#737 Packers Unscripted: Back from the bye

but I don't feel as bad as I sound. I'm actually feeling pretty good.

And lo and behold what happens right after we discuss that possibility. A couple of backup quarterbacks with outstanding defenses behind them pull off the upsets, and the Browns knock off the Niners, the Jets knock off the Eagles. No one in the NFL in twenty twenty three now is unbeaten, and the Eagles in forty nine Ers may still meet again for the NFC Championship. But it just goes to

show you that it's a long season. Any given Sunday, all of those, all those cliches, it's a week to week le and that was quite an interesting week of NFL football, even though the Packers were not participating.

about teams that are considered like the leaders, the front runners. Unfortunately, they've also developed these patterns, and for San Francisco, they were done in by what has ultimately been one of the things that has stopped them from becoming a Super Bowl championship team, and that's injuries. Trent Williams goes out of that game, returns but still gets banged up. Christian McCaffrey gets dinged up at the end of the game, Deebo Samuel obviously has the shoulder injury ends up costing

me my fantasy game this week. We won't go into that though, please, But when you're playing a team like Cleveland that is as game as they are defensively, Oh yeah, the Browns defense is one of the more underrated units in the league considering how prolific they've actually been here as of late. And then the Jets man I just don't know what else you can say. Four takeaways. They won that game for their team, but they also did it by beating a five to zero football team who's

known for their offense explosion. Here the last couple seasons, the Jets are for real and unfortunately for them, the Aaron Rodgers injury happened. But my goodness, I mean that defense is going to keep them in a lot of ballgames.

Cleveland Browns. I did not realize this until I saw this statistic on Sunday night, and I actually put it in Monday Mornings Insider inbox when I was working on the column. The Cleveland Browns have allowed one thousand and two total yards through five games, which is like the third fewest yards allowed through five games, like all time, like ever in the NFL, And it's the fewest allowed through five games since like nineteen seventy one or something

like that. You know, over fifty years. What the Cleveland Browns are doing on defense? I tell you, I mean, it was it was a weekend I thought, for the most part, not in every instant, but for the most part, a weekend that was ruled by defenses in the NFL. We saw, I mean, and this is how backup quarterbacks can get surprise victories so to speak, right, can get upset victories. Is when is when defense is fined way to take over games and then it sort of becomes

anything goes down the stretch. You know, the forty nine ers still have a chance to kick a field goal win the game, but they miss it. The uh the Eagles still get the ball back at the end with a chance, right, but you know, the fourth down pass deep down the field, you know, double coverage gets knocked away.

There is a there's gonna be a lot of interesting activity here now that now that nobody's undefeated and the Lions are five and one now sitting sitting atop the NFC analysts are asking, are the Lions maybe the best team in the NFC. I don't know if I'd go quite that far just yet, because up until last Sunday, the Eagles in the forty nine ers look like they were in, you know, on another on another level so to speak.

quarterbacks and receivers always look to achieve. I mean, you're seeing the big play potential now that Jamison Williams is back, Jamiir Gibbs is going to be thrown into the fire potentially here he's been dealing with some of his own injuries. But if they're going to lose David Montgomery for a minute, that's the adjustment that's going to have to be made. But Mike I said it at the end of last year, and I said it in that regular season finale against

the Packers. Detroit's defense statistically was not very good last year, but they made a change in the second half of that season. They got better towards the end of that season, and they've just continued to get better. So now you're actually starting to see the statistics lining up with the way that they perform. And in every single way of

that game, they dictated what Baker Mayfield could do. In addition to the fact that Tampa Bay doesn't have a run game, they've really struggled on the ground, but they didn't allow Baker to pull off his magic to find a way to win that game. I just thought, when you look at Detroit and what constitutes being a good team, a double digit win team, a twelve win team, they played that style of football in this thing because they beat him in all three phases.

It was pure ball control passing. And yeah, the Lions didn't light up the scoreboard, but in not lighting up the scoreboard, they still completely controlled and dominated that game quite frankly, on both sides of the ball.

for the Packers. Now you're coming out of the bye, You've got twelve straight here before the end of the regular season. What is the I guess I would say the biggest area or the top of mind thing for you that you feel the Packers need to improve upon in order to get things going back in the right direction.

Insider Inbox. One of the only things that Denver's actually done pretty well up until last week against Kansas City was they put points on the board in the first quarter. They actually are outscoring teams forty one to thirty one in the first quarter, and that's not because they had like twenty four points in one first quarter. No, they

was just consistently putting up seven to fourteen points. The problem for Denver is they're the opposite of green Bay in that they have ten points in the third quarter. They just have not been able to sustain that throughout games. They've had injuries in turnovers kind of haunt them. For green Bay's standpoint, they've been one of the more productive teams in the National Football League in the second half,

particularly that third quarter. But it's making sure and you don't dig that hole early on, So how do you stop that. It comes back to sustaining drives offensively, It comes back to that initial first down. You go back to that opener against Chicago. It wasn't perfect. They got the ball at midfield because of a gutsy play by the Bears. Yeah, but it was how they took what basically was almost a turnover tight play and produce points off of it. That's one thing green Bay for the

last month is just really struggled to do. They have to find ways to come out of the gates and sustain a drive.

And I'll talk about a few more of those later on as well. So you can't win a game, You can't win a game, generally speaking, with a fast start in the NFL. But as you talked about, if you can, if you can come out of the gates with some production and at least keep pace, you get off to a decent start in a game, it just increases your

margin for air the rest of the way. What we've seen with the Packers, because they've gotten off touch such slow starts, is then you get into the second half, you're in comeback mode and your margin for error is

almost nil. Can't you can't you know, you can't make a mistake on offense where you cross midfield and then throw an interception because you're just too far behind you haven't made enough good things happen, the defense gets in a position where it can't allow one scoring drive, you know, in the second half, because the offense is too far behind. So a stronger start will increase this team's margin for air.

Because these games are not going to go perfectly. And I know we talk about the youth a lot and all of that, and the Packers are still working through a lot of that, but those things are going to continue to come up where it's not always going to look smooth, it's not always going to look perfect. But if you can put yourself in a position where you have a little bit more of a margin for air, then you have a chance at crunch time to make the plays that you need to make.

twenty six, twenty seven touches. That's when things started to rupture a little bit more. Green Bay has really struggled to generate those plays offensively. You know, you look at the time of possession. I threw this stat and insider inbox two in Matt Lafleur's first four years as Packers head coach, win or lose playoffs are now NFC Championship game or not making the playoffs. They've been a top five team in time of possession. Time of possession isn't

a b all end all stat. I will always say that, but it is an indication of overall efficiency. Yeah. Green Bay right now, I believe is in twenty eighth or twenty ninth. They just haven't won that phase. And it's because of not sustaining drives. It's because of you know,

some of the things that have happened defensively. Green Bay needs to get back to that, to the sort of the roots of this offense and what they do well because win or lose, that was what they always kind of were able to hang their hat on, is that we're gonna make you play defense. We're gonna make guys go out there and have to give energy every single time. We're gonna give our defense time to rest on the you know, on the other side of things, green Bay

struggled to find that. I think that partially has to do with some of the issues with the run game, but it also comes down to the situational football elements that Green Bay struggled with, not so much in the red area like last year, but in some of the early down stuff.

and all that. You have to You're not gonna be able to eliminate them, but you have to cut down on those negative plays that are putting you behind the chains and making it difficult to sustain those drives. But then the other thing I will say, and this really goes for both sides of the ball, is you have to make the plays that are there. You know, when you look at you know, why why are the Packers

two and three right now? Because all these games, you know, certainly the close ones, they always hinge on a couple of plays here or there. You know, you look at the Atlanta game and there were a couple of interceptions that were in guys hands that were dropped. There was a third and one on offense where the hole was there and it wasn't converted. You know, right before the final interception against the Raiders on that last drive, a couple of drop passes that could have moved the chains

and put the offense in a better position. Those are all plays that are there to be made, and you have to make them. When you're the team that makes them, your odds of winning go way up. When you let those opportunities get away, things shift, you know, to the opponent,

and their chances are the ones that rise. So the plays have been there for the Packers, and not to say that making those plays was going to guarantee some sort of a victory, but boy, their chances of winning those games, we're gonna go We're gonna go up dramatically. And I think if they just make more of those plays that are there, they put themselves in better positions.

justin Herbert kind of airmails. The pass just overthrows him, just standing in the pocket, not running. Ornything just overthrows him. It ends up. You know, Alan reaches out for it. Probably at the very least if he beats the safety it's going to be a touchdown, but at the very least it's going to be an explosive play, probably twenty twenty five yards. Alan misses him. You think about the difficulties that La had trying to move the ball against

that Dallas defense. If you hit that explosive difference in the ballgame. Conversely, Cowboys have probably one of their worst play call, no disrespect to Mike McCarthy, but probably one of their worst play calls of the entire game. Play is completely falling apart. They're trying to run like the screen game or something. Dak is under pressure. He fires off this pass that Tony Pollard. Pollard makes one cornerback miss and takes it up the field for sixty yards

or whatever. That that's the difference when you execute in areas of the game where you're not supposed to execute and you don't make the plays that are there to be made.

you gotta make it. And uh And I think the Packers have had those opportunities and I think they can. I think they they'll have the ability to generate more of those opportunities as these young players on offense continue to grow. The other thing I will say too, we don't really know exactly where the Packers are health wise right now. They were back for a post by week practice on Monday. Aaron Jones and Darnell Savage, having missed, slashed exited the previous game. They were back on the

on the practice field. Devandre Campbell Kuay Walker were not just yet. But the other thing I'll say too, And this echoes a little bit of what Matt Lafleur had said before the break, and it dovetails off of the point I just made if and when, Assuming the Packers are going to get Aaron Jones back at some point,

we hope it's this week, maybe it's not. Who knows, but Aaron Jones is not the is not the cure all fix all for everything because a lot of these things I was just talking about about making the plays that are there to be made, those have nothing to do with Aaron Jones being absent from from the ballgame. Those are plays that other guys can make. And yes, Aaron Jones reinsertion into this offense would be a huge boost.

It will definitely help a lot of things. But the mentality for the players, and I know that coaches certainly have this mentality as well, it can't be that Aaron Jones is just going to is going to fix everything because because this this this is the ultimate team sport, and the opportunities have been there for others as well.

It's how guys established themselves in these offenses. And you know, you go back to that final sequence and not to put on any one specific player, any specific phase, but there were opportunities to catch the football and they did not come up with them. So what ends up happening. Jordan Love has to do a little bit more heroics and it leads to an interception in an end zone.

We heard from a whole bunch of Packers assistant coaches on Monday after practice, we heard from the coordinators as well as the defensive assistance. Again, I'll just throw it out to you open ended. Anything that came out of those media sessions that sort of struck a chord or stuck in your mind that you heard from from one of the coaches about a particular player or something going on with the team right now.

some win back in their sales. That's been a big line that I've been pushing an inbox. I mean, I really think, I mean, you cannot take the Denver Broncos for granted whatsoever, but five and one one in five, the Packers just need to get a win. They need to get that feeling of what it's like to win again, because while while the New Orleans win was great and it felt awesome in that fourth quarter, you remember what it looked like the first three quarters until you had

that comeback. They got to go back to defeating opponent again like they did against the Bears. I think that can be a huge thing for them. The other aspect of it actually goes over to Ryan Downer in the safety position, because he was asked about Rudy Ford, and I thought, Rudy, when we're talking about guys that have capitalized on their opportunities, Rudy's probably one of the best examples of that so far. A lot of questions for

the Packers at the safety position. There was a wide open competition throughout the summer of who was going to line up next to Darnell Savage. Ford signed here after leaving Jacksonville last September. He signed here, duing part to the opportunity he was hoping to get on defense. We all knew everyone in the NFL saw what he could do as a gunner as a coverage player. He wanted to be able to show that I can my skills

on special teams can translate to defense. And all the dude has done in that time since is take advantage of that hasn't been perfect, but when you look at the PFF staff right now that he's leading the league and run stops, he has two more interceptions after back to back games, Packers have needed somebody to provide a lift here defensively, and I don't think it was a coincidence that one of the better overall defensive performances Green Bay got this season came after Rudy Ford was able

to capitalize on an interception. Hearing Downard talk about how this was a guy that has finally gotten his opportunity and capitalized on it, I think that is one of the when there's been injuries, when there's been opportunities, when you've looked for guys to step up, Rudy Ford has been one of those guys that I think has responded.

run support. The other thing that stood out to me, and we heard it from a couple of the of the defensive coaches is that, yes, of course they want to get Devandre Campbell and Kway Walker back in the middle of the defense as soon as possible, But the defensive play did not take some huge step back with Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson filling in at those inside linebacker spots, and I think that speaks to the preparation

of those guys. The I mean, Eric Wilson's you know, he's a long time you know, relative to what's on this Packers roster. He's a longtime veteran in this league. He's played a lot of football, and he, you know, he just stepped in and did his thing out there. He's kind of, you know, he's kind of an undersized you know, he's only about two hundred and thirty pounds. He's not not as you know, as big as a guy like Campbell or or Walker, but he's certainly willing

to throw his body around in there. And we've seen McDuffie making, you know, the progression that he's made since he came here as a six round pick out of Boston College. Packers want to get their starters back in there. But but that defensive performance against the Raiders, it held up in large part because of those guys stepping in, and I think I think some credit is due there.

That's the cat and mouse game that's played in the NFL Rasseul Douglas to me, has he's he was, you know, kind of that that turnover machine in some respects in twenty twenty one when he first got here and you know, was thrown into things and he was making, you know, getting these key interceptions. Then you know, he he settled in, did his thing last year. But I'm it feels like he is a he is almost a different player this

year than he was last year. There's something something about something about as approach, his swagger, just his his attitude, whatever you want to call it, that he looks a little bit different. Maybe he's just that much more comfortable in this defense now that he's had you know, a couple of training camps and all that to get ready. But really like what we're.

The Packers made a pretty pretty gutsy call there. They're gonna say we're gonna play sides. We're gonna have gay Air on the left, We're gonna play Rastul on the right, understanding that you're gonna see a lot of DeVante over there. And I thought he really competed well against I'm a guy that there is. It's a high wire act going against DeVante. Yeah, no, No, I thought he really succeeded.

We will see you next time.