#477 Packers Unscripted: Needs vs. Niners

want to start with this one? Well, okay, so Matt Mike Patton had a great line when he was talking to reporters on Thursday evening asked about all these injuries that the San Francisco forty Niners have and basically how you game plan for it? He said, you have to game plan for everything. You can't like allow yourself to not think that certain players is going to be there and then you're playing catch up. You gotta be able to scheme for everything. Oh, George Kittle is probably the

ultimate part of that, right. Kittle had not practiced for two weeks. Over two weeks and then actually returned to practice on Thursday when they went into pads in a limited capacity. This guy is probably the best in the game right now. Matt la Floor touched on it as well this week. You have to find a way to stop him. So I look at the San Francisco offense and and certainly Jimmy Garoppolo is a force to be feared.

He showed he could win a football game what he needs to when the auxiliary parts are not there for him. But San Francisco, what they do well in these condensed formations is running the football and getting the ball to Kittle and the guys in the middle of the field. Those are the two outlets this defense has to shut down. And there's a lot of work to do for Green Bay. It's one thing to say that, it's another thing to

put that into practicality. They had some issues. They sat back, they looked at the explosive plays that they allowed during the bye week, and now they're trying to find some answers for it. This is as tough as a test as the Packers are going to get in terms of the offense to tacks the middle of the field, and they have to be ready for Yeah, I mean, it sounds kind of crazy with Jimmy Garoppolo coming off of

a four hundred yard four touchdown game. To sit here and say the Packers need to put the ball in Jimmy Garoppolo's hands, but I really think that's what they have to do, because if if you don't slow down this running game, and we'll see if Matt Brita is going to play or not. But even if he doesn't, you still got Tevin Coleman and or he Moster to deal with in the backfield. They've They've got multiple guys

that they will go to regardless. I just think if if the Packers cannot slow down the running game, it's not gonna matter that much the whole Garoppolo and Kittle and everything. And like I say, it sounds kind of crazy to say that, because if George Kittle is back, Jimmy Garoppolo coming off of a four d yard four touchdown game without a weapon like that, um, he obviously

can be extremely dangerous in the passing game. But I think the Packers have to try to turn this into a passing game for the Fortys in order to beat them, because if they pound away on the ground, I think it becomes a really, really long day for the Packers defense, it's like a boxing match, right. I mean, a guy might have a good uppercut, but if you got to watch out for their their left hook, that's where you have to you know, neutralize that and then you know,

hope you defend the rest of it well enough. That's what the present. They have a multiple different variations of how they can hurt you offensively. Garoppolo is a part of that and Kindles a part of that, but they can really do damage if they get that second rank run defense going early and often. They had to make some modifications here. Brita is a big part of their

home run potential of that offense. Most Dirt has been a guy that's filled in there the last two years and done a nice job and kept himself in that rotation. Tevin Coleman is the guy that between the tackles will continue to punch you in the mouth every single play if you let him. Arizona sold out to a certain extent. They were fundamentally sound and how they were able to

defend that running game the last two weeks. I think what green they has to do is keep a similar mentality with that and even if Garoppolo gets some yards. And I understand people want to give up a hundred passing yards a game. I get it. But if you put the ball out there, that puts the ball in jeopardy. It allows your playmakers and your ball ball hawks to

potentially get a takeaway, a game changing turnover. That's the area for success here, because if they're looking at a bunch of second and favorable third and favorables, that's when the teeth really start to show. With Kittle and with Deebo, Samuel Emmanuel Sanders in that passing game, that's what they can really hurt you. Yeah, well, turnovers we will certainly

be a factor here in this game as well. And as I said in Insider Inbox, I don't know if the Packers necessarily have to win the turnover battle in order to win the game, but I don't think they can lose the turnover battle. You at least have to be able to break even here and not give that forty nine or defense with the twenty two takeaways a big edge, any kind of an edge really in the

takeaway battle. Garoppolos thrown ten interceptions. As I say, if the Packers can put the ball in his hands, maybe you do get a pick a deflected pass, I means something that can turn the tide there. What what are your thoughts on the whole turner turnover equation heading into this one. You gotta take care of business, and you're right, I don't know if it comes down to is it's as simple as okay. If the Packers win the turnover margin or they lose the turnover margin, that's gonna be

the difference in the ball game. These are two really good football teams. There's gonna be a lot of things in play, time of possession, red zone offense, third down efficiency, all those things are going to weigh out of ultimately determined a victor in this game. But turnovers are huge and San Francisco knows how to play through them. But they also generate a lot too. They get a lot of pressure on the quarterback and that allows those guys in the secondary to be able to take advantage of it.

Richard Sherman three interceptions this year, returning to form after some you know, nasty and early injuries the last few seasons. That's gonna be a big battle against Davante Adams. But for the Green Bay Packers, they do protect the ball pretty well and they take it away. And if you can, you and I can discuss this, we can have a three hour show where we talk about what the Packers have done right and what they've done wrong this season.

The biggest area, number one, right at the top of the pyramid is the fact that they've won those turnovers and they've been able to maintain momentum and capitalize when they've gotten those takeaways. There has to be that element of this game. I don't care if it's five, I don't care if it's one, but you probably got to generate a touchdown off a takeaway here to be able to keep pace with what San Francisco offers. Yeah, because

they're not going to give you a lot opportunities defensively. Yeah, No, I agree with you there. I agree entirely offensively for the Packers to when you talk about a game, you're going into thinking that against this defense, you're only going to get so many shots. You're only going to get

so many bites at the apple, so to speak. If the Packers are going to clean up the penalties, the false starts, the delayed games, the holding penalties, the things that have that have set them back and prevented them from being as efficient offensively as I think we've seen

that they can be. This is the game to do that, because um it will opportunities will be difficult to come and if you get behind the chains against this defense, this pass rush, I mean a pass rush that gets the job done with four that doesn't have to send a whole lot of blitzes and whatnot. They can rush for and cover seven all night long against Aaron Rodgers, they can make things difficult. So you don't want to.

You can't turn your second and fours into second and nines with a false start, is what I'm saying, because that will really really cost you against this defense. Yeah, and and that's what really sticks out to me in this game is that the areas where Green Bay has wanted to make improvements and where they need to make improvements in the second half of the season, all of

them are going to be tested against San Francisco. When you look at how they can attack the middle of the field, When you look at how defensively they are able to get home with pressure and not having to send that extra man, even being able to keep guys back play solid coverage, be up on their fundamentals. That's why San Francisco is where they is where they are. Excuse me there, you guys, what is either way? Uh?

And Matt Lafleur discussed it this week too. They are a couple of plays away from me an a tenant old football team going into this thing. They are dangerous, volatile, and they can find different ways to make you submit in certain ways. And I think that's why they've been able to win, you know, the games that they have in these recent weeks when maybe they're giving up a few more points, is because they're resilient enough to be

able to find ways to do that. And that's actually real testament to them because when you just are holding teams to load mount of points, few amount of yards, it's difficult when you start to give those up to be able to just find that calling card again and revert back to it. San Francisco has done that. And the other area that I'm very fascinated to watch how this thing plays out is that they just don't give the opposition a lot of free passes. Whether it is

the takeaways, whether it is the penalties. They played pretty clean football for how many weeks did you hear me? Come on the show, I can talk about them being the big fundamental And there were a lot of pundits out there, I'm not going to name names that wanted to talk about the Saints. They want to talk about Seattle, they wanted to talk about these Everybody kind of just overlooks San Francisco for some reason. And I was sitting there, going, Guys,

this team right now now. They might not have Drew Brees, they might not have these superstars that jump off the pageio, but kind of like those early two thousand tens forty Niners teams, they just got a bunch of guys that do their jobs really well and that is what has put them in a position right now to be at the top spot in the NFC. Yeah, there are a lot of interesting matchups in this game as we look ahead to You already mentioned Davante Adams against Richard Sherman.

We're certainly going to see that affair amount. David Baktiari will be against Nick Bosa um the second go round with with Abosa brother for the Packers this season, Um Joe Staley if he plays for the forty owners, he is on the injury report, and also Mike McGlinchey, their other offensive tackle. Those two guys against the Smiths. Uh, you know for the Packers on the edge, Um, is there one of those types of matchups in this game

that jumps off the page at you the most. Well, first off, it's definitely the left tackle situation for the forty niners. If you know you're in a position where Staley still not able to come back and he has not yet returned to practice here, well, then that becomes an area that you think, you know, Mike Patton is gonna look towards to potentially generate some pressure and opportunities.

Eighteen and a half sacks for the Smiths coming into this game, and I'm sure you know, not even just lining them up across from left tackle, but just being able to move those guys around and be unpredictable. That could be a big key for them. I also think it really does come down if George Kittle is playing this game, how you defend him? Is that Ibraheim Campbell who played forty two snaps against Carolina? Is he your best option? There? Is it having Adrian Amos trail him

a little bit? Is it a guy like Tremont Williams and in certain situations, it's going to be the inside linebackers, or or are you flat out doubling George Kittle every time he's on the field, and you're counting on Alexander and King and Tremont Williams for that matter, to match up one on one with Emmanuel Sanders and Deebo Samuel and whoever else is out there. Maybe that's the approach, because because Kittle is just that dynamic, he changes, he

changes games so much. When he gets gone, well, he loves you, right, I mean, the reason why he had as many yards as he did last year is because he's so darn effective and first in ten and being able to to get the yardage and keep the chains moving. But then every once in a while he breaks that big play that can be such a big difference. And that's what stands out to me about this. Kyle Shanahan offense bunch formations, condense formations, motions, misdirections, things that challenge

the communication of a defense. And then, oh, by the way, once the ball is actually snapped. They have so many different guys with so many different skill sets that are going to stress you in split second decision situations where if you fall behind, They're going to be able to get the necessary timing for Jimmy Garoppolo to get the ball out. So that that's the area that I think

Kittle has just been exceptional. And it doesn't even really matter who the quarterback has been for San Francisco, he still is just always accountable, always available, and the best friend, Mike. I don't care how good your receivers are. I don't care how good your running backs are. The best friend for a quarterback is a dynamic tight end that makes himself available in the middle of the field. You've seen it since the beginning of time with this league, ever

since that that position was created. You've seen it with this offense. In particular, when the tight ends get going. George Kittle is the guy. He has been the guy for the last few seasons. And along with stopping the run and not allowing them to leak and get those extra yards and have the favorable down and distance, you have to find a way, regardless of who the player is or what number it gets, you know, called upon,

to be able to find a way to stop him. Yeah. Well, as we've been talking about all week, this is a big one. Forty are nine and one. The Packers are eight and two. You look at what else is going on around the NFL in Week twelve. If I've got that bio always messes you, Yeah, well it messes me up to I'm getting older. But the New Orleans Saints also eight and two. The Seattle Seahawks also eight into.

The Minnesota Vikings are eight and three. They are on their bye week, and the Vikings and the Viking fans will be sitting on their couches on Sunday night hoping that they'll be going back to work on Monday in a tie for first place in the NFC North if the forty Niners beat the Packers. The Packers, of course trying to maintain that one game lead on Minnesota in

the division. The game that was flexed out of the Sunday night game, which as the Packers and Forday Nights took this slot, was Seattle on the road at Philadelphia. Now the Philadelphia Eagles, you talk about a talented team that has had injuries and ups and downs and everything else. They they are five and five. They have looked like a five and five team. They've just say they've ridden the roller coaster all season long. But they're playing at home.

We all know, you know, there are some strange statistics about West Coast teams playing in the Eastern time zone at that one o'clock Eastern because that's you know, ten am Pacific for a kickoff for those teams. So that'll be interesting here. And the Seahawks are coming off of their by, but they were in some dog fights the last couple of games before there by. They had to go to overtime to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they went to overtime to beat the San Francisco forty Niners.

This is a really interesting game to me. Philadelphia wanting to try to keep pace with Dallas in the NFC East in a division race that's still very much up for grabs, and the Seahawks, much like the Vikings, they're going to be hoping that if they can get a win and the Packers get a win, then the Seahawks will would be in first place with the Niners in the NFC West, kind of like with the Cardinals and

what I was talking about this week. I mentioned it more in inbox than I did on the show, where the Cardinals are probably gonn end up being a seven and nine, eight and eight team that I want nothing to do with. The Philadelphia Eagles are one of those teams too, because they can play with anybody in this league. And the tough thing is, I think sometimes people have a hard time rationalized in this because there is only

six playoff spots needs conference. Good teams can be eight and eight, like you can actually be a good team that is eight and eight. Heck, maybe even seven and nine on occasion, just when the ball doesn't bounce a certain way where you just don't get up for certain games. Philadelphia has sort of been one of those teams, and not just this year, the last couple of seasons. You know, a team that's just always been hovering right around five

hundred but can play with the best of them. The two most compelling matchups for me, outside of obviously this game that did give flex of Sunday Night Football are Seattle traveling to Philadelphia for the reasons that you outlined, and then also the Carolina Panthers happy to go to the Superdome to face New Orleans Saints. Both the Eagles and the Panthers are five and five. They are on the precipice here of trying to stay in the race for the playoffs there and they're in danger in in

a loaded NFC, they're in danger. You pick up your sixth loss before Thanksgiving, you're in danger of falling out of it entirely. And you know, Mike McCarthy always talked about you need to be ten and six and then you can start talking about playoffs. And in order to be able to be contend and actually be a legitimate playoff team, you have to beat teams that are not only seeming destined for the playoffs, but teams that are going to contend for a Super Bowl here, They're gonna

contend for an NFC championship. They're going to make that push once the calendar turns to two thousand twenty. So for Philadelphia, this is a gut check. It's a gut check for Carson Wentz. Can he be the quarterback weekend and week out that they need him to be. You know, what is their identity running the ball? Is it Jordan Howard?

Is Jordan Howard going to be available? I mean, like there's all these different things that they have to check off, because while they are talented, just always seems like they've just come up one or two plays short from being the team that I think everybody expecting to be. I me personally going into the year, I thought, with Carson Wentz back, this is going to be the champion in

that division. I don't care. You know. There was all the mess and situations and talk and what was going on in Dallas and Zeke Elliott was even gonna play when when when we saw the Eagles at lambeau Field in week four and again this is the Eagles riding the roller coaster. They look to me like they would win the NFC East in week four, I thought, you know, okay, this this team is going to put it together. They're gonna get rolling. It hasn't happened. Now, hasn't happened for

the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East either. They are six and four. They have to go on that they have to go on the road to New England. So if you're the Eagles here, you you look at this, You look at this and go, okay, we're five and

five after ten games. We don't really like where we are, but hey, you know what if we can win at home against a playoff contender in Seattle, and if the Cowboys go out to Foxboro and get beat You're sitting there tied six and five with the Dallas Cowboys for the lead in the NFC East with five games to go, and they have one more head to head matchup coming

up later this season as well. So um, for all of the ups and downs that the Eagles have gone through, they are absolutely right in this thing, especially if they can get a win over Seattle and another. True, the reality is there's a very good chance that that team that wins that division could very well end up being nine and seven, eight and eights. So you gotta keep

yourself in that. But if they do, whoever it is, you get a home game in the playoffs because you're a division champs, right, So I mean in Seattle Seahawks with the six and ten record or whatever it was, Yes, they were, they were seven and nine, and they beat the they beat the New Orleans Saints. Just get in. You never know. That's what makes this week so interesting though, because there are a lot of bad football games, but there's really like five or six that have just these

incredible implications for the rest of the season. When we talked about the Panthers trying to stay with an arm's reach, of the Saints as they run away with that division. You got the Jaguars and the Titans both hovering around five. They're trying to, you know, take something with this. The Oakland Raiders need to beat the New York Jets here to be seven and four. The Oakland Raiders could be seven and four. Can they need to beat the New

York Jets who suddenly started winning some football games. And then finally again where this thing just keeps getting more and more difficult for the l A Rams. You know, you got Seattle, you have San Francisco. In order to avoid six and four, you have to beat the hottest team in the NFL, in the Baltimore Ravens. Good luck. Yeah, that's uh that that's that's an interesting one. Baltimore are traveling cross country out to l A to play the Rams.

The Rams coming off of a victory over the Chicago Bears, but a victory that a lot of people said, you know, you didn't really look all that good. You got the win. Yeah, but you know this Baltimore Ravens team coming in very different offense than the one that the Rams faced with the Mitch Drabinsky and the Chicago Bears. So that's an intriguing one. And for anyone out there in the Nation's Capital, I hear Lions Redskins you can get tickets on the

secondary market for like five bucks for that. Yeah, that's what I heard. So that's out there. Not that that's a great note to close on the thing with Washington right now. Yeah, Washington. With Detroit having their backup quarterback, and I mean it's that that's uh, that's one of

those that's that's down on the list this week. As you said, it's sort of a it's a slate of you got a handful of games that it seems like nobody's really going to care about, but then you've got a handful of games that are really really intriguing on the schedule. It is funny though. I mean, Pittsburgh is going to owen ten Cincinnati, Yeah, Dolphins are playing the Browns. Great. Uh yeah, the Bears thing. The Bear is going to

face the New York Giants. So yeah, it's just a lot of things that make you just kind of be like, okay, but then those five other games, man, it's almost playoffs season. Yeah. Absolutely, Well with that, we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packer's own script, and be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and all of the happenings in the big Sunday Night football matchup

Packers forty on Sunday Night from Santa Clara. Subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services, and please check out the new Packers YouTube channel. All kinds of great video content out there on YouTube from Packers dot com. Thank you for watching, everybody. We will see you next time.