November 13, 2025 • 32 mins
Mike and Wes preview the road game against the Giants, examining New York’s topsy-turvy season to date and all the recent changes (:39), its defensive profile (10:11), and the Packers’ keys to victory (14:00). They also look around the league at key Week 11 matchups (26:06).
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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 Spoffer, joined as always by my trusted
colleague West Hodcots. We're coming to you here from our
studios at lambeau Field to preview Sunday's game. It will
be the Packers against the Giants from the Meadowlands, a
noon Central time kickoff. I call MetLife Stadium the Big
(00:28):
tin Can in Jersey. West calls it the Big air Conditioner.
Whatever the case, it's a road trip for the Packers
West against a two and eight Giants team that a
is much better than two and eight would ever suggest,
and B that is going through a huge transition with
(00:49):
an interim head coach and now a brand new starting quarterback.
This has been quite the week.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, so it's tough.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
It's a tough deal because it is the National Football League.
We all just stare at records and we say, hey,
this team is good, this team is okay, and this
team is bad. Because that's the amoument of analysis. Most
people on their coach are willing to wager on these
type of things. But I mean, there's probably been no
(01:15):
team in the National Football League that's lost more heartbreaking
games than the New York Giants on par this season.
I thought their performance against the New or i should
say the Chicago Bears sort of was the perfect encapsulation
of everything they've gone through this season, where Jackson Dart
has given them some hope. They got off to a
nice lead, dark ends up getting the concussion leaves and
(01:39):
everything slips away, and it just seems like whatever guy
specifically on the offensive side of the ball has kind
of given them some hope, that guy is immediately removed
from the equation, whether it's Moliku Neighbors, whether it's Cam Scatibow,
or now obviously with Dart, and hopefully Dart everything works
out okay for him. A very exciting young player. But
from the Green Bay Packers standpoint, this this is a
(02:00):
game you have to win, and they have to do
it on the road against one of the more enigmatic
quarterbacks I think you would say in maybe modern NFL history.
I mean, this guy is the ultimate scattershot but also
the ultimate gamer. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I want to get to Jamis Winston in just a second,
but you mentioned kind of how things have gone wrong
for the Giants before firing head coach Brian Dable. This
past week, they have blown four double digit leads on
the way to those eight losses. And to correct the record,
somebody in Insider Inbox questioned me because I had written
(02:40):
in Tuesday morning I had written they had blown four
double digit leads in the second half, and I was
not entirely correct. I corrected it in this morning's Insider Inbox.
They have blown four double digit leads. Two of them
were in the second quarter, not the second half, over
the Cowboys and the Saints, and they lost both those games.
(03:00):
And then they've blown two double digit leads in the
fourth quarter, the one against the Bears this past week,
and then earlier the really bad one was against the
Denver Broncos. They were up nineteen to nothing going into
the fourth quarter, twenty six to eight at one stage
of the fourth quarter, and they let that one get away.
And as we all know, the Denver Broncos are eight
(03:20):
and two and the Giants are two and eight. So
it isn't it isn't all about the records in this league.
But at the end of the day, yes, the record
is what everybody looks at. But Mike Kafka, the former
Northwestern University quarterback is now the interim coach offensive coordinator
for the Giants, taking over. He's keeping the play calling duties,
taking over as the interim head coach for Dable. And
(03:43):
he made the announcement right away early in the week
that despite Russell Wilson being the number two quarterback, he
was the guy who came off the bench when Dart
went out with the concussion in Chicago and that game
got away. He and Kafka announced right away Jamis Winston
would be elevated to essentially darts back up and is
(04:03):
going to start the game because Dart is in concussion protocol.
So you look at Jameis Winston, you said it was enigmatic.
I think is a pretty good word for this guy.
His last full season as a starting quarterback was twenty
nineteen in Tampa Bay. He threw for five thousand yards.
(04:24):
It's not that long of a list of quarterbacks in
NFL history you've had a five thousand yard season. He
threw five thousand yards with thirty three touchdown passes and
thirty interceptions. This is a guy that reminds me of
how Brett Farve has often talked about his career because
Brett fav is the all time leader in interceptions in
(04:46):
the NFL, and when he's asked about that, he says, well,
you have to be pretty good to be allowed to
throw that many interceptions, right, And Jameis Winston, he just
as Matt Leafleur said, he lets it rip. He plays
with no fear. He plays almost with no conscience in
a sense out there on the field, and the Packers
have to be ready for anything defensively for what Winston
(05:09):
might try to do.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So you and I this week, even before the announcement
was made with Dart, you could kind of see where
things were trending, especially with some of the history this season,
the way he plays the position itself, we were kind
of preparing that this was ultimately going to be a
backup situation for the New York Giants. And if you
break it down, certainly, I think Kafka, as he's starting
his next era here, probably wants to get some fresh
(05:32):
energy in there. There is some negative vibes there after
they collapse at the end of that Chicago game with
Russell Wilson out there. Wilson didn't play particularly well earlier
this season, and if you go off track record, Russell
Wilson other than that NFC Championship game, the second half
of that NFC Championship game in fourteen, has been pretty
bad against the Green Bay Packers. Historically, he has the
(05:52):
lowest passer rating against them than any other team that
he's ever faced in the NFL. And there's a pretty
good sample size now as well with that. So going
with Winston who has had some success against Green Bay,
and also you saw what he did last year for Cleveland,
where yeah, it eventually got off the rails a little bit,
but that initial burst that he was out there, it
brought some life, it brought some energy, and it changed
(06:14):
the culture there a little bit, especially after everything that
happened early on with the Browns and what had been
going on with Deshaun Watson. So now he enters into
this situation and we were watching him at his podium
this week his first availability. I mean, the guy singing Hamilton,
He's just he's so off the cuff. In addition to
the fact that what have I always said about the
(06:35):
best backup quarterbacks in the NFL, they always are a
little bit agents of chaos. There's always just something there
where it's like they're dangerous, but it can go both ways.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, backup quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
In some ways, they don't want the game to be
normal because then it works against them, right, I mean
agent of chaos. That's a great phrase, and it works
for some guys.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I mean, look, and I think Malik Willis has a
bright future in this lee. But when he got put
in there in nineteen days, notice they had to just
kind of do some weird stuff just to make it
all work there at first started against Indianapolis. So I
think this is the the antennas have to be up
for the Packers in this one. Absolutely unequivocally. You have
to be ready for everything. Now that being said, you
(07:18):
want to give respect to Kafka, who, by the way,
I don't know if you looked at this, but these
ages on these head coaches, man, are getting closer to
me now. It's getting weird for so long, Like even
when Matt Lafleur got named head coach and he was
thirty nine, I'm like, oh, it's down the line now,
Kafka thirty eight. It's like, wow, we're here, bro, it's
happening now. But the main difference makers offensively for them,
(07:41):
they're they're gone right now. So it has been, and
they have a very long injury list this week. So
as much as you tip your cap to Winston, you
show them that respect. There is a reason why the
Giants are in the position they're in right now. And
whether it's Tyrone Tracy, obviously you know Darius Slayton, who's
also on the injury report this week, they have some
Window Robinson. They have guys that can hurt you. But
(08:04):
the the Neighbors, the scata Bows and obviously the Darts,
who's their second leading rusher right now, are not gonna
be on the field someday.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Jameis Winston is a guy who he doesn't change his stripes, right,
I mean you even go you even look at last year,
which was five years after his five thousand yard season,
he starts seven games for the Cleveland Browns, and in
those seven games he throws thirteen touchdown passes and twelve interceptions.
I mean, that's just that's just who he is. He's
(08:32):
We're having a discussion at lunch yesterday actually in one
of our one of our colleagues said, uh, man, Jamis
Winston can throw some dimes, and I said, yeah, but
part of the problem is he tries to throw every dive,
you know, but that's that's the way he plays. And
you but you have to respect it, right. You can't
just assume that that that he's gonna throw you the ball,
(08:55):
that interceptions are automatic. He you know, he doesn't have
Molik neighbors out there. But Wandale Robinson is the Giants
leading receiver. Darius Slayton made a couple catches against a
couple of big catches against Chicago last week. One thing
that I'll be curious to see with regard to Winston
in this game is how much does he use his legs?
(09:17):
How much does he run? Because Jackson Dart and unfortunately
it's what has led to some of the concussion issues
with Dart. But Jackson Dart brought something to that Giants
offense with his mobility and his run and his running,
whether it was sometimes designed runs or just the scrambling
to get away and to make things happen. And Winston
(09:37):
is a guy who's certainly done that in his career.
But he's also not twenty four years old anymore. So
I'm curious to see to see how that goes.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Fortunately for Jamis, he wasn't around in the nineties I
think if that guy would have been in the NFL
in the eighties and nineties, he probably would have just
been a starter.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
No one would have thought twice about it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Oh yeah, no not.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
But unfortunately the interception thing became kind of a big
deal now in the NFL. And shoot, if you throw
over an eighty seven seen game season, if you throw
fifteen picks, you're not people are.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
You're not protecting the ball?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Well enough?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Well.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
On the defensive side, West this is a this is
a very interesting Giants team because they have a defensive
front with four first round picks Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence
Abdua Carter, and Keveon Thibodeau. Four first round picks on
that defensive front, and Brian Burns is up there. He's
(10:31):
got eleven sacks, which is tied with Miles Garrett for
the most sacks in the NFL this season. It's a
pass rush that is extremely formidable, and somehow that pass
rush did not sack Caleb Williams once in the game
against the Bears last week. Caleb Williams was just escaping
(10:51):
left and right, making just these unbelievable moves to get
out of trouble in the pocket, and the fact that
that pass rush didn't have any sacks in that game
was remarkable, and you tip your cap to Caleb Williams
in that regard. But the flip side of it with
this defensive front is they're ranked thirty first in the
(11:11):
league against the run. They've allowed one hundred and fifty
two rushing yards per game for the season. I believe
the average rushing yards is one hundred and seventy eight
over the last four games. Now, some of that, certainly
last week with Caleb Williams, some of that has been
quarterback scrambles, not the traditional running plays that they accounts
(11:32):
as rushing yards, and it goes against them when these
quarterbacks do get away from the pass rush and take
off and run. But for all the talk this week
about the Packers needing to be more effective with the
running game and for this offense to really be able
to hit it stride and get going where it wants
to go, this is the opportunity you're waiting for.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
On equivocally again, you mentioned the thirty second in the
league or thirty first in the league, and rushing they're
dead last yards per Carrie allowed five point five to
three yards per carry is a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
That is a big number.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
When you're getting above five and then you're almost halfway
to six, that shows that there's some issues there. What
I will say is I think if there was ever
a time and the Green Bay's been trying as they
might to get the run game going, this is the
type opponent you want to do it against. I haven't
broken down and watched every single Giants game this year.
I've seen a few, and I don't know how much
(12:27):
of the issues at the run game are guys selling
out or just guys at the second level not tackling properly.
But the Giants are dangerous. And the reason I say
that is one Brian Burns. You go back and you
had to hear me talk about it six years ago.
He was one of my favorite guys in the nineteen draft.
The Packers ended up with a really good pass rusher too,
and Rashan Gary, but I absolutely love Brian Burns, and
(12:51):
for Carolina to allow him, and there was a lot
of stuff that happened there, but for them to allow
him to get out of the building, I thought it
was a really salient.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Move for the Giants to go get him.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Really want to quickly run these stats at you, because
the eleven sacks is really impressive. But check this out,
Michael seventeen quarterback hits among those six pass deflections, two
force fumbles. It's not that he just gets to the quarterback.
He's affecting the all around football game if you allow
him to pin his ears back and get after you.
You know, Abdul Carter only has a half sack this year,
(13:22):
but he has eight quarterback hits. Kevon Thibodeau nine quarterback hits.
They have guys that will pressure the quarterback. So if
you don't actually win those early downs and they get
to third and manageable third and long, they are going
to get after you. The Packers have to find some
answers for that. And to me, not to get into
(13:42):
the keys of victory, but establishing Josh Jacobs establishing this
run game is going to be huge. Was talking with
Sean Ryan about this in the locker room on Wednesday
when he was asked about the focus for this game
and he said, run.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
The ball, yeah, yeah, and we will. Let's dive right
into the keys to victory because as we do this,
I'm reminded and what you just said as well. I'm
reminded of what I said last week with regard to
the Packers going up against the Eagles, and you had
Saquon Barkley in the backfield, and you had Jalen Hurts,
who'd been sacked twenty five times over the course of
the year. And what I said is the Packers defense
(14:18):
has to earn the right to rush Jalen Hurts, and
you earn that right by containing Saquon Barkley and putting
them in difficult positions. And then, as it turned out,
the Eagles just kind of gave up on those third
and longs because they weren't gonna put Hurts and Harms away.
They weren't gonna let Micah Parsons wreck the game. And
so we saw what we saw the Giant from the Packers'
(14:41):
perspective in this one, don't let the Giants earn the
right to come after Jordan Love because if you can
establish the run, and it's not to say it's not
to say that you know you're gonna be in second
and two like all day long, but if you establish
the run and you and you're keeping yourself in manageable
to short third downs, that makes it very hard to
(15:04):
get after the quarterback because because then you can always
you can always call a quick pass, get the ball
all the quarterback's hands, not let these guys come after
the quarterback like the Packers have seen opponents do with
regard to Parsons and Gary and not letting them do
their things. So that's job one for me. But the
other thing I'll just I'll say it right now, what
(15:25):
I want to see in this game against this run
defense is the Packers need to bust some explosive runs
because these last two games. I took a look at
it for the story that I posted on Packers dot
Com last night. Josh Jacobs has been pretty productive in
the last couple games running the ball. It hasn't been bad.
You hope that it could be better. And it's not
(15:46):
just all on Jacobs. It's you know, it's the blocking
and all of that kind of stuff too. But Jacobs
has carried the ball thirty eight times in the last
two games, and only two of those thirty eight carries
have been explosive runs, which are find his twelve plus yards.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Only two.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
He had a fifteen yard run and an eighteen yard
run against Carolina two out of thirty eight being explosive
runs isn't good enough. And this is a run defense
where you hope that the Packers can get Jacob's a seam,
get him some open space, and let him do his
thing to turn an eight yard run, make a guy miss,
and turn that into a fifteen or a twenty yard run.
(16:24):
They need to do that a couple of times in
this game.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Absolutely, And you know when you look at Josh and unfortunately,
just with some of the circumstances, we haven't been able
to see a lot of those twenty plus runs here
during his time in Green Bay. But when he is
in the open field like that, the guy goes to work.
I mean, when you get him matched up against a
safety or a defensive back, good good luck to them.
(16:47):
And it's just been a matter of clearing enough space
for him to get there. The one that was actually
kind of tragic was that fourteen yard touchdown I think
he had was that against Pittsburgh where it was right
up the gut and he got into the end zone.
It was a great play. It was the one that
afterwards he said, I could have tripped and probably still
scored on if that play happened at the forty five,
it's probably still a touchdown when it just happened that
(17:07):
it was near, it was inside the red zone. The
Packers have been very productive with him in the red zone,
but it's about between the twenties if they can get
more established there. And when you look at the third downs,
a situation that the first six weeks of the year, Mike, well,
you and I were talking about how proficient they were there.
They have fallen short in that area in recent weeks
and they haven't been able to do it, whether it's
been third and short or third and long where sometimes
(17:30):
the other was rescuing the other during the first half,
or say the first month of the season. For me,
when you talk about the key to victory at this game,
the fact that Jameis Winston is on the field, it's
all about takeaways. These two teams are both tied for
twenty ninth in the league in fewest takeaways. They're both
sitting at six on the season. I believe the Packers
(17:51):
have four straight weeks though, where they've now taken the
ball away. Historically, if you look on the whole band
with the season, the Giants have actually done a pretty
good job of protecting the football, but now you're kind
of throwing this new variable in there with Winston. Whether
it's Xavier McKinney, whether it's Evan Williams on the back end,
or maybe even a guy like Keishawn Nixon on the
perimeter who's now second league in pass deflections but still
(18:13):
looking for his first pick on the season. I think
there's going to be opportunities when Jameis Winston gives you
a chance, you have to take advantage of it because
that guy is an equal opportunity explosive playmaker and also
a guy that could potentially give you a chance for
an explosive play. Defensively, The Packers cannot blink in those occasions.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, it's this. This game defensively, I think is all about.
If Jamis Winston gives you a chance, you have to
make that play. But at the same time, you have
to be ready for anything in Winston. And that includes
not just the fact that he's he might take shots
down the field when you wouldn't think, you know, based
on the coverage we're playing in these rat Lake he's
(18:52):
not gonna throw that. You have to be ready for
that at all times. But as I said before, you
also have to be on your p's and q's with
regard to his potential scrambling and taking off and running,
because I think that's a very curious aspect. That to me,
that's the biggest unknown going into this game. What will
Jameis Winston do with his legs? And as we all know,
not to dwell on bad memories, but the last trip
(19:17):
to the tin Can in Jersey, a backup quarterback named
Tommy Devido his ability to scramble and get out of
the pocket. The Packers just never looked ready for it,
they didn't react to it properly, and they lost a
game they had no business losing. So that's just something
I say, beyond your p's and q's with Winston in
that regard.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
You are one thousand percent wrong. And when I say this,
I am not saying that you're wrong. And this and
this is why the Packers have to live up to
their mantra. This defense and the way it's playing right
now underneath Jeff Haffley in where it was trending at
the end of the Joe Barry era are vastly different
in this regard.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
One hundred percent true.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
They have to play the way that they've been playing.
Two weeks ago, they had a letdown against ric o'dowdele.
They then corrected it against Saquon Barklay.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Not perfect.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
They gave up the forty one yard checkdown. They gave
up the thirty six yard touchdown at DeVante Smith. They
can do things better, but by and large, gave the
offense a chance to win that game. They need to
come out with their feet on fire again like that
and play that way against this opponent. And if they
do that, I think the Packers stand a really good
chance to win this game.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, I like that. I like that as well.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
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(21:15):
Packers fans, we always knew Lambeofield was a wonder, but
now it's official. Learn more about all the wonders of
Wisconsin at travel Wisconsin dot com slash Wonders. Welcome back
to Packers Unscripted Wes. It is a very very interesting
slate of games in week eleven. He is he is
(21:36):
the backup for the Patriots.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
News to me, okay, yeah, because I was like, well,
he's not New York anymore.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
What happened?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, what happened to him?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Sorry? Yes, no, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
A couple of big matchups in the NFC North Chicago
is at Minnesota and Detroit is at Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
I was sitting here getting ready for the show at
my pre production meeting.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Is it just mere?
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Does the Detroit play every opponent the week after the
Packers played? It kind of seems like that Washington too, right,
doesn't feel like it was like maybe it was Cincinnati,
Like they just seems like they keep playing the team.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, I think it was Cincinnati. Yeah, because the the
Lions just played Washington last week and the Packers played
Washington back in Week two. But yeah, but you're right,
it's it's happened. It's happened a couple times this year.
So so Detroit is that. Detroit is at Philly, Chicago
is at Minnesota and not to And I don't want
to be looking ahead here, but when you look at
you look at the Vikings. Okay, so they dropped a
(22:30):
they lost a home game to Baltimore last week. JJ
McCarthy is back. He's their quarterback. They've turned it over
to him. The next two weeks, Minnesota has the Bears
and then the Packers. They get the Bears at home,
then they come to Lambeaufield to play the Packers this too.
These next two weeks could potentially determine whether the Vikings
are going to stay in this NFC North race or not. Right,
(22:52):
I mean, it's kind of on the line for them
at this point. Meanwhile, the Bears, the Bears have won
six out of seven and starting the season oh and two. Yeah,
thanks Wes, welcome six and one. Since the oh and
two start for Chicago looking to UH looking to get
win number seven, a big road division game, and the
(23:14):
division opponent that a division opponent the Bears lost to
as part of that oh and two start at the
beginning of the season. So there's there's a lot to
pay attention.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
To with regard to the NFC North this weekend.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I don't know, what do you make out of JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Do you do you have?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I think I think he's I think he's a young
quarterback at that that you know, he's riding the roller
coaster that young quarterbacks ride when when they get thrown
in and you have to remember, this is not this
is a first round draft pick at quarterback, yes, but
not a guy who got to sit behind somebody else
(23:53):
for multiple years and run a scout team and all that.
This is the guy who was injured his rookie year
basically didn't do anything but try to get him self
healthy and now he got Now he got thrown in
there and he's already dealt with another injury and had
to miss time. I mean, this is this is the
this is the roller coaster that young quarterbacks ride, and
they're as far as I'm concerned there will be no,
(24:14):
nothing close to a final judgment on JJ McCarthy for
a long time.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
For me, I'm very curious to see this opponent. The
Bears remind me in a lot of ways. They're not
quite this bad in terms of total yards. They remind
me a lot of the twenty eleven Packers defense. I mean,
they're leading, they have twenty I think it's a twenty
takeaways already.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
This Yeah, you have to protect the ball against the Bears,
and they have a very hard time winning games if
they don't get takeaways.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Yeah, and in credit to you know, Caleb Williams and
Ben Johnson, they're protecting the ball well and that is
been the the tatering point for when they've actually been
able to win these games. But they've given up a
lot of yards too. So very curious to see how
JJ McCarthy handles this opponent, given the situation and the
fact that I kind of like the Packers that boat.
The Packers are in the Vikings desperately need.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
A victory here.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
They'll be looking for it regardless against Green Bay, but
to be back at home against the Bears now they
have to come up with a victory, Detroit has gone
it's a weird team. Man Like, Packer fans don't want
to hear this stuff because all they want to focus
on is, Okay, we lost to Carolina and we lost
to Philly. We're the worst team on Earth and whatad.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
YadA, YadA YadA.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah, the Lions have been going through it too. It
was a step in the right direction last week. But
now Dan Campbell's taking over the play calling. They're running game.
You're not sure what you're gonna get on a week
to week basis, but they are good. They're a good
football team. So definitely huge measuring stick game for them
against Philly in much similar way of which the Packers
were against the Eagles on Monday night.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, and with from Philly's perspective, you know, they they
kind of got into a knockdown, drag out type of
game against Green Bay on a Monday night. They fly back,
you know, they're on they're on the short week, you know,
the team that has traveled. The Packers are dealing with
that too, with the travel being now as opposed to before.
But yeah, I think the Detroit Philly game is going
(26:07):
to be a really really interesting one to watch. A
couple of other big games in the western divisions of
the NFL. In the NFC West, Seattle is at the
La Rams, both teams at seven and two, so that
is for first place in the NFC West, and then
in the AFC West, Kansas City is at Denver Denver
(26:29):
eight and two, Kansas City at five and four and
quite frankly west. If the Kansas City Chiefs want to
have a chance to win their tenth consecutive division championship,
they have.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
They have not.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Lost the AFC West since twenty fifteen twenty sixteen through
twenty twenty four, nine in a row they've won that division.
But if they don't win this game in Denver, their
chances of that street continuing take a major, major hit.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Yeah, kind of in the same boat of the Packers,
where they don't really have very many mulligans left here
now they go up against a team like the Denver
Broncos that has been very opportunistic this season in which
that pendulum kind of goes back and forth. Denver's been
knocking down all the pins when it looks like they
might be standing up. So the Raiders game was an
excellent example of that.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And they've and they've had two like absolutely wild crazy
fourth quarter comebacks, one against Philadelphia, the other one against
the Giants. Like we were talking about earlier, the Broncos,
the Broncos are. Broncos are eight and two, but there
were two games where they looked like they were dead
in the water and then somehow they pulled them out.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
To me, and maybe I'll be proven wrong on Sunday,
the Broncos look like sitting ducks to me, I just
feel like this is the type of game with Patrick
Mahomes and Kansas City understanding what the stakes are here,
the fact that they need to win, they are going
into mile high But I was not encouraged. But I
mean defensively, the Broncos are gonna always have a chance.
I mean, yes, I was looking at the stats before
the show too. The Broncos are almost at one hundred
(27:59):
quarterback it's already on the season. I mean, the way
they're getting after the quarterback, the way they got after
Geno Smith in that game, my goodness. So they will
give them a chance. But offensively, it's it's been interesting
to watch. So yeah, this is it's a marquee game
for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Any thoughts on who takes over the NFC West lead
Seahawks or Rams.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
What do you think that the game.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Is that so far in LA, but there's sort of
like no such thing as a home game for LA teams,
Like that place is going to be full of Seahawks fans.
You know, that's that that's the case Seattle.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I think both both of these teams have shown they
can be really really dangerous offensively. I think the Rams
have the better defense of the two if I were to,
if I were to look at it right now. But
this game just feels like a total coin flip to me.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Yeah, I guess from what it sounds like.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
DeVante is gonna play through the oblique, So that's obviously huge.
He's playing again like a franchise receiver.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I was saying the other day, I was watching some
clips of Jerry Rice. We'll see. Hopefully DeVante stays healthy.
That's the number one thing. This guy's gonna play well
into his thirties. He has the footwork, he he is
the Aaron Rodgers of the receiver position. Really, I mean
he just the way he thinks about it and his
attention to detail. I fully believe DeVante Adams is a
(29:17):
Hall of Famer. Yep, I do too, But I don't
see this train stopping. I think this guy's gonna keep
gonna keep doing this at a high level. And the
other thing I love too, Matthew Stafford has kind of
picked up the Brett fav mantra of Hey, every single
year is this guy gonna keep playing football? And then
every single year he comes back and still plays at
an extremely high level where I feel like in a
lot of ways, Russell Wilson kind of hurt his legacy,
(29:39):
maybe even his Hall of Fame chances with everything that
happened after Seattle. This second life that Stafford has got
since he's gone to LA has been incredible to watch.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
And even and even just beyond winning the Super Bowl there, Yeah,
it's been. It's been the years beyond when he won
the Super Bowl with the Rams that.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
As you say, he just he keeps, he keeps.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Going and he and every year that goes by, he
doesn't look another year older. I mean he's right now
in twenty twenty five, he looks like the same quarterback
that won the Super Bowl four years ago.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Yep, No, I mean it's it's been nuts to watch.
I mean I was looking at this too. Do you
know how many times let's let's play a little bit
of trivia in Mike Spofford. How many times he's drafted
first overall in two thousand and nine?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Right?
Speaker 4 (30:19):
How many times has Matthew Stafford made an All Pro team?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I don't think he's ever been the Allas quarterback.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
How many times has he gone to the Pro Bowl?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Boy, I'm gonna say maybe three or four? Twice twice
including two years ago.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Wow, he went once with the Lions.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I only went once with Detroit.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
One of the most underrated quarterbacks. Yeah, in modern NFL history,
I'm favoring the Rams in this one. The main reason
for that, James Jones gave me junk about this last
week on the radio show, because I.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
James Jones gives a lot of people junk about things.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
I said that he is the best.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I love JJ. By the way that was that was said.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
I do too.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
I said that the Seahawks are the best team in
the NFL right now. I'm not saying that the most talented.
I think they're playing the best as a team. When
you talk about the team consistency factor, and he's like, no, no, no,
there's no way, no way, and then they won another game.
I'm still favoring the Rams.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Eye here.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Here's here's the thing, though, The Seahawks under Mike McDonald are.
They're on this like crazy streak of road success. When
I mean there's some some of the mystique of you know,
Seattle and them being at home has been lost a
little bit over the years, but Seattle is now they
become the road warriors of the NFL. They're really hard
(31:34):
to beat when they come into your place. And and
uh so, I'm gonna I'm just gonna play Devil's advocate.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I'm gonna go against you. I'm gonna lean Seahawks in
this one.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
One other one.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I know, we got to go.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Matt starts in three minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Oh one other one I want to get. I want
to get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Tampa Bay at Buffalo, both teams coming off a loss,
Tampa Bay coming off a tough loss against a good
Patriots team, Buffalo coming off a bad loss against Miami,
and Buffalo's street of AFC East, Yeah, Division titles kind
of is getting in jeopardy.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
In New England's gonna be facing a two to win
New York Jets team tonight, and that's their main threat
in that I'm favoring the Bills in that. The main
reason I say that the Bills defense is definitely in
a weird anomaly. They're like middle of the pack overall.
When I was talking about yards per carry aloud by
the Giants, the Bills are second to last in that category.
I just don't know if with Baker Mayfield, the way
that that backfield is constructed, if they're going to have
(32:27):
the right recipe to beat the Bills.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
I think the Bills bounce.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Back all right.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
And with that, we got to get to a press conference,
so we'll call it a rap on this edition of
Packers Unscript. It'd be sure to follow all of our
coverage of the team on Packers dot com for west
Ii'm Miike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. 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 Spoffer, joined as always by my trusted
colleague West Hodcots. We're coming to you here from our
studios at lambeau Field to preview Sunday's game. It will
be the Packers against the Giants from the Meadowlands, a
noon Central time kickoff. I call MetLife Stadium the Big
(00:28):
tin Can in Jersey. West calls it the Big air Conditioner.
Whatever the case, it's a road trip for the Packers
West against a two and eight Giants team that a
is much better than two and eight would ever suggest,
and B that is going through a huge transition with
(00:49):
an interim head coach and now a brand new starting quarterback.
This has been quite the week.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, so it's tough.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
It's a tough deal because it is the National Football League.
We all just stare at records and we say, hey,
this team is good, this team is okay, and this
team is bad. Because that's the amoument of analysis. Most
people on their coach are willing to wager on these
type of things. But I mean, there's probably been no
(01:15):
team in the National Football League that's lost more heartbreaking
games than the New York Giants on par this season.
I thought their performance against the New or i should
say the Chicago Bears sort of was the perfect encapsulation
of everything they've gone through this season, where Jackson Dart
has given them some hope. They got off to a
nice lead, dark ends up getting the concussion leaves and
(01:39):
everything slips away, and it just seems like whatever guy
specifically on the offensive side of the ball has kind
of given them some hope, that guy is immediately removed
from the equation, whether it's Moliku Neighbors, whether it's Cam Scatibow,
or now obviously with Dart, and hopefully Dart everything works
out okay for him. A very exciting young player. But
from the Green Bay Packers standpoint, this this is a
(02:00):
game you have to win, and they have to do
it on the road against one of the more enigmatic
quarterbacks I think you would say in maybe modern NFL history.
I mean, this guy is the ultimate scattershot but also
the ultimate gamer. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I want to get to Jamis Winston in just a second,
but you mentioned kind of how things have gone wrong
for the Giants before firing head coach Brian Dable. This
past week, they have blown four double digit leads on
the way to those eight losses. And to correct the record,
somebody in Insider Inbox questioned me because I had written
(02:40):
in Tuesday morning I had written they had blown four
double digit leads in the second half, and I was
not entirely correct. I corrected it in this morning's Insider Inbox.
They have blown four double digit leads. Two of them
were in the second quarter, not the second half, over
the Cowboys and the Saints, and they lost both those games.
(03:00):
And then they've blown two double digit leads in the
fourth quarter, the one against the Bears this past week,
and then earlier the really bad one was against the
Denver Broncos. They were up nineteen to nothing going into
the fourth quarter, twenty six to eight at one stage
of the fourth quarter, and they let that one get away.
And as we all know, the Denver Broncos are eight
(03:20):
and two and the Giants are two and eight. So
it isn't it isn't all about the records in this league.
But at the end of the day, yes, the record
is what everybody looks at. But Mike Kafka, the former
Northwestern University quarterback is now the interim coach offensive coordinator
for the Giants, taking over. He's keeping the play calling duties,
taking over as the interim head coach for Dable. And
(03:43):
he made the announcement right away early in the week
that despite Russell Wilson being the number two quarterback, he
was the guy who came off the bench when Dart
went out with the concussion in Chicago and that game
got away. He and Kafka announced right away Jamis Winston
would be elevated to essentially darts back up and is
(04:03):
going to start the game because Dart is in concussion protocol.
So you look at Jameis Winston, you said it was enigmatic.
I think is a pretty good word for this guy.
His last full season as a starting quarterback was twenty
nineteen in Tampa Bay. He threw for five thousand yards.
(04:24):
It's not that long of a list of quarterbacks in
NFL history you've had a five thousand yard season. He
threw five thousand yards with thirty three touchdown passes and
thirty interceptions. This is a guy that reminds me of
how Brett Farve has often talked about his career because
Brett fav is the all time leader in interceptions in
(04:46):
the NFL, and when he's asked about that, he says, well,
you have to be pretty good to be allowed to
throw that many interceptions, right, And Jameis Winston, he just
as Matt Leafleur said, he lets it rip. He plays
with no fear. He plays almost with no conscience in
a sense out there on the field, and the Packers
have to be ready for anything defensively for what Winston
(05:09):
might try to do.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So you and I this week, even before the announcement
was made with Dart, you could kind of see where
things were trending, especially with some of the history this season,
the way he plays the position itself, we were kind
of preparing that this was ultimately going to be a
backup situation for the New York Giants. And if you
break it down, certainly, I think Kafka, as he's starting
his next era here, probably wants to get some fresh
(05:32):
energy in there. There is some negative vibes there after
they collapse at the end of that Chicago game with
Russell Wilson out there. Wilson didn't play particularly well earlier
this season, and if you go off track record, Russell
Wilson other than that NFC Championship game, the second half
of that NFC Championship game in fourteen, has been pretty
bad against the Green Bay Packers. Historically, he has the
(05:52):
lowest passer rating against them than any other team that
he's ever faced in the NFL. And there's a pretty
good sample size now as well with that. So going
with Winston who has had some success against Green Bay,
and also you saw what he did last year for Cleveland,
where yeah, it eventually got off the rails a little bit,
but that initial burst that he was out there, it
brought some life, it brought some energy, and it changed
(06:14):
the culture there a little bit, especially after everything that
happened early on with the Browns and what had been
going on with Deshaun Watson. So now he enters into
this situation and we were watching him at his podium
this week his first availability. I mean, the guy singing Hamilton,
He's just he's so off the cuff. In addition to
the fact that what have I always said about the
(06:35):
best backup quarterbacks in the NFL, they always are a
little bit agents of chaos. There's always just something there
where it's like they're dangerous, but it can go both ways.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, backup quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
In some ways, they don't want the game to be
normal because then it works against them, right, I mean
agent of chaos. That's a great phrase, and it works
for some guys.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I mean, look, and I think Malik Willis has a
bright future in this lee. But when he got put
in there in nineteen days, notice they had to just
kind of do some weird stuff just to make it
all work there at first started against Indianapolis. So I
think this is the the antennas have to be up
for the Packers in this one. Absolutely unequivocally. You have
to be ready for everything. Now that being said, you
(07:18):
want to give respect to Kafka, who, by the way,
I don't know if you looked at this, but these
ages on these head coaches, man, are getting closer to
me now. It's getting weird for so long, Like even
when Matt Lafleur got named head coach and he was
thirty nine, I'm like, oh, it's down the line now,
Kafka thirty eight. It's like, wow, we're here, bro, it's
happening now. But the main difference makers offensively for them,
(07:41):
they're they're gone right now. So it has been, and
they have a very long injury list this week. So
as much as you tip your cap to Winston, you
show them that respect. There is a reason why the
Giants are in the position they're in right now. And
whether it's Tyrone Tracy, obviously you know Darius Slayton, who's
also on the injury report this week, they have some
Window Robinson. They have guys that can hurt you. But
(08:04):
the the Neighbors, the scata Bows and obviously the Darts,
who's their second leading rusher right now, are not gonna
be on the field someday.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Jameis Winston is a guy who he doesn't change his stripes, right,
I mean you even go you even look at last year,
which was five years after his five thousand yard season,
he starts seven games for the Cleveland Browns, and in
those seven games he throws thirteen touchdown passes and twelve interceptions.
I mean, that's just that's just who he is. He's
(08:32):
We're having a discussion at lunch yesterday actually in one
of our one of our colleagues said, uh, man, Jamis
Winston can throw some dimes, and I said, yeah, but
part of the problem is he tries to throw every dive,
you know, but that's that's the way he plays. And
you but you have to respect it, right. You can't
just assume that that that he's gonna throw you the ball,
(08:55):
that interceptions are automatic. He you know, he doesn't have
Molik neighbors out there. But Wandale Robinson is the Giants
leading receiver. Darius Slayton made a couple catches against a
couple of big catches against Chicago last week. One thing
that I'll be curious to see with regard to Winston
in this game is how much does he use his legs?
(09:17):
How much does he run? Because Jackson Dart and unfortunately
it's what has led to some of the concussion issues
with Dart. But Jackson Dart brought something to that Giants
offense with his mobility and his run and his running,
whether it was sometimes designed runs or just the scrambling
to get away and to make things happen. And Winston
(09:37):
is a guy who's certainly done that in his career.
But he's also not twenty four years old anymore. So
I'm curious to see to see how that goes.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Fortunately for Jamis, he wasn't around in the nineties I
think if that guy would have been in the NFL
in the eighties and nineties, he probably would have just
been a starter.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
No one would have thought twice about it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Oh yeah, no not.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
But unfortunately the interception thing became kind of a big
deal now in the NFL. And shoot, if you throw
over an eighty seven seen game season, if you throw
fifteen picks, you're not people are.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
You're not protecting the ball?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Well enough?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Well.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
On the defensive side, West this is a this is
a very interesting Giants team because they have a defensive
front with four first round picks Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence
Abdua Carter, and Keveon Thibodeau. Four first round picks on
that defensive front, and Brian Burns is up there. He's
(10:31):
got eleven sacks, which is tied with Miles Garrett for
the most sacks in the NFL this season. It's a
pass rush that is extremely formidable, and somehow that pass
rush did not sack Caleb Williams once in the game
against the Bears last week. Caleb Williams was just escaping
(10:51):
left and right, making just these unbelievable moves to get
out of trouble in the pocket, and the fact that
that pass rush didn't have any sacks in that game
was remarkable, and you tip your cap to Caleb Williams
in that regard. But the flip side of it with
this defensive front is they're ranked thirty first in the
(11:11):
league against the run. They've allowed one hundred and fifty
two rushing yards per game for the season. I believe
the average rushing yards is one hundred and seventy eight
over the last four games. Now, some of that, certainly
last week with Caleb Williams, some of that has been
quarterback scrambles, not the traditional running plays that they accounts
(11:32):
as rushing yards, and it goes against them when these
quarterbacks do get away from the pass rush and take
off and run. But for all the talk this week
about the Packers needing to be more effective with the
running game and for this offense to really be able
to hit it stride and get going where it wants
to go, this is the opportunity you're waiting for.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
On equivocally again, you mentioned the thirty second in the
league or thirty first in the league, and rushing they're
dead last yards per Carrie allowed five point five to
three yards per carry is a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
That is a big number.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
When you're getting above five and then you're almost halfway
to six, that shows that there's some issues there. What
I will say is I think if there was ever
a time and the Green Bay's been trying as they
might to get the run game going, this is the
type opponent you want to do it against. I haven't
broken down and watched every single Giants game this year.
I've seen a few, and I don't know how much
(12:27):
of the issues at the run game are guys selling
out or just guys at the second level not tackling properly.
But the Giants are dangerous. And the reason I say
that is one Brian Burns. You go back and you
had to hear me talk about it six years ago.
He was one of my favorite guys in the nineteen draft.
The Packers ended up with a really good pass rusher too,
and Rashan Gary, but I absolutely love Brian Burns, and
(12:51):
for Carolina to allow him, and there was a lot
of stuff that happened there, but for them to allow
him to get out of the building, I thought it
was a really salient.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Move for the Giants to go get him.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Really want to quickly run these stats at you, because
the eleven sacks is really impressive. But check this out,
Michael seventeen quarterback hits among those six pass deflections, two
force fumbles. It's not that he just gets to the quarterback.
He's affecting the all around football game if you allow
him to pin his ears back and get after you.
You know, Abdul Carter only has a half sack this year,
(13:22):
but he has eight quarterback hits. Kevon Thibodeau nine quarterback hits.
They have guys that will pressure the quarterback. So if
you don't actually win those early downs and they get
to third and manageable third and long, they are going
to get after you. The Packers have to find some
answers for that. And to me, not to get into
(13:42):
the keys of victory, but establishing Josh Jacobs establishing this
run game is going to be huge. Was talking with
Sean Ryan about this in the locker room on Wednesday
when he was asked about the focus for this game
and he said, run.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
The ball, yeah, yeah, and we will. Let's dive right
into the keys to victory because as we do this,
I'm reminded and what you just said as well. I'm
reminded of what I said last week with regard to
the Packers going up against the Eagles, and you had
Saquon Barkley in the backfield, and you had Jalen Hurts,
who'd been sacked twenty five times over the course of
the year. And what I said is the Packers defense
(14:18):
has to earn the right to rush Jalen Hurts, and
you earn that right by containing Saquon Barkley and putting
them in difficult positions. And then, as it turned out,
the Eagles just kind of gave up on those third
and longs because they weren't gonna put Hurts and Harms away.
They weren't gonna let Micah Parsons wreck the game. And
so we saw what we saw the Giant from the Packers'
(14:41):
perspective in this one, don't let the Giants earn the
right to come after Jordan Love because if you can
establish the run, and it's not to say it's not
to say that you know you're gonna be in second
and two like all day long, but if you establish
the run and you and you're keeping yourself in manageable
to short third downs, that makes it very hard to
(15:04):
get after the quarterback because because then you can always
you can always call a quick pass, get the ball
all the quarterback's hands, not let these guys come after
the quarterback like the Packers have seen opponents do with
regard to Parsons and Gary and not letting them do
their things. So that's job one for me. But the
other thing I'll just I'll say it right now, what
(15:25):
I want to see in this game against this run
defense is the Packers need to bust some explosive runs
because these last two games. I took a look at
it for the story that I posted on Packers dot
Com last night. Josh Jacobs has been pretty productive in
the last couple games running the ball. It hasn't been bad.
You hope that it could be better. And it's not
(15:46):
just all on Jacobs. It's you know, it's the blocking
and all of that kind of stuff too. But Jacobs
has carried the ball thirty eight times in the last
two games, and only two of those thirty eight carries
have been explosive runs, which are find his twelve plus yards.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Only two.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
He had a fifteen yard run and an eighteen yard
run against Carolina two out of thirty eight being explosive
runs isn't good enough. And this is a run defense
where you hope that the Packers can get Jacob's a seam,
get him some open space, and let him do his
thing to turn an eight yard run, make a guy miss,
and turn that into a fifteen or a twenty yard run.
(16:24):
They need to do that a couple of times in
this game.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Absolutely, And you know when you look at Josh and unfortunately,
just with some of the circumstances, we haven't been able
to see a lot of those twenty plus runs here
during his time in Green Bay. But when he is
in the open field like that, the guy goes to work.
I mean, when you get him matched up against a
safety or a defensive back, good good luck to them.
(16:47):
And it's just been a matter of clearing enough space
for him to get there. The one that was actually
kind of tragic was that fourteen yard touchdown I think
he had was that against Pittsburgh where it was right
up the gut and he got into the end zone.
It was a great play. It was the one that
afterwards he said, I could have tripped and probably still
scored on if that play happened at the forty five,
it's probably still a touchdown when it just happened that
(17:07):
it was near, it was inside the red zone. The
Packers have been very productive with him in the red zone,
but it's about between the twenties if they can get
more established there. And when you look at the third downs,
a situation that the first six weeks of the year, Mike, well,
you and I were talking about how proficient they were there.
They have fallen short in that area in recent weeks
and they haven't been able to do it, whether it's
been third and short or third and long where sometimes
(17:30):
the other was rescuing the other during the first half,
or say the first month of the season. For me,
when you talk about the key to victory at this game,
the fact that Jameis Winston is on the field, it's
all about takeaways. These two teams are both tied for
twenty ninth in the league in fewest takeaways. They're both
sitting at six on the season. I believe the Packers
(17:51):
have four straight weeks though, where they've now taken the
ball away. Historically, if you look on the whole band
with the season, the Giants have actually done a pretty
good job of protecting the football, but now you're kind
of throwing this new variable in there with Winston. Whether
it's Xavier McKinney, whether it's Evan Williams on the back end,
or maybe even a guy like Keishawn Nixon on the
perimeter who's now second league in pass deflections but still
(18:13):
looking for his first pick on the season. I think
there's going to be opportunities when Jameis Winston gives you
a chance, you have to take advantage of it because
that guy is an equal opportunity explosive playmaker and also
a guy that could potentially give you a chance for
an explosive play. Defensively, The Packers cannot blink in those occasions.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, it's this. This game defensively, I think is all about.
If Jamis Winston gives you a chance, you have to
make that play. But at the same time, you have
to be ready for anything in Winston. And that includes
not just the fact that he's he might take shots
down the field when you wouldn't think, you know, based
on the coverage we're playing in these rat Lake he's
(18:52):
not gonna throw that. You have to be ready for
that at all times. But as I said before, you
also have to be on your p's and q's with
regard to his potential scrambling and taking off and running,
because I think that's a very curious aspect. That to me,
that's the biggest unknown going into this game. What will
Jameis Winston do with his legs? And as we all know,
not to dwell on bad memories, but the last trip
(19:17):
to the tin Can in Jersey, a backup quarterback named
Tommy Devido his ability to scramble and get out of
the pocket. The Packers just never looked ready for it,
they didn't react to it properly, and they lost a
game they had no business losing. So that's just something
I say, beyond your p's and q's with Winston in
that regard.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
You are one thousand percent wrong. And when I say this,
I am not saying that you're wrong. And this and
this is why the Packers have to live up to
their mantra. This defense and the way it's playing right
now underneath Jeff Haffley in where it was trending at
the end of the Joe Barry era are vastly different
in this regard.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
One hundred percent true.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
They have to play the way that they've been playing.
Two weeks ago, they had a letdown against ric o'dowdele.
They then corrected it against Saquon Barklay.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Not perfect.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
They gave up the forty one yard checkdown. They gave
up the thirty six yard touchdown at DeVante Smith. They
can do things better, but by and large, gave the
offense a chance to win that game. They need to
come out with their feet on fire again like that
and play that way against this opponent. And if they
do that, I think the Packers stand a really good
chance to win this game.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, I like that. I like that as well.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
What we do need to pay some bills here, so
before we take a look at other games around the league.
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(20:53):
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(21:15):
Packers fans, we always knew Lambeofield was a wonder, but
now it's official. Learn more about all the wonders of
Wisconsin at travel Wisconsin dot com slash Wonders. Welcome back
to Packers Unscripted Wes. It is a very very interesting
slate of games in week eleven. He is he is
(21:36):
the backup for the Patriots.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
News to me, okay, yeah, because I was like, well,
he's not New York anymore.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
What happened?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, what happened to him?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Sorry? Yes, no, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
A couple of big matchups in the NFC North Chicago
is at Minnesota and Detroit is at Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
I was sitting here getting ready for the show at
my pre production meeting.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Is it just mere?
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Does the Detroit play every opponent the week after the
Packers played? It kind of seems like that Washington too, right,
doesn't feel like it was like maybe it was Cincinnati,
Like they just seems like they keep playing the team.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, I think it was Cincinnati. Yeah, because the the
Lions just played Washington last week and the Packers played
Washington back in Week two. But yeah, but you're right,
it's it's happened. It's happened a couple times this year.
So so Detroit is that. Detroit is at Philly, Chicago
is at Minnesota and not to And I don't want
to be looking ahead here, but when you look at
you look at the Vikings. Okay, so they dropped a
(22:30):
they lost a home game to Baltimore last week. JJ
McCarthy is back. He's their quarterback. They've turned it over
to him. The next two weeks, Minnesota has the Bears
and then the Packers. They get the Bears at home,
then they come to Lambeaufield to play the Packers this too.
These next two weeks could potentially determine whether the Vikings
are going to stay in this NFC North race or not. Right,
(22:52):
I mean, it's kind of on the line for them
at this point. Meanwhile, the Bears, the Bears have won
six out of seven and starting the season oh and two. Yeah,
thanks Wes, welcome six and one. Since the oh and
two start for Chicago looking to UH looking to get
win number seven, a big road division game, and the
(23:14):
division opponent that a division opponent the Bears lost to
as part of that oh and two start at the
beginning of the season. So there's there's a lot to
pay attention.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
To with regard to the NFC North this weekend.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I don't know, what do you make out of JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Do you do you have?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I think I think he's I think he's a young
quarterback at that that you know, he's riding the roller
coaster that young quarterbacks ride when when they get thrown
in and you have to remember, this is not this
is a first round draft pick at quarterback, yes, but
not a guy who got to sit behind somebody else
(23:53):
for multiple years and run a scout team and all that.
This is the guy who was injured his rookie year
basically didn't do anything but try to get him self
healthy and now he got Now he got thrown in
there and he's already dealt with another injury and had
to miss time. I mean, this is this is the
this is the roller coaster that young quarterbacks ride, and
they're as far as I'm concerned there will be no,
(24:14):
nothing close to a final judgment on JJ McCarthy for
a long time.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
For me, I'm very curious to see this opponent. The
Bears remind me in a lot of ways. They're not
quite this bad in terms of total yards. They remind
me a lot of the twenty eleven Packers defense. I mean,
they're leading, they have twenty I think it's a twenty
takeaways already.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
This Yeah, you have to protect the ball against the Bears,
and they have a very hard time winning games if
they don't get takeaways.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Yeah, and in credit to you know, Caleb Williams and
Ben Johnson, they're protecting the ball well and that is
been the the tatering point for when they've actually been
able to win these games. But they've given up a
lot of yards too. So very curious to see how
JJ McCarthy handles this opponent, given the situation and the
fact that I kind of like the Packers that boat.
The Packers are in the Vikings desperately need.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
A victory here.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
They'll be looking for it regardless against Green Bay, but
to be back at home against the Bears now they
have to come up with a victory, Detroit has gone
it's a weird team. Man Like, Packer fans don't want
to hear this stuff because all they want to focus
on is, Okay, we lost to Carolina and we lost
to Philly. We're the worst team on Earth and whatad.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
YadA, YadA YadA.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah, the Lions have been going through it too. It
was a step in the right direction last week. But
now Dan Campbell's taking over the play calling. They're running game.
You're not sure what you're gonna get on a week
to week basis, but they are good. They're a good
football team. So definitely huge measuring stick game for them
against Philly in much similar way of which the Packers
were against the Eagles on Monday night.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, and with from Philly's perspective, you know, they they
kind of got into a knockdown, drag out type of
game against Green Bay on a Monday night. They fly back,
you know, they're on they're on the short week, you know,
the team that has traveled. The Packers are dealing with
that too, with the travel being now as opposed to before.
But yeah, I think the Detroit Philly game is going
(26:07):
to be a really really interesting one to watch. A
couple of other big games in the western divisions of
the NFL. In the NFC West, Seattle is at the
La Rams, both teams at seven and two, so that
is for first place in the NFC West, and then
in the AFC West, Kansas City is at Denver Denver
(26:29):
eight and two, Kansas City at five and four and
quite frankly west. If the Kansas City Chiefs want to
have a chance to win their tenth consecutive division championship,
they have.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
They have not.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Lost the AFC West since twenty fifteen twenty sixteen through
twenty twenty four, nine in a row they've won that division.
But if they don't win this game in Denver, their
chances of that street continuing take a major, major hit.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Yeah, kind of in the same boat of the Packers,
where they don't really have very many mulligans left here
now they go up against a team like the Denver
Broncos that has been very opportunistic this season in which
that pendulum kind of goes back and forth. Denver's been
knocking down all the pins when it looks like they
might be standing up. So the Raiders game was an
excellent example of that.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And they've and they've had two like absolutely wild crazy
fourth quarter comebacks, one against Philadelphia, the other one against
the Giants. Like we were talking about earlier, the Broncos,
the Broncos are. Broncos are eight and two, but there
were two games where they looked like they were dead
in the water and then somehow they pulled them out.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
To me, and maybe I'll be proven wrong on Sunday,
the Broncos look like sitting ducks to me, I just
feel like this is the type of game with Patrick
Mahomes and Kansas City understanding what the stakes are here,
the fact that they need to win, they are going
into mile high But I was not encouraged. But I
mean defensively, the Broncos are gonna always have a chance.
I mean, yes, I was looking at the stats before
the show too. The Broncos are almost at one hundred
(27:59):
quarterback it's already on the season. I mean, the way
they're getting after the quarterback, the way they got after
Geno Smith in that game, my goodness. So they will
give them a chance. But offensively, it's it's been interesting
to watch. So yeah, this is it's a marquee game
for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Any thoughts on who takes over the NFC West lead
Seahawks or Rams.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
What do you think that the game.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Is that so far in LA, but there's sort of
like no such thing as a home game for LA teams,
Like that place is going to be full of Seahawks fans.
You know, that's that that's the case Seattle.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I think both both of these teams have shown they
can be really really dangerous offensively. I think the Rams
have the better defense of the two if I were to,
if I were to look at it right now. But
this game just feels like a total coin flip to me.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Yeah, I guess from what it sounds like.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
DeVante is gonna play through the oblique, So that's obviously huge.
He's playing again like a franchise receiver.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I was saying the other day, I was watching some
clips of Jerry Rice. We'll see. Hopefully DeVante stays healthy.
That's the number one thing. This guy's gonna play well
into his thirties. He has the footwork, he he is
the Aaron Rodgers of the receiver position. Really, I mean
he just the way he thinks about it and his
attention to detail. I fully believe DeVante Adams is a
(29:17):
Hall of Famer. Yep, I do too, But I don't
see this train stopping. I think this guy's gonna keep
gonna keep doing this at a high level. And the
other thing I love too, Matthew Stafford has kind of
picked up the Brett fav mantra of Hey, every single
year is this guy gonna keep playing football? And then
every single year he comes back and still plays at
an extremely high level where I feel like in a
lot of ways, Russell Wilson kind of hurt his legacy,
(29:39):
maybe even his Hall of Fame chances with everything that
happened after Seattle. This second life that Stafford has got
since he's gone to LA has been incredible to watch.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
And even and even just beyond winning the Super Bowl there, Yeah,
it's been. It's been the years beyond when he won
the Super Bowl with the Rams that.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
As you say, he just he keeps, he keeps.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Going and he and every year that goes by, he
doesn't look another year older. I mean he's right now
in twenty twenty five, he looks like the same quarterback
that won the Super Bowl four years ago.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Yep, No, I mean it's it's been nuts to watch.
I mean I was looking at this too. Do you
know how many times let's let's play a little bit
of trivia in Mike Spofford. How many times he's drafted
first overall in two thousand and nine?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Right?
Speaker 4 (30:19):
How many times has Matthew Stafford made an All Pro team?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I don't think he's ever been the Allas quarterback.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
How many times has he gone to the Pro Bowl?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Boy, I'm gonna say maybe three or four? Twice twice
including two years ago.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Wow, he went once with the Lions.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I only went once with Detroit.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
One of the most underrated quarterbacks. Yeah, in modern NFL history,
I'm favoring the Rams in this one. The main reason
for that, James Jones gave me junk about this last
week on the radio show, because I.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
James Jones gives a lot of people junk about things.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
I said that he is the best.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I love JJ. By the way that was that was said.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
I do too.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
I said that the Seahawks are the best team in
the NFL right now. I'm not saying that the most talented.
I think they're playing the best as a team. When
you talk about the team consistency factor, and he's like, no, no, no,
there's no way, no way, and then they won another game.
I'm still favoring the Rams.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Eye here.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Here's here's the thing, though, The Seahawks under Mike McDonald are.
They're on this like crazy streak of road success. When
I mean there's some some of the mystique of you know,
Seattle and them being at home has been lost a
little bit over the years, but Seattle is now they
become the road warriors of the NFL. They're really hard
(31:34):
to beat when they come into your place. And and
uh so, I'm gonna I'm just gonna play Devil's advocate.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I'm gonna go against you. I'm gonna lean Seahawks in
this one.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
One other one.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I know, we got to go.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Matt starts in three minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Oh one other one I want to get. I want
to get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Tampa Bay at Buffalo, both teams coming off a loss,
Tampa Bay coming off a tough loss against a good
Patriots team, Buffalo coming off a bad loss against Miami,
and Buffalo's street of AFC East, Yeah, Division titles kind
of is getting in jeopardy.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
In New England's gonna be facing a two to win
New York Jets team tonight, and that's their main threat
in that I'm favoring the Bills in that. The main
reason I say that the Bills defense is definitely in
a weird anomaly. They're like middle of the pack overall.
When I was talking about yards per carry aloud by
the Giants, the Bills are second to last in that category.
I just don't know if with Baker Mayfield, the way
that that backfield is constructed, if they're going to have
(32:27):
the right recipe to beat the Bills.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
I think the Bills bounce.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Back all right.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
And with that, we got to get to a press conference,
so we'll call it a rap on this edition of
Packers Unscript. It'd be sure to follow all of our
coverage of the team on Packers dot com for west
Ii'm Miike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will
see you next time.
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