#618 Packers Unscripted: Wild and wacky, but a win

Are you kidding me? The Packers prevailed twenty two in overtime, improved to four and one on the season, but it took if my math is correct, well, I'm not even gonna try to do it all somewhere around two hundred yards worth of missed field goals um in uh in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime before Mason Crosby puts one through and the Packers escaped with one of the wildest, craziest most buses are Packers games that I can recall in sometimes. Yeah, I was actually after

the game. I was walking We obviously are here with the COVID restrictions, yet we're covering the game from Lambeau But I was walking down the hallway with my boss Duke Barbara are manager of digital, and I said to him, like, you know, I've been covering the team now. This is my tenth season on a full time basis covering the team. I'm sure there's been a lot of these moments. Obviously there was Detroit with the hail Mary. You know, a lot of crazy things have happened over the last ten years.

I don't think there's anything quite like this when you break it down, where you know there's five, you know, potential game altering type field goals missed. I think Elias had that stat that that's a record of some kind

since the merger. There's never been anything like that in the fourth the fourth quarter, in overtime, but you know, three hours and twenty two minutes of just excruciating football in a lot of regards for both teams, and to be able to find a way that There was a guy that said an insider inbox, and no disrespect to him, but one of the things he said is like, well, that would have been a game that I would end up tied. I would have said, that's fair. And my

retort to that was the fact that it wasn't. That's football. There's going to be imperfections. You can only play what's in front of you. As what Matt Lafleur said afterwards, there are no beauty points for any of us. You just go to win the football game. And the fact of the matter is, despite you know, the the issues there with the red zone defense, despite the fact Mason missed some kicks, at the end of the day, the

Packers found a way to win that game. And the good teams do, Mike, And the fact of the matter is the Green Packers are four and one and they were able to avoid uh, you know, two real game teams in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, uncommon opponents

to be able to get there. Yeah. Well, in the bottom line for Mason Crosby is he was able to He was able to earn that shot at redemption, if arne is the right word, by his countenance, essentially his face, because Matt Lafleur went over to him after the three misses and the Packers are in position for a forty nine yard or there with two minutes left and overtime went over to him and said, hey, what do you think.

And Crosby's response was I got this and La Fleur said, I didn't see any I didn't see any flinch in him. I didn't see any um, you know, hesitation, any doubt whatsoever in his in his demeanor, in his countenance. And so he went with his veteran kicker there. When you know, fourth and inches. It would have been an easy call, in a lot of respects to just say, hey, okay, our kickers missed three field goals, We're gonna go for the first down, try to get closer, maybe get a touchdown,

whatever the case might be. Because certainly, forty nine yards, even if Mason Crosby has made twenty five field goals in a row or twenty seven was his streak before it ended, forty nine yards is no gimme for anybody

in this league. But they Lafleur decided to go with to go with Crosby, and UH, and he comes through for this team, and UH and a big, big win because the with the win, the Acker state in sole possession of first place in the NFC North at four and one, the Chicago Bears, this week's opponent, right on their heels at three and two, and UM. But yeah, getting back to what you said earlier, I I can't

remember there. There are always games where a game winning opportunity might be missed here, or they're even back and forth once each way to a certain extent. But for it to go back and forth that many times with with essentially the game on the line, um, I don't know if we'll ever see anything like that. No, And and just to make one quick point about Mason Crosby,

because it was a frustrating game. I know Mason be the first I'll tell you that's not one he's going to be putting in the you know, the archives there to remember and you know, show all the kids. But there is a lesson to be learned with that. And one thing I liked, you know, I give a lot

of credit to Mike McCarthy. In two thousand and eighteen, things were not going well in Detroit, but he made sure to give Mason that last field goal I think it was a forty one yard or against the Allions after he missed what four field goals four or five? I think it was four field goals in an extra point that day that this this particular day in Cincinnati

was three field goals in the net. Yeah. And I remember, you know, Mike wanted to give him that opportunity, even though that one wasn't The game was sort of out of hand at that point, but but one to give him that one last opportunity. I remember Aaron Rodgers patting him on the back and the fact that he went on this remarkable run. Ever since then, you know, goes the entire season, resets the franchise record at on extra

point attempts. This game, in so many ways reminded me of that, because now the outcome was, you know, up in the balance, they're trying to figure out, you know, who's going to win this game. But you know Matt Lafleur having confidence in his kicker, the kicker that for the most part, has made of his field goals during Floor's time in Green Bay. You know Aaron Jones going up to him and tell him that he loves him before that kick. I mean, the guys, this is a

guy who's been an eight time team captain. That locker room understands what he provides to this team in the way in which he provides it. There are a lot of fan bases, Mike, and we saw it in a lot of different NFL cities this weekend that every time their kicker goes out on the field, you don't know what's going to happen. Mason Crosby, for the most part, with the exception of one game every two or three years, is automatic in a lot of cases. That is what

stood out to me the most. And how that team rallied around him, the fact that they were able to get that team victory. We weren't there and since you to hear it, but you know all the reporters talking about the loud ruckus in the Packers locker room that was adjacent to the media auditorium, the visiting meeting media room.

That tells you everything you need to know. And the fact is they have an opportunity now to kind of continue this four game winning streak and really find that cohesive unit that that ultimately, you know, makes you a winning type championship club. Yeah. I think a lot of Packers fans after a game like that, all the emotions and back and forth and and the roller coaster of it all, if Packers fans are sitting back trying to like,

how am I supposed to feel about my team? Right? Like, like, how how do you come out of a win like that feeling good? About your team. Well, for me, in looking at this game and and how it unfolded, if you want to feel good about where this Packers team is, take a look at all of the big time plays, aside from the missed kicks obviously that were made in crunch time to give the Packers all these opportunities to win.

Whether you're talking about Aaron Jones ripping off a fifty seven yard run with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, another Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams in the final half minute of regulation, carbon copy of what happened in San Francisco to put the ball in position for a game winning kick. Deveandre Campbell getting an interception on the first play of overtime, setting up for you know, another possible and huge play by Campbell, who's who's had such a

big impact on this defense. And then on the final drive with that did turn out to be the game winner, the screen pass to Marcedes Lewis that goes for twenty yards, and then after a sack on third and sixteen, the fifteen yard passed. Randall I mean the number the number of clutch plays on both sides of the ball in a lot of respects that that the Packers made in this game. That's what you hang your hat on coming

out of here. And and you just Mason Crosby is going to deal with what he has to deal with, and and the whole field goal operation, because Matt Lafleur did talk about that as well, that there are issues with the operation that need to be cleaned up to make things easier on everybody. But if you take that part out of it and you look at you look at what this team did in crunch time with the game on the line, there's a lot to like there. I want to start with offense because there's a lot

I want to talk about with the defense. But first and foremost, Mike, it hit me in the middle of that second quarter when Davonte Adams has a hundred yards receiving a loan in that fifteen minute block, hundred and seventeen yards in the first half on six catches with the touchdown off of fade that appeared to be a check that I mean, just that's Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams operating on a different level one on one on

the bound. But the thing that stands out to me the most right now is Davante Adams has been on the come up for a number of years, and he's been doing this since two thousand sixteen, for five years. Really, this this prime has been but right now, in my for my money, this is the best receiver in football because this was the first game to my eye where it did not matter what the Cincinnati Bengals did. You know, Shudobi A. Woozier is a fantastic cornerback, has been success

for a number of years. As a reason why Cincinnati brought him in. They made that adjustment early on. I thought they did a really good job against him in the first quarter, but that second quarter proved that when you are smart with how you utilize him and moving Davante around, he's so hard to cover. And if anybody asked me West Hodkowitz, can you give me a play

that sums up Davante Adams. You can talk about the laid hands and in Philadelphia can talk about some of the boundary passes, but watching him beat the entire secondary over the top down the middle of the field for a fifty nine yard ball which Aaron Rodgers just places perfectly. I mean, you can't say enough about where that ball was thrown into. That's Davante Adams, four time Pro Bowler, All Pro Receiver nearly unanimous a year ago. This guy

has almost six hundred receiving yards in five games. Mike, we don't even need to talk about the seventeen games right now in a sixteen game season. He's having a historic type season. Yeah, that you mentioned the deep bomb. He as as that ball is coming down to rest in his arms, He's got three Cincinnati Bengals chasing. He's behind, He's behind everybody. And this is after he's already at that point got a hundred and twenty roughly hundred twenty

five yards receiving in the game already. They're a monster game by Davante Adams. Eleven catches, two hundred and six yards, first two hundred yard receiving game of his career, first two hundred yard receiving game by a Packers receiver since Jordy Nelson in it has been seven years. Um. Yeah,

an absolutely monster game. And the other part with this offense too, for the second game in a row, in all the ways that the Packers are utilizing these guys, Aaron Jones, A J. Dillon, the one two punch in the backfield, combining for almost two yards from scrimmage two weeks in a row. Now they've been at that. Plus when you combine all their rushing and receiving yards this offense with that big three Jones, Dillon, and Adams, they're they're they're accounting for a heck of a lot of

production and defenses are having a hard time stop in it. Yeah, and A J. Dillon watching how far he's come, um and it is, you know, was talking about it. He came in last year. He didn't catch the ball a lot at BC, but they felt like he was a pretty good pass catcher. I still think he's taken it to a different level this year. And you and I were discussing some of those plays that he made against the Bengals. Those weren't just sitting down waiting for the

check down throw. They were him running routes. They were catching balls and stride, no wasted motion for him to have forty nine yards, which was a new you're high for him in the NFL. On on receiving yards, being able to pound the ball north and south the way he does, and more than anything else, the more I watch him now, when you understand that the outside zone the Packers want to run. You start to see why Brian Goodakins in his scouting department, thought that this guy

is a really good fit for it. The way he hits his cutbacks are is it's in stride, it's fluid. He's not just a bruising type running back. There's there. I agree with you when when you when you see him run to the go to the outside on that

outside zone and then make the cut. There's a combination of patients with explosiveness that you and that that's the smoothness that you talk about where it looks it looks effortless, but but there's there's a patience to it with the timing and then the burst is there when as they say, you stick your foot in the ground and go and where where this offense can go with with those three with Dylan Joe, I mean when Matt Lafleur after the game, a game that the offense puts up four hundred and

sixty six yards, Now, yes, they left a lot of points out there that the Packers, they know they should have scored more points. Cincinnati's defense in the red zone gave them all kinds of trouble so you credit the Bengals for that, but the Packers they're they're gonna they need to get there. Their red zone offense figured out because it was so good last year, so you know

the capability is there. But after an offensive game like that, with all the production, and when Matt Lafleur saying, boy, I wish I could have gotten the ball to a j Dillon Moore, that that that that tells you something about about what the Packers have at their disposal. And and for Aaron Jones to run the way he did in this game too, Mike, how long have I been talking about this? He's gaining every yard that's available, He's finding ways to extend places, but he just didn't have

that big home run. Well, here's an opportunity where you have von Bell collapsing. There's a gap there, but Bell's occupying it with the kind of blitz almost it looks like that he's doing from the far safety. But he's able to make him miss. And as Aaron Jones said, you know, with with his footwork, his timing, he felt calm and and he'd be able to get that step. With the room he has the operate to be able to get up field. You saw him lay a heck of a stiff arm at the end of that play too.

They're gonna be a really good one too. And I give Jamal Williams a fantastic back. He's having a good season right now with with the Detroit Lions. But it wasn't a slight on Jamal Williams that they moved on from him. It was more about, Okay, this is a guy we drafted a year ago, with two guys both coming up on the final year of their contracts and A J. Dillon, we feel like he's a good fit.

And right now Dylan is proving the Packers right. Yeah, well, I want, I do want to shift gears to the defense. But a shout out to our sponsors. Here. First, West Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need seven three sixty five. And at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin Cheese Kurts, 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 on the defensive side. West We had talked last week about the pack is having to adjust to their new reality. They've been dealing for multiple weeks without Zadarius Smith. Now, this was the first game without jayear Alexander both of those second team All Pro defenders out indefinitely. At this point, the Packers don't know if or when either will be back. And I thought in the first half of this game, I thought the

Green Bay Packers defense really came to play. And unfortunately, UM, a really really good half of defensive football against a young, up and coming franchise quarterback. Was was kind of undone by by just the big breakdown at the end there and in the final men of the first half in the seventy yard touchdown pass. But UM Matt Lafleur even said on Monday he thought this was the Packers best

defensive performance of the season. Yes, there is still plenty to work on, but we're continuing to see this defense makes strides there. There there are things to show up, there are things they've got it, you know, the red zone, and we'll talk about that too. But this defense, this defense is making progress every week. You're seeing it, and they're doing it now as they're adjusting without some of their best players. Yeah, and the first thing first, before

we talk about some of those breakdowns. The reason why the Green Bay Packers were able to ultimately have that big second quarter that they did was because of how the defense played in the first quarter. Offense did not get off to a fast start. It was kind of a grind there until they started to kind of find their rhythm a little bit. It was the defense forcing

Cincinnati into multiple three and outs. Even the scoring drive that they had, they went three and out or three and fourth and whatever, and then they converted the fourth down to ultimately end up getting down the field, but

they originally went three plays and fourth down. That right there, I think is huge in the long run in the big picture, because if you give Aaron Rodgers a clean slate in a first quarter, he's either a gonna be able to do a lot of damage to the opposing defense or be it's gonna allow the offense time to get in sync. That's what the defense provided in this matchup. They're also doing less or they're doing more with less. Excuse me, they're doing less. They're doing more with less.

When you don't have Zadarius Smith, it's on the whole group to be able to pick up that weight. You see Rashan Gary now playing that rover position, Mike, one of the stops they had was Gary collapsing on the center being able to get the stop, I believe on third down or at least to set up that situation. You're seeing guys like Dean Lowry making contributions. Kenny Clark has been an absolute game record. He's a guy that if you look at a statue, you're not going to

see that he's playing at a Pro Bowl level. But he absolutely is. And unfortunately for Kenny, he is such a darn good run stopper that, yeah, it makes it difficult at times to be able to keep him in the past flow because you need to have with what he's providing up front. The Packers strong start against the run so far, a lot of that has been a

contribution of Kenny Clark. But Mike dev Andre Campbell coming into this defense on June six, I believe it was June sixth Gosh, I was so competent to well, I'll transaction wire June nine. It was probably June nine, darn it, no, but him coming into this defense on June nine, this is a guy Mike that win for the better part of three months without a job. This is not a guy that's been injured. This is not a guy that wasn't a starter. Dvandre Campbell was right there for the

National Football League. And when the Arizona Cardinals, who might be as deep at the linebacker position as any in the National Football League right now, decided to move on from Campbell, I cannot believe there wasn't a long line of teams wanting to pick this guy up. Six ft three two pounds, runs in the four fives, can cover sideline to sideline, and is a willing guy to go after the posing running back. Davandre Campbell's a difference maker

right now. And for him to be able to give this contribution after being here for basically three o t A practices at the end of the off season program unbelievable what he's been able to add to this defense. Yeah. I don't know if you saw. I believe it was.

Believe it was a one on one interview that he did within the last couple of weeks with Larry McCarron, and there was a line from Campbell that really stood out where he basically said you know where I've been before, I've always been the robin to somebody's batman, you know, And well, this guy is batman on this Packers defense. I mean he is in the middle of everything. He's wearing the communication helmet, he is um, he is making plays against the run and the pass on a regular basis.

He's just a presence in the middle of the field every time he is out there. And he did leave the game in Cincinnati briefly. Fortunately then was able to come back and it was not a it was not a game ending injury. Um, you can't you can't help

but be impressed. I mean the whole for For as much as the salary cap crunch, you know, had an impact on the Packers and how they were putting together their roster, this is one of the benefits of it because because this guy couldn't get the type of contract he was looking for, he waits until the middle of June, and the Packers are the one out there making him an offer. So he takes it and comes in and he's he's completely changed the landscape of how this defense

looks now. The way things the way things unfolded. The play at the end of the first half was extremely unfortunate. There was a big miscommunication on defense with regard to the front and the pass rush. And even with all that, Darnell Savage still made an incredibly athletic play to where he was in position to bat that pass down and and prevent uh prevent that disaster from happening. But the

Bengals get the seventy yard touchdown. Other the other than that one play, the defense did exactly what it needed to in this game West in terms of preventing the explosive plays. I had talked about that last week with this Bengals offense, don't let them get the big chunks of yardage, and the Packers didn't. The Packers didn't allow that. Eric Stokes had a really solid game. Kevin King played a solid game until he went out with an injury.

Apparently was was playing with one arm essentially for a while due to a shoulder injury. According to mattel Fleur, you know, we mentioned Campbell, the road to the road, the rotating players on the defensive front, But then it's if this defense starts getting a stop, even just one red zone, stop a game if you can, if you can get to that point, everything is gonna is gonna it's gonna take another step and things are gonna start to look different. This defense hasn't had any red zone

stops yet this year. That's what they have to work on, because if you're not going to give up the explosive plays, you know that whole bend but don't but don't break kind of thing, you start forcing field goals at the fifteen yard line, at the eight yard line, everything everything else statistically, statistically, with the defense starts to come around, that's the last, the last piece in my mind that they need to put together, other than obviously getting healthy

and hopefully getting some of these guys back. Yeah, it's such a cat and most game because you don't want to be blitzing in those situations a lot once you get into the inside the twenty, because you want to have your full complement of safety's, cornerbacks and obviously linebackers to be able to cover the space because you're covering less field, so you're able to kind of be able to, you know, manage that space, but you have to be

able to find ways to get pressure. Um this game, Yeah, just some underneath passes that kind of burnt them and then they were able to get in some really advantageous goal to goals situations inside the five. Have to find answers for that. But to get back to the play to chase, obviously there was some some miskey and communication there upfront. Guys pretty much other than Kenny Clark, it looked like everybody just starts spying Burrow like it wasn't

like guys pulled off. But I said this too, when Savage came down and made that tackle on Burrow that ended up being able to force a you know, a punt I believe, or was that on fourth down? That was whatever it was. Yeah, the way he's playing with his speed this season is what is impressing me the most. Mike Darnel Savage was the highest drafted defensive back in two thousand, not the highest drafted safety, highest drafted defensive back.

This is a guy that climbed the polls, climbed the rankings in the pre draft process after he ran a four three six at the combine four three six at the safety position. With the way that he has ability to hit and to play the ball, that's golden. And he said it after the game, those type of plays are gonna end up being interceptions for him as he learns, as he develops, he's gonna want that one back. But the fact that he even got close to making that

play on what was really a broken play for the defense. Yeah, incredibly athletic play by him, Incredibly athletic play. And Chase, you know, is just a different type of receiver as we know. So you have to live and learn overall. Those are going to be kind of the free plays. They're going to happen every once in a while. You just have to find a way to manage. It's the red zone defense that if the Packers can clamp that down, if they can get their gold Song packages going, that's

really the last piece I think. Otherwise they've overcome the injuries, they found ways to take away the ball. This is the fourth straight game the Packers generated takeaway defensively, first time that's happened since two thousand seventeen. Yeah, speaking of safeties, heck of an interception by Adrian Amos there on the opening drive of the third quarter, when because of the touchdown late in the second quarter, the Bengals had a

chance to take the lead. Amos takes it away with a great pick and then you know, Devandre Campbell doing his job in the overtime to be able to get that interception, in which a lot of cases that's the end of the ball game there. The defense is doing what they have to do, and the hope is you stem this tide. You're able to maybe get back Jay are here in a couple of weeks, knock on wood,

depending on how things heal with the shoulder. This is this is a huge stretch for them, and those safeties Mike Amos and Savage their pivotal right now because if you're gonna end up, you know, we'll see what happens with Kevin King. You gotta go at least two more games without Jaire Alexander, possibly more. Those safety's man are going to really be the catalyst here for the secondary if they got to go with all their two big guys, Yeah, no question about it. Well, it is Packers Bears week.

It will be first place in the NFC North on the line, and we will definitely get to all of that in our next episode, but we do have to go. We'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers on Script and be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team We've got everything for you on packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time. Yeah,