#551 Packers Unscripted: 4-for-4

how this has sort of played out for the Packers. Certainly, there's been some injuries that they've had to weather and unfortunately a few guys that they've lost for the extended run here. But other than that, not much else has gone wrong for the Packers during this four games start to this season. I mean, offensively, right now, one of the most pro left picking potent offenses in the National Football League. Certainly, you look at this game. I I outlined this on a tweet I had on Monday night.

You had Davante Adams week one, then it was Aaron Jones, then it was Alan Lazard and then lo and behold week four. It turns out to be Robert Toanyan three touchdown catches, only the third time that that's happened since with the Packers tight end in a single game. It's just been one thing after another. But at the core of this, I'll put it out there, Mike, I mean, it's been some exceptional game calling, play calling, in game planning from Matt la Floor and his coaching staff and

Aaron Rodgers just being brilliant. I mean, now, thirteen touchdown, zero interceptions on pace for really, I hate to even put it this way right now, but you know, a career type season. I mean, he has been playing lights out football in the first four games of the year,

and the Packers have really followed suit well. I remember saying last week after the victory in New Orleans that if you had told me the Packers are going to be without Davante Adam, We're not going to rush for a hundred yards and they were going to score thirty seven points against the Saints and leave the Super dumb with a victory, I would have said, I'm not quite sure how that's going to work. Well, so what happens

this week? No Davante Adams, no Alan Lazard, no, Marcedes Lewis either he misses the game with an injury, and yet Aaron Rodgers throws four touchdown passes, only six incomplete passes, and has a one forty five point seven passerrating and you just you kind of go, how how is he

doing this? How are they doing this? It just doesn't It doesn't fit the norm, the narrative that you think would occur with what the Packers have been dealing with, and yet here they are another thirty point performance easily could have been thirty seven if you're not stopped on fourth and gold the one and uh um, and the Packers offense is just is just in almost in a

league of its own right now. Yeah. And it's funny too, Mike, if you go and actually break it down on like this the Packers in terms of just passing to the running backs and tight ends, Rogers was a perfect twenty for twenty in this game, three touchdown passes. Uh It's quite remarkable the way he's been able to orchestrate this thing.

Somebody insider inbox asked me, as I'm preparing at the time in which we're taping this for Wednesday's edition, somebody asked me about what has impressed me the most through the first four games of this season, and really it keeps coming back to the overall offensive efficiency and also Mike, just how well they've performed in four minutes situations. Uh, you and I can talk about how they're right now, I think fifth in the league and third downs conversions,

but that's not just always being in good positions. It's also picking up some third and longs too that at times that's been a real difficulty for the Packers over the years, going back to Mike McCarthy's time here as well. And they're doing it and I think they might have either one or none. Uh when you know three and notes to this point of this season, it just seems like every time that Aaron Rodgers lines up, there is a feeling they're gonna be able to push the all downfield.

It was funny listening to Mount la Floor after the game on Monday, I'd say, yeah, for as much praise as I got a week before for the flow and the play calling, I didn't really feel like I was in a flow. Well that's not quite feeling like he was in a flow. Still ended up being a really solid offensive performance and and certainly a dominating win. I mean,

this was a defining victory. It looked like a three and O team, even missing Davante Adams and Kenny Clark and whatnot, still look like a three year three and O team, you know, dismantling and deconstructing, and team that is still yet to win this season. Yeah, I mean, you can take your pick as far as the statistics with Aaron Rodgers and where he is at the quarter

pole of the season. Here thirteen touchdown passes, zero interception, zero turnovers as a whole for the Packers offense, and as Rogers pointed out after the game, not even a lot of close calls in terms of turnovers. I mean, you've seen it over the years, West, you know, I mean, a bad passes, a dropped interception. You know, quarterbacks benefit from that all the time. Rogers hasn't really had any

of those. And on top of that, the Packers haven't even had a fumble actually hit the ground in the field of play because the only fumble on their on their statistical chart is won by Aaron Jones back in Week one in Minnesota, where the ball flew out of bounds and never really had a chance to be recovered by the defense anyway. So um, what the Packers are doing here offensively, it's incredibly efficient. We talked in the early weeks about how all the moving parts on the

offensive line the Packers weathered those storms. That group has been playing really, really well. Now they finally had a second straight week with the same starting five, the same group up front, and it's and again it was the

same type of performance. And and another statistic, Aaron Rodgers has only been sacked three times in four games, with plenty of dropbacks, and he puts at least two of the three sacks just on himself for not being able to get away from pressure situations that he feels he should escape. So um, just a lot of things really falling into place for this Packers offense despite injuries. And the Packers are going to have to deal long term

now without Alan Lazard for a while. It sounds like they won't have Josiah Deguara, the rookie tight end for a while. He has a significant knee injury. But so far, whatever the missing pieces have been, it hasn't mattered. And that's a credit to Aaron Rodgers, it's a credit to all those guys, I think, particularly the guys up front with the offensive line and the Matt Lafleur in that offensive coaching staff for the game plans they're putting together

week after week. Yeah, And I don't want to just sit here and point towards, you know, certain past offenses or Packers teams and say, well, this is how much better they are now. But you think back to two thousand fifteen and when they lost Jordy Nelson, how much the domino effect that that had on the entire roster, the passing game, the way that they were able to move the ball downfield. And this year they went two games without Davante Adams, you had Alan Lazard step up

and then he's gone here for the foreseeable future. But you know, we've talked time and time again, Mike about how malleble this offense is, and I thought this game was the ultimate testament to that. Matt Lafleur has had that two running back package in his back pocket for some time now. In addition to all the motioning that they do with Tyler Irvin as a you know, kind of a hybrid receiver. They did some plays there with

Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams in the backfield. And do you know why, because you're making a case that those are the two top playmakers on offense going into this game. You know, there was a lot of consternation at the end of the first half of a well where is Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams had seventy seven receiving yards. That was the most in the first half by a Packers running back in six years. I mean, you ride with the hot hand, and I think we're so used

to saying, well, Aaron Jones is the starter. Now you kind of forget about what Williams brings to the table too, coming five yards short of his first hundred yard receiving game in this matchup, and getting back to Tanyan there too. You know the red zones, Mike being able to push the ball in. Now, obviously they had they came up short on the fourth and goal earlier on, but once they got into the red area there in the second

and third quarters, they were hard to stop. And one of the big things when you think back to these Packers offenses, when they are effective, when they can find a way to get the ball, doesn't necessarily have to be a tight end, but oftentimes it can be find the way to pass the ball in the red area, good things are gonna happen. Tanyan stepped up ninety receiving yards, three touchdowns. Uh, you know, a classic performance, something that you know, Greenby I think really is wanted to see

from the third year tight end now. And yeah, it wasn't Adams, it wasn't Lazard it it had to be somebody else and they found a way to make it happen. A few interesting stats with regard to Robert Tanyan's three touchdown performance in this game. First, he is the uh I'm trying to remember now for certain, the third Packers tight end in team history to have three touchdown catches in one game, joining Keith Jackson from and jere Michael

Finley from earlier this decade. And Robert Tanyan also has uh a touchdown catching three consecutive games, and he's the first Packers tight end to do that since jew Michael Finley back into two thousand twelve. And I'll throw another one at you West. Robert Tayan now has seven touchdown receptions from Aaron Rodgers. That ties him for the lead amongst the undrafted players who have caught touchdown passes from Aaron Rodgers. John kun also had seven, not including playoffs.

Will see maybe Robert Tanyan has some playoff touchdown receptions in his future as well. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. But that being said, um before we shift gears to the defense, a little bit of sponsor business. Serious x M NFL Radio channel is the only radio outlet dedicated to the National Football League seven days a week, three d sixty five days a year. Okay, West defensive side of the ball. I'm writing about this this week

for our website. This Packers defense has gone through its ups and downs through the first four games. I think there wasn't it wasn't the pinnacle. It wasn't the perfect performance by any means against the Atlanta Falcons. But I think we saw a much steadier defensive performance on Monday Night than we had seen previously. You start out with a couple of three and ounce. You don't allow the

Falcons into the end zone until the second half. You you have a big stand in the red zone after a long drive to hold the Falcons to a field goal. You stop at potential touchdown drive towards the end that would have made it a one score game late in the fourth quarter. Those types of pieces, those are the elements that we saw from what was a much steadier defense for the Packers in nineteen I think Monday Night's performances starting to get this defense to point in that direction. Well,

there were two things I really liked about this performance. One, they came out right away and got three three and out's in the first half. That that kind of allowed them to get on this run. And then you know, the offense to start finding itself and you know, finished really strong with those two Robertsonian touchdowns in the second quarter. That was really good. But it was also the way

they finished in the second half. I mean, Mike, they had a lot of things that started working against and now certainly you look around the Atlanta side of things, they weren't able to finish the game with you know, Julio Jones, but Kevin King goes out with the quad injury, Shannon Sullivan goes out with the concussion he gets diagnosed with that's your number two and number three cornerback. So

they had to get really creative there. You saw Raven Green get used in the slot, Will Redmond came in the dime package basically had four defensive backs I'm sorry, four safeties and its defensive backfield out of the six Jr. Alexander put together a strong performance. They were able to maneuver their positions there in the secondary, and I think you're seeing a unit that's getting more comfortable playing with itself outside of what you would consider maybe the quote

unquote starting eleven. So that was a huge positive. But at the end of the day, you go back to your playmakers and Zadarius Smith. He he owned this ball game, especially in the second half. I mean, three sacks. You're gonna write about it on packers dot com with with your what um you know what you might have missed. He's affecting plays even when he isn't getting at the quarterback. Though he finished is the game with the team high

eight tackles. Do you understand how difficult that is to finish the game with to lead your defense and tackles if you're an outside rusher. I mean, this is what this guy's bringing to the table. Five quarterback hits, four tackles for a loss, and a partridge in a pear tree. This is this is really incredible stuff that he's putting together. Five sacks Mike through the first four games. That's tied with Miles Garrett for the most in the NFL. The Packers,

we were all wondering the conversation was going into this year. Okay, Zadarius Smith is no longer an unknown commodity. This guy is gonna have people. You know, he's gonna be in the crosstairs. People are gonna be gunning for him. And it really hasn't mattered. I mean, there's a couple of penalties that I'm sure that Mike Petton and Mike Smith want to clean up. But other than that, man Darius

Smith is the real deal. Yeah. And Matt Lafleur even said it on Tuesday when he spoke with reporters that you know, Zadarius Smith is such a leader on the defense. He's he's got that personality, he's got that energy, everything he brings. For this Packers defense to be playing at its best, Zadarius Smith needs to be that leader, needs to be that got, that all pro type guy at the top of his game. And la Fleur said, hey, you know, he's been battling through some stuff just like

everybody does. He hasn't necessarily been a d percent healthy since the start of the season, so the bye week potentially is going to do him some good as well as several of those other guys that you mentioned. Uh, you know that the Packers are dealing with injury wise, and hopefully they get Kenny Clark back as well now that he's he's missed three straight games. But um, but yeah, the defense just had a different feel to it. It

just does have a different different aura about it. When Sadarius Smith is dodging blockers and dominating the way that

he was. And I'll throw this in as well, because you know, we saw some big plays earlier in the season, Alexander getting the sack safety in Minnesota, Sullivan getting the pick six against the Lions, and Zadarius with the big force fumble you know on Taysom Hill down New Orleans, that play in the end zone late in the fourth quarter by Adrian Amos to knock that ball away at the last second from Calvin Ridley and prevent that touchdown on fourth and ten from about the twenty five yard line.

That's not necessarily going to make all the big highlight reels at the end of the end of the season. But that was a whale of a play by the Packers veteran safety and as I said before, that prevented it from becoming a one score game really for the first time since the early stages of the ball game. Yeah, I mean it basically slammed the door on you know, the Falcons and being able to mount any type of comeback.

And you know, certainly they were going through a lot of things and mentally just trying to push through what they've had to go through here with some really demoralizing losses. You know, Matt Lafleur said it all a week long. He felt like they were going to get the falcons best, best effort in a lot of ways. I think they did. It's just that Atlanta has really been hit hard by

the injury bug. Then you look at that's that the way they finished this game though, and in a credit to Adrian Amos, I mean, those are the type of plays that if you're not just giving that little extra ounce, maybe that ball gets through, maybe that does become a touchdown reception. But it really shows the veteran presence that he provides back there, and and if you listen to the way that those guys responded to that play after words, you would have thought he intercepted it. I mean, guys

were just jacked up, they were excited. It was the type of exclamation point that I think they really wanted to put on this performance because we've seen them come down the stretch where they've been you know, well ahead. The decision is not in really jeopardy at all whatsoever. The wind is in the bag, so to speak. But you know, you give up some passes here and you give up some yards there in those garbage things that really hurts you in the rankings. Green Bay for the

most part, didn't do that here. They kept a foot on the gas pedal and despite some of the pieces that they were missing defensively, again, I think they've really learned to play without them and in you know, finding a way to develop that chemistry, even if there's some new guys that are in the mix. Yeah. Well, as I mentioned at the top of the show, the Packers are four and oh and in first place all by themselves in the NFC North. I want to talk a little bit more about that in just a second, but

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. Backslat Packers. All right, well, the Chicago Bears took their first loss of the season on the chin the Indianapolis Colts. All to talk about the Bears changing quarterbacks and Nick Foles, and I do think the Bears have the better quarterback

playing right now. But I tell you what, and the Packers are going to see this Indianapolis Colts team at Lucas Oil Stadium in about a month and a half. That Colts defense is legit West. They they shut down the Minnesota Vikings earlier, they completely bottled up the Chicago Bears. The Colts and Philip Rivers kind of a new lease on life there in Indianapolis after after some rough times.

And um that that victory by Indianapolis has the Packers four no and one of only I'm sorry, I have the Packers in first place stopping the Bears from getting to fourn O. And the Packers are one of only two teams in the NFC at four and oh along with the Seattle Seahawks. Yeah, I mean, first off, when you talk about the Colts, I mean the exciting thing about Indianapolis is I can't tell you how often if you go back to Philip Rivers run with the Chargers,

they really had a really strong, impenetrable defense. And it's early, but I mean the numbers that the Colts are putting up now in contrast to the rest of the National Football League, it's gonna be tough to knock him out of that spot here for a while. They're gonna need to have some pretty big performances against them in order. I think they're giving up like two or thirty six yards a game right now. I mean, and there's only maybe five teams that are keeping on defenses or offenses

underneath three right now. So it's a really strong, formidable group that the Colts have assembled. And certainly, uh Philip Rivers has shown over the years, I mean, exactly what he can do when he's given you know, not necessarily having to play from behind, that he's able to control the game. A little bit more from the Bears perspective, it was probably the performance you did not want to see.

You make that move to folds. I think that that was going to be something where if they could have gotten off on the right foot, then then you feel more confident about where this offense is headed. Instead, you start to get into this little area where you're not too quite certain who your quarterback is, You're not too certain what the direction of your offense is going to be. Uh. In that way, it was dis concerning for the Bears. The nice thing though for them is it appears like

they're gonna press forward the folds here. They're gonna stick to their guns. And if he ends up being the guy, I think that that's the right move. You can't be doing this thing where you're going in and out every single week with a different quarterback. You've got to give the other ten guys on the offensive side of the ball in understanding who the leader is going to be in Fols has shown in the past that he can

be that guy. It's just tough for them right now, considering how well he played in a relief appearance for them, that they weren't able to get that same kind of strong start on the back end of it. Yeah, no question about it. I think there are a lot of a lot of uncertainty just as to where things are headed in in Chicago on offense right now. Yeah, and to throw something else in there too. It isn't just

all on the quarterback. There were a lot of years between if it was Matt Forte or you know, they had a running back, they had a running game that they were really well established with. You know, as much as we talk about Trabisky here the last two three years, they just have not had a consistent running presence. And if you don't have that, especially for that type of quarterback, it's going to make life a little bit more difficult. And every time Mike you can look at the Bear

stats and it happens time and time again. I'll look at him in the middle of the third quarter and they're leading rusher is David Montgomery with eight carriers for eighteen yards or something. You have to be able to get back going if you're really going to truly be I think the offense that Mattneggie wants them to be. Yeah, well, the times that Mitch Drubisky did play well, he was a lot of times the leading rusher for the Bears.

A lot of scrambling running around. He's a guy who can get out of the pocket and he's been able to move the chains that way. Nick Foles not that type of quarterback, and you need to have more efficiency in the in the passing game because you're not gonna have those scramble plays to necessarily bail you out quickly. Before we go, Both the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions are one in three at the bottom of the NFC North.

Just curious your thoughts on where things are. The Vikings avoiding oh and four by winning on the route at Houston, and then Houston's head coach Bill O'Brien gets fired after that game. The Detroit Lions, they just keep riding that roller coaster West. They jump up fourteen nothing on the Saints, they give up five straight touchdowns and they're down ten, and then they make a late rally but lose thirty

five to twenty nine. It's hard to It's hard to know what to make of of what's going on in Detroit. Both Minnesota and Detroit heading it well. Detroit will be on the by just like the Packers, but their next game, and Minnesota now playing Seattle this upcoming week. Both those teams, Minnesota and Detroit trying to avoid one and four um after their next contest. Yeah, and everybody knows how difficult it is to make a playoff run after starting one and four. And I said it last week, Mike, I

will echo myself again. I mean Detroit is just in a position right now where I just don't know if there's a there's a lot of guys on that team that at the NFL level just don't know how to win games. And I know that sounds like a somewhat of a cliche, but it's true. I mean, you've got to know how to be able to pull these things out, or at least how to protect it. And they're just

working through so many different little issues right now. I think that that's been something that's really pulled them back here in the beginning half of this season. And obviously how they finished for the Vikings, that's what they had to do. I mean, it was one of those games. I'm not sure what the move would have been if they would have been owen four, but you had to

be able to pick up that victory. Yes, the the Hexans had played some tough teams, but like I said last week to Mike, I mean, when you're owing three, you're owing three, and you've got to find a way to get your your momentum back, your mojo back, Uh, they were able to do that with it. But again, when you fall into that early hole, you have to keep climbing to pull yourself out. They grabbed the first run,

can they get the second? That that's gonna be the big challenge for them moving forward, because you know that the one thing is that I think we're starting to learn a little bit. It's gonna have to be an offensively driven team this year for Minnesota if they're going to be successful, if they're going to make a playoff run.

It's not going to be this traditional Mike Zimmer type Vikings squad where okay, the defense is gonna give you a little bit of a you know, a birdie on the whole, you know, how how do you come back after it and finish out your round? So that that's gonna be the biggest challenge offensively Can they be that? Can you have that as the driver's seat right now for them? And right now they're one in three? I think you know, it's shown that what the formula they

have right now is not working. Where can they adjust to it moving forward? Yeah? Well, with the Packers on there by next weekend, Vikings and Seahawks is the primetime Sunday night football matchup, so a lot of Packers fans will have their eye on that, but for now we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script. To be sure to follow all of our

coverage of the team on Packers dot com. It is the bye week, but we will have plenty of content, lots of stories and videos and whatnot for you to check out. So for Wes, I am Mike, thank you for tuning everybody. See you next time.