#626 Packers Unscripted: One that got away

at quarterback. And while it didn't go well and he didn't really look and feel comfortable and get into any kind of a rhythm until the fourth quarter, this game was still there for the taking thanks to the Packers defense, which had an outstanding performance against Patrick Mahomes. It's definitely one of the top five defensive performances I've seen on the beat. I mean, just what they were able to

do in terms of dictating the tempo. And it's actually really interesting, Mike, if you take away that opening series, the fifteen play sixty four yard driver, they act we scored the touchdown with the past to Kelsey in the

end zone. Really Kansas City did nothing. I mean, they were able to get the two field goals, but even that it was kind of off of turnovers and weird the one the one was a turnover, the other one was was one down the field play to Kelsey that set up a long field goal of fifty five yard or that was all they got offensively after the opening

touchdown drive. And remarkably, I mean, they finished this game with like eighteen and a half defensive players available, even though you know, Dean Lowry was still there, they had him on a rep count. It was remarkable what they

did defensively. Unfortunately for Green Bay offensively, they were kind of having their own issues like Kansas City was working through and and you could just tell despite not having Aaron Rodgers, you know, having these multitude of players that were unavailable, not getting David box tri back for this game quite yet, you still felt like Matt Lafleur and his postgame press conference, in the twenty three minute news conference he did on Monday, you could sense in his

voice he he definitely felt like they let this was one that was winnable that kind of got away from Yeah. Now, at the same time, the message I keep saying over and over again was they did have a lot against them. They did have a seven game winning streak. The NFC North is what the NFC North is right now. The Packers really you don't hear a lot of dejection in their voices because I think they look at this is

basically the worst case scenario where you lost Rogers. If they can get him back this upcoming week, There's a lot of things that have to get figured out between now and Saturday. But defensively, the type of showing that they had in Kansas City, I think that shows that this greenmate Packers team can play with anybody. Yeah. Absolutely, the Packers feel really good about where their defense is

right now. And of course everyone is wondering, Okay, if you do get Ji r Alexander back at some point, if you do get Zadarius Smith back at some point, then just how strong will this defense be for the stretch run? And and we'll talk about this a little more later in the show, but the Packers are in great position in the NFC North, obviously a three and a half game lead over the Vikings. This was a frustrating one to let get away, though, And I know

Matt Lafleur i I wrote about it as well. He he really felt he let his quarterback down in terms of all the heat he was taking on third down with the blitz is and everything from the Kansas City Chiefs and whether it was the play calls, the protection calls, everything, Mattlthleor just felt he didn't have the answers for Jordan's Love to be able to respond and to succeed in

those situations. But I'll throw this in as well, because you know, everybody knows the special teams played a big factor in this game on the negative side of things for Green Bay. And you know, you have the one missed field goal, you have a blocked field goal, you have a muff punt that leads to three points for the other team. So that's nine points in a game that you lose by six. That you know that, Uh,

that's obviously a huge factor here. And what I'll what I'll wonder about, and this is all the the if sands and butts of of this game when we look back at it, right, is if the Packers get that first field goal or the second one, and they have three points or six points on the board, how much better does Jordan's Love feel about things as he moves forward? How how aggressive are the Kansas City Chiefs on all

those third downs. If the score is seven to six or ten to six instead of tend to nothing in thirteen to nothing, you know, the chief state in a position where they could they could really throw caution to the wind in a lot of respects. And you just wonder sometimes, if the game had been a little bit closer, would Steve Spagnola, who's as aggressive as there is as a defensive coordinator, would there just have been a couple of moments or two where maybe he doesn't take quite

so many chances. I just wonder. I'm not saying that that's what he would have done, but I wonder hypothetically. I think you're probably on point, though, right. I mean, it did not to compare this so high school football game, but I saw this a lot when I was covering preps a long time ago. I never covered college football,

so I can't use that as an analogy. But you know, if you find this situation where a quarterback has to throw, and he's a young guy, and not that he's necessarily rattled, but you understand the quicker you're able to get to him, that the chance of big player going to be neutralized. That's kind of the way this felt, the way that Spagnola called that second half, and being able to really apply pressure in Green Bay, just not being able to

get out of those third down situations. You can look at the fact that they were what was it end up being two of twelve on third downs, oh, for the first nine before finally getting a conversion in the fourth course. It's also the fact they fell into those third down situations. And in my biggest thing when I look back at this game, twenty carries for Aaron Jones a J. Dillon, you just want to potentially see that number be larger, especially with the way that A J.

Dillon is running the ball now. Matt Lafleur discussed that the ratio between the run and the past not exactly what he was looking for. You do give him the benefit of the doubt that they were playing against some loaded boxes. They did have some runs that were called that ended up getting canned because of those loaded boxes, but they still were able to have success against it. That's the difference here. Wasn't like against seven and eight man boxes that Aaron Jones and a J. Dillon weren't

able to move the ball. They actually did it pretty well, and I think that's probably the thing that ends up being what will stick in the crawl a little bit, as there were opportunities there and ultimately getting back to the special teams. The Packers have to sort this out because you know they've made adjustments. You give them credit. You know they felt like they could do better at long snapper. They make the decision. Countra Bradley has had

three and a half seasons. We're gonna give stephen Wardle an opportunity. Wardle has been here for two months. They've seen him in practice. We haven't. They have. They felt like this was the right time. But you have to get these field goal protection issues figured out. You have to be able to get those snaps down. You have to give Mason Crosby an opportunity to be Mason Crosby. They didn't do that, and credit to Marie Straiton, Matt Lafleur. They stuck with Amari Rodgers. I think you have to

see the big picture there with Rogers. You have to understand that we are in week nine now week ten. They want this young man to be a part of this organization, a part of this team, a big, big, big time playmaker on both offense and special teams for years to come. You want to stick with him and ride this thing out. You still have Randall Cobb in the background if you want them. But you know it's ultimately going to come down to making improvements because the

thing is Mike. With special teams, there's going to be changed. There's going to be guys that go in and out of the lineup. You have to be able to maintain that core and you have to stay disciplined. Yeah, and we'll hear from coach Drayton later in the week in terms of in terms of exactly what he felt and in his discussions with with Crosby, with the snapper, the holder, and and what went wrong. Obviously the protection is an issue, is an issue anytime that a kick gets blocked. So

what exactly went wrong? Um, hopefully we'll find out some more, some more information, some more thoughts there later in the week. But just obviously very frustrating when when one of your three phases plays probably it's best game of the season in terms in terms of a start to finish four quarter performance, and uh, and the special teams doesn't help you, and the offense just doesn't doesn't really ever get going

until the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, now in that fourth quarter, Jordan's Love put together a couple of really nice drives. The one ends with an interception on on third down. Actually that was one of the rare third downs when the Chiefs didn't blitz, they actually dropped and played coverage. He still tried to go with the one on one opportunity over the top to Davantae Adams down the sideline

and that gets that gets intercepted. Um. Then the next drive, the Packers are able to get a touchdown on the fourth down pass to Alan Lazart, a blitzpeeder there the balls out of Love's hand quickly, Lizard makes a man

miss and gets into the end zone. You just you just wish, and you can't put any blame on the defense here, obviously, But if you could have stopped that third and ten right at the end, you know, right after the two minute warning, now the Chiefs would have punted the Packers back to the ten yard line, Jordan's Love would have had no time mounts less than two minutes and ninety yards to go for a touchdown. I mean, that would have been a that would have been a

monumental task. But with the rhythm that he was starting to find in the fourth quarter. You just you just would have liked to have seen him get that opportunity to see if maybe he could have pulled it off. But really, the one time all day that Patrick Mahomes looked like Patrick Mahomes was on that third and ten where he scrambles away from the pressure on the blitz.

The Packers are covering like mad in the back end because that play lasted seven, eight, nine seconds whatever it was, and Tyreek Hill is able to just get enough clearance from Channon Sullivan um and then Adrian NamUs with the hit and you know, Hill secures that ball well enough so that the ball doesn't come out on the hit, and then the Chiefs are able to run out the clock.

I like the way the Packers lost that game, though, Does that if that makes any sense to you, because it reminded me a lot of how they finished the Arizona game. You don't want to leave any anything left in the chamber. They went with the blitz. Credit to them, they were able to pick up the blitz and ultimately Patrick Mahomes, a former m v P quarterback, made a play and you can maybe make a case of one of the few plays that was made during that game being able to find his main target. It is what

it is. I like the way that Green Bay, though, has maintained an aggressive approach. I think that's been a change you've seen over the last five six games, and the way that guys execute in those moments. And the fact is they lost Kenny Clark in the third quarter to the back injury. It sounds like, hopefully that won't

be a long term issue. You lose Eric Stokes during pregame warmups to knee injury, so suddenly it doesn't become a question of well, do you keep Resseul Douglass out there or do you go with the returning Kevin King. They needed both of them on the field. They still needed Henry Black as the dime linebacker. You know, Chris Barnes has arguably the best game of his career, alongside

DeAndre Campbell, who had another eight plus tackle performance. These guys not to say they ran out of gas, because that's not the point I'm trying to illustrate, but they had to rely on so many guys. Look at the defensive line at the end of the game, all that was left was rookie t J. Slayton, Tyler Lancaster I thought played a whale of a ball game who was in and out with an injury himself himself and Jack Heflin's playing his first NFL game, the undrafted free agent

out of Iowa. So the Green Bay they fought too and nail right to the very end. It didn't work out for them, But as Kevin King said after the game, they're going to be scary, man. If they can get JR. Alexander back here soon, if they can get Zadarius Smith back by the end of the season. This defense, with the way they're playing, if they can add in their best players, now they got something cooking. Yeah. They this

this defense we've been talking about it. You you wonder with the progress the unit has made all the way along since a very rough Week one, which is which was a rough Week one for the entire team, but it certainly was rough for the defense. The progress that's been made, it feels like the progress hasn't plateau, not like the arrow is still pointing up with these guys, and when you know that they're not at full strength, as you mentioned the defensive line, you know, Clark ended

up leaving the game. King's Ley Kiki was was out this game, having gotten a concussion the previous week. Um, there's there's still there's still more rising to do the way it looks right now, And I made a mistake a couple of days ago, Mike, I want to clear up now because I said, you know, Devandre Campbell, I haven't seen an inside linebacker playing the way he's playing right now. No, I did. It was Clay Matthews. It was Clay Matthews in the second half of that fourteen season.

They're different players. I'm not saying Campbell's Matthews. But what I'm saying, though, is that they have a guy who can play sideline to sideline. They can keep two linebackers on the field, and I think that's really made a huge difference with this defense. You don't see Adrian Amos having to play as much up at the line of scrimmage. Joe Barry really doesn't even play that much dime defense

to begin with. He's comfortable leaving it with the five defensive backs and the two linebackers and a lot of passing situations. That ability to be that flexible in the middle of the field. I think that's made a huge difference with this defense. In addition to the defensive line being able to pick up some of the pressure concepts without having Zadarius Smith that area, I think is really

interesting to watch. If they can continue that he that incline over the second half of the season, because Mike, they finished fourteen really strong after a poor start. If you can continue and build onto this in the second half the season, the Green Bay Packers are going to get the defense they've been looking for for the ten years. Yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you a wholeheartedly.

A shout out to our sponsors. Here West Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting that hard hitting analysis and up to the minute 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 all Right. Week ten has arrived.

The Seattle Seahawks are coming to lambeau Field. Russell Wilson is back from his finger surgery. He has missed is at three games he missed. The video suggests the that's a discussion for but Russell Wilson is back the Sea. Seattle will come into Lamb will Field at three and five,

quite frankly fighting for their season. We're now getting their quarterback back, and the Packers will kind of be wondering all week what exactly is going to happen at quarterback because Aaron Rodgers is he will be first eligible to come off of the reserve COVID nineteen list on Saturday, which would be a ten day absence from when um he had his positive test and um if he is medically cleared. Matt Lafleur has said that Aaron Rodgers will start on Sunday despite not practicing at all last week

or this week. UM, that he will start if he is medically cleared. But Jordan's Love will be taking all of the practice reps. It's really a matter of getting two quarterbacks prepared for this game. One of them is only going to be able to prepare mentally, uh, you know, in essence, but the Packers are going to prepare both quarterbacks and then as you said at the beginning of the show, see where the Chips Fall on Saturday with with Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, as Matt Lafleur said, he's never

really dealt with anything like this before. I has, right, I mean, and being able to have one quarterback in the building and one quarterback not and really, as he said, though, it is just about preparing both of those guys for the same opponent in what the Packers have to do

offensively to attack that opponent. It's great that you know that, you know Jordan's love is going to be in a position to contribute, to be able to to have that experience last week if called upon in a game that I think now the Packers really do need to win, not that they didn't have to win on Sunday, but this is a team they should beat regardless I think of the quarterback just based on how things have gone for Seattle this year, and absolutely and when you're coming

back home, coming back home, coming back home, after being on the road four the last five games, you want to set the tone again at home because because the back half of the schedule now five of the packers last eight games are at lambeau Field. This is where you want to start. You want to start building and making that late season charge without questions, So it'll be really just the bigger thing of Okay, where is Aaron Rodgers? At what point can he you know, potentially test negative

this week? Can you get the negative tests apart the way you need to for him to be back in the building, and if he's is and if he's able to be on there on Saturday. As Matt Foor said, he's not concerned at all about his ability to step in and play. And honestly, Mike, we've seen that with some of the injury is in the past, pay through.

I don't think that's gonna be the biggest issue. The question is really just going to be the uncertainty that is revolving around this virus, around how you are about to prepare a football team. I think from a preparation standpoint, though, if he is cleared, if he's back out thing the field and Sunday, I expect the same here and Rodgers

as always. Yeah, I think I think that's what everybody certainly will expect, and Matt Lafleur expects that, Otherwise he wouldn't have already declared what he's declared in terms of in terms of that starting quarterback situation for Sunday. Big

picture here west. As I noted earlier, the Packers have a three and a half game lead in the NFC North over the Vikings a four game lead over the Bears, because both of those division rivals lost on late field goals, the Vikings in overtime, the Bears on Monday night, um a last minute field goal by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and some other things quite frankly, went pretty well for Green Bay, you know, in terms of on a week that you lose.

The Dallas Cowboys, the Los Angeles Rams also took their second losses, and we had seen the previous week before the Buccaneers went on their bye week, the Buccaneers had taken their second loss. So there's only a single solitary one lost team left, not only in the NFC but in the entire NFL, and that's the Arizona Cardinals. Tip your hat to them. They had lost their quarterback, their

number one receiver. They lost their number one running back very early in the game against San Francisco, but had no trouble with the forty Niners. So the Cardinals are eight and one. That's the team that's sitting in the catbird seat right now as we get into the second half stretch of the season. But it's still all right out in front of the Green Bay Packers at seven and two and only one game off of the pace

behind a team that you did beat head to head. Yeah, and NFC, I mean one and seven against the a f C this weekend, including that game against you know, with Chicago and Pittsburgh. Isn't that something I'm sorry to interrupt you, but when we're talking a couple of weeks that were talking about all these one lost teams in the NFC, right and the a f C has everybody with two or three or more losses, and then you have a week like this where suddenly everybody in the

a f C is beating everybody in the NFC. It's just the way this league goes. The only thing that didn't go in Green Bay's direction was San Francisco falling against Arizona. And to be honest with you, we've talked about Matt the Flora divert deservingly so, Mike McCarthy, Sean Payton, the job he's done in New Orleans. We probably do need to start giving some respect to Cliff Kingsbury because to run the ball thirty nine times, everybody says they

don't run the football. Colt McCoy, I really thought that was what the table setter was for him having the game that he did. And they lost Chase Edmonds. I believe it was in the first quarter in that game, was it not? I mean so yeah, so, I mean they had to make some some heavy adjustments and prevailed. I think that's the sign of a winning football team, a team that is not going away down the stretch here.

But Green Bay, man that you look at the division right now, regardless, and you and I could sit here for another ten minutes. Unfortunately, have to go get my glasses, but my new glasses. I gotta go pick him up. I gotta let West go here. But you know, first Chicago lost. I mean, it's a terrible situation and how they lost that game, but they lost. It's the facts, and they needed twenty one points in the fourth quarter to get back in it. But the Green Bay Packers

are seven and two. The rest of the division combined has six wins. Six wins right now, Yeah, I mean, I think that's right. That's what matters. The Packers need to keep picking up w's nine wins might win the division, and if they're able to do that, then you start talking about postseason. It was a tough weekend. It was a weekend of adversity. It was one of the longest weeks you and I have had covering the football team. But you can't let that linger into week ten, Mike,

because realistically it didn't hurt the Packers that much. No, it really didn't. It really didn't. And we will move forward into week ten. Talk more about the Seattle Seahawks on our next show, and you'll have your new glass for our next show. So with that, we're calling it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team. Will have everything for you all week long on Packers dot Com for West. I'm Mike. Thanks tuning in everybody. We'll

see you next time. M HM.