Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spaffer, joined as always by my trusted colleague Weston Hodkoitz. We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field and Wes. We got another sort of double duty show here to do because we have another Thursday night game coming up. We haven't yet reviewed the Packers last game.
So what is today?
Yeah? What day of the week is it? Right now?
Actually day?
But we're going to start with the Packers Thanksgiving Night victory thirty to seventeen over the Miami Dolphins was the
final score. And I mean Packers did what they needed to do, getting two home wins in five days to get themselves to nine and three, And this one they went about it a little bit differently, But what was similar to the San Francisco game is the Packers jumped out on top, built themselves a big lead, and then kind of rode that to the finish line and walked out a lambo with another w.
These two games, Mike, between San Francisco and Miami again illustrate how important a fast start is in the National Football League because it's not just about the points you put on the board. It's how you really tell the opposition. You got to change your game plan. Yeah, just like that game against the forty nine ers, the Dolphins were not able to get their run game going at all. Yes, I know, two of three for three oun and sixty
five yards. I get all of that. But the fact was is that from the very beginning they were having to play from behind, and I just felt like green Bay how they were able to really manipulate what Miami wanted to do offensively, mixed in with a couple pivotal plays early on that sort of just shifted their momentum into green Bay's favor up. A lot of guys talked about it after the San Francisco game, they felt like that was a complete performance. I thought, by and large,
this was a complete performance. A lot of stuff you can still improve upon, things you can correct, But I think over these last three games, really, these three games since they last saw the Detroit Lions, you've seen the green Bay Packers start to round into form.
Yeah, this game quite frankly, you talk about momentum shifts, there was a big one very early on because Packers got the ball first. But went three and out missed Jordan Love missed a deep throat to Jaden Reid when he was open. Packers had to punt, but those cold swirling wins. In the late evening at lambeau Field, messed with Miami's putt returner Washington there he ends up muffing
the punt. Robert Rochelle recovers. It's a first in goal situation from the nine yard line, and the Packers went from three and out to three plays and in the end zone and they were up seven to nothing. A big play by the special teams, and.
As we were talking about with Rich Pasaccia on Monday night, the Packers being able to start that game the longest kick return of the season by Keishawn Nixon blocked up very well. Looks like they're going to have that explosive start they want. Offensively, did not have the series they were looking for. Josh Jacobs even said it when I was asking him in the locker room afterwards. He felt like that was the only run, even though he only had forty three rushing yards, he felt like that was
the only run he wanted back. He just wasn't happy with how he cut back. Packers end up having to punt despite having phenomenal field position. But then Robert Rochelle makes it right and as we learned about afterwards, dealing with a lot of stuff on the personal side, had found out earlier on Thanksgiving morning that unfortunately two of his childhood friends had been killed down in Louisiana. Played through it, played with a purpose, and came up with
a huge moment there. Also want to say too, I mean for green Bay Special Teams. I mean, we were talking about this whole group sort of rounding into form some really impressive work that the special Teams unit has done really in every phase and every unit and every core special teams area, and Green Bay gets the ball back, they turn it into a Jad and Reed touchdown, and they were often ronic.
Yeah. From there, the offense I felt, I felt much like the San Francisco game. The Packers established what they wanted to on the ground. They set the tone on the ground with the running game, and it was a combination of Jacobs and Emmanuel Wilson and Jayden Reed. It's a nice run on an end around. I think by the end of the first half, not only had the
Packers topped one hundred yards rushing. They had four different ball carriers with twenty yards rushing, which just told you how much the focus was on, Okay, run the football, try to get Miami's excuse me defense on its heels a little bit, and then by the end of the game you look up and it's like, oh, Jordan Love. Yeah, he also threw for two hundred and seventy five yards and the offense ended up having a pretty darn efiichent night.
You have a longer history here with the Packers and covering games, but I can tell you what this game felt like. To me. It felt like the twenty fourteen season, and what I mean by that is that was the one year where you got prime Eddie Lacy mixed with a relatively healthy Aaron Rodgers, and you saw what Eddie Lacey did for Rogers during that season and how he was really able to compliment everything he was doing in
the passing game. Yes, Josh Jacobs did not go off for one hundred and fifty rushing yards in this game, and he had to fight for a lot of the yards that he did get. But whether it was what he the short yarded situations that he converted in in some of the passing game stuff that he did as well. Those two things I thought were really a catalyst for
what Green Bay did offensively. Green Bay already over two hundred carries this season with Josh Jacobs, and for a guy that was brought in and heralded as such a All Pro rushing champion, a durable back, he's lived up to the hype here through the first thirteen weeks.
Yeah, you mentioned though, what he did in the passing game. He ends up with over one hundred yards from scrimmage in this game. When he takes the checkdown throw in the fourth cores or makes one of the best open field moves we've seen all season long ends up getting forty nine yards there. So between the rushing and the receiving, Jacobs goes over one hundred. The Packers go three out of five in the red zone, which I think has been not only not only the reduction in turnovers. Since
the first Detroit game. The Packers will only turned the ball over once in their last three games. But after that Detroit game, the first one, the Packers had gone one for four in the red zone in that game, and they had dropped a twenty ninth in the league in red zone offense. Since then, the Packers have converted eleven out of fifteen red zone opportunities into touchdown. They have climbed from twenty ninth in the league in red zone offense to eighteenth. They've jumped eleven spots in three
weeks because that efficiency has ratcheted up so high. So that has been a major improvement in where you see that in the turnovers where this Packers team is very, very different from the first one that faced the Lions a month ago.
One thousand percent. And I just want to mention this to kind of to go off that as well. So many times the buzzword with football teams is what's your identity? And it sometimes gets overblown. Sometimes there's truth to it, but I think a lot of times it gets overblown. What I look for in NFL teams is not necessarily what your identity is, but what are you good at?
And I think what we've seen is the Packers season has gone on as we've found out, Okay, inside the red zone, whether it's a guy like Tucker Craft that can extend plays, get those yards after catch, you know you can throw it down short ten yards of the goal line and he's gonna be able to make make a push for the end zone, or a guy like Josh Jacobs being able to convert in those those short area goal to go situations. There's confidence there. You don't
you don't have to reinvent the game of football. You can play the game the way it's intended. Your guys can win. I think that has been very encouraging from the Packer's side of things. In addition to the fact that you've seen it didn't so much happened in this game, but you know the explosive plays in the passing game. You know, Christian Watson did have the forty six yard reception, and obviously we've seen him go off for some big plays here the last couple weeks, but it can be
a twenty three yard Jaden reed Cary as well. Yeah, the multitude of options that Green Bay has offensively at its fingertips. The best thing that they've done all season long, whether Jordan Love has been in the lineup or not, is moving the football. And over these last three games now, we've seen them start to not only have that type of production, but be able to carry that through in the red zone and turn those into touchdowns.
Yeah, eleven out of fifteen the last three games has been pretty impressive and it's why the Packers have been putting up the point totals that they have. On the defensive side of the ball. You mentioned it earlier, a lot of passing yards for Tua Tagabaloa. It became pretty obvious early on what Jeff Hafley's game plan was here. The Packers did not have jyr Or Alexander once again, the team's number one cornerback still not back from the knee injury. He has come back to practice this week.
We'll see if he's going to be available Thursday night in Detroit. But without your number one corner Look, you're not gonna line up Mann de Man against Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle with the Miami Dolphins when your best cornerback is not available. So, Jeff haffley the game plan was was try to flood the zones with it. Flooded the passing lanes with your zone coverage, keep everything in front of you, rally to the ball and make tackles.
We talked about last week how you can't let these guys break tackle right because they take the short passes and turn them into explosive gains, and I thought the Packers did that. Yes, it got tiring. It got tiring to see John hu Smith, in particular the tight end for the Dolphins catching the passes over the middle and getting eight or twelve or thirteen yard chunks as the Dolphins were trying to come back from the big deficit.
But the Packers were okay with that because a the Dolphins were going to burn some clock in order to try to come back, and then b at the end of the day, the Miami Dolphins, one of the most explosive offenses in the league, had one pass completion for more than sixteen yards. Right, I mean the game plan, the game plan was exactly that. And then where this game hinged defensively was when the scores twenty seven to eleven. Miami drives down and they are at second and goal
in the one yard line. It's early in the fourth quarter, so a touchdown on a two point conversion there makes it a one possession game, would make it an eight point game. But from second and goal on the one yard line, you get a run stop from Rashaun Gary, you get a great pass breakup on a difficult play by Keishawn Nixon on the play action to the right, throwback to the left to John new Smith, and then you get the fourth downsack quay Walker with the big
push from TJ. Slayton up the middle, really good coverage in the end zone by Nixon and Valentine which two has got nowhere to go with the ball, and Walker eventually finishes it that goal line stand where the with a touchdown on a two point conversion, Miami had a chance to make it a one possession game there in the fourth quarter. It didn't happen. The Dolphins never really did get close, and the Packers put it away from there.
It was the key to the game. Obviously, I focused my actual story that's called Key the Game on Rochelle in his fumble recovery early, but I felt like after that the air completely left the balloon. The Packers were able to finish that thing. And what I like the most about that series was, yes, it was it was Rashan on first down, but then it ended up being
the guys that you want to see making plays. Not that you don't want to see that with Rashaan, but it's almost expected with Quay Walker, a guy that has been, you know, had some ups and downs this season, and I think everybody from Matt Laflorida to Jeff Hafley and even I think to some extent Quay himself has talked about you know, he's playing his best ball right now and intangible wise, fundamentals wise, just what he brings to the table. On paper, he is a every down middle
linebacker in this league. He is a mic linebacker with speed. And I felt like this game, especially with not having Edger and Cooper, they were going to need to use a little bit more of his blitzing ability and they did that, and yeah, b and right next to him, alongside of him, you have Isaiah McDuffie, who had an ankle injury that Matt Lefuller talked about. He didn't even think coming out of that San Francisco game he was going to be able to make the turn to Miami.
Jeff Hafley then added they weren't even sure if he was gonna be able to finish the second half against the forty nine ers. Not only that, McDuffie plays almost ninety percent of the snaps, has ten tackles, force as a fumble, a key breakup on a third down pass that ended up leading to another turnover. On downs, the Packers came through with the guys that are sort of seen as I think, the complimentary pieces. And when you have that, you have a guy like TJ. Slayton getting
some push. That's what gives you the confidence now that this is a unit to be you know, trifled with. Yeah, and could potentially help you win some of these games into the month of December.
Yeah, that sequence at the end of the first half is worth mentioning here too before we move on, because the score is twenty one to three. The Packers are sitting on a pretty good lead, but Miami's got the ball late in the first half. They cross midfield. They're looking to get some points and Miami's going to get the ball coming out at the start of the third quarter, third down and five, the Dolphins are not yet in field goal range. They need to get this first down
to get into field goal range. Third down and five, and you know, a dump off pass over the middle. McDuffie comes up and makes a big hit. I believe it was Washington. Washington Milikua the receiver slash returner. Washington takes that hit from McDuffie can't hang out of the ball incomplete pass fourth and five, and Tua makes a bad throw on fourth and five, so it's a turnover.
On downs. The Packers get it back two seconds on the clock, but the Packers have all three of their timeouts, use a couple of passes to tuck her craft a nice run by Chris Brooks get in range using the timeouts. Wisely, Brandon McManus comes out and drills a field goal at
the end of the first half. So instead of looking at possibly twenty one to six, if the Dolphins get a touchdown and then they're getting the ball coming out to start of the third quarter at twenty one to six, instead the game is twenty four to three.
It was.
It was a clear six point swing, where then it wasn't as crucial in a sense that Miami was going to get the ball starting the third quarter because the Packers had then added to their lead. That sequence there, which really in my mind, started with the big hit by McDuffie to break up the third down pass. That played a big part in how this game unfolded as well.
And things could have shifted there too. Miami getting the ball in the second half. I mean being able to, you know, do the double up. That's something that everyone under the Shanahan tree mostly wants to always accom Yeah, and even when it looks like twenty four to three, well that score changes if it suddenly becomes twenty four to seventeen. And the Packers didn't allow that to happen. They actually ended up tacking on some more points. I
thought it was very important too. Matt Lafleur made kind of a tongue in cheek joke about it at the podium on Sunday, where he said, yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, you got to save those timeouts right in the first half. I mean so many times I think there's people out there that just think, okay, well the second half. You got to save them as long as you can the first half, if you need to take
a few here and there. No, you saw in this game, the value of being able to keep all three of those timeouts twenty two seconds gets a lot longer if you can stop the clock three times, and certainly.
And you can use the whole field. Absolutely, when you can use the whole field, because you make the defense defend the whole field, not just oh we can defend the sideline, tackle them in bounds. The clock is going to run, They're not gonna be able to guess in kicking range. Right, So that was that was definitely a
key sequence in this game. We do have to move on, though, to talk about this game coming up Thursday night in Detroit, and we will do that right after this sponsored a serious XMNFL 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. All right, well, it's another Thursday game. It's another Thursday night game. This one will be at Ford Field in Detroit, the nine and three Packers visiting the eleven and one Detroit Lions. The Lions a close shave on Thanksgiving, completely dominate the first half against the Chicago Bears, and then they are hanging on for dear life to not let the game go
to overtime. And the Bears end up batching the whole final sequence, they get their coach fired and all that. The bottom line is, the Detroit Lions are eleven and one. The Packers are two games back at nine to three. And let's be real here, Wes, if the Packers are going to have any chance, any realistic chance of winning the NFC North, they have to win this game on Thursday night. If the Packers go to Detroit and lose by all means not all is lost, but it becomes
wildcard or bust at that point. So if the Packers are going to threaten the Lions for the NFC North title, and the Vikings for that matter, it's on the line Thursday night at Ford Field.
I saw this tweet, but when I give their proper credit, I believe was Zach Cruz was the one that tweeted this. The Packers, even if they beat the Lions and the Vikings, I still think there's like a thirty six percent chance of them winning the division. So losing either of those games obviously would diminish that potential. Yeah, that's with the
New York Times playoff generator. All that being said, the Detroit Lions, I thought, what Larry's point was in three things might have been the most salient thing any of us have said all season, where so many people, myself included, We're watching that game against the Bears being like, all right, come on, Chicago, let's pull this thing out. And Larry said, He's like, no, if there's going to be a wake up call, it should be against the Packers. And I
think there's a lot to be said for that. The Packers momentum and how they've built since that loss to the Lions has been really critical to how this season has played out. And as Xavier McKinney said, he actually sent a text message to some of his teammates after the bye saying, hey, let's just win the rest of these things. And he left that game as disappointing as it was, as slow as a start as Green Bay had against the Lions. He didn't feel like they were
all class. He didn't leave that game feeling like, hey, we can't play with these guys. The Packers had a menagerie of errors and penalties and setbacks that they just could not overcome in that game. Yea, and now suddenly everything's back there for you. Nine wins. I think there's a ninety six percent chance right now green Bay making the playoffs with five games to go on the regular season.
But you gotta go one game at a time, and there is no bigger game than going back into Ford Field just over a year after they played and defeated and upset the Detroit Lions on their home field and going back and trying to do it once again.
Well, the Packers are a very different team from the first meeting, not only in the ways that we've been talking about offensively, defensively, the way they're playing, certainly, the way the running game is playing, the reduction in turnovers, the red zone efficiency, what the run defense for Green Bay is doing as of late, Christian McCaffrey, Devon h Chan, Raheem Mostert, the running backs the Packers have faced the last couple of weeks have not been able to do
anything on the ground. The Packers are also different from a health standpoint compared to the first game against Detroit. Jordan Love is certainly healthier he was coming. He had just had the groin injury the week before in Jacksonville when and basically didn't really practice all week long leading up to the first Detroit game. He was healthy enough to play, but obviously was not himself. Jordan Love is in a very different place. Josh Myers, Williams, JayR Alexander
all missed the first Detroit game. That was the only game this season the Packers have not had their main starting five for the offensive line, where they had to move Elton Jenkins to center and all that, so hopefully the continuity is there for that group. Evan Williams has since returned to the lineup from his hamstring injury that forced him to miss the first Detroit game, and as I said before, Alexander is back at practice this week trying to work his way back from the knee injury.
We'll see it, We'll see if he's available. So health wise, I think the Packers are a very different team than the first time against Detroit. On the Lions side, the Lions are banged up on defense. This is a very different looking defense than the one the Packers faced a month ago because now Hal Hutchinson was already out. But they have had a number of injuries since then. Linebackers who have gone on injured reserve and now some defensive
linemen who seem iffy for the game. As to whether or not they're going to be able to play offensively. The Lions are healthy, and this is the unit that the Lions are relying on. This is the unit that for Detroit they're looking at. These are the guys who are gonna take them to the promised Land. I mean, you know, Jared Goff, the two running backs, Saint Brown, Laporta, all those guys. It feels like it's going to be a very different matchup in a lot of ways than
a month ago. But the one thing that isn't different is Detroit's offense.
Do you know, Mike, how many players the Detroit Lions now have on injured reserve after they made some moves this week.
I don't, but I'm guessing it's probably upwards of thirteen.
Eighteen got eighteen. I mean, they lost several guys at the beginning of the season two even before the year, they've been beat up. And as much as people talk about Aiden Hutchinson, and you should, He's was potentially the NFL defensive player of the Year at the time in
which he got injured. Yep. But Alex Azeloni, I say it probably every time you and I do the show, I think is the most underrated guy potentially in the National Football League, but certainly when it comes to defensive and lineback and play, this guy what he's turned himself into. He is the heartbeat of that defense. He is the guy that is the rallying cry for that team. And to not have him available right now I think has been a big hit for them. They've made some move.
Sadarius Smith obviously is now in Detroit. He has two sacks and three games. They are moving him everywhere once again, much like the Packers once did. If we know anything about Sadarius when it comes to him coming out of the gate, starting with a new team, a fresh start, he always plays really well. He did it in Green Bay, he did at Minnesota, and he certainly did it in Cleveland. So seeing him the kind of the enthusiasm and the energy that he's injected too that defense, you can feel it.
But the fact of the matter is is they still are a hurting unit and there are a lot of players in that secondary that I've had to kind of fight through some things as well. They still have their one two punch Kirby Joseph Brian Branch probably two as good as they get in the National Football League, especially with the versatility of Branch to pretty much move him anywhere you want. He is an incredible chess piece. Offensively, You're right, they are healthy. Taylor Decker does have some
questions though at left tackle. We'll see how this week works out for him.
That's right. Dan Skipper has started a couple of games at left tackle, including the Thanksgiving game against the Chicago Bears. Skipper was in there in place of Decker.
And Skipper's kind of like the Evan Smith of that line, like he's the guy that just always seems to be in there if there's an injury that creeps up and has been sort of a dependable letteran for them as well. But the big difference for the Lions compared to that first game is Jamison Williams is available. He's not suspended, he's back. He's making huge plays for them. The contrast of his explosive style with just the consistency of Amen Ross Saint Brown, that is a very difficult thing to
deal with. Sam Laporta has battled some injuries. We'll see exactly where he's at physically and how he performs in this game. But with a one to two punch in the backfield like gibbson Montgomery and potentially both of those guys going over a thousand yards this season at said last time. And Ben Johnson is going to be a head coach in the National Football League this year, this will be his last year. Is the offensive coordinator of
the Lions. You cannot see it any other way. He's going to be the most highly coveted coach in the National Football League in twenty twenty five. But in the here and now, man, this is about as explosive and as consistent as an offense as there is in the NFL.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, Jared Goff is still completing seventy two percent of his passes on the season. His season passer rating is in the triple digits, over one hundred. I added up what running backs David Montgomery and Jamier Gibbs have done. This is crazy west three hundred and twenty nine carries, one thousand, six hundred and ninety three yards, and twenty one rushing touchdowns in twelve games. Yep, I mean, those those are tremendous numbers for a one to two
running back punch for an entire season. And those guys have done that three twenty nine, sixteen, ninety three, and twenty one in twelve games. It is it's remarkable the offensive machine that the Lions have become. Now here's the interesting thing, though, Like they looked like they were just on their way to a complete and total demolition of the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving with that early game. But in the second half, Chicago Bears defense started to stand tall.
The Bears got their offense going and they made a game of it, and the Lions really the Lions never put the game away with that offense, as much as it was humming in the first half, they did have some red zone struggles. They were kicking too many field goals, so they didn't put the Bears away there. But then they also couldn't put them away in the second half because they couldn't get a big time drive going when
they really needed one. So it's interesting how this is has unfolded because because while a lot of people are saying the Lions might be the best team in football, and at eleven and one, they certainly looked better as a one loss team than the Kansas City Chiefs have. So I certainly understand that argument, and I take nothing away from them. But this isn't a team that played perfect football, No and so, and the Packers are going
in there knowing, hey, Green Bay walked. They they walked out of that tunnel at Ford Field last year on Thanksgiving for that eleven thirty am Central time kickoff and took it to the first place team when not a lot of people gave him a chance, and and it was.
It was.
It was a win that ended up shaping a lot of how the the end of the season unfolded for the Packers. If you're Green Bay man, you're looking at you're looking at trying to do exactly the same thing on Thursday night.
You and again, I don't know if you're probably gonna spin this off into the keys of victory. So I don't want to give away too much, but you have to play with physicality against Lions. There aren't any losses to really point to in terms of what's the key to beating them. The one that they did I remember that was where they afterwards, you know, you kind of heard Dan Campbell fall on the sword for some of the coaching decisions that were made in that loss to
Tampa Bay in Week two. But when it's been close whether it was what Chicago did or Houston or somebody's that teats, it's when teams played physical. You gotta play error free football. You can't set yourself back with penalties. You can't turn it over. They'll make you pay for it. Possessions are always at a premium with this team, but you have to play with physicality and I think Green
Bay knows that and they saw that. The other thing that stands out that's interesting to me is Lions have outscored teams three eighty three to two oh three, almost doubling up teams, but they've been outscored in the first and fourth quarters, fourth quarter. It makes total sense because you know they're playing with leads teams.
Don't, and they've had some games with massive leads, absolutely huge leads.
But a lot of their damage is done in those second and third quarters. Forty eight points in the first quarter to one seventy four in the second, the third quarter one oh six. I mean they are looking to double you up at the end of the half. They are looking to really take it to you and take games away from you. Jacksonville added a lot to that. Some of these games have added a lot to those numbers. But that being said, this is a very dangerous football
team if you do not counter their punches. And I think the Green Bay Packers with that first matchup at Lambeufield understand exactly what the type of opponent that they're facing and what you have to do to take them down.
Yeah, they've basically averaged two touchdowns per game in the second quarter, and they get their offense rolling the points that they end up putting up before halftime is pretty impressive, I would say. If there is if you look at the three the three games this year that Detroit has looked the most vulnerable, the loss to Tampa Bay back in Week two, the very close loss where they had to come from behind against Houston, and then last week
against the Bears. If there's a common thread to those, it's the opposing defense rising up in the red zone and making the Lions kick field goals instead of getting touchdowns. Because when the Lions get touchdowns, they end up with forty plus on the board. But you make them kick field goals, you can keep the point total in the twenties and that gives you a chance. That gives your offense a chance, especially right now with their defenses banged up as it is, it gives your offense a chance
to score enough to be able to win. Let's go right into keys to victory and a lot of them we've already talked about for me, and again I don't I'm not taking anything away from the Lions, but looking strictly at what the Packers have been doing, you have to just keep doing what you're doing. You have to keep the turnovers to a minimum, you have to keep the red zone efficiency up, you have to keep the
miscues to a minimum. You know, talking about the drop passes, the penalties which I think are down on the defensive side of the ball for those I mean the fans are frustrated with the jumping off sides, the lining up off sides and stuff like that. Don't think the Packers aren't frustrated with it as well. Just take a look at what Matt Lafleur said at the podium with regard to that, Take a look at what Jeff Hafley said
at the podium with regard to the off sides. The Packers just they they haven't figured out how to stop it, stop that happening yet, but there is definitely frustration mounting in that it can't continue. The Packers know they can't do that two, three, four times against the Detroit Lions on Thursday night and expect to win. You're just giving away. You're giving away too much. So all of those things.
If the penalties start to come down in the same way that the drop passes have been reduced, the turnos have been reduced, and the red zone efficiency has gone up. If the penalties come down along with that, the Packers will give themselves a chance to win this game.
There is no team in the National Football League, at least from I haven't run the whole like sybermetrics numbers or anything like that, but when you look at situational football on both offense and defense, Detroit is the cream of the crop. Offensively, you look at it fourth in third down conversions, sixth in red zone, third and goal to go. You look at the defensive side of things for them, first in third down defense, second in red zone, third in goal to go, beat you inside the twenty.
That's how they win. So what do you have to do well? First and foremost, you cannot be in third and long against this team. Kirby Joseph is just salivating on the back end, wanting you to throw that football in those instances. Jordan Love somewhat saw that last, you know, on this last encounter with them. Yep, you see him. When you get put in adverse situations. If you can't run against their front, if you can't cut those yards in half on first down, the Detroit Lions are going
to feast. Conversely, the first thing that the Brad Holmes Dan Campbell philosophy since the very beginning, the thing that they instilled even when they were a third three win team, was we are going to run the football. They did it with Jamal Williams. Jamal Williams set the single season touchdown record and then they let him go. I mean, this is the way that these guys are wired. Yeah, they want to run the football. They want to have
that contrast between Montgomery and Gibbs. Personally, I favor Gibbs. I've watched Montgomery for a lot of years. Very talented guy, very violent running back, Difficult to bring him to the ground. Jam gives is a home run hitter. Jamior Gibbs is going to play a long time in the National Football League, And I feel like if you can take away the explosive gains there you have a chance. What happened in
that first game was they kept them. And Jeff Hafley talked about this, There's so many times where the Packers will keep you to a one yard game, a negative two yard rush, zero yards, and then they will spin one off for sixteen. Green Bay has to keep that stuff in check because if you do that, Jared Goff's going to be right where he wants to be.
Yeah. Montgomery is the running back who wears you out. Gibbs as the running back who scares you. Yeah.
Because of that, he's the one that knocks you out.
Yeah. The home run, the home run hitting ability that he has. Well, I already sort of started with in the transition to talking about the Lions with where things are the NFC North implications of this game, it's pretty clear for green Bay. In between green Bay and Detroit, of course, you still have the Minnesota Vikings. They are at ten and two. They survived a a very close
call against the Arizona Cardinals. I'll just say they got a little bit of help from the officials in that one, a little but but hey, we move on.
But hey, Sam Darnold got his face mask in the end zone grabbed at some point.
Yeah, that's true, very true.
They had no chance to when that came out.
But it's it's funny, Wes. If you if you had told me, if you had told me at the beginning of the season that the Packers would be nine and three going to Detroit for this big Thursday night game, but they'd be sitting in third place and two games back in the division. It's it. Before the season started, it would have been hard to picture like that actually being reality. But here we are. The Lions have eleven wins, the Vikings have ten, the Packers have nine. The whole
country is going to be watching. The whole country is going to be watching this one. And uh, it's it's one of the Uh, it's one of the first really really big down the street games in the NFL. Here, Oh for sure.
I mean, if you want to get pumped up for this game. I ended up basically writing a story on it. On Monday, Dan Campbell's presser where he's talking about this race that's beginning in the NFC North, and you know, so many guys are like Matt Lafleora's reaction to figuring finding out that the Vikings won. Dan Campbell almost seemed to be embracing it. He's like, hey, won great, you know,
like the guy is just wired differently. He is embracing that grind and if it means pushing his team to being sixteen and one to win the North, he's fine with it. That's what it ends up having to be, right. But all that being said, I did that story this week looking at the NFC North. I found this absolutely fascinating because people want to kind of dog on the Bears a little bit. Yeah, they've gone through a lot, but the Bears have won four games. At one point,
we're four and two. The thirty four wins that the NFC North has a mass through thirteen weeks is already the third most of the division, tied for the third most that the division has won going back to two thousand and two. I mean, in twenty eight they've won thirty six games, but that was partially bullied by the
fact that the Packers won fifteen of their own. The competition there and the way that all three of these teams are performing, and the fact that they have six losses amongst the Lions, Vikings and Packers, and three of those were divvied out amongst themselves. I mean, it just shows you that the standard and the way that in all three of these teams have done it differently. Minnesota was the team that I had in the cellar of the division this year, right after JJ McCarthy got hurt.
I'm like, this team's got no chance, and Kevin O'Connell does is doing what Kevin O'Connell does and making this thing work. Detroit has been the team, the juggernaut everybody expects of the being. Green Bay has taken that next
step through the first three to thirteen weeks. Just I know it's a different week, so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but there's a pivotal game at US Banks Stadium this weekend between the Atlanta Falcons, who now they're having questions should Michael Pennock should he be the quarterback? They're six and six, but still right in the thick of this thing for a wide open NFC South.
Right when Kirk Cousins is coming back to Minneapolis, right, I mean, it's it's it's it's funny how these how these things unfold, the and the timing of them.
And I give the Vikings brass a lot of credit. Man, they made a difficult decision to move on from Kirk Cousins, But the fact of the matter was they had to do better. What they did, they gave it a good shot, it didn't work. What's the next step? Who's the next quarterback? You get Sam Darnold on a one year deal for ten million dollars and he plays half the season like an MVP. These are the type of kind of gut wrenching moves that you occasionally have to make. The Packers
had to make one of their own with Aaron Jones. So, uh yeah, I mean this is this is a very interesting week for the whole NFL and and certainly the Packers kick it off against the Lions and if you could find a way to win this thing again and make it two for two at Ford Field, and suddenly the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings find themselves one game behind the Lions with four games left to play.
Yeah, absolutely, that's the that's the scenario the Packers are hoping for, and we will see what unfolds. Before we go, I have to let you know the countdown to the twenty twenty five NFL Draft has begun. Green Bay is hosting this year and you won't want to miss it. Mark your calendars for April twenty four through April twenty six of twenty twenty five, and visit green Bay dot com slash Draft twenty five for more information. 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 of Thursday nights big game from Ford Field and Detroit. Wes and I will be there. We will have it all for you on Packers dot Com, and we'll be back on our regular two shows per week schedule with Packers Unscripted beginning next week. So thank you for tuning in, everybody, and we will see you next time.