#435 Packers Unscripted: What'll it take?

to come out victorious here on Sunday afternoon. Very easy answer to this, Mike. You cannot let the Minnesota Vikings rush for a hundred and seventy two yards. It's going to be the biggest thing. And I know that's gonna sound somewhat like a joke, but at the same time, there is some relevance to that. The Atlanta Falcons. It was one of the rare things that you see in this game in two thousand nineteen where the run game

completely dictates the tempo of the entire football game. And as you illustrated earlier this week on our shows, other things happened. There were takeaways, there were the situations that unfolded that allowed Minnesota to win in the way in which they did, But ultimately it came down to the fact that they just ran rough shot all over them on the ground all day. You and I have both

talked about different aspects of this run defense from last week. Obviously, I had the story on packers dot Com talking about how the Packers went with more of an unconventional three three five. Look got that right this time with going with the five man front, throwing one true inside linebacker and then just a bunch of you know, defensive backs, and they asked them to tackle and they did. As you also illustrated one of your stories, b J. Goodson

now gets involved in this defense. It sounds for talking to Matt Lafleur and also Mike Petton, that he could very well have a role in this defense, particularly in the early down situations against Minnesota. So whatever concept the Packers run with here containing Delvin Cook, to me is the primary primary objective because even though Kirk Cousins is an All World quarterback, you know, he's a franchise quarterback, all those different things, and they have an outside weapons.

If you allow Delvin Cook to start dictating what you have to do defensively, it's going to be a rough afternoon. Yeah, And I say exactly the same thing as far as a key to victory on the defensive side of the ball. And I'm gonna say it this way based on the evidence from Week one against the Atlanta Falcons. And obviously that's a small sample size, but this Vikings offensive line is a better run blocking offensive line than a pass

parking one. So it sounds kind of crazy to say that you actually want to turn the ball over to Kirk Cousins when he came into lambeau Field last year and through for four yards and a bunch of touchdowns, you know, especially late in the game and all that. But frankly, you know, Mike Zimmer is putting together the type the offense that he wants to play. He's fought with his offensive coordinators in the past about not running the ball enough. He wants to run the ball and

play defense. So if you're gonna beat this Minnesota Vikings team that is really starting to take the shape that Mike Zimmer wants, you're gonna have to get them out of what they want to do. And that's not to say that Kirk Cousins and Stefon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph and Adam thieland are going to be an easy group to stop if you turn the game over to them.

But I'm with you, Wes. You cannot let Dalvin Cook dictate how this game goes and uh and if that starts happening at lambeau Field, the Packers are going to have to adjust whether whether you're gonna try Raven Green next to Blake Martinez as an inside linebacker, or go with the new guy b J. Goodson, or work Tie Summers in there. Whatever you're gonna do, you've got to find a way to not let Dalvin Cook dictate things.

And then the Packers defense settles in. Use the pressure that the steady pressure you got on Mitch Drabinsky, get after the quarterback in that way and see if you can come out Victoria. Yeah. And the other thing is this the way to look at it as well, is that you know Jerry Alexander and Kevin King and the resources that they have in the secondary. I think in some regard you have to trust them to be able to handle feeling and to handle digs and that's easier

said than done. I totally understand that. But you go back to another thing you're mentioned earlier this week, and that you know, the way Kevin King was playing before that lower body injury crept up on him against Minnesota last year, the different permutations of this defensive core that you can use, particularly at that second and third level. This is gonna be a big test for those guys

up front. So whatever that secondary can do to lessen that load, uh and take away that dimension the Vikings offense is going to really be beneficial. And to close this all out, the other thing I wrote an insider inbox this week is you know, a fan had asked and it was a pertinent question about Okay, what you know, what do the packers still have left to show? You know, given some of their offensive things that happened to Chicago? I mean, is there going to be different things that

they didn't get too? Different concept, different scheme. You know that they're gonna be able to unveil as non scouted look and I said, that's totally plausible. But also the Minnesota Vikings are going to be in a very similar situation with their packs exactly with only ten pass attempts on film from week one. I was talking to Tremont Williams about this in the locker room yesterday after practice.

They don't have a lot to go on in terms of the twenty nineteen Vikings passing game because Cousins only attempted ten passes against the Falcons. Yeah, and Preston Smith, now, who's in his fifth NFL season, he said he can't really remember going into a game after a quarterback had

only thrown ten times. So this is gonna be a real chess match, I think in that way, seeing exactly how the Packers pass game matches up with what on the opposite side of the ball, you know Minnesota wants to do, and and who's going to win that battle. But again getting back to my original point, I think it starts up front. I think it starts with shutting down Dalvin Cook and being able to really show that you know, we're not going to allow you to run

over us the way that Atlanta did. Yeah, and then you mentioned having kind of that trust in Jaire Alexander and Hevin King. If week one is any indication of what the Packers can do in terms of getting pressure on the quarterback. You trust if you're if you're putting the Vikings into passing situations, you're trusting that you're going to continue to get that steady pressure and not let Kirk Cousins sit back there. Yes, and then the other thing that I like, and again it's only one sample size.

I totally get that we're gonna and that there's gonna be fifteen more weeks for this defensive prove itself. But the one thing that I really took away from that game against Chicago is that these guys can rush and get after the quarterback without forsaking their assignments. I mean, there were so many times in the past it seemed like guys with jet rush, interior alignment with jet rush.

But then a gap comes open, an opportunity, you know, presents itself the way they were able to suffocate that pocket with Mitchell Trubisky in it, and now this week you've got a quarterback that is probably less mobile than Rubinsky. They need to keep that pressure going. So, whether that's the Smith's, whether that's some of the blitz stuff that you know, Mike Hama said, Mike Zimmer, Mike Petton has

been wanting to incorporate Dean Lowry, Kenny Clark. It's a full boat approach to the way in which you have to actually attack this this Vikings passage. And when you're talking about that jetting up the field and abdicating other assignments, that's when you're vulnerable to the screens and the draws

and and the Vikings. For what they have done offensively against the Packers in recent years, they always seem to hit him on a screen pass for a big play because guys are too anxious to get after the quarterback. And that's something with this new defensive front, some of

the new pieces here, maybe that changes. And as much as you and I can talk about the sack totals the quarterback hits, the pressures that Darius Smith had ten or whatever, let's the thing that is not going to be as gaudy or not as flashy that people want to talk about as if Packers just played really fundamentally sound football against the Chicago Bears and then the results were what they were after that. Yeah, well, on the

offensive side of the ball. As far as a key to victory, I kind of look at this as a almost a reverse chain reaction because for me, It starts with being able to convert on third down, because, as we talked about, two for twelve not good enough, Well, how do you convert more on third down? Well, don't get in ten plus quite so much, because six of those twelve were ten plus. Well, how do you avoid getting into ten plus by running the football well on

first and second down? So that chain reaction takes us back to this Packers running game needs to get going and needs to produce more than it did against the Bears. Unequivocally. Uh. And that was something that Nathaniel Hackett was sort of talking about when he came to the podium on Thursday, discussing, you know, kind of some of the issues they had right off the bat trying to run the football. He

mentioned it. The question was asked if he felt like, if they were able to maybe do make some of the headway that they did in the second half right off the bat, how much of a difference it would have made throughout the course of the game, And he agreed it would have been a significant one. They did, they were able to carve out those yards. I think, you know, Aaron Jones finished with thirty nine rushing yards.

That might not seem like a lot when you look on the outside looking in, But when you look at that first quarter, the negative twelve yards or wherever they started, it was progress. So I still stick to what I said before the Chicago game because the job is not gonna get any easier. This is still a really good

run defense. It's a great defense in general. So it's gonna be about making sure that you can get opportunities where Aaron Jones touches the ball and he has open field in front of him, whether that's as a pass, whether that's as a run. I thought some of the concepts they did in the second half, some of the ways in which you know Jones was able to set up runs and hit his cutbacks, that's where you want

to get to. And then certainly incorporating Jamal Williams into that plan as well, because is Aaron Rodgers said, and I mentioned it when yesterday or whatever. With the conversation you have with John Coon, they're gonna see some really good defenses in this NFC North. So I don't want to sit here and say, well, okay, well Denver's next week or Philadelphia is a week after that. Note you want to be able to get it done now and make your life easier against Minnesota, especially starting at the

season at home here. Yeah, well, when you look back at Week one in the Packers running game, Aaron Jones in the second half, he did have I believe it was four carries in the second half that went for five six plus yards. You'd obviously like to see some of those earlier in the game so you don't end up with a first quarter like the Packers had at

Soldier Field. But it's an illustration of how important it is to still and if your defense is keeping you in the game, you still need to stick with the run and keep trying to pound it in there because eventually, yes, some of those runs you're gonna get six yards, you're gonna get five yards, and you're gonna put yourself in the right down and distant situation to let Aaron Rodgers go to work exactly. And and you know, we've always discussed this. You go back to two thousand fourteen during

the prime and Vettie Lacey's career. You go back to you know, Ryan Grant. When the running game is there and keeping defense is honest, that's when things really truly, you know, hit maximum function. Here for the offense, it's when Aaron Rodgers can really pick a part of defense. So I think we've seen shadows of it, you know, shades of it with Aaron Jones when he can get going. Certainly, you go back to that game that Jamal Williams had

last year against the Jets. He played a big role in that come back and being able to mount the momentum that they did. They've had those moments. It's I think the key now and I think over the course of the season they're going to have moments again, but doing it against the top echelon of the league that's going to be the biggest key for this season, not only this game. And I just feel like this is

one that you want to get started with. Yeah, all right, Well, we'd be remiss if we exited this week without talking about the celebration that's going to happen at halftime of Sunday's game against the Vikings. And I'm talking about a tribute to the late bart Star who passed away earlier this year. I know on shows earlier this year we talked, we gave some reflections on on Mr Starr. The Packers wearing a number fifteen decal on the back of their helmets all season long this year in h in memory

of of Star, just a tremendous individual. I'm I'm really excited just to just to see the tribute and to be able to do something like this in front of the eighty thousand fans that are going to come to lambeau Field because you and I, Wes, We've been at plenty of games over the years that when Bart Star was able to come out of the tunnel, whether it was on Alumni weekend like this one is, or whether it was for Brett Farve's number retirement, his number being

added to the facade of lambeau Field on that rainy Thanksgiving night, whatever time. Any time that Bart Star has come out of that tunnel, the cheers from the lambeau Field fans have really been something else. And uh and I'm you know, I'm excited to see, uh, you know, the fans get to enjoy kind of one last moment in memory of Bart. I'm gonna do a little bit of a story time here with Wes Hodquits. I hope that's okay. Absolutely, it is probably a little bit off

the rails, but ah to me and You're right. The crowd is always just completely went wild for bart Star. You want to ramp up a crowd, get bart Star out there, they'll be with you. There was a reason why Brett Farve wanted him back with him in two thousand fifteen, right, I mean just the relationship, the history. But this is what always stood out to me about

bart Star. And it goes act and not even I'm not even talking about the alumni weekends or him coming back and holding a flag and you know, we'rabbing people up. It was when you'd come back to lambeau Field, like in a media standpoint. I remember there was instances where he'd come back and it would be part of a you know, a promotion or some kind of like you know, just just a small thing that maybe people didn't even

know that he was there for. And where I want to tie this back to is I'm lucky to still have one of my grandparents alive, a wonderful woman who I'm love very very much. When Starr would come back,

I remember talking to Mike vander Moss about this. It was almost sort of like your grandparents sort of coming over, you know, when you're eight nine years old, and just that feeling that you would get when they're there and they're hanging out, you know, you know, you're telling stories, maybe playing some ball with you or something like that. I always got a very similar feel whenever Bart Star

was in the building. And it's hard to explain. I don't even know if I'm doing a good job of it, but there was just this feeling that everything was right in the world. And he did that. He carried that torch for this organization for so long. So many generations have been affected by him, impacted by him, and when you look at the impact that him and his wife Cherry made, Bart Jr. Everybody at the Bard Star Foundation. I said it earlier the spring. I mean, that's that's

a legacy. That's something that passed your lifetime, will continue to resonate with generations to come. Fathers and well, you know, mothers will talk to their children about what he meant in what he represented, and I think that's really special. Yeah. I can't say it any better than that, So appreciate

your thoughts there before we go here. At the end of the week, West other games Week two in the NFL, if you start in the NFC North, the only division game is Packers and Vikings, but the Bears on the road at Denver and the Lions at home against the Chargers, both trying to avoid and two. Well, I guess for the Lions it wouldn't be O and two because they're O O and one, but both teams trying to avoid going winless through the first two weeks of this season.

It's weird in this, this whole gamut of the NFL, how it just always seems like if a coach leaves and gets another head coaching job somewhere else, they always end up playing that team the next year, right Like Vic Fangio was sort of the innovator, helped renovate that defense. And this is an a f C NFC matchup that only happens once every four years, but it happens the first year that Fangio leaves Chicago and goes to be

the head coach of the Brand. And I'm sure it's no surprise whatsoever that it just so happened that this got scheduled for Week two, But the fact that this ended up being on the two thousand nineteen slate, I think is really funny that you have Vic Fangio now after everything he did last year with with those defensive players in you know, Khalil Mack, and now he's going to be talking to his offensive coordinator, you know, discussing how you need to you know, attack these guys, basically

fighting a mirror of yourself. And certainly Matt Nage is gonna have a great vantage point on on what Fangio does with his defense in in you know Denver. So that's gonna be a great matchup to watch. Uh, certainly to oh and one teams. I mean one of those is gonna be Owen too. I think I always talk about that this time of year, but um, I know Denver's going through slight rebuild. But the fact that they traded for Joe Flacco tells you that I should say something.

Whatever it was signed Joe Flacco tells you that they still feel like they can contend this year. So that's gonna be one to follow to see exactly how all those pieces fall into place. As far as the Lions, even though they're at home, I think they have their work cut out for them. Uh, just based on you know, the charges in Philip Rivers have been up and down over the years, but it just seems like they found their rhythm again based on what happened last year, and

that's gonna be a tough out for the Lions. Yeah. I think that is gonna be a tough, tough home game for Detroit. And obviously those two a f C West teams are teams that the Packers are going to see later in the season. Denver obviously coming up right away for green Bay. The rest of the slate in Week two, we all know where it starts. It's New Orleans at the Los Angeles Rams, the rematch of the

controversial NFC Championship game from a year ago. Different location be out in l A this time instead of at the Superdome in New Orleans, but both teams want to know and expected to be contenders once again, and this is the big rematch from last January. Yeah, I mean it's funny. I actually thought this would dominate headlines a little bit more this week. It doesn't really seems like it has. Yeah, it seems like it's been quiet as

far as the national media attention on this game. And maybe it's just because it's too early in the season for for the storylines to just I just thought, like, you know, it being you know how last year ended in the controversy with that play. I mean they made a rule basically based on that play. Yeah, they they change the change the replay review system based on one

play in a playoff game. Yeah, But I mean it's just it's it's really interesting to watch and to see exactly what the Rams you know can do this year at the Rams remind me of that title contender right that has this you know, incredible, miraculous run and gets the shot you know at the champion and then just gets completely flatlined in the first round. And seeing how they build themselves back up here with a young team

for the most part of young core. Uh, that's gonna be my number, you know, one of my top three things to watch this season as far as the Saints are concerned. You always know what you're getting with them. That is as steady as a program as there is right now in the NFL. You know where their strengths are, you know where their relative weaknesses are. And seeing exactly where those two things meet and if they can make

another run here ten years after their last championship. It's gonna be fun to watch and just seeing the ramifications and implications for this conference A lot is going to be decided in the NFC West this year. I think the NFC North is strong, the NFC West is strong. I could very well see that being the two divisions that are vying for those wild card spots at the

end of the season. So games like this, especially with the Saints pulling off the wind that they did last week, has a lot of you know, a lot on the line with it. Yeah, it could be uh, we'll see, you never know in September football in the NFL, but it could be a pretty high scoring game if the weather is good in l a and everything between those

two offense. A couple of other NFC games I've got my eye on West, mostly involving the NFC East because Dallas is playing at Washington and then Philadelphia is playing in the NFC South at Atlanta. But the Dallas Washington game I bring it up just because Dallas started with a division win last week over the Giants and now they're going on the road to d C to play Washington.

If you win the much same situation the Packers are in, if you win your first two games of the season, both against division opponents, and you start too and oh and you've got those two pelts on the wall, so to speak, from your own division, that makes everybody start to take notice right away. And with regards to the Eagles at the Falcons. The Eagles with a strong come

back at home after falling behind Washington last week. They come back and win Atlanta trying to recover from what really was a debacle of a week one for them in Minnesota. And a Falcons team that a lot of people are wondering are they ever going to get back to where they were in when they were on the virgin of winning the Super Bowl. Suddenly they've got a really good Philadelphia team coming into Atlanta and the Falcons

trying to avoid Owen two. So this is season four the show that we've been doing, right, So we've worked into it so far, and we've been doing the breaking down the games, looking at a little bit of a preview going into the Sunday games for the last you know, however many episodes I'm sure Marvin knows upstairs. Is it just weird like the Atlanta Falcons always have the hardest schedule in the NFL. It never seems like and I'm

not making excuses for them. They didn't play well last week and they got their butts handed to him for it. But it just always seems like, hey, they didn't have the you know, the two thousand sixteen Cleveland Brown's coming up the next week. It's like they always have to be back on their A game. The Philadelphia Eagles and we can talk. You're absolutely right about the Dallas Cowboys.

I think there's a lot of momentum right now. I mean, if they get dak Press Box press Press Scott's contract done here in the next couple of weeks, I think that's gonna be like, if they actually get that done during the season, they're gonna be floating on Cloud eleven. I mean, it's just because of just you saw just the way they played with with Zeke being back on the field, and I watched that whole game. It just seemed like they had a real incredible energy about them

on both sides of the ball. So for the Eagles perspective, they have to keep up with that. So if you're Philadelphia, if you're Doug Peterson, I think you gotta go in there and you gotta put on the film of what happened last week the Falcons and you say, Jordan Howard Darren Sproles, whoever you want to throw at them, We're gonna run it down their throat until you can prove differently. Because that's when you put that on film. You hear it time and time again. You know that's where teams

are really going to try to hit you. Yeah, definitely, And that's another opponent. Packers are going to see the Philadelphia Eagles at Lambeuf Field in a primetime game before September out. And you know, I was just talking about the NFC West, then obviously North, the whole NFC this year. Man, this is a strong conference. Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of you know, a lot of games here that

are decided earlier the season. They're going to ultimately be in the difference between playoffs and not playoffs for a lot of teams. Yeah, no question about it. Well, with that, we will sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and of Sunday's home opener against the Vikings on Packers dot Com, Subscribed to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services if you will. 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.