#585 Packers Unscripted: Big weekend ahead

find out on Saturday night. I'm assuming we are going to find out on Saturday night that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be a three time NFL Most Valuable Player Award winner two thousand eleven, two thousand fourteen, and certainly all all signs are pointing to him winning it again in I'm just gonna throw an open ended question out your way with regard to Rogers Place, specifically, when you look back at the season, what will you remember most?

What stands out to you about it? Him playing on time again is the number one thing. There were so many years where between, and I think there was a couple of different things in play. One he's talked it a lot about is the the you know, him breaking his leg and in eighteen and you know, the knee injuries and everything else that he was dealing with. He

just he was still Aaron Rodgers. But it was kind of like the wounded you know, Wolf, a little bit like he just wasn't able to be what he always has been because of some of the limitations that were

holding him back. But then I think there were also certain things that he had to work his way out of and he had to regain a comfort level, uh, in the offense and being able to make this transition from Matt Lafleur's scheme, from Mike McCarthy scheme to Matt Lafleur's scheme and in the trend, the switch and the maturation process you saw from nineteen to twenty. Uh, this

is the best player in the National Football League. And for him to not only get the forty eight touchdown passes and have a one passer rating point five, the second best of his career. But Mike, that seventy point seven completion percentage for a guy that was for so long kind of aligned for throwing the ball away to too much and you know, extending the plays when you know,

not being quick triggered. He played on time, as he said in his appearance with Pat McAfee, he regained you know, the confidence in his knee and his hitch, you know, being able to to sink into it better. And and as he mentioned, because you think about the game of football and it's just, oh, just go back and throw

the ball. But every single movement that's part of his dropback, it all lines up with where the receivers are in their routs, the timing of the play, and that's why he felt like the timing was better, and that's why he felt the accuracy was better. For Aaron Rodgers to go seventy points seven completion percentage when you asked me about two thousand and twenty, that will be the first

thing that always comes to mind. Yeah, it's pretty remarkable that a quarterback in his thirteenth year as a starter would set both personal bests and franchise records in the categories of touchdown passes and completion percentage t s. And the seventy point at seven. As you mentioned, I think what stands out to me the most. It goes along with what you said about playing on time. But the way I would phrase it, or the way I'll remember

it is his command of the game. And I say that not because Aaron Rodgers hasn't played like this before. And you know, the command that he showed at the line of scrimmage with making the checks and just looking like he was always in control of what was going on out there. We've seen that before. He's one m v p S before the run the table in we saw Aaron Rodgers playing like that with that sort of

command at the line of scrimmage. But what stood out to me about it this year is that he achieved that level of command in just his second year in

a brand new offense. We didn't see it in nine when he and all the other players on offense we're learning Matt Lafleur system and we're trying to get accustomed to it, and Rogers command of the offense and of everything that was going on in the field went to another level in just his second year in the offense, and and the um the progress, the maturation of everything. His mastery of this offense just in a second season, I think speaks volumes of the kind of player he is,

both both mentally and then obviously physically. With the things that that you talked about, the way he the way he got his game physically back to where we had seen it in the past. He reminds me almost like of a professor right where you know, there's certain you know, men and women out there, they're gonna be incredibly intelligent, they're gonna have high i q s. They're gonna be able to research and see things and you know, go through their doctor program. But the more knowledge that you

gain over the years, the stronger that makes you. From whether it's a critical thinking aspect or an argumentation or just being able to present facts to a classroom. That's where I saw Rogers this year. He's seen it all, he's done it all. And because of that knowledge base that he has, everything that he's looked at on the field, he's seen it for the most part in some shape or form before and being able to get his physical aspect of that back, you know, being able to be confident,

to stand tall in the pocket. And and also Mike give credit to this, to the scheme. How many times this year did he go out of his way to mention you know what Nathaniel Hackett, Matt Lafleur and Luke Getsie what these coaches had come up with. Uh, it was innovative, it was creative, and he wasn't you know, he was obviously embracing what what that change was the last two seasons. And when somebody asked me this, you know, in year three, now, what do you expect in Matt

lafleur scheme? You know, I expect him to take it to another level because there's still things they can work on. Certainly, we've got to figure out what this backfield looks like.

I'm sure there's gonna be a couple of new offensive weapons that will be added this offseason three that the draft of free agency, but seeing where they take this now when okay, now you've established Robert Tonyan, you have Davante Adams, considered one of the best in the game, and this multitude of you know that the illusion of

complexity that we always talk about. I think you're gonna see la fleur and hack it go back into the you know, the lab this offseason and find some more stuff to to bring this offense back and and and make them even more potent. And and obviously, as we heard earlier this week, Aaron Rodgers is a massive part

of that plan. Yeah, no question about it. And the historical significance of this being a third m v P for Rogers again assuming that he is named that m v P on Saturday Night, which is what we all expect. The significance of this is is pretty astounding because only five other players in the history of the Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award, which dates back to seven, only five other players have ever won it three times, and that list is Peyton Manning, who tops the list

with five m vps. But then the other three time winners are Tom Brady, Brett Farve, Johnny Unitis and Jim Brown and Aaron Rodgers adding his name to that list. He mentioned it um during the season when the question was posed to him, what would it mean to you to to join a list of players like that? And

of course he said it would be incredibly special. Um. He would always trade the m v p s for another Super Bowl, of course, but um, but he's well aware of the of the legacy that that he's establishing. And when you think about, as we've been talking about what he did in his second year in the Flour's offense and maybe where this is headed in year three, year four for him in La Fleur's offense, three m vps, he he might not be done now. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen,

lots of other really good quarterbacks. Tom Brady's not done playing yet either. But um, but to say, you know, you, you can't even say that this is by any means the last hurrah for Aaron Rodgers being in an m v P race based on how he played in Yeah, and when you look at Brady now to Mike, I mean, you know, certainly he has to stay healthy. You gotta avoid disaster in the pocket and and those things that

can change, you know, in an instant. But for him to be able to play at this level at forty three, I have to imagine Aaron Rodgers looks at that and is inspired to to what he could potentially do. Was talking. I was talking with James Jones a couple of weeks ago for a story I was trying to write on

Davante Adams that we will right at some point. Uh. Also is asking him about Aaron Rodgers and his candidacy for this, and he said there's two things that really stood out to him and why he thinks he can play into his forties. And it's one he has natural arm talent. Uh, not the kind of stuff that you're just gonna go walk into a weight room and just you know, build up your arm strength or just make

yourself into something that you maybe naturally aren't. Uh. He throws the ball hard and far, and he doesn't have to do like put a lot into it to be able to accomplish that. It's just god given ability that he's been able to cultivate over the years with his mechanics. And for that reason, James thinks he's gonna be able

to play well into his forties. And then when you look at the fact that he has taken care of himself the way that he has, I don't know if he's on the TV twelve type diet that that Tom Brady's on that I don't think I could survive more than six hours if it was up to me. But he obviously years ago whether it was his, you know, looking into the gluten and lactose in those type of things.

Rogers made a commitment in his early thirties. Now he's sitting at thirty seven these early thirties, that he wanted to play into his forties. He wanted to be able to How many times we heard about the back nine analogy that he used, and it wasn't just the weight room, it wasn't just squatting. It was his diet, and Rogers is an incredibly disciplined human being and for that reason, Yeah, he's at thirty seven. We're gonna see what the future holds.

I personally am really embracing this whole beautiful mystery thing that he brought up a couple of weeks ago. We can't predict what is going to happen. You don't know when the last time is ultimately that you're gonna step on a field. So yeah, just let it play out and see where it takes us. But certainly at thirty seven, Brady at forty three really showing no signs of slowing down. It looks like he wants to even maybe take it past forty five now or whatever he was saying in

the media this past week. Yeah, I think we gotta stop trying to put timelines on everybody. Yeah. Absolutely. Well. One other m v P note to put this in perspective for Packers fans. With Rogers winning his third m v P since the advent of the Associated Press Award in nine seven, this will now be the ninth m v P that the Green Bay Packers of one Paul Hornick, Jim Taylor, bart Starr each one one m v P in the Lombardi era in the sixties five one three

Rogers won three. That is nine. And if you look at West, you look at the Packers current NFC North rivals Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit, those three franchises have won a combined five m v p s in the time that the Packers have won nine. So Green Bay has almost doubled up on its competitors. For those who are wondering the five m vps, Adrian Peterson, fran Tarkenton, Alan Page for the Minnesota Vikings, Bear, Barry Sanders, who taught

who out, shared one with Brett far Brett Farst. Third one was shared with Sanders and then Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears in nineteen seventy seven. Yeah, Alan Page on me, I would have gotten seventy one. As you can tell, I was doing some research for what we're going to be posting over the over the weekend here on the website. But Alan Page one of the few defensive players to win the NFL's Most Valuable Player award in nineteen seventy one. The last defensive player to win

it actually Nighties six Lawrence Taylor. It's been all quarterbacks and running backs since nine eight six to U to win the award. Wide receivers never won it. I thought that was interesting, Yeah, that never that is true. Um Don Hucker having back before the Associated Press, as I say, I referenced the nineteen fifty seven the birth of the

Associated Press Award. There was a league MVP back in the forties and Don Hudson for the Packers won that a couple of times, but it's not recognized in the same way that the Associated Press won as far as the the history books dating back to fifty seven when Jim Brown won the first two in in fifty seven and fifty eight. So sirius x M NFL radio Channel eighty eight West is the only radio outlet dedicated to the National Football League seven days a week, three hundred

sixty five days a year. The other news that will be coming out this weekend prior to the Super Bowl will be the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of one and again another assumption. Another expectation that we have for this weekend is that former Packers defensive back Charles Woodson will become a first ballot Hall of Famer. This is his first year of eligibility. I can't imagine that he's not going to get in um and uh, here's here's a couple of things, a couple of statistics to

throw your way with regard to this West. Charles Woodson played eighteen seasons in the National Football League as a defensive back, which is remarkable. He played only seven of those eighteen in green Bay. He played the other eleven in Oakland. On both the front and the back end of his stint in green Bay. But you could really make the argument that the seven years in Green Bay is what took Charles Woodson from you know, the Pro

Bowl caliber player to a Hall of Famer. When you look at what he did, and I'll throw a couple of numbers your way. Woods And finished his career with sixty five interceptions. Thirty eight of those sixty five came in seven years in Green Bay. And he scored fourteen defensive touchdowns in his career, ten of those fourteen as a member of the Packers. Those ten defensive touchdowns nine interception returns. Both of those are green Bay Packers defensive

franchise records. So what he did, what he did in seven years in Green Bay, it it's it's in the history books. It's not going anywhere west and uh this will be uh yet. I mean, the Packers have had a pretty good run. I believe he'll be the sixth Hall of Famer that the Packers lay claimed to over the last you know, about eight years, at eight or nine years um and uh um, Yeah, Charles Woodson certainly

deserving of that gold jacket. It's funny because everybody always people like to put the MLB like metric on all this stuff. Like and even my father, God bless him, said to me when I when I stopped over at their house a couple of nights ago, mentioned, uh, you know, hey, is he gonna go in as a as a packer or a raider? This is how you know how great Charles Woodson is. It isn't about claiming Charles Woodson. It's the fact that he had incredible careers in both places.

As you says, I think you could actually you could take his seven years in Green Bay, maybe tack on an extra two or something on either side of that was a Hall of Fame career in itself, what he did in Green Bay and for him to then make the transition to safety his last season the National Football League, I think he was second team All Pro at safety. Um he went in uh, you know when you go him back to think about the all the juice behind him when he came into the league, the Heisman everything.

I mean, he had these incredible expectations and that's not always easy to live up to for any player, let alone a defensive back, because there are certain things that have to happen in order for you to make plays. And and what I loved about Charles woodson story is you talk about Ted Thompson and in the building of a football team and a championship Super Bowl forty five team in in two thousand, you know, six to two

thousand and ten. In that window, Woodson was the reluctant hero in that he was the guy that necessarily didn't want to come to Green Bay at first, maybe even waited a little extra longer on the free agent market to see if something else would come along. It didn't, and he had to work through some rough spots early

in his career. You've heard some of the stories about practices and things like that, but man, when he it's like it's almost like the like the the teenager analogy, right, Like they get kind of rambunctious, and then they settle in, they learned from their mistakes, and they become a galvanizing force. Uh.

He became that on this football team. And when you think back to that Super Bowl championship, him being able to win Defensive Player of the Year in two thousand nine, what a remarkable run he was on in p Bowl. Just were magnetized to him, to his energy, to his leadership. I will never forget I was not on the I was all I only covered him seven games, really when the seven games before he got injured in two thousand twelve.

But the thing that always will stand out to me is that Charles Woodson being able to go into a locker room after those games. He only talked usually once a week, and he'd always have a custom made suit for every single home game, probably road game too. I didn't cover those. He would be at his locker, everything would be cleared out basically a lot of times by the time he finally turned around to address the media, and he just sit there and he would talk, and

he would talk whatever the topic of discussion was. He'd be there until basically media was done with him, and then he'd go about his way and in all these years I've covered the National Football League, doesn't matter if I'm in the Packers locker room an opposing team locker room. I to this day, I've never seen anyone like Charles Woodson.

He just he was a brand into himself. He was there was just a weird type of kinetic energy that you just just felt every time you were in his his presence and and now obviously getting the highest honorable Yeah, that's that's what it was for me. And I covered his entire career in Green Bay. His arrival in Green Bay was actually the same year, two thousand six that I got hired for this job at Packers dot Com.

So I covered his entire time in Green Bay, and uh, and he just, Yeah, the best way I can put it is he he had a presence about him that was just that was just different. That was, as you say, magnetizing. And we hear that with a lot of players around the league, not just a guy like Aaron Rodgers, who certainly has a presence too. We heard about that and felt it with Julius Peppers and Marcedes Lewis, who's been in the locker room now for the last couple of years,

but even Charles Woodson. There there was there was a presence of a presence about him that was just different from anybody any other NFL player that that I've been around. And here's here's another thing again, statistic to put things

in perspective. Your good friend west Leroy Butler, who let the cat out of the bag apparently a week or two ago on Twitter that as a as a finalist for the Hall of Fame, he did not get selected this year, um and will certainly be UM rooting for him in the coming years to to finally get over this hump, so to speak, because you and I both believe Lroy Butler deserves to be in Cannon as a Hall of Famer. Leroy Butler played twelve years with the

Green Bay Packers and intercepted thirty eight passes. Charles Woodson played seven years with the Green Bay Packers and intercepted thirty eight passes. They are tied for fourth. These are regular season statistics. They are tied for fourth on the Packers all time list for interceptions and uh and Woodson played five fewer seasons in Green Bay than Butler did. I mean what what Charles Woodson did, It wasn't you can't even say it was just like a rebirth of

his career. It's like what you said, it was almost his time in green Bay was almost a Hall of Fame career in and of itself. And um, I I don't know what the summer holds as far as how the induction is going to take place. I've been to Canton for the inductions of Brett Farven Jerry Kramer. I would love to go there for Charles Woodson Woodson's as well and reconnect with him and get to talk with him and provide some stuff on packers dot Com. I don't know what next summer holds. We'll just have to

We'll just have to wait and see. But uh um, but whenever that time comes to get to chat with him, I will definitely look forward to it. One other thing, I'm glad you brought that up about. You know how he sort of reinvented himself in Green Bay. It's something that has become more prevalent now in the NFL. You see these defensive backs, these boundary cornerbacks, making switches the

safety or the nickel. That's what was beautiful about Charles Woodson is that he was an exceptional shutdown cornerback for so much of his career, but then he ends up going into the slot. He ends up making finally the transition to the back end. I remember that was a huge Remember how big that story was in two thousand twelve, and I was like, hey, is Charles Woodson gonna play safety? And he just made plays no matter where he was and he adapted his style. I still do this day.

I know Rex Ryan did not like the fact that that Woodson got Defensive Player of the Year over Durrell Reevas in two thousand nine, But man, that season that Woodson had was so special. And when when at the time you realize, oh, you guy gets seven eight interceptions,

that's a big deal. But then when you cover the league for as long as I have now almost a decade of covering the league, and obviously you you even longer, you start to realize when you get moments like that on the front end of your journalism career, you realize how rare they are. When that stuff doesn't happen anymore afterwards, you get I think, what was it. Darnell Savage had four picks this year, and I thought that was a

really good year for him. Some guys just can go find the football and make a play on the football. And as you said, ten return for a touchdown, he's he was a Hall of Famer. He was. And when you talk about the aura that he had in locker room, that was a part of the aura. When you were talking to Charles Woodson, you understood that this guy is going to Canton. This guy is going to is one of the very best to ever play his position. And as I said, from the get go, the expectations he

had never shied away from him. And those type of individuals are just built differently. They just have something in them that is different than most human beings. Yeah, no question about it. Well, one last thing before we go here, West, just get your thoughts quickly on Super Bowl fifty five the Kansas City Chiefs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Any thoughts on how you see this one shaking out? So I like to go all in on these things, right everyone,

that's a big topic right now and in boxes all in. Um, I don't like to parse my words. I think Kansas City wins this handily. If they don't. Fortunately, you and I aren't shooting any of these for a while. So well, I won't even have to answer for it, but I'll be honest with you, Mike. I don't want to say I'm getting like Denver Seattle vibes from this game, but I I'm wondering. I don't know how competitive it's going

to be. We're gonna see. I just feel like Kansas City has found something again, and I think Patrick Mahomes has played in that environment. I saw some of these sentiments about well, Mahomes has played Brady and he's lost to Brady a lot, and I'm like, okay, but I mean, like like Holmes is, Mahomes is the one. He's on the throne right now, right like Brady is in here with a new team. I just feel like the Kansas City brought back a lot of guys from that ball

club last year. They've been there, they know what it's like. Technically, it's kind of a road game for them that they'll be traveling over the weekend. But all things considered, I just I expect Kansas City to win this thing by two touchdowns. I'm with you. I think I think Kansas City is the better team, and I do think Kansas City is going to have an opportunity to win this

game handily. The one thing. The two things I will say, one is that Kansas City is going to be without a starting offensive tackle and Eric Fisher, and we saw obviously the Packers the the absence of David back Are finally did catch up with the Packers there in the NFC Championship game. That defensive front of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is no joke, um. But Patrick Mahomes as far as the scrambling around, improvising, doing things on the run, whatever, he's as good as there is, as good as anybody

in the game right now. So I don't know if that has as big an impact. The other thing I will say, not to state the obvious, but it's the turnover thing, wes I. As I had said leading up to a NFC Championship game, the Buccaneers don't beat the

Saints if the Saints don't turn the ball over. And even in the NFC title game, I know the Packers ultimately won the turnover battle three to two, but when the turnover started two to zero, and it was fourteen to zero in points off turnovers at that stage, that was too big of a hole for the Packers to climb out. Of and I don't think if if the Packers don't turn the ball over, I don't think they

lose the NFC title game. So I'm gonna say the same thing if if Patrick Mahomes, if the Kansas City Chiefs, if that offense doesn't turn the football over, I think they're gonna be able to put up plenty of points to to to win this game by multiple scores. That's just that, That's just how I see it. Yeah, I agree with And that is one thing I'm glad you mentioned that because when I was if you go back to all of our stuff the week before the Buccaneers game,

I wasn't at least the best of my knowledge. I don't think I was saying, hey, they got to win the turnover differential. No, the Packers needed to not turn over the football. That's what I was saying to I would have taken zero zero in the NFC Championship game, just like the Rams game. Right, if the turnovers are zero zero, I think the Packers would have had the edge.

And uh and one screen Bay started to turn the ball over, it just everything with the game got thrown out of whack and and it didn't becoming the type of game the Packers wanted to play. Yeah, and and now again Mahomes did have some turnovers in December. We'll have to see if if you know, the Bucks can be opportunistic here. But I just I just think Tampa Bay needs to play a perfect game and I think

Kansas City can win it even if they don't. So it's gonna be a great battle though, because again, much like I was building up with the NFC title game, there is an interes inesting storyline here. Either you're gonna have Kansas City beginning the you know, the beginnings of a dynasty. Being able to go back to back would be a huge accomplishment, very difficult to do in the National Football League. Nobody, nobody's done it since Tom Brady and back in oh three oh four with New England Patriots.

It hasn't happened in this league for a long time. And and on the other side of it, you have Tom Brady trying to win a Super Bowl at age forty three with a new football team after twenty one seasons with with New England. So that that way it will be really interesting. And hey, Mike, I know your big weekend fan. You get a weekend performance out of

this too, So congratulations. All right, thanks very much. Well, with that, we are going to sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted and has, as West suggested a moment ago, we're going to go on a little bit of an indefinite hiatus here with PTO season. Yeah, we both need to get some vacation time in. We're both going to be in and out of the office, so we're gonna shut it down for a while. We will be back, trust me. Um, I'm just not gonna say

exactly when. It's a surprise. Yeah, So stay tuned to Packers dot com and and all of your all your podcast notifications for when we do come back. But whenever that is, we will see you then. For Wes, I am Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody, take care.