#756 Packers Unscripted: In the hunt

the final score. And just when you thought maybe something would come easy for the Packers this year, a fourteen point lead with about eleven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Of course, the game comes right down to the wire, because that's just what this season has been a lot to talk about, a lot to dissect as far as how that all went down. But the bottom

line is the Packers got a victory. They are still alive in the NFC playoff hunt with two games to go, and yeah, this one, it would have been an ab slew crusher to let it get away, but fortunately the Packers did not.

I mean? And then you know, then the Crash is sitting there half in the bag as well, having a different approach everything. That's kind of what this game was in a lot of ways for the Green Bay Packers, because let's just boil it down to brass tacks. The Packers had to win this game, and they achieved that goal. Was not pretty. It was definitely ugly at times, but they went into another team's house and they got the victory they needed. So there is that we're talking about

meaningful Week seventeen football. They are in the same position right now as the Minnesota Vikings at seven and eight, trying to keep their playoff hopes alive. What impressed me this game was the first half. I thought offensively, green Bay did a lot of positive things. Aaron Jones back in the lineup and at a time in which they desperately needed him to perform without Jaden Reid, which kind

of caught me off guard. I just figured he would just keep pushing through and play through that toe injury. He's not able to go. Christian Watson isn't back, don Tavian Wicks leaves at halftime. You needed a playmaker like Aaron Jones to make plays defensively, kind of like the Tampa game without the takeaway. Played pretty well early on, they had an adverse situation where there was the roughing the kicker, roughing the punter. They had to come back.

They got another three and out. They were up twenty three to ten at halftime, and things were really going their way. But as we've talked about so many times, Mike, when second half, how things can change, how adjustments can be made. And what impressed me about this game is, unlike the Atlanta game earlier this season where the Packers let it get away and they didn't recover, green Bay

did recover. I thought that showed the growth of Jordan Love and thankfully for green Bay saved by the bell as you wrote an inbox, being able to ride this thing out for the victory.

are looking pretty good. The Packers extended that lead by three more points of the third quarter, you started to see the cracks in the defense though, when the Panthers put together a long drive I believe it was fourteen plays, took more than eight minutes off the clock in the third quarter, and you wondered if that would have an impact on the defense in the fourth quarter, And sure enough, it did, because the Panthers were able to put together the back to back touchdown drives at the same time

that a Packers offense that really had been humming along pretty well suddenly has back to back three and outs in the fourth quarter, and the momentum in this game just had completely flipped the other way. Bryce started, I mean, he just started rolling. He was having the game of his life. Quite frankly, as far as his rookie year in the NFL, he probably felt like he was back at Alabama the way he was running around and throwing

darts and everything else. What I liked about this game more than anything else was you said it the Atlanta game. I also think about the Vegas game and the Denver game, when the Packers offense needed to have a drive when it's back was against the wall, when all the momentum was pointing against the team and the offense had to respond. It did in this one. You had the big pass

to Romeo Dobbs on third and four. You had the really nice catch and run by Tyler sorry Tucker Craft on the pass over the middle that was threaded in between two defenders, and you're able to run the clock down all the way down to twenty two seconds. You kick the field goal. There's only nineteen seconds left on

the clock. The Packers offense. Everything seem to have flipped the other way in this game on both sides of the ball, and the offense answered the call and put together the drive that was needed, the type of drive that had been missing in other games throughout the course of the season.

seen from him this season. Yeah, there was not an inch to spare on either side of that ball, And credit to Kraft for bringing that one in because I mean, maybe it's a makeable kick yet you know Anders had made the fifty three yarder, but it's definitely bigger question mark if he doesn't get that reception, if they don't find a way to sneak their way into the red zone, make it really a chip shot. Jordan was exceptional And what more or can you say about his past to

don Tavian Wicks too. Again, similar to last week with Jayden Reid kind of seeing through the clutter and this guy is showing Mike when he can extend plays and get out of the pocket. How dangerous he can be. It is the number one trait that I look at with him that I see the shades of Aaron Rodgers and the influence of Aaron Rodgers, because he isn't just again like I said to you last week, it's not the Madden rollout. It's not just the Okay, I got the ball and now I'm gonna try to get away

from the pass rushers as quickly as possible. He is reading the field, he's going through his progressions, and he is allowing his playmakers to make plays for him. Don Tavian Wicks making a great catch on that to get off one of those early scores.

And I know Mattle Floyd talked about he was running out of gas a little bit at the end of the game, which is why you know, on a couple of those those three and outs in the fourth quarter. I think if jones tank hadn't been quite so close to empty, maybe the Packers were able to grind out and do something a little bit more on offense there.

But Jones with the twenty one carries one hundred and twenty seven yards also had an eight yard reception early in the game, so one hundred and thirty five yards from scrimmage. You can't overstate how important he is to the offense and how important he was to Jordan Love in a game where so many, so many of the other weapons were missing.

needing a response. The game is thirty to thirty. I looked at this game as something that Aaron Jones started in Romeo Dobbs finished in the first half eighty nine rushing yards for Jones only thirteen receiving yards one catch for Dobbs in the first half. Second half, he ends up having three more catches, finishes with seventy nine yards, gets a touchdown pass on kind of that quick out, that sprint out that kept the momentum going for them there.

But then the thirty six yard reception down the sideline. I know there was some controversy about it. I know Adam Thielen felt some type of way about it down in Carolina, But the fact of the matter is the longest catch of Romeo Dobbs' career and when the Packers. For as much as we've talked this season, Mike about rookies in unexpected contributions, guys stepping up at some point, if you're going to make a playoff push, you need

your stars, you need your stable, you need your constants. Yeah, and I don't think over the last two years there's probably any two bigger constants right now than Romeo Dobbs and Aaron Jones. That is your workhorse. That is where you go to. That for Jordan is where the experience comes from. Despite the fact Romeo's only twenty three it's the guys that have seen the most ball at this point.

And that's what impressed me about this game. For as many times as I've written in our sidebars and we've talked about these young guys who have stepped up, this game came back to the guys that have been around, that have been there, that have done that, and they made the plays when they need to be made.

the game. I think Carolina adjusted to that. Bryce Young started to get the ball out of his hands at a little bit Quicker also started to bolt the pocket a little bit sooner when he felt that pressure coming in. And I'll say this, you know we're not going to sit here and discuss whatever it is that Matt Lafleur is a value waiting in decisions that he's going to

going to ultimately make. But this was a good example, even though it was at the packers expense, and we've seen it at the Packers' expense over the last few weeks. There is no substitute for a player in this league getting a jolt of confidence, and we saw it from

Bryce Young. He is a rookie quarterback, number one overall pick, a team that that you know, by and larger shouldn't say a team because they've had a defense that's been pretty solid this year, but an offense in general that was in a rebuilding mode in Carolina, not an offense that's ready for a rookie quarterback to just step in and run things. So there, you know, have been all

kinds of struggles throughout the year. But once Bryce Young started feeling it, man, he I mean, whatever had happened in the previous fourteen games this season went right out the window because he'd looked like the Heisman Trophy winner. He'd looked like the number one overall pick. When guys, when guys get that, when guys get that jolt of confidence in this league, it's really you have to try to do something to take it away. You have to try to flip the momentum back. The Packers weren't able

to do that. Whether it's whether it's Baker Mayfield, who is an accomplished quarterback in this league, a guy who's gotten his team to the playoffs and won a playoff game and another stop in his career, then started hopping around to different teams. He started to get the he started to feel that level of confidence and he got rolling and the Packers weren't able to stop it. And

Bryce Young did the same thing. It took him to the fourth quarter for him, but once he started doing that, you know, fortunately the Panthers ran out of time on the final drive because if they'd been able to kick a field goal there wes I said it an insider inbox, it felt like that if they kicked the field goal and tie the game and it goes to overtime, it felt like the only way the Packers were going to win that game is to win the toss in overtime and go down and score a touchdown and not let

Bryce Young touch the ball again because the Packers just weren't stopping him.

for and feel confident in his throws with. And once he started making some tougher throws, that's when it seemed like in the second half things started to get easier for him. He started to make the things that are based more on getting the ball out, playing on time, seeing what green Bay's giving you, an adjusting to that. In the fourth quarter, he was nothing short of exceptional.

I think green Bay again, whatever the reason is, kind of fell back into those doldrums of way too much space, way too much uncontested catches and guys like Adam Feelin. I mean, dude, Adam Feelin Mike. I said it all last week. I've set it for two years now. The guy's well over thirty. Now. He is on the north side of this thing. The Minnesota Vikings clearly felt like they were ready to go another direction. I still think

he has a lot to give this game. Yeah, the one handed catch, the snag he had on the side that was able to bring up. What happened was Bryce Young started making plays and his receivers started making plays for him, and it no longer was okay. Well, they got DJ Shark and a bunch of old guys. It was no. I mean, they got some guys that are going to step up and play for him in Green Bay. As you said, that fourth quarter, so much of it's going to be on the defense. Understandably so because it

went right up to that final second. But I kind of took on a bunch of people in Insider inbox that were like, well, why is Matt Lafleur throwing the offense under the bus. There are a lot of people saying that, and it's like, well, the reason he did that is one, everybody has a part to play in this thing, and two they weren't. It was going back to early season Packers football, where it was the defense was having these long sustained drives, opposing team was scoring,

and then the Packers went three and out twice. You have to be able to lift up the other phases of this thing. We'll see what this defense looks like on Sunday. We have a lot of previewing to do Mike and our content. But Nick Mallins just threw four interceptions. The Minnesota Vikings aren't saying who their quarterback's going to be, right the Grimmitt Packers, there's a very easy, clear blueprint for what needs to happen here if things are going

to turn around. I think it gets back to taking away the football, which they just have not been doing lately.

matters is what you do in the fourth quarter. Now, you can lose a game in the first three quarters. You can play badly enough to lose one. It's very hard to win a game in the first three quarters. And the offense, for all the good that they had done, the way the game unfolded and how you have to perform at crunch time, the offense didn't get it done until the final drive when they had to have it, and they did get it. And that's what you hang your hat on in this game. And then you learn

from what went wrong. On the back to back three and outs that stalled what had been a really, really impressive and productive offensive day against a pretty darn good defense.

When Carolina got the ball to forty, that's where their scoring started. So when you talk about complimentary football in all three phases, serving as one, the Panthers did it terrifically brilliantly in that fourth quarter, But in the totality of a game, Green Bay did it longer and more consistently, and as ugly as it looked at times, the Packers did do what it took to win that football game.

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Where things sit right now in the NFC. Don't look now, but the Detroit Lions not only won their first Division championship in thirty years, they are tied with two other teams, that being the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco forty nine ers at eleven and four in the race for the number one seed and the only playoff buy that comes with it. Those three squads eleven and four with

two weeks to go. As far as the wild card situation goes, right now, you have the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks both at eight and seven, sitting in the six and seventh spots, and then a quartette of teams the Packers, Vikings, Saints, and Falcons, all at seven and eight, one game behind those six and seven spots with two games left to play. And I know there's all kinds of math and various scenarios that could unfold over these last two weeks because nothing is a given.

But for my money, Wes, and I know gambling is illegal at Bushwood, but for my money, the Packers against the Vikings on Sunday night is an elimination game. The loser, it's you know, it's lottery ticket time at that point. If you lose this game and get your ninth loss, with everything else that's swirling around in these two wild

card spots, you are barely hanging on, if at all. Essentially, the winner Sunday Night in Minneapolis between the Packers and the Vikings will still be very much alive, and the loser is pretty much packing its bags.

out back to back games. And you know, credit to Seattle because they've been on a losing streak and all of a sudden, they are the crunch time team when they've got the ball last, and they've gotten two wins that both games they were on the verge of losing, but they got two wins and they are at eight and seven along with the Rams. So that's where, you know, the idea of finishing eight to nine and maybe sneaking into the playoffs has pretty much gone out the window.

can do is worry about nine wins. They can get to eight this Sunday night, you beat the Vikings, and you could talk about that conversation for nine. I would rather, to be perfectly honest with you, the Green Bay Packers go nine and eight and take care of business and miss the playoffs. Then whatever that was at the end of last season where the entire table fell to Green Bay. But then they.

were in last year. Detroit did not make the playoffs after they beat green Bay here, But if you go listen to that locker room afterwards, you listen to Dan Campbell, you'd have thought they just won the Super Bowl. Green Bay needs to keep building because this is bigger than

just this season. But that's why I think, more than any other year I've covered, I'm just so locked into what green Bay situation is and then just once that situation's over with, seeing where all the rest of the chips have fallen.

to get to nine and eight. Then the second thing is the help that they need, and what they need is the Rams to lose one more, the Seahawks to lose one more, the Falcons to lose one more, but they only need two of those three things to happen. So Rams Seahawks, Falcons two of those three with two victories to get to nine and eight, and the Packers should be grabbing a wild card spot. That's the simplest way to just sort of bake it into your mind

as far as far as going into things here. And of course the interesting part is with the Packers and the Vikings playing on Sunday night, all of this, you know, all the scoreboard watching will be, you know, going on on Sunday afternoon. You know what happens in the Rams game, what happens in the Seahawks game, what happens in the Falcons game. And so we'll just see where things are when the Packers kick the ball off. But the bottom

line is the Packers go. You need to win Sunday night in Minneapolis to stay in this hunt.

right because of how the season's gone. You can make an argument that Green Bay has really lost to one bad team with that being, in my opinion, the New York Giants. They lost to Denver when they only had one win. They lost to Vegas when they had Josh McDaniels as their head coach. But all these teams have been like five hundred type teams.

on Thursday. Yeah, that begins with the Minnesota likings.

Now they have to face the Miami Dolphins, who are coming off of a big win of their own at home against the Dallas Cowboys last week. And but boy, I just you know, Baltimore Ravens are nine to one in their last ten games. Their only loss in that stretch is a two point loss to the Cleveland Browns, a team that is certainly no slouch out there as well.

And I just I couldn't be more impressed because a lot of people thought, when you know, Mark Andrews goes down with terrible injury, a lot of people, oh, what's that going to do to, you know, to the Ravens offense and all this, Well it had, you know, no offense to Mark Andrews. It hasn't affected them a whole heck of a lot. And that's a credit to jarn hark Ball, credit to the rest of those guys. The Baltimore Ravens right now are looking like the team to beat in the NFL.

Ravens are an incredibly fun team to watch. And I'll be honest with you, Mike, That's why originally I was wondering whether or not the Sunday Night game would actually get played with the Packers and Vikings or if they get flexed out of it just because of Baltimore.

have those two objects really colliding here. There's been so many of these AFC matchups where I was like, boy, this could be a potential you know, AFC.