#558 Packers Unscripted: The rematch awaits

This is this is an interesting one because the Packers, it's a game, obviously they're going to be expected to win. The Vikings are coming off their bye week. There's been some turmoil and whatnot. They've you know, they traded away one of their best defensive players. Who who that defensive player? Yannick and go Unique. Sorry we had to worry about that for the all of one game for the record, Yeah, okay,

you got a Gockway right though. Yeah, well that's the one I've been working but in Gockway no longer with the Vikings. He's been traded away. Danil Hunter, the other star pass rusher, is out for the season after next surgery. This Vikings defense West, it's not the Vikings defense that we've seen in the past, and they've got they've got

a cornerback issue right now. Two of their top four corners, Holting the Hill and Mike Hughes are on the injury report right now, and a third cornerback, rookie Cameron Danceler, the third round pick, is on the COVID reserve list. This is this is going to This is going to be an interesting matchup to see just exactly what Vikings team, especially defensively, is on the field Sunday exactly, And you'd laid it out perfectly, particularly with the with the secondary

issues they're having there. It's a young secondary to begin with, and now they have a litany of injuries that have followed this very much is about the Packers. I want to say, I don't want to say it's not, but I think it ultimately is going to be what Minnesota Vikings team do we see come into lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon. One, just from the physical standpoint, pretty banged up despite coming out of the bye week at at meaningful positions. But two, they had such a dichotomy of

games before their bye week. They played Seattle so tough, right, went right down to the wire and came up short. They absolutely should have won that football game. And then they come back the next week thinking that, hey, maybe we should be able to knock off a previously winless Atlanta Falcons team. They're not able to do it. That's a really difficult way to go in the bye week.

You and I always talk about, you know, there's probably one game a year where maybe we really are truly pulling for a big victory, and as a reporter, it's typically going into a bye week because those negative thoughts linger with the fan base, they linger with the locker room.

It just it creates sort of this doubt factor, right, and I think that's something that the Minnesota Vikings are going to be really battling this week, in addition to the fact that their secondary, more specifically that cornerback position is really hurting here going into this matchup. Well, this is a tough Vikings team to figure out because, as you mentioned, they lost to the Atlanta Falcons when everybody thought, Okay, this will be there, get well game, you know, chalk

up another victory that didn't happen. But yet two of the best teams in the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks and the Tennessee Titans, were both taken right to the wire by this Minnesota Vikings team. So, as you said, it's it's sort of which which team is going to show up On the injury front for the Packers, we're seeing the Packers starting to get a little bit healthier. Al

Lazard Christian Kirksey are both back at practice. So the twenty one day window for them coming off of I R where there's now the window for them to be activated and activated to the fifty three man roster, that

clock is now ticking. But I think for the the more immediate with regards to this week and the Vikings game, David Bakti is back at practice, Tyler Irvine is back at practice, Darnell Savage, who missed last week's game, is back at practice now, Kevin King and Aaron Jones are still not at practice, and suddenly Mason Crosby is on the injury report for the Packers as well. So we will see what happens as the rest of the week

unfolds there. But for all of the injuries the Packers have been dealing with, it seems that the health trend is even though there are nineteen guys listed on the injury report, the overall health trend in terms of participation might be trending in the right direction. Well, this is why it's important, right because you and I don't know how many of these guys will legitimately be playing on Sunday. But the fact that David Boxer was able to practice

on Wednesday, that's a pretty good sign. With the chess injury that I think everyone's sort of been no pun intended holding their breath over. And then you look over at at Tyler Irvin, I mean a risk injury like that that he dealt with early on and then it ends up sidelining him for two games. You really don't know what to make of that from the outside looking in. That's not a hamstring, that's not a quadricept that that's

it's a risk. So it makes you kind of raise some questions in your mind of Okay, what's the forecast here for him? And then also the biggest thing is al Lazard being back. A core muscle injury is something that they went in and repaired. That can be a lot of different things, And I always go back to two thousand and twelve that injury kept out Greg Jennings for seven games. Now, again we have to see exactly what the forecast is going to be here for Lazard, how much of a rev up period they want to

give him. But the fact that they did start that clock would indicate that they feel like he can get back here in the month of November. That is absolutely critical for this receiving corps and seeing exactly what this guy brings, because it's not just the number two receiver role. It's the fact that he can play in line. It's

the fact that they can do reversals with him. Al Lazard is as much as we've talked about him this season, he's a really underrated part of this offense now in what they're able to use him and how they're able to utilize him, in addition to the fact that he can be a big play threat down field. Yeah, and and he's arguably the Packers best blocker amongst the wide receivers as well in terms of helping the run game.

And if you don't think that's a big deal, just go watch the film of the Houston game and Brandon Cooks for the Houston Texans. The guy didn't throw a block on the edge, like the whole game in Houston's running game suffered because of it. So I'll just throw that out there as well. But it's at extra credit plays, right, Absolutely, It's not stuff that's gonna get you in anyone's fantasy.

Are you a complete player when you step on the field and there are some guys who are and some guys who are And if you're gonna do bunch formations like the way that Matt Lafleur wants to do them, you've got to be able to block. It's critical, yeah, quickly before we get to our our keys to victory. Here.

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side of the ball. If this if this Minnesota secondary is as banged up as it appears, and if they are dipping into their depth chart as far as they may need to. On Sunday. I know, we talk about the running game, and certainly Jamal Williams, if Aaron Jones is sitting out another game, Jamal Williams will handle whatever

load you give him. But boy, with the state of this Vikings cornerback group, you wonder if do you not just turn the game over to Aaron Rodgers and say, go, I mean how they had all their guys granted, a couple of rookies, you know, making their NFL debuts without any preseason games back in Week one. But but this cornerback, this cornerback group is is not healthy for Minnesota. Well, and the fact is right now, Mike, to underscore exactly how banged up there. They have eight cornerbacks on their

active roster right now. Um. When when you see a team over sort of inflate a position over the course of the year, that tells you there's some concerns there. It tells you that they're you know, whether the injuries, the inconsistency, what have you. Um, that's an uphill battle that they're going to have to climb. Mike Zimmer is as smart of a defensive coach as there is in this league head coach, defensive coordinator. He's he's there, right.

I'm just really curious what that game plan is going to be because you know they're gonna want to take Davanta Adams and I wrote about it this week too, But if you try to take him away, what are you giving up elsewhere? And if you do live him in one on one situations, you see what happened last week with the Houston Texans. That's a huge, not necessarily a weak spot because again I'm I'm giving Zimmer the benefit of the doubt. He's concocted some magnificent game plans before.

But that's just a major area concern for me going into this game as it relates to Minnesota. Other thing too, and this is no disrespect intended for the Vikings defense because in a few minutes here, I'm going to completely put their their offense over. But there are so many years, Mike where you look at the starting eleven, starting fifteen for Minnesota and there's just playmakers all over the place. It doesn't matter if it's the defensive line, that linebacking

corps or in the secondary. The names have kind of waned here a little bit for them. You still have Harrison Smith, Anthony Harris, and obviously, um you look at their you know, Eric Kendricks and what they have at linebacker. But beyond that, it starts to get a little bit sparse. So, um, Minnesota, if they're going to turn this thing around, they're gonna have to do it unconventionally. They're gonna have to get

away from their blueprint the last few years. And this is a tough opponent for them to have to do that against. Yeah, this is a group that doesn't have any big names right now on the defensive line in terms of being able to pressure quarterbacks. So then you wonder, okay, as zim are going to dial up all of these crazy blitz is with Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, Harrison Smith. But then if you do that, obviously you leaving that back end, which which not only is banged up but

is also very young. As far as those cornerbacks, you're leaving them more vulnerable if you're selling out to get to the quarterback. So the Minnesota defense is in a tough spot. I will say this about that group though, for as much as it has struggled this year, as the Vikings have gone one in five, and I believe they're ranked in the league in total yards allowed to

the thirtie in the league and points allowed. They are ranked third in the league in third down defense, and they are somewhere in the top ten in the league in red zone defense. So there are there are areas where this defense has risen up and made some plays. Now, you wonder, how can you be thirtieth in the league in points but third and third downs, It's like, well, it's because the defense hasn't gotten the opposing offense and

enough third downs. So from the Packers point of view, you just you have to be on your p's and q's if it does get to third down. That's where that this defense has been at its best this year, and those are going to be the most challenging plays. Yeah, absolutely, Mike in you know, not to correct you on this, but just to point out to I mean, they don't have Anthony Barr right now either, right like he's he's been on I R. So they have Eric wil No, then that's okay, but Eric Wilson has been the one

that sort of stepped up. But that sort of illustrates what they've been up against to this point of the season. It's been a lot of that type of things. And you know what, Mike, when you look at it, you can go back to some of these Packers teams that we've covered when injuries have really depleted them. Two thousandten sort of jumps off to me right away. When that happens, that's where you start to see the third downs, Wayne, That's where you start to see the pass rush numbers. Wayne.

It starts with the personnel and then it all sort of follows from there. So this has been a challenge for Minnesota. Again, I'm not saying they can't come out and play exceptionally well it's Mike Zimmer. They can do it. But for Green Bay, I just think so much of it is you built. You got your momentum back, right, you got your mojo back last week against Houston. If you can sustain that. On paper, this is a good

opponent to be able to have success against. Well. On the defensive side of the ball for the Packers when you look when you look at this Vikings Off fense, Dalvin Cook is expected to be back. Alexander Madison the number two running back. He filled in nicely at Seattle and cracked the hundred yard barrier there when Cook had gone out of the game. You've got Justin Jefferson, who is really coming on as a rookie receiver. He's got averaging nineteen yards a catch, wasn't much of a factor

in Week one when he was making his NFL debut. Obviously, you have Adam thelan who's approven pro been there, done that. He's got seven touchdown catches. Kirk Cousins, though, ten interceptions through six games. That that is the biggest bugaboo for this Vikings offense has been taking care of the football, and that's that's the most important thing Minnesota has to

get fixed. And if you're the Packers, you're looking to continue to disrupt Kirk Cousins, force him into some some inaccurate, uncomfortable throws that perhaps you can take advantage of and the Packers can maybe get the turnover thing going their way on defense. Well, and ultimately you and I can see here and talk forever about all the things that

have kind of worked against Minnesota to this point. But when you look at the takeaway numbers, when you look at the actual turnover margin, and that's where they've really hurt this year because they have been given it up too much and they just haven't been taken it away enough right now, thirtieth in the league, I think minus seven overall and turnover differentials, So that's where those numbers

show up. Kirk Cousins, when he was at his his optimal point in this offense, and even going back to his time with Washington when he was in a real groove, it was that he was being efficient, he was being high percentage with his throws and they're just weren't that the turnovers there, he was being safe, protective. You can call a game manager, you can call whatever you want, but he was given his defense a chance to help them win these ball games. That's what's worked against them

this year. Now. Conversely, if you don't take the ball away from them, Minnesota really can still cause a lot of havoc, especially if you get Delvin cooked back. I think Madison also has shown he can be a bell call when they need him to be. But the big guy here for them, and it's going to be a problem here for the Packers in the next decade to come. As justin Jefferson Um, this young man has shown big play potential right off the bat, but He can also

do possession stuff as well. He moves the chains, and he's been that compliment that they needed for Adam Feeland here, you know, since Stefon Digs has had his up town before the trade. And I just think that he's a really good compliment for this offense and the vision of where they want to get to. And if the Packers aren't mindful of where Jefferson is, this guy can really

make you pay. Well. If Kevin King has to miss another game, what are your thoughts on how Mike Petton will match up as far as JayR, Alexander, Josh Jackson, Adam Feland, justin Jefferson. What are your thoughts there? You know? And one thing I'm gonna be interested to do that I haven't been able to do to this point of the season. Maybe I should have used the bye week for this was actually sit down and figure out how

much they've actually matched him against guys. Uh. To me, it still feels like mostly they've played sides this year and and they just let him cover his island and take the rest from there. This is the type of game where you probably still want to do that because they can hurt you a number of different ways. But Jefferson is a guy that you need to know where

he's at on the field at all times. If it's jayre and you want to go with that and just give him that assignment and play off the rest of it. I have full confidence in him at this point that he can handle that, no problem. If he's not covering him, that's where maybe you want to have the two shell. You might want to have a safety over top of

the coverage and be aware of his whereabouts. But that's the other issue here is that the more attention you give a guy like Jefferson, the more that Adam Feeling can hurt you, because he has hurt the Packers in the past. The more that a guy like Delvin Cook can hurt you as a receiver as a runner if you're not minding where he's at on the field. Minnesota still has all the tools to be able to play

with anybody. The game against Seattle showed that. But if you're that that's why to me, it's so imperative that you take the ball away, and you take the ball away early. They're gonna have doubts in their head coming off the bye week. You'd be inhuman not too. You've got to make sure that you keep those doubts rolling there because there is one team that's five and one and there's one team that's one in five. It's just what the statistics are. You have to go out and

prove which one that you are. Yeah, I think I think Minnesota for as as good a rookie and a potential rising star in this league as Justin Jefferson is, and as reliable as Adam Thilan is, I think Minnesota is going to come into this game wanting to run the heck out of the football. You look, you look at the Seattle the game at Seattle, even losing Dalvin Cook, as I said, Madison ends up going over a hundred yards rushing. That's how they're going to protect Kirk Cousins.

That's how they're gonna set up Kirk Cousins for success. Is to pound the ball in the run and try to establish that running game as much as possible against the Packers. And that's going to be a challenge for this Packers run defense, which has stood up pretty well again in the in the Atlanta game, in the Houston game, the run defense was was absolutely on top of things.

But we've also seen some leakage in the run game in in other instances, and getting back to the injury situation, I should mention as well, Tyler Lancaster was back at practice from his shoulder injury on the defensive line for the Packers. But I I think Minnesota's game plan offensively is going to be to to run Dalvin Cook and

Alexander Madison at this Packers defense as much as they can. Yeah, and you go back and look Mike before that injury that that Cook dealt with there after the the Houston game or excuse the Seattle game before that against Houston, a hundred thirty rushing yards, two touchdowns. Then against Tennessee, who's considered one of the front runners in this in this league right now, he had one rushing yards in a touchdown. I mean, this guy was going off after

he signed that extension. And he's a guy that obviously the Packers are well familiar with. You know, Adrian Peterson for a lot of years gave defensive coordinators and coaches a lot of you know, headaches in the NFC North and and Cook has all those same you know, you know potential as well at years old. Now again we're gonna have to see Obviously he's ready to go rip roaring, but first game back, you know, do you see him play a complimentary role with Madison. That's why they drafted Madison.

I mean, they wanted to be able to go deep. They saw what happened when they lost Cook in the past, and now they have two reliable options to turn to, if you know, depending on what the workload is or what they're looking to get out of Cooking this matchup. Yeah, alright, well Week eight in the NFL. I want to get your thoughts before we go on some of the other games going on. I'll throw these out to you, and uh, you can start wherever you'd like. Indianapolis is at Detroit.

I think that's a very interesting game, not only because obviously the Packers are going to be playing both of those teams here yet as the season rolls along, but it's that age old question with Detroit. Can the Lions build on a big victory and start getting something going against an indie team that is actually I believe the only team above five hundred that the Lions are gonna play over the next five weeks. So this is a I give credit to an inbox reader for throwing that

one at me. I read I read that in the inbox when I was going through. UM, but I think that's an interesting one for Detroit, and obviously Indie is a team on the on the Packers schedule coming up. San Francisco is at Seattle, a big chip in the NFC. West New Orleans is at Chicago, a gut check game for the Bears after what happened to them on Monday Night football. Chicago's on a short week now after a game that did not go well at all for them

against the Rams. And then the big one in the a f C is Pittsburgh at Baltimore in the a f C North. So many to talk about. I do want to get your thoughts, and I want to close on San Francisco in Seattle. So let's just put a little pin at one, okay, because there's some things I want to talk to you about that matchup. From a pure football perspective, if West Hotquitz wasn't going to be sitting in the press box covering a game on Sunday, I would be sitting in front of my television watching

Pittsburgh and Baltimore. UM, that's just it's it's good. It's gritty football. I saw Adrian name Is tweet about this to a Baltimore native and he said, you know, when I was a kid, whenever that matchup was on, you just wanted to watch it. It's just the the cultures. There's something of that special, Mike, because it's getting lost in the NFL now because of just all the constant turnover with coaches. But when you actually have to established

football programs, it does matter what er. It doesn't matter if you're and I are talking about two thousand and eight, we're talking about two thousand twenty. The way that these teams play and the mentality, the way that they come together, it's galvanized in them and that and it's like the perfect sort of dance partner. Uh, that that game is

going to be exceptional to watch. Well, I believe I read somewhere and and don't hold me to this, but I thought I read that this is going to be the meeting between Mike Tomlin and johnah Harbor, which is which is like a new NFL record for two head coaches with the same teams going had to had twenty five meetings, and obviously number twenty six will be again later this season, and who knows, maybe it'll be twenty seven come January. Never know. But but let's get away

from the FC. Let's talk about the Money Conference here as it relates to the Green Bay Packers. It's so funny seeing New Orleans traveling to Chicago. New Orleans at four and to Chicago at five and two. It just feels like two teams right now that are sort of shifting in different directions. But yet at the same time, I still feel like Chicago's are really good, Like they

have a good matchup here with with the Saints. I feel like defensively, uh, them being able to play on their own turf, they have what it takes to be able to stop this offense. The question is gonna be, you know, the Saints now ranked seven in the league in total defense, how are they going to match up with this Bears offense? And who's going to be able to grind out these points? Because to me, this feels like one that's gonna just sort of be this knockdown,

drag out war. Yeah, I get the feeling because you know how you know how the Chicago media is and how they cover the Bears, and I'm not saying that in a in a disparaging way. But it's not just the media, but it's the fan base. And you get the feeling that if Chicago loses this one at home, the five and one start becomes five and three, that there's going to be this element of panic in Chicago about just what is going on with this team and

where is it going. This is a really big game, I think from a psyche standpoint for the Chicago Bears and the Chicago fans and UH and New Orleans, New Orleans in that NFC South, we've seen what Tampa Bay has done the past couple of weeks. In New Orleans has that one leg on Tampa Bay having beaten them in Week one, but there will be a rematch down the road. In New Orleans is saying, hey, if we if we want to win our division, Um, you know they've they've got to, you know, keep up with Mr Brady.

Yeah they do. And in Chicago is we talked about with them having five wins and people questioned the vout you know the validity of those wins. They do have a win over Tampa Bay. I mean whatever you want to say. That game and how it ended the Bears earned that victory, so as much as it is if they lose this game they're five and three, there are also six and two. Then suddenly, with two wins over the NFC South what looks to be a very competitive

NFC sell it, so it'll be great to watch. I gotta ask you about San Francisco Seattle though, because an insider in box somebody asked me, if you're a Packers fan, basically, who are you pulling for in this My answer, for those who don't read it or just want to hear me say it again, is that me personally, I've never

believed really in momentum in the NFL. Uh. The reason I say that is because you can have the they're talking from a week to week week week standpoint within a particular And the reason I set this up is because the Packers are gonna be playing the forty Niners the next week. So if they win, are they really on a big street going into it? Things changed so quickly the Minnesota Vikings end up playing Seattle really tough.

I just feel like there's so many things that go into whether or not a team plays well other than the fact what they've done the last few weeks. That being said, I feel like, yeah, this would be a game where if you're the Packers, you're okay with San Francisco beating Seattle because with their only being one spot now of one by you want as many teams picking up second and third losses here earlier in the season

as you can. With the understanding that the Packers can do something about San Francisco, they can turn them back here in what would be seven days Seattle. You just got to kind of watch to see how all the other pieces fall. Yeah, Seattle is uh, Seattle's coming off. It's low and loss of the season, that crazy overtime game against Arizona San Francisco. After a rough start, They've been dealing with injuries. They're still dealing with some injuries,

but the forty Niners have definitely righted the ship. They may be starting to put that Super Bowl hangover that we talked about on a previous episode. It might be starting to put that behind him. I this this is going I mean just look at remember the Week seventeen San Francisco Seattle game last year. I mean literally decided by an inch at the goal line on the That's that's how these teams play and this is this is what it comes down to. So am I wrong on

that though? Or what do you how do you feel it's okay if I'm wrong? No, No, I I totally I totally agree with you. Because of the number one seed being the only playoff position that gets to buy I think you have to be rooting for the team that's behind in the standings to beat the team that's

in front. If if you're a Packers fan, you want to see Seattle pick up a second loss, I just have taken more of an FBS sort of mentality to this now that you just want to see as many teams lose as possible and win out or as many as you can to be able to claim that one spot it's gonna be. I'm not looking forward to this playoff formatt, but if this is the way it's going to be, the way it's got to be, this is

the way it is, we'll roll with it all right. Well, 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 and all of the coverage of Sunday's game Packers Vikings at lambeau Field. It'll all be for you on packers dot com for West I Am Mike, Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.