#632 Packers Unscripted: Bring on the bye

back to normal next week. But western the Green Bay Packers have gotten to that bye week at nine and three with a very impressive thirty six home victory over the l A Ramp. So I was getting ready for work this morning, Michael, as of a lot of Americans do, and I was thinking about, Hey, how am I going to start Packers Unscripted? Where we're gonna do one shot here this week and then you and I are both going to go off into the distance for a few days.

What is the number one point that I want to make as we jump into another edition of Packers Unscripted and this bye week spe actual week thirteen. Addition, you know what I came up with, Mike? What was that I'm going to use this moment before we talk about the game, before we talk about those other things. To just mention Matt Lafleur as the NFL Coach of the Year. I almost said defensive coach of the year. The guy

has not gotten the credit he deserves now. The first thing, if you ever would mention this to matth flor, you tried to ask him about, you know, being the first to forty victories or whatever that was, and that didn't go that great. He's not gonna about don't want to talk about it. But the thing is is they've moved the hashes on him so much. Right, I felt like in two thousand nineteen he deserved to be the NFL

Coach of the Year. It was it was the biggest turnaround Enfranchise history year over year in terms of wins and losses. So they gave it to John Harbor whatever this year, Mike, What what this team has done to be nine and three, to not have anybody's four straight months exactly four straight months when they started the first practice of training camp to when they played the Los Angeles Rams on on Sunday, Mike, they went without any

real breaks in between. They've had injuries, they've had adversity, they've had distractions, and Matt Lafleur has kept this team focused on what's in front of them. He's going to talk about his assistance, He's going to talk about the players, and they all deserve a lot of credit. We're gonna talk about them here in the moment. But I just wanted to use this beginning segment of Packers on scripted to talk about the fact that Matt Lafleur is pretty

darn good at what he does. Yeah. Absolutely, And I'll go back to what I wrote about in my postgame editorial after the game on Sunday night. Matt Lafleur has coached forty four regular season NFL football games as a head coach in this league, and he still has yet

to have a losing streak. And the reason I bring this up again now, if there were if there were any moment in these three seasons that two and a half, two and two thirds, whatever it is right now where Matt Lafleur has been the head coach of the package, if there were any moment where one loss was going to turn into two, it was potentially this one. Because you lose a heartbreaker, obviously in Minnesota, you come back from two touchdowns down, it's not quite enough. Minnesota wins

on a walk off. Okay, you you you swallow that. It's a it's a kick in the gut, but your quarterback is playing on a fractured pinky toe. You have to replace your left tackle again. You never really know week to week who's going to be out there on defense. Fortunately, the Packers did get Rashawn Gary back to help with the edge rush, and he was a big factor in

this game against the Rams. But then also you're facing a Rams team that came into your building last January and saw its season end, so there's that bad taste in their mouth. They were coming off of two straight losses and had their bye week to rest and regroup and be as healthy as possible to come in here and take on a Packers team somewhat limping from a health perspective into its long waited bye week. Yet where

were we at the end of three quarters? West A sack fumble that sets up a touchdown, a couple of big plays to Davante Adams and Randall Cobb, and a pick six by Russeul Douglas, and the Packers are up by nineteen points on the Rams with one quarter to go, and then you let a J. Dillon grind out some yards, good old cold weather power running style to to kill some clock in the fourth quarter, and you're walking away with another victory and get into this bye week at

nine and three. So I know, Coach of the Year it's supposed to be a single thing, single season thing, and I get that, but you look at this whole package with Matt Lafleur and where he is heading into the stretch run of his third NFL season, there's no question that he has not gotten the credit that he deserves. Well in the big reason we do this is because yes, there's five games left to the regular season. But Mike, you've been doing this a long time. You know how

this process works. They don't pick the coach the year after the Super Bowl. They pick it as soon as the season's over, like when it ends, like in four or five weeks. And the fact that he just doesn't it's funny you see profoitball focusing some of these places. They throw up, Hey, who should you? The coach is best coaches in the game. The guy just never gets enough credit for it. And and I don't as I mentioned earlier, the moving the sticks here on him, whether

it's oh, you have Aaron Rodgers. Well, but Aaron Rodgers everyone was saying he was past it when they got it in two thousand nineteen, and here they are having a success. They are he has an m v P season in Lafleur's offense in two thousand twenty. Well that's because Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers again, and it was. But I mean, the fact is is that look for it's all a marriage. So I just want to make

that point. There's a lot of great things to talk about, a lot of you know, this first half of the season offensively, defensively, what they've been able to accomplish to get to nine and three, But you have to give credit to the shepherd in the field here with these guys, and and that has Ben Matt Lafleur. Yeah. Absolutely, And if there's and not to say that there aren't other assistant coaches that deserve a lot of praise, but there are two that I want to talk about in particular

on this show. First we'll start on the offensive side of the ball and Adam Stanovich and what he has done with this offensive line. Aaron Rodgers said it after the game. Okay, you're facing a defensive front that has two future Hall of famers in Von Miller and Aaron Donald, and then Pro Bowl slash all Pro caliber edge rushier

in addition in Leonard Floyd. And you're going up against that group without three of your preferred starters, if you want to call at that on the offensive line, with David Baktiari, Elton Jenkins, and Josh Meyers all on the shelf. And yet Aaron Rodgers drops back times, gets sacked only once, almost escaped that sack um as well, and the Packers were able to grind out enough yards on the ground, staying committed to the running game, pounding away a J.

Dillon laying out some punishment with those runs. What what this offensive line has done under the tutelage of Adam Stanovich and Luke butkus Is is really phenomenal because it just you you cringe at the thought of these injuries. And we all saw Elton Jenkins go down in Minnesota, and we we feared the worst and it was the worst. And he's out for this reason and potentially a very long time. And yet this offense still doesn't seem to miss a beat that you know, yosh Naiman steps in.

You know, Lucas Patrick is filled in at center. We've talked about, you know, John runyon Um, you know, taking over at at left guard while Jenkins had to play left tackle. All that. Whoever the Packers line up with up front, they get the job done. They do Mike and everybody. Their heart hurt for Elton Jenkins because of what he did for this team, how selfless he was and how he went about it. In the fact, he's

just a pretty darned good human being. But it wasn't a panic in terms of losing him at left tackle because over those first three games, those first three starts with yosh Nijman, they felt like this guy he can go. And seeing him get comfortable has been the thing that's been the most, uh, the coolest part of this whole situation, because he had to deal with Bosa in San Francisco, and then you see him and he comes out and he has Von Miller, he has you know, Aaron Donald sometimes.

I mean the fact that there's Leonard Floyd, who has been off to one of the best starts, maybe the best start of his career. He has to contest with all that, and he was up for the game. And just seeing his athleticism and his size. I don't scout. I don't know anything about scouting. Certainly the Packers did their whole work on this young man coming out of Virginia Tech. But I just don't know how you don't look at him at six ft seven three and fourteen

pounds and don't see a draft pick. I I don't see how this guy went undrafted. But that being said, they got him, and they got Elton Jenkins in two thousand nine. They handed both of those players to Adam Stenovitch, to Luke Buckus, and they said, okay, start developing this talent. In seeing where both of those guys have come. Jenkins already a Pro Bowl player, Niagement becoming a guy that can be reliable at the most important position on the

offensive line. It's it's a testament to everything they've put in and the fact that Green Bay is I've wrote an insider inbox on Tuesday. They've gone twelve games without a five time All Pro left tackle, a guy that very easily could end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Jenkins and Niger made it look at as easy as they did. That isn't how it works. In the NFL. But fortunately for Green Bay it's worked

out here. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean how many games have we seen where other teams have had big time offensive lineman go down and and it's it's part of life in this league. But then suddenly teams are adjusting their offense, their jail breaks with regard to the pass rush. The

Packers between the plan, the execution, the players and their development. Obviously, the patients with Josh Nijaman has has paid off here because the Packers invested a lot, a lot of time, a lot of resources in developing him, whether it was practice squad, an active roster spot, even if he wasn't playing much. But then when when the call came, he has answered that call. I want to shift to the defensive side of the ball, but I'll take care of

our sponsor business here. First West Series x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need seven three six and at Cousins Subs, we have something for everyone. Our Wisconsin Cheese Kurds, mac and Cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or sub in a

bowl Cousins subs we believe in better all right. On the defensive side, I don't know what more you can say about defensive coordinator Joe Berry and what he has done with this unit. I mean, I realized fans are going to react the way fans are going to react. But there were even some in the media West who after week one, we're questioning, what in the world are the Packers doing on defense? Right, it was one game. Joe Berry stayed the course this defense. I know all

I know they I know all plays count. You don't get to remove things. But two big plays by the Rams, the two long touchdown passes to Van Jefferson and Odell Beckham Jr. You take those two out. We're talking about a shutdown performance of one of the best offenses in the league. The Packers let two big plays get behind him. Those are the things they're gonna look at. They're gonna work on in there, trying to make sure that doesn't happen again. But the Rams, other than those two plays,

the Rams look completely flummixed and flustered on offense. To me, in this game, and I and and the pit the pick six by Russell Douglas obviously was a big highlight. Rashaan Gary with the sack fumble. Preston Smith recovers inside the ten yard line. The Packers cash that in for

a touchdown. The defense, I know, at the end of the day there were whatever the twenty um six points on the board, twenty eight points on the board, twenty eight points on the board at the end of the day, but that was not really a reflection in my opinion of how this defense played against one of the most explosive offenses in the league and the most important thing of all, Mike. The defense gave the Green Bay Packers

a chance to win this football game. When you look at the pick six with Resul Douglas, that the fact that they were able to get the force fumble from MS Shawn Gary turned that into points the fourth down stop when l A decides to go for it early on from their own twenty nine, you had Kenny Clark penetrating into the backfield, redirecting Darryl Henderson that led to Adrian name Is being able to tackle him a yard

shy the first or the first down. The next play, Amos up ends Henderson, whose head then falls short and down of the first down is the first body part to reach the ground. Those type of plays, mike short yardage situations, keeping them in third and manageables also have been so important for them because I know what people keep saying about, you know, the red zone defense and the scoring defense and in that part of the area, the third But the fact is they're making them go

the long way and they're making opportunities for themselves. And if you listen to them, they probably would tell you there was two or three more takeaway opportunities in that game that they weren't able to execute on. But what I want to talk about though, as you mentioned with with Joe Barry, I really loved the game plan he came up for with this game because this is a guy that was with Sean McVeigh for a number of years.

He was in l A when they were building that defense, and seeing how he wanted to attack the Rams offense with Matthew Stafford in there was really fascinating to watch. I don't know the exact statistics. You're more of a savant with the stuff, you might actually have them at the top of your head, but how infrequently they blitzed in this game. They were very comfortable with their four man rush against Stafford and they trusted that rush with

Rashaan Gary to be able to apply pressure. All of that's great, but playing able to play coverage a little bit more. There were a couple of breaks. They have to be able to clean those things up. But considering Kevin King wasn't available, you know, Jaire Alexander wasn't available, they had to do this with you know, some of these makeshift parts in the secondary, they still were dominant.

And what I stand out and when I look at this season that the storyline that I don't know if anybody was talking about going into this year, was what Joe Barry's defense was going to be able to do for Kenny Clark because I think it's made him reach the next level in his game. I've said it for a long time, Mike, I feel like Clark is that one of the best, if not the best. And that's all I know Donald is in that conversation. But as a two way defensive lineman, he gives you it all.

He can pressure the quarterback, he can be used on those third down situations, but he is affecting the football game against the run. L A couldn't do it. I think their longest carry with seven yards, and with the inability from McVeigh to get the running offense going, that is what allowed Green Bay to control this gamett in terms of times of possession. Kenny Clark Man, I hope he's a pro bowler. I think he should have be an all pro consideration. This guy has reached the next

level in this Joe Barry defense. Yeah. I when I came in on Monday after the game, I sat down and went through the defensive film and now my weekly what you Might have Missed segment is up on the website, and I focused entirely on those two defensive tackles in the middle, Kenny Clark and Dean Lowry because what we've heard and it it bore itself out again in this game him is that one of the keys to this Joe Barry defense is being able to stop the run.

And we're not talking about stopping every play for zero or one yard, but at the end of the day, only allowing about anywhere from three to three point five yards per carry for the other team without having to commit those extra players to the run. Now, obviously the fourth and short Adrian Amos is up in the box and he's ready to shoot the gap. Right. That's a different type of thing. But if you want to look at the video clips of how the Packers stopped the

run with a light blox, they're a light box. Excuse me, they're in the What you might have missed and what Kenny Clark and Dean Lowry were able to do in this game to be to be so disruptive, and whether it was taking on double teams and holding the point or sometimes beating the double team, and as you said on the third and two early on, Kenny Clark leverages a double team but gets into the backfield and redirects Darrell Henderson so that Adrian Amos, who actually is playing

a deep safety at the snap, is able to come all the way up from deep safety and make that tackle for a one yard game because he's the unblocked guy. These are the kinds of things that the Packers are able to do in this defense, and we talked about it West last week. The defense didn't have a good day in Minnesota, and yes there there were injuries. They missed Rashawn Gary probably more than more than anybody else the way that game unfolded. But we talked about how

is this defense going to respond? Same thing with the offense after you know, Jordan's Love had a rough day in Kansas City, and those first three quarters against Seattle when Aaron Rodgers first came back weren't very good on offense. How is the offense going to respond? Well, we've seen

the response now on both sides of the ball. The offense has been pretty darn good the last couple of games, and the defense bounced back from that, from that game in Minnesota with a with a real high quality performance against a good offense. The Packers have gotten to their bye week, there where they need to be, there where

they want to be. Now it's about getting rested, getting recharged, hopefully getting healthy and seeing over these last five I have regular season games now after the Packers come back, who can they get back in the lineup amongst these guys like bok tr and Alexander Maybe he's a Darius Smith, Josh Meyers. These guys who's going to come back and win?

That's what we're waiting to see. Well, and the beautiful thing about the way this season is working out for the Green Bay Packers is I mean, this is gonna sound so messed up, but there are seventeen games now in Green Bay is three and a half games up in the division. They're a half game out of the

lead right now at the Arizona Cardinals. There's a lot of opportunity not only to win some more football games and rise in those type of standings, but also to get guys back, whether it would be Zadarius Smith or JR. Alexander here at some point, David bok Tr, you hope that that works out. You hope that you know everything that he's been through, we get through on the other side of this thing and get back into a rhythm again,

feel like himself because they're gonna need him. And I've mentioned this number of times now, but especially with the rushing offense, I just feel like box Tr really gives you the entire package there. As much as we focus on his past protection, he brings a lot to that outside zone scheme, and I feel like they do need him back out there. But with Zadarius, you think about the way that Rashaan Garry's playing right now, Mike, to

see him kind of coming into his own man. What that would look like during the postseason run if the Smith Bros. Are out there with him, jire Alexander the level in which he was playing at over the last twenty some games, and all pro shutdown type cornerback. What that could bring to this offense. Maybe pie in the

sky we have to see. But the Packers are giving themselves time to get those guys back in the fact that they've been able to win these games and put themselves in that position with Rasul Douglas coming off of Arizona's practice squad, with Whitney Merciless coming in for a few games before unfortunately he has his biceps injury. Yash Nijman, I mean, all these guys might the fact that they've been able to get to nine and three that it's it's more than I think anyone could have ever hoped. Yeah,

well you said it. Let's take a look at the big picture here. As you said, the Packers have a three and a half game lead in the NFC North thanks to the San Francisco forty is knocking off the Minnesota Vikings at the same time that the Packers are playing the Rams, So it's a three and a half game lead in the division. The Vikings have six games left, the Packers have five. If I'm doing my math right.

If you want to go with the whole baseball like magic number thing, I think the Packers magic number to clinch the division is three. That is, any combination of three Vikings losses and or Packers victory. Um would yeah, I mean you have a magic number of three. And we we just got past Thanksgiving weekend here, right, so, um, the Packers completely in command of the NFC North and then as far as the conference as a whole, Arizona at nine into a half game ahead of the Packers

at nine and three. Obviously the Packers, no, they have the head to head tie breaker there, so if they can match Arizona for the top record in the conference,

Green Bay gets the nod there. But by the same token, you still have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right in this hunt as well with only three losses, and then the Rams and the Cowboys, both of whom now lost games this past week, but they just have four and there's still plenty of time, uh left in this season for those teams to potentially put it together and make a run. So coming up this weekend, or I should say this week, since this is our only show this week, we'll already

look ahead to the games that are coming up. Big game for Dallas on Thursday night, playing at New Orleans, trying to shake off that loss on Thanksgiving Day, and then on Sunday, Arizona is at Chicago and Tampa Bay is that Atlanta. Those are the games for the most part, that Packers fans are going to have their eyes on. Yeah, and first and foremost, I just want to, you know, mention obviously the reports out of of you know, Dallas right now with Mike McCarthy. You hope everything turns out

well for Mike. I know they put him on the COVID nineteen protocol. He will not coach in this game, right, you know. Tremendous human being, a guy that I have a lot of respect for. I really hope he can pull through all that, okay, and and get on there with the team, because you know, Dallas has had a few ups and downs, but I have really had the bounce back season I think everybody was looking for after

a rough year. One the craziest thing is Mike. I think there's a lot of green, big Packer fans out there. They're gonna be cheering for the Chicago Bears this weekend. I mean, that's a huge game and in Arizona's look, you know, human, I think if you look at it pound for pound, the Cardinals and the Packers still are the best two teams in the NFC right now. They've certainly been the most consistent and the fact is, like you know, they've had some up like some some bad

performances here. They aren't just the team that's running through everybody the way they were during that seven and all starts. So Chicago Bears, man, it's it's been up, it's been mostly down. But man, oh man, that that could be a huge thing, especially with you know, the Bears kind of being a little bit out of the NFC Division

North Division race right now. Yeah, it's it's early in the week at this point, but we'll see where things are at the quarterback position with both these teams, right I think everybody would like to see justin fields against Kyler Murray, you know, sort of those two young guys, the the new age quarterback so to speak, whatever you want to call it, see those two guys go ahead to head. But we'll just have to see how the week unfolds there. And uh, and I know prior to

the Packers Ramps kick off. A lot of Packers fans were watching that Tampa Bay game against the Indianapolis Colts, and unfortunately, the Colts had had a lead, seemed to have commanded that game early in the third quarter. Then

the turnover started happening. They kind of forgot about the best running back in football who's healthy right now and uh and didn't give him the ball and UH So Tampa Bay was able to get a big road win um at Indianapolis to stay at three losses and to stay basically right on the heels of both the Packers and the Cardinals here in the NFC playoff chase. But they have a division game on the road at Atlanta. The Falcons, you talk about a team that you can't

really figure out up and down. You never know what you're gonna get necessarily. But in the NFC right now, there are a bunch of teams that are that are five and six right six and five, five and six, right in that range, and they are absolutely still alive for a playoff spot with uh with this expanded playoff system in the seven teams from each conference. So the Atlanta Falcons have everything in the world to play for hosting their division rival on Sunday. Yeah, tam Tampa Bay.

It's very interesting, Mike, very kind of looking like last year. They're not winning, you know, on style points right now. It's it's been a lot of knockdown, grinding, moot type games. Unfortunately for them last year they got really hot at the end of the season. We'll have to see if the Burners can kind of ignite their for them heading

into this postseason hunt. Certainly Carolina cooled off. New Orleans is just a mess right now, and in Atlanta, as you said, you don't really know what you're gonna get, so um that that's gonna be an interesting one to watch it and really just seeing who can play the

most consistent football in the month of December. Like, I know a lot of people have used this excuse, and I'm gonna call it an excuse, but a lot of folks have been talking about, well, last year the Packers were the number one seed, and I mean all the good it did them. Unfortunately for Green Bay the year in which they finally get that number one seed, they're playing inside a stadium with nine thousand people, like they played most of the year in front of no one.

So when people ask that about oh, you know, if you want the but you want to buy and you want to be able to get that same scenario to play out with seventy eight thousand fans inside those stands. So I think that goal is very tangible for green

Bay right now. I think you look at this this, you know, really both conferences, trying to think of a year in which you went into the month of December where there were this many teams sort of log jammed right at the top, with all with really decent shots with a good run here at at that by in

that in the number one season their respective conference. So uh, like I mentioned, it's all about consistency, and to this point, green Bay has been one of, if not the most consistent team in the National Football League, and it's given them an opportunity now to really put this thing into overdrive with three of the last five at home, and certainly with this bye week giving them a little bit of a chance to get healthier here before that stretch run. Yeah,

no question about it. And usually you get past Thanksgiving and as you said, maybe things look a little bit clearer in terms of the playoff picture. But with the extra game he's seventeen regular season games now, there's just there's just that much more season left to go, that much more jockeying for position. That's UH. That's going to happen here down the stretch and will be worth watching. I'll have the path of the playoffs. We're gonna debut you. Good luck with that this week on the on the

bye we'll get that. We'll get that posted here at the end of the week and make that a weekly feature here the rest of the way. But with that, we're gonna call it a rap on this Zoom edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team. We've still got plenty of content for you during the bye week. Don't tune us out, folks. Lots of stuff going up on the website and uh and then again next week when we come back with more of this show. So for West, I am Mike,

thank you for tuning in. Everybody. We will see you next done and dat anything