Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my trusted colleague Wess Hodkoitz. We're coming to you Hear from our studios at lambeau Field to preview Green Bay's Week five matchup WES. It will be out in Los Angeles at SOFI Stadium against the Rams. It is a three twenty five pm Central Time kickoff, and we'll take a
look at the Rams here. It's a team that a lot of people thought they'd be a playoff contender, and they certainly can get back to that, but they are off to a rough start. One in three a win over San Francisco, but losses to the Lions, Cardinals and Bears. Oh my, and the story, the story really has been
the injuries for the Los Angeles Rams. They are banged up on the offensive line, they are banged up in their receiving corps with Cooper cup who can Nakua both out and it's just been a struggle for them to score enough points on a consistent base.
It's a weird kind of matchup in that you have a team at the Packers that are leading the league right now in explosive plays. In when you look at where the Rams have come up short so far in addition to the injury category, it is kind of the explosive plays. I don't know exactly where it fits for them, but their longest carry of the season so far, fourteen yards, was actually last week against the Chicago Bears. They don't
have a reception I think above maybe sixty three. It has been hard tredging for this offense to go down the field. Matthew Stafford through four games, only two touchdowns. It has been sacked thirteen times. It just kind of gives you an idea of just kind of the gradient that they've been sort of fighting against here in the early part of the season, everybody understood to a certain extent, this was going to be a transition year for them, big changes on the defensive side of the ball. Aaron
Donald no longer there. You're at your future Hall of Famer, first ballot, unanimous Hall of Famer. He's gone from the heart of that defense. They're still trying to figure out their identity and offensively, Matt Lafleur said it. I mean,
Matthew Stafford is as good as they come. In the NFL, but when you need a certain amount of weapons around him, and it just seems like outside of maybe two two at well, they just haven't been able to find that next guy up in the wake of these injuries to Cup in the KOA.
Yeah, I think it's I think it's paramount for the Packers though, not to sleep on these guys, because you do have Matthew Stafford back there. He is starting to figure some things out with too two well DeMarcus Robinson being his top two receivers, with those other, you know, pro Bowl level guys out of the mix right now.
And.
I thought the Rams were kind of starting to figure something out offensively last week. They seem to move the ball pretty well against the Bears, but they just kept getting bogged down and kicking field goals, and the field goals weren't.
Enough to chalk up a victory there.
So, as you mentioned, Stafford just has two touchdown passes, but he also only has two interceptions this year. It's not like he's turning the ball over or anything like that. Kyron Williams, they're running back. He's got five rushing touchdowns already this year, which is a number that catches your eye. But he's also only averaging three point five yards per carry as as the number one running back in this offense.
So the Packers neat you know, this is a unit, as you said, it's trying to figure some things out, and the Packers kind of have to keep this unit down and not let them figure too much out here. Coming up there, they're going to be back at home. I think there's gonna be a fair amount of Packer fans at Sofi Stadium. The Rams deal with this all the time, where visiting fans just to invade their place because they don't really have a Los Angeles fan base of the size that you would think in a market
like that. So but they are back at home, they're on the home turf, and sometimes when teams get desperate in the NFL, that's when they play their best.
And Matthew Stafford is a portrait of that. Whether the Detroit Lions were struggling or not, Matthew Stafford was always a tough out for the green Bay Packers whenever those.
Two teams met.
The challenging part though, and the reason why I think there's such a huge emphasis on why green Bay needs to start fast and play clean football is because of a stat you pushed out there earlier in the week. I mean the fact that the Rams through four games have nineteen points in the first half, have been outscored almost by triple in that time.
Fifty eight to nineteen is the cumulative first half score through the first four games for the Rams. That's just a mind boggling number.
Yeah, So that actually is that is more than they've been more than tripled. Yeah, at this point in the first half. I mean yeah, And we saw last week with the Packers and the Vikings. When you're playing from that far behind it, it is not easy to call yourself back into these things. And the danger that was omnipresent with Cooper cup and the Packers have seen him time and time again. They saw Pook and Naku on just how he can change a game. They've had to sort
of piece things together a little bit more. There's still guys in that offense with Parkinson and also with that well, there are guys you have to be really cognizant of and not allow them to beat you. You have to
take them very serious. But the Green Bay Packers, what they've put on film offensively here through the first month of the season, whether Jordan Love is in the lineup or not, you have to feel good about Green Bay's chances, but you also have to earn those chances against opponent like this on the road.
Yeah, you mentioned defensively the Rams, Aaron Donald not there anymore.
He is retired.
They're a much younger group up front. They ranked last in the league right now in rushing defense. They're giving up one hundred and sixty five yards a game on the ground. And I'm not saying necessarily that you take the Packers' game plan for the Colts game when Malik Willis was first stepping in, and you know, you line up to pound the ball down somebody's throat, right, But honestly, Wes, you have to get out after these guys on the ground. You have to take that mente, even if it's not
going to be fifty some carries. You have to take the mentality running the ball that the Packers had against the Colts when they knew it's what they were going to do, they knew it's what they had to do. You have to bring that mentality into this game because if you can run the ball against the Rams the way most teams so far this year, have run the ball against the Rams and you have Jordan love Att quarterback. You ought to be able to have a good day
off one hundred percent. And for the Packers, you know, they've been doing this thing where it's kind of almost this one for one Josh Jacobs, you know, Emmanuel Wilson, both of them kind of getting series trying to make things a little bit lighter on Jacobs. But this is to me the type of game where you really unleash him. You know, if everything's good with the back, if he's feeling good, you know, after a pretty heavy workload the
first month of the season. This game is tailor made for him to be able to come out and play well. And then the other aspect of it, you mentioned that the run defense. They only have three takeaways so far the season, one interception so far this season. They've just been struggling to find plays. They don't have an inundation
of sacks so far this year. So if you come out and kind of wear them down early on with a guy like Jacobs, it does it opens up everything and it you know, fortunately, it sounds like the Packers dodged a bullet with the Christian Watson scenario with his ankle seems to be moving around okay, which considering for a second there, I thought maybe he broke the darn thing.
Yeah, it's perfect.
It weighed out good, especially especially when he gets cartered off to the locker room and he doesn't, you know, make his own way up the tunnel.
One hundred percent.
So even if you don't have him though, still on Sunday with guys like Dontavian Wis Jaden Reid the way that he's come out of the gates so far this season, I just want to see that. Basically, what I'm saying is I just want to see the Packers run their offense. They put up a lot of yards last week, they put up a lot of points, They made a lot of herrors. They had some penalties, especially in the first quarter.
But one of the things they did so well in those wins over the Colts and the Titans is they ran what they wanted to run. It's gonna look different Love under center, yeah, but they had a game plan they executed it. That's where Green Bay needs to get back to and that's that's by staying ahead of the sticks, that's by protecting the football and yes to the original point, that is, by running the ball down the opponent's gullet.
Yeah, I mean you said it. It's a it's about bringing bringing a game plan into a game and being able to execute that game plan. And the best way to be able to execute your game plan and be able to stick with it throughout the game is to get off to a good start. That's not to say that you have to jump on somebody ten to nothing or fourteen to nothing. We saw even in the Titans game. You know, Packer's got a touchdown. Titans are spouning with touchdown.
I was seven to seven, right, But you can't have what happened against the Minnesota Vikings, where essentially you can take about two thirds of the game plan like tear it off and throw it in the garbage at halftime because just you're down by so much, you've got no you've got no way to dig into that. Well, keep the keep the call sheet full, get off to a strong start against these guys. They haven't started well. And you said it too. They haven't taken the ball away.
Three takeaways, one interception, two fumble recoveries. On the season, the Packers are essentially averaging like three takeaways a game. These guys only have three takeaways on the entire season, So don't let them, you know, suddenly break their profile and you know, get something going in that category. When that's a category that coming into this game, you absolutely should win it.
Yeah. In the other aspect too, I mean the Packers' pass rush.
For all the issues we've talked about and the fact that it hasn't been as prolific as I think everybody thinks it was going to be, they still have more sacks in that game against the Titans than the Rams have all season. I Rams only have seven sacks so far this year, So listen at some point Sean McVay. And obviously, as we talked about Michael Flores's offensive coordinator,
they have some really smart people in that organization. They are a lot like the Packers, a team that works its way up through the course of the year and peaks when they get into December. But still the stats are what they are right now. The Packers have to be If the Packers want to be the winning team that I think you and I both feel they can be, they have that potential there. This is the opponent where you need to impose your well, it was my big
line and insider inbox. I just feel like you can't take them for granted. But you also have to be who you think you are to be able to come out in this one.
Yeah, you have to be able to command things. I'll take care of our sponsor business here. Wes Sirius XMNFO 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 in a bowl. Cousin Subs fifty plus
years of better. We've touched on a number of things already. So when it comes to the keys to victory in this game, which one of all these various topics that we have hit on rises to the top for me?
It comes down to explosive plays to turnovers. Ratio Packer had a ton of explosive plays last week, but they had too many turnovers. You can't have four turnovers expect to win the game. Even if your defense gives you another trio of them. You can't expect that you have to be able to convert in those opportunities. But the other aspect of it is the Greemit Packers are actually finally playing a team somewhat due to injury, that is about as young as they are. The Rams went many
years without draft picks. If you look at the construct of their defense, it's made up now of a lot of Day two and Day three picks that have all pretty much been within the last three years. As those guys gain more experience, they're going to become bigger difference makers. Green Bay has to make sure that that doesn't start in week five. And I feel like if you can come out and really set the tone. I said it
last week. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I said in that game against the Vikings, those first fifteen minutes are going to be critical. The Vikings dominated those first fifteen minutes and every way a team could dominate them, and you saw how that what the domino effect was at the rest of the game. In some ways, fast starts are always important, but I feel like this is another game that really encapsulates that because if the Rams get feeling themselves a little bit. They're
playing in their own venue. They've been in some knockdown drago games other than what happened against the Cardinals. I mean, this is a team that has been in everything basically since the beginning of the season. If they have that type of confidence, in that type of swagger, that's where
I get concerned. So for the Greenmit Packers, it's about running your offense, protecting the football, and still managing to develop those big plays that have really been the hallmark of this team to this point of the season.
Yeah, I think it's among those things we talked about. It's about getting off to a strong start, which is what the Packers did against the Colts and against the Titans when they didn't have Jordan Love at quarterbacks. So get off to a fast start when you do have
Jordan Love at quarterback. The Packers blew their chance essentially for a really fast start against the Eagles in Brazil because they couldn't couldn't execute in the red zone to punch things in and ended up kicking field goals instead. So give Jordan Love a strong start and then see where this game goes. And then and then I think the other The other things that are top of mind for me are to run the football. This is a
this is a struggling run defense. And as much as uh, you know, the Packers have plenty of weapons, even with Christian Watson out for the time being, get that really established, the one two punch with Josh Jacobs and Emmanuel Wilson, and get after that. And then on the other side, just keep the Rams kicking field goals. I you know, Matthew Stafford is going to move the ball. He is I you know, he is savvy, he is crafty, he
is going to find ways to move the chains. But this offense is struggling to get touchdowns and they're kicking field goals. And you have to keep it that way because Sean McVay and Mike Lafleur are gonna come up, you know, if they're struggling in the red zone, they're going to come up with some creative ways to change that. And the Packers have to stay on their toes and and uh and keep these guys kicking field goals when they getting close.
Yeah, and you look at this. I'm just taking one more glance at this. I knew that the Rams were thirty first in total defense right now, as you pointed out how they're struggling against the run, they also are right now second to last, only to Carolina in points allowed, scoring defense twenty eight point eight points per game, third down defense fifty percent, red zone twenty third, tied for twenty third.
So I mean, there, it's interesting because it's it felt like it felt like and I know they've had injuries on offense since Week one, but in that Week one primetime, oh, it was right the lot, you know, the Lions hosting Matthew Stafford again, a rematch of that playoff game from last year, and I thought the Rams defense played a pretty darn good game. And then you know, the point total rises a little because of the overtime touchdown, but you know, in regulation they only gave up like twenty
points or whatever it was to the Lions. I thought, Okay, the Rams don't have Aaron Donald, but they'll they'll probably be okay defensively. But since since Week one, that defense has really really struggled.
And then Marvin Harrison Junior showed up.
Yeah, but two, but they didn't play very good defense against the Bears last week, which was a team that really had been struggling offensively with the rookie quarterback and and all that kind of stuff, and they didn't. They didn't put on a good defensive performance in Chicago, which surprised.
Green Bay is going to go through a stretch here and again, you can't look ahead to any of these opponents. Obviously there's a challenge that is present with all of them, but there's gonna be some games here, Michael, where they're going to be favored. I mean, you, Jacksonville could win the next two games and green Bay is still gonna be favorite going down there at the end of this month. I mean, and that's I think one of the main messages I would have if I was Matt Lafleur this week.
You can play with any team in the league. You you almost came back and beat a four to zero Minnesota Vikings team that plays pretty all around good football. We saw how things went with Philadelphia down in Brazil. For as much as went wrong, the fact that they were still in that thing, and then certainly despite not having Jordan Love, were able to to execute and facilitate those wins against the non conference slate. And that's what they have to do once again, you can't lose teams
that are struggling. I won't call them bad teams, but the teams that are struggling and the Rams for everything they've done and for how close they've been, they also are one eye lashed away from being zero to four at this point. So Packers have to prove that they're a team that is better than their two and two record right now suggests yeah.
Well, looking elsewhere around the league in Week five, bye weeks have arrived. The Detroit Lions got the early bye. They are off in week five after their three and one start. That's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out over the course of the season.
With as power packed as the NFC North appears to be right now, the fact that after this week the Lions are going to have to play thirteen consecutive games without a break with having this really early by, so something to keep an eye on as the season unfolds for the Lions. London football is also back the New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers. Rogers returns to the site
of the broken thumb at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Jets against the Minnesota Viking Yahnesoda, taking its four and oh record to London and.
Let's go aeron.
And if if I'm reading the clocks right, I think we wake up in our hotel rooms in la on Sunday morning and this London game starts at six thirty.
Or yeah, I am oh, yeah, So anyway, I don't know if I'll be up yet throwing that.
I'm not sure if i'll be uh, maybe I'll catch the second half. But yeah, London football is back and the NFC North leaders are going across the ponds.
I get a big kick out of this man, because the more and more this season has played out. I knew this a little bit at the beginning, but to me, it feels like the schedule makers just started with the Jets and then just figured out everything after that. Okay, so we want to have Aaron in the opener, we want to have him down in London. We're gonna get him on a primetime game in the first month of the season. It's just funny how those things work out.
But obviously that's a huge game, not only for the Packers. Would love nothing more than to see old QB one come through and knock off his old NFC North rival. But if you followed all the dialogue, the discourse and the narratives come out of that last game for the Jets.
This is a pivotal point that they're reaching as well.
Yeah, that was a stinker of a loss for them last week. There's no two ways about it. Bo Nicks throws for sixty yards and the Jets lose ten to nine on a missed field goal fifty some yard or whatever, missed field goal at the horn. Just an absolute stinker of a loss for the Jets, and they got a bounce back quickly.
They found something out though, didn't they About Braylan Allen. It seems like that that worm is beginning to turn as far as how that backfield is constructed and with him and Breeze Hall.
Yeah, and w curious where that takes him.
But yeah, the Jets that they're obviously looking for a response there, and it's a tough opponent to try to get a response. Very very very intrigued to watch if I can get a chance to catch it. Aaron Rodgers and what he does with that Brian Flora's defense that we saw last week. Aaron is the master in terms of picking those locks, and Flores is going to throw the entire gamut at him.
I would imagine all of for all of Minnesota's confusion and disguise and everything else, if there's a quarterback out there who can decipher it at the line of scrimmage, that's the one figure out and figure out what the Vikings are doing while they're trying to confuse you on every snap. Aaron Rodgers is the guy who just might be able to do that any other games on the Week five slate, that jump out to you.
Bill's in Texans is huge. Josh Allen, I think is playing like an MVP through the first month of the season. I think he's been the player that that organizations needed to be amidst all the changes that they made.
Yeah, he just needs his offensive coordinator to not call a trick play when right, when right, when you're on the verge of basically being in command and pulling off a comeback, you call a trick play that that goes into disaster territory and anyway.
Yeah, no, but it's true.
I mean, and then also you got you got that matchup with like the Cardinals and the forty nine ers, two teams that are still trying to keep their heads above water and then you know, I'll just mention this because Monday night football is New Orleans and Kansas City.
I think from the initial reports I saw, I don't think Rashi Rice is in the cars, But man, have you seen more instances now where something happens on the field and it looks like, gosh, that guy's season is over and now it kind of sounds like maybe it wasn't an acl for him, although they've been really tight.
Lipped about it, yeah to this point.
Yeah. Yeah, obviously, the Christian Watson thing here, the Jordan Love thing. It's just it's funny how that game is played sometimes and the times where a guy can have a really nasty looking contact injury and then it's some non contact thing that knocks somebody out.
Yeah, yeah, it is how that works. Yeah.
It it just goes to show, like, you know, there's there's no need to try to draw any conclusions about somebody's injury just based on a replay and what things look like. And I mean, you know, it's all about it's all about what the MRIs and the scans and images and all that stuff they do. It's it's what they get from that. So I mean, hopefully for Rashid Rice's sake, it's not an a c L. And maybe
he has a chance to come back this year. And uh yeah, the Chiefs are gonna try to stay undefeated against a against a Saints team that started out awfully strong, salty, no salty, and now all of a sudden, you know, their narrative turned a little bit.
So Carolina Panthers heading into uh sold Soldier Field, yep, see if they can do.
Anything with Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton, former Bears great, Yes Bears legend Andy.
Daltons, the former Bears, the former Bears quarterback Andy Dalton going back into Chicago, that that game is going to be more interesting than people.
Think it will be. Again, as I always say, you and I won't see.
It, and 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 all of our coverage from Sunday's game at SOFI Stadium in Los Angeles. We will be there and have it all for you on Packers dot Com for Wesiammike, thank you for tuning in everybody.
We will see you next time.