#550 Packers Unscripted: Frustrated Falcons

quarter leads the last two weeks. We started talking about that a little bit on our last show, So I'm just gonna start with this question. Are the Atlanta Falcons coming into lambeau Field a demoralized team or are they coming in an angry, dangerous team. I mean, there's definitely dangerous when you look at the tools that they have offensively and the players that could potentially hurt them, There's

no question that they're dangerous. But I don't think there's any way you could potentially not be demoralized coming off of two really deflating losses like they had. You know, this is gonna be something where I think it's gonna be a real challenge for dan Quinn and his guys to come in here because it's not like they won

the opener and then they had to demoralizing losses. They haven't won a game yet this year, and when you compound that with the season that they went through a year ago, a lot of consternation about whether or not Dan Quinn would be back to begin with. Uh, this is a really difficult spot for them to be in. And they've, you know, as we've seen the last couple of days, been getting hit by the injury bug a little bit now too. Yeah, we've found out dark quiz

if I'm saying that correctly. Denard, one of their top cornerbacks, has gone on injured reserve and he will not be available. And we'll be waiting to hear, i think, on Julio Jones, just as we are waiting to hear on Davante Adams again for the Green Bay Packers. We will see if those top whiteouts are back from their injuries. But the Atlanta Falcons do have one of the best wide receiver statistically in the league right now, and that is Calvin Ridley,

the former Alabama product. Through three games, he has twenty one catches for three forty nine yards with four touchdowns. That yardage total is second in the league to DeAndre Hopkins, the touchdown the receiving touchdowns is tied for first in the league. So even with Julio Jones not being at full strength and missing some time, Calvin Ridley is proving

to be a pretty pretty big weapon for Matt Ryan. Yeah, and this is where it factors into the danger component again when you look at what they could do on any given week with their passing weapons and certainly now with Todd Gurley being in their backfield trying to be the guy that that gets their run game going again, there's guys that can't hurt you. Ridley has been a guy have been excited about for a number of years now.

When they drafted him, I think at some point some people thought that was sort of an embarrassment of riches sort of move, but it makes a lot of sense. They wanted to give Matt Ryan weapons. They want to be able to build upon the this offensive explosion that they had three or four years ago. It's just been difficult finding the well rounded, you know, sort of structure

to to win games consistently. But certainly Matt Ryan, Ridley, and then Julio Jones if he's out there, all three of those guys can really hurt you if you're not paying attention to it. Yeah, we'll quickly hear. What's a little bit of sponsor business serious x M NFL Radio Channel eight is the only radio outlet dedicated to the National Football League seven days a week, three and sixty

five days a year. Well, Matt Ryan also has what I think the Falcons are trying to develop into sort of a one to punch, a thunder and lightning type of combination in the backfield with Todd Gurley as the main guy. And I'm drawing a blank on his first name at the moment, but Hill is his last name. He is sort of the smaller scat back who scored

a big touchdown against the Chicago Bears last week. They're trying to, uh, you know, trying to develop this this two headed monster in the backfield to support Matt Ryan and and Hey West. The bottom line is this is the Falcons team that scored ninety points in three games. The only issues they've had on offense is that they

can't score in the fourth quarter. Right, I had a chance to either extend the lead or when the Cowboys and the Bears both caught up and and you know they had they had an opportunity, certainly against the Bears. They had one last shot to go down the field and still try to win that game, and Matt Ryan threw an interception. So in the first three quarters of games, this Falcons team has moved the ball up and down

the field and scored a bunch of points. Yeah, Brian Hill is the running back that you're there too, Packers. I think I've actually seen him a little bit too in the past. I mean, yeah, he's more of a bowling ball type back. I mean, strong, powerful, and you know, be able to compliment girly in that fashion. Gurley was

a big sort of risk I thought. I mean, his last two years with the Rams, there's a lot of injuries, there's a lot of inconsistency, a lot of questions about what his knees were doing, why they weren't playing him more. And here he is now with the Falcons. I think if you get back to what he does well, it meshes well with what the Falcons want to do as well. And again it goes back to you know, this group can put up a lot of points at any given moment.

The question that I have though, is that you know, when the Packers were playing them in two thousand and sixteen, you saw the offensive weapons there. I mean that's when obviously DeVante Freeman was in his prime. They still had Tevin Coleman, but defensively it looked like they were building towards something. They basically had to press a reset there.

So if they give dan Quinn the whole season, I'm very curious to see what this year is going to look like for the Falcons, where they're going to be able to pick up their wins, and how they're going to be about going to establishing their identity because at this point, as you said, this is a group that does put up points, but when it comes down to crunch time, they've not been able to close it out.

We've said it so many times, Mike, It's something that I think a lot of people overlook, but there is something about knowing and learning how to win, and it just seems like, as weird as that sounds for a team that was minutes away from a Super Bowl victory three or four years ago, the Falcons have to get back to learning, you know, how to win again. Yeah, absolutely, And they're their biggest issues around the defensive side of the ball. Statistically, they rank near the bottom of the

league in past defense, in scoring defense. They they've really had their struggles there. As I mentioned earlier, Denard, one of their top corners now on I R won't be available. I think they're their toughest customers, so to speak, as far as defensively so far, has been Grady Jarrett in

the middle of that defensive line. He's been a really, really good run stuffer in this league for a while and teams haven't run the ball all that well against the Falcons, though, I still wonder about their run defense, just because they've had leads and in the second halves of games opponents have been doing nothing but throw to try to catch up, which they've been successful doing. But also on top of that, Grady jarreted isn't as an interior rusher. He has two and a half sacks and

three games he's their leading sacker. They're not getting a lot of pressure from the edge. This is the This is the guy that the that the Packers are going to have to account for um because he's he's trouble in the middle of that d line. Yeah, he's been there for a number of years to be one of the things when the Falcons were making their run that I really liked, and some of those pieces are still there,

is how they built the interior of their defense. Everybody at that point in time was always looking at outside rushers and edge rushers and pressure and boundary corners, and the Falcons are one of the teams that actually were one of the first that really invested resources between the hashes, and you still see that with Dion Jones was off to a pretty decent start, though he's had some injuries.

Kean O'Neill, who has dealt with some injuries as well, but Gary has been sort of that centerpiece, that focal point of that scheme for them so far. And dan Quinn, who by trade is a defensive coach, so a lot of things for them to be able to figure out. And again, it's so difficult when you're talking about a team that did have as many act The reason dan

Quinn came back and says they had high expectations. They felt like they could quickly turn this thing around, and as they these past few weeks have proven, it's very difficult to win in the National Football League, and the Falcons are still trying to get on the other side of that. Yeah, well, we know the message from Matt Lafleur to the Green May Packers is this is not an oh and three Falcons team that the film shows that.

This team is, you know, a whisker away from being two and one and being considered a major contender in the NFC. So that's how, certainly how the Packers are looking at things. I'm gonna put you on the spot here quickly, West, Okay, I looked it up right before we turned on the cameras. Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers have gone head to head, including playoff games, nine times. What's your what's your guests as to the win loss between the two quarterbacks when they've gone head to head.

I'm gonna goes six and three Rodgers. No, it's actually five and four in favor of Matt Ryan. I guess Rogers has just had some more memorable ones. Yeah, and they've and they've split the two playoff meetings, the Packers obviously winning the divisional round down in Atlanta, but then Matt Ryan taking the two thousand sixteen NFC championship um also down there in Atlanta. It's kind of weird, you sort of forget that they've basically been starting quarterbacks in

the for the same amount of time. Rogers obviously had the three more years on Ryan, but I mean Ryan from pretty much go was thrown in there. I think he might have set out a couple of games his rookie year. But yeah, they've kind of followed the same path in terms of their NFL careers. And here we are now with both of them now and what you're thirteen and starting quarterbacks. Yeah, it's it's it's real. It's

really something. Um. I want to get to some of the other games that will be going on around the league in Week four that we want to look at. But first, some more sponsor business gear up for game day, folks. Open a Packers checking account from Associated Bank and score a fifty dollar Packers Pro Shop gift card. Learn more

at Associated bank dot com. Backslash Packers all right, Well, with the Packers playing on Monday night, obviously, lots of Packer fans can spend their Sunday checking out what else is going on in the NFC North as of right now, obviously, the Packers are three and oh, the Chicago Bears are three, and oh, the Detroit Lions are one and two, the Minnesota Vikings are oh and three, And it's going to be an interesting weekend in the division because the Indianapolis

Colts we'll be taking on the Chicago Bears. And the Colts they ran all up and down the field against the Minnesota Vikings a couple of weeks ago, and now they are going to and obviously that's a team the Packers will face later on this season. Now they get their shot at the Chicago Bears. With the Bears at three and oh and looking to move to four no and jump in front of the Packers in the division

standings before Monday night's game. Yeah, I mean, one of two things is gonna happen, most likely, assuming there isn't another tie this week, and that's either the Bears are gonna be four and no or the Colts are gonna be off to a three and one start to the Philip Rivers era and Frank Reich getting that going um and they've dealt with some adversity themselves here in the early part of the season's Jonathan Taylor's had to become their bell cow back. But let's talk about the Bears

a little bit. I mean, so many times and I can't even tell you, Mike, the last time I can ever recall an NFL history where a team has made a quarterback change and started the season three and oh. It just doesn't happen that often. But Mattnege saw something that he wanted to make the change. And as they've always said, if you make a change, that's your quarterback. Now you're not you can't be playing this game where you go back to, you know, Mitchell Dubiski in the

second half against the Colts. You've got to give Nick Foles a chance now to take this offense and run with it. The Bears, this is a big year for them, and the fact that they are off to three and o now, however they got there, you can't take that for granted. Yeah, absolutely, the Bears. The Bears have been a team that has won games in the clutch. I mean that, that's the bottom line. They should have lost

in Week one at Detroit. We all know that the winning touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford was in DeAndre Swift's hands in the end zone with six seconds left, and he dropped it. So the Bears escaped with a win. The New York Giants come trying to come back from seventeen to nothing. They get it all the way to seventeen to thirteen there in the red zone on the final possession, Bears hold them out of the end zone, get the victory there to go to two and oh.

And then as you mentioned the quarterback change, Nick Foles comes off the bench leads them back from sixteen points down in the fourth quarter. They come back and beat Atlanta on the road, and as I mentioned before, also getting the interception of Matt Ryan on Atlanta's last ditch effort going the other way. So the Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears are three and oh. I honest, I personally think they now have a better quarterback in place. With making the switch to Folds, I think they become a

much more dangerous team. And but this is going to be an interesting test for them against the Colts. Another interesting one in the North, New Orleans at Detroit. Now, both of these teams are one and two, New Orleans having obviously just lost to the Packers. The um Detroit Lions were oh and two, but got a huge boost last week going out to Arizona, beating the previously two and oh Arizona Cardinals with a last second field goal in a bit of a surprise the Detroit Lions here West,

this is this is a game. This is a game the Lions can say, you know, to the Bears and the Packers on top of the division right now, Hey, we're gonna be right there with you. Yeah. And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself because I'm guessing you're gonna ask me about the vikings to trying to you know, get their first win against the own three Houston Texans. But this is why Week three is always so compelling to me, because this is where the narratives really get to be told for how this

season is going to go. New Orleans Saints. Man, this is a critical game for them at this point. Again, we're talking about high expectations just a second ago with you know, the Bears and some of the things that they're dealing with. Right now. The Saints feel like they're

a super Bowl contender. So now you're having to go back, you know, on the road here against the Detroit team that's coming off a huge moral victory, uh in beating a really stout, offensively driven you know how I've talked about the Cardinals so far, uh team and winning that game. It's a pivotal contest, not only for the division ramifications for the Packers, but seeing how this NFC is going

to shuffle out as a whole as a conference. So yeah, I mean Matthew Stafford, I mean, Joe Lombardi knows him over on the Packer here on the same side of things. I mean, they know how dangerous this guy can be. And certainly Adrian Peterson appears to be the guy. They've put all these resources into running back. But they're going with Peterson quite a bit and seeing if they can ride him to a second victory. Now, isn't that something For all of the turnover that the Lions have had

in their backfield over the last seven eight years? They draft guys, you know, all going back to job at best, and he has the concussions, and then more recently carry On Johnson. You think he's gonna be the guy? And now who is the guy in the backfield behind Matthew Stafford. It's Adrian Peterson. As you said, I think they're gonna They're gonna ride him to be that balance with Matthew Stafford's passing game, and see where it takes him. Well, you brought it up west, the other one in the

NFC North to oh and three teams. I don't think anybody would have thought either team would be oh and three. The Minnesota Vikings in the Houston Texans. Houston has had an absolutely brutal schedule to start the season, so I cut them a little bit of slack there, but still that's a playoff team from a year ago that nobody,

nobody really would think they're oh and three. And the Minnesota Vikings, I've I've never seen a Mike Zimmer defense strong goal like the Minnesota Vikings are struggling on the defensive side of the ball right now. Both of these teams desperately need a victory. Yeah, desperately. I mean there's

no other way to put it. Bill O'Brien's guys, As you said, I mean, yeah, they've had a tough schedule, But the problem is if you lose those games and you're already three games in the whole, it's difficult to pull yourself out of that, not only in the win lost column, but just trying to convince yourself that you know, you are a good football team. So this is gonna be a big challenge for them, especially with the contract that they gave to Shaun Watson and the moves that

they made. They didn't make those moves thinking that they were going to start the season oh and three. Bill O'Brien felt like those are the moves they need to kind of push them forward to being more than just a playoff team, to be a real legitimate contender. As far as the Vikings are concerned, Mike, it's just really difficult to put your finger on exactly what has gone

wrong there. I mean, certainly the defense has been an issue, but defense has been an issue in a lot of places here the first three weeks this season offensive football, I mean, there's gonna be so many records set right now. If they're gonna keep this trajectory, and if officials are gonna, you know, officiate the games that they have so far, uh,

this is gonna be very bizarre. But I mean when you go back and you look at the last seven years, however long now Zimmer has been in Minnesota, I think their worrist ranked defense finished maybe overall. I mean, they they've just been so consistent. But the young secondary that we talked about before Week one that's been an issue for them so far in in some ways, I think that's to be expected. Yeah, and last week was a

real gut punch, frankly for the Minnesota Vikings. They were playing at home, They had a two score lead in the second half on the Tennessee Titans. Dalvin Cook was having a big game, their rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson was having a big game. Things were really looking up. And then that defense just couldn't hold hold off the Titans.

And uh, and Stephen Gustkowski drills a couple of monstrously long field goals and Tennessee escapes Minneapolis with a with a thirty one to thirty victory to drop the Vikings to oh and three. This is uh, this is a gut chet game for Minnesota, no question about it, you know, with with the way they lost last week and what they're facing trying to avoid oh and four. Yeah, and to roll it forward though, Mike, I mean, this is why this game Monday night is so pivotal for the Packers.

I mean, this is an opportunity to start the season four and o and then go into your bye week. I think it's a pretty early bye week. I think the Packers probably still, if they were being honest, probably would like it a few more weeks down the line. But it's what's in front of you, and you have Davante Adams banged up and Kenny Clark, you have to make the most of it. We'll see what happens here. But I mean the Bears, Lions, and Vikings are all

in for some ball games this weekend. If the Green Bay Packers can pull another game out, they're sitting okay, going as you always say, the end of the first quarter pole of the season. Yes, the quarter We will hit the quarter pole at at the end of Monday Nights game. Well, it should be a fun spectator Sunday

for NFC North football fans. And with that we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script and be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team leading up to the big Monday night showdown on Packers dot com. For Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning, and everybody, see you next time.