#361 Packers Unscripted: Seattle sadness

felt feels like groundhog Day. The Packers in these road games against tough teams, tough environments, they give it everything they have. They are highly competitive for the vast majority of the game. But just for whatever reason, and for a number of different reasons, I guess I should say, keep coming up short and this was another one of the same old story type games. Yeah, and it's frustrating, Mike, because it's not like they're getting blown out of the water.

Absolutely our pre production meeting, I was talking to you about some of the games that I watched on Sunday because we actually had a Sunday available finally on Sunday Night Football for the first time, I think all year, and I was watching that Eagles game against the Saints, and what crossed my mind as I'm watching that is this was New Orleans just outclassing Philadelphia in every aspect

of the game, offense, defense, special teams, everything. The frustrating thing for the Green Bay Packers is they haven't walked into a place and just gotten blown out of the water. They've had five, i should say, four relatively close losses on the road, and again they found themselves in the same situation in Seattle. These this is a tough slate. You and I have talked about that since the day the schedule was released back in the spring. Yeah, we knew this was gonna be that this was going to

be a gauntlet, no doubt. But the reality of the NFL's you have sixteen chances, and you have to prove yourself every single week, and ultimately, you can take any kind of moral victories you want. You can you can take any kind of positives away from these games as you want. But the Packers have not been able to win on the road, and that's the reality they're faced with, and it's the reason they're in the position they're at right now. Yeah, I mean, the game couldn't have started

any better for the Packers. You get the forced fumble on the very first play, you recover. A couple of plays later, you're in the end zone with a touchdown. I know Mason Crosby then missed a field goal on the Packers next drive. But then Aaron Rodgers hits the big play on the scrambled drill, fires a deep down the field Robert Tonyan touchdown. You're up fourteen to three. You know in a place that that can be awfully difficult to get off to a good start, So you're

right there. Seattle surges back in the second quarter, gets a couple of touchdowns. I talked about that last week. You have to withstand the surge, you have to respond to it. The Packers responded to it. They fell behind seventeen fourteen. They drive down before the end of the first half and get a touchdown. Touchdown past two. Aaron owns on a on a wheel route there out of the backfield, so the Packers take the lead back in

into halftime. Seen but then really West and I know, there are a lot of things that happened in the second half of this game, but the Packers had the field position in their favor for the vast majority of the third quarter, and whether it was a block in the back on a nice run by Aaron Jones, whether it's a holding penalty on a punt that goes out of bounds and costs you ten yards of field position,

whatever the mistake was. The third quarter was the Packers chance to add to the lead, get back to a two score lead like you had in the first quarter, and they just never did it. And then they found themselves in a dog fight in the fourth quarter. And and and the tough part for the Packers in this is that third quarter was really going to be their opportunity to try to, you know, kind of put the foot on the gas pedal a little bit, put the Seahawks

behind them. They have to punt, but the defense comes right back and gets them a three and out. They go three and out offensively, the defense gets them another reno. And unfortunately, what happened towards the end of that quarter is the Packers offense wasn't able to establish in a rhythm and you just saw the defense, I mean very literally and visibly start to wear down attrition injuries of that nature. I mean, I give Mike Petting a lot of credit for what they've been put able to put

on the field the last couple of weeks. You see a guy like Kyler Fackrell having a career year, had his biggest game of his career and had some very meaningful sacks in this But at the end of the game, Mike Kenny Clark and Mike Daniels weren't on the field for the Packers. You lost Bashad Brelan again to the

growing injury. They were really worn down in Seattle was just able to take advantage of it and offensively when you had the time to be able to add some cushion to that, they just weren't able to do it.

And it ends up being the result that it was. Yeah, and I thought one play that really swung the balance of the game, and I talked about this in the Friday Morning Insider inbox, and in my mind, the biggest play that was the biggest momentum shift in the game was the overturned catch catch non catch down the sideline by number eighty three? Is it? David Moore David Moore for the Seahawks. Tony Brown there on defense looks like he gets his arm in there and gets the ball out.

The Seahawks challenge it and they slow it down to about his frame by frame as you can get and somehow, in my mind, they somehow justified that he had control and called it a catch, even though I never saw the ball stop moving the whole time. So I don't know how they justified that. I don't know how you

can say that was indisputable evidence. But it was a huge play because if it stays incomplete, the Seahawks are punting from the back of their own end zone, they were on their own six yard line, it would have been fourth down. Instead, they get a twenty seven yard reception there on the move. They end up going down and kicking a field goal to get within and as I said, then you know you're you're right up against

it the whole rest of the fourth quarter. Just uh, We've we've seen We've seen so many officiating calls, replay reversals, would ever you want to call it, that have gone against the Packers, and and other than the Clay Matthews roughing the passer in Week two that turned a win into a tie, this one, in my mind, was the most significant tough break officiating wise of the year for the Packers. Yeah, and then and the thing that's difficult about that plays it wiped out probably the best punt

of the year for j K Scott. J K Scott just absolutely just killed a down punt at the three yard line of six yard punt. Really nice play by him. I'm trying to remember if that was the one to where there was a low snap, but will be that as it may a great place for the Packers to be set up. Wise, they got three straight two or at least two straight two and three notes before that. Now you give Seattle the ball at their own three, and you have the defense is going back out there

looking to do what it does. So after the game, I was standing outside the Packers locker room waiting for the for us to get let in, and I was basically informally surveying all the other Beat reporters about what they thought of that more catch. And my issue with it is, I'm not going say, Okay, it should have been a catcher, it shouldn't have been a catch, but it was pretty fifty fifty split and on very different sides of the argument. I think this is a problem

for the NFL. It's a big it's a big prost. Still haven't figured this out in terms of you can change the language of things. But but you just said it west split. How is fifty fifty indisputable? It's not. The rule is written. The rule is written, it's supposed to be indisputable evidence. And this is my whole problem with replay is it seems to me that the league is deciding at certain times that the call in the field matters and other times the call in the field

doesn't matter. And if you wanted to go to replay and you want to say, when it goes to replay, we're gonna call what we see, then fine, but then you have to write the rule that way. That's not the way the rule is written. The rule is written with indisputable video evidence, so it has to be indisputable. And I just don't see how that rule was correctly applied to what was on the film. And that's on New York absolutely, because every single throw, every single official

is going to have a different perspective. The common thread through all this is now with the way they're doing this is supposed to be the New York office. They need to get that straightened out. They're supposed to be more consistency because it's from the New York office, and in my opinion, it's just as inconsistent as when you had all of the head referees at every stadium making

their own calls without consulting New York. To me, there's there's no more consistency when they've devised a system that is supposed to smooth that out. In My biggest issue with that particular play is, and you kind of alluded to it earlier, this game has played at about a hundred and fifty miles per hour. When you slow it down frame by frame, guess what happens, Mike. The ball stops moving. If you play on your record on your TV, on your DVR, the game's gonna stop. So if that's

the way you're judging it, it's kind of ridiculous. Um. That being said, what what bothered me about this too is that when that we we talked about that locket catch later on, I didn't know, man, I really didn't. Sitting up in I know there's yeah, there's a lot of talk. Should McCarthy have challenged that he only at one time out maybe not based on you and I were talking about it, we're looking at the replays in

the press box. I'm not convinced even though I saw the ball move, I'm not convinced that they would have that they would have called it incomplete because they all they seemed with this new catch rule, and this was a point I made on our website, they seem with the tweak to the catch rule. This year, they're trying to find more ways to call things catches, whereas for about five or six or seven years, they were constantly trying to find ways to call stuff not a catch.

And it's like the whole mentality has shifted all of a sudden, but the rules and the way the replay rules are written have kind of gotten thrown out the window. That's why when I saw that play and there's and things are moving quickly, they don't have any replays in the ball. I'm just thinking, well, which way is the wind blowing on this particular place that that that it's gonna get officiated. But um be that as it may. You got to take care of business. The packers offensively,

just we're not efficient enough. We've talked about the third downs, Mike, you have to be an execute better in that scenario. Three for eleven on a on a night you put up on a night you put up twenty one points in the first half, you have twenty four for the game, but you're three for eleven on third down. You you left a lot of opportunities on the field. And it's the really bittersweet part of this is the Packers have

had some really phenomenal performances this year. I mean, Davante Adams is having one of the best years and could very well end up being the best year in franchise history for a receiver. Aaron Jones has come on the scene now is an every down type player, and you look at the Kyler Factras of the world. They're getting production from so many of those young guys that they needed it from. But it's just not you know, mounting

up to wins right now. Yeah, I want to get back to some of those performances that that you're talking about here, But first, the Green Bay Packers get ready four game day with the powerful noise canceling technology of Bo's Quiet Comfort thirty five headphones. To learn more at www dot bos dot com. Slash Packers Bows the official headphones of the Green Bay Packers. Well, where do you want to start. Davante Adams, Boy, I tell you, I mean too deep ball catches in this game. But even

aside from those, still very productive. Aaron Rodgers looking to him finding him, I believe was it ten catches on twelve targets in the game, racks up a hundred and sixty six yards If he doesn't get a forearm to the face mask by Bobby Wagner on the one down the sideline there, he's got a two yard games and we're talking about probably a Packer victory in that respect as well. But um boy, defenses continue to focus on number seventeen and he keeps producing. Yeah, it's funny too

at that Wagner play. I'm sure Raven Green would like a conversation with that sideline official. I mean it's basically the same exact place with a little bit less contact less less less contact, but basically the same exact scenario where the rep is standing. But be that as it may. Davontae Adams the impressive thing about him, Mike, I went

back and watched this game afterwards. In the moment I'm sitting there, going they can't defend him, I mean, they just whatever combination they worked with and in those to Mike McCarthy and and Joe Wit or excuse me, Joe Philban. They moved him around constantly. He's in the slot, he's in the boundary, and Davante Adams kept getting open. I mean, yeah, he had ten catches for hundred sixty six yards. I know. Afterwards, Aaron Rodgers said he didn't have any qualms this time

about not feeding him enough. But honestly, Mike, if you isolate on him, the guy's basically open every single play, and it kind of sounds it kind of seems that way, and and defenses are defenses are paying attention personnel wise, scheme wise to him. But yet he's he's fine. He's such he's such a smart player. He understands defenses, he

knows he knows where to go to get open. And uh, and yeah, I mean this ten for one sixty six was if there's a way to have a hundred and sixty six yards kind of quietly, it's almost it's almost like he did that very workman like performance. The thing that's impressive about me and we got this is stuff that we have to look at once the season's over. And I'll step back and won't be in the moment anymore.

But I've actually thought it a number of turns. Now, the Packers had a lot of talented receivers in the last ten twelve years. Pound for pound, what Davante Adams is doing might be at the top of the list, because you know, he has that connection with Aaron Rodgers where they don't have to talk. They can just operate in the system and know what each other's thinking. But you know, he he can do the James Jones thing along the sidelines, the stop routes and those type of

things doesn't really well. He's fast enough to get separation on go routes like Jordy Nelson did during his prime, and he's also shifty enough with his footwork to be a factor in the middle of the field like Randall Cobb. He is the complete package. And and this has been a narrative here the last two and a half weeks

about him getting his proper respect. I'm trying to remember who it was, which player it was, Maybe it was Rodgers, I can't remember off the top of my head, but basically saying, if he keeps doing this, just the league's gonna have to pay attention because there's enough fantasy football players out there, uh fan wise that are gonna start to understand what this guy does. I think you can put it up there with anybody right now. He's he's he's in an elite class right now, and he's only

getting better at years old. Yeah. I mean, the only reason right now he's not getting the national run or the national respect, as you say, as far as the media is concerned, is because the Packers are a sub five team right now. That's really the only reason. Because when you look at the film and you look at what defenses are doing, he is getting all the respect in the world from opposing teams. Here's the other thing though, too, Mike.

There's a second part of that, and he's not He's a very confident player, but he's not overly boisterous about his abilities. He's not in Odell Beckham Jr. Some of these guys that are just constantly in the public eye. Devantie Adams just goes in every day, does his job and goes home. He said it numerous times. He said it to me during the off season. I think he said it to you when you did a year book story. And I'm two years ago He's not in this to

be a celebrity. He wants to be recognized as a top as the top receiver in the game, but he's not looking for anything beyond that. So um that that's part of it. That plays into that as well. Yeah, well uh um quickly or another piece of sponsored business West at Homer Here in the stands. We all know that Green Bay fans give it their all and that takes a lot of energy. So grab a warm bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup. It's meaty goodness fuels the greatness

of Packers fans everywhere. Try the delicious classic chicken noodle soup. Just visit your local supermarket and ask for Campbell's Chunky Soup Official sup partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, getting back to the fourth quarter here a little bit. Packers end up uh maybe the one time that Rogers really lamented not being able to connect with Adams. The third down in the red zone, Packers end up having to settle for a field goal, so they only go

up instead of possibly going up by eight points. There the Seahawks go the other way. They get a touchdown. They take the lead for the first time since the second quarter and then and then unfortunately the Packers go three and out. Rogers, just as he said after the game, he had the ball stick to his hand on a third and two, just a quick flip to Valdez Scaling that would have easily picked up the two yards for the first down. The ball goes in the dirt, and

you know, Rogers is really frustrated. Mike McCarthy decides to punt on fourth and two. Tricky decision there, but punts the ball back to the Seahawks with four minutes to go. Seattle gets two first downs and runs out the clock

and unfortunately Aaron Rodgers doesn't get another shot um. But this Packers defense, I know, they gave up the drive in the fourth quarter, they gave up the two first downs at the end when we talked about how they were so banged up, especially missing the top two run stoppers at that point when the Seahawks were gonna just

try to pound the ball at him. But what a game by Kyler Facral number fifty one And I'm telling you Wes not just the three sacks that he had, which is impressive enough, the second three SAT game of the season for him, which is something that has happened rather rarely in Packer's history. Yeah, to three sack games in one season for a player. But I'm in the

process right now. Before we came in here and turned the cameras on of going through the entire defensive film and watching the entire game of Facral and some of the stuff he did again the run and when he dropped into past coverage and I mean this, this it's not it's not just the eight sacks. It's not just what's on the stat sheet. Right now with Kyler Facral that jumps out you watch the film, he's really he's

he's developing. I know it's taken a while. There was some impatience amongst the fans and everything from a third round draft pick, But here in year three and more than halfway now through year three, Kyler Factral is becoming the the all around, every down outside linebacker. He's he's working on all aspects aspects of his game and they're

all sort of rising up at the same time. And that's the thing that has stood out to me all year long with him, even before this game, is in terms of being able to be accountable in every phase of the defense. Claim Matthews mentioned this earlier this season. This is more towards I want to say, training camp for the end of training camp about how you know, the perception of Factral with the fan base, and everybody

loves Sacks, no question about it. There's a reason why von Miller and those type of players Clay Matthews get the name wrecking issue they do, getting after the quarterback, doing fancy celebrations and getting endorsement deals. But the thing you have to understand about fact Roll that a lot of his teammates have touched on. He's a trusted member of that defense, and he's also athletic enough that he

can do the zone drop stuff. You've seen them use sort of that hybrid four three at times where he lines up as a you know, kind of a weak side for three outside. There are off the ball outside there, there are those type of things that he's been doing all along. In What impressed me about this particular game is he's doing some of those things against Dwayne Brown

now as a pass rusher. They're moving him over to the other side and taking advantages of mismatches over there, just being very multiple with him in a game in which they didn't have a lot of depth at that position. Without Nick Perry available, you basically have Reggie Gilbert there in in a pinch, maybe James Crawford. Otherwise, it's a three headed monster with that pass rush, and Fracrol got better as the game went on. And the thing I really respect about the kid is we are sitting there

in the postgame locker room. This is an opportunity for Facral to be like, you know what I said it all along. You guys came in here and asked me about the one on one record. You asked me about why I'm not making enough plays there they are. Facral said none of that. He had the same exact narrative that he's been talking about since day one. Trust the process has gotten very cliche now, but Facral is really

a product of that. Outside linebackers, like you're right, some of them jump right into the scene and they are phenomenal all Pro Pro Bowl type players. Some guys take a few years, and we've seen that in Green Bay. They've benefited that with that with Eric Walden, Miami gave up on him, he ends up in Green Bay, helps him win a Super Bowl. Sometimes you just got to

have patience. Yeah, absolutely, and and to your point about what facral talking to reporters after the game, you know he was he wasn't all high and mighty about his own performance because he's bummed out at the team lost the game and that and that the defense unfortunately had a couple utdowns there in the in the fourth quarter.

Because for all the all the controversy and the talk about should Mike McCarthy have gone forward on fourth and two and blah blah blah, the guys on the defensive side of the ball in that locker room are saying, Hey, we were on the field in the fourth quarter with the lead and with a chance later on to get the ball back for our offense, and we didn't come through either time. They're frustrated. They're frustrated because they played a pretty darn good game in a tough place to

play for the for the vast majority of it. But you know, a short week and the long travel and all that, you knew at some point the tank was gonna hit empty. And what was compounded by that, like we talked about, is the the the injuries that the Packers were, you know, shuffling guys in and out, and and you know, some key guys that just simply weren't on the field down the stretch when they really needed. I mean, Abrahim Campbell ended up playing in the secondary

in this game. He's been there for what ten days? Yeah, and Tony Brown was ended up with a whole bunch of snaps at cornerback because of the injury to Breland. The defensive line ended that game with basically Land Tyler Land cast from on Trevious Adams and Dean Lowery. That was it, Like if they wanted to go base, that's all they had left. So we got to see where things are at this week with it, but a tough situation to being I really would be interested to see

how that game plays out. If you do have Kenny Clark and Mike Daniels, they're late. Unfortunately the Packers didn't have that. Yeah, I didn't have that, but well we will call it a wrap on the position of Packers unscripted. Get onto some more topics as the week continues, but 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 see you next time.