#560 Packers Unscripted: Midway measures

The Packers get to six and two at the midway point. Really, we've said this a couple of times this season, but this was one of the games that the Packers just did what they had to do because the forts their lineup did not resemble anything like what they had in the two meetings against the Packers last year in November and again in January, and um and the Packer simply

went out West and took care of business well. And one reason this is such a big deal, Mike, is because it was what they kind of failed to do four days earlier, taking care of business against a team that had one win. As we've come to find out, the Vikings very much are still alive in this thing with Dalvin Cook in their backfield. But I think everybody was expecting Green Bay, despite their history in San Francisco,

at least of late. They expected them to go out there and really impose their will on the forty niners. And to their credit, they did that, and they did it on both offense and defense. Looking strictly at the offense, I thought, when you talk about in terms of consistency throughout the course of a game, this was a really solid effort by them. It started with getting Aaron Jones back in the backfield. I thought, you know, and you're gonna look at his stats in that game and you're

not gonna be blown away. But what he gave them, especially on those first two series when there were so many questions about his health, what the backfield was gonna look like without having Jamal Williams and A J. Dillon. He just allowed the offense to settle in, get its composure back in. The Packers, to their credit, for the large part of four quarters, were able to carry that

through the game. Davante Adams has another marquee performance and then really quickly just to touch on the defense, This is I wrote about an insider inbox this week. This is I think kind of the pick me up. They needed a reminder of the takeaways, the big plays, what this unit is capable of. Now. I understand it was a backup quarterback, and I understand that the forty Niners were missing a lot of skill position players. But again, if you didn't accomplish those things against an offense that

was depleted, it raises even more questions. So I thought, in terms of just being able to get the train back on the tracks, Green Bay accomplished that goal out in Santa Clara. Yeah, a couple of things statistically, I think to to mention here offensively, and really it flew under the radar in a sense because of the Packers getting Aaron Jones back on offense and what he meant,

and with the big game that Davante Adams had. But Aaron Rodgers was twenty five out of thirty one for three five yards with four touchdowns and a one forty seven point to pass A rating. And that's on a short week, basically not practice, sing and flying two time

zones away two. And yes, the forty Niners have had some injuries on defense, but they were they were missing their pass rushers, and yes, and Richard Sherman is also on injured reserve in their secondary, but the defense not nearly as banged up and statistically has held its own throughout the course of this season for the forty Niners,

and Aaron Rodgers just absolutely carved them up. I mean, I don't know if anybody has any Thursday Night Short week statistics like over the course of NFL history, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find six in completions, four touchdown passes in one seven passer rating very often in history. The other one, of course, is Davante Adams ten catches, a hundred and seventy three yards and a touchdown.

Now correct me if I'm wrong on this statistical framework, but I believe that's the third time this year Davante Adams has had double digit catches for a hundred and fifty plus yards. And there are only two other receivers in and FL history who have had three of those types of games in a single season. And Davante Adams has done it in six games because he missed two

of the Packers first eight. That's just outrageous. It's crazy and and it and it gets even crazier when you break it down and you add in the touchdown receptions he's had in all those games, then it's only Kelvin Johnson from two thousand and twelve. I believe that matches him. Again. That was Megatron having an entire season and Davante playing

in only six of the Packers first eight games. Somebody in the other day was asking me, I was having just a just a conversation about the first half of the season, and they said, I mean, you can make a lot of cases that Aaron Rodgers right now is a leading MVP candidate hundred and seventeen point five passer rating. You and I discussed it at our desks a couple

of days ago. He's on pace for I think a career high in touchdown passes, career high potentially in yards depending on if he can, you know, match some more of these big games here in the second half of the season. And that is very true. And Rogers does serves a lot of credit for the way he's performed to this level, especially after I think so many people left him out at the side of the road here

at the beginning of the season. But Davante Adams man, if he hasn't given credit for being an all pro at the end of the season. If he stays on this trajectory, I don't know what it's gonna take. I wrote about it after the game. You probably saw the plethora of media social media post from his teammates saying that this is the best receiver in the game. That's a conversation that you can lose so much breath over

it's almost not even worth discussing. But the fact that routinely, Mike we get into this conversation every single year and he's not even among the nominees is kind of inexcusable. At this point, We're talking about a guy that can run the entire route tree, He catches touchdowns, he does everything that you need him to do in this offense.

He moves around, Aaron Rodgers trusts him. But because of the fact, I really do think it boils down to this, the fact that he's not a celebrity receiver in this league that actually hurts him. The fact that he doesn't end up on first take because of something he says, or he doesn't end up being a guy that's getting all these different you know, you know, publicity and off the field adulation for the way that he lives his life.

He is a meat and potatoes receiver in this league, and he just so happens to arguably be the best one among a ton of successful receivers in a passing era. Davante Adams is entering some really rare air right now, and you're seeing it happen on a week by week basis, and I think it speaks to his character in general. And as you said, he doesn't say a lot of controversial things that he was actually asked after the San Francisco game, do you think you're the best receiver in

the NFL? And he said, yeah, I do. But how many headlines, how many talk shows are talking about that? Not many? And that's okay, but they're not talking about it because Davante Adams is not some controversial diva look at me wide receiver figure. That's not who he is. And so he can speak his mind and be honest and he says, hey, I'm not trying to be cocky or arrogant. I'm just I'm I'm just being confident in

who I am and that and people accept that. And I do think it's it's if he can stay healthy, and yes, he did miss two and a half games, earlier this season. If he can stay healthy, it's really really going to be interesting to see the kind of numbers that he puts up here. The guy, if he would have played in those first two games, will be on pace for two thousand receiving yards this season. I mean,

it is just ridiculous. It would be a Megatron, a Megatron type season because he's had some of those games, Mike. I know it's happened a number of times the last few years where he's had ten catch plus games, But the yards after catch this year, the explosive plays that have been built into that that isn't twelve catches for ninety four yards. We're having him nearing two hundred yards

on almost a weekly basis. And to your point there about that question, Jason will They from ESPN Wisconsin asked that of him, and I know it received some you know, comments on on media and whatnot, But the thing about Davante's answer that I thought was so illuminating was, yet, well, what do you expect him to say? It's not what he said, it's how he said it. There's so many receiver as I can think of over the last ten fifteen years that would have either laughed at that or

scoffed at or be like, are you kidding me? Of course I am. But it's the way that DeVante even admitted humbly he would agree with that assertion. That's the way he carries himself in the wits, the way he's conducted his business for six plus seasons. And the biggest thing that Rogers said in any comment that he made in the post game of that matchup was he makes life as a quarterback so easy because he's not complaining

about his touches. He's not complaining about his targets. This is a guy who just routinely gets open and and he's able to, you know, go from there. It's it's an incredible story. And the fact that he's still a month shy of his twenty eight birthday, I just speaks to really how special this guy is gonna be if he can stay on pace and if he stays healthy

in the long term. Yeah, I want to get a couple more thoughts from you on the Packers offense in a moment here, But first, folks, serious x m NFO 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, and Packers fans you need to gear up for game day. Open a Packers checking account from Associated Bank and score a fifty dollar Packer

Pro Shop gift card. Learn more Associated bank dot Com backslash Packers All right West As the Packers get prepared here, coming off of the weekend off the mini buy whatever you wanna call it, Jacksonville Jaguars slated to come into lambeau Field this coming Sunday. We've seen this Packers offense deal with the absence of Davante Adams for a couple of games. David Baktier has been out now for a handful of games. Either Aaron Jones or Jamal Williams has

been out. Jones with the caff injury for a while. He's back. Williams had to miss the last game being on the COVID list as a as a high risk close contact. As this offense starts to get these guys back, David Bakti is back at practice, Alan Lazard is back at practice. Jamal Williams is now off of that COVID list. He was back at practice on Monday. What where do you think this Packers offense can go when you know it gets all the all the horses back in the stable,

so to speak. You know, I mean this there, these guys, there have only been you've played eight games. That's thirty two quarters of football. I would argue five of those thirty two quarters they've had trouble. The last three quarters against Tampa Bay, the second half in the second game

against Minnesota. The other twenty seven out of thirty two quarters this offense has been on the field, they've been really really hard to stop with all kinds of moving parts on the offensive line and amongst the skill position players. Where do you think this offense can go when everybody's

back together. It reminds me of you know, watch those cooking shows on you know, whether it be Food Network or some of these other channels, where you know, you give them the certain amount of you know, ingredients to work with and they come up with something good and it's fine, and the all the judges, you know, praise them for it and they pick a winner and everything like speaking of making things look easy, but yeah, go ahead.

But then you watch the cooking shows where they open up the entire super market and they say, just go ham figure something out and then what guys can come up with. I think that's where the Packers offense is right now. They've made do here over the last six weeks, especially whether it was when they're missing Davante Adams or these last four or five games where they haven't had Alan Lazard. You mentioned the injuries that you know, Robert Tonyan played in every game, but then he developed an

ankle injury. To Tyler, you know, Lane Taylor, if you want to go back to the opener, losing the guy that was the presumptive starter at right guard. So all these different things they've overcome and now you're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel again. Another thing I wrote an inbox this week is this is probably the healthiest the Packers are going to be the rest of the season coming out of this mini

by so to speak. Not saying they're gonna get everybody back, but it's trending the right way, and even the guys that may not be back for the Jaguars, it's looking pretty good. On the other end of that, the one me personally as the writer, the enthusiasts, the story guy. I mean, it would be pretty interesting if Alan Lazard can come back and play against his former team in

the jack Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. But all that being said, to answer your original question, I think the arrow is pointing up for them and Rogers being able to develop trust and all these different guys throughout this process, not knowing when he's gonna have Davante Adams or Aaron Jones. Losing Aaron Jones two days before a game. I mean, the way that they've been able to adapt. Matt Lafleur didn't have to sell me on anything when he became a head coach. Who am I But my goodness, man,

I think these last six weeks. You know, there's so many questions. Last year, well, they were healthy the whole year. They didn't face any adversity. Of course, they were thirteen and three there, six and two right now, And a lot of it has to do with the fact that Matt Lafleur, Nathaniel hack At, these offensive coaches that have been able to adapt and make this offense still a top ten unit in despite of the fact they've been missing some pieces. Yeah, well, let me get some thoughts

from you on the Jacksonville Jaguars. This is a one win a f C football team, uncommon opponent, all of that that will be coming in to lambeau Field on Sunday, and with a rookie quarterback who'll be making his second NFL start, Jake Luton, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, had taken over for the injured Gardner Minshew. I'm personally disappointed

we're not going to get to see Gardner Minshew. Uh. You know, as with Jacksonville being a team the Packers only play once every four years, and all we've really been able to see is highlights of Minshew in his young career so far. Um. I was looking forward to getting a chance to see him in person. But be that as it may, who are the guys on offense for this Jacksonville team that will be supporting this rookie quarterback Luton? And who could give the Packers some trouble

on something? Here's the thing, And Matt Lafleur didn't talk in depth about the Jaguars yet, but I imagine he will later this week, and I'm guessing what he's gonna say is this is a team that's better than the record shows. And that's not just all fluff either. I mean, you talk about you know, the Vikings and where they were at and losing some close games. Jacksonville has lost some close games, but they've also dropped now six in

a row, I believe, since that opener against Indianapolis. So there's gonna be sort of a gut check moment for them. But there's playmakers go Laura, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The one thing Luton proved to me in that game against Houston was this guy can deal. He can throw the football. It's not just some rookie seventh round pick or whatever. He is being back there being wide eyed. He threw for three hundred yards in

that game. And DJ Shark, who appears to be back to you know, a hundred percent here after dealing with some of his own injuries. I mean, he showed you exactly how dominating he can be. This is a legit number one receiver in this league. If the guy can get the ball to him, he can really make you pay. And with JayR. Alexander working his way back now in the concussion protocol his status uncertain, that could be a big thing to worry about as well. But ultimately I

think this goes back to the run game. Mike That's going to continue to be the question for Green Bay until they prove it not to be. In James Robinson, they made a decision right away at the beginning of the season that this is our running back. This is the guy we're gonna run with. Leonard for Nette they released and Robinson he's he's pretty you know, he would

have fit well into the Black and Blue division. I feel It's not like he's just a consummate home run threat, but he wears you down, man, and they have so much trust in him. This is one of the few backs in the NFL right now that is a true, tried and true every down back and they'll shut them

down your throat for four quarters. Yeah, this is this is going to be This is going to be an interesting one because there there is there that lack of familiarity when you play these A f C teams And obviously that cuts both ways, because the Jaguars are not familiar um necessarily with with the Packers. But it always, it always creates these potential surprises that you just don't

you don't exactly know what you're walking into. And yes, it it can be seen maybe as another get well game for the Packers defense facing a backup rookie quarterback and all of that. But the Packers defense is going to have its challenges, and I think what you mentioned earlier about, Okay, this defense hasn't generated the turnovers that it did a year ago that were so important to

the success on that side of the ball. But they generated a couple of them against San Francisco and certainly, I mean, Darnell Savage probably should have had to pick six. He's gonna be kicking himself over over that one that he missed against the forty niners for the rest of the season. But those opportunities were there. They're starting to

cash in on them. You you start to get, you know, that type of momentum going in the turnover category, and yeah, if they can do it again against another young quarterback, more power to him, because a lot of it is just sometimes it's it's how you feel about yourself when you're out there on the field and how you carry yourself, and and maybe even more so this year because you don't have the crowd behind you to start screaming and yelling on third and seven and all of that kind

of stuff. So I think it'll be interesting to see how the Packers defense if if if they can, you know, put together a second straight solid performance, even if they're facing an offense that is not necessarily at full strength. Yeah, and again you're seeing the line out there already on this game, and we were talking to two touchdown to score line right now for green Bay. You and I discussed this a couple of weeks ago. It goes back

to two thousand than sixteen, No, two thousand twelve. Excuse me, when the Jaguars came in here and I think they were sixteen point dogs to green Bay. Green Bay won that game, but they were well within sixteen points. So you have to be able to again make a statement here early on the schedule sets up really well for

green Bay. I know we're gonna talk about the whole landscape here in a minute, but this is sort of a take care of business type game before you have to go and play a difficult matchup against a quarterback you have had a rough history with a Philip Rivers. And then you've got a Chicago Bears team that, while facing some adversity right now, has been a winning ball

club for the bulk of this season. As far as the Jaguars go, though, I do think this ultimately comes down to what Green Bay's offense does against their defense. Jacksonville has been up and down to this point of the season on the defensive side of the ball. Josh Allen is back now he's healthy. He still only has two and a half sacks on the season. He was working through some of his own stuff, but all those sacks have come in three of his last four games.

So there's still things to worry about there. But I just think with you being at home, if you can come out again. They've scored on all eight of their opening possessions, make a statement early on. It really sets you up here to to be able to, you know,

do what everyone is expecting them to do. Yeah. Well, as far as where things stand in the bigger picture here, the Packers are six and two, two games up in the lost column in the NFC North, with the Chicago Bears at five and four and the Bears having lost three straight, and then behind them the Lions and the Vikings are both three and five, And as far as the NFC in general goes, this is where things I

think it really really interesting. Not that I'm taking the NFC North for granted, because the Packers still have to play the Bears twice um. Although I do say, and I mentioned this an insider inbox, I don't think it's a bad thing right now that with the way Minnesota is starting to make its presence, felt that the season series is done. If the Vikings are going to try to catch the Packers, they don't get to play them

again in order to do that. And I think that that bodes well for green Bay because it just makes it that much hard d for Minnesota to make that run at first place. But in the NFC in general, three teams right now with the top record at six and two. You have Green Bay, Seattle and New Orleans. Tampa Bay right behind at six and three, and then you have the Rams and the Arizona Cardinals are both

five and three. So that's a half dozen teams that are all within one game of one another for the number one spot for the top record in the NFC. And here's the interesting thing, schedule wise, I'll throw a bunch of stuff at you here as far as what the second half of the schedule looks like. As I mentioned the Bear, the Packers are playing the Bears twice the Packers also will have to play the Colts and the Titans, the top two teams in the a f C South, and the Bears and the Vikings have already

played the Colts and the Titans. Those games are off of their schedules, and the Packers have both of those coming up. But then also as far as the rest of the NFC is concerned, Seattle and Arizona have to play each other once more, and the Rams have two games left with the Cardinals and two games left with the Seahawks. So the Rams are five and three and of their remaining eight games, half of them four of them are those division games against the Cardinals and the Seahawks.

My point is there is a lot to be sorted out here over the over the last eight weeks eight games of this regular season. In the good news is the Packers are right where they need to be at the moment, and they just need to need to do

what it takes to stay there. Yeah, my lingering comment has been, Mike, especially getting through this third quarter of the season, is that you just got to continue to pile up the wins, because I really do feel like whatever team gets hot in weeks fifteen sixteen seventeen is gonna be the one that really takes a run into the playoffs, because right now all the horses are pretty

much a line going around the second turn. And it's funny too, because every time somebody wants to claim someone is sort of the leader in the clubhouse in the NFC, they sort of get knocked off the pedestal. Going into that game against New or Wines, everybody just said, well, yeah, Tampa's the best team. New Orleans changed that. New Orleans the same team that three weeks ago everybody said, well, this this team is terrible. Why are they playing Taysom Hill as much as they are. It's a game of

consistency and there's going to be weekly ups and downs. Well, and not that long ago, Seattle is undefeated. They take an overtime loss to a division rival with Arizona. Then they go play across conference game, across country, trip out to Buffalo and get knocked off by a pretty good Buffalo Bills team. And so suddenly Seattle is six and two, and New Orleans, whom the Packers defeated on the road way back at the beginning of the season, there now six and two, and right there with with green Bay

and Seattle with the at the top spot in the NFC. Yeah. So, and I don't want to get into this because it's way too really to do it. But right now, if the playoffs started, the Packers would be the three seed based on the strength of the conference and everything, and the wins against the conference, New Orleans would be number one.

But it shows you, you know, Mike McCarthy always used to have that line, and I really always liked it where he mentioned you got to get to ten wins and then you can start talking and you can start talking about the scenarios. And so that's where that to me, it's like it's not quite a magic number, because it's not. You can't guarantee anything, but it really does line up well with green Bay having a chance to get that by to make a run at it here with the

way the schedule aligns. But you can't have any more hiccups. You can't have those those blimps in the radar, those anomalies like they felt that there was in that game against Minnesota, because even after that game ended, Mike, we're doing the post game zooms. I don't know how you felt about it. I still felt like Green Bay was a much better team. They just got beat on that particular day day by the best player on the field and Cook. And as we found out the last two weeks,

now this just in Dalvin Cook is pretty good. Yeah, he might be making a run at the best running back in the NFL right now. So all that being said, you have to tie it together. You have to win these intra conference games coming up for these that last month of the season to be meaningful. But Mike I was working on the game program this morning for the Jaguars game. The Green Bay Packers here, five games at

home to close the season, three on the road. This is an opportunity, it's a huge opportunity to think the most of it. Absolutely well, with that, we will 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. We'll see you next time.