#678 Packers Unscripted: Challenging times

to ten to the New York Jets. And we can touch on a little bit in all three phases because there was a lot that went wrong in this game for green Bay, but starting on offense, because hearing from Matt Lafleur both after the game and on Monday, a lot of problems for the Packers up front with the blocking the offensive line, and it sounds like things are going to be examined in terms of potential personnel changes here.

So we'll have to see how that shakes out. But but things could be changing up front for green Bay's offense every once in a while, Mike and Insider in box, and also it'll seep into final thoughts, we'll tell talk about winning in the trenches, winning up front. That isn't just a convenient cliche, it's the truth. And the New York Giants I felt like in this game, and it's not just the Packers offensive line, it's both sides of

the ball. They were able to impose their will and they were the team that was better up front, and you saw how it impacted things right from the get go. I mean Quinnin Williams, for my money, probably the best player on the field on Sunday, especially the way he penetrated both against the run. Packers were not able to get their concepts going in that regard and then being among the guys that was pressuring Aaron Rodgers nine quarterback hits,

three of those belonged to Williams. The Packers just weren't able to get into their stuff. That was one of the big messages that Matt Lafleur had as far as the game plan was concerned. I think when you hear Matt Lafleur discussed it for twenty five minutes, you understand what they were looking for and why they weren't able

to get to certain things. But at the end of the day, I think the most frustrating thing is the way the Packers finished in London is the way they started back at lambeau Field, and ultimately it just wasn't good enough. Yeah, And it's interesting because you know, up through the first you know, five games of the season, including coming back from the London game, we were talking about, you know, run pass ratio and how many touches this

guy gets and that guy gets. This game was not about that at all, because the Packers were having so much trouble upfront with the stunts and the twists, and as you said, they just couldn't they couldn't get into their stuff, and and uh, it didn't matter, it didn't matter who was supposed to get the ball or whatever. The Jets up front, we're just wrecking anything that um that Green Bay wanted to do. On the defensive side.

This it felt to me, and you know me, I'm a baseball fan, so I'm gonna use a baseball analogy here. It felt to me like like a pictures duel because early on, both both of these defenses were having their way. Nobody was getting anything done offensively, and you know, in a pictures duel, if it gets to like the sixth or seventh inning and both pictures out there, you know, are feel like they have to be perfect because their offense is not doing anything against the other guy's picture.

And then as soon as a mistake has made, suddenly it's not just one run on the board, it's like three or four or five, and then a pictures duel actually turns into a runaway, turns into a blowout. That's what this game felt like, because three to three at halftime, and then the Packers defense got a three and outright at the start of the third quarter. But then after that the play action rollout and the forty one yard

passed down the field to Corey Davis. That felt like the one that that broke the damn It opened the floodgates because from that moment on, the Packers defense that suddenly had allowed only three points through eight possessions for the Jets, then suddenly allowed two hundred yards over the next three possessions and couldn't get itself off the field, and the Jets offense that have been non existent in the third quarter up until that game only three point

downe the season, was able to find the end zone twice. It was a difficult situation for Green Bay because you do sympathize with how it performed out of the gate. Again, started fast, four three notes in their first five possessions under any metric that should be enough to allow your football team to be able to get out to a lead. But what hampered Green Bay in this game. Mike and I thought Adrian Amos did a phenomenal job of outlining

this after the game. If you're not going to have takeaways, and the Packers have again struggled to get takeaways, they lost that battle again in this matchup. If you're not going to have takeaways, it's going to be difficult to keep in a opposition off the board because the way this game is played, especially in this year, there's going to be an explosive Now, how you react after that is still something to be said. But ultimately it came down to three plays for the New York Jets. It

was at forty one yard pass the Davis. It was the twenty yard run for a touchdown by Barrios, which was the very next snap. And then also Breeze Hall, who you and I spent two episodes last week talking about how dynamic this young man is. He finally ended up breaking one, got the thirty four yard touchdown That was basically it. In addition to the fact the Packers had the punt block returned for a touchdown. But defensively,

that's all the Packers really conceded. But in a game like this, when your offense isn't producing, we're not getting takeaways, and you're not perfect in another phase, you're absolutely right with the pitchers dual analogy, because the Packers blanked first and the Jets were able to pull out a big victory. Yeah, and you mentioned the punt block for a touchdown. Very disheartening to see the special team's breakdowns. There was a blocked field goal when the Packers were trying to get

on the board early, then the block punt for a touchdown. Ultimately, that's you know, as we talked about with the playoff game against the forty niners last year, that's ten points in a game that, in this case, the Packers lose

by seventeen. So, even with withything that was going on offensively and defensively, the special teams that had had come so far, I think in a pretty short amount of time, frankly, with what we had seen through the first five games on special teams, the first big breakdowns, the first big letdowns, happened in that phase, and this was absolutely the game you couldn't afford. I mean, that's Murphy's law, right, I mean, if something, when something can go wrong, it will and uh.

And what had been the most stable phase of the game for Green Bay with Rich Pisaccia turning around these special teams they had a bad day as well. Yeah they did. And here's the probably the most frustrating part of this thing. Offensively, Packers did not play well enough, no question about that. You can't get ten points. You can't really only have two big drives. You have to you have to do better than that, especially at this league,

to to outdule the opponent. The maddening thing on defensive special teams is Adjustments were made, Improvements were made, but it ultimately was big plays that erote it defensively. Just before we jump into special teams, JR. Alexander people calling for him to match a receiver. He matched Garrett Wilson and this thing completely took Wilson out of the game. The Packers wanted to do better against the run. They buy in large, did that in the first half before

some big runs in the second half. It looked like a more complete unit special teams. They get a punt block earlier in the game. Eric Wilson, the recent signing a guy that had a previous block when he was with Minnesota three or four years ago. He was able to come out make a play leads to a six yard punt, So he doesn't get credit for it, but

it's still gave green Bay the ball inside Jets territory. Well, what happens later on, they get the field goal blocked, they get the punt blocked, those type of plays, Mike in that one play, one down sort of mentality of special teams, it's too much, it hurts you too much, and it wipes out all the positivity that Green Bay had had in that game, being able to keep the

Jets win the position battle. Again, as regards to the field, a big play like that that puts points on the board ultimately is just the same as an interception for a touchdown. It's just it's it's it's a big play that happens that ultimately turns the tide of a football game. Well, a few things to talk about personnel wise as far as what we saw in this game and we may or may not see going forward. But Keyshawn Nixon is the new kickoff returner um for this special teams unit,

and he was darn close to break in one. Um, he looked like maybe if he if he slips one more tackle, he could have been he could have been out the gate. Randall Cobb, unfortunately, Um sustained an ankle injury, although it sounds like it is not as serious as maybe initially initially feared he's going to miss some time, but all indications are it's not a season ending ankle injury.

So that could lead to, you know, we may see some more of a Marii Rodgers on offense, and we saw him late in the game essentially running a Randall Cobb crossing route from the slot, makes a catch, moves the chains for a first down there. So we'll keep an eye that. And then as far as the offensive line, Jake Hanson had stepped in for Race Newman Newman, but Hanson Hanson injures a bicep then has to leave. Newman

goes back in. Lots of talk right now and speculation as to whether Elton Jenkins is going to stay at right tackle or if the Packers are going to move him to a guard spot. And if they do move into a guard spot, then what is the domino effect there? So UM lots of personnel things here to keep an eye on moving forward as the Packers head to the

nation's capital this weekend. First and foremost, I love Randall cop because I know you're not big on social media, but he had probably the best one to combination I think I've ever seen. I did, I did see it Instagram story him and you feel terrible that the photos look terrible, the videos look heartbreaking. I mean the guy's crying putting the thing or thinking he broke his ankle. Yeah, he thought he thought his career was over. As Aaron Rodgers said after the game, in the moment, he thought

that was it. Yeah, and at thirty two years old, you just never can be sure, and you know how these things work. But then you see the second one, which you can go looking on Instagram yourself if you' see it, but just need less say, a man dancing with crutches in celebration the fact that he could be back soon. That's huge for Green Bay's offense. They need him back. I think time has proven that Randall Cobb is not going to play seventy snaps a game anymore.

That much is certain. I know he would love to, but that's not the Royal green Bay's asking of him. But time and time again, Mike, it's not a coincidence over the last year how we've seen Aaron Rodgers turned to him in those third down situations. There were positives

to this thing for green Bay. Alan Lazard every week looks more and more like a top flight receiver had a great back shoulder catch for a touchdown, which you would have loved to see that play in that series to start a game, to get yourself moving the football. Robert touny In set a new Packers record with ten receptions, being able to again be that third down target late when the Packers a go to target, late when Randall Cobb wasn't available, but ultimately not being able to run

the ball well enough. Whatever phase you want to put that on, the blocking scheme, whatever, we it's not just about getting the ball in people's hands. It's about being able to make use out of those yardage, and sixty rushing yards just isn't going to get the job done. What is the transition? What is the adjustment? I thought Joe Barry showed last week that you can reset the board,

you can do things differently offensively. How they go about doing that that is the task at hand for Aaron Rodgers, Matt Lafleur and these coaches trying to figure out what

the best foot forward will be. Yeah, and ultimately right now, this is this is the biggest regular season challenge of the Matt Lafleur era, not just because of back to back losses in a regular season for the first time, but how the Packers have looked quite frankly on both sides of the ball the last six quarters um and then also with with with the special teams breakdowns popping up. This team has a This team has a major, major

challenge in front of it. And I mean, obviously in the past they've dealt with injuries to David baktr and Elton Jenkins and Aaron Rodgers missing a game with COVID and you know all of at this is this is bigger right now, This is a bigger challenge than all that in terms in terms of, uh, the challenge for the leadership of the team, both coaching wise and player wise in the locker room. And uh, this is this is a team that's gotta that's got to fight its

way out of a hole here. And this is a place that that Matt Lafleur as head coach of the Green Bay Packers has not been in before. So it's going to be very interesting to see what the response is because right now, as you said it, I said it in Insider inbox. What matters now is the response you got, you got. The Packers have gotten knocked down and then they were knocked down again a second week in a row. What's the response? What are you going to do? And um, this team has the veteran leaders.

They believe in the players in the locker room, they certainly believe in the coaching staff. What are they going to do? How are they going to pull it back together? Because three and three not what anybody expected, not where this team expected to be six games into the season.

And that's why I really the appreciated many of the veterans who talked after the game their perspective on things, because there is several of these rookies, first year player, not rookies, but first, second, third year players, players have only been here during the Mattin floor area, maybe had successful college careers that don't know what it's like to lose off the bat. Adrian Imus was discussing this as well, mentioned that yes, here, we've started eighting one a lot,

we've started eating two a lot. But there's teams in the National Football League that have to start three and three. Al Lazart said, do you look at the Rams last year starting three and three before ultimately getting their stuff together and making the run. David Bactieri played on a one win Colorado team. Uh, Mercedes Lewis did it for years with the Jacksonville Jaguars and then trying to find

themselves and and win football games. It's not easy to win in this league, and that's why Matt Lafleur has said for three and a half years not to take that for granted. The challenge for Green Bay is because they have faced adversity in the regular season before. As you outlined, is they're having to do it in the first and second quarter of the season. It's early. You don't have a bunch of pelts on the wall already.

You don't have the confidence built up that, oh, we've beaten six or seven teams already, will rally, we'll get we'll get this one back. The key is, though, understanding that Packers could win eleventh straight and finished fourteen and three on the season, they could lose eleven straight and finish thirteen and three and fourteen on the season. Your season is what you make it at this point, it

doesn't matter what's happened. Every single week is a battle for that w The Jets won it last week, the Giants came back and took it the week before. The Washington Commanders are a team now with Taylor Heineke, and we'll talk about this on Thursday. They're going to be hungry to try turning around their fortunes now that Brian Robinson's back, now that they have some more of their

pieces back. The Green Bay Packers have to go to FedEx Field on Sunday with a mindset in iron clad will that this is going to be our statement game, not a must win game. I will never say there's a must win game before December, but they need to make a stay eatement here that we are much better than the three and three record that we currently It says we are, Yeah, there's no question about it, and it's the It's the first of three straight road games

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in a bowl. Cousin Subs fifty years of better. All right, Well, the Packers are three and three, and it's really interesting when you look at the NFC. No. Three and three is not where the Packers want to be four and two. If they had taken care of business at home against the Jets, would have certainly felt a lot better. But two of the four divisions in the NFC, three and three is in first place. So because of that, there are actually only four teams in the NFC that are

better than three and three. Three of them are in the NFC East, with the Eagles at six and oh, the Giants at five and one, and the Cowboys at four and two, and then obviously the Minnesota Vikings on top of the NFC North at five and one. The Packers now two games back, two games back in the division six games into the season. Um certainly the biggest, the biggest division deficit the Packers have faced in the

in the Matt Lafleur era. But as you said, eleven games to go, the season is just you know, even

getting close to to the midpoint here. But um, as Aaron Rodgers said after the loss in London to the Giants, there's you know, there there are games games that there's only so many you can let get away, right And now that the Packers are three and three, heading on a stretch of three consecutive road game games, they've kind of, you know, they've kind of run out of those ones that you let get away because because otherwise Minnesota, you know,

you're going to be chasing them for a while. Here now here, here's again something that's going to be kind of a I don't want to say frustrating win, but I'm gonna use the effort again. Frustrating is. And it's the reason why you can never look at a schedule in April or June and say, well, these are the wins, these are the losses and figure it out from their

Green Bay right now behind. I think just Detroit in terms of the strength of schedule, in terms of the toughest competition they face, based on the wins and losses. Packers have lost now to basically three winning clubs, a four win team, and to five win teams. That's the fact. But in order to make a stance that you are a playoff team, you're a division champion caliber team, you

have to win those games. You have to be able to defend lambeau Field, you have to be able to go into other teams field like they did against Tampa and show that we're not going to be pushed around. The challenge for them now is they're going to take on a washing team that has basically no expectations. When you talk about all these teams and how tight things are, it's not the case right now with the Commanders. I think everybody and their mother is leaving the Commanders for

dead at this point. That's a tough, dangerous opponent to face. We've seen before how that can go. When you're facing a team that has literally nothing to lose and you have a head coach that's wanting to prove that you know, this is still the show that I'm running, this is the program we're building, and we can be better. So that's where the danger comes in this weekend. There is nothing wrong with losing to the Jets. I think the

Jets are going to be a good team. There's nothing wrong with what Brian Dabble is doing in with the New York Giants. You give them his coaching staff, Daniel Jones credit for coming back see Kwon Barkley. I think right now, as it stands, as an m v P type candidate. All that being said, you're three and three still, and now you go up against the Washington Commanders, then you have to travel the Buffalo, then you have to go against the Detroit Lions, who have one of the

top highest scoring offenses in the league. You can't worry about those next two games yet. But the sense of urgency that has to accompany this team right now, it's it's critical because this is because you're still seven weeks away from a bye. You have to be able to perform. Yeah, and it was interesting. It was interesting choice of words by Matt Lafleur after the game on Sunday because he didn't just say that we need to improve, which is

the obvious. It's that the Packers need to have a sense of urgency to improve there, and and that that qualifier there is important because everybody who takes the practice field on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week. They know that that the team needs to improve, that things need to

get better. But are you going to take the practice field just saying Okay, we're gonna work on getting better, or take the practice field with a sense of urgency that it's like, hey, we've only got a couple of days to get something straightened out and and you know, improve ourselves to the point where we can go on the road and win a football game. This is and and I said this in in the Monday Insider. I think I said it in Monday's Insider inbox. Maybe I didn't.

I don't know it was in my head if I didn't actually write it. This feels like this is the kind of week you mentioned the Commanders and Carson Wentz is injured and Taylor Heineke is going to take over at quarterback and they're getting Um Robinson back and and all that kind of stuff. But this just this feels like a week where this week is absolutely nothing, zero

zilt to do with the Washington Commanders. This week is everything to do with what the Green Bay Packers are going to do on that practice field to get themselves playing better regardless of what they see on film from Washington or what they have to prepare for specifically. In that way, this week is nine about the about the Green Bay Packers getting themselves in better shape to go win football games. That's that, That's what it feels like

to me. And I'm gonna bleed this into our little discussion about the weekend games, because this is why it's important to realize where you are and where you want to go. Mike, just take this into a conference second. Four weeks ago, Indianapolis Colts completely left for dead. They won on Sunday thirty to twenty seven over the Jacksonville Jaguars. There now three two and one Matt Ryan, everybody was

saying was past it. Matt Ryan up for the FedEx Air Player of the Week this week with how I performed. The Green Bay Packers disappointed to fall to the New York Giants. The same thing happened to the Baltimore Ravens, who have huge aspirations for this season. You look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Everybody expected them to roll the football out on the field on Sunday at Hinz Field or whatever it's called now. The Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Tomlin

reminded everybody, Hey, I can coach the ball. We've got some player here's that can win a football game, and they took care of business. You have so many teams right now that are at this gut check moment in the season can go one of two directions. It is solely up to that team how they want to respond,

how they want to perform. Again, it starts with Washington, but it's also a mindset that has to build up win, lose or tie on Sunday, that urgency to improve in that reflection of we need to be legitimately one week better than we were before. Because this still in a lot of ways, is a young football team. For the Packers, they're asking guys like kway Walker and Eric Stokes and Romeo Doabs to perform at an elite level right off

the bat. Those guys need to be confident, they need to take that next step because in November, December, January, those are the players you're counting on to mount a playoff push. Yeah. Well, looking quickly back at Week six in the NFL, what game did you feel was the most significant result? Uh? Philadelphia? Just because I thought now again, I know some people have really crashed on the Eagles a little bit for not dominating and just throwing out

the opponent. But to me, the Eagles remind me a lot of those two thousand twelve type packer teams where maybe gets a little close for comfort at certain intervals. But the fact of the matter is they are so talented, they are so multiple, and you can tell how much they believe in their head coach in the direction that they're traveling. I said it three weeks ago. I mean, they are an exciting football team Dallas. It's a tough one because you still are not at full straight. Yeah

you don't. You're They're they're potentially getting Dak Prescott back at quarterback this week. I mean the fact that I know there are no moral victories in the NFL, but the fact that they came back from twenty to nothing on the road in prime time at Philadelphia with a backup quarterback in Cooper Russian, and they got that game to seventeen in the fourth quarter. That tells you something

about what's going on in Dallas as well. Even though they took their second loss of the season, and for as much as national media wants to crap on Mike. I mean, the guy builds cultures, he builds programs, and I feel like that's what Dallas really in a lot of ways has lacked. They have as many resources as any team in the National Football League, They've had good coaches in the last few years, They've had some pretty

good players. How do you build a culture that makes you stay together, stay con consolidated in your efforts to be able to continue marching forward when you lose your starting quarterback in Week one? So Hack goes off to Dallas. I know for a lot of people, it's gonna be Buffalo in Kansas City. For the Packers, you're obviously your intentas are up with the Bills right now, and certainly those again I said it before Mahomes in all and those two are going to continue playing each other until

the end of time here. They're gonna be leading their teams up against each other for a long long time. But from my perspective, I just look at that that in an NFC where everything is completely wide open right now, Philadelphia being able to continue its march and stay undefeated on the season, I thought was a statement making performance in a division that is locked tight right now for the for the leader. Yeah absolutely. I mean, as as this NFC East unfolds, Philadelphia and Dallas are going to

play again. Philadelphia and the Giants six and o, five and one. They've got two games against each other. They haven't faced one another yet so UM and the and the Giants and Cowboys have one more game left against each other as well. They faced each other once um so far this year. But with that we'll 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. Thank you for

tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.