#343 Packers Unscripted: Keys to victory

begin this show with a little programming note. With the Packers going on their bye week after the Monday night game against the San Francisco forty Niners, we are going to go dark for about a week because West has some time off, I have some time off, and instead of having one of us sit here at the desk and talk to the camera, we're just gonna take a bit of a break and we will be back with

more Packers Unscripted after the bye weekend. So all of that out of the way, West, there is a game Monday night at lambeau Field Packers again, it's the forty Niners and it's our Keys to Victory show. So where

do you want to start with this one? I'm gonna go to something that we talked about it this week, but I thought Kyle Shanahan had his conference call with Packers reporters on Thursday and to be honest with you, Mike, and and I've been doing this now for six seven, eight years with these conference calls, it was probably one of the best I think I've been a part of in terms of an opposing coach. He hit it right

on the head. It comes down to takeaways, and it comes down to giveaways and right now, that is what's really hurting his football team. Now, it would be really easy, as he said, you know, they look at the situation they're in. They lose Jerick McKinnon, they lose Jimmy Garoppolo. They don't know if they're gonna have that breeder this week. But the fact is they have to protect the football and they have not done a good job of that

the last couple of weeks. Minus eight and termin over differential after that loss against Arizona played a big role in then falling behind and and losing that game. And on the same token, the Green Bay Packers, Mike McCarthy talked about it all week. They have to do a better job of protecting the football. It's the number one thing in this matchup. Who is the team that wins the turnover margin, wins the turnover battle. I think that's a team that leaves landbou Field with the victory. Yeah.

I think that's what it comes down to as well, based on what these two teams are now focusing on, and with the Packers, it's not only protecting the football, but it's finding some more ways to take the football away. On defense, now, you can get yourself in trouble a

little bit. You know. I talked to Tremont Williams about this the other day in the locker room, because I've heard from over the years from guys like Nick Collins, Charles Woodson, when a defense is not getting the turnovers that it wants, you can have a tendency to try to chase and make things happen, and that's where you

get in trouble. And I think Tremont Williams, a veteran presence in that secondary, knows that you can't try to force it with the turnovers, at least in terms of interceptions and whatnot, because if if you blow your assignment because you're chasing a place somewhere else, that can really really get the defense in trouble. So you have to

be careful there. But that being said, he also talked about, you know, gang tackling to the ball, get to where you're holding up that ball carrier, that receiver, and then it in there and try to strip the ball out. You know, the first guy who gets there can't try to strip the ball out because that's how you miss tackles. But it's it's a team effort here. And I'll be curious to see just how the Packers sort of put

all of that focus and emphasis into practice on Monday night. Yeah, and I'm glad you brought that up too, because again the forty niners are dealing with the same thing. They only have one interception this season. Uh And as you know Kyle Shanahan was talking about, Yeah, they've they've given the ball away too much, but they haven't gotten enough takeaways to make up for it either. So uh, that that is the big thing we heard it all these years.

Darren Perry used to talk about it too. You have to be you know, fundamental, You have to trust your technique and make the plays when they're available to you and not you know, leave your your place on the field just to you know, seek glory. So uh, I've seen exactly how that shuffles out. Is gonna be really interesting to watch. And then conversely for the Packers defense,

I mean, the stats don't line Mike. Last week they had for all four their outside rushers were not able to get to the quarterback, and they got a change that this week. C J. Beathard has two fumbles lost, he's had four interceptions. You can there is an opportunity there if you can get some pressure on him. We talked about it last week with Matthew Stafford. The type of quarterback he is, you need to keep his feet hot. They were not able to do that. He was able

to make enough plays. Now you look at this matchup with San Francisco, it's going to be imperative for them to rush that play cock because they are a very unconventional offense with how they use their tight end, how they use their fullback, and they're going to continue to do things a little bit unusual with all the other injuries that they've occurred at their other skill positions. Yeah, when you talk about turnovers, the way you create bad

throws in this league is with pressure, with disrupting the quarterback. Obviously, the Packers had some issues earlier in the year with the roughing the passer and all that. We don't need to revisit that. But when you when you can get when you can get the quarterback off the spot, when you can hurry him, when you can disrupt his timing,

that's when the throws become errant. That's when a throw goes behind the receiver or above a receipt you know, too high, and then your defensive back is there with a chance to get his hands on the ball and make a play. So that's how these things are going to happen. But in terms of maybe some more of those fundamentals on defense, I see this one as you have to find a way to contain George Kittle this

tight end for the San Francisco forty Niners. He leads them in past receptions and yardage by a pretty significant margin. Now they find different ways to get him the ball. He's not just a middle scene guy at tight end. He'll run corner routes, they'll run screens for him, They'll run him anywhere on the field in order to get him the ball. He's becoming a pretty dynamic playmaker for them.

I think if you can, if you can contain Kittle in the passing game, I think Bethard might have some difficulty, you know, finding a consistent rhythm with his offense because I think he really relies on this title. I thought this was probably one of the better questions I've received this season. On Insider Inbox this week, somebody asking how many players have entered the league. Uh, you know, it's in the same draft class, the same Combo and Iowa that they were being able to reunite with the San

Francisco forty Niners. I didn't really think of many. The one, I guess kind of came to mind was like Casey Hayward in Sean Richardson, I guess, I mean, if you really want to dig deep, Andy Malumba and Alex Gillette came in the same class. Is there anyone that you that you thought of when you're well with the Packers and their Stanford guys Martinez and Murphy were drafted. Now, that's different sides of the ball. That's one guy on defense, one guy on offense. But yeah, it is. I mean,

there are a handful around the league. But I think what's unique about this is that it's a quarterback pass catcher, you know, quarterback tight end combination here that these guys played together. They're they're doing exactly together what they did in college, you know what they're doing now in the NFL. Yeah, And it's just it's it's so interesting too because listen

to Kyle Shanahan talked. The thing that they really like about Kittle is, Okay, you can look at his receiving yards this year, you can look at his production last year when he kind of jumped on the scene, but it's what he does when he does not getting the ball. They feel like he's a traditional, you know, blocker in that position. He does all the little things you want right out of the tight end. He seems like he's on pace to become a real big playmaker in this league.

And certainly they have a familiar with with Bethard he started i think five six games whatever it was last year. He has that rapport with Kittle. It seems like he's been able to generate that rapport with the with the guys around him in that offensive front and seeing what he can do to generate those opportunities against the Packers defense. Is I think ultimately going to be what the forty

Niners are looking to accomplish in this game. The Packers task is that, Okay, if you do have Kevin King available. It looks like he's gonna be good to go despite the chin injury. You have maybe potentially JayR Alexander back. Sounds like the Packers are high on him. You know. Bashad Brylan's practicing this week. Jermaine Whitehead came back this week.

He could be a really important piece to this If you have all your weapons available in the secondary, that's gonna be the easiest way for this Packers defense to be able to come back. Kittle. Yeah. Well, the other the other thing that I see as a big key to this game, and really it applies to both sides the ball for the Packers, and that's penalties. And we've been talking about it during the week how the Packers

have been hurting themselves with penalty season West. You know, you look at these two road losses, which are really kind of the sore thumb type of games, you know

here for the Packers Washington and Detroit. In Washington, on the defensive side of the ball, you had the one drive with just kind of the slew of past interference defensive holding where everybody's technique kind of went out the window on one drive and just handed Washington, a whole bunch of yards on the offensive side of the ball. In that game, you had a bunch of penalties as well that were affecting down and distance. The Packers sitting in second and twenty and third longs and all that

because of penalties putting them behind the sticks. Then you go to the Detroit game. The penalties on special teams affected field position throughout that game. The Packers starting so many drives at the twelve or the fifteen yard line because of penalties on special things. One wiping out a big long kickoff return that would have been a potential momentum shift there for Green Bay. And then the penalties on the defensive side. You had a face mask, you

had a taunting. You know, these fifteen yard chunks that you're handing the other team with the yellow flags. If the Packers can clean up the technique and just clean up that part of their game, I think they make their own lives so much easier because they're gonna make life more difficult for their opponent. And here's the thing, Mike, you know this, I know this. No team in the history of the National Football League has ever gone a

season without a penalty. They happen. They're gonna catch some bad breaks. Clay Matthews caught a brad break Lane Taylor on his holding call, which to me still looks like a pancake all those weeks ago. Was a bad break. Those situations are going to happen. But it's the ones that you can control. Taunting penalties to some extent, the unnecessary roughness stuff to some extent, and there's a varying

degree of definition on that now. But but blocking in the back on a party kickoff return, that's an avoidable penalty. That that that's about discipline, and those kinds of things can't continue to happen because putting Aaron Rodgers on the thirty yard line versus putting them on the fifteen yard line, the percentages of a scoring drive go way up. I mean, it's it's like you know the Revolutionary War, right, Do you want to have your cannon ball at the back

of the line. Do you want to have it out in the front. Honestly, you want to have that thing on the front. You want to make some noise. That's the thing that Aaron Rodgers gives you. You can give them feel position. We've seen it, Mike, you can go back over the years since two thousand nine, at least the times in which the Packers have gotten the ball to Aaron Rodgers off a turnover on defense, How often that equates two points? How often that equates to victory.

The same thing holds true on special teams. And you look at the years like thirteen and fourteen, some of the players that Micah Hyde made, some of the plays that you know, uh, you know Trevor Davis made last year, and these returns, time Montgomery has had his moments. Those things all help your bottom line. So, yeah, it's something you have to clean up. I know it's gonna be

heavy emphasis. Fundamentals are so important to this team, in this franchise, So you would think that that's something that the Packers are really heavily preaching this week as they go into a game against the San fran Francisco forty Niners, which I'm always hesitant to call anything I must win in the first eight weeks of the season because of two thousand and sixteen in particular, but it is a critical game at a critical time that could change the

narrative going into this bye week. Yeah, I agree with you. I think this is this is as close to a must win as you get in the middle of October, just based on where the Packers are right now, the way they've had their ups and downs, the way they're playing, and then with what you have on the schedule coming

up after the bye week. Now, we heard from quarterback Aaron Rodgers after practice on Thursday, and he didn't make any you know, grand run the Table pronouncements or anything like that, but he did say he doesn't feel like this team is that far off and and what he feels and it's another thing that we've talked about that everybody in the Packers locker room has talked about, is

getting past these slow starts and starting games faster. And Rogers basically said something very similar to what he said two years ago in the whole run the Table thing late in is that if the offense gets off to a faster start and can take a lead, can get points on the board early, everything about the whole outlook with the rest of the team changes. Then the offense

isn't playing from behind the defense. With the lead, You've got Mike Petton and all of his different personnel combinations and and potential blitz packages that you could send at the quarterback. Aaron Rodgers said, this offense needs to lead

from out in front. He's putting it on himself. He's putting it on the offense to be the leading unit of this team right from the get go on Monday Night, and if they can get that accomplished, then that potentially becomes the formula for how you try to win some of these road games down the road. Yeah. He even used the Brewers as an analogy with that, saying that that's they're a great example of a team that just let momentum carry then they built some up and they

got rolling. And that is one of the most powerful elixers in this game, is if you can get you know, momentum on your side and just get that inner confidence going. The thing I really like. There's two things I liked about one Rogers comments and also going back to what

Kyle Shanahan talked about. First, starting with Rogers, He's right, I wish we had more time that you and I could go back and look to see the when the Packers get the ball in that first offensive possession, they score and they get a first down, how often that equates to points and how often that translates to victory, because it just does seem like when they start fast, everything hits on the right cylinders, the water on the

sideline taste sweeter, everybody's feeling better in the conditions just seemed perfect for for a victory. But on the other side of it, I thought Kyle Shanahan was just heat praise on Mike Petton, saying that this guy is one of the best defensive coordinators there is. They don't get much better than him. And to be honest with you, Mike, I know there's been some ups and downs here in these first five six weeks, but as I mentioned earlier this week, Packers right now are fourth in total defense.

You know that their second against the past. I mean, they're doing things right despite not everyone always being available, despite the pass rush not always getting home. There are enough playmakers on that defense in enough you know, scheme to allow them to to fully sort of reach their potential that they've kept the Packers in these games, win loser, tie. They haven't been just completely blown out of the water.

They've always had a chance until the very end, and that is a credit to Mike Petton in the way that the defense has responded to certain situations. Yeah, to me, the defense has had really one rough stretch of the season, and it was really from the start of about the start of the fourth quarter of the Minnesota game through the first half of the Washington game. Other than that, you look at the point. You look at the points allowed, the points in the opening game against the Chicago Bears.

A lot of that was by turnovers the offense created. Uh, the offense giving the ball away, same thing in Detroit, the turnovers that gave the Lions short fields and opportunities to score points. This this defense has played some pretty darn good football, with the exception of I would say four quarters the fourth quarter of the overtime in Minnesota and the first two quarters in Washington. Now, you can't fall back into another one of those ruts, you can.

You have to you have to build on what you have to get done. Yeah, you have to build on what the defense is on. And I think part of Rogers point is they really will get an opportunity to build on what they've done if the offense is leading from the front and giving them a lead to work with, especially into the second and third quarter. And let's be real, Mike, the San Francisco forty Niners. They just they aren't right

now the creme de la crema that division. The Packers are gonna see it in about two and a half weeks. Right now with the Los Angeles Rams, one of the most high point, high scoring offenses in the league, You're going up against a backup quarterback, likely a third string running back depending on whether or not Braid is able to play in a team that in essence has had its share of ups and downs. If you're the Packers and you're at home, you have to set the tone

with that. You have to defensively take this opportunity to continue to build on that performance because there's a jugger not waiting for you down the line. I'm not saying you look past the San Francisco forty Niners, but you've got to take care of business in this game because you're gonna need your best effort to go into the l A Coliseum and come up with a win in two weeks. Yeah, I agree with you totally there, Weston, speaking of taking care our business, when we look at

what's going on elsewhere in the NFL. Here in Week six, Packers and Vikings are tied at two two and one for second place in the NFC North, behind the Chicago Bears, who are three and one only have four games in the books. They're coming off there by. Chicago an interesting game. They're going down to Miami. Now Chicago is coming off

the by, they've got their rest. A couple of weeks ago, Miami was three and one and lining up for a game against the Patriots team that had lost a couple of games, and everybody was wondering just where things were headed in the NFC East. Well, the Patriots took care of business against the Dolphins, and then the Dolphins went to Cincinnati and kind of stunk up the field quite

frankly in giving one away to the Bengals. So now all of a sudden, Miami is three and three and they're fighting to to keep their season afloat in that NFC East with the Patriots starting to catch fire a little bit. An interesting game here with Chicago going down to Miami. Obviously, Vikings, Vikings and Packers fans will be rooting for Miami to hand Chicago a second law. Yeah, they'll be cheering for Adam Gays in this one. The other thing I enjoyed too, I'm kind of like Pavlov's dog. Now.

So when you're like, oh, it's time to care, I thought were going into a sponsor read when you're like, oh, we gotta talk about some business here, Like I was just already zoned into that. But that being said, Friday's I get to skip. Yeah, there's no sponsors, just business. Uh, you're right. This is a really important game for Adam Gaze and in the Dolphins, trying to show that, Okay, we got off to a really strong start. We are this team. It wasn't by coincidence, it wasn't by fluke.

But now they're taking on a Chicago Bears team that the you know, there's kind of whistling a different tune at this point and kind of feeling good about where they're at sands the last thirty minutes of that game against the Packers. So that's gonna be a big one here, the Packers. The a FC really needs to help out Green Bay a little bit here. When you look at you know, Packers are gonna have a tough match up with you know, New England and some other matchups. Obviously

they're gonna get Miami at home. You're going into the New York at the end of the season and winter, so's it's a it's a very heavy second half of the schedule for them. So yeah, if you can have Miami come out there and maybe get a big win over Chicago here you know, knocked them down a few pegs.

But personally, Mike, I mean this this where things stand right now with Minnesota from here on out, I'm gonna be really interested to watch because you know, now Arizona, even though you know they still I think are in most power rankings, are considered near the bottom. So were the Buffalo Bills when they went to the US Bank stadiums. So if Josh Schrosen leading that thing, can they get David Johnson going all big questions? And certainly I do

think they have a defense that can compete. It's just a question of what they're going to get offensively. Yeah. Well, with with Arizona going into Minneapolis to face the Vikings, I'll just say this, if, if, if the Vikings lose this game, I will give up trying to figure out anything about that team, because because let's face it, the Vikings are better than the Buffalo Bills. And you know, if there if there was a day where you know, I mean, anybody can have a bad day. Maybe you

overlook an opponent. I don't like to say that too much in the NFL because I really think that's overused at times. But the Vikings are not going to get caught by an underdog at home again. I just don't. I just don't see that. Now, if the Cardinals do, then the Vikings are going to be reeling a little bit because they're gonna be like, what in the world is going on here? Because because that US Bank Stadium is supposed to be a pretty darn tough place to play.

It's been a tough place to play for the Packers since it was built. But Minnesota looking at this as well as okay, this, this is there. You know, they beat the defending Super Bowl champions last week on the road. Minnesota is not like, Okay, we get our next win, we get above five hundred and here we go. We're going to make our charge to defend the division type. Yeah, it's one of these things that Minnesota loses. You kind of are what you are at this point at two

three and one. I think another team we were talking about Philadelphia last week, Well, they get a chance to go up against the Giants and they take care of business. They're back to three and three. I don't think anyone has any illusions about, you know, them not being the team that everybody thought they were. They just need to get a victory. Minnesota is in the same you know situation right now. In general, I think this is an

important week. I know it seems like a five weeks before this, I've talked about you know, this importance and pulling away and kind of getting out to a good fast start. But you know, Kansas City against New England is a big game. That was Pittsburgh's trying to rally back, you know, and go up against Cincinnati. Bengals are four and one and they get the Steelers at home. That's a that's a big game in the a f C North,

they're trying to lay siege to that division. And and me personally, I think the game I'm most interested to watch is Tampa Bay in Atlanta. Atlanta desperately needs a victory right now, one one and four for the Falcons through five games right to change the direction of their season. In Tampa Bay, things have kind of gone south quick after the first two games of this year, so it's

a really important week. But first and foremost the Green Bay Packers Monday Night Football San Francisco forty niners with the by on the horizon, I gotta do it, yeah, real quick? What do you think about that? What everyone's calling an a f C playoff preview there between the Chiefs and the Patriots. What do you think they're It's a big test in Foxborough. It's a big test because the game changes. You know what it's like in Foxborough. It's not I'm not trying to make sounds like it's

Century Link, but there's just a different feel there. You and I both bet headsets will probably go out at some point. Good um no, But Kansas City, man, they're giving up points and they're scoring points. What's gonna give here? Is it going to be the forty one year old you know, Tom Brady, five time Super Bowl champion? Or is it gonna be this this enigma in what you look at Patrick Mahomes has done earlier this season. It's

a really exciting matchup. Unfortunately, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to watch it on Sunday evening, But that being said, I'll be really interested to see what the outcome is yeah, alright. Well, with that, we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted and remind you as well we will be off four about a week, coming back after the Packers by weekend. But with that. On Twitter, he's at West Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks

for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time.