M Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford sitting next to my trusted colleague wes hodkuwits were coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field and West. We've reached that point where we're going to start focusing some shows on reviewing the season, kind of reviewing it a quarter at a time, four games at a time, so to speak, through all sixteen games.
And it starts with a series that we have on our website on packers dot Com that we call peak Performances, where in each quarter of the season, a handful of top individual performances excuse me, from different games are highlighted. So let's start this show with the first round of peak performances from the first quarter of the season. We've got five of them to talk about, and then at the end of the show will vote for which one is our favorite, because the fans on Packers dot Com
can vote for their favorite. So you see how we're trying to match all this up here, all right, So stay with me anyway. Two peak performances from the season opening victory over the Seattle Seahawks, one on each side of the ball. You have defensive tackle Mike Daniels and wide receiver Jordy Nelson. I'll let you start where you want to in terms of what you remember about these performances against the Seahawks as the Packers got off to
a one and o start. I'm gonna start with Mike Daniels because I felt, and I said this on a very recent episode of On the Script, I felt this was the best game of his NFL career and he had seven tackles, one and a half sacks, four quarterback hits, and a forced fumble in this one. Mike Daniels was dominant. And I think the one thing when you look back at the two thousand seventeen season statistically didn't work out
the way the Packers defense wanted it to. But how many times have we heard both from Dom Capers was still here and obviously when Mike McCarthy took the podium at the end of the season, this was the game where the Packers defense that's how they wanted to play the whole year. That was the vision, that was the vision. They were healthy, they were able to mix and match and do what they wanted to do with Morgan Burnett as that hybrid nickel linebacker and Mike Daniels was such
a catalyst in this game. And Seattle Seahawks offensive line as this season unfolded, had a very difficult year. It ended up leading to the firing of Tom Cable as their old line coach. But the Packers the way they were able to man handle that front in what Mike Daniels was able to do in terms of generating that inside pressure. Russell Wilson never was comfortable and Russell Wilson
put together an m v P type season. Mike, but in that particular game, what Mike Daniels was able to do had a lot to do with the fact that offensively, Seattle just wasn't able to get anything going. Yeah. Statistically, Daniels was credited with one and a half sack in this game. He teamed with Nick Perry for a ten yard sack of Wilson and then later on was the biggest play a sack fumble. He punched the ball out
of Russell Wilson's hand deep in Seattle territory. Packers recovered ended up leading to a green Bay touchdown, and I believe the final score was seventeen to nine if I'm not mistaken. So you know what ends up being an eight point game. You get a sack fumble back, you know, essentially inside the ten yard line, the Packers punch it in a huge play. I'm with you on this being
the best game of Daniel's career. And and I'll say this as well, it's not always easy to necessarily pick it out every NFL week, But I remember, I think you remember as well when you think of the game when Aaron Rodgers got hurt in Minneapolis, I said, hands down, Harrison Smith, the Vikings safety, was the best player on the football field that day. We saw it from the press box. I'm sure everybody saw it on TV. Mike Daniels was the best player on the football field in
Week one at lambeau Field. And that's saying something. When Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner and you Cam Chancell Learn all these other guys who are out there, Um, he was the best player on the field. And uh and it really was. It really was a stunning performance. The other one from that game wide receiver Jordy Nelson.
The reason I picked this one to h to include in the set here is not because it was a big, huge statistical game, but it was again just showing that chemistry between Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson, particularly on the free play touchdown. Aaron Rodgers catches the Seahawks with twelve men on the field, they don't get their twelfth guy off, and Jordy Nelson just runs right down the seam and Seattle's defense just didn't even really react to what was
going on. It becomes a thirty two yard touchdown, a big play in a in a close game, just like with with the Daniels Um defensive play, and I just thought it was it was just that classic example of what Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson do together, kind of
like what happened with the defense. I know Jordy Nelson didn't have the type of season I'm sure he wanted, but I think sometimes with us talking about what happened the last three orders of seasons, we forget how good Jordy Nelson was that first month with Aaron Rodgers was leading the NFL at one point touchdown receptions. I think he had six through five games. Uh, this game was a good example of you know their chemistry, what they were able to do to to maximize those free play chances,
and it really make a difference. I mean, the twelvemen on the field called what Aaron Rodgers, the history of him and that play in the way that those two are on that same wavelength, you know, says a lot. I'll also say this too, if you go back in the history books, and I know there were some tough losses when you think of two thousand twelve with the failed married game, you look at two thousand fourteen with the NFC Championship game. Other than that, Aaron Rodgers and
Jordy Nelson really have had the Seattle Seahawks number. And that's not an easy thing to do with how good that defense is and how you know solid they've been for a number of years. But whatever it is with that that second lane of communication that they have that just is instinctual, it's allowed them to be very effective.
And Jordy Nelson Randall cop both started this season really fast, and it started against that game against the Yeah, and just to illustrate the efficiency and that being on the same page, Nelson had seven catches for seventy nine yards and a touchdown. But he was targeted eight times, so seven catches out of eight targets. That just illustrates what was going on there. But we've got more peak performances from the first quarter of the season to recap. Back
with those on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, Wes Hodkowits in that one in West. Continuing our discussion of the peak performances from the first quarter of the two thousand seventeen season for the Packers. A couple more from the victory over Cincinnati in Week three that was here at lambeau Field. Wide receiver Geronimo Allison and safety Josh Jones, A couple of young guys here. I'll let you start
where you want to. Well, I want to say Geronimo Allison is the place to start, just because he came out of nowhere in this one. Packers needed a solid performance in this game against the Cincinnati Bengals. It end up being way too close I think for their liking within obviously getting pressed into overtime, but coming off that
loss against the Atlanta Falcons, they needed a response. They wanted to start the season fast, and yeah, you knew you were gonna have you know, Jordy Nelson, you knew you were gonna have Davante Adams, but it was imperative in this game for dont Willison to have a big game, particularly down the stretch, and for him to end up with six catches for twenty two yards that end up being half of his receiving yards for the entire season.
You saw him really take a step this year, still looking to have a more consistent role in the offense. But this was a great illustration of exactly the type of talent he has and how if Aaron Rodgers need to turn to him, he was ready to step up. Yeah, Randall Cobb was sidelined in this game, so, as you said, the Packers needed some production out of Allison just to
go over some of the plays. He actually caught a tipped pass for for a nie yard game that helped lead to a field goal early in the fourth quarter as the Packers are trying to come back, and then on that game tying touchdown drive which ended with a great diving catch by Jordy Nelson by the pylon that tied the game and sent it to overtime. Allison had catches of seventeen and eleven yards early on that drive to get the Packers across midfield and really put them
in position to try to get that score. And then, of course, the big play the third snap, the third offensive snap of overtime for the Packers, Rogers again with a free play, going back to what we were talking about in the last segment, the Cincinnati Bengals jump off sides. It's a free play. Allison slips behind the defense, Rogers hits him down the left sideline. He weaves his way, you know, dodges some tacklers, ends up going seventy two
yards out of those hundred and twenty two. And that play was on third and ten on this as well, the Packers needed to convert there. They were going to pump the ball back to the Bengals. It sets up the game winning field goal by Mason Crosby and the Packers get another home victory. The longest reception of the two thousand seventeen season for the Green Bay Packers on that play for Geronimo Allison. And as you said, I as much, and that that play obviously won the Packers
the game. It's set up that that game winning field goal for Mason Crosby. But there were those small plays along the way. I thought it was a good job of you, but by pointing those out to be able to continue moving the ball, to get themselves in a situation for Aaron Rodgers to you know, put it in his hands and find a way to win that game. Very tough and at that point of the year you didn't really know what you were getting in the Cincinnati
Bengals either. The Bengals had extremely high hopes going into Week three, so for the Packers to be able to win that game was a big catalyst for them going forward. An exceptional performance by Allison and making those big plays when they counted, I think said a lot about a former undrafted free agent that really it still has not played a lot of football in these first two seasons. And the other one that stood out in that game as a peak performance was rookie safety Josh Jones, the
second round draft pick out of North Carolina State. We saw Josh Jones playing his best when he was able basically just settled in at one position to play that and not necessarily get moved around and play all these different roles he was playing that Nitro Nickel linebacker spot in this game, and he really showed up. He double digits and tackles I believe it was eleven. He ended up with two sacks, both of them were on third downs. Um actually first rookie defensive back in team history with
a two sack game. Actually, one of those sacks that uh it pushed the Bengals back eight yards and made a field goal attempt much longer that then was missed, which was a field goal that that you know, would have stretched the Bengals lead at the time. And then uh in overtime, he has a really solid open field tackle of Cincinnati tight end Tyler Croft on third and six.
Um stops him short of the first down marker, well short of the marker actually, and then the Bengals punt in overtime to the Packers, which then leads to the big play to Allison and and the victory. So a really really strong game from a young player. I know he had his ups and ups and downs throughout the year, but this was the type of performance that Packers were hoping for when they drafted Josh Jones. And hopefully there's
more to come for him down the road. Yeah, between this and obviously him coming up as big as he did in that Cleveland games, two biggest moments of the year. But as you said, from us consistency standpoint, this is the best game he played start to finish. I mean, he played basically the entire game at that hybrid spot and made the most of it. The thing about that
I think is so interesting about Josh Jones. I'm with on that he had an up and down season, a lot of things he has to learn from from an assignment standpoint, but in some ways with with a new defensive coordinator coming in now in two thousand and eighteen, he's He's younger than Nick Collins was, unquestionably, but I think he's similar to what when Dom Capers was coming in two thousand or two thousand nine, I should say, where it's a young prospect and you don't really know
exactly how he's gonna fit, but you know he's talented, and I think that's really what when Brian Guduins was talking about, you know, the talent on this defense, He's one of the guys that factors into that. I think it's gonna be really interested in two thousand and eighteen, A lot of things for the Packers to figure out with free agency and Morgan Burnett. But wherever Josh Jones is playing now, going in that second season, the experiences
he had in year one are really going to help him. Yeah, definitely a guy we will definitely be watching closely in his second season. With that, we'll toss it to a breakback with moren Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford here Wes Hodkuhit's over there and west are fifth and final peak performance from the
opening quarter of the season. It goes to outside linebacker Clay Matthews against the Chicago Bears that Thursday night game in Week four and um again not necessarily a huge blow up statistically, but he gets a sack fumble on chicago first offensive play of the game. The Packers already leads seven nothing. Then they take the field. Mike Glennon is that quarterback. They hadn't gone to Mr Robinsky yet and the Bears are backed up deep in their own territory.
Matthews bust in there on the very first play, knocks the ball out of Glennon's hand for the sack. Fumble, Jake Ryan recovers on the three yard line. The Packers take it in and you can't start a game any better really than being up fourteen nothing when the other team has only had one offensive snap and and Clay Matthews was was a big factor in making that happen. And not only that, that sack was the one that broke KGBS franchise record of seventy four and a half.
It was matthews seventy five career sack and it put him number one on the Packers all time list. This game, Michael wound up being the Packers I would say their most dominant victory of this season. They had a lot of nail biters along the way, but this is one. I thought they really punched the Bears in the face
right off the bat, and they maintained that momentum. I also thought it was probably the best illustration of the season that Clay Matthews had because he did finally break that sack record, something he'd been chasing down for the last number of years. We were kind of waiting for him to get there, and with the moved inside backer, with some injuries a kind of prohibit him from probably making that climb as fast as he wanted to. Well, now he's there. But on top of that, he also
had three quarterback hits in this game. Packers only had four, were only credited with four for the game. Morgan Burnett had another one. They had a tough time getting home on Mike Glennon. But I thought Matthews was really impactful when the Packers needed him to be. He ended up leading them with eight and a half sacks in the season. Defended the run very well, I would I would argue, while I'm not a scout, I would argue that this
is probably his best year defending the run overall. He was consistent in that way, and the Packers were able to hold down Jordan Howard in this contest. I think he only averaged like two point three yards per carry.
That was a big, big thing here because at this point of the season, and pretty much as it was the entire entire year for the Bears, they were trying to build everything around their running game, and by doing that, in addition to getting the sack early on the momentum changing play to stake the Packers to a two score lead, all of that contributed to a big victory the Packers are riding high after this one if you remember it, I mean they were at this point three and one,
got through that first quarter pole of the season, and Clay Matthews was looking like a guy that that was really ready to get on a tear before some of those injuries happened. Yeah, I agree with you that that. I you know, I think the most underrated part of Clay matthews game is the way he defends the run.
I know everybody wants him and and he certainly wants to get to double digit sacks every year, and and he did lead the team in sacks this year, but he didn't didn't reach the double digit threshold that that he was gunning for. But he's really really a disruptive player against the run, and a credit to him through two thousand, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen seventeen, whether he's lined up on the edge, whether he's off the ball in the middle,
he's always a factor in the run game. And it's and it's why even with the injuries that he has to deal with, you know, you like to have him on the field for as many snaps as possible because whether the offense is gonna run or pass, you know he's got a chance to make the play. That's just the high level impact he makes, even if the statistics don't look like they did back in two thousand ten, two thousand eleven when he was going to all the
Pro Bowls and stuff. And the thing that's funny about that, too, is in two thousand eleven and even into two thousand and twelve, I actually Um, when I was still working for the newspaper, I ridiculed him a lot for how he defended the run. I thought he sold out too much. I thought his rush lanes he got too far upfield and allow things to leak out. I don't know. I've
never had a chance to ask him. I don't know if the moved inside backer improved his vision against the run, because he certainly always had the athletic ability to to break up lanes and to be able to cause some disruption there for a running back trying to to put his foot into the ground and get up field. But the thing was, since he went back to outside backer then full time in two thousand and sixteen, I just had been really impressed with how he's held his own
in terms of defending the edge. UM, And it's something I thought Nick Perry has done a tremendous job of. I still to this day argue that's the best thing that Nick Perry does in his game. I sure he doesn't want to hear that. I'm sure he wants to be a pass rusher first, but since day one, I've
always thought he's been exceptional at setting the edge. Matthews has improved in that area, and even though two ten eleven he gets a lot of acclaim he had the multi sax seasons and and the double digit sax seasons. I just think what you're seeing now as he gets older is a more better well rounded player, and I think he's gotten better in that way and he's found ways to impact games that isn't just you know, predicated
on him having thirteen sacks this season. Yeah. Well, those are the five peak performances for the first quarter of the season, and when we come back for our final segment, we will cast our vote for our favorite back with that on Packers Unscripted right after this Welcome back to
Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford alongside Wes Hodkouwitz so West, We've recapped the five peak performances from the first quarter of the season for the Packers, Mike Daniels and Jordy Nelson against the Seahawks, Geronimo Allison and Josh Jones against the Bengals, and Clay Matthews against the Bears. Fans can go online Packers dot Com check out the story, click on the highlights if you'd like, and vote for your favorite in
the poll. So it's your turn to vote what you got? Well, first off, if we should talk to our production staff of we'll maybe getting a little box up here that could put my piece of paper because I'm you know, casting did a lever pull? Yeah, that'd be cool, something old school, Alright, No hanging chads here. I'm gonna go
with Mike Daniels, Okay. And the reason I say that is because Mike Daniels on that day against the Seattle Seahawks made the other ten defensive players on the field better some amazing performances as you saw, and most of them contributing to a Packers victory. But Daniels what he did that day defending the run, they had no success
whatsoever being able to run the ball. Another underrated aspect of that game the fact the Packers were able to apply consistent pressure to Russell Wilson, which isn't easy to do with how he's able to scramble, get out of the pocket and hurt you with some great option concepts. Daniels was relentless in that ball game. He actually reminded me kind of what b J. Raji had done a couple of years earlier in a game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Just really pushed the pocket from the inside. And for that reason, I think that that was my first quarter of the season peak performance. Yeah, I I like what you said there in terms of Daniels made the other ten players on defense better. Because you always talk about a quarterback on the offensive side of the ball doing that, you don't always necessarily equate that on the on the defensive side. But I agree with you that was that that was the type of performance he had that day.
As you can see, you kind of maybe stole what was gonna be my vote. But um, but so not to repeat things, I'm gonna pick Geronimo Allison against the Bengals. And here's why we saw many times this past season when injury struck and young guys had to fill in, there was a gap in the performance and it was a big reason, and not just because of quarterback Brett Hunley having to start as many games as he did, but it was a big reason the Packers finished seven
and nine this year. The gap between those younger players who had to step in and those that they were replacing when injuries hit um was was too large, and it's something the Packers need to work on going forward. This is a game where that did not happen. Randall
Cobb was out, Geronimo Allison stepped in. There were some shifting around as far as who was lining up where at wide receiver because of Cobb's absence, But for Allison to step in when Cobb couldn't play and to go six for a buck twenty two and make that seventy two yard catch and run and overtime to win the game, I'll just say, Wes, if if more young players who are not starters had been injury fill ins to this capacity, the Packers probably would have kept their playoff hopes alive
I think longer, and maybe even snuck into this thing. Because the Packers just didn't get enough performances like this from young guys. I think that's fair and I think it's also fair when you look at Geronomoy, Alison knew he was the number four receiver at that time. It was pretty clear coming out of training camp he was ahead of Trevor Davis and Jeff Jannis as the next man up. It's one thing to be the next man up, it's another thing to be ready when your numbers called.
And Packers actually to be an incredibly healthy at receiver for most of the season, which played into the fact that he didn't end up getting a lot of opportunities the rest of the way. But in that particular game, without Randall Cobb, they needed somebody else to step up
other than Jordy Nelson Davante Adams. He gave him that performance in in a big key instant, sometimes a situation that's too big for young players, an undrafted player, he really stepped up and gave the Packers exactly what they needed and it resulted in the second win of the season. Yeah, all right, Well that is the peak performances show for the first quarter of SEEN. We will have the future ones UH the other quarters of the season coming up on UH shows coming up very soon. But for now,
that's 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 hot I at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time. H