#610 Packers Unscripted: Sluggish start

here in Week two, right out of the gate. Definitely not the game I expected in any level. I mean, obviously you don't into spake green Bay coming out league's highest scoring offensive two thousand twenty, putting up three points, struggling with turnovers the way they did. I mean, your big line all last week I thought was right on point. The Packers need to probably be plus two somewhere in that category with the turnover margin, and I think they

win the football game. But the bigger thing that I think surprised me was just exactly how the Saints played. And you know, we talked all week about Jamis Winston and the last time he was a starting quarterback and the turnovers. One of the things I was touching on this week that doesn't get talked about enough is when he had the thirty interceptions, which by no means is good, he threw six passes. So what do they do in this game? They really minimize the mounting passes that he

was throwing. It was more of a game management type style, relying on his feet when the play broke down instead of trying to make things happen. And when you have a guy like Alvin Kamara, that's you. You ride that guy. And a year ago I talked about it at nauseum. Thirteen catches on fourteen targets this year, twenty carries for eighty six yards productive yards, didn't have a big gainer had their longest carry was fifteen yards and agreement Packers

just couldn't stop it. Yeah, it felt to me this game. And don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying in pointing out these two plays that the Packers would have won the game, but this game, to me, two plays turned this from being a competitive game into being a blowout. And one was the fourth and seven for the New Orleans Saints. The scores tend to nothing. New Orleans crosses midfield. They have a fourth and seven on I believe it was the forty one yard line in Green Bay territory.

Too far to kick a field goal. Didn't want to punt from there, so Sean Payton decides to go for it. If the Packers get a stop there, you get the ball back in good field position. You're downten to nothing. Uh, you know, nobody's nobody's losing any sleep at this point. But they convert that. They end up finishing the drive. There's a busted coverage on the tight end screen there on fourth and seven, and they convert that very very easily, and they you know, a few plays later there in

the end zone at seventeen to nothing. Then the other play, of course, is the interception early in the third quarter. The Packers get a field goal before halftime at seventeen to three. They get the ball coming out started the third quarter, march it right down the field, get into the red zone inside the ten yard line in fact, and you're looking at it. Okay, get a touchdown there.

It's seventeen to ten. The defense has had some rest to see if they settled down still a lot of ball game to play, more than a quarter and a half left to go, but instead of getting into seventeen to ten, there's a pressure breakdown on both sides of the offensive line. Aaron Rodgers tries to force it on second down as Adams is crossing the throws behind him,

it's picked off. You all know the rest. Those two plays really turned this from being what I think everybody expected to be a competitive game into being a blowout. And the Packers just never recovered from from that. Yeah, and it's just it's too much yarn coming off the ball. You can't get it back together at that point. And you know, I'll turn I'll start with this then we'll

we'll talk about the turnovers and the interception everything. But that second quarter series is the one that stands out to me the most because I remember you and I are watching this game back at lambeau Field on television, and they decided to run it there, I believe. Yeah it was the six yard run by Tomorrow, Yeah it was. It was third. It was third and long from Green base and I kind of figured what they were doing there. It made sense because it was a situation which you

get stopped well then you just punt it. Right. If you get some yards out of it and it's manageable, well then you have the option to either age still punt it, you know and try to you know, pin them back, or you know, go for it. In that case, green Bay just couldn't get off the field defensively. I mean when you look at the third downs, five of ten the Saints were on conversions, and then five of those that they didn't convert on third down they got

on fourth down. Then they get inside the red zone four or four. Those type of numbers, you're just not going to be able to overcome that kind of that deficit, regardless of what everything else is. And because of the way the Saints played that first half twenty two minutes to eight minutes basically in time of possession, rounding out some numbers, green Bay led the league I think last year in time of possession. Again, stacking the deck against yourself.

All that being said, Matt Floor even talked about it on Monday, or it was after the game, I forget, but you know, they still kind of counted themselves lucky that they were able to go in a halftime only down two scores. After there was a two score at for everything that had gone wrong, it was a two

score game. And you're getting the ball coming out start of the third quarter, and they did exactly what they wanted to do, except they didn't get the ball in the end zone and they turned it over in the red zone instead. Yeah, and they made their biggest offensive play of the day, a beautiful throw, a beautiful catch by Davante Adams gets Mason Crosby and scoring range. He ends up making the thirty nine yard or you come

out a halftime feeling good about yourselves. That was the most momentum, most rhythm we saw with the offense coming out of the break. But when you get into the red area, Mike, we talked so much about Rogers and he doesn't throw pick six? Is he really is not a guy that throws the interceptions deep inside the opposing teams, you know, scoring territory. It happened there in From that point on, it just seemed like the air, too much

air had been let out of the balloon at that point. Yeah, the as you said in Insider Inbox, the Packers will have plenty of opportunities here to prove that this game was was an anomaly the to just see how out of character it is. Two key statistics. We talked about it on our on our show last week with the Keys to Victory. The Packers were second in the league last year in third down efficiency. They were the best in the league and historically one of the best teams

ever in the red zone. And what happens. Aaron Rodgers doesn't get a single third down conversion the entire game that he's in at quarterback, and the first time on the season that they're in the red zone, they not only don't get a touchdown, they turned the ball over. You know, that's just not the way the Packers played football in at all. So on the defensive side of things, you mentioned it, the third down efficiency, the fourth down efficiency,

the red zone. The Saints got two touchdowns off of very very short fields, one off of the long interception returned, the other one of failed fourth down, so basically two red zone possessions to start and and they converted those into touchdowns. But early in the game, especially on those two long touchdown drives, the Packers defense had opportunities to get off the field. There were third downs, there were fourth downs, and they just they they did not take

advantage of those opportunities. Jamis Winston scrambled away on you know, on a I talked about that last week as well, that you have to you have to be careful how you rush these guys, you know, these guys with the legs, that that can hurt you. He had thirty six yards rushing, you know it within the first couple of drives of the football game. And you know, I felt that completely put the Packers defense on their heels the rest of

the time. And then and then we saw other times he's going back there and sitting back there in the pocket because the Packers weren't coming after him because he had burned him with with with the legs and all that. So it just it was it was a snowball that started going downhill the Packers. The Packers couldn't stop it, and uh and unfortunately the game just got completely out

of hand. Yeah, we talked about it. I mean, it was gonna be a different type of challenge, as difficult as it was playing Drew Brees for the past twelve of years or whatever it came out to be. Um, Actually it was more like this going up against Jamis Winston. Everything gets basically put on its head a little bit.

This guy has a big home run type arm. You saw them that Deonte Harris fifty five yard touchdown when they finally did go for the ball down field at the same exact moment that I think I even mentioned you as we're watching the game, man, he only has ninety three passing yards so far, and it was like literally the next play. But but realistically, Mike, the two areas other than those statistics I reeled off because those are really the most telling, it's the most important of all.

But the two areas where I thought green Bay lost this game was New Orleans dominated him in the run game, offensive and defense of being able to stop green Bays run, knocking him out of that rhythm. You mentioned how uncharacteristic some of the mental mistakes were that Green Bay had. It was also on characteristic. They just couldn't get any

of their typical offense going in that early going. And then conversely, I talked about Chima, but I mean talk about Tony Jones Jr. Being a guy that was a really steady, complimentary presence to him, and the fact that they were able to get a hundred forty rushing yards in the first half, thanks in part also to Winston in a hundred and seventy yards for the game. I keep saying this over and over again, but they dictated the terms in which this game was going to be played.

They used the Jacksonville It was a different type of environment, but they wore green Bay down and ultimately I just think kind of, you know, demoralize them in some ways. So the big key for green Bay this week is Matt Floor discussed and I really appreciate Aaron Rodgers comments afterwards as well. I mean he said we played bad. I played bad. It really is that simple. The goal now, as Davante Adams tweeted with flush it and respond, you

got Detroit coming in here next week. Now you gotta figure out what happened in these first two days of the week, make those corrections, and then reset, because the Packers got a huge gift in the fact the NFC North all ended up coming up empty this weekend. But now you've got a divisional opponent coming into your house and you have to hold serve. Yeah. Absolutely, um. Some

shout out to our sponsors. West Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the NFL News that true football fanatics need seven three six, and at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin Cheese curds, mac and Cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or sub in a bowl. Cousin Subs, we believe in better. A couple of injury

situations to talk about here with the Packers. One is that tight end Josiah Deguar is in the concussion protocol. He was down on the field for quite a while. Everyone thankful that he was able to get up and walk off the field, Matt Lafleur saying on Monday that he's definitely in a better place than he was on Sunday, so that is very good to hear. But he is in the concussion protocol and we will just have to see what happens. Darnell Savage left the game in the

second half with a shoulder injury. Matt Lafleur does not believe it is a long term issue at all, and even suggested that with the extra day with the Packers not playing until Monday night, that that might be enough time for Darnell Savage to even get back on the field here in week two, and then Zadarius Smith. He went into the game questionable. He only practiced once during training camp, ended up playing eighteen snaps. Apparently came out

of it no worse for where um health wise. I'm sure he has a little bit of an objection to that flag, that flag that was thrown on the roughing the passer. I don't want to go off on a big tangent here West, but I just have to say, Look, I've been saying it for years. The NFL puts in all these safety rules, and I get it, I understand it. I'm not saying there's a problem with the safety rules. But if you're gonna put all the safety rules in, why aren't you going to use replay to make sure

you get the calls right? Because he didn't hit him high, he didn't hit him low, he didn't land with his body weight on him, he didn't hit him late. He hit him hard. Yes, he hit him hard, and it looked bad. So they throw a flag because it looked bad. And when you look at it on the replay, he didn't break a rule. The safety rules are in place, he didn't break a rule. So you can't just throw a flag because it looked bad. I just I get it. It was twenty four to three. I still don't think

the game is over at that point. Necessarily, the Packers probably are not going to win the game. But what if that call happens when it's one and you wipe out an interception by a defense in the end zone on a call like that, I mean, come on, NFL, make the safety rules reviewable on replay. It's simple, it's simple. Just if the rules are that important, then make sure you get the calls right. Alright? That all right, I'm done,

go ahead, you're right. The thing I'm actually most grateful for on that play was that Jamis Winston threw the ball because I still feel like that flag is probably getting thrown even if he sacks him. I really believe that. No, you no, you're you're absolutely The referee was looking at one thing and one thing only. Well, and that is his job. He's he that referee is back there to protect the quarterback Monday night, raw is what he was looking at. He was looking at how that quarterback is

going back. I give Jamis a lot of credit. His head whipped back like he just got into a car. Accident and that there was no contact to the head at all. Right, that's the thing. His head whipped back because of the power of the hit. But Zadarius Smith did not break a rule. And then because it because it looked bad, because it looked bad, he throws the flag. And that's why. And I don't I don't blame the official that that's what That's what I want people to understand.

I don't blame the official for throwing the flag because it looked like roughing the past, but it wasn't. Look at the replay, make sure you get the call right. And the NFL refuses to do that, I don't understand. And and the fact of the matter is I actually got really fired up watching the game too, because everybody will always say, well, then the games get too long,

you know, if you're doing all these reviews. And my only, my only counter to that then is okay, if that's the emphasis then, because we're all about emphasis is in the NFL. You know, God forbid that I celebrate while I'm directly you know, across from where as opposed to my body being turned this way. That's an issue, that's a penalty that could get me ejected. Right, but God forbid, you know, if that's the emphasis and that's where hey, we're not going to be able to review these things.

Then it is on the referees to get this right. It is their job to get it right, whether they're in the position, whether that means adding another guy somewhere in the stadium that is looking from a different perspective, only focused on that quarterback. That's something the NFL has to figure out because my biggest issue. Let's say the game doesn't turn around. Let's say the Packers do still loset to ten or whatever. We saw this happen with JayR Alexander two years three years ago. It cost him

an interception. In this day and age, it's not easy to play defense, and it's not easy to generate turnovers. If a guy gets a takeaway, he should be rewarded for it if the play was clean, unacceptable. All right, thank you for indulge you, but I apologize. I will. I will say this. Good to see Darius Smith. From a health perspective, it sounds like, no question, that's a huge thing for this defense because they're gonna need them, no question about it. Absolutely. You mentioned it before the

NFC North took a goose again. Week one, the the Minnesota Vikings go into Cincinnati and lose in overtime. Actually they were in my opinion, they were lucky to get it to overtime in the first place. I think Cincinnati made made some really questionable decisions when they had a

two score lead there in the second half. But that aside, Minnesota was then in position maybe five six seven yards away from being able to kick a field goal win that game, and overtime Dalvin Cook fumbles the ball, Cincinnati recovers, they get in position and kick a walk off as the overtime clock expires. So Minnesota is oh and one. That the Chicago Bears hang with the l A Rams for a while there on Sunday Night. I believe it

was a fourteen game there in the second half. Then the Rams pull away at the end win by twenty. So the Bears are oh on one. And then the Packers opponent here coming up in Week two, Monday Night Football, the Detroit Lions. They fall behind big time. They're down with I don't know, four or five minutes left in the game, and suddenly they get this big rally going. They score and get a two. They recover an onside kick, they score again, get another two point conversion. Suddenly a

twenty four point deficit is an eight point deficit. It's forty one to thirty three. And then the Niners have the game put away on a completed pass on a third down conversion and they fumble the ball. Detroit gets it back and they actually get within twenty five yards of that potential game tying touchdown, but they fall to the forty ninerst to thirty three. But we saw that's the Detroit Lions team that showed a lot of fight

in a game that they were getting. They were getting it handed to him for three and a half quarters. And that's the Detroit. The fighting Detroit Lions are gonna be here at lambeau Field come Monday night. Yeah. We always talk about teams taking on the mantra and the mentality of their coach, and I thought you saw that this game with the Lions, because I was one of those people that left them for dead. In this game, Jared Goff gets off to a slow start. You're not

really sure what the running game is. Jamal Williams had a great game, but DeAndre Swift is sort of their ace. That's the guy they've been working on being the lead back, and and here's you know, Jamal kind of coming out of nowhere. All that being said, I really don't know how to make heads or tails out of that first week for the NFC North, whether it's the Packers, whether

it's the Vikings and the Lions, the Bears. I think you saw that they're they're kind of far away from where I think where they need to be and where they want to be. I think they have to figure out that quarterback situation first and then start to let the dominance. And there, and and and they were. They were behind the eight ball in some respects to that.

You know, the new stadium out there in l A, which did not have any fans last year, Suddenly it's the first game where those l A fans get to fill the place and it's Sunday night football in primetime. I mean, that's a tough way to open your season. And as I said, they did hang with them into the second half there. It was a one score game him for a while, but ultimately the Rams took control

down the stretching for him away. I just have a harder time figuring out I mean, I think a lot of it's gonna come down to us trying to figure out how good the Cincinnati Bengals are. And you know, I think everybody in the NFC North has to play him. The Vikings were the first one to play him, and everybody else is going to get a shot at him. To Joe Burrow's legit. If he can stay healthy, I

think he's gonna give a lot of teams problems. I think there's some questions with their defense there, but you know, the Vikings, that's been the way this thing's gone for them. It's been a lot of ups and downs, and when you're up and down too much, you end up at that seven and nine, eight and eight level. So some

questions that Mike Zimmers group has to answer. But getting bringing it back to Detroit to close this thing up, they showed a lot of heart, they showed a lot of desire and I still you know, they lost Jeff Acuda this week, so that's gonna be a big loss for them for the season. Young cornerback that had a fantastic camp and looked like he was making the strides

they wanted to after a rough rookie year. So they're gonna have to rally the troops, but they present a lot of issues, Mike, you know, with t J Hockenson kind of coming on. Certainly the two headed Ackfield um and Jared Goff has been there, done that, so they're gonna come in wanting to be you know, find a way to come in and upend the Green Bay. So that's something that Matt Floor is gonna have to have these guys ready for. Yeah, well, the first NFC North

matchup of one, it's already here in week two. With that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team all week long. We've got it for you on Packers dot com for West, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.