#692 Packers Unscripted: Ready for the Rams

David baktr you, recovering from the appendectomy. We don't really know what his status is going to be here in the coming weeks moving forward, but the rest of this team is looking pretty healthy. If the Packers are going to make a run at this, they're at least getting the bulk of their horses in the race, so to speak. Yeah, they're getting, you know, pretty much the full arsenal. Uh even so, I mean even look at Caleb Jones was activated off the non football illness list. Uh So, the

Packers roster is back at fifty three players. Now finally to other reinforcement for the offensive line. Another reinforcement for the offensive line. But most importantly, you look at the offensive side of the ball. Aaron Rodgers was practicing on Tuesday and it's now. Keep in mind it's a light practice. They're only going for an hour, but he didn't have tape on that thumb. He told Pat McAfee during his weekly appearance that he's feeling much better with that ribs,

hopefully feeling better here. You hope that you have Aaron Rodgers back towards maybe not you know, I don't want to put the percentage on it, but feeling more like himself again. The big thing though, is the fact that Aaron Jones no lingering after effects from that shin injury in Chicago, and Romeo Dobbs continuing to practice. He said afterwards in the locker room, really commended the team and

himself for the decision they made. As difficult as it was for him not to play against Chicago, he feels like that extra two weeks put him in a position to feel back to where he wanted to be, being able to cut run full speed again. And Mike, we've talked about it for a week now, but we're finally getting closer to seeing Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs on the field together. Yeah, and and it's not even not

even just just those two. It has been a long time since the Packers have had the the five receivers. They went into the season with feeling like we're gonna be their top five, whatever order you want to put them in. Lazard, Watson, Dobbs, Cobb, Watkins, those five guys. I think it was Week two against Chicago was the only time that the Packers actually had all five of

those players available. And you're right. The exciting thing is that is with the two rookies, Watson the second rounder, Dobbs the fourth rounder, they played very They've been on the field together for very few snaps over the course

of their of their rookie season. And this is this is kind of the exciting and interesting thing, not just from the standpoint of what can the Packers do in these last four games down the stretch, but um, regardless of what happens elsewhere on the roster in the off season, this is the future of the Packers passing game. Here. These two guys, they were drafted where they were drafted because they're going to be long term fixtures at that position. It's a chance to see what it looks like with

both of them out there together. You know, you had to edit it. I wrote it uh the Insider Inbox column on Thursday. I was trying to think of the last time the Packers have had two receivers in the same draft class that were as highly acclaimed as the two that they have in Watson and Dobbs, and I

really couldn't think of them. They've doubled up before, they've taken multiple guys in specific years, but to have two guys that have shown real potential to be difference makers every down players in this offense that came out of

the same draft class, it doesn't happen a lot. And talking with Watson a little bit this year, talking with Dobbs again this past week, you could tell the affinity all these guys have for each other, the fact that they went through the same process alongside each other, earning the trust of Aaron Rodgers, earning their place in this offense, going back to meeting each other at the Senior Boat in Mobile, Alabama as well back in January, and their

skill sets complement each other perfectly. And if you throw Samori too Ray into that as well, another guy that could potentially be a playmaker for this team down the line, it is a very exciting time for the Packers receiving corn finally, regardless of how these last four weeks go, finally getting a chance to see what really that future of the perimeter game is going to look like in

Green Bay. While the perimeter game for the Los Angeles Rams certainly looks very different than the one the Packers faced late in the season last year at lambeau Field. And it's not just obviously the change at quarterback with Baker Mayfield now taking over for Matthew Stafford, but the guy who led the NFL last year in receptions, in receiving yards, and in touchdowns, Cooper Cup is not on

the field for the Rams. Give me your assessment of just where the Rams are with their with their perimeter weapons. I mean, we saw Van Jefferson get the game winning touchdown on the Thursday night football game against the Raiders. You know, heck of a play, one on one, great throw by uh Baker Mayfield for the touchdown there. But then you look at Van jefferson statistics for the season and you're sort of like, well, where has this guy been? All? Yeah, right,

so I'm not I'm not sure exactly. You know, you take Cooper Cup out of the mix and and tight end Tyler Higbee is is is one of the biggest weapons that the Rams have here in the passing game moving forward. Yeah, I mean the dearth of playmakers in this offense. I think it's kind of what has hurt them in addition to the fact they've had like five

different quarterbacks this season. I mean, honestly, it kind of reminds you when you look at the box scored almost looks like those the strike years in eight seven, where there's just like where all these guys coming from that we're playing quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. Unfortunately, now they get Baker Mayfield off of waivers. But it has been a grind, a relentless grind um with with Matthew Stafford,

you know, and you wish the best for him. I mean, it seems like he's dealing with kind of a scary um sort of you know, incident. But losing Cooper Cup everybody knew the offense ran through him, but then Allen Robinson goes down for the season. Um, they've had to rely on guys that were more complimentary pieces in this offense now as the go toos. And furthermore, you know,

some some really interesting decisions. You know, Darrel Henderson gets cut mid season, so you know, cam Akers hasn't really been as effective as I think they were hoping for, you know, when they drafted him. Injury, his aside, they just haven't had a lot to hang their head. And now that being said, Mike, you look at Van Jefferson. He was a guy that was brought in a number of years ago. He was kind of picked as the

prospect to develop with all these other guys. You know, when you go back to Robert Woods being there, he was kind of seen as that next guy. And then you know Ben's you know Scarronic. I mean, they have players that can hurt you. It's just when you look at the Rams right now, they aren't the same team as they were before. When it's okay, how are we going to address Cooper Cup and what's the domino effect of that defense on the rest of you know, how

you attack ELL's offense. Well, with regard to the quarterbacks switched to Baker Mayfield, I have to issue a correction from our last show because I said the last time the Packers had faced a quarterback and back to back seasons for different teams as the starter was Philip Rivers with the Chargers in the Colts, and that is actually not correct. I opened my mouth before I finished my research,

and because I had forgotten. When I got to the end of my research, I discovered that I had forgotten about the Jared Goff Matthew Stafford quarterback switch between the Rams and the Lions. And the Packers faced Jared Goff as the Rams quarterback in the playoffs and then as the Lions quarterback in and then of course they faced Matthew Stafford as the Lions quarterback in and then as the Rams quarterback in the regular season when the Packers

and Rams met in. So um, this whole back to back with different quarterbacks thing is is somewhat starting to get old hat for um. For Matt Lafleur, this situation is very different though, in that we talked about on our last show, how there's only three quarters of Baker Mayfield Los Angeles Rams film to go off of here.

This isn't you can't look at, you know, the nine games that Philip Rivers played with the Colts before, um, you know, before he ended up facing the Packers as an example, So a real challenge, a real challenge for the UH for the Packers defense here, and I think I think if there's one, if there's one area, well, I guess I would say two areas. Defensively, the Packers need to get more stout against the run. They can't have any more of these games like what happened against

the UH the Philadelphia Eagles. And I thought we saw some signs of the run defense stepping up against Chicago, certainly down the stretch. The way the defense played to allow that fourth quarter comeback, that was a good sign there. But the Packers also have got to find some pass rush from somewhere because they've had a hard time getting after quarterbacks since Rashaan Gary went down. You lose your best pass rusher, you know, those guys don't grow on trees.

As they say. Justin Hollins has come in off off of waivers from the Rams and provided UH some depth there. But uh um. But I'm curious if this bye week and when the coaches have a little bit more time to study things and think about things, if we might start seeing a little bit more creativity in terms of getting after quarterbacks. Because the Packers can't, They're not going to be able to make a run in this last month when you you don't have Shawn Gary, he's not

gonna show up. He's not gonna Willis read it coming out of the tunnel. So you've got to get pass rush from somewhere for this defense to play the way the Packers needed to play down the Street. Yeah, I mean that's what's tough, because the defensive front and the way the attack the quarterback was kind of built off of Rashaan Gary. Really, I mean, you know you're gonna

see a lot of Gary this season. You knew you're gonna see a lot of Preston Smith, but it was almost like they were going to try to recreate what they did in nineteen with the Smith Bros. But just kind of subbing in Gary into that formula. Well, when you lose Gary, uh six sacks on the season, you know, still the team leader, I believe at this point in time, despite the fact he's been out for a month already. It just shows you the change you have to make

with your defensive front. You say that, you know, pass rushers don't grow on trees. I'm always reminded of the old ron Zook adage of yeah, they don't come out of the womb, you know, rushing the passer, come on the room, returning punts. Um. But it is true. I mean, it's it's so difficult to replace those players. I took my cap to kingsleyanding Barie. I feel like he stepped up in a lot of ways. Certainly Justin Hollins has come in and already has a sack. I mean been that.

But it's not just about one player or one position group pulling the the Packers forward in that. It's about the defensive front as a whole. It's about you know, calls that Joe Berry makes to potentially get the blitz going a little bit more. Maybe get Dave Andre Campbell and you get a guy like Kay Walker in vault. Packers got to get creative with it to to branch off of what your argument was, if I may, because

you make a good point about the run defense. This is not the week you can allow the l. A. Rams to to start running the football. No, this this is this is an offense. This Rams offense has struggled to run the ball all year and the Packers have to keep it that way. Yeah, and it's not just about the run game. It's about what Baker Mayfield could do because last week, I mean it, if you look at it, like the fact that they were able to win the head game over the Raiders, if you look

at a box score, it's pretty astonishing. I mean, that game for fifty five minutes kind of was going to play out the way the way it was supposed to well. And and what's really crazy about it too, Statistically, even after that fourth quarter comeback against the Raiders, the Rams have still been outscored by forty nine points in the fourth quarter this year, so that total was over sixty points.

They've been outscored in the fourth quarter until Mayfield lad that come back in the last five six minutes on on Thursday night. This isn't a team, this isn't a team that has finished well. Suddenly Baker Mayfield changes changes that narrative. And I'm sure they'd like to get their run game going to help out Mayfield, who still is only going to have a portion of the playbook to be able to run when he takes the field at Lamb.

And that's why, by stopping the run, you put this game back in Baker Mayfield's hands a little bit more. And Mayfield is an accomplished, guy's former number one overall pick. But the Packers have seen him, they've intercepted him, they made plays off of them, and you need to make him look like the guy that got signed three minutes ago, you know, our claimed three minutes ago. Right. That's the

key to victory for the Packers. You can't let the Rams, especially on what appears to be probably a pretty darn cold night at lambeau Field, allowing them to feel comfortable in this venue. Yeah, I think generating some turnovers for this defense, and and especially if you can get if you can get Mayfield to throw you an interception too, I think that, uh, that really changes the out look of this game. I did look up some statistics on Baker Mayfield that I'll share with you West, because we've

seen him. He's, you know to me, and this is what I said an insider inbox, He's he's a flip flip the coin quarterback. You you don't know what you're gonna get from game to game. Here's the thing. In game games he has started in his career where Baker Mayfield is not thrown an interception, He's eighteen and eight games in which he has thrown two or more interceptions, he's three and thirteen. I mean, Alo, you know what,

what are you? What are you gonna get? But but but if you can force him, if you can force him into a couple of mistakes, he's proven over the course of his career he's not necessarily going to be able to overcome those mistakes to uh to get a victory. So I think that that ranks up there the other one. That's a key to victory for me. And I say this not just in this game, but if the Packers are going to make a run here over the final month and put together a winning streak, the Packers have

to start playing from ahead. They have to start getting leads early in games. I think I think that does a couple of things. I think it provides a boost to the offense when you can start fast, get some points on the board early, and play from in front. And it helps a defense to be playing with a lead, as opposed to um playing from behind and then saying, oh, we just got to hold him here, you know, hold him here, give the offense a chance to come back.

I look back at the two thousand sixteen run the table West, the last six games of the regular season when the Packers had to win all six of those to get to the playoffs. Every single one of those games started out Green May seven, opponent zero. The Packers got the first touchdown of the game six games in a row as part of that six game winning streak.

I think that's something that you have that this team needs to play from in front and stop trying to you know, scramble in the fourth quarter to be able to come back and pull out these close victims. That's probably the thing I missed the most this season compared to especially the last two years, was Green Bay had so many good opening drives, uh, lengthy drives you know, eight to twelve play series that would end up in the end zone. Um, that wasn't always like that. They

struggled with that even in Matt Lafleur's first season. I mean there were times where it didn't work out. But I think it was before this game against Chicago was it something like was it seventh straight first quarter drives where they weren't able to get points? I mean, it really does. It sets the tempo for a football game. And I think also, you know, I was asked the question again about the deferring people always like to ask about that. You know, if you win the coin toss,

do you defer? I always do, just because I feel like the advantage is still so strong there. But if that's what you're doing, that means the defense has to come out and set the tone. That means that if the defense gets you a three and out, the offense needs to set the tone. And it comes back to the number one narrative that you and I have talked about all season. People can talk about players, they can talk about positions, they can talk about coordinators, but it

comes down to complimentary football. When the Packers play together and they play together with a lead early. That's how Matt Lafleur became the any coach in NFL history through his first three seasons. Yeah, and that's the type of football they need to play down the strap and you you bring up the deferring thing to another another thing that I looked up, and I'm I'm generally I like to defer and and take the ball at the start of the second half because the first half is so

much of a feeling out process. Here's the thing though about the two Packers this season. The Packers have had the opening possession of the third quarter nine times. They've only scored three out of those nine. Six of the nine have been either a punter or turnover. The strategy of deferring and taking the ball at the start of the second half hasn't really helped them. They haven't been able to come out of the locker room and and take the ball down the field and score. It just

makes me wonder. You know, you get a bye week, you think about things, the coaches study all these things. We'll just see and obviously if you lose the toss, it's not your call anyway, right, but we'll just see if if there are any any strategies perhaps that that change up here, because because Mike McCarthy in the two thousand sixteen when the team was four and six, he did start taking the ball when he won the toss instead of deferring to the second half, and they got

a seven and nothing lead. As I said, in all six of those games. It's so hard to predict the right though, because like Chicago wins the toss, the Bears take the ball right, they start off super fast, and then they can't do anything else the rest of the game off right. So it's it's yeah, it's it's a weird Yeah. There there are no there are no guarantees.

There are no guarantees regardless. It's just when you get when you get this late in the season and you see what you've tried and what has worked and what hasn't worked, you just wonder if if there may be some changeups coming down the pike. You just gotta get back to losing the coin toss every week like they did last season. Yeah, that that worked. That worked. That worked pretty well. Packers didn't need to win the toss

to to win games. To win games last year, they left the choice up to the opponent and they just rolled with it. So um some sponsor business here. West Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the NFL news that true football fanatics need seven three and its and subs. We have something for everyone, like our Wisconsin Cheese cards, 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. Alright, I want to take a look at some other games going on around the NFL and actually starting with Thursday Night Football a game that has some implications for the Packers. It's the uh, the brock Purty forty Niners, although he's listed as questionable on the injury report, but the Niners are at Seattle. Um if he doesn't pay pay, I I don't know. Christian McCaffrey gonna play wildcat quarterback for

the game. Again. You know, they don't even have Deebo Samuel that takes some snaps in the wildcat because he's injured now. So um, but a big Thursday night game, UM, Niners, Niners and Seahawks, UM, big implications in that division as far as and also in the in the wild card race. Oh, Josh Johnson is the guy forgot they signed Josh Johnson. Josh Johnson is NER's now. Okay, So a couple of things to this game. Sounds like Keneth Walker is gonna play.

Uh that that's the number one thing here people will talk about pretty that's that's a that's a big boost for the Seahawks. And the Seahawks were not the same team without him last week. Gino Smith is not the same quarterback without him. He has to do more, which leads to more, you know, interceptions, at least That's what it's looked like so far. Kenneth Walker has been the running back that they've been looking for for so many

years now. So seeing how he performs and how Gino performs against that defense is really the biggest thing here, as much as we want to make about Purty, And certainly it was funny listening to Alan Lazard rant and right, not rant, but rave about him because you know, the Iowa state connection, the fact that the Packers really do need this young man to play well down the stretch to help their own wild card, uh, you know, potential. You know, there's a lot of reasons why people are

going to talk about him in that position. But ultimately it comes back to Damiko Ryan's defense against this Seattle offense. Seattle's reeling man. They have kind of they were out front, they surprised everybody, and now they've started to come back down to earth a little bit. San Francisco, meanwhile, has basically risen as the Seahawks have fallen. It'll be interesting to see who comes out on top of that one. Yeah,

a bunch of other games. I'll just rattle them off here and I'll let you comment on what you'd like to UM Giants and Washington second meeting in a span of a few weeks between those two teams. Obviously, they had an overtime tie the first time. Hard to say, you know, I mean, if you know, if you're if you're looking at this from all of the Packers scenarios and stuff, I'm not sure who you want to win. What's impossible for both to lose? I mean, the overtime

ties about as close as it gets. I don't know if you can count on a second one of those between the same two teams. UM Detroit is at the New York Jets. UM. I'm very intrigued with this one because of the way the Lions offense has been playing and the way the Jets defense has been playing. I think that's a really I think that's a really, really interesting matchup there in the a f C East. You have Miami going to Buffalo. Could be a big time weather game out there in western New York with with

what the forecast looks like. Another another interesting game in the a f C. Two teams kind of maybe going in opposite directions right now, the Tennessee Titans against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Titans actually have not won in games since they won at lambeau Field on that Thursday

night football game. They've they're they're in a rut now all of a sudden, and the Chargers coming off of the big win UM in prime time last week over Miami and Justin Herbert, you know, looking like looking like the guy that um that everybody thought he was going to be throughout the course of the year, and then

Cincinnati at Tampa Bay. The only reason I bring this one up is because if the Buccaneers lose to the Bengals, the leader or leaders in the a f C South or sorry, the NFC South would be six and eight, would be two games if if the Buccaneers lose this game, two games under five hundred with three games to go, would be leading that divisi six and eight. Feeling great. We'll see what happens there. Certainly that's gonna be a big game too for the Bengals as they continue to

try to mount this late season charge. Are Bengals are coming on potential two games I want to talk about, and I couldn't care less about the Titans struggling. Um. What I what I do want to talk about is the Lions and the Jets, because let's take away for just two seconds the implications with the Packers. That is a winner, go home game for basically both of those teams. And the interesting part of this is it's in New York,

It's not in Detroit. It'll be very interesting to see how the Lions come out of the gate in this one. There two and three on the road this year, they've been okay, and they've already won a game in that stadium because they beat the Giants there a few weeks ago, so that that's an interesting too. It's a road game, but they're going back to a place they just played like a month ago. You want to talk about the Titans. Uh, the Giants suddenly have not won a game in a month.

It's it was it was a dominating the eight point victory over the one win Houston Texans. I mean it's been and if you look at these schedules, Mike, for both the Giants in the Commands, it is daunting on both sides of it. I think the Commanders still have what is it um Minnesota is still on their Philadelphia. Uh. The Giants I think still have to play San Francisco. I mean like it's it's interesting the way that somebody's got somebody's got Dallas too. I can look that up.

But but getting back to the Packers, let's just do that really quickly. As far as the Packers are concerned, Hey, Indianapolis Colts, you want to show up on Sunday knock off the Minnesota Vikings, go crazy, the Chicago Bears. If you can actually have a decent performance against the Philadelphia Eagles shocked the world. The more losses, and then the Jaguars against the Cowboys, and you know the way Jacksonville plays with Doug Peterson and Trevor Lawrence. You're never sure,

never can be too sure. The Packers is you and I have talked about and we kind of looked ahead to the week eighteen hourglass there. You want to keep that race as tight as possible between Philly and Dallas. You want to make sure that those teams are still playing for something. You want to make sure the Minnesota Vikings are still playing for something, because ultimately there are a lot of cross over there with these division champions slash wild card teams that are gonna have to get

shuffled out. The Packers need this thing to stay competitive, to the very end, and there's a lot of little competition and matchups this week to make that happen. Yeah, Um, I think um, I'll be curious to watch Miami taking on Buffalo with not only because of the potential of the weather factor, but because Miami is obviously green Bay's next opponent. They're coming off of a tough loss against the Chargers. Now they have a tough division road game.

Maybe they end up going into Christmas Day against Green Bay on on a bit of a losing streak and then everybody's suddenly questioning what's going on in Miami. You know, it'll it'll be interesting to see what what happens. But that's a that's a big matchup in the a f C East Buffalo and the Bills in the Dolphins. Yeah, and Miami has just been as talent as they are, and they and we're gonna next week from now we're gonna be talking about how dangerous to re kill is.

But I mean, they have been up and down throughout the course of this season. If I may, just to make sure we get all of our facts straight. The Giants here, they have the Commanders, then they play on Christmas Eve. They are at Minnesota, then they play Indianapolis. They have to travel then to Philadelphia. In the final week of the season. Over on Washington side of things, they get the New York Giants. They then travel to

San Francisco. On Christmas Eve, they post the Cleveland Browns and then they host the Dallas Cowboys in week eighteen. So a lot of competitive matchups there. Cleveland not looking so good right now. You know, maybe Joe Kobe de percent becomes the quarterback again, who knows, but it is what it is, and and for the Packers, you just have to hope again these last four games, you have to take care of business against the Rams and hope

a few more dominoes follow your way. Yeah, absolutely, well, it's it's about it's about one at a time, as it always is, but even more so with the situation the Packers are in right now. So with that we will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team, all kinds of content for you available on Packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike, Thank you for tuning, and everybody, we'll see you next time.