#641 Packers Unscripted: Significant step

lost earlier in the day. I want to get to the playoff scenarios and and where all that stands a little bit later, but for this show, and I don't want us to start sounding like a broken record, but I think we have to start with what Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams are doing. I mean, how that looked on Sunday night. What those two guys are doing is incredible. What really struck me on Sunday night was just the way in which they continue to make it look so easy.

Aaron Rodgers with another hundred plus passer rating in sub zero temperatures or sub zero windshills, excuse me, and Davante Adams getting the double digit catches over a hundred yards gets in the end zone again, and uh, it just it looks too easy in this game. Is not that easy. It is not. And the plays that they make, Mike Packer fans are so spoiled when you look at the NFL and just the amount of jaw dropping plays week

to week to week. Rogers, for one, makes on his own, but to that combination of him and Adams, it's special. You might have those a few times in a season in other NFL cities. Here it happens literally every Sunday. But I want to take this in a different direction on you too, though, Mike, because we've talked a lot about Aaron Rodgers making a compelling bid for that fourth straight m v P. We talked a lot about Davante Adams. It would be an absolute travesty if he doesn't actually

be an unanimous All Pro. I know last year someone voted for Cole Beasley for some reason and he wasn't, but that he wasn't actually a unanimous all fifty votes all Pro at receiver. But it was something that Davante Adams said after the game that really hit home with me. DeVante talked about almost eighteen minutes, which for a postgame interview is about as long as it gets for anyone

not named Aaron Rodgers or Matt Lafleur. And in the middle of it, when he was talking about some of the things that him and Rodgers have accomplished together, Davante took that car and hit the off ramp and what he said was, it's also about the guys in that locker room and the way that that offense plays together with all eleven parts and the selflessness for guys to understand if we're gonna play winning football, this offense and a lot of occasions, has to run through Rodgers. It

has to run through number seventeen. Aaron Jones is a guy that in a lot of cities probably is a two earned, fifty touch type player. A J. Jones I think can show you one week after week after week. This is a guy that can carry the ball three times a year, no problem, and he's gonna be able to get you production. Markquisveldes Scantling has had some huge games, and he's had games like Sunday where it was one catch for three yards, Alan Lazar, the list goes on

and on and on. In some places that could be a problem for people in Green Bay. They understand what everybody's role is and they embrace that role. And in this particular case, when you have a generational type talent like Aaron Rodgers, and you have a guy that could very well go down on that receiver Mount Rushmore here in Green Bay, maybe right alongside Don Hudson in Davante Adams,

you want to ride those horses. And for the Green Bay Packers for the last three seasons, it's led to an incredible amount of winning and a lot of records as well for those two players. Yeah, I was just blown away and and I I know we see it on a regular basis, but there was something about Sunday night with the conditions under the lights. Uh, you know, the temperatures were in the single digits, the windshills were below zero. It's it's not supposed to be that simple.

And yet the the back shoulder throws, the tear drop throws down, you know, down the sideline that you know, sort of the drop in the bucket type of throws. I mean, it was just it was it felt like it was one after another and they were running around out there on you know, the frozen tundra as though it was a seventy degree day in September. Um, you know, in a in a preseason game or something. And I'm

not disparaging the Minnesota Vikings defense. I know they've had an up and down season and all that, but um, a couple of a couple of those back shoulder throws were were Um, they were absolutely guarded as closely as you could possibly guard them. And that ball is still fitting into the tightest of windows with Adams snatching it with his hands at absolutely the last possible millisecond and not give away to the defender that the ball is coming. I mean, the timing and the precision of it in

those conditions absolutely floored me. In and and again, I don't I'm sorry if I'm making our show like a broken record that we talked about this every week, But I think there's something about that particular game Sunday night and what they did and everything that it encompassed that was different and special compared to what we've seen before offensively for the Minnesota Vikings. I have a lot of questions. It seemed to me like Minnesota and Summer guards didn't

want to really even be there. That's the way I felt. Yeah, I tip my cap to their defense, though, Mike, it's been a much maligned defense this year. That secondary. Everybody talks about how they don't have, you know, the horses that they had in the past. You know, cam dancler doesn't play in this game, right. I actually thought Chris

Boyd played a pretty good game. I was watching Harrison, you know, Smith basically run laps around the field, trying to get on the back end, trying to cover the slot, trying to get over to where Davante is and Green Bay in the cat and mouse game they played, specifically in that second quarter, was just incredible to watch. I mean, by and large, Minnesota did a good job against Davante Adams, and he had eleven catches for a hundred and thirty

six yards in a touchdown. But when he got going, man, they had few answers to stop him, and and ultimately that led to him now being twenty two yards shy of Jordy Nelson's franchise record for single season receiving yards. He broke his own record for single season catches now at one seventeen. And then suddenly not that he's gonna be challenging you know, the record that he shares with

sterling sharp for single season touchdowns. But suddenly this guy that was having an issue getting into the red zone earlier the season now has ten eleven touchdowns on the year. Yeah, DeVante Adams is one of a kind man, and that synergy has with Aaron Rodgers, it's it's unlike anything we've seen. Yeah, the numbers that he's putting up this year, and you mentioned the double digit touchdowns. I believe that's either the fourth or fifth time in his career that he's reached

double digit touchdowns. Now, Um, pretty incredible And with regard to to me, and I take nothing away from from um, you know, from a guy like Jamaar Chase in Cincinnati was having an absolutely phenomenal rookie year. But the but the two All Pro receivers on the first team in the NFL or Cooper Cup in Davante Adams, I just don't see how that goes any other way. And whether you whether it's supposed to be unanimus or not, I guess I'm not going to get too hung up on that.

But those two guys, you know, Jamaar Chase has had a phenomenal season and he is he He and Joe Burrow are elevating Cincinnati into that contender conversation in the a f C. But Cooper Cup and Davantae Adams have done it every week all season long, and I don't think I would have cared as much about the All Pro if it would have been just such an egregious thing to have cold beat. Which, by the way, that vote no, you're you're at You're absolutely that vote ended

up making Cole Beasley I think in All Pro. I think he was a second team All Pro last year because of that vote. Yeah, But be that as it may, Chase is an exceptional player. I mean, my goodness, what he did against Kansas City. Give that guy credit. But in terms of the receiving position, the receiving position in and of itself, Cup and Adams right now are the gold standards. The way they can run the entire road tree, their instincts, their ability to play any of the positions

that are involved with the skill position player. Uh, those two guys. Watching them work and having a chance in recent weeks to watch Cup more and more, you really see a lot of parallels in their game, and especially in Cup's case, being able to develop that chemistry in year one with Matthew Stafford. Yeah. Well, a couple other things to get to hear from this big victory for the Green Bay Packers. One is that we had talked about it all week long, the keying on Dalvin Cook

and not letting him take control this football game. And then lo and behold, we find out on Friday that Kirk cousins Um goes on the COVID list and the Vikings have to have to substitute Sean mannion and uh, um, you know, hats off to the Packers defense. Dalvin Cook held to thirteen yards on nine carries, also had zero yards on three receptions, so twelve touches and just thirteen yards for Cook. And that's a heck of an effort

by the Packers defense. But that unit also just didn't really have to worry about Minnesota's passing game because because Sean Mannion um gave it everything he had on a difficult night in difficult conditions. But that Minnesota passing game, even with Justin Jefferson but also without Adam Feeling, was just never a threat to the to this Packers defense, and and then with them never really getting Dalvin Cook going,

um the whole game just became a foregone conclusion. You know, I have a lot of respect for what Matt Lafloora and Joe Barry did in this game because they didn't disrespect Minnesota's offense. They did if you you always say every week, like fans always like to ask in the instigram box, hey, is this a trap game? Or are they overlooking this point? The green Bay Packers respected the Vikings for everything they could be with or without Kirk

Cousins on the field. But by doing that, they also didn't get outside themselves, and they just kind of dominated an opponent they should dominate in the fashion that was actually you know that that corresponded to the performance. You didn't see them cheating guys up. You didn't see them just running base packages in the entire game. They incorporated the dime the situations that called for specific packages, They ran those packages, and they asked their guys to execute.

I actually think this is a really important game for Green Bay from a defensive standpoint, because I thought it allowed them to get in and out of their base nickel Penny in dime packages with more fluidity. That was where we'd seen some of the issues with the communication in recent weeks. That was the most unified that Dimes

seemed this year with Kevin King in that role. There was even the one where they kind of had King mugging up front with with you know, Devondra Campbell, you know, teasing a blitz, you know, kind of more true, you know, nickel type looks. The Green Bay Packers have a really talented defense, and as we'll probably talk about at some point, they could potentially be getting reinforcements back here for the

post season. But I just felt like they kind of need to get their swagger back a little bit, and this was the game to do it. The fact that Dalvin Cook only carried the ball nine times, it is what it is. That's the game plan that they went with. But the fact that they only gave up thirteen yards on those carries and not giving him extraditional room to breathe. That was my main takeaway from this game. The Packers

one up front and they dominated. Yeah, I think the point that you made with regard to the changing of the personnel packages in the communication and everything being smoothed out, we saw some issues with that with the Packers defense in recent weeks, and that did seem to get straightened out. I went through the defensive film by what you might have missed segment, I actually I focused on on the coverage of Eric Stokes because it really was impressive what

he was doing. He was he certainly got his share of of Justin Jefferson in this game, and Stokes is playing is playing some really really good football for the Packers right now. But with regard to the communication, there was one play I saw. I think it was when the Vikings were in the red zone or close to the red zone or something, and and um, Channon Sullivan got kind of mixed up where he was on the wrong side of the tight end was on the other side and he and he had yeah and he had

to you know, chase the guy. But other than that one, other than that one instance, it felt like it felt like everything the Packers wanted to do on offense was it was implemented and it was executed smoothly. And that's what you like to see with where this team is heading into the postsea. And I'm so glad you brought that up because what also stood out to me is, Okay, after the play happened, they get the guy down, watching

the defense come back together. Watching Chandon and Ull come back together kind of kind of tap each other on the helmet and get onto the next one. That was my biggest takeaway from that is that, Yeah, that was you let what you you gave one up there. Yeah, but they found a way to rally back. That's a really really salient point. Yeah. The The other thing we saw that will be very interesting to monitor here going forward is a very under the radar signing. The Packers

pick up David Moore. They signed him to the practice squad. He'd been released from the Broncos practice squad. He's a wide receiver. Just a couple of months earlier, Packers bring him in, sign him of the practice squad, elevate him for game day with a Marii Rodgers on the COVID list, and all of a sudden, bang this guy. Well, first it looked like he had drawn a penalty for for you know, interference of interference to catch a punt. The officials picked up that flag and I still don't understand

why they did. But then later on he returns a punt twenty one yards, which becomes the Packers longest punt return of the season fifteen yards get tacked on for a late hit out of bounds. Suddenly it looks like, you know, do the Packers here have their you know, the two thousand nineteen Tyler Irvin. This this late addition to the special teams in in David Morde had to help out here. It looks like he could make an impact.

Tell you what a couple of things here. One. I was driving into work today, I was talking to my friends. Scott Vincy, my former cork at the Press Gazette, I know him well, and we got talking about the game a little bit and I just casually brought up David more In. Scott goes, wait, that the Seahawk. That the guy that was with the Seahawks. I'm like yeah, and I'm like, since when does he played for the Packers. I was like, well since Thursday, and I mean that's

the season. That's the way this thing's gone. Aaron Rodgers even mentioned and this post game interview he met more on the sideline and he's like, yeah, he had a nice kick. A nice punt return for US twenty one yards that also doubled as both agreement Packers longest punt return of the season and the longest that Moors had in his career. Listen, Mike, I almost I almost equated. It was sort of like the pepno bismol a little bit of the punt return game there. He just seemed

to really alleviate, you know, some of those issues. I mean, there just was a lot more comfort with him back there. And it was just one performance. He's got to be able to string this together. But what have you and I and everyone, coaches, fans, everybody's talked about this. They just needed more consistency from their special teams and with more He didn't dance under the ball, He tracked it well. He didn't seem to be panicky under pressure. Give the

Jammers a lot of credit. They gave him some room to which to work. He did have, he did have some room to work. It was by far well. It was by far the best punt return performance of the season, and it put him up there for one of the best special teams outings there. Mason Crosby five touchbacks, four extra points, three field goals. They found ways to be consistent, and that's all they're asking for them here. They're not

asking for Devin Hester. They're asking to get the ball back to Aaron Rodgers with as favorable field position as possible, and they did their job on Sunday night. Yeah, one rough punt from bo Joe Um and then also a shaky hold on that first field goal, but he recovered, got down, Mason was able to make the kick. But we're definitely seeing, definitely seeing some some progress there on special teams. Before I forget West, I'll take care of

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clinched the number one seed in the NFC playoffs. The Cowboys had lost to the Cardinals earlier on Sunday afternoon, so the Packers took the field on Sunday night. They took care of business. They have the one seed which comes with it the first round by home field advantage. Everything that the Packers also had last year. But there's still one regular season game left to play, so there

are a lot of questions. Now, how how do the Packers go about this game in Detroit in Week eighteen where the win or the loss doesn't impact your obviously your your playoff implications at all. And Matt Lafleur said, suggested on Sunday night, reiterated on Monday, they're going to

prep and play the starters in this game. He does not want to to give healthy players a week off now and then have the playoff by and essentially then set up a scenario where from the Minnesota game to the divisional playoff game, it's it's three weeks essentially between games.

That being said, it doesn't sound like the starters are necessarily going to play the entire game in Detroit, So there is a little bit of a treat this like a preseason game kind of thing in a way the way it's sounding at least right now early in the week. Um And and the other factor that's going on here too, as you had alluded to before, is some of these injured guys, whether we're talking about David bok T Jaire, Alexander Um, Randall, Cobb, are these guys going, Are these

guys going to be back for the playoffs? Would they potentially play against the Lions to get their feet wet so to speak. It's maybe not as big an issue for Cobb because he's only been out like a month or a little over a month. But um, obviously Alexander has been out since Week four. Boxtr has not played yet this season. We don't know how this is going

to go. But there's a lot to consider. There's sort of there's sort of a lot of a lot of balls being juggled in the air, so to speak, by Matt Lafleur and his coaching staff and the medical staff to figure out the best approach here between now and when the Packers will play that divisional playoff game in a few weeks. Yeah, And I don't know anything about anything as it relearns to the injury front. Obviously, Matt Flour has played a pretty close to the best here,

especially in the last two weeks. But I'll say this, I mean the way that Aaron Rodgers was speaking about Randall Cobb one, obviously it appears that Cobb is pretty close to returning. Rogers even said, you know, if that would have been a playoff type game, maybe would have even been back out there. What that really tells me, though, and this is the biggest thing, is that core injury.

Obviously it wasn't too significant, and what we've learned more and more with these core muscle injuries a lot of times, Mike, it's almost kind of like an mcl in some regards where you just got to kind of go in there and get the things stitched up and just work your way back. So obviously being able to at least be clear to be back on the field one month after that, to be able to return to practice in a padded session last Thursday, a very big positive for him. The

other three, it's gonna be really interesting. Um and Josh Meyers certainly trying to come back from that knee injury as well. Well, we'll see where things were at with him. He's actually been in the rehab group now the last few weeks, but Jarry Alexander's practicing, David Bakti was not practicing last week. We'll see if he practices this week. And then obviously Zadarius Smith, I know there was some stuff said about him being back in town. We'll see

what happens there. The way I look at this is the Green Bay Packers have made themselves the top seed in the NFC, the top dog, the team that has should be favor to represent this conference in the Super Bowl. Without a five time All Pro left tackle, without an all Pro cornerback, and and certainly, um, when you look at what happened with Elton Jenkins and and all these other guys they've lost along the way, Robert Don incredible. I mean, they still managed to overcome it and put

themselves in this position. If you get back as a Darius Smith and he can give you fifteen snaps in an NFC Championship game or fifteen snaps in a Super Bowl, what a boost that could give you. If you can get back John Alexander for a playoff run, if you can get back David box tr and he's ready in that in the medical staff feels good about that knee.

Rogers equated it to two thousand and thirteen, and when he and and Randall Copp both came back for that regular season finale against Chicago, they've both been out for a couple of months. At that Cop breaks his freaking leg in Baltimore, Rogers dealing with the collar bone, two months of questions about when he would be back. Both of those guys get back, and he said, you could see the jolt that gave the team because it's like, hey, we got we could do this, we can win this game.

We can go to the super Bowl. For crying out loud, this team at thirteen wins, could be fourteen. We'll see what happens, doesn't really matter. There's there's some energy here, and especially if you get those type of all pro type players back down the stretch, there's no better way to make a super Bowl run. Yeah. Absolutely, well it's going to be. It's a storyline that's going to be monitored not only this week but during the playoff by

and then leading up to to that divisional game. What's going on with these guys who have been on the injured list and been out. Also been some more guys added to the COVID list, David Moore, who we were just talking about the return man being one of them. Of course, now you know with a with all the changes of the rules, guys can come back from that

so much quicker. So um, hopefully they're healthy and feeling well and and uh and they'll get they'll get cleared, much like many of their teammates did UM over this past week. One other thing I want to talk about before we go, UM, just with regard to where things sit in UH in the NFC playoff picture. First off, there's only one playoff spot available UM and that essentially comes down to either the forty Niners or the Saints.

The forty Niners are playing the Rams. If the forty Niners win, they are in as a wild card if they lose. If the Rams win that game, then the Saints can get and can get that last playoff spot

by getting a victory in their final game. What's really interesting about this, though, is that is that if the forty Niners win and get that last spot, that loss, the loss by the Rams in that scenario really throws the seating and everything kind of up for grabs in the in you know, seating the two through five spots, because if the Rams lose, the Cardinals could steal back that NFC West Division title and drop the Rams all

the way to the five seed. Whereas right now, if the Rams win, they get the two seed, and they are they are the one that is right behind Green Bay. So between between the Rams, the Cowboys, the Buccaneers, and the Cardinals. Everything with regard to who's going to be in the two through five slots is very much up in the air. Well, this is what I love it, Mike, You and I were talking about it for weeks. This is why I like the by was the biggest reason

you want to get it this particular year. Yes you want to have home fiel advantage. Yes, you want to be able to play in lambeau Field. Aaron Rodgers has pontificated quite a bit on what that value is when it's twenty degrees out and teams don't want to be here. But it really also comes down in my respect to I don't know if you really want to face the Philadelphia Eagles right now. I don't know if you really

want to face the San Francisco forty Niners. Some of these teams, the way they've kind of come on, they didn't make division title type runs, but they're bona fide. I mean, they actually are playoff caliber teams that can beat top teams. I have real questions about how many consecutive games the forty Niners Eagles. You know, in some regards, the Cardinals can win, but they can knock off anybody in that wild card round. So that's where I think

this thing gets really dangerous. I don't think there's anyone truly limping in right now at this stage. I think you've got a lot of teams that feel pretty good about their chances in a wide open Brackett the a f C. A five win team or five lost team is going to be the number one seed. I mean, it is incredible the way that this thing is sorted out.

And I'm sure I know you're thrilled about this. I just have to point out that for all of our consternation previously, there will not be an eight and nine. Thank god the playoffs. Thank god, we have four team teams in the playoffs, and so there's no losers at at worst, at worst, at worst nine and eight, um at worst, nine and eight will be uh will be a playoff team, and and very possible that all the teams in the playoffs this year could have ten wins.

Just just saying saying no, no, no, that's that's great that I'm joking with you, because because I know I'm trying, I'm trying to get you riled up, so I can't figure out about all this eighteen week and extra team in the playoffs. But anyway, we're running short on time, so we'll let it go for today. Let it go. I got I got one final thing one okay, all right, I'm just curious what do you think about this? And then we'll we'll let Marv go to lunch. Um. Okay.

So do you think I'm gonna be upset when a seven seed ends up winning this? More upset about the seventh seed winning a super Bowl or more upset about the seventh seed actually being in the playoffs at some point when they're inevitably will be a seven and ten or an eight nine team in the playoffs. I think,

I mean, honestly, for me. For me, it comes down to the fact that that in this league, that say a team whether you're talking seven ten or eight and nine and they and they squeak in as a seven seed, that that team, that that team could because anything can happen any given week, as we know that that team could knock off a thirteen and four two seed that just has a bad day like in the first round, when in the previous system that thirteen win two seed has a buy and doesn't have to doesn't have to

play a team like that. That's where to me, um, you know, things will get things will get kind of annoying, frankly. And and yeah, I mean we've seen, you know, in the NHL, you know these eight seeds, you know, knock off the one seed. Well, there is something that doesn't feel quite right about that. But at the same time, that's the best of seven s in those in those sports. Right in the NFL, in football, it's it's a it's

a one shot deal. And and uh, I mean, we'll see your point, though I agree with you that that the way the San Francisco forty Niners are playing now they have a very tough game to try to beat the Rams and get into the playoffs. But the way the Niners are playing, the way the Eagles are playing, especially the way the Eagles are running the football. You know, a ground game travels in the playoffs. I don't care where you play, I don't care how hostile the environment

is when you're a road team. Those types of things, you know it it will it will make for I think, a very interesting wild card weekend in the NFC, even if you're going to have you know, nine and ten win teams going up against these twelve and thirteen win teams, it's definitely gonna be It's definitely going to be in anything can happen type of week. Yeah, and the Eagles are really fun. I would like to see them beat somebody, though, Like that's the thing. I mean, their their strength of

victory this year isn't great. I mean they've beaten teams they've had to beat to be in this position. So but but yeah, again, with their with the run defense, the way that they're they're running the ball offensively, and Jalen Hurts doing what he's doing, it's gonna be a difficult team to out. Yeah. Well, we'll be able to talk a lot more about that next week as well, and we'll have another show on Thursday to preview the

game coming up against the Lions. But for now, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team all week long. We've got everything for you on Packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.