#557 Packers Unscripted: Taking care of business

You weren't really quite sure what you're going to get out of the Texans. But the Packers got on the board early, took control of this game and really never let up. Well, and it's the thing that you point out there too, it's the national football. Yeah, you never know what can happen in a given week. Just look at the Seattle Arizona game. Every these games have to be won and lost, have to go out there and actually do it on the field, and Green Bay did that.

I know it wasn't the picture perfect performance I'm sure Matt Mflour and his guys wanted, but offensively, they came out and set the tone right away, which is what they needed to do after how things ended last week. Defensively, they're still trying to get those turnovers going. They did get one late, but they started the game with three stops. You know, some three and outs to begin to begin with.

You're leading twenty one to nothing at halftime. It just felt like at at every interval after green Bay scored for the sixth straight series to begin the game, it just felt like green Bay was in control and the Packers stayed there. Yeah quickly. Here wes serious x M. NFL Radio Channel eight is the only radio outlet dedicated to the National Football League seven days a week, three sixty five days a year. On the offensive side, here west a few takeaways for the Packers from this game.

Number One Davante Adams has his second monster game of the season in his second full or sorry, third full game of the season. Thirteen catches a hundred ninety six yards two touchdowns. He comes up four yards shy of the first two hundred yard receiving game for the Packers since that was Jordie Nelson. Of course. Jamal Williams steps in for Aaron Jones. Jones misses the game with a caff injury. Williams just goes out and does his thing.

A hundred and fourteen yards from scrimmage, seventy seven on the ground, thirty seven receiving punches in the clinching touchdown late in the fourth quarter. And then the other thing, also injury related. On the offensive line, Billy Turner flips over from right tackle the left tackle to fill in for David Baktieri. Rick Wagner comes off the bench to take turner spot at right tackle, and the offensive line frankly doesn't miss a beat. Lots of really good developments.

As you said, not entirely clean, there were. There was the stretch of three and ounce there in the second half where things were stalling and sputtering and you weren't sure what was going on. But at the end of the day, missing a couple of really really big time offensive players, Packers put thirty five points on the board. They did, Mike, And the thing I love the most about this performance from Green Bay as you go into Friday, you and I we we were doing unscripted last Thursday.

We thought we had an idea of what this game was gonna look like. Heck, we did final thoughts on Friday, thinking we had an idea of what this game was gonna look like. I thought this was a game where Aaron Jones really had to have a big day, and lo and behold, because of a calf tweak there, Aaron Jones doesn't even end up playing in this So on basically forty eight hours, notice you gotta run with Jamal Williams,

and boy did he run. I mean this, I thought really epitomized his value to this team and exactly why I've always been so high on him as a player. Was there a seventy five yard run that ended up on Sports Center? No, But the thing is is that he's so darn consistent. Nineteen carries seventy seven yards, four catches thirty seven yards. He gets that touchdown at the end of the game that you asked him about on Monday, what it felt like to get back in there. And

he's a good pass protector, He's reliable this game. Once it was known that Jamal excuse me that Aaron Jones wasn't gonna play, it had Jamal Williams written all over it. In your right, Davante Adams had a magnificent performance, but I just thought it was another good reminder for a guy that has really been underrated through his entire career in Green Bay of what that player presents and what he provides to this offense. Yeah, no question about it.

And after, you know, admittedly a rough week on offense down in Tampa, the Packers got things back into gear and really it's it started with Davante Adams right from the right from the opening drive, a couple of short passes to Adams, one of those being for the touchdown.

But then late in the first quarter, I guess you'd call it a go route back shoulder type of throw down the sideline that Adams admitted he didn't even see the ball until it was right on top of him because of the the lights, uh, you know, in the the indoor stadium down there in Houston. But he makes a twenty eight yard catch on a third down to uh to move the chains, and that was really the one that's that sort of started this big explosive a for Davante Adams. He follows it up with a thirty

six yard catch I believe, later on that drive. Then he gets the forty five yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The Houston Texans decided to try to play single high safety and they didn't always shade that safety over to Davante adams side. And when that was happening, Aaron Rodgers was going to call the route and call the play to let Davanta Adams make a play. And

they made the Texans pay every single time. Yeah, And that was the part of it that really was the most quizzical to me is that the Texans really were pretty committed to that. And when you don't have Aaron Jones, I actually expected that we might start seeing more too high safety looks and more shading over to Davante's coverage. They didn't do that. Now, maybe that sometimes if you're a boxer, right, you got your punches, you have your strengths, and that's what you roll with in a in a fight.

You're not going to try to become somebody or not. But I was kind of blown away. I mean, three catches on the first original series, he had to touchdown to end the first series, and then he gets the twenty eight yarder on the sideline, which was a magnificent pass and catch, and Vernon Hargreaves had phenomenal coverage on that play, and then two plays later you got Adam streaking across the middle for thirty six. They just had

no answer for him. And as I wrote an insider inbox for Tuesday, Mike, we're witnessing greatness now with Davante Adams. This isn't just a Pro Bowl receiver. This guy should be an All Pro I mean he's he's arguably and I think very quickly making you know, the best receiver that I've covered on this beat. Uh. He has athleticism, he knows how to run the entire rout tree. He has you know, unwavering confidence with in in you know, being on that same page with Aaron Rodgers, he just

brings it all. And then, by the way, with the Packers dealing with the injuries that they're dealing with right now at the skilled positions, everybody knew Davante Adams was going to get the ball in this game and the Texans couldn't do anything about it. Uh. Aaron Rodgers has said many times, he said it publicly, he said it to me in interviews I've done with him for the Packers year book and and other settings. No disrespect to any of the great receivers that he has played with

Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb. The list goes on, But Davante Adams has the most raw, pure athletic talent of any of those guys. All those guys have produced is you know not You're not gonna It's not about comparing the stats. Aaron Rodgers says, when it comes to pure talent on the football field, Davantae Adams

is the best guy he's played with. And I know a lot of fans they worry sometimes of all, well, Rodgers is trying to force the ball to Adams, and you know that was the big question with the pick six down in Tampa on the third down and all that. Well, there's a reason you're you're maybe you're gonna take some good with some bad there. But there's a reason that Aaron Rodgers is going to feed the ball to Davanta Adams because when he's out there, he's the best guy

on the field, playing and simple. There's no one that compares to him. And yes, the Packers have solid running backs and Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams, but this passing game is about number seventeen and if he stays healthy and can avoid You know, he's had these injuries the last couple of years that have kept him out for two three games here there. If he can avoid that kind of stuff, this offense can still find another gear.

I really believe that. Well. And it's funny too. You bring up the whole thing about Rogers saying that this is the most physically talented guy he's had. He's told his old receivers this. I mean, James Jones is recounting this story to me and some of the other guys on the Packers pregame show a couple of weeks ago. I mean, he sat down in the off season for lunch with Rodgers, and Rogers said, yeah, this is the best receiver I've ever played with. He told James Jones this,

and I don't think you can deny it. I mean, the way in which he plays the position is exceptional to begin with. He has all the tools and all the mental capacity to handle that and play at a high level. But for how many people dogged him for his athletic says him coming out of Fresno State and just weren't really sure what this guy was gonna be because he wasn't at like one of these big SEC type programs. Well, and people wonder to coming out of college.

He put up these huge numbers with with car as his quarterback. But people wondered was that was this just a product of the system this you know, the spread, the spread offense, Fresno State chuck it all over the place. Well, Davante Adams prew when he got into you know, his his third fourth seasons here in the NFL. He proved he is a big, big time player. And I hate that analogy because you're absolutely right, that's something that gets thrown out time and time again. What are they a

product of the system? I got to work today, It's a product of my car getting me here. It just happens that way, right, But you have to be able to catch the ball. You have to be able to make the most of those opportunities. And he had an historic run at Fresno State and basically two years and he was able to be the player that he became.

So yeah, for Davante Adams, I wrote about it again an inbox where I think right now, despite missing these first these last two games because of that hamstring, he's still on pace for over a hundred catches fifth, hundred yards, fourteen touchdowns. He's he's in a different planet right now, and it's gonna be fun if he could stay healthy here, It's gonna be fun to see what the season can become.

Gotta give a quick hat tip to Tom Fanning to I know he gave credit to Elias because they actually are the ones that confirm the stat But three core three receivers in NFL history have had two games in a season where they had at least thirteen catches, at least a hundred fifty receiving yards, and two touchdowns. Davante Adams is among them. And the Packers still have eleven more games to play this season, ten more games that played the season. Well, we need to shift gears to

the defensive side of the ball. I want to do that quickly here, but gear up for game day. Packers fans 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, defensively for Green Bay in this game, West, you mentioned it was twenty one nothing at halftime. Packers are pitching

a shutout. At the midway point, the Texans end up scoring twenty points, the last touchdown kind of in garbage time, you could say, because the Packers were up by three scores with you know, less than three minutes to go. Three things defensively that I took away from this game. One, we saw Preston Smith have his most impactful game of the season. And I'm not just talking about the fourth and one stop, which was a big play and a

really really strong individual play by him. With the Shawn Watson running kind of an option there on fourth and one at midfield, Preston Smith held his ground, got ahold of Watson, made the tackle. But there were other plays where Preston Smith is in the backfield getting pressure, creating some potential tackle tackles for loss in the running game. I really thought his Uh, we're seeing his game get

back to where it was a year ago. The second point was the red zone stops on defense, And because I had I had meant and that late last week both on this show the Final Thoughts video, Packers haven't been where they were last year in terms of red zone stops on defense, and they got two of them in the second half when there were some moments there where the Houston Texans were potentially generating momentum for a

big comeback. They got a block punt in there. The Packers offense was stalling out everything else, but the Packers hold them to two field goals into red zone possessions and that kept things as a as a multi score lead for Green Bay. And then the other thing I'll say is that this defense, they continue to find guys here and there too chip in that you just wonder, Okay, what's their role, what's their potential role going to be down the road. We see Darnell Savage missed this game,

Raven Green ended up going out of the game. We see late in the game, Vernon Scott and Henry Black, a couple of rookies, a seventh round pick, an undrafted rookie. They're making plays on the defensive side. Kamal Martin makes his NFL debut, the rookie, fifth round draft pick linebacker out of Minnesota. He sure looks like he's earning going to earn more snaps here as time goes on. My point is this Green Bay Packers defense is far from

a finished product. In we're seeing, we're seeing different faces jumping in and yes, Kevin King has missed the last couple of games. They certainly want him back. You certainly want Darnell Savage back. But we're seeing an evolution here with what's going on with this Packers defense. And I thought there were some really positive signs on Sunday, so many things that you pointed out there, and I agree with all of them. I mean, first starters. Just to do a quick hat tip to to Preston Smith, this

is this game is more than sacks. It's more than pressures. There's still going to be a game this season where he has two and a half sacks and and it really shows up and he ends up being in the NFC Defensive Player of the Week thing that those things happen. Yeah, I agree, But you also need games like this because as you mentioned, yeah, it was the fourth and one stop, but it was also how he was able to flush DeShawn Watson earlier in that game and then that led

to Chris Barnes's first career sack. Uh. You you have to be able to to play throughout a full game and not just be all about Okay, did I get a sack and I get a quarterback hit. There's other ways to impact the game. But the bigger issue that you brought up there, and it happened with with Kamal Martin in particular. You talk about building towards something. I feel like this defensive front and with having Kamal Martin

back now, is building towards something. Certainly, Deshaun Watson leaked out and kind of changed the some of the stats on the rushing yards, but David Johnson only had forty two rushing yards. Duke Johnson wasn't able to do anything and from the backfield as a runner either, and that was a testament too. I think Kenny Clark getting back and he's still working his way back from the groin.

I thought Dean Lowery played better. I thought Kingsley Kiki has been a really nice addition concerning they didn't have Tyler Lancaster. I thought the front stepped up in this game, and you saw a young guy and Kamal Martin who started this game as the run linebacker, the number two linebacker that was basically just going to be in the base. Well, then you have Chris Barnes leaving with the shoulder injury. Barnes leaves on the first play of the second half.

He already had eight tackles and then a couple, you know, a series or two later. Kamal Martin is now the solo linebacker, the key communicator of the defense, and he was up for it. I think he has a lot of explosiveness to his game. He made some big thumping plays in this game. The defensive front, in the inside linebacker position is such a pivotal role in NFL defenses and there has to be a marriage between the two

of them. And I thought for Kamal Martin coming out and it being his NFL debut, his first football game in eleven months, if you go back to his injury at Minnesota, was a really encouraging start for him. Yeah. Absolutely, We've we've seen we've seen over the course of the season so far, as brief as it's been. You know, we see Chris Barnes, an undrafted guy out of U c l A, come in and hopefully he can, you know, get some of his injury issues straightened out and beyond

the field more. Camal Martin now is is back from the knee injury that knocked him out during training camp. Came back, got a couple of weeks of practice in got himself out there on the field and this defensive backfield. Yeah, you I mean to be missing quite Frankly, West, I mean to be missing two of your four starters in the secondary in King and Savage, and to have this receiving core of Will Fuller, Brandon Cooks, Randall Cobb. I mean, yes, they made some catches and at the end of the day,

Deshaun Watson ended up with over three d yards. As they said, there were a chunk of those that were, you know, really in garbage time after the game was decided. But um, but this Packers secondary held up just fine against a pretty decent receiving corps and a pretty decent quarterback. They're proving they've got some depth on this defensive roster and I think it's going to pay dividends down the road. Well,

and Mike, what is Mike Patton's favorite defensive package. It's really that hybrid six defensive back nickel that they run so often now with an extra safety as kind of playing an inside line. So the first quarter of this game, that spot is Raven green in it's Chris Barnes. They finished this game without either player, so that meant it required you know, you saw Vernon Scott come off the bench. I'll tell you something right now, folks, I watched him

during training camp. I'm not a scout. Brian Goodkin say, isn't asking for my opinion on any of these guys. Vernon Scott can play. He has some speed to him, he has great size for safety. He's going to factor into this thing here sooner than later. I think they found something in this TCU safety. And then he got Henry Black practice squad elevation on Saturday, basically because they were going to be down Darnell Savage, They're gonna have

some other injuries. He plays late, has two solo tackles and six snaps and then he forces the fumble at the end, pops the thing up like it was almost like one of those pops like the second ace, the fielder's choice. That was like a carnival game, the way that if that happens in mad and you're like, well, what a glitch, But in then age your names comes down with it. It's it was garbage time, but it also came after an onside recovery. The Packers needed to

seal this thing. They need to put the final nail on the coffin and he did that. I just was really impressed, and I'll say it to Josh Jackson. I thought had a much better performance in this game. He played well in the first half the previous week against Tampa Bay. Some things win against him, and he came back and played well in that boundary spot opposite Jaire Alexander. And just to close the point on this, JR. Alexander's turning into a special player, Mike. He's twenty three years old.

He still has a lot ahead of him. But as I wrote an inbox on Tuesday, he's kind of turning into sort of one of those Durell Rivas types where it's like, Okay, you're not going to see him have five six interceptions, but a game like this, Deshaun Watson barely ever even looked over at him when Will Fuller was covering up. Yeah, he had Deshaun wats and had no interest in looking at Gire Alexander's side of the field.

I went through the defensive film yesterday, coming back coming back into work after after all of the game coverage on Sunday, and yeah, I mean there's there's a mixture of Alexander playing press, playing off he's actually playing more off coverage than press in this particular game. But there's no there's no one static way that you know that that Petton makes the calls and that Alexander goes about

it as as the number one corner. Watson just had no interest in even and even looking there and even wanting to challenge him. Then when he did late in the game on the ball over the middle and the back of the end zone, Alexander gets his arm in there and rips it out, So you know, Fuller ends up getting the touchdown on the next play against a

different type of coverage. But those are the types when when when the play is there, Alexander is making him making them and he's not getting challenged all that much by quarterbacks because they're they're just not interested in taking that chance. And he's a different type of corner though too, because for so many years it really was that press man style. Jerry Alexander's is a darn good zone cornerback and he's dangerous because of how quickly he can collapse

when the balls go in his direction. That's what kind of puts the fear of God a little bit into these quarterbacks of Okay, is he am I going to be able to deliver this ball to the target before he gets to it. Uh, he needs to catch those passes. That's kind of the next step for him in his game. Yeah, Alexander's vision is is phenomenal's closing speed in his awareness,

it's off the charts. Yeah. Absolutely. Well quickly here, big picture wise, West, the Packers are back in first place by themselves in the NFC North at five and one because the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football lost to the l A Rams. So the Bears are five and two, a half game back Detroit Lions at three and three. The Packers opponent this week, the Minnesota Vikings, are at one and five. They'll be coming off their bye week

and coming to lambeau Field. But I have to I just I just have to say this, And there were a lot of there were a lot of statement type games, maybe you call it in the NFL, even though I think that's a little bit overused, But what Tampa Bay did to the Raiders, what the San Francisco forty Niners did to the New England Patriots, We're seeing, we're seeing some of these power teams in the NFC start to

assert themselves. But I just have to say this West, Matthew Stafford did it again, Like how does this guy pull these games out for the Lions? And look, and I know I keep saying this, and mostly I've been saying it in reference to the Bears and the fact that you know, they've got the five wins and they're they're really challenging for the division championship right now. But Matthew Stafford through the perfect past to DeAndre Swift in

Week one for the touchdown to beat the Bears. And if Swift catches that ball, the Detroit Lions are four and two right now, you know, I mean one play is the difference between the Lions being three and three

and being four and two. And uh. And I'm telling you what, don't sleep on Matthew Stafford now and and he's he's fantastic and you and I have said here for all you know, for almost five years doing this show now and I always say this is one of the top ten quarterbacks in the league, and depending on the Sunday you can make an argument of top five.

And he never gets the credit he deserves. Now, mind you, Todd Gurley had an assist in that performance, but for him to be able to again lead them back and Mike, he's done this for a decade now without a consistent running game. Do you understand how difficult it is to win in this league? And I know they've had their ups and downs, but to play successful offensive football with not having a complimentary back a lot of times it has to be on his shoulders. And he has routinely

stepped up to that. It's a credit to him. It's a credit for them to be able to pull to win. I know what their Falcons record is, but that didn't matter a week earlier to the Vikings, Right, they have to win the games that are in front of them. And I'll say this too, as you mentioned with the forty Niners, the NFC West has a real opportunity here depending on how they play their cards. That with the seven playoff teams, this could be the year where all

four of them end up getting into the playoffs. It's it's trending in that direction. Sanford Cisco really finds themselves. Yeah, it's entirely possible. Sunday Sunday Night Football an incredible game Arizona in Seattle. Arizona comes back from ten points down in the last five minutes to get it to overtime. Some crazy happenings in overtime, Arizona eventually pulls it out, so Seattle takes its first loss of the season. Nobody

in the NFCAS is undefeated any longer. The only undefeated team in the NFL is the Pittsburgh Steelers, who knocked off Tennessee and handed Tennessee it's first Yeah. This, uh, this is shaping up to be a wild ride. My friend's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a fun year and even and we'll talk about the preview of this upcoming weekend, but some really intriguing matchups this weekend too. I will close on this Seattle Russell Wilson phenomenal playing at m VP level this year. I want nothing to

do with the Arizona Cardinals. I've said it since basically Week two. You've had to hear me keep saying this. I was, I was. I brought it up back in training camp that you know when they get DeAndre Hopkins, you have Kyler Murray and his second year as a quarterback. You know, they've got some players on the defensive side of the ball, and even they're missing, you know, they're their top pastors. Chandler Jones is out now. But that uh,

that's that's a tough, tough division. But if you hold serve at home when your division games at home, which is what they did pulling off that overtime game against Seattle, you're gonna keep yourself right in the mix in in the in that tough NFC West. Yeah, and Kenyan Drake also end up getting injured. But Kyler Murray Man. Uh again, if the guy has the athletic talent, we're at the point where we need to start throwing the rulers out. These guys can just go. And he's been He's ushered

in a big turnaround now in Arizona. Yeah, no question about it. Well, we've gone a little overtime, but that's okay. With that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team all week long on Packers dot com for Wes I Am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.