#436 Packers Unscripted: Victory No. 2

in a row. The Packers defense preserves of victory with an end zone interception late in the fourth quarter. Bottom line is, the Packers got through these first two division games at two and oh, and you can't ask to be in a better position. It's a great spot for the Packers to be in right now, Michael. The Packers off to the is two and oh start since two thousand fifteen, their first two and oh start in the NFC North since two thousand thirteen. So it's been a

minute trying to get some momentum back. And one thing that really stuck with me in the locker room, Yesterra. It didn't even make its way into my postgame content, but it was a quote that Kenny Clark said that I thought really hit home with me and that we're just trying to get back to winning again. You gotta remember, there's some guys in this two thousand sixteen draft class that they went to the NFC Championship Game as rookies, and they haven't been in the playoffs the past two years.

The two thousand seventeen and eighteen draft classes haven't been to the playoffs at all. They haven't tasted much success. Frankly, in the fact that I looked it up to this is the first back to back wins the Packers have had since Tampa Bay and Cleveland in two thousand seventeen December of seventeen. So to change that narrative was I think really important. We've we discussed this so many different times. Michael.

I'm not all about the whole fast start mentality. I think you are what you are at the end of the season and you just try to get the wins when you can get them. But that being said, I mean, you cannot discount the fact that wins in the NFC North this time of the year put you in the driver's seat in good position for how the season's gonna unfold and right now, the Packers, for all the ups and downs here early on, they are what their record

says they are. Well. This game on Sunday against the Vikings could not have started any better for the Green Bay Packers. By the first minute of the second quarter, the Packers were ahead twenty one to nothing. The offense had put together three touchdown drives. I believe I counted it was nineteen plays, and thirteen of those nineteen plays games six or more yards. I mean, they were just they were just taking the field in chunks from the

Minnesota Vikings. The first three drives in the meantime, the Vikings that had a drive and a missed field goal, and then also a turnover that gave the Packers a short field. So things were sitting at twenty one to nothing. Matt Lafleur and Aaron Rodgers in the offense, everything was clicking,

the defense was flying high. And then really it was that seventy five yard run by Dalvin Cook that it got the Vikings back into the game and it seemed to just completely shift the momentum of the football game. So it's very interesting. One of your big keys of this game that we talked about last week because you thought if Aaron Jones had more rushing yards and Dalvin Cooking, Packers would win this game. That's not to say that

that couldn't be. They couldn't still that cook still couldn't have more rushing yards and the Packers couldn't win it. But what I really liked about that theory is that, to me, those two guys really determined the outcome of this football game. And what I mean by that is offensively, Aaron Jones is the most consistent player on the field for the Packers. Twenty three carries, a hundred and sixteen yards, one touchdown off the two yard run out of the

pistol formation in the second quarter. He did not have a carry more than fifteen yards, but yet he was so consistent. The offensive line gave him room to work with, and he helped them finish that game with the four minute offense. They also tested out that new little package where him and Jamal Williams are both on the field together. They had Jones coming on jet sweeps. To me, I wrote about it on Packers dot Com. Aaron Jones this game showed what he was capable of this offense in

terms of Delvin Cook. Why I think that he had a big outcome on This isn't just the seventy yard run. This is the first time that the Packers defense got punched in the mouth, that they got tested, that their their will to hold their ground when things maybe aren't going their way really was stressed. And while they did give up three big plays in that way, they still were able to bounce back and get the stops when they needed them to. That's what the Packers need to

do defensively this season. They need to answer that call when the times are going that the offense maybe not isn't putting up forty two points. That's what I thought was impressive about that performance. Yeah, I mean, everybody's wondering, Okay, how can the Packers offense score three quick touchdowns and then the offense sort of disappears and things were such a struggle the rest of the game. I'll say a

couple of things. One early in the season September football, unscouted looks and all that the Packers clearly were pencil whipping the bikes, I guess is what I'd like to say in terms of just drawing stuff up XS and knows the stuff they were using early in the game. They were catching the Vikings off guard. Things were working, things were clicking. You can't play sixty minutes of football that way. Nobody can draw up that many that many

brand new things when you're playing in the NFL. So that sort of ran out on the Packers and the other. The other two things I will say is that a the Vikings defense is still pretty good, and they proved it. But B there were a couple of opportunities in the second quarter when the Packers had a chance to extend this lead, when the Vikings were getting back into the

game where they did for themselves. I mean, Geronimo Allison catches a short swing pass, has a first down, he's fighting for extra yards, he coughs up the ball, and then all the confusion towards the end of the first half when Aaron Rodgers thought he had a first down with Geronimo Alison, then the ball gets spotted it was

actually fourth down. Rogers thought he was just running a play on first down and hustling everybody up to prevent them from reviewing the spot of the ball under two minutes, but the spot of the ball actually was fourth out and Matt Lafleur didn't communicate to Aaron Rodgers, hey, I want to kick the field goal. It was a big miscommunication,

a big misunderstanding that was going on. The bottom line is it cost the Packers a shot at a forty three yard field goal, which you like Mason Crosby's chances there so as much as the pencil whipping stuff ran itself out and the Vikings defense stepped up, the Packers also had a couple of opportunities where they simply shot themselves in the foot and and this the Packers should have had more than twenty one points in this game. Yeah, that two minute series was weird at the end because

it was a terrible spot. The referees just blew that where it looked like to me, at least my eye, Ellison, I believe it was Allison. Yes, it was Allis. I mean it was for no gain, but yet the way they marked it it looked like a first down. Well that that was the thing is from from where we were in the press box, it was basically on that sideline and it was right below us. And when the side judge or line judge whatever they call him, when

he initially spotted the ball with his foot. He was giving Allison the first down, and that's what Rogers saw. And I was thinking, like, oh, well, they're gonna review this. They're going to review the spot because that that was

definitely a bad spot. Well then somewhere between where he was spotting the ball along the sideline and then when they put it on the hash mark, they actually put it in a more correct place because they did spot it short of the first down, except Rogers didn't see that change in things and didn't know that it was

actually fourth down. So it was it was a big It was a big mix up, and unfortunately, and in the haste of you know, trying to hustle up and do something quickly, and ended up cost costing the Packers of scoring up. It was a bizarre sequence because to me it looked like and it was a great job by the Vikings that gang tackle. The first guy held him up, the second guy came and helped out. I

thought they stopped him. I mean I I thought ultimately the spot was correct, even though Aaron Rodgers misunderstood what was going. Then when the referee, the side just rose the referee they give him the extra yard. Then it's back. I mean, you can understand why Rogers, you know, wasn't able to understand at that point. I thought something that Lafleur said hit it right in the head. I mean,

it's it's a moment. You're gonna learn from that and you'll keep persevering on after because I don't think anyone was really to blame, to be honest with you, I think Rogers did the heads up thing thinking that they had the first down to keep things moving because now you're inside two minutes and the booth review has to be one right if you and if he can get

the snap off before they before they stopped play. Rogers essentially what I wrote in my column and my editorial was that Rogers was willing to sacrifice the first downplay of the next series to prevent the review from happening, and then with enough time on the clock, he was gonna let the clock run down to a minute or so and assess the rest of the series. Second down, third down, see if you can still move the ball and get a touchdown or if you settle for a

field goal. The key being not leaving the Vikings anymore time at the end of the first half to try to score, and ultimately that was the mentality that cost the Packers because really what happened is they should have used one of their time outs there, but I think in the back of their minds they didn't. You know, at least from la Fleur's point of view, he didn't want to do that because he didn't want to leave any time for the Vikings, and by calling a time out,

he's obviously going to stop the clock. So there were a lot of thoughts and strategies and everything that we're going on. There was all happening really really fast, and unfortunately the Packers still went into halftime with just twenty one. Yeah, and then that was a tough one too, because it

was such an emotional play right before. I mean, Darnell Savage made a phenomenal Uh did a phenomenal job of breaking up a pass from Kirk Cousins in the middle field that tips up Preston Smith just plays all over the place, so he was in the vicinity of the ball. He got the interception. That's what allowed the Packers to take over at their the Minnesota forty seven and you're in a position to put more points on the board. It was it again, I think these are things that

you have to work through early in the season. But as we saw last year, Mike, it's easier to work through these things when you're winning, when when you have when you have that taste of victory, when you have the win and the wind column, because everybody to some extent is dealing with something this time of the year. So the big keys that I took away offensively for the Packers, where Davante Adams was right where they needed him to be when they needed him to be there.

Three of the five third down condigent versions that they made were Davante Adams. It was a big reason for their success on third downs in the first half before that waned in the second half. And then when Rogers need to run out the clock, him and baktr went to the huddle. They said, we need two first downs to seal this game after the defense got them another stop, and that's exactly what they did. With the thirteen yard run by Aaron Jones, the seven yard passed to Davante Adams,

Packers chime out victorious. Yeah, real quickly here West before I forget select cousin subs locations are now offering delivery whether you're ordering catering or your favorite subs, they're delivering right to you when you order online at Cousin Subs dot com. Cousin Subs, we believe in better all right. In the fourth quarter here west the Minnesota Vikings you had mentioned, they hit on the big plays. Dalvin Cook

gets the seventy five yard touchdown run. There's the sixty one yard catch and run by Chad Beebe, which I give Kirk Cousins credit. He was going down and he flips the ball to him and then the guy takes off. That ends up getting the Vikings a field goal after a touchdown was wiped out by the replay review, which

is a topic perhaps for another day. Then in the second half, the forty five yard touchdown passed it to Stefon Diggs, and then with him taking off his helmet and getting a penalty, the Packers actually blocked the extra point.

So we're at twenty one to sixteen. But then from basically five minutes left in the third quarter to three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Minnesota Vikings had four possessions with a chance to score and take the lead after being down twenty one to nothing early and The Packers defense got the stop on all four possessions, and yes, that Kevin King interception in the end zone, that's the highlight of it. It was goal to go

from the eight yard line. But when you look at I mean four consecutive possessions west because the Packers offense was not able to add to the lead. This Packers defense stood tall and got the stops when they needed it and uh boy, just just an impressive close out performance by Green Bay's defense. So a few things here. The first one is we talk a lot about that interception for Kevin King. Absolutely, the pressure that Dean Lawry had Lawry, it won't show up in the stack box.

He had one of his best days in a Packers uniform in this game. They knew that he was at the boot. Action was going to be a big thing with Kirk Cousins. It was basically Dean Lawry's job to shut that down and he did that. When you have a six ft six guy in your face, it's gonna make life difficult on the quarterback. Yeah, he made those throws tough for Cousins. But the other thing I want to highlight here that I don't think you can overlook and it's an underrated aspect of this game is the

Tony Brown block. You have to understand when you get a touchdown like that, and there was so much moment momentum that the Vikings are extracting at that point, they're within a score they end up getting. As you mentioned the with Digs taking his helmet off, a fifteen yard penalty makes it a forty eight yard point after attempt now for Dan Bailey, after the Packers chose to use the personal on that play instead of on the kickoff.

The kickoff, so Tony Brown comes from blocks and I asked Tony about this in the locker room afterwards, and he said, I mean, that's a moment that you should just be uni laterly, you know, big for the Vikings in terms of momentum. That took something away from it, and then the Vikings come back offensively. A really unique game for Kirk Cousins. I mean, only fourteen of thirty two if you take away his three explosive plays, he was only eleven of twenty nine for like ninety four

yards in this game. It was really bizarre. But the Packers defense, particularly in the red zone again showed up and when it did finally look like Cousins was driving. With the Vikings offense, Lawry gets the pressure, King gets the interception, and then when you need the stops down the stretch, they got them. The Packers didn't do it with twenty sacks either, They only had one. It was Kevin King or Kevin Kenny Clarks, and it was a huge one early on, but with the turnover with the

strips act. But what they did is they just came together as a group and I thought you saw the pass rush in the secondary really working in sync together. Well. The other thing I will say too about the explosive plays. Obviously, the Packers defense uh not happy with allowing those three explosive plays that led to all sixteen points for the Vikings. But the fourth explosive play, the Vikings had the thirty yard catch to Feeling that got them out to midfield.

I'm still not convinced he caught the ball, but again that's a discussion for another day. The replay that the Packers challenged it, but the replay upheld it and I still don't quite get it. But that being said, that was the fourth really explosive play for the Vikings. But the defense did not let that one lead to points. They stood. They stood tall on that one. And then on the first and goal from the eight yard line, I said this an insider inbox. That's absolute quarterback malpractice

by Kirk Cousins. It is first in goal. The Vikings were running the ball really, really well. They just run the ball three straight times for twenty five yards to get to the eight yard line. So you go play action on first and goal. I get that you're gonna

try to catch the Packers overplaying the run. Somebody slips free for a quick pass you might get in the end zone on first and goal, Cousins decides to scramble off the boot to try to get away from Lowry and then just throw the ball up for grabs to the corner of the end zone. And yes, he's saying he's trying to throw it where Diggs would catch it or nobody would. But Kevin, Kevin King is just as fast as Stefon Diggs. He closed the gap in the corner of the end zone. He went up and made

the play. Just a bad, bad decision by Kirk Cousins, and the Packers took advantage. And he also gotta put I mean we talked so much about Kevin King's height, almost probably to the point that it's over the top. But you have to respect the fact that it's a six ft three cornerback that you're putting a fifty ball up for. It's your odds are not great in terms.

And when you look and when you look at the slow motion, I mean the ball was in the air for so long that both King and Digs were on their way down from their jumps as King got his hands. It wasn't the balls the ball wasn't actually high pointed, you know, at the peak of the jump. Both guys were actually still on their way down because Cousins put so much air under the ball and King was able

to get it and fortunately hang on. And the replay review of the odd amatic review of the turnover, even though the ball kind of squirted out there as he landed and rolled over on the ground. I was a little worried that that was going to be declared incomplete. But again I don't quite understand all the rules anymore. But it stood for the Packers and it was a

It was the biggest turnover of the football game. I want to touch on really quickly that thirty yard catch, and as you mentioned, we can talk about the whether it was a catch or not another day. Maybe we'll partner it with the pick play role. Yeah, maybe maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow's show is just to talk about all of these controversial things that we're trying to figure out. But something that stood out to me about the play is actually,

I believe it was Davante Adams. I hope I don't miss quote the player here, but I believe it was Davantae Adams this past week that was talking about the value of special teams and a player like j K Scott. You might be like, Okay, what does this have to do with the third yard catch. J K Scott had one of his best punts of the day on that play, a forty eight yard of that put Minnesota back at

the twelve yard line. The point that Adams made in his statement was that the farther back that you push an offense, the more it in ables your defense to absorb and explosive play. The Packers did that there. That was the one big play that the Vikings made on that drive, and it only got them to their forty eight yard line. The Packers were able to make the

stand after that. Yes, when you play well on special teams and you control the field position, it doesn't allow those plays to be as backbreaking as they could have been. That should have been a scoring series for the Vikings and they ended up having to punt the ball. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, Um, before we go here, West And as I said, I think we'll talk about some of these other longer conversations maybe on tomorrow show as far as what's going on.

But I have a trivia question for you. There are six rookie head coaches in the NFL this year, and I'm talking rookie head coaches, not new head coaches. And if they've coached been a head coach elsewhere, six rookie head coaches in the NFL, how many collective wins do those six rookie head coaches have right now as we speak today? Well, Vick fan Joe got robbed of his

right So that's another other discussion for another day. Um, I'm gonna go with three the answers to Matt la Fleur owns both of them, because all the other rookie head coaches, Brian Floores, Vic Fangio, and I don't have the entire list in front of me to steal. Yeah, Cliff Cliff Kingsbury has a tie, you know, but no, the other the other rookie head coaches as of this moment are O eight and one, and Matt Lafleur is too, and ol Freddie Kitchens has a chance Monday Night Football

to get his first victory. He's he's oh and one. But um boy, oh boy, I mean, um that says it all right there about how tough it can be to win in this league. Now, Matt Lafleur has a two time m v P quarterback and everything like that, but it's not easy to come out of the gate as a rookie head coach in this league and start

chalking up wins, especially against division opponents. And uh, even though there are moments in these first two games, stretches of these first two games that have not looked pretty for the Green Bay Packers, the bottom line is there. They are too and oh and they know what they have to work on. Yeah, and it's incredible too. I think to me, being an NFL coaches probably the most difficult job. Yeah, and all of sports. I mean, I don't mean to like put down NBA or Major League

baseball managers. I mean that's important, but let's be honest. I could sit on the bench and do it one time if you give me a hundred sixty two chances and that team is gonna win, right or two chances. If you don't have an established leader, culture and game plan in the NFL, you're being it's it's sharks in the water, you're sunk so and you only get sixteen chances.

That that's the point I'm trying to make. I'm not trying to demean any other sports, but you only get sixteen chances that I thought under a huge, huge microscope every single time your team takes the field. And we will we can talk about this later when we break down some other action here the next couple of days. But the Vic Fangio game between Denver and Chicago really

shows how small that margin for error is. One second separated whether or not the Denver Broncos are one in one or the Chicago Bears are one in one, not to mention a roughing the past or penalty. That the thing that we can put on the other show right that that everybody in Denver is absolutely up in arms about and rightfully so. But but getting back to the original point. I mean, it is so difficult to win in this league, so that's why you cherish it. You

appreciate it. I think Matt Lafleur, you hear him talk in his post game, you know, huddle with the team in the locker room. It's a man that is you know, excited, but also understands what it takes. The hours that go into this, not just this past week, the months that of preparation that go into planning for the two NFC

North opponents right off the bat. You have to appreciate it, and unfortunately you also have to wash it because now you have a Denver Broncos team that's coming in and they're hungry to get their first win under their new head coach. That's what I was going to say, is there too. There are two thoughts that are going through my head right now. One is that there's no need to make, ever, make any apologies for victories in the NFL, no matter how they look, no matter how they happen.

You don't apologize. But number two, you only celebrate for twenty four hours, if not less, and you get yourself back to work because because this this is a tough business. And that was the temperament of a lot of the guys in the locker room. They understood that they put another jar on the shelf now, and you know they got to go try to get another one now against the Denver Broncos, because guess what, in a matter of ten eleven days, you're playing two NFL football games and

you're trying to get out of September four. No, it's a lot of work to be done. Yeah, a lot of work to be done for sure. With that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team. Catch all of that postgame content. If you didn't get it Sunday, it's all on the website now, subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services. 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.