#263 Packers Unscripted: Peak Performances, Games 5-8

your favorite. So there are five of them to talk

about and uh and we'll run through them quickly. Here the first couple of segments of the show, because the first three are actually all from the same game, that big win over the dead Alice Cowboys that really, I guess when you look at it was probably the single highlight, probably biggest highlight of the season for the Packers, and three peak performances out of that game, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, running back Aaron Jones, and on the defensive side, cornerback

to Marius Randall. I'll let you start wherever you want as far as which of those performances stood out to you. The most. I'm gonna start with Aaron Rodgers on this because we didn't get a lot of Aaron Rodgers this season due to that color bone injury. And I thought you made a great point there in the introduction, like you could put this up there, I guess with the Bears game, But offensively, I think this was the best performance the Packers had. It was the most complete performance.

They finally were able to break through at the run game, which we'll talk about here shortly. But Aaron Rodgers was just so deadly in this game, and even the passes he missed, he found ways to correct them. And it just seemed to me, you know, there's been a lot of cat and mouse here the last few years between him and Rod Marinelli, the defensive coordinator for the Cowboys. Each team has had their successes, each team has had

their failures. But on this day, I just thought Aaron Rodgers was just incredibly efficient in the passes, the performances he put together, the communication and chemistry with Davante Adams. Um. I don't want to keep opening up a story here for Packer fans, because I'm sure they would have liked to have seen this the entire season but I think that this was the offensive output the Packers showed that day,

really showed what they were capable of than two thousand seventeen. Yeah, And just to give you the rundown on the numbers from Aaron Rodgers in this game, nineteen of twenty nine, two twenty one yards, three touchdowns a one two point nine passer rating. Packers were down twenty one to six in this game, West came back to win thirty five

to thirty one. Obviously the most memorable part a seventy five yard drive took only sixty two seconds one minute and two seconds to go seventy five yards to win this game, a twelve yard touchdown passed Davante Adams with eleven seconds left, and that that final drive also included

some of Aaron Rodgers athleticism. He escapes a couple of potential sacks on a third and eight scrambles for eighteen yards and then two plays later where he hits Adams for the game winning touchdown, a really top notch performance. And then to hear him talk about it afterwards, where the opening play of the final drive a back shoulder throw to Davantae Adams that he essentially uses to set up a different type of back shoulder throw for the touchdown.

A lot of really a lot of really amazing things about the performance. But also you mentioned the Packers got their running game going in this game, and that was thanks to Aaron Jones. The previous game against the Bears, he had come in the second half. Time Montgomery Jamal Williams, both out with injuries, showed something there the second half of the Chicago game. Becomes the feature back for this game against Dallas. Nineteen rushes, a hundred and twenty five

yards and a touchdown. It was Hello world to uh that Aaron Jones said that day down in Dallas, a really impressive performance. Gotta keep in mind too, this is a guy that traveled a lot as a kid, but his family eventually settled down in El Paso and he had a lot of family friends make that. I believe it was a seven or eight hour drive over. Packers running game at that point in time was sort of

a work in progress. They had a really hard time, regardless of it was Aaron Jones, Jamal Williams or Time Montgomery, they had a hard time establishing it for four quarters. This was the game I think not only Aaron Jones needed, but the Packers needed to really establish themselves. And as it turned out over the last ten weeks of this season, that ended up being one of the biggest strengths of this team is what players like Aaron Jones and Jamal

Williams were able to do. It started with this game against Dallas, and you saw it sort of snowball from there with some of the other performances he put together in the weeks to come. Yeah, and Jones making his first NFL start in this game, he became the first Green Bay rookie with a one yard rushing performance in his first start since two thousand five. I believe that was Sam Kangato, a street free agent so to speak,

that the Packers picked up that year. But Aaron Jones a seven yard touchdown run, also had a diving nine yard catch along the sideline that helped us set up that TV run runs of twenty two and fifteen yards for some explosive plays. The fifteen yard are coming on the game winning drive. A very smart lee got out of bounds the whole thing to stop the clock. Just a lot of really good things about that. The third one peak performance from the Cowboys game is on the

defensive side and it's cornerback to Marius Randall. And this one was chosen really because the previous game against Chicago, things did not go well for Randall. He was essentially banished to the locker room by Mike McCarthy to avoid any sort of sideline distraction after you know, a mix up that led to a Chicago touchdown, a lot of emotions kind of getting in the way. He ends up getting a pick six on Dak Prescott in this game against the Cowboys. That was a huge part of the

comeback from the twenty one to six deficit. I personally felt this game by Randall was the one that turned his season around, maybe even turns his career around. Yeah, I agree with and as you were saying that in terms of how I really was able to flip the momentum in that game, that was a really demoralizing play

for the Cowboys. Correct me if I'm wrong here. I think that was the first touchdown returned from an interception since Micah Hyde had one, like or was a Casey Hayward had one two year prior to that, Packers really had been looking for one of those type of game changing type plays off an interception, Damarius Randall was the first of four picks, a team high he ended up

having in two thousand seventeen. As you said, I think this was the start of a new chapter for him, and it's momentum that you hope he can continue to build upon now going into what will be his fourth NFL season. Yeah, that pick six off of a ball that hit Terrence Williams and Damarius Randall was there to snag it. Gave the Packers lead early in the fourth quarter, of their first lead of the game, and then they obviously had to retake the lead that at the end.

But we've got a couple more peak performances from the second quarter of the season to talk about. We'll get to those after the breakback with more on Packers Unscripted right after this A welcome back to pack Kers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, Wes Hodkowits in that one in West. Continuing our discussion of peak performances games five through eight. Fans can go on Packers dot com, call

it the story and vote for their favorite um. These last couple from the second quarter of the season are from games the Packers unfortunately lost, but it doesn't take away from what these individuals accomplished, starting with linebacker Blake Martinez at Minnesota. The game that's obviously remembered for Aaron Rodgers broken collar bone and uh the game that really

changed the entire Packers season. But I thought this was the game fourteen tackles, twelve solo tackles, a couple of tackles for loss on Latavius Murray, deflected pass that Damerius Randall intercepted. I thought this was the game that really epitomized that first to second year jump that Blake Martinez made. I think we really started to see it here in Minnesota, even though it was in a loss. Yeah, and it was a point in time. I think I always tell

this story, but sometimes you forget about it. With how we finished the season as one of the leading tacklers in the NFL come Week one, going into that first game against Seattle, we didn't really know that Blake Martinez was gonna be a starting linebacker, let alone in every down linebacker for this defense. Up until that last preseason game, it really looked like it was Jake Ryan, Joe Thomas,

and then Morgan Burnett as a hybrid linebacker. Well, as it turns out, they end up giving Martinez a chance as the nickel linebacker at the start of the season and just to see him build upon that and take it. Okay, he was early down back, uh, you know, early down linebacker. Then he comes back and starts to really put together some really productive games. And I don't know, off the top of my head, maybe you remember how many double

digit tackle performances he had this season. I want to say it was somewhere in the range of eight or nine. I was going to say it was about half the games. Incredibly productive. This was another part of that. Yes, it didn't go how the Packers wanted to turn out. The Rogers thing took a lot of the wind out of their sales. But defensively, uh, this was a big part of the Packers run defense starting to get it together

after a slow start. YEA. And the play I think that stands out to me the most decide from the past deflection which Randall turned into an interception to help the Packers get a field goal in this game was there was a third down play and it was a little swing pass, checkdown type of thing. To Jerick McKinnon out in the flat and Jerick McKinnon's one on one

with Blake Martinez. It was third and six or so, and McKinnon's job is to make one guy miss and get the first down, and Blake Martinez completely fundamentally sound tackle gets him down to the ground. The Vikings end up having to punt a really sharp play because McKinnon can make a lot of guys miss in that situation and Martinez didn't give in. For my money, I think that's one of the best things that Martinez does in his games. He's really good in open space and he

seems to be really solid in the flat. We saw that a couple of times over the course of the season, where if a running back or you know, a slat receiver has one guy to miss there and can extend it for a first down or maybe an explosive play. Martinez does a good job. If he's not tackling him by himself, he does a good job of holding the guy up and allowing guys to circle to the ball

around him. And like when you're looking at playing complete defense, and there's many areas of packers are looking and prove going into eighteen, that's definitely a good starting point for them. Yeah. And last, but not least as far as the peak performances from games five through eight, Aaron Jones again twice in this segment, I guess, but this one against the

New Orleans Saints. This is Brett Hunley's first start at quarterback in place of Aaron Rodgers, and on the opening drive of the game, he takes the first carry for fifteen yards. Then just a few plays later he burst up the middle for a forty six yard touchdown and uh again just immediately showing that what he did against the Dallas Cowboys with that five yard performance certainly no fluke. He ends up with seventeen carries one hundred and thirty one yards, a good chunk of them obviously on the

on the first drive of the game. But again a rookie really showing up when the Packers needed him. Yeah, and this is the thing that really oppressed me the most about this performance from Aaron Jones. You also have to remember, I think he ended up being I want to say, the NFL ground Player of the week and then maybe the NFL Rookie of the week twice during stretch.

Definitely piled on some honors he did, and this was an important time for the Packers to start establishing that run because bred Hunley was struggling to kind of get comfortable there at quarterback. They needed someone else to step up. And you know, you know how running backs are in today's NFL. You get a guy that stands up, you have a guy that really, you know, takes that step forward and becomes a featured guy. The entire league is

staring at you. Now, Aaron Jones wasn't gonna catch anybody off, you know, off guard. New Orleans defense was vastly improved, and they knew going into this game they were gonna have to contain him. He still found a way to make plays and I just think his explosiveness. He's shifted between the tackles. He can run, stretch outside zone plays. He has to work on the past protection now going

into next season. But overall, when you look in terms of what you look for in a complete back as a runner, he kind of, for lack of a better term, has the whole route tree figured out. He can do whatever. You know, the Packers offense is asking him to. Yeah, a quick statistical note, that forty six yard touchdown run early in the Saints game, the Packers longest rushing touchdown since Week six of so um a big play there. So we've gone over all five of them. The three

from the Cowboys game. Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones, da Marius Randall, Blake Martinez against Minnesota, Aaron Jones against New Orleans. Do you have a favorite out of this quintet? Aaron Jones against the Cowboys, just because Aaron Rodgers was incredibly effective that day, very efficient, but he did only have twitter and twenty one passing yards, and that they needed the

run game to get established and to be productive. And that was really the turning corn that the Packers run game, turning a corner from a slow start to become in a pretty good unit by the end of the year. Yeah, And if I had to pick one, I would go with Aaron Rodgers in that Cowboys game. It was obviously the last time we saw him really in peak form, obviously, and just the fact that you know, the Cowboys looking to avenge the playoff loss from the year before, they

jump on top twenty one to six. It looks like they might run the Packers right out of the building. Aaron Rodgers just keeps everything composed, puts together, drives the chemistry with Jordy Nelson, DeVante Adams in some key moments

for some touchdown passes really stood out. I thought it was, you know, as I said at the beginning, I thought that was the highlight of the season for Green Bay and the Eagles had gotten off to a fast start, but the Cowboys were still viewed as the favorite in the NFC East, and at that point in time they needed to catch up. I think everybody was really high on them still, and it showed the Packers in terms of really been able to go into their house and

Aaron Rodgers continue to play really well in that stadium. Yeah, alright, with that, we'll toss to a break back with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford here, Wes Hodkowits over there in West. We kind of rushed through those five peak performances from the second quarter of the season because I wanted to spend the last couple of segments of today's show talking about the conference championship games from over the weekend and getting

some of your thoughts. Let's start in the a f C. The New England Patriots their seventh consecutive appearance in the a f C title Game. They are headed back to the Super Bowl. They overcome a twenty to ten fourth quarter deficit with two touchdowns and knock off the feisty Jaguars to twenty. What are your thoughts on how that turned out? Here's my thoughts, Mike. The Jacksonville Jaguars beat New England Patriots in every single major category of this game.

Time of possession thirty eight to two, two, third down efficiency Patriots. You look at every single major area that you look to achieve and become efficient in, and the Jaguars did it except for one. Situational football, the intangible something that you cannot look at a statistic and say, well, this team is just better than this team in that area. New England Patriots play that. I said this an insider inbox this week. They play situational football as well as

any team in the NFL. Bill Belichick the adjustments that they made at halftime, getting a little bit of a spark at the end of the first half to kind of give him some momentum, but ultimately Tom Brady making plays, Danny Amon Dolas stepping up when they don't have Rob Gronkowski. It's just that's the thing that impresses me the most. You're looking at two teams now in the Eagles and the Patriots, who have had to overcome adversity, have had

to overcome injuries. It's just how things are in the NFL. But having that next guy be ready when you don't have a star is ultimately you need your quarterback. I'm not denying that. I mean Nick Foles played really well too for the Eagles, but to have the Danny am and Dolas of the world step up, and also the Patriots defense to play as well as they did after a rough season, I think you just have to tip

your cap. It was frustrating, you know, you really thought that Jacksonville Jabows are gonna pull it out, and you get the rug pulled out from underneath you. Yeah. I just I felt the Jaguars executed their game plan almost two a t for three and a half quarters. They had a huge time of possession advantage. They were setting everything up to be able to pound the ball with Leonard Fournett in the fourth quarter to protect the lead, and New England's defense just did not give in. They

could not. The Jaguars could not stay ahead of the chains with the running game in the fourth quarter because the Patriots were clamping down on it. It put the game in Blake Bortle's hands and and the Jaguars just were not able to convert enough first downs in that fourth quarter to keep the lead. And I really thought the game change, I know, the end of the first half was was a key sequence. The Jaguars are looking like they're going to score and extend a fourteen to

three lead. They get to delay a game penalty that wipes out a third down conversion. They end up hunting the ball back, and the Patriots go down and score before halftime to make it fourteen to ten. A big a big shift for sure. But then in the third quarter, the Jaguars got back to doing what they were doing. They were shutting down the Patriots. They kicked two field goals they extended to twenty to ten. So to me, the game hinged was about nine or ten minutes to go.

In the fourth quarter. The Patriots have the ball, They're on their own twenty five yard line. It's third and eighteen West, third and eighteen with a ten point lead Tom Brady converts that I belie even to a mandola, if I'm not mistaken. I thought the game completely changed right there, because that was the play. The Patriots were one of eight on third downs up until that point, and then they convert a third and eight teen. It sparks them for a touchdown drive to get within twenty

to seventeen. And I felt from there the Jaguars were just trying to hang on for dear life, and you could kind of feel like it wasn't gonna happen. Yeah, and and for the defense, you know, for it to be against their defense. All season long, the Jaguars have been so good in that area of the game and and so sturdy, and and it just showed to me, you know, they have a lot of experience in the trenches.

They don't have as much experience on the perimeter um, and and you know, opportunities are what they are, and Tom Brady, you know, made the most of them. Uh. The thing that I think, if you're looking at it from a hindsight perspective, and I know a lot of people mention this an Insider inbox this week, I do wonder if you have fifty five seconds ago and two time outs at the end of the first half. There is that playing to win mentality and playing not to lose.

I think he got a little too conservative there. It's it's easy to look at that now and say that, but it just seemed to me that Jay Guards are just a little too cautious and the Patriots a little too optimistic opportunistic. Yeah. Well, before we go to a break though, I want to take care of a little sponsored business. Attention Packers fans. We're calling you to fill

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Unscripted Mike Spofford alongside West, Hodkowitz and West. Before we go, I definitely have to get your thoughts on the NFC Championship game. The Philadelphia Eagles thirty eight to seven at home at the link over the Minnesota Vikings. I'm not gonna say I'm surprised the Eagles one. I thought this would be a really hard fought game. I definitely felt either team had a legitimate chance, certainly to win this one. I did not see the Eagles winning by thirty one points. No,

and I don't think Vegas that either. It was what three and a half points spread in favor of the Vikings. Uh. Here's the thing. There was a couple of years back, I remember seeing this interview with Doug Peterson. This is before he ends up going to Kansas City. He was still coaching high school football his sons, and I I was saying, I'm perfectly content, you know, coaching school football and just happy at the level I'm at. Not amazing. This guy

was born to be a head coach. And I think a lot of people said that even back when he was the backup quarterback for Brett Farve. What a game plan him and Frank Reich, that entire coaching staff put together to really disassemble what the Minnesota Vikings do so well? What was inarguably the top defense. Absolutely they were number one in yards and points, the whole thing. They knew defense offe what they were gonna get out of Gym Schwartz's unit. They knew they were going to be in

this thing. But they needed Nick Foles to make plays. They didn't need him to expose the football. They didn't need him to throw for five yards, but to get this kind of performance, three two yards, three touched, one, one passer rating. This was the two thousand thirteen Nick Foles. Everybody was raving about, smart with the football in every single time he needed to make a play, he made that play. Yeah, and I thought the way this game started.

The Minnesota Vikings take the opening kick off, they marched seventy five yards down the field, touchdown past to Kyle Rudolf. They're up seven nothing. You're thinking, oh boy, you know, case Keendom's got a rolling. They got all the momentum from the big win over the Saints the previous week.

You know, the drama, everything. But then about halfway through the first quarter, suddenly everything shifts when the Eagles end up with a pick six, They get a they get a hit on the quarterbacks of the ball floats a

little bit intercepted. Uh weaves his way, you know, across gets picks up a couple of big blocks and gets into the end zone and suddenly, where the Vikings seemed to have everything going their way, they're up seven nothing, and you're thinking they're gonna eventually get a two score lead. It's seven to seven. I don't think Minnesota ever recovered from that play. It just see it seemed to completely

flip the game. And to make that point, I just made the last segment too, about Jacksonville getting a little bit conservative at the end of the first half. Eagles took the exact opposite approach. Not only did they have a lead, Doug Peterson, they kept the foot on the gas pedal and to be able to get that extra touchdown and then come out in the second half and get the football to it just seemed like a boxer that was against the ropes and just kept taking shot

after shot and just never had a second to recover. Yeah, and it's easier to do that when you're playing at home to Jacksonville had a decision to make their Philadelphia had the crowd going and everything, and yeah, they put them away early in the third quarter. Really, now they're going to the Super Bowl, and they're going to the

Super Bowl. With that, that's a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscript, and be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com On Twitter, He's at west Hot, I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time. H m hm