Hi everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is the one and only West Hodkowitz. Were coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field, WES. Our final show of the week, Our final show before the Monday night showdown in Minneapolis Packers Vikings at US Bank Stadium on Monday Night football. So it's time to talk Keys to victory. What do the Packers need to do to emerge victorious and clinch their first NFC North title for the first time in
three years. Whoever is running the ball for the Minnesota Vikings stop that individual. So if it's Dalvin Cook, Alexander Madison, Matt Mike Boone, Robert Smith, Adrian Peterson, whoever is back there for they make sure you're stay on top of it. Because the thing is is that I think by all accounts, Cook is not playing in this game. Mike Zimmer has not said that, but again those are what all the reports are. We'll see what happens in the lead up
to kick off. But Alexander Madison not practicing this week. Now the spotlight is on Mike Boone and you really don't know exactly who's going to be back there, what they're gonna do. The thing I like though, if you can stop the running back, whoever that guy is, that's where you're making Kirk Cousins win this game for the Vikings. And don't get me wrong, he's certainly capable of doing that.
But the less dimensions he has to work with and the fewer weapons that there are available, it's gonna behof the Packers and their defense. Yeah, and I don't have a whole bunch of statistics in front of me, but I've seen things and read things over the course of this season. For as strong as season as Cousins is having, and he's having the best season of his career with a one eleven passer rating, it's only thrown five interceptions. Two of those came against the Packers in Week two,
but he's only thrown three interceptions since Week two. Kirk Cousins is much much better are off of play action and that bootleg stuff. Then if he's just a straight drop backpass or taking snaps in the shotgun without all the other action that makes you know, the defense have to honor other things. I think that can be said for a lot of quarterbacks. I'm not trying to pick on Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers looks a heck of
a lot better off of play action as well. We've talked about that, but that just goes to your point of whoever it is that's running the ball for the Vikings. If you can clamp down there and take away some of the the play action and bootleg stuff that is such a big part of the Vikings offense and the action that they get off of those maneuvers, I think that does put the Packers defense in a pretty good position. Well, and again the Mike Spotford let's be real Moment of
the Week sponsored by a quick trip the Packers. The thing is is that Delvin Cook is a dynamic football player. He's been voted to the Pro Bowl for a reason. So we saw bust off of seventy five yard touchdown run here at lambeau Field when his team was down still as by the way, Yeah, but here's the thing is that if Cook is unable to play, the Packers need to make this game look like Delvin Cook is not playing in it. You can't let the next guy up,
whether it's Madison Boone or whoever. Be, you know, come in and feel really confident. They've been doing a really solid job. I think the last two three games of not allowing explosive plays and for the most part limiting the damage that running backs have been doing. I think you're seeing Kenny Clark and Dean Lowry and that defensive front really gel together and get some really good solid, uh you know, tackling at the second levels is you know,
kind of played into all that. And if the Packers can win that aspect of this and get Aaron Jones going on their own side of the ball, I talk and I mentioned over and over again trying to take the crowd out of it at US Bank Stadium. Eliminating explosive plays in drawing this thing out is the number two top two things that I think kind of fit
into that recipe for for success. Yeah, I mean when you talk about taking the crowd out of it, I mean there there's is nothing better than hitting an explosive play, staying out of those third down situations offensively, and nothing is going to slow down the pass rush. Daniel Hunter, Everson Griffin going against Brian Blaga, David Bactieri. Nothing's going to slow down that edge rush more than getting that
running game going for the Packers. If you can get the vikings to have to honor the run, you know, Aaron Rodgers if he's got an extra half a second and actually extra three quarters of a second because those pass rushers have to play a little bit of run on the way to the quarterback, as some folks like to say. I think that can make a huge difference here. And the other thing I think that that goes without saying is obviously the turnover battle, which we can get
into some of those numbers as well. Yeah, and this is to be honest with you, Aaron Jones performance in that first game against Minnesota twenty three carries for hundred and sixteen yards five yards of carries. His longest carry was fifteen yards in that ball game. To go for a to go for a buck sixteen with your longest carry being fifteen, that means that means you were pretty steady,
pretty consistent, and a and a regular mover of the change. Yeah, and to do that with five yards a clip, I mean that shows you that there weren't a whole lot of one and two yard carries in there. That is them consistently winning on first and second down. And when you think about the start they got off to in that game, like three straight offensive touchdowns, being able to turn over a football that is I think what kind of set the table for them to have the day
that they did. You got to repeat that. Yeah, absolutely with regard to the turnovers, I think, as we've been talking all weak long, it goes without saying, especially anytime you go on the road, you go into a dome and a noisy venue, and you look at this Vikings defense. They are, I believe it's fourth in the league with twenty seven takeaways. They're coming off of a seven takeaway outing against the Chargers. The Packers are a few steps behind them in the rankings, either sixth or seventh in
the league with twenty three. I mean, some of the numbers get skewed a little bit. As I said, the Vikings just had seven takeaways in one game, and you know, things got out of hand again it's the Chargers. The Packers got two takeaways last week, one on a hail Mary at the end of the half, the other one on you know, the multilateral final play of the game. But you can you can parse the numbers and and say what's misleading and whatever and any which way you
want to. I think the Packers have to win the turnover battle in order to win this game. I just I just think that they're the great equalizer when you have a lot of other things going against you. And I think with the Packers going into this building, with that crowd, with that Minnesota defense, and and what one or one or two turnovers can do for Minnesota's defense, and what that's going to do to the crowd, the Packers just cannot go down that road and expect to
win this football. Yeah, And and that is especially in that environment, because in any other road, you know, you can't lose one or two points in the turnover differential and expect to win on the road. You're gonna need things to go your way in different areas for that to play out. But in that stadium, a place where the Vikings are undefeated this year. I don't know their exact record over the last three seasons when they're in
that house, but it is difficult to beat them. And even when teams look like they've had the upper hand, they just haven't been able to finish it. So I think when you go from the first game of the year with Green Beta where they need to be at in this second match up with Minnesota. They got off to that first start they wanted, that first quarter they wanted, but what does it look like in quarters to what does it look like after halftime? You're gonna have to
keep that up. It is impossible to play a a complete sixty minute performance. There's always gonna be something in there you're gonna want back. The game is just too many plays and there's too many variables, especially when you're on the road. But if you end up coming out and having a good start, and you come out a halftime strong and you protect the football, that's the recipe. It's it's it isn't a secret what you have to
do to beat the Vikings. It's just the amount of perfection that you have to achieve to do it is That's really the challenge. Yeah, and we talked about a bunch of the key matchups and whatnot in this game on yesterday's show. But the other thing that that it really is interesting about this because, as we talked about last week, it had been a long time since a Packers Bears game at lambeau Field had such high stakes
for both teams. It's frankly been a while since a Packers Vikings game anywhere had stakes this high now I know. In which was only four years ago, the Vikings were coming to lambeau Field in the regular season finale and the NFC North title was on the line. But the Vikings and the Packers were both already in the playoffs, and neither team had a shot at a first round by it was really just who's gonna host a playoff game and who's going to be on the road for
the playoffs. The Packers lost, the game went to Washington, the Vikings ended up hosting the Seahawks this game. The Packers can clinch the division with a win, they can keep themselves on track to get a number at least a number two seed in the first round. By Meanwhile, the Vikings are looking to clinch a playoff spot with a win. Now there's a chance they could get into the playoffs if on Saturday night, if the Rams lose to the forty niners, the Vikings would already be in
the playoffs before Monday night. But of course they're still looking at what they would still be looking at, wanting to win the division, take the division from Green Bay by by winning the last two games and seeing the Packers lose the last two games. So this is this is a as as high stakes a Packers Vikings rivalry game as we've seen in quite a while. It is. Yeah, and I go back to and they knew they were
in the playoffs. I mean, like you go back to two thousand twelve, even when they were at the YEA. Was definitely big because the Vikings that was at the Metro Dome. The Vikings needed to win to get into the playoffs. The Packers were. The Packers were in the playoffs and were the division champs, but we're looking to win to get a first round by so there was a lot on the line for both teams. Adrian Peterson had the big monster game as he was chasing the
single season. It was he was at a hundred ninety Yeah, it was a hundred nineties something that he got. He ended up like seven or eight yards short of the record. I think it was yah um and uh um. Yeah. So the the Vikings got in the playoffs, the Packers ended up having to play in the first round, which ended up being against the Vikings. And then Christian Ponder didn't play and Joe Webb was the quarterback and the
Viking season ended at lambeau Field the following week. But it's funny too because the Packers then had to go on the road to San Francisco. We all know that story very well. San Francisco got the bye instead of
Green Bay is essentially what happened. The Vikings got the last playoff spot instead of the Bears, and that result at the Metrodome really just changed the whole course of the the NFC playoffs did, and it caused me to do a midnight overnight drive back to green Bay, Wisconsin because we had availability at seven thirty in the morning. Right that was that was an interesting time time, but
because when the Packers played on Saturday. But so all these things stitched together though, it shows you what the stakes are and in the original point that you presented this is this is the highest stakes game between these two teams in some time. And it's funny that no matter what happens in this league where the Packers they went down for two years, Minnesota was out of the playoffs last year, the cream really does always rise back to the top. And I think when you look at
not only Green Bay, but also Minnesota. During the Mike Zimmer era, these have been two of the more consistent teams in the NFL. So to see them square off here with these kind of steaks, uh, it is, it's it's. I think it's a real testament to how those both of those teams have sort of pulled themselves back up thought through adversity and now we're on the precipices again
here of the playoffs. But Minnesota, you can tell Mike, And I'm sure Mike Zimmer's message all week long has been to his guys, what's at stake, what we have to do to achieve. It doesn't matter who's out there, this is our house. We have to protect it. So for green Bay, that is the uphill back climb that
they face going into that venue. Yeah, and just interesting how this season is ending schedule wise, with the Packers playing back to back division games on the road here in week sixteen and seventeen, the Vikings playing back to back division games at home to end the regular season. Um, Packers have you know that leg up right now, but they need to win in order to in order to
keep that and they want to make a statement. I mean, that's the one thing I've been writing an inbox all week, and it's one thing you and I have been talking about. You want to make a statement. As much as Minnesota I think needs a marquee win, I think Green Bay to feel good about the wins over the Giants in Washington and Chicago, they need to win over a winning football team, a good football team, to show them, Okay, what happened last month against San Francisco, that's an anomaly.
We're going to press forward. We're going to be a contender. Well that and and that's the thing West, You and I both know nobody's oblivious to the fact that the the outside twelve six narrative on this Packers team is the analysts looking at what happened in San Francisco, what happened you know, in l A against the Chargers, that when this pack As team goes on the road, they're they're a different team. They don't live up to, you know,
what everybody thinks they could be or should be. And and the Packers are being looked at as as not as strong a contender frankly as the forty Niners and the Seahawks and the Saints. For all the national analysts
that are looking at it. You completely change that narrative if you go into US Banks Stadium on Monday night and pull out of victory every the and not that, not that anybody inside this building, not that anybody in that Packers locker room or in the coach's offices on third floor above us care at all about what the national the outside narrative is. I'm not saying that that you know, they couldn't care less about it, But it will change dramatically and swiftly if the Packers go into
Minneapolis and get a win. Yeah, and I liken it a lot to what happened in two thousand fourteen with the Patriots. The Patriots came to lambou Field, things didn't go well for them. It was a really competitive football game, but they lost. After that game, they went on a four or five game winning streak to finish the regular season and then just went all the way to the Super Bowl and won the darn thing. So there is a lot to be said. I don't care what the
opponent is, I don't care what the record is. If you find a way to get yourself on a four or five game winning streak to end the regular season, I can think of no better way to propel yourself into a postseason run. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, looking at some of the other games here that impact the NFC playoff picture already mentioned, the Rams and the forty Niners are
playing on Saturday night. Packers fans Vikings fans will be on opposite sides there because the Vikings will be hoping that the Rams lose because that gets them into the playoffs. The Packers hoping that the Rams can win and stay alive and hand the forty Niners another loss, which will which would help the Packers in their quest potentially for a first round. By then, you look at Sunday's games. The New Orleans Saints are on the road at the
Tennessee Titans. And then the other one is the Seattle Seahawks. Are they at home or on the road. They're at home against the Cardinals. At home, they're at home against the Cardinals. So Packers fans hoping that the Seahawks potentially get another loss tagged on them if the Cardinals have
something left. Um as far as the Saints going to Tennessee, I've been you know how I've passed through all these different playoff things or whatever, I honestly can't really figure out a realistic scenario where the Saints Titans game even matters because it's against an a f C opponent. What I mean is, if the Saints were to lose, it doesn't really afford the Packers the opportunity to lose and then still win the division against the Lions and get
the first round by. They would because the Saints are playing an a f C opponent in this one. If they were to lose and the Packers were to lose, the tiebreaker thing gets all changed around and the Packers would still need the Saints to lose to the Panthers the following week in order to get the first round by. So yeah, sure, cheer for the Titans and and you know if you don't want the Saints to win, But honestly, I just don't think that game really matters in in
the big picture, just the way the schedule fell. Yeah, it probably doesn't because the Packers still have to win their games to be able to keep that laid ahead of the Saints. But you know who doesn't like to see a nice little Saints lost your division or your conference. They are going on they are going on the road, against a team that's fighting for a lot because Tennessee is right in the picture in uh in the a f C. And and the Saints have had some issues
on the road. Yeah, and this is actually really good test. I love Mike Vrabel's defense. I think that's a really good unit. I think that's been the strength, that's been
what they've carried their hat on this season. Is what exactly they've done so far and being able to, you know, win these games a lot of times with what they do on the defensive side of the and the resurrection of Ryan Tannehill at quarter absolutely and and Tannehill playing my strake mistake free football and not allowing them to win some ballgames. So yeah, you're right though they still have a lot to play for. Is they try to make a chase here and Vrabel obviously trying to put
his own system in place. So if you can take out the Saints, you're feeling pretty good about yourself. But yeah, that is a tough task and certainly uh challenge there for for Tennessee. Yeah, before we go one, I want to get your opinion has absolutely nothing to do with the Packers, but Buffalo Bills versus New England Patriots. What do you think? Yeah, interesting, right, I think it's I think it's really interesting because the Patriots have not exactly
looked like the Patriots, and Buffalo's defense is really good. Yeah, so Patriots defense is exemplary. That's one of the reasons that they are where they are. But it's funny how much the sentiment has changed from the first time these teams played each other, because if you go back early in the season, that was the only winning team that the Patriots had played. They handled them fine, uh, and
they just went up out their way. Buffalo starting to feel a little bit better about itself and the Patriots have kind of gone through this mid season lull, this this mid to late season laws, so seeing how they bounced from back from it is going to be interesting. And certainly with Josh Allen, Buffalo's had. Buffalo's chalked up some nice road wins this year. I mean everybody saw obviously on Thanksgiving they won at Dallas, but Buffalo has also won at Tennessee and they won at Pittsburgh in
a primetime game last week. So, uh, now they go they go into Foxborough trying to even up that season series against the Patriots. I also do have to ask the NFC East. I was waiting for the cow Boys Cowboys almost I almost forgot about it again because it doesn't it just doesn't affect the Packers. I'm sure when we get to our hotel Saturday afternoon and Miny or I'm sorry, Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis, will all be turning on our TVs to watch this or we will. We'll see.
I don't know how much I want to put my eyeballs through that, but well we'll see exactly how come on, it's it's I think it's going to be an interesting game. Though it could be very interesting. But it's kind of like, you know, like you remember all those old wrestling posters when you were a kid, or maybe boxing where they have like the big Marquee matchup and they have like a big phrase on the bottom makes you want to buy the pay per viewer for the Tallas Cowboys in
philadelph Eagles. Mine would be who wants It? I'd be like right on the bottom it like who wants this thing? Hey? All the jokes aside Dallas. I thought that was a gut check moment for them last week. Big big win, Big win for the Cowboys and looked impressive doing it because kind of like the the New Orleans Saints thing that you were outlying as far lays of packers. If the how Boys lose that game to the Rams, doesn't really matter, Maybe not because you can come right back
and be Philly. But man, good luck beating the Eagles. Just no matter how banged up they are, it's gonna be difficult to beat that team if you don't have something to feel good about. The Cowboys were able to do that. They handled it better than average Rams team at home. And here they are now going into Lincoln Financial and seeing if they can hold onto this this division. Yeah,
the Cowboys can clinch the division with a win. If they lose, then the division comes down to Week seventeen and the Cowboys and Eagles are playing the Giants and the Reds. I'm not sure who has whom but Carson Wentz though, I gotta give it up to Carson Wentz. He's sometimes We talked about two thousand and fifteen with Aaron Rodgers with how banged up everything God, and it was like, Okay, the offense just had to be Aaron Rodgers and making it work with all these pieces. That's
where Carson Wentz is at right now. Last week throwing for three or thirty some yards or whatever it was without having really any of his starting receivers and being down all that person way deep in their depth chart at the skill position he is holding them in this playoff run here to try and you know, make something out of what has been a really you know season
full of a lot of adverse. Yeah. I think it could be a really interesting atmosphere at Lincoln Financial and Philadelphia with the Cowboys coming to town on what's at stake, But it should be a fun weekend of football heading into the big show down Monday Night. With that, we will call it a wrap on this edition and this week of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and all the coverage of
the big game on Monday Night football for Minneapolis. Subscribe to us like us on iTunes and other podcast services, and check out the Packers YouTube channel for all kinds of video content. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you next time.