#467 Packers Unscripted: Recap, regroup, rebound

apologize for not letting everyone know that in advance. But it is Tuesday. Here we are. We are back from l A to review the Packers loss to the l A Chargers to eleven. It was flat out, West aid dud. It was the worst performance by the Green Bay Packers in nineteen by quite a considerable margin, and this is one that the Packers clearly need to learn from, but also just flush it and move on exactly. I think that's the mentality you have to have. You have to

focus on the Carolina Panthers. Panthers this Sunday, excuse me, with this game at Lambolefield and getting into the week eleven by as healthy as you can be. To rest up that being said originally from the beginning, I said, if if the Packers were to split, This is even when we weren't sure if Mahomes was gonna play, the Packers split Kansas City and they split at the l

A Chargers. I think everyone would have been happy if this would have been a relatively you know, competitive game, you know, maybe a high scoring affair, which I originally predicted it to be. You know, maybe even then people be happy. But let's be honest, Mike, when when you go into that type of environment, you have that sort of you know, fan interest behind you on in a road setting, you know, everything seemed to be set for the Packers to have a solid performance, and it just

didn't come together. The fast starts we've talked about, it wasn't there. The strong finishes we talked about, it wasn't there. They got back into an issue with third and longs. Matt Lafleur talked about it. You know, they basically weren't

able to run their game plan. They were stuck in a two minute offense for most of this one and a week after getting the ball into Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams hands as much as they did against Kansas City, they just were unable to do that against the Chargers. And while the defense did keep the minute by keeping l A out of the end zone, it still was too many yards, too much production, not enough takeaways. And Philip Rivers finally got that elusive victory over the Green

Bay Packers. Yeah, and and the Chargers as a franchise their first victory over the Packers and only their second victory. And I believe it's twelve games that the Packers and Chargers as franchises have met up. So, as you said, the defense kept the Packers in it. Initially they were giving up too many yards and still the big plays a problem. The Packers have got to figure out a

way to fix this. They were just allowing field goals early on, and for everything that had gone wrong in the first half, it was only nine to nothing, Packers were getting the ball coming out a halftime. He just felt one spark was maybe all that was needed to get things going. One scoring drive would have changed at nine to nothing, would have changed the look of the game completely, and it just never happened for the Packers.

And then as the second half war On, the special team started to make some mistakes with the block pon and the off sides on the field goal, and the defense was clearly wearing down because the offense was not able to sustain anything and give them any breaks and give them any opportunity to to get back in the game. Nobody was able to make that momentum turning that potential game changing play and UH as a result, the Packers

really took one on the chin. We like to say in this game West that sometimes it's not who you play, it's when you play him. And I think we talked last week about how that missed field goal in Chicago that might have been the worst thing to happen to the Green Bay Packers heading into this game, because it gave the Chargers life. If the Chargers are two and six with them with Eddie Pinneo making that kick in Chicago, you just wonder if they come out with the life

and the enthusiasm and everything that they had. I don't know. I mean, it's a week to week league, we know that, but but I talked all week about how the Chargers got a reprieve when Pinero missed that kick, and this to me, looked like a team that is ready to seize on that opportunity to get back to being the team they were last year, and the Packers simply weren't able to match whatever intensity and drive and dedication and everything that the Chargers had to make the most of

their opportunity. Yeah, you said it perfectly, and and the fact of the matter is right now there, you know, two games out from their division lade there, they're still on Kansas City's coattails and they're trying to make a run. Here the two things that I look at this matchup. I said it on frid Day when you and I did our Keys to victory in not only the show, but in final thoughts, and I even said, I'm gonna

keep it even simpler than you kept it. I said, you need to pressure Philip Rivers and you need to turn the ball over. Packers didn't pressure Philip Rivers enough and they didn't turn over the football. And there was

someone who mentioned, well, why didn't they blitz more? And I pointed, and I had a feeling about this, But then I also pointed to UH pro Football Focus and one of the stats that they had going into this one are coming out of it was this season, Philip Rivers is a hundred and twenty passer rating against the Blitz's five passer rating against everything else, He's a hundred twenty pass rating against the Blitz. I don't want to draw any more parallels between him and Drew Brees, but

in many ways they are very similar players. Breeze probably makes fewer mistakes, but they get the ball out quickly, they're decisive with it, and you know they hit their hot route. If you do send somebody, they get their hot read going. So I don't think that would have

done anything. But the problem was is that with even strength, they didn't get on Philip Rivers enough, and there were just too many breakdowns and lapses in the secondary in terms of coverage and not being able to to wrap guys up when and have those explosive plays that the Packers were trying to avoid. And then, ultimately, the biggest shift I thought you saw with this particular Chargers team without Ken wizzen Hunt is they did there was more

dedication towards running the ball. And we'll see if that continues on or if that was just a reaction to the Packers. But I was gonna say it is. It is easy to be stay dedicated to the running game when you're up nine to nothing, you're up twelve to enough, and you're up nineteen to nothing. I mean, so, yes, there there was dedication to that running game early on. But also the bottom line is early in the game,

the Chargers were sustaining drives. They kept moving the chains, and the best way to allow yourself to be dedicated to a running game is to continue to be in first and ten and and when the Charges continued to move the chains and get into first down, they were doing exactly what they wanted to. And other than some of those stops in the red zone to four field goals,

the Packers just couldn't get off the field. And then on the flip side, you know the offense wasn't able to get anything going to give that defensive break, and you know that this this game just started going downhill from the beginning, and and nobody was able to stop that snowball. No. And that was the frustrating part about it is because it's it's almost like it was sort of a mirage a little bit, like you thought you were right there and you just need to get that score.

You need to get that long drive and you'd be right back in this ballgame, and it never appeared for the Packers. And then certainly the backbreaker was the block J. K. Scott field punt in the third quarter. That's where the Chargers finally end up scoring their first touchdown or that, and then the Packers get a stand late and the Charges end up scoring a touchdown after that in an offsides penalty. They just did enough good things and I gotta give Anthony Lynn a lot of credit. I mean,

that team was there to play. They made a changed offensive play caller. It seemed like the guys responded to that well. But you know, the Packers were seven and one for a reason. I know they talked about being sluggish, they talked about tired. I think if the Packers are are playing to their capabilities, that's a team they beat. But as we've seen with the sixteen game regular season schedule, Mike, there's gonna be these episodes every once in a while

where there's a letdown. The key for Green Bay here now facing the Panthers, and we'll preview them later this week, but they were on the road against an uncommon opponent. You lost by fifteen as much as that hurts, and then as many different areas that they need to shore up here to beat a very good and surging Carolina Panthers team, you do have to getting back to your original point, sort of flush what happened, because you can't let it domino in pool going into that bye week.

You need to come and get that victory against the Panthers and be eight and two going into the by Yeah, it's that old adage that you can't let one game beat you twice, right, And that's kind of where the Packers are right now. I've been feeling for the last few weeks that the Packers on the defensive side of the ball, they need to get to the bye week. They need to they need to have the week off, just be able to take a breather, get off their

feet eat. Now it feels like with what we saw on Sunday in Los Angeles, the whole team is kind of at that point. But you've got one more game. You've got to give everything you've got into this last game before the bye week, and and you know, if there's one thing maybe that comes out of not just getting beat and getting beat in the fashion that the Packers did is that nobody's going to be too focused on the bye week. The focus is going to be

on the Carolina Panthers because they know they can. They can put everything they have into that game and then they get the long awaited rest. So it's something the Packers need to take advantage of. But you said it, the Panthers. The Panthers are in They were in a very similar situation a week ago. They went to San Francisco. Everybody was wearying. Okay, let's see how good the Panthers are and they got it handed to him by the forty niners. What what do they do? They regroup, They

bounce back. Playing a pretty formidable Tennessee team at home this past weekend. They took care of in this. They got to win. They got themselves back on track. They're back in the conversation um for the NFC playoff picture. And that's the team that the Panthers are bringing to lambeau Field. Here. So a lot of a lot of interesting circumstances to look at, but the bottom line is, yes, this Packers, Packers team needs the bye week, but they've

got a huge challenge in front of him. I I call this this week against the Carolina Panthers so far in twenty nineteen is the biggest challenge the Packers are going to face. Yea, and there are because of all the circumstances that are surrounding it right now. Absolutely. I mean the fact that you only have three more home games in your regular season schedule and you have the

San Francisco forty Niners staring at you after that bye week. Uh. The one thing that was interesting about the Panthers I thought really speaks well to them is the fact that, you know, Kyle Allen has the worst game of his career, you know, after getting off to that fast start, being a good game manager, protecting the football. San Francisco obliterates that. But then he came back. I mean, let's be honest, I mean Christian McCaffrey, and again, well we'll preview this

later in the week. He's the biggest playmaker. He's arguably the biggest playmak in the NFL right now. You have to get the ball in his hands. Alan succeeded at that,

and they got the response that they wanted. The thing that actually strikes me I was, I was driving home after the game we we landed, I'm on Highway forty one going northbound, and I'm trying to kind of process everything that had happened, because I think there's been some guys that mentioned I mean, there's feeling that the Packers never even like not necessarily got off the bus. But you just had this like there's an indecisiveness or just there was felt like there was no resolution at all.

I felt like they went out there and you know, they did the walk through and we never really played the game. And I'm processing this in my mind and I started kind of snicker to myself, like we made such a big deal out of you know, you have the Detroit coming off the by and Oakland coming off there by and in Kansas City off a mini buy, and then what's the team that ends up kind of knocking the Packers off the pedestal The Chargers, who I think have the last buy. I mean like they they're

they're playing every game here too. Uh. And that's it shows you how this league works and the things that you think might make sense, they really don't. And I look at this matchup now with where the Packers are at the one positive, you know, and we're gonna have to see what Wednesday's practice looks like but that was one of the first games that I can remember, Mike that there wasn't even an injury designation. There wasn't anyone that was questionable or out or anything during the game.

Nobody left with anything. Now that still can mean there can be some guys here, but there was nothing devastating. The Packers suffered. So while I believe a lot of it, especially on the defensive side, they're they're worn down a little bit. It looks like they're gonna have most, if not everyone available for this game against the Panthers. I

wrote about an insider inbox today. You have to dig deep. Now, you have to put everything into this game and then after that have that one week sort of sabbatical, because as difficult as that was, and as tired as I know these guys are, you would be even more tired if you had a week four or five by and then you got to play eleven twelve opponents consecutively to

finish the season. The Packers still are sitting in a good spot, but you've got to keep that lead in the division, especially after all three NFC North team's loss last weekend. And we'll get to that in a minute here West, but I don't want to forget about our sponsor business. Select Cousin Subs locations are now offering delivery. Whether you're ordering catering or your favorite sub, they're delivering right to you when you order online at Cousin Subs

dot com. Cousin Subs we believe in better. Okay, So first I want to say Matt Lafleur did say on Monday that the Packers are going to examine everything that went into this West Coast road trip, because as we've mentioned, there's one coming up out to San Francisco after the bye week, so everything from the travel schedule to the walk through the day before the game too, the game plan, the play calling on both sides of all everything, they're

gonna examine everything that went wrong with us. I think that's that if there's going to be a priority number one bye week project for the coaching staff and football administration, that might be it. But that being said, the focus now is on where the Packers stand and the Carolina Panthers coming in. And you can look at this. You can look at the loss to the Chargers one of

two ways. Either it was the best week to lose a game because everybody else in the NFC North lost, or it was a huge missed opportunity because by the time the Packers game kicked off in l A, the Vikings had lost on a walk off field goal in Kansas City, the Bears had lost after another dismal offensive performance and hum and their fourth straight loss, I believe for Chicago and then Um. While the Packers were playing, the Lions also lost out on the West Coast in Oakland.

So I missed opportunity for sure. The Packers could have given themselves a two game lead over Minnesota with seven games to play. That didn't happen. You're seven and two, the Vikings are six and three. The Bears and Lions now are both sub five hundreds. So as you said, the Packers are in a good spot. So now you just you go from here. I'm a bird in the hand kind of guy. You know that, probably better than anybody. I still always will look at it as nothing was gained,

nothing was lost. I don't look at it as a missed opportunity because again, it's not like they were taking on San Francisco. It's not like they had all these implications to this game. You lost. You lost to a what team that you and I all week long last week we're saying was a good a f A team, even if their record didn't say it. And the rest of the division lost. Kansas City did what I think everyone thought Kansas City should do, especially if Patrick Mahomes

would have played. And you know, Chicago is in a tail spin right now. And this schedule, I mean, it was funny. You're right, it was four consecutive losses. Look at the schedule coming up for Chicago to Lions, Rams, Giants, Lions again, Dallas, Green Bay, Kansas City in Minnesota to finish out the season. That is gonna be a tough stretch for Mattnegie's crew, um to me, and I'm not looking past anybody, because I think Detroit has showed you they can play with anybody. But this is about min

of soda now. And you were watching the end of that game against Kansas City and how that all unfolded, considering how tight that was late, I think, because you can only live in one world, right, there's no butterfly effects here. The Packers loss in Minnesota, lost to a good Kansas City team that we saw a week ago. I just my vision, my vantage point of this is that you survived, you advanced, and now you gotta try

to get another win here against Carolina. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean the picture, the picture in the NFC um continues to be very top heavy. The forty Niners are undefeated, the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL after the New England Patriots lost on Sunday Night football in Baltimore. The Saints, who were on the by this past week,

they have one loss. The Seattle Seahawks. They were at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team a lot of people thought, Okay, Russell Wilson will just, you know, tear these guys apart. And Russell Wilson did. He threw five touchdown passes, but it took overtime for the Seattle Seahawks to pull out that game. So the Seahawk still have two losses. The Packers have two losses, the Vikings have three, the Panthers have three. They're coming in to lambeau Field. This is uh um, It just it feels

like this whole NFC race is just getting started. And this Packers Panthers game here is one that uh could definitely have some significant implications down the road in December when we start looking at the bigger picture as things get closer to UH to D Day. So you want to talk about a take care of business week, and and again we'll preview all these games on Friday, but this is the week where the Packers can gain ground. You have San Francisco that has to host Seattle in

Sunday night foot or Monday night football. Excuse me, it might be the best Monday night football game in the last ten years, to be quite honest with you. UH Minnesota has to go to Dallas. So either way that's a division opponent or that's a team that could potentially be in the run for a wild card spot. Detroit and the Bears get to beat up on each other.

This is I think that's one of the reason is why I see this as a game where the Packers really needed to do something because if you do get a win this week, there's gonna be teams that lost or potentially would have a tie that are just gonna mount just based on the attrition of these matchups. So it's going to be some shifting going on regardless. So not only would it be a win that could get you to eight and two. It's a win that pushes back a potential wild card threat in the Carolina Panthers,

a potential seating threat in the Panthers. So that that's one of the things that jumps off the page to me. I'm very curious though, you know, when you look at Minnesota in that game that they had against Kansas City, I don't want to say they threw their best shot at them, because, you know, Matt Moore, you're dealing with the backup quarterback. There are certain adverse situations they were dealing with there. But Kansas City did what Kansas City does.

They use their speed and they used opportune you know, plays like the Damian Williams run to make things happen for themselves. And that's why they're going to be in the thick of this thing. There's no unblemished team for the most part. San Francisco is gonna get tested on Monday night, New England. As we said all last week, that was going to be a matchup where okay, where are the Patriots right now? Lamar Jackson showed they're not infallible.

So I just fans, and I saw my Twitter timeline, I saw my mentions anytime I tweeted something out during that game on Sunday, they're they're so like, it's funny, you can you can play this game for a hundred seasons, right, And everyone always believes that if you lose and you lose ugly, you're the worst team on Earth, and if you win and you win big, you're the best, greatest team. And it's mind boggling to me, right And I And I said, you know, I said in in the live

blog during the game. I believe I did. And I said it again. I believe in insider inbox that I was writing on the plane flight coming back. You have to remember, in this league, you are never as good as your best game, and you are never as bad as your worst game. Everybody is somewhere in between and there every every team has at least one and a lot of times at least two just clunkers that they that that it happens. It happens to everybody in this league.

And that's why the whole you know, it's not who you play, it's when you play them. Thing kind of comes in to play here too. I've seen a lot of fans, a lot of the fans who were writing into Insider inbox and whatnot looking at it from the other side, saying, Okay, now the Packers are the wounded animal the Panthers. The Panthers are the team that you know that should have some trepidation here because they're coming into lambeau Field. The Packers are looking their wounds a

little bit. And uh. And I think the fact that the Packers have the bye week coming up right after this one, I think can work to Green Bay's advantage here in the preparation for this, for this Panthers game, so we can talk about those kinds of circumstances, you know, all day long, all week long. I think this one on Sunday at Lambo is going to be a really, really good football game. No doubt in the good teams. How they become elite. As I wrote today in inbox

is you have to bounce back from these. You have to get back on the horse. You have to start winning games again. Everyone loses. I'll close on this. Who were the Super Bowl champions last year? Mike? Would you be so kind as to inform you of that that game was the New England Patriots against the Los Angeles Ranks. Okay, and who prevailed the New England Patriots. Here's who the New England Patriots lost to last year during the regular season. Jacksonville, Detroit, Tennessee.

They lost to Miami four to thirty three, and then they lost a good game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everybody has those games. How you really truly separate yourself and prove that you can be a contending team is how you bounce back. The Green Bay Packers need to ensure themselves of a non losing season on Sunday with their eighth victory against the Carolina Panthers. That's the only way to do it, all right, And with that we will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.

Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com. You can subscribe to us and 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, See you next time.