Packers/Lions Postgame Show – IT’S VICTORY FRIDAY!!!

Packers/Lions Postgame Show – IT’S VICTORY FRIDAY!!!

[Music] What is up Packers nation? Happy victory Friday. Welcome in to another new episode of the Packaday podcast. I’m your host Andy Herman. You can follow me on Twitter, Andy Herman NFL. You can find the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. It is a victory Friday. What a massive win for your Green Bay Packers on Thursday. Made it a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you guys had a wonderful, safe, and happy holiday. I know I did. That was one of those games. I tell you guys all the time, regular season games, I’m pretty even killed. I’m not yelling at my TV. I’m not getting up and down and cheering too much. If you were to watch me, I’d be pretty boring. It would just be, you know, kind of watching the game, taking some notes, etc. Not this one. This one had a playoff feel to it. Had that big fight feel like we talked about. I was I was amped up for this one. I was geeking out over every big play. I was nervous. The heart rate was out of control. This was an awesome game. It’s as good as football gets. Thursday football, Thanksgiving in Detroit. Two really good teams going at it. We’ll talk in just a moment how razor thin the margins were in this one. But a huge victory again for your Green Bay Packers. 31-24 putting them at 3-0 in the division. They do go to 83 and one on the season, which is still second in the NFC North, sixth in the NFC. they don’t move there, but there’s that opportunity for that to move depending on what happens in that Bears Eagles game today. We’ll talk a lot about that as well. This was also one where I kind of got done with the game. I did the rewatch and I had some notes already and I’m like, “Oh, this is going to be relatively simple.” And then I kept going through things and through things and looking at more stats and looking at some of the analytics and going back to some of the the tape on stuff and I just had notes upon notes upon notes. So, like I said, we have a ton to dig into in this one. Before we get there, want to shout out our brand new Packad podcast YouTube members, Vman 21, Kyle Williams, Packer Peter, and Brent. Thank you guys so much for signing up. Appreciate it a ton. If you haven’t looked at those memberships yet, today is a great day to do so. Also, we would love, love, love with all of your support. If you would like, subscribe, comment, give those five star reviews, that stuff helps the channel a ton. If you would do that, that’d be ever so kind of you. But more than anything, thank you again so much for being here. Let’s get to our key takeaways from this game first. Number one, I’ve got I’ve got six of them. Usually I’ve got one or two. I’ve got six of them today. Number one, Jordan freaking love. 18 of 30, 234 yards, 7.8 yard average, four touchdowns, no interceptions, a 95.0 Q QBR, not quarterback rating, QBR from ESPN. 95.0. That is insanely high. A 124.2 quarterback rating. He was unbelievable in this game. Came out a little shaky, right? Had the play to Bo Melton for what probably would have been a touchdown. Missed him and and and really an odd miss because he had the ability to kind of loft that up there and put some air under it. There was nobody anywhere near him and under threw it. Bummer there. And then came back on the next play. Looked like he missed Christian Watson on a crosser and then basically from that point forward just said, “I’m going to pretty much play a perfect game from here on out.” I mean, deep down the field to Christian Watson, his best deep ball of the year, you know, the the clutch play, the the the throw to Dantavian Wix, which is an unbelievable play by Wix, which we’ll talk about from his point of view as well. But that throw is an absurd throw. Just to even think that you can get it in there on a key fourth down and then throw it to the end zone there. Unbelievable. Unbelievable play there. The fourth down throw uh to Romeo Dobs for the touchdown. The fourth down throw at the end to Dantavian Wixs. really completed the third down throw to Watson the play before. Watson’s got to come up with that one. He He was just on one. There’s that clip of him staring at Wix after a huge third down pickup and he’s got like the crazy eyes and I tweeted out. I’m like that’s when I knew that’s when I knew that Jordan wasn’t going to lose this game. And I wanted to tweet that out and you can thank me by the way. I wanted to tweet that out so bad of like Jordan’s got that look in his eye and this was even a little bit later in the game of like he’s he’s not going to let this team lose. he’s going to get a victory for this team. And I I tell you guys all the time, I I really don’t believe in jinxes. That was one where even I’m like, I’m not jinxing anything in this game, but he had that look to him. It had that feel. And and Jordan has been so clutch all season long. And I love the decision. We’ll talk about this with Matt Laflur as well. I love the decision at the end to say, “You’re getting two chances, Jordan.” I know some people said, “Hey, on third down, why don’t you run the football first? Run that clock.” you know, take 40 seconds off the clock, 45 seconds off the clock, you know, depending how long the play takes, and then go for it on fourth. Uh-uh. We have said all season long, why are you not putting it in the hands of your quarterback? Why are you not putting it in the hands of the guy that you’re making your franchise guy and paying all the money to? Let him cook. And in the final stages of the game, really throughout the game, but in the final stages, final third down and fourth down with the game on the line. Opportunity to to put it on ice, they said, “Jordan, go get us the win.” And Matt said that in his postgame pressure as well, he’s like, “We got two plays here. Go win it for us.” Just needed to complete one of them. And he did. And really, he should have completed both, right? Or at least the first one and then not needing the second one. But that that that’s a good play on third down where Watson just has to come up with that. It’s good defense, but Watson’s got to come up with that. And it’s probably better defense on the fourth down. And one of the things I talked about in the live postgame show is I love how Jordan throughout the course of a game is going to give his receivers opportunities to make plays. It doesn’t have to be the perfect, you know, separation. It doesn’t have to be the, hey, guess what? You’re going to get a chance to go up and get the ball. And he did that multiple times in this game. And when it mattered most, he gave that opportunity to to Dantavian Wixs. And Wixs came up with a massive, massive catch. So huge, huge game from Jordan Love. And their star on offense came through. Guess what? My number two takeaway, their star on defense came through as well. Micah Parsons. Holy hell. Two and a half sacks. All it seemed like at complete clutch moments, a tackle for loss, and just an overall All-Star performance. a 38.5% pressure rate, the highest he’s had in a game since his rookie season. He was out of his mind good. I I tweeted out a play, too. He beat for one of those sacks Taylor Decker on the outside. I’m watching that play and I watch, you guys know, I watch a ton of this stuff and I’m watching that play and I see what he’s doing and I’m like, “Oh, he’s setting him up to go inside.” And as soon as I think he’s going inside, he does this crazy sideep and swipes the hands with his like his hands are we’re talking about somebody that’s living in the Matrix and has got Neo type moves. It’s it’s just like it’s it’s bullet speed or whatever they called that thing in the Matrix movie. like his hands are so fast, his step is so fast, and I get I’m thinking he’s going inside and all of a sudden he’s around the outside of one of the better left tackles in football and at Jared Goff for the sack. I mean, it’s it’s transformer type stuff. It’s mutant type stuff. It’s unbelievable. And then what I the play that I tweeted out actually wasn’t even that. the next play. The very next play. So Decker gets beat on the outside and again Micah does this crazy move where it looks maybe like it’s going to go in. I thought he was going in and then he’s around and out. The very next play does something similar. Gets him on the inside. Nukes him right on the inside. Decker’s just like at a loss. He’s no no idea what to do. Now on that play, he got to Goff in like 1.5 seconds. And it just so happened that ball uh that that uh Goff got the ball out in about 1.4 4 seconds to his running back out in the flat, but he just nuked one of the better left tackles in football twice in a row. He was good against the run. He had one play where, you know, probably could have set the edge better against Jir Gibbs, but my goodness, I still can’t believe, hey, good win for Dallas. You know, Quinnon Williams looks good for them. Uh, you know, Javian Clowney, I think, had a sack today. Obviously, they still got K, you know, Kenny Clark out of that deal as well. They still have some picks left. Maybe that’ll end up working out for Dallas somehow some way, too. But I I can’t I just can’t wrap my head around letting that guy go ever. No matter what. You You keep that guy no matter what. And I’ll say this again. I I I’ve talked to people. By all accounts, he as good as he is on the field, he is as good or better within the building so far. So yeah, what a what a performance from Micah Parsons. Again, 38.5% pressure rate. It’s just absurd. Just absurd. All right, number three. How about Dantavian freaking Wix? 6 for 94, two touchdowns, and so many key plays. Obviously, the two touchdowns were key plays, including, you know, one that was on fourth down, the the huge catch. And by the way, I I don’t know if I’m taking crazy pills here. I I I get that, you know, people can see things through their own team’s glasses sometimes. That’s the most obvious and not the most obvious. Okay, let me rephrase that. That is a very clear and obvious catch by Dantavian Wixs. And Lions fans are freaking out like this is some crime against humanity that they called it a catch. It was very clearly a catch. He had the ball with his right foot down, got his left foot down, maintained control throughout the entirety of it. It’s as clear as day of a catch as you could possibly have. It’s It’s just a catch. I I don’t know. I feel like when I’m seeing some of these tweets of like, “Oh, it’s clearly not a catch.” I I feel like I’m taking crazy like it’s it’s a catch. I I The NFL has screwed up their catch rule so many times where sometimes it’s hard to define what a catch was. That’s a catch. It’s a catch all day, every day. But back to Wix. He has that one. He’s got the great ball up the seam. He’s obviously got the game ender at the end. He also has another key third down where Jordan did have the the crazy eyes right after that play. What a ball that was by Jordan, too. But that’s a key third down conversion. It was just big play after big play after big play. For somebody who’s been a little bit more quiet this season, there’s obviously a lot of mouths to feed within the offense. They needed him in this game. They needed him to step up big. He did. And I can’t say enough about that catch at the end, too. He loses his shoe. He goes up and gets it. That is as you know just a massively tough catch in that scenario. His move off the line was really good. And then Branch still had him. I mean Branch had as good a coverage as you could get. You know that’s that’s plus plus coverage from from Branch. And Love puts it up high points it or to a place where Wix can high point it. Wix does exactly that. Vice grips it. Doesn’t let it hit the ground. The only thing that dropped was his shoe. Big- time stuff. Big- time stuff from Dantavian Wix. And uh hopefully that’s a sign of things to come for him because they’re going to need more of that. But that was a big time clutch performance from him as well. How about Jir Gibbs and Green Bay’s ability to stop him. Now, he had 87 yards uh on the ground. Well, sorry, let me rephrase that. Against the Packers in the two games so far, he has 87 yards on the ground on 29 carries. That is a 3.0 0 yards per attempt or yards per carry with no touchdowns. So 29 for 87, three yards per carry, no touchdowns in his two games against Green Bay so far. He has 13 catches for 49 yards, a 3.8 yards per catch and no touchdowns receiving against Green Bay so far. To put that in perspective for you against the rest of the NFL, he has 146 carries, 932 yards, a 6.4 yard average on the ground with 10 touchdowns. In the two games against Green Bay, 3.0 yard average, no touchdowns. He is less than half of his usual yards per attempt against Green Bay. 6.4 against everyone else, 3.0 against Green Bay. That’s an absurd number. and then through the air against the rest of the NFL. 38 catches, 348 yards, 9.2 yards per catch, and three touchdowns again against Green Bay, 3.8 yards per catch, almost almost like a third with no touchdowns. They have done a tremendous job in two games against one of the most explosive running backs in the league. I even tweeted out like, I am terrified every time Jir Gibbs touches the ball. Even though they were doing such a great job on him, I was terrified every time he touched it. It wasn’t quite maybe to the level of like Adrien Peterson or Barry Sanders, but it was it was right there. It it was it was maybe just one tier below it. It was it was scary because he’s that talented like he could take it at any given moment. And Green Bay bottled him in for the second consecutive time, you know, going against Detroit this year that they just held him completely in check and really a huge huge reason why Green Bay was able to get out of that game. So, great job by the run defense. Great job by Jeff Hafley for having a plan in place for how to contain him and they did. They executed on it. Couple plays again where I thought he got to the edges. You one on Micah, one on Rashan Gary that I thought could have been a little bit better, but you’re not complaining about anything when you hold Jamir Gibbs that in check in any given game. That’s number four. Number five, fourth down. Fourth down’s the difference in this game here. Here were the the stats in totality for this game for Green Bay and Detroit. Total plays in this game, Green Bay had 60, Detroit had 60. Total yards in this game, Green Bay had 359, Detroit had 352, a difference of 7 yards. Passing yardage, Green Bay had 234 yards passing. The Lions had 233 yards passing, a one-yard difference. Rushing yardage. The Packers had 125 yards on the ground. The Lions had 119 yards on the ground. Six yards difference. Penalty yards. The Packers had 20 penalty yards. The Lions had 22 penalty yards. A difference of two yards. Turnovers. The Packers had no turnovers. The Lions had no turnovers. The difference in this game, simply put, bar none, end of story, was fourth down. The Packers were three for three on on fourth down with two touchdowns and a game-seeiling play. And the Lions were 0 for two on fourth down with two turnover on downs. That’s it. That’s your difference. That’s the complete 100% difference in this game. When you say a razor thin margin, same amount of plays, seven yards difference, one passing yard difference, six rushing yard different, difference, two penalty yard difference, no turnover difference. It literally just comes down to fourth down conversions. And this is, by the way, why when I say it’s not a philosophical thing, it’s an execution thing. Dan Campbell was aggressive in this game, too. He went for it on two fourth downs. He failed both times. Dan Campbell, oh, was he too aggressive? Should he have done it? It works when it works. You look great when it works. Today, Matt Laflur goes for it on fourth down three times. It works three times. He looks like a genius. Dan Campbell looks like an idiot. When your players execute out for you on the field and convert, it makes you look really smart. Makes you look really good. It’s executionbased. But Matt Lafleur played Dan Campbell’s game. He stayed aggressive and the fourth down, you know, differential here, three for three versus 0 for two was what decided the game. It’s a massive swing. It’s a massive swing in the game. And, you know, if it it’s the opposite, if Green Bay’s 0 for three and Detroit’s two for two, Detroit wins the game. And if Green Bay doesn’t even just get that one at the end, who knows what that is? If Green Bay doesn’t get the one, the touchdown to Wix or the touchdown to Dos, who knows what that score is. And if Detroit just picks up one of theirs, who knows what the score is. It’s everything in this game. And then number six, my last key takeaway is Matt Laflur. For all the consternation and, you know, wondering if he was going to be able to be aggressive today, he was. And he called a fantastic game. I thought the offense was constantly in positions to be successful. I that said, if you look at the amount of contested catches that, you know, Jordan Love had to throw and that the receivers had to catch, the Lions made it hard. This was not exactly a a, you know, picture perfect scheme it open sort of game. Detroit challenged everything and the Packers executed extremely well. But I thought Matt’s demeanor, the aggressiveness going for it on fourth down, all gas, no break was back. Scared money don’t make money was back. And again, that that decision at the end, back-to-back, third and fourth down plays to put it in Jordan’s hands. Yes. Just yes. A million times over. Yes. Put it in your franchise quarterback’s hands and let him make the play to win the game. That’s that was the next step for this team. That’s where Matt and this offense had to get to. You’re not a great running team. Your offensive line has had its struggles, but guess what? Jordan has been consistently able to make things happen. He did again today. and when it mattered most, he came through in the clutch. I love this mentality from Green Bay. I hope they can continue it. I hope that’s how they play. Again, it doesn’t necessarily mean success. We saw Detroit have an aggressive mentality these past two weeks. It barely worked against the Giants. It didn’t work against Green Bay. You got to execute, too. But I overall love this mentality, and I thought Matt was fantastic in this particular game. All right, our Luigi’s Pizza player of the game. We went over him already, but he was my player to watch in this game. Jordan Love. Player to watch was Jordan Love. I thought he was going to have to have a big game to come out with a win. He had that big game. We talked about the four touchdowns and his clutch performance. I’ve got one more stat for you here. When Jordan Love had a clean pocket in this game, meaning the offensive line protected him, 14 of 17, 190 yards, four touchdowns, and 152.8 passer rating. 14 of 17, 190, and four touchdowns when they protected him. That’s an unbelievable stat. Kudos to Jordan. Protect that man and he’s going to do wonders for you. He did again today. And when Green Bay had to have that big performance to keep their NFC North hopes alive and, you know, continue on the the path to the playoffs, Jordan came up clutch and is deserving of the player of the game in this one as he got his uh, you know, his turkey leg at the end and the John Madden MVP trophy of this game. He deserved it. He was awesome. He’s the Luigi’s pizza player of the game as well. The best part is I got my Thanksgiving pizza and my victory pizza all rolled into one. It was delicious. If your freezer’s not stocked with Luigi’s Victory Pizzas, you’re gonna need a few more. I have a good feeling about the rest of this season. I love the way that Green Bay’s playing right now. And I enjoyed every second of it. My famous traditional Thanksgiving pizza made even better by a Packers win and by uh the the deliciousness of Luigi’s. Love that Wisconsin mozzarella. Love that it’s made in Green Bay and in Wisconsin. It was delicious as always. I enjoyed every second of it. Nothing I would have rather had on Thanksgiving. So, shout out to Luigi’s. Follow them on social media at Luigis Pizza and uh of course Luigis Pizza.com as well. Unfortunately, uh not due to our wonderful sponsor, but due to the the injury news, let’s get to our Habish Habishotier injury report. Devonte Wyatt goes out for the game. The report from Tom Silverstein is that there is ligament damage here as well for Devonte Wyatt which it would knock him out for the remainder of this year. Depending on the severity of the ligament damage could, you know, get into next year as well. We’ll figure that out in the offseason and and beyond. But right now, a brutal loss for this Packers defense. Why it’s been good, you know, it’s unfortunate that he’s had to deal with some of these injuries. I thought he started the season off amazing. You can hear Micah Parsons every time he talks about Wyatt of how thrilled he is to have that guy on the interior. He’s been I thought he played a really good game in this one at the two sacks a week ago against Minnesota. He is a very very difficult player to replace. They’re going to have to go with a lot of Kobe Wooden, Carl Brooks when he’s back healthy, Warren Brinson, and Nir Stackhouse. They’ve got four remaining defensive tackles left. To me, I think that Wooden, Brooks, and Brinsen can get through this. I really do. It’s not easy. I don’t think it’s catastrophic, but that’s a big-time loss for Green Bay. No two ways around it. I am bullish on the fact that Warren Brinson has played more and more and has held up well these last couple weeks. I’m excited to watch him on the All 22 this week. I thought he had another solid performance, but there’s going to be a lot on the plate of Brinen, Wooden, and Brooks. I do think LVN coming back, if and when that happens, hopefully soon, that can really help you on some of those obvious passing down situations where LVN can kick inside and you’ve still got, you know, Rashan Garry and Mike on the outside within LVN on the inside. And you could go with a Warren Brinson. I mean, you could probably kick in inside, too. Baron Serell’s done a little bit of that. They’ll have some options there. We even Micah can do that as well, but it’s a big loss to to lose Wyatt. There’s no question about it. And hearing ligament damage is really rough as well. It’s a brutal injury for him. We’ll get the full diagnosis, I’m sure, later this week, but it certainly looks like Devonte Wyatt’s going to miss the rest of the season. I will just add on top of this though, I know it’s a devastating injury. Green Bay theoretically, maybe even a week and a half from now against Chicago at some point in the next few weeks, I would expect them to get back. LVN, Carl Brooks, Quay Walker, Matthew Golden, Jaden Reed, Savon Williams, and Nate Hobbs. All seven of those players were out with injuries. And maybe I I’m not holding my breath a ton, but maybe even a Brentton Cox and a Marshian Lloyd as well. If I told you that, you know, hey, you won this game against Detroit, one of the best teams on the road in Detroit, and yeah, you’re gonna lose, you know, Devonte Wyatt from here on out, but you gain back LVN, Carl Brooks, Quay Walker, Matthew Golden, Jaden Reed, Savon Williams, Nate Hobbs, and maybe even Marshon Lloyd, and Brentton Cox. Would you take that trade? I’d say yeah, you take that trade. That’s a lot of help to your team. So, it sucks to lose Wyatt, but it’ll be very helpful to get some of those players back. And what I’ll just say on top of that is like this is the NFL. You’re going to lose some players week to week. You’re going to get some guys back who have been hurt earlier in the season. And you just hope that you don’t have any, you know, too many devastating long-term injuries. I think where you’re a little bit bummed out right now for Green Bay, Elton Jenkins, Devonte Wyatt, Tucker Craft, three pretty important players for your team now likely done for the year. We know Craft is, we know Jenkins is, and if that’s what Wyatt is as well. Those are three very important players that again, can you survive without them? Yes. But it certainly makes things a whole hell of a lot tougher. I had people ask me, what are some replacement options? They do have James Esther as their lone defensive tackle on the practice squad. He could be one call out possibility. Some other names maybe to keep an eye on. The the Christian Wilkins conversation, I know, will continue until we find out more or whatever. All I’ll say is this. If Christian Watson was good enough to play right now, he would be on one of the 32 teams and he’s not, which tells me either A, he’s still hurt, or B, there are some character concerns that teams don’t want to touch right now, or C both. But if he was good enough or if they the the injury was healed or whatever it was, he would be on a team. So, I have to think that he probably is not an option. some names that might be Maurice Hurst, uh the former Raider, Brown, etc. He is out there. Couple years ago, he had a really nice season for Cleveland. Last year, his season was riddled with injuries, which really kind of put him back. Like, they were expecting a big year out of him last year, and then injuries derailed it, and he hasn’t really gotten a chance this year with any team. He got a workout with Indianapolis a couple weeks ago. He could be a player to keep an eye on. He’s kind of in that similar vein of a Dvonte Wyatt. Probably similar pass rusher. Clearly not as good as anything as Wyatt, let me be very clear. Uh, at this stage of his career, but in general, kind of like a similar pass rusher, just probably not quite as good of a run defender at this point, but that’s one name. Montraves Adams, the former Packer, actually put together a pretty solid career post Green Bay, mostly in Pittsburgh. He’s still out there. That could be a name to keep an eye on. We talked about James Esther off the practice squad. One more name I’ll give you and probably the direction I would go in personally, Evan Anderson. A little bit more of like a nose tackle type or at least a more of a run stuffing type, but he’s a he’s a talented defensive tackle who’s on the practice squad for San Francisco. He played a decent amount of snaps for them a year ago. Played pretty well. Uh they brought in some defensive tackles in the offseason. He ended up not making the team and then just got on their practice squad. But I think he can play. I actually think he’d be an upgrade from Nir Stackhouse if I’m being honest. But that’d be one more name to keep an eye on, but there’s no replacing Devonte Wyatt. There’s no question about it. But I do think maybe if you can um get the most out of Wooden, Brooks, and Brinen while also getting LVN back, there’s a way to counter it in some possible way so that it’s not at least catastrophic for them. We’ll have to see what they ultimately decide to do at that position, though. Now, the Packers know how to bounce back from tough hits. If you’ve been hit with an injury after an accident, the team of highly skilled attorneys at Habish Abisha Rotier can help you receive the right compensation to help you bounce back from your injury. Habish has been successfully resolving claims for over 90 years. Their attorneys have the experience and expertise to get you back in the game. Here’s the thing. When you call Habish, you’re going to talk to a lawyer directly. Their number is 800-242-22874 or 8002 Habish. You can also visit their website at habish.com. Habishabasher rotier. National Reputation, hometown service. All right, we’ve still got a lot to get into in this one. Let’s talk about the offense. The day on offense for Green Bay, field goal, punt, touchdown, touchdown. Then they took the one play and then took the kneel down before halftime. So, we’ll kind of take that one out. Then touchdown, touchdown, punt that was predicated on a really bad non-all on a pass interference by you or that was on Christian Watson. And then their their final drive which they milked away the clock and ended the game. So taking away that halftime one in the middle field goal punt touchdown touchdown touchdown touchdown punt controversially because of the no call and then sealed away the game at the end. It’s a pretty good game. 31 points overall. We talked about Jordan Love, massive performance from him. We talked about Dantavian Wixs, massive performance from him. Anthony Belton not only got the start at right guard, played every snap at right guard. A true benching for Jordan Morgan. Jordan Morgan did not play a single snap in this game. A big change there. It was the right move. I want to watch the all 22 before I go too far into this, but I thought Belton looked better. Some get to the second level on some plays. No major catastrophic issues that I saw. I I thought it was a good game from Belton at first glance. I’ll want to see what it looks like again on the All 22 before I make too many judgments. But I love the decision. I thought it was the right move. I thought it paid off for him in this one. Meanwhile, Josh Jacobs coming back from injury. Efficient. 17 carries, 83 yards, 4.9 yard average. Not always a ton there, but had a couple explosive runs, which you love to see. And overall, a 4.9 yard average for the day. I thought he ran hard. Thought he ran tough behind his pads. Got what he could and again made a couple big plays as well coming, you know, coming off the injury and and bouncing back. I thought that was a really good performance overall from the run game and specifically Josh Jacobs. I also thought Green Bay did a phenomenal job of taking Aiden Hutchinson out of the game. He had no sacks, couldn’t do anything. Zack Tom did a great job, but I thought the offense had a great game plan for making sure Hutchinson wouldn’t beat them. He didn’t, and that was a huge reason. the the difference we talked about in the pregame show, Aiden Hutchinson versus Micah. Who can make the bigger impact? Hutchinson had almost none. Micah was all over the place at all times, everywhere, all at once. That’s another key difference in this game. Meanwhile, the Lions did not have a single sack on defense. Advantage Green Bay there as well. Also want to shout out Green Bay. I thought from the very first drive, very first drive in the game, that crowd for Detroit was going insane and they handled the crowd noise all game long. The silent count was better. They were able to even get, you know, some hard count at times. They got a free play on one. I I just thought for a very tough environment to play in, I I thought they handled the the I don’t want to say conditions, but the sound and the the road environment incredibly incredibly well. So kudos to Green Bay for that. We do need to talk at least a little bit about the false start by Belton into the timeout. Matt basically, you know, gave it away at the end with the the big wink of he knows he didn’t get that timeout off in time. I listen, I don’t know how the NFL officiating gets that wrong. Like the offsides takes place. You can see it. There’s flags going up and then Matt’s calling timeout. Timeout. I don’t know how that got by. I’ll take it. It’s a four-point swing in the game. But, you know, we we talked I thought the catch along the sideline by Wix was clean. I thought that was the right call. This one they got wrong. They got the pass interference. We’ll talk about the legal contact on Keshan Nixon as well. But that Green Bay got a gift on that one. I don’t know how much it would have changed the outcome one way or the other, but that’s an extra four points for Green Bay there on a granted timeout that really looked like it should not have been granted. I think Matt knows too that one should not have been granted. I’ll take it. I’ll take it. Green Bay is not always the one that gets the advantage of some of those. They did certainly in this one. The Christian Watson pass interference though. Now we go back the other way. The shot from the cameraman of the referee looking right at the play. and not calling that is so far beyond absurd. His hand is so clearly getting grabbed when you’re and he has to go up one-handed with it. And when you see that he’s trying to go up for one-handed, you look I can’t believe that’s not called. I just cannot believe in an NFL game like that with that much importance that you can’t call that play. That that’s just very poor officiating. It’s frustrating. It could have easily changed the outcome of the game. I I’m not one to, you know, go over the officiating in in too great a detail. It is what it is. Sometimes you catch a break like you did on the false start timeout situation. Sometimes the one goes against you like in this situation. But man, you just wish this stuff when when it’s very clear and obvious would get called the right way on both sides. On both sides, the the timeout offside, you know, false start one and the the play to Christian Watson. Just disappointing to see those not get called. Speaking of Christian Watson, beautiful play on the deep uh deep throw down the field. I thought he got, you know, just enough of the defender where it was enough to gain separation but not draw an offensive pass interference penalty. And again, one of the most, you know, gorgeous balls of the year from Jordan Love with that beautiful hierarching deep ball down the field perfectly landing in the hands of Christian Watson. We need to shout out our good friend Rasheed Walker as well. Another gamechanging moment, his fumble recovery on the fumble by Romeo Dobs. Dobs had the touchdown, but he also had that free play down the field where he like didn’t jump on the play and then he has a fumble in a, you know, red zone situation. Rasheed Walker saved Romeo Dob’s bacon and maybe Green Bay’s bacon in that game. That’s another one where margins are razor thin. You’re taking a touchdown off the board there. Who knows how much that would have mattered, but a a big time big- time fumble recovery for Rasheed Walker. Then shout out Luke Musgrave on a very difficult catch. We talked about the last couple weeks, you want to get him up to seam. You want to get him on deep over routes and crossers. That was a deep crosser. They uh they did a great job of, you know, Jordan dropping back, seeing it, ripping it, and then Musgrave with the fantastic diving catch. That’s that’s where you want to see him succeed. He did on that particular play. Kudos to him. Overall, solid solid day. Better than solid. Really good day for the offense again, putting up 31 points and winning the game. Love that for the offense. Love it for Jordan. Love how they played overall. Hey friends, it’s time to get our sleeper picks in for week 13 already. We’re going Monday Night Football. You know me, these are the type of games that I love getting sleeper picks in for New England and New York. We’ve got a really good team in New England against a not so great but very entertaining team in the New York Giants. This isn’t some big heavyweight fight. This is just uh it’s football, right? And so let’s get our sleeper picks in and make it a little bit more fun. I’m going Stfan Diggs more than 47 and a half receiving yards and Trivia Henderson more than 69 and a half rushing yards against the Giants defense that let’s be honest isn’t that great. Also Jackson Dart more than 207 and a half passing yards against New England’s defense. He’s going to have to throw his way into it just like we’ve seen Jameus Winston try to do lately. Jackson Dart with his first game back. He’s going to go more than 207 and a half passing yards in this game. Either way, you can choose your own adventure. Get your picks in over on Sleeper. The best part is that you can get a 100% match up to $100 by utilizing code pack a day. Again, a 100% match up to $100 by utilizing code packaday. Terms and conditions apply. See sleeper for details. What are you waiting for? They’re available in over 25 states nationwide. So, get those sleeper picks in right now. Defensively, here was the day for the defense. Punt, punt, touchdown, touchdown, turnover on downs, touchdown, turnover on downs, field goal. Just one more time. Punt, punt, touchdown, touchdown, turnover on downs, touchdown, turnover on downs, and then field goal. Some ups and some downs for the defense for sure. Good start, bad middle, held them to a field goal at the end, which I thought was really important. We talked about Micah Parsons in his epic game. We talked about Jir Gibbs and limiting him. The one player that was disappointing that Green Bay couldn’t keep a little bit more in check was Jameson Williams. Seven catches for 144 yards and a touchdown. Over 20 yards per catch. Listen, there’s no Leaporta, right? I’m on Ross St. Brown goes down very early in the game. There’s there’s two players left, Jir Gibbs and Jameson Williams. You can’t let Jir Gibbs run all over you, which they did a great job of. And you can’t let Jameson Williams beat you with any level of consistency in the passing game. And unfortunately, they kind of let Williams keep going. Thankfully, Williams had that key drop on fourth down, which was also a huge huge, you know, gamecher in that game. But that’s one where the the defense needs to be a little bit more in tune. You can’t let their one remaining playmaker uh from a receiving standpoint go seven for 144 and a touchdown. That was a little bit disappointing. Thought Kingsley and Nigbari quietly had a really nice game. Had the nice play on the the the end round that got completely blown up. Had a half sack. had another play that was involved in a big time play for the defense. I I thought Anbari played well. I thought he had more impact plays than Rashan Gary. We’ll see how that grades out through the course of the week, but felt like he had more impact plays than Rashawn Gary did. The Carrington Valentine missed tackle is a brutal play. It emphasizes the importance of wrapping up. You can’t just hit a dude in the NFL. They’re going to break that tackle. It’s a great read by Valentine. He’s in the right spot, right time, right moment. He’s right there. Just has to make the play. That’s probably a four-point swing in the game as well. He gets him down there. I like Green Bay’s chances getting off the field and holding him to a field goal attempt. Instead, it’s an easy touchdown for Jameson Williams. And the Lions were right back in the game on that play. Got to be better in tackling for Carrington Valentine. The other play that I thought Green Bay really would like to have back was on their first touchdown drive where it was like a third and 15, something like that. They hit Tom Kennedy Kennedy up the seam for about 23 yards. That’s that’s a play where I thought Jeff got a little bit too cute trying to disguise some stuff and rather than just playing the play, letting your defense get there up front and making sure that you’re sound in coverage. The disguise stuff has worked really well for them. So, I don’t want to be too harsh on it, but in that particular situation, I thought they might have been a little bit better off just playing things a little bit more straight up, not having maybe the confusion on the back end while meanwhile letting your defensive front and specifically Micah Parsons get there. instead got again maybe a little bit too cute and a 23-yd pickup that eventually led to a touchdown on that drive. Again, some some things that I think the defense can still clean up coming out of this one. I would still say 24 points to the Lions is a solid effort. Could have been better, could have been worse, but 24 points is a winnable performance against this Lions team, but no Aman Ross St. Brown, no Sam Leaporta. You would have maybe liked it to see it just a little bit better. I thought there was still some meat on the bone out there for the defense. Losing Wyatt really hurts. No question about it. That’s going to be a big loss for the defense. The last thing I want to talk about defensively, we saw the the pass interference, no call with Watson. Then on the next drive, they call that illegal contact on Keshan Nixon. I I don’t know how smart referees are with this stuff, right? That’s a tight end that’s on the outside with Keshan Nixon in coverage. That’s And the tight end’s just going deep as a pure dummy route on that play. the the tight end has no intentions of trying to get open or make a play. He’s just literally going on a dummy route run. You’re just occupying a corner and letting somebody else go make the play somewhere else on the field. There’s never going to be a a play where that that tight end is is involved really, you know, from a reception standpoint. Not to mention that yes, the the contact took place down the field. You just in that situation that you have to let that go. You have to let that go. By the letter of the laws, it may Is it a legal contact? Sure. But like it it meant nothing. It didn’t impede the progress. He’s not an intended target anyway. And and maybe there’s an onus on Keshan Nixon there to know, hey, that’s a dummy route. Just don’t don’t even touch him. You don’t need to. They’re not going to throw his way anyway. But I would like to see the ref have some common sense there and say there was clearly never going to be a play there. We we don’t need to make the stupid in my opinion uh illegal contact penalty especially after missing one which was a clear pass interference uh a drive earlier but was what it was. Green Bay thankfully was a able to overcome it. Special teams I don’t have a ton of notes here. This is going to sound a little bit nitpicky but I think it’s important. Green Bay started on their own not not including turnover on downs plays which had nothing to do with special teams. Green Bay started on their own 1717 17 23 30 26 28 and 35. An average start at their own 25 yardd line. Meanwhile, Detroit started at their own 35 37 35 35 34 29 26 and 20. It got a little bit better at the end of the game, but their average start position was their own 31 yard line. That’s a six yard difference. Now, you might be thinking, Andy, in a game like this, you’re going to talk about a six-y difference in where they get the Absolutely. Because if you look at the what, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 eight returns for Detroit, the six for Green Bay or the, you know, the starting field position, you’re talking about a hidden about 45 to 50 yards in favor of Detroit based on that starting field position. 45 to 50 yards in a game where you have about 300 yards of total offense. Add 50 on top of that now. That’s that’s a huge difference. So I I thought that the the coverage units and Brandon McManus consistently kicking it in the end zone and Green Bay not having a great return game in this one. I thought it was c Thankfully it didn’t cost them in the end, but that’s that’s a pretty brutal effort by the special teams. They’ve got to be better. And like I said, that might be a hidden 50 yards that you didn’t even know existed that was lost by the special teams in that game. Has to be better. Thankfully, McManus made his kicks. There was nothing catastrophic. You did allow a 21 yard point return, but it was on a kick that probably outkicked the coverage a little bit. And then I I would still say at the end of the day though for the special teams, more bad than good. But I’m just happy there was no major brutal play for Green Bay. But that starting field position is a real thing. Some miscellaneous notes. LVN, Carl Brooks, Savon Williams, Quay Walker, Matthew Golden, Nate Hobbs, and Donovan Jennings were your inactives for this game. Donovan Jennings, the only healthy inactive. Some snap count stuff from the one and only Justice Moscada of Acme Packing Company. Carl Brooks played 17 snaps. Emanuel Wilson played 11. So, Brooks outnapped Wilson in this one by about six snaps. Bo Melton played 11 snaps at receiver. Heath only played 10. I understand it. I actually think Heath’s a little bit better receiver at this point in time. Musgrave took over the number one tight end role with 38 snaps. WY was number two with 30 and Fitzpatrick took a huge jump down this week to only 14 snaps, the same as Darien Canard had as that number six offensive lineman kind of playing as a pseudo blocking tight end. Belton, as mentioned, played every snap. Jordan Morgan did not play a snap. Christian Welch took one snap with the nickel. That was a little bit of an interesting choice to play him. I would have thought it would have been McDuffy and Hopper in that situation, but they went with McDuffy and Welch on an obvious passing down. There three new Packers, the you know, Will Shepard who they signed to the 53 and then Jaylen Simpson and Jamon Johnson, who they called up to the active game day roster. Jaylen Simpson and Will Shepard did not play a single snap per Justice Mosscada on special teams or on offense or defense respectively in this game. Jamon Johnson did not play a snap on defense, but did play 11 special team snaps in this game. So, of those three, it was only Jamon Johnson playing 11 special team snaps. Meanwhile, some other interesting statistics. The Packers are now 7-0 this season when not committing a turnover in the game. 7-0 when not committing a turnover. That’s a pretty crazy stat. Per Dire Carrier or Dar Carer, excuse me. Jordan Love in his last 10 indoor games. So last 10 indoor games, 21 touchdowns, one interception, 21 touchdowns, one interception, 240 yards per game, 116.7 passer rating, and a PFF grade of 91.8 in his last 10 indoor games combined. That is a crazy crazy set of statistics for Jordan Love. Meanwhile, three Jordan Love games on Thanksgiving. He is 61 of 90, 776 yards, nine touchdowns, no picks, and he’s been the MVP in all three of the three Thanksgiving games that he has been in. Epic numbers there for Jordan Love. And last but not least, Jordan Love against the Lions so far this season. in those two games. 34 of 52, 422 yards, 422, excuse me, six touchdowns, no picks, a 128.4 passer rating, and he has not taken a sack in either game. Some fun fun Jordan Love numbers there for you. I talked about the coaching. I thought Matt Lafleur was really good. I loved his aggression and the way he played the end of the game. I thought it was more of a mixed bag from Jeff Hafley. Not bad, not great. I thought overall a winning performance. If Carrington Valentine makes that play, it probably looks a lot different, but mostly good, but maybe again a little bit more up and down. And then Bashia, not nothing brutal, but uh still overall I would say a tough performance for the special teams. Where Green Bay stands, as mentioned, they are still the six seed right now. They are eight and uh 83 and one. The Bears are eight and three. They would move to the number three spot with an Eagles win over the Bears today on Black Friday football. The Packers would stay at the number six seed with a Bears loss to Philadelphia. They are now one and a half games ahead of Detroit for the final playoff spot. And that’s a good place to be in. You don’t want to be in that spot. You don’t want to be on the outside looking in. And thankfully, they now have a one and a halfame lead over Detroit, which again is currently that number eight seed. Green Bay’s remaining schedule, Chicago at home at Denver, at Chicago, Ravens at home at Vikings. going to be a very difficult stretch of four games coming up. Bears are going to be hungry. Broncos on the road’s going to be tough. Ravens are probably in a must-win situation. Those are those are four good teams that they’re going to have to find a way to get wins against. We’ve got Packers Bears coming up this week. We uh we’re going to remember those comments by Ben Johnson saying he really enjoys beating Matt Laflur twice per year. I think Matt might have this one circled a little bit against Ben Johnson. We’ll see. But hopefully Matt’s got his A+ stuff and can come away with a win against the Ben Johnson le Chicago Bears. Obviously a huge game today. Bears Eagles on Black Friday. Keep an extra eye on that one. How many snaps did the Bears play? Do they have any key injuries? What does that look like? Of course, the game is in Green Bay next week. So, that’s going to help Green Bay. The Bears are coming off four straight wins uh with, you know, pending what happens against the Eagles. So, either five straight wins or they’re going to get their first loss in their last five games. Meanwhile, the Packers are 73% odds to win the NFC North. The Bears are 16%. The odds are that the the team that wins the North is probably one of these two. A ton on the line in the next three weeks with these two games, Packers and Bears. As mentioned, worth keeping an eye on this game. Green Bay only will have one day of rest advantage. So, despite the fact that they are playing on Thursday, they usually get the rest advantage against the opposing team. They still do, but it’s only by one day because the Bears play here on Friday as well. Speaking of those playoff odds, per the New York Times playoff simulator, the Packers have a 93% chance to make the playoffs. That jumps to 97% with a win over the Bears. It drops to 80% with a loss to the Bears. As mentioned, Green Bay is a 73% chance to win the division after that huge win against Detroit. that jumps to 82% with a win over Chicago, drops to 43% with a loss to Chicago. So again, those are that’s a huge swing in the division one way or the other. They unfortunately only have a 6% chance at the number one seed and getting that first round buy. That jumps to a massive 7% chance with a win over the Bears, but it goes to less than 1% chance with a loss against the Bears. I’ve got some simple playoff math for you. There are five games left in Green Bay season with three wins in their next five games. So, three of five, they have a greater than 99% chance to make the playoffs regardless of who those three wins are against. So, you win three of your next five, go three and two the remainder of the season, you are greater than a 99% chance to make the playoffs. Win three, go to the playoffs with four wins. with four wins, they are a greater than 99% chance to win the NFC North. Unless one of those losses is to the Chicago Bears, in which case they would only be a 98% chance to win the division. Simply put, win three games, get in the playoffs, win four games, win the NFC North. win five games with a little bit of help, you’ll have a shot, at least a shot at getting the number one overall seed and a first round buy. That’s where Green Bay is looking at right now. The Packers are currently tied for fourth in the odds to win the Super Bowl. Only the Rams, Eagles, and Colts are ahead of them. They are currently tied with the Seahawks. That is up from tied for 11th from a week ago. So, a big jump for Green Bay there. What to watch for the remainder of this week? Eagles over Bears is an interesting one. If you think Green Bay is going to take care of business on their own, then you actually kind of want Chicago to win because Philly losing helps you with your chances of getting the number one or two seed and moving up in the seeding process. If you’re just saying, “Hey, I want to win the division, get that home game for sure, better chance to make the playoffs,” then you’re Eagles over Bears in this one. So, it just kind of depends. Eye of the beholder maybe a little bit there. Either way, there’s an advantage and a disadvantage. You don’t really want either of these teams to get a win. It’s probably better in my opinion for the Bears to get the loss. But if you take care of things with the Bears in the rest of the season than the Eagles losing and trying to get that number one seed or maybe even number two could actually end up being better for Green Bay. You’re going to be cheering for the Vikings over the Seahawks or at least just cheering for the Seahawks to fail on Sunday. You want the Panthers over the Rams. Again, that could help with the potential number one seed and then Browns over 49ers which could help with some playoff odds as well. So, we’re cheering Eagles or Bears again, Eye of the Beholder, but Vikings, Panthers, and Browns are the three teams you’re cheering for coming up on Sunday. My final thoughts on this one, a huge day for Green Bay. An epic win in a playoff type atmosphere. I am still on a high. I’m still geeking out over this game. I thought the big time players came up huge. Micah Parsons, Jordan Love, when they had to have it, they came up clutch. That’s what you love to see, players going out and winning games. And I thought they both had big-time winning performances as did as we talked about Dantavian Wixs. And I’ll just say it one more time. I thought this was really truly a must-win for Green Bay. They have to win the North if they want a shot at this thing. I don’t think that they can go on a three-game road trip in the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl. I just think it’s too daunting in the NFC. In the AFC, maybe, but in the NFC, I don’t think it’s possible. I think that was a big time big time clutch win for Green Bay. They had to have it. They went and got it. and uh give everyone their flowers for picking up a very impressive and epic win over the Detroit Lions to go again to three and 0 in the NFC North on the season. That’s going to do it for me today. Thank you for joining me. Shout out to our allp pro and hall of fame members. PJ Wayne, John Wild, Brandon Petta, Boom Handle, Donald Lee, Lori Lloyd, Baby QB, David McCcluskkey, Donald Decker, Alex Hong, Peter Retaka, Jay Zimmerman, B Brown, Puerto Rican Packer, Dan Gford, SoCal Pack, Chris Regger, Izzy Roberts, Ian Ewing, Carlo Delgado, Willie Winkkels, the Gable Storm, and Pack Attack Cast, Chris Wiss, Craig John De Metropolis, Hayden Redsky, Deon Lane, Gans USA, Alexander Newell, Dan Miller, Bill Reinhardt, Richard Morales, Les Nino, Beast Bumblebee, and Benjamin Sergeant. I’ll see you guys all very, very soon. Enjoy your Friday everyone, but until next time and as always, go Paco.

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