Hi, everybody.
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by the one and only Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field to preview Week four lambeau Field Packers against the Vikings. It will be a noon Central Time kickoff and uh wes. Packers are two and one. As we know, Jordan Love is continuing to practice. He's feeling better, he's moving better, he's still limited. We don't know if
he's going to play or not. So it could be Jordan Love, it could be Milik Willis. But what we do know is the Minnesota Vikings are three and oh and they are sitting on top of the NFC North And I'll let you decide where you want to start. Whether it's with Sam darm and his one seventeen passer rating in what appears to be the resurrection of a somewhat previously lost career, or this Vikings defense that leads the league with sixteen sacks and has only allowed thirty
points in three games. The Vikings are are pretty formidable on both sides of the ball. Here This isn't This isn't just some kind of one trick pony club.
I'm glad that you didn't open with the Aaron Jones thing, because I might just end up filling up the entire episode with I have.
We'll get to it, this, we'll get to it.
We'll get to Aaron Jones.
I want to start with Donald. If I may and you wrote already about the defense, you can touch on that, and I maybe I can interject a little bit. But Sam Donald really impresses me for two reasons. One, I like this idea Baker Mayfield achieve this as well. I like this idea of guys who specifically are from that draft class that it didn't work out for them in.
Their first stop.
They had to find their way again, and it wasn't easy. Mayfield ended up making a spot start on five days notice with the Los Angeles Rams couple of years ago. After it didn't work out in Carolina, Donald goes to Carolina, it also doesn't work out. He goes to San Francisco, gets a few opportunities. I remember when the forty nine ers signed him. I'm kind of like, what are they doing? Why do they need him? And then he ends up
being counted on. And then the Minnesota Vikings and tip your cap to them for this decision because they move on from Kirk Cousins. They draft JJ McCarthy, but Sam Donald is chosen as that kind of bridge gapping quarterback, and then of course this injury with the knee happens with McCarthy, So now Sam Donald is the starting quarterback.
And when you get guys who are naturally talented, a first round pedigree, that learn from their mistakes and make the adjustments like Donald has, I think you got to tip your cap to him. And as I've told you several times this week already, I tip my cap to Kevin O'Connell because he's been in this position several times now. For him to have a winning record in his time as the Minnesota Vikings head coach with as many different quarterbacks as he's had to cycle through, I think speaks
to his creativeness. And seeing these two sides match up, I think is just going to make for tremendous theater on Sunday.
Yeah, I think it's going to be an incredible matchup. We've we've seen what Matt Lafleuur has done under the gun with Malik Willis not having been here very long devising these different types of game plans, getting Willis to execute the offense to the level that he has and the Packers get two wins without Jordan Love. Kevin O'Connell we saw him last year with Minnesota when Kirk Cousins first went down, which happened at lambeau Field actually in
the middle of the season. When Cousins first went down, they threw Josh Dobbs in there at quarterback, and you know, Dobbs sort of I guess a journeyman, a guy trying to find his way, however you want to say it. And the Vikings won three games with Josh Dobbs. Kevin O'Connell was the guy devising the game plans and the stuff that Matt Lafleur has been doing this year. He
was doing that. They got some wins with Josh Dobbs, three of them, and they were staying in the playoff hunt for a little while, and then the rest of the league kind of caught up to what going on with Josh Dobbs. Then the Vikings shifted gears to Nick Mullins. Mullins actually came very very close in two games to
beating the Lions and the Bengals. He came up short in both of those games, but again it was a testament to Kevin O'Connell taking a new quarterback, figuring something out and keeping his team competitive and giving them a chance to win. I think the difference now that it's Sam Donald instead of Nick Bullen's or Josh Dobbs, the difference is that Sam Donald was drafted at the top of the first round for a reason. He's a first round talent. There is a ton to work with there.
Kevin O'Connell just has that much more to work with in this change at quarterback than he had last year after the cousin's injury, and its showing both of these head coaches are incredibly creative and resourceful offensive minds in terms of figuring out how to compete, how to get their teams with different quarterbacks in a position to win games. You're not necessarily gonna win them all, No, that's not
how it works in this league. But these two head coaches and what they've both been through here in the very recent past and that not so distant past, I think it makes for a whale of a matchup.
It does.
And I'm sure if you ask anybody on these Shanahan McVeigh coaching trees, nobody's gonna say, hey, I want to play without my quarterback, right But it's impressive to see how all these guys have managed it, whether it's Kyle Shannon, whether it is Sean McVay. To some extent, you look at it last year, what happened in Cincinnati. I mean, there are so many different With Zach Taylor, there's so many different situations that you get thrust into, and you
can tell how these guys all embrace it. And beyond that, the Minnesota vikings last year kind of reminded me of a car that had some real bad issues underneath the engine, but they just had a pretty good mechanic that kept that thing going until ultimately, I think it did run out of gas and kind of fell to the side of the road.
They had to reset.
But the fact that this happened with McCarthy, you hate that he's not going to get that year of development now on the field. But it's almost like O'Connell and everybody, they were prepared and understood what the task was going to be. And much like what Green Bay did with Malik Willis. Donald has a bevy of weapons at his disposal. He has arguably the best receiver in the National Football
League that he's throwing to. He has, independent of his connections to the Packers, one of the most consistently prolific running backs in the National Football League over the last five six years in Aaron Jones. I think the offensive line still has some issues. I've felt that way for several years now with the Vikings. But all that being said, they're playing winning football right now and it starts with what Donald is doing under center.
Yeah. Well, let's get into where things are with Aaron Jones. Through three games with Minnesota, he has two hundred and twenty eight rushing yards ninety seven receiving yards, so well over three hundred yards from scrimmage in three games, a couple of touchdowns, one rush, one receiving. I think the number that jumps out the most is that he's averaging five point four yards per carry thus far for the Vikings.
He's uh, he's been everything the Vikings could have hoped for, and certainly what he is doing for Minnesota is not a surprise to anybody in Green Bay who knows him. And he'll be uh, he'll be wearing a different uniform, but he'll be back in lambeau Field Sunday. It's going to be really interesting to watch him again.
It will be Mike and and from an ex as and O's perspective at Isaam McDuffie had some interesting points and saying the challenge with Jones is even though he's as small as he is, it's that he still finds a way to drag you for three or five extra yards. He's he's almost he's kind of like a miniature Derrick Henry in a way where it's just like it's you look at him and you think, okay, it's a smaller
type backscat back. Now Aaron Jones packs a punch and now the Packers, after having to try to just tag off on him for seven years, now have to bring him down to the ground. And that's going to be a challenging in and of itself from a humanistic standpoint. You heard it with Mattle talking at the podium this week. You heard it from the guys in the locker room. This is undisputed one of the most popular Green Bay Packer players in the modern time of this franchise. Yes,
fan perspective, players perspective. I joked with Matt Steiman in the locker room on Wednesday, I think we're all doing these Aaron Jones stories, myself included. I think the more intriguing story would be to walk around trying to find one person who doesn't like Aaron Jones in Green Bay's locker room or anywhere in the world. I mean, this guy has such an incredible personality, has such incredible perspective,
and comes from such an incredible family. And I was kind of marinating on that a little bit as I was finishing up the story that I wrote for our website on Thursday morning. It was about nine o'clock at night, and I'm kind of going through the story and going through his Player's Tribune article, which was fantastic.
Yeah, I'll tell you if you haven't seen the Player's Tribune piece, by all means, please check it out. It's an absolutely wonderful tribute to Green Bay, the organization and the fans of this franchise and what and how Aaron Jones feels about hold it.
Aaron Jones didn't just go, hey, look at all the great stuff that happened some crap happened to him. I mean, he mentioned getting busted, you know, getting pulled over what it was with marijuana in his system, and that costing him a game, and him feeling like that that was costing the team. And you know, obviously the sad stuff
that happened with his father in twenty twenty one. And you know, I still have the text message on my phone from Elvin Senior when he congratulated me on the birth of my son, and you know, running into it. You know, his mom Virgus out in the verrgis out in the parking lot after Aaron had been released and had signed with the Vikings and her seeing me and immediately the first thing before I even get any words out, is her going, why are you so sad? I mean,
just the perspective. This family has almost sixty years collectively between his parents in the US military, and it all trickled down to Aaron and his brother and his sister in that entire family and Aaron Junior. Now, I mean, this guy means so much to this football team. But as Matt Lafleur said, for three hours, you have to press pause on all that because they have to get and thirty three to the ground. And while Aaron Jones gives, you know, his departure leaves a lot in terms of
a void of the Packers locker room. His presence here for those seven years left so much behind with the players that are there, with the coaches that are there. And as I said on my Instagram story earlier this week, I mean, you hate to see him in a number another color uniform, but it is going to be tremendous to see him back at Lambeufield on Sunday. Yeah.
I can't even I can't even imagine for him, like emotionally, what it's going to be like. You know, we talked about a little bit with regard to you know, Malik Willis walking back into you know, Nissan Stadium in Nashville. But this, this is, this is entirely different, you know, because this is not about this. This is about one of the franchise's all time greats, you know, the number three leading rusher in the one hundred plus years of
Green Bay Packers football. And and for everything that Aaron Jones accomplished on the field, he's remembered around here for the person, the man, you know, the son, the brother that he has always been off the field, and uh, yeah, it's it'll it'll I think it'll be. I think it'll be mixed emotions for all of us watching from the
press box. It's like, there's there's gonna be like, you know, when when uh, when that number thirty three gets the ball, it's like, all right, yeah the packers and Packers have to tackle him. But at the same time, if he breaks into the open field and has a big play, it'll be interesting. Just how how is the crowd at Lambo going to react to that, you know, because he's he is such a such a beloved player.
Mike, you're gonna hear a pin drop, is what's gonna happen? Yeah, what happened? I may think, I think so, I mean yeah.
And just to mention too, I mean a lot of people have been asking this. An insider inboxing, you've seen it too. We both answered the questions. Just how fans are supposed to feel, Well, here's the thing where the fans get kind of lucky. Yes, your your voice, it matters, your cheers matter, but ultimately you just have to watch what happens. The Packers' defense, they're the ones that have to deal with this.
Problem.
And as Kenny Clark said, you watch what he did in Texas. When you go back to Dallas, the way he played, He's going to be juiced up for this matchup against the Packers. But as Kenny said, we're going to be juiced up too. Isaiah McDuffie wasn't talking about this in terms of I mean, oh my goodness, we got a face Aaron Jones.
He's like, no, I'm excited about This.
Is gonna be fun.
They are competitors at the end of the day.
Yeah, But in terms of the Packers run defense and some of the things you and I talked about the last few weeks, this is a supreme test. This guy is going to test you in ways they haven't been tested that so far this season.
Yeah. And oh, by the way, you also have to deal with Justin Jefferson, who San Francisco forty nine Ers found out. The answer is not as simple as okay, let's just blit, Sam Darnold, because turn on the tape, turn on the video from the Vikings win over the forty nine Ers in Week two. The Vikings are backed up inside their own five yard line and the forty nine Ers they send a five man rush. Right after the snap, a sixth guy is coming, and as Darnald sets up in the pocket, a seventh guy is coming
after him a seven man pressure and what happens. Justin Jefferson catches a ninety seven yard touchdown pass absolutely burn the forty nine ers defense. And I mean in what obviously was the difference making play in a game that the Vikings won by seven points twenty four to seventeen over the forty nine Ers, in a game that almost nobody expected them to win, especially because they had upset the forty nine ers last year when nobody expected them to be able to win that game. So we'll see
how the Packers go about it. I'm sure jy R. Alexander wants to wants to line up against Justin Jefferson and take that for all it's worth. But you know how this goes as well. It's not as easy as just doing that on every single snap for sixty five snaps. You know of the game, there's gonna be some mix and match that you have to change things up a little bit to not allow them to necessarily know exactly
what you're doing on every single play. But I think we're going to see number twenty three for the Packers against Justin Jefferson plenty on Sunday afternoon.
And again my headline for Insider Inbox on Thursday was, this is what these matchups are, what football is all about. You want to see good on good, you want to see best on best. And we've seen it several times already with Jefferson and Alexander in the past, you know, and all Pro, two time All Pro cornerback going up against you know, a guy that has been rewarded as the NFL's top receiver and still has very much everything
still ahead of him. And watching Jefferson be able to play as seamlessly and as explosively as he has throughout all these quarterback changes, I think speaks to the fact of how talented this guy is. In a way, it almost kind of reminds me of Calvin Johnson. Yeah, Kelvin Johnson's a Pro Football Hall of Famer, but it's not like he had Matthew Stafford there the entire time. He had to wade through an ohe to sixteen season to still be able to put up those numbers.
Yeah, the guy that comes to mind for me that and I agree with you on Calvin Johnson, But the one that comes to mind for me is Larry Fitzgerald with the Arizona Cardinals.
And all the size wise for sure, and all.
The different quarterbacks that he went through, and the guy played like a Hall of Famer and was a Hall of Famer no matter who was throwing the ball.
And that is such a luxury for again, for Sam Darnold who's going into this thing. The weapons he has here are vastly different than the weapons he had available to him in New York and Carolina. San Francisco obviously saw him have some success last year. But it is again, it's all over the place. But to me, I mean, I'm sure we'll get to keys to Victi here in a little bit, but I mean, you have to be able to pressure him. I don't think you can send the house every time. But they have given up eight
sacks this season. You have to find ways to generate those takeaways and generate those negative yardage plays because if you go back and look at when Green Bay has been successful this year, that's how they've done it.
Yeah, Well, switching gears to the Vikings defense, it's there are a couple of mainstays. Harrison Smith is still playing safety. Harrison Phillip on the interior the defensive line. He's I believe he just got a new contract. I did not that not that long ago. But there are all kinds of these other pieces that have been brought in from elsewhere. You know, Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel are the
edge rushers. Those guys have combined for seven of the sixteen sacks, the league leading sixteen sacks that the Vikings have put up. They went through several injuries at cornerback during training camp, so they brought in Stefan Gilmour, the veteran he's now a starting corner for them. And Brian Flores, the defensive coordinator. This is his second year now with Kevin O'Connell and he has a scheme. He has a
scheme that is predicated on confusion in a lot of ways. It's, you know, not letting the offense know what it is that you're doing and trying to create that hesitation, trying to create that confusion, the uncertainty on the offensive side that doesn't all allow you to execute cleanly, to execute efficiently,
to move the ball. Through three games, they've caused all kinds of problems, and you know, Brian Flores seems to have, you know, he was just sort of feeling his way in some ways putting this type of defense together in Minnesota last year. It seems like with all these veterans that they brought in, they don't have a lot of inexperienced guys on that defense. With all these veterans that have been brought in, Brian Flores has kind of cranked it up a notch and his players are responding.
It's a perfect analogy in terms of them cranking up a notch. And you know, and you give Flora's credit for everything he's doing. I think he's a brilliant defensive mind. But again, the only thing I and Matt Floora is right that they're the only ones doing this. But it's not like this is just completely newly invented football. This is Bill Belichick's defense. This is the way they tried to do things in the Patriots when things were going
really well when Tom Brady was there. Different fronts, different looks, different personnel, matchup dependent schemes, which is, you know, we're gonna find what we do well and we're gonna emphasize that. But at the same time, if we think there's going to be an opening there to take advantage of, we're gonna jump all over that. And then the other aspect of it. I always draw this analogy. I call this a Madden situation, which is back when I was a
kid and I'd get the Madden Game every year. You do the franchise mode, you get to free agency, and you just try to sign all the best free agents and then just put them in your defense. It doesn't really really matter what it is. That's what the Vikings did. Yeah, but I give them a lot of credit for as many new additions as they've made, some of them high priced, some of them more modest. They've made all this fit
and in Flores he had a plan here. I mean, you look at guys like Van Ginkle coming in, had the history in Miami. I think Grenard has been in a sensation. Blake Cashman has been tremendous with what he's done so far, and that's been a big shift in the middle of that defense, which for so many years always had very familiar faces. By and large, they'd play really good team defense, and the defensive front is stout you're going up against a unit that's given up seventy
one rushing yards a game. And it's also not just the fact that no one's running against them. Teams are trying and they're still only giving up the third fewest rushing yards per play. Where I see the opportunity lying for this Packers offense is I still have major questions about that secondary. Stefan Gilmore has been around for a long time, but I mean he came in late, and it's not like his previous few years have all been the same type of all pro level that it was
six seven years ago. Harrison Smith is still one of the best to do it, but he's a little bit longer in the tooth. The secondary is where the unraveling started from Minnesota several years ago. I'm trying to figure out right now if they've caught back up to where it was kind of in the prime peak of that Mike Zimmer defense.
Yeah, they have Harrison Smith and Gambaying them are the safeties. Those are the guys who have been there. As we said, Gilmore has come in as a corner. Byron Murphy is the other starting corner and he's been there. He knows obviously Flores's system. I agree with you that that is the play. That is the place where you look at it and you think you should be able to attack
that secondary. But they just they make it. They make it very difficult to get explosive plays, to get those you know, to get those big gainers that shift the momentum, and I mean, you know, and in this case, the numbers don't lie. I mean, you play three. I don't care who the opponents are, but I mean two of these opponents were the forty nine ers and the Texans. And yet through three games, these guys have only allowed
thirty points. That is really really hard to do over any three game stretch in the NFL.
And keep this in mind too. You'll look at the defense from Minnesota. You'll see twenty sixth against the pass so far this season, two hundred and thirty nine yards allowed. They are eleventh in yards per play. When you're talking about not giving up explosive plays, that's where it's reflected in chunk plays. They're making you go the whole span of the field. They're getting pressures, they're getting takeaways, they're getting in to the house.
Yeah, we'll get to our keys to victory right after sponsor business. Here West Sirius 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 Subs, we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin cheese curds, mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl Cousin Subs fifty plus years of better.
All right, Keys to Victory. I'm gonna start on this one because I did a little bit of the research and the math here and what I find to be a rather alarming but impressive statistic with regard to the vikings they have in their three victories. They have trailed for all of three minutes and twenty six seconds. Against the New York Giants. They were down three to nothing for three and a half minutes before they took the lead.
In that game, they have been tied for roughly twenty one minutes of play, and those ties being only at zero zero before the first score of the game. So for one hundred and fifty five and a half minutes out of one hundred and eighty they have been playing
with a lead. Now. There is no better way to help a new quarterback, as the Packers have shown with Malik Willis, there is no better way to help a defense than to be playing from in front, and that is that has been the formula for the Minnesota Vikings, is to get on top and stay there. I think you know, a fast start never hurts you in football, right, But if you're going to make it a priority for
any given game to start fast, it's this one. Because if you can flip that script on Minnesota, you get them maybe out of their comfort zone a little bit. They have to try to win a game in a way that they haven't won before, which is to come from behind. If you can start fast and jump on these guys early, I'll be curious to see. I'll be curious to see what happens. I think it's I think it's exactly what the Packers need to do someday.
The Vikings are twenty ninth in average time of possession, Like that's wild that their defense has been this dominant, But yet they've been out there pretty much more than any other unit in the league in terms of at least the teams that are really playing winning football here early on. That part of it fascinates me, and I agree with you one hundred percent. I think when you and Xavier McKinny, that same statistic was brought to Zavier McKinney at his locker.
On Wednesday, and he's like, wow.
He's like, I didn't really even fully appreciate that that it was only three minutes in change, and he's like, that speaks to a lot of efficiency. It speaks to being able to jump on teams, and it also speaks to explosive gains in the fact that I think Sam Darnod's already thrown a ninety seven yard touchdown pass this season to Justin Jefferson, So being able to get points on the board is paramount, but seeing how their defense
has also reacted to it as critical. I personally feel like, when I break down this matchup, green Bay has to be able to run the football. We'll see is it Jordan Love, is it Malik Willis. Time will tell, we'll know ninety minutes before the game.
Likely yep.
But Minnesota is a lot like Tennessee. Their bodies aren't as big, but they rally to the football and they get guys to the ground. Green Bay has to battle through that. They need to set that tone because I think if you do that, regardless of who's that quarterback, that's where the secondary really opens up to you. And
the Packers have the horses to do it. Josh Jacobs, you know last week he had to earn every yard that he got, but we saw against Indianapolis how he can take over a football game, can take over a first half. Emmanuel Wilson eighty five total yards this past weekend, first NFL touchdown pass quickly is proving he can be a bona fide number two running back in this league,
and he's still climbing. I think that the potential is there for Green Bay to really have success against this front, but you have to earn it and the blueprint is there.
The schemes have been different, the game plans have varied, but protecting the football, establishing the run in feasting off explosive plays, that's been the prototype to the Packers having the fifth top offense in the NFL right now on the number one ranked run offense in the NFL, despite the fact that Jordan Love hasn't played eight quarters.
Yeah, the when you look at when you look at what the Minnesota Vikings are trying to do defensively with regard to the confusion, all the different all the different pressure looks, and you know, are they blitzing, are they bluffing? Are they you know, who's coming, who's not? All that kind of stuff. There's a big difference in the success rate of that kind of stuff on third and eight versus third and two. Right, I mean so, and that speaks to you got to be able to run the ball.
You've got to be able to stay ahead of the chains, because when you get behind the chains, then it's all about, Okay, what what is Brian Flores and these guys, you know what are what are they dialing up in this situation to just to just be disruptive and cause all these questions as to exactly what's going on out there. So I agree with you entirely. And then, of course it almost goes without saying, but the Packers' success so far this season defensively has very much been predicated on turning
the ball over, on getting the takeaways. I mean, to have three in a game for three straight games, that's a tough streak to continue. But man, if you can keep taking the ball away. Even if it's just one or two times against the Vikings here, that could go a long way toward a potential.
Vick, especially if you do it early.
I felt like for all those big plays they made, and I did my best to summarize all of them in the Key to the Game story after afterwards. But I really thought everything started with jy R. Alexander. And I'm not saying it has to be a pick six every time, sure, but when you have a play that takes the air out of the balloon of an offense,
the momentum game never shifted. I mean, there were times that Tennessee still had success, but it didn't feel the same as it did before that moment where the game goes from ten to seven to seventeen to seven.
You need that moment again in this game.
If Sam Darnold does make a mistake, if he's trying to test you deep, you have to find ways to execute upon that. The most exciting thing to me, I didn't cover the twenty eleven defense like you did. Can't give you the blow by blowing exactly what happened there. With the amount of takeaways they had relative the amount of yards they conceded. But this unit, to me, at least in my time, they are the most apt to taking away the ball at every single level that I
think I've covered. I think they have the safeties on the back end to make those plays. We saw with jyr Alexander what he can do outside. I think Eric Stokes's time is coming because he's going to continue to get targeted when Alexander's on the other side. It's only a matter of time if he stays healthy, that he's going to get his pick. There's athleticism inside linebacker Eric Eric Wilson excuse me, already has an interception and you're seeing right now at Devonte Why at the monster that
this guy's becoming up front. The Packers can do it. They can take the ball away at every single level. How quickly can you do that and can you find that game changing play like they have in these last two wins.
Yeah, that's that's to me. I mean what I've seen so far of the of the Jeff Hafley defense, and the fans have asked me an insider inbox. They asked me in the live blog like okay, so what sort of like what's the identity of this defense, And it feels to me like it's the it's it's a defense that is hunting for the big game changing play. It's hard to play defense in this league. Offenses are good,
the rules are geared against you. Defensively. You're going to give up first downs, you're going to give up plays, you're going to give up yards in a big spot. Can you can you make the play that changes things? And and I think that's what you know, with with all the vision based and you know, and with pressure
to get after the quarterback and the emphasis. I mean, we heard we heard from Jeff Haffley after the Brazil game against the Eagles that when they went back and watched the film, they were showing the players, Hey, here was an opportunity where you could have swatted the ball out of Jalen Hurts his hands, right. I mean, that's what they are, that's what they are emphasizing. That's what they are pushing with these guys. When you have a chance to make a play on the ball, you've got to make it.
And we'll see.
The Vikings have been pretty good at protecting the ball. Darnold has put the ball on the ground a few times. They have not the Vikings haven't lost any of those fumbles. Aaron Jones has lost one fumble, I believe. Obviously, the Vikings aren't three and zero by turning the ball over a bunch. As you know the Tennessee Titans last week and we talked about how much they had been turning it over. So a completely different situation in that regard.
But that's what this Packers defense is after. They are after the play that is going to shift the momentum of the game, the play that is going to change the landscape out there. So far, they've been able to do it. They weren't able to necessarily take advantage of it against the Eagles and that's why the Packers came up short there. But they've been able to make those plays in the last two games to chalk up two wins with a backup.
Quarterback, and they did it against the Titans.
Yeah, the turn turnovers and takeaways are reflected in one way, but you look at the fact that they stop Will Levis on that fourth and two attempted read. Yeah, early third quarter, that's what turned into it doesn't go down as a takeaway and ways off points, but that's what created the opportunity for Emanuel Wilson to get that thirty yard touchdown off the screen. You have to be able to convert that, especially when you get the ball in that part of the field.
Yeah, quickly before we go, just looking around at the other games in Week four in the NFL. To me, other than Packers Vikings, which I think a lot of people at the top of the list watching it, it's a big time game. But to me, it's all it's the it's the primetime games. This week Sunday Night Football, Buffalo is at Baltimore. You have the Bills trying to get to four and ah while the Ravens are trying to avoid one and three. They're coming off of the
big win over the Cowboys. And then on Monday Night Football, the three and oh Seattle Seahawks going into Ford Field in Detroit to face the two and one Detroit Lions. That's kind of a big early season game here in the NFC as well.
Yeah, Seattle's doing what Seattle does. I mean, Kenneth Walker misses these two games, they make a change there at running back, they still keep the train on the tracks. Gino Smith throws two interceptions last week. It doesn't matter. They still are making plays. Just the fact it's like Pete Carroll's gone, but it still feels like the same team with how they're with what they're doing out there and how they're achieving this. Now you have them, you
have the Lions. The Lions are coming back off some adversity. I mean, that is going to be a big, major matchup. It's funny now with Detroit playing the way they're playing, We're getting primetime games at ford Field now that we never got for like my first.
Ten years on the beat. Absolutely, and you feel that shift.
Be interesting to see how tough a place Ford Field becomes to play. Oh yeah, as they get these primetime games in the crowd gets jazzed up. And I mean, because they were talking last year in those two home playoff games, they hadn't there hadn't been that kind of intensity at Ford Field in a long long time, maybe ever since the stadium opened in the early two thousand.
I would venture to guess because you and I were there. I wasn't working here at the time, but you and I were there for the Hail Mary game, and we were there for the winner take all game in sixteen. Yeah, I bet those two games are the closest they've come to that, probably like because there were not a lot of times when I watched those games on television, not that you hear everything, but that there was that type
of fervor. But I remember specifically that sixteen game when it's like, Okay, they might have a chance here to work their way in, and the way the crowd responded and just that is a community that is a fan base that is just waiting for a reason to come on glued. Oh yeah, and Dan Campbell has fostered all of those emotions and it's led to some really exciting football.
So yeah, that'll be interesting to see. Me personally, the game I'm most looking forward to, although we will not have any chance at watching it, I think at all, is Washington and Arizona. Okay, Cliff Kingsbury's bringing that offense back to Arizona, and we saw what happened last week with Jaden Daniels, Jade and Daniel and now Kyler Murray
on the other side of things. Marvin Harrison Junior, I think that that's going to be sixty minutes of just absolute offense, especially if dan Quinn's defense doesn't stop anybody again like what happened against the Bengals, But I mean, I just think that is going to be a track meet. Yeah, and seeing Jaden Daniels Man we talked about on Tuesday, just how perfect he was.
I give him all the credit in the world.
But I'll tell you what, man, it didn't work all great for Kingsbury as a head coach, But when it comes to offensive football in that tree that he comes off of, it's an exciting brand and it seems to be something that young quarterbacks can really thrive in. I'm very excited to see how that game plays out.
Yeah, And two teams that haven't been in the mix for a while, and both of them Washington Arizona maybe you know, they're they're on the verge here, one or both of them might be, you know, a couple months from now, we might be talking about one or both of those teams being in the mix.
In divisions that are entirely up for grabs right now. Yep, the NFC West, for as much as it always feels like it is, the forty nine Ers show, all those teams are constantly in play.
Yeah, the forty nine Ers have two losses early that that that hasn't that hasn't happened all that all that often, and and the uh and the Rams.
Uh.
You know, the Rams beat the forty nine ers last week in a big division matchup there to avoid dropping to zero to three. So and and the Packers are going to see the Rams heading out to LA next week. So so yeah, a lot of a lot of really intriguing stuff going on.
And by the way, the NFC East, other than the Giants, it's all right there. Yeah, the Cowboys are struggling right now. Yeah, Washington's in a very interesting position. It was incredible after that game reading the mont of stories. I know, I told you that the day after, but reading the amount of stories of people in and people feeling like they were literally just a quarterback away from really being able to compete.
Monday night proved it.
And the Eagles, who are two and one, are going to Tampa for a playoff rematch from last year where their season ended. Last year, there's gonna be there's definitely gonna be a revenge kind of bounce back factor there for Philadelphia going up against a Buccaneers team that lost kind of a head scratcher last week when they were looking like they would end up three to zero based on their matchup, and they're sitting at two and one trying to figure out what happened a week ago.
I'm looking forward to watching none of it.
Yeah, I know we have work to do.
That's okay.
We get to watch I think will be the best game absolutely entire week in Week four. With that, we'll call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and everything from Sunday's game at lambeau Field Packers Vikings Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, maybe it's Jordan Love, maybe it's Malik Willis. We will find out. We'll have it all for you on Packers dot com. For Wes, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in.
Everybody.
We will see you next time.