#364 Packers Unscripted: What's required

these teams need a victory here. West, I know the Vikings are one game ahead of the Packers in the standings, but both teams looking at this in a lot of respects as a must win. Where do you want to start well, first off, Mike, I want to start off with that tremendous Thanksgiving dinner that I had. It's my favorite holiday. I don't know if you know. That's my favorite holiday as well. Trains, planes and autmobiles. Always watched

that every year. Tremendous time, great office, awesome moments with the family. But now we're back to football and the Green Bay Packers have any credibly important game coming up

here with the Minnesota Vikings. My biggest key for this particular game all revolves around Aaron Rodgers, because, if you go back Mike, the last two encounters with the Vikings have both been surrounding Aaron Rodgers and in his situation and how things are at with him, this rivalry and how it's been kind of brewing over the years with the Vikings and Mike Zimmer and sort of the mental

chess match that these two teams have been playing. It's always interesting to see the juxtaposition of how the Packers offense attacks the Vikings and if you have Aaron Rodgers for a full sixty minutes, what that does in terms

of being able to challenge Mike Zimmer's scheme. I just think that this is the type of game that if you can get Rogers going, if you can get Davante Adams going, being multiple like they've been recently, with Adams not allowing a defense to really know where he's going to be on any given play, Packers are gonna have a lot of success. Aaron Jones is gonna be a big part of it too. You have to be able to develop the run, you have to be able to

challenge him in the trenches. But I think the Packers if they're to walk out of us Bank Stadium with a victory on on Sunday night, Aaron Rodgers has to be a big part of it. Yeah, he definitely does. And maybe this is one of those games like we talked about a few weeks ago with the Rams game for instance, where this maybe is the type of game Aaron Rodgers has to be the best player on the

field in order for the Packers to win. When you look at Packers Vikings history in Minneapolis West, whether you're talking the games at the Metrodome or the last couple of games at us Bank Stadium, it seems to always come down to protection of Aaron Rodgers from that pass rush of the Minnesota Vikings that is awfully, awfully good and a pass rush that sacked Matthew Stafford in us Bank Stadium ten times um just a few weeks ago.

And I'm not just talking about the broken collar bone from last year, but when US Bank Stadium opened, in a couple of sack fumble type situations that that really hurt the Packers in that game. And we all know the you know in the Metrodome, which I actually think was an even louder stadium than US Bank Stadium. But when the Vikings would kind of get that defense in that pass rush cranked up, the Packers would would really struggle, even with Brett Farvett quarterback over the years. So, um,

protecting Aaron Rodgers is a real key here. And it's see and it seems that that the majority of the pressure and I'm not trying to lay blame on any individuals, but the majority of the pressure Aaron Rodgers seems to face lately is interior pressure. It's the guy's coming up from the inside and then he's just not able to quite escape to the outside like he's done so many times in the past. And I know, setting a solid pocket against that pass rush is way easier said than done.

But as much as Aaron Jones needs to run the ball and all that, I think it's starts. It's I think it starts with trying to establish a solid of pocket as you can for Roger. Yeah, I think it's a great point, Mike, And it's interesting you bring that up, because, yeah, it's something the Packers have faced, but it's something the NFL in general has had to deal with here in terms of defensive coordinators now dialing up more packages for the A gaps for you know, being able to challenge

teams at their stress points inside. Zimmer has been one of the guys that have been one of the innovators at doing that. But also you look at the Aaron Donalds of the world now at fourteen and a half sacks on a season out of the defensive tackle in Wade Phillips scheme. I was trying to think even you know, when you think back to all the years that Phillips has been a defensive coordinate, if he's had a defensive

tackle be that productive in his system. Kenny Clark in Green Bay right now on the stretch that he's on going back to last December, around ten sacks. Now at that point, that's where defenses are really making a big push to to get after the quarterback. Now, the Vikings are a little bit more traditional. You have your Lynnville Joseph there that's that's mostly there to be a run stuff for to be a clogger, but they still run concepts with the double a gap stuff that is going

to really challenge you inside. So yeah, when you look at Corey Lindsley and you know, with Byron Bell, Lane Taylor, whoever that running back is going to be back there with Aaron Rodgers. In terms of the past protection, all of it has to be on point because there's so many different ways that the Vikings can attack you. Yeah, and when when you talk about, obviously, how the Packers are going to attack this Vikings defense, you want to see Aaron Rodgers have a smooth and an efficient day

and all of that. But I'm gonna throw a couple of stats at you here, West. I looked up the last three times the Vikings have been beaten at US Bank Stadium three times over the last two seasons or season and a half, whatever you wanna call it. Detroit in Week four last year, and then Buffalo in New Orleans this season. Not a one of those three teams had three hundred yards of offense in that game to

beat Minnesota. But you know what happened. The turnover margin collectively in those three games was eight to one, and the three teams scored thirty four points total off of those eight turnovers. That's how you beat Minnesota at US Bank Stadium. You protect the ball, you win the turnover battle, and you turn those turnovers into points. That's the formula. The Packers have done it before, They've done it to other teams. They need to do it on Sunday night.

It's funny too. And you and I talked about earlier this season with that Bill's game, how that played out, because you look at the score and it just looks like a total blowout, but then you look at the box score in the stat sheet and it was a pretty even ball game. It's not like, you know, I don't know if it was Jared Allen in that game or not, but it's not like l Shaw McCoy. It's

not like they just have this huge offensive explosion. It was just taking advantage of some opportunities that the Vikings gave them very early in that game, and then sort of you know that right out, kind of like you and your dad on the golf course in the back night. I mean, you got a couple of stroke lead on him, You're just playing safe. You don't want to give that up. That's what that game reminded me of. And at the same time, it's also what I think to a certain extent,

took that crowd out of it a little bit. I'm we're going to get a unique perspective on this mike, because last Thursday we were able to be in Century Link and now this weekend we're going to be in US Bank. Yeah, I'm really interested to see if I can tell a tangible difference in the noise level, because it's always been kind of considered one to one A one B in terms of the noise pollution you have

to deal with. And it's a good point you bring up, because, Yeah, I don't think US Bank Stadium is as loud as the Metrodome. I think the Metrodome, but long, far and away was the loudest stadium I've ever been, and I wore noise canceling headphones the first time I had to cover a game there. But at the same time, it's still a venue that the packers have to deal with

and and you know, kind of persevere through. Yeah, for me, as far as the loudest ones, the Metrodome and the Superdome in New Orleans have always been, have always have always been the ones that are right up there for me. Now, as far as outdoor century Lincoln Seattle takes the cake there. As far as an outdoor I can't even think of any outdoor stadium that has ever struggled as loud as that one. But um, you know how that gets measured, you know, leave that to the scientists as to exactly

which one is louder. But I know my ears have really hurt come in games coming out of the Metrodome and the Superdome over the years. Superdome, Mike, I've only been there once and it was obviously at the very top of the building. Do you think that's because the

press boxes open air at the top. Do you think it's that loud on the field too, I've never Really that's a really good question, because, yeah, the press box being an open air press box at the top in the Superdome, you know that you're really catching all the noise because it's just reverberating off the roof and and so you know, I don't know, but players teams that you know, have talked about playing there as as a road team in New Orleans. They definitely, they definitely say

that the noise is a fact. Yeah, and the Packers are going to have to manage that this weekend and being able to, you know, effectively get off to a fast,

consistent start. I think when you've looked at these matchups, and again this goes back to the Heyday two of of some of these Packer teams playing in that environment with the Minnesota Vikings, it's all about trying to get off to a fast start, and if you can get a takeaway in that first quarter and produce points off of it, it's going to set you up for the rest of the game. Yeah, well, I want to get back to that point in just a second. But Packers fans be sure to stop in at your local Quick

Trip and pick up your Packers cup today. Get eighty nine cent refills on your Cafe Cruba coffee. All season long, you talked about the fast start West. We've seen the Packers do it in Los Angeles, tend to nothing lead in Seattle fourteen to three lead, but they haven't been able to sustain it. Obviously. You know, when you're on the road, you're gonna get you're gonna get that comeback, you're gonna get that shift of momentum from the other team.

And really in both instances, the Packers handled it. They limited it. You know, they fell behind, but not behind by too much, and they were able to stay in the game right until the end. So as important as important as a fast start is, and you certainly don't want to get behind by multiple scores when you're on the road in a venue like this. But the Packers are just are due to play a fourth quarter, aren't they?

At some point here this fourth quarter thing is going to come together because there's too much talent on the field. This coaching staff is too experienced and has had plenty

of success. I just I think this fourth quarter thing is going to get straightened out, and it needs to get straightened out now to keep this season alive in the sense it's it's a great point you make, and I think if you took it in segments, right, if if I just put a blindfold and ear muffs over your head for six months, the last six months, and I brought you out today and I said, okay, it's week twelve. Aaron Rodgers is nineteen touchdowns and one interception.

Aaron Jones is averaging six yards of carry. Davante Adams is on pace to have a franchise record for receiving yards and receptions, and Kenny Clark has as many sacks as he has at this point. What's the Packers record? I think you'd say it would be better than four or five and one. You get those type of performances. Now, we know that's not how this game is played. We know that is not how this life has lived. You

need complete performances. You have children, right, not breaking any news here, when when they were smaller, did you ever take them to needlese pottery places at all where you like paint the plate you get like a plate you ever seen? You know, my nephews are really big on that. And there's one thing I've learned from doing that. You can do a really good job for an hour and a half painting it, making look really nice, and you put it in a little you know, fire thing and

it looks great. But if you if you smudge it at the beginning, it's tough to overcome it. And if you do something at the end or you drop it, it's tough to overcome it. It It doesn't matter what happens in the middle. Not enough time to fix it, not just trying to fix it. So I look at the Packers right now, and you can play really good football,

You can play fifty minutes of really good football. But if that beginning isn't where it needs to be, and that ending isn't how you need to finish, You're not going to get the result you want. I think that's been one of the things for the Packers this year that as a team, they've been trying to overcome into

your original point three and a half minutes ago. You're right, if they can get their finger on it, they're right there, because this isn't Philadelphia, in the in the Saints, and and they're just getting blown out of the water everywhere they're playing. The Packers have been right in these things, but to beat those teams might to be on that upper echelon. You have to do it for sixty one minutes. And right now the Packers are still trying to find

that point. Yeah, and we saw after the bye week when you look at the road games, because on the road, obviously is where the Packers haven't won, and this is what needs to get fixed here with three road games left. It was the bad starts at Washington and at Detroit, just terrible starts to the games, fact Packers falling into

three four score holes in those games. Mike McCarthy then talked about how when they came out of the bye week, started well against the Rams and against the Patriots, they were they were fine there, started strong against the Seahawks. The starts speak to your preparation, to your team's preparation, getting ready because so much of the beginning of the game is the stuff that you've repped the most often during the week. So they got that fixed after the bye.

They went from these terrible starts on the road to now starting much stronger on the road. So now it's now it's just the other end of it. It's it's getting things it's getting things fixed in the fourth quarter. And to me, I was asked a question this week in in Insider inbox. You know the old close only close doesn't count or only counts and horseshoes and hand grenades and all that kind of stuff. Well, the thing the thing that I said is that is that, yes,

close doesn't count in the NFL. We know that there's no excuses for that. But what close does is it tells a bunch of really competitive athletes in a locker room that they know it's not some huge sea change that is needed in order to start having success. It's it's about it's about sharpen up the little things in your game personally and then be ready to make a clutch play in a clutch moment. That's what. That's all

this that's all this team needs. One clutch play. Might have done it against the Rams, against the Patriots, um

certainly against the Seahawks, and it just didn't happen. But we know from what we've seen in the first three quarters of these road games, the talent is there for it to happen, absolutely, And I the I keep going back to that tunnel at l A Memorial Coliseum in Clay Matthews with his back up against the wall speaking of reporters and just saying that the most frustrating part about this is you're playing down for down, point for point with the team like the Rams considered one of

the top five, top three teams in the NFL right now, and look at what they did Monday night, right fifty four points. But you don't get it done. And unfortunately, it's not a it's not a fantasy league where it's the all play where you just get as many points as you get and that counts for the second or third most in the league. Now, if you play the best and you come up short, it's still a loss. So trying to rally back from that right now, I

think that's the message. I think all week long the players have been talking about urgency in making sure that they are right where they need to be preparation wise. I think we'll see all this game plays out, Mike. I'm not making any predictions on it, but I just think you're gonna see a lot of laser focus in this contest to make sure that the little things are tied. You know. Short up, everything is tied together, the teas are crossed, the eyes are dotted, and you come up

with a complete performance. If you do that and as you mentioned earlier, get some of those takeaways, you're gonna get that win on the road that they've been seeking. Alrighty quickly, here West, it's time to enter the Cousin Subs Best Seats in the House promotion. You and a guest could win a chance to kick back on the fifty yard line in style. Two pairs of lucky Packers fans will be chosen prior to each home game for this v I P experience. Enter daily now through December sixteen,

which is coming up soon. By completing the entry form and submitting for complete rules and eligibility go to Packers dot com slash best seats cousin subs we believe in better. All right, I'm gonna throw one other thing at you here today West to sort of turn the narrative on its head a little bit. We're talking about the noise at US Bank Stadium, how off a place it can be to play. This is the Minnesota team that's five

four and one. They came into this, their fan base anyway, came into this with that Super Bowl or bust mentality, right, So five four and one, your rival, the rival Packers, are coming in Minnesota, trying to stay above five and all that in contention for the NFC North title. If this game is tight late, is there any chance the crowd works against the home team where they get nervous, they get they get up tight a little bit? It could.

I think if it's tight, they're still going to be in it because obviously that they're they're trying to, you know, really push them towards a sixth victory on the year. So I see them still work in their favorite But it would be interesting to see if you have a slow start in the first half, what that reception is like going into halftime. What happens if you come out in the third quarter and you have a three and out, and how they exactly react to that that I still

think Minnesota is better than the records suggests. I think the Packers are better than the records. That just the one thing I don't want to say I've enjoyed, but I can't think of a better word about this, is that there's this perception outside of all in. Okay, the Vikings moved all in, they gave all this guaranteed money to Kirk Cousins. You can go in all you want, but if you know anything about poker, that doesn't mean you're winning the hand. It means all your chips are

in the middle and here you are. You're making your move just from the Viking's perspective, and we'll see there's still a lot of season be played, But it doesn't all in doesn't guarantee anything. You're still going to have to go through your highs and lows of a season. Kirk Cousins is still the quarterback he's been. I mean he's been was an incredibly effective passer for a number of years with Washington, but you know he also had turnovers.

They also didn't make the playoffs, at times, it's not like it was just you know, the you know, fran Tarkington just came out of nowhere and he's thirty years old again and he's, you know, your franchise quarterback. This game is an imperfect game played by imperfect players, and it's about finding the closest thing you can get to perfect. That's the only thing about this I've enjoyed is just that this idea that if you go all in, it just means you're gonna win the Super Bowl. There's thirty

one teams vying for besides you. Yeah, you know, it's just the reality of it. Yeah. One thought I want to get from you with regards to the other games on Sunday, I think there's an interesting one in the NFC, and that is Seattle at Carolina. Seahawks are five and five, Carolina is six and four, both of them essentially sort of wild card or nothing here because of the Rams and the Saints both running away with those division titles, but two teams that are obviously right in the thick

of that wild card race. The game is in Charlotte. Who do you think who do you think wins this? Well, it's it's really interesting you bring this up because they both have that common opponent of Detroit, you know, and and how they've performed in those settings. For the Panthers, that was such I have to imagine it was such a demoralizing way to go down trying to go on the road. And I get I've we've talked about it.

I understood the thinking of Ron Rivera, but you came up short in a game that I think a lot of people felt you should win. So now you have the Seahawks, who, you know, they got a little wind in their sales now after two straight wins, you know, can they keep it there? But if if this, if the Carolina ends up losing this, then they have to look themselves in the mirror because you know, now they're at the kind of a crossroads in their season. Yeah.

I think this is one of those If Carolina loses this and falls to six and five, suddenly all of the wild card stuff in the NFC it just is absolutely wide open, not just the first spot, which everybody's kind of penciled them When Carolina was six and three, everybody kind of penciled them into the number one wild card spot if they weren't going to catch the Saints in their division. But if they lose again here and fall the six and five, then both of the wild

card spots are kind of just up for grabs. They are, and it's the reason why I still say, if you're the Packers, you gotta get every win you can get. Yes, it keeps you with an arm's reach of Chicago in the division. But Michael, there's a real strong chance that this division, that its division, there could be a wild card team with nine wins this year, and with the Packers at nine, six and one, if you can get to that point, that puts you in the race still.

So I just think it's there's so much parody right now at the NFC. I mean, yes, there's two big front runners, but when you look at what's happening in the NFC East right now, and then with the wild card in the North, it's it's all still on the table, all right. Well, with that, we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted and send y'all off to your weekend. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and of Sunday Night Football

on Packers dot Com on Twitter. He's at West Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team accout. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.