this season, but doing it
down in, down out, eliminating the mistakes, protecting the football
and taking it away. Yeah, as I look at this
team going into October, that's where green Bay needs to improve.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
YEA. Can they reach a level at which they can
sustain their level of play on a consistent basis over
the course of time. Not that you're not going to
have some ups and downs, but the ups and downs
through the first four weeks have been a little bit.
It's been too much of a swing back and forth,
and the Packers need to get to a certain level
and even that out, and then I think they can
(33:15):
put together the season they're looking for.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And that's the most exciting thing. Offensively, they have the
firepower to put up points like they did against Dallas. Defensively,
they have the assets there to shut down a team
like Detroit. Just getting it all to converge at the
same moment.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Absolutely. With that, we'll call it a rap on this
edition of Packers unscripted and because it is the bye week,
this is our only show this week, so we went
a little bit long. Hopefully we made up for it
a little bit. We will be back next week when
the Packers are back preparing for the Cincinnati Bengals. So
for Wes, I am Mike, thank you for tuning in everybody,
and we will see you next time.
Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted
colleague Wes Hodkowitz, coming to you hear from our studios
at Lambeaufield to talk about Sunday Nights game down in Dallas. Wes.
It ended in a forty to forty overtime tie. And
I've probably begun a number of shows over are what
(00:28):
is this now close to ten years or doing this
show with this particular line. Just when you think you've
seen it all in this league, another game gets played
and this is another one of those games that nobody
could have predicted that, I mean, it's it was. It
was off the wall in so many ways. And there's
(00:50):
a ton of ground to cover in this show, and
I don't think we're gonna be able to get to
all of it, but just initially your overall impressions of
how this game went out.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The first ever forty forty game in NFL history, the
second highest tie ever in NFL history, the Dallas Cowboys
first tie since nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Nice, And I'll be honest with you, Mike, as I
came to terms with this and we finished all of
our content. You and I are flying through the night
and get back into Green Bay at a little before
four in the morning. I was walking to my car
and I thought to myself, after writing everything, reading everything,
it is kind of like going through everything. It was
one of those games where really truly nobody I think
(01:33):
deserved to win. When you and I say that, actually
not just from a point of you know, being a contrarian,
I mean, you look at both of these sides. There's
a compelling argument for why the Dallas Cowboys should have
won and why the Green Bit Packers should have won
in neither team achieved the goal. From the Cowboys perspective,
I don't know the stat exactly off my head, but
(01:54):
I think it was the first time at least is
it in their franchises. Yeah, I was in their franchise's history.
I think Movski was the one that tweeted this out
that they scored over four hundred points with four hundred
totally yards with forty points, yeah, and didn't have a turnover.
It was the first time they didn't win that game
in franchise history. I think they're now like it's like
(02:15):
three hundred zero and one when they've achieved those those
measurements from the Packers standpoint. The really bizarre thing about
this first month, Mike, they've started fast in all these
games for the most part. I mean, they have got
on the board, they've put points up, and then they've
had these moments where whether it's the block field goal
(02:35):
or the blocked extra point in this game, or that
bizarre series of events at the end of the first
half where you go from leading thirteen to two and
now you're trailing sixteen to thirteen at halftime, and then
you know, on Green Bay kind of still found ways
to get the offense going, but then defensively then they
couldn't stop Dallas in the second half. Just a very
bizarre game on so many fronts, and I thought a
(02:56):
lot of guys afterwards, you were at the press conferences,
I was in the locker room, in the common sense,
in the Packers' locker room. It just was a weird night,
a weird game, and the only silver line you could
take from it is the Packers walked out of there
with a tie, and in twenty thirteen, that was the
difference between them getting into the playoffs or not, and
the Packers have to keep winning and hope that it's
something that could propell them forward down the line.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I mean, we'll just have to see. I think
it was you quoted Brandon McManus in the locker room afterwards, saying,
you just have to see come December, early January, what
a tie on the record means, you know, as you're
trying to sort out the all of the postseason, end
of season scenarios. I've certainly never seen a game, or
I can't recall one where the last nine consecutive possessions
(03:41):
in the football game all resulted in points and actually
it was six touchdowns in a row as these teams
went back and forth. In my mind, there are similarities
to the game against Cleveland, there are also significant differences.
The similarity being there was another costly special teams breakdown
(04:06):
in getting kick blocked. This one was an extra point
that the Cowboys ran back for two points, so in
a sense, it was the equivalent of getting a field
goal blocked because it was a three point swing on
the scoreboard. The Packers had scored a touchdown and essentially
netted only a plus four on the scoreboard because they
didn't get the extra point and the Cowboys got too,
(04:29):
So that was one similarity. Another similarity was, as you
alluded to a somewhat catastrophic error offensively in terms of
a turnover deep in your own territory, giving the other
team a short field they end up scoring a touchdown.
The difference was that, at least in this case compared
to Cleveland, that big mistake on offense happened at the
(04:53):
end of the first half, not at the end of
the game. So the Packers had an entire second half
to try to make up for it, and they sort
of did and sort of didn't in terms of being
able to get out of Dallas with a tie when
they went into the locker room at halftime losing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I think.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
With for everything that went wrong in this game, what
rises to I would say maybe the largest level of
concern for me as far as what I saw was
a Packers defense that had played so well for three
weeks and started this game so well with three consecutive
scoreless possessions forcing three straight punts. Suddenly the Cowboys drove
(05:34):
ninety five yards. They're pinned on their own five yard line.
They go the length of the field, ninety five yards
for a touchdown in the second quarter, and then it
just felt like Green Bay's defense never recovered from you know,
they they took a big punch that Dak Prescott through
a Haymaker with that ninety five yard drive and basically announced, Okay, yeah,
(05:54):
this Cowboys offense has shown up to play tonight, and
it felt like Green Bay's defense never responded to that. Now,
it's just one game, and certainly the bulk of the
work of Green Bay's defense over the course of this
young season has been much more good than bad, But
that was troubling to watch, to feel like Green Bay's
defense never recovered from the moment when things started to
(06:18):
go wrong.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, I would agree with that. And again, the one
thing that kind of stinks about the bye week coming
now is we're not going to have a chance to
really break this thing down with Jeff Halfley, with Richie Saccia.
We're not going to talk to them at least for
another week plus, so a lot of time and a
lot of water. I'll be under the bridge at that point.
But so some of these observations, again, we haven't even
(06:39):
talked to Matt Lafleur at this point. Than which we're
taping this so trying to figure out what the packer's
reaction to a lot of it is and where they
thought some of the seams kind of came undone. We're
going to have to still figure that out. But from
my vantage point as I was watching that game, defensively,
it just seemed like Green Bay was pretty committed to
a four man rush. Yep, you didn't see much blitzing.
(07:01):
There weren't any simulated pressures. They moved around Micah Parsons
a little bit throughout the front, but there wasn't that
threat for the most part. I think Kuay did blitz
a couple of times. I think Edgern did blitz a
couple times, but it wasn't as much incorporated into the
plan in this game as it had been some of
the others.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Certainly not with how many snaps there were over the
course of seventy minutes. You know, we would have thought,
you know, that there would have been some more change
ups threat down there.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, so yeah, we'll have to wait and see. But
you know, long at the end of the day, where
Green Bay I thought, by and large, they did a
really good job against Prescott. The problem was they only
had the five quarterback hits against some of the one
sack which ended up being a huge play. I mean,
(07:48):
it's not your traditional sack, right, but it was a
huge play in the game, and that it kept Prescott
from getting into the end zone and ultimately kept Green
Bay alive to be able to match the or at
least have a chance to and then obviously match the
field goal. But Prescott in the times in which he
was under pressure seemed to get the ball out just
(08:09):
in the nick of time, yep. And then in the
instances where the Packers didn't get pressure, Prescott really went
to work.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeahak dak. Prescott's experience and his savvy and his accuracy.
I mean, he he showed in this game how big
time a quarterback he is. I mean, he's missing one
of his top weapons, if not his top weapon in
CD Lamb and the Packers certainly had their trouble with
George Pickens. Pickens had a big night, but we also
saw you know, guys like Jalen Tolbert and Turpin and
(08:38):
these and these other guys. I mean Prescott, I think
you had said it an insider inbox. It was as
though he was always a step ahead, because as soon
as Micah Parsons was you know, would beat his guy
and was closing in on him, the ball was out,
you know. And the ball wasn't just out, but most
of the time it was out very accurately to somebody
who was able to make a play for him. It
(08:59):
was it was frustrating in that sense to watch. It
felt like as the game went on that that the Packers,
the Packers didn't get enough pressure on Dak Prescott. But
then when you go back and look at it and
you see how many times he just got the ball
out so quickly, you have to you have to give
him credit. And from Jeff Hafley's perspective up above, if
he's watching this and he's seeing the opposing quarterback constantly
(09:22):
getting the ball out so fast anytime somebody was closing
in on him, you can understand the reluctance to blitz,
the reluctance to dial things up, because you don't want
to compromise your coverage if they're just gonna go three
step drop and fire the ball all night long. So
there was there was a lot of that kind of
chess match stuff and and and trying to find an
answer going on and and and Prescott played a big
(09:44):
time game. On the other side, I thought Jordan Love
played a big time game as well. The turnover deep
in your own territory late in the first half extremely unfortunate.
I think the Packers got a little bit this is
just my feeling that cycleote logically, they got a little
bit too wrapped up in the idea of Dallas being
able to double up. Where Dallas scores on the ninety
(10:07):
five yard drive and they're going to get the ball
coming out at the start of the second half, and
because of that possibility of the double up, the you know,
the Packers got a little too aggressive. You get the
first down at the thirty two yard line, but after
a false start moves you back to the twenty seven
and you're out of timeouts and the clock is, you know,
down into the low twenties in terms of seconds left
(10:28):
in the first half. You're probably better off going in
the locker room there at thirteen to nine. And I
know that's easy for me to say, like you know,
sitting here, but I think it was just it was
this whole pressure of feeling like, Okay, you can't let
the Cowboys double up, right, and then they ended up
doubling up and getting a chance to triple up as
it turned out, So that was unfortunate. But the Packers' offense,
(10:49):
and as we've seen with Jordan Love, when a mistake happens,
he shakes it off, he comes out, and he came
out in the second half firing. And as much as
the Packers were having trouble stop in Prescott, the Cowboys
are having just as much trouble stopping Jordan Love in
the Packers.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know what drives me nuts sometimes with Packer fans.
I'm a little raw here because I just got done
doing Insider Inbox last night, So kind of like if
you had to do it, if we had to do
this show right after you wrote Inbox on Mondays, I'm
guessing you'd have a few different thoughts after you get
a time to sort of let things marinate a little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, walking off the plane at four am wouldn't have
been after writing that Insider Inbox wouldn't have been a
good time for me to step in front of a microphone.
But yes, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
But what drives me nuts sometimes with fans is you know,
they get so frustrated, and yes, I'm not. I understand
Jordan made a bad interception a week earlier against Cleveland,
and then that whole thing of again, that series of
unfortunate events at the end of the first half, which
Matt Lafuller took ownership for for wanting to put the
(11:50):
foot on the pedal for probably when the fall start happens,
maybe at that point packing your bags in because you
don't have any timeouts left. You are down to twenty
seconds on the clock maybe to play another day.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, and yard and five yards in that situation when
the best you're gonna do is field goal range, five
yards is a big deal and you have to and
you have to consider that.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
But go on. So the point I want to raise
with that is the way that Jordan Love bounced back
from that and the way that the defense bounced back
from that. If the Packers don't have that response, this
isn't even a game. But what happened was is the
defense did get one, did get off the field once,
and that's what gave Green Bay a chance to get
back into this thing. And when Jordan Love got that
(12:29):
ball back in his hands, he got back to his playmakers.
Josh Jacobs played some really good football in this game.
Emmanuel Wilson played some really good football in this game.
The Packers run game showed up in Tucker Kraft and
those the sprinkling there of Romeo Dobbs with the touchdown catches.
When I talk about my frustration with fans at times
is they focus so much on what the immediate result is,
(12:51):
and I don't think they always understand you're seeing the
maturation of young players before your eyes. Romeo Dobbs is
as cool, calming, collected as a receivers you're going to
find in the National Football League, and they need that
in this offense. Jordan Love with his cool disposition to
things and his ability to let the water kind of
go off his shoulder a little bit and focus on
(13:12):
the next task at hand, that's an important trait that
I think trickles down to the rest of this football
team offensively. This was their day. As you were in
the press conference with Micah Parsons, he said he went
up to Jordan Love and thanked him for picking the
defense up that day. When you're looking at complimentary football,
these are the instances you look at special teams had
(13:32):
a rough day. Defense had a rough day. But outside
of just the end of that first half. Offensively, in
a game in which Jordan Love could not afford to blink,
he kept his straight forward vision and helped this offense succeed.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, I thought you mentioned Jacobs and Wilson. I thought
we maybe saw the best of each of those guys
in a Packers' uniform. Certainly the best game of Emmanuel
Wilson's young career. I thought he was extremely effective. And
uh and just in general the Packers, the Packers got
(14:06):
the running game going, they got both of the running
backs involved in in the passing game, whether it was
screens or or checkdowns, and uh, and there's a there
was a lot to like about about what Green Bay's
offense did in this game. And as you mentioned, Dobbs
had the had the three touchdowns the the end of
the game, so Green Bay's defense is up against it.
(14:32):
In overtime, the Cowboys have first and goal on the
five yard line after the the sideline toe tap catch
there by Tolbert on I mean, on an incredible throw
by Prescott. Frankly, under pressure, he heaves it, it looks
like it might just go out of bounds, and Tolbert
is able to get it and uh and keep his
feet and bounds. So it's first and goal at the five,
(14:53):
and the Packers defense has not stopped Dallas since the
opening drive of the second half, but they rose up
and they were able to force the field goal. Micah
Parsons gets the chase down sack and I think Dak
Prescott's gonna score on that scramble if Parsons isn't able
to catch him, so they force the field goal. There
a big moment for Green Bay's defense. Then on the
other end, the Packers get all the way to the
(15:16):
twelve yard line. They have first and ten on the
Dallas twelve. Obviously, a touchdown wins the game, a field
goal ties the game. The clock is running down, and
we do this show a couple of days after the game,
so we've seen a lot of the narratives out there.
And if there's one narrative about this game that bothers
me more than anything, it's that supposedly Matt Lafleur and
(15:38):
the Packers weren't trying to win the game there, and
just because they weren't able to doesn't mean they weren't trying.
I mean the first play, the first play they try
the wide receiver screen to Matthew Golden. They have decent
numbers on the outside there, but a block is missed
and Golden gets tackled for a three yard loss. Unfortunate,
(16:01):
the play wasn't executed all that well. But just because
the Packers throw the ball sideways for a screen and
not towards the goal line doesn't mean they weren't trying
to win the game. So then we hear afterward from
Matt Lafluur and Jordan Love. So then on second down,
Lafleur is trying to take advantage of the fact that, Okay,
(16:22):
on this first on the first down play, the Cowboys
have had their guys up tight to the line of scrimmage,
So if they're gonna do that again, we're gonna take
the shot at the end zone. The Cowboys morph into
a cover too, They drop their coverage into the end zone.
There's nothing there for Jordan. He takes the checkdown to
Emmanuel Wilson, who isn't quite able to get back to
the line of scrimmage and the clock is still running.
(16:42):
I would say there's an argument to be made there.
Maybe Jordan Love needs to throw that ball away rather
than take the checkdown. It's one on one on the outside.
If Emmanuel Wilson could make the guy miss, then maybe
he gets, you know, a few yards, gets out of bounds. Whatever.
The biggest problem with the final sequence is that Emanuel Wilson,
it's tackled with twenty two seconds on the clock, and
(17:02):
then the third down snap doesn't happen until there are
six seconds left on the clock. It took sixteen seconds.
There wasn't the urgency out there on the field to
get to get lined up to run the play, to
take that last shot at the end zone. And quite frankly,
the Packers got extremely lucky that there was still one
second on the clock when the pass to the end
(17:23):
zone hit. I believe it was Sandborn in the back
the linebacker Jack Sanborn. It hit him in the back
and fell to the ground. If that ball is tipped
or deflected in any way, that last second probably ticks
off the clock and you've got an even greater disappointment
on your hands. My point, my overarching point, is the
(17:44):
final sequence didn't work out. The lack of urgency on
third down to get the snap off and not run
the clock down. As far as the Packers did, that
was the biggest problem with that sequence. It wasn't that
the Packers weren't trying to win the game, weren't and
were just settling for the field goal. That is not
what was happening there. It was a it was a
(18:05):
bad sequence of plays, it was a bad series of
downs that didn't go well. But to sit back there
and say that that Matt Lafleur was being all conservative
and wasn't trying to win the game, that is so
misguided and and it's and quite frankly, it's it's lazy.
It's it's frustration at not getting the victory being applied
(18:26):
to Oh the the intent to try to win the
game wasn't there. And and that's I don't have any
I don't have any time for that. And it's been
out there way too much. As far as as far
as the end of this game. I'm sorry, I went
on a long monologue there. I'll turn it back over
to you.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
No, it's it's very much the case. And you know,
I think seeing how the Packers rallied there down the stretch,
I I feel like most of that frustration for fans
and and maybe some of it's coming from the media too.
Is I the idea that Okay, well you you won
the coin toss, so you elected the kick. So you're
trying to put yourself in a position to be able
(19:04):
to win the game, right and you know, you see
if your defense can hold, and they did, they kept
him to three points. So now you're at this point
where you just had Brandon McManus hit a fifty three
yard field goal as time expired in the in regulations.
So once the Packers crossed midfield, the thing I'm sure
that's going through everybody's mind is, okay, well we got
(19:26):
the three in the bag. Now, whatever happened on the
extra point, we came back, we made good on the
the you know, the fifty three yard because that's about
as high level difficulties you're going to find for an
NFL kicker and then a whole operational unit.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, and McManus absolutely striped that kick too. It was
right down the middle and probably would have been good
from sixty five yards.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah. And as somebody said too, I mean you want
to talk about ten out of ten just from a
you know, pure beauty standpoint, I mean that thing was
right down Broadway. Yeah, nice operation there, and afterwards you know,
McManus commended both Matt Orzik and Daniel Wheeland for the
whole operation there. Okay, that all happens Packers rally, they're
down the field, things are looking up, and you have
(20:06):
some strikes to the end zone. But one of the
things is is now that we're down to this fifth
you know, we go from fifteen to ten minutes and
when it was not you know that now on both teams,
no matter what, get a chance to possess the ball,
you're going to see some down to the wire overtimes. Now, Yeah,
because there isn't always just going to be a you know,
seventy five yard touchdown to get things started. It's going
(20:26):
to be long, sustained drives that could take six, seven,
eight minutes. So Green Bay I felt like in that instance,
I mean Mattlefuer took ownership for it. He said, you know,
we got to be better there, play calls got to
be better, whatever you want to call it, right, But
at the end of the day, I think there also
is a lot of trust that Jordan Love is going
to get this offense where it needs to be. And again,
(20:47):
kind of going back to my point earlier, I think
sometimes fans get so wrapped up in what the actual
result is, you're not actually seeing what's happening on the field.
And Jordan Love is taking absolute command of this offense.
Now he's catching guys every week with twelve men on
the field. There's so many attributes that it's not just
about what he learned from Aaron Rodgers. There's a lot
that he learned from Aaron Rodgers, and that's a big
(21:08):
part of his story, but it's also the way that
Matt Lafuer develops quarterbacks and the way the Packers developed
their offense. The pieces are coming together, and yeah, it
got really dramatic there at the end, But I guess
a part of me never felt like the thing was
out of control. And I think a lot of the
frustrations that we've heard verbalized in the last few days,
I think coming mostly out of the standpoint that it
(21:30):
was a frustrating game and the Packers weren't able to
punch it in at the very end.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, here's my question that I'll throw out to you
as a hypothetical of sorts. Were you surprised that on
fourth and goal from the four that the Cowboys didn't
go for it In overtime because I thought they might,
just because their defense had been struggling so much that Okay,
(21:54):
if you don't get the touchdown there, the Packers are
backed up on their own four yard line, you're giving
your defense the you know, an opportunity there. And I'm
not saying that they should have gone for it.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I just I thought it was I.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Thought it was an interesting question the way that game
had gone on everything. On fourth and goal, you're inside
the five yard line, do you go for it there?
They obviously chose to kick the field goal. I was
just curious if you had any thoughts.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And they're gonna take one more look just to see.
I want to see what the plays were leading up
to that. Sorry fans. Okay, so person sacked him on
second down and then the passes incomplete on third. Yeah, okay.
My initial reaction to that is, no, it didn't surprise me.
And the main reason for that is, while you're right
about where things were at with the defense, you also
(22:39):
saw what was happening with the Packers offense at that point,
and yes, they would have been supremely backed up. But
if Green Bay does move the ball from that point,
chances are it's going to be a long drive that
will ultimately lead to a game winning field goal. I
get yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
In the end the Cowboys that ultimately the decision was
we're not going to put our defen in a position
where they can lose the game on a field goal.
They're only going to lose the game on a touchdown.
And it worked and it worked out for them. But
again that goes back to the Prescott scramble. I mean, say,
if Parsons is another step late and Prescott gets to
(23:18):
like the two or the one yard line and then
you're talking fourth and goal from there as opposed to
the four, maybe it's a whole different decision as well.
I realize that's all hypothetical stuff. I was just curious.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, it's a good question. I guess that's where because
I'm looking at it now. I mean, here's the thing,
like leading up to the end of the game here,
I mean, I'm personally perseverating so much on the Packers defense,
but the whole second half is nine plays sixty five
yards touchdown, eight plays sixty five yards touchdown, ten plays
sixty five tart yards touchdown, three plays thirty nine yards
(23:49):
game tying field goal, and then they end up actually
having a thirteen play drive that leads up to the
game tying field again for McManus, so, I think it's
one of those things that when you're in that type
of shootout, nine straight scoring drives, as you mentioned, a
bunch of touchdown drives combined as well. Yeah, I think
you can't take anyffer granted to shoot the Packers put
(24:11):
what was it the Cowboys started at their own five.
You're thinking the Packers got three straight punts at that
point in the second quarter.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Right, and that that's that's the point that you think
the Packers defense is in great position, you know, with
the offense has already scored, you're in the lead. You
back them up on the five yard line, and that's
when Dak Prescott came out, drove them all the way
down the field and he sort of announced like all right,
I came, I came to play tonight. And the Packers
defense had trouble on their hands the rest of the game.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
By the way, one last thing on all this, uh dude,
something that drives me absolutely nuts right now too. Again
this is the West is Going Nuts episode? Uh people,
Well they didn't have Cedee Lamb, so how did the
Dallas George Pickens is a really good football receiver.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Pickens is good, and the Packers had Packers had trouble.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Did you watch those clips of Ceedee Lamb on the sideline,
like picking out the plays that picking was gonna make explosives? Yeah, Like, yeah,
there's a lot of like bad juju so to speak
around Pickens because of how things ended in Pittsburgh. But
the guy's always been really really talented. Yeah, so yeah,
I mean, Dak is really good. Pickens is really good.
The Packers walked out of there with the tie, and
(25:18):
as I also said an insider inbox, they're going to
go back to Lambeufield here after the bye. The Packers
still have yet to lose at Lambefield. And I know
what you wrote an inbox and what you said during
final thoughts last week. You want to split on the road.
It's gonna get really weird now with being zero one
and one on the road. But that being said, one
of the arguments I made the Los Angeles Chargers did
(25:41):
a cross country flight to New York against the Giants
team that last week I said was ill advised in
starting Jackson Dark.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Three and o versus zero and three and welcome, Welcome
to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
It's very hard to win on the road, so it's
not an excuse. I understand the frustration. Fortunately, the Packers
are two to one and one here going into the
by and are the one think green Bay has to
do coming out of it. They have to be more consistent,
for sure. Everybody agrees with that. Yes, they also need
to get incredibly more healthy. It's wild what happened in
this game really for both offensive lines being down a
(26:11):
lot of their preferred starters. Green Bay's got work to do. Yeah,
that's the more of the story.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
One last thing I want to say before we pay
some bills. We mentioned Brandon McManus. Obviously the two clutch
kicks that stave off defeat. He was also making tackles
on kickoffs. I thought Brandon McManus played a whale of
a football game. The blocked extra point was not his fault.
The Packers actually changed multiple personnel on the right side
of the field goal protection unit after the pat was blocked.
(26:39):
And when McManus is making tackles on kickoffs, the Packers
have a lot to figure out and sort out on
special teams. That's got to get sorted out. But I
just wanted to give a tip of the Captain McManus
because that was a whale of a game from a
kicker and the Packers are lucky to have him. But
right now I do need to turn it over to
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(27:46):
slash Wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted West. Last thing
before we go a quick look at where things stand
in the NFC North. The Detroit Lions at three and one,
sitting back on top where they've been the last couple
of years. The Packers right behind at two to one
and one, Minnesota and Chicago both two and two, both
getting to two and two in very different ways. The
(28:06):
Vikings losing across the pond in Ireland to the Steelers,
a comeback attempt at the end that comes up short,
and the Bears get a block field goal on the
final play in Las Vegas to hang on and beat
the Raiders. So the Bears have wiped out their zero
and two start, the Packers have almost wiped out their
(28:26):
two and oh start. Although two to one and one
is certainly better than two and two, and everybody's chasing
the Detroit Lions again, we're right back where we've been
the last couple seasons.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yeah, it was really funny to watch how this thing
played out. Now. By the way I was mentioning our
last segment, the difference between playing home and away, I
thought you saw that with Detroit being inside Ford Field,
Cleveland trying to go in there and doing what they
did and obviously having a much different result than what
happened against Green Bay. I give a lot of credit
to Minnesota. They kept their head in it, they tried
to make some plays. I thought Pittsburgh had a really
(28:56):
good plan for justin Jefferson allowed them to build that
pushing that under. They ultimately ended up needing. I was
a little bit flabbergasted by how Mike Tomlin and the
Steelers handled those last five minutes of the game.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, that was a little rough, but.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
That being said, they did find a way to pull
it out. Minnesota falls to two and two. Uh. My
other takeaway from the Bears game, Ashton Genty is very
very real. I there's a part of me that wonders
with Steve Carroll, with Pete Carroll. Excuse me, almost said
Steve Carrell. It's been a long week.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Steve Carroll, A guy named Steve Carroll was actually one
of my college baseball teammates.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
By the way, that's a whole that what position?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
First base?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Nice power hitter, Yes, actually big gotta have your power
on the corners.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Big guy Rote wrote his honors thesis on the economics
of baseball, and I proofread it for him. But anyway,
that's cool. There we go. I hope you gotten a
Sorry you just mentioned name like Steve Carroll and all
these men come back. Steve, I have no idea if
you're out there and listening to this, but anyway, you
just got You just got your moment in the sun
and backers scripts scripted my old my old teammate and
(30:01):
economics major. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
But but my point I was going to try to
make before I ended up watching. You know, one of
the most longest tenured head coaches in the National Football
League is the fact that correct, you know, Carrol's offenses
when they have been most successful in Seattle always had
that type of back. Yeah, it was the offense was
built around him. I think Gent can be that guy.
But but to the Bears credit, man, they found a
way to win that football game, even though it was
(30:25):
a road game. As you mentioned, there's still a lot
of Bears fans there. But at the end of the day,
you have to be able to pull those out. It's
going to be competitive, man. I said it the day
after the Packers beat the Lions. I mean, the Lions
are not going anywhere, no, And it's a good thing
Green Bay picked up that win, because if you don't
do that there the Lions would be sitting and undefeated
(30:46):
here at the quarter pole.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, and for all of the hair pulling and everything
else that's going on, you know, there are thirteen games
left in this thing. The Packers have played exactly one
Division game and they got a win in that one
Division game. There are five to vision games left. Those
are going to be obviously of heightened importance as they
as they always are. But this is going to be
a long, tough slog in the NFC North. I think
(31:10):
there are a lot of good teams in this mix again,
just as there were last year, and there's it's going
to be a long time in my opinion before this
gets sorted out.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
And you got to win the games that are in
front of you. Man. Baltimore Ravens right now are one
and three in the season, Kansas City's two and two,
and only one of those teams is going to be
able to get the two in the win column out
of that matchup. It is, as I've said time and
time again, it is difficult to win in this league.
And you know, records are not created equal. I mean
there was that one statistic too. If Spencer Rattlers still
(31:39):
has not won an NFL game. I think he's zero
to ten now as a starting quarterback. The Washington Commanders
were flying high, and then Jaden Daniels gets hurt, and
now Atlanta, who couldn't move the ball on anybody, ends
up having a really strong offensive performance. Drake London finally
has a big game for that offense.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So yeah, if you think the Packers have been a
little bit of jecky and hide here in the first
month of the regular season, look at what's been going
on around the league with whether you're talking about the
Falcons or the Panthers or even the Buccaneers to a
certain extent. Who you know, they're pulling out all these
last second victories in the first three weeks, but then
you know they run into Philadelphia and now the Eagles
(32:19):
are sitting there at four and oh.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And to be fair, I mean, this is what good
teams do, though, right, Buffalo's four and oh, the Eagles
are four and oh. When you are a front runner,
when you are a contender, you are consistent. That is
the translation. Everybody can do it at a high level
from the most cases in this league, it's who does
it in all three phases on the most consistent basis.
That's what the biggest learning lesson has to be for
green Bay out of this first month of the year.
(32:41):
This team can compete with anybody. They have the talent
to win a super Bowl this season, but doing it
down in, down out, eliminating the mistakes, protecting the football
and taking it away. Yeah, as I look at this
team going into October, that's where green Bay needs to improve.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
YEA. Can they reach a level at which they can
sustain their level of play on a consistent basis over
the course of time. Not that you're not going to
have some ups and downs, but the ups and downs
through the first four weeks have been a little bit.
It's been too much of a swing back and forth,
and the Packers need to get to a certain level
and even that out, and then I think they can
(33:15):
put together the season they're looking for.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And that's the most exciting thing. Offensively, they have the
firepower to put up points like they did against Dallas. Defensively,
they have the assets there to shut down a team
like Detroit. Just getting it all to converge at the
same moment.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Absolutely. With that, we'll call it a rap on this
edition of Packers unscripted and because it is the bye week,
this is our only show this week, so we went
a little bit long. Hopefully we made up for it
a little bit. We will be back next week when
the Packers are back preparing for the Cincinnati Bengals. So
for Wes, I am Mike, thank you for tuning in everybody,
and we will see you next time.
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