#456 Packers Unscripted: Top priorities

it's going to take. And certainly with the injuries that are going on with the Packers this week, and some for the Raiders too for that matter, but certainly with Green Bay on the offensive side of the ball, where do you start with this one? As far as what will be the key to coming out victorious here, it's really simple to me, Mike. This might be my simplest one of the entire season. I just feel like, if Aaron Rodgers takes control of this game, the Packers win.

I honestly feel like it's that I don't want to say easy. Nothing's ever easy in this league, but I think there's a very direct line between where the Packers stand today and where they want to get to by Sunday night, and it comes down to how Aaron Rodgers manages this offense and whatever weapons he's going to have around him. At the time with which we're taping this, we don't have the injury report yet. We're not exactly sure what the Packers are going to decide to do

with those top three receivers. But even if one or two of them go, you imagine they're going to be dealing with some significant, not significant, but some hindrances. So when you look at Alan Lazard and Jake Kumero, Darius Shephard, Ryan Grant coming in the building on Wednesday, those could very easily be your top four wide receivers in this matchup, So making sure you get the most out of them,

but also utilizing your running backs, your tight ends. That's what I think Aaron Rodgers has been such a brilliant maestro the last two weeks, is making all of these pieces fit together. There this Oakland Raiders defense. I don't want to diminish him. We certainly talked about him in our preview. They just don't do a lot of things that jump off the page. The way that they're winning right now is controlling the game, game management situations, time of the clock, and a lot of that relies on

the offense. So I think if the Packers take care of business with Aaron Rodgers against Oakland's defense, they come out victorious. Well, a couple of statistics for that Oakland defense that stand out are where the Raiders rank in third down defense and in red zone defense, and it's not good. They're in the bottom quarter of the league. I'm not sure of the exact rankings, but they're in the bottom quarter of the league in both of those categories.

And those are two categories frankly where the Packers need to get well on offense. They need to start converting more third downs and they need to be more efficient in the red zone. Obviously, the one red zone possession that they didn't get a touchdown, they were only trying to kick a field goal last week. So I don't want to lay everything on the statistics, but the Packers do need to to perform better on third down and in the red zone generally speaking, and this might be

a game where you can start to turn that around. Yeah, and I think you've started to seeing it a little bit too. I Mean, there was a real big narrative the first two weeks of this season where Packers just really weren't able to finish drives off, they were having problems scoring points in the red zone. In the last few weeks, I think you've really seen them get into their rhythm now. A big part of that, I think is really the production of both Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams.

I think you've seen them sort of you know, sees the game in the moments and you know, be able. And that's a credit to the offensive line to making things work. But when the ball has been in their hands inside the twenty, they've more often than not found

a way to score the football. And this is a game that while Oakland has a top ten run defense right now statistically, I still think there's gonna be opportunities for both of those two guys to get going and then, to be quite honest with you, getting back to the receiver's really quick. You know, you get one big play here from Alan Lazard, you maybe make another one here there with another player. You know, Mercedes Lewis came out of relatively nowhere last week to have two twenty five

yard catches. In those two catches alone had more receiving yards than he had throughout the entire two thousand eighteen seasons. So when guys respond in that way and Aaron Rodgers finds them and plays in rhythm, which I thought he did really well in that last game, Uh, good things are going to happen for this offense. But yeah, I think Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones has to be one of the big starting points for everything. Well, my question

to you with regards to those two running backs. We've seen Matt Lafleur with the tendency to ride the hot hand the last couple of weeks, and now obviously two weeks ago, Jamal Williams wasn't on the field, but the Packers did have Trey Carson was made for them. Yeah, but they did have Tray Carson backing up Aaron Jones. But once Aaron Jones got going, it was his show in Dallas. You fast forward a week later, Jones has a fumble early in the game. He drops a touchdown

pass down the seam. Jamal Williams seems to be the more reliable productive guy with some of those four and five yard runs on first down, and he's the guy who ends up with over a hundred yards and I believe over a hundred and thirty yards from scrimmage when you factor in the receiving yards. What's your sent Do you have any sense going into this game of maybe which is the guy or do you just have to

see what happens? A great question because coming off of the Philadelphia game, you know, it looked like, okay, well, you know it's gonna be the you know Jamal or I should say Aaron Jones, and then Aaron Jones goes back to his home state, looks really good. And now here we are with Jamal Williams stepping back to the forefront.

It's a really good position for the Packers to be in because I think a lot of times what happens with running back by committees or whatever you want to call those type of things, it's because you really don't have a guy who grabs the brass ring. I feel like both of these guys have done it when they've

been given the opportunity. Now, I'm not going to try to get in the XS and o's and tell you, you know, I'm sure what Matt Laflour and his coaches are trying to figure out which is okay, which one of these thunder and lightning matches up better with what Oakland does. Sometimes you just got to get into a game situation, a game flow to figure that out. But one thing I do want to say, though, to Jamal

Williams credit is he is incredibly consistent. And I think some people in the past few season has took that as a you know, a detriment or a slight. It's really not. I mean, he's gone some odd touches now without a fumble in his NFL career. He catches the ball, he's sturdy and pass protection, he runs through the tackles, and I think he finally showed his downfield explosiveness last week.

Jamal Williams is a really good running back man. I mean, in a lot of cases where teams who don't have an Aaron Jones on the roster, they'd be running Jamal Williams every single play. I do honestly believe, and I don't know how these guys feel about it, but you know they have another year on their contracts when they get to the end of these things. Neither one of these guys are gonna be broken down and worn down and have a thousand touches on their bodies for four seasons.

There's they This is I think, going to really make both of their careers last a heck of a lot longer. Kind of getting away from the original point, but I guess you just gotta get in. You gotta wait and see, and it's got to see how things developed. The one thing I will say that is kind of interesting about this particular combination. They do seem to get into more rhythm when one is featured. This, doesn't you know they when they do the tend carries ten carries, fifteen touches,

fifteen touches. It never really seems like both of them, you know, have a big game or have big explosive play. So I don't know how the Packers consider that. I don't know how you weigh it, but that's certainly something they have to, you know, keeping take into account because both of these guys, when they get twenty five touches

in a game, can really make, you know, defense hurt. Yeah, And in the area of ball security, it's worth pointing out that fumbled by Aaron Jones last week was only the second symbol of his career, So even though Jamal Williams obviously has had none, it's not like this has been a problem for Aaron Jones. He had the one against New England last year on Sunday Night football, and then the second one of his career was last Monday Night, and that broke a really long streak for him too.

I think that dated back to even you tep of how many consecutive touches he had without coughing up the football. So certainly Aaron Jones gonna look to turn things around, but even you go back and look at the performances they had before that, he was having a hard time getting traction and then he just kind of broke out. I mean, that's just the way this game is. It's

it's humbling and you just gotta stick with it. Well, on the defensive side of the ball for the Packers, a couple of statistics kind of catch my eye with regards to the Oakland Raiders offense, and specifically I'm talking about quarterback Derek Carr in that through five games, he's thrown just three interceptions, not an overly large total, and he's only been sacked eight times This Packers defense obviously

has thrived off of Saxon turnovers. That's been the name of the game when this defense is at its best, So it will be interesting to see just what the Packers can generate against this particular quarterback. What I will say though, is that the last time this Packers defense did not have a takeaway, which was against the Philadelphia Eagles, they came back the following week with three interceptions of Dak Prescott and very easily could have had five interceptions

of Dak Prescott in that game. Zero takeaways against the Detroit Lions on Monday night, So we'll see how the unit responds. It's funny, Mike, because the takeaway battle is certainly one that you always have to take into account, and I think we saw up until last week how much it really does dictate who comes out victorious in a particular matchup. The one thing that really strikes me though about the Oakland Raiders. I said this to John Coon when we're in the locker room on Thursday. They

are very high percentage with how they attack offensively. You mentioned Derek her doesn't have a lot of interceptions here. They just don't take a lot of chances they are in some ways. I think it's their simplicity is their brilliance. Uh, they're not going to try to just throw up fifty

yard passes every single time. This isn't your old Al Davis Raiders with just speedsters on the outside and send them down and throw it along by all means, get that ball to Darius Heyward Bay we're getting to the end zone. Right. No, it's not like that. I mean, they the reason, you know, Josh Jacobs I think made so much sense for them is because he is I mean, they have road graders up front, and he's a guy that can dictate the temple of a football game, and

they can move the chains. Waller, They're they're tight end that's blossom the last few you know, this last few weeks and then adition to him getting that extension, he's just a guy that moves the chains continuously. He's only averaging nine points six yards you know per catch. He doesn't have a touchdown yet. So, like it's just I think the way that they're structured is they want to be able to win the time of possession. You look at how they did it against Chicago thirty four or

thirty five minutes time possession. When they beat the Colts thirty three and a half minutes a time of possession, they were able to just take the ball out of the other quarterbacks hands and find ways to win. So, yeah, takeaways is going to be huge in this game. The Packers turning that around. When they get an opportunity to make a play on a Derek Carr ball, take advantage

of it. If you can punch a ball out, great, But ultimately, I think it's really gonna come down to who makes the most of however many possessions they are, because if you're the Oakland Raiders, they're trying to have his few as possible in this game. Yeah, well, when you talk about the time of possession, obviously for the Raiders, a lot of that is going to hinge on their

rookie running back Josh Jacobs from Alabama. The Packers seem to get their run defense back on track against the Detroit lines after a few questionable weeks as far as the way things were going, do you have a number in mind at all as far as what the Packers need to hold Jacobs two, so to speak, or some kind of a range where you'd feel comfortable with how this defense is performing in this matchup. Yeah, because the

thing is he's gonna get touches. That that's you know, he kind of like the Zeke Elliott problem a few weeks ago. If he gets touches, you know, he's gonna get yards. I just want to see it be manageable. I want to see be at a three point four or three point yards per carry clip where he's not burning you for a big number down field, because I think you know, if you follow them close enough of this year, Mike, I mean, Okay, so they lost to

Kansas City. He had twelve carries for yards. The one team that kind of neutralized him was Minnesota ten carries for forty four yards. And if you as you we both already talked about Oakland played themselves out of that game in US Bank Stadium, so well, just that he only had ten carries his game and he's your feature running back. But now these last couple of weeks, you look at this twenty six for one, twenty three, seventeen for seventy nine, he has a fifty one yard carry.

So it's not like he's not an explosive type player, but a lot of his damage is done with a high of sixteen with an eye high of eighteen, just because of the way he carries people in the way

that those interior alignment blocked. Now, again getting back to the injuryports situation, we don't know how this is going to pan out here with Trent Brown and who's gonna all be available for them at tackle, But inside that is going to be an area where John Gruden and this offense is going to look to go to work. So if you're the defensive front, they had a tremendous performance last week against Detroit. I think they got some confidence back, got some of that that swagger and mojo

they were looking to get. Okay, now you're gonna see a type of athlete here in Jacobs that's really going to test that. And a big offensive line. This is a different This is a different style size of offensive

line than what the Packers faced against Detroit. The Raiders have built themselves big upfront, as you say, to control time of possession, to try to pound the ball when John Gruden when he wants to run the ball or when he feels his team needs to run the ball, he wants to be able to execute it that way. Just line up and say Okay, here we come. And

that's what they built this offensive line to do. This is where they kind of get a bad rap because when you trade away Khalil Mack and you trade away at Marie Cooper and you trade away these superstar type players and people that you know are casual fans but have Cooper on their fantasy football team are going to raise an eyebrow about. Nobody really talked about the fact that they invested heavily into the offensive line, to the point that that is honestly one of their strongest positional

groups on this entire roster. Because so frequently Mike people think of the quarterback, they think of the running back, they don't really think about who's playing right guard. Raiders didn't go that direction. I mean, they got Richie Incognito out of retirement. They signed Rodney Hudson last year from

Kansas City. They have real legitimate guys in the trenches that can move the football, and I think that is what it's sort of allowed them to play the way that they have this first half of the season into their credit have three and two going into this game at Lambeau. Yeah, well, looking at what else is on the slate in the NFL in Week seven, there's a big game in the NFC North and that is I

believe it's at Ford Field. I'm gonna look here for you. Yes, the Vikings are traveling to Detroit, so Minnesota at four and to Detroit at two, two and one. The Lions obviously on the short week coming off of very frustrating loss and the billboards of the referees in Michigan and

everything else that's been going on with that. But it's a big game in the division because, um, both of these teams looking at it from the standpoint of they need to try to keep pace with the Packers who only have one loss at this point, and the Packers looking to go six and one if they can beat the Raiders. So a key game in the division here

in Minnesota versus Detroit. I am sure you're gonna want to talk about all these matchups, but I mean, I think more than any other week on the schedule, this is the biggest gut check for divisional matchups in the NFL this week. Uh, just in terms of yes, you have Minnesota in Detroit. I'll be happy to talk about

that in a second. You have the Bears having to make a really big change here going up against a team like New Orleans who have just been rolling through people right now with Teddy Bridgewater as their quarterback and that defense and that defense. So NFC northwise, there are huge stakes this week. I think it's one reason why the Packers look at this. You're at least gonna get one loss. Conceivably, this is a chance to really create some breathing room in the division. But you have Philadelphia,

and you have Dallas. You have Baltimore going into Century Link against Seattle. That's a really interesting one as far as an a f C NFC matchup. The Baltimore Ravens going into Seattle really really intriguing ball game. And here's the other thing, Mike, the New England Patriots are going up against the New York Jets this week. I know everybody's gonna say, all right, we'll see on Monday morning

at seven, And oh yeah, you were. You were laughing about the Cowboys Jets being the prime not prime time, But the three like National game turned out to be a whale of a game because Sam Donald suddenly the New York Jets look like a different team with their quarterback if Sam Donald's down the field and everything's cool with his spleen, I mean, that guy can play some football, and that just shows you again how quarterbacks can change things.

I just want to get all that out there because I think the whole steaks for this week in the NFL are huge, the Minnesota Vikings going into Detroit. Here's the thing where the Lions really gotta dig down deep in this matchup, because I'm not blaming it all on that loss last year against the Vikings, but I did feel like Packers got that bad taste in their mouth after the officiating against in that game, and it never

really seemed like they were able to wash it. Can Detroit come out and get a victory at home against the team and the Vikings that two weeks ago wasn't looking so hot and just you know, get back on the tracks, so to speak. This is gonna be a real interesting matchup to watch from that aspect, and also seeing you know, we saw the way that Detroit played Aaron Rodgers for better or for worse, they were not able to really get the past and game going down field.

How do they handle Stefon Diggs Adam feeling in what appears to be a very rejuvenated Vikings passing attack. Yeah, that's the thing. And now we we talked before about the Vikings took their show on the road and got a road win against the New York Giants. But this is a whole different type of road trip from Minnesota here because quite frankly, their offense didn't look that good when they came to lambeau Field in week two. Now they're going on the road to face another division opponents,

so a big test there. But you also mentioned, obviously the Bears against the Saints, really really interesting game. The Bears still waiting to find out or at least haven't announced yet whether Mitchell Traubisky will be back at quarterback or if they're still going to go with Chase Daniel. Big blow to the Bears though, that Achem Hicks. They're big defensive lineman in the middle of that defense, the guy who I thought really made that defense quite good

before Khalil Mack arrived. Achem Hicks has gone on injured reserve and is out for at least two months. They're thinking maybe he could still come back um towards the end of the year, which maybe he'd be back. When I was gonna say Week seven right now, right, yeah, if he if he, if he comes back, his first game eligible would be when the Bears play at lambau

Field in the middle of December. But that's a big loss for Chicago's defense to to not have Hicks and the Saints now taking their show on the road with Teddy Bridgewater and that defense that has uh really clamped down on pretty much every team it has played against. Really really interesting NFC showdown that So the question was asked an insider inbox. I don't know if you saw basically who should Packer fans root for? And that yeah, I saw. I answered that question as well. What is

your thought on that? Can you explain your rationale? My my rationale? My rationale is that I just think this NFC North, with all the teams involved, because all four of them, I think are are still very much in this thing and could be in this thing for a while, that I think you just have to root to for what helps you in the division first. And if the Bears pick up another lass here would be their third loss.

I think that's good for the Packers, even if it does mean the Saints are are six and one and still sitting, you know, on top of the conference or near the top of the conference. It's still just too early. And your best path to making any kind of a playoff run, whether you get a first round by or not, your best path to a playoff run is to win your division, because then you know, you get at least

one home game in the playoffs. And so I just think for right now, the focus has to be on the division, and uh, any team in the NFC North playing outside the NFC North, you got to hope for

that division team to lose. If you're a Packer face yeah, because the thing is you're gonna have plenty of weeks that you can root against the New Orleans Saints, you know, for the next two and a half months, just trying to hope that, you know, the Packers, if they end up being in a position to make the playoffs, win a division to have a buy you know that they would come through for them. There the divisional matchups though, is we've seen Mike. I mean, these things can fluctuate

so quickly. And the other thing is too, is that if the Bears would happen to beat the Saints, well, then you have a Chicago team at four and two,

that's feeling pretty good about him. So yeah, I mean there's a big difference right now between four and two and potentially three and three, right with what Chicago has been dealing with question and the Bears are coming off of by and obviously they came back from London, a tough loss in London to the Raiders, but had a week off now to reset, still figuring out what's exactly is going on at quarterback. But this is a big game for Chicago, all right, I want to pivot very quickly,

just talk about Philadelphia and Dallas. How quickly the tables turned though one of these you're talking about, how the difference between four and two and three and three fields Philadelphia, whose again come out of the gate slow, in Dallas, who came out of the gate as fast as any team could. One of those teams is gonna be three and four. I know, who would have thought after seven games that either the Eagles or the Cowboys would be below five hundred. But that's the reality, because one of

these teams is going to be three and four after Sunday. Yeah. And it's funny me because from Dallas's perspective, they had some quote unquote jobbers early in their you know their season, you know the job squad ww reference You probably don't know what that is, but uh, you know, just they had some Brooklyn brawler types that they were able to beat up on get some wins earlier in the season. Some Barry Horowitz is uh. And I think these last

three weeks. I don't want to say it's exposed them, because I still think there's a lot of really talented players on that team, but it's changed the narrative with them a little bit now. The questions about Jason Garrett's job security, You've come up a lot of things to figure out there. I still Philadelphia is confusing me now because I did think when they beat the Packers, and that was a team that was much better than the

record suggested. But they are so inconsistent week to week that when a team is talented but inconsistent, what does that usually end up being? Like eight and eight, right, maybe nine and seven as spart Stars Packers in the early eighties, And that's that's where it lies. Philadelphia's defense just is not good. It's just it is not good.

And offense, they have not been able to be consistent enough the Eagles just got torched last week by the Vikings and the deep passes to Stefon Diggs, and that just makes you wonder, Okay, well, what are they going to do against a Mari Cooper because of Marie Cooper went crazy against the Packers with the double digit catches and two hundred plus yards and all of that. So, but the bottom line is first place is what's on the line in the NFC East, because nobody in that

division as of this moment is above five hundre. The best part is the New York New York Giants are sitting there all right, Come on, Arizona Cardinals, you know, coming to East Rutherford. We get this win. We're suddenly a game out from the division. NFL is crazy, man, quick thought. Ravens at Seahawks, who do you think wins out? I really like Seattle right now. I just Russell Wilson has playing at an m VP level as he's playing

really well. He has some really interesting weapons there. Defensively, I think they've held up. It's gonna be a real big test for Lamar Jackson. I just think they're not as invincible is maybe we thought earlier this season. And I just think right now, Seattle, Green Bay, New Orleans, and San Francisco are sort of setting the standard here

early on and how to win team football. The thing that impresses me the most about the Seahawks so far, and I know we have to go, is that they keep finding ways to pull out games right at the end. They're in these close games, fourth quarter, they're down by a score, maybe just up by a couple of points. They keep finding ways to win, whether they're home or on the road. You know, the home one against the Rams, the road one at Cleveland, all of these tight games

and they keep coming out on top. And their five and one. They've got another, a big home game against Lamar Jackson will be an interesting test for that Seattle defense. Yeah, and I think I look at Baltimore's defense too, and historically they've been really good. I just don't I have real big questions about whether or not they're going to be able to stand up to the threat that Wilson's

going to throw it. Yeah. All right, it should be a fun weekend of football, and with that we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the Team on packers dot com, Subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services. On Twitter, you can find him at west HoTT I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you next time.