#631 Packers Unscripted: Playoff rematch

It will be a three pm late afternoon Sunday kickoff at lambeau Field, and we started to talk about this on our last show. Looking at this Rams season here in statistically, what really stands out West is this team started out seven and one through the first eight games, and in those first eight games, the Rams were held under twenty six points only once in that entire time. But they now come to lambau Field on a two game losing streak and in those two losses they scored

a total of twenty six points. Um. So you have to believe that through this bye week, which now the Rams have had following the two straight losses. Priority number one for Sean McVeigh and the rams is to get that offense back on track and back to what it was doing earlier in the year, and and more specifically,

just get Matthew Stafford back into a rhythm again. I mean that that's sort of been the thing with this season is that you know, they've kind of gone as Matthew Stafford has gone and and they've had, you know, the injuries at the being the season, losing Cam Akers right away. Darryl Henderson has been a guy that's been around for a number of years for them now, but

they had to kind of weather through some stuff. Okay, now you lose Robert Woods, you added Odell Beckham, but the offense still doesn't really look the way you wanted to look heading into the bye week. I really look for Stafford to be the key cog in this and for green Bay they have to hope that it's one more week here where he just is that big dominant pass or that he was earlier in the season. Mike, you and I we've covered Stafford for so long him

in your case, your entire career. You've seen this kid when he's on fire, when he's clicking, when he's in rhythm, there aren't many better in the National Football League. Certainly definitely from an arm talent perspective, but he gets into these lulls from time to time where things just don't look right, and if he doesn't have the resources around him, which a lot of times in his career he hasn't,

the offense tends to dip. Yeah, and statistically it's just it's it's really something again, going back to these two losses, the back to back losses the Rams are coming off of here, Matthew Stafford has been sacked fourteen times all season, half of them seven in the back to back losses coming in. He's throwing eight interceptions, half of them four in the back to back losses here coming in. I mean, just everything about this offense um has uh has taken

a dip. And maybe for the Rams the bye week came at the right time for them. They needed something to you know, to some time to rest cover, get themselves out of the rut or whatever. I think. From the Packers perspective here, you look at you mentioned Henderson obviously is the running back. We'll see what you know, what the Rams are going to do with oh b J and everything moving forward, Cooper Cup is the guy who really has made this offense go the bulk of

the season. He's got eighty five catches, forty one yards, ten touchdowns. Even in um these two losses the rams of head, He's still had double digit catches and basically hundred yard games, not the big explosive plays. And I think from Green Bay's defensive perspective, this is one of those games where you go into it saying, hey, they're going to make some plays. They're gonna they're they're gonna move the chains, they're gonna move the football. You just

can't give up the explosives. You can't give up the twenty five and the thirty five yard passes that allow them to take the big chunks of yards you get down the field in a hurry. Absolutely, it's an excellent point you're raising. I made the argument all year long that I feel like Davante Adams is the best receiver in the game right now. He's at the peak of

his hours. If if it's not Adams, though, it's Cooper Cup and and certainly was looking at what Justin Jefferson did last week, he's on his way to that distinction as well. But the Cup has been such a consistent producer for them for so many years now, but he has really been able to take his game to the

next level with Matthew Stafford as his quarterback. To be at over yards already and we're not even in December really speaks to his dominance throughout the courses here, and much like Jefferson last week, while they're different types of receivers, if you allow him to get going against you, you're in for a long afternoon. Now, losing Robert Woods is a huge hit for this offense, but as many headlines as were driven towards Odell Beckham Jr. I really like

Van Jefferson. This is a young man that came in here. He has big play potential and I feel like him being able to play off of some of the things Cup does is more of It would be disrespectful to call him a possession receiver, but as a guy that's gonna draw a lot of tension, catch a lot of passes, Jefferson's can kind of give them that home run threat

there as well. So seeing this diversification of resources and also how Beckham is gonna look being implemented to this offense coming off the buy are three really intriguing pieces here for the Rams offense because while Henderson has been able to run the ball effectively, I think ultimately the biggest indicator of where this offense is going to be is if they can get the ball moving downfield and if you get those twenty plus yard passing place in

this fold. Yeah, absolutely, And whether it's been you know, the Rams offense or the Lions offense, that's sort of what Matthew Staffords has hung his hat on his entire career right as being able to make the explosive play to get the defense on its heels and then finish those drives. That's that That's what Matthew Stafford has done his entire career. Shifting gears to the defensive side of the ball. It starts up front right with this Rams defense.

You look at obviously Aaron Donald um my belief is a three time NFL Defensive Player of the Year now, and then on the edges on either side of him you have Leonard Floyd and On Miller, a mid season acquisition. This is a defensive front that is tough to handle. Um they scheme things up so that they make it really difficult for you to just decide you're gonna double

team Aaron Donald on every single play. They they scheme things up so he gets single blocked and is able to have the impact that they want him to have. And with the Packers obviously making another adjustment here on the offensive line, Josh and Iiman's going to go in at left tackle with Elton Jenkins now out for the season. Um, this this is really to me, the key matchup in this game is the Packers offensive line against this defensive front of the Rams. It is and there's so many

elements to this that are going to be intriguing. If we had a few more resources, we could actually play back five years of unscripteds right now where I was reiterating how impressed I've been by Leonard Floyd. I felt like this guy coming out right off the bat was going to be a premier pass rusher in this league.

Probably didn't reach the level of dominant said I probably would have thought he would have been as what the ninth overall picked the year he got drafted, but was very productive in Vic Fangio's defense and what they did.

He's been able to breathe nude life into his career in l a and as much as we're gonna talk about Donald here in a second, and as big of a storyline as that's gonna be going to the game, Leonard Floyd against yosh Naiman, Leonard Floyd against how the Packers defend him is really something that's gonna be important to track because he can wreck the game off the edge, and especially with Aaron Rodgers dealing with this toe injury, you've got to be cognizant of that. Donald is a problem.

But the thing about it is he's still a three tech middle of the defensive front player. You can you can double him easier, you can throw additional resources, and you can tell you're running back to keep an eye on him. Those elements are ways in which the Packers have beaten Donald before. I think the issues they've had against this defense going all the way back to eighteen when they played him at at the Colisseum is if you get the edge rush going as well, So, uh,

it's a great matchup. I mean A Shaan Robinson's the guy was really high on in my in my drafts. When I get asked to make the predictions for who the Packers taking the first round, Robinson was my guy, whatever it was four or five years ago. I think he's a good compliment. I think they have a lot of pieces defensively, but Leonard Floyd is the one that probably is going to have my eyes on the most on Sunday. Yeah, And I don't I don't like to make too much of this because because I think it

gets overblown a little bit. But I am going to make a point here about a couple of guys with regard to this being the playoff rematch from from last January where the Rams came in and saw their season end. I don't think players, for the most part, they don't get too hung up on, you know, sort of that revenge angle or getting back at somebody. But when I look at Aaron Donald and the fact that he was not healthy for that game in January last year, he

was dealing with the rib injury. He was not a hundred percent, you know that he wants I think anyway that he really wants to show something to this Packer's offense in this game. And Jakin's got the better of him in that game. He absolutely did. And the other guy, I'll say too, because we saw him throw the little temper tantrum after Davante Adams got the touchdown there at

the goal line is Jalen Ramsey. This is a guy and now he leads the Rams with three interceptions, tremendous talent as as a cover corner, one of the best in the league, no question about it. And this is a guy that you know, when the Packers are in the red zone, he wants Davanta Adams, he wants to

stop Davante Adams from getting a touchdown. And again I don't like to overplay sort of the revenge angle in looking back and whatever, but those two guys, in particular, what we saw in the game last January when the Rams season ended and the Packers moved on, those are two guys to definitely watch on well. And in this you know, this secondary that l A has is just incredible. Now they don't have the most picks in the National Football League, but it's a top four, top three type

past defense. Um Jalen Ramsey's a big part of that because he's one of the few guys in this league where you can just ask him to go up against any pro liftic receiver and have him shadow him sideline to sideline, and Ramsey's going to be able to do it. Honestly, that's what I'm expecting in this matchup with the Packers, and and just asking him to fulfill that assignment against Davante Adams and allow them to address resources otherwhere in

other areas. But the other thing I want to keep an eye on in this game, Mike, is the Packers running offense. Because as difficult as it's been to pass against the Rams, the way they rush, the way that Aaron Donald rushes, sometimes there's a jet element to it. There's a pinning the ears back, and sometimes that can lead the gaps being unfilled. I really want to see if Green Bay with a J. Dillon can pound the

ball against this front. I think him winning against those inside linebackers that is going to dictate where this game goes. Because if you can't get the run established against the Rams, they have the type of perimeter group when it's third and long, they're gonna be pitching you a shutout. So you've got to be able to do that. I think that's gonna be a huge, huge element to whoever is

cable to come out Victoria. Yeah. Absolutely, As as the old saying goes, the best defensive fronts in the league. They can play run on the way to the quarterback right, and Aaron Donald is a guy who can do that. But that is something that is difficult to do for sixty snaps. I mean to do it all the time. And as you say, if if there is if there is a gap or if there is a crease, and if the Packers can hit it, then suddenly you start to keep that pass rush a little bit, a little

bit more. Honest, it's it's going to be an interesting chess match in that regard. And it's the only weakness right now in this l A defense. I mean, this l A defense is probably one or two in the league if it isn't for the fact that they're what

they're giving up against the run. I think there may in the league against the run this year's but but even with that, they're only giving up I believe it's four point zero yards per carry, which from an average per carry stampoint Branks near the top of the league.

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quickly here West Keys to victory for the Packers. I've sort of I've already kind of mentioned the two that are on my mind. The most one is limiting the explosive plays by the Rams offense, and the other is to protect Aaron Rodgers and that injured tow from this Rams defensive front. I think those are the two biggest things. If the Packers have enough success in those two areas, I like their chances of getting a win here. Yeah, I do too, Mike, And I just feel like it's

every single week. It's kind of become a broken record now where I'm sitting here saying protect the football and I'm saying, you know, get after the opposing quarterback. Last week. I guess I was wrong, and I have to admit I was wrong because I think the Packers did pressure Kirk Cousins well uh, and it still really didn't matter. Cousins was able to get the ball out quickly, but they had the opportunity for the takeaways, and they didn't execute on it. That's where the same thing comes into

play here against Matthew Stafford. They've seen Matthew Stafford a lot, uh these these defenders, the Kenny Clarks, the Dean Lowry's, they've played him a dozen times now. So being able to get after him, not allow him to get comfortable, and forcing that ball out, getting them throwing off the back of his foot, that's where Green Bay is going to have success in this game. And and I feel like last week, Mike, defensively, it was a letdown for them. They had chances to be able to really put their

foot on the pedal and they weren't able to do it. Now, you can't expect them to do that every seventeen games, but it probably was the difference between a winner or loss. I'm interested to see how this group bounces back. I'm interested to see how they can counteract all these perimeter weapons and frankly, just being able to make them one dimensional like they did last week with Dalvin Cook for

a majority of that game. Don't allow Darryl Henderson or Sony Michelle to be able to get going and put this game in Matthew Stafford's hands. Yeah, I think it was interesting. If if I'm not mistaken on the timing, I believe it was on Sunday night, pretty much right around the time that the Packers plane would have been landing coming back from Minnesota. The Adrian Amos, one of the defensive captains, tweeted, it's not about what happens, it's

about how you respond to it. And that's where this Packers defenses right now, because it had been playing so well, was at such a high level, they took a big punch in the mouth, a heymaker, whatever you want to call it, in Minneapolis. So now it's it's it's about the response. It's about what happens next. And they have a heck of a challenge here with this, with this

Rams offense coming in. With regard to other games on Sunday, first, a game that will be going on at the same time as Packers Rams with the kickoff is Minnesota is out at San Francisco. Interesting here because the Vikings. The Vikings have gone to l A to play the Chargers. They gotta win there. They came back home, they beat the Packers. Now they're going back to the West Coast to play San Francisco and the Vikings two and a

half games behind the Packers in the NFC North. From the Vikings perspective, they're looking at this feeling like, Okay, we're a hot team. Our offense is rolling. We've scored I believe, if I'm doing the math quickly in my head, sixty one in the in their two victories here, they feel like they've got things going. They go out to San Francisco and get a win, and they're watching the scoreboard to see if the Rams can knock off the knockoff the Packers at Lambeau and then suddenly they're only

a game and a half back. Packers have a have the task here of of of keeping the Vikings at bay regardless of of what happens out in San Francisco. And San Francisco has risen from the dead a little bit and they've been able to kind of find themselves. The downfield passing game is working again from them. You know, Brandon Ayuk, who I was talking to you about Week three, was often such a slow start to the season. He started to re emerge as a big playmaker in this offense.

So seeing how you know, San Francisco getting their offense going again against the Minnesota defense that's giving up a lot of yards. It's me interesting to watch in addition to the fact of just watching two teams that are on the boundary the perimeral, the peripheral of the playoff race right now, which one wants to finally become a winning ball club and who could potentially mount kind of a comeback here late in the season. It's not been

easy for either of these teams. They've been battle tested based on their division, based on the way their schedules lined up. It's competitive five and five records right now. But from Green based perspective, certainly, you know, you would like to see the Vikings kind of fall back a little bit after that win last week. Yeah, and the other one I think that we'll be watching on Sunday prior to the Packers and Rams kicking off as a

very interesting um interconference game, cross conference game. Tampa Bay on a short week travels to Indianapolis. The culture as hot as any team in the NFL right now, with Jonathan Taylor and what he's doing, and that defense is playing some solid football. The Colts are thrusting themselves into the a f C playoff picture. And no, I didn't

bring up this game just because of Jonathan Taylor. But uh, but I had to add to anyway, right, But but it's for the die hards, for the inboxer, for the inboxers. You'll get where that's coming from. But Tampa Bay um one of these you know, handful of teams in the NFC with three losses and uh, and they've got a tough match up here on the road on a short week after having played on Monday night. UM on a really interesting matchup here with with significant implications for both

teams in each conference. Can I make a little bit of a shout out here, even though he'll never watch the show, I'm gonna give him a lot of credit. Why not? My buddy Scott Vincy, your former co worker. Scott is in a keeper league for fantasy football. He has Jonathan Taylor. He drafted Jonathan Taylor, however long ago. Now. He was saying to me, because he watches and follows him pretty pretty much just die hard as anyone in the state of Wisconsin is going to follow the Indianapolis Colts.

He was saying to me that, you know, at some point Frank Wright needs to give him the ball and then just get out of the way. Just be like, this is our running back. We don't need a committee. We don't need to put it in in you know, Philip Rivers hands or Carson Wentz's hands, or Jacoby bris said or Peyton Manning's just give the ball to Jonathan Taylor. There as hot as anyone in the league, Mike, because

they're feeding their running back. And and you and I joke and to let the people in who don't watch it, don't read in box. I had some real reservations about Taylor, but as it turned out, I think a lot of those reservations were based on the fact of how he was being utilized. And now you're seeing them trust him with this offense yards already on the season, he doesn't even have two hundred carries. I mean, this guy can play. And for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers here, I mean, I'm

not being disrespectful of defending n NFC champions. They've had some ups and downs this season. They've had some moments where they've looked like the defending champs. They've had some moments where they've looked really old. So Indianapolis Man to be able to rally the troops here. That's uh, that's

an interesting game for them to determine. Hey, how much of a tender are we and that's a division that you know can really be anyone's Yeah, I think I think that's a result in terms of an a f C versus NFC matchup, that's a result that's going to have have some implications in the in the playoff races on on both sides. There can I because we don't have an own budsman like I think I used to be on around the Horn. They used to have like

the old budsman that corrected people. At the end of the show, I got to correct myself, Um, the rams weren't in run. I had that wrong. So I just want to make sure that's right. I still think the

path to victory is the same for Green Bay. But actually I think they're like, yeah, well, it's it's interesting statistically because of where they rank in terms of total rushing yards given up, but yet the yards per carry they're giving up, it's like, yeah, it's like up at fourth or fifth and even the rushing yards that it's

it's one of those things that doesn't. That doesn't quite match up statistically, But I will say you still need to get the run going because otherwise they will pin their ears back and then it's gonna be a long afternoon for you. I think this really does need to be an A J. Dillon type game. Yeah, alright, well we will see if that happens, but for now we'll call it a wrap on this scripted be or to follow all of our coverage of Sunday's big game from

lambeau Field. Will have it all for you on packers dot com for West, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody, and Happy Thanksgiving