#504 Packers Unscripted: Matchup musings

The Seattle Seahawks in a very prosperous decade right for the franchise. They've been known for an incredible home field advantage, for a powerful running game, and for a stifling defense. The two thousand nine Seattle Seahawks lost four games at home, but they are eight and one on the road after winning the wild card game on the road at Philadelphia.

Their top ranked running game that was built throughout the course of this year has lost all of its top running backs, and the defense that everybody comes to expect is actually ranked in the bottom third of the league in the regular season in both yards allowed and points allowed. So this is not the classic Seattle Seahawks type of team that we've come to expect, but yet here they are just like the Packers, two wins away from a

trip to a Super Bowl. Yeah. I think I've always said I feel like there's a lot of parallels between Green Bay and Seattle. Uh, and it's been that way for the last ten years. And I think that's probably kind of an offshoot of John Snyder and his touches on that franchise since two thousand nine. But also this year,

I think their response to adversity. When you look at the final eight teams that are left in this playoff hunt, these two teams are there because how they've responded to having to overcome injuries and set back x and defeats and and the CTL Seahawks. You know, Matt Lafleur said it at the podium on on Monday, they are a tough team. Now. I think the one constant binding this altogether,

the glue, so to speak. As Russell Wilson question, undoubtedly one of the top five quarterbacks in the National Football League, It's gonna be able to cover up some holes for you. When they lost the running game, he became more fleet of foot. They've had different players like you know, DK Metcalf and certainly Tyler Lockett now for a number of years has been a difference maker at receiver, and he's

found ways to make do with those pieces. And I just think when you really break it all down, his ability to extend plays, much like Aaron Rodgers, is such a huge advantage for Seattle's offense, especially the way that they're structured. Now, the question I wonder is they had

seventeen backfield carries last week for nineteen yards. That is just you've never heard of that before with Seattle and the way that they structure their offense, not to mention that being successful in winning a playoff team those types of numbers. So what I wonder is, if they can't get Homer going, if they can't get Lynch going, how far can this team go? Does the run end on Sunday? We'll have to wait and see, But certainly with Russell Wilson,

he always is going to give you a chance. Well, it certainly seems that as this year is unfolded, the Seahawks continue to put a greater and greater burden on Russell Wilson to make this work. There are times, and obviously, since you and I cover the Packers and we're traveling and everything else, we don't always get to sit down

and watch complete games of other teams. But the times this year that I have watched the Seahawks for any length of time, it seems that there are significant stretches of games where when if they can't get the running game going, where suddenly everything offensively is just off schedule and improvised, and it's all on Russell to run around and make something happen, either either scramble for the first down or you know, get right over by the sideline

and then sly boom, he whips a past to Metcalff or Lockett or somebody like that. A lot of the off schedule stuff, and I think the Packers heading into this matchup, he just you have to be prepared to play defense for seven or eight or nine or ten seconds on every play. It's just gonna be this, this extended battle on every single snap to get a play over with when Russell Wilson is doing what he's doing.

And the fan asked me that insider inbox this week, do I feel like they can keep up with Wilson for sixty minutes. I actually do think they can for whatever reason. When you look at Russell Wilson's career statistics. Now, obviously he won the Film Mary Game, he won the NFC Championship Game, but his numbers are not gaudy. Against Green Bay, he's struggled. Now one of those games was historically so, but still, I mean his he has the lowest passer rating against Green Bay than any other team

in the National Football League. And I think one thing that Dom Capers did well, and even to a certain extent last year, Mike Petton did well their ability to kind of keep eyes on him at all times, rush from inside, contain the pocket. You want to make him throw in that atmosphere and have him step up rather than getting outside that the hashes and and really doing damage, because that's when his feet can become a real problem.

What I like though about this, the way that this defense is constructed is you have multiple guys that all can play that spiral. It can be Kyler Facral, it can be Zadarius Smith. You have a couple of safeties and Adrian Amos and in Ibrahim Campbell that I think are up for it. That's such a critical thing because when you look and when the Packers had problems with the read option in two thousand twelve and two thousand and fourteen, they just didn't have a guy other than

maybe Clay Matthews that could really play that role. In Matthews, you didn't want to take him out of the pass rush. So I just think all of those variables are things that are going to benefit them in this game because it doesn't have to be one guy that's on him for the entire game. Mike Petton can mix and match depending on what he wants to do with his personnel packages.

And I've really, I've only believe, but the way they've developed Darius Smith and how Kyler Facral has played a very quiet but important role for this defense all year long, that's going to give them a lot of flexibility that's going to not allow the Seahawks to be able to

pinpoint one guy that they need to, you know, basically stop. Yeah. Well, I wanted to get into some what what we perceive as some of the key matchups in this game, kind of like we did a couple of weeks ago with the big game against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football and as we're talking here is Mike Petton versus Russell Wilson. Is that the matchup that essentially defines this game? Do you think I think it is? Up there? I

think it really is. I mean, when you look at how Petton and the run that this defense has been on now for the last five games, um that this historic streak of holding teams underneath twenty points, twenty or fewer points, being able to generate turnovers, you know, not? You know they I feel like they've curtailed a lot of those explosive plays that kind of bugged them in

the middle of the season. They're still not perfect. There's still areas that they need to work on in certain things that they need to change, But all things considered, I think as a unit, as eleven people on the field at one time, they're playing as well as they have all season. So Russell Wilson's is going to challenge that though right much like Aaron Rodgers will, He's going

to challenge your integrity. He's going to challenge what happens once the pocket breaks down, once the play gets extended, and how you respond to that. They haven't really seen a guy like this this at this point of the season maybe with the exception being Lamar Jackson, with that being a preseason game. So I just think there's so much history between these two teams, so much knowledge that this defense is going to have of him. Obviously pett and seen him a number of times as well. It's

gonna be a really intriguing matchup. But ultimately who wins that particular chest match between Wilson and how Petton wants to defend him that has such critical implications for this game because of how much Brian Schottenheimer is running this offense through Russell Wilson at this point in time. Yeah, I think the other one people are going to have

their eye on certainly, and we'll see. With regards to Seattle's running game, Pete Carroll has already mentioned he wants to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch more that now that Lynch has been back for a couple of games, they may start trying to feed him and establish him more. But DK Metcalf was the big individual star of that wild card game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and this is a young man, a young receiver, a rookie who has

really really come on strong. I think in the back half of the season, certainly not looking or playing like a rookie anymore. And I think it's an interesting decision for Petton in terms of how to match up with him, because from a size perspective, you have the six ft three Kevin King, But by the same token, your best pure cover guy is Jayyar Alexander, who from a size perspective,

is a little bit smaller. Obviously you can rotate around, you know, clouds and safety help and and different things. I'm really curious to see because I don't know what ultimately Mike Petton is going to decide here. I'm very curious to see how he decides to defend Dk Metcalf. I am to be because not only DK Metcalf, but you know Tyler Lockett in the slot. That's not a position that Jagr Alexander typically is in either. That's what Trumon Williams is. So how do you use number twenty

three against Seattle? That's a great question that they're gonna have to answer. It was really fun listening to Trumon Williams. In a tip of the cap to Tremont Williams, uh, he said he had two minutes quick because he had to go get a massage in at the end of locker room on Monday. He's still stuck around for six

and a half. But near the end of that he gave one of his best quotes I felt, because he was asked by I believe it was Jim Mozarski from The Journal Sentinel about you know, if he sees any parallels between Metcalf and Calvin Johnson, and he's like, you know, for as big as Metcalf is and he's big and he's fast, Calvin Johnson was bigger. I mean, that just gives you an idea of what kind of talent he

was and how difficult he was to defend. But at the very end of that, he said, there are comparables between those two guys, and I just think with Metcalf, he's such a great story. I wrote this an inbox too. He's a guy that I think I personally have always kind of pushed for a little bit because I don't know if I can remember a player with no off the field issues, no character flaws. There wasn't any of

those type of questions that caused him to fall. It was just this incredible scrutiny that was placed on his game, and you know, maybe a little bit more sensitive to this because I just did that Alan Lazard story three weeks ago, and Lazard talked about, you know, when you're six five, the challenges of proving the teams that you are a receiver and that you can be accountable there and that you have the speed and you have the speed to do it. And DK Metcalf who everybody said

couldn't run routes. They were showing these videos of all this is an impressive route running, or he's not fast enough, and here he is making a huge impact and is a big reason why Seattle has made it to this place in the playoffs. I'm excited to watch him play. I'm excited to see how the Packers match up with him because I think when you look at the difference makers, the playmakers with Seattle's offense for the first time in a long time, it starts with the receiver position. It

starts with him. Yeah, well, when you look at some matchups on the other side of the ball, Bobby Wagner, kJ Wright, couple of linebackers who have been doing it for a long time for Seattle. There, Bobby Wagner certainly the you know, the heart and soul of of that defense and has been so for a long time now. The Packers are going to get Aaron Jones Jamal Williams

going in the running game. If they want to get those running backs going in the passing game, It's about finding way to get those linebackers blocked because because right in Wagner, those two guys can you know, whatever it is fifty three yards wide, is the field or whatever the measurements, they can cover the whole thing sideline to sideline, as the saying goes, and I think, uh, um, those are the two guys the Packers have got to uh They've got to get them blocked to get Jones and

Williams involved to the extent I think that Matt Lafleur is gonna want to get them involved. Yeah, and you mentioned, you know, all the changes and how different this Seattle team is from some of the ones we've seen in the past. The one consistent factor throughout the two thousand tens in the decades was just really high level caliber play at middle linebacker. Certainly Wagner and right are a

big part of that reason. But what impresses me the most when you look at Wagner's game is we're talking about a guy that's now in his eighth NFL season. In this day and age, it is getting more and more difficult to be a high impact player at middle linebacker into your eighth, ninth, tenth season. It's just with the speed of the position, the speed of the game.

There's just certain things that you see certain guys step up in their first rookie contract and almost sort of like a running back, they just can't sustain that level play into their late twenties and thirty and the whole proliferation of sub packages and everything else where. You know, guys are always looking for a specialist to fill in here or there and whatever. As you said, Bobby Wagner

is the constant. And when that Seattle defense, Yeah, when you can defend the nickel or the past and a true nickel, that's a real that's an advantage for a defense right now with the way the game is structured. But for Wagner to come back, him and you know, Blake Martinez were right there with each other all year long for the tackle lead in the NFL. Wagner ends up getting it a hundred I just he is he's

a difference maker. And seeing how I wrote it an inbox today, I just feel like this game has to start on the ground for Green Bay. I threw out

those statistics. When you look at Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams when they rush for a hundred yards, the Packers are undefeated this season, they're six and oh, that number becomes seven and oh, if you want to throw in Aaron Jones going for a hundred fifty nine receiving yards against Kansas City, the offense when they produce the Packers win, and seeing if they can penetrate that front and get those middle linebackers moving to whether it is through the

pass or the run, that is just I think it's such a huge task that the Packers need to accomplish in this game for it to go the direction they needed to. Yeah. Well, we also mentioned did jadeveon Clowney yesterday? And I apologize I meant to look up before we came in here, But is Clowney primarily going to be over Brian Blaga or Yeah, that's sort of been the way he lines up on their left side, right, Yeah, it's really when he was in Houston, they just would

put him anywhere. Yeah, they moved him all over the place. I drew those comparisons with the Dairy Smith. I mean, you look at how much the Darius played off the line of scrimmage this year. It's pretty uh emblematic of what Clowney did in Houston. He was really effective in that role. But yeah, they were doing that in Houston with Clowney and Watton Merciless and you know, and and Shuffle and those guys around all the time. But he seems to be a little bit more predominantly on one

side the defense has left the offense is right. I think Bilaga is the one who's going to see the Lions share of the work, so to speak, against Clowney on Sundays. Yeah, Clowney is such a funny player because if you look at him this year, thirteen start or thirteen games, eleven starts, he only had three sex. He actually had more forced fumbles than he did sacks this year with four, also through an interception for a touchdown.

But as a number of pundits and analysts had pointed out from that game against Philadelphia, I mean, you want to talk about that defensive performance and why the Seahawks were able to dominate the way they did and really keep the Eagles out of the end zone. It starts with Jadeveon Clowney. Now he will rush both sides. I mean,

they do still flip flop those guys. I think in this day and age, you really it's difficult just to key in at one spot because of the attention that you know potentially the the offense is going to give you. But all that being said, I feel like this final stretch of the year, after he worked through some injuries, I mean, you're seeing a guy that that was the first overall pick, that was maybe the most highly touted defensive prospect entering the NFL since I don't know, maybe

going back to two thousand two with Mario Williams. There's just so many people that were high on him. And while he's never had like that nineteen sacks season, he's just been a consistent performer and he doesn't in a multitude of different ways. Packers have an very interesting week they have to go through here with the offensive line. They're kind of battling a little bit of an illness bug. They were able to get Bloga back at practice on Monday.

He's still in the concussion protocol from what I understand, but the fact that he's out there and with any setbacks, you would hope that he'll be on the field on Sunday because having him and David Baker in a game like this, I mean you could as you tip your captain Jared Valdier a very ad morble performance that he had against the Lions. But box Tr and Bolag are the reason why the Packers have made it to this point of the season and being as effective as they've

been on the offensive line. Box Tr also welcoming in a new left guard in in Elton Jenkins. At the right guard, it's been Billy Turner moving in next to Bilaga. The way that those guys have galvanized that offensive line, it's been so critical that success. And if you're gonna be able to hold up against this Seattle front, you're gonna need those two on the field. Yeah. I couldn't

agree more certainly. There. I want to back up for one second, though, because I neglected one thing with regards to the Packers defense matching up against the Seattle offense. We saw in the wild card game. The Seahawks upfront offensively had a really, really hard time with Fletcher Cox the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, they're not the first offensive line in the world to have a hard time with Fletcher clock Cox. He does that to a lot of people.

But my question for you, Wes is seeing what number ninety one for Philadelphia did in that wild hard game, what do you think that means for say Kenny Clark or for Zadarius Smith. With the way Mike Petton has been moving him inside to attack on the interior at certain times, what do you think what do you think that means or or what might we be seeing come Sunday in terms of that type of match up. Well, and it depends, you know, if Mikeya Potti is going to be able to play in this game. That's been

sort of the question mark. The veteran guard was not available against the Eagles in the wild card round, but some early reports were indicating even when he was ruled out for the Eagles game that if the Seahawks advanced, they were expecting him to be available for Round two. Yeah, it was a big loss. Earlier this season, they lost Justin Britt, who had settled in at their center spot for the last few seasons. Joey Hunt I believe it was a former four or six or seventh round pick

for them. Has been sort of like there, Lucas Patrick, He's been in the you know, the practice squad and on the roster for the past two years. He's been the guy that's settled in there. But the film is what it is, and there was a lot of disruption that was caused by Fletcher Cox and what Philadelphia was able to do in the middle. And I've always said, if you want to know, not really a blueprint, because

anything can change it in any given week. But I mean the history is when you can pressure Russell Wilson from up front, not only does that make it more difficult for him to escape the pocket, it doesn't allow him to step into throws when he needs to make

them from the pocket. I really believe, Mike, this game has to be about Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry and Zadarius Smith, what kind of disruption they cause, and also how they're able to stay fundamentally sound in their rushes to not get beat on the other side of that, because if you do lose containment, Russell Wilson will go up the middle of the field and he will burn you for ten to fifteen yards at any given time. That is going to be such a huge challenge I think for them.

But when you see what Philadelphia did with Fletcher Cox, who at this point in time, I put him right up there with Kenny Clark, right put Kenny Clark up there with Fletcher Cox, I should say I agree. I just think there is a plan in a formula for what Mike Petton can do to make life as difficult as it possible for Russell Wilson in the middle of the field. Okay, one last thing to throw at you

here before we go. I mentioned at the top of the show the Seattle Seahawks eight and one on the road this year, seven and one in the regular season, they win the wild card game on the road. They've got this whole road warrior mentality going. Packers are seven and one at lambeau Field. The last eight Packers Seahawks games and thirteen of the last fourteen Packers Seahawks games have been won by the home team. Do you think

it means anything? Um, I think that the latter stat does the home field advantage because I think both of these teams historically, not just this season, have played well

to their home stadium. I mean, you can talk to Mason Crosby about the advantages of a kicker knowing what it's like to be in Lambeau and in the quarterback of the defense, and when you get this crowd going for meaningful games, what that does for this roster and how difficult that can be for an opponent, and certainly Century Link that goes without saying, so I understand the

challenge for both teams going into the other stadium. Now, this might be the pessimist in me, but a lot of people will look at the seven and one now eight in one record for Seattle and they'll say, I mean the road Warriors, and they are the proof is there. But I always look at that as a disadvantage going into this, much like I kind of looked at the Packers going into US Bank. You know, it's kind of disadvantage at times too. One Green Bay is a much

different place to play in with the weather. If it can be in the twenties, if there's maybe a little bit of snow, that's a game changer, especially for a Seattle team that hasn't been able to consistently run the ball since Chris Carson got hurt. But more importantly than that, it's really difficult to go eight in one as a road team. It's even more difficult to go nine in one.

So I think there's probably a glass half empty, half full approach to how you got to view that number, because sometimes while it does look like it's a team that can handle that, there is another side of it that says, this is a team that might be due for a our performance on the road too. Well, there's one thing we definitely do know about both of these teams, and that is that they know how to win close games. The Seattle Seahawks have won eleven games with a margin

of eight points or less this year. The Packers of won eight of their victories with a margin of eight points or less. So these teams they know what it takes to win close games in the fourth quarter. And certainly, if wild Card weekend was any indication we're gonna have a four quarter game on our hands, it's gonna be a dogfight. I don't see any other way around it.

We're always talking with John Coon about this in the locker room when we're kind of like breaking down this matchup and what you know, those exact numbers too, of how colmony one score games these two teams have been in. I wouldn't anticipated being a blow out either way. And the thing that makes it the most captivating is the one score games. I understand how those can go either

way depending on a play here there. You know, maybe a lucky bounce, but there is something you learn about yourself and there's a confidence in a swagger that comes with it when you are on the winning end of that. So many times, I think so too. A real argument can be made these are the most forged teams in the NFL when it comes to fourth quarter football and seeing what that battle looks like as nightfalls on lambeau

Field on Sunday night, It's gonna be really exciting to watch. Yeah, I think so, and we'll this is the topic I think we'll revisit as the week goes along here, but for now, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team previewing this big playoff matchup on Packers dot com. You can subscribe to us like us on iTunes and other podcast services, and check out all the great video content on the Packers Excuse me.

YouTube channel for wes I Am Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.