#508 Packers Unscripted: Surviving Seattle

gonna start right here. When it was three at halftime, when it was ten in the middle of the third quarter, you still just knew it was gonna come down to the end, right, I mean you just you knew it. And that's exactly how it played out. So I thought this game on so many levels illustrated just the absolute brilliance of both Are Rogers and Russell Wilson. Yeah. I said that all week long last week, starting with Russell Wilson.

Phenomenal performance by him. I know it wasn't picture perfect, but as I said to you from the beginning, Mike, with him, he can win, for lack of a better term here, term here dirty, not in that sense, but in terms of like he can do it ugly and Seattle said they wanted to run the both Marshawn Lynch. I somewhat felt all along that that was an ill advised plot. They did it, they did not, They tried.

They tried, so they went back to their bread and butter, which is asking Russell Wilson to just do superhuman things. Evening at the improv at lambeau Field. I mean, it was just he was just making it up as he went along, which is what he's done all season to get the Seahawks as far as they got, Yeah, and being able to open up some big plays there for Seattle. He's the type of quarterback. He's what you need to

win in this league. The game is never too far out of reach for him to come back and mount a big rally. Aaron Rodger years, I've been saying for so long now because people always think and it's just all because I worked for the team now and I'm Packers dot Com since the very beginning. People want to paint this thing of is Rogers passed his prime? Is he is he passed it or whatever? If you consistently beat that drum, you end up looking like a fool.

Because the one thing I think a lot of people don't realize is in addition to Aaron Rodgers being a generational talent and making countless amounts of throws in this game that a very few number of humans on this planet can actually do, Aaron Rodgers still has that greatness

in him in the most clutch situations. I said all last week I was expecting the best version of him, and that's what you saw in this They got the twenty three yard game from Aaron Jones early, but otherwise they couldn't really run the ball the way I thought that they might be able to against Seattle's struggle. So it had to be on Aaron Rodgers. It had to be Davante Adams and Rogers played I I felt like

a fantastic football game. And the third down completions nine of four town nine fourteen on third down, three huge third down conversions by Jimmy Graham and Davante Adams has just an iconic performance. Eight receptions for hundred sixty yards and two touchdowns. The other thing too about that, I mean, Mike, how many of those catches were just like gotta have

them grabs that were fully contested. He ran that forty yard we're talking about that post corner route, just a magnificent route adjustment gets in for the forty yard touchdown. But then to make that thirty two yard catch kind of over his shoulder with just a little bit of separation off a fade route that they put together at the line of scrimmage. It speaks to his greatness and it obviously is another testament to Aaron Rodgers and what

has been just an incredible Hall of Fame career. Well, you you can say so much about Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams from this game, just to start with the play at the end, the thirty two yard completion on third and eight when the Packers are on their own twenty two yard line there with just over two minutes to go. Rogers actually said after the game, Adams didn't just adjust the route. He was better than the check, like the check that's in the playbook. Adams actually did

a different check and it was better. And Rogers was on the same page with Adams and the throw was absolutely perfect. And that was one of many throws. As you were just talking about that, I mean, I don't know how many times did I lean over to you in the press box and say, wow, what a throw.

I mean, it was at least right. I mean, whether you're talking about the third down pass to Jimmy Graham in the third quarter, right before the forty yard touchdown to Davante Adams, the third and ten pass over the middle, the side arm one to Geronimo Allison that kept one drive alive there briefly in the fourth quarter. I just mentioned the one to Adams, the one to Graham at the end of the game where he has to stand

in the pocket. He's got to hold it as long as he can to give Graham a chance to break free coming on the crossing route. He takes a shot, but puts the ball right on the money. And that's just that's only the start of the list of the throws that Rogers made in this game. I thought it was an absolutely tour to force performance by one of the best, by one of the best ever. And statistically I looked it up. I wrote about it. The hundred and thirteen point seven passer rating. That's only his sixth

highest postseason passer rating for a single game. But when you look at those handful of five or six throws that were absolutely pinpoint spot on in difficult spots. I I thought it was just it was masterful work by him. Yeah, And it's the reason why I will continue to say I mean, it's just a garbage argument when people put out this below average or average whatever you want to label him as, keep doing it, go ahead, it's fine.

But the reality is is this is a human game played by real people that actually have, like you know, a brain and a personality and things they enjoy doing off the field instead of just playing football for sixty minutes and going back into a corner for the next

seven days. And Aaron Rodgers, I think when you look at just what it requires to play this game at its highest level, I thought him and Russell Wilson just put on a clinic for what it takes to play quarterback in two thousand, nineteen and two thousand and twenty. They were just epitome of everything that is great about this sport. And why I think you can't make just asinine comments about you know, this being the end of this, or this being the end of that, or he isn't

the player he once was. It can always change. And here's the beautiful thing, Mike, It's not just Aaron Rodgers Matt Ryan has up and down years. Philip Rivers has had up and down years. Guys have up and down years. Because spoiler alert, it's a pretty dang hard position to play in the NFL, and for Rogers to step up in that situation with the temperature being what it is, the stakes being as high as they were, Packers got off to the fast start they needed. They haven't these

last few weeks. It's been really tough trying to get points on that opening drive. Seattle wins the toss to fur and the Packers march right down. They needed to set the tone in this game, and then when they needed to get their form in an offense going late, they were able to accomplish that again as well. Yeah, well, certainly Davantae Adams took his place in the Packers record books here with this eight catch, hundred and sixty yard performance.

It is the most receiving yards in a single postseason game in franchise history, one more than the hundred and fifty nine that ja Michael Finley had in the two thousand nine wild card overtime shootout against the Arizona Cardinals.

But you think about it was Davanta Adams is at the top of a list that includes Max McGee from Super Bowl one, Jordy Nelson from Super Bowl forty five, Antonio Freeman from Super Bowl thirty one, John Jefferson from the big postseason game that he had in the early eighties. I mean, Davantae Adams hundred and sixty yards is at the top of that list. And he and there were times in the game where he absolutely looked dominant doing it.

I mean there was the one, the one drive in the first half where Rogers just on different routes against different coverages, it was just bing, bing bing seventeen seventeen seventeen, just kept hitting him every time for a first down, Packers marching right down the field. A couple of the fans who were chiming in while I was live blogging kept using the word surgical the way Rogers and Adams were connecting and moving the ball in the first half.

I thought that was a very apt description. And uh, Rogers talked after the game about how his his connection, that that chemistry, that telepathy, whatever you want to call it, with Adams is just on another level now. And Rogers actually brought up that it's it's getting like it was with Jordy Nelson, and that is not a comparison that

he would make lightly. I mean, he's he's never said it in that way before about Adams, but in this game, that's how it felt and that's how it looked, because it's not just the gold standard for Rogers in a receiver, that's the gold standard for any receiver in quarterback scenario. When him and Nelson had and being able to be on that second level ten years together, Yeah, it's an

incredible run. And now you see Davante Adams now in year five of this thing, you're six of this thing now being able to develop that relationship now with Rogers and obviously be able to have that telepathy in their communication, how they deal with each other. It was interesting to talking to Geronimo Allison the locker room after the game.

He said, you know, all week long, you know, Tavante just had this look in his eye like it was just like he was kind of in on a secret, like he just he knew he was going to play well in this game. And Davante was asked about that after Alison made those comments, and his thought was two things. One, he played really well against Seattle, last year ten catches a hundred and sixty six yards and the last time, this is what I really enjoyed the last time the

Packers came off of a by five years ago. Also in the in the PLAYFFS, he also played really well against Elis. Those are things that actually bolstered his confidence going into this, and he said it's because of like anything, if I go up against a cornerback who has success the same cornerback, the same team, the same circumstances a year later, that's going to be in the back of his mind. So he's like, I can't see how that wasn't something Seattle was thinking about in despite you know,

the extra tension they gave him. He I thought, put on just a clinic when it came to his footwork, in his fundamentals and what was asking at that receiver position. And then oh, by the way, when you tie all that together, he's a pretty remarkable athlete too. Yeah, I mean it was that that was a that was a remarkable performance, and certainly the Packers want to see Adams and Rogers on that same page again next week out in San Francisco. But real quickly here was 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 defensive side of the ball. Here for the Packers, tale of who has curly um. The Packers were bottling up the run game, bottling up Russell Wilson,

frustrating him, you know, not letting him scramble. He's trying to get off some passes just as he reaches the line of scrimmage, you know, trying to fool the Packers into committing to run or pass on on those scrambles. And green Bay holds him to just three points in the first half, one field goal, one missed field goal. They stood up tall enough at the end of the first half to render um uh hail mary as the only chance there at the end of the second quarter,

which fell incomplete. But then in the second half it was a totally different story. Russell Wilson was doing his Russell Wilson things, his his improv his making it up, his incredible elusiveness. I mean, the Packers sacked him five times in this game. Weston. It was like they could have sacked him fifteen I mean, there were there were so many times. But you know, Green Bay is not the first defense that Russell Wilson has has done this to.

This is just the way this guy plays. He for all the times that he does get sacked, he is He is incredibly hard to corral and he's very difficult to bring down. And really it came down to finally, third and six, fourth quarter, right around three minutes to go, Preston Smith comes blowing around the right tackle and gets a clean shot on him and drops him. Seattle punts the ball and then doesn't get it back because the Packers get the two big third down conversions, and uh,

you know that's that's how you close out. That's how you close out the Seattle Seahawks is you make the big stop on third down and then you don't give him the one last chance that you were looking for. Yeah, I thought it was apropos when you look at just the entire defensive performance the first half. It was Zadarius Smith getting the two sacks, Kenny Clark knife through got another one. I thought Kenny had a really good start.

He had to chase Wilson down was like he had him and then he got away, and then he ran him down and then got him before he got back to the line of scrimmage to get that sad. Yeah, and it's fun because it's like, that's kind of what it's like when you're playing Russell Wilson. It's like these shoes string tackles every once in a while and you'll take him. But the second half it shows you again

why Brian goodykinstant just stopped with Zadarius Smith. He went and signed Preston Smith too, because I thought Smith, especially in that fourth quarter, was just exceptional, you know, exceptional. What was what was his line after the game, defending Russell Wilson is like chasing a chicken in a field with no fence. I think that was the I think that that fantastic description and uh and absolutely spot on

the way that game was unfolding. But again it goes back to the mental toughness of that defense because the third quarter was rough. I mean, Seattle marches down the field both times, puts up fourteen points and now suddenly the complexion of the game changes after very dominant first half, but they needed to not only find a stop late

in the game. They needed to do that because now the game was only five points in Seattle had a chance to march down the field to pull ahead in the waning moments of this game, and they stepped up towards that they got a critical stop and being able

to then execute the four minute offense. This defense, Mike, I mean, when all the Chips are down, they always find a way to persevere, and it is it's really interesting now that they will get an opportunity to see if they can get that redemption against you know, Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco defense or offense. But we'll we'll get more time for that later this week. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Well,

we've seen it time and time again, Wes. And this is what I focused my entire game recap story on that I wrote last night. This Packers team, they make the plays in the fourth quarter when they have to have them. And as you said, it was like the Chips were down, Seattle seemingly had all the momentum in the world, and then you look at the sack by Preston Smith and then the two third down conversions on offense. The past two Adams over the top and then the

crosser to Jimmy Graham. When you look at it in you know, the play by play because of the time outs being used in the two minute warning, those were three really really big clutch plays that happened within like ninety seconds of game clock. And if any one of those three plays within that ninety seconds of game clock isn't going the Packers way, if the Packers don't do what they have to in those moments, we might be

talking about a different ending here. I mean it was there were there were big time moments, and as the Packers have done far more often than not this season, they came through when they had to come through. They really did. And it's funny too because if you look at this whole game, uh, you know, Jared Valdeer ends up playing and you know, having to start. We haven't even we haven't even talked about that yet, but wow, what a what a performance by him, And well, you

know they'll talk for you know, decades to come. Here in Packer fans circles about Davante Adams and the performance he had and Rogers leading them past Russell Wilson getting some playoff revenge against Seattle. But then there's a guy like Jared Valdier that I think only like the true die hards are going to remember this game. But Brian Blaga, who successfully cleared the concussion for WoT A call earlier in the week, is so he's able to take all the first team reps at right tackle. The plan is

for him to be there. Even won the Stand Up Guy Award on Friday. Everybody's feeling really good about this thing. And then the day of the game, that dreaded bug, that flu bug that's been circling around the locker room, it gets Brian Bulaga, and Bilaga, to his credit, was active for this game. They did have him up. But whatever happened, you know, in those hours in between there and eventually we'll get a chance to talk to him.

They ended up having to make a decision basically half an hour before the start of the game that they're gonna go with Jared Valdere and outside has he even said it outside and maybe one rush against Jadeveon Clowney where he was able to get inside of him. The

guy pitched a shut out. This is a guy that was retired two months ago at this time, a guy that had stepped away from the game, had already played in over a hundred regular season contests, had started thinks maybe somewhere around a hundred and nineteen he was done. And then here he is in a very critical late season and the acquisition by Brendan Brian Goodkunst play and one of the most important downs of football the Packers

have seen. Yeah, well, Rogers said after the game actually that he saw Bolag a kind of tap himself out during warmups where you know, they during warmups, they line up with the full offense, but it's kind of on air. You know, there's really no defense on the other side, and they're just they're just running through certain formations and plays.

And Rogers said, after one of the players Bolaga just kind of walked off to the sideline, you know, signaled for valder to go in and finish up, you know that round because we and that was and and then that was it. Bolaga basically took himself out and knew that he wasn't going to be able to go and

that's essentially when the decision was made. And you know what val Deer did stepping in, obviously he was huge stepping in the fourth quarter in Detroit for the Packers to get the first round by when Bolaga got the concussion, and then he comes up big yesterday and Rogers was joking, you know, on the sideline with him saying, you know,

isn't this amazing? You were retired like two months ago, and val Deer said, dude, I was in the stands that Soldier field watching you guys beat the Bears in Week one, I mean, his first week of football retirement. You know, he's in the crowd in Chicago watching the kickoff opener of the NFL season and lo and behold the team that he was watching get a victory. Is uh the team that he's starting for at right tackle in the NFC Divisional playoffs four months later. I mean,

it's it's really, it's really a pretty remarkable story. You couldn't you can't make this stuff up. And you know better than anybody might cover in this team. As long as you have now. It is one thing to just

stay in shape. It is another thing to actually be in a condition to play all, you know, meaningful snaps late in the season after you didn't have an off season programmer or training camp or anything like that, and to play a full game to not just filling in for a quarter like he did in Detroit, which was which was solid enough, but he had he had to go wire to wire against the Seattle Seahawks and a fair number of snaps against Mr Clowney. Yeah, and just

the you know, that's an important acquisition. And it's funny. He actually said afterwards to this this public virus that's going around, he caught it too, uh And I think David Boctryo was talking with Rob Demovski about this too. He worked through it last week and Valdere said, I mean, it is it's bad. What he had was bad. And he's like, you know, he understands why Brian Blaga was in the position he was in and the fact that

he would have done anything to be out there. But sometimes, man, if you get full blown influenza, it'll get you and there's no amount of fluids or anything that's gonna get you through that. So fortunately for the Packers, again, this is a this is a guy that they claimed off waivers from New England at the end of November, was activated what December nine or something like that, and here he is now having to play in three critical moments.

You know, in in that first month with the team. Well, just quickly to recap everything else that happened on divisional weekend. As everyone knows, the Packers opponent in the NFC Championship game next week will be the San Francisco for the Uniters, so it is the one seed versus the two seed

in the NFC. The game will be at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, and obviously we'll be talking all week long about how the Packers, uh, you know, looking to avenge obviously what happened out there in November, which was really the low point of the season quite frankly. In the a f C, the Tennessee Titans go into Baltimore and knock off the top seeded Baltimore Ravens. So now the Titans keeping their playoff run going, they will travel to Kansas City for the a f C championship game.

As the Chiefs recover from a twenty four to nothing deficit and outscore the Houston Texans fifty one to seven over the final three quarters of the game. So some really interesting games in the a f C. But with the a f C and the forty Niners, I think if you look at the four NFC playoff games that have been played so far, the two wild card games, the two divisional games. Hands down, the most impressive performance impressive victory was Sam Francisco over Minnesota. It was dominant.

The San Francisco's defense shut down Minnesota and the Vikings could not stop San Francisco's running game. And twenty seven to ten does not describe how dominant that victory was. Yeah, it really doesn't. And the one thing that that stood out to me is that all the year long I talked about the Vikings are just a different team when Delvin Cook is out there. Credit where credits do? San Francisco took away Delvin Cook and the Vikings abandoned their

running game altogether. That's how good that front is. That's how good those two nose tackles are for San Francisco. You and I were having a conversation with James Jones before a PEP rally on Saturday, and Jones great to see j j. He made a great point when he was talking with us about what you have to do. Hopefully I'm not taking away any of his fodder for this week on NFL Outwork, but when you're playing San Francisco,

good luck. If you're trying to move the ball up the field between the hashes, you have to get the ball outside. It doesn't matter if it's the runner pass. You have to be able to produce outside and stretch them horizontally. That I think is gonna be one of the big adjustments the Packers are gonna have to make this week, because you know, Minnesota was who they were. They're a north south running team. That's where Cook's bread and butter is. But they just were not able to

get the push in the lanes to open up. And if you're not able to get the run going, we've seen it so often that destroys the play action pass for Kirk Cousins, and it's it's kind of a self fulfilling prophecy from their San Francisco is a real problem. I mean, they're gonna be a challenge and the Packers are going to go there and try to reverse fortunes.

I have to mention to Tennessee versus Kansas City. I actually can't think of any better storylines going into a conference championship in terms of both of those teams than Tennessee and Casey. From Casey's perspective, Andy Reid. How special would that be for him to lead another team to a Super Bowl still chasing that Lombardi Trophy. That would be an incredible achievement Tennessee. If they would actually make a run here, if they can find a way to

turn back Kansas City at home. You have to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens and Patrick Homes in Kansas City, all on the road, on the road to go to the Super Bowl, all on the road. That's a remarkable run that would be either way. That storyline is going to be great. Yeah, Final four. I don't think it could possibly get any more compelling. Yeah, I'm this This is it's gonna be. It's gonna be a great Sunday of football, and we

got all week to talk about it. We're kind of up against the clock right here, so we're gonna call this one a rap. On Packers Unscripted, be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team all week long on NFC Championship Week here on Packers Unscripted. You can subscribe to us like us on iTunes and other podcast services, and check out all sorts of great video content on the Packers YouTube channel for WES. I'm Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody. We will see you next time.