#677 Packers Unscripted: New York state of mind

York Jets here. And when I look at this team, it's a team that under Robert sala Is is starting to build some momentum, gain some confidence. Robert sali is trying to pull the pull the Jets as an organization out of you know, sort of an extended period of Dould rooms here. Um, some really rough times in in recent years. And uh, they've got a young running back by the name of Breece Hall out of Iowa State.

And uh, I tell you what this looks like about as pure a dual threat running back in terms of running the ball and catching passes for a young player that Um, he's making that offense go well, and certainly look at the place he made in that win over Miami. Um that wheel route, he comes free down the sideline seventy nine yards, comes a yard short of a touchdown on it. Uh, just a salty, salty group. I mean that,

That's when I looked at this matchup. These uncommon opponents are always difficult, Mike, because you don't really I mean, like truly, we don't really talk a lot about you know, the a f C East AFC North. Yeah, I mean I haven't sat and watched like the New York Jets play football game, you know. I mean usually if you know, if I have a chance to watch a game that's not uh, you know, that's obviously not the Packers. I'm trying to either watch somebody from the NFC North or

somebody else in the NFC. So we just don't see these teams. But it does look when you look on paper, when you watch that game last week, it looks like they are finally making that change, you know, with Michael Floor as the offensive coordinator. They ran Michael Carter a lot earlier in the season. It seems like that scale starting to tip more now towards Hall that who is I believe the top drafted running back in this year's draft, very dynamic player and second round the second round pick,

I believe it was thirty six overall. You look at the way they are structured offensively. They had the issue the injury with Zach Wilson, Joe Flacco had a step in for a few weeks. Wilson is now back behind the controls and Mike. Honestly, I look at how they are configured offensively. They have threats really everywhere. Garrett Wilson got off to a fine start, has been a consistent performer for them. Their leading receiver the tenth pick in

this year's draft. Uh, you know a lot of dangerous type of receivers that Green Bay is gonna have to deal without a plethora of different positions. So uh, as I said, this is a game that you cannot take for granted because I think the Jets being at three and two, the momentum has turned. You and I watched those training camp practices last year against the Jets, and they're definitely seemed to be kind of a dearth of

talent at that point in time. Their roster last year when they came to Green Bay for the joint practices versus what Robert Sala has two has on his roster this year. It's like night and day. But but through the draft, through trades Corey Davis, I mean, when you look at all the talent that they've acquired, now the key thing is going to be Zack Wilson and where he is at in year two of his development. But he has no shortage of weapons to turn to. There's

a lot of intriguing and players with this Jets roster. Yeah. Absolutely. You mentioned Hall and Carter, the two guys in the backfield. Um pass catching wise, they have six different players mixed year obviously, backs, tight ends, receivers, six different players who have at least sixteen receptions through the first five games of the season. So whether it's been Joe Flacco or Zack Wilson, they haven't had any problem spreading the ball

round in that regard. Defensively, to statistics jump out at me. The most first is the interceptions in the secondary. They have seven interceptions on the season, which is just one off of the league lead. Eight is the most that any team in the NFL has through the first five weeks, but not only the seven interceptions, but six different guys have at least one interception. They have one guy with

two and five other guys with one. And then as far as that pass rush up front, and I mentioned this in in our three Things video which we shot shortly before we turned on the cameras. Here for unscripted the last three games, this pass rush for the Jets has piled up thirty two quarterback hits. Now for the season,

they have just ten sacks. But when you look a little bit further into the numbers, that that it's kind of misleading because thirty two quarterback hits over the last three games, sixteen of them last week against the Miami Dolphins. And yes, the Dolphins were dealing with the injuries backup quarterbacks and all of that um, but sixteen quarterback hits in one game, seven of them from Carl Lawson all by himself. This is this is a pass rush that even if they're not piling up a bunch of sacks,

they can make life difficult for opposing quarterbacks. And past protection is going to be a big key to this game for Green Bay. The best coaches I'm talking about positions, schematic in the league and even in college you see that jump in year two. You're seeing it with Lance Leopold right now at Kansas, right, guys that just mesh what they have with a few new pieces, and then then you start seeing the culture change, the chemistry come and I think that's what you've seen in year two

here with Robert Sala. His defenses. When you go back to his time in San Francisco, UM, they were almost without equal And it's funny that all it took was one year to start seeing the same thing from this unit. Forty one quarterback hits this season. Yes, only ten sacks,

but forty one quarterback hits. We listened to Packers passing game coordinator Slash defensive backs coach cornerbacks coach Jerry Gray on Wednesday night talking about how you you know, the good defense is marrying up the pass rush with the coverage. Forty one quarterback pressures Mike seven interceptions right now on the season, and eight one opposing quarterback pass or rating. Yes, it might not just be about getting the sacks, but seeing where that shows up in other areas for the

Jets has been very important. They also probably have one of my favorite inside linebackers in the National Football League and C. J. Mosley, I thought that was a really savvy acquisition for them a couple of years ago. Again, you look at their roster, there's not a whole lot of household names, especially on the defensive side of the ball, but as a unit, by and large, they're kind of

playing to that Robert Salas standard. Yeah, when you look at what this the Jets team has done to get to three and two at this point, what jumps out at me the two road victories at Cleveland and at pitts Burg. And I know those are two teams that you know, I have had some struggles and some ups and downs, but the Jets were down double digits in

the fourth quarter of both of those road games. The comeback against Cleveland was borderline miraculous, with the with the on side kick and then Flacco leading another touchdown drive after before the onside kick, they had hit a big I think it was seventy five yard touchdown pass or something like that. Then a couple of weeks later there in Pittsburgh and they're down a couple of scores in the fourth quarter, and they and and uh and they

rallied and pulled it out. If the Packers, you know, if things go really well for the Packers for three three and a half quarters in green Bay has a thirteen point lead with seven or eight minutes to go, this Jets team is going to feel like they're you know, hey, it's still anybody's game, because that that's the way they've

that's the way they played this year. They are not You're gonna have to get You're gonna have to get three score lead on these guys in the fourth quarter, um before you might start to break their spirit a little bit, because they've proven they can come back on the road. There they are, They're not they're not intimidated.

And uh the way they played these comebacks on the road, they sort of have played with nothing to lose, and and uh um, the Packers are going to have to be ready um again, unless unless green Bay can get up like twenty points on them or something like that. The Packers are gonna have to be ready to play sixty minutes again. Which has been the biggest issue for this Packers team is putting together a full sixty minutes to put somebody away. Yeah, because last week they start

so fast. Other weeks it's been kind of a slow start, and they've come together in the second half. It is about stitching those four quarters together. The two areas that I look at this matchup for green Bay that are going to be essential. The first one is basically just taking last week's what we appeared to be the keys to victory and honestly just putting them through the xerox

and restarting the whole process. Much better receivers, much better weapons, as I said that Wilson's going to have, but you have to get after Zack Wilson. Uh still two starts, He's had only one touchdown against two interceptions. He's been sacked three times. Joe Flacco is sacked nine times before that, twelve sacks on the season. This is a big moment for Rashawn Gary Kenny Clark. You look at the left tackle situation. They lost Uh Beckton right at the beginning

of the season. Dwayne Brown is signed. He injures his shoulder immediately, so that he's out. Now he's back, you have to be able to get some opportunities there. The secondary for green Bay, We've talked about the dearth of interceptions, the lack of interceptions, so far Jr. Alexander's only one right now from week two off ad justin fields. You have to find ways of tone of a football. I

feel like this is a good opponent. But in order to do that, it goes back to Hall, It goes back to making sure that Michael Carter doesn't get going. You have to be able to stop the run. If you accomplish those two things and allow your offense to to manage this game, maybe get the running game going more, it is a very winnable game. But if you don't check those boxes. I look at the Jets a lot like I looked at like at the Giants. I mean it is a team on the come up that doesn't

have anything to lose. Yeah. Absolutely, And we talked on our last show about how you know, we'll be watching from the press box defensively for the Packers to try to see. Is that is that pre snap urgency, that efficiency to get to get to your spots, to study the formation and what the offense is doing, and then and then to be able to react and not um react and potentially attack, not not to be that half step slow because you didn't quite you know, get to

your spot just in time. Or you're trying to make a last second adjustment, but then the ball is snapped because that adjustment should have been made two or three seconds prior to that. So all of those things will

be interesting to watch. With regard to the Packers defense offensively, I feel like I feel like from a key to victory standpoint, it's the same conversation that we had after the lost to Minnesota when the Packers are coming back home and we're going to face the Chicago Bears, and we talked about the offense getting back to working through

the running backs through Aaron Jones and a J. Dillon. However, however, whatever it takes to get them, to get them the ball in whatever, in whatever fashion you want to get them too. But I think if this, if this offense does what it did against Chicago back in Week two and resets and really works through those two running backs thirty three and twenty eight, this you're you're back at home. This is this is another opportunity to to to go through that reset with the offense and get back to

what you do best. And that's what I expect the Packers to do on Sunday. I agree, and for Green Bay, it does go back to can you perform in a balanced way for sixty minutes, being able to control the tempo of a game. Matt La floor. That has been the hallmark for the last three years. Allowing your offense to find itself and to build off that momentum and

sustaining it. There has been issues as far as coming out of the gates finding that capturing it, but if you're able to actually carry that through more times than not, the Packers have been a really good second half team. You look at the Jets on the other hand, the Jets, there is a huge disparity in the second half of the Jets. They have three points in the third quarter this year, they have fifty eight in the fourth. They

have come on in a lot of different ways. Now, that probably indicates a lot of playing from behind, but it also shows you it's a game team that is not giving up on itself. I think I look at this Packers offense. If you're able to get the two backs going, I'm not going to say touch stat anymore, but being able to make sure that the ball gets

in those guys hands and building off of that. That's what Aaron Rodgers was kind of talking about two one thing green Bay has really not been able to establish for the first five games is allowing the big plays explosive place to happen based on the constructs of the offense, not from extending a play, not from a scoverage breakdown, but literally being able to to meld some of those

things together. And I believe that's going to be the key on this one, because again, if you allow that defensive front to get pressure onto Rogers, if you allow them to be able to get a couple of takeaways, the minus three on the season is not it's not a mirrage. That's what Green Bay is right now, and it's one of the reasons why they've had a hard time winning these games. Really on yeah, I mean really

for on both sides of the ball. For the Packers, it's about it's about establishing a certain level of play. We hear the players talk about on both sides of the ball, talk about the standard, and it's about being

able to play. I mean, nobody's going to play the perfect game or the perfectly consistent game, but it's about being able to play to that standard, not just for you know, seven out of eleven possessions, but maybe more like nine or ten out of eleven possessions, right, um and uh and and to be able to reach that standard um more often and on on a more consistent basis a little bit of sponsored business here for you.

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sub or submena bowl Cousin Subs fifty years of better. Alright, one last thing for you, anything else on in the keys to Victory category that you want to touch on before we move on to other games around the NFL in Week six? Yeah, I feel like it's also you talked about the noon game, right, you talked about the normalcy that green Bay is going to kind of feeld here. I won't even mention this fact that you and I are gonna have omelets on Sunday morning. I'm very excited

about that. It's been three years, bro, I know, like I'm excited for that, um, But no, the bigger issue I think for Green Bay is going to be getting back on its own clock. I feel like if you're able to win this, it's a really difficult stretch coming up for green Bay. You're going on the road for three straight games, you come back home, You're taking on

Dallas Cowboys team that has been really outperforming. I think what people's expectations were for them after this Dak Prescott interview or interview injury um and maybe also the interview but um, and then also the Tennessee Titans Packers have eight games here before we're talking about by right, So still it's still it's still a long stretch before before

the players really get to rest and recuperate. But I do look at this as an opportunity because green Bay for the most part, actually got out of London in pretty okay shape. You got to make sure Aaron Rodgers thumbs chill, You gotta make sure that that's okay. You do have the hamstring injury, Christian Watson, but otherwise I think there was like five or six guys on the

injury report, which is great for green Bay standpoints. So if you're able to pick up this win, if you're able to get your body clocks back set before you hit the road for Washington, which is a game green Bay should be heavily favored in. I feel like that's going to be sort of the thing that catapults you into the second half of the season. But you need to get you need to take care of business on

Sunday against the Jets in order to do that. Yeah, it's an interesting stretch here coming up for the Packers. And I know it's all about the Jets on Sunday, but three of the next four games are noon kickoffs, which is which is not the norm for this team. I mean, the Packers are almost always playing at you know and and seven thirty and you know, Monday nights

and all that kind of stuff. Three of the next four are noon Central Time kickoffs, with the the one primetime game at Buffalo mixed in here over the next month. So um be interesting to see just how the how the team handles that. As far as Sunday goes Week six in the NFL, two games in the early window that will be going on at the same time as Packers Jets that I think are are worth talking about briefly. Minnesota is heading down to Miami. Obviously, Packers fans will

have their eye on that. The Vikings at four and one, sitting on top of the NFC North right now. And then Baltimore at the New York Giants a on a f C versus NFC matchup there, the Giants coming off of, um, you know, the biggest win for you know, so are for Brian Dable as the new head coach, beating the Packers over in London, and uh, and Baltimore coming off of you know, last second walk off field goal by Justin Tucker to beat the defending a f C champ

Cincinnati Bengals. I saw something, and I apologize I can't remember the stat exactly, but I saw something about how it's been some ridiculous amount of time since since Minnesota won a game in Miami, like like that, they've they've been, you know, on some kind of drought now then maybe something like that. But um, Vikings, you know, kind of catching a break because it sounds it sounds like the uh the Dolphins will be down to their third string

quarterback as they were last week. Um. I can't I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but but Tah and Teddy Bridgewater sounds like they're both out for for this week, and and you know, the Dolphins did not We're not able to put up much of a fight against the New York Jets. Um las week. The Jets rolled up forty points and beat them by

three touchdowns. Um, but um Baltimore at the New York Giants interesting in that, you know, as we talked about with the NFC East on our last show, the Eagles are five and oh, the Cowboys are four and one, and the Giants are four and one. The Cowboys and Eagles playing each other on Sunday Night Football. The Giants playing at home against a tough Baltimore team with a chance to to get to five and one and build

on their victory over the Packers. So some it'll it'll some some interesting things going on with that NFC East that has garnered so much attention here with those top three teams have to such fast starts. Skyler Thompson, by the ways, the third that's Thompson, Yeah remember him from Kansas State. Uh yeah, I mean the NFC East. I mean, it's been a recurring joke. I'm not gonna just reiterate it,

although maybe I will. I mean the fact that they have been the division that I think everybody expected the f C West to be just with how they've performed year early on. Certainly, as you talked about the Giants sort of you know, shooting over everybody's a very extremely modest expectations for them Dallas, I think everybody was just waiting for them to falter after they lost Dak And as I've continued to say, Mike, I just I get these vibes from Cooper Rush. He wasn't asked to do

a lot last week. I would say the cow the Cowboys defense definitely you know, won that game for them against the Rams. That that Cowboys defense made Matthew Stafford's life miserable, and that's that's all you need in this league sometimes, I mean it it works out that way and rushed it enough to help them win that game. Philly is a team that has been you know, really

you know, athletic, versatile, deep, been incredibly impressive. For me though, even though you know Thompson's gonna be in there, I will be interested to see what the game plan is that you know, Mike McDonald develops for that matchup with the Vikings, because there are a lot of different aspects.

I still feel like with the Dolphins offense, that even if you don't have necessarily your your starter the tour that's available, you know, Jalen Waddle in, you know Tyreek Hill can still find ways to get the ball in their hands and make a defense pay well. And we all know how how much things can change with backup quarterbacks when they get the full week of preparation with the game plan, as opposed to what happened to Skyler Thompson last week where he was thrown into the game,

you know after the first series when Teddy Bridgewater was removed. So, um, so you do expect Miami to Miami to look a little different and potentially offensively look a little bit more like themselves, just because um Thompson would be would be handling you know, the practice rust for the full week as opposed to doing the you know, cold coming in off the bench kind of thing. Mike McDaniel, My apologies, Yeah, um, I knew who you meant. Maybe they didn't um one

other one that's to talk about. I know it's it's an a f C matchup, so it doesn't have any direct implications on the packer. But late Sunday afternoon, after the Packer game against the Jets has finished Buffalo at Kansas City in the a f C, and I believe this is something like the fourth time in the past twenty or twenty one months something like that that Buffalo

is playing at Arrowhead Stadium against the Chiefs. When you combine regular season and postseason matchups, kind of crazy that there, um that they're in this uh. I mean, you know, Packers have been there before, whether you're talking about San Francisco or you know these other other places where where it feels like you're getting sent there like every couple

of months to to play a game. But Buffalo at Kansas City a very a very interesting one in the in the a f C. And you know two teams that have met in the playoffs regularly, and who knows, maybe they're headed for another playoff meeting as well. That's stat that they had last weekend kind of like your thing earlier. I'll probably watch this a little bit, but that's stat about fourth quarter comebacks that Patrick Mahomes has

had now in his career, don't you see that? Like I think he he has like a winning percentage when his team is trailing by ten or more points in the fourth quarter, like you think he's like twelve and nine or something like that. I mean, it's crazy like

to be able to be that resourceful. I mean, certainly you need a defense to be able to help you out there, but it speaks volumes and I think, as I said last year after that playoff game, I'm like, this is going to be the Batman and Joker here in the National Football League for the next ten years. These guys are can continually see each other from the same drash class. They're the two best players from that

draft class. Well, I guess you can throw the Lamar Jackson thing in there too, but they're they're exceptional quarterbacks and and the teams are going to be exciting to watch. Um again one week won't be able to watch, but I'm sure a lot of people be jazzed about it,

and I'd be remissed too. I mean, when you look at the NFC North, just to mention, you know, Chicago has a very winnable game against Washington, a Washington team that is really reeling, you know, with questions about the quarterback and whether or not Wentz is available, and even if he is, if he is the guy there, like yeah, Washington really struggle in big time right now. Those are the type of games you need to win. And if

the Bears do that, they're at five. So there are no easy layups in this league and in Green Bay. From their perspective, this is one more reason why you need to win on something and that's a Washington team play playing the Bears on Thursday night football. Um, then you know, getting a little bit of a reprieve, a little bit of extra rest before the Packers go out to h to visit visit the nation's capital next week. But it's all about the Jets this week. The Packers. Packers,

they they've they've got to get this one. Four and two sure sounds a heck of a lot better than three and three right at we're at that stage where you start, specially going into a road trip, you start, what's that especially going into a road trip. Yeah, absolutely, going and going into three straight road games as we talked about coming up for the Packers. But with that, we'll call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the

team and everything with Sunday's game at Lambo Field. Packers Jets it's a noon Central Time kickoff. We'll have it all for you on packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next