October 13, 2025 • 33 mins
The FAN’s Dave SInykin and Brett Blakemore break down the Week 6 win over the Bengals.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Packer Review, a kfan and iHeartRadio production. I
am Dave Sitekin, joined by Brett blakemore as we join
you every week looking back at the Packers' most recent game.
This one a victory by late twenty seven eighteen. But Brett,
I feel like it was kind of like having Chinese
food for dinner, you know, where it tastes good, and
then like an hour later, you're like, h I just
(00:21):
need more. I need to see more, I need to
eat more. And I think all Packer fans left that
game going, well, yeah, you were supposed to win that game,
but it wasn't supposed to be a one possession game
in the final couple of minutes.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, it's I'm having an internal conflict of do I
celebrate and enjoy a victory. It's the first one in
a month, you know you should enjoy it winning. Never
apologize in the winning in the NFL, all that every cliche.
But it just wasn't I don't know the defense, you
know who came out of the you know, the locker
(00:53):
room and after halftime, because it wasn't our defense that
looked dominant. I mean there was one at one point
in the first half the yards are like one fifty
something to like four. You know, it was just one
way traffic to Green Bay and then all of a
sudden it just changed. I don't know what happened. I'm
excited to not play Joe Flacco again.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, I think we're done with Flacco unless you get
Delta Arizona. You know, Kyler Murray's banged up. Maybe the
Cardinals will sign him for a Packer game this week.
All right, So let's just take a deep breath as
we sit here today. The Packers are three one and one,
They are atop the NFC North. They have the best
record in the NFC, I believe, so all that stuff
(01:32):
is still right in front of them. But as you said,
what's going on with the defense coming out of halftime.
It's becoming a trend. We saw it in Dallas. We
saw it again Sunday at lambeau Field. As you said,
it's yardage of the first half two forty to sixty five.
They didn't get a first down the first four times
(01:53):
they touched the ball. I mean, the Packer defense comes
out on fire, and then they go into halftime and
we'll talk about the first half. Just ten nothing felt
like it should have been twenty to nothing, but it's
ten to nothing. They come out and execute a ten
minute drive and just march down the field. And I
saw the stat after the game last night that the
Packers defense has given up one hundred and two points
(02:15):
this season, and eighty of them have come in the
second half. Sixty three of the one hundred and two,
that's about sixty percent have come in the fourth quarter
or overtime. So they're fading late. And you know, I
remember last year it felt like one of the nice
things about half Ofley's defense was he made great adjustments
(02:35):
at halftime and they came out and looked like they
knew what to do in the second half.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
They saw what they.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Saw Now it's flipped now it's opposing offenses and realized,
all right, we just got to snap the ball and
just get it out, just get it out of our
quarterbacks hands and not let that pass rush do anything.
And against you know, savvy veteran quarterbacks like Dak and Flacco,
they've been able to deal with what should be a
(03:00):
very strong Packers pass rush, but just get rid of
the football. So yeah, the defense, that's what I just
left the game because offense was fine, special teams was
surprisingly fine, but defensively to to sack Joe Flacco just
once understand how the game plan was set up. They
didn't want the Packers to have a chance, but with
that offensive line and then their right tackle of Maarius
(03:22):
Mims goes out in the fourth quarter and he thought,
all right, here we go. But still just a struggle defensively,
and I don't think we know yet what this defense is.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And I get that, you know, Jamar Chase and t
Higgins are explosive. We talked about on the radio show.
It I understand all that there was a circus catch,
you know, a couple of them. It's still just unexplainable,
and I just don't understand how. You know, I was
watching Micah every snap basically, and half the time he
(03:51):
was going up against Orlando Brown, who got gashed by
the Vikings, you know, play after play after play, not
once to get it. It just seemed like the creativity
on the pass rushers not there. That that felt like
a last year twenty twenty four Packers pass rush day
is what it felt like, which sucks and shouldn't be
the case. I get the pressures were good, but as
(04:12):
far as like making Joe Flacco or any quarterback you know,
flush out of the pocket and start having a run
for his life. It just never happened.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
No, And as again, the Packers didn't take the ball away,
and you know, we talked about it on Packer Preview Sunday.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I really thought this was the perfect time.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
To start, even in the odds, take the ball away
a couple of times against the team that just gives
you the ball. They were leading the NFL and giveaways,
granted with you know, Jake Browning a quarterback typically, but
no turnovers. Again, they have two through five games, and yeah,
you assume those are going.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
To even out.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
But this was a game that was begging for the
defense to just take the ball away and make a
statement and just end this nonsense. And they're just not
finding a way to do that just yet. So they
are relying on the defense just the defense has to
just make stop and they couldn't do it. Andy Herman
tweeted out earlier this morning. Since the Browns field goal
(05:07):
in the fourth quarter of Week three, in the second half,
opposing teams have gone in their drives field goal, touchdown,
field goal, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal, touchdown,
and then the missed fifty six yard field goal late
on in Sunday's game.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
They haven't stopped.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
They haven't They have one stop in the second half
since the end of the Cleveland game. That's shocking. How
how good that defense can look and has looked that
they come out of halftime and suddenly they look like
a different unit.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And that's kind of get figured out fast.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And I don't know, I don't know what you is it?
Is it coaching, is it a lack of will? Is
it just the defense is getting figured out? There are
the halftime mythical halftime adjustments that some people say aren't
even real, and some say they are. Are they, you know,
just figuring the Packer defense out. I don't it's it's
(06:00):
mind boggling. And that stat is even more mind boggling.
I don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
We'll get back to the defense. Let's look at some
of the positives from the game. I think back to
the play of the game. The play of the game
was you know, you mentioned the Jamar Chase touchdown suddenly
shockingly as the one possession game at twenty four to
eighteen in the final few minutes and the Packers have
the ball and Love gets sacked. And now it's third
and nine with about two and a half minutes left,
(06:27):
and he rolls left, pressure in his face and on
Cork's just a gorgeous pass to Matthew Golden for what
thirty one yards? It takes the Packers to the Bengals
twenty nine yard line. Now they're in field goal position,
and you know, they have a really good chance of
extending it to two possessions, and that's probably the ballgame.
That pass to Matthew Golden was spectacular and in Love's day,
(06:51):
was very solid. We all think back to the pick
in the first half, which you know, took points off
the board. You know, after a long, successful first drive
it ends with a turnover and you scratch your head
and go, why does Jordan do that?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Like once every game?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Why does he put a ball in play and take
points off the board? And that sticks with you, But
big picture, another outstanding performance where he answered the bell
every single time in this game, scoring points. I think
on the last four possessions the Packers had the ball again.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
As the defense fades in the second.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Half, Love seems to wake up, and the offense seems
to wake up in the second half.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
This was a Josh Jacobs game. We'll get to that.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But the play by Love with two and a half
to go, where it's suddenly dicey. Everyone at Lambeau is
starting to get a little tight in the sphincter and
he hits Golden, who you know, made huge plays on
third downs.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It's just what a sight for Sories that was to see.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, it seemed to be kind of the Golden not
breakout game, but certainly a big step in the right
direction for Golden.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
He used him early and often, and they were even
use them on you know, sweeps and screens and just
trying to get anywhere Matthew Golden space. I haven't seen
the All twenty two on the pick yet, so I
still don't know just how bad of a throw was.
I know that it was forcing something, but I don't
know exactly it was just a bad ballplacement or just
(08:12):
a bad decision. I'm not sure yet, but it ended
up not mattering anyways. If you're gonna throw a pick,
a close circuit of Jordan Love a we love you be.
If you're gonna throw a pick, dude, in the first
half because your defense will cover for it. If then
the second half you're done, there's no chance you're coming
back for that. So I don't know. I thought he
was lights out. It was another rating over one hundred,
(08:33):
I believe as well. Yes, so he's playing really well.
There's nothing else to say.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
No, And I didn't watch the all twenty two of
that pick either, but I do remember it in my head,
and it was the play that was blown up and
it just throw the ball out of bounds. It was
just it was a dead plate. Don't try to make
something happen. Don't try to be a hero. At least
this interception happened on the other side of the field
and in our opponent's ret zone where we set Joe
Flacco up like we did in Cleveland. He was very good,
(08:59):
but again this was Josh Jacob's day as far as
the offense goes. One hundred and fifty yards of offense,
ninety three on the ground, fifty seven through the air.
And then we come to learn after the game, dude
was vomiting. Like he vomited before the game, he vomited
during the game, he vomited after the game. He felt
sick when he woke up. It was just not a
good day to be Josh Jacobs. When he woke up
(09:21):
on Sunday, it was funny. He was miked up for
the game and he said, yeah, they might want to
throw the film away on that one, because I was
puking my guts throughout the day. We talked about it
Brett on Packer preview that Jacobs had said all week,
it takes me three four weeks. It takes an offense
running game, for whatever reason, just a little while to
get up and rolling.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
He was right. I mean, this was what you expected
to see.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And again we understand you're playing the Bengals defense here,
the thirtieth ranked defense. They are terrible. They lost Trey
Hendrickson in the second half, and you know that's the
one viable player really that they have that can hurt you.
But seeing that running game going, seeing Josh Jacobs being
that dominant player, that's what this offense is all about.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
He was actually breaking off, you know, ten twelve fifteen
yard runs, his second touchdown run, just one like it.
We've been waiting for that for a while and I'm
happy that. You know, whatever he's cooking, if he's a medium.
Well now he's ready to go. Because it's such a
key part of this offense, and it helps Stor and Love,
it helps everybody out. I don't know why. I mean, yeah,
(10:25):
I get it. And again it kind of the whole
theme of the game is we're happy one. We understand
who it was against. We understand you know, Hendrickson being
gone and Burrow being gone, and but it's just it's
still nice to just get a win and see progress
in the right direction, at least offensively and on special teams.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, I agree, And that's why you have to step back.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I saw this really puts it in perspective because you,
I think we all got sucked in the first two
weeks with those performances against what we think are really
good teams, and thought, oh my gosh, this could be special.
And while it's not special right now in October, it
doesn't mean it won't be in January. You go back
to the Super Bowl team in twenty ten, the team
that barely made the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Remember they were three and three through six games.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And Rogers, I think over six games, had a passer
rating at about seventy five through six games. He went
on to blow it up. But my point is this
team's gonna look different in January.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
We know that.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
And though they looked nothing like what we thought we
might see after first two weeks, there are things worth
noticing that are getting better and better, and love is
one of them, and we'll see where they are. Look
Nobody in the NFC looks fearless, right, I mean, Detroit
got spanked last night, Philadelphia looks lost Tampa and San Francisco.
(11:42):
San Francis lost their best player in Fred Warner. You
know Baker Mayfield is a gamer and that's gonna be
a tough out that team. But you guys know there's
not a dominant team in the NFC. So where the
Packers sit right now at three to one and one.
We're not happy with lots of phases of this game,
but the team's gonna look a lot different. Here's here's
(12:02):
my biggest takeaway. They're not in danger of peaking too early.
I think it's clear to say. I thought that might
be the case after the first couple of weeks. But
there's a lot to clean up. Other heroes from Sunday Brett,
how about Lucas have resick? The kicker comes in and
you know, we find out no bredon mcbannon. So here's
(12:22):
Haversick who's had, you know, a decent career. He kicked
for the Rams for a time, you know, but it's
been a couple of years. He's looking for a job
and was it Indie or Cleveland or something, And suddenly
he gets the call and he's on the field and
you know, that last field goal to go up nine
I know, thirty nine yards, but hey, we've.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Seen field goals get blocked a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Just to see a clean field goal operation and to
see this kid come in and take care of business,
that was huge. He made both of his field goals,
all his extra points, the kickoffs were fine, no big returns,
special teams, Brett were not a disaster. Maybe that's the
headline of this game.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
It's sad that you see a field goal just on
its way and we're already happy regardless of if it
goes in or or missus, because it's just happy that
it's in the air. So I was happy about that. Yeah,
lights out from the kid. We said on the radio show,
hope you don't even need him, you know, Well they did, unfortunately,
and he stepped up in a big way. On the
(13:18):
other side, you got an actual lucky time out from
and a well used timeout from the floor. Yeah, because
it was gonna be an NFL record field goal, he
wiped off the board to keep more three poor points
off for the Bengals. So yeah, special teams and the
kick returns weren't bad.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
There were.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
There were a lot of penalties on returns on Green
Bay though, punt returns and kick returns, so something to
be worked on there. So it's not all perfect. But
as far as the kickers go and Wheeling again, card
Carring member Daniel wheel In Appreciation Society, he's unbelievable so.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, and he's also the holder.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
And you know some things you don't think about when
a new kicker comes in is that operation they haven't
practiced very much. So the fact that everything was clean,
you know, we don't I'll take any of that for
granted when there's a change in personnel at the last minute.
Packers did make some changes on the field goal blocking team.
You see that they played their top seven offensive linemen.
They were sure to get them all out there. Lately,
they've tried to rest Jenkins and Tom when Tom's been
(14:15):
playing and take them off those units just to give
them a couple of minutes to catch their breath. But
they now realize that having Luke Musgrave on the field
instead of Zach Tom maybe not the best idea. So
they had their top seven linemen in protection and obviously
paid off big time. And then on the return side,
you know, Matthew Golden gets one putt and he calls
a fair catch. There was nobody the closest person I
(14:38):
think was in a schwabinon when he caught that punt
and he calls the fair catch. And it's like, all right, look,
we love you. You're explosive, but this is not your jam.
So they put Romeo Dobbs back there, and again that's
not a perfect fit. Maybe Jayden Reid, you know, when
he's back back half of the season, maybe he goes
back there. Again, I don't want Romeo Dobbs there. It's
still just a it's a small little bit of minutia,
(15:01):
but I hate having valuable guys back there. Baul Melton
did a nice job on kick returns. Davion Williams was okay. Well,
I hate to put this much emphasis on special teams
that has become such a factor for this team when
they don't win, it seems like that's the unit. And finally,
in this game, that was not the unit that we
(15:22):
had problems with. So I think again, coming out of
the game, offense looked very good, special teams was fine.
What's going on with the defense of the second half.
That's what we're gonna be asking ourselves as they hit
the road for these next two weeks.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
One percent. And you know, we don't know about Kyler
Murray next week. But you know, what we do know
is that even though the Lions have more wins than
Green Bay, the Green Bay Packers are the first place
team the NFC North as it stands right now. So
thank you for the tie in Dallas, and we'll move
on after that. I just it's hard for me to
(15:56):
get really, really happy, and you know, I'm usually just
peak delusion every time they win a football game. I'm
just not But then I feel guilty that I'm not
enjoying the win. I'm gonna be begging for that come
January in December, and I don't know, I just it
doesn't feel complete, and then I feel guilty for not
(16:17):
feeling complete about it. I don't know, if it's just
we should have beat them by more. If it's the
defense wasn't very encouraging in the second half, you know,
God forrid one interception that you know Jordan Love makes that,
you know, every quarterback in the league makes from time
to time. But we get all up in arms about
it because we're spoiled with quarterback play. I don't know,
(16:38):
but it just I feel guilty about not feeling more
excited about this win.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah, I think You're not alone. I think a lot
of Packer fans feel that way. It's just you know,
you have high aspirations. You know, the ceiling for this
team is as high as anybody. Then you just go,
but what about this? And what about that? And you
got to step back and go, how did Bills fans
feel after losing it home last prime time last week?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
How do the Chiefs fans feel about being three and three?
Every fan base has reservations about what their team looks
like right now. No one is Maybe Tampa Bay fans
are going look at Baker, look at look at us
at five and one, knocking down the nine. Maybe that's
one fan base that feels pretty good. But you know
what I'm saying, like every fan, every team knows, it's
just not right. But you're right. Look three to one
(17:21):
in one nothing like what we expect to see from
this team. A complete game is what we're hoping to
see at some point soon, and maybe a healthy team.
Let's talk about some of the injuries, Brett that came
out of this game. The most concerning is Lucas fan Nets,
who got the one sack. I didn't see him carted off,
did you in the early fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
I don't know if they shild that.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I didn't know he was hurt until I thought that
Baron Sourrel was out there and I thought, well, that's
kind of odd that he's getting some run foot injury.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
MRI.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
We should know later Monday. We're recording this early on
Monday morning, so no report yet as we do this,
but they think that he avoided any kind of fracture
or break of the foot. It appears to be some
kind of a soft tissue thing. So we just hope
it's not the dreaded list Frank that might keep him
out for an extended period of time.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
It's ironic.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
We were just talking on Sunday about Kingsley Anigbari might
be being a trade candidate that teams were calling green
Bay about his availability. But suddenly, if Lucas van Ness
is knocked out for a while, you know, Enigbare, Surrell,
Breton Cox comes back off of the ir this week,
they could use that depth. So that's that's the biggest
concern coming out of this one.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, I agree. And no blows to the pass rush.
I thought that would be the most depth filled, you know,
part of green Bay's game after Mike Parsons and and
it is, but it isn't. They get there but not enough.
They pressure, but they don't push. It's it's just not
it doesn't have that extra step. And I don't know.
(18:53):
I just don't know what the limiting factor is and
why it's not going in the way that we think
it should. I don't I don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
If you would have told me coming out of this
game that green Bay would get one sack and no
turnovers against this defense, for this offense, I would have said,
that's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
There's no way this team is too talented. Again, you look.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Back and they gave up sixty five yards of the
entire first half. That was very solid. It's a very
good defensive effort through thirty minutes. It's just they couldn't
stop him in the second half. It's like a switch
was flipped. And again, not to beat a dead horse here,
but opposing offenses are just strategizing, let's just get the
(19:35):
ball out of our quarterback's hands as fast as possible
and put them in our playmaker's hands. And Dallas and
Cincinnati have good enough pass catchers and good enough quarterbacks
to make that work.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
And it's neutralized. What Jeff Haffley's trying to do.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
He's got to go back and figure out because this
is gonna be a blueprint now for offenses. All right,
we know it's gonna be They're not going to give
up big plays. The Packers defense. We understand that they're
gonna be very aggressive. They're going to come after us.
How do we mitigate that. We'll look what Dallas and
Cincinnati did, you know, find the receivers quickly and quick
passes and make sure Michael Parsons and company don't beat you.
(20:13):
But yeah, it's that's I think what I think has
most Packer fans just bummed. It's like, all right, we
got Michael Parsons and Rashan Gary and this defense is
loaded and we should be loading up the sacks and
loading up the turnovers, and none of that is happening yet.
And you know, six weeks from now we might think
back and go, remember how stale it was early and
look at him now, So.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Patience is needed.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
We just got such a glimmer and such a taste
early that I think we expect that every week now.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I agree. If it would have been a slow build
the whole time, maybe we wouldn't feel this way. But
it just looks so electric early on. Also on the defense,
I thought the corners were pretty good for the most part.
I mean even the circus catches. I mean Nixon's all
over draped all over him. I thought it was a
lot of it was just really good throws from Joe Flacco,
(21:02):
which sucks to say, Like there's a lot of times
our you know, contested man to man coverage and he
puts it exactly the only place that it could be
for a Bengals receiver to come down with that. I
thought t was really good. Jamar was unbelievable. When you
have those weapons and a quarterback that can be accurate
you know, it's you can get it out quick and
afford to do that no matter how good the coverage is.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
I think that's a great point.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
I think that's the best receiver due in football most likely.
And those guys are going to make plays that they
have a capable quarterback and they finally do you know,
and Flaka was able to put the ball in the
right spot.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I thought Carrington Valentine looked really good too.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I've seen enough to believe he could be a starting
outside corner for this team. I think the best unit
they might have is having Hobbs inside in the slot
and let Valentine.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Let Valentine do his stuff. Now he's a Cincinnati kid.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
He was fired up to play his team and to
go up against Jamar Chase, and he held his own.
There was no big breakdowns by Valentine. And Nixon is still,
you know, playing in a let that we expect and
we saw last year. That gives me reason for hope
on this defense because my as you know, my biggest
concern heading in was the cornerback group, and so far
I feel pretty good about that cornerback group, and I
(22:12):
think that you know, by and large, I feel really
good about the defense. I just need to see, you know,
the killer instinct. I think that's what I feel like
it's lacking. It feels like this team right now is
playing up and down to whoever they're playing against. You know,
we see them against great teams, looking like that super
Bowl team. When the set schedule gets kind of soft,
you're playing teams you're supposed to beat. They don't seem
(22:32):
to have that killer instinct. And you know, Arizona, that's
another team that they were gutty and feisty in Indianapolis
and gave the Colts all they wanted on the road.
But that's still a team that didn't have its starting quarterback,
may not have Marvin Harrison next week, who left the
game with a concussion. That Packers are favored by six
and a half points this morning against Arizona next week,
(22:53):
that's a game you're supposed to win. Will they have
that killer instinct and don't look ahead to Aaron Rodgers
in prime time the following week? That'll be the thing
I'm thinking about all this week. Has Can this team
focused on the job at hand and play an average
mediocre team but act like you're playing a really good
team and just put your foot on their throat and
(23:14):
knock them out.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, that seems to be just It seems to be
a talker basically every year is taking care of business
against the bad teams. Also, when you're talking about CV,
about Valentine shout out to him for a pass breakup
against Jamar, jawing at him, realizing, oh no, I'm going
to be flagged for taunting, turns around and then Gritty's
(23:37):
away from him, just walking away gritting no flags, and
I believe that forced a fourth down.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
So it did.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And I was thinking at the time, dude, you can gritty,
but do it after fourth down. You know, you got
to stop them one more time. You know, Jamar's going
to get the last laugh if we're not careful here.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, and he did, unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, yeah, for sure he did. A couple other points
I want to get to. Let's a couple other injuries quickly.
On Wicks injured his ankle again. Don't know the severity
of that, but something to watch on a receiving group
that's obviously missing two key players. And Javan Bullard another concussion.
I think that's his second this season. That's concerning and
(24:13):
something to watch. He is a force in the stop
on the run. He's kind of a liability so far
in coverage, but really good against the run and a
nice guy to have out there. So something to keep
an eye on this week. I think the most notable
offensive development from this game was Jordan Morgan is your
new right guard. He took over for Sean Ryan. It
(24:36):
was nice to obviously to have Banks and Tom back. Finally,
Packers started with their preferred starting five. Morgan started the
first series at right guard, then they put Ryan in
for a series, and then Morgan played the rest of
the day. And they said after the game that for
the first time this past week, they just played Morgan
at guard in practice and said you're not going to
(24:56):
be the emergency tackle, You're going to be a right guard.
And you know, Rashid Walker kind of struggled at left tackle.
He gave up a few pressures and I still think
Morgan has a chance to be the left tackle of
the future. But he stepped in it right guard and
he was a driving Forcet in that running game taken off,
especially in the second half. So I think the first
(25:17):
round pick from twenty twenty four is officially a starter.
Whether he's a guard or a tackle down the road
remains to be seen. But he took that first opportunity
to be the main guy and he was very good yesterday.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, it seemed to be when they made the pick,
another boring pick. And then during the twenty twenty fourth
season it was played three games. You know, so what
a great pick there. Happy to see him come around.
I don't know what the if it's a Morgan is
playing well or Ryan. I don't think Ryan was hurt.
Off the top of my head, No, I don't think so.
So if I see draft decks payoff and the drafting
(25:50):
of Kuda Kunts cannot be argued at this point. He
doesn't hit all the time, but he probably hits more
than he doesn't, so and that's all you really need
in this game.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Other thoughts on the offense, does it bother you like
it bothers me? And probably bothers? Packard Nation that Tucker
Craft was targeted two times in this game. Caught both
of them forty three yards. The touchdown the typical give
me the ball, I'll truck you into the end zone.
That was the longest touchdown pass with the season, nineteen yards.
I read that's shocking. Two targets for Tucker Craft. What
(26:22):
are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Is it the longest fit?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
I thought I read that this morning.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
The only one that stands out to me is Jaden
Reid in the end zone Week one. I thought that
was a little longer of a pass. But anyways, yeah,
it bothers me a little bit. But I my counter
that would be was the offense moving the ball? Yes, no,
you know, and they were pretty much all game long
they were moving the ball. So you know, fantasy owners
(26:49):
are going to hate it for sure. I wish Shortan
Love got more fantasy points or I wouldn't have been
chopped because now I'm relying on dunkincaid. But you know,
if they're moving the ball and scoring points, I don't
care how it comes or how many targets people get.
And I think the Floor has been pretty consistent on
this basicals since Davante left of We're not forcing targets
(27:09):
for anybody, and you know, if the play goes to you,
that's where it goes. And it doesn't. But we're trying
to win a football game, not get you fantasy points.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, but he was asked out after the game in
relation to Matthew Golden because Golden, as you say, it
wasn't necessarily a breakout game. But three catches to eighty
six yards that's a career high targeted five times, and
you know two of those catches were gigantic third down
third and long conversions. And going into this game, the
Packers were the best in the NFL at converting third
(27:39):
and seven or longer, doing it at like a fifty
four percent clip, which like laps the field.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
That's insane productivity on third and long.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
And the two biggest plays of the game were third
and longs that became thirty yard completions to Matthew Golden.
And so it begs the question can you feed the rookie?
And as you said, Lafleur has been adamant for years,
that's not how we do thing. I don't care about
your fantasy game team. I don't care about wide receivers,
griping about targets. We're going to see what the defense
(28:07):
has given us, and our quarterback knows how to find
the open guy. And one day it's the Dobs game,
one day it's the Golden game. That's just how it's
going to be. The thing is golden is so fast
and so explosive that you just say, Love, throw such
a deep ball. You've got this combo. Now, let's see it.
And fans just want to see it, and it is
going to happen. But as you say, Matt Lafleur is
(28:30):
not here to make your fantasy team happy. And Packers
have a lot of nice weapons and nobody that's going
to knock your socks off like Jamar Chase. But enough guys,
they feel confident in that Love's going to survey the field.
I just I look what Tucker Craft does with the
ball in his hands and say, there's got to be
a way to find five targets a game, and two
is lower than we usually see. I get that. But
(28:52):
if I don't see five balls headed Tucker Craft's way
in a game, I'm just wondering.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I mean, what are we doing. The guy's going to
get you to be hard put the ball in his
hands a little bit.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Well yeah, and even with Golden you know, he got
targeted the limit amount of times, but they also used
him elsewhere as jet sweeps and screens and stuff and
just trying to get him out to space, so it
wasn't a total you know, oh it was only three targets.
But yeah, it's I don't know, it's just that type
of stuff. I'm almost at peace with just whatever happens
as long as they're scoring points. I really don't care
(29:23):
how it comes, just because we've seen it for so
many years and you know what's gonna happen, you know,
Like I wouldn't I tell everyone that to listen. I
wouldn't touch Packer receivers in fantasy period. I mean, they're
just not reliable. Tucker would be the most reliable one,
and he got two targets. Now he's scored a touchdown
in one of them. So I just to me, it's
not worth it if you're gonna take anyone to take
Josh Jacobs all right.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Big takeaways from the game. Running game looks like it's
supposed to do one hundred and fifty three yards on
the ground four point eight yards of carry. Josh Jacobs
was Josh Jacobs again, even if he was sick as
a dog.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Jordan Love with outstanding.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
He has a top five quarterback statistically in the NFL
through what six weeks, five games? Whatever it might be,
offense gets its offensive lineman back. It looks like that
unit is clicking, even though it was slow to go
and and just ten points and a lot of points
left on the board in the first half. Special teams
cleaned up their act. Let's see if that's a trend
or a mirage, but it was certainly a nice development.
(30:18):
And defensively, you know, glass half full, glass half empty.
You know, great first half, lousy second half. Second straight week,
we've seen that getting Devonte Wyatt back is going to
be helpful.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
This team misses him desperately. They don't have a guy.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
You know, they tried Warren Brinston, Carl Brooks, I thought
had some nice reps as I could see Wooden's out
there that they got guys that they're trying, but nobody that.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Does anything like what Devonte Wyatt does.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
So that defense is going to be a bit strapped
until he comes back, and we don't know how long
he's out. But turnovers, sacks, the stats that the sexy
stats we all love. Defensively, that's what we've left. We're
left wanting and we want to see more. And you know,
next chance the Arizona that's that's an offense that's not
very good, even though they've got a quarterback that can
(31:05):
can be electric, and whether he plays or not remains
to be seen. The next five six days, I'm gonna
be thinking about what's this defense going to do to
show me that they're more like the team we stowed
the first two weeks than on what we've seen the
last three.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Well, it just sucks that we're even here, you know,
because if you would have said that after the first
two weeks, you know, the first three weeks, because they
were really good in Cleveland, that defense two weeks from
now is going to be your biggest talking point of
what's going on there, I would have called you crazy,
just because it seemed like they were lights out regardless.
And I don't know what has gotten into them, what
heads gotten into the pass rush I And again I
(31:42):
think the corners were still good. Xavier McKinney is, you know,
I wouldn't want to call him a rumor, but he's
slightly above a rumor maybe like he I know he's
out there. I know he's contributed on some tackles, but
like I don't I can't remember a pass breakup from
yesterday from Xavier McKinny, So I don't know. It's very weird.
(32:02):
How this defense has turned it around in the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yeah, and you don't want to make too much out
of it.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I think what bugs us most is this was a
team that brought in the quarterback in the middle of
the week. I mean, this is an offense that you
should have just confused. I mean, how much of the
playbook could Flacco have known at this point? Throw some
weird looks at him, make him. I know he's forty
and he's seen just about everything, but he's just thrown
eight passes in practice to each guy. They had no
(32:27):
chemistry yet. So the fact that they can bring in
a quarterback in the middle of the week and it
takes him a half to get going, but suddenly he
ends up throwing for two hundred and twenty yards and
a couple of touchdowns. It doesn't get sacked, but once
it does make you wonder if this has just been
a normal offense and middle of the road offense that
your defense struggled against.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
That's one thing. I understand.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
They have two great receivers, but this offense has been
terrible since Burrow went out. There was a chance for
the defense to get right, and they didn't get right.
So it's going to have us asking questions. And the
next test is on Sunday in Arizona. And this was
a C MAB a C minus. We'll see if they
can do better on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah, completely agree. But at the end of the day,
you don't apologize for winning games in the NFL. And
if the playoffs started today, if the season ended today,
the Packers are your number two seed. I believe they
would take on the Lions. So oh noisy no, you
take on the Rams. Excuse me, Rams at home? So
can get so editors don't there.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
We'll take it. Yeah, we'll take it. Fantas learned. We
got some ball games left. It starts in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Two game road trip Arizona and Pittsburgh the next two
weeks for the Packers. We will get set to preview
that Arizona game next Sunday. Please join Breton Me for
Packer preview next Sunday morning live on KFA and at
seven am or whenever you wake up on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Have a great week. Thanks for listening. Go pack
This is Packer Review, a kfan and iHeartRadio production. I
am Dave Sitekin, joined by Brett blakemore as we join
you every week looking back at the Packers' most recent game.
This one a victory by late twenty seven eighteen. But Brett,
I feel like it was kind of like having Chinese
food for dinner, you know, where it tastes good, and
then like an hour later, you're like, h I just
(00:21):
need more. I need to see more, I need to
eat more. And I think all Packer fans left that
game going, well, yeah, you were supposed to win that game,
but it wasn't supposed to be a one possession game
in the final couple of minutes.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, it's I'm having an internal conflict of do I
celebrate and enjoy a victory. It's the first one in
a month, you know you should enjoy it winning. Never
apologize in the winning in the NFL, all that every cliche.
But it just wasn't I don't know the defense, you
know who came out of the you know, the locker
(00:53):
room and after halftime, because it wasn't our defense that
looked dominant. I mean there was one at one point
in the first half the yards are like one fifty
something to like four. You know, it was just one
way traffic to Green Bay and then all of a
sudden it just changed. I don't know what happened. I'm
excited to not play Joe Flacco again.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, I think we're done with Flacco unless you get
Delta Arizona. You know, Kyler Murray's banged up. Maybe the
Cardinals will sign him for a Packer game this week.
All right, So let's just take a deep breath as
we sit here today. The Packers are three one and one,
They are atop the NFC North. They have the best
record in the NFC, I believe, so all that stuff
(01:32):
is still right in front of them. But as you said,
what's going on with the defense coming out of halftime.
It's becoming a trend. We saw it in Dallas. We
saw it again Sunday at lambeau Field. As you said,
it's yardage of the first half two forty to sixty five.
They didn't get a first down the first four times
(01:53):
they touched the ball. I mean, the Packer defense comes
out on fire, and then they go into halftime and
we'll talk about the first half. Just ten nothing felt
like it should have been twenty to nothing, but it's
ten to nothing. They come out and execute a ten
minute drive and just march down the field. And I
saw the stat after the game last night that the
Packers defense has given up one hundred and two points
(02:15):
this season, and eighty of them have come in the
second half. Sixty three of the one hundred and two,
that's about sixty percent have come in the fourth quarter
or overtime. So they're fading late. And you know, I
remember last year it felt like one of the nice
things about half Ofley's defense was he made great adjustments
(02:35):
at halftime and they came out and looked like they
knew what to do in the second half.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
They saw what they.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Saw Now it's flipped now it's opposing offenses and realized,
all right, we just got to snap the ball and
just get it out, just get it out of our
quarterbacks hands and not let that pass rush do anything.
And against you know, savvy veteran quarterbacks like Dak and Flacco,
they've been able to deal with what should be a
(03:00):
very strong Packers pass rush, but just get rid of
the football. So yeah, the defense, that's what I just
left the game because offense was fine, special teams was
surprisingly fine, but defensively to to sack Joe Flacco just
once understand how the game plan was set up. They
didn't want the Packers to have a chance, but with
that offensive line and then their right tackle of Maarius
(03:22):
Mims goes out in the fourth quarter and he thought,
all right, here we go. But still just a struggle defensively,
and I don't think we know yet what this defense is.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And I get that, you know, Jamar Chase and t
Higgins are explosive. We talked about on the radio show.
It I understand all that there was a circus catch,
you know, a couple of them. It's still just unexplainable,
and I just don't understand how. You know, I was
watching Micah every snap basically, and half the time he
(03:51):
was going up against Orlando Brown, who got gashed by
the Vikings, you know, play after play after play, not
once to get it. It just seemed like the creativity
on the pass rushers not there. That that felt like
a last year twenty twenty four Packers pass rush day
is what it felt like, which sucks and shouldn't be
the case. I get the pressures were good, but as
(04:12):
far as like making Joe Flacco or any quarterback you know,
flush out of the pocket and start having a run
for his life. It just never happened.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
No, And as again, the Packers didn't take the ball away,
and you know, we talked about it on Packer Preview Sunday.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I really thought this was the perfect time.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
To start, even in the odds, take the ball away
a couple of times against the team that just gives
you the ball. They were leading the NFL and giveaways,
granted with you know, Jake Browning a quarterback typically, but
no turnovers. Again, they have two through five games, and yeah,
you assume those are going.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
To even out.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
But this was a game that was begging for the
defense to just take the ball away and make a
statement and just end this nonsense. And they're just not
finding a way to do that just yet. So they
are relying on the defense just the defense has to
just make stop and they couldn't do it. Andy Herman
tweeted out earlier this morning. Since the Browns field goal
(05:07):
in the fourth quarter of Week three, in the second half,
opposing teams have gone in their drives field goal, touchdown,
field goal, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal, touchdown,
and then the missed fifty six yard field goal late
on in Sunday's game.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
They haven't stopped.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
They haven't They have one stop in the second half
since the end of the Cleveland game. That's shocking. How
how good that defense can look and has looked that
they come out of halftime and suddenly they look like
a different unit.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And that's kind of get figured out fast.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And I don't know, I don't know what you is it?
Is it coaching, is it a lack of will? Is
it just the defense is getting figured out? There are
the halftime mythical halftime adjustments that some people say aren't
even real, and some say they are. Are they, you know,
just figuring the Packer defense out. I don't it's it's
(06:00):
mind boggling. And that stat is even more mind boggling.
I don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
We'll get back to the defense. Let's look at some
of the positives from the game. I think back to
the play of the game. The play of the game
was you know, you mentioned the Jamar Chase touchdown suddenly
shockingly as the one possession game at twenty four to
eighteen in the final few minutes and the Packers have
the ball and Love gets sacked. And now it's third
and nine with about two and a half minutes left,
(06:27):
and he rolls left, pressure in his face and on
Cork's just a gorgeous pass to Matthew Golden for what
thirty one yards? It takes the Packers to the Bengals
twenty nine yard line. Now they're in field goal position,
and you know, they have a really good chance of
extending it to two possessions, and that's probably the ballgame.
That pass to Matthew Golden was spectacular and in Love's day,
(06:51):
was very solid. We all think back to the pick
in the first half, which you know, took points off
the board. You know, after a long, successful first drive
it ends with a turnover and you scratch your head
and go, why does Jordan do that?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Like once every game?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Why does he put a ball in play and take
points off the board? And that sticks with you, But
big picture, another outstanding performance where he answered the bell
every single time in this game, scoring points. I think
on the last four possessions the Packers had the ball again.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
As the defense fades in the second.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Half, Love seems to wake up, and the offense seems
to wake up in the second half.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
This was a Josh Jacobs game. We'll get to that.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But the play by Love with two and a half
to go, where it's suddenly dicey. Everyone at Lambeau is
starting to get a little tight in the sphincter and
he hits Golden, who you know, made huge plays on
third downs.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It's just what a sight for Sories that was to see.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, it seemed to be kind of the Golden not
breakout game, but certainly a big step in the right
direction for Golden.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
He used him early and often, and they were even
use them on you know, sweeps and screens and just
trying to get anywhere Matthew Golden space. I haven't seen
the All twenty two on the pick yet, so I
still don't know just how bad of a throw was.
I know that it was forcing something, but I don't
know exactly it was just a bad ballplacement or just
(08:12):
a bad decision. I'm not sure yet, but it ended
up not mattering anyways. If you're gonna throw a pick,
a close circuit of Jordan Love a we love you be.
If you're gonna throw a pick, dude, in the first
half because your defense will cover for it. If then
the second half you're done, there's no chance you're coming
back for that. So I don't know. I thought he
was lights out. It was another rating over one hundred,
(08:33):
I believe as well. Yes, so he's playing really well.
There's nothing else to say.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
No, And I didn't watch the all twenty two of
that pick either, but I do remember it in my head,
and it was the play that was blown up and
it just throw the ball out of bounds. It was
just it was a dead plate. Don't try to make
something happen. Don't try to be a hero. At least
this interception happened on the other side of the field
and in our opponent's ret zone where we set Joe
Flacco up like we did in Cleveland. He was very good,
(08:59):
but again this was Josh Jacob's day as far as
the offense goes. One hundred and fifty yards of offense,
ninety three on the ground, fifty seven through the air.
And then we come to learn after the game, dude
was vomiting. Like he vomited before the game, he vomited
during the game, he vomited after the game. He felt
sick when he woke up. It was just not a
good day to be Josh Jacobs. When he woke up
(09:21):
on Sunday, it was funny. He was miked up for
the game and he said, yeah, they might want to
throw the film away on that one, because I was
puking my guts throughout the day. We talked about it
Brett on Packer preview that Jacobs had said all week,
it takes me three four weeks. It takes an offense
running game, for whatever reason, just a little while to
get up and rolling.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
He was right. I mean, this was what you expected
to see.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And again we understand you're playing the Bengals defense here,
the thirtieth ranked defense. They are terrible. They lost Trey
Hendrickson in the second half, and you know that's the
one viable player really that they have that can hurt you.
But seeing that running game going, seeing Josh Jacobs being
that dominant player, that's what this offense is all about.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
He was actually breaking off, you know, ten twelve fifteen
yard runs, his second touchdown run, just one like it.
We've been waiting for that for a while and I'm
happy that. You know, whatever he's cooking, if he's a medium.
Well now he's ready to go. Because it's such a
key part of this offense, and it helps Stor and Love,
it helps everybody out. I don't know why. I mean, yeah,
(10:25):
I get it. And again it kind of the whole
theme of the game is we're happy one. We understand
who it was against. We understand you know, Hendrickson being
gone and Burrow being gone, and but it's just it's
still nice to just get a win and see progress
in the right direction, at least offensively and on special teams.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, I agree, And that's why you have to step back.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I saw this really puts it in perspective because you,
I think we all got sucked in the first two
weeks with those performances against what we think are really
good teams, and thought, oh my gosh, this could be special.
And while it's not special right now in October, it
doesn't mean it won't be in January. You go back
to the Super Bowl team in twenty ten, the team
that barely made the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Remember they were three and three through six games.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And Rogers, I think over six games, had a passer
rating at about seventy five through six games. He went
on to blow it up. But my point is this
team's gonna look different in January.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
We know that.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
And though they looked nothing like what we thought we
might see after first two weeks, there are things worth
noticing that are getting better and better, and love is
one of them, and we'll see where they are. Look
Nobody in the NFC looks fearless, right, I mean, Detroit
got spanked last night, Philadelphia looks lost Tampa and San Francisco.
(11:42):
San Francis lost their best player in Fred Warner. You
know Baker Mayfield is a gamer and that's gonna be
a tough out that team. But you guys know there's
not a dominant team in the NFC. So where the
Packers sit right now at three to one and one.
We're not happy with lots of phases of this game,
but the team's gonna look a lot different. Here's here's
(12:02):
my biggest takeaway. They're not in danger of peaking too early.
I think it's clear to say. I thought that might
be the case after the first couple of weeks. But
there's a lot to clean up. Other heroes from Sunday Brett,
how about Lucas have resick? The kicker comes in and
you know, we find out no bredon mcbannon. So here's
(12:22):
Haversick who's had, you know, a decent career. He kicked
for the Rams for a time, you know, but it's
been a couple of years. He's looking for a job
and was it Indie or Cleveland or something, And suddenly
he gets the call and he's on the field and
you know, that last field goal to go up nine
I know, thirty nine yards, but hey, we've.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Seen field goals get blocked a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Just to see a clean field goal operation and to
see this kid come in and take care of business,
that was huge. He made both of his field goals,
all his extra points, the kickoffs were fine, no big returns,
special teams, Brett were not a disaster. Maybe that's the
headline of this game.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
It's sad that you see a field goal just on
its way and we're already happy regardless of if it
goes in or or missus, because it's just happy that
it's in the air. So I was happy about that. Yeah,
lights out from the kid. We said on the radio show,
hope you don't even need him, you know, Well they did, unfortunately,
and he stepped up in a big way. On the
(13:18):
other side, you got an actual lucky time out from
and a well used timeout from the floor. Yeah, because
it was gonna be an NFL record field goal, he
wiped off the board to keep more three poor points
off for the Bengals. So yeah, special teams and the
kick returns weren't bad.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
There were.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
There were a lot of penalties on returns on Green
Bay though, punt returns and kick returns, so something to
be worked on there. So it's not all perfect. But
as far as the kickers go and Wheeling again, card
Carring member Daniel wheel In Appreciation Society, he's unbelievable so.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, and he's also the holder.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
And you know some things you don't think about when
a new kicker comes in is that operation they haven't
practiced very much. So the fact that everything was clean,
you know, we don't I'll take any of that for
granted when there's a change in personnel at the last minute.
Packers did make some changes on the field goal blocking team.
You see that they played their top seven offensive linemen.
They were sure to get them all out there. Lately,
they've tried to rest Jenkins and Tom when Tom's been
(14:15):
playing and take them off those units just to give
them a couple of minutes to catch their breath. But
they now realize that having Luke Musgrave on the field
instead of Zach Tom maybe not the best idea. So
they had their top seven linemen in protection and obviously
paid off big time. And then on the return side,
you know, Matthew Golden gets one putt and he calls
a fair catch. There was nobody the closest person I
(14:38):
think was in a schwabinon when he caught that punt
and he calls the fair catch. And it's like, all right, look,
we love you. You're explosive, but this is not your jam.
So they put Romeo Dobbs back there, and again that's
not a perfect fit. Maybe Jayden Reid, you know, when
he's back back half of the season, maybe he goes
back there. Again, I don't want Romeo Dobbs there. It's
still just a it's a small little bit of minutia,
(15:01):
but I hate having valuable guys back there. Baul Melton
did a nice job on kick returns. Davion Williams was okay. Well,
I hate to put this much emphasis on special teams
that has become such a factor for this team when
they don't win, it seems like that's the unit. And finally,
in this game, that was not the unit that we
(15:22):
had problems with. So I think again, coming out of
the game, offense looked very good, special teams was fine.
What's going on with the defense of the second half.
That's what we're gonna be asking ourselves as they hit
the road for these next two weeks.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
One percent. And you know, we don't know about Kyler
Murray next week. But you know, what we do know
is that even though the Lions have more wins than
Green Bay, the Green Bay Packers are the first place
team the NFC North as it stands right now. So
thank you for the tie in Dallas, and we'll move
on after that. I just it's hard for me to
(15:56):
get really, really happy, and you know, I'm usually just
peak delusion every time they win a football game. I'm
just not But then I feel guilty that I'm not
enjoying the win. I'm gonna be begging for that come
January in December, and I don't know, I just it
doesn't feel complete, and then I feel guilty for not
(16:17):
feeling complete about it. I don't know, if it's just
we should have beat them by more. If it's the
defense wasn't very encouraging in the second half, you know,
God forrid one interception that you know Jordan Love makes that,
you know, every quarterback in the league makes from time
to time. But we get all up in arms about
it because we're spoiled with quarterback play. I don't know,
(16:38):
but it just I feel guilty about not feeling more
excited about this win.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah, I think You're not alone. I think a lot
of Packer fans feel that way. It's just you know,
you have high aspirations. You know, the ceiling for this
team is as high as anybody. Then you just go,
but what about this? And what about that? And you
got to step back and go, how did Bills fans
feel after losing it home last prime time last week?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
How do the Chiefs fans feel about being three and three?
Every fan base has reservations about what their team looks
like right now. No one is Maybe Tampa Bay fans
are going look at Baker, look at look at us
at five and one, knocking down the nine. Maybe that's
one fan base that feels pretty good. But you know
what I'm saying, like every fan, every team knows, it's
just not right. But you're right. Look three to one
(17:21):
in one nothing like what we expect to see from
this team. A complete game is what we're hoping to
see at some point soon, and maybe a healthy team.
Let's talk about some of the injuries, Brett that came
out of this game. The most concerning is Lucas fan Nets,
who got the one sack. I didn't see him carted off,
did you in the early fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
I don't know if they shild that.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I didn't know he was hurt until I thought that
Baron Sourrel was out there and I thought, well, that's
kind of odd that he's getting some run foot injury.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
MRI.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
We should know later Monday. We're recording this early on
Monday morning, so no report yet as we do this,
but they think that he avoided any kind of fracture
or break of the foot. It appears to be some
kind of a soft tissue thing. So we just hope
it's not the dreaded list Frank that might keep him
out for an extended period of time.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
It's ironic.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
We were just talking on Sunday about Kingsley Anigbari might
be being a trade candidate that teams were calling green
Bay about his availability. But suddenly, if Lucas van Ness
is knocked out for a while, you know, Enigbare, Surrell,
Breton Cox comes back off of the ir this week,
they could use that depth. So that's that's the biggest
concern coming out of this one.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, I agree. And no blows to the pass rush.
I thought that would be the most depth filled, you know,
part of green Bay's game after Mike Parsons and and
it is, but it isn't. They get there but not enough.
They pressure, but they don't push. It's it's just not
it doesn't have that extra step. And I don't know.
(18:53):
I just don't know what the limiting factor is and
why it's not going in the way that we think
it should. I don't I don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
If you would have told me coming out of this
game that green Bay would get one sack and no
turnovers against this defense, for this offense, I would have said,
that's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
There's no way this team is too talented. Again, you look.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Back and they gave up sixty five yards of the
entire first half. That was very solid. It's a very
good defensive effort through thirty minutes. It's just they couldn't
stop him in the second half. It's like a switch
was flipped. And again, not to beat a dead horse here,
but opposing offenses are just strategizing, let's just get the
(19:35):
ball out of our quarterback's hands as fast as possible
and put them in our playmaker's hands. And Dallas and
Cincinnati have good enough pass catchers and good enough quarterbacks
to make that work.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
And it's neutralized. What Jeff Haffley's trying to do.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
He's got to go back and figure out because this
is gonna be a blueprint now for offenses. All right,
we know it's gonna be They're not going to give
up big plays. The Packers defense. We understand that they're
gonna be very aggressive. They're going to come after us.
How do we mitigate that. We'll look what Dallas and
Cincinnati did, you know, find the receivers quickly and quick
passes and make sure Michael Parsons and company don't beat you.
(20:13):
But yeah, it's that's I think what I think has
most Packer fans just bummed. It's like, all right, we
got Michael Parsons and Rashan Gary and this defense is
loaded and we should be loading up the sacks and
loading up the turnovers, and none of that is happening yet.
And you know, six weeks from now we might think
back and go, remember how stale it was early and
look at him now, So.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Patience is needed.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
We just got such a glimmer and such a taste
early that I think we expect that every week now.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I agree. If it would have been a slow build
the whole time, maybe we wouldn't feel this way. But
it just looks so electric early on. Also on the defense,
I thought the corners were pretty good for the most part.
I mean even the circus catches. I mean Nixon's all
over draped all over him. I thought it was a
lot of it was just really good throws from Joe Flacco,
(21:02):
which sucks to say, Like there's a lot of times
our you know, contested man to man coverage and he
puts it exactly the only place that it could be
for a Bengals receiver to come down with that. I
thought t was really good. Jamar was unbelievable. When you
have those weapons and a quarterback that can be accurate
you know, it's you can get it out quick and
afford to do that no matter how good the coverage is.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
I think that's a great point.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
I think that's the best receiver due in football most likely.
And those guys are going to make plays that they
have a capable quarterback and they finally do you know,
and Flaka was able to put the ball in the
right spot.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I thought Carrington Valentine looked really good too.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I've seen enough to believe he could be a starting
outside corner for this team. I think the best unit
they might have is having Hobbs inside in the slot
and let Valentine.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Let Valentine do his stuff. Now he's a Cincinnati kid.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
He was fired up to play his team and to
go up against Jamar Chase, and he held his own.
There was no big breakdowns by Valentine. And Nixon is still,
you know, playing in a let that we expect and
we saw last year. That gives me reason for hope
on this defense because my as you know, my biggest
concern heading in was the cornerback group, and so far
I feel pretty good about that cornerback group, and I
(22:12):
think that you know, by and large, I feel really
good about the defense. I just need to see, you know,
the killer instinct. I think that's what I feel like
it's lacking. It feels like this team right now is
playing up and down to whoever they're playing against. You know,
we see them against great teams, looking like that super
Bowl team. When the set schedule gets kind of soft,
you're playing teams you're supposed to beat. They don't seem
(22:32):
to have that killer instinct. And you know, Arizona, that's
another team that they were gutty and feisty in Indianapolis
and gave the Colts all they wanted on the road.
But that's still a team that didn't have its starting quarterback,
may not have Marvin Harrison next week, who left the
game with a concussion. That Packers are favored by six
and a half points this morning against Arizona next week,
(22:53):
that's a game you're supposed to win. Will they have
that killer instinct and don't look ahead to Aaron Rodgers
in prime time the following week? That'll be the thing
I'm thinking about all this week. Has Can this team
focused on the job at hand and play an average
mediocre team but act like you're playing a really good
team and just put your foot on their throat and
(23:14):
knock them out.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, that seems to be just It seems to be
a talker basically every year is taking care of business
against the bad teams. Also, when you're talking about CV,
about Valentine shout out to him for a pass breakup
against Jamar, jawing at him, realizing, oh no, I'm going
to be flagged for taunting, turns around and then Gritty's
(23:37):
away from him, just walking away gritting no flags, and
I believe that forced a fourth down.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
So it did.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And I was thinking at the time, dude, you can gritty,
but do it after fourth down. You know, you got
to stop them one more time. You know, Jamar's going
to get the last laugh if we're not careful here.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, and he did, unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, yeah, for sure he did. A couple other points
I want to get to. Let's a couple other injuries quickly.
On Wicks injured his ankle again. Don't know the severity
of that, but something to watch on a receiving group
that's obviously missing two key players. And Javan Bullard another concussion.
I think that's his second this season. That's concerning and
(24:13):
something to watch. He is a force in the stop
on the run. He's kind of a liability so far
in coverage, but really good against the run and a
nice guy to have out there. So something to keep
an eye on this week. I think the most notable
offensive development from this game was Jordan Morgan is your
new right guard. He took over for Sean Ryan. It
(24:36):
was nice to obviously to have Banks and Tom back. Finally,
Packers started with their preferred starting five. Morgan started the
first series at right guard, then they put Ryan in
for a series, and then Morgan played the rest of
the day. And they said after the game that for
the first time this past week, they just played Morgan
at guard in practice and said you're not going to
(24:56):
be the emergency tackle, You're going to be a right guard.
And you know, Rashid Walker kind of struggled at left tackle.
He gave up a few pressures and I still think
Morgan has a chance to be the left tackle of
the future. But he stepped in it right guard and
he was a driving Forcet in that running game taken off,
especially in the second half. So I think the first
(25:17):
round pick from twenty twenty four is officially a starter.
Whether he's a guard or a tackle down the road
remains to be seen. But he took that first opportunity
to be the main guy and he was very good yesterday.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, it seemed to be when they made the pick,
another boring pick. And then during the twenty twenty fourth
season it was played three games. You know, so what
a great pick there. Happy to see him come around.
I don't know what the if it's a Morgan is
playing well or Ryan. I don't think Ryan was hurt.
Off the top of my head, No, I don't think so.
So if I see draft decks payoff and the drafting
(25:50):
of Kuda Kunts cannot be argued at this point. He
doesn't hit all the time, but he probably hits more
than he doesn't, so and that's all you really need
in this game.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Other thoughts on the offense, does it bother you like
it bothers me? And probably bothers? Packard Nation that Tucker
Craft was targeted two times in this game. Caught both
of them forty three yards. The touchdown the typical give
me the ball, I'll truck you into the end zone.
That was the longest touchdown pass with the season, nineteen yards.
I read that's shocking. Two targets for Tucker Craft. What
(26:22):
are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Is it the longest fit?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
I thought I read that this morning.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
The only one that stands out to me is Jaden
Reid in the end zone Week one. I thought that
was a little longer of a pass. But anyways, yeah,
it bothers me a little bit. But I my counter
that would be was the offense moving the ball? Yes, no,
you know, and they were pretty much all game long
they were moving the ball. So you know, fantasy owners
(26:49):
are going to hate it for sure. I wish Shortan
Love got more fantasy points or I wouldn't have been
chopped because now I'm relying on dunkincaid. But you know,
if they're moving the ball and scoring points, I don't
care how it comes or how many targets people get.
And I think the Floor has been pretty consistent on
this basicals since Davante left of We're not forcing targets
(27:09):
for anybody, and you know, if the play goes to you,
that's where it goes. And it doesn't. But we're trying
to win a football game, not get you fantasy points.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, but he was asked out after the game in
relation to Matthew Golden because Golden, as you say, it
wasn't necessarily a breakout game. But three catches to eighty
six yards that's a career high targeted five times, and
you know two of those catches were gigantic third down
third and long conversions. And going into this game, the
Packers were the best in the NFL at converting third
(27:39):
and seven or longer, doing it at like a fifty
four percent clip, which like laps the field.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
That's insane productivity on third and long.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
And the two biggest plays of the game were third
and longs that became thirty yard completions to Matthew Golden.
And so it begs the question can you feed the rookie?
And as you said, Lafleur has been adamant for years,
that's not how we do thing. I don't care about
your fantasy game team. I don't care about wide receivers,
griping about targets. We're going to see what the defense
(28:07):
has given us, and our quarterback knows how to find
the open guy. And one day it's the Dobs game,
one day it's the Golden game. That's just how it's
going to be. The thing is golden is so fast
and so explosive that you just say, Love, throw such
a deep ball. You've got this combo. Now, let's see it.
And fans just want to see it, and it is
going to happen. But as you say, Matt Lafleur is
(28:30):
not here to make your fantasy team happy. And Packers
have a lot of nice weapons and nobody that's going
to knock your socks off like Jamar Chase. But enough guys,
they feel confident in that Love's going to survey the field.
I just I look what Tucker Craft does with the
ball in his hands and say, there's got to be
a way to find five targets a game, and two
is lower than we usually see. I get that. But
(28:52):
if I don't see five balls headed Tucker Craft's way
in a game, I'm just wondering.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I mean, what are we doing. The guy's going to
get you to be hard put the ball in his
hands a little bit.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Well yeah, and even with Golden you know, he got
targeted the limit amount of times, but they also used
him elsewhere as jet sweeps and screens and stuff and
just trying to get him out to space, so it
wasn't a total you know, oh it was only three targets.
But yeah, it's I don't know, it's just that type
of stuff. I'm almost at peace with just whatever happens
as long as they're scoring points. I really don't care
(29:23):
how it comes, just because we've seen it for so
many years and you know what's gonna happen, you know,
Like I wouldn't I tell everyone that to listen. I
wouldn't touch Packer receivers in fantasy period. I mean, they're
just not reliable. Tucker would be the most reliable one,
and he got two targets. Now he's scored a touchdown
in one of them. So I just to me, it's
not worth it if you're gonna take anyone to take
Josh Jacobs all right.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Big takeaways from the game. Running game looks like it's
supposed to do one hundred and fifty three yards on
the ground four point eight yards of carry. Josh Jacobs
was Josh Jacobs again, even if he was sick as
a dog.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Jordan Love with outstanding.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
He has a top five quarterback statistically in the NFL
through what six weeks, five games? Whatever it might be,
offense gets its offensive lineman back. It looks like that
unit is clicking, even though it was slow to go
and and just ten points and a lot of points
left on the board in the first half. Special teams
cleaned up their act. Let's see if that's a trend
or a mirage, but it was certainly a nice development.
(30:18):
And defensively, you know, glass half full, glass half empty.
You know, great first half, lousy second half. Second straight week,
we've seen that getting Devonte Wyatt back is going to
be helpful.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
This team misses him desperately. They don't have a guy.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
You know, they tried Warren Brinston, Carl Brooks, I thought
had some nice reps as I could see Wooden's out
there that they got guys that they're trying, but nobody that.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Does anything like what Devonte Wyatt does.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
So that defense is going to be a bit strapped
until he comes back, and we don't know how long
he's out. But turnovers, sacks, the stats that the sexy
stats we all love. Defensively, that's what we've left. We're
left wanting and we want to see more. And you know,
next chance the Arizona that's that's an offense that's not
very good, even though they've got a quarterback that can
(31:05):
can be electric, and whether he plays or not remains
to be seen. The next five six days, I'm gonna
be thinking about what's this defense going to do to
show me that they're more like the team we stowed
the first two weeks than on what we've seen the
last three.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Well, it just sucks that we're even here, you know,
because if you would have said that after the first
two weeks, you know, the first three weeks, because they
were really good in Cleveland, that defense two weeks from
now is going to be your biggest talking point of
what's going on there, I would have called you crazy,
just because it seemed like they were lights out regardless.
And I don't know what has gotten into them, what
heads gotten into the pass rush I And again I
(31:42):
think the corners were still good. Xavier McKinney is, you know,
I wouldn't want to call him a rumor, but he's
slightly above a rumor maybe like he I know he's
out there. I know he's contributed on some tackles, but
like I don't I can't remember a pass breakup from
yesterday from Xavier McKinny, So I don't know. It's very weird.
(32:02):
How this defense has turned it around in the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yeah, and you don't want to make too much out
of it.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I think what bugs us most is this was a
team that brought in the quarterback in the middle of
the week. I mean, this is an offense that you
should have just confused. I mean, how much of the
playbook could Flacco have known at this point? Throw some
weird looks at him, make him. I know he's forty
and he's seen just about everything, but he's just thrown
eight passes in practice to each guy. They had no
(32:27):
chemistry yet. So the fact that they can bring in
a quarterback in the middle of the week and it
takes him a half to get going, but suddenly he
ends up throwing for two hundred and twenty yards and
a couple of touchdowns. It doesn't get sacked, but once
it does make you wonder if this has just been
a normal offense and middle of the road offense that
your defense struggled against.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
That's one thing. I understand.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
They have two great receivers, but this offense has been
terrible since Burrow went out. There was a chance for
the defense to get right, and they didn't get right.
So it's going to have us asking questions. And the
next test is on Sunday in Arizona. And this was
a C MAB a C minus. We'll see if they
can do better on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah, completely agree. But at the end of the day,
you don't apologize for winning games in the NFL. And
if the playoffs started today, if the season ended today,
the Packers are your number two seed. I believe they
would take on the Lions. So oh noisy no, you
take on the Rams. Excuse me, Rams at home? So
can get so editors don't there.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
We'll take it. Yeah, we'll take it. Fantas learned. We
got some ball games left. It starts in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Two game road trip Arizona and Pittsburgh the next two
weeks for the Packers. We will get set to preview
that Arizona game next Sunday. Please join Breton Me for
Packer preview next Sunday morning live on KFA and at
seven am or whenever you wake up on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Have a great week. Thanks for listening. Go pack
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