#684 Packers Unscripted: Defeat in Detroit

losing streak continues. Fifteen to nine is the final score. And I guess if there's a way to sum up how this game epitomized how the last month or so have Packers football has gone. We sat here every week and talk about talked about missed opportunities that might have

altered the course of the game. This one, it's missed opportunities that absolutely be positively altered the outcome of the game because the Packers had plenty of chances to score enough points to win this one and they simply didn't get it done. There's a lot of times, Joel sitting here, we'll talk for twenty two and a half minutes or whatever it ends up being, and then we just move about our day. Honestly, Marvin from the back could punch their you know, punch all the buttons on this thing.

I can mention losing the turnover battle three to one, going over four in the red zone, over two and goal ago. We could call it a day. I mean, that's ultimately what this came down to. That was the game. And Mike, what was the biggest line that I reiterated? We both talked about it, But the biggest line I was pitching all last week is that they've done good things against the New York Giants. They've done good things against the New York Jets. They did good things in Washington,

they did really good things late in Buffalo. But what you do in those games does not guarantee victory the following week. The strides you make in certain air is doesn't mean that those areas are going to hold up the following week. In this game, as you talked about with this five game losing streak, this game epitomized all of that. Because Packers had three total yards of offense, they dominated time of possession, third downs, they were six

for eight in the first half. They did all the things well except finish, and in some of these other games this year, the Packers have been not as good on third downs and then they've been able to punch the ball in the end zone. It's just that inconsistency.

And it's that line that Adam Stenovich said last Thursday that is kind of he was talking just strictly about the offensive line about the only thing that's been consistent is inconsistency, and unfortunately for the Packers, I think as a whole through the first nine games, that's been sort of the hallmark of this team. Yeah, the statistic that kind of blows you away from this game is the fact that the Packers had eight possessions that ended in

Lions territory on the plus side of the fifty. The only one that didn't is when the Packers took a knee at the end of the first half, when they didn't have enough time to do anything. The other eight times the Packers had the ball, they crossed, they were across midfield every single time, and out of those eight possessions, they were only able to produce nine points. That's it's all.

It's it's hard to fathom. Um. And we don't need to go over the chapter in verse of you know, from the five yard line and interception from the one yard line and interception and an interception right after the Packers defense got an interception. I mean, we all saw it. We all know what happened. There was another another failed fourth down. Um, you know inside the forty yard line of Detroit, when the Packers couldn't convert so many, so

many chances. And uh and to walk out of to walk out of Ford Field with a fifteen and nine loss. And Aaron Rodgers said it after the game, you can't lose a game like that to that team. Um and uh. And the Packers couldn't. Packers couldn't lose that game, but

they did and uh. And now they have to turn the page to two home games in a span of five days against a couple of teams that are right in the thick of the playoff front in their respective conferences, Dallas in the NFC and Tennessee in the a f C, UM the U in terms of the opponents you're facing. The gauntlet of the schedule is coming up now and the Packers are still searching for that victory that maybe, just maybe one win could start to turn things in

another direction, but they haven't gotten it for five weeks. Well, and again it tends to be one of these things where I do the inbox on Mondays and then we come in here on Tuesday mornings and and sort of hash this thing out. And I recall something I said an inbox as well, which is I don't care about the season right now. I don't care about the playoffs. I don't care about the future. It is all about win number four and about finding a win four. I

think it's been thirty seven days. The Packers have still been chasing that that fourth win of the season. That's the emphasis right now. That's the focus. And they're going up against a really good Dallas Cowboys team this weekend. We'll preview it, you know, later this week. But the team of that again is coming off a bye, much like Buffalo was, Much like the mini by with Washington. This schedule has done the Packers no favors. There's been times where the calls have not done the Packers. The

officials calls have not done the Packers any favors. There's been adversity that has hit time and time again. You can probably fill up a minute block here coming up discussing all the injuries the Packers had coming out of this game against the Lions. But one of the big things that Matt Lafloor always talks about, one of his big you know lines, is nobody's going to feel sorry for you. That's where the Packers are there, three and six.

And when you look at this coin flip league in the amount of parody in the National Football League, there are times where you're three and six. There's times when you're six and three and you know, Aaron Rodgers touched on it after the game. The Packers won a lot of one score games early on, especially in nineteen under Matt Lafloor. In this year, those fortunes, those odds have

not been in their favor so far. Yeah. And this this uh, this game once again was another another example the epitome, if you will, of the self inflicted wounds because the interceptions were um, we're certainly the fault of Aaron Rodgers the um and as much as on defense, the holding a Detroit team that had averaged nearly thirty six points per game at home to fifteen points. Bottom line is that was a defensive performance that should have

been good enough to win the game. So as I get into some of the things that went wrong with the defense, that needs to be out there first and foremost. The defense overall played well enough to win, but some of the same types of things that we've seen in previous weeks are still hurting this Packers defensive. Even though they only gave up fifteen points, they had opportunities to

play even better. Jr. Alex Ander had a great interception in the game, but earlier he had a totally undisciplined on you know, unnecessary roughness penalty that turned a sixteen yard pass play into a thirty one yard chunk play for the Lions, which led to a touchdown. Right before halftime. Third and fifteen, Keyshan Nixon gets called for defensive holding and instead of getting a stop right there in Detroit territory, Detroit goes on to score it's other touchdown because of

the reprieve. They're a five yard penalty on third and fifteen that gives them an automatic first down and the Packers can't get the stop. Late in the game, a second and twenty, they take a checkdown throw over the middle they're just trying to get a few yards to make it third and twelve, and Chris Barnes gets called for a helmet hit and unfortunately then has to leave the game for a concussion evaluation. But then that fifteen

yard penalty extends the drive for the Lions. The Packers don't get it back then for their final drive until just a couple of minutes left, as opposed to having maybe four or four and a half minutes on the clock if they get a stop there off of the second and twenty situation. Those are the kinds of things that continue to happen to this team in this game on on on both sides of the ball. And you don't need every single thing to go your way to

win a game that ends up fifteen to nine. But you can't have this many things that that are nothing but your own fault, um, you know, the self inflicted kind of stuff and expect to win and and and it's what it's what the Packers have to as Matt la Felix, to say, win or lose, you have to hit the reset button. You have to start over. And that's what they'll do this week and preparing for Dallas.

But some of but some of these lessons from week to week, you know when things when things aren't changing, it's hard to know. It's hard to know when it's going to well. And this was the most probably maddening part of this thing for the Packers was that they played well despite a lot of injuries, a lot of departures.

I mean, they go into this game without Devondre Campbell, so you know you have a rookie in Kuay Walker who's relaying the calls the mic linebacker they're rotating their inside backers Isam McDuffie and Chris Barnes both played there. Eric Stokes leaves with an ankle and knee injury that forces were Soul Douglas to come in, and as you talked about with Keishaw Nixon getting the defensive holding while he's in the slot. Because they lost Stokes, you lose you ver Shawn Gary to what appears to be a

season ending knee injury. Kingsley and Nigbari has the only sack for Green Bay in this game, but that gets wiped out because the way that Goff's falling his head, his hand makes you contact with his helmet. It is one of these situations where I thought, in a lot of ways for the Packers defense, it you get done

with that game and it's fifteen points. You know, Jared Goff through for a hundred thirty seven yards and the jol had they only had two hundred fifty some yards, I think, and they've been they'd been a as I said, four hundred yard you a thirty plus point team at home throughout the course of the year. Yeah, Jamal Williams has three point four yards per carry. The guy that had eight touchdowns a lot of red zone finishes, wasn't

able to punch. There's just so many little things in this game where the Packers did enough to win with their defense, but they didn't get a pick six. They didn't, you know, as as much as Joi Alexander tried on his you know, twenty nine yard return off the interception that golf he had off golf. Nice play. It's just been one of those kind of things. And mattal Floor, I thought, summed up perfectly. When you give up fifteen points, you expect to win that football game, and it just

wasn't enough for Green Bay. And then it just at various points this season, it just hasn't been quite enough. So where you go from here, I think a lot of it's going to depend on what this you know, injury report looks like on Wednesday. It sounds like they've dodged a bullet with Aaron Jones, which is huge because during that final stretch at the end of the game they didn't have him available. Um, you wonder how that potentially changes some of that two minute if if he's there,

because typically he's been the two minute running back. Um, you know, Christian Watson, thankfully, it sounds like did not suffer a concussion that was really scary for him. You know, I just talked about two unfortunate type scenarios that just play out in the game of football, where this young man is in you know, going to catch the ball, gets the ball, and there's you know, guys crashing on him. Unfortunately, looks like you might lose Dobbs here for a little bit.

Think the key for Matt Laflour, offense, defense, special teams, as they're gonna need to get back in the building this week, get their confidence back after a game like that, and remind themselves that we lost to a pretty good Giants team. We lost to a pretty good Jets team that just you know, took you know, Buffalo to the wood shed Washington. They lost, but I mean they've played better in Buffalo is Buffalo. This was the first one where I left the building, left Ford Field going how

you gotta beat that team? And and to close on my long winded point there, Aaron Jones said it afterwards. They felt like they all played you know, Detroit, but when you lose fifteen to line, it is what it is. And for Dan Campbell's crew that might have been a job saving you know, performance for Campbell, you don't know right now, and just a disheartening, uh you know loss. Yeah, Well to crystallize or to to uh to go over all of the injuries in in one fell swoop here.

The bad news is that it sounds like Rashaan Garry's season is over with the knee injury, and it sounds like it could be a significant injury. It was announced as both knee and ankle injuries for second year cornerback Eric Stokes. Matt Flour's update on Monday, as they're still gathering some more information, running some tests there, so we'll see what the prognosis is on Stokes, but there's definitely

a lot of concern there. And as you mentioned, there wasn't really a specific update provided on Romeo Dobs, but there are some outside media reports indicating that he's going to miss multiple weeks. UM not a UM, not a serious or necessarily season ending injury, but something that that sounds like we'll keep him out for multiple games. I mentioned Chris Barnes left the game for a concussion evaluation. Offensive line, we saw John Runyon leave the game, but

then he came back in. David Bactieri left the game for a significant stretch in the second half, he came back in. So once again, a lot of things on the offensive line influx. Not a lot of certainty there as the Packers are going to return to the practice field on Wednesday. The good news on the injury side of things, as you mentioned, is Aaron Jones with his ankle injury. He was held out at the end of

the game. It doesn't sound like um, it's it sounds like he avoided anything significant and Matt Lafleur did not rule out the possibility that he might be back and be able to play this week against the Cowboys and then Christian Watson. We saw him take another big hit after a pass reception. He was removed from the game for a concussion evaluation. It turned out it was not a concussion. It turned out he was not hit in

the head. What was determined is that he actually the the the brunt of the shot that he took was actually to his chest and he staggered a little bit or you know. Um didn't look completely in control of his faculty, so to speak, because the wind was knocked out of him, but he was trying to stay on his feet instead of falling uh to the turf. So he cleared everything with regard to head injury or concussion concerns.

But because of the concussion the previous week in Buffalo and that hit knocking the wind out of him Um in Detroit, he was held out for the rest of the game, the Packers taking the high side of caution there. I have to can make a quick comment about that. I get a kick out of the fans reaction to this too, because before that we're getting all these questions in the inbox. Hated the Packers need to shut him down for the season. Is this a long term concern?

Matt la Floor goes to the podium at three pm on Monday and says, Yep, not a concussion, and immediately switched to why wasn't he back in the game? That why didn't he play? And I want to address this because it's not just about the to a thing, although I think that's probably the best example of this, a

couple of things to this one. How many times, Mike, over the years have you and I covered football games where a guy passes the initial concussion protocol and then and not even comes back to the game same situation as Watson, and then maybe a day or two later, you know, feel some effects. I don't want to use specific names, but I can think of a couple right now, I think over the last few years where that happened.

So you want to make sure this kid is good at this moment, the next hour, the next day, especially with what happened in Buffalo in two the Packers Christian Watson was good to go, he was cleared, everything was fine. We saw him practice this past week. He looked great. But you do when people are asking about do you

want to be careful with him? That was the Packers being careful with it in that moment, making sure that This is a young man, second round draft pick, great prospect, but also a twenty two year old kid that you gotta make sure that for his decision making, for his livelihood, he's gonna be okay. Yeah, And no matter how much he's standing there on the sideline talking to the medical staff saying I'm good, put me back in, I passed everything, put me back in the game. And the Packers are like, no,

we're not We're not going to do that. They were going to take the high side of caution, even though he obviously could have been a huge factor down the stretch with the with the Packers getting into the red zone on the final possession of the game and throwing four straight in complete passes. Of course he could have made a difference. Of course Aaron Jones could have made a difference as well, but that's not how the Packers

were going to go about it. And uh, and now it's it's let's see where these guys are this week moving and you don't want that young man to have three bad hits then in two games. That's not great for optics either. Hopefully pulls through this week is available here for this game against Dallas because I'm telling you, Mike, depending on what happens with Dobbs, they're not going to get Randall Cobb back this week. They're gonna need Christian

Watson here during these next two months. Yeah, and I'll give I want to give a shout out here to while we're talking about injuries. UM, I know you were in the press box in Detroit. I was actually back here at the office covering the game live blogging the game off of TV. And uh um, but even off of the television broadcast, you could tell that Alan Bazard

was absolutely gutting that game out. On the bad shoulder, he was he was, he was giving it everything he had and quite frankly, I think the I think the shoulder played potentially played a factor in him not quite being able to haul in that fourth and three pass on on the seam shot there that was initially ruled to catch. Replay obviously showed that the ball scraped the ground, so it was ruled incomplete and a turnover. On downs, he did catch the Packers only touchdown pass of the game. Um,

Alan Zard absolutely gutted it out in that game. And and uh and I just wanted to say that because for all of the injuries and everything and and the list as we've gone through, it got ridiculous in this game and over the course of this season, it's gotten ridicu killis and you just wonder, like, you know, when are you know how how much? How many more times? Are these hits just gonna keep coming in the health department.

But um, hopefully at some point here the Packers are going to start to look like a healthier and watching Alan, I know there was one instance where he left quickly, went and talked to the training staff early on, came back he was fine. But he played sixty the seventy four snaps and I think I basically end to add my eyes glued onto every single time he went to the sideline, and I would say if there was nine

place he didn't play at least eight of them. It wasn't that he was just going to the sideline like sitting there waiting to go back in. It was him like on one knee with water getting himself back. I mean that guy of the snaps, I mean shoulder everything. I mean, he put it all out there. Four catches for eighty seven yards and a touchdown. The Greeny Packers

needed him. Yeah, No, question about it? UM, a little bit of sponsored business here West Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the NFL news that true football fanatics need seven and three six and at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin 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. All right, Taking a look at other things that happened around Week nine in the NFL, you mentioned we don't have the next opponent to talk about their most recent game because

the Cowboys were h We're on a bye week. UM. We had talked last Thursday in previewing Week nine about the Jets against Buffalo and whether some sort of a statement might be made there by the New York Jets, who are adjusting for life without Breece Hall, their star young running back, and lo and behold, the Jets came from behind late in the game to knock off the Buffalo Bills, and suddenly the a f C East is uh is really anybody's division to win? With Buffalo now

taking a second loss on the year. UM, the Minnesota Vikings. They win their sixth knsecut to one score game. They are now seven and one UM and I'll say this, I give I give a lot of credit for what the Vikings have done Kevin O'Connell, the culture that he's obviously trying to build, to build and create their what the Vikings are doing is so reminiscent to me of Matt Lafleur's first season here in Green Bay in twenty nineteen, Kevin O'Connell's first season in green Bay in Minnesota in

two It's so similar. It's it's winning the close games and it's doing so by consistently weekly game after game, being the better team in the fourth quarter. That was the definition of the Green Bay Packers in twenty nineteen, that they ended up a thirteen win team that was not a juggernaut by any means because they didn't blow

out and dominate people. But the Green Bay Packers in twenty nineteen were the better team in the fourth quarter almost every single week along the a to those thirteen wins. And that is exactly what the Minnesota Vikings are doing. And UH and the culture that Kevin O'Connell is creating early on his tenure in Minneapolis. Yeah, for sure. I mean I look at this game and you know, Delvin

Cook had seventeen carries for forty seven yards. UM Andrew Madison Alexander Manison excuse me, uh, two carries for one yard. This game ultimately kind of at the end went on the shoulders of Kirk Cousins. And Cousins is a really

interesting quarterback because he's had these moments. I know, people talked about the prime time games for a while and things, but when he's locked in and especially with the you know, the bond and chemistry he's formed with you know, Justin Jefferson and being able to make quick utilization of t. J. Hockenson in this game, he can win you ball games,

and he can win you ball games late. And I think that whatever this relationship is with O'Connell or whatever they've kind of hit on here, Uh, it's worked and it will be really interesting to see them face you know, an elite you know, well above five team here at some point. But the other thing about that two thousand nineteen season, as the Packers were coming off a pretty bad two thousand eighteen season, the schedule allows you to see some of that what people would perceive to be

lesser competition. Yeah, that's the position the Vikings have been in this season, and they made the most of it while beating the teams that I think earlier in this

season you maybe not necessarily had them pinned down to beat. Yeah, And interestingly, we'll see as this week develops, because you mentioned Minnesota facing you know, one of the what will happen when they face one of the elite teams in the league with their quarterback there, they're they're they're only law Their only loss is to the Philadelphia Eagles, who are the only undefeated team in the league. And now they are getting ready to face the Buffalo Bills this week.

But there are all kinds of questions about Josh Allen and his elbow and whether he whether he will be able to play or not, or will he be at full strength or not. And again reminiscent of nineteen when the Packers had to go on the road to face the Kansas City Chiefs. But Patrick Mahomes and the game and the Packers got a big win and kept you know, kept things rolling there in the middle of the season.

That's the way, that's the way this league can work sometimes, and the Vikings are taking advantage of everything you mentioned Cousins in the fourth quarter. I take nothing away obviously from what he's done. When you're in when you're in tight games, whether you're losing, tie game, you need to put together those drives. But Minnesota's defense has also come up big in the fourth quarter time and time again.

Being the better team in the fourth quarter means doing it on both sides of the ball to be able to win those close games, and that's what the Vikings are doing. Tampa Bay Buccaneers uh, sort of a quasi season saving comeback for them against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Buccaneers now four and five, last year's Super Bowl champs now three and five and uh and as we had talked last week, UM the game of the week in the NFL in Week nine was the Sunday night matchup with Kansas City against Tennessee and it turned into

one of those um very entertaining matchups. From this and point of the Tennessee Titans could only run the ball and couldn't throw it, and the Kansas City Chiefs just refused to run the ball and put the whole game in in on Patrick Mahomes's right arm, the past attempts versus the run attempts, you know, for the other team, statistically one of those one of those crazy ones, and it ends up going to overtime in the Kansas City Chiefs pull it out, and you know, I just wonder,

from the ups and downs we've seen from the Kansas City Chiefs, if a win like that under the lights at home against the team that they've seen plenty, uh you know here in recent years and and got taken to the wire by them, maybe this is where where Kansas City starts to starts to make that second half run well, because they came back from basically the wind condition that Tennessee looks for, which is punching in the mouth with Derrick Henry and control, controlling time, possession, controlling

the Temple Titans did that giving up nine points in the first half, but I mean, Derrick Henry owned that game, and they came out in the second half and dick to the tempo and show it again that if you need to, you can just put this thing entirely on Patrick Mahomes and he's gonna step up for you. Overall, though, I want to just mention this before we go out. The Packers are still trying to claw their way back into this and I said, they need to win a

game here before we talk about anything else. But a f C did the Packers a lot of favors in this week over four on Sunday, the NFC was in those crossover games, including the Bears losing that shootout to the to the Dolphins. So it's still all out there for Green Bay. You gotta get a win, you gotta rally, and you're gonna need to start beating some teams that

nobody expects you to beat. But this is got time. Yeah. Absolutely, the Packers, as we said, to to home games to home games in five days, but they're probably gonna be underdogs, and both of them based on the three and six record and facing two teams that are in the playoff hunt. But we'll talk more about that match up with the Cowboys on our next show. For now, 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 day after day. We've got everything for you for West, I'm Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody. We'll see you next time. M