#494 Packers Unscripted: Matchup mania

in prime time obviously Monday night. As I I was thinking about this game before we turned on the cameras to start the show, all these different matchups started going through my This is this Packers Vikings showdown as a game of matchups. There's going to be some really intriguing one on one type of battles to keep an eye on. So let's just work our way through some of them. What's the first one that comes to mind for you?

So there's a couple, right, and I think we're gonna probably take some time here and go through all of them throughout this show. But I would be remiss my tendencies. I want to say Stefan Diggs, right, But I think we gotta go back and we gotta remember that Week two game and remember some of the storylines that came out of that Kenny Clark ate Garrett Bradberry's lunch in that game. That was a big reason for the disruption they were able to cause and being able to get

Kirk Cousins off his spot. Now, Bradberry is a rookie, he's matched, he's matured, he's gone through this whole season, so he's in a different place now, I think than he was in Week two when he was playing his

first road game. So seeing how that matchup plays out, because you've got Kenny Clark now who's playing some of his best football the year, going up against Bradberry, who's settled in with I think an offensive line that people generally would consider to be improved from Minnesota this season.

I think that's just one little thing in terms of, like, if you're talking about the follow up to that Week two game, that's gonna be one to track, but I would be I mean, it is Stefan Diggs, how the Packers want to defend him, What exactly the utilization is going to be of him in this fence from Minnesota. You talked about it on yesterday's show. I mean the effect he's had, how successful he's been, and just the day one to today, consistency of his production has been

a real problem. It's been one of the reasons too, that Kirk Cousins has been able to get into this groove after both of them worked through a few things earlier this season. Yeah. I know neither you nor I is in the defensive meeting game planning room here, but

I'm just gonna toss this out there. We know it's Stefon Diggs and Adam Theland, and we know there's Jairo, Alexander, Kevin King, and Tremont Williams as the top three cornerbacks for the Packers in this mix, do you think Mike Petton wants to match up, you know, match guys one on one and and travel around or do you think he wants to keep guys on certain sides and see where it falls so that Alexander will get snaps against both of those guys, for example? Do you have any

gut feeling as to how this might go? I have, So I call it select matching, right, because I think you could take jayre and I think something that I really would like to see them do this final stretch of the season is really match him up with guys. So whether it not it's digs, whether or not it's Gola day, and then certainly whatever happens in a potential

playoff run here. But at the same time, I think with when theels in the slot, I'm fine with Tremont Williams being the guy, maybe covered him with some help over the top gian here. I just I've said this a couple of times now, Mike, but I just think he's graduated to a role now where he can handle just being on a star receiver and being accountable to that assignment where he doesn't need the extra helper attention,

and that's so valuable in this league. I think Sam Shields when he was at the peak of his power, probably two thousand fourteen, that's where he was really good, right. I mean they could they could take him and they could put him against Calvin Johnson. They could just have him matchups against specific receivers and he'd be just fine. Yeah. Al Harris was a similar guy sort of in the

previous generation of the Packers defense. You might say, I just think it'll be really interesting to see because theeling is back from his injuries, missed a bunch of time in and out of the lineup with hamstring issue, but with Digs and Feeland both on the field and with with how the Packers are going to match up there, I do think I think Alexander obviously has risen to a level. As you say that that puts him in a little bit different category than maybe the Packers have

had at cornerback over the last couple of years. And and that's a that's a nice piece for a defensive coordinator to have, and especially at his young age. Mike, you talked about l Harris. L Harris was in the league for four or five years before he became an entrenched starter. Sam Shields was in the league for three or four years before he became an in trench starter. We're talking about three year old young man that has been thrown into that and really does not back down

from it. He's a heads up player, he's a smart player. He plays with his instincts and that's what completes him. It isn't that he's just fast and quick and you know, athletic. It's what JayR does during the week and in the classroom that has allowed him to become the player that he's going to be. Because he's on a really solid upward trajectory right now to being a lead. Yeah. Well, obviously you mentioned one of the matchups in the trenches,

Kenny Clark against Garrett Bradberry. I think the other one or ones that people are certainly going to be talking about. We mentioned Daniel Hunter quite a bit on the show yesterday, Hunter against Blaga on one edge, Everson Griffin against David

Baktier on the other edge. And these are matchups that are really really key for the Packers in this game because the Packers offensive tackles you're on the road, the tackles are the guys furthest away from the ball sort of on the island where those those edge rushers have that advantage with the crowd noise and the silent count by the offense all that kind of stuff. So this becomes a huge task. And we've seen it West, I mean so many times, and not just the Packers, but

anytime the Minnesota Vikings play at home. If if those edge rushers start to take control of the game, they get they get the sacks and sometimes it's sack fumbles, and they just they can just completely stymy and offense with what they can do off the edges, and the Packers have of their three time All Pro and now Pro bowler David Battier against the snubbed Brian blaga Um. This is just a really really big game for both of those guys, it is, and that's one of the

reasons why. And you talked about it on the show, and you wrote about inbox and I made a headline out of it an Inbox the the NFC man that NFC North just doesn't really get a lot of respect, and I never understood that. As much as I'm sure fans like to beat up on each other about the Vikings and Bears and Lions, NFC North has been pretty darned good for the past decade, and there's been more often than not there's been a wild card team that's come out of this division in some cases too. I mean,

that's just the way this thing plays out. And with that has come a lot of really good pass rushures because when Aaron Rodgers is a predominant player in your division, you have to be able to pressure. The Bears did that with Khalil Mack and this these bevy of pass rushers that the Vikings have had over the last ten to fifteen years, it really speaks to that. So for Brian Bouloga to be consistently facing off against that caliber of opponent. Yeah, I don't want to get back into

why he got snubbed and all that. We've discussed that enough. But the fact that the Packers can go into a game like this and they do it twice a year against Minnesota and always feel okay about their chances, that's a really testament. That's a big testament to him and David baktr and the rest of that offensive line for being able to make sure that their quarterback is protective. Yeah.

I don't want to revisit all the Pro Bowl thing, the whole Pro Bowl thing, either, but I will throw this out there because it just occurred to me maybe Brian Bolaga didn't get any recognition in the whole Pro Bowl thing because he hasn't signed a new contract for five years. He's in the last year of a five year extension, so there haven't been any headlines out there about Brian Bolagga getting paid all this money. You know, I just I just think maybe that was part of it,

and that's not his fault by any means. And you know how this goes in terms of recognition and and and how names and numbers and all that become attached to certain guys. And he signed his most recent contract heading into and he's in the final year of that deal right now. That's just that's just the way it is. This is what's disappointing though, Mike, right, because like it's one thing for to be like all the fans they

don't know what they're talking about, and they voted. If you look at the Packers, they had the fourth most votes among teams in the NFL. Uh And you know a lot of their players were well represented. I think Brian Blaga for a certain amount of time was up there on the tackle fan voting too. So a third of the other vote is coaches and the other third is players. Like are they that detached from this that they can't pick up on those sort of things. I

don't know. The question was asked an inset or inbox about if you put more weight into All Pro or Pro Bowl. I always say All Pro, no question, because I know the people. It's a much more elite group. There are fewer selections, and it's uh, it's not it's not just a voting popularity type of thing amongst amongst fans and fellow players and stuff. I mean, these are the these are the Associated Press writers who cover this league year after year after year, and they take this

stuff serious. Absolutely take the responsibility very serious. I don't want to talk on this turn here, but I know a lot of the guys that do this, you know, in Green Bay and in other places. I mean, they go around and they're talking to players about particular pass rushers in offensive lineman. They're trying to get into the nitty gritty details. They work hard to make sure that those things have the credibility to it. But who deserves it. At the end of the day, there is a Pro

Bowl game. That's where the attention is, that's where the eyes are. And unfortunately, you know, sometimes the popularity sort of sways what I think maybe is sometimes the really deserving guys. But it is what it is, all right. Well, a little bit of sponsored business here. 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, another matchup? I want to throw your way, because I think this is a really interesting one, and for me, it's Aaron Jones against Eric Kennerys. And the reason I say that is because we've seen teams when Aaron Jones is split out in the slot or split out why to potentially be a pass receiver running

routes and whatnot, we've seen teams take different approaches. The Kansas City Chiefs got burned by trying to cover him with a linebacker, and the Packers ended up winning that game in large part because of what Aaron Jones did as a receiver. Other teams have have decided to put a cornerback on him has which has taken away some

of those routes. The Minnesota Vikings have one of the best, if not the best cover linebacker in the league right now in Kendricks, and I don't think they're gonna mess around at all with asking some cornerback to cover Aaron Jones as a past receiver. It's going to be Eric Kendricks. And if the Packers want Jones to be involved in

the passing game, that's a matchup Jones has to win. Yeah, the only modification that the Vikings can make here and it's because they are the Minnesota Vikings that are as deep as they are with their secondaries, they could potentially put a safety on him just because of how deep they are if they're in some of their sub packages.

But that being said, at the end of the day, if you have a coverage linebacker that you feel good about, nine times out of ten, he's going to be the guy going up against that running back because you feel good that he's not going to get burned. So I'm doing a Q and A right now for for eric Um Smith over with the Vikings this week, and he gave me five lists of questions and one of them is which player on both sides of the ball are

you most excited to watch? And I make the kind of comment of, well, you can just pick pick whoever you want. On the Vikings defense. There's a lot of the guys that are worth the price of admission and guys we've been watching for a number of years. But Eric Kendricks is one of my favorite guys in this league.

I loved him when he came out of college. I think he brings a really unique, dynamic skill set to that position and he's one of the future of that position when you're talking about guys that can play three downs and being as effective as he could still be when operating in space and the coverage. So he's really he's become again one of these guys in this defense

that I think you have to watch out for. And the nice thing is that, again getting back to the sequel to that week to matchup is well, Aaron Jones is a lot more of a known commodity when it comes to the passing games. So how does Mike Zimmer want to attack that? How does Matt Lafleur want to attack this? Are we going to see more to backpackages

again to kind throw them off? Are we're going to see him motioning, you know, outside back to the backfield to see exactly what you know, matchups they can win from that perspective, There's a lot of questions going into this, but no matter which way you slice it, it's gonna be Kendricks and Jones that ultimately are gonna probably be the ones that decide who ends up being the victor in that In that battle, yeah, I think that's gonna be a really interesting one, and certainly Kendricks will be

trying to plug holes, you know, in the box when Aaron Jones is taking handoffs as well, not just trying to cover him as a receiver. Another question to throw your way, who covers Davante Adams. You think they go with Trey Waynes. I think it's going to be Waynes because Xavier Rhodes has not had the season that we're accustomed to seeing from Xavier Rhodes. I think they're gonna put Trey Waynes on Adams and then just deal with the other matchups as they come. That's probably right if

we talked a couple of days ago. It might have even been yesterday. We've done a lot of shows this week without locker room availability. But you know when I mentioned they aren't quite as dominant defensively as they've been Minnesota, I think a part of that probably does fact during the roads in the past defense, But Trey Waynes was an investment too, and Waynes has kind of always had to sit in the shadows a little bit there, even though he did come in as heralded as he was.

When you have Xavier Rhodes there, it's gonna be tough to really stand out. But I think he is probably one of the future for them at that cornerback position. So yeah, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Now, the real question is if the Packers keep showing the slant in these slot looks with Davante Adams, how do teams want to attack it? And exactly are you gonna travel guys there? Are you gonna throw your nickel back on him?

That's something that we're gonna have to see. Because the Packers didn't go out just flow blown, say this this week, but then moving him to the slot and then getting the match up against Scrin, you can see that was something they just wanted to take advantage of that. That was something I think one of the reasons you see

him have thirteen fourteen targets in this past week. Yeah. Well, and Aaron Rodgers and Matt Lafleur both said that that fourth downplay in the early stages of the Bears game that was not designed to be a shot play for the end zone, but Adams in the slot, they got the matchup against Scrine and Aaron rod just let it rip. Yeah, it was one on one without really any help over the top. So it was a great, you know, you

know thing for them. I more than anything right now, Mike, I think you're seeing Davante Adams find a stride again. I know there's been some ups and downs for this offense and then they're still trying to get some things ironed out. But Davanta Adams is looking like Davante Adams again, and you're gonna want to get him the ball as often as possible, and how teams want to defend that.

Starting with the vikings here, that's gonna probably give you a big indication of when are the opportunities going to open up because as much as it can be about Aaron Jones and Davante Adams, and trust me, that's where the ball has to run through here for the Packers. If they're gonna be legitimate run, that's gonna be the bread and butter of the offense, no doubt about it. It's that attention that those two drive that are gonna get Jake Kumber forty nine yard catch. It's going to

open up al lazard for opportunities. So this is it's gonna be a really fascinating way to watch this thing play out and seeing exactly with where the Packers offenses in Week sixteen, how Mike Zimmer, one of the NFL's brightest defensive minds wants to really match up with that. Well, that's that's and that's the last matchup here I want to get to because we've seen it over the years, and what I'm talking about is Aaron Rodgers against Mike Zimmer.

Because whether you're talking about those double a gap looks with Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, you know, lining up on either side of the center, whether they're gonna blitz or back off. Where Harrison Smith lines up, does he come up to the line of scrimmage and then blitz off the slot? Does he does he stay back and help out um one of those other receiver matchups. These guys Rogers against Zimmer, they've gone, they've gone against one another.

They they put their minds against one another many many times here over the years. And but quite frankly, it's been a while since maybe one matchup with these two had this highest stage. Absolutely, yeah, it's been years in that regard. And it is funny that you mentioned the double a gap thing that you quickly pivoted to, you know, some of the other looks that they can bring. To me, that's the most dangerous thing about Zimmer's defense now in

two thousand nineteen. Is the variance of his of his personnel packages and how you can move around those pieces. Because to be honest, Mike, I mean he was on the very cutting edge of the double a gap blitz. But now you see that all the time. Yeah, against the Giant, it's been a copycat league. I still think the Vikings in terms of the way they disguise it and the way they keep you guessing about it, they execute it as well, if not better than anybody else.

But I think Harrison Smith is that is that extra chess piece that that Mike Zimmer has. Sometimes Smith will line up in the slot and he'll take the slot receiver. Sometimes he'll line up in the slot and then boom, he's coming on a blitz and then somebody else is picking up the slot receiver. But does the quarterback see it soon enough to get the ball out? I mean, all those kinds of things that that that's that's where Zimmer tries to get into get into a quarterbacks head.

And he has the athleticism at that inside linebacker middle linebacker position to be able to move those guys around and still defend the middle of the field the way you want to be able to defend it. And that's why the double A gap and some of the some of the concepts that they run off that has been so effective for so long for them in this league.

And I also got to mention, I mean, how Anthony Barr has to be the happiest guy in the room right that he ended up the saying to stick around Minnesota rather than setting sales for New York and being able to come back and have the year that he's had and for that linebacking core to still be among the league's best. Um. That's that's that's a formatable group

to be a part of. Yeah, one more before we go here, because when when I said, okay, when I said the phrase quarterbacks head, this one popped into my head. Kirk Cousins six and fourteen in primetime games, oh and eight on Monday night football? Is there a psychological component to this at all? Do you think when the ball kicks off on Monday Night? I don't. I don't think so either. But you know it's going to be talked about here all week and through the weekend until until

the game actually starts Monday night. And this is what's unfortunate. Mike for both sides. Is that Okay, if the Packers lose, well, then you're the team that let Kirk Cousins beat you on Monday Night football. Kirk Cousins has a eleven passer rating. Kirk Cousins is having a fine season season of his career anomaly. Sorry, yeah, having a cold right now? Uh that you know that that streaks gotta end? I mean, did you just keep flipping the coin? Eventually it's going

to come up heads. The Packers just have to hope it's going to happen in another year. But you know, the bigger thing I actually think that is that not enough people are talking about is probably people talk so much about the Packers, right where's their marquee win? We don't their prime time win? Have to beat Minnesota is a team that has won a lot of games against teams with below five records or at five. This is actually their chance to make a statement against an eleven

and three Packers team. I think that's the storyline here, is seeing, Okay, whatever people think about the Packers and if they're underrated, overrated and rated whatever, this is a really tough opponent for the Minnesota Vikings. How do they respond? To that type of opponent because it isn't just Kirt Cousins. Now more and more reports coming out signaling that Dalvin Cook isn't potentially gonna be playing in this game. That means it is going to be more on Cousin shoulders.

But there's a defense, there's receivers, there's special teams units that have to be able to step up for them. That's that's my biggest story. Can the Minnesota Makings be able to reach that pinnacle? All right? You want to wrap it on that. Yeah. I wanted to say one of the things. Do you you check out the dope

sheet very often? Oh? Yeah, I look at it. A fascinating, a fascinating little development that I don't know if it was Natel Cassio or Tom Fanning or maybe it was just the Lis dug up four punt returns of more than ten yards so far for Tyler Irvin. His first four all went for more than ten yards. First time that's been accomplished since Derek Mays. The thing I wanted to point out now that was such a better thing to end on than this because I just want to

talk about special teams. That's not that fun. Special teams is going to be a difference maker in this game. It's gonna be seen if Tyler Irvin can build on his previous successes. It's going to be seeing if Dan Bailey can continue this renaissance either that he's had after the carousel of kickers that they went through Minnesota finally ended up on him. Yeah, I just want didn't you just win Special Teams Player of the Week? Third time this year? Third time this year, Special Teams Player of

the Week. Yeah, accuracy this year. I honestly, as much as we want to talk about Cousins and Rodgers and the defense and the offense and all these different people, special teams, special teams, special teams, special teams, when we get back into this desk, there's one more show to shoot this week, when we get back into this desk on Tuesday morning, Special Teams. Yeah. And uh, just the

other thing to throw out too. When you talk about big games Packers Cowboys Divisional playoff between Crosby's two field goals, wasn't it Bailey that hit a fifty plus yard fifty one yard or down in Dallas that tied it up and then set up Crosby's second one to win San Bailey is a good kicker. He's had some ups and and some downs, but if you put him in a dome, he's gonna produce for you if you stick with him. Yeah,

the Vikings have all right. Well, I think we covered a lot of ground today and tomorrow we will get to actually our keys to victory and what we really think the Packers have to do to win this one. But for now, we are calling it a wrap on

this edition of Packers on Script. To be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com, you can subscribe to us like us on iTunes and other podcast services, and be sure to check out the Packers YouTube channel for all kinds of great video content for us, I'm like, thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time.