#571 Packers Unscripted: Pondering the Panthers

their last eight games. But it comes with a bit of a caveat because not only has Christian McCaffrey missed the majority of the Panthers games this season, but during this struggling time for them, they lost by three points to the New Orleans Saints, two points to the Kansas City Chiefs, and by one point to the Minnesota Vikings. This isn't a team of four and nine team that's got a whole bunch of blowouts on its ledger. These guys.

These guys play four quarters. They've been in pretty much every game they've played this year, and I think that's what the Packers can expect even without Christian McCaffrey. On Saturday Night. It kind of reminds you of the first year that Mike McCarthy was in Green Bay sort of you know, I mean, I know they're not getting on that run at the end of the season here, but a lot of one score games, a lot of close losses.

I mean, you look, they lost by five to Denver, They lost by one at Minnesota, we all know that story. They did get blown out by Tampa Bay. But a two point loss at Kansas City, Uh, an eight point loss to Atlanta, in a three point loss at New Orleans. This has been a really you know, tear you know, kind of tough schedule that the Panthers have had to weather this year. And they've had to do it with

the exception of three games without Christian McCaffrey. Uh, you know, one of the top playmakers in the National Football League. So for Matt Rule, it's interesting him coming into this situation. He's been familiar with rebuilds before, and with rebuilds you occasionally take your lumps early on. Uh. They've had some good adjustments. We'll talk about some of those here momentarily.

But UH, the fact that they still sit four and nine, it is what it is, and you have to imagine this is a team that's still looking to finish this year on an upswing and show that year one under Rule was indeed a success. Well, you look at this offense and what it does have going for it even without Christian McCaffrey. Teddy Bridgewater obviously a productive player. He's done it in a few different locations now and uh,

and he's putting together a pretty solid season. Mike Davis at running back is certainly no slouch, and they're getting dj more back um in their receiving corps and they have kind of that you know, trickster gadget play guy in Curtis Samuel that they do some different things on offense. This is a team that, certainly when you look at guys like Samuel and Moore, has a lot of speed on the perimeter on the outside, and the Packers are

gonna have to be ready for that speed on Saturday Night. Yeah, and the big thing was getting more back to i mean eighteen point five yards to catch this season. We and he's proven product. It's not that this this guy just came out of nowhere. I mean he's had a lot of success in Carolina for a number of years now,

so having him back is huge. The big thing with Bridgewater that I find so interesting and compelling is he only has fourteen touchdown passes this year, but he's completing his passes at a seventy clip h eight interceptions, you know, pretty modest stats for the most part, but he also adds that dimension where he can run with his feet and extend plays as well. So this is gonna be a great matchup, I think, a great test for this

Packers defense. Mike Davis, the backup, the veteran that has been there for a number of you know, number of different teams, whether it with San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, he had to cup a coffee with. He's settled in really well into this backfield and it has allowed rule in this offense to stain a lot of the same concepts

that they were wanting to do with Christian McCaffrey. So again with with Bridgewater, in these various weapons that they have, it's it's an opponent you can't take for granted, and they are battle tests to throw out the courses thirteen game season. Yeah, well, right, before we get to some of the key used to victory here for Green Bay,

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When I look at things on the offensive side of the ball for Green Bay, there are three things that come to mind for me. One is that this Panthers defense has eighteen forced fumbles and thirteen fumble recoveries on the season, so the Packers do a good job protecting the football. It is always an emphasis, but when you see numbers like that heading into a game, you definitely it definitely gets your attention because those are some significant

fumble statistics for this Panthers defense. And the other the other two things for me are what the Packers have done on third down and what the Packers have done in the red zone. Green Bay right now second in the league and third down conversions just to shade under fifty and number one in the league in red zone, or I guess the gold zone offense at seventy seven percent. And just to put this in perspective here, last year, the Packers were just thirty six percent on third down

and they ranked twenty three in the league. They've gone from thirty six percent to over and all the way up to number two in the league. That is a huge jump. And the Packers were still actually pretty good in the red zone last year at sixty percent, ranked eighth in the league, but they've jumped from sixty percent to seventy percent and all the way up to number

one in the league. If the Packers continue to convert on third downs and convert in the red zone slash gold zone at those paces at at at those kind of rates, that's how you continue to rack up victories and keep yourself in this position that Green Bay finds itself. Well,

they're just so vastly improved in efficiency. I think you looked at last year, Mike, they had this talent in the ability, you know, with a lot of these guys to be productive and in to score touchdowns in that but uh, this year, the way that they're finishing drives, the way they're finishing third downs has been probably the biggest jump that they've made in year two underneath Matt Lafleur.

It was kind of comical a little bit. We were talking with Mason Crosby on Wednesday, and obviously coming off of that fantastic performance that he had in Detroit, and he talks, you know, about the relationship he has with Rogers and how long they've been around each other, and he mentions, you know, his ability to watch excellence as he calls it from the sidelines. There's been a lot of times this season where he's been revved up, getting ready to go out there to be mentally prepared to

kick a thirty or forty fifty yard field goal. The offense just keeps driving Aaron Rodgers, keeps pushing them downfield, and next thing you know, he's kicking a thirty three yard extra points. So, uh, that's just the way of it. Crosby leads the league and in extra points attempted and made this year. I mean that that's how this offense has played out. Now you put that in contrast with what the Carolina There's do. This is a completely renovated

scheme here. Uh, in the first year underneath Matt Rule. Obviously, Luke Kickley retired, they still have a lot of great weapons in that defense. I mean, and being able to get a guy like Brian Burns last year I thought was such a big thing for them. Uh, one of the big pass rushers that I was really high on. Not really as many sacks are on the you know, same toward pace he was a year ago, but very effective, very efficient, but I mean so many different areas where

they can take the ball away. And then as you mentioned, you know their ability to they've forced, they've recovered. I believe it's thirteen fumbles and they've only lost three. I mean, to have that kind of difference in your turnover differential, Uh, that that's that's gonna be something that's gonna keep you in a lot of games. Yeah. And on the defensive side of the ball for the Packers, we talked about

the speed and these weapons that Teddy Bridgewater has. It kind of feels like, doesn't it, West, that it just comes down to preventing those really big explosive plays that

can hurt you. You have to make this Panther's offense earn its way down the field, you know, seventy seventy five yard drives, but doing it doing in in in little chunks, and if this Packers defense can you know, can get them into a third and seven or a third and nine, that's going to be the opportunity to to get off the field and get the ball back to number twelve. Yeah, and that's where you know the counter punches with the Panthers that they can do it

both ways. I mean, as we mentioned, you have a guy like d G. Moore back in the lineup, one of the most explosive receivers in this league. And then you have a guy like you know, Mike Davis who can kind of chip away at you a little bit with the passing game and the running game. I think as long as carry this year is only twenty five yards, but he's been effective in averaging, you know, over four four point one four point two yards per carry this year.

So depending on which direction they want to go, they can kind of wear you down and hit you with the big punch. But the other side of this thing I that I look at is the difference in the quarterbacks, a difference in the experience level. Aaron Rodgers goes into this thing, he's looking to hit that tipping point again

for forty touchdowns. He's over five you know, fifty career passing yards, has been one of the biggest and most consistent performers in one specific offense for so many years and then now has taken those traits and translated to what Matt Lafleur does. On contrast, Teddy Bridgewater, who's a

guy I've always been really high on. He's gone through multiple offensive systems now, and he was brought in this year because of a lot of things he did in spot duty in New Orleans, obviously coming off of the big, terrible leg injury that he had that ended his time in Minnesota. So, uh, you haven't seen a lot of

these type of matchups. It's been a while since Bridgewater has played the Packers, So I think that that's gonna be one of these these type of matchups and and how things shuffle out here, Um, that's gonna tell you a lot, not only about this Packers defense, but also this Packers offense trying to stay in the rhythm that

they've been in. Yeah, and on the special teams side of things, we've seen obviously the Packers have had some issues with their coverage units and this Carolina Panthers special teams unit, Trent and Cannon kickoff returner. He's got a ninety eight yard kickoff return, had that against Tampa Bay this season. Pharaoh Cooper is their punt returner. He was a pro bowler a few years ago. But on the flip side of things, Carolina has allowed an eighty three

yard punt return for a touchdown this season. Packers have Tavon Austin back there now, a different a different weapon, a new guy that they're working into uh into the mix. So special teams could definitely play a factor in this game. Not just the kicking game with with Mason Crosby and Joey Slye, but but those the returns and the coverage

that could definitely be a factor Saturday night. Yeah, And if I remember right, I think sly actually had a missfield goal there that kind of loom large in that that game last year too. From what I recall, I mean this this is the area with the third phase that you're gonna see a lot of these games be decided down the stretch. And I think that's one of the big things of why Matt Lafloor Shawn Menee have talked about wanting to shore up the areas where they've

fallen short. Crosby touched down in it as well. I mean, they've had these moments where you get thirty plays and you know, twenty eight of them, twenty nine of them look okay. But then you let a seventy one yard kickoff return go, or you have a blocked punt or a punt return for a touchdown. Those things won't fly, especially down the final stretch here. So the one thing I you look at Tavon Austin, Uh, this is a guy. I said it to you last week because we were

watching the game, Mike. He catches the ball fluidly on punt returns. Now, it's one thing to be a really good returner. Jeremy Ross was an excellent punt returner, but he wasn't always the best at catching the ball fluidly and looking natural back there when he receives it. That. There wasn't a lot that we saw from Tavon Austin that first game. It was a very modest workload that he had. They only used him on punts especially, But

you can just tell the confidence he has there. This is a guy that's been doing that his entire life. He's done it every single season he's been in the NFL. It's a second nature and it is one of the most underrated positions in the National Football League that when you have a guy there that you have confidence that he's not only gonna be able to catch the ball, but it is naturally gonna be able to turn up field. That's where the Packers are trying to get something here

during this final stretch. Last year it was Tyler Irvin. This year they needed to be Tavon Austin. Yeah. Absolutely well. In looking at where the Packers sit, as we talked about on our last show, the NFC North is in the books. The Packers are the division champions and currently sitting in control of the number one seed, tied with the New Orleans Saints at ten and three for the top record in the NFC. The Packers have that head

to head tiebreaker over New Orleans. Three victories in these last three games and the Packers will be the number one seed in the NFC and get that first round by Obviously, you'd love to be able to get some breathing room, right, I mean um, And this is an opportunity this week is an opportunity for the Packers to do that, You're you're hosting a Carolina Panthers team that

is significantly below five hundred. While the New Orleans Saints unsure whether or not Drew Brees will be back from his rib injury, they have to take on the Kansas City Chiefs, the top team in the a f C, A team that I think has lost only one of its last six or twenty seven games dating back to last year and through the Super Bowl and everything like that.

So everything went right for the Packers last weekend that you could have asked for in terms of what you wanted to happen in the position you wanted to be. And you get a win here and uh and a win from Kansas City over New Orleans, then things are really really looking good heading into the last two weeks

of the regular season. Yeah, they really are. I mean, because I think before that game last week for the Saints going up against the Philadelphia a lot of a lot of the thinking was, Okay, well, the Saints could run the table here, but it's that Kansas City game that we have to keep an eye open for. When the door opens after a loss like that to the Eagles, especially heading into a game with Kansas City. That's where

it starts to raise some questions there. Taysom Hill has done a fantastic job of keeping that ship afloat for them, But I think you've seen defenses kind of make their adjustments. Now he's gonna have to find ways to win in different ways now where it's not just gonna be the same. Okay, you know we're gonna throw on this place, so it's looking down the receiver and there he is and throw the past or or going out and trying to scramble

and make something happen. Hill's really talented. But that's going to be the CounterPunch here. And this is going to be a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs where they have a defense that's going to be able to get after him and pressure him up the middle. So that's gonna be something to follow. But for Green Bay standpoint, as we talked about just now, where you can't really look past Carolina. It doesn't matter if it's offense or defense.

You have Jeremy Chin on the defensive side for Carolina too, is a defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. At this point, they can't look past this opponent either. So because you have the Tennessee Titans coming up on the horizon as well. It's what makes playoff football so compelling, it what makes the last two or three weeks of the regular season great. I wish this game wasn't playing being played on Saturday night. I wish you and I were watching it at New

and Central time on Sunday. But that's not the world we live in. The Packers had to make that adjustment this week, and we'll see how they handle this in the past when things are unique, when schedules aren't really typically set and they have to create, you know, a new plan. Matt Lafleur and his coaches have done a pretty good job of it. Well. A couple other games that will be interesting in terms of the NFC playoff

picture that are worth talking about as well. Right in the NFC North, you can almost call it a playoff game on Sunday, the Vikings taking on the Chicago Bears. Both teams are six and seven. I mean, really, the simplest way to explain it is the winner of this game is going to still be alive for a wild card spot, and the loser of this game is probably out.

It really is almost a playoff game for these two teams that are trailing the Packers in the NFC North, What are your thoughts here as the Bears and the Vikings go head to head for a second time in the Bears and Vikings, in two very different ways, are

both just screaming towards eight and eight seasons. And that's a phrase I've used in the past because they've just been two up and down, and when you're two up and down as a team, you typically end up falling right under that five hundred line throughout the course of a year. From Chicago standpoint, it's funny how one game can kind of make you get your confidence back, your

swagger back a little bit. Mitchell Robinsky was up for FedEx Air Player of the Week after everything he's been through to have a three touchdown performance where he really looked like he had a command of the offense. Matt Negie was talking about it. He sees a difference in him right now. But can you carry that over? Can you do it again against Mike Zimmers defense? Can you finish the year strong and make your team convinced that you're not a guy that can step up and make

throws and make plays. You know here and there that shows those bright spots that that you can be a real, you know, franchise quarterback. Can you do that? Every single week I keep throwing out that line about Aaron Rodgers thirteen games this season, twelve of them over eight passer rating. It's so difficult to do. That's not easy to do. But that's what the elite quarterbacks can do in this league. And that's just one the one area where Troubinsky has

fallen short to this point. Minnesota, they made the rally, they got back into this thing. Sometimes you wonder can you maintain that? Can you finish the race here to the to the final bell. That's what we're gonna find out very soon. They have weapons, we've seen them all they had, they could honestly as as good as Delvin Cook is, they could become one of the top passing

offenses in the National FOOTBA. Like if they just if that's the focus of how they wanted to do things, they're built to win in a lot of different ways. But unfortunately for them, again, it's been one step forward, one step back. Yeah, it's really interesting when you when you look at these two teams, they're sitting there, sitting there at six and seven. Both of them have a very recent loss that looks extremely damaging to their playoff

chances right now. The Vikings lost that game a few weeks ago to the Dallas Cowboys, which really they had no business losing to a team like the Cowboys and the struggles that they were going through, but it happened. The Bears. They had the Detroit Lions on the ropes, They had a ten point lead with four minutes to go in their own building and had the Lions backed up near their own goal line, and they let them off the hook. And those those individual losses for those teams,

those are the ones that you lament. But as you said, that's that that's sort of what happens to teams that ride the roller coaster up and down like that. And so now they have to forget about those results. They they've got a de facto playoff game against one another here on Sunday. The other one I want to ask you about um two division leaders actually in the NFC. Seattle is at Washington, and we've seen this Washington. We've

seen this Washington football team though West. I mean the you know Alex Smith, Alex Smith is playing you know Alex Smith football, he's he doesn't make a whole lot of mistakes. They found a little bit of a running game. But this Washington team is doing it with defense. Chase Young. Chase Young that high draft pick, and this Washington team has has shown in the last few weeks it's not easy to just go out there and you know, put

up points on these guys. Seattle, they're in a you know, a real dog fight in the NFC West with the Los Angeles Rams. Those two teams are going to play each other next week. Um the Rams sort of get you know, if you can call it such in the NFL the gimme game. They have the New York Jets, which was the team that Seattle be up on last week.

Um So Seattle is looking at, you know, feeling like they have to win get to tenant four to keep pace with the Rams, who most likely will be tenant four when the Seahawks and the Rams face off a week from now. Can somebody just win the NFC East Already it's been every team I think there's They've brought in teams off the street that have made a run at this thing. At this point. The thing that's great

about Washington. You mentioned he's playing Alex Smith football. That's true game management one O one, but he actually has been turning over the ball a little bit and they've still found a way to overcome that with the way that this defense is structured. And probably another defensive Rookie of the Year candidate there. They've lost Antonio Gibson, they still end up rolling last week. That that's the sign of a good team. Ron Rivera excels in these situations.

I mean, when they were looking at changing their culture, they were looking to change their you know, the win loss record, a new identity. He's the guy unfortunately has had to work through some other things. But this is is the test now, Washington, can they have success against this defense in Seattle? Kind of in a different way.

Can they penetrate what has been one of the top defenses in the National Football League this year with Russell Wilson being able to, you know, take on a unit like this and not have the errors or mental lapses. The NFC West race has tightened up real fast, and unfortunately for the San Francisco forty Niners, they hadn't really been a part of it. But just watching these teams and and trying to assert their dominance there and understanding

what that means for their playoff implications. Um, this is a game that the Seahawks cannot look past. Yeah. Absolutely. And the Arizona Cardinals in third place in that NFC West there right in the right, in that wild card hunt, they sit a game ahead of the Bears and Vikings, the Cardinals at seven and six and trying to get one of those wild card spots in the NFC. Any games in the a f C West that uh in the West, I'm sorry, games in the a f C that jump out at us that you're going to have

your eye on this weekend. Yeah, there were a couple. The first one is I mean, if they're New York Jets, if there was ever a year for them to draw the NFC West uh in a in a season series that that's just turned out really well for them. Uh No. But New England and in Miami, Mike was the game that stood out to me. And this was so many years.

I mean, there was a huge winning streak I think the Patriots had too over the Dolphins or season series, and then that was a team that they just sort of they were the big brother too for so many years and now with Brian Flores there, now the Dolphins are looking like a team on the rise, and in the Patriots are having to answer a lot of questions, so seeing how they how they handle that, I mean otherwise, Yeah, there's not a whole ton of you know, huge matchups here.

Pittsburgh's gonna beat up likely on Cincinnati. The Ravens kind of after a really tough little run that they had to go through, now they get a winnable game against Jacksonville. This seems kind of more like a take care of business week for most teams, but um, seeing if Miami can complete that, you know, the season sweep there on

the Patriots gonna be interesting to watch. Well, even in a take care of business week, there's usually some game that jumps up on somebody where somebody doesn't take care of business and then the playoffs scenarios in one conference or another kind of get thrown for a loop. So we'll see if that, uh, we'll see if that happens here. As Week fifteen in the NFL comes to a close. Oh that's wrong. The Dolphins last week one to the Patriots,

so they didn't sweep. But Dolphins are finishing really strong though, Mike, So there are that would be that that would be that'd be quite an achievement for Brian Flores in his second year as coach there with the program he took over to potentially get Miami to the playoffs. That would be impressive. And the moves they made a dit to do it, I mean going with two uh and you know, kind of saying this is gonna be our guy. The rest of the way. We feel like we can compete

this year. We're gonna do it. They've had to go through a bunch of different running backs to whether it be through COVID or injuries. I think that says a lot about his program, the way they've kind of rallied this thing. And Patrick Graham, former Packers inside linebackers coach, the defensive coordinator down there, that's right, 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 and everything going on with Saturday night's game. It'll all be on Packers dot Com for West I Am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.