Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted colleague West and Hodkowitz. We're coming to you hear from our studios at lambeau Field and the Packers are getting set for a week two trip to Atlanta. It will be a Sunday noon Central Time kickoff against the Falcons and West. This is a Falcons team that there's some excitement brewing down there, not just because they're
want to know. I actually did read that at one to oh. This is the first time the Atlanta Falcons have been above five hundred since twenty seventeen, was the year after they went to the Super Bowl, So there is some excitement brewing in Atlanta. They have a young quarterback in Desmond Ritter. They have a young backfield duo and Tyler Algier and first round draft pick b Genre Robinson.
They spent big in free agency to get safety Jesse Bates from the Cincinnati Bengals, who made an immediate impact in his first game and a major impact in his first game for the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta likes what they've got going down there. And this is going to be a very different and very interesting matchup for the Packers compared to Week one.
Well, and don't look now, but you know you got Patterson coming back now too, That's right. You know he had the thigh injury miss last week. He was a full participant on Wednesday, the three headed monster. And you know what stood out to me most in that week three win Week one win, excuse me getting too far out of myself, was the fact that the parallels between Green Bay and Atlanta and how they won those football games. Right. You know, Jordan Love made a few more plays through
the air than Desmond Ridder did. Yeah, but they both played mistake free football and in a certain amount, they both kind of took it to their opposition. For Atlanta, I thought one of the things that was really salient point that guys talked about in the locker room was the fact that, you know, this football team, the way that they're built. Yes, they're in this quote unquote rebuilding mode, but they've drafted a lot of these guys into their scheme.
And it's something that even the assistant coaches last night, we're talking about on Wednesday, the fact that you know, the offensive side of the ball. They have studs everywhere. They've built out their offensive line. They have three good running backs that they can all build off of. You know, you look at the tight end situation with Kyle Pitts and you know, all these weapons that they have Drake London,
they've kind of fortified the whole thing. They just got to figure out if Desmond Ritter can be the guy that drives this car. But last week, if you win the turnover margin three to nothing and you kind of take it to a team and control the tempo of a game like they did against Carolina, that's the recipe for success in the National Football League.
Yeah, you said it. With regard to the way both the Packers and the Falcons won, the two teams combined to go plus five yeh turnovers. The Packers won two zero in the turnover battle, the Falcons won three zero and Jesse Bates. That three zero was all thanks to Jesse Bates. He had two interceptions, he had a forced fumble.
Those three turnovers led directly to Atlanta's first seventeen points in the game in a game that they win twenty four to ten, and they were actually losing ten to seven in the third quarter when Baits got his second and his third takeaway that led to ten points and then the Falcons were up seventeen to ten and then added a touchdown late to put it away. Reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week, they couldn't have asked more in one game from the big free agent investment that
they made on the defensive side of the ball. And Jordan Love was talking about it after practice on Wednesday, that Baits, you know, he makes his plays. You know, he plays what they call the post or the deep center field at safety, and he makes his plays by you know, reading the quarterback's eyes for a young quarterback, you know Jordan Love, and last week it was a rookie making his first start, Bryce Young for the Carolina Panthers going up against this Falcons defense. This is a
game that's going to test Jordan Love's eye discipline. You know, we've seen on the film how he made some throws last week where you know he is he's trying to look off defenders and then throw the other way. These are the kinds of things that you learn in the NFL when you can sit for a few years, and
certainly behind a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers. It's going to be a test for Jordan Love in that area because if he gives anything away with his eyes, Jesse Bates is going to be there and to try and to try to jump the pass.
Much better football team overall is what they're seeing this week. You know, that was a great start against Chicago, but I think you listed everybody on Wednesday in the locker room. Nobody's resting on their laurels going into this one because they understand the threat on both sides of the ball. Looking at Baits, I mean, the Packers have seen him before. AJ Dillon even talked about in the locker room being hit by him before when they played Cincinnati. I was
trying to get an end zone. The kid brings it on every single play and he gave them sort of a veteran edge that I think this secondary really needed. AJ Terrell is probably one of the better corners in this league that nobody talks about. You saw some of I don't know if you've checked it out, but like some of the PFF stats, I mean, this guy is one of the best cover corners in the league. But again, kind of like the situation the Packers were in last
year in Miami. There's a couple of these corners that if they're not flashy and they don't really put themselves out there, you don't hear a lot about them. But Butterrell's not a guy that you can, you know, really look past. Either. Jeff Akuda could potentially be back in this game. You want to talk about hungry guys that have something to prove, you know, He's probably stands chief among.
That list redemption story if there ever was one. Yeah.
And then up front, I mean it's your typical Calias Campbell, you know, with Grady Jared, I mean, just the guys that have been hallmarks in this league of defensive excellence for years.
Bud just like Campbell kind of established him self elsewhere. Now you know, a veteran that's been brought in for this Atlanta Falcons defense. As they they've put some pieces you mentioned how they you know, offensively, especially in the offensive line. They've drafted all these guys defensively, they've kind of put things together through free agency and picking guys up, and they're trying to, you know, to piece it all together and see what they have.
Yeah, and that's gonna be where it all comes down to and seeing what Green Bay can do and if they can win in the same way as they won against the Chicago Bears. But Mike, I will bring it back to the beginning. You're not gonna see a Justin Fields type runner this week. But it's going to be
about staying disciplined against this this multifaceted offense. I wish I could remember which guy talked about it, but just looking around and seeing first round pick, first round pick, the amount of resources that they've invested on the offensive side of the ball, Now that's gonna be a key because even I wrote about this an insider inbox. Guys, they're gonna see it here in a couple of weeks with Gibbs, and they're gonna see it in this game
with Jan Robinson. But when these guys figure out the full gamut of being a running back, they're gonna be difficult to deal with and it's gonna be tough to get them off the field. Green Bay needs to make him look like a rookie in the areas in which he's growing, and then when he has the ball in his hands in space, whether it's as a pass catch or a runner, hats to the ball again and making sure that they get him down. Yeah.
Well, in that backfield you have Tyler Algier, who is a thousand yard rusher, Like.
Why it a thousand yard season? I think I've ever heard. Yeah.
Absolutely, And he was just a rookie last year doing that, so he's a second year running back. Then they spend the number eight overall pick in the draft on Bijon Robinson and just the highlights from week one and Matt
Lafleur talked about it too. He makes guys miss, He's tough to tackle, and you know, it's one of those things that much like we talked about with Justin Fields last week, you have to have everybody rallying to the ball when he's got it because there is a good chance he's gonna make the first guy miss, and you have to have other guys there to help clean it up so that a mistackle doesn't rupture into a big play. A mistackle just means maybe a couple of extra yards.
Those are the things that will that'll make the difference in this game. And it's interesting because as much as Jordan Love posted one hundred and twenty three passer rating, Desmond Ritter posted one hundred and eleven passer rating, and those were the two highest passer ratings in the NFL in Week one. I think this game is going to come down to the to the ground games for both teams.
With what with what the Falcons want to do, and as you mentioned, getting Cordrell Patterson back from injury, if you can call a you know, six four, two and twenty pound guy a change up running back, but that's what he is, That's what he is in this offense because of because of how the style of runner that those those other guys are. And then with the Packers,
we'll see what happens with Aaron Jones. He missed practice on Wednesday with the hamstring, and and you know the Packers that elevated Patrick Taylor from the practice squad to be the number three running back in the game last week. But I think there's gonna be a lot on both sides that that's going to be predicated on the running
game here. And I'm not saying that the Packers necessarily have to outrush the Falcons in order to win this game, but when you see that the Carolina Panthers rushed for one hundred and fifty four yards against the Falcons. You got to be you have to find a way to do some of the things that they did in terms of the way they move the ball, but then obviously protect the football because the turnovers is what killed Carolina.
Yeah, and that's where Bryce Young got into trouble at that game, obviously the fumble as well. Corterill Patterson. I have so much respect for this guy. The fact that he's in now, what year eleven in the National Football League. I mean, we saw him in Minnesota. We saw how dynamic of a kickoff returner it could be, but he couldn't find his footing as a receiver. He resurfaces, he bounces around, he gets to Atlanta, and they kind of
opened up Pandora's box a little bit. And now if they call it the joker position, whatever they're referring to him as now, I think with Robinson there, with Elgier did last year, that only makes him more dangerous. And again I was taken aback when I saw that injury port. I was like, Okay, he's back at practice. It's like, oh no, he's a full participant. It's like, okay, well
that's a little bit of a game changer here. So Yeah, but at the end of the day, as I wrote in our Insider Inbox column, it's going to come down to that turnover margin in which team breaks the other team's sort of streak here to start the season. You know, it's making Ridder make mistakes. Ridder got to play a very basic football game against Carolina thanks to the takeaways,
thanks to his weapons that he had around him. Making sure that you can actually make him be more of a passer, make him try to make plays beyond ten yards downfield. And from Green Bay's perspective, it's taking all the things they did well against Chicago and trying to elevate them now against the Felcons team that feels like it has a lot to prove this season. Yeah.
Absolutely, Oh, I want to get to a few more keys to victory from our perspective, but I'll take care of some sponsor business first. Serious XM NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need twenty four to seven, three sixty five. And at Cousin Subbs, we have something for everyone like oursts and cheese, curds, mac and cheese, golden fries and creamy shakes all paired with your favorite sub
or sub in a bowl. Cousin subs fifty years of better, all right. So we talked about the turnovers, We talked about the ground game for both teams, anything else that stands out to you that you would put on the list of the keys to victory for Green Bay.
I want to expand a little bit more on Aaron Jones because at this time in which we're taping this before practice on Thursday, we're not sure what's going to happen there. He did not go on Wednesday. Yeah, but Mike, he touched the ball eleven times last week and he produced one hundred and twenty seven yards. Ninety seven of those came in I think it was ninety seven was a one O. Three came in the third quarter. Basically two series against the Bears last Sunday, he made.
The two biggest plays of the game offensively, the throwback the throwback screen for fifty plus yards and then obviously was the receiver on the choice route on fourth and three that not only turned into a huge conversion but a huge thirty five yard touchdown. Those are the two biggest plays of the game offensively.
They really were Mike, and that was without one of the top playmakers and Christian Watson. So let's see how this week goes now Watson also not practicing yet. Are they going to have one? Could they have either, may not have both? Everything kind of changes on its access based on that. Now, Matt Lafleura, the coaching staff probably has a decent idea of what their availability is going to be. At this point, they'll be able to make
a game plan work no matter what. But if you don't have him, then it goes back to aj Dillon, it goes back to a guy like Emmanuel Wilson, possibly Patrick Taylor who came up last week. It becomes who's the next man up there that can help them make plays? And from a receiving perspective, Mike, you know you and I talked right before the show began. The Packers had the youngest team in the National Football League in Week one, twenty five point one to three average years age. Just
a remarkable shift obviously in one year's time. Well, you want to use that youth, you want to use that that upside, I mean, and Jayden Reid showed you that, Luke Musgrave, did you realize that stat that I think Josh Blank from the NFL put out Luke Musgrave's fifty yards relatively modest, you know output in that game. Fifty yards was the most receiving yards by a rookie tight
end in four years. C J. Hockinson, who had like one hundred and twenty one yards is his debut in Detroit, but fifty yards just give you a reminder that's uncommon for rookies to be able to contribute in that way. Now, obviously a chunk of that yardage came off of that broken play on Chicago's behalf, but you have to make the plays that are out there, and the Packers are going to have to rely on those guys. If Aaron Jones is available, fantastic. I would be surprised if he's
playing thirty snaps or thirty you know, touches. But you have to prepare like you have a team that is built to excel in different ways. And I think as good as that game plan was for the Chicago Bears, packers aren't have to come up with something potentially completely opposite now for Atlanta.
Yeah, and the other thing that I that I think I want to touch on here too, and it's just it's a repeat of what I brought up last week defensively, and it comes down to the tackling. And we talked about it so much with Justin Fields, and yes it was it was frustrating that Fields escaped so many sacks and all this kind of stuff. Right, But but that's what he does. I mean that, that's that's what that's what makes him the dynamic player that he is. And and it's it's not easy to bring him down. It's
not he's easy to sack him. And as I said before, now you have a guy like Bijon Robinson who is extremely quick and shifty at breaking tackles. And if Corduoll Patterson is in the mix, that's a power guy that is tough to that is tough to bring down with one player. And and there are going there are going to be mistackles. It happens. You know, the guys on the offensive side of the ball are paid not to get tackle. That's part of the game, right. But I
think that you know the differences. Does a mistackle become an explosive play or or do you have the guys there to still limit the damage when somebody misses the tackle.
And that's the thing to watch defensively, because Matt Lafleuris has has talked all preseason long, through the preseason games, you know, the play style and the aggressiveness on defense, and the aggressiveness is not just about it's not just about getting in guys' faces, you know, on the perimeter at the line of scrimmage to play bump and run, and you know, it's not just about blitzing or whatever. It's about the pursuit. It's about the way guys go
after the ball carrier collectively. And if the Packers can continue that kind of play style, that's how when there is a mistackle, it doesn't end up becoming a big backbreaking play. And if the Packers defense can continue that style and limit the mistackles and you know, take advantage of the opportunities that are there to get those guys on the ground, then I think you turn it over to Desmond Ritter and can this young quarterback beat your
young quarterback? And that might be what the game comes down to in the fourth.
Quart I absolutely love the physicality with which the Packers defense played against Chicago, because you're right, it is about the ball carry, but let's not even look at the ball carry. Let's look at where the ball is going. You think about that end zone play, that red zone play where I mean the Bears kind of telegraph what they were trying to do with Cole Comet. Comet goes to the end zone basically, you know, initiates the contact with Rasoul Douglas, and Douglas doesn't back down, He stays
right with him, he ends up block. You know, having a pass disruption there sort of neutralizes the only real threat that the Bears had towards the Green Bay end zone that entire game, until, of course, the mop up duty late. You have to be able to do that, and you know, with jyr Alexander, Rasoul Douglas and Darnell Savage, I thought I had a heck of a game that probably didn't draw a lot of headlines. But I mean ten to eleven tackles and a TfL for negative seven yards.
I said it to you in the press box, Mike, a negative seven yard TfL off a screen on first down is as good as a sack. Yeah, it doesn't get that little one next to your name on the sack column, but that's a huge play. And the Packers had defenders that were routinely making those plays against Chicago. They have to keep them coming against the Falcons.
Yeah. Absolutely. The I think the other thing that will be interesting here because this is this is such an intriguing matchup and last week's game, you know, with the big plays by Aaron Jones and then the pick six
by kway Walker. You know, the Packers turn this turn turn that game into a runaway if this one, if this one comes down to you know, late in the fourth quarter, you've got two very young quarterbacks trying to feel their way which one is going to be able to execute, to make the plays, to to do the things in a you know, whether it's in a in a four minute offense situation or a two minute drill
type of situation in order to get something done. The other thing that I think will be really intriguing to watch in this game is Rashaan Gary. He only played twelve snaps against the Bears. Ten of those were pass rush snaps, and statistically, he was credited with seven quarterback
pressures in ten snaps. Now, of course, you know when wind wise, you know, conditioning wise, you're not getting tired at all because you're only playing twelve snaps over the course of a game, you know, you're your your percentage you know likely will be higher. But seven pressures in
in ten pass rush snaps, like that's insane. And I mean, we'll see, we'll see where exactly where Shaun Gary's you know, quote unquote pitch count will be now in his second game back, and how the Packers want to handle that. They certainly rotated all those guys defensively, upfront, defensive lineman, the edge rushers. There was a big time rotation going on even before you know, the the the late in the game, when when the when things were out of
reach for Chicago. But but I mean, if you know, if Rashaun Gary goes from playing say twelve snaps to thirty snaps, how big of an impact might he have on on this football game? With the way he looked coming back in Week one, It's it's kind of scary to think about.
It is the only I will say. And again this is just to keep expectations modest. They're going into Mercedes Benz Stadium, They're gonna deal with the artificial turf. I would be I would be surprised if it goes above twenty this week. Yet I could see that being the case when they get back to Green Bay finally on their own their own Turf's good point. But that being said, Mike, I don't recall anybody who did more with fewer snaps
than what Rashan Gary did. And I was so happy to see the NFL actually gave him credit for that pass deflection when they readjusted their statistics on WEDNESDA.
Yeah you got Yeah, you got credit because.
He deserved it.
He broke up that pass. Yeah, he broke up the play.
And the fact is is that for a guy to come out and accept the role that he's been given with the understanding of hey, Rashan, we got to get through seventeen games. You know, we want you to get paid like everybody else we want we want to see the big picture here. Though, because I wrote about it last week, Mike, this defense is different when Rashan Gary is out there. There's a swagger about it. There's a confidence.
And one thing that Matt Lafleur touchdown that you also did too a couple of minutes ago, and it was something I asked Jason Rebervich, the Packers outside linebackers coach passed for a specialist on Thursday or Wednesday. Excuse me, the rotation that they had. Yeah, Preston Smith played about fifty percent of the defensive snaps. That's never happened, at least when he's healthy.
Yeah, he's been up in the more eighty percent range in most games since since he's been here with Green Bay.
And they're willing to live with some of the mistakes that come with that. Lucas Vennis isn't going to play completely clean football, but you saw what he can add with his speed and his athleticism. You saw with Justin Hollins, the veteran savviness. You touched on it, you know, with what you might have missed. I mean things that these guys do. To have four pass rushers all have over twenty five snaps, and we're not even talking about Rashaan Gary.
That's what gives me a lot of excitement here about what they can do. Last week, Justin Field's tough guy to bring down. Very interested to see if you know, guys like DeVante Wyatt and Rashaun Gary can get separation from their man and go up against a guy like Desmond Ritter, what they could possibly do with those opportunities.
Yeah, it's going to be It's definitely going to be interesting to watch. A couple other things to touch on before we go. First off, I want to get your thoughts on a couple of other Week two games, but I'd be remiss because I've mentioned it so many times in Insider Inbox. One of the things that really excites me about this game is I went to the Atlanta Falcons website this week and they changed like their background
to like the red helmets. They're going to be wearing the red helmets, I think on Sunday, like the ones from my childhood. I absolutely love that helmet. I really wish the Falcons had never gone away from it in the first place. It's like that red helmet with the black bird on it. I just I always, I always love that as a kid, and I'm actually going to get to see it live and in person here in Atlanta on Sunday. I'm fired up, am ready.
There aren't a lot of things that actually show our generational differences, but this is one of them. Because You're absolutely right, it's a sweet look. But for me, I was a Michael Vick kid. Yeah, So like when I think of the Falcons. I think of just jet black, those black uniforms with a little you know, red tint, because that was Michael Vick running all over everybody for a few years. So I'm always I'm partial to that.
But that being said, it is a good look, and obviously it's it's always neat when you get the alternate uniforms, whether it's Green Bay or the opposing team. We add a different, little little extra flair to a matchup.
Is always yeah, a little more, a little more spice, a little more visual to what's going on. Week two, I think a big game a lot of a lot of NFL fans in general, but certainly Packers fans will be paying attention to the Thursday night matchup. The Minnesota
Vikings have an awfully tough task. They lose at home in Week one to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a game that everybody expected them to win, they did not, And now they have the quick turnaround on the road at Philadelphia, playing the defending NFC champions in a primetime matchup and the Vikings trying to avoid an zero to two start. And then the flip side of it is the Detroit Lions. They're back at home now in week two, they're playing a Seattle team that lost at home in Week one
and the Detroit Lions. While Seattle's looking to avoid zero to two, the Detroit Lions much like the Packers looking to start two and oh, and I think just you'd be really interesting to see where everything is in the NFC North after two games here.
So last week we had the Bears loss against Green Bay, and then you had the Giants kind of getting just ran out of the building against.
The Dallas Cowboys, putting it mildly, putting it mildly.
But if it wouldn't have been for that, just speaking strictly on the field, not the Aaron Rodgers thing, and the Jets actually winning that game, the Seattle Seahawks completely lay an egg against the La Rams at home at home. And now you got a team that a lot of people was expecting to be playoff contender top of that division. Now they got questions to answer right off the bat.
Yeah, a lot of folks were thinking that Seattle is really the only team in the NFC West that was going to challenged the San Francisco forty nine ers for that division title. And they lose a division game at home in Week one two, a Rams team that was miles away from the playoffs last ye Yeah.
And again it was close early on, but it did not end that way. And then for the Philadelphia Eagles, one reason I'm excited to watch this game at the time in which we're taping this tonight is because of Jaalen Carter and the fact that this young man. I mean, there's a lot going on there. We know what happened with the draft and everything, but he's a wrecking ball and that was already a really tough, physical Philadelphia Eagles defense.
I'm excited to see what he does against a Minnesota interior offensive line that hasn't been perennially known as one of the best in the National Football League.
Well, and the Vikings are dealing with injuries up front. Their center Garrett Bradbury's already been ruled out for this game, and then at tackle Christian Darrisaw it sounds like he's been listed as questionable I think with his injury. So the Vikings might be down two starters on the offensive line on a short week on the road against a team like philadelph and they're trying to avoid starting h
to two. It's a huge, huge task in front of the Minnesota Vikings Thursday night to get a win and get in the win column in twenty twenty three.
Yeah. And then obviously for Philadelphia's standpoint, Jalen Hurts going back into that stadium, I mean, there's gonna be a lot of positive vibes. I know they came up short, but they still got high expectations for this year. That Eagles fan base is gonna be revan ready to go.
Yeah. I know we don't talk too much about AFC games a lot, but I just want to say I think the game of the week in the NFL this week is one that we're not gonna be able to watch because it's gonna be going on at the same time as Packers Falcons. But Kansas City at Jacksonville, my friend,
the Chiefs. They start out OH to one Jacksonville, who was eliminated from the playoffs by the Chiefs last year, and you know, they've got Trevor Lawrence and Doug Peterson's got everything going in the right direction in Jacksonville, and Kansas City has to go down there to try to avoid an OH and to start for the defending champs.
I think that's gonna be a really intrigue game. I'm definitely going to catch the highlights of that one when I have a chance, maybe on the plane on the way back from Atlanta.
We gotta go, we gotta get, gotta get move in here. But I want to ask you this quick, because you knew him a little bit. Was there ever a team we talked about being a quarterback away where I was talking earlier about being like Christian McCaffrey away with like
the San Francisco forty nine ers. Yeah, was there ever a team that you think was more of a coach away just in terms of getting the ship righted than Jacksonville was with Doug Peterson because we talked so much about him with Trevor Lawrence, right, and Lawrence is starting to realize his potential underneath the learning tree of Doug Peterson. But just the way that that team has played for
the last year and a half. Now, they're competitive, and when they go up against a team like Kansas City, the defending Super Bowl champion, they're going to be focused more on the fact that, yeah, they lost last week. They're gonna be disappointed and they're gonna come out hungry
in guns of blazon. Doug Peterson. I just you cannot say enough of what that guy has done there and just changing that culture, and very quickly they went from a laughing stock in the National Football League within the last what four hundred days to be in a team now that nobody wants to mess with.
Yeah, and a team that came back from what was a twenty seven to nothing in a playoff game. I mean that that team, I'm telling you, they absolutely believe they are going to win every single game. And when you come back in a playoff game from twenty seven to nothing, it doesn't matter what the score at halftime is, They're gonna come out and believe that they're going to
beat you. That is the culture that Doug Peterson has instilled there, and they have the quarterback that gives everybody the belief that it's not just a bunch of happy talk.
So well, by the way, Kelvin Ridley too, is still a pretty darn good receiver.
Yeah yeah, he can. He can play.
Thankfully, the Packers don't have to see him this weekend.
Yeah yeah, he's not in Atlanta anymore. So Packers have certainly other guys that they have to deal with and it'll be fun to watch on Sunday. So with that, we'll call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscript, but be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and we will have everything for you from Atlanta on Sunday for the Week two matchup. It's all there on packers dot com for Wes, I'm Mike, thank you for tune and everybody, we will see you next time. M HM.