#758 Packers Unscripted: Big win, bigger game awaits

And the bottom line is this. The Packers have gotten themselves to eight and eight. They are in a position where it is win to get in to the postseason. And when this team was two and five, when this team was three and six, when this team was six and eight, this situation is the best you could possibly ask for. That the Packers got themselves back in the race, they got the help they needed, and now it's in their hands.

the Carolina Panthers in the locker room. He mentioned how they all count the same and you have to keep yourself alive. Green Bay did. That was not their best performance in Carolina, but conversely to some of their poorer performances this season, they got the win and how quickly things can change over a one week span of time.

They going into US Bank Stadium and Michael if I would have closed my eyes at several moments of that game, other than the fact that there was tons of fans around me with the open air press box, in some ways almost felt like a game at lambeau Field. Yeah, the energy in there after the first quarter, The way the Packers performed probably pound for pound, the best game

Green Bay has played this season. It was not perfect, but when you look at how efficient the offense was fourner and seventy yards, you look at the defense getting two takeaways in the first half and converting those into thirteen points. I felt like the Green Bay Packers made a statement that we are very much still alive in this thing, and with getting a little bit of help from the Pittsburgh Steelers, now are in control their own destiny. Yeah.

the Bears. And then, as we talked about last week, you're thinking the Rams and the Buccaneers are the two teams really on the rise here in the end, and the Buccaneers completely fall flat in a big division game for them, and the Rams nearly get beat on the road against a Giants team, a Giants team that beat the Packers about a month ago, and and the Rams would have lost that game if a former Packers kicker, Mason Crosby had been able to make a kick, or

if the Giants could have just gotten him a little bit closer instead, of leaving him with a fifty four yarder. But all that aside, this game against the Vikings really, for me, it just it showed that Jordan Love is not done taking steps forward. I thought he, you know, for the venue, you know, primetime, under the lights, what was at stake for the Packers. I thought Jordan Love

was absolutely outstanding in this game. I mean he still, yes, he had a couple of throws he would like to have back, you always do, but one hundred and twenty five passer rating, three touchdowns. I believe now his passer rating over the last seven games is approaching one hundred and ten. It's like one away or one o nine, something like that. And he was absolutely masterful in this game.

And actually, my what you might have Missed piece that is now up on the Packers' website has a handful of clips of just of how Jordan Love was getting all the information you needed at the line of scrimmage, getting you know, the right protection calls and everything to

set everything up for the Packers to succeed. And it just it felt like maybe other than you know, the missed fourth and one throw to bow Melton, which was really really close, it felt like after the initial three and out in this game, the Packers offense was just in a rhythm and wasn't going to be stopped.

he made? And particularly you know, I wrote that story last week about the goal to goal situations and the way that he commands the line of scrimmage when there's points on the line is probably something that I think has really impressed me this year. Him having thirty touchdown passes thirty four scores on the season. That's not an anomaly. This guy knows how to put points on the board.

And in a game like this against the Minnesota Vikings, who were starting a rookie fifth round pick at quarterback, Jordan Love really did look like the veteran and his team played like that.

struggles early. But now that Jordan Love has hit his stride and really gotten this offense into a groove, you know, it didn't matter that Dontavian Wicks was a late scratch. You know, they were hoping maybe he'd be available, but then he wasn't. You know, Christian Watson's been out for multiple weeks now. Jaden Reid has been in and out of the lineup with injuries. Luke Musgrave the Packers are still maybe hoping to get him back, but he's not

back yet. It hasn't mattered because Jordan Love makes it work with whoever whoever's out there. Read before he had to leave the game at halftime with what appears to be kind of a recurrence of the chest injury or something got reaggravated there. He catches two touchdowns. He breaks Sterling Sharp's rookie record for receptions, a record that had stood around here for thirty five years. Bo Melton thrice elevated now from the practice squad to the active roster,

and now he's been signed to the active roster. He becomes the first Packers receiver with a one hundred yard game, catches the deep shot from Sean Clifford at the end there to get over one hundred, and then the little engine that could, so to speak, as we talked about last week, Aaron Jones is in the backfield, just crank it out yards one hundred and twenty rushing yards again.

The Packers went into the game in Carolina with not a single one hundred yard rushing or one hundred yard receiving performance this season, and now in the last two games they have three of them. Jones has been over one hundred yards rushing twice and now Melton goes over one hundred yards receiving. The guys that are around Jordan Love have elevated their games right along with Loves. In Jones' case, it was a matter of getting healthy. We've seen Aaron

Jones do all this before. But all those other guys, their games are you know, their arrows are pointing up the same way. Jordan Loves is well.

Chargers game right at the last rated kidney. And now you suddenly have the stat that Tom Fanning from our communications staff was pumping out about how Craft is now what the seventh rookie tight end since nineteen seventy to have four straight games of forty four plus catches and forty five plus receiving yards. Yeah, I mean, just uncommon production, Mike. You don't always get that from NFL tight ends period,

regardless of whether or not you're a rookie. But bringing it back to your initial point there, one, if you're gonna be down all these receivers, if you're gonna be down all these playmakers, Aaron Jones is the guy you need, and he's been that guy back to back games. First time. He's had one hundred plus rushing yards and back to back games since the end of the twenty nineteen season.

The offense just typically isn't structured like that, but they've needed to feed Jones the last couple of weeks, and they did it again on Sunday. Aj Dillon has to go out with the stinger. That meant more Aaron Jones late in the four minute offense situations. I thought he thrived in that. But the last thing before I turn it back over to you is bow Melton. Because I've written about it, I've talked about it. I know you

and I have had discussions about this. I have so much respect for this young man and you saw the way he carried himself when he came in the building line last year, just looking for an opportunity. Really super quick guy, little bit undersized, right, but kind of in that same sort of area as Jaden Reid in terms of his measurables. He doesn't make the roster. The Packers do draft three receivers. A lot of questions there about okay, well, where exactly a you're going to fit into this thing?

this thing's all about. And when you hear guys like Aaron Jones and Adam Stenovitch, the offensive coordinator, talk about how deep this room is, the fact they've done that in a complete overhaul in the last two years, that's remarkable.

Melton also gets his first NFL touchdown, and you actually had the list in your Insider Inbox column on Tuesday. Seven players this season have caught their first NFL touchdown from Jordan Love. I mean, that's remarkable in itself. I can't even I don't even know how you put together or how you figure out the list or whether that's some kind of a record or not. But where the

Packers are and we'll see what happens this week. Obviously, you know they were running some tests on Jaden Reid with him having to leave the game, and he was obviously on his way to one hundred yards receiving. He had eighty nine with two touchdowns at halftime. You know he was going to get his one hundred yard game, but unfortunately had to leave. We'll see what his status is. We'll see don Tavian Wis, We'll see about Christian Watson and Luke Musgrave here in this must win game coming

up against the Bears. But and this is this is what I wrote about on the bus ride slash plane ride back after the game for my rapid reaction piece, because the question you and I are getting the most is what is the difference between the Packers being in that must win game in Week eighteen at home against the division rival last year where it was Detroit and they were playing well, and now it's the same situation this year another division rival in Chicago, who is playing well.

And we'll talk more about the Bears on our on our next episode. So what's what's the difference? And to me, the difference is where the Packers offense is and it's what Jordan Love is doing. Last year, yes, the Packers got on a run late in the season, but the red zone problems, the gold to go problems were not fixed the Packers where they were getting a bunch of turnovers on defense, but then the offense was still kicking

field goals. You know, the Packers' special teams got the touchdown against Minnesota on the Nixon return and a pick six by Darnell Savage. They were racking up a bunch of points. It wasn't the offense that was doing it. And those problems on the Packers offense last year reared their ugly head when the season was on the line against the Lions. This Packers offense in twenty twenty three is in a completely different place with completely different personnel

than the Packers had a year ago. And so for me like that, that's what makes going into this game feel so different from Week eighteen last year.

They played more like a teamment football. This Packers team in twenty twenty three is better because of progression and because of players that were in roles early on that maybe they weren't quite ready for in the first couple of weeks of the season now being catalysts to their specific phase. And then much like all these seasons. I know we'll pivot here shortly into the defense, I'm sure, but you look at a guy like Corey Ballentine and go back to Rasseul Douglas and these guys, and again

going back to bow Melton. These guys that maybe when you had your first fifty three at the beginning of the year you were set in your depth charts at home or trying to figure out, okay, what is going to be the chain of command With the way these things are schemed up. They aren't the guys that you were really having written down and sharpie as Okay, these

are the core players. But over the course of a season, when your roster is fifty three players, when you can only dress forty eight on game days, you have guys that are suddenly thrust into positions. They could be a rookie, they could be a fifty year player, but they own that and they become invaluable to what you're doing. And that's ultimately what you need. Michael. It's progression, veteran and young player alike.

and he was placed on injured reserve. His season is over, So the Packers went back to CV and CB as they are known in the locker room, you know, against Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and kJ Osbourne and you know what ends up happening. Justin Jefferson is held to five just for fifty nine yards. Jordan Addison has a twenty yard reception but that's about all that he does,

and kJ Osborne doesn't even catch a pass snaps. Yeah, now, a lot of that, A lot of that is, you know, was the Vikings problems at quarterback, and you know they made the move to go to Jaren Hall, the rookie fifth round pick. He was going to make his second NFL start. Kevin O'Connell just desperate to find a quarterback who is going to protect the football. And as you mentioned much earlier in the show, the Packers end up getting two turnovers in the first half. Both of those

get turned into touchdowns. The first one, I thought, in particular was was just enormous. It was an off target throw to the tight end kind of underneath, and because it was off target, the tight end deflected with his hands and Ballentine was there to get the pick and just whatever it was a player two later, boom, Jayden Reid is in the end zone and the Packers turn a three to nothing game into attend to nothing game and all these questions suddenly are on the Minnesota sideline, like, oh,

maybe this guy can't protect the football either. We just had another turnover led to points for the other team. There was a real shift I felt in the building and just in the field of things, which is what I thought would happen if they could get a turnover early from Jaron Hall and it played out that way. Then they get another one at the end of the first half, turned that into another touchdown, and suddenly you're up twenty points at halftime.

an hour and you back into the pole. That's what happened. Because that Johnny Mont passed. That was about as basic as it gets. They tried to get a little tricky

because they saw the Packers had their base personnel. They tried to motion it into an empty set, but that's just the basic underneath, brought basically to the tight end and it sales high to him and Corey Balentine made a fantastic, fantastic play on that because it's those ones that look so simple, Mike, that oftentimes will fall through defensive back's hands. They put their hands on their helmet and.

gets that pick early. He's playing physical, he's jamming at the line of scrimmage. He gets two pass deflections while Jefferson is in his coverage the Packers, I thought, when you talk about marrying your pass rush with your secondary, fourteen quarterback hits and four sacks, seven passes defense including the interception, Packers finally played complimentary on both sides that

they had to weather some injuries to do it. Yeah, but my goodness, Michael, I thought that that was an encouraging performance as well.

for the timing of the Vikings offense. You know, he hits Jefferson, he hits Addison like they're on the move and they're looking to get a touchdown, which would have been the score twenty three to ten. Middle of the third quarter. The game is far from over at that point, but the Packers get him in fourth and four from the nine yard line, and you know, O'Connell passes on the field goal like twenty three to six. He's not interested in that. He wants to get this game to

twenty three to ten. And the Packers defense, you know, interestingly, you know, in my opinion, for as aggressive as we saw them in various situations like the slot blitz with Keishaw Nixon on first and twenty, they threw a six man pressure at Jaren Hall on just a basic like second and six call, you know, and that's when Kuay Walker gets his sack. When he makes ty Chandler with on the blitz pick up the fourth and four at

the nine yard line. Packers just played it straight four man rush, you know, man to man coverage, safety help, which turns into a very effective double team on Justin Jefferson and Quay Walker is spying Nick Mullins to where when Mullens steps up, he's got nowhere to go. Walker is a shoulder into him that makes that throw really tough and the defense gets off the field. The score

is still twenty three to three. I thought that was a big moment there, because in that building, that touchdown happens middle of the third quarter and it's twenty three to ten. A lot of things could have looked different.

in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, it was the thirteen plays fifty four yards and eight seven to fifty five off the clock.

the play caller, that's the part that he's overseeing. That's kind of accountability. I can spell it for if you need me to. But the fact is is that you can when you have answers and you give up points, whether it be an advisory, you know, adversity defense situation, you get up, you you're able to eat eight minutes off the clock as opposed to turning the ball over fifty five seconds later to the defense to the opposition, that's what makes all the difference in these games. It's

when you pick each other up. Yeah it was a muff punt. Yeah, mistakes were made. The offense came right back and responded. Green Bay never let the momentum get back in Minnesota's favor, And Michael, that's an important lesson

to learn. If not for this winning you're in game on Sunday against Chicago, once you get into the postseason, if you're so lucky, those are the type of things that in your mind as a team, as a coach, as a player, you have to be respect respective to responsive to and trying to you know, have a response in those moments.

fifty years of better. All right, the playoff picture. The reason this became a win to get in game for the Packers, they actually before the game kicked off in Minneapolis, the Packers knew that they were, you know, two wins to get in. Beat the Vikings, beat the Bears in.

and the possibilities are. The possibilities are essentially this and possibly as soon as tomorrow. At some point later this week, I will have a path to the Playoffs piece on the website laying out as legibly as I can all the different possibilities here for the Packers. But the simplest way to look at it is this. The Packers, if they win, they can get either the six or the seven seed, and they would be going to either Detroit,

Philadelphia or Dallas. So it's two possible seeds, three possible destinations. That's where things sit with one game to go.

and five in the conference? New Orleans is five and six correct? Common opponents are both three and three between Green Bay and Seattle.

Packers to get overtaken in that regard. So that's what it comes down to, is the packer's strength of victory, which, by the way, I'll just say this, that's how they got in on the tiebreaker in twenty ten when they got the number six seed. But we'll save that story press another day.

the Chiefs. They tripped after that, they had to reset a little bit, but to be able to get the wins over Carolina and then come back and go into Minnesota and do that back to back on the road. I don't care what Carolina's record is. It's still tough to play in a different road environment and to be at eight and eight with a young football team I think at one point the youngest maybe still the youngest in the.

In the second half when they need to concoct some twelve minute offensive plays, it seemed like they were able to do it. And for Green Bay, you talk about coaches or players all the time, but coaches too. Everybody wants to peek here when you get into the postseason. So or in that final run, I should say, so, it was an exciting game to be a part of.

And now, as we'll preview later this week, taking down the Chicago Bears, trying to make this thing really count because if you don't get a job done there and we just wasted a lot of breath.

Laflour's in the middle of a press conference answer. But he said twice in that press conference that it doesn't mean anything if the Packers can't take care of business on Sunday and beat the Bears in it in and take advantage of this opportunity, an opportunity that they did not get last year. They did not, excuse me, an opportunity they did not cash in on us last year. A couple other things just to talk about with regard to the playoff picture, the number one seeds and the

first round bys in each conference are clinched. San Francisco forty nine Ers are the one seed in the NFC, the Baltimore Ravens are the one seed in the AFC. Those clubs will get will have the first weekend of the playoffs off and to themselves as far as the rest of the NFC goes. The Packers kind of jousting

with the Rams for the six and seven spots. The Rams are in and if they win their game against the forty nine ers, and who knows what the forty nine ers are going to do personnel wise, because it's essentially an exhibition game for them. But if the Rams win, they get the six and then the seven is the only one excuse me, let to be determined. Dallas and Philadelphia is still battling each other for the UH for the NFC East. And here's what I figured out, Wes.

As long as the Dallas has the tiebreaker right now on the Eagles, they have the same record. Dallas has the tiebreaker based on this record.

the road regardless. The Detroit Lions are pretty close in a sense to being locked into the three seed, except there is one scenario where the Lions jump up to the two, and that is that if the Cowboys and the Eagles both lose and the Lions beat the Vikings, then the Lions would actually vault to the two the NFC East winner, which in that case would be Dallas. If the Eagles and Cowboys both lose, Dallas would be the three seed and then the Eagles would be the five.

So those are the various permutations. Obviously, whoever wins the NFC South, which could be any of three teams, the Buccaneers, the Saints, and the Falcons all have a path. The Buccaneers are the ones in control, but they all have a path to winning the NFC South, which would be the four seed and the Buccaneers and Saints. Whoever doesn't win the NFC South is still looking for a bunch of help to maybe get a wild card. But again that's where when you're the Packers, you're looking at it

as we are the ones in control. Just win your game and get in and it doesn't matter what all those teams in the NFC South.

better team than the Atlanta Falcons without a doubt. It doesn't matter if it was a snow game Shoulder Field. I think they win that one anywhere, Yeah, just based on where Atlanta's at.

that game was just a head scratcher. Philadelphia completely falls apart in a Also, they have a.

the Eagles take an absolutely devastating loss. A team that was ten to one and looking like it was headed for the one seed in the first round by is now possibly going to be relegated to the five seed and going on the road for the wild card run.

lo and behold. Anyway, the note in the insider inbox was for you, because you know the young man. But I felt compelled to post it in my column because it really struck.