#458 Packers Unscripted: The bigger picture

to peer down the road. But bear with me for a second here because I want to start today's show with a little bit of a big picture look at things. And what I mean by that is you look at what the Packers have done on offense the last three games without Davantae Adams, not only getting victories, but the progress we've seen in the offense and getting a lot of these younger guys involved. Jake Kumero, Alan Lazard, more snaps for Marquis Valdez, Scantling until he obviously got injured

and then was limited in his snaps against Oakland. But whenever the Packers get Davante Adams back, you have to believe that the experience that these young receivers have gotten that They've not only gotten in and played taken snaps with Aaron Rodgers, but they produced and they've been on the winning side of things. This is something that's gonna bode well for the Packers down the road here as

we get to November and December. Don't you think the most important storyline I think to the early part of the season for the offense is the fact that they are now three and oh without Davonte Adams. And as Aaron Rodgers said, he cautioned it during his postgame news conference, He's like, don't get it twisted. We need him back. This offense needs Davante Adams. The offense will be better

with him. But let's be honest, Mike, if the Green Bay Packers are going to make a Super Bowl, if they're gonna make an NFC championship game, it stands to reason that there's going to be a star or two on this team right now that won't be available for that team. It just that's the way it works out right now for the receiving corps, they're learning to lead, their learning to live without their leader being on the field.

I love the comment. It didn't really fit into any of our stories, but I really did like the comment that uh, you know Rogers had after the game when he's like, you know, you look at Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, James Jones, Randall Cobb, this lineage of receivers going back to even you know, Donald Driver as well. But each of those guys, when they've been a veteran, they were

in front of that room. And in Davante's case, he's learned from Jones, Cobb and then obviously Geordie and now he's that guy at twenty six years old that he's had to be the one that everyone turns to, and he relishes it. I remember even talking to him two years ago when this whole thing was going to start, and he's like, yeah, I don't I don't mind. I'm like, I'm ready for this, And you knew based on his confidence and the way he carries himself it wasn't going

to be too big. But when he's not on the field, that's when it's up to Mark quiz Valdes Scantling to play through the injuries that he did to make two critical catches in that game, the longest place from scrimmage of the season in only twenty snaps, Jake Kumro reaching out for the touchdown, al Lazard having a drop earlier in the game, but then coming back into having a big, leaping catch in the red zone when maybe the past wasn't exactly where it needed to be and he went

up and got it. Those are the moments that in weeks sixteen, seventeen and into the playoffs, if the Packers happen to be so fortunate, is really going to benefit this group because the thing I think a lot of people forget this is a very young receiving corps and Davante Adams included in. The more experience you get playing through those situations, the better it's gonna, you know, serve you in the long run. Yeah. I just look at

it like this. I mean, obviously the Packers are hoping to get to Vante Adams back sooner than later, and you hope you don't have any other injuries down the road to the receiving corps that will be multiple weeks or like a month or whatever. This is now that's going on with Adams. But let's be real. I mean, somebody's going to tweak a hamstring like Adam Feland did for the Vikings last week. Somebody's going to turn an

ankle again. It's going to happen. And even if it's just for that one game, maybe it's the one road trip to Minnesota in week sixteen, or maybe it's the maybe it's a road trip coming up to San Francisco, which is looking like a big game in the NFC playoff picture, where one of those top guys you're not going to have them. Well, now, Alams are Jake Kumro, these guys have made big plays, caught touchdown passes from Aaron Rodgers. They're gonna step in if they're called upon

in those situations, and they're not gonna blink. They're gonna be like, hey, I've been here, I've done this. The confidence level is going to be there, and the confidence level in from the rest of the offense will be there as well, because it's not gonna be like, oh, well, so and so's not playing today. I mean, nobody feels

that way on this offense. And and why would you when Davonte Adams is out and you go out and put up six touchdowns and forty two points in a home game, not to put you on the spot, did you get a chance to watch the Monday night football game at all. England has been just completely snake bitten at fullback, and if you know anything about James Devlon in the history of that offense, that fullback position is

very critical there. We make so much about it with San Francisco, but what Devilon does for the Patriots is important. Certainly last year it was exactly his backup Johnson. He gets hurt as well. They were using a linebacker at a certain point in that game against the Jets as their fullback is the guy who's blocking for Sony Michelle and in James White. It's incredible, but at the same time, Bill Belichick says it. Mike McCarthy always talked about it too.

You need depth, and you need guys to be able to play more than one position and step up when the opportunity arises. That's what the good football teams do, because if you put everybody's roster next to each other at week one by week seventeen, if you can keep any of those rosters together, it stands a reason that team would be pretty good. But you have to be able to weather the hits and nicks and bruises that are going to hit you throughout the course of a season.

Another thing McCarthy always used to like to say is it's not about the starting eleven, it's about the starting fourteen or fifteen. You know your yours four, your top four cornerbacks, your your top three safeties. Look at what Will Redman is doing this season in his first season playing that spot in the receiving corps, especially in this game where Matt Lafleur made a very concerted effort that we're going to rotate these guys. You know you can't

play Allison sixty snaps. You know you can't play MBS sixty snaps. So Al Lazard plays fifty one, Jake Kumero plays forty three. These are guys that up until two weeks ago hadn't really been playing at all offensively and going into the game with a game plan to be very aggressive and to attack the Oakland Raiders defense down

the field. And I just that's why yesterday and I brought it back at the end of our show to talk about Lafleur and Rogers a little bit, because I just thought both of those guys were at the peak of their respective powers, and that Rogers showed a lot of confidence in young guys. Think about that, Mike. I mean he had a drop with Lazar there early. We know everything that happened against Detroit that could have in a really tough situation to play through, like oh boy,

here we go again. But he showed a lot of confidence throwing tight balls in a great windows. Same thing with the Aaron Jones touchdown. Twenty yards for the touchdown and a week ago, as Jones said himself, a much less difficult catch and he wasn't able to bring it in in the thirty three yard that he could have walked into the end zone. But that's what you have to do in for the floor. You know, they're going back to Jimmy Graham. They had Marcedes Lewis integrated in

this thing. They used that two running back formation out of the shotgun and that's what they did a lot of motioning with Danny Vitally out of it. They made the necessary adjustments, Mike, and we say it time and time again, but when you're six and one and you look at where the Packers are at, they're doing it because they're winning more than one way, and offensively, very quietly. Now we're looking at an m v P quarterback potential, you know, in terms of that candidacy in an offense.

Now that's on the precipice of being in the top ten and total yards. So it's just it shows you how quickly these things can turn if your team evolves, mature develops. Yeah. Well, I know we're a little bit short on time today and I apologize for that, but I did promise on yesterday's show we would get to a little bit of of a review, excuse me, of

what went on in the NFL in Week seven. The most significant game from the NFC North point of view was the Minnesota Vikings going into Ford Field putting up forty two points on the Detroit Lions, coming away with a forty two to thirty victory, a game that's actually closer than the final score indicated, because that was a one score game with about three or four minutes to go.

But the biggest two big things here. Number one, Kirk Cousins has shaken off all the criticism that was thrown his way and he's really starting to light things up with that Minnesota passing game. But the other thing is this was a road division victory for the Minnesota Vikings, and until then the Packers at Chicago was the only road win in the NFC North as far as the division matchups. So this was a big one for the Vikings.

They're now five and two, right on Green base heels at six and one, and the Chicago Bears now three and three, and the Detroit Lions become the first team in the division to fall below five at two three and one. I still say it's too early to just call it a two horse race, way too early to do that. But Minnesota going on the road and chalking

up a road division victory was a significant occurrence. We talked so much about Mike Zimmer and his defense, double a gap, all those typical things that we talked about twice a year. I think one thing he does get enough credit for is how good of a football coach he is and how much good of a leader he is. The Vikings were able to kind of turn that narrative on its head. I mean, you go back three weeks ago, Mike, there's this questions about the Stefon Diggs want to play

for the Vikings. Is Kirk Cousins really the answer here? There was that ugly offensive outing at Soldier Field. They lost a division game to the Chicago Bears, and everybody was wondering just where the Minnesota Vikings headed. Well, Kirk Cousins have been putting up some big numbers since then. Yeah, in in, you know the other thing is too at this. It shows you that it's all about consistency. You're five and two. The Minnesota Vikings are not five and two

because they blew everybody out of the water. They're five and through because they work through some setbacks, work through some adversity. For the Packers perspective, you almost want to see some of those losses mount here early in the season because you don't want them to be in playoff contention. You don't want them to be indivisional contention. When you get to that week sixteen Monday night football game at US Bank Stadium in December. You you want them to

be kind of out of that. But Zimmer finds a way to rally these guys. Their defense is looking younger again after I call them old about three weeks ago. And you know, Stefon Diggs, I'll tell you what, man feeling gets so much tension rightfully. So he's a great story. He's a Pro Bowl receiver, Stefon Diggs is coming on and he seems to whatever happened there with him and Kirk Cousins, he's worked through it. And then when you add in the fact that Dalvin Cook is probably one

of the top five running backs in this league. Now, um, so many different things moving in the Vikings direction. And in for the Detroit Lions, garry On Johnson now injured, certain things that they're gonna have to work through. It's

gonna be a tough sledding ahead for Detroit. Yeah. Well, you mentioned Minnesota's defense, and I just want to point this out because obviously a lot of Packer fans are concerned about what was going on on defense against the Oakland Raiders and the Raiders putting up four hundred plus yards and all this Minnesota Vikings defense gave up thirty points to the Detroit Lions. It's it's the way this

league goes. Sometimes you get into games like this where the offenses just start moving, moving the ball up and down the field. It's the way things can go. And the bottom line is both the Packers and the Vikings had enough offense to come out on top on in games where their defense, you know, didn't quite have its best game on a particular day. And let's to to

use your let's be real comments again here. Matthew Stafford is a very good quarter Yeah, the Packers have played good quarterbacks so far to this point in the season. If you're gonna play Stafford and he doesn't turn the ball away to turn turn the turn over the football, you have to be prepared to win a shootout. Unfortunately for the Vikings. Unfortunately for Cousins, they were able to

do that that matchup. But yeah, it's it's gonna be a gut check here for Detroit trying to bounce back from that and show that they can be the team that everybody thinks they are. Yeah. Absolutely, the Chicago Bears a lot of questions floating around in Chicago now after quite frankly an abysmal offensive performance. Don't be fooled by

the thirty six to score. The Chicago Bears were down twelve to ten at halftime and really got blown out in the second half at home by a very very good New Orleans Saints team that has a very very good defense. But the lack of offensive production when the game mattered was really really startling, and it's raising a lot of questions in Chicago is to just where this team is headed with Mitchell Robinsky a quarterback. Yeah, I'll tell you what, Mike, I'm a little annoyed by one thing. Okay,

And I'm not saying Traubinsky. You know, when you see what Patrick Mahomes has done and Deshaun Watson has done, right or wrong, he's going to be compared to those two guys. The rest of his career comes with the territory. And I'm not saying he's playing particularly well right now, But Mike, I don't care who your quarterback is. If you can't run the football, you're never gonna make your

life easier on that quarterback, especially a young one. Well, in this particular game, they didn't even try to run a troutball seven rushing attempts and Mitch Droubinsky had fifty four pass attempts. And again I and I looked at the halftime stats and believe it was twenty three or twenty four pass attempts and five runs in the first half when the game was twelve to ten. They didn't

even try to run the football. And that's not how you're gonna win with Mitchell Drabinsky in my opinion, and here's the thing you look at, you know, in New Orleans perspective, Teddy Bridgewater is playing great. He's going to earn himself a lot of money this offseason, whether it's somewhere else. Right, But they didn't have Alvin Kamara, So what did they do? Letavius Murray the old war horse there.

He goes right in there and get some nineteen yards and makes life easier on who I will still consider to be a young quarterback at twenty six years old. I get it. There are sky high expectations for true Bisky. People want him to play out of his mind, and that is rightfully so. He's a second overall pick that comes with the job description, that comes with the contract you signed. But I've just been absolutely amazed that with David Montgomery and in some of the steps that look

like they're gonna taken. They are beat up on the offensive line right now. They couldn't run the ball the last few weeks, and in this particular game they didn't even try. In the worst case scenario. Right now, for Chicago, as you alluded to Keem Hicks's injury, they're now their defense is getting banged up to so seeing all those things fit together is going to be something to watch.

There is one more game I want to talk about, though, Yeah, absolutely, no, Yeah, And I I just have one other comment with regards to the Bears. They have a lot to work through now, and they don't have their bye week anymore. They just came off of their bye week and did not perform

up anything close to up to expectations. They're in a tough spot now because they're playing the rest of the way without a break, and they've got some stuff to work and they got a Chargers team coming into this week that, while they have been dis pointed and disheartened this season, that's still a dangerous team. Don't be fooled by that two and five record the Chargers, and we'll be talking about them soon enough here with them on

the Packers schedule. But that Chargers team, you talk about, an absolute kick in the gut loss to the Tennessee Titans, the way that game turned at the goal line in the last two minutes there. I mean, boy, oh boy, that the Chargers. They're not the twelve and four team of last year, but they're not a two and five team either. In my opinion, they really aren't, but it also shows you the difference one yard makes. I mean,

credit to Tennessee, Mike. I've been saying since Week one, they've had to work through some things Ryan Tannehill as their quarterback. Now, their defense I think has always played well this season. Like I I'm really high on the Titans and what Mike Vrabel is doing there and they're defending their turf and in the Chargers basically their their record could almost be inverted if they could convert these these short yardage one yard plays, and they just haven't

been able to do it so far this season. The thing I want to close on, almost like the West Hot Kouwitz moments the show, is I did I watch the entire New England Patriots in New York Jets game. Don't ask me how I managed to do this, but I did. The Star Wars trailer was at halftime, Mike, I wanted to wait for the Star Wars trailer, and then afterwards I was like, I was working on the

Player on the Rise story. I was like, I'll just keep watching Sam Donald, who, by the way, played a great game the week before and you know, hopefully still have a bright future. In this league. I was incredibly high on he was my number one quarterback in the two thousand eighteen draft and beat a Dallas Cowboys team that then just obliterated the Philadelphia Eagles in primetime on Sunday night. But go ahead, So Donald goes over the sideline.

He's miked up for this game. Why he would ever agree to be miked up for a New England Patriots game is beyond me, and I would never ever want that for myself. He's on the thing. He says, I believe you're saying to you, there's quarterbacks coach. I don't think it was Adam Gays. He says, I'm seeing ghosts out there. And if you know anything about Donald's day,

I'll just read the stats here for you quickly. Um, yeah, this is It was an all timer, a three point six passer rating aleve in of thirty two for eighty six yards with four touchdowns or four interceptions. Excuse me, completions, four interests. I think someone Monday Football threw up of stat. I think it was like the second time since nineteen quarterback has had over thirty pass attempts under a hundred passing yards and four interceptions just a nightmarish game for you.

He's seeing goes. One thing it tells you is where the bar is when you play Bill Belichick in the Patriots. It's still incredibly high. It's you know, if you look at this game, Tom Brady had an eighty passer rating, but they still won based on how they played defensively handily. The point I want to raise here and I don't I know pack Frians, you see, I don't need this reminder West leave us alone. Your quarterback had a hundred and fifty eight point three passer rating. We can create

any kind of narratives you want. My headline for inbox today, the day that we're shooting this was that guy never left talking about Aaron Rodgers. Because the narrative nationally this week, inevitably, starting on Wednesday, is going to be Aaron Rodgers is back. Aaron Rodgers never left. In The point I raised with that is the storylines will ebb and flow. The quarterback position is way too difficult in this league to just play at a hundred and fifty pass rating every week.

Too many variables. I just hope in requests and ask that Packer fans really appreciate what they have, and I know they're gonna say, oh, we have twenty six years. We've always appreciate it. But Aaron Rodgers makes this game look a lot easier than it really is. Sam Donald watching him play against the Jet against New England, especially in the second half when things got really rough, I felt bad for him because you see a young guy there that is a one of the peak players in

this league. People say, oh, it's a bad quarterback. No, this is one of the best prospects the NFL at this level. Thirty two jobs right starting quarterback. This is one of the best prospects the NFL has to offer. And he has a three pass rating against New England defense that is one of the best in the NFL this season. Whoever crosses paths with New England, I know I've been the first one to say they haven't truly been tested. That shows you where the bar is, and

that shows you how good these players are. And it shows you one more time, you don't need a hundred fifty eight point three passer rating to know that Aaron Rodgers is good. You see it every Sunday because of what he brings the table, what how the way he leads in the victories that he amasses, and it's those type of things that really hit home the point that

this game is not as easy as he makes it look. Yeah, and I think I'll just close with the point that we've seen Aaron Rodgers on days when he's not at his best and the Packers usually still have a chance to win the game. That's as opposed to what you saw on Monday Night, when a young up and coming prospect does not have anything close to his best and his team has no chance. And that's the difference between the guys who have done it and the guys who

are trying to figure it out. And the only thing I asked, because there's gonna be ups and flows Aaron Rodgers, inevitably the last ten weeks this season, there will be a day where he doesn't have his a game. Yep, it'll happen, But you have to remember that in that particular day, the Packers are probably still going to be in that ballgame. He's probably still not going to be that bad considering you know sometimes what happens at that

position when things don't go right. Yeah, alright, with that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers unscripted. Be sure to follow of our coverage of the team on packers dot com and you can 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'll see you next time. M