#669 Packers Unscripted: Sluggish start

here from our studios at lambeau Field West. Week one in Minnesota did not go as the Packers had hoped to seven loss at US Bank Stadium, and for a lot of folks watching deja vu in some respects with regard to Week one last year when the Packers did not perform well um losing big and Week one to the New Orleans Saints, I think the biggest difference differences I guess I would say for me in this one versus Week one last year is this game to me

came down to two things. One too much justin Jefferson and number two missed opportunities. Yeah. I mean, my biggest takeaway from this game was last year when they got out of Jacksonville and they lost thirty five to three. I was like, who that that was a beat down? Like that that did not not only did it not go the way it you wanted it to go. I felt just like, you know, New Orleans beat him in

every phase of the game. The frustrating thing about this game at US Bank Stadium was I still feel like if you rewack it, Packers could have easily won that game too. And you heard Aaron Rodgers and Matt Fleur both talk about it afterwards. You know there were plays out there, the opportunities had presented themselves. Green Bay just

didn't take advantage of it. Looking at the offensive side of the ball, I think one of the things that really hurt the most, and I wrote about this in Insider Inboxes, I love that play call right out of the game. You know, people are wondering about Christian Watson. There's no preseason film on this kid. They send him out deep. He beats Patrick Peterson by a good three and a half yards, but then he drops the ball

and green Bay kind of rallies a little bit. They get the running game going a little bit, but just overall, they just didn't really capitalize when they needed to. Too many sacks at in proromptu times. It was gonna be tough sledding. Obviously, getting stuffed on fourth and one, all things are going to add up defensively. I don't know if I've really covered many games like this because Green Bay only gave up twenty three points, which I understand,

that's still twenty three points. But when you look at the first half production that Justin Jefferson had hundred and fifty six yards, two touchdowns, four plays of twenty or more yards in the first two quarters, you're thinking that, you know, Minnesota is just rolling away with this thing. It never really got to that point. So when when the game ended, certainly you tip your cap to Kevin o'connelly, you tip your cap to Minnesota and everything that they

did to win that game. But for the Green Bay Packers, playing without their starting tackles, playing without their number one receiver and losing John Runyon, green Bay stayed in this thing. But ultimately it's still a loss. Yeah, it is. It's and and it's a tough one to swallow because because

of those missed opportunities. I mean, this game, this league, these games, they always just come down to a couple of plays here and there, right, And you know, and I'm not saying that if Christian Watson Watson catches the ball and if A J. Dillon can punch it in on fourth and goal from the one, or if as Aaron Rodgers said, he lamented afterward, if he had pulled back the handoff, he had to walk in touchdown because

Zadarius Smith was crashing so hard from the outside. If the quarterback takes his own option there, um, they would have had no way to stop it. But if those two plays go green Bay's way, we're looking at a completely different game. Now. Minnesota maybe still wins anyway. But even with all of that said, and with as much as they had, all kinds of trouble handling Justin Jefferson, and I know fans are asking like, why wasn't JayR Alexander matched up on him? Etcetera, etcetera. You can watch

Matt Lfler's press conference from Monday. I wrote about it on the website Monday night. The explanation for why the Packers did what they did. It didn't war. Nobody's saying it worked. Mattal Floor was giving the rationale for why they went about it the way they did. We'll see what happens fifteen weeks from now when these two teams

meet again. But for all of the trouble that they had, and as you mentioned, the big plays that Justin Jefferson had, there was a moment in the second half here where this game it's twenty seven and the Packers have a first down. I want to say it was somewhere near midfield. Yeah,

close to midfield, with you know, early fourth quarter. I want to say, at that point, with plenty of time on the clock, where you're thinking, boy, of everything that's gone wrong, if you can put together this drive here and get the game to twenty to fourteen, you know, you can try to forget about all that other stuff. But they still couldn't put it together. It was just it was it was a game of fits and starts for the Packers offense and for that matter, for the

Packers defense as well. There were some there were some really good moments, but the big explosive plays, particularly with with Justin Jefferson, those are just gonna those are just gonna kill you in the long haul because they're so hard to rebound from there, so hard to come back from. And ultimately it was just it was just too much

for the Packers to overcome. And I think probably the maddening thing at the beginning of that fourth quarters, Daniel Hunter gets the sack of Rogers, so they're facing second and nineteen, but they actually were able to work their way through it. There's a coverage breakdown in Minnesota's behalf. You basically have Romeo Dab's just standing there waiting for

a pass. They get that for twenty three yards, one of the biggest plays of the day in the in the passing game, and and I thought that would have been a good opportunity. That's where they got to about midfield green base forty eight. I thought that would have been a good time to really reset with the running game. And again all this stuff is hindsight being but that that's seven place, seventy five yard drive that they had

before that that got them on the board. Finally with the two yard A J. Dillon touchdown run, that is what reminded me of what this Green Bay Packers offense really on paper we thought it was going to be and probably will still be at this point. Seventy five yards forty six of those come through Aaron Jones and

AJ Dillon. A G. Dillon mentioned even at that point that that Jones breaks off that twenty nine yard run, he's pushing through everybody, his guys, there are guys, referees, the guy's you know, he's rumbling, stumbling from all the way right down the field and Jones and Dylan said to him, He's like, you just electrical, you know, jolted our entire roster. And the game was different offensively for green Bay after that. But Green Bay didn't get back

to the running game. Jones only carried it five times, and that was one of the things that Matt Lafleur really lamented. On the other side of the field, Delvin Cook wasn't nearly as dynamic, but he was able to put them in first down, second down favorable situations and then really Kirk Cousins just took it from there. Yeah, well, the you mentioned you mentioned the running backs, and you look at this game. Jones and Dylon combined rushing in

receiving yards combined hundred and sixty seven yards. They were a big part of this Packers offense. But after the game, both the head coach and the quarterback were like, they weren't a big enough part. They need they needed to be a bigger part this and we talked about it through the offseason, through training camp. We're really expecting, especially in the early going, for more of the offense to

um to go through Jones and Dylan. Now the way the game started with the Vikings marching right down and getting a touchdown and then Christian Watson dropping the ball, you know, and you're in You're in that crazy dome and all the noise and everything, and you're just you're trying to find something to to to get things going. There was a lot of there's a lot of frustration and what not going on there. But the Packers recognize that Jones and Dylan are really really dynamic playmakers and

the more they can get them involved. They combined for twenty three touches, and I think, you know, I don't want to put a number on on Matt Lafleur here, but I think we're going to see a target of more towards like thirty or even thirty five potentially in some games, depending on how many offensive players you run. Because they showed even as much as Minnister Oda was in control of the football game, they showed that they

can churn out the yards and move the chains. And I think that's the thing here that that the Packers are going to are going to have to hang their hat on as this offense finds its footing. Aaron Rodgers, you know, talked about a lot of mental mistakes across the board, and he was talking about offensive alignement, talking about some of the young receivers. Andy you know, took the blame for some of his own mistakes, mis throws, a bad decision to throw the jump ball to Cob

that got picked off. So there there were mistakes all across the board. The mental mistakes were the most frustrating for Rogers. And I think as the Packers work through this stuff in the early season, it has to be it has to be Jones and Dillon that carry the load and to and to just keep everything settled down and uh and not get so crazy and desperate, so to speak, because that's the way it always feels in

that stadium. Right when you get behind, things get crazy and it feels desperate because the atmosphere in that place is unlike any other. And I think in in some respects, the Packers got away from really what what this offense can do best? Right now, it's a self fulfilling prophecy if you allow Minnesota to get momentum. That's not just

green Bay. That goes for any team that goes into US Bank Stadium, because you know, whether it's the noise level whether it's the game entertainment stuff they do, whether it's the JumboTron putting us Darius Smith on the screen every three seconds, They're going to find ways to to really get their guys going and keep them motivated. So you need to be able to control that early on the one part of this and it goes back, you know, because people want to make that lazy comparison to last

year with the Saints. I feel a lot better about where Green Bay is at right now coming out of this game than honestly I did last year coming out of New Orleans because that game you're just wondering what happened offensively, defensively, everything in between. Because that was the first year coordinator. You weren't sure what was going to

be going down. I would have been more discouraged in this game had had the Packers given thirty thirty five touches to Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon and they weren't able to have production. But as it turn and out, both of those guys together averaging six point two yards per carry, you saw what this offense can do with them out of the backfield. I mean, I'll tell you this right now, Like some of those passes to both

sides of the field. It shows you that when those guys are given the opportunity to be free in space, you don't need to be Aaron Jones with his explosiveness and and all that stuff. A J. Dillon was very successful out there too, with the more power running style. That's where I think it's not just about Okay, they won or lost, or they whatever hell this went. It was about the fact that when Green Bay went to those packages, the two back stuff, mixing and matching them,

it worked. And I think that's probably something they have to feel pretty good about now going into this game against the Bears. Yeah. I think a couple of other positives that are worth pointing out here from this game the return of Robert Tunyan to the offense, and we saw what on what appeared to be maybe a rep count, so to speak, because with him coming back from the knee injury because he wasn't out there for all the snaps, but even in a limited number of reps, he was impactful.

He made he made a handful of a very impactful place and the other was I thought, until unfortunately he left with a shoulder injury, but a very solid debut for rookie first round pick Kway Walker in this defense sort of went from a good news bad news back to a good news thing. And that you know, he had eight tackles before he had to leave with a

shoulder injury. But then we heard from Matt Lafleur it doesn't sound like the shoulder injury is anything serious, even to the to the point that la Fleur is giving Walker a chance to be able to play right away again this coming Sunday against the Bears. So, um, those were a couple of positives. And also you mentioned losing John Runyon on the offensive line. He was h taken out of the game to be evaluated for a concussion.

Zach Tom the rookie fourth round pick from wake Forest, went and I thought he played pretty solid for a rookie not having been in an NFL game. He's played all kinds of positions across the front. He got thrown into, um, the left guard spot, cold off the bench and uh and held his own just fine. And I have several video clips a my what you Might Have Missed piece on the website if you want to check out some

of those with regard to Tom. So there there's some there are some little nuggets you can you can pull out of this game that that will see exactly, um you know, where this goes and how the Packers potentially build on some of those things. The maddening part about that defense performances justin Jefferson getting way too open, having way too much leeway, and being able to hurt the Packers after the catch. Right, It wasn't just his where he caught the ball, it's what he did with the

ball when it was in his hands. But conversely, when I mentioned the maddening part is a lot of the defense was c ball hit ball, ball carrier goes down, whether it was quay Walker, you know, working both sidelines, whether it was you know, Rasul Douglas, the coverage, you know, things you know on breakdowns, not with Sandy Rasul Douglas, Keyshawn Nixon on his only defensive snap, getting the ball

carrier down to force a punting situation the Packers. For for all the questions going in about not playing the preseason, the Packers tackled pretty well in this game. The major point of emphasis I think going into this game against the Bears now and the running back won't be nearly as dynamic. The weapons won't be as dynamic in this matchup as they were at us Bank Stadium. Is on

early downs. You gotta get the ball here down to three yards from the line of scrimmage, and then once you know you're in those third and passing situations, making sure that your coverages are where they need to be, because that's really, in my opinion, the only where, the only area where Green Bay really did fall short because they got eight hits on Kirk Cousins and the way he throws the ball, it's not gonna be easy to

get him down to the turf. They did a lot of things right, but it was the things they did wrong. We're a pretty big scale. Yeah, well, you mentioned the Bears are coming up here week two. I want to get to that um in just a second, but first some sponsored business. Serious 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. Like our wiscons and Cheese curds, mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or sub in a bowl cousin subs fifty years of better. The Chicago Bears will be coming into lambeau Field for a primetime game. I believe this is now going to be Is it the seventeen consecutive year the Bears? And then I believe it's seventeen in a row. Seventeen years in a row the Packers

and Bears will be playing a primetime game. This one will be the home opener for Green Bay lambeau Field Sunday Night football, and the Bears are coming in a surprising want to know, although I'll say this that when I saw what the weather was doing in Chicago on Sunday, suddenly I mean that game Bears and forty Niners, it was all bets are off because that that field turned into a swamp, a quagmire. It you know, game plans

and everything else just get thrown out the window. It's a it's a matter of it's a matter of survival. Protect the football, make the plays you can. And at the end of the day, the Bears made a heck of a lot more on both sides of the ball than the forty Niners did. And Chicago's going to come to lambeau Field at one and all. Yeah, I mean the Bears just didn't make mistakes and in San Francisco did.

That's really what this came down to. And in a game like that, when you do fall behind and you can't really trust the passing game anymore, that's when all the you know, the balls kind of get thrown up in the air. The one thing I took away from this game, like, especially after watching some of the highlights of it, because this is going to come off as a diss and I don't want it to come off

that way. The way they ran their offense with justin fields reminded me a lot of what Mitchell Trubisky did in two thousand eighteen, which is where it's not a traditional passing offense. They didn't necessarily have a very good day on the ground, but they found ways to move the football enough while leaning on their defense to get stopped. That in a lot of ways, I think is really the recipe here for fields comes. That's how the Bears won the NFC North. Exactly what that is, exactly what

they did that that entire season. Uh. That that formula that you just mentioned, Yeah, and in fields, you know, wasn't overly dynamic as a runner. But I just felt like you saw, just watch any of the clips on any of the websites, go to NFL dot com, the way guys rallied around him. There was an energy with that football team and with those fans that were there

during that monsoon. So they're gonna come in, as Matt Lafleur said, they're gonna be feeling pretty good about themselves and feeling like Matt aberflews in the direction they're heading is in a good direction. But that being said, we need to remember when you look at where these power rankings were at the beginning of the season, the fact that not a lot of people were standing behind the Bears. Here they're still in, my opinion, is a very big

discrepancy between the two talent levels of this team. Certainly from an experienced standpoint. Now you can't rest on that. You have to perform. But I think the key for Green Bay really was making sure on Monday, Okay, here's everything we did wrong, here's everything we need to change to be able to get to be the team we want, and understanding that you're going to be facing a different type of opponent on Sunday night and you're gonna be doing it in front of your home opening crowd. Yeah.

I think the Packers, with everything that went wrong in Minnesota, I think the Packers are the message this week for the Packers. And this is this is as you said, it's not a dis against the Bears, but it's where the Packers are right now. This game coming up Sunday night is not going to be about what the Bears do. It's going to be about the Packers getting back to doing what they do well. They know they had coverage breakdowns and miscommunications and stuff that that aren't that aren't

acceptable and are very very frustrating. And you know they had the mental mental mistakes as well as physical mistakes on offense that cost them. The Packers are going to go into this week feeling like if they clean up their own house, so to speak, and you're playing at home in primetime in front of in front of your own fans, that u um that they should be able to take care of business here and uh. And that's

that's not a knock against the Bears at all. But this this Bears team is going to come into lambeau Field fired up, their new their new head coaches want to know and he's like, all right, you know, let's let's ride this as long as we can. Yeah, And that's why you do have to throw out all of those power rankings everything, because when you have a guy like Fields, that guys are energized about. And let's give the young man credit in a game of these young quarterbacks,

he made plays Trey Lance didn't, yep. And that's why the Bears ultimately one. They controlled their own destiny. And when you saw when they had that nine point lead in the fourth quarter, what they were able to do with it, how the tempo of the game changed, And realistically, I said it from day one, Mike, the first unscripted we did, the Bears are gonna go as far as

this young man takes them. He they really are. And and for them to get that win out of the gate when I think a lot of people were counting them out against the San Francisco team that has huge expectations for this season, that's gonna definitely be a feather in their cap that's going to give them some swagger going into this matchup. Yeah. Well, aside from the quagmire at Soldier Field, there was a lot of other wild

and wacky stuff got quite my Week one. In Week one in the NFL, which always happens on the season opening weekend every year, we saw UM the Lions lose in what turned into a shootout at Ford Field against the Eagles, the team that is now very much UM the favorite in the NFC East. With with Dak Prescott dealing with thumb surgery for the Cowboys, there was the overtime kicking craziness in Cincinnati. Where have we seen that before? Right?

Um and Uh? And also in that game you had another a significant injury to UH to t J. Watt from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and and the prognosis there with the pectoral muscle somewhat up in the air. And then on Monday night you had Russell Wilson going back into that noisy stadium in Seattle and somehow was unable to get a touchdown in the red zone as the Broncos just blew chance after chance in close by the goal line. And then the game came down to a sixty four

yard field goal that barely missed from Brandon mcmanison. All kinds of controversy over Nathaniel Hacket's decision there and on the fourth and five and trying the monster field goal instead. Um, but pretty much par for the course for week one in the NFL, right, I mean, there's there's These are the way the storylines of of seasons begin all the time. Well, and let's be honest too, I mean, you never can really it's never too early to talk about playoffs, right.

People love to do that. And from an NFC perspective, if you're the Packers, this is the way you wanted to see it work out. I mean, Buffalo trounced the l A Rams, I mean, Josh Allen just destroyed them. And then you look at Cleveland beating Caroline. I mean, like Kansas City. We were talking about that match up last week against Arizona. Arizona blown out, so in terms of it being able to help Green Bay for the most part, Uh, the a f C took care of business.

The biggest thing I thought was very interesting was the amount of strange endings to these games. You know, whether it was you know even you know Houston and in Indianapolis. You know, Indianapolis scores seventeen points in the fourth quarter to tie that game. Uh, so many crazy things happened.

The big comeback by New Orleans against Atlanta too, So I believe I believe that was seventeen points in the fourth quarter by Jamis Winston in the Saints, if I'm not mistake, you know, And this is the way it's gonna go in Week one, New England. You know, the storied history there, Bill Belichick going down to Miami. I mean,

so many things, uh sort of lined up. But but certainly when you look at the I don't want to call him the blood rivalries, but I mean like the the really heated not even heated, but like the ones that got built up to be the big matchups, right, they all kind of lived up to the billing with with Russell Wilson for whatever happened with Nathaniel Hack at the end of that game, Russell Wilson, you know, going back to what I will still refer to a century link.

I know what Luhman Field now or whatever, but it's still central linked to me, Darnett. Uh, you know, Cleveland and Carolina Baker Mayfield making and interesting at the end, I felt like from a pure entertainment standpoint, Week one definitely lived up to the height. Yeah, there's no there's

no question about it. And uh, we will talk more about Week two matchups and what's on the dock, and more about the Chicago Bears the Packers week to opponent on our next show, 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 on Packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.