#255 Packers Unscripted: Reflections and forecasts

and transition into a new role in the organization. One thing we haven't really touched on to any extent yet is collectively, what is now really the end of an era in terms of this twelve year partnership between head coach Mike McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson and um, you know, really the length of it alone is somewhat unprecedented in the league. The level of success nine total playoff appearances, I believe, four trips to the NFC Championship Game, one

trip to the Super Bowl. That level of success certainly ranks up there. If you were to pick a characteristic or two of them as a due of their partnership, that that sort of defines it or what you'll remember it for what would you say unity. I think it's the thing that stands out to me. And then that that's not to say, you know, every marriage has its fights, right, I mean, it's not to say that it was just all sunshines and rainbows for eleven years. I mean, there's

gonna be times where guys are gonna butt heads. That's only natural. But they always had the same path. It was never a question about I'm gonna go this way, you're going to go that way. They had discussions and then they pressed forward, they pressed on, and I think that was the number one characteristic I thought made this

really this one to punch work for the Packers. If you go back, Mike and I did a story in December of two thousand six team looking at McCarthy's offenses and and looking at you know, the history there of of Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy. There aren't a lot of personnel executives in a head coach that got on a run as long as they did, and they were one of the most successful pairings in NFL history in

doing that together. Yeah, guys have different motivations, the life takes some different directions, but for them to stay on that same path for twelve years. I think it just says a lot about the relationship that they built and exactly you know, the the the kind of foundation they

were able to forge with this football team. Yeah. And if there's a characteristic that comes to mind for me, and it's similar to the unity term that you brought up for me, what I always think of his mutual respect because, as you know, I've been the editor of the Packers Yearbook for a number of years, and a while back, I don't remember exactly what year it was, but I did a story for the Packers Yearbook, a rather lengthy feature story about the relationship between the two

of them, how they work together. And if there was one element that very overwhelmingly came out of the discussions that I had with both of them about how they worked together, it was about the level of mutual respect in that Mike McCarthy is the coach of the team, Ted Thompson runs the roster, and they let each other do their jobs and as you say, not to say there wouldn't be disagreements sometimes, but Mike McCarthy is not going to tell Ted Thompson, I need that guy in

the draft, or I need that player in free agency. Ted Thompson is not going to tell Mike McCarthy, that's my second round pick, you have to play him. You know, that's not how that how it worked at all. As you said, they would discuss things, they would reach some sort of an agreement, and they would forge ahead and they and I'm not saying that they operated completely in silos, but it's that the one guy respected the other guy and respected his job enough that they didn't they didn't

tread into somebody else's territory. And I think that's it led to the longevity and how it worked for so long. I look at this as a restaurant. I usually a restaurant that restaurant. Analogy here, um and that is that Mike McCarthy has been the chef of this restaurant now for twelve years. Ted Thompson was like the proprietor, right. I mean, he's the one going out getting the ingredients, getting everything that Mike McCarthy needs to make the dinner,

to make the menu come to life. And that's not to say if you're not gonna have communication between the two sides, but they both understood that what they do, they do well and Mike McCarthy coming in. I remember I asked him this a number of years ago. Uh, but when he got when he got hired in Green Bay, if he knew that the draft and development thing it was going to be as rigid as it was. This is like two thousand and twelve, two thousand and thirteen

where the Packers weren't signing any free agents. It was their guys, and then it was their draft picks, and then it was maybe a couple of guys here and there. And he said, you know, it's about the process. It's about buying into the process. And you know, Ted Thompson was so upfront with what his vision was for building the football team. And there was some ways around that too. I mean he when he needed Charles Woodson, he went and got Charles Woodson, needed Ryan Picketty, got Ryan Pickett.

I mean there definitely was room for that. But at its core, that draft and developed style. Thompson was just so honest with guys about that. I think that's something McCarthy always appreciated, you know, right from day one, is that he knew what the vision was and from there, when you have that kind of vision your front office, it makes it as a head coach that much easier to really lay down your vision for what your team

is going to look like. I agree with you, McCarthy said many times publicly one of the things he appreciated the most about Ted Thompson was his consistency. He always knew where he was coming from. He always understood what

his vision was. As you said, and I think it was a two way street, and that Ted Thompson really respected Mike McCarthy's consistency as a head coach, the way he ran the football team, um, the way he delivered messages in front of the football team, the way he coached at every single Sunday that you know, and and again that goes back to the mutual respect. I really think they both had a tremendous amount of respect for how the other guy went about his job and it

led to a lot of success. In the next segment, Mike, we're gonna look at some of the things that they did together, some of their their biggest moments. But one thing I do want to add into that is McCarthy always talks about he never when he steps to the point him he doesn't want to create questions for a locker room. I think that's something that Thompson also did really well. He doesn't want to say anything, he doesn't say anything, but also through his actions, he never put

himself in the spotlight when things are going well. He didn't put himself in front of the spot like he was the same guy, regardless of it was a difficult win or they just won the Super Bowl. In that type of consistency, I think it makes it a lot easier when you're trying to build a corporation, when you're trying to build any kind of you know, business in life more than a restaurant, more than a restaurant, that that you have that kind of consistency in place, because

it does go a long way. It's a lot a lot of people like to hoot and holler and like to release tooth their own horn. Thompson never did that. Well, now that you're talking about restaurants, I'm getting hungry. So let's go to a break back with moreen Packers Unscripted. Right after this Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, Wes Hodkowitz in that one, and West continuing our discussion from the last segment about the McCarthy

Thompson a dozen year partnership. We saw these guys. They were the ones who had to navigate what obviously was a rocky transition in two thousand and eight from Brett Farve to Aaron Rodgers. They came out the other end a couple of years later, won a Super Bowl in the midst of obviously a run of consecutive playoff appearances

that reached eight before it ended this year. When you look back on on some of this stuff, I know there are a lot of accomplishments to look at, um, but aside from the obvious, you know, the call of Rogers and and winning the Super Bowl. Not to diminish those by any means, but what what kind of stuff are you going to remember? Well, I think it has

to start in two thousand and eight. Uh and and certainly you give Thompson credit for what the what they built and the fact that in McCarthy credit for that they were able to get in the NFC title Game in two thousand seven, only two years into their partnership, three years into Thompson taking over as GM, and you know, coming off of four and twelve season his first year,

But that two thousand and eight summer um. There's so many layers that I talked on yesterday's show about how I think that that is still going to be his ultimate accomplishment because it takes an enormous amount of trust and your scouting department, a normalist amount of trust in yourself to not waiver there because he put his career

on the line. Let's just be honest. I mean, if if Aaron Rodgers doesn't work out and they let Brett Fave walk out the door for a third round draft pick, it would have been tough for him to come back from that. But Mike McCarthy in investing two years into Aaron Rodgers and his development and and it just doesn't happen this way anymore. You see it. My guys and teams they want to talk about, you know, we want

to give a guy time to develop. And how many times is it four weeks into the season when the team's one in four, one in three, one and five, two and four, everyone's calling for the backup quarterback, everyone's calling for the rookie. Packers were fortunate in that way that they didn't really have to do that because the quarterback was Brett Farve. It's such a you see it in small burst right now of when teams are able

to accomplish that. But that long road, playing the long game with Aaron Rodgers in the development that two thousand and eight season, I think it's such a testament to Thompson and McCarthy and how they developed this team and really setting themselves up for the future with the development of number twelve. Yeah, in many ways they staked their legacy on Aaron Rodgers because of that decision they had to make and the fact that in two thousand and eight the team went six and ten. Things did not

go as planned. There was a five game losing streak late in the year after when the team was you know, around five hundred or so after ten games, and then you know, McCarthy made a wholesale change of the defensive coaching staff, you know, brought in Dom Caper's the whole new scheme and all that. It's interest to me because when I when I think of, you know, the acquisition of the players and then coaching of the players in terms of in terms of the partnership, a couple of

things come to mind. One for me was two thousand seven, at the end of training camp the Packers didn't have a running back. I'm On Green had left after a successful two thousand six season, left as a free agent to go to Houston. Some guys the Packers were counting on were injured through the preseason. There was really nobody to necessarily turn to immediately as the number one running back, Ted Thompson makes a trade and brings in Ryan Grant from the New York Giants. Trades a low round draft

pick to bring him in. Yeah, and you fast forward to the end of that season. It's snow one out here at lambau Field in the playoffs against the Seattle Seahawks, and Ryan Grant fumbles two times and Seattle takes a fourteen nothing lead five minutes into the game. Mike McCarthy's game plan that day was to run the ball on the Seattle Seahawks, and a lot of coaches after two fumbles in the first five minutes and a fourteen nothing

deficit would have yanked that guy. Mike McCarthy stuck with him and Ryan at Rusha's for two one yards and three touchdowns. That right there, that late training camp, end of training camp acquisition and then that guy being a playoff hero when he could have been a playoff goat that that timeline right there, and that being in the second year of their partnership together. That to me says a lot about about just how things can come together and work when when two guys respect each other the

way they die. And so much was made over the years about Ted Thompson and free agency and didn't attack those things enough, but it was interesting. He did have a really interesting He was able to keep always a temperature on the state of his team and when they needed a Ryan Grant type player to come in. I even think of that two thousand ten season and and you know, Eric Walden, that's the next that's the next one.

I was going to mention Howard Green when they needed another guy on the defensive line and you know, picked him up off the street and and the Packers coaching staff in the hotel before his first game, you know, a road game, they're setting up chairs in the conference room, you know, as like the XS and os and teaching him certain alignments and stuff just so they can get him a few snaps in the next game because they're

gonna need him. That's what that that's the combination of you bring the player in and the other guys coach him up and get him ready to go and uh, and they made it work a lot of times. Yeah, And it's just that that was such a big thing in that run because they had so many guys get injured. And what do we talk about yesterday, Mike, That really trying to close the gap between your young players and

your veterans when injuries occur. That two thousand ten team, they put together a four level class on what it takes to make that happen with with Walden coming in, with Howard Green, even with all those injuries they had to navigate that season and Charlie Pepper stepping up the way he did. I mean, they just they got contributions

from everywhere. Pepper was a waiver claim in two thousand and six, if I'm not mistaken, Ted Thompson claimed him off off waivers from the Giants, and then you know, Trumont Williams has a tremendous postseason former practice squad player. They just the contributions were from everywhere. And I thought

a really interesting thing was Mike McCarthy. The last question he was really asked in his news conference on Thursday was about you know what his memories are going to be A Ted Thompson and and he said, you know them standing on that stage all awkward with him Mark Murphy Thompson trying to pass around the Lombardi Trophy, kind of enjoying and reveling in that moment. Such a unique

man and obviously still gonna be around the organization. But it's those type of memories and the first time you touch Lombardi Trophy and it's a little heavier than you expect. It's those type of memories that I think, ultimately for everybody involved, are going to be the things that when you look back at your coaching career, when you look back at your GM career, the job you did in Green Bay are gonna be the first thing that come

to mind. Yeah. Absolutely. With that, let's go to a break back with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, Wes Hodko in that one West. It's wild Card weekend in the NFL coming up here. Um, let's uh start with the two a f C games. You have, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I believe the game

on Saturday is Tennessee at Kansas City. I think around the middle of December, when Tennessee was starting to slide, it didn't look like they were going to make the playoffs, but they did beat a pretty good Jacksonville team, another playoff team that we'll talk about in a minute. To get into the playoffs. The Kansas City Chiefs are hosting this game. Looked like the world beaters in the first month and a half of the season. Alex Smith was

League MVP in mid October. Then they you know, hit the skids a little bit, but Andy Reid got that team playing pretty well again down the stretch, and uh, you know, Kansas City. I would imagine there's a lot of confidence in Kansas City playing at Arrowhead in the playoffs that they can win this one. Hats off to Andy Reid because that thing could have just gotten completely out of control in Kansas City when you start that hot and go through such a difficult mid season stretch.

I mean, Mike McCarthy says it all the time, every season, you're gonna be faced with adversity. Did that stretch cost them a chance at a first round by absolutely, I mean it gave him you know, took away that home field advantage type of thing that I think was out there for them when the Patriots were kind of struggling a little bit early on, but they were able to get the horses corralled. This is an interesting matchup. It's funny you talked a little bit about college football. You

remember a few years ago. I think it was what Northern Illinois is probably going back like five six years they got into like an FBS game. Yeah, that a great year. This is what the a f C Playoffs kind of feel like to me, where you got a bunch of these teams that sort of came out of nowhere and you're not sure what to make of them. I don't know what to make out of the Tennessee Titans. I do know what to I know what's at stake here.

I know what Kansas City, what they look like when they played to the best of their abilities, and I'm sure they're obviously gonna be prepared for this. But Tennessee is just such an outlier right now, just trying to see exactly what they're gonna be able to do, especially without de Marco Murray in this game with a knee injury.

It's gonna be very interesting to watch. Yeah, big moment for Marcus Mario, absolutely his first getting his first playoff games, something that, even if things don't necessarily go well against the Chiefs, could set the table here for the for the Tennessee Titans, because they do believe they have their franchise quarterback. Fast forward here to Sunday. The Buffalo Bills

in the playoffs for the first time. Since we're watching that, one of the TVs here in the office the other day was replaying the Music City Miracle when the Buffalo Bills their last playoff appearance in nine they lost on the lateral kickoff return Frank why check to Kevin Dyson in Nashville, Tennessee won that game. Buffalo goes on the road here to Jacksonville, a team with um a very impressive defense, but questions at quarterback as far as the consistency.

Blake Bordles in the playoffs for the first time. Obviously, just about everybody for the Buffalo Bills except maybe Micah Hyde in the playoffs for the first time. How do you see this one? You know, this is an interesting one, Mike. I'm trying to bring up the stats right now for how Buffalo ranks against the run this season. Uh, if I'm if, honestly, if I'm the Jaguars, if Leonard for Nette's ankles, okay, I think this is a game where he has to touch the ball thirty times. I really do.

Because you looked at how banged up the Jacksonville Jaguars are with their perimeter weapons. In the fact that Blake Bortles has had as difficult of a time as he has had trying to protect the football this year, I think that that is their their their avenue to a victory. The Bills are interesting. It sounds like Shady McCoy is gonna be okay for this game. He doesn't think the ankle is gonna be as big of an issue as they thought it was going to be earlier this week.

But at the same time, they also have some questions at quarterback as well. Um. I think Tyrod Taylor is a more veteran. He obviously has had success there in the past. He does protect the football, but he's not incredibly dynamic. So seeing how this game plays out, and the fact that one of these teams that have gone through some really difficult times here in the last ten years is actually going to be making into the divisional round of the playoffs. Is the reason why I will

be sitting down and watching this game on Sunday. This is my must watch game this week. All right, should be a good one. I want to get to the NFC games. But before that, West picture this, You and a friend are sitting v I P and plush leather recliners watching the Packers on the fifty yard line at lambeau Field. Nice picture, isn't it. Well. If you enter Cousin Subs Best Seats in the House promotion, you and a guest could win a chance to kick back on

the fifty yard line in style. Two pairs of lucky Packers fans will be chosen prior to each home game for this v I P experience. For complete rules and eligibility, go to Packers dot com, slash Best Seats, Cousin Subs, We believe in Better back with more and Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford alongside West, Hoggwitz and West. We've got to get to these NFC games before we go here. Both NFC games

getting the prime TV slots Saturday Night and late Sunday afternoon. First, you've got the Atlanta Falcons get in as the sixth seed. They have a shot to defend their NFC title from a year ago. They play at the Los Angeles Rams and then on Sunday on NFC South rematch third meeting this year between the Carolina Panthers in New Orleans Saints. The first two one by the Saints pretty convincingly actually in both games, but now they have to try to

beat Carolina for a third time. Yeah, And and really, to me, Mike, the biggest storyline, I mean, there's a lot of things to look at in these postseason runs. New Orleans, the way they're able to renovate themselves and make themselves a contender again. To me, it comes back to Julius Peppers. He is now sixteen years into his NFL career, had another phenomenal season, I think, end up with third eleven or eleven and a half sacks this year.

Can he finally do it? And you know, he feels so strongly about that Packers locker room, and and there's so many relationships he's built there. But just getting a chance to talk to some guys throughout the course of the year, and especially that week leading up to the Panthers game. There's a lot of guys who are still really touched by Julius Peppers. Even though he's not in that room. He gained so much respect during those three years in Green Bay. I'm I'm gonna be tracking the

Panthers through this thing. I don't know if they're the favorites. They probably aren't, but i mean, in terms of just what he brought during those three years in Green Bay, it would be nice to see, even if it doesn't happen with the Packers, to see him finally get that elusive Super Bowl ring. Yeah. I'm trying to decide, and I've been thinking about this. I'm wondering if the winner of that New Orleans Carolina game is the one that's going to go to the Super Bowl from the NFC.

I'm just I'm thinking. I'm thinking the team that wins that one is going to be in an awfully good position to make a run here. But that Saturday night game, the Falcons playing out in l A, Matt Ryan against Jared Goff. You've got two high powered offenses there. The Rams, young coach Sean McVeigh doing a tremendous job getting that

franchise back into the postseason. I can't I'm not sure the last time they were in it, but it must have been when Kurt Warner Kurt Right, What's I don't know if Mark Boulger ever got that Boulger might have gotten him to the playoffs. Once it's been, it's been. It's been a while, and uh, but a lot of excitement, you know, around the Rams and just you know, can they carry their high scoring offense into the playoffs when

you know you're gonna be facing better defenses. They are very healthy, Michael, so that is gonna be something to track. They were able to taper themselves at the end of the season. Jared Goff has been incredibly consistent throughout the course of the year. And then you have a team like the Atlanta Falcons who worked consistent throughout the course of year but got hot and got the job done when they needed to. I agree with you with your

last point. Philadelphia has issues right now and Nick Foles in the Minnesota Vikings, You're not sure what's going to happen at quarterback there. These are two games where whoever wins in these really could build some momentum for themselves. Yeah, somebody could get on a run here and go from the wild Card round possibly all the way and a lot of times these past few years, there's been a lot of examples, the Giants, the Packers in two thousand ten, of teams that win that first game and run the

table from there. Yep. Absolutely, it's about playing your best at this time of year. But with that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com on Twitter. He's at west Hod I'm at my exp offered at Packers for the team account. Enjoy wild Card weekend everybody. We'll see you next time. H